What have you watched recently?

Tony EH

'The Slience of the Lambs'

Jonathan Demme's finest work to date and one of the best horror / thriller's in modern history, 'The Silence of the Lambs' is notable for several great performances, including Foster's and Hopkin's (who's only on the screen for about 15 minutes!). Ted Levine also gives a great understated turn as the nutter "Buffalo Bill", the serial killer at the heart of the FBI investigation and the reason for Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter to meet and Scott Glen maintains fine support as Foster's slightly sinister FBI boss. The film is choc-a-bloc with memorable scenes, but the film is never OTT or silly at any point. It contains some humor, but this is never forced and it remains a serious take on the subject throughout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZrnSFoZYKQ

'Deliverance'

John Boorman's classic hillbilly horror from 1972 remains popular to this day and for good reason. Closely based on James Dickey's 1970 novel, it follows four "cityboys" as they journey down the fictional Cahulawassee river, somewhere in the Appalachians and charts the rapid descent of their weekend excursion. Although some audiences today may find it a little tame, the fact that 'Deliverance' was filmed in a hard hitting, no-nonsense way has helped it to weather the 38 years of it's existence. Boorman pulls no punches here and some scenes (including the most famous one) still have a creepy power. The four leads, Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronnie Cox and Ned Beaty are excellent in their roles and it's impossible to imagine how Lee Marvin and Marlon Brando, who were originally going to be cast, who have faired.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9R4t_Nwy5E

duckworth

The Mission
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091530/


Had been putting off watching this one for ages - seems like everybody else in the world had seen it and kept berating me for not watching it. Anyway, it's great. Everything is right, the music, the photography, the acting. It deals with all the themes I love in movies, religion, politics, sin, redemption, love, violence, colonialism. This is a big film.

There also comes a point when you watch a lot of films that you become immune to Robert De Niro. You forget how good he is, because it's such a truism. This movie reminded me though - first time in ages I've said to myself, 'wow he's one of the best ever'
9/10

The Killing Fields
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087553/


Same director as The Mission, had it for a while and was never really in the mood for watching it. The story is well known, and is pretty horrific. I've been to Cambodia and visited alot of the places in the movie, but seeing it on the screen did remind me what a terrible part of history this was.

Not as impressed with the movie though - seems to have dated badly. The main actor guy is actually really bad in some parts - although the friendship is done very well, and the main Cambodian actor is superb. Music is awful and jarring - complete opposite of The Mission.

6/10

Tokyo Sonata
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0938341/


This one was a complete shock and blew my socks off. I'd recommend this to anyone who loves movies - absolute treat of a film. On the surface, this deals with unemployment and it's effect on a modern Japanese Family - but it goes much deeper and darker. Kind of a modern day Death of a Salesman, except with all the quirkiness and freshness Japanese directors/writers seem to bring.

Let down a little when it the action reaches its apex - but has one of the most affecting final scenes I've seen in a long time. The director of this one is famour for horror movies, but I haven't seen any of his previous films.

9/10.

A V A

watched star trek (2009) last night and thought it was great !!!! iv been putting it off fir a while because i dont really like sci fi films and i just didnt want to watch it but last night proved me wrong , great film simon pegg did a good job :P

Duggy747

Robocop..................Drop your weapon, you have 20 seconds to comply!!

I never get sick of this movie so I slapped it on for the GF who had never seen it before. I think the satirical edge flew over her head but on the most part she really enjoyed it. The movie's special effects and make-up haven't dated one bit and it still looks awesome and "gritty" at the same time.

Ed-209 still creeps me out as a faceless monster and Ronny Cox is such a dickhead in this and Total Recall

Also watched Robocop 2 later last night and, yikes, what a drop in quality. It basically disregards Robocop's struggle to come to terms with who he is and the fact that he regained his human mannerisms again towards the end of the 1st movie.

The plot is ridiculous and plot holes so big you could park a bus in them. Changing the owner of OCP from a sweet old man in the 1st film to a sour villian in the 2nd makes no sense. (As is the obvious visual style of OCP as nazi's with their armed guards dressed like SS officers and big red banners with a white circle and OCP logo in the middle.......good grief)

Daft and stupid film that even the cast and crew thought it was crap with scenes of a humanised Robocop cut out completely.

It's only saving grace was the spectacular stop-animation work done on the Robocop 2 machine and the action scenes. The last fight action scene in particular showcasing how awesome stop-animation was.

I'm not going to even attempt to watch the rest of the Robocop canon, they're pure drivel.

All in all, it got me thinking of the upcoming Robocop reboot. Of the entire franchise the 1st film is the only worthwhile one, so this reboot certainly can't do a worse job than the godawful sequels and TV movies.

duckworth

My Halloween Horror Binge consisted of the following movies:

<rec>
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038988/

Hugely disappointing Blair Witch-style-shaky-camcorder zombie flick. Had a number of recommendations to watch this from friends, so I was looking forward to it. I was expecting suspense and scares, and all I got was a load of over-the-top screaming, and ridiculously shaky camera. It got a little better for the last ten minutes or so, until

the ****ty CGI monster in the finale really topped it off.

What a load of balls this one was.

Would still do the main bird though, even if she was really annoying.

5/10

The Eye (2002)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325655/


Another big disappointment. I loved the Ring, and I expected something of similar creepiness. There were relatively few scares, and quite frankly it bored me a little. There was no tension - it was more in the style of 'Let The Right One On' or a Del Toro film - but it had none of the depth of story or character needed to sustain it.

5/10

I'll continue when I've more time...

duckworth

Texas Chainsaw Massacre - 1974
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072271/


I saw this a long time ago in the IFI, but it mustn't have had an impression on me because I didn't remember it being so good. I love the naturalism - the speech is even hard to make out at times. Great use of violence and gore, even a little bit of humour - great slow build up to the inevitable madness and horror at the end. Loved it.

8/10

Suspiria
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076786/


My first Dario Argento, and hopefully not my last. I hear this is probably his best, and it was very good indeed. I wasn't really expecting much depth to it - but it was a surprisingly thoughful film. Really weird and great use of music, stylised gore, occult themes, touching on feminism, sexuality, religion - also very cool.

8/10

The Human Centipede


Hmmm...... Trash horror that simply wasn't trashy enough. I was expecting much more of a kitsch factor. The little amount of kitsch dissappeared after the first 20 minutes or so and then I was just left watching the depraved musings of some sick director. I truly felt dirty after watching this one. I was expecting something akin to The Room, but it was actually straight-down-the-line.

You only need to hear about this one - you don't need to go see it.

0/10

Gerty

The deer hunter - Don't like to dish the dirt on much-loved films but this just didn't to it for me. Thought that christopher walkens was great but besides that, nobody else stood out. These scenes that should have been devastating to me fell short. Some poor editing. I just didn't get it and thinks its overrated.
Each to their own now.

fontanalis

KungPao wrote: »

Still great and always will be.



It always did!

To be fair some cgi these days looks just as bad.

Harrocks

Moon had been putting this off and off shouldnt have great si-fi flick.

duckworth

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032846/


Holy crap this one was tough going. Much more frightening than most of the horror I watched last week. It's the story of two woman in communist-era Romania trying to get an abortion for one of the women. And it's as harrowing as it sounds - doesn't pull any punches at all. The acting is unbelievably good - and the realist style is great - lots of long static shots where the audience only hears what is going on just off-screen. It was apparently made for only half a million dollars. Definitely a great film, but I'll only watch it the once I think.

9/10

Gerty

duckworth wrote: »

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032846/


Holy crap this one was tough going. Much more frightening than most of the horror I watched last week. It's the story of two woman in communist-era Romania trying to get an abortion for one of the women. And it's as harrowing as it sounds - doesn't pull any punches at all. The acting is unbelievably good - and the realist style is great - lots of long static shots where the audience only hears what is going on just off-screen. It was apparently made for only half a million dollars. Definitely a great film, but I'll only watch it the once I think.

9/10

That is weird, i just turned it on and this is the first thread i went into.

DM addict

Just about to start watching Disney's Sword in the Stone.

Classic

MiloYossarian

Just watched an art film from 1956. It is black and white, three hours long and consists of mouths screaming at the camera. I found it profound and deeply moving, I couldn't hold back the tears. The word "Genius" is bandied about too willy nilly these days but this film deserves it. But you wouldn't get it because you're not as in to film as I am.

I also just watched Let Me In. Really enjoyed it. Enjoyed it much more than Let the Right One In for some reason. One thing it confirms is that Matt Reeves is a good director with a really good eye for a shot. Will defo check out his next film.

padma

MiloYossarian wrote: »

Just watched an art film from 1956. It is black and white, three hours long and consists of mouths screaming at the camera. I found it profound and deeply moving, I couldn't hold back the tears. The word "Genius" is bandied about too willy nilly these days but this film deserves it. But you wouldn't get it because you're not as in to film as I am.

Whats the name of this film please?

ashyle

Kess73 wrote: »

As for the remake of NOES? I had to force myself not to switch it off a few times. So boring and so inferior to the original which is 20 odd years it's senior.

There was no sense of menace from Freddy, and the rest of the cast are ridiculously wooden, and must have been cast only because some of them have slight facial resembelences to more famous actors.


Also why the hell should the viewer actually care if any of the kids die in the film

seeing as there is enough shown in flashbacks to suggest that Freddy was murdered in the wrong due to lies told by the kids when they were younger.

All in all a very poor remake imho that sits near the bottom of the pile of horror remakes from recent years.

What a pile of crap that remake is, I saw it in the cinema (for free, I hasten to add) and it got so many unintentional laughs from the audience!

MiloYossarian

padma wrote: »

Whats the name of this film please?

I can't tell you the name, because it does not have a name. The film is simply represented by a symbol. It the film formally known as "Prince".
It's directed by the same guy that directed that film about sexuality. The black and white one, it's four hours long, an elegant lady hand wraps and unwraps a live, male, chicken in tinfoil before, three hours in she lays an egg herself, the camera dwells on the egg for the last hour and we, the audience are left to ponder the meaning. Eventually I came up with the answer and when I finished watching the film I felt free.
But, I wouldn't expect you to understand because you're not as in to film as I am.

padma

MiloYossarian wrote: »

But, I wouldn't expect you to understand because you're not as in to film as I am.

o.k

Duggy747

Watched Dawn Of The Dead remake again. This was actually a surprising film for me when it came out as I was expecting a pretty crap film, given that it was a remake nobody wanted.

Very stylised film with Synders prints all over it (various pointless slow-mo's, that dark contrast / high saturation colour mix, soundtrack). As a zombie film it wasn't as violent as I'd like it to be, you have to have at least one shot of zombies eating organs :pac:, but it still had it's tense moments and that dread of a zombie apocalypse.

As a remake, it's pretty good and definitely one of the better zombie movies of recent years.

I just wish that

girl who stole the truck to save the dog would have been zombie chow...........what an idiot.

Tony EH

'The Exorcism of Emily Rose'

I wasn't expecting too much from this as I had preconceptions that it was going to be a cheap knock off of 'The Exorcist', but I am happy to say that I was wrong. 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' plays out as a tight little shocker wrapped up in a courtroom drama and is supported by some pretty good performances by all concerned. Ostensibly based on the factual case of Anneliese Michel, the film follows the attempts of a court to prosecute a Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson) for the manslaughter of a young staunchly Catholic girl, Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter). He is defended, reluctantly at first, by the agnostic and ambitious female lawyer Christine Bruner (Laura Linney) who experiences strange phenomena, herself, during the trial. Father Moore agrees to be defended, only if he can tell the story of Emily when he is called to take the stand.

As is expected, most of the film takes place in flashback as we know from the outset that Emily Rose is dead, presumably from the exorcism. The exorcism itself comes across as the usual mumbo-jumbo claptrap, but it's lent a lot of credibility by the dramatic affair in the courtroom scenes. At times, the film seems to be entering territory it probably shouldn't, but it never goes too far into the absurd. It stays comfortably within the bounds that such films present for themselves. The lack of CGI effects also help the believability of the central character's "possession". There is no 360 revolving heads or pea green soup puking here and most of the physical manifestations of Emily's torment is performed by Jennifer Carpenter. Even so the exorcism scenes could have been a little more restraint.

'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' isn't going to topple William Friedkin's film off of its perch, but it does what it says on the tin and delivers what it sets out to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSy7DldFdUI

Gerty

4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days - Very well done film, brilliant performances.




Unforgiven - Badass.

Ruu_Old

Sabrina. I think this film worked very well. A good mix of romance and some comedy too.

rednik

Apocalypse Now on blu ray, absolutely stunning.

Phony Scott

rednik wrote: »

Apocalypse Now on blu ray, absolutely stunning.

Is that region A and if so what player do you have (just wondering if it'll work on my PS3)?

rednik

Phony Scott wrote: »

Is that region A and if so what player do you have (just wondering if it'll work on my PS3)?

Got the full disclosure (3 disc) edition from Axel music, it is region free.

splashthecash

I watched a rake of movies over the past week or so - changing my way of commuting to the train gives me much more time!

The Social Network - Really enjoyed it. You would know that Aaron Sorkin had his hands all over this with the fast paced, clever dialogue. Didn't paint Mark Zuckerburg in great light though, very little social skills but a genius at what he does. Good support cast.

Frozen - Three friends get stuck on a ski lift after everyone at the ski resort leaves for the week. Some tense moments - made me think what would I have done differently in that situation. Decent enough flick - nothing special though.

The Experiment - Hollywood remake of a German film some years back. Interesting point of view of how the human mind works in a certain situation.

Predators - Run of the mill action but not half as good as either of the first two pred films. Lines and score reused in abbundance. The new lines are cringy and silly characters.

Get him to the Greek - Very funny, really enjoyed this. I have to say I really like Russell Brand in this Aldous Snow character. Looking forward to seeing him in the remake of one of my favourite films; Arthur

Noffles

Watched Monsters... total load of ****e

Winters

MiloYossarian wrote: »

Just watched an art film from 1956. It is black and white, three hours long and consists of mouths screaming at the camera. I found it profound and deeply moving, I couldn't hold back the tears. The word "Genius" is bandied about too willy nilly these days but this film deserves it. But you wouldn't get it because you're not as in to film as I am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVmmYMwFj1I

Tony EH

'Them'

One of the best of the 1950's atomic big bug movies, that's still entertainng today. Surprisingly slow building and well acted, it's about giant mutated ants that appear in the New Mexico desert and make their way up to California where they are eventually defeated by the humans. The giant ants themselves aren't bad creations for the time, even if they are terribly slow moving and signal their presence with a bizarre high pitched sound.

'The Atomic Cafe'

A more serious take on the 1950's "Atomic Age", 'The Atomic Cafe' is, at times, a damning report in the manipulation, deceit and outright lies of American propaganda concerning the weaponry, enemy and conflicts of the period. There's no voiceover included, it's simply giving the propaganda enough rope to hang itself. The sight of an atomic mushroom cloud has never lost its ability to strike fear into ones heart, but especially disturbing is the displayed tendency on behalf of some areas of American society to want to use "nukes" at the slightest drop of the hat! News footage showing senators and politicians publicly advocating using atomic weaponry during the Korean war is chilling to say the least and viewed from today can only make one thankful that the Russians had possession of the bomb as well, as god alone knows how many more cities would have been "wiped off the map", in the same vain as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, if they had had their way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwwTZdQBfO4

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

just finished Bitch Slap

one of the best movies I've ever seen in my life
stunning in 1080p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0izJ6KrqpQk

crazygeryy

kick ass

what a weird f****ed up little movie.not really funny not really thrilling and as for an eleven year old killing everything in sight.bit weird.

inception

christopher nolan has some head on him thats all i can say.it was ok.far to complex for my liking.but good nonetheless.just be stone cold sober watching it and have no interruptions.otherwise your screwed.