Rate the last movie you've seen

[Neil]

Nocturnal Animals: 8/10 Well this is a hard film to watch. It's talky at times, and then dark and horrible at others... But I found it gripping and different enough for me to consider it a "good film". I can imagine others hating it. ps: Be prepared for the footage during the opening credits. Do not go in with food... No it's not gory...

[shootemindehead]

'Play Misty for Me' 7/10 Eastwood's directorial debut and certainly a good one. But, one which has to be viewed with "70's eyes" I think and without the inevitable comparsions with a certain "bunny boiler" film. Eastwood acts as well, in a rather unsympathetic role. His character is a real ass, who in many ways gets what's coming to him, even if he never really convinces in the role. Better is Jessica Walter who's both pitiful and scary. Part of you feels sorry for her and part of you wants to run a mile. 'The Monster' 7/10 Sort of bog standard creature feature, with the added benefit of two brilliant central performances and a super serious tone that actually makes the viewer care about what happens to the people involved. A mother and daughter in a horribly "strained" relationship sets out on a journey to the girl's estranged father. Along the way there's and accident, leaving them abandoned and at the mercy of something in the shadows. The plot is threadbare, but that doesn't impact negatively on the film as the acting from the loathsome (but pitiful) mother (Zoe Kazan) and the heartbreaking role from Ella Ballentine is enough to justify spending the time. In the end the monster itself, whilst betraying a low budget, becomes an incidental, almost a metaphorical stand-in for the struggles between mother and daughter.

[EvilNed]

Forbidden World, 2/5 In the Alien Quadrilogy box set there's a documentary about the making of Alien. One of the producers talks about what they were looking for in a director. Someone who could approach the film, Alien, and make something unique with it. And they found Ridley Scott and they got it. The producer even recalls a conversation with one director going like this; "So have you got any ideas for the facehugger? How it should look?". The director replies "I'll just go and get a piece of meat and slap that on the actors face." Well, in this Alien ripoff they just slap an piece of meat on an actors face. And they have all the female actors strip nude all the time. The only thing interesting about this film, apart from it being a mildly amusing sci-fi flick, is that there are some moments in this that remind me of the yet-to-be released Aliens. One character is pierced by the Alien tail, much like Bishop. And the resident Robot is torn in two - again like Bishop. In Enemy Hands, 2/5 A pack of american submarines get taken prisoners by a german u-boat after their sub is torpedoed. Meningitis spreads across the crew. I enjoyed it but it felt really sloppy. There's lots of fades in and out of scenes and a lot of the actors play... kind of weird. They're really subdued and non-emotional. Felt strange. Add to that, the dialogue was terrible.

[shootemindehead]

'The Tingler' 10/10 1950's kitch score. Real world score 3/10 William Castle's vividly nonsensical and absurd horror about a creature that lives in all humans that uses our fear to grow from microscopic size to the length of a man's forarm! Amazingly this is all played completely straight, by a cast led by Vincent Price, which conversly makes the proceedings all the more nuts and it ends on such a bizarre note that it leaves you with one of those screwed up WTF faces. Probably Castle's most well known gimmick movie, 1959 audiences were treated to randomly selected buzzing seats that were to act as "Tinglers" during a specific scene where the Tingler of the film escaped into a cinema. While dreadful, there's something nice about putting this on and sitting down by the fire at midnight with a beer - even if you have to get up for work the next morning. - - - Updated - - - And they have all the female actors strip nude all the time. Well, there's one female "actor" that's nude in 'Forbidden World' that makes it a 10/10.

[EvilNed]

I barely remember any of the characters... Anyway; Hacksaw Ridge, 4/5 I enjoy most things Mel Gibson touches. This is no exception. I like a personal story about a man's conviction set to the backdrop of the bloody battle of Okinawa. I love world war 2, so of course I was excited about this film. Knowing Mel Gibson was directing, I also knew it wouldn't shy away from the horrors of war. I wasn't disappointed. Some might call the christian overtones a bit cheesy but the film is only following Doss' own accounts of from where he drew his strength. Besides, atheist Sweden isn't really saturated with tales of faith... The film is not perfect. We're in a Post-Letters from Iwo Jima and Der Untergang-era after all and the portrayal of the Japanese in this film feels really dated. Likewise, there are some instances where I feel the action is maybe just a bit too Lethal Weapon-ish. The BAR rifle is at one point fired accurately by a soldier advancing with it in one hand. Stuff like that happens all the time, it seems. For comparison, check out the recoil on it when this guy, standing, fires just three shots (Go to 1m 38s): Friday the 13th Part 2, 3/5 I'm working my way through these films for the first time since I was a teenager, right around the time Jason X got released (so roughly 15 years). I enjoy them for what they are. So far, they are kind of samey. But it's nice to see them work with stereotypes and the way different films are shot in order to build suspense. Analyzing the Friday the 13th film series is probably a great way to learn how to make a film. Anyway, it's Ok. I guess it's a bit darker than future installations would get. I mean, it is after all about a creepy deformity living in the woods, preying on naked girls and slitting their throats. Later films are more about him being an unstoppable zombie.

[shootemindehead]

'Eaten Alive: The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film' Interesting, though cheap, documentary on the Italian cannibal film cycle or sub genre from the 70's/80's that maps its dubious "highs" and frequent lows starting with 'The Man from Deep River' and culminating (sort of) with 'Cannibal Ferox'. Although made by Callum Waddel, who doesn't enjoy the best of reputations among some genre fans, the documentary presents a fair and ballanced view of these films, featuring input from Umberto Lenzi, Ruggero Deodato, Kim Newman, Luigi Cozzi and plenty of others. There are also interesting, if innocuous, on set stories from the likes of Me Me Lai, Robert Kerman and Italian whipping boy Giovanni Lombardo Radice (better known as John Morghen). Final mention is given to Eli Roth's 'The Green Inferno' and the possibility of Deodato making one last cannibal film before he pops his clogs. 'Suicide Squad' 2/10 Epic in its sheer mess, 'Suicide Squad' manages to take all of its good ingredients and chuck them in the bin, while indulging in an over reliance on pop video visuals and soundtracks to fill in the gulf of its empty story. The characters, too, are mere sketches of their comic book counterparts and never seem to be at one with them, although Margot Robbie did manage to win me over with her version of Harley Quinn, but I think her satisfactorily revealing hot pants may have had a large part to play in that. Elsewhere we have Will Smith - ostensibly being Deadshot - but simply being Will Smith (as he's incapable of being anything else, although he is less irritating here), there's Jared Leto as the worst Joker I have ever seen and cast of also rans that I couldn't have cared less about. It's easy to see why Tom Hardy bailed early on this one. I'll give a nod to Viola Davis who does good support as the cold hearted bitch Amanda Waller and when she's on screen, the film goes up a notch. The story, what little there is, is wholly insufficient to hold a 2hr15 film and the tone shifts wildly at times, giving clear indication that DC hadn't the first clue how to approach this, in the light of the (quite unfair) backlash against 'Man of Steel' and 'Batman vs Superman'. This was the extened version I watched, I've never seen the Theatrical cut and I really don't care to. A pretty awful film, with an ok film in there trying to get out.

[MinionZombie]

Friday the 13th Part 2, 3/5 I'm working my way through these films for the first time since I was a teenager, right around the time Jason X got released (so roughly 15 years). I enjoy them for what they are. So far, they are kind of samey. But it's nice to see them work with stereotypes and the way different films are shot in order to build suspense. Analyzing the Friday the 13th film series is probably a great way to learn how to make a film. Anyway, it's Ok. I guess it's a bit darker than future installations would get. I mean, it is after all about a creepy deformity living in the woods, preying on naked girls and slitting their throats. Later films are more about him being an unstoppable zombie. Oh, cool. I've watched them all countless times (except Jason Goes To Hell ... I've only seen that ... ... twice, I think. Once certainly, twice probably.) The first and fourth are tied for my joint favourite in the franchise, with Part 6 as a close second to them. Even the weaker entries have reasons to love them (e.g. Part VII is seriously weak on gore and the plot and characters are mostly crap - that was when the MPAA were really going after slasher flicks - but it's Kane Hodder's first time as Jason, the make-up work on him is superb (the best in the entire franchise), and the effects work in general is fantastic). The second one feels a lot like the first, the look and sound of it, you know? It's interesting that it rips off - very nakedly - two stand-out kills from Mario Bava's "A Bay of Blood". I didn't know it at the time, but learned about that later on (I think one of the producers had seen Bava's film and suggested the kills to the filmmakers, who hadn't seen Bava's flick). The obvious one is the couple who get skewered mid-bonk, and the other is the machete to the face (slightly different in Friday 13th II, though, in that the victim is in a wheelchair ... but there's a wheelchair-bound victim in A Bay of Blood also, so...) Ooh, my Friday the 13th fan gland has been tingled ... so, as for the others: Part 1: It's a classic, end of. Part 3: I dig it for Jason, the intro of the hockey mask, and that final act. Otherwise it's a bit up-and-down, but it is part of the first four being so closely linked narratively. Part 4: The characterisation is the best in the series - I actually care about almost all of the characters, some of whom I really don't want to see get killed, so the script is excellent, plus Savini was back on gore duty and it tied up that story arc of the first four. Part 5: It's like the ugly duckling of the franchise ... some of it is so weird and out there (and it's got the highest body count). Lots of boobs (the director started out shooting porn, IIRC), lots of kills, but the 'Jason impersonator' angle blows. That said, it's the last in the franchise that has the 'classic look and sound' of the Friday the 13th films. Part 6: More of a horror comedy, but again, it's got a great script, great soundtrack, and is a hell of a lot of fun. Kinda campy, but the gothic horror elements work well and the cast rocks. Part 8: Severely wounded on the gore front (again), but it's Kane Hodder doing his thing, and the final act with him killing his way through New York (most of which was Vancouver doubling for NYC) is a franchise highlight. Part 10: Exceedingly campy and hugely indebted to the 'post-Scream' era of slasher movies. It's quite good fun, but it has aged considerably and rather quickly. Remake: It has its problems (e.g. why the hell did they shoot it in Texas?! It's totally unsuitable for a New Jersey-ish setting ... plus making the film in the exact same way (cinematography-wise in particular) to the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre really hurts this film), but the characters are pretty decent and the gore is strong. The new actor playing Jason did a really good job, but the script does struggle under the weight of three different starts. Still, though, it delivers on the sex and violence with glee. Not the worst in the franchise, but far from the strongest, and yet I've enjoyed watching it a few times and would definitely watch it again. - - - Updated - - - 'Eaten Alive: The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film' Interesting, though cheap, documentary on the Italian cannibal film cycle or sub genre from the 70's/80's that maps its dubious "highs" and frequent lows starting with 'The Man from Deep River' and culminating (sort of) with 'Cannibal Ferox'. Although made by Callum Waddel, who doesn't enjoy the best of reputations among some genre fans, the documentary presents a fair and ballanced view of these films, featuring input from Umberto Lenzi, Ruggero Deodato, Kim Newman, Luigi Cozzi and plenty of others. There are also interesting, if innocuous, on set stories from the likes of Me Me Lai, Robert Kerman and Italian whipping boy Giovanni Lombardo Radice (better known as John Morghen). Final mention is given to Eli Roth's 'The Green Inferno' and the possibility of Deodato making one last cannibal film before he pops his clogs. Was this on the disc for Zombie Holocaust? I'd be interested to see it, but I'm hoping the Severin release (which features both versions of the film - ZH and Dr Butcher M.D., plus a boat load of extras) will come in at a price I can import it for (grrr ... poxy £15 limit!), so I probably won't get the 88 Films release for that reason. How come Callum Waddel has an iffy rep with some horror fans? Is it anything to do with extra features he worked on several years ago for Arrow Video? They don't do those dreadfully overlong title sequences at each end of the feature nowadays (mercifully) and there's less clips used throughout. To be honest, with those slightly older Arrow Video releases (e.g. circa 2011), those stupidly long title sequences (as long as 2 minutes at the start and another minute at the end of, say, a 13 minute featurette!) and constant interjection of clips bugged the crap out of me. Much improved in the last couple of years now, though, as I said.

[shootemindehead]

I barely remember any of the characters... I can't say I remember too much of her "character" either. Hacksaw Ridge, 4/5 I enjoy most things Mel Gibson touches. This is no exception. I like a personal story about a man's conviction set to the backdrop of the bloody battle of Okinawa. I love world war 2, so of course I was excited about this film. Knowing Mel Gibson was directing, I also knew it wouldn't shy away from the horrors of war. I wasn't disappointed. Some might call the christian overtones a bit cheesy but the film is only following Doss' own accounts of from where he drew his strength. Besides, atheist Sweden isn't really saturated with tales of faith... The film is not perfect. We're in a Post-Letters from Iwo Jima and Der Untergang-era after all and the portrayal of the Japanese in this film feels really dated. Likewise, there are some instances where I feel the action is maybe just a bit too Lethal Weapon-ish. The BAR rifle is at one point fired accurately by a soldier advancing with it in one hand. Stuff like that happens all the time, it seems. Um...that's a real shame. I'll probably end up seeing this at some point, but if the Japanese are the old fashioned Banzai charging caricatures, then that'll dent the film a lot for me. That kind of shite just doesn't cut it any more. - - - Updated - - - Was this on the disc for Zombie Holocaust? I'd be interested to see it, but I'm hoping the Severin release (which features both versions of the film - ZH and Dr Butcher M.D., plus a boat load of extras) will come in at a price I can import it for (grrr ... poxy £15 limit!), so I probably won't get the 88 Films release for that reason. How come Callum Waddel has an iffy rep with some horror fans? Is it anything to do with extra features he worked on several years ago for Arrow Video? They don't do those dreadfully overlong title sequences at each end of the feature nowadays (mercifully) and there's less clips used throughout. To be honest, with those slightly older Arrow Video releases (e.g. circa 2011), those stupidly long title sequences (as long as 2 minutes at the start and another minute at the end of, say, a 13 minute featurette!) and constant interjection of clips bugged the crap out of me. Much improved in the last couple of years now, though, as I said. It is on 'Zombie Holocaust', but I resorted to streaming it from Sockshare. My blu has a neat scratch across it that stops the disk from playing and I don't like 'Zombie Holocaust' that much that I'm willing to pony up for another copy just to watch a documentary. As for Waddel, I think it has something to do with him having a quite palpible distain for a lot of genre films, including 'Cannibal Holocaust' and writing about such in his articles previously, while being happy to take a shilling or two to produce documentaries in support of their Blu ray releases. I can't say I'm too familiar with why he's disliked in some quarters however, but I seem to recall some people talking about him being a bit of an arse with Arrow over extras. I personally don't really care as his views on any cannibal film aren't mentioned in the actual documentary, so it's neither here nor there in the end.

[EvilNed]

Um...that's a real shame. I'll probably end up seeing this at some point, but if the Japanese are the old fashioned Banzai charging caricatures, then that'll dent the film a lot for me. That kind of shite just doesn't cut it any more. Well it's not like they're in it for awhole lot. But the film doesn't really make any attempt at portraying them as humans but neither does it really go into the cause or justification for the war anyway. It's really just centered on the Protagonist and his company.

[AcesandEights]

The film is not perfect. We're in a Post-Letters from Iwo Jima and Der Untergang-era after all and the portrayal of the Japanese in this film feels really dated. Were they inscrutable, contemplative, honorable, yet somehow cruel and/or barbaric? Gibson is very talented, but has a heavy hand and is also batshit crazy, so I put little past him.

[EvilNed]

Were they inscrutable, contemplative, honorable, yet somehow cruel and/or barbaric? Gibson is very talented, but has a heavy hand and is also batshit crazy, so I put little past him. They had two gears; Banzai and Kamikaze.

[MinionZombie]

Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie - 6.5/10 I enjoyed it. More whimsical than outright funny, and the plotting is a bit sketchy at times (e.g. the red haired girl is mostly viewed from afar), but Snoopy stole the show with his little asides. I remember watching the TV show that used to be on way back when, or was it specials, I can't recall ... anyway, the leap to CGI was interesting (for the most part they frame things in a 2D manner akin to the cartoons, and insert the drawn stuff in thought bubbles etc). So not a runaway success, but nice for the duration. It is on 'Zombie Holocaust', but I resorted to streaming it from Sockshare. My blu has a neat scratch across it that stops the disk from playing and I don't like 'Zombie Holocaust' that much that I'm willing to pony up for another copy just to watch a documentary. As for Waddel, I think it has something to do with him having a quite palpible distain for a lot of genre films, including 'Cannibal Holocaust' and writing about such in his articles previously, while being happy to take a shilling or two to produce documentaries in support of their Blu ray releases. I can't say I'm too familiar with why he's disliked in some quarters however, but I seem to recall some people talking about him being a bit of an arse with Arrow over extras. I personally don't really care as his views on any cannibal film aren't mentioned in the actual documentary, so it's neither here nor there in the end. Can't you get a replacement copy if yours is faulty? Yeah, I've not been aware of any criticism beyond the way extra features used to be edited a few years back as I mentioned before, so it's news to me. Intriguing...

[shootemindehead]

Can't you get a replacement copy if yours is faulty? I doubt it at this stage. Besides, the scratch was the fault of my own genius as was the brack in the case. In any way, my mate has the blu at the moment and he says it plays fine in his machine, so I don't know. I might rip a backup for now and pick another copy up later. I'm in the middle of puuting my collection onto hard disk anyway.

[MinionZombie]

I watched "Eaten Alive! The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film" just now. I must say, "Memories of 42nd Street" (also by Waddell and the same crew) was far better - it had much more energy to it ... whereas "Eaten Alive!", the documentary that is, feels a bit low key, maybe a bit ponderous and even a bit academic at times. Visually the interviews are extraordinarily dull - plain white/cream walls as the only background for the most part, with iffy lighting (one source, and angled in such a way that any interviewees with glasses keep catching the reflection of the light source) and all in the same style of framing (medium shot). A smidge too many cutaways to the trailers of the movies being discussed, too, I'd say (and, again, curious framing for those clips - lots of black around all sides - strange!) So, yeah, a one-watch kinda deal for me. "Memories of 42nd Street" on the other hand I've already seen twice and thoroughly enjoyed both times (it's on the 88 Films release of Anthropophagous). "Eaten Alive", like I said, lacked any real energy and sometimes felt a bit cobbled together from offcuts from other interviews for other extra features on other releases, if that makes sense? There didn't feel like there was any affection for the sub-genre at all in this doc, but at least some of the interviews tossed up some good arguments on both sides of the spectrum and the likes of Kim Newman argued for calm viewing instead of social media driven offence-o-ramas or tabloid fervour.

[shootemindehead]

Oh, it's as cheap as chips no doubt, as I said. But I liked the dry approach in the interviews. But, yeh, it looks like something made for 5 quid and round of chips, I agree. I felt it was rather neutral in its appreciation though? Agree on the framing of the clips as well. Don't know what happened there. Haven't seen 'Memories of 42nd Street' yet though and I haven't got 'Pieces' cos that film's rubbish, so I don't know whether I will see it. Ha ha...42nd Street...fucking Disneyland nowadays, overpriced and gaudy. I don't know which was better.