What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Buboven]

Body Bags (1993)

Enjoyed this more than the original Creepshow! First segment isn't particularly great but the ls two are good fun and the wrap around is performed well by Carpenter.

8/10.

[keirarts]

Unearthly Stranger.

British scientists are looking into the theory of Astral projection for space travel. Scientists in America and Russia have both died mysteriously researching the same concept. Meanwhile the new head of the British division has a mysterious new wife he met in Switzerland...

This is a minor gem of British Sci-Fi, that like a lot of British output lacked the budget to go toe-to-toe with it's American rivals so instead relies on a great script and direction. The film is mainly about cold war paranoia and 'the hidden enemy' however it could also be read as a comment about gender issues with its all male science team and the 'unearthly female' that seems to be alien to them. Or as usual I could be reading too much into this stuff.


Empire of the ants.

Not much to read into here. Ants grow huge, terrorise Joan collins. Perfect trashy AIP entertainment from Bert I Gordon that makes up its shortcomings by being wildly entertaining. The shout! blu-ray looks fantastic as well. Got a bit tired so unable to watch its double bill JAWS OF SATAN but finishing work early today so shall watch it then.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Nine (2009)

Disappointing musical from Rob Marshall, the director of the excellent Chicago.

Set in the mid 60's, it follows Italian film maker Guido Contini as he struggles to harmonize his professional and social lives. Starring Daniel Day Lewis as Guido, Marshall's film focuses on the many women in his life from his wife and mistress to his mother and muse.

The film is very stylish as one would expect and features some great location work in Rome and legendary Italian film studio Cinecitta. Unfortunately it really is a case of style over substance as the story is a little on the dull side and is only livened up by the musical numbers mainly performed by the women in Guido's life.

And what women they are! Marshall's cast is outstanding - Penelope Cruz, kate Hudson, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Fergie, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren. These musical numbers especially the ones performed by Cruz, Cotillard, Fergie and Hudson are bold, flashy, sexually charged highlights, yet even these, more often than not are let down by not having particularly memorable songs.

The huge cast is also problematic, with Kidman, Hudson and Fergie not getting nearly enough screen time i felt, especially Fergie whose raunchy delivery of Be Italian deserved more and Hudson who with the song Cinema Italiano, delivers the catchiest sing a long moment.

Nine could have been excellent, there's a whiff of something great happening, after all, 60's Italian cinema is something the majority of us here have some interest in. It's just a shame that there's no real cohesion or strong storyline to proceedings, meaning it's all a bit of a let down.

Here's Kate Hudson singing Cinema Italiano.



And Fergie performing Be Italian.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Nine (2009)

It's been a long time since I saw Nine but, like you, I was disappointed as it felt baggy, disjointed and generally a waste of the on-screen talent. It did look fantastic, but the strange blend of music and drama, which worked so well in Chicago, just didn't function here. It seemed as if he was trying to do a musical version of 8½ but, though Rob Marshall has a lot of skill, he is no Federico Fellini!

[Justin101]

I always wanted to watch Nine and never got around to it, I might not after reading that though

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

I always wanted to watch Nine and never got around to it, I might not after reading that though

It is worth watching because it is a terrific visual spectacle and, if I remember correctly, there are some good songs, but watch it with low expectations.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

It is worth watching because it is a terrific visual spectacle and, if I remember correctly, there are some good songs, but watch it with low expectations.

It may well improve with familiarity. I was listening to the two songs as i was posting them and thought i'd give the film another go in another couple of months.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

It may well improve with familiarity. I was listening to the two songs as i was posting them and thought i'd give the film another go in another couple of months.

Mark Kermode didn't think much of Inside Llewyn Davis but, after listening to the soundtrack a few times in the car, revisited the film and liked it much more than the first time he saw it, so sometimes that can be the case.

[keirarts]

Jaws of Satan

Blimey! Just when you think you have seen the oddest stuff out there you catch a film that boasts of being a mixture of Jaws (but with snakes) and the Omen.
A train wheels into a small town, everyone on board is dead or dying. The local doctor believes, quite rightly it turns out that a giant cobra is on the loose. Something is odd with the local snake population that seems to be encouraging the local snake population to get bitey. Meanwhile the local priest discovers all this might be a plot by Satan because his ancestors persecuted druids and helped St Pat chase the serpents out of Ireland. Regardless, the mayor wants it all hushed up as he's got a greyhound track opening and is keen to make some cash from the takings!
Needless to say the film is a bit odd and all the various stuff happening means its all a little disjointed and frankly bizarre. However its also quite a lot of fun and has plenty of killer snakes. Certainly it was out there enough for me to enjoy it. Interestingly it has a VERY young christina applegate in an early role as well. Overall its worth seeking out.

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE REINCARNATION OF SEX – Not that you should care, but I've been reduced to watching freebies on 'YouTube' recently due to compromised funds. Really need to can the fags and booze for a bit and get back into the realms of healthy stuff like bluray / DVD combo binging. Anyway, I was alerted to 'The Reincarnation of Sex' by the Bleeding Skull website, which has served me pretty well over the years with its constant excavation of freaky oddities – so thank you people, if nothing else you have brought a long forgotten Brazilian semi-porno about a talking plant to the attention of another guy with too much time on his hands. Despite being a bit put off by its silly title, 'The Reincarnation of Sex' got the better of me simply by being ten times sillier than its title could ever suggest. I'm being a bit cavalier and possibly quite ignorant in saying this, because I watched it without subtitles. There is a chance that it harbours mysteries of which I know nothing. There is a chance that, contained within the dialogue flying around between grunting bodies and psychic Rhododendrons is a revelatory force which pieces together all the bad shag moments into something that not only makes sense, but is a poignant and penetrating treatise on the human condition. But - I really, really doubt it. And I know gonzoid trash when I see it. So I'm prepared to believe 'The Reincarnation of Sex' to be a thoroughly incoherent stab at sexy gore and leave it at that. OK, well the 'plot' is basically about a house where a guy is beheaded after messing with a farmer's daughter or something. The guy's head gets buried beneath a pot plant, which then develops psychic abilities as evinced by its weird echoey voice. The plant seems to like to to incite any new occupants of the house (we go through at least three or four cycles of fresh tenants) to sex and murder whilst the ghost of the farmer's daughter (was there ever really a farmer in it? Who cares) wanders around brandishing a knife. You'll probably already know whether you can stomach it or not. It didn't entirely set me alight, but then again I did watch it at three in the morning, pissed, after that Denzel Washington flick about the drunken aviator, who, despite being an arrogant narcissist, turns out to be a hero when he redeems his humanity in an act of self destructive honesty. Denzel, you didn't exactly prime my headspace, man. I digress. 'The Reincarnation of Sex' has a certain sensibility – quite early eighties Euro gothic, a bit too flat to be Fulciesque, but kind of in the same area. The silliness, the giddy lack of cohesion, felt good at first but then got a little grating. And the sex just seemed a bit pointless, because, well, on-screen shagging is pretty boring unless it's particularly ornamental or just mental – in this case, most of it was simply shagging, although granted, there was a nasty bit with a dildo which was quite good. I also could've done with a bit more sinister plant and a bit more gore. But hey, I'm being a little mean. It's good to know that films like this exist, that upturned stones still send a few wonky looking insects scurrying out into the light.

THE HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS – The other thing I'm doing now is basically rewatching some of my old stuff until I can afford to buy some new. It strikes me that I almost never go back to well over half of the films I've seen, and have probably only watched most of the remainder a couple of times max. I think this is my third outing with THWLW, a film I've never really gotten along with in the past. Pleased to say though, it does grow on me a little more every time I check it out. I really dig 'Zeder', and today I was reminded of why. You probably all know the plot, but, just in case, an arts conservationist arrives in a small town on an island and begins work on the restoration of a painting in a chapel. The painting and its 'author' are surrounded by mystery and ill boding. After his friend is killed, conservationist guy has to delve deep into the small town's troubled past, and the darkness comes closing in. THWLW is a languid slow burn as hazy as its rustic setting, but it does reward patience. It hangs the broad canvas of a murder mystery around a succession of 'moments', passages whose eerie qualities transcend mere narrative concerns. The murder mystery itself, which isn't quite Giallo in nature despite THWLW being of a similar ilk, is a bit lack lustre in its unfolding and doesn't really make much sense in the end. But again, as with so much Italian product of the era, there's a dissociation between this film's 'rational', story telling aspect and its images and atmospheres. Like the final reveal – pretty lame on one level, but totally crazy in terms of how it's delivered. THWLW's strength lies in those scenes which achieve a really odd mood without being obvious – for instance, the one where conservationist's new hottie lurches into an account of a dream about eating a load of snails, then nonchalantly reveals her fridge to be full of yucky, yep, snails. There's lots of atmospheric detail – figures in silhouette, shadows behind curtains, arms of unknown provenance reaching out from doorways... and the film's titular image – red lips painted across the boarded up windows of an abandoned house – what was that all about? 'What was that all about?' is actually a fitting epitaph for THWLW, a film whose real mystery shares its essence with that mad painter's weird pictures. If it were not for some of the pacing and occasional moments of clunkiness, I'd be a hundred percent sold. As it is, I hope I get to arrange a return visit sometime soon.