films we just saw

rawshark · Post by **rawshark** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:21 am

Cloverfield... Not quite brilliant then, but a very good fun movie...

So, we stayed for the end audio clip - er, what? However, I have just found out what it was / meant to be.

Slight Spoiler;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBHjgej9jp8

Team Banzai · Post by **Team Banzai** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:30 am

i think those same techy wizards are behind the un-veiling of the missing last words from lost in translation which is also over on you tube.

it does however kinda spoil the mystery!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MV7Sym8bIQ

lupogirl · Post by **lupogirl** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 2:59 pm

Thought Cloverfield was excellent. Not often you get a film which has air of mystery beforehand. Was not quite sure what to expect from it.

Turned out to be a very enjoyable, engrossing film. With a cast of unknowns to me. The rising panic and desperation of the characters. Very much liked how things were left unexplained. Won't say anything more........Really is worth a watch

Team Banzai · Post by **Team Banzai** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 3:20 pm

good call btw on MIRACLE MILE

a brilliant film - much recommended!

thesavageintruder · Post by **thesavageintruder** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:25 pm

Hurray, some love for MIRACLE MILE!! It is probably my favourite overlooked 80's movie. Anyone here who hasnt seen it, u can probably pick it up super-cheap on R1 DVD, though the awesome soundtrack on CD (by Tangerine Dream) remains a holy grail i still seek. The film itself is built on a fabulous plot hook - guy answers ringing pay phone and hears on the other end info suggesting a nuclear bomb is on its way to L.A., spends the rest of the movie unsure whether its a hoax while seeking out the girl he loves elsewhere in the city. It's got some great black humour, lotsa suspense and one of the most heart-breaking movie endings i have ever seen. Back in my uni days i showed it in one of the lecture theatres as part of a cult film night, and a mixed bunch of stoners, movie buffs and confused drop-ins seemed to appreciate it. In fact, that two dozen strong crowd was probably the biggest public audience the movie ever got, sigh!!

giles edwards · Post by **giles edwards** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:47 pm

Love Miracle Mile -- it's like Michael Mann making On the Beach. That's Steve De Jarnett, right? The Cherry 3000 guy? A man adrift in the 80s, perhaps the only decade that could contain him. I wonder what's happened to him.

Seems to be a buch of low-rent TV gigs and the odd X Files episode where he was a "creative consultant", whatever that really translates to.

What a shame.

Team Banzai · Post by **Team Banzai** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:17 pm

yay

i caught it at a mega memorable screening introduced by alan at a shock around the clock event on portobello road waaay back in the day. this may have been the only theatrical showing of this gem.

my memories of that event are argento, carnival of souls, highlander 2 promo reel (it looked great) and the fact that it was blisteringly hot inside the cinema.

streetrw · Post by **streetrw** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:51 pm

Team Banzai wrote:yay

i caught it at a mega memorable screening introduced by alan at a shock around the clock event on portobello road waaay back in the day. this may have been the only theatrical showing of this gem.

my memories of that event are argento, carnival of souls, highlander 2 promo reel (it looked great) and the fact that it was blisteringly hot inside the cinema.

That wasn't the only theatrical screening - it did actually get a cinema release (although not an especially wide one). I caught it again at the Portsmouth Rendezvous in early 1991, I believe (my database only lists first viewings and that was the fourth and final SATC). And the Tangerine Dream soundtrack is one of my favourite CDs.

My memories of SATC4 include MEET THE FEEBLES and the must-see-it-again HARDWARE. I think I got my programme signed by Argento; he was there for TWO EVIL EYES.

Team Banzai · Post by **Team Banzai** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:37 pm

yep.. meet the feebles - bloody great

and hardware - i remember attending a few screenings of that, each time with director richard stanley in attendance and each time with him cranking the various cinema sound systems up to 11 - deafening and uncomfortable, but obviously the way he likes it!

soulmining · Post by **soulmining** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:41 pm

Funny, the first thing I said to Steve (Festerin' Frank) after we saw Cloverfield yesterday was if it reminded him of Miracle Mile, especially the dash to make it to the helicopter rendezvous...

Miracle Mile is one of my all time top films... I saw it at Black Sunday and then again at the Duke's in Brighton when it got its limited theatrical release... it then became the holy grail on video as it only ever got a rental release and (to the best of my knowledge) has never been screened on terrestrial telly. I think I paid £20 to get an ex-rental copy at the time.

Sadly the R1 DVD release is full-screen, but hey, it's better than nothing at all...

Back to Cloverfield though, and I too really liked it, in fact I'm dying to go and see it again now. Maybe next week. I love the way the viewer is just placed in the centre of the action without any need for a backstory or explanation, you're just living in the moment. Great production design, helped by the shakycam so you never focus on anything for too long... also loved the way you got little snippets of the Coney Island footage. Shame there's to be a sequel, there's no need... it's so perfect as it stands.

I just hope we don't get too many copycat films now, although [Rec] does the same sort of thing equally well, if not better...

streetrw · Post by **streetrw** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:55 pm

Recent viewing, most of which seems to be riffing on other movies.

First is another dud Steven Seagal vehicle, but very slightly better than whatever the last one was. Flight Of Fury is a nonsensical mix of Broken Arrow and Stealth in which the tubby gravelly-voiced one stealths into Afghanistan to get back an invisible plane stolen by mad terrorists. It's not a patch on his glory days, though.

The Contractor is a Wesley Snipes action movie part-financed by Bulgaria and shot in the Elephant and Castle! It's actually quite fun, if a bit of a Shooter knock-off, but it's also rather silly, as agency hitman Snipes hides out with a schoolgirl when his assigned hit results in a manhunt. Good supporting cast: Ralph Brown, Charles Dance.

Returner is a Back To The Future / Terminator / ET hybrid from Japan in which a young woman travels back to the present to avert a future alien invasion and one-sided war. Drags a bit, and there are too many duff CG effects.

I vaguely enjoyed The Butcher as well, though it's a pretty thin horror yarn. It's knocking off Wrong Turn (itself a TCM copy) and has some graduating young people (in fetching but inappropriate clothing) meeting up with rural psychotics blah blah blah. Most notable is the main hunk type who's a complete idiot (first he says they shouldn't go into the deserted creepy farmhouse because it's always a bad idea in horror movies, then he wanders off into the pitch dark barn by himself) and is also so obnoxious and self-centred that when he gets impaled on a big pointy stick and chainsawed in half, it's somehow not enough.

In fact, the only semi-original movie I've watched this week is the first Pirates of the Caribbean which somehow bypassed me completely on its cinema release and I've only just caught up with on DVD. It's great rollicking fun though probably a bit long, and hasn't put me off seeing the two sequels at some point.

Davo · Post by **Davo** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:51 pm

b]Cloverfield[/b] is certainly gripping stuff, and I was surprised at just how grim it was overall, almost no humour or brevity, just straight ahead, relentless action after the opening.

The shakycam work is certainly effective in places, but frequently became nauseating for me rather than frightening. Thank god it's an economical 80 minute movie, I don't think I could handle two hours of that aesthetic..

Lovely to hear so much support for overlooked 'apocalyptic romance' Miracle Mile, which creates an incredible sense of panic and impending doom that is equally grim and despairing, but with a humanity and tenderness (and indeed quirkiness) that very few genre films seem to possess these days.

I wonder, would there be a place for quirky dreamers like the characters played by Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham in the GQ model- populated Abrams universe…?

Anyway, Giles referencing of Cherry 2000 and all this talk of Mile has got me thinking about other lost genre movies from the much-maligned 80s, quite a febrile period for whacked out SF/Fantasy as many FF posters I'm sure will agree..

Eccentric one-offs like the delightfully eccentric Creator, philosophical SF like the poignant Android,, The Brother From Another Planet and the AMAZING NZ dystopia flick The Quiet Earth (seek out immediately everyone) through to barmy as hell entertaining cinematic edam like Dreamscape, Ken Russell’s nonsensical and hugely entertaining Altered States. Even kiddie fare like My Science Project had a pre-Blue Velvet Dennis Hopper… !

Team Banzai · Post by **Team Banzai** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:17 pm

never seen the quiet earth - will check it out

dreamscape - great fun nonsense. i saw altered states at an amazing mini festival of 70mm delights at the much maligned marble arch odeon when it was one mega screen. other beauties screened included alien/aliens, i think die hard etc.. also a lot of the big press screenings used to happen there - including the doors, judge dredd, die hard 2...
bloody shame it became a multiplex nightmare.

giles edwards · Post by **giles edwards** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:54 pm

The Quiet Earth's about £3 in most stores -- it's on cheapie label Boulevard but seems pretty nifty.

Davo · Post by **Davo** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:40 pm

Three Quid? Superb. I shall replace my battered ol VHS accordingly..

It's a unique take on the 'last people on earth' story, and well worth anyone's time. The first half is very quirky, hippy cod-philosophical stuff full of unusual images and moments. The second half is less effective but it’s definitely a SF film to get you talking (with an utterly baffling final scene to boot!)

The film's director Geoff Murphy also made the considerably less philosophical (and hugely amusing) SF turkey FREEJACK..

Altered States in 70mm? you lucky man!