What films have you watched recently?

Philly_Q

boogieman said:

Philly_Q said:

boogieman said:

I’m on a Facebook horror film group. Somebody mentioned they’d love to see Ken Russell’s “The Devils” but it’s very hard, if not impossible, to get hold of the uncensored version nowadays. Which got me thinking I hadn’t seen it for years, so I dug out my copy and watched it yesterday. It’s a brilliant and still disturbing film, although being Ken Russell it’s a bit OTT in places. But it still stands up really well for a 50 year old film. The only slight fly in the ointment is seeing Brian Murphy as one of the torturers; he’s forever George from George and Mildred in my head. 

You probably know this already, but a nun from The Devils appears in a crowd scene in Space Jam 2. 
Warner Bros are happy to cash in on all their property.

I’ve never heard of Space Jam 2, let alone seen it  . I think I’ve seen bits of the first one. Apparently WB have always refused to reissue the uncensored version of The Devils, although I’m not sure why as there seems to be a demand for it from the film buffs. It isn’t even that graphic by modern standards, presumably it’s the religious content that gets them all itchy? I recorded my copy from free to air tv when C4 did one of their “Uncensored” seasons.  

I knew I'd seen it at some point but couldn't remember when, it was probably that C4 screening you mentioned.  To be honest I remember very little about it.  In terms of the cuts, the BBFC insisted on some of the torture scenes being shortened, but the big thing was a scene known as "the Rape of Christ", which features "naked nuns sexually defiling a statue of Christ, [and] which includes Father Mignon looking down on the scene and masturbating".  So there you go.

Nunsploitation was quite a thing in the '70s, I guess it was probably The Devils which started it all off.

boogieman

Philly_Q said:

boogieman said:

Philly_Q said:

boogieman said:

I’m on a Facebook horror film group. Somebody mentioned they’d love to see Ken Russell’s “The Devils” but it’s very hard, if not impossible, to get hold of the uncensored version nowadays. Which got me thinking I hadn’t seen it for years, so I dug out my copy and watched it yesterday. It’s a brilliant and still disturbing film, although being Ken Russell it’s a bit OTT in places. But it still stands up really well for a 50 year old film. The only slight fly in the ointment is seeing Brian Murphy as one of the torturers; he’s forever George from George and Mildred in my head. 

You probably know this already, but a nun from The Devils appears in a crowd scene in Space Jam 2. 
Warner Bros are happy to cash in on all their property.

I’ve never heard of Space Jam 2, let alone seen it  . I think I’ve seen bits of the first one. Apparently WB have always refused to reissue the uncensored version of The Devils, although I’m not sure why as there seems to be a demand for it from the film buffs. It isn’t even that graphic by modern standards, presumably it’s the religious content that gets them all itchy? I recorded my copy from free to air tv when C4 did one of their “Uncensored” seasons.  

I knew I'd seen it at some point but couldn't remember when, it was probably that C4 screening you mentioned.  To be honest I remember very little about it.  In terms of the cuts, the BBFC insisted on some of the torture scenes being shortened, but the big thing was a scene known as "the Rape of Christ", which features "naked nuns sexually defiling a statue of Christ, [and] which includes Father Mignon looking down on the scene and masturbating".  So there you go.

Nunsploitation was quite a thing in the '70s, I guess it was probably The Devils which started it all off.

There was a documentary that accompanied the film when C4 showed it. They talked about that torture scene quite a bit, apparently the censors asked Ken Russell to trim the scene several times, which he duly complied with, but then the censor said “Ken, you’ve made it worse!” 

Moominpapa

After the foul, stinking shit that was Mumon I needed something to cleanse my mind and The Hidden Blade (2004) was just what the samurai-movie-doctor ordered. Beautifully shot, tastefully acted, and exquisitely directed, this second film in Yoji Yamada's 'Samurai trilogy' is a wonderful follow-up to The Twilight Samurai.

Haych

No Time to Die

Again. 

Still a decent movie but this time round I couldn’t help question some parts of the plot that I didn’t understand the first time round. 

Like, on the villain’s island, what are all those people doing with the big sticks in the pools of acid, and (I assume it’s acid or some other caustic chemical) what is the purpose of the acid anyway?

How does a super villain set up shop on a disused Cold War island cum submarine base, transport hundreds of people and supplies there and nobody in the world’s security agencies notices?

Q gives bond a watch that can take out electronic devices and systems with an electro magnetic pulse so how come it doesn’t affect the nano-bots?

How come Jaguar-Land Rover would pay presumably huge sums of money to have their new cars featured in the film only for them to be outdone by an ageing Toyota Landcruiser - hardly top drawer product placement. 

We’re the tyres of Bond’s DB5 also completely impervious to being shot multiple times with machine gun fire and/or why were the tyres not shot out by the bad guys at the start of the film, even inadvertently - if you pump that much lead into a car surely a few bullets will hit the tyres, no?

The main bad guy seems not to age - he looks no different at the start of the film when he attempts to assassinate Madeline’s family than after 20 or so years when he hatches his evil scheme. 

Speaking of age, Bond is hardly young when the film starts and after the opening sequence the film fast forwards five years, so presumably Bond is in his mid 50s by then? 

After Madeline loses her nerve at offing Blofeld she retreats back to the same place where she use to live, so ugly face dude knows where to find her!

paulnb57

Doctor Sleep, from the Steven King book
We are away in the MOHO so streamed this from Netflix

A sort of sequel to The Shining, I expected to find something else after 10 mins, but it drew us in and we actually watched it right through.

Nothing particularly special,but an enjoyable romp, with lots of references back to the original, pretty formula really, but its worth a 6/10

boogieman

Haych said:

No Time to Die

Again. 

Still a decent movie but this time round I couldn’t help question some parts of the plot that I didn’t understand the first time round. 

Like, on the villain’s island, what are all those people doing with the big sticks in the pools of acid, and (I assume it’s acid or some other caustic chemical) what is the purpose of the acid anyway?

How does a super villain set up shop on a disused Cold War island cum submarine base, transport hundreds of people and supplies there and nobody in the world’s security agencies notices?

Q gives bond a watch that can take out electronic devices and systems with an electro magnetic pulse so how come it doesn’t affect the nano-bots?

How come Jaguar-Land Rover would pay presumably huge sums of money to have their new cars featured in the film only for them to be outdone by an ageing Toyota Landcruiser - hardly top drawer product placement. 

We’re the tyres of Bond’s DB5 also completely impervious to being shot multiple times with machine gun fire and/or why were the tyres not shot out by the bad guys at the start of the film, even inadvertently - if you pump that much lead into a car surely a few bullets will hit the tyres, no?

The main bad guy seems not to age - he looks no different at the start of the film when he attempts to assassinate Madeline’s family than after 20 or so years when he hatches his evil scheme. 

Speaking of age, Bond is hardly young when the film starts and after the opening sequence the film fast forwards five years, so presumably Bond is in his mid 50s by then? 

After Madeline loses her nerve at offing Blofeld she retreats back to the same place where she use to live, so ugly face dude knows where to find her!

On the why don’t they ever shoot the car tyres? thing: why, when somebody is hiding behind a car, does the shooter never think to shoot underneath the car and get them in the legs?  

Haych

@boogieman, I know, right?!

SPECTRUM001

Hachi: A Dog’s Tale - 2009 (Lasse Hallstrom)

Richard Gere stars in this charming and emotional gem about an adorable pooch devoted to its master. Of course the real star is Hachi; who will have broken your heart within….twenty minutes ?

Mrs001 was sobbing by halfway, and distraught by the close - it really is a weepy. 

As expected, lots of classic Richard Gere dialogue pause (see what I did - Lassie, Tail, Paws) and an incredible twist, which incredibly - IS TRUE !!!!

Seriously folks, a very sweet film if you are into this kind of thing. Taxi Driver it ain’t.

8.5/10

Tone71

In bed with Covid so have been staring at the box for hours, thank god for straight to Netflix films for providing light easy watching crap to pass the hours!

The Wrong Missy - Rom-com usual stuff, started poor but enjoyed it by the end 6/10

The Do Over - Another Adam Sandler straight to Netflix 5/10

The Heartbreak Kid - Ben Stiller rom-com quite funny in parts 6/10

Adult Life Skills - Jodie Whittaker great British film, quirky, sometimes sad but enjoyable 8/10

Trailer Park Boys - Countdown to Liquor Day - more fun with the Trailer Park boys, excellent 10/10 but then again I find them really funny whereas the more refined might just find them childish!

The Other One - The long strange trip of Bob Weir - Brilliant, really enjoyable, I've never been a huge Grateful Dead fan but have always admired their hippy ethos, excellent watch 9/10

Love and Monsters - Surprisingly watchable comedy/horror 7/10

Blaendulais

Everything Everywhere all at Once

Awesome. Michelle Yeoh superb

EricTheWeary

Odd Thomas 

on Prime

made in 2013 the whole thing is like a pilot for a series to be based on the series of Odd Thomas novels. But the film crashed at the box office and the rest were never made.I guess it paid William Dafoe’s mortgage for a few months. Not awful but not great. 

warhead

The Northman is bloody amazing!! My fave movie in at least the last 5 years, probably even longer.
They went heavy on magic and witchcraft, which was very welcome.

BigBearKris

warhead said:

The Northman is bloody amazing!! My fave movie in at least the last 5 years, probably even longer.
They went heavy on magic and witchcraft, which was very welcome.

That's encouraging!

I have it queued up and was looking forward to it despite some bad reviews...

boogieman

Black Crab. Netflix. Dystopian drama starring Noomi Rapace as a soldier tasked with getting some canisters across enemy lines to her side’s military base. It’s not bad, quite brutal and pretty tense at times. A solid  6/10. 

Philly_Q

warhead said:

The Northman is bloody amazing!! My fave movie in at least the last 5 years, probably even longer.
They went heavy on magic and witchcraft, which was very welcome.

I don't particularly like the look of it from trailers etc, but Robert Eggers' previous two films have been so impressive that I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised when I do see it.

munckee

Ghostbusters afterlife. Reasonably interesting way to reboot the franchise but felt at the end like it was a bit pointless. 

Watchable and not awful but meh.  

Haych

A Million Ways To Die in the West (Prime)

Watched the trailer and decided it looked good enough to give it a watch.

It's typically Seth Macfarlane, an attempt to be as puerile and as obnoxious as possible within the confines of its theme.

All the best bits are in the trailer, and all the funniest parts are sight gags rather than anything clever and witty, although some of the sight gags are even a bit over the top.

It's not the worst film we've ever watched together (my wife uses Black Sheep as the benchmark for that) but it's hardly amazing.

I'll give credit to Seth Macfarlane for his observation, though, he does find the more obscure things, which are actually quite obvious, to poke fun at - not just in this but in pretty much everything he does.

5/10

goldtop

^ I tried that comedy western, but after about 20 minutes of Seth Macfarlane being himself, I'd had enough. (Even though I like what he does.)

LastMantra

Metal Lords. 

Not bad, started alright but got a bit school of rock towards the end. Just wasn't very interesting, nothing much to keep you watching. A few small cameos from metal guys, that I didn't really know. Blink and you'd miss most of them. The young actors did well and mimed their instruments quite convincingly. 

4/10

boogieman

Blood on Satan’s Claw (on Talking Pictures’ Cellar Club). Odd little early 70s folk horror film with more than a whiff of The Wicker Man about it. It’s too long, the effects are very “ketchup for blood” and the plot pacing isn’t great but it’s still quite intriguing… apparently Mark Gattis rates it, if that counts for anything. 

Fun fact: the young lady who plays Angel Blake (the lead baddy) was Robin Askwith’s girlfriend and starred in several of the “Confessions” sex comedies with him.