City of The Living Dead is definitely a Fulci favorite, way better than the much loved Zombi, imo. Been a while since I watched any Fulci and have been feeling like its about time for Touch of Death.
Picked up Deadliest Prey a few weeks ago, after watching Battleground, but have yet to watch. Prob get to it soon as my horror viewing winds down
I like everything before Manhattan Baby (excluding the White Fangs)ā¦ City of the Living Dead, The Beyond and House by the Cemetery seem like a continuations of each other, the atmosphere and quality stays the same.
Touch of Death was sort of a depressing experience last time I saw it, iād rather just see Cat in the Brain for the shortened version.
Still havenāt watched his White Fang films yet.
I really wasnāt very impressed with House by the Cemeteryā¦ have felt I need to rewatch it because I must have missed something, just didnāt do it for me, which is unusual for a Fulci movie. So far Iāve pretty much liked everything, even the bottom shelf stuff like Manhattan Baby. I actually enjoyed Manhattan Baby more than House by the Cemetery
"Hello, Stantonā¦is that you! Oh hi, how do you say āA Most Boring Man " in German?..hello, Stan, helloooooā¦Stanton, damn it!ā
A Most Wanted Man (2014)-D: Anton Corbijn with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Willem Dafoe and Rachel McAdams
Found this snail-paced espionage thriller intriguing, but this film is not for everyone, itās probably too slow to keep many peopleās attention. I donāt usually like the āless is moreā film style and i think the director did this deliberatly, but Philip S. Hoffman acting and the ending is the saving grace for me. You really just have to watch it all the way threw and not try to guess where itās all going. Willem Dafoe is ok in his scenes, but Rachel McAdams is not IMO, Jessica Chastain would have been a better choice for me. I liked the film, but overall i wouldnāt recommend this. 7/10
[quote=āLone Gringo, post:11944, topic:1923ā]
"Hello, Stantonā¦is that you! Oh hi, how do you say āA Most Boring Man " in German?..hello, Stan, helloooooā¦Stanton, damn it!ā[/quote]
Ok, and whereās the connection to me?
The connection is really towards P.S.Hoffmanās German character on the phone in that pic, he does lead a boring life in the film though but an interesting one,and since you are and speak German, I just made a that as a joke thatās all, my bad. BTW, have you seen it.
No, I havenāt seen much films in the theatre this summer. Actually it was close, but then we watched instead Cronenbergās Maps to the Stars.
[quote=āchuck connors brother, post:11942, topic:1923ā]I like everything before Manhattan Baby (excluding the White Fangs)ā¦ City of the Living Dead, The Beyond and House by the Cemetery seem like a continuations of each other, the atmosphere and quality stays the same.
Touch of Death was sort of a depressing experience last time I saw it, iād rather just see Cat in the Brain for the shortened version.[/quote]My two favourites are Lizard An Duckling.
When I was younger The Beyond was my favourite out of his horrors but nowadays I like House By The Cemetery more, I think it has better atmosphere than the other two you mentioned, thatās probably why I like it more. donāt get me wrong I like a gory horror but Iām not a gorehound, Cemetery has that more āon edgeā feel to it Iād say and it still works with a cut version, the other two would suffer without the gory set pieces.
Just the constant feeling of dread in House by the Cemetary, I loved that axe in the door scene (similar to the axe in the coffin in City of the Living Dead)ā¦ I need to see Manhattan Baby again seeing as it took 4 views to appreciate The Beyond.
I actually prefer The Psychic, The Black Cat and New York Ripper for his horror movies.
The Black Cat ws the first Fulci I ever saw, if I remember right. Still one of my favorites. New York Ripper and Duckling both great also
I really like a lot of his not so big works- House of Clocks, Demonia, even Murder Rock ā¦ and others I am forgetting as Iām not around my movie collection right now
Some of his much praised stuff is my least favorite, like Zombi which is alright but kinda boring
Have to agree about the atmosphere in House by the Cemetary. I consider it to be one of the creepier horror films.
Kill 'Em All (2012)
I found this on sale for US $2.99. I got it mainly because it features both Shaw Brothers legend Gordon Liu and the late former American heavyweight karate champion, Joe Lewis, in the same movie. Unfortunately, Joe Lewis passed away not too long after completing his part, due to a brain tumor. Also unfortunate, he doesnāt look healthy in the movie, either. This may have also been Gordon Liuās last movie (either this or Man with the Iron Fists) before he suffered a stroke that left him physically disabled.
Filmed in Thailand, and starring mainly Thai actors along with American actor Johnny Messner, itās about several professional assassins who are kidnapped and taken to a secret facility where they are forced to fight each other to the death one by one. The movie starts out badly, just showing the various assassins killing a bunch of people before being gassed and taken away. Itās still a fairly bad movie, but IMO it has its redeeming qualities. Gordon is āSnakeheadā, the mastermind of the āKilling Chamberā, and gets to show some of his stuff during the final hand-to-hand fight against the two Thai leads. In fact, I consider this end fight the big redeemer of the movie.
Unfortunately, Gordon Liuās and Joe Lewisā characters never interacted face to face onscreen. I found the movie more entertaining than expected, a kind of guilty pleasure.
Donāt Make Waves (1967) - Another viewing the girlfriend picked out. A sort of romantic comedy, not one I would have chosen myself, but not too bad actually. Film has a certain charm to it, and a nice story progression with a classic unstable house ending.
Everyone seems to note the film for Sharon Tate, but for me, Claudia Cardinale is the beauty in this movie. Goddamn, she is gorgeous
Capricorn One - Loosely based on the ānever been to the moonā conspiracy theory but about a mission to Mars, not seen it for at least ten years or more, still holds up well, I like most Hyams directed stuff.
Thief - Another one Iāve not seen for a good while (since the U.S. LD came out in fact), great performance from James Caan, great girection from Michael Mann, fabulous Tangerine Dream score, what more could you ask for?
The Shout - Alan Bates imposes himself on John Hurt and his wife Susannah York and moves into their place, I enjoyed it but didnāt quite get some of it.
Lifeguard - Mid 70ās film about the day to day life of a 30+ Lifeguard played by Sam Elliott and some of the tough decisions he has to make, one of them films that is simple yet purely enjoyable. Also starring Anne Archer, I never realised how good she looks before.
Apart from Capricon One which Iāve never seen, very good selection of films, Thief is also a favorite of mine.
I liked Capricorn One for the most part, but the part where Eliot Gouldās car begins speeding uncontrollably gave me a weird kind of anxiety attack. I actually had to get up off the sofa and pace around, yet I had to see that scene come to a conclusion to stop that feeling. Iād never had that happen before. It wasnāt that the car was speeding, but rather how crazily fast it was going. Iām still puzzled at my reaction. Maybe itās related to nightmares like that.
I Regazzi del Massacro - 1969 - Fernando Di Leo
[url]Photobucket | The safer way to store your photos
I only started to see the so called Italian Poliezesco late in my life, itās a thing of recent years. Contrary to Western Spaghettis (the most known ones at least), from the time I was a kid back in the 80ās, I really donāt remember these genre of Italian films appearing in public TV (the only channel available at the time), I remember seeing a lot of Italian classic stuff, neo realistic films from the forties, comedies, Toto, Fellini, but no Poliezesco, even in the grindhouse type of cinemas something like a TrinitĆ” film made ten years before, was more common to be seen. Only with the start of video clubs I start noticing those films existed.
So why did that happen? I have my own theory about that. After 1974 Revolution, the political environment in our society, and specially in all things concerning culture was mostly a Socialist one, from any type or variation available, therefore films with a Dirty Harry genesis, usually showing lonely men in a crusade fighting corrupt systems, that feed the sons of May 68, or even worst fighting left wing brigades, would not please those who decide what films we could watch. It was a long way in a short period of time, from Jack Palance and Millian smoking pot, we went to chasing those who sell the stuff.
Made in 1969, is not quite a typical nihilist poliezesco, more a police thriller with a social study in delinquency as a background.
Itās a clever movie made by a good sometimes brilliant director, which really knew how to tell a good story. Di Leo using a very poor script, made an interesting film, nice to follow without any dull moments. I said the script was poor because the all thing was pretty much predictable, and mostly implausible, with the usual depiction of homosexuality, very common of the period (now itās the other way around). Still Di Leo in a very easy was able was able to show several forms of youth petty criminality, however the resolution of the crime was a pretty frivolous one.
Apart from that, I found it curious that the starting credits of the film seemed like a confirmation of Cesare Lombroso criminal theories, in which certain physical characteristics of a person had a direct relation to the criminal or sociopath tendencies of the same individual, (basically a ugly person would most likely show criminal tendencies than a less ugly one).
The acting resumes mostly to a Pier Paolo Capponi (I always confuse him with Luigi Pistilli) tour de force, as a police commissar focused on finding the real guilty person behind the crime, and with an unusual good heart for the job. Nieves Navarro is always a nice presence but sheās there just to show her beauty around.
In the end, and maybe cause it was an early Poliezesco, itās a very avant-guard film, showing some honest social worries in youth criminality and its causes, instead of the usual nihilist behavior of later films of the kind. So it could be in the viewing agenda of any left wing type of person, most of all itās a good film in the Di Leo tradition
Really, really liked the Di Leo films Iāve seen so far and Iāve heard good things about I Regazzi del Massacro, so will have to seek that out somehow.
Before going to see David Fincherās Gone Girl in the cinema, I viewed the two remaining films by him that Iād yet to see:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011): Having read the book and seen the original Swedish adaptation, I feel Iām fairly well-versed in Larssonās universe even if, at heart, the novel isnāt a literary masterpiece with problems none of the films solve. Structurally, Fincher is forced to retain what he calls in the commentary a āfive actā division; alas, the two acts devoted to Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) and his travails with millionaire businessman Hans-Erik Wennerstrƶm. Presumably, thereās follow-up in the following two novels, but here it feels convoluted and a strained conceit to maneuver Craigās character into the central situation. The actual mystery is pretty thrilling, and here Fincherās sure touch and mise en scene, combined with very effective editing, means, that despite knowing whodunit, or whathappened (to not spoil the dĆ©nouement), it still grips. Yet the nominal epilogue goes on too long and isnāt particularly interesting; once the central mystery is resolved, the core of the film is gone. All the actors, especially Roony Mara, are fine, but ultimately the downbeat final scene suggest far more depth to the movie than there really is. Fincherās suave stylingās makes it always interesting, but itās entirely surface and Iām not sure thereās all that much to return to.
Panic Room (2002): This is another Fincher film where technique trumps content. The cinematography, direction and actors are excellent (Jodie Foster, Jared Leto and Kristen Stewart are all particularly strong) and the execution of the what could have been a run-of-the-mill script is consistently enthralling and it reinforces the idea that Fincher is probably the best studio director in Hollywood. Thatās a double-edged compliment: he can turn what at first sight may be mediocre thrillers into a cut above and always identifiable as directed by him, but in taking on āstudioā scripts (never actually written by him) thereās often a lack of depth to is films. Superficially, one could say that, in the wake of 9/11, thereās a comment on surveillance culture in the US here, but itās never pushed too far.
I preferred the Fincher remake to the Swedish one.
A LOVELY WAY TO DIE (1968, David Lowell Rich)
Kirk Douglas plays a tough cop who keeps the honor to himself and quits the force after a violent incident (not the first) he was involved in; heās immediately hired by a sly bannister (Eli Wallach himself) to protect a defendant in a murder case (Sylva Koscina).
Half serious, half tongue-in-cheek (with a wacky score), this was probably supposed to echo the great American tradition of hard-boiled detective stories, but thereās no Chandler or Hammett here. The movieās watchable, but hardly ever rises above the level of an episode of Mannix, Hawaii Five-O or any other TV-series from the period. Apart from the fact that it was shot in widescreen, it actually looks and feels like a TV-movie.
Wallach steals every scene heās in and Douglas does the best he can, but the material both stars have to work with is strictly average. Koscina is a beautiful woman, but that coiffure (more fifties than sixties) isnāt really flattering. In the UK it was called A Lovely Way to GO.
