The Last Movie You Watched?

The Saloon
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^^^^^^^ IMHO, the character of Max is one of the weaker points of Mad Max: Fury Road. He’s captured and basically deep in the sh*t twice before the bloody opening credits sequence! As you said, it’s not that Tom Hardy’s no good in the role (although it’s far from my favourite turn from him) but he just doesn’t have as much to do as Mad Max should in his own movie. That’s the thing though, I think he’s just a supporting character in this pic, maybe even behind Nux (Nicholas Hoult, leaving About a Boy far, far behind him now). No, the star this time is definitely Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), except the name “Mad Max” over the marquee no doubt made for better numbers at the box office. If they’d called it Imperator Furiosa: Fury Road it would be Buy-One-Get-One-Free in Poundland along with Tank Girl already.

But, having said that, I think it improved with repeat viewings; well, it did for me, anyway. I found it all a bit “whaaa…?” first time out too, watching bemused as George Miller through everything including the kitchen sink at the screen. But no, it’s a terrific bit of leave-your-brain-at-the-door gung-ho escapism. It doesn’t make a lick of sense but the Mad Max films have always been out with the pixies.

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[size=10pt]Staying Alive - 1983 - Sylvester Stallone[/size]

I have to be honest I didn’t even knew there was a sequel to Saturday Night Fever, so when I found this while surfing through TV channels I was surprised to find out it was a sequel, even more surprised I was when I found out it was directed by Stallone.

It seems this was the film that almost killed Travolta’s career in the 80’s. Well I really don’t know why, not my kind of film but I’ve seen worst, and in pure directing terms Stallone doesn’t do a bad job.

I remember that the first film was above all a very depressing urban tale, while this one not so depressing lacks that special thing that for better or worst made the other one a classic.
Just your typical 80’s flick, which would always be compared to the first one.

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I’d certainly heard of Staying Alive (my recollection was that it was called Stayin’ Alive - no “g” - in the UK but I may well be wrong there), maybe since as far back as when it was released, but I had no idea it was directed by Sylvester Stallone. After a quick look at the IMDb to see what else Sly might’ve directed, I was further surprised to learn that he didn’t direct Rocky (Avildsen, 1976), or Cop Land (Mangold, 1997). I would’ve been prepared to swear that he directed both of those.

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Having seen Gaspar Noé Irreversible, decided to check this one out. Well, aside from the atrocious dialogue and stilted acting, there’s a fantastic story about love, intimacy, relationships and jealousy with some really stellar scenes strung together-alongside both arousing and incredibly sad sexual moments. The cinematography was good and the music was right on cue. Noé’s movies tend to go for a shock factor and this one was no exception, but it will be a long while before i’ll ever watch this one again.

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Jess Franco: The Secret Diary of Nymphomaniac (1973)
-This was the 50th Franco film I’ve seen (or 51st if you count Intimate Confessions of an Exhibitionist which he co-directed with Lina Romay). Not usual sexploitation I thought it would be but rather serious and dark erotic drama. Well made film but a bit boring at times with sex scenes that ain’t that erotic. Montserrat Prous was good looking and of course there’s Howard Vernon in small role.

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[size=12pt]KENAU[/size] (2014, Maarten Treurniet)

The film, a biopic of Kenau Simonszoon Hasselaer, a woman who became a Dutch folk hero for her bravery during the siege of Haarlem (1572-1573). With her army of women she helped defending the city against the Spanish troops of King Philip II. Kenau was known for her bravery as well as her difficult character: in colloquial Dutch her name has become a synonym for a uncompromising woman of violent temper and speech.

The film was introduced as a ‘Braveheart with Women’, creating some unrealistic expectations. It was almost entirely shot on location in Hungary, were a gigantic set representing 16th Century Haarlem was built. With the help of CGI the no more than 60 extras (!) were multiplied by a factor of at least one hundred, but in those scenes without CGI, both the city of Haarlem and the Spanish army look underpopulated. Some of the sword wielding looks clumsy, but one action scene, set on the ice (the women attacking a transport on skates) is quite exciting. There’s also a funny scene with the Haarlem women taking of their clothes to distract the Spanish soldiers while a wrecking crew led by Hasselaer is is trying to blow up the Spanish arsenal. It’s probably not historic, but it’ll no doubt blow your mind (and who knows your arsenal as well).

The script doesn’t give us much insight in any of the historic characters and too often good sequences are alternated by soap opera like moments. But director Treurniet shows some flair and the actors do a good job - especially Monic Hendrickx (one of Dutch finest actresses) in the title role. Kenau is far from perfect, but I thought the movie worked a lot better than the overblown Michiel de Ruyter (2015, Roel Reiné).

Dutch trailer with English subs: Kenau Trailer - English subs - YouTube
German trailer: KENAU – 300 gegen die Armee Spaniens | Deutsch / German Trailer - YouTube

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[size=14pt]Sacrifice (2011)[/size]

Ahh, Jesus, what a pile of shit this was. What ever happened to Cuba Gooding Jr.? Ever since winning an Oscar he hasn’t been in anything decent that i can recall. It doesn’t help when he’s starring in the same film alongside Christian Slater either, lol. Pffft!

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Watched THE NAKED PREY last night, really good manhunt film from the mid sixties.

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[quote=“last.caress, post:12465, topic:1923”]I’d certainly heard of Staying Alive (my recollection was that it was called Stayin’ Alive - no “g” - in the UK but I may well be wrong there), maybe since as far back as when it was released, but I had no idea it was directed by Sylvester Stallone. After a quick look at the IMDb to see what else Sly might’ve directed, I was further surprised to learn that he didn’t direct Rocky (Avildsen, 1976), or Cop Land (Mangold, 1997). I would’ve been prepared to swear that he directed both of those.[/quote]Maybe you’re getting Stallone confused with writing Rocky? He would only let the script be used if they took a gamble and let him play the role.

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[size=12pt]FROM PARIS WITH LOVE[/size] (2010, Pierre Morel)

Ten minutes into this movie, after the first bloodbath, you might ask yourself what the hell this movie is supposed to be, a parody, a travesty or just a brainless action flick, but if you know it was co-written by Luc Besson and directed by the man (Pierre Morel) who also directed TAKEN, the movie that turned Liam Neeson into a action hero, you might have an idea what to expect: lots of explosions, violence, noise and nonsense, brought at high speed, with no holds barred. Instead of Liam Neeson it stars John Travolta, as a secret agent sent to Paris to stop an imminent terrorist attack.

Travolta’s secret agent is paired with a rookie (a personal aid of the ambassador, doing small chores for the CIA) and together the two prevent the terrorists from blowing up Paris by blowing up the terrorists - and some parts of the city as well. The philosophy seems to be: “Let’s send Paris sky-high before the terrorists will blow it up." If it sounds a bit nasty: it’s all played for fun. More or less. From Paris with Love harks back to the Eurospy movies from the Sixties with their elegant heroes and depraved villains but flavors the dish with a strong dose of Tarantino-like audacity. The result is a fuck you movie, fast and furious.

Besson and Morel throw all believability overboard but keep the story moving at an incredibly high pace, with plot twist tumbling over each other like pins in a bowling game. Travolta - bald-headed, overweight and tongue-in-cheek - seems to enjoy himself and Rhys Meyers miraculously manages to keep a straight face. The film is so far over the top that it’s hard to imagine that anyone would take offence at it, but as the story progresses, it becomes clear that there’s a much darker movie lurking underneath the surface. They could’ve easily turned the whole thing into an ultra-dark paranoia thriller.

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I knew he wrote it and obviously starred in it, so somewhere along the line I must’ve mistakenly concluded that he also directed the bugger too. The old Holy Trinity. I think my confusion came with The Oscars. I remember that he was nominated but didn’t win and, in my brain, I was adamant he wasn’t nominated for acting or writing (he was of course nominated for both) so, it must’ve been for his directing, right? And the fact that some other guy won the Best Director Oscar that year cemented my assumption. Of course, the “other guy” who won that Oscar was John G. Avildsen for Rocky, so I couldn’t have made a bigger dog’s breakfast of (mis)remembering all that if I tried. ;D I’m normally quite good at that stuff but Sly’s (clearly) not my strong point.

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Tourneur: Night of the Demon (1957)
Torneur is best known for his Cat People and I walked with zombie but here’s equally good but lesser known horror film about witchcraft. Beautiful black and white cinematography and impressive effects for 50’s film.

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Today I watched

  • Figures in a Landscape
  • Fighting Mad
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Got the day off, on the best day of the week, so I started with I, The Jury from 1982. If you like book to film adaptations that stretch the boundaries of the text, include random new plot points (Mind control? Sex Clinics? :o), ridiculous amounts of violence and sex, then you’ll like this. I watched the Fox Cinema Archive disc, which I think is the first ever dvd release of this film. Great quality as well.

Anyway, this film has become one of my guilty pleasures, and Armand Assante is why. He oozes coolness, and he’s a sleazy cat, armed with a Browning High-Power, and a pissed off attitude.

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Parts of the book limp into frame, with Hammer looking for his best friends killer, with him coming up against suited mysterious men, the Sex Clinic’s head Doctor (Barbara Carrerra, which was a surprise, especially seeing her writh on the bed waiting for Hammer, I had to be nailed to chair ;)), whom he shares some great dialogue, ( " Dr: Why don’t you make your self comfortable? Hammer: You mean strip? Dr: … Why not?) and a Serial Killer who targets women, forces them to wear wigs and make up, before gutting them. Seriously this film is barmy, but its great 80’s barmy. I think if it didn’t have half the cast who were in it, this would of fallen apart, but its held together pretty well. It moves with a great pace, with Hammer questioning various people, then swiftly moving on, no dilly dallying, just on the next one, along with his faithful, yet clingy assistant, who keeps trying to get Hammer to marry him.

One of which is scene stealing Geoffrey Lewis as one said people questioned, then HERE is when it kicks into conspiracy mode. No sooner has he had a chat, than armed gunmen arrive, prompting a hair raising chase through the woods in a truck powered by booze. Now, I’m not sure if THAT was in the book, but it works, Ya’ know, with Lewis playing an alcoholic, who keeps crates and crates of the stuff.

Anyway, I won’t say anymore, but if you like ultra violent 80’s shenanigans, watch this. Its also runs just short of 2 hours, but listen, it’s entertaining as hell, especially seeing a random sushi chef get into a very brief tussle with our hero, only to end on the wrong side of one of those (Teryaki?) tables. Last thing, the score by none other than Bill Conti is great, nice mix of 80’s synth and funky strings and piano, never heard anything like it, but I loved it. Look up the trailer, it should help explain some of my ramblings.

9/10,

My favorite line: Calling a villain on his dead friend’s walkie talkie: This is Hammer, WANNA ROCK’N’ ROLL WITH ME?!!!"

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[quote=“Farmer_J, post:12476, topic:1923”]

Got the day off, on the best day of the week, so I started with “I, The Jury”

My favorite line: Calling a villain on his dead friend’s walkie talkie: This is Hammer, WANNA ROCK’N’ ROLL WITH ME?!!!"[/quote]

Top film, one of my favorites. Assante’s perfomance is superb and Bill Conti’s soundtrack is killer and fitting like a glove. A movie with Attitude.

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Time to get used to the new fórum, let’s go stop complaining life is made of change

Alatriste - 2006 - Agustin Diaz Yanes

Based in a well known novel in Spain that is, Alatriste is one of those films that I usually categorize as interesting films, not that can be considered a good film, but interesting at least in historical terms-
Mortensen is actor with a strong screen presence, and he’s perfect playing the “tired hero” (as he’s called in the books). Captain Diego Alatriste a veteran of the Spanish Flemish wars who returns home to become a gun for hire, that for the right price could even killed your enemies, not a nice character but still there’s something of quixotesc even that unique Iberian fatality, that in the end will appeal to the viewer.

Ok turning a novel with five chapters (until now), into a film or a mini series (almost three hours), not an easy task, the film sometimes is a bit confusing with too many characters, but if you want to know something of 17th century Spain, as a change at least not a bad choice.

One or maybe the most expensive Spanish cinema production of all time

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It was interesting to watch Brosnan being a bad guy in this but still, this was really awful, even for an action flix. It was like watching a long episode of NCIS or something similar, totally predictable and at the same time completely unrealistic.Pffft!

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Watched few Jess Franco films again:

La casa de las mujeres perdidas (1983)
-Weird perverted sex film. An ex-actor lives on isolated island with his wife and 2 daughters,one retarded, other sexually frustrated (Lina, masturbating constantly of course). Lina who was around 30 at the time of filming (and gained a bit weight from her blooming days of early 70’s) is supposed to be 18 years or so which doesn’t look credible at all. Tediously boring film which is a pity because film also has a certain dark and should i say deviant mood at times.

Exorcism (1975)
-Jess plays the lead role himself for change in this nasty piece of sleaze as a insane religious serial killer who thinks he can exorcise the evil out of people who are attending (false) black masses and orgies. Title scene has naked Lina tied to a cross while other girl whips and tortures her in front of the audience. Amazing footage!

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My Furious Cinema Review: The Last Picture Show

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You have me interested in this one.

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