What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by 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.

Sold!

I saw this was out on disc and was impressed by Sweeney in last years Rolling Stones video for Angry.

[MrBarlow]

Night Terrors. 1993

A young girl visits her archaeologist father in Cairo and becomes involved in a cult who's leader is a descendant to Marquis De Sade.

The original director left the project due to the plot and Tobe Hooper was brought on board, so that would have been a good decision and teams up with Robert Englund in a dual role. But sadly this was a slow decline in a career choice for Tobe, there was plenty of opportunity to show his talent as a master of horror but seemed to have been told about budget restraints, gore can be shown but tone it down. The plot itself seems to be lacking any real potential to be a good film, the acting you can tell everyone is trying their best to make it entertaining but can be tough to watch at times.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Seeing as the schools broke up for summer yesterday i watched a brilliant double bill to mark this terrifying occasion.

The Boys Next Door (1985)

Shunned by their peers on their high school graduation day Roy and Bo (Maxwell Caulfield and Charlie Sheen) head on the six hour drive to Los Angeles for a wild weekend. Just outside the city they almost beat to death a gas station attendant and things escalate once they decide to "go caveman" for one day, abandoning all rules and order.

A first time viewing for me. I absolutely loved it. Both Sheen and in particular Caulfield are excellent with them exuding an air of hopelessness and unsentimentality towards anyone they come across. Their casual murders are all matter of fact until they meet Patti D'Arbanville's sympathetic and quite lovely Angie in a bar whom Sheen falls for, enraging Caulfield resulting in the films most harrowing sequence.

Shot by Penelope Spheeris on the streets of Hollywood, the film gives a tiny glimpse into the goings on that take place in Sunset Boulevard's neon glow whilst the rock soundtrack featuring the likes of The Cramps, Great White and Iggy Pop gives it all an air of vibrant, raw authenticity.

I wonder what happened to Boner the Barbarian?

Excellent.

Dazed and Confused (1993)

My go-to film for this day of the year, Richard Linklater's classic tale of high school and junior high students on the last day of school in May 1976.

It's interesting that the films three breakout stars all played sort of seedier characters - Matthew McConaughey's stoner Wooderson and his view of college girls "I Keep Getting Older And They Keep Staying The Same Age". Milla Jovovich's totally stoned Michelle and Ben Affleck's kind of villain of the story O'Bannion. None of the nice kids you'd want to hang with went anywhere in their careers.

Finishing as the sun comes up following a night of drink, drugs,fights, bowling balls, rock music, pledge beatings and the promise of Aerosmith tickets, this is the perfect film to watch as the dark night gives way to dawn.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Quantum of Solace (2008)

This second outing for Daniel Craig as 007 definitely works better straight after seeing Casino Royale as it follows straight on from that film and all the little nods to it make much more sense and don't leave you hanging with questions.

Marc Forster's direction veers from the very good - all the quieter moments especially the dialogue and chemistry between Daniel Craig's Bond and Judi Dench's M and later with Giancarlo Giannini's returning Matthis - to the really quite poor - The first two action sequences are terribly edited with far too many cuts that they simply go by in a blur which isn't helped by the fact a rooftop chase is cut up by crowd scenes below and an action scene at an outdoor opera is cut into by scenes of the opera. Seriously. Who gives a damn about the opera when Bond is crashing about on gang planks back stage.

Other than that though it simply seemed to gel more than previous.

This viewing has consolidated it's position in fourth place for Craig. Far and away above the lacklustre SPECTRE.

[MrBarlow]

Demonoid. 1981.

Samantha Eggar and Ray Jenson are in Mexico doing some cave mining when they find some ash, take it home in a box and the ash forms a severed hand that is cursed and causes a few problems and deaths, another easy going simple tale. Not quite a original plot using a disembodied hand, the makers went in a different direction with a story so give them a hand...or not for creating a new horror. This might leave you with more questions than answers at times, it does throw you into the movie quite quickly and in some parts does drag on then it paces itself back up. Stuart Whitman is the reasonable man of god until he faces evil and becomes a bit more of a believer. This is one i'd happily return to.


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[MrBarlow]

Something Weird. 1967.

I do enjoy a Herschell Gordon Lewis film every once in a while, they aren't great and not terrible and not even big budget movies which can make them enjoyable enough, but this one certainly lives up to the title. Tony McCabe is a average Joe kind of guy who is disfigured in a car crash and pops off to see the local hag Elizabeth lee who gives him psychic powers and he uses them to help police solve crime.

The film features a paranormal plot involving LSD drug use, a psychic, a hideous witch who morphs into a sexy young woman, a seance, a kung-fu chopping socialite guy, ghosts, psychopaths and federal agents, so plenty of different elements crammed into 80 minutes of a film that even i'm questioning my own insanity of how I watched this one all the way through.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Model Shop (1969)

Gary Lockwood plays an unemployed architect about to have his car repossessed and set to be drafted to Vietnam in two days time. Scrounging for $100 to pay the finance company he briefly meets a beautiful woman (Anouk Aim?e) and follows her up to the Laurel Canyon hills before discovering she works in a tawdry model shop where customers can take erotic photos the the girls for a price.

French director Jacques Demy went to Los Angeles on holiday and fell in love with the place so much he made a film there. (I know how he felt) A film that captures the neo-realism of the city, beautifully evocative of it's time and place, especially in it's pop culture and the California sound which is heard here thanks to the soundtrack by Spirit.

Much of the film is focused on following Lockwood around the streets of the developing L.A. and it's here that the atmosphere really comes through with the city being the real star of the show. Although this isn't difficult as Lockwood has the personality of a pebble but thanks to studio interference was chosen above Demy's original choice - the then unknown Harrison Ford - whilst Aimee barely features during the first hour of this 90 minute movie.

Although the plot is slight i really enjoyed much of this film and it's not hard to see why it inspired the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Greta Gerwig with it's experimental vibe and Counterculture ideology.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Inside Out 2

I approached this with some trepidation because I think the first Inside Out film is one of Pixar's best, an intelligent, funny, and moving look into a child's mind while she navigates the emotional rollercoaster of moving from Minnesota to San Francisco. I've seen it several times and think it was one of the best films of 2015, one fully deserving its Best Picture Oscar nomination.

This sequel builds on the end of the first film, with Riley beginning puberty and her principal childhood emotions ? Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear, and Anger ? joined by newcomers Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui as Riley tries to negotiate the emotional stresses of a weekend hockey camp where she is torn between her two close friends and the popular high school hockey girls. (Nostalgia also appears from a side room several times but is told to go back inside because she is years too early.)

Whereas the first film had Bing Bong, Riley's childhood imaginary friend, to provide some levity and emotional depth, this has some wonderful characters from Riley's past: Bloofy, a Blue's Clues-inspired 2D character who frequently breaks the fourth wall, his talking bumbag Pouchy, similar to Dora the Explorer's Backpack, and Lance Slashblade, a video game character on whom Riley had a crush when she was younger. Together, they provide additional comic elements and, particularly Pouchy, a Deus ex machina device when Joy and the other principal emotions are in desperate trouble.

I thought this had the same intelligence and emotional depth of Inside Out, and the fact I cried several times is testament to Pixar's ability to tug at the heartstrings. It doesn't have the same amount of dramatic tension and the ending, though tearjerkingly beautiful, isn't quite as powerful as the 2015 film. It's also a shame that Bill Hader didn't reprise his role as Fear and was replaced by Tony Hale, but Hale is such a gifted (voice) actor that the change isn't noticeable.

There are a few films I want to see in the cinema, principally A Quiet Place: Day One and Despicable Me 4 but, if I can, this is one I want to rewatch on the big screen before buying it to watch a home; if you like the first Inside Out and Pixar films in general, then this is highly recommended.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Mandy (2018)

Okay so a rewatch last night.

Basically what happens is Andrea Riseborough laughs her head off when Ken Barlow's lad gets his cock out. Barlow jr then puts her in a sack hangs her from a tree then burns her alive much to the annoyance of Riseborough's hubby Nic Cage, who in turn goes all primal John Wick and kills everyone in brutal fashion under the glare of a two hour neon light show.

[nicholasrope]

Longlegs

A female FBI Agent investigates several murders involving families, she has a connection due to encountering a Devil Worshipping Nicholas Cage when she was younger. This was definitely the Nicholas Cage show, after looking the part, he was given full license to go fully deranged.

Anyway the Trailer gives the impression that it's a weird type of Horror Film, while there is some strangeness, it can be followed without racking your brain to understand it. There's some scenes of violence in a Film which falls into the I didn't love it nor did I dislike it, it's just one of those films.

Ong Bak

When a valuable statue is stolen from a Thai Village, Tony Jaa is sent to Bangkok to retrieve it. When arriving he meets up with a former villager and ends up battling the leading gangster. This is a really entertaining Film with some incredible fight scenes as well thrilling foot chases.

This needs a Blu-Ray release and/or box set. Perfect for 88 or Eureka.

Peacemaker

Russian Nukes are stolen and are heading for the U.S. so it's up to George Clooney and Nicole Kidman to prevent disaster. I remember buying the VHS back in 98 and watched it quite a few times, found the DVD recently and realized that I only remembered very little about it and it was still rather entertaining with George Clooney doing what he does best in the 90's