What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Sweet Sixteen (1982-USA) *½
As a 15-year-old girl approaches her sixteenth birthday, horny hick boys begin to die.
Extremely uneven slasher, marginally more ambitious than some, but done in by amateurishness.
There's a subplot involving native Americans and sacred burial ground that goes nowhere.
The director never misses an opportunity to sexualise the underage (bad) girl - the opening scene is a gratuitous full frontal shower - but don't worry she's played by a 19-year old actress.
Friday the 13th, Part III's Dana Kimmell is the good girl and she keeps her clothes on.
Bo Hopkins is the sheriff, Patrick Macnee an excavator, Don Stroud a racist.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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All the President's Men (1976-USA) ***½
Probably the best film there's been about investigative journalism.
My only gripe... I wish it had gone on longer, as it ends before the shit really hit the fan.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Magnificent Seven (2016-USA-Australia) **
Joyless, leaden, revisionist remake of western staple; viewer saved from boredom by protracted action climax.
Denzel Washington is fine, giving the film it's only shot of movie-star charisma;
Peter Sarsgaard is a hammy villain, Chris Pratt like a kid playing cowboy dress-up.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Mojave (2014-USA) **½
Offbeat psychological thriller, in which a verbose serial killer (Oscar Isaac) pursues a hot shot filmmaker (Garrett Hedlund) from a violent desert confrontation back to his Hollywood home. Intense performances from the two leads, though some of the dialogue borders on the pretentious. Mark Wahlberg(!) plays a stereotypical Hollywood producer (badly).

The Purge: Anarchy (2014-USA) ***
A significant step-up from the original, this nightmarish thriller delivers it's (liberal) political message with enough grit and punch for it to succeed on its own terms. Frank Grillo is an effective anti-hero.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Rupture (2015-Canada-USA) **
Why has single mom Noomi Rapace been kidnapped and experimented on by a group of emotionless weirdos?
Minor sci-fi thriller. Capably-made, but silly stuff; an inoffensive riff on Martrys, perhaps?
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Savage Streets (USA, 1984) [DVD] - 5/5
Vigilante diamond full of great lines, terrific music, the best villains of the 80s, and girls straight out of a Japanese pinky violence film. Excellent pacing and ace technical execution as well, minus perhaps the odd final 15 minutes which nevertheless manages to be wonderfully entertaining partly for that reason. 5/5 may be slightly more than the film deserves, but then, 4.5 just wouldn't suffice.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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HungFist wrote: 22 Apr 2018, 05:37 Savage Streets (USA, 1984) [DVD] - 5/5
Vigilante diamond full of great lines, terrific music, the best villains of the 80s, and girls straight out of a Japanese pinky violence film. Excellent pacing and ace technical execution as well, minus perhaps the odd final 15 minutes which nevertheless manages to be wonderfully entertaining partly for that reason. 5/5 may be slightly more than the film deserves, but then, 4.5 just wouldn't suffice.
A tad more generous than the * I gave it. ;)
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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hah, yeah, I remember you didn't love it as much as I do :lol:
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Grease 4.5/5
Timeless 70's musical , probably not a great movie in itself but one i grew up with and love. Full of energy,great catchy songs. Travolta was the world's biggest star hen this came out...seems a long time ago.

The Sting 4/5
Oscar winning 70's caper movie starring Newman & Redford out to pull off the ultimate con on big time gangster Robert Shaw.Great entertainment.

My Bloody Valentine (2009) 1.5/5
Not even the great Tom Atkins can save this generic and overlong slasher remake, full of bland characters you don't care about. gory but boring.

Double Impact 2/5
80's Van Damme actioner has two for the price of one, Bolo and Geoffrey Lewis in a bigger role than he usually got. Largely forgettable but the HK locale adds a bit of lustre.
working class blu-ray fan
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Predestination (2013-Australia) **½
Twisty (and twisted) time travel thriller, spends most of its time on character (no bad thing), but fails to supply a suitable explanation for its central mystery. Ethan Hawke stars.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Police Academy (1984-USA) **½
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986-USA) **
Innocuous, if by-the-numbers sequel; mild laughs scattered throughout.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Inception 3/5
Smart thriller from Christopher Nolan is at times far too clever for it's own good,even after this,a second viewing i'm none the wiser as to a lot of it. impressive effects and a fine cast make this a must see even if i don't get half of it .
Obsession 2.5/5
Melodramatic early De Palma thriller is excellent for it's first hour but then starts to lose steam. The baddie is clearly signposted too early on as well.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991-USA) **½
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Unusual for me, I watched three new films in cinema back to back.

The Post (USA, 2017) [DCP] - 3.5/5
Enjoyable political thriller/drama, extremely timely for its theme (freedom of press) despite being set in the 1970s. Also nice to see a film with a 68 year old actress (Streep) and a 61 year old actor (Hanks) as the leads.

Ready Player One (USA, 2018) [DCP] - 3/5
I went in fearing this might turn out Marvel superhero kind of action boredom, but Spielberg thankfully handles the material better, and it's also so plot driven (or perhaps race driven) that it never stops moving. As for the "retro content" this is very much 80s for the 2018 kids, that is, a film that embraces bits of past but never loses the modern perspective because "going full retard" would alienate the modern kids. And indeed, this is a film very much about its own time. The images may be science fiction, but the ideas are as 2018 as they can. And that's maybe not be a bad thing. Time will tell.

Red Sparrow (USA, 2018) [DCP] - 3.5/5
Unspectacular but enjoyable, story driven spy thriller. Quite hard hitting at times, although the pre-release fuzz about the film being "sleazy" was way exaggerated. This is only daring for a modern day mainstream Hollywood film, even paling in comparison to something like Basic Instinct. It is a film for adults, but the sex and rapes are very brief and nudity sparse. We do get a half naked (literally... the right half) Jennifer Lawrence though.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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HungFist wrote: 01 May 2018, 11:05 We do get a half naked (literally... the right half) Jennifer Lawrence though.
It's hard to get worked up about that when we've already had Rosario Dawson's labia in Trance.

Jen and co need to catch up! :D
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Commuter (2017-USA-UK) ***
Taken - Liam Neeson punching people in France
Unknown - Liam Neeson punching people in Germany
Non-Stop - Liam Neeson punching people on a plane
and now... Liam Neeson punching people on a train.
Forget credibility and enjoy this pulpy ride.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway wrote: 01 May 2018, 12:17
HungFist wrote: 01 May 2018, 11:05 We do get a half naked (literally... the right half) Jennifer Lawrence though.
It's hard to get worked up about that when we've already had Rosario Dawson's labia in Trance.

Jen and co need to catch up! :D
Pervert.

:D
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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A Quiet Place (USA, 2018) DCP 2.5/5
Surprisingly good big-studio horror flick that takes a simple premise and does some cool things with it. A small child getting killed in the first couple minutes and some other parts had me a little surprised later on when I found out this was a PG-13 in the US. Just don't think too hard about the character's actions in their hostile environment as it's quite easy to poke holes into the film's internal logic all day long.

Hellraiser (GB, 1987) DCP 4.5/5
What I got to see was some kind of touring 30th anniversary print, so DCP and not a beaten-up original 35mm print. Not sure if that'd have been preferable or not but it's worth noting. It's really hard to figure out what audiences made of this back in the day as even today a lot of it is pretty wild and out there. This was far from my first time seeing the film, of course, having previously watched it countless times on chopped-up TV recordings, VHS, DVD and BDs. As revolutionary and important for the horror genre as the film is, as a fan of Cliver Barker's writings first and foremost, I still find a couple flaws with it. He never talks about the many changes he made in the adaptation process but I suspect the addition of the two teenagers and multiple quips must have come at the insistance of the producers. The film's strengths tower over these misgivings, however, and I can't justify a lower rating for what is unquestionably a classic of the genre.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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HungFist wrote: 01 May 2018, 13:12
Pervert.

:D
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Eraser: 3/5

Not among Arnie's best - or even best of that decade (1990's) but worth a watch, and I quite enjoyed it. There's some silly CGI including crocodiles (!) mixed in with old school shoot 'em up action.
The BD is literally barebones - no extras, not even chapter selection or a trailer.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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I enjoyed Eraser as well. Saw in theatre when I was 10 years old. Re-watched it last year on rental BD.

I may be alone in this, but End of Days is my favourite late (post True Lies) Arnie film.

Siege (Canada, 1983) [Hulu] - 3.5/5
A pretty cool Assault on Prescient 13 variation. The police are on a strike when a group of fascists execute everyone in a gay bar, except one man who escape and seek shelter in an apartment. The MacGyvers in the apartment take the poor man in and start turning the apartment into a fortress against the armed attackers using anything they have or can turn into a weapon. Earns an extra half star for the theme and closing music alone. Aka Self Defence aka Night Warriors.

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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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To my mind ERASER is the last of the classic Arnold period.

The only one he did after that that I enjoyed was COLLATERAL DAMAGE, and that was quite old school compare to what was in vogue at the time.

SIEGE sounds pretty cool. What's Hulu?
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway wrote: 02 May 2018, 13:36 What's Hulu?
I guess you don't have it in the UK? Like Netflix, but with less crap... Not that Hulu's selection (in Japan, at least) is any great shakes either. I got it for one month just to watch Ash vs. Evil Dead S3... anything else they have comes as a bonus.

Siege was a small discovery though. I don't think it's out on dvd anywhere. I wish the likes of Netflix and Hulu would have more such titles. I don't need streaming for films I can pick up on DVD or BD from a rental store for 100 yen (£1).
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Just checked. No Hulu in the UK. If it's a pay service, I wouldn't bother anyways, as I'd never pay to stream anything.

Is it this film here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slowg6hJ5mE
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