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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Non-Stop (2014-UK-France-USA-Canada) **½
Quite suspenseful thriller with action beats as grizzled Air Marshal Liam Neeson tackles texting hijacker.
Lacks a truly satisfying conclusion.
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Night Shift (1982-USA) **½
Likeable, cutesy comedy about two chalk and cheese morgue attendants who become pimps.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Sin City (2005, Theatrical Cut): 4/5

A good watch, and often striking thanks to the clever cinematography with splashes of colour in an otherwise monochrome movie, but a bit of a "style over substance" movie imo. Sometimes it really is like watching a graphic novel.
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The Gift (2015-USA-Australia-China) **½
Not exactly the stalker thriller you're led to expect, which may be a good thing, but it left me cool.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Child 44 (2014-USA-UK-Czech Republic-Russia) **½
Two potentially good thrillers (one strand about state treachery and spying, the other about a serial killer of young boys in a world were murder doesn't officially exist) sandwiched into a just OK one, and if the reports of an original 5.5 hour cut are true, massively condensed at that.
Banned in Russia, presumably for its heavy criticism of Stalinist USSR.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Man Up (2014-UK) **½
Enjoyable romcom benefits hugely from likeable performances by leads Simon Pegg and Lake Bell (convincingly playing English).
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Fortress (1992-USA-Australia) **½
Fun actioner in which Christopher Lambert (and cult B-movie cast) attempt to escape from futuristic prison.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Hellraiser (UK, 1987) - 4/5
Dark, genuinely scary horror fantasy hasn't lost its bite. I watched this at King Records' annual Summer Horror Fest last year, where they screen Hellraiser every year, in a daytime screening and was delighted to see the audience consisted of three men and six women! Japanese girls got taste!

Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (UK, 1988) [DVD] - 3/5
Not bad for a horror sequel, although it largely trades "horror" for "characters running in the middle of special effects". Still entertaining and features some gruesome moments. When I saw the first two films as a teenager, they both scared the shit out of me. Now, only the first film retains the power to disturb.

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (UK, 1992) [DVD] - 1.5/5
Despite the absence of real horror, and the abundance of irritating characters, this one isn't so bad until the idiotic last 30 minutes that makes absolutely no sense and is frustrating as hell. The amount if explosions makes it look like a bad Michael Bay film.

I don't suppose the rest of the Hellraisers are worth my time?
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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HungFist wrote:Now, only the first film retains the power to disturb.
The scene in Hellbound when the mental patient cuts himself up with a razor is more disturbing than anything in the original, IMO.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway wrote:
HungFist wrote:Now, only the first film retains the power to disturb.
The scene in Hellbound when the mental patient cuts himself up with a razor is more disturbing than anything in the original, IMO.
Now that you reminded me about it, I do agree that it's a gruesome scene. But as a whole, I think Hellbound is too over-the-top with all the special effects to work as convincing horror. Well, the second half at least, but that's the half that stays with you (me) after the film.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Sin City - Re-Cut and Extended: 4/5
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Missing In Action 3/5 Chuck conquers Vietnam in this hokey but fun jingoistic actioner.

Missing In Action 2:The Beginning 3/5 Prequel showing Chuck's adventures in a POW camp. Again, jingoistic but fun.

Braddock:Missing In Action 3 3.5/5 Best of the series totally ignores the continuity of the first two and has Chuck returning to 'Nam in an attempt to rescue his long lost wife & son.Bigger budget with a great climax.
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Bunny the Killer Thing (Finland, 2015) [DVD] - 2/5
Finland finally managed its 1st internationally "recognized" horror film with this splatter comedy about a giant rapist rabbit creature running around yelling "pussy" and chasing anything that even remotely resembles one. Naturally it raised some eyebrows in Finland, with morally offended reviewers calling it "a pile of shit" and the "worst movie ever made". In reality, it's just another low budget splatter comedy made by young men with infantile sense of humour. It's neither good nor terribly bad. Technically the film is relatively ok, and the (rather limited) splatter is all practical effects. It does get a little tiresome though, and could be 20 minutes shorter. It is also certainly "bad taste" by Western standards; from a Japanese perspective however this is pretty tame stuff. Speaking of which, the Japanese DVD release comes with an audio commentary by Yoshihiro Nishimura and Yudai Yamaguchi. "Beautiful naked sweaty people getting drunk in sauna" was Nishimura's impression of Finland. I'm not sure about the "beautiful" part, but he got the rest right!
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Ash vs. Evil Dead: Season 1 (USA, 2015) [DVD] - 3.5/5
This went from "bad idea" to "looks promising", and then again from "this was a bad idea" to "this is pretty good after all". The opening episode - the only one directed by Sam Raimi - is the worst in the series. Not only is the build up a bit boring, the episode is full of appallingly bad CGI splatter. The storyline, however, becomes quite captivating as the series goes on, and further the series gets the more it shifts the focus towards practical effects. Bruce is pretty damn fun and the sidekicks are not bad either. I must say though - and perhaps this is me growing old - but I did feel a little odd seeing the chainsaw decapitation of a grandmother demon in ultra graphic slow-mo being played not as horror, not as comedy, but as "cool" in the opening episode. Somehow that was more disturbing - and not really in the right way - than anything in controversial yet traditional horror films like Martyrs, A Serbian Film or even Guinea Pig, all of which play gore for "shocks" and "horror" rather than "cool".
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Blood Work (2002-USA) **½
Clint's farewell to the thriller genre has a top notch premise, but Brian Helegland's adaptation of Michael Connelly's novel is overplotted and predictable. It's worth it to see the man himself, as a retired FBI agent, recipient of a heart transplant, investigating the donor's murder, but the supporting cast is variable, and Paul Rodriguez's obnoxious Latino cop stereotype unbearable.
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Army of Darkness (USA, 1992) [Hulu] - 2/5
Ash vs. Evil Dead got me to revisit this film, which I hadn't seen in 15 years. I did not recall it being this flawed. The mini-Ashes are a ton of fun, and the skeleton army is cool, but the film often drags and lacks in horror. The storyline is unremarkable as well, and the film relies too much on special effects. The director's cut version I viewed may be partly to blame; I could imagine the 15 minute shorter theatrical cut working a bit better. Maybe.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Ash vs. Evil Dead: Season 2 (USA, 2016) [Hulu] - 3.5/5
This second season is a bit uneven; sometimes worse, but often even more fun than season 1. Episode 7 (asylum) is unwatchable, but episode 9 kicks major ass and is the best in the series so far. What's especially cool is that the gore is now almost entirely practical effects, and it is glorious and often fun as well. Probably a good thing Sam Raimi did not direct any episodes. There's one frustrating thing in the series, though, which is how the characters are always fooled / distracted by demons turning into dead friends / relatives when its plain obvious they are demons. Anyway, bring on season 3!
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Baby Driver (2017, USA): 4/5

Entertaining actioner is much better than I thought it would be, with funny moments and a cracking soundtrack.
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Fragment of Fear (1970-UK) **
Is ex-addict turned author David Hemmings mad, or are they all out to get him?
Promising psychological thriller draws you in, then cops out with its (somewhat inevitable) open ending.
Reminded me a bit of The Man Who Haunted Himself.
Dated jazz score by Johnny Harris.
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Let's Be Cops (2014-USA) *
Appallingly unfunny rubbish in which two asshats pretend to be L.A. cops to boost their egos.
Stupid story, even more stupid execution. Another nail in the coffin of Hollywood Comedy.
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Midnight Fear (1990-USA) **
Pedestrian DTV thriller in which an escaped (deaf and dumb) loon and his brother terrorise a young woman left alone on a farm.
David Carradine plays a drunken detective. At least the twist is unexpected.
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The Body (2012-Spain) **½
A murder victim goes missing from the morgue. The killer believes he's been set up for a crime he (did/didn't) commit.
Decent thriller with a passable twist.
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Baby Driver (UK/USA, 2017) [DCP] - 3/5
Part entertaining car chase / heist flick, part irritating hipster movie by the world's most over-rated director Edgar Wright. Very watchable, and features some nice driving, though there's a bit too much focus on making things look cool rather than just letting them be cool. The climax is a bit lame unfortunately. The film also feels like a teen version of Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive: louder and hippier, with a surprisingly similar story and some characters.
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966-Italy-Spain-West Germany-USA) ***
162m US theatrical cut.
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The Patriot (1986-USA) *½
Inept low budget actioner about stolen nukes.
For novelty value Gregg Henry plays the hero and Leslie Nielsen is a Navy Admiral.
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