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

[Markgway]

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982-USA) **½
Clever, but only sporadically funny parody of Film Noir, in which Steve Martin's private eye interacts with clips of Hollywood Greats.

Midnight (1980-USA) *
Amateurish, nonsensical horror tripe; screenplay by director John Russo, based on his novel(!)

[Killer Meteor]

I read John Russo's novels of Night of the Living Dead and Return of the Living Dead, and great literature they are not!

[Markgway]

Watch Midnight (if you're game...) and then imagine how it was ever a novel.

It must've been written in crayon!

[Markgway]

Hanky Panky (1982-USA) **
More plot than laughs in this tepid Gene Wilder suspense comedy.

[Markgway]

Trapped (1981-Canada-USA) **½
A group of hiking youths fall pray to Henry Silva's hillbilly psycho.
Above average exploitation that almost manages to transcend its genre limitations.

[Markgway]

Death Dorm (1981-USA) *½
Long lost Director's Cut of surprisingly well shot, but dull, routine slasher picture.
A young Princess Vespa appears long enough to get squished by a car.
AKA: 'The Dorm that Dripped Blood' (R-rated theatrical); 'Pranks' (UK, cut).

[Markgway]

The Concrete Jungle (1982-USA) **
Campy WIP exploitation flick ticks the usual boxes, though it's a bit tamer than some (only one rape scene and no lesbian showering!)

[HungFist]

Mark, I was wondering how do you choose the films you watch and what's the viewing format? Netflix or something like that? Those are mostly films I don't know about.

[Markgway]

I search the IMDb by year for films I haven't seen, but sound interesting...
(and some that I haven't seen for a long time and wouldn't mind giving a second go).

I put them on a notepad list, which I then dip into at random.

[HungFist]

Cool. I started doing a little bit of that (search by year) just a few days ago when I was looking at my IMDb stats and thought I could try to get the 1972 pole up to 100... I'm not terribly serious about it, but I did add a few films to my watch list (The Mechanic, The Big Bird Cage, Shaft's Big Score, Zatoichi at Large, All the Colors of the Dark...)



I'm also still working on my TOP 10 JP Films By Year lists... for the early 70s I could easily make TOP 20 lists while for some years in the 80s and early 90s I can't even come up with a respectable TOP 5...

Generally speaking though, almost everything I see is something I've been meaning to watch (or re-watch) for a long time but never had time. It usually goes in cycles... e.g. I see a cool jitsuroku yakuza film and then I feel like watching a bunch of the other jitsuroku yakuza films that I had been meaning to but never got around to before.

[Markgway]

Men of War (1994-USA-Spain) ***
Men on a mission movie. 'Nuff said.
One of Dolph's best, unfairly dumped onto VHS in the west.

One Dark Night (1982-USA) *½
Mousy Meg Tilly dodges re-animated corpses in a Mausoleum.
Meant to be fun; it isn't.

[Markgway]

Girls Nite Out (1982-USA) **
Adequate slasher in which a psycho in a bear costume stalks a campus scavenger hunt.
Featuring no one you've ever heard of and Hal Holbrook(!) as campus security.
Originally titled The Scaremaker.

[HungFist]

Before Sunrise (USA, 1995) [DVD] - 3.5/5
I've always enjoyed, but never quite loved this film. Perhaps a European set romance between an American student and a French girl just isn't something I relate to. I picked this from a rental store when my girlfriend told me to bring something where people don't get killed all the time.

Before Sunset (USA, 2004) [DVD] - 3.5/5
This is where things start getting unique. Made nine years after the original, featuring a nine year older cast playing nine year older version of the characters in a world that has changed a fair bit in nine years. There's certain movie magic to that. It's interesting, well acted, and well written whenever it focuses on its main characters and their relationship. There's a long coffee shop scene, however, that outstays its welcome. The 80 minute running time is otherwise ace. A slightly better film than the original.

Before Midnight (USA, 2013) [DVD] - 3.5/5
Another 9 years have passed. This is again a notch better than the previous film, and just like the previous film, it works best when it focuses on the main characters. There are a couple of dialogue scenes (often shot with incredibly long takes) that slightly overstay their welcome. That being said, I'm already looking forward to 2022...

As for my girlfriend, she loved them all. I showed the 3rd film to her without telling her what we'll be watching, without her even knowing the film existed. The smile on her face when the title screen appeared was priceless.

[Markgway]

The smile on her face when the title screen appeared was priceless.

[HungFist]

More like:

[HungFist]

Shaft's Big Score (USA, 1972) [DVD] - 2.5/5
I'm not the biggest blaxploitation fan although I tend to enjoy the films to a certain extent. This film is a good example. It's got some groove, but it also runs too long at 105 minutes. More action and exploitation wouldn't have hurt.

The Mechanic (USA, 1972) [DVD] - 3.5/5
A middle aged master killer (Bronson) starts hanging out with hippies and takes an apprentice who doesn't look reliable at all. It's a small miracle how well this film turned out with a script like that. The storyline may not be believable, but it remains surprisingly captivating. Director Michael Winner deserves praise as well, especially for the opening part which runs 15 minutes without a word of dialogue. Such a thing would be unthinkable in modern ADHD action films.

[Markgway]

Middle Men (2009-USA) **½
Sleazy drama about the birth of Internet porn draws you in despite mostly unlikable characters; not as graphic as it could've been.

[Markgway]

Juggernaut (1974-UK-USA) *½
Richard Harris' intense performance as a jaded bomb disposal expert is the only high spot in this inert, rather wooden thriller.

[Markgway]

The House Where Evil Dwells (1982-USA-Japan) *½
Silly, senseless ghost story set in Japan.

[grim_tales]

300 (2006, Zack Snyder): 3.5/5

Historical fantasy based on a graphic novel's retelling of an ancient battle is entertaining, the CGI blood sticks out like a sore thumb though.

[saltysam]

Revenge For Jolly 1.5/5
Deadbeat guy owes money to the wrong people, they hang his beloved dog Jolly so him and his equally deadbeat cousin embark on a revenge mission. Moves quickly and is mercifully short but the characters are obnoxious and hard to emphathise with..a few name cameos (Elijah Wood,Kisten Wiig) don't really add much...still it was only a quid..
Point Blank 3/5
Amongst the numerous blu rays that surface n poundland the odd decent movie appears, this french thriller is one of them. Set up is quick, a trainee nurse's pregnant wife is kidnapped and he has to get a wounded criminal out of hospital or else....fast moving and never lets up for it's 81 minute run time, worth catching.
Saturday Night Fever 4/5
iconic 70's disco drama has stood the test of time well with an ace soundtrack and a star making John Travolta performance.the newly restored director's cut doesn't add much but the blu is a visual improvement over the old release.
Get Out 3/5
Young black man is invited by his white girlfriend to meet her rich parents for the weekend. Well done thriller is paced well nd captures the man's growing ense of "wtf have i got myself into" before it's final act slips into mostly standard genre moves.Well worth a watch though.

[HungFist]

Saturday Night Fever 4/5
iconic 70's disco drama has stood the test of time well with an ace soundtrack and a star making John Travolta performance.the newly restored director's cut doesn't add much but the blu is a visual improvement over the old release.

I didn't even know there was a director's cut. It's different from what Paramount released on DVD? How does it differ?

[Markgway]

Incubus (1981-Canada) *
Repellent trash in which an unseen demon carries out a series of brutal rapes; doctor John Cassavetes investigates (and presumably collectes enough cash to fund his next directorial project).

[Markgway]

Ouija (2014-USA-Japan) **½
Competently made chiller is creepy enough for a PG-13, but by the script is strictly by the numbers.

[saltysam]

Saturday Night Fever 4/5
iconic 70's disco drama has stood the test of time well with an ace soundtrack and a star making John Travolta performance.the newly restored director's cut doesn't add much but the blu is a visual improvement over the old release.

I didn't even know there was a director's cut. It's different from what Paramount released on DVD? How does it differ?

it's nothing substantial (4 minutes longer) the most interesting addition is a sequence where Tony signs for a telegram that leads to his father finding out he's got his job back the region-free blu ray has a choice of theatrical or DC options.