What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[sjconstable]

Deadpool (2016) - 4/5

It's amazing how well they can translate comic books directly to the screen now. A lot of fun with very well-done action sequences, go see it!

[iank]

I was going to see Deadpool this morning but bloody hell the cinema was absolutely packed. They were queueing out the door for it. I haven't seen it like that outside of school holidays. Does no one round here have a job?

I think I'll wait till the hoopla dies down a bit!

[J Harker]

The Revenant.
I actually watched this on the weekend but have been hoping that after a few days I'd be able to compose my thoughts a bit better.
Its long, its meandering. It takes its time and its not as if there's even much of a story to tell. But i thought it was bloody brilliant.
From what i gather its based on a book telling the supposedly true story of fur trapper Hugh Glass here played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Severely mauled by a grizzly Glass survives the ordeal just, but is then buried alive and left for dead by fellow trapper Tom Hardy. Managing to crawl from his grave Glass fights to survive and gradually recovers his health as he makes his way across hundreds of miles of unforgiving wilderness pursuing Hardys character.
What really makes this film for me is the absolutely incredible locations and scenery. Spectacularly filmed you can practically feel the snow falling. I've always had a soft spot for DiCaprio all the way back to Titanic and Tom Hardy is rapidly becoming one of my favourite actors. But this isn't a film about actors. It's about the visuals. Some of the cinematography is done in a way that seemed so three dimensional it was incredible. I'd highly recommend seeing this on a big screen if you still have opportunity.

[keirarts]

Venom

Watched this Tuesday evening while half asleep, a big mistake. Not the Ollie reed, Klaus Kinski killer snake movie (which is great in its own right) This one is made by Peter Sykes and plays like a hybrid of murder mystery, Crime thriller, fairy tail and folk horror as a tourist stumbles upon a town with a dark secret. Its full of odd moments and weird plot contrivances that make me want to watch it again purely to see how much of it was a dream.

Symphony in blood red

Not as good as the hype suggested, its an entertaining murder fest that attempts to resurrect the giallo. There's a fairly straightforward plot and lots of nasty murders with effects work courtesy of Sergio Stivaletti. Worth watching for the extended torture scene where the man screaming sounds like Homer Simpson. Unintentionally bonkers enough to have me in stitches

Forced entry

Hey, at least it isn't clown porn! Grimy, sleazy and genuinely vile, Forced Entry stars harry reems as a greasy vietnam veteran who enjoys a bit of breaking and entering. Extended hard core porn rape scenes ensue with a real harsh tone to them, it tries to make a point about Vietnam and free love that seems to disappear in between the depravity. The restored version looks beaten and grainy and adds to a real dark vibe to the film that puts it up there with the more gonzo stuff I saw in the back rooms of porn shops in Amsterdam. Recommended... sort of.

[Justin101]

Quite a varied few days of watching films, aside from Deadpool yesterday I also watched these since Tuesday afternoon.

Spotlight (2015)



A sensitive subject handled with good grace. This had the potential to be hard going and difficult to watch but you end up just rooting for the news team and against the Catholic church. Great performances throughout and an excellent dramatic direction.

4/5

Children of the Corn (1984)



Rose tinted glasses moment. I always thought that this was one of my favourite King adaptations, it turns out I was wrong! While it starts off pretty OK with the 2 adults in the car, and a tense scene at the gas station it quickly decends into precocious drama school kids over-acting as if their lives depended on it. Malachai for example, I always had him down as terrifying, perhaps as a Panto bad guy?

3/5

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)



A tour de force in film making, especially when you consider the year it was made. I would have scored this higher but I found it incredibly difficult to watch. The extreme close-ups of Joan crying take their toll. That being said the final 15 minutes were so awe inspiring when Joan tells the judges she only confessed for fear of death and that she must be executed after all. The ensuing burning followed by a riot had me on the edge of my seat!

4/5

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)



I once watched Don't Torture A Duckling in the 90's after only seeing the 4 really famous Fulci films of the late 70's and early 80's. I didn't like it, it wasn't what I expected. However after watching this film for the first time, I want to go back and watch it with adult's eyes. It's almost hard to believe that this film was made by the same man, it's so well made and competently directed. Now those zombie films have a fan base and I'm certainly in that camp but they are quite clumsy and that's part of the charm.
I really enjoyed this one and got a kick out of the London locations!

4/5

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

Quite a varied few days of watching films, aside from Deadpool yesterday I also watched these since Tuesday afternoon.

Spotlight (2015)



A sensitive subject handled with good grace. This had the potential to be hard going and difficult to watch but you end up just rooting for the news team and against the Catholic church. Great performances throughout and an excellent dramatic direction.

4/5

Is this in any way similar to The Paper? A film i saw at the cinema. Not in story terms but in the performance of Michael Keaton?

I really do need to get The Paper on dvd.

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Is this in any way similar to The Paper? A film i saw at the cinema. Not in story terms but in the performance of Michael Keaton?

I really do need to get The Paper on dvd.

I've never seen it! I'll check it out to be sure. To be honest Mark Ruffalo gets the most screen time.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

I've never seen it! I'll check it out to be sure. To be honest Mark Ruffalo gets the most screen time.

It probably isn't similar, because The Paper is quite funny.

[anythinggoes78]

Originally Posted by Justin101

Deadpool (2016)



I went to watch Deadpool today, I've got to say I really enjoyed it but I'm not familiar with the source material. A lot of reviews our there are quite split right down the middle between people who loved it and people who hated it. I don't read reviews before I've seen a movie and I was quite surprised to see that the reasons I liked it were the reasons why other people hated it... This is particularly down to the low-brow humour. Now I don't know if these people are being stuck up or whether they have a point, comparing it to the comic books.

If you're feeling open minded and want to see an anti-superhero movie with lots of blood and bad language then give it a go.

Im off to see it tomorrow with my daughter, looking forward to it as we love our comic book films, even if we are not really comic book nerds

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Crimes of the Black Cat (1972)

More moggies in this classy giallo from Sergio Pastore. This time without reference to Poe and the cat actually does commit murder. The cat's claws are dipped in curure and death is silent and instant when the skin is broken, leaving the police clueless. Blind pianist, Anthony Steffen, overhears a conversation with what seems to be the murderer of fashion models. Together with the help of Sylva Koscina and Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Steffen attempts to solve the crimes of the black cat...being giallo, nothing's ever that simple though.

I really like Crimes of the Black Cat. It's reasonably pacy, slightly sleazy, has a great cast and well written dialogue, not to mention one of the finest razor murders in the genre. It's that final kill in the shower, reminiscent of Psycho (1960), that stays with you long after the credits roll. It's nasty and savage and dares to take English actress Shirley Corrigan to places that Hitchcock feared to take Janet Leigh in a blood thirsty orgy of brutal gore.

The Hitchcock comparison suggests that Crimes of the Black Cat is derivative. It isn't even though it uses elements of more famous Gialli such as the fashion house back drop from Blood and Black Lace (1964) and the blind hero which seems to be lifted from Argento's The Cat O'Nine Tails from the previous year. Perhaps controversially i find this a superior film to Dario's effort.

Director Pastore makes Crimes of the Black Cat a superior genre piece thanks to the plot twists and genuinely odd moments, and indeed characters such as Giovanna Lenzi's Susan. A woman who practically floats around in her white hooded cape almost in direct contrast to the usual giallo murderer dressed all in black.

Crimes of the Black Cat is an excellent example of giallo film making. Recommended.

Footnote. The dvd i have is from the Italian company Dagored, more famous for music releases. The picture is widescreen and seems vhs sourced and is at times of poor quality in some longer shots. Overall it's quite watchable though. Where the film lacks in picture quality it makes up for in subtitles. They are perhaps the finest i've seen in an Italian genre film. Proper detailed conversations rather than the usual shorthand translations we generally get.
The release also comes with a nice fold out poster of the original artwork.