What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[nicholasrope]

Twister

Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt are about to divorce but they are also Storm Hunters and they are on the trail of a big storm. Cary Elwes plays a rival chaser. It was on ITV 4 last Saturday and this was the 1st time I've seen this as something else would come along and never got around to seeing it and it was quite entertaining with some decent F/X. Looking forward to the sequel.

Strippers VS Werewolves

When a Stripper kills a Werewolf, the pack he runs with start a war with the Strippers. British Black Comedy which I watched instead of the match on Sunday Night, which stars Adele Silva, Billy Murray, Ali Bastian and Martin Kemp. Hey it's not the greatest film in the world but it was entertaining. For me it's a good film to have around if I want a good no-brainer but not an Action Film.

Fly Me To The Moon

Channing Tatum is the Head Of NASA who is in charge of the Moon Landing in 69 but a AD Saleswoman played by Scarlett Johannson is brought in to get greater public support. Woody Harrelson is the person who suggests that they fake it. A cross between Air and Wag The Dog, it's a decent effort that's different from the west with some good sarcastic lines but it's Colin Jost who steals the show as a Politician

Action Jackson

Carl Weathers is the tough Detective on the hunt for a Killer. Very entertaining Action Movie with some really good supporting characters especially the inept criminal who faints or shakes in fear whenever he sees him and the uniformed officers who bicker a lot. Craig T. Nelson and Sharon Stone co-star in a Film that has a script that doesn't re-invent the wheel but does everything really well.

Looking back at the VHS cover, it doesn't even give the plot (Go figure) and the Blu-Ray release from Warner Archive has a bigger picture of Sharon Stone

Zombies, Zombies, Zombies

Strippers and Prostitutes battle Zombies in a low budget, it's exactly what you think it's going to be like Film. Definitely seen a lot better, very unlikely, I'll see it ever again.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by nicholasrope

Twister

Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt are about to divorce but they are also Storm Hunters and they are on the trail of a big storm. Cary Elwes plays a rival chaser. It was on ITV 4 last Saturday and this was the 1st time I've seen this as something else would come along and never got around to seeing it and it was quite entertaining with some decent F/X. Looking forward to the sequel.

Zombies, Zombies, Zombies

Strippers and Prostitutes battle Zombies in a low budget, it's exactly what you think it's going to be like Film. Definitely seen a lot better, very unlikely, I'll see it ever again.

I have Zombies Zombies Zombies on dvd. It was a cash in on the superior Zombie Strippers which featured Robert Englund, Jenna Jameson and alt rocker Roxy Saint. It's not as good as the Englund film but at least features one of my faves Tiffany Shepis albeit briefly and former Playmate Jessica Barton. It just comes across as way too cheap.

The trailers for Twisters looks impressive. I've already earmarked it as my New Years Eve blockbuster this year.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Little Giant. (1933)

When prohibition ends, mob boss and whisky baron Bugs Ahearn (Edward G Robinson) quits the racket and moves to sunny Santa Barbara with his money in a bid to go straight and break into Californian society. After being scammed by people just as unscrupulous as himself Ahearn gets his own back like only he knows how...the Chicago way.

This is absolutely terrific. Robinson has a real flair for comedy, subtle yet sending himself up wickedly. His portrayal of a fish out of water amid the wealthy classes at odds with his typical mob portrayals as he flits between the two in a series of witty and fast paced escapades.

Mary Astor, with whom i fall in love every time i watch this, provides support to Robinson and their scenes together are beautifully done, as it turns out she was also scammed by the same wealthy family.

The Little Giant appeared a year before Hollywood's new censorship code kicked in and it shows. Some of the language and situations are quite strong for the time and would never have been allowed had it been released a little later.

I think this is a wonderful film and so easy to watch as it clocks in at only 75 mins. Highly recommended.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Witches (1966)

"Give me a skin for dancing in"

Joan Fontaine gives an excellent performance as a teacher haunted by the ghosts of witch doctors from her time in Africa, when she takes a job as headmistress at a school in a sleepy English village.

Hammer's Occult thriller is quite low key, lacking much in the way of exploitation and luridness which allows a creeping air of menace to envelop proceedings.

The story unfolds at an almost leisurely pace and is focused on performances with the likes of Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Granny Rigg practically screaming "Witch" at the viewer. Scripted by Nigel Kneale, it's depiction of witchcraft in rural England makes the film an early example of British folk horror.

[nicholasrope]

In A Violent Nature

Set in a Canadian Woods, a Serial Killer basically goes around and kills everything in sight. This had some good reviews and there are some really good gory death scenes but everything inbetween is just plain boring along with a really dull ending.

Good for a Streaming Service but it's just lacking for a theatrical release.

Zombie Strippers

Tongue in cheek Horror (Couldn't be anything else really) about a Zombie Outbreak at an underground Strip Club in which the Zombie Strippers become the hottest acts but turn their customers into Zombies. Jenna Jammison and Robert England star in an ok effort with some decent jokes/

Out of the 3 similar type of Strippers VS... Films, Strippers VS Werewolves is the better film.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

BUtterfield 8 (1960)

Elizabeth Taylor won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a high class call girl with much emotional baggage. Eddie Fisher to whom she was married at the time seems uneasy as her only true friend but Laurence Harvey is convincing as the wealthy executive with whom she has a sordid affair. Or at least sordid for Hollywood circa 1960.

Taylor is at her most glamorous here but the opening scenes as she wakes in Harvey's hotel room to an envelope with a note and $250 then proceeds to clean her teeth with Scotch before scrawling 'No sale' across the mirror in pink lipstick gives her an almost sleazy allure.

BUtterfield 8 plays out as a human drama with little in the way of humour to enlighten proceedings, the sex, whilst tepid nowadays caused controversy at the time and the shock ending is just that - a genuine shock.

[nicholasrope]

Twisters

Sequel in name only sees Storm Chasers, Glenn Powell and Kiernan Shipka team up in order to try and prevent Tornados from destroying towns. No connection to any characters from the 1st Film, this was very entertaining with some really good F/X and a difference from the original where you see towns getting destroyed. Good performances all round especially Powell, who has gotten the arrogant yet endearing character down to the ground.

Nice to have a weather based Movie around, the last blockbuster was Day After Tomorrow with Into The Storm, the last one released theatrically.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Casino Royale (2006)

Hmm! Friday is usually my late night watch of a Pete Walker film from the 88 Films box set, but after the magnificence of Daniel Craig's debut outing as James Bond i don't see any point unless Sheila Keith goes free running, leaping across cranes 140ft in the air, it will just seem a little bit dull.

[MrBarlow]

Night Feeder. 1988.

Someone or something is attacking the San Francisco punk scene while a detective and journalist try to uncover the killer's identity.

A mix of the punk scene and a drug called DZS may be the aftermath of people being on a bit of a high while those around them are being bumped off. This was a low budget independent film that does show, filmed on a cheap camera that almost strains your eyes in the darker moments. The doctor/coroner scene was decently crafted and not best well acted but good. The acting itself is not the best due to some quick writing with the detective trying to calm everyone's fears. A nice bit of quick girl on girl fight at the end that reveals the twist but by that point I was just happy to see the end credits pop up.

MV5BNDI4MmJiNTMtYTYyYy00MDkwLWFlNDItNjA4YzA5MDdiMjgxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE3NTg3Njg3._V1_FMjpg_UX100.jpg

[Frankie Teardrop]

IMMACULATE - Sydney Sweeney plays Cecelia, an American nun about to take her vows in an Italian convent. What she finds behind closed walls justifies the title in a pretty obvious way and pulls 'Omen'-ish tropes closer to body horror. I liked 'Immaculate'. It takes on the look and feel of a contemporary upmarket horror movie but delivers something decidedly more schlocky - in other words, it doesn't forget where it's coming from. Stylistically, we get the whole 'ecclesiastical gothic' thing, with shadowy ceremonies and catacombs beneath - I don't think I've seen so many candles in a nunnery since 'Dark Waters'. The gore and graphics range from nicely decorative to quite wince inducing, although none of it's overly laboured, if you'll excuse the pun. Probably the most striking aspect, apart from a basic silliness to the overall concept that would tickle Cannon, is Sweeney's performance, which charts her voyage from repressed non-entity to full on primal church-burner. I thought they'd cop out into sentiment at the end, but no. Well worth a shot.

PHANTOM OF DEATH - Or 'Off Balance', if you like - I don't, I think it's silly, but it's the title that's used for this new release from Cauldron. It's a late eighties film by Ruggero Deadato that last saw light of day via a DVD from Shameless back in the noughts (I think, that was the last time I saw it anyway). In it, Michael York plays a guy with a disease that causes accelerated aging; Donald Pleasance is the detective trying to get to the bottom of a series of murders. TPOD is quite interesting in that it mixes Giallo tropes with a vaguely Cronenberg-like conceit, though in this instance what we find is a relatively tame Deodato, letting loose here and there with the odd splashy stabbing and only occasionally slipping in the kind of posturing we're used to (the leering and genuinely disturbing image of the old man-child in his playground). For the most part it's measured and character-centred, enough to allow York to come to the fore with a performance that strains to capture the pathos of a Seth Brundle or John Hurt's Elephant Man, though it's an equal pleasure to watch Pleasance lose it in a scream-laden street scene.