What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Grudge Match (2013)

Two retired boxers with a serious grudge against each other are coerced into a rematch some thirty years on.

What could have been a quite daft pitch is given a bit of gravitas by sticking boxing movie legends Stallone and De Niro in the ring together. There's a lot of fun to be had here with fine verbal sparring between the two prior to the final bout in the ring where they start knocking shit out of each other for real. Alan Arkin and Kevin Hart bring laughs to proceedings as Stallone's trainer and the fight promoter and a sub plot involving Kim Basinger and De Niro's estranged son add a little emotional impact but not enough to become annoying.

As far as great sporting movies go Grudge Match is never going to knock you out (ahem) but this entertaining film which pits Rocky against the Raging Bull might be worthy of your time.

[gag]

Originally Posted by MacBlayne

Prime eg of rubbish after first 3
And lets not also forget first 3 of these where good then went dire until they recently did the 4th true sequel

[iank]

Saw Bridge of Spies at the cinema today. Very well made and acted, but very slooooooooooooow and not really my cup of tea. Bring back funny 80s Tom Hanks!

[Frankie Teardrop]

CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE – Like the otherwise unrelated 'The Slayer', this is a film which I keep coming back to without quite knowing why. It's certainly not the jewel in the crown of Italian horror, although it does contain the odd spurt of glory. Stylistically gritty if a bit flat, it takes its time in getting going and always ends up leaving me feeling as though I'd been promised a little more than I got, which, when it comes down to it, is surely the essential attitude of exploitation filmmaking. It does feature the impeccable pairing of Johns Saxon and Morghen, and maybe that's enough. Actually, there are quite a lot of intriguing elements at work. 'Cannibal Apocalypse' plays for half its run time like a post-Nam drama, presumably keen to pick up on the vibes sent out by 'The Deer Hunter' and 'Apocalypse Now'. Saxon is an army sergeant trying to get over the trauma of being bitten by his colleague-turned-cannibal Back Over There. Morghen is on day release from 'The Hospital For Nervous Disorders' when he freaks out in a cinema and bites someone's throat out. After Saxon goes cannibal (yep, it was that bite I mentioned, cannibalism being viral and whatnot ), he pairs up with Morghen and they go on the run with a couple of flesh munching buddies. Cue shoot out in sewer, then tragic ending etc etc. Saxon's character makes for an interesting lead, in that he's a bit sleazy (as the teen next door finds out) and, well, basically turns into a cannibal killer for the last half hour, providing limited scope, you would suppose, for audience identification. Morghen is as creepily enticing as ever, and I can't imagine many people finding him all that likeable either. Both are good performers, although acting is the last reason anyone should have in mind when they turn to films like 'Cannibal Apocalypse'. So there's melodrama and tension and action and punch ups with bikers and it all works quite well. All in all, it's a good exploitation package which doesn't come up short when it comes to those certain 'yes!' moments like – Morghen and female accomplice looking sexily at each other as they cut some dude's leg up with a circular saw, cheered on by an explosion of disco on the soundtrack. Would that the whole lived up to these parts, but... it doesn't, sadly, and remains stuck in the realm of 'the pretty good'. But still I keep coming back for more, as if I'll ever find it.

[keirarts]

The Black Cat (fulci)

Like a lot of people here I've been giving Arrows new blu-ray set of Black cats a whirl. I needed something a little different to the solid hours of Halloween & Halloween bonus material I've been watching up until now through October.
So I decided to watch a slasher film with a cat. Ok that might be a Little unfair... actually no it isn't. It still FELT different, perhaps because I didn't want to pick Michael Myers up, give him a big hug and then feed him a tin of tuna, though given the wide variety of fans out there I'm sure there is someone out there that does.
For a while Black Cat was an underwhelming experience for me, perhaps it was my teenage gorehound phase where The Beyond, City of the Living dead ect appealed more for their explosive gore. Recently however, with the Shameless release and now this I find myself having a new-found appreciation for the kitty based occult slasher flick that I never had before.
Essentially its set in a small English Village that's being terrorised by a fluffy kitty that causes all manner of horrible accidents. As their police officer is Al Cliver, no one is the wiser until David Warbeck is called in from Scotland Yard and realises something is amiss. Mimsy Farmer plays an American photographer living over here who also realises something is amiss, mainly from her encounter with a spiritual medium who appears to have some kind of connection to the cat. I'm not sure if the medium is Supposed to be unhinged, but given his played by Patrick Magee that's how he comes across. I say this half jokingly as I really like Magee as an actor and he really steals this film. His character seems to have been keen on hypnosis porn (tragically a real thing but in jest here) as he attempts to 'woo' mimsy Farmer through the erotic powers of mind control, fortunately the Kitty in a rare act of heroism interrupts the rapey antics. It DOES somewhat explain how he managed to pull Dagmar Lassander as the plot indicates they once had a thing. Magee's character also has a thing about wandering graveyards trying to record the dead, as Stephen Thrower points out, its a great idea that goes nowhere and would be an interesting idea to revisit in itself.
David Warbeck called Black Cat "a mess", Fulci wasn't keen either and indicated he was working as a gun for hire for the producers. However a lot of Fulci's style is present throughout including some great camera work and set ups, and of course the ever present close up on the eyes. Re-visiting it, I realised I had almost forgotten what a rich, gothic atmosphere the film has, mixed in with a superb score from Pino Dinaggio who moves from suspense to a score that at points feels more British Folk! The cat stuff itself is actually pretty good as well. Cats are notoriously difficult to work with. Perhaps it's due to the fact that most of the stunts here require it to cause mayhem. Arrows Transfer is f*****g marvellous, the film is still not in the pantheon of total classics from Fulci however its a lot better than its reputation suggests. Certainly the lovely transfer goes some way to selling the picture. Definitely glad to re-visit this one!

[keirarts]

Your vice is a locked room & only I have the key

You just f******g know your in giallo territory with a title like this. Here we follow washed up writer Oliviero who spends more time beating his wife Irina and lusting after other women than he does writing new books. He seems to have hit a dry spot since getting married and now spends most of his time either womanising or drowning himself in the Italian whiskey of choice J&B. There's a bunch of 'Yoof' hanging round the estate with the happy couples blessing and a maid who they sensitively refer to as 'the negro' and variously other racist terms, just keep telling yourself it was the 70's. Someone is butchering ladies locally and Oliviero comes under suspicion as he was banging one of the victims. Things come to a head when the maid is butchered and Irena suspects Oliviero but he denies it. Irena, apparently out of fear, decides to go ahead with a plan of bricking her up in the wine cellar in order to avoid more police hassle. Ultimately the real killer is apparently caught and things go back to dysfunctional normality until Oliviero's niece
Floriana turns up and throws things into turmoil. first she starts by banging Irena then Oliviero, because f*****g your niece is never creepy (though it is Edwige Fenech!). Pretty soon the mind games between the three commence.
For me this is one of Sergio Martino's best Giallo's. As an adaptation of the Black cat it really works and manages to weave in a lot of the plot points from the story with a neat twist. The final twist in the tale is a little implausible but having watched many giallo before this isn't entirely unexpected. check out The editor a film that does a great job parodying the conventions of the giallo picture. Martion directs with great style and all the cast have a real chemistry with each other that really captivates. Arrows Transfer is lovely and tops even noshames with ease. a genuine classic given great treatment!

[Graeme73]

Originally Posted by gag

I know we all disagree on Downlaoding but be honest reason why people do it is because if you was a family and three 3kids it would literaly cost a arm and leg to take them, 5people prices food etc you be easily talking round £50 mark. I know quite a few people who like to go cinema but wont and are put off by the prices, Like owt else years ago it was all about the fun experience of watching it on big screen. Now is all about raking in money, lets be fair if they brought the prices down to eg say £5 more people would go and more often, and think about it if more people went fuller screen showings instead of half empty or of 5ppl actual meams more money would be made, i once went with my ex wife and there was 2 other people. I certainty would go more often for sure.
And as for the food prices i for certain would never buy anything sneak my own pop and bag of sweets for a £1 from poundland or somewhere.

Couldn't agree more. It's a shame, because if the prices were more reasonable, I'd love to take my two more often. As it is, a trip to the flicks is a treat, rather than the norm, and then only for the 'must see' films. The last one was Jurassic World. The next one will be Star Wars. I hate to see empty theatres, especially when films have just opened, but surely they're shooting themselves in the foot...

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

It's been a long time since I watched Fulci's The Black Cat, but when I reviewed the Shameless DVD, I wrote this:

"I was almost driven to distraction by the constant close-ups of eyes and rather than the traditional shot – reverse shot, Fulci often shows two of these, so four close-ups of eyes. I lost count very early of these and, to satisfy my own curiosity, watched it again with a sheep counter to add up the number of ‘eye shots’. In under 90 minutes, there are a staggering 108!"

It will be interesting to watch it again and see if I like it more than I did all those years ago.

[Graeme73]

Finally managed to find a decent copy of The Green Inferno online (I would have paid to see it, but hey, it's not on general release over here).

Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. Won't go into details here, obviously. Suffice to say it's a good homage to what influenced Roth, but not quite up there with them. It doesn't disappoint on gore (the first death is particularly gory), and what the girls experience, I also found congruent with elements of the originals. That said, strangely, I didn't feel as much tenseness as I'd expected to i.e. what I experienced watching Roth's Hostel, and it also felt a bit too short - could have done with another half hour.

Nevertheless, a very good film: 8/10

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Graeme73

Finally managed to find a decent copy of The Green Inferno online (I would have paid to see it, but hey, it's not on general release over here).

Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. Won't go into details here, obviously. Suffice to say it's a good homage to what influenced Roth, but not quite up there with them. It doesn't disappoint on gore (the first death is particularly gory), and what the girls experience, I also found congruent with elements of the originals. That said, strangely, I didn't feel as much tenseness as I'd expected to i.e. what I experienced watching Roth's Hostel, and it also felt a bit too short - could have done with another half hour.

Nevertheless, a very good film: 8/10

Should i assume you can't actually say where you managed to see this mate?