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host body
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« Reply #3045 on: October 09, 2020, 02:46:31 PM » |
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Eh, I think latter day Cronenberg is good cinema, but definitely straight. He went from being a transgressive genre auteur to detached & stylish mainstream director, kind of like a thinking mans Christopher Nolan. I'd say his best "new" movie is Cosmopolis, possibly due to it being his own script, but I did enjoy Eastern Promises just fine. I adore Existenz, both because I'm a hot stinking scifi nerd and because I find him making a video game movie hilarious. Lynch for example would never have touched touch video games as a subject matter with a ten foot pole.
I suspect he somehow transferred the twisted half of his psyche to his son at some point in the late 90s.
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« Last Edit: October 09, 2020, 02:56:00 PM by host body »
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ConcreteMascara
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« Reply #3046 on: October 09, 2020, 04:00:11 PM » |
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Patricia Arquette in True Romance, too...
In my family we consider True Romance a masterpiece and regularly watch it on Thanksgiving. It's a weird tradition, especially given the amount of sexy Arquette time, but it's our tradition. Hail Amerika? I just watched this for the first time last week and I thought it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen! The dialog in particular had me yelling at the television frequently. Strong distaste for this particular brand of 'Americana' (See also: Wild at Heart which is barely redeemed by some Lynchian darkness. Barely.) Something foul and rockabilly in the air at the dawn of the 90's. I guess you're not a big fan of Tarantino films then? Given that he wrote the dialogue for True Romance and it's fairly similar to a lot of his movies... It's certainly an American film if ever there was one. Different strokes for different folks I guess |
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theworldisawarfilm
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« Reply #3047 on: October 09, 2020, 04:54:25 PM » |
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Patricia Arquette in True Romance, too...
In my family we consider True Romance a masterpiece and regularly watch it on Thanksgiving. It's a weird tradition, especially given the amount of sexy Arquette time, but it's our tradition. Hail Amerika? I just watched this for the first time last week and I thought it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen! The dialog in particular had me yelling at the television frequently. Strong distaste for this particular brand of 'Americana' (See also: Wild at Heart which is barely redeemed by some Lynchian darkness. Barely.) Something foul and rockabilly in the air at the dawn of the 90's. I guess you're not a big fan of Tarantino films then? Given that he wrote the dialogue for True Romance and it's fairly similar to a lot of his movies... It's certainly an American film if ever there was one. Different strokes for different folks I guess Oh certainly. Not passing judgment on anybody for digging his stuff. But beyond Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction I can't say I care much for his movies. After Inglorious Basterds I started wilfully ignoring his output. However I did finally see Once Upon A time in Hollywood a month or two back and thought it was a pretty decent flick! |
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Balor/SS1535
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« Reply #3048 on: October 09, 2020, 06:06:22 PM » |
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I watched Sinister again last night. It is definitely one of the darkest mainstream horror movies to come out in recent years, and the soundtrack always amazes me (loops, synth drones, samples, etc.).
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absurdexposition
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« Reply #3049 on: October 09, 2020, 07:07:13 PM » |
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Patricia Arquette in True Romance, too...
In my family we consider True Romance a masterpiece and regularly watch it on Thanksgiving. It's a weird tradition, especially given the amount of sexy Arquette time, but it's our tradition. Hail Amerika? I just watched this for the first time last week and I thought it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen! The dialog in particular had me yelling at the television frequently. Strong distaste for this particular brand of 'Americana' (See also: Wild at Heart which is barely redeemed by some Lynchian darkness. Barely.) Something foul and rockabilly in the air at the dawn of the 90's. I guess you're not a big fan of Tarantino films then? Given that he wrote the dialogue for True Romance and it's fairly similar to a lot of his movies... It's certainly an American film if ever there was one. Different strokes for different folks I guess Oh certainly. Not passing judgment on anybody for digging his stuff. But beyond Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction I can't say I care much for his movies. After Inglorious Basterds I started wilfully ignoring his output. However I did finally see Once Upon A time in Hollywood a month or two back and thought it was a pretty decent flick! I thought Once Upon... was amazing. I really need to watch it again. Updates on my chrono-Cronenberg journey: Fast Company (1979)Another rip-roaring adventure from David “Wholesome” Cronenberg! Nah, this is absolutely a Cronenberg film. Obvious links to Crash but it also strongly bears the Cronenberg theme of technology as an extension of the body. Mostly it serves well just as a look into car racing culture. Lots of focus on the inner workings of the cars themselves and their incredible sounds. Brought back some memories of when I was in the pit crew at one of the derby races my first boss (and family friend) had a car in at the Mission Raceway in BC. I can’t say that was something I really enjoyed, but Fast Company certainly epitomizes the experience. And +1 for John Saxon being a real POS in this one. RIP. The Brood (1979)After laying the groundwork with his first “trilogy” and then sidestepping for a moment with Fast Company, DC really came into his own with this outing and proved himself a master. The last half hour might be his most ruthless descent into horror. The murders are just so brutal. The whole thing is supported by a perfect performance from Oliver Reed and a fantastic suspenseful score by Howard Shore (his later score for Crash is one of my all-time favourites). The hospital patient with the weird hair in Rabid is here as a hospital patient with weird hair again, and the kid from Fast Company is around, too. The Criterion blu-ray looks amazing. Big love. Scanners (1981)Ahead of its time in the sense that it came before the overuse of certain sci-fi computer tropes, but perhaps also ahead of its time in the sense that the concept seemed just one step ahead of what Cronenberg was able to achieve with his contemporary means. I don’t remember Stephen Lack being as bad of an actor as he was here but man, it’s something else - though I’m not sure if a stronger lead would have done better justice to the material or simply amplified the shortcomings. At least Robert Silverman is back as an (ex-) hospital patient with (slightly less) weird hair, and of course there’s Michael Ironside. Nice shots of certain Montreal and south shore locations, and a return to the Nun’s Island condo building that was the central location in Shivers. |
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ConcreteMascara
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« Reply #3050 on: October 09, 2020, 08:04:50 PM » |
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Re Scanners
I've come to accept Stephen Lack's powerfully wooden performance as a necessary evil in reaching maximum detachment. His inscrutability via ineptitude makes the story feel like an autistic dystopian fantasy in the best way possible. At least that's how I get through his parts of the film. Everything else basically fucks hard tho
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online prowler
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« Reply #3051 on: October 11, 2020, 12:40:06 AM » |
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Really enjoying the recent ZATOICHI box from Criterion. Blessed to be able to see all these classics in restored format. Recommend checking the series out for fans of samurai cinema in general and Japanese 1960s-'70s films.
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ConcreteMascara
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« Reply #3052 on: October 13, 2020, 10:09:09 PM » |
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Boiled Angels [dir. Frank Henenlotter, 2018] - this was a fun documentary about comics I've still yet to read/buy. Oddly I've known the bones of the story for ages, but you get a lot of extra details here. I enjoyed all of the old VHS footage and time with the comic strips and somehow Jello Biafra wasn't incredibly annoying as a narrator. But I was struck by the absence of opinion by Mike Diana, even though he talks throughout the documentary. I couldn't really get a deeper sense of his feelings on everything other than he obviously didn't want to stand trial or be on probation for 3 years. I also would've liked to have known more about the appeal and why it wasn't granted cert, but oh well. Still a fun watch. I swear one day I'll buy the actual Boiled Angel comics...
Repulsion [dir. Roman Polanski, 1965] - this has been on my "watch soon" list since I bought it a year ago. The last part of the "Apartment Trilogy" I watched, having watched "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Tenant" about 8 years ago? I don't know what it is but I have difficulty connecting with Polanski's films, and "Repulsion" was no exception. Catherine Deneuve is ridiculously beautiful and effective as the rapidly deteriorating Carole, but I think the whole thing reminded me too much of the mentally unwell girls I tried to court in the past, so she just pissed me off half of the time. I will say the visuals were consistently great. But on the whole I felt like I was working hard at paying attention instead of being transfixed. Maybe I'll enjoy it more on a subsequent viewing but I think it'll be awhile before that happens.
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theworldisawarfilm
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« Reply #3053 on: October 13, 2020, 10:35:08 PM » |
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Just watched Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling on Sunday. Superb. Probably the best Giallo flick I've seen to date, I've found many I've watched to be boring/tedous/unsatisfying in some way. Any recs for something similar would be appreciated.
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absurdexposition
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« Reply #3054 on: October 13, 2020, 11:17:21 PM » |
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I think we laid down a bit of a list in this thread recently, I'll see if I can find it. edit: here it is. There's a bit of a discussion / more recs on page 198 of this thread. The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh
Murder Obsession
The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is such a great flick. Have Murder Obsession on my to watch list. Murder Obsession was okay - I just started to get into/watch Giallo films other than New York Ripper and some Argento stuff next I plan on watching Torso and The Case of the Bloody Iris next I have some more in my watch list on Prime - if anybody has any recommendations I'm all ears Some of these are definitely better than others. A Lizard in a Woman's Skin Amuck! Black Belly of the Tarantula Blood and Black Lace The Case of the Scorpion's Tail The Psychic The Red Queen Kills Seven Times Slaughter Hotel Spasmo So Sweet, So Dead What Have You Done To Solange? What Have They Done To Your Daughters? Who Saw Her Die? Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key |
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« Last Edit: October 13, 2020, 11:23:08 PM by absurdexposition »
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absurdexposition
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« Reply #3055 on: October 13, 2020, 11:26:16 PM » |
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Boiled Angels [dir. Frank Henenlotter, 2018] - this was a fun documentary about comics I've still yet to read/buy. Oddly I've known the bones of the story for ages, but you get a lot of extra details here. I enjoyed all of the old VHS footage and time with the comic strips and somehow Jello Biafra wasn't incredibly annoying as a narrator. But I was struck by the absence of opinion by Mike Diana, even though he talks throughout the documentary. I couldn't really get a deeper sense of his feelings on everything other than he obviously didn't want to stand trial or be on probation for 3 years. I also would've liked to have known more about the appeal and why it wasn't granted cert, but oh well. Still a fun watch. I swear one day I'll buy the actual Boiled Angel comics...
I've probably said this a bunch of times in this thread already but I caught the world premiere at the Fantasia film festival here a couple years back. Mike Diana and Frank Henenlotter where there for Q&A, it was fun. Every once in a while I'll get about 20 notifications in a row on Instagram and it's just Mike Diana going on a "liking" spree on my account, kinda weird/funny. |
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Theodore
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« Reply #3056 on: October 21, 2020, 09:24:34 PM » |
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State television here created a platform like Netflix, free. Not that much stuff uploaded, they have them for a couple of months available then add new. But regarding movies their selection is interesting, better than Netflix's definetely -what to expect when they give millions to Harry and Megan instead of buying rights for good old movies ?- . I watched two with Klaus Maria Brandauer the last 2 days, Mephisto and Hanussen .
Mephisto is a great movie with amazing performance from him, especialy when he is on stage, breathtaking. He plays an actor in pre-war Germany, talented and ambitious, who starts communist friendly , without getting the recognition he deserves until he collaborates with the nazis. Whether he does it for his art, to be in position to help his old friends or just cause he is all about himself and power-hungry, is unclear ...
Hanussen is not that good. I didnt get what was the point. It's the lifestory of a psychic in central Europe / Germany after WWI.
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“ἀθάνατοι θνητοί, θνητοὶ ἀθάνατοι, ζῶντες τὸν ἐκείνων θάνατον, τὸν δὲ ἐκείνων βίον τεθνεῶτες”
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WhiteWarlock
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« Reply #3057 on: October 21, 2020, 11:20:43 PM » |
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The Haunted Palace - Vincent Price 1963 total Lovecraft...
Buio Omega for the Goblin Soundtrack & twisted tale...
House of Clocks.... NYRipper... The Beyond... Gates of Hell aka City of the Living Dead... most any Giallo is entertaing
whatever you do.... don't get bored enough to watch Fulci 1975 western Four of the Apocalypse... so agonizingly bad!
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« Last Edit: October 21, 2020, 11:49:01 PM by WhiteWarlock »
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ConcreteMascara
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« Reply #3058 on: October 29, 2020, 08:30:11 PM » |
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Halloween II [dir. Rob Zombie, 2009]
So my friend and I are finally at the end of the Halloween franchise and it was either this or the straight-to-video Halloween: Resurrection. Now my friend warned me this was an utter shit-fest but goddamn I couldn't have imagined how truly dumb AND boring it would be. The good first: Malcom McDowell playing the fame-hungry version of Dr. Loomis was very entertaining. He's such a believable asshole and it's just about the only passable writing in the whole film. Easily the best part of the movie. Second, Brad Dourif is in this one a bit more than the first and I love Brad Dourif, so that was nice. The music was kinda okay.
Ok so the bad: somehow the plot framing for this movie is so fucking stupid it makes Halloween IV through VI look like film classics. I do not care what's inside the mind of Michael Myers. I also don't ever want to see him without a mask. That's sort of his whole thing and this Rob Zombie via Sons of Anarchy looking motherfucker we see is just dumb. Compared to Rob Zombie's first Halloween there's almost no tits and the tits we do see are not in the context I want. The lead character is painfully annoying and most of the kills are meh.
The cherry on top of this shit sundae was the stream quality was worse than a 2005 era torrent. WTF Amazon. So now all that's left of this pointless journey is Busta Rhymes stint in a found footage take on Halloween. kill me.
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WhiteWarlock
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« Reply #3059 on: October 29, 2020, 09:56:16 PM » |
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Saw that Halloween II remake couple years ago during Halloween Movie Fest....
it was so absurdly bad lost interest fast beyond WTF is this trash...
completely agree with your review...
on the bright side, saw yard/house this year decorated with SilverShamrock Halloween theme!
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