Movies you've just watched

A place where you can chat about anything that isn't to do with games!
User avatar
BIL
Posts: 18989
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: COLONY

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by BIL »

Interesting pop-cultural cold war snapshot indeed, that movie and Rambo III. Jimmy & Johnny (AND THEIR NEW PALS) VS Ivan Teh Mean Ol' Grouchy Bear! That's what I would bill them as, anyway!

I'm lukewarm on TLD other than that ruthless pre-credits sequence and its catchy bubblegum opening theme* - though I do like Dalton's more reserved Bond. Not as smarmy as Brosnan's or goofy as Moore's, and while he's world-weary, he's not a ticking damage case like Craig's. Pretty sure Lazenby would knock him the fuck out mano a mano, but knowing that big ozzie goofball, Dalton would snipe him in the back of his fuckin head from a couple buildings over. Image

*good for what it is, if undeniably Getting Bond Wrong Image
User avatar
Vexorg
Posts: 3055
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: Greensboro NC

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by Vexorg »

Mischief Maker wrote:
Vexorg wrote:The Living Daylights: ***
Not to mention an ending joke that DID NOT age well where his mujaheddin friend (who is totally Osama Bin Laden) apologizes for showing up late to the concert saying, "we were held up by airport security!"
The Mujaheddin paerts did stand out for that reason. Ten years after that, the Mujaheddin became a significant part of the Taliban.
We want you, save our planet!
Xbox Live: Vexorg | The Sledgehammer - Version 2.0
User avatar
NYN
Posts: 508
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:33 am
Location: Akedò

iiiihaaaaaarrrrggggg

Post by NYN »

Black Christmas

The original.
'twas the dark age 'fore Allhalloween. When sprite Billy boys came down the attic ladder to have a lark or two. When sorority housemothers were such alcoholics just as a regular mum could be. When public servants didn't know the meaning of the word fellatio. Where young lads practiced their obscene trolling over the rotary dial tele-horn and the abused gals didn't hang up on the perv. Where a excuse for a frat boyfriend attempted to take command of the impregnated gals' own body. When a faux Santa dropped f-bombs with a young'un on his lap. And energetic louts gots to sip the beers to pipe 'em down. And an all-murderous eye staring and the hissing voice were enough to foul undergarments. And scary endings didn't imply what was prone to be exploited by greedy small-time producers. 'twas a merry time, 'twas the best of times.
"I've transmuted into a super being. I'll proof it by killing you." -NGIII ( words to kill by )
User avatar
BrianC
Posts: 8859
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: MD

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by BrianC »

Mildred Pierce - classic melodrama with Joan Crawford
User avatar
Vexorg
Posts: 3055
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: Greensboro NC

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by Vexorg »

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: **1/2

As a generic space opera this might make for a passable popcorn film. As a Star Wars movie (and the alleged culmination of the storyline from the original and prequel trilogies) it's a mess, but to be honest I don't think a lot of it is this film's fault. The more I think about this, the more I start to realize that most of the damage was done in episode 8, and how much work it would have to do to try to dig out of there. Ultimately, I think the biggest problem is that a lot of the main characters (Rey, Poe and Finn in particular) just aren't all that memorable. Ultimately, in spite of best efforts, the whole thing just feels like big-budget fan fiction.

I do think there's still plenty of potential to make good Star Wars movies. This just wasn't the way to do it.
We want you, save our planet!
Xbox Live: Vexorg | The Sledgehammer - Version 2.0
User avatar
vol.2
Posts: 2436
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:13 pm
Location: bmore

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by vol.2 »

Phenomena
1985, Dario Argento

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomena_(film)

Cons:
Didn't make any sense at all the whole way through the movie until the very, very end. When I say that, I mean the whole movie made no sense except the end.
It was so convoluted that it was difficult to understand the transitions from one scene to the next, and the characters acted with no apparent motivation.

Pros: Excellent Goblin soundtrack! Trippy special effects!! Sikkkk crazy gore scenes!!!

That's about it. Tough to rate because it has a lot of nostalgia cache. 3/5
User avatar
GaijinPunch
Posts: 15646
Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:22 pm
Location: San Fransicso

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by GaijinPunch »

Motherless Brooklyn

Enjoyed this once it got over a hump. Could have been a bit shorter but a minor gripe. MIchael Kenneth Williams was the best part. Could have explored the jazz numbers but I guess that would have stretched it out.
RegalSin wrote:New PowerPuff Girls. They all have evil pornstart eyelashes.
Ixmucane2
Posts: 760
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:26 pm
Location: stuck at the continue prompt

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by Ixmucane2 »

GaijinPunch wrote:Motherless Brooklyn

Enjoyed this once it got over a hump. Could have been a bit shorter but a minor gripe. MIchael Kenneth Williams was the best part. Could have explored the jazz numbers but I guess that would have stretched it out.
It's a fairly traditional noir, not a musical: the jazz numbers are only meant as atmosphere and character building.
More than an interesting place, the jazz club is an ethnically traditional occupation for several important characters of color.
neorichieb1971
Posts: 7668
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:28 am
Location: Bedford, UK
Contact:

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by neorichieb1971 »

IP man 4

Its a good 7/10. I thought the racist card has been played too many times in the series and the outcome totally predictable. I liked the 1st one the most (doesn't everyone?) because apart from a 10 vs 1 fight that was unrealistic beyond words its a great story and kept its powerful message. As the series went on I couldn't help that IP man was the unluckiest guy in the world, always dealing with foreigners who wanted to beat up people he knew. Maybe he just had bad luck picking his friends. In the 4th iteration some things that got overlooked by the writers is that Bruce Lee was trained by IP man but doesn't fight like him at all. There is absolutely no carry over in the fighting styles from the master to the pupil. Which in my book seems rather odd. On its own right its a 7/10 but the message it conveys is very over used. Lets look at each of the 4 movies and where the race issue comes in -

1) Japan - Chinese
2) English - Chinese
3) American - Chinese
4) American - Chinese

So yeah.


Le Man 66 aka Ford vs Ferrari

I love car movies, but none of them get it totally right. The amount of times I've seen movies where people race 99/100 laps in the 2nd from top gear, then engage top gear and race off leaving everyone behind, then introducing nitrous is just ridiculous. Thankfully, this movie doesn't do that (not much anyway). The first half of the movie is brilliant as it builds the characters and story, but the ending left me a bit wanting. Matt Damon shines here and I love his "Resolve" to most situations. If that is Carroll Shelbys true nature fair play to him. I did not realize his fortunes were down to one British guy called Ken Miles who've I've never heard of before. So some education there for me. Ken Miles was a bit of a pompous guy, totally British it was painful to watch sometimes but Christian Bale just about pulled it off. I noticed at the end credits the real Ken Miles picture, he had a nose to rival the car itself.

8/10.
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
User avatar
Vexorg
Posts: 3055
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: Greensboro NC

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by Vexorg »

neorichieb1971 wrote:
Le Man 66 aka Ford vs Ferrari

I love car movies, but none of them get it totally right. The amount of times I've seen movies where people race 99/100 laps in the 2nd from top gear, then engage top gear and race off leaving everyone behind, then introducing nitrous is just ridiculous. Thankfully, this movie doesn't do that (not much anyway). The first half of the movie is brilliant as it builds the characters and story, but the ending left me a bit wanting. Matt Damon shines here and I love his "Resolve" to most situations. If that is Carroll Shelbys true nature fair play to him. I did not realize his fortunes were down to one British guy called Ken Miles who've I've never heard of before. So some education there for me. Ken Miles was a bit of a pompous guy, totally British it was painful to watch sometimes but Christian Bale just about pulled it off. I noticed at the end credits the real Ken Miles picture, he had a nose to rival the car itself.

8/10.
It's one of the best auto racing movies I've seen, but that's a pretty low bar as there are some pretty horrid ones out there. The actual race didn't exactly have much drama in it (Endurance races aren't exactly known for their close finishes). The biggest issue I had with this one was that it was basically asking you to root for the big-money corporate team that wins the race by throwing money at it.
We want you, save our planet!
Xbox Live: Vexorg | The Sledgehammer - Version 2.0
User avatar
GaijinPunch
Posts: 15646
Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:22 pm
Location: San Fransicso

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by GaijinPunch »

Jinginaki Tatakai / Battles without Honor or Humanity (1973)

Violent yakuza movie set in postwar Japan. Some decent action but honestly way too many characters. Was hard to keep up with.
RegalSin wrote:New PowerPuff Girls. They all have evil pornstart eyelashes.
User avatar
drauch
Posts: 5637
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:14 am

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by drauch »

Yeah, it just gets worse too. The original American DVD sets had a huge foldout sheet with all the family names and stuff even.
BIL wrote: "Small sack, LOTS OF CUM" - Nikola Tesla
User avatar
GaijinPunch
Posts: 15646
Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:22 pm
Location: San Fransicso

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by GaijinPunch »

drauch wrote:Yeah, it just gets worse too. The original American DVD sets had a huge foldout sheet with all the family names and stuff even.
I actually watched with a friend (also Japanese speaking but not quite the same as mine) and he's like "why the fuck do the names disappear so fast?!" It is kind of a joke... a trope I find quite irksome. If you want the audience to know a characters name have another character say it? Over complication.
RegalSin wrote:New PowerPuff Girls. They all have evil pornstart eyelashes.
User avatar
BIL
Posts: 18989
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: COLONY

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by BIL »

Overlord (2018) Comicbook-esque WWII horror/action. GIs must destroy a Nazi radio base in occupied France on the eve of D-Day, but oh noes! The krauts have played Wolfenstein 3D's second episode, and gory super soldier experiments are afoot! Competent, inoffensive, forgettable, as per Bad Robot. Points for an uncompromisingly brutal wartime air. Less so for mild Horror Movie Retardation and tepid monster elements.

Watch Instead: DOG SOLDIERS (squaddies VS werewolf onslaught, cheerfully irreverent gorefest w/ EVIL DEAD VIBEZ)
Still Better Than: OUTPOST (dishwater-dull Nazi spookfest, despite the best efforts of reliably 'orrible Oirish cunt Michael Smiley)
Watch Michael Smiley Instead In: KILL LIST (fuck yeah, horror/crime rabbithole hell-dive, angry hitman smashes the pedos to bloody gristle and himself to sub-atomic dust)
User avatar
Stevens
Posts: 3799
Joined: Thu May 01, 2014 11:44 pm
Location: Brooklyn NY

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by Stevens »

Dog Soldiers is a favorite of mine.
My lord, I have come for you.
User avatar
Jonny2x4
Posts: 485
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:47 pm

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by Jonny2x4 »

GaijinPunch wrote:
drauch wrote:Yeah, it just gets worse too. The original American DVD sets had a huge foldout sheet with all the family names and stuff even.
I actually watched with a friend (also Japanese speaking but not quite the same as mine) and he's like "why the fuck do the names disappear so fast?!" It is kind of a joke... a trope I find quite irksome. If you want the audience to know a characters name have another character say it? Over complication.
Sounds like the inspiration for the Ryu Ga Gotoku series. I actually saw some of the Yakuza Papers movies on IFC once, but I barely remember any of them.
xxx1993

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by xxx1993 »

I'm a huge fan of Antoine Fuqua... But having seen Tears of the Sun last Sunday, I think that was where he hit rock bottom. At least he regained his mojo and bounced right back with King Arthur, though.
User avatar
drauch
Posts: 5637
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:14 am

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by drauch »

Jonny2x4 wrote:
GaijinPunch wrote:
drauch wrote:Yeah, it just gets worse too. The original American DVD sets had a huge foldout sheet with all the family names and stuff even.
I actually watched with a friend (also Japanese speaking but not quite the same as mine) and he's like "why the fuck do the names disappear so fast?!" It is kind of a joke... a trope I find quite irksome. If you want the audience to know a characters name have another character say it? Over complication.
Sounds like the inspiration for the Ryu Ga Gotoku series. I actually saw some of the Yakuza Papers movies on IFC once, but I barely remember any of them.
Yeah, the way they do the family names and stuff definitely is.
BIL wrote: "Small sack, LOTS OF CUM" - Nikola Tesla
User avatar
Vexorg
Posts: 3055
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: Greensboro NC

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by Vexorg »

A few things I've been watching lately:

Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile: ***

I'm pretty sure I've posted about Romancing the Stone here before, but recently watched the sequel as well. Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner play the leads, with Danny DeVito playing his usual wiseguy character in a supporting role. The first is the better of the two movies, as the second seems to replace acting with special effects, but both seem to be reasonably passable 80s action flicks.

Joe Versus the Volcano: **1/2
I've probably posted about this one before too, but this one is just completely bizarre, seems to have overall pretty poor reviews, and would probably have faded completely into obscurity by now if not for the fact that it has Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (playing three different characters no less) in it. From the beginning you're not sure if the director was trying to make an art film or a comedy, and the end result is that it doesn't succeed on either side. It has the feel of something where the director was just going further and further off the rails as the whole process went along, but everyone was too afraid to push back on anything.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Extended Editions
Over the course of the past week or so we've been rewatching these a bit at a time (at nearly 4 hours apiece these aren't the types of movies you can watch in one sitting; it's probably a good thing that the extended edition box set we have splits each film onto two discs.) By now a few of the CGI effects are starting to look a bit dated, but overall these still hold up pretty well. I know there are some parts about Peter Jackson's adaptation that are controversial (in particular, the portrayal of Faramir in the films compared to the books seems to be a point of contention with fans) but there's always the books if you prefer that version. It will be interesting to see what the Amazon series looks like when it comes out...
We want you, save our planet!
Xbox Live: Vexorg | The Sledgehammer - Version 2.0
User avatar
GaijinPunch
Posts: 15646
Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:22 pm
Location: San Fransicso

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by GaijinPunch »

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Extended Editions
these aren't the types of movies you can watch in one sitting;
I guess I didn't get that memo. I watched all 3 at a special showing in the cinema (yes, the extended ones) back to back with some 30 minute intervals. That was a long day.
RegalSin wrote:New PowerPuff Girls. They all have evil pornstart eyelashes.
User avatar
BIL
Posts: 18989
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: COLONY

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by BIL »

Virus (1999) Didn't bother rewatching in full. IDGAF! Decent The Thing (1982)-esque, but swap arctic base for arctic boat, Macready for Not Ripley, and Thing for Robo Thing. Also swap existential horror and bleak mirth for ALIENZ EAT MUH FACE 2 BREED III b-larfs. Robo Thing also be stealing your body, and creating obscene horrors from your biomass, and shit, but he's much talkier about it. I just skipped around for the scene of the Best Horror Movie Robot Ever hauling off on a muhfucka, a sobering reminder of Robo Violence. Boom! Splat! Mortal flesh, meet TEN THOUSAND PSI METAL FIST. (the robot from Demon Seed could fuck, I'll give him that, but a gross creepy rapist is no match for the overwhelming gorilla dominance of Robo Thing, who would tear his jaffers off and fist him into next week)

Blocked at work? I know that feel! I will endeavour:
Spoiler
Image
Image

I'm not a gorehound but I am a pragmatist, when I see Terminators throwing humans around (even in the first film!) instead of just punching their fucks in, I'm sad. *it's okay in the second film, because AHNULD was specifically instructed not to kill humans.

Spoiler
Image


He just hit them so hard they spontaneously race-swapped on impact!

Spoiler
Image
User avatar
Ajora
Posts: 207
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2017 5:42 pm

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by Ajora »

I'm surprised it took me this long to see Battle Royale. It was brilliant. Way better than The Hunger Games.
There was a time, in the era of great chaos, when the Earth and the moon were at war with each other. A daredevil from the moon piloted a bizarre aircraft. It was feared, and because of its shape, called... Einhander.
User avatar
Mortificator
Posts: 2808
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 1:13 am
Location: A star occupied by the Bydo Empire

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by Mortificator »

Zombieland and Double Tap

It's funny, if I'd have just watched the first movie I'd have a lower opinion of it, but the cookie cutter sequel made me appreciate its strengths. Woody Harrelson's character was originally ambiguous enough to believe he could be dangerous and reckless enough to believe he could die; next go-round he's a teddy bear that you know nothing bad's going to happen to. I didn't expect the girls to stick around beyond a one-off encounter in the first movie (though I could smell the con they were cooking), while in Double Tap every beat of their plot was predictable.
RegalSin wrote:You can't even drive across the country Naked anymore
User avatar
rapoon
Posts: 853
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:58 pm
Location: Dallas, Texas

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by rapoon »

Border (Gräns) - "When a border guard with a sixth sense for identifying smugglers encounters the first person she cannot prove is guilty, she is forced to confront terrifying revelations about herself and humankind." Absolutely fantastic.

Come to Daddy - "After receiving a cryptic letter from his estranged father, Norval travels to his dad’s oceanfront home for what he hopes will be a positive experience. If only he’d known the dark truth about his old man beforehand." Elijah Wood as an Eboy.

High Life - "A father and daughter are the last survivors of a damned and dangerous mission to the outer reaches of the solar system. They must now rely on each other to survive as they hurtle toward the oblivion of a black hole."

The Lighthouse - "Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity whilst living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s." Dafoe steals the show, but Pattinson is no slouch; he again (The Rover, Good Time, aforementioned High Life) demonstrates his prowess as an actor.

The Platform (El hoyo) - "A vertical prison with one cell per level. Two people per cell. One only food platform and two minutes per day to feed from up to down. An endless nightmare trapped in The Hole." Surprisingly decent. Reminiscent of Cube.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer - "Steven, a charismatic surgeon, is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice after his life starts to fall apart, when the behavior of a teenage boy he has taken under his wing turns sinister."

Lords of Chaos - "A teenager's quest to launch Norwegian Black Metal in Oslo in the early 1990s results in a very violent outcome." Story of Mayhem, which I imagine the majority of this forum is already familiar with.

Deathgasm - "Two teenage boys unwittingly summon an ancient evil entity known as The Blind One by delving into black magic while trying to escape their mundane lives."

Hostiles - "In 1892, a legendary Army Captain reluctantly agrees to escort a Cheyenne chief and his family through dangerous territory." Christian Bale, Directed by Scott Cooper (Out of the Furnace, Black Mass)

Father's Day - "Ahab, a man obsessed with exacting a brutal, violent revenge on the man who murdered his dad, joins John, an eager priest, and Twink, a hot-headed street hustler, on an epic quest to find and defeat this mythical monster known as Chris Fuchman AKA The Father’s Day Killer." Grindhouse silliness.
User avatar
kitten
Posts: 1102
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:26 pm
Location: プププランド

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by kitten »

kill list (2012) - was in a "watch a movie i've never heard of" mood several days ago and looked this up after BIL mentioned it. wasn't disappointed! there's a serious authenticity to the constant existential dysphoria going on, here, and some pretty biting socio-political commentary. though i do like the resident evil-esque ramp-up of the ending, i eventually fell on the side of feeling it falls a bit short of what the rest of the movie had been building up. it's not as if the ending is bad or spoils the movie, but i feel like it could have shot a bit further than its abrupt punctuation. the extremely well-executed domestic instability had me thinking of possession.

midsommar (2019) - the beginning of this movie is roughly 45 minutes (!!) of unmitigated, ruthlessly dull agony filled with unsympathetic, uninteresting characters and completely unnecessary set-up (that i still feel was unnecessary) that had me suggesting to the friend i made watch it with me that we simply just turn it off... only for it to then seriously get going and turn into the best episode of hannibal that never aired. some of the most extraordinary whiplash i've ever had with a film, the two of us were in a state of almost pure joy by the time it wrapped up. beautiful, tender, ugly, violent catharsis.

the uncanny (1977) - a collection of short stories loosely tied together by the idea peter cushing's character is trying to convince someone that cats actually rule the world, and we're their pets. some very silly and slightly macabre fun.

beyond the pyramids: legend of the white lion (1988) - a movie spoken entirely in english, filmed in africa, and only distributed in japan. has an obscure famicom rpg based on it that bafflingly actually made it over here under the name of "legend of the ghost lion." utter fucking trash i went in totally blind on because of the novelty (and cool poster). friend suggested as we watched it that it was "worse than a mary kate and ashley movie" and she was far from wrong. feels like some japanese producer wanted to make a racist, old-fashioned pith hat adventure with a young girl many decades after they went out of style.

ashes of time (1994) - my severe inexperience with the wuxia genre left me lacking on a bit of the importance of the characters in this one (it's a subversive prequel film to a revered old novel trilogy, from my understanding), but i don't think you need to have experienced the source material or its many adaptations to be hit hard by some of the themes, in this one. malaise, dystopia, the fallibility of memory, unrequited love, etc. was a bit hard for me to follow but emotionally perturbed me enough to give me a nightmare.
~Imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations have diverse names~
Image | Image
~*~*~*~*~*~* If there's a place that I could be ~ Then I'd be another memory *~*~*~*~*~*~
User avatar
Steamflogger Boss
Posts: 3075
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2017 3:29 pm
Location: Eating the Rich

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by Steamflogger Boss »

Really glad to see that you stuck with Midsommar. S'gud.
User avatar
BrianC
Posts: 8859
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: MD

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by BrianC »

kitten wrote: beyond the pyramids: legend of the white lion (1988) - a movie spoken entirely in english, filmed in africa, and only distributed in japan. has an obscure famicom rpg based on it that bafflingly actually made it over here under the name of "legend of the ghost lion." utter fucking trash i went in totally blind on because of the novelty (and cool poster). friend suggested as we watched it that it was "worse than a mary kate and ashley movie" and she was far from wrong. feels like some japanese producer wanted to make a racist, old-fashioned pith hat adventure with a young girl many decades after they went out of style.
Sounds like good MST3K material.
User avatar
kitten
Posts: 1102
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:26 pm
Location: プププランド

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by kitten »

steamflogger - i really loved midsommar, yeah! looking forward to more by the director.

brian - i was thinking a bit more like an episode of redlettermedia's "best of the worst," tbh
~Imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations have diverse names~
Image | Image
~*~*~*~*~*~* If there's a place that I could be ~ Then I'd be another memory *~*~*~*~*~*~
User avatar
Steamflogger Boss
Posts: 3075
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2017 3:29 pm
Location: Eating the Rich

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by Steamflogger Boss »

Have you watched Hereditary yet?
User avatar
BIL
Posts: 18989
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: COLONY

Re: Movies you've just watched

Post by BIL »

Contraband (Luca il Contrabbandiere) (1980) Horror maestro Lucio Fulci does a mafia flick. Working stiff Neapolitan smugglers VS 'orrible French cunt making offers they can't refuse. As expected, the slayings are merciless, the gore grimly spectacular. Plot is twisty yet concise, an appropriate change from his bonkers Gates of Hell trilogy. I like the rough n' tumble handling of protagonist Luca, a mid-tier thug groping in the shadows of mafia kingpins. Wasn't keen on the lurid gang rape, but that's part and parcel of b-flick crimming, unfortunately. Worth an evening if you like Fulci and/or violent gangland b-flicks.

Spoilers: DR BIRUFORD'S BEST GORE Image Squibs, glorious squibs!

Spoiler
Image


^ He shoulda learned to KEEP HE MOUTH SHUT Image

Spoiler
Image


^ No more singing for this STOOL PIGEON Image

Red Sun (1971) Horeh shiet. :o How'd I never hear about this one? Charles BURONSON (wily thief) and a winningly English-growling Toshiro Mifune (LAST SAMOURAI) in a classic spaghetti western revenge. True to genre standards, it's unhurriedly scenic, earthy and violent. The slow-thawing buddy act is unsurprising yet charmingly played, as expected of the estimable leading men, with a charismatic nemesis in handsome devil Alain Delon. Good with large-scale shootouts and grimly economical slashings alike. Only thing that sapped immersion was an inane "don't cut the rope, you might cut them too!" *blasts rope off throat with revolver* scene, trivial. A fine evening's entertainment for fans of either lead.

Image

Oh wow Ursula Andress too, all muh favourite stars! Image Sound design in this scene is AMAZIN, who doesn't love the wind rustling through long grass? An uncouth prick, that's who!

Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (Kuchisake Onna) (2007) I can't honestly review this one, as the fucker put me to sleep more than once, and when I awoke it was to context-less Horror Movie Retardation. Standard-issue J-spook yurei-dodging affair. Only perused because the titular fiend's makeup is RAD, but the surrounding film seemed fairly BAD. I might be wrong etc etc :oops:

Image
kitten wrote:kill list (2012) - was in a "watch a movie i've never heard of" mood several days ago and looked this up after BIL mentioned it. wasn't disappointed! there's a serious authenticity to the constant existential dysphoria going on, here, and some pretty biting socio-political commentary. though i do like the resident evil-esque ramp-up of the ending, i eventually fell on the side of feeling it falls a bit short of what the rest of the movie had been building up. it's not as if the ending is bad or spoils the movie, but i feel like it could have shot a bit further than its abrupt punctuation. the extremely well-executed domestic instability had me thinking of possession.
Glad you enjoyed! You may also like Ben Wheatley's earlier crime flick Down Terrace. Black dramedy of succession in a working class crime family. Going offbeat, there's also A Field In England. Surrealistic, horror-tinged Monty Python-esque. Civil war deserters plunder said plot for treasure, only to rouse the motherfuckin devil and/or a whole lotta shrooms. Both featuring Kill List's crack support Michael Smiley, with Field a real snarling star turn.

While Terrace is a safe bet, Field is total marmite and will bore and frustrate some while it enchants others (like ME Image). OPEN UP AND LET THE DEVIL IN :shock: Image

I need to catch up on Mr. Wheaty, the above three flicks were all right up my street.
Post Reply