What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by iank

10 Things I Hate About You. Back in the days of yore, in a time when Hollywood comedies were actually funny and witty and clever rather than just crass and vulgar to make up for a complete lack of intelligence, they made a sort of thin "reimagining" of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew with Heath Ledger, Julia Styles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the lovely Larissa Oleynik. And yay, it was funny and witty and clever and sweet, in a way that, with all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, just does not seem to get made anymore. Or to put it another way, I laughed my ass off at this last night. Something of a classic.

One of the best, and obviously people also forget that Clueless was a similar re-imagining of Jane Austen's Emma, which is also a cracking 90's comedy.

[Dave Boy]

SUPERMAN THE MOVIE (1978)

For me, the best ever Superman film and the best Superman in Christopher Reeve. This is straight out of the comics and the casting is all round excellent. Who can forget Lois Lane's night flight with Superman?
The opening titles with John Williams score sends a shiver down the spine.
Awesome !

[gag]

Originally Posted by Dave Boy

SUPERMAN THE MOVIE (1978)

For me, the best ever Superman film and the best Superman in Christopher Reeve. This is straight out of the comics and the casting is all round excellent. Who can forget Lois Lane's night flight with Superman?
The opening titles with John Williams score sends a shiver down the spine.
Awesome !

Couldnt agree more, even if they casted the perfect role for superman they would just balls the film up with loads of cgi and action, ive always moaned they dont make films like this these days, films use to be films, now its all how much crash bang wallop, more bigger and better souless action, can you cram into a film, cgi, huge budget, who who in the film, but thin on plot, story, character building, tbh i hate most Blockbuster / hollywood films nowadays.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by gag

Couldnt agree more, even if they casted the perfect role for superman they would just balls the film up with loads of cgi and action, ive always moaned they dont make films like this these days, films use to be films, now its all how much crash bang wallop, more bigger and better souless action, can you cram into a film, cgi, huge budget, who who in the film, but thin on plot, story, character building, tbh i hate most Blockbuster / hollywood films nowadays.

You're watching the wrong films! They tend to be better (quality wise) I've found if they are from continental or Eastern Europe – including Turkey – and are subtitled.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

You're watching the wrong films! They tend to be better (quality wise) I've found if they are from continental or Eastern Europe – including Turkey – and are subtitled.

Cheers but im not, hence did say hate most Hollywood/Blockbuster films so cos i have a disliking for them i generally avoid or dont watch them, has to really grab me nowadays, love watching korean and j horror, and subtitled films in general.

Point what im trying to say is these type of films even if good are are pretty poor by todays standards, compared to how films use to be. I think Hollywood etc gone down hill in film standards (dont get me wrong still some fantastic films about) that its become the norm for a film to be rubbish or for you to be disappointed.

Years ago going video shop you could spend a hour trying to find what to watch because so many films took youre fancy and bob told you so and so film was good, you would wade through lots of good films to find a bad one,
Nowadays most people complain so and so film rubbish, you watch more films that you dislike one way or other to find one that you really like.
Hence why a higher % of most film collections consists of older films from years ago or before year 2000, with odd exception of j horror and french korean etc films
But im mainly talking about Blockbuster / Hollywood films in general, not the whole film industry etc
There is some fantastic films out there to be found you just have to stray a little from mainstream.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Raid (2011)

A second viewing of this action spectacular and whilst i enjoyed it a lot more than the first time i saw it, The Raid is a film i still feel is full of flaws.

Following a gripping opening hour we seem to fall into a trap of seemingly endless video game style hand to hand combat. Where in the opening half, bad guys were dealt with by single blows or stabs for example, the second half just goes on and on. The same three characters punching, throwing, kicking, each other with no seeming effect. The chief bad ass even gets a glass fluorescent tube stabbed into his neck with blood spurting everywhere but still he fights on as if it were merely a scratch. Realism that was apparent early doors was discarded completely.

This switch in tone doesn't work in my opinion and really lets down a film that had action classic stamped all over it up to the hour.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The Raid (2011)

A second viewing of this action spectacular and whilst i enjoyed it a lot more than the first time i saw it, The Raid is a film i still feel is full of flaws.

Following a gripping opening hour we seem to fall into a trap of seemingly endless video game style hand to hand combat. Where in the opening half, bad guys were dealt with by single blows or stabs for example, the second half just goes on and on. The same three characters punching, throwing, kicking, each other with no seeming effect. The chief bad ass even gets a glass fluorescent tube stabbed into his neck with blood spurting everywhere but still he fights on as if it were merely a scratch. Realism that was apparent early doors was discarded completely.

This switch in tone doesn't work in my opinion and really lets down a film that had action classic stamped all over it up to the hour.

Yes see what you mean, as much the film concept is kinda none stop roller coaster action, a little bit of realism wouldnt go amiss as well, doesnt matter how good, tough, or hard you are if someone stabbed something into youre neck chances are you wouldn't last much longer to carry on a fight even if by chance you survived..
And sometimes just a tadge realism in a film can make a whole lot of difference.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by MacBlayne

What's John Grisham got to do with football hooligans?

Why I oughta!!

The Singing Ringing Tree (1957, Francesco Stefani)

Due to the Marxist enclave at the BBC which gave us all those wonderful Eastern Bloc kids programmes, I still have fond memories of being terrified of dwarves as a child. Watching this now (Network's restoration looks vibrant imho), it is easier to see that the titular plant is a metaphor for Communism. And why not?? Watched it with the rather plummy BBC "narration" to see if it sparked any memories. It didn't .


The Offence (1972, Sidney Lumet)

The film you should all rave about instead of Zardoz .
A child killer is on the loose, and Sgt Thompson thinks they've caught their man??
As British as fried fish (except for the director!! Nurse!!), this is a film I come back to again and again. Even watched it with my mother once (but then I watched La Luna with ma, and her comments during that were priceless). Possibly I should mention that it's Connery, S. as the bobby cough.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Earth Dies Screaming (1964)

When you think of Terence Fisher, one of British cinemas greats in my opinion you should instantly think of his Hammer film catalogue - Dracula, The Mummy, Curse of Frankenstein and The Devil Rides Out - are all part of a significant canon of classic British horror films directed by Fisher. Among all the Hammer was this curio, The Earth Dies Screaming. A science fiction gem that is often overlooked.

Clocking in at a mere 61 minutes the film romps along following a small band of survivors after an unexplained event left the country's population dead. However this disparate group are not alone as alien robots are also stalking the countryside.

Following one of the most downbeat openings i can recall, Fisher throws us straight into a 70's Doctor Who adventure as it utilizes much of the aspects of 70's Who. The sleepy English village, a race against time,walking corpses, Cybermen...but Fisher and script writer Harry Cross gave us this well before Doctor Who even thought of these ideas, making The Earth Dies Screaming something of a visionary piece of British sci-fi.

Cross's script is simple but intelligent. We don't get any answers as to why and how events took place nor who or what the robots are. Like the characters, we just know they did take place. Also the resolution is worked out through guess work and understanding communication methods rather than on an interplanetary scale.

It's not all brilliant, though much of it is. Lead actress Virginia Field appears to play her role in slow motion, especially when pursued and... No, that's about it. The Earth Dies Screaming is actually rather brilliant.

[Buboven]

Despite all the controversy and fuss over the transfers of the Female Scorpion films I am so glad I bought the set, I really really like all the films in the series so far, with my favourite being Beast Stable.

Female Scorpion 701 - 8/10

Jailhouse 42 - 8/10

Beast Stable - 9/10