Bullets 'n' Babes

Città violenta (Italy, 1970) – 3,5/5
By the end of the 60’s Charles Bronson had become a big star in Europe. Italian directors of the time on the other hand loved American actors. Città violenta (Violent City) is an Italian film with American / British cast and taking place mostly in the USA. Bronson plays an assassin betrayed by his boss. He longs for revenge, of course. Sergio Sollima’s action thriller has a terric start, opening with long car chase in the Carribeans and Ennio Morricone’s great theme music. The last third is weaker, thanks to overly complicated plotting between a mysterious woman and the former Blofeld Telly Savalas. Still, thanks to Bronson, Morricone and several terrific scenes Città violenta is a very enjoyable crime film.

The Beyond (Italy, 1981) – 4/5
Godfather of Gore Lucio Fulci’s legendary horror film. American woman inherits a hotel in Louisiana. Turns out the hotel is one of the seven gateways to hell. Violent deaths begin to appear, and finally all hell breaks loose and a zombie invasion begins. Every death is shown in great detail and length, as expected from the director. Most effects are not very convincing, but there’s no real need for it. This is classic Italian special effects work that is equally disgusting and admirable. Tarantulas slowly ripping a mans face into pieces is just one of the several memorable scenes. However, more important than the gore is the atmosphere. Composer Fabio Frizzi’s superb soundtrack is to be credited for this. The ending is also one of the best and most poetic in horror movie history. Poor acting and logical errors (David Warbeck’s revolver’s capasity appears to vary from scene to scene, and officials pay no attention to the long series of strange deaths) are a given in these movies.

House by the Cemetary was on TV the other night... for the second time I tried to watch it (first was many years ago) and again I couldn't get passed the 25m mark without being bored off my tits. So I switched off.

gasteropod wrote:Fuck that, only the first Blade is good!

Really? WOW! Blade 2 is excellent. Blade is pretty good, but overrated.

bradavon wrote:overrated.

HungFist wrote:The Beyond (Italy, 1981) – 4/5
Godfather of Gore Lucio Fulci’s legendary horror film. American woman inherits a hotel in Louisiana. Turns out the hotel is one of the seven gateways to hell. Violent deaths begin to appear, and finally all hell breaks loose and a zombie invasion begins. Every death is shown in great detail and length, as expected from the director. Most effects are not very convincing, but there’s no real need for it. This is classic Italian special effects work that is equally disgusting and admirable. Tarantulas slowly ripping a mans face into pieces is just one of the several memorable scenes. However, more important than the gore is the atmosphere. Composer Fabio Frizzi’s superb soundtrack is to be credited for this. The ending is also one of the best and most poetic in horror movie history. Poor acting and logical errors (David Warbeck’s revolver’s capasity appears to vary from scene to scene, and officials pay no attention to the long series of strange deaths) are a given in these movies.

Thanks, sounds really fantastic. Which DVD did you watch?

Not seen The Beyond in years, I remember it being extremely atmoshperic but also annoyingly inconsistent. I tend to find that about most Fulci though! I wouldn't mind revisting it in HD though!

The Beyond is one of my pet hates (mind you I hate most of Fulci's hideous work), easily up there with the worst film memories for me.

Mind you I have only seen a crappy rental video, may well have been cut to hell as well but damn it was a poor film, I remember selling the rental vid for over £20, ahh the days when Ex-rentals could be sold for lots of cash

I just never like Fulci and his ghost/zombie's which just go thru walls, transport round corners and just appear out of nowhere. Still that was the least of the problems his films just seem to make it up as they go along, and it may be getting good then all of a sudden Pow it all changes for the worse. I dont think I have ever seen any of his films in good condition, or even on dvd, all wioll be old fullscreen manky vids.

Apart from his one great film, Zombie which I have bought a few times now, and may well again in HD.

Markgway wrote:House by the Cemetary was on TV the other night... for the second time I tried to watch it (first was many years ago) and again I couldn't get passed the 25m mark without being bored off my tits. So I switched off.

Yeah I watched that, the little boy's dubbed voice was the worst thing ever, it was like a 12 year old's dubbing a six year old's lol, otherwise it was OK.

Blue Velvet: 3.5/5

Good movie, but dark and weird in places. It showed the evil lurking beneath the idyll of the 1950's (?) world.

Dark and Weird, for a David Lynch film. No, really?

diceman wrote:

HungFist wrote:The Beyond (Italy, 1981) – 4/5

Thanks, sounds really fantastic. Which DVD did you watch?

R1 Grindhouse Releasing, which I warmly recommend. The remastered picture is pretty good, and there’s a perfect selection of audio tracks:

English 5.1 remix
English 2.0 downmix
English 2.0 original
Italian 2.0 original
Optional English subtitles

As usual with IT films, I started the film in Italian, but actually switched to English after 10 minutes. I found this track to be more pleasing. I might also recommend the 5.1 mix. It has many sound effects redone and the music may be re-scored. Usually I'd hate it, but in this case the music sounds so damn marvelous that I just may choose the 5.1 next time I watch the film. The original tracks (in both languages) are also in good condition but not nearly as crisp.

There’s some nice extras too. My favourite is the photo galleries, which play like video footage. There’s hundreds of great photos (stills, posters, articles, behind the scenes) and they play with the film’s music. So, this almost like a mini soundtrack.

http://www.dvdpacific.com/item.asp?ID=1025092
http://caps-a-holic.com/vergleich.php?vergleichID=300

It wasn't like I didnt think it would be weird but it still wasnt an easy view.

grim_tales wrote:Blue Velvet: 3.5/5

Good movie, but dark and weird in places. It showed the evil lurking beneath the idyll of the 1950's (?) world.

One of my favourite films, the atmosphere's incredible

gasteropod wrote:

grim_tales wrote:Blue Velvet: 3.5/5

Good movie, but dark and weird in places. It showed the evil lurking beneath the idyll of the 1950's (?) world.

One of my favourite films, the atmosphere's incredible

Not a very good film. Too forced and intentionally weird. Just like Hopper's performance. 2/5.

I disagree it's intentionally weird. Sure Lynch has done that but not in Blue Velvet. It all has a point.

gasteropod wrote:Yeah I watched that, the little boy's dubbed voice was the worst thing ever, it was like a 12 year old's dubbing a six year old's lol, otherwise it was OK.

That kid looked fucking weird.

Did the lead actress get her tits out at any point?

Not that I recall!

Then I didn't miss anything.

Dennis Hopper was bonkers in Blue Velvet I grant you

Inglourious Basterds
A series of overlong scenes (sorry 'Chapters') that were predictable to the point of being almost boring at times. The acting was over the top, the plot followed this direction and the music - much of which was from Kill Bill - was distracting.
I don't understand why people are saying that this is a "real movie" from Tarantino.. Well if Kill Bill and Death Proof weren't "real movies" then this is even more unreal then they were. The filmmaking was good of course, there were some laughs, some shocks and some moments of cool; but overall it felt like nothing more than a collection of ideas or sketches that didn't really come together. I didn't have any particular expectations but it still wasn't what I expected and I was not impressed. I hadn't thought that his recent works weren't "real movies" but I certainly feel that this one can be given that moniker.

I'll be seeing it again next week, shall see what I think then.

Yup so bad you are seeing it again

You've just said what you think there Lourdes - not exactly favourable yet you want to see it again

Someone wants to go see it with me, also I think it needs a second viewing.

Ah OK then

Lourdes wrote:I didn't have any particular expectations but it still wasn't what I expected