films we just saw

Chat here about anything horror related. Be it movies, news, remakes or events.
Grindhouse
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Post by Grindhouse »

if your in the mood for some nonsenical horror hokum on the high seas,then you cant do much worse than virus,im a sucker for these flicks :D.
So i often used to wonder what happened to Mark13 after Hardware or the robots from Runaway,or the techno wizardry of Gunhed and maybe even Death Machine,and in Virus they are here,like an fx guys scrapyard and just thrown into a movie thats heaps of fun,only thing is from 1998 to 2002 it seems technology took a step back on the UK R2 disc,no Dolby digital or DTS tracks no extras in fact its stupidly 2.0 stereo and bare bones for a teaser trailer,must seek out the region 1 with the extras and its about time companies stopped releasing shoddy dvds.
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ghouldrool
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Post by ghouldrool »

Jimmy and Judy
had to happen eventually. a video diary disaffected teen couple movie. Fairly ok with a decent turn from William Sadler towards the end.
fairly self indulgent central couple though.

Factory Girl
One is just left with an overwhelming sense of "why bother?" in this hackneyed feeling tale of Andy Warhol's some time muse. A largely negative picture of Warhol is painted but the performance by Guy Pearce is great. An odd turn from Anakin Skywalker as not-bob dylan stands out against the plodding turn from Sienna Miller.

Halloween Night
blissfully shite Asylum production which often feels improvised.

Eric Roberts, Episode 55: Graves End
In his quest to make the world better Eric Roberts has created his very own town which dispenses with the criminal element hounded out of other towns.
Along comes a rogue FBI guy to open up old wounds regarding Eric's kidnapped then killed son.
The plot twists and turns quite cleverly and by the end the good guys are the bad guys and the bad guys are really the good guys. Well the closest you can get to good guys.
Some camp moments abound when the villainous henchman is on screen and there are som jarring moments of gore.
And happily Eric lives to act another day.

Time has not been kind to Animal House. Its position as a minor classic and its influence cant be argued against i spose. But its not exactly side splitting.

Flesh for the Beast
No. Seriously just stop. Put me out of my misery.
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Bearded Avenger
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Post by Bearded Avenger »

streetrw wrote:
Grindhouse wrote:i am starting to worry about your sanity Richard :)
You may be too late. However, the next batch looks to be much more promising: all British genre movies from the 70s that I've never seen before.

A pair of British movies from the 60s that I had seen before, although many years ago: Dr Who And The Daleks and Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD, in which Peter Cushing played a human scientist actually called Dr Who. (Though I don't think the BBC version had invented Time Lords at that point.) I've never seen the Hartnell originals, assuming they still even exist - but the things the films have that the TV shows didn't were scope (they're in 2.35:1!!!), money (production values are pretty good, particularly in the second one) and most importantly - colour. The Dalek City in the first movie is a fabulous riot of colour that makes Suspiria look like - well, Hartnell era Dr Who, actually. Both movies are generally entertaining if you can get past the awkward comedy bits (Roy Castle in particular in the first movie) and the second does have Bernard Cribbins in it - plus it's set in a ruined, post-apocalyptic future London and Bedfordshire. Which is always a plus, considering I live there.
I'm pretty sire that the BBC version featrued the concept of Time Lords straight from the start. Hammer were just able to do what they wanted.
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Post by Laymonite »

The Doctor is never referred to as a Time Lord in the early episodes and the Time Lords themselves aren't named. He just refers to him and his grand daughter being outcasts from their home and people. There's another Time Lord in the story The Time Meddler, but I've not seen it yet so I don't know if the title of Time Lord ever gets mentioned.

I may be wrong, but I don't think the Time Lords get properly introduced until Patrick Troughton's last story, The War Games. I know for sure that their planet isn't mentioned by name (Gallifrey) until The Time Warrior, quite late into Jon Pertwee's era.
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AndyJWS
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Post by AndyJWS »

That be it, and "regeneration" was only introduced as such with Planet of the Spiders (leading to some fans who claim that Troughton/Pertwee was never a full regeneration!)

Although I think the Meddling Monk was referred to as a Time Lord in the novels, I'm pretty sure he wasn't onscreen, like you said :)
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Post by ghouldrool »

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and her Lover
Very classy production this. Indulgences abound. Glorious sets full of objects and life. Performances are pitch perfect. The costumes are fantastic and the music is dreamy (apart from the repeated choirboy solos - urgh).
Michel Gambon plays a kind of evil Thatcherite Del Boy gangster who lords it nightly at his fave restaurant. Helen Mirren his long suffering wife begins a doomed affair with a patron of the eaterie and things darkly progress pretty much as expected. It just all done with such style.

Soul Man
I can imagine this being a tad controversial at the time. These days it really seems quite tame. These days though it would be a much worse movie.
C. Thomas Howell at his most likeable blacks up to improbably gain a scholarship to fund his years at Harvard. Rae Dawn Chong plays the rightful receipent who naturally captures Howells heart.
The comedy would have worked better under one of the key 80s comedy people but under steve miner its just passable stuff on the comedy score.
A pretty good movie if you can swallow disbelief.

Mother of Tears
And you might well be in tears by the end of this. Its a tad closer to older Dario than his more recent stuff.
Doesnt make it any easier to sit through as Asia's voice and performance is amazingly annoying.
A japanese witch provides even more irritation but gets a good gory death. I would go as far as to say the gore moments are the only stand out moments of the movie.
So the most evil and powerful witch ever can be defeated by burning her Top Shop top. right.
And are they laughing at the audience in the very last seconds?
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sherbetbizarre
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Post by sherbetbizarre »

ghouldrool wrote: Soul Man
I can imagine this being a tad controversial at the time. These days it really seems quite tame. These days though it would be a much worse movie.
These days they'd do it the way Tropic Thunder has done it!
Mother of Tears
A japanese witch provides even more irritation
She was the best thing in it! :P
Grindhouse
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Post by Grindhouse »

Theres just something about undead nazis that never fails to excite the imagination,so along comes Outpost from its short release at the cinemas to dvd,it gets a lot right for its small budget,but just falls short of what could have been a genre classic.
imagine Neil Marshalls dog soldiers with nazis instead of werewolves,how cool would that have been,thats the look of Outpost,but the script just lacks that punchiness of dog soldiers or the fast pace.
but its credit to the cast and everyone involved for making this film look as good as it does,the undead nazis look menacingly creepy & nasty just how they should be,maybe the next filmmaker will get it right with undead nazis,meanwhile im going to write about korpsekommandos and edit Dog Soldiers with Outpost to get the film of my nightmares :D
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Post by streetrw »

My record-keeping and database skills are generally pretty good. I know this because I've got loads of that kind of thing on my CV which I've been tweaking recently (in anticipation of my upcoming dole scum status). So how come ...And Now The Screaming Starts! isn't on my lists? Because I've definitely seen it before.

This is the one in which the descendants of evil Herbert Lom have been cursed after he raped the woodsman's virgin bride; two generations later, descendant Ian Ogilvy has just married the heaving bosom of Stephanie Beacham and the curse is manifesting itself with severed hands, self-opening windows and spooky organ dischords every time the camera alights on evil Herbert Lom's portrait. It's hokum, of course, in the Amicus vein, and it's a bit talky, but the ever-welcome Peter Cushing turns up half way through and improves matters no end. It was an X at the time (35 years ago) but it can get by with a 12 now....
Notts Pete
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Post by Notts Pete »

Grindhouse wrote:Theres just something about undead nazis that never fails to excite the imagination,so along comes Outpost from its short release at the cinemas to dvd,it gets a lot right for its small budget,but just falls short of what could have been a genre classic.
imagine Neil Marshalls dog soldiers with nazis instead of werewolves,how cool would that have been,thats the look of Outpost,but the script just lacks that punchiness of dog soldiers or the fast pace.
but its credit to the cast and everyone involved for making this film look as good as it does,the undead nazis look menacingly creepy & nasty just how they should be,maybe the next filmmaker will get it right with undead nazis,meanwhile im going to write about korpsekommandos and edit Dog Soldiers with Outpost to get the film of my nightmares :D
Outpost **** contains SPOILERS if you haven't watched it yet ****

I finally caught up with Outpost on DVD too this week - it really was a bugger to track down on it's 'limited' theatrical run. Shame, because the visuals are great and I don't think my naff sound system did the movie justice either.

The movie does indeed look superb for a low budget flick - Dumfries and Galloway double very convincingly for Eastern Europe and those woodland shots of the back-lit Nazi soldiers and tracer-fire battles looked gorgeous.
The cast is mainly good (hope to see Ray Stevenson in moe genre roles in future) - though, as Grindy pointed out, the script and pacing were a tiny bit sluggish.

My main gripe though, was with the Nazi 'undead' themselves.
They looked brilliantly menacing, great idea to have them clad in their long cold weather coats. But the way they were implemented within the movie was a bit of a let-down.
Because they'd been transported with this 'time/inter-dimensional' machine thingy, they could just appear and vanish at will which sort of made them invincible enemies that couldn't be taken out, even with the trusty head-shot! This kind of took the edge off of those great lookng gun-battles as the good guys just stood their firing away at them and gettng nowhere.
Perhaps I'm just being too fussy, but I would've preferred them to be just re-animated 'zombies' that followed the usual code for this type of thing.

Anyway, all in all, Outpost shows fantastic potential for first-time director Steve Barker and I will watch with interest to see what he does next.

Oh, and I loved the old animated propaganda movie showing the Nazi's plans to create an army of undead Uber-Soldiers - a great touch.
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Post by Notts Pete »

streetrw wrote: Ian Ogilvy has just married the heaving bosom of Stephanie Beacham and the curse is manifesting itself with severed hands, self-opening windows and spooky organ dischords every time the camera alights on evil Herbert Lom's portrait.


:D :D :D

I think Ms Beacham's heaving bosom in And Now... is perhaps the most gratuitously heaving bosom of any film of that era - possibly equalled only by Kate O'Mara's outstanding performance in Horror of Frankenstein.

Great bit of Amicus fun though.
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gizmo
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OUTPOST

Post by gizmo »

~~~SPOILERS~~~
Just like Grindhouse and Nottspete I too caught this at the start of the week, actually watched it with Nottspete ha ha, anyway liked the setting and the whole look of the film was great but have to agree with Pete re the undistructable Zombies, the extras have the makers calling them ghosts but I dont think this worked, the make up and effort for the nazis looked really cool and to me they were zombies which should mean just two things, they eat brains and we shoot them in the head!!!! Anyway as Grindhouse says nearly a genre classic but just misses the mark. Doh. :wink:
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Post by ghouldrool »

Tropic Thunder
Really doesnt deliver overall. The funniest stuff happens within the first few minutes of the movie (fake trailers that are far more observant and effective than the ones in grindhouse).
Downey Jr's character could have been a goldmine of satire but misses the mark often.
Stiller is best when in roles like this rather than his Rom Com dirges but he cant hope to come close to Zoolander or Dodgeball here.
Jack Black is completley pointless and laugh free while Danny McBride is much better here than in Pineapple Express.
Its an ok watch at best but really overdoes Tom Cruises (mostly unfunny anyway) role while wasting Matthew McConaghey in a role thats little more than an advert for TiVo.

A Guide to Recognising Your Saints
Downey Jr in serious mode highlighting once more what a great actor he is.
Shia LaBouf also turns in a strong performance alongside the brilliant Chazz Palminteri.
But this film is really little more than a collection of great acting. The non-story rambles along. The tension between Ditto and his father seems to be based on nothing and comes in from nowhere. Perhaps it was based on his father seemingly admiring his friend antonio more than him? It just feels a bit forced though.
Theres nothing here we havent seen before in other "i grew up in a tough neighbourhood" movies.
Its a well made movie when all is said and done and i would recommend it flaws aside.
Bonus points for last minute appearance of Eric Roberts
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Post by Bearded Avenger »

Notts Pete wrote:...invincible enemies that couldn't be taken out, even with the trusty head-shot! This kind of took the edge off of those great lookng gun-battles as the good guys just stood their firing away at them and gettng nowhere.
So very much like UNIT in Doctor Who:)
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Post by Grindhouse »

a weekend of horror treats kicks off with Suspiria interesting film well shot,but with its colours so vivid seems more of an experiment in using this style of filmmaking,not as scary as i thought it would be either,but a great score by Goblin.
Inferno a sort of sequel to Suspiria,now this looked much better in its style and cinematography and has a lovely feel to the film,the use of colours again is much better and it has a feel of very much the gothic,almost Hammer feel to it,i liked this loads and its one of the few argento movies that made me jump,with the well shot underwater scenes and the corpses.
next up yes you guessed it Mother Of Tears?
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