Movies you've just watched

[Raytrace]

Wait... Tower Records still exists?!

haha yeah I think the Dublin store is one of the only surviving ones which has kept the name in fact

[Raytrace]

Oh, it's recommended to watch the entire Evangelion TV series first, then watch both Evangelion films second. Thirdly, then watch both Evangelion remake films to see how they differ compared to the original TV anime series & two film releases.

Back in the Spring of 1995, my local hobby shop had gotten in the latest Evangelion model kits of the Evas mecha (but the TV series hadn't been picked up for distribution in the USA yet). I could only wonder what this Evangelion series was about until much later...it certainly did pique my interest in it. By looking at all the various Eva model kits available for purchase, I could tell that it wasn't your average SF anime mecha suit series indeed. Quite odd but true.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

ok so all 26 then 'Death And Rebirth' then 'End Of Evangelion' then the 2 Rebuilds?

and what's 'Evangelion 1.11 - You Are (Not) Alone '

and also whats the 2.22 one?

[drauch]

Evangelion 1.1 and 2.2 and so-forth are remakes of the series in film form.

[Raytrace]

oh ok - are they seperate to the 'Rebuilds'? god Im confused :p

[spadgy]

I just watched Enter the Void (directors cut). Beautiful, and so engaging for the first hour-and-a-half.... when it started to drag like crazy.

It does feature the most 'hardcore typography' opening titles ever made (give it until just after one minute and you'll see what I mean, and make the volume loud! Really loud!), and some really tasty trip animations.

There's loads of beautiful bits (like this extra-neon version of Tokyo, where the film is set), and the way it is fast, intense, trippy and neon really does make it quite a shmuppers film.

But like any Gaspar Noé film there's that damn throbbing in the background all the time, and the camera does its best to make you feel sick (it's all shot in POV or third person perspective). There's far too much slightly-hardcore porn in it (to the point it gets really boring), and it ain't a patch on the remarkable but harrowing Noé film Irreversible.

But if you like neon, watch it!

[Raytrace]

haha was that saying if I like Neon I should like Gaspar Noé, or just saying watch Neon, Im pretty sure Noé stuff would freak me out all that disturbing sub bass stuff and rape scenes don't think I could handle it

[shmuppyLove]

haha was that saying if I like Neon I should like Gaspar Noé, or just saying watch Neon, Im pretty sure Noé stuff would freak me out all that disturbing sub bass stuff and rape scenes don't think I could handle it

I think he meant if you like neon lights, not Neon Genesis Evangelion

[Skykid]

Just watched Contagion. Could have seen Paranormal Activity 3 but I didn't want to watch it with a bunch of screaming kids (and it's been ok to watch on TV.)

Contagion: 6/10

Perfectly watchable and well handled. I was never bored and it was engaging throughout. But it really was a whole lot of nothing. Soderberg knows how to compose his material, but like Traffic he opts to show the virus spreading on a social level by constantly returning to select groups of people. In this he sort of missed a trick because you never felt the panic, you were just given a statistical breakdown. There were a few riots and some bin bags piling up on streets, but that's about it. You really didn't have any empathy for anyone and, while I can't stand melodrama, it was weirdly sterile (like, folks didn't flinch when loved ones died.)

I wouldn't recommend spending money on it, you can catch it on TV if you have nothing to do and it'll be worthwhile. I found Outbreak to be a lot more fun in it's more sensationalised depiction of events. This was a bit like the documentary version of that film.

Laurence Fishburne was good though, as ever.

[Deca]

I actually just watched The Shining for the first time. Enjoyable if not fairly telegraphed/predictable.

[GaijinPunch]

Just watched Babysitters. Well, I started it twice but never made it to the end.

With horny, slutty Babysitters like these, it's no wonder all those housewives are so desperate. Digital Playground and Robby D. bring you 7 of the hottest scenes and 12 of the sexiest girls in the neighborhood, including Jesse Jane, Teagan Presley, Shay Jordan, and Sophia Santi.

Take your babysitter fantasies to new, hardcore heights with these sex starved sitters.

[drauch]

A remember a day when Teagan Presley was actually hot. Sad times...now I can't even tell which one is her on the cover.

[Raytrace]

haha was that saying if I like Neon I should like Gaspar Noé, or just saying watch Neon, Im pretty sure Noé stuff would freak me out all that disturbing sub bass stuff and rape scenes don't think I could handle it

I think he meant if you like neon lights, not Neon Genesis Evangelion

oh yeh it's all in Tokyo int'it?

[Skykid]

Dissatisfied with Contagion as a halloween flick, I went looking for some slasher classics I hadn't seen and ended up with...

Maniac!



This was actually pretty damn good. It's a cheap and nasty exploitation flick full of gore and violence, and made on a low budget, but it surprised me. The fact that the entire movie is told from the killer's pov makes it quite unique, and interestingly they gave his character some depth. Rather than just being one of those indiscriminate crazies with a bloodlust, the movie made some effort to explore the character psychologically, to the point where you can even sympathise with him because of his mental state.

It's also got the BEST point blank shotgun to the face death in any film EVER!

[drauch]

Maniac rules! I still have that huge tin edition stored somewhere I think.

Watched Burial Ground last night. Goofy as all hell.

[xbl0x180]

Dissatisfied with Contagion as a halloween flick, I went looking for some slasher classics I hadn't seen and ended up with...

Maniac!



This was actually pretty damn good. It's a cheap and nasty exploitation flick full of gore and violence, and made on a low budget, but it surprised me. The fact that the entire movie is told from the killer's pov makes it quite unique, and interestingly they gave his character some depth. Rather than just being one of those indiscriminate crazies with a bloodlust, the movie made some effort to explore the character psychologically, to the point where you can even sympathise with him because of his mental state.

It's also got the BEST point blank shotgun to the face death in any film EVER!

Tom Savini did the gore sfx. I still have the shotgun scene burned in my mind

Blue Underground currently has the rights to distribute this film in the U.S. and they have a totally awersome catalogue of Sleaze, Exploitation, Sexploitation, Horror, and such - a lot of those movies used to be distributed by Anchor Bay, which is also a good company to follow

One glaring omission in both their catalogues is Andrzej Zulawski's Possession, which was slated to be released by Blue Underground after Anchor Bay let the rights expire. Now it looks as if it's in limbo without a definitive release date...



I love this demented movie. I have both the Anchor Bay VHS and the DVD double-feature with Mario Bava's Shock




Fun for the family

[drauch]

Yeah, Anchor Bay was awesome in their prime. Blue-Underground is pretty godly themselves with their fair share of great releases and re-releases. I think I've actually got that double pack around somewhere as well

[ancestral-knowledge]

I watched "Drive" at work yesterday. It's my favourite movie of 2011. Simply excellent.

[Skykid]

I watched "Drive" at work yesterday. It's my favourite movie of 2011. Simply excellent.

Just watched this and even though I really enjoyed it, there's a little frustration over how it panned out.

Stylistically I loved everything about it. That kind of neon aesthetic recalled 80's cool like no other recent movie I've seen, it was awe-inspiring. Gosling's character was great: that's how to do enigmatic heroes, spot on. More lead characters like that please, he was the best anti-hero I've seen in years.
On the whole I liked the film plenty, but I can't help but feel unsatisfied by the directionless ending. It opened with so much promise as a concept, my mind was thinking of 100 amazing things that were going to happen, but none of them came to pass. I wasn't really feeling the screenwriters concept for the plot. I felt as though that incredible lead character could have - and should have - been given more opportunity behind the wheel, and the script should have been rewritten to serve him rather than play safe with a rather mundane mafia scenario.

So yeah, definitely good stuff - some of it superb - but although I was sizzling at the beginning, I was left lukewarm by the end.
Kind of a shame, but highly recommended nonetheless.

NINJA EDIT: Waking up this morning and looking at this retrospectively, I realised it's the scriptwriting/dialogue that's weak. It's so stylishly made it cloaks a really very vapid plot, and some of the dialogue was trite and poorly conceived. Gosling's character got away with this because he said little to nothing, but I remember some grating exchanges such as "I love you/love you too", "you were the best thing that ever happened to me", and "He couldn't get pussy in a whore house." 3 examples of a script writer with little in the way of imaginative ingenuity. Also, the main nice guy/bad guy's acting was very average, and he stuck out a bit from the start.

[spadgy]

Last night I watched Werner Herzog's Even Dwarves Started Small. It was bloody amazing, quite bewildering and features some wonderful sequences. The fun they have with that driver-less car driving in circles chasing it and jumping on it while they chuck eggs, plates, food, typewriters and so on at it made me quite jealous. I'd love to have been there! It's beautifully shot too, and there's some horrible bits too. I'd guess different people would find different bits unpleasant. The burning of the plants was strangely unsettling for me.

I think it struck a chord with me as my dad is in full time care at a mental health place, and after finding it quite disturbing to visit for a year or so, now I have a lot of fun with dad and the other patients. I feel the film really captured how the energy at an institute like that can be fun, disturbing, chaotic, playful and dark, often all at the same time (not that my dad's place is quite like as anarchic as Herzog's film!).

That kind of neon aesthetic recalled 80's cool like no other recent movie I've seen, it was awe-inspiring.

Like neon in cinema? Watch Enter the Void! See my post above!

[emphatic]

I watched Buried today. 2/5.

[blackoak]

Last night I watched Werner Herzog's Even Dwarves Started Small.

That's one of my least favorite Herzog films, but it was interesting to read your reaction to it. Have you seen many of his other films? I really like "Land of Silence and Darkness" from that era. Has a similar feel exploring the subjective experience of invalids/cripples.

On a Herzog note, I saw "Valhalla Rising" yesterday. It was a poor man's Aguirre, clearly inspired by the ponderous and heavy atmosphere of that film but aesthetically coming up short. Lots of beautiful scenery, but rather ham-fisted and VERY tired Christian/colonial iconography and themes slapped haphazardly in a "connect your own dots" fashion. In that way it was the opposite of Herzog, who famously (and profoundly) stated that mankind desperately needs new images. As an aside, its funny seeing artists who clearly abhor simple didacticism fall to the other side of that chasm--a jumbled nothing. I suppose it will hit the aesthetic/atmospheric sweet spot for some (stoned) people.

[Moniker]

What other Herzog films would you guys recommend? I've only seen Bad Lieutenant & the one about the guy with an oedipus complex that was produced by Lynch (can't remember the title.. it wasn't very good). I feel the need to see his best work.

[drauch]

Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre: The Wrath of God are my favorites. Kinski was the man.

[blackoak]

Yeah, the classic Kinski is Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre. Some people really like him in Nosferatu as well, but I didn't find that one particularly memorable. Definitely see Herzog's Bruno films as well: Stroszek and The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser are just beautiful, and the former has a particularly devastating poignancy that really speaks to the present day US. Prescient films of the past coming home to roost...

And of course there are Herzog's many documentaries, of which I really like The Great Esctasy of the Woodcarver Steiner, Land of Silence and Darkness, and The Dark Glow of the Mountains.

Of his recent stuff, I really liked Bad Lieutenant, but you've seen that... interesting about the Lynch collab--I heard it was bad and have avoided seeing it. The thing I would say with Herzog is that if you get put off by one of his films, don't hesitate to try another. He's so prolific that you can't expect it all to be good...

[Moniker]

Of his recent stuff, I really liked Bad Lieutenant, but you've seen that... interesting about the Lynch collab--I heard it was bad and have avoided seeing it. The thing I would say with Herzog is that if you get put off by one of his films, don't hesitate to try another. He's so prolific that you can't expect it all to be good...

Yeah, it wasn't dreadful or anything. The problem was the atmosphere. It was going for a really disquieting vibe and never got there. I also really dug Bad Lieutenant, but read it wasn't representative of his broader work, so I'll have to check those others out. Thanks.

[xbl0x180]

Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre: The Wrath of God are my favorites. Kinski was the man.

Co-sign on both these movies, as well as Cobra Verde. The Kinski films are epic. I have a box set of Herzog's early stuff, which has "Even Dwarves Started Small" and "Signs Of Life" (which is reminiscent of The Shining in theme). Speaking of theme, pretty much every one of his films have to do with man's dark side or the human condition. After a while, it gets stale on some viewers. Not for me, though, I've thoroughly enjoyed every one of the movies I've seen. Definitely better than Wim Wenders and almost up there with R.W. Fassbinder - the trifecta of New German Cinema

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yeah, I checked out "Enter the Void" on Netflix a little while back. Quite an intoxicating opening intro with the stylized fonts animation piece indeed. It's quite a trip with the 1st-person POV scenes.

Checked out the 1972 flick called "The Gore Gore Girls!"...what's interesting about it, it's the first American horror/slasher flick to garner an X rating upon it's intial release by the MPAA. There's one peculiar scene that has to do with milk and some chocolate milk as well -- tongue-in-the-cheek type of low-brow humor/parody. Serve it up in style in a wine glass. ^_~

This "TGGG!" flick is quite tame compared to the Hostel/Saw flick franchises for the hardcore horror/gore genre fans.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[drauch]

Gore Gore Girls rules! I miss H. G. Lewis.

[rapoon]

I watched "Drive" at work yesterday. It's my favourite movie of 2011. Simply excellent.

Just finished it. I'm a bit biased, Gosling is one of my favorite actors (see "Half Nelson").
Bits and peices I didn't particularly care for, but "Drive" is one of the best flicks I've seen in
ages. Highly recommended.

Also saw the "Fright Night" remake ..... I loved it......
I fucking hate vampires but Colin Farrell pulls it off.

[xbl0x180]

Original Fright Night was totally awersome. It had an album track listing of famous 80s New Wave bands. I'd be disappointed in seeing the remake just on the music alone