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

[saltysam]

The Walking Dead Season Five 3/5 Another solid season, this a really well done show.

[Markgway]

Leon (1994-France) ***
Luc Besson's best film; perfectly cast.

The World Is Not Enough (1999-UK-USA) ***
Solid Bond picture with Brosnan on great form as 007. Sophie Marceau and Robert Carlyle are dramatically credible villains, Denise Richards the stunt casting that doesn't work.

[saltysam]

Give Us Tomorrow 1.5/5 low grade late 70's british thriller starring Derren Nesbitt as a robber holding a family hostage after a bungled bank robbery.this consists mainly of endless tetchines between Nesbitt and the mother played by Sylvia Sims.

[Markgway]

Unforgettable (1996-USA) ***
Underappreciated thriller from neo-noir specialist John Dahl stars Ray Liotta (in one of his best leading roles) as an ME trying to unmask his wife's murderer via a memory serum.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

Unforgettable (1996-USA) ***
Underappreciated thriller from neo-noir specialist John Dahl stars Ray Liotta (in one of his best leading roles) as an ME trying to unmask his wife's murderer via a memory serum.

I actually got to see this one in the theater. Quite a nice role for Liotta and I agree it is underappreciated. I still remember scenes from the film years later and I often think of his psyche when talking with some cops .

[saltysam]

The 33 2.5/5 Well made & acted drama based on the true story of chilean miners trapped in a mine 1000s of feet below ground with little hope of survival.Movie hands Antonio Banderas & Lou Diamond Phillips their first decent roles in years and they do well. Can't avoid a couple of the cliches that come part & parcel with these films though.

I Believe In Miracles 3/5 Football documentary about Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest European cup winning team is a great watch for the likes of me who remembers the era well. Clough and his team did something that'll never be repeated...took over a mid table second division club,got them promoted (just) won the then First Division by a street the following year then 2 consecutive european cups.All with,until Francis signed a bunch of ageing or journeyman footballers. today it would be the equivalent of someone like Hull City doing it.

Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter 2/5 ok entry in the series doesn't veer from the tried and tested formula.

[Markgway]

American Mary (2012-Canada) *½
A medical student performs underground body mods (people pay good money to have their bodies surgically fucked up) to pay her way through school, then finds her unique talent of use when it comes to avenging her date rape. Instant cult item from self-proclaimed 'twisted twins' the Soska sisters starts out OK, with some satirical wit and a strong performance from Katherine Isabelle at its core, but after a while throws believable characterisation and plotting out the window, preferring instead to degenerate into the sort of torture porn we've come to expect from post millennial horror. Date rape is, of course, a terrible thing, but in no way does it justify the murder and prolonged torture depicted here. How can we side (and we're meant to) with a young woman so clearly sick in the head? Her journey from "normal" to ghoul is crudely handled and to treat Canad-- sorry, American Mary as a heroine says more about the filmmakers than perhaps they'd care to admit? Although given their appearance and reputation... perhaps not? Personally, I think body modifiers are a bunch of fucking weirdos, so that probably colours my judgement somewhat. Dedicated to Eli Roth. Seriously.

[saltysam]

The Amsterdam Kill 2/5 Serviceable Golden Harvest thriller starring a tired looking Robert Mitchum as a disgraced ex-cop who gets involved trying to bring down the HK/Holland heroin trade.directed in workmanlike fashion by Robert Clouse this has a decent cast including Leslie Nielsen & Bradford Dillman and legendary basher kung fu basher Chen Sing as an assassin.Yuen Biao & Mars feature briefly.

Friday the 13th:A New Beginning 2/5 The series tries to take a new direction by bypassing Jason and bringing the character of Tommy from Pt 4 into focus.It didn't last long,Jason was back in the next movie.

Friday the 13th:Jason Lives 2/5 This one has a far fetched but very well done opening sequence,unfortunately the rest of the film can't match it.passable entry in this long running saga.

[Markgway]

The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1959-UK) **½
Luridly colourful Hammer production isn't, surprisingly, a horror picture, but rather a psychological character study of dual personalities. Paul Massie does a good job as Jekyll/Hyde (with and without pasted on facial hair, respectively) and brings pathos to the man versus monster dilemma. A significant drawback is the limited scope of the picture, which like so many Hammer films feels studio bound and reigned in by budgetary constraints. The conclusion is also somewhat weak and unimaginative. Christopher Lee is noteworthy in a co-starring role as Jekyll's sponger/adulterous friend.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986-USA) **½
John Carpenter's whizz bang take on Chinese mysticism is goofy, if incoherent fun, with Kurt Russell terrific in a misunderstood John Wayne parody. The weakly shot and edited martial arts won't impress anyone who's seen a Jackie Chan movie.

Predator (1987-USA) ***
Master craftsman John McTiernan's suspenseful jungle thriller gives Schwarzenegger one of his best roles.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

Life Itself (2014: Steve James)

A solid documentary from the director of one my favorite films in Hoop Dreams. I probably know too much about Roger Ebert. I have read his reviews and watched his shows (especially with Gene Siskel) and had even read all of his blog posts. I watched films from Akira Kurosawa because of Ebert. I liked that this documentary did not take a hagiographical approach and decided show some of the warts of Ebert from his dying battle of cancer (Ebert would not have allowed this documentary if James did not cover this), his battles with Gene Siskel and his problems with alcohol (he met his wife Chazz through AA) that was overcome in the late 1970s.

Since a lot of the focus of the film was discussing his current cancer battle (a hip fracture had landed him in the hospital where it was found out to be caused by metastasized cancer) it did feel like to me it went through too quickly his career as probably the most famous film critic/reviewer of all-time. The film needed to be longer to cover all that ground it attempted to. His fight with cancer was one issue after another including multiple surgeries, a near fatal hemorrhage, multiple infections, losing his jaw and the ability to eat. It was horrendous. If you read his blogs he worked through his pain and issues with his growing web site and web presence. He loved Twitter.

My favorite sections are the ones that dealt with the growing relationship between him and Siskel. There are some great responses from Siskel’s widow and they are definitely not all positive. His relationship with the city was handled well. Ebert loved Chicago. He could have worked elsewhere for more money, but like the director of this film was a Chicagoan. The city seems to breed acolytes. I have a friend from there who talks about it constantly.

This film is a nice overview, but to really understand Roger Ebert is to read his copious reviews, essays and his favorite films. He was a prodigious writer, could write a review quickly (sometimes too quickly because he could be a little sloppy with facts), but his love of film is what will be remembered by most and his influence will continue to grow.

[HungFist]

Where Eagles Dare (UK / USA, 1968) [BD] - 4.5/5
They don't make this kind of manly epic war adventures anymore. New films tend to be too slick, too edited, too dark, even too realistic in some ways. This one is like Eastwood himself: a bit slow, a bit romantic, and very manly. Great film, even though it runs slightly too long and could use more German dialogue. I saw this a number of times as a kid, but liked it even better now.

[Markgway]

I liked Where Eagles Dare when I saw it many moons ago... but the language thing bothered me more than usual. EVERYONE speaks English at ALL times, which makes no sense. So you have English speakers speaking English to each other. Fine. But also Germans speaking English to each other. Germans speaking English to English speakers. English speakers speaking English to Germans, and in public to each other when they're supposed to be German...... arrghh.

[Markgway]

Black Hawk Down (2001-USA) **½
Ridley Scott's intense action picture captures the chaos of war adequately... but 2.5 hours is too long a time to be bombarded with heavy artillery for this viewer.

[Markgway]

Basic Instinct (1992-USA-France) ***
Take away the nookie and notoriety and you still have a clever Hitchcockian suspense thriller. Sharon Stone is pitch prefect in the role she was born to play.

The Untouchables (1987-USA) ***
Brian DePalma's trademark set-pieces bolster solid prohibition-era gangster thriller. Heavyweights Connery and DeNiro deliver top-notch performances.

[saltysam]

Friday The 13th:The New Blood 1/5 dire installment,the worst i've seen (so far) in the series.

[saltysam]

Friday The 13th:Jason Takes Manhattan 1/5 8th installment tries something different by taking Jason away from the Camp Crystal Lake onto a ship followed by NYC. It doesn't work,poor entry in this series.

Dracula 2/5 creaky old universal horror starring Bela Lugosi in his signature role.despite it's short running time (74 min) it's overly talky and plodding.Lugosi is a great Count though.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

... Dracula 2/5 creaky old universal horror starring Bela Lugosi in his signature role.despite it's short running time (74 min) it's overly talky and plodding.Lugosi is a great Count though.

I do like this more than you, but I do not think it is as good as the first three Frankenstein films.

Have you seen the Spanish version of Dracula that was filmed at nighttime while Dracula was filmed during the day? (they used to do that for foreign language versions during the early thirties before the use of subtitles for sound films) The direction is better, but the big problem is that the lead is nowhere near as good as Lugosi.

[saltysam]

Have you seen the Spanish version of Dracula that was filmed at nighttime while Dracula was filmed during the day? (they used to do that for foreign language versions during the early thirties before the use of subtitles for sound films) The direction is better, but the big problem is that the lead is nowhere near as good as Lugosi.

No but it's an extra on the Dracula disc so i will get round to watching it.Probably watch the other 7 films in the set first (picked up the Universal Monsters Box Set blu-ray for £13.99 from Amazon, £1.75 a movie

[saltysam]

Black Christmas 2.5/5 Seminal canadian slasher holds up quite well, good cast including John Saxon,Margot Kidder & Margot Kidder.2001's Keir Dullea is the weak link here,very bland.

Bad Santa 2/5 Billy Bob Thornton's Willie is possibly the most obnoxious character to ever appear in a christmas movie.Has some laughs but overdoses on the bad taste at times.

Ant-Man 3/5 Enjoyable Marvel super hero movie.Michael Douglas & Paul Rudd are very good in their roles and there's a very good action climax here.

[Killer Meteor]

Have you seen the Spanish version of Dracula that was filmed at nighttime while Dracula was filmed during the day? (they used to do that for foreign language versions during the early thirties before the use of subtitles for sound films) The direction is better, but the big problem is that the lead is nowhere near as good as Lugosi.

No but it's an extra on the Dracula disc so i will get round to watching it.Probably watch the other 7 films in the set first (picked up the Universal Monsters Box Set blu-ray for £13.99 from Amazon, £1.75 a movie

When Universal first released Dracula on DVD in the UK, they didn't include the Spanish version at all, which was especially silly as the excellent David Skal commentary was still there advising viewers to check out the Spanish version "elsewhere on this disc."

[Markgway]

Friday The 13th:Jason Takes Manhattan 1/5 8th installment tries something different by taking Jason away from the Camp Crystal Lake onto a ship followed by NYC. It doesn't work,poor entry in this series.

Wait 'til you get to Jason Goes to Hell.

[Killer Meteor]

Friday The 13th:Jason Takes Manhattan 1/5 8th installment tries something different by taking Jason away from the Camp Crystal Lake onto a ship followed by NYC. It doesn't work,poor entry in this series.

Wait 'til you get to Jason Goes to Hell.

Jason Goes To Hell is pretty weak, but the Unrated version has the best kill in the series...damn that girl was hot!

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

The City of Lost Children (1995: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet: France)

I am sure this happens to you but I am sure you get the recommendation from friends, family, strangers that accost you at the coffee café/bar with that infamous refrain “you’re a movie buff but you have not seen <blank>” stated with a sneer. Of course you could always reply how many Akira Kurosawa or Wong Kar-wai films to be an ass, but you politely take that suggestion in your mental bank of future watches. I tend to keep track but not necessarily take action until two or more people or pertinent movie lists I am working on push me quicker into watching something. This, of course, does not take in account the caustic acquaintance who badgers you into watching a film by reminding you over and over belittling your movie acumen because you have not seen the third Fast and Furious (not a bad film.) But honestly writing this is a film I have wanted to see for quite a while. For me this was recommended by a patron to a local café (with a slight incredulous response when I stated I had not seen it; my haughty rejoinder reminded me why sometimes I get called an arrogant bastard) I visit which then reminded me that someone on here had also recommended it to me. Of course it is a great feeling when the film turns out to be good.

As a directorial duo these two are most famous for this (reminds me I need to get Delicatessen since it is released on Criterion) while Jeunet is most famous for his witty romantic Truffaut influenced genre-hybrid Amelie. As an aside I always find it perplexingly annoying here in the States when someone states they will not watch French film for a variety of reasons usually because of not liking subtitles or the stereotype that it is too artsy. There is so many good films from there since the beginning of cinema especially the fantasy shorts of Georges Méliès which I highly recommend (and another aside I recommend Martin Scorsese’s film Hugo which deals with that director.)

This is a beautifully staged fantastical film. The sets are astonishing, though the CGI is understandably a bit dated (not bad for that time though.) It is a cross between an alternate universe of Oliver Twist mixed in with a more grotesque version of Terry Gilliam. I thought of Gilliam quite often when watching this.* Reading Roger Ebert’s review of this you can sense that even though he gave the film a positive review he really did not like it. Knowing Ebert’s preferences I can understand that since he tends to hate violence toward children and films with a misanthropic tone – though he absolutely loves Dark City which has a look that is quite similar to this one. Though I agree with him that the narrative is not particularly strong. If you have not seen this it is easily worth a look, but it would behoove you not to read too much on this film at least in the way of plot description (if anyone wants to go over individual scenes or characters feel free to post.) It is basically about a strong man surprisingly played by Ron Perlman (who does not speak French, but learned French for the part though it did not sound like him so I wonder if he was dubbed over) who looks for his kidnapped much younger “brother.” The film works best with its mise-en-scene than the composition of the whole (a little more work on character and plot coherence) but a fascinating film.

Notice there is a scene that is very similar in both the later-that-year and underrated Strange Days in which a victim sees himself being killed by a device planted on his head. Given the time frame I think this is completely coincidental unless Kathryn Bigelow got an early look at this film.

* Those who have seen 12 Monkeys it was influenced by French filmmaker Chris Marker’s La Jetée. Cinema is a such a transcontinental art.

[Markgway]

May (2002-USA) **
Minor psychological character study of a deranged loner who turns nasty to get the special friend she desperately craves. Angela Bettis is convincingly creepy as the title loon, but never terribly sympathetic, and that's a crucial flaw long before we reach the predictably gory conclusion.

[Markgway]

The Masque of the Red Death (1964-USA) **½
Lavish AIP/Poe adaptation (filmed in England) is pretty good, if a bit arty for my tastes. There's much to enjoy, not least another fine Vincent Price performance, but ultimately it's style over substance for me -- crucial narrative scenes don't make sense, particularly the stuff with Hazel Court, and I didn't get the ending...

If Death in any of its colours is indiscriminate why are only non-villainous characters spared?