What movie did you watch today?

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 12:03 pm

Here's what I watched this week:

The Hill (1965) - With the recent passing of director Sidney Lumet, TCM paid tribute to him by reprogramming their channel to play several of his films. Of all the ones they chose, this one I had never seen.
Taking place during WWII in a prison camp, so far from Lumetגs usual NY settings, a group of prisoners must climb a very tall, torturous man made hill of dirt, repeatedly, by orders of the guards. When one prisoner dies, the group decides to file a complaint against the guard they feel is responsible.
Sean Connery gets the lead, but my favorite in this is Ossie Davis. He was really great in this.
Very strong ending.

Carnival of Souls (1962) - Extremely low budget, yet really good psychological thriller.
A car carrying 3 passengers goes over a bridge and lands in the river. After really no hope of finding survivors, a woman emerges on her own. Things get really bizarre when she starts seeing ghostly figures.
This was one creepy film.

No Highway in the Sky (1952) - British film starring James Stewart as an American aeronautical engineer studying plane crashes. On a flight from England to Canada, he becomes convinced that the plane he is on is going to crash.
This was one of the first plane disaster films to be made.

George Washington Slept Here (1942) - My first time watching a Jack Benny film. This is about city folks that decide to move to the country. They buy a dilapidated house and attempt to fix it up.
Pretty funny for its time. Jack reminded me a lot of early Bob Hope. Then again, perhaps Hope was inspired by Benny. I havenגt Googled to see who was around first.

Slap Shot (1977) - Iגve never really been a hockey fan, so I never felt the need to ever watch this.
Decided to give it a shot this week and cannot even even tell you how many times I busted up laughing throughout the entire film.
In 2000 I attended a golf tournament in which the 3 Hanson brothers from the film (not the Mmmbop guys) showed up for. I knew they were going to be there and contemplated buying this on VHS or DVD to get it signed. I decided not to. 11 years later and now I am pissed at myself.

Valley Girl (1982) - Early Nicholas Cage film where he plays a guy from Hollywood who falls in love with a girl from the Valley.
Decent teenage comedy. Lots of great tit shots, which were pretty much a staple of 80s R-rated comedies.

The Other Guys (2010) - Decent comedy, some jokes just tried too hard. So many people in this that I had no idea about. I think I wouldגve rather watched this if it were about The Rock and Samuel L. Jackson.

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Sun May 01, 2011 10:12 am

Arachnid (2001)

A relative throwback to the creature features of the 70's & early 80's starring The Descent's Alex Reid dressed in Lara Croft gear. Despite the appallingly bad CGI for it's alien origin intro, the overall FX work is good old fashioned sculpting and latex. This film reminded me a lot of Anaconda but on a lesser budget. A pretty good time waster but hardly essential.

Beyond Re-Animator (2003)

Dr Herbert West is back to his old tricks again, this time as a prison inmate in a sadistic prison hell hole. In terms of quality, this is the weakest of the series but still a good film overall and despite it's modest budget, looked very professional. Much like Stuart Gordon, Brian Yuzna's humor is just as dead pan and catered to horror fans first and foremost without it being a self-aware cop-out. A good schlockfest.

Campfire Tales (1997)

Anthology horror very much in the same vein as Amicus' Vault Of Horror. All the tales are based around familiar urban legends and are surprisingly well executed. Although relatively tame compared with today's standards, all the tales do display some well crafted suspense despite their predictable plot twists. This does feel more like a dope TV movie however rather than a proper theatrical release. Cool cast in this including Amy Smart, Ron Livingstone and Christine Taylor before they became familiar faces on TV and film.

Night Of The Demons 2 (1994)

Brian Trenchard Smith drops much of the comedy element and some of the clich

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Sun May 01, 2011 11:22 am

Super (2011) - Superhero spoof-movie but not like Superhero Movie. This is about a pathetic man who loses his wife to an arrogant drugdealer. God tells him to become a superhero and to fight to win her back. I'm very surprised at how violent and offensive it is, there's lots of humor on behalf of various minorities and quite a bit of shockingly harsh carnage for a movie that is otherwise cheery and mostly goes for cheap laughs revolving around superhero-cliches and an unlikely superhero. I was laughing a lot and was caught off-guard a few times. Can't see why this wouldn't turn out to be a cult-favorite.

Two retro-screenings

The Housemaid (1960) - Loved the remake which I had the opportunity to check again as well as the original. This one is just as good. Completely overdone hysteria runs through out the movie and gives it an unintentionally funny feeling. I'd almost classify it as a noir although I am no expert, there's deceit, deadly females, murder and suspicious strangers. It ends with a moralistic summary of the movie directed at the audience, which makes the whole film look like a comical public-service infomercial.

The Man Who Thought Life (1969) - Danish sci-fi which faded into obscurity after the release, they're workign on a DVD now but it hasn't even had VHS or TV-screenings since it was made, despite debuting at Cannes to some applause. The director introduced it for us and he was quite happy to have it shown to a full cinema 40 years later. He also told us it was modeled after Godard's Alphaville, it was made in cinemascope colors and they tried to avoid having any shadows in the movie. It is quite remarkable to look at too. The story is about a doctor who meets a charismatic man who can create objects out of thin air by concentrating on them. He wants the doctor to help him to be able to create organic life for sustainable periods of time. It's not too unlike other late 60's/early 70's sci-fi I have seen and it stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the best of them, in my opinion. Very recommended if you're a fan of doppelgaenger themes and mindfuck suspense.

alpha · Post by **alpha** » Sun May 01, 2011 6:49 pm

Battle: Loa Angeles
really enjoyed this the first I watched now re-watching it with my roommate. The first 20 minutes, while slow, are excellent. I liked how it goes to more character driven in the middle. Let's see how it holds up on the 2nd view.

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Tue May 03, 2011 7:43 am

Captifs (2010) - In recent years French horror has had some decent outputs, The Horde, The Pack, Mutants, but none of them really compare to the classics from 05-08. This is no exception in that regard. It's a psychological thriller about captivity and escape but the subtext seems a bit insincere, the protagonist is introduced through flimsy flashbacks. The whole movie is an attempt to make us empathize with her plight. It's just very boring once the humanitarian workers are caught by evil Eastern-Euros (are there any other kind of Balkans in movies?). It does pick up towards the end which I found to be surprisingly suspenseful when considering how boring the preceeding 30 minutes were. It's rather tame compared to what we have come to expect from Horreur, which would be fine if they had done more to keep us on the edge of our seats throughout the whole course of the movie. It's a decent time-waster while we wait for Livid, The Tall Man and The Divide.

Tommy Bunz · Post by **Tommy Bunz** » Tue May 03, 2011 9:51 am

The Baron of Arizona (Samuel Fuller, 1950) ג Early Sam Fuller gem starring none other than horror icon Vincent Price in an atypical role as a brilliant conman who spends years setting up a scheme to pull off one of the biggest cons of all time; forging documents and changing history to set himself up to inherit all of the territory of Arizona. Really fascinating (itגs based on a true story and real person) and easily one of my favorite Price roles.

Doomsday (Neil Marshall, 2008) ג This was a good time but I didnגt love it as much as I was hoping I would. The Road Warrior/28 Days Later hybrid works pretty well but too often I was thrown off by nonsensical scenes, like a Bentley driving through a bus like it was made of cardboard. Fucking love Rhona Mitra though, she really needs to be in more shit.

Stranger on the Third Floor (Boris Ingster, 1940) - One of the earliest film noirs and a very good (and short) one at that. A young up and coming reporter gives an eyewitness account that helps sentence a man to death for murder. Only very soon after he finds himself also being wrongfully accused as well and realizes his mistake, that another man is actually behind both crimes. Peter Lorre is creepy as shit in this, dude is like the goat character actor.

Christmas Evil aka You Better Watch Out (Lewis Jackson, 1980) ג Really great in that its not the typical slasher that you would expect it to be but instead a perfect balance of legitimately sincere Christmas film and dark and disturbing psychological piece of horror. Its about a socially awkward man who works at a toy factory and is obsessed with Christmas. After a series of events he snaps and takes it upon himself to assume the role of Santa Claus, rewarding the good little boys and girls and punishing the bad ones. There are some humorous moments and plenty of gruesome kills but the movie isnגt really about that at all, its all about Brandon Maggartגs chillingly convincing and subdued portrayal of a psychopath, like when he starts to lose his mind and is humming גYou better watch outג under his breath. Fun trivia: Maggartגs daughter is none other than Fiona Apple.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (Jonathan Levine, 2006) ג Spartanגs right, this is definitely one of the more fun slasherגs in recent memory. Its not a game changer in any way and even the kills are pretty tame and uninventive but its all packaged well into one teenage hormonal bloody mix. I will say though for a newer movie this bluray looks way too washed out. And Mandy not showing the goods was a bit of a disappointment.

Iגve also been catching up on some tv shows recently, finally finished Mad Men season 3 (holy lawn mower scene), X-Files season 1 (great ripoff of The Thing episode and excellent season finale), Sons of Anarchy season 1 (also really fucking awesome, have no idea why I put this show off for so long.)
Right now Iגm working through the first season of Pee Weeגs playhouse (seeing Larry Fishburne in this is so bizarre now), Spartacus season 1 (pretty good so far) and the first Animaniacs dvd set (half of this holds up insanely well but I donגt care for many of the side shorts other than Pinky and the Brain and the Goodfeathers)

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Thu May 05, 2011 5:56 am

Rubber (2010) - It's a movie about a psychokinetic tire falling in love with a girl and exploding peoples heads. It's no revival of cheesy 80's fun, think Killer Tomatoes, it is rather a snooty spoof on people who watch movies. Dupieux explicitly lets us know hes not a fan of Hollywood or the Hollywood audience. He achieves this by having an audience watch the movie at the same time as the viewer, they become a Greek chorus for the finger he points at moviegoers. It is quite clever but perhaps hes too explicit in his criticism, he wants to make sure we know what his intents are at the same time he wants us to know how clever he is. I don't really mind but it might be obnoxious to some. Rubber is an ambitious movie in spite of the claims in the opening monologue, suggesting it is a homage to "no reason." I liked it and thought it was a worthwhile experiment, it is rather funny at times and it's shot quite well, never looking cheap or amateurish.

Thirsty for Love, Sex, Murder (1972) - A Turkish remake of The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh. Seriously. The Turkish movie industry remade lots of popular movies in the 70's, there's Turkish Star Wars, Turkish Rambo and Turkish Superman, to name a few. This movie looks like what you would expect from a geekish amateur being asked to remake Mrs Wardh 10 minutes after seeing the movie, being previously unaware of gialli. There's no style or suspense really and the actors are as wooden as they come. Women undress themselves for no apparent reason, in a scene where the killer confronts a girl she says "pls don't kill me" and starts to take off her clothes, there are many moments of deadpan sleaze like that. I didn't watch this to watch a good movie, I wanted to laugh at utter incompetence but is often dull rather than funny. Highlight is whenever the killer appears by making a big leap onto the screen, it really looks completely stupid. Lots of hot Turkish women in this, especially the lead, while shes no match Edwige she does look really good, undeniably.

Paradise Now (2005) - A movie about a suicide bomber and his motivation for killing Israelis. It doesn't attempt to discuss whether Israel is an evil state of malicious opression and a figurehead for Satan incarnate. Instead it tries to discuss whether suicide-bombing is an acceptable measure of protest. Forgive my filthy Western mentality, but that's just completely absurd. To be fair it does present both views with solid arguments (well there are no solid arguments for exploding yourself and killing innocents, but you get my drift). It's a decent little movie and interesting enough if this conflict interests you. If you want to see a good Arabic-made movie then I wouldn't suggest starting here, but you could also do way worse.

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Thu May 05, 2011 3:01 pm

Heartless (2009)

Faustian tale set in grimy East London about a young man cursed with a heart-shaped port-wine stain on his face and the lengths he is willing to go to for a normal life. It's the first film by The Krays director Philip Ridley in about fifteen years and despite some great scenes, this was an incredibly overwrought effort bursting at the seams with over-sentimentality. The immediate events after the Faustian pact are perhaps the film's biggest highlight but those are reigned in fast with further unnecessary character detail about it's protagonist. All of the supporting characters are badly handled, some feel unnecessarily written out and by the end of the movie which consists of a few false closing outs before the mismanaged twist, I was largely indifferent about anyone's plight. Some genuinely stand-out scenes particularly the weaponsmith and rent boy sacrifice scenes but they were essentially light relief from a movie that was emotionally bogged down and lethargic.

Rammbock (aka Siege of the Dead) (2010)

Germany's take on the apartment complex invaded by zombies scenario. After Spain's superior [REC] movies and France's high-octane The Horde, Rammbock was a surprisingly good effort packed into it's ridiculously short running time (just 60 mins). Much like Pontypool, the zombies aren't really the main focus of the film, but they do play their part in harrying our survivors around the complex. What's interesting is the film could have carried on with two of the film's survivors but chose to focus on the one guy who didn't make it all the way to the end and it actually works and ends the film with a unique finale. An entertaining film that will probably get overlooked for it's more action packed brethren.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Fri May 06, 2011 7:08 pm

Here's what I watched this week:

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - I picked the perfect day to watch this. My upstairs neighbor moved out earlier in the day, so I fully utilized my surround system. Holy shit, that opening theme sounded incredible.
I always assumed this was some sci-fi flick, so I always put off watching it. I was way off. This was like Night of the Living Dead except swap out the zombies for unrelenting gangbangers. What a fun film.
I laughed when the little girl was shot, not because it was funny, but because I recognized that scene from Tommy Bunzגs sig.

I had no idea that was real, I just thought it was 2 images spliced together.

Sisters (1972) - Crazy film about a woman who witnesses a murder while looking out of her apartment window into the window of an apartment across the street. When the police arrive, thereגs no evidence of any crime taking place.
The גcrazyג part is that the accused killer was a Siamese twin who was separated from her sister as an adult.
It was good, but that ending seemed awkward, even though I understand why it ended that way.

Cutterגs Way (1981) - Ron Bennington of The Ron & Fez Show recommended this one on his show one day. Turned out to be a decent recommendation
Jeff Bridges plays גRichard Boneג whose car breaks down in an alley just as a man is disposing of a 17-year-old girls body. Boneגs friend, Cutter, is a Vietnam vet who lost an arm, a leg, and sight in one eye. When Bone thinks he spots the killer, Cutter comes up with motives as to why that particular person is responsible.

Black Dynamite (2009) - This movie did an excellent job at paying homage to blaxploitation movies of the 1970s. From the silly plots, bad dialog, washed out colors, etc...
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this.

The Long Good Friday (1979) - While reading www.cinemaretro.com this week, there was a story about a possible followup to this film. I had never seen this, but heard great things about it, so I queued it up.
I was blown away at how great this is. Just a great, great film with a phenomenal ending.

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) - Also read on CinemaRetro this week was a story on Yvette Vickers, who starred in this film, though she didnגt play the 50 ft. woman.
Yvette was 84 years old and found dead in her home. A neighbor decided to check on her when he noticed the yard wasnגt being taken care of. Her body was so badly decomposed that itגs possible that she may have dead for up to a year. What a terrible ending to her life.
As for the film, it was definitely b-movie material. A little silly, but it was only 65 minutes, so not a chore to sit through.
Yvette Vickers played the love interest of the man who was married to the 50 ft. woman. She was pretty hot in 1958.

Wings of the Morning (1937) - I always thought that the 1938 film, The Adventures of Robin Hood, was the first color film, but this one came out a year earlier.
I didnגt realize it was about horse racing, so with the Kentucky Derby going on tomorrow, it was kind of ironic that I decided to watch this.
Henry Fonda plays a horse trainer who meets a beautiful gyspsy woman disguised as a boy. Eventually the disguise is dropped and they fall in love. This was like the original Just One of the Guys except there was no tit shot at the dance.

Tommy Bunz · Post by **Tommy Bunz** » Fri May 06, 2011 9:42 pm

Dan wrote:Here's what I watched this week:

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - I picked the perfect day to watch this. My upstairs neighbor moved out earlier in the day, so I fully utilized my surround system. Holy shit, that opening theme sounded incredible.
I always assumed this was some sci-fi flick, so I always put off watching it. I was way off. This was like Night of the Living Dead except swap out the zombies for unrelenting gangbangers. What a fun film.
I laughed when the little girl was shot, not because it was funny, but because I recognized that scene from Tommy Bunzגs sig.

I had no idea that was real, I just thought it was 2 images spliced together.

And word, Sisters/Assault/Long Good Friday all great movies.

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Sat May 07, 2011 12:24 pm

Trapped (1981)

Four students on a weekend hiking trip in the Tennesse backwoods witness mountain-folk style justice, the murder of an adulterous wife's lover and face immediate peril from then on. This was an obscure thriller with a killer performance by Henry Silva as the menacing unofficial lawman for a small hick village, abusing his powers like a true psycho. Plenty of atmosphere in this thriller that added some great suspense, my only gripe was some of the night-time scenes were obviously filmed during the day but that really wasn't enough to dissuade me from enjoying this great film.

Y@k Bollocks · Post by **Y@k Bollocks** » Mon May 09, 2011 7:45 am

I love this thread. It's pretty much my sole source of movie recommendations these days, so thanks to all that drop knowledge.

I won't elaborate on these as they've been mentioned previously, but I wanted you guys to know that your advice is being heeded.

El Aura ג 8.5/10
White Ribbon ג 8/10
Coldfish ג 5/10

Thor ג1/10

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Mon May 09, 2011 7:55 am

I'm not putting your opinion on trial, but I would like to know why you weren't too thrilled with Cold Fish (?). I read quite a few reviews from people who dislike it for different reasons, usually bringing up valid points to be honest.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Mon May 09, 2011 1:18 pm

Y@k Bollocks · Post by **Y@k Bollocks** » Mon May 09, 2011 3:10 pm

Comedy Quaddafi wrote:I'm not putting your opinion on trial, but I would like to know why you weren't too thrilled with Cold Fish (?). I read quite a few reviews from people who dislike it for different reasons, usually bringing up valid points to be honest.

Maybe a 5 is harsh, as I did quite enjoy it, but I thought it was way too long (2 1/2 hours or something?) and it just got too ridiculous and tried far too hard to shock.

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Wed May 11, 2011 8:07 pm

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Wed May 11, 2011 8:27 pm

the first 3 movies in the scorpion series are pretty much the pinnacle of japanese arthouseXgrindhouse crossovers. the second one is best if i remember correctly

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Wed May 11, 2011 8:33 pm

Looking forward to seeing the other movies in the boxset, it only has the first three but I guess I'm good then.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Thu May 12, 2011 9:34 pm

Here's what I watched this week (The Bond, James Bond edition):

Two years ago, TCM played James Bond films starring Sean Connery. It was my first time seeing them. I watched them in order, though they did skip the one that starred George Lazenby, so I downloaded that one so I could continue watching them chronologically.
I decided to get back into the Bond films and pick up where I left off (Thank you, Netflix). The crazy thing about this and it was totally unintentional, was that I watched the first Bond film, Dr. No on May 7, 2009 and continued with the rest that week. Two years later on the exact date, Iגm once again spending a week watching Bond films, beginning with the first starring Roger Moore.

Live and Let Die (1973) - Very hard to replace an established character with a new actor, especially one so iconic as Sean Connery. George Lazenby tried, but he was one and done. In comes Roger Moore.
This was entertaining, but I wasnגt really impressed with the tarot card plot. Things got real good when they moved to New Orleans. The crocodile farm and boat chase scenes were quality.
Yaphet Kottoגs death scene was hilarious.
I did miss the gag of Bond throwing his hat and it always landing on the hat rack. Guess thatגs just Sean Conneryגs thing.

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) - This one was a little different in that Bond didnגt seem to use any gadgets. The villain, Scaramanga, had a gun that he assembled using a lighter, a pen, and a cigarette case, but that was pretty much the only gadget seen.
Not nearly as action packed as the last one, but still fun to watch. Christopher Lee was a great bad guy.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - This will probably go down as one of my favorite Bond films. A very strong opening with an amazing stunt. A ton of action throughout. Richard Kiel as the henchman גJawsג was an awesome character.
Glad to see that the gadgets were brought back, too.

Moonraker (1979) - Bond goes to outer space to stop a man from destroying earth, so that he can create his own master race on his space station.
Wasnגt really feeling this one. The late 70גs were pretty much all about sci-fi with films such as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and TV shows like Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers, so I guess it was only fitting for James Bond to join the bandwagon.
The one thing I really didnגt like was that it took place in the present day, yet during the final battle on the space station, everyone involved was using laser guns.

For Your Eyes Only (1981) - A fun opening with the return of the unnamed (due to a lawsuit) villain, Blofeld.
Bond goes back to being gadgetless, so it plays more like a spy film. I think I prefer the gadgets.
I liked this better than the previous one, but not by much. Maybe Iגm just watching too many at once, but Iגm definitely seeing a decline.

Octopussy (1983) - Speaking of declines. Probably the greatest title of all the Bond films. I remember wanting to see this as a kid, but I think I was too embarassed/scared to say the title around my parents.
The plots seem to be getting weaker, but itגs the crazy stunts that keep me interested in the franchise. Iגm afraid to continue because as I get closer to the CGI age, I know I wonגt be as impressed with the stunts.
I am enjoying Roger Moore as 007 though.

Never Say Never Again (1983) - The same year Octopussy was released, this film came out a few months later. Sean Connery makes his return and final appearance as James Bond, though this film isnגt technically a part of the 007 franchise.
Even though heגs referred to as 007 and James Bond, this just didnגt feel like a Bond film. All the characters were there, though they were all played by different actors. It was a decent spy movie, just not a great Bond one. Plus, Monty Normanגs infamous Bond theme was not used. The SPECTRE villains group was present, so I guess thatגs the trade-off, since they havenגt been mentioned since Roger Moore took over as Bond.
The video game scene was laughable.
The highlight for me was seeing Rowan Atkinson in his film debut.

A View to a Kill (1985) - This film marks the end of Roger Moore as James Bond.
Surprisingly, I liked this one a lot. I had mentioned previously that the plots were getting weaker, but I really enjoyed this one.
Christopher Walken was great as the villain.
Netflix only has the 2 Bond films that followed this one, The Living Daylights and License to Kill, both starring Timothy Dalton as 007. I think Iגm going to take a break from Bond films and just wait until Netflix adds the rest, then maybe do another marathon.

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Sat May 14, 2011 8:40 am

For Y'ur Height Only (1981) - "You're such a little guy, very petite, like a potato." It's a movie from the Phillipines about a midget agent who is fighting an evil crime syndicate. I normally think it's crass when every other American comedy finds a way to make fun of midgets but in this the midget is kickin ass (mostly balls actually) and riding jetpacks, scaring people with his awesome levitating hat, cool utility belt and impressive wardrobe, hes not just a midget badass hes a badass who happens to be a midget. Too many hilarious one-liners delivered by atrocious dubbing are hurled on to the screen whenever Agent 00 isn't knocking out huge groups of thugs accompanied by the actual score from James Bond, which they stole for multiple scenes. You have to see it to believe it:

Horror Friday 13th double-bill

Intruder (1989) - One of the last slashers of the 80's right before the genre was put on ice. Sam Raimi is in it and Bruce Campbell makes an appearence. It all takes place inside a supermarket where they employees are being offed. Lots of creative camera-angles and framing makes this worthwhile, along with the rather viscious ways of killing using typical supermarket-items. The acting is dire, even for a slasher but oh well. The motive and ending is quite atypical which I will give the movie props for. Nothing too special here but it's solid.

Mum & Dad (2008) - Not "THE BEST UK HORROR OF THE LAST DECADE" but it's very good. Could be loosely-lumped in with other horrors which have been exploiting the contemporary fascination wit torture but I beg to differ. The focus is much more centered around captivity and there's a dark sense of satire aimed at the practices and customs of the typical lower middle-class family unit. This is subtle at times and sometimes more explicit, as in the Christmas scene. It might be inspired by serialkillers Fred and Rose West but it does seem to use that background to tell a story of it's own injected with a little social relevance. The acting is quite good, from "Dad" in particular. It's a huge downer but that's fine in my book.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Mon May 16, 2011 12:54 pm

bridesmaids - legitimately funny as shit. pretty much the same standard appatow formula of grossout/dick jokes paired with above average handling of sentiment, transposed to a group of chicks instead of the usual group of dudes. although i do get the feeling that some of the grossout parts were tacked on or ramped up specifically to make the movie more appealing to a male audience

clash of the titans (og) - first time in a loooong time seeing this whole and uncut, stands up surprisingly well. tremendously entertaining, and the dated special effects add to the movie more than detract imo. silly stop motion >> silly cgi, and some of the sequences actually do hold up really well.

the fury - a collection of amazing parts that never really adds up to a coherent whole. the only time it really fails is when DePalma has a random 15-20 minute Carrie flashback in the second act, almost everything else is great. you'd have to be real joyless asshole to hate on the last 3rd (starting from the slow motion escape from the institute).

jay · Post by **jay** » Tue May 17, 2011 11:24 am

drizzle wrote:bridesmaids - legitimately funny as shit. pretty much the same standard appatow formula of grossout/dick jokes paired with above average handling of sentiment, transposed to a group of chicks instead of the usual group of dudes. although i do get the feeling that some of the grossout parts were tacked on or ramped up specifically to make the movie more appealing to a male audience

Yep - saw it with the missus on the weekend and laughed a lot. The chick from Mike and Molly owns all of her scenes and it was nice to see the dude from IT Crowd get the leading man nod.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue May 17, 2011 11:28 am

I feel like they wrote her character to have something analagous to Galifagnachos character in the Hangover, a female version of the awkward fat weirdo. But I think she kinda outshines the original in his own schtick.

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Wed May 18, 2011 4:44 pm

Tokyo Fist (1998) - Sweet gutpunch from Tsukamoto of Tetsuo-fame. It's about a man who'se wife gets taken from him by a boxer. The man goes nuts and starts training rigorously to build muscle, box and get his wife back. It's full of little details that seem to create a mood of urban loneliness and it shows the darker side of masculinity. Very industrial and violent movie. The training montage makes you wanna jump off the couch and punch holes in the air.

Road Games (1981) - The cover is killer but a bit misleading. It's a very classy thriller about a truck-driver who likes to quote poets and talk to his dingo. He picks up a hitch-hiker and begin to realise hes in too deep when a suspicious van keeps following him. There's lots of well-constructed suspense to keep you interested and little twists in the plot to keep you guessing.

Off Screen (2005) - Dutch drama-thriller based on a true story. It's about a paranoid-schiz man who believes Phillips is doing mindcontrol on people, so he takes a building hostage and demands to speak to the CEO of Philips. Unfortunately for everyone he has taken the wrong building hostage. You learn about his psychosis through flashbacks. It's extremely melancholic and generally treats the subject with respect.

Nightmares in Red, White and Blue (2008) - Decent documentary about the history of American horror. It's just too short to be anything but superficial, you get a brief sketch of what happened each decades with different directors throwing in comments about their own work and the different periods and what they mean. There's just not enough time to develop the points they are trying to make so it kinda comes off as a bit shallow and rushed. Cool little overview for people who want to learn more about this, but doesn't offer a whole lot. Carpenter's short rants is the highlight here.

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Wed May 18, 2011 4:50 pm

CQ you need to read the brand new revised edition of Kim Newman's book, Nightmare Movies. No documentary comes even close to it.

Road Games is a dope little Aussie thriller.

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Wed May 18, 2011 5:17 pm

Thx for the tip. Will read it.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Thu May 19, 2011 7:31 pm

Here's what I watched this week:

Bridesmaids (2011) - I only went to see this because Chris OגDowd (Roy from The IT Crowd) was in it. I had only seen the trailer once and thought it looked decent, though it did look like it was a chick flick. Still, I went by myself and overall liked it a lot.
I really had no idea who any of the female leads were, though I did recognize Melissa McCarthy from the cancelled TV show Samantha Who?, where she played Christina Applegateגs friend.
I was surprised to see Matt Lucas in this, who I was a fan of from his show Little Britain. At first his scene was funny, but this comedy is 2+ hours, so in hindsight, his scenes were really unnecessary.
Part of the movie takes place on an airplane, where it felt like I was watching deleted scenes on a Blu-ray disc. I understand they had to give all the bridesmaids something to say/do on the plane, but not all of them worked for me.
Women will probably enjoy this much more than men, but donגt be fooled into thinking this is a chick flick. Itגs really funny.

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1952) - Based on a story by Dr. Seuss, this is about a young boy whose biggest enemy is his piano teacher. The teacher, Dr. Terwilliker, is constantly stressing to the boy about practicing. One day while dozing off during practice, the boy has a vivid dream that Dr. T. is attempting to force 500 boys to play on this gigantic piano simultaneously for 24 hours a day.
This was a very colorful film with great looking sets during the dream sequence.

Koroshi no rakuin aka Branded to Kill (1967) - Considering the year it was released, I was not expecting this to be an ultra violent/sex filled film. I liked this one a lot.
I did notice a scene that apparently Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai paid homage to, the firing of a gun up through a drainage pipe.

Hearts and Minds (1974) - Documentary about the Vietnam war. It leans more on the anti-side of things, but does get a lot of opinions on those who were for the war. They even get opinions of Vietnamese people who lost their homes, family members, etc...
It was very good.

Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) - Another documentary, this one dealing with coal miners in eastern Kentucky.
I thought this was going to be boring based on the subject matter, but it really wasnגt. These coal miners went on strike for 13 months and had to deal with avoiding gunfire (all shown, by the way) while standing in picket lines.
The one thing that was never really resolved in the documentary was whatever happened to the scabs? When the strike ended, I wanted to know if they had to work with the scabs or did the scabs lose their jobs?

Ratcatcher (1999) - Scottish film about a young poor boy, riddled with guilt after accidentally letting his friend drown. He keeps it all a secret, while he dreams of him and his family getting out of their slum and into a much nicer home.
This was a very good, yet very sad film.
Even though it was in English, it was still subtitled since the Scottish accents were so heavy. It definitely helped.

Tirez sur le pianiste aka Shoot the Piano Player (1960) - Fran

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Fri May 20, 2011 12:41 pm

Cell 211 (2009) - There's been some great prison-movies coming out of Europe in the last few years, R, Un Prophete and Hell in Tangiers, this isn't quite on that level to me - but some will say it's the best of the bunch. I just never thought the way the situations was set up was very believable, a new guard is caught in a riot and has to pretend to be an inmate to save his life. The inmates are just a bit too likeable to inspire fear but I guess that was the points, as it gets rather anti-authority and a bit preadchy. It could have been a badass movie if they kept it simple but they're trying to say something important, that might make it a better movie to some but I never quite bought it.

Point Blank (2011) - Awesome French action-thriller in the style of Taken, but with the classic theme of an innocent man getting involved in a whole lot of trouble. It wastes no time, planting a great action seqiuence in the beginning, then it takes 10 mins to make us familiar with and sympathetic to the protagonist. From there on it's pure adrenaline. The epilogue left a sour taste though, I could really have done without it but it's my only complaint and it doesn't really matter.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Fri May 20, 2011 1:11 pm

gotta check out point blank, it's got a lot to live up to with that title thoguh

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Mon May 23, 2011 5:14 pm

Black Angel - has a rep as an underrated gem of noir, rep is not well deserved though. the set up is nice and sleazy but it never pays off right and the end is lame.

52 Pickup - solid 80s noir directed by Frankenheimer, scripted/adapted by Elmore Leonard from one of his own books. Great acting and direction, but suprsingly the script is the weak point, the movie treds water in the middle and ends up 20mins to long. Properly condensed this could've been a minor classic, still worthwhile as is though