ELLE (2016) - Too many unnecessary subplots ruined what could have been a good and sleazy mystery rape-and-revenge flick. Isabelle Huppert is the victim and a real bitch as well and gives another exceptional performance. But the film is overlong and in the end I just got bored and had little interest about its conclusion. Expected more from Paul Verhoeven.
WARRIOR (2011) - Maybe thereâs a bit too much drama in this fighting mixed martial arts movie, but in the end I think it gets the job done. Hardy, Edgerton, Nolte were all fantastic and the scenes in the cage were relatively short and to the point. Thereâs clearly more than a few punches and training sessions in the film and you gotta give Gavin OâConnor and his team credit for that.
THE HOUSE WHERE EVIL DWELLS (1982, Kevin Connor)
The film opens with a scene set in 1840 Japan: A samurai discovers that his wife has an affair with one of his students and kills both of them, then commits seppuko. More than a century later, an American couple (Edward Albert and Susan George) - he a writer, she a bored housewife - is introduced to the house by a mutual friend, an American diplomat in Japan (Doug McClure). The spirits of the dead have never found rest and now take posession of the new inhabitants, creating a atmosphere of tension and horror.
This Japanese-American was dismissed by contemporary critics for offering more nudity than thrills (the sex scenes involving George are indeed very revealing). Recent comments have been more positive, but itâs still a very uneven film. The special effects vary: the scenes with the spirits - shot with the help of right-angled mirrors* - are superior, those with the giant crabs far less convincing. There are also some unintentional laughs (âThereâs a strange face in my soup!â) and the movie never lives up to the expectations created in the beautifully filmed (but excessively violent) opening scene.
Note: For those getting excited over those revealing scenes involving Susan George: She had looked better in some of movies of the previous decade. Most people look better at a younger age, of course, but Susan was only 31-32 when she made this movie.
Right-angled mirrors: http://www.physicsclassroom.com/âŚ/LessoâŚ/Right-Angle-Mirrors
Finally went to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Edwards, 2016) tonight and I thought it was outstanding; at the very least, the best Star Wars picture since The Empire Strikes Back and, in many ways, a better movie than that one, too. I thought The Force Awakens was good(ish), but Rogue One has shown how The Force Awakens was only really comparatively good, benefitting from our being starved of any significant quality from this franchise since 1983 at best. Rogue One is the real deal, and tbh Iâm thinking right now what a shame itâll be to have to return to the antics of Kylo Ren, Poo Dameron, Finn the Flustered and Daisy bloody Ridley (I canât even remember what her name was), since I responded so much better to all of the Rogue One principals. Felicity Jones, excellent. Diego Luna, excellent. Alan Tudyk, excellent. Ben Mendelsohn, excellent. Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Riz Ahmed, all excellent. Mads Mikkelsen and Forest Whitaker, adequate (only just in Forest Whitakerâs case, but he got the job done). Even the Virtua Cushing was better than I thought it was going to be.
THAT, is how to do a Star Wars prequel. But it should also be the blueprint for how to make a proper Star Wars movie as well. It felt familiar but it felt fresh and modern too, without feeling as though it was trying to be a throwback.
I want to see it again ASAP.
âStar Wars: The Force Awakensâ, was, I must admit, was a big disappointment for me, when I watched it on Bluray for the first time, during my annual âChristnovdecfestâ.
It was wonderful to see the âold crewâ back together againâŚeven more poignant, now that Carrie Fisher has passed away. However, I must admit to being put off by the filmâs references to the original 1977 Classic. There were TOO many similaritiesâŚ
In addition (and there is a lesson to be learned here), Iâd made the mistake of checking out the âAmazon.ukâ reviews of the film, before actually watching it. Some ignorant ape had put a major âspoilerâ online - without warning everyone that it was a âspoilerâ!
Needless to say, that I wonât be so pig blimminâ ignorant, for the benefit of everyone who has not yet seen âThe Force Awakensâ.
As for âRogue Oneâ, Iâm hoping this will be better. My only concern is that it may, also, have too many similarities, and references to the original âTrilogyââŚ
Well, it was OK, I liked it, BUTâŚ
It was a bit predictable, wasnât it? By that, I donât mean story per se, but the way how Star Wars universe got makeover for more mature audience was exactly how I expected it to be. Star Wars were always aimed at younger audience, so all the childishness and timidness that got on the nerves of the audience as they got older, was inherent to it. The way Rogue One is grittier, grimmer and gorier than any previous SW movies is just the same stuff Hollywood is doing for some time now (since Nolanâs Batmans at least) when they aim the movies at ex-teenagers, now middle-aged men.
1 Like
When you mention âmiddle-aged menâ, smile 
I donât agree, I think thatâs the âGeorge Lucas Defenseâ. To begin with Iâd say that Star Wars and indeed many other family films arenât necessarily aimed exclusively at children but, even so, it wasnât child-oriented elements of the prequel trilogy which disappointed me, it was shit elements. Child-oriented material neednât be disliked by adult audiences by default, there are plenty of movies by Ghibli and Pixar etc. which attest to that.
Iâm not sure if I agree with that either but I concede that that may be the case. However, if that is the case⌠well, as a middle-aged man I canât see that as a bad thing; sounds bloody brilliant! 
Rewatched THE MIST (2007). Not as terrifying as I remember it nearly a decade ago, but still one of the best horror films of the last 15 years or so. The ending is almost Lovecraftian.
Tonight: The Girl With All the Gifts (McCarthy, 2016)
One of the finest zombie pics Iâve seen in a long time. In an age where The Walking Dead has pretty much covered all of the âwhat ifâŚ?â bases relating to a zombie holocaust, itâs rare to find a picture doing something relatively fresh and inventive with the genre. Comparisons with 28 Days Later (Boyle, 2002) are probably inevitable since both movies are very grounded in tone, set in England and deal with the âinfectedâ variety of zombie hordes rather than the slightly more supernatural âundeadâ variety, but the implausible final third of the earlier film always spoils that one for me.
1 Like
âX-Rayâ, and âGraduaton Dayâ
As âSlasherâ movies go, these were rather goodâŚ
âX-Rayâ was my favourite; a creepy hospital, night time, gory deathsâŚ
âGraduation Dayâ⌠a disappointmentâŚa few deaths⌠âX-Rayâ was more enjoyableâŚ
Yesterday: Blair Witch (Wingard, 2016)
Story wise, Blair Witch is more-or-less a retread of The Blair Witch Project (Myrick/SĂĄnchez, 1999) but with several unearned jump-scares and featuring a considerably less engaging, more âmovie-typicalâ cast of characters, all of which served to keep pulling me out of the movie. This is a shame since, as a fan of The Blair Witch Project and a fan of Blair Witch director Adam Wingard, and given how successful the filmmakers had been in keeping Blair Witch under wraps until the last minute, Iâd allowed myself to have really high hopes for this one. Itâs not a bad film - in fact, the last half-hour or so is fairly intense, peaking with a genuinely uncomfortable and claustrophobic sequence underneath a house - but it possesses neither the subtlety nor the guile of its more illustrious predecessor, and it requires us to care for the fates of a cast of largely two-dimensional characters.
Iâd still recommend that people give it a look, though. The final third of the movie was entertaining enough and, who knows? Maybe those folk who didnât like The Blair Witch Project - I understand there are many and I can appreciate the reasons why that may be so - might find the things here which they felt were missing from the original.
Today: Fists of Fury (Band, 2017)
One of those trailer compilation videos, this time for kung-fu flicks of the 70âs/80âs and presented by Cynthia Rothrock. Easy, vacuous fun.
EDIT: Cool, just got retweeted by Charles Band, the director. Itâs nice when the filmmakers are appreciative of what Iâve said.
âTHE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOODâ (1982) - U.S. Bluray âSynapseâ region-free Import.
A rather good slasher film, featuring a small group of College kids, who volunteer to stay, and help clear out an old Dorm, that is going to be demolished. However, a deranged maniac (is there any other?), is on the prowl.
It could simply be due to the post-Christmas blues, but I do seem to be buying a few of these âEightiesâ âgore-festsâ, at the moment; and - in general - enjoying the majority.
This one, all things considered, was one of the better âsplatter treatsââŚwith quite a few inventive kills.
I have a soft spot for those 80s sickies as well.
Havenât seen this one (I think), so might go looking for it
If it helps, I got mine from âAmazon.UKâ, through American seller, called âAll Your Musicâ, which has never let me down.
Iâve just checked, and it is still on the âUKâ site, through the âAll Your Musicâ seller, presently listed at ÂŁ13.43
- ÂŁ1.26 UK delivery.
The disc is a Combo Bluray, and dvd, and is âRegion Freeâ (or mine certainly is).