What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nordicdusk

I only have the opium Blu Ray myself

[Nordicdusk]

Grand I spelt something wrong Christ sake at least I tried to be bloody be helpful instead of ignoring someone's post.

[Justin101]

My brain autocorrected it as optimum anyway

I've never seen the film, or owned any iteration of it I'm afraid, was never intrigued by the 'New French Extremity' movement so never bothered with any of them

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

John Wick (2014)

Keanu Reeves was sliding slowly away following the release of final Matrix film Revolutions and into that netherworld of obscurity his career always ended up until some shit hot action film (Point Break, Speed, The Matrix) brought him kicking and screaming back into the public's conscious, and then in 2014 suddenly he's back tearing up the screen in a masterclass of bullet strewn violence once more.

For some reason i'd got it into my head that i didn't rate John Wick and due to this have deliberately avoided the sequels and never bothered to even rewatch this until last night. Eleven f*cking years!

There's not much in the way of plot - Some Russians he used to work for kill his dog, so Wick kills them, and that's it basically, yet somehow it works where the plot heavy Man from U.N.C.L.E., from the same time, for example, didn't.

The film is an assault on the senses from start to finish. Turn up the volume and let the sub woofer throw you from your couch as the bullets scream, cars roar, neon lights tear at your eyeballs and Marilyn Manson's excellent Killing Strangers brutally pounds your eardrums to mush. John Wick isn't a film for sensitive souls, nor for next door neighbours.

And those neighbours are really going to be woken up as i have three new John Wick movies i need to get hold of quick sharp.

[Justin101]

I've not gotten around to watching the 4th one yet, but I really enjoyed the 2nd and 3rd ones.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

John Wick (2014)

Keanu Reeves was sliding slowly away following the release of final Matrix film Revolutions and into that netherworld of obscurity his career always ended up until some shit hot action film (Point Break, Speed, The Matrix) brought him kicking and screaming back into the public's conscious, and then in 2014 suddenly he's back tearing up the screen in a masterclass of bullet strewn violence once more.

For some reason i'd got it into my head that i didn't rate John Wick and due to this have deliberately avoided the sequels and never bothered to even rewatch this until last night. Eleven f*cking years!

There's not much in the way of plot - Some Russians he used to work for kill his dog, so Wick kills them, and that's it basically, yet somehow it works where the plot heavy Man from U.N.C.L.E., from the same time, for example, didn't.

The film is an assault on the senses from start to finish. Turn up the volume and let the sub woofer throw you from your couch as the bullets scream, cars roar, neon lights tear at your eyeballs and Marilyn Manson's excellent Killing Strangers brutally pounds your eardrums to mush. John Wick isn't a film for sensitive souls, nor for next door neighbours.

And those neighbours are really going to be woken up as i have three new John Wick movies i need to get hold of quick sharp.

Oh you're in for some entertainment there Dem. Like you I'd watched the first one only the once a number of years ago and didn't think it was anything special. A rewatch last year changed my mind even though my biggest niggle is still there. The sequels and the expanding world mythology are fantastic though, there's no pretense or deep plotting but they still feel more engaging than any number of so called thinking man's action films. The spin-off origin series The Continental is also excellent and I'm really looking forward to Ballerina.

https://youtu.be/0FSwsrFpkbw?si=RP8ZqIx8Lax6UZym

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

Oh you're in for some entertainment there Dem. Like you I'd watched the first one only the once a number of years ago and didn't think it was anything special. A rewatch last year changed my mind even though my biggest niggle is still there. The sequels and the expanding world mythology are fantastic though, there's no pretense or deep plotting but they still feel more engaging than any number of so called thinking man's action films. The spin-off origin series The Continental is also excellent and I'm really looking forward to Ballerina.

https://youtu.be/0FSwsrFpkbw?si=RP8ZqIx8Lax6UZym

That looks good to me. I had no idea there was another film coming.

A nice five movie Blu-ray box set will be nice for Christmas.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

That looks good to me. I had no idea there was another film coming.



A nice five movie Blu-ray box set will be nice for Christmas.

Looks fantastic doesn't it.

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

This one i really didn't get on with first time round but i still picked it up on Blu-ray from Poundland a few years ago and now have got round to actually watching said Blu.

It's a strange film, unrelentingly dark, i don't think there's even the merest hint of humour anywhere in this two hour film, and yet i enjoyed it so much more this second time.

It's desperate to be a hard boiled P.I. story from the forties, probably with Robert Mitchum or Alan Ladd in the lead rather than Liam Neeson but it's 2014, not 1942 and neither of those two are available. Neeson's actually fine as the weary looking private detective on a case for Dan Steven's drug trafficker who has his wife kidnapped and held for ransom by seemingly rogue D.E.A. agents - that's just the start, it gets deeper after this - it's a pretty meaty, talky role for an actor normally associated with shit kicking action in recent years, and i think it's this lack of action that made me not like it to begin with.

The film often ventures albeit fleetingly into torture porn, including the opening credits where you think it's two people making love in close up until you see images of the gag over the woman's mouth and the fact she's strapped to a plastic covered table, basically it starts as it means to go on.

It all adds to the bleak yet gripping atmosphere on offer, an atmosphere that doesn't dissipate as the end credits roll thanks to a beautifully performed torch ballad version of Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun by Swann Feat. Nouela. A Walk Among the Tombstones is a very apt title for this movie.

[SymbioticFunction]

Originally Posted by Justin101

My brain autocorrected it as optimum anyway

I've never seen the film, or owned any iteration of it I'm afraid, was never intrigued by the 'New French Extremity' movement so never bothered with any of them

Switchblade Romance is brilliant up until the twist ending. That renders everything you've just watched completely redundant, it actually stone cold kills the film. Similar examples of films that do this would be Identity or John Carpenter's The Ward. Apologies to fans of Switchblade!

Edit: The subs are also massive on the Optimum bd, no idea about the Second Sight version.