Stickied The Last Film You Saw Thread (& Discussion)

[Stevencc]

Have you read any of his other books?

Not yet but I did buy Porno yesterday which I will be starting tomorrow. I've also got Acid House and Skagboys.

 

[Son of Cod]

Not yet but I did buy Porno yesterday which I will be starting tomorrow. I've also got Acid House and Skagboys.

I would definitely recommend Filth, Glue and Marabou Stork Nightmares too. It seems like he's churned one out a year since I have been away and I've only read Skagboys of those ones, so I got Blade Artist from the library today.

 

[Stevencc]

I would definitely recommend Filth, Glue and Marabou Stork Nightmares too. It seems like he's churned one out a year since I have been away and I've only read Skagboys of those ones, so I got Blade Artist from the library today.

Cheers, I'll add them to the list! Let me know how good Blade Artist is, I'll get around to that one eventually too.

 

[SALTIRE]

Trainspotting (1996)

I finished reading the book in December and it was my choice in the weekly film and romance extravaganza night™ me and my missus put on so I nominated this one.

I did enjoy it a lot but I think watching it so soon after finishing the novel (which I loved) was always going to cause me to analyse it a little more harshly than I perhaps would have otherwise.

There isn't much to say about the cinematography, it was fine but nothing special. Boyle decided to make almost everything red!

In the novel, there were great moments at both ends of the scale - the grim parts were ridiculously dark while the humorous bits were hilarious. The film did have a fair share of good moments at both ends of the spectrum but none to the extent that the book did.

8/10

Spoiler: Official Stevenc(S)cenes

I thought you were going to do the Kelly McDonald stuff in that link

Its always unfair I feel to judge a film after reading the book as inevitably the book has more that can be put into it than the film can. My favourite film is 2001, and saw it multiple times before reading the book, and then when I did, I found the book to be on a whole other level to Kubrick's vision and masterpiece onscreen.

I haven't read the Irvine Welsh (good first name that speaking on a personal basis ) books, but really need to get onto them one of these days.

 

[Stevencc]

I thought you were going to do the Kelly McDonald stuff in that link

Its always unfair I feel to judge a film after reading the book as inevitably the book has more that can be put into it than the film can. My favourite film is 2001, and saw it multiple times before reading the book, and then when I did, I found the book to be on a whole other level to Kubrick's vision and masterpiece onscreen.

I haven't read the Irvine Welsh (good first name that speaking on a personal basis ) books, but really need to get onto them one of these days.

Speaking of Irvine as a name (excellent, by the way) - I asked one of the sales assistants at my local WHSmith whether they had any Irvine Welsh books in stock. They didn't recognise the name and asked me what sort of stuff he had written. I said "You know, Trainspotting, Acid House and that", he said "so...is that fiction or non-fiction?"

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Remains of the day: 9 out of 10

Wasn't sure on this one, but took a chance as it had 5 stars on Now TV.......its a bloody good film. In easier words it covers the life of a Head Butler (Anthony Hopkins) who ends up so fixated with his job he frankly doesn't know anything else in his life.....cannot show his own emotion, or feeling or viewpoints or ideas......just an out and out willingness to serve.

so the film flows through numerous big twists during his life, from family issues, to a housewife he clearly loves, who loves him back, but he cannot express anything to take it further, to his master being a nazi sympathiser who helps cause WW2, etc, etc all shown through a stunning performance from Hopkins. Well recommended film by me.

Tomorrow i'll wake up and scald myself with tea: 9 out of 10

Watched this as a counter to other one, a ridiculous film title (i love czech film titles as they are all stupidly awful) but its a superb comic romp of ridiculousness, it involves a plot set in 'futuristic' 1996 Prague where holiday trips are now in time machines to the past. A group of Nazi's decide on a plot to hijack a machine and go back in time to 1944 to give Hitler a nuclear bomb to turn around the war........sadly on the morning the pilot chokes on a roll, his brother takes his place and the whole thing cocks up badly.......its a very enjoyable, if ridiculous film involving nazi parrots, a great disco music to hitler opening, more deaths than friday the 13th, all the main cast being killed about 3 times each, horrendous 'special effects' and a plot which goes all over the place yet comes together well to make the film extremely enjoyable.

 

[Stevencc]

La dama rossa uccide sette volte (The Red Queen Kills Seven Times) (1972)

After two sisters inherit the family home (a bloody great castle!) a woman in a red cape begins a murder spree. The victims are all linked to the two women and there are striking similarities to a string of murders that took place at the same location and on the same date one hundred years ago.

This was was a curious mix of two distinctly different giallo styles. You have the neo-gothic setting with the castle and its sprawling grounds, cobwebs and candelabras, gloomy paintings and the like but you also have the fashion house staple, the modern city setting with the Minis and Beetles and the swanky flats. I usually prefer the latter but both styles gelled nicely, here.

Visually this was another redstravaganza but I won't complain, it looked wonderful. Most of the atmosphere came from the settings and themselves rather than anything revolutionary, visually speaking.

The plot was strong, if a little muddled at times but that is to be expected.

8/10

Spoiler: Official Stevenc(S)cenes

 

[SALTIRE]

La dama rossa uccide sette volte (The Red Queen Kills Seven Times) (1972)

After two sisters inherit the family home (a bloody great castle!) a woman in a red cape begins a murder spree. The victims are all linked to the two women and there are striking similarities to a string of murders that took place at the same location and on the same date one hundred years ago.

This was was a curious mix of two distinctly different giallo styles. You have the neo-gothic setting with the castle and its sprawling grounds, cobwebs and candelabras, gloomy paintings and the like but you also have the fashion house staple, the modern city setting with the Minis and Beetles and the swanky flats. I usually prefer the latter but both styles gelled nicely, here.

Visually this was another redstravaganza but I won't complain, it looked wonderful. Most of the atmosphere came from the settings and themselves rather than anything revolutionary, visually speaking.

The plot was strong, if a little muddled at times but that is to be expected.

8/10

Spoiler: Stevenc(S)cenes

It looks beautifully shot if nothing else.

 

[Stevencc]

An American Crime (2007)

A film based on the true story of a young girl on the receiving end of horrific abuse at the hands of a woman entrusted to take care of her and her sister alongside her own six children while the two sisters' parents were working at a travelling carnival.

A very dry retelling of the events. Interesting as far as the story went and well acted but the actual creative elements that made up the film itself were all pretty standard.

7/10

Spoiler: Official Stevenc(S)cenes

 

[Benji]

I watched Assassin's Creed because I don't know why. It's quite naff. The scenes in the past are really good, but that probably amounts to less than half an hour out of the movie, which is almost 2 and 1/2 hours. I guess it stayed true to the game because the bits in the present are boring and confusing in that as well. The main problem is that it didn't even begin to establish any charcterisation, relationship or story in the past. Instead, they threw in a lot of unnecesarry, poorly executed and boring nonsense in the present.

I wasn't really expecting much. I quite like the games, so I was hoping for some cool fight scenes and nice visuals. There was a bit of that, but not nearly enough.

 

[The Mustard Tiger]

I watched Assassin's Creed because I don't know why. It's quite naff. The scenes in the past are really good, but that probably amounts to less than half an hour out of the movie, which is almost 2 and 1/2 hours. I guess it stayed true to the game because the bits in the present are boring and confusing in that as well. The main problem is that it didn't even begin to establish any charcterisation, relationship or story in the past. Instead, they threw in a lot of unnecesarry, poorly executed and boring nonsense in the present.

I wasn't really expecting much. I quite like the games, so I was hoping for some cool fight scenes and nice visuals. There was a bit of that, but not nearly enough.

Has a computer game ever been turned into a good movie? I really can't think of one off the top of my head. I enjoyed Raul Julia in Street Fighter but that's about as good as it gets from me.

 

[Oaf]

Has a computer game ever been turned into a good movie? I really can't think of one off the top of my head. I enjoyed Raul Julia in Street Fighter but that's about as good as it gets from me.

Nope. Every time one comes out people seemed convinced that it'll be the one to break the curse and every time they are wrong. As soon as people saw that Michael Fassbender was involved with Assassins Creed people seemed to really think it was going to be great and, once again, were sure that AC would be the one to do it. But as you can see from Benjis (and everybody elses) review... nope.

You know what I actually think could do it, though? Overwatch. I know I gush about it all the time, but yes, here I go again. I know it seems weird on the surface to say that about an online only FPS, but the game and its universe has so much fucking character. As well as great characters. The story basically rips off The Incredibles, but fuck it. As a CGI animation with the same look and tone as the game, I think it could be done very well.

But then again, Blizzards last venture into turning one of their games into a movie, with Warcraft, was less than stellar, despite having a superb universe to draw inspiration from... so who knows.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Silent Hill was decent.

Mortal Kombat is worth watching for the soundtrack alone.

 

[Stevencc]

The Silent Hill films are a disgrace to the video game series.

 

[RavenBish]

went to see La La Land on Friday night and let me tell you kids, it is divine. It's like 2 hours of sitting atop a cloud whilst experiencing the effects of the finest cocaine. Gosling and Stone have sumptuous chemistry, the music is superb - I'm not Carel but in my uneducated opinion the camerawork and cinematography is potentially the best ever exhibited in history. The last 10 minutes are beyond compare and if I were writing for like, Empire, I would call it the CITIZEN KANE OF MUSICALS.

I applaud it and I award it an unprecedented 10/10.

Give it all the Oscars, every single one of them.

 

[RavenBish]

Has a computer game ever been turned into a good movie? I really can't think of one off the top of my head. I enjoyed Raul Julia in Street Fighter but that's about as good as it gets from me.

I liked Prince of Persia AND Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

^^^^More interesting than the question of direct adaptations is the application/influence of video game style/grammar/tropes in movies.

Edge of Tomorrow was good for that (until the disappointingly conventional ending), taking that Groundhog Day idea and re-purposing it as a 'progressing through a level'/'hit X to re-spawn' sort of an affair.

POV-cam has been around for a long time, but comes freighted with different connotations now, post-FPS... Hardcore Henry doesn't amount to more than a gimmick, but there is something to be mined there.

There is something to be said also for the collapse of the distinction between live action and CG in cinema, and the way that it permits the use of impossible camera positions and movements that were previously the preserve of video games and animation...

 

[The Mustard Tiger]

I liked Prince of Persia AND Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Translation: Gemma Arterton and Angelina Jolie made me dribble in my pants whilst I watched these films.

 

[Stevencc]

La donna della domenica (The Sunday Woman) (1975)

An architect is killed with a big stone penis and the police, as well as a few other interested parties, attempt to catch the killer.

This one was a pleasant surprise. There are elements of the giallo in it but it is, above all, a comedy. A very good one at that. The dialogue is fantastic. Witty, snappy, full of wordplay. There is also a fair bit of physical/low brow comedy in the film. The murder weapon is a giant stone penis, for God's sake. Every time the inspector is confronted with a new potential suspect we are treated to a short clip of them taking the phallus into their hands and swinging it around maniacally, as they would have done during the murder.

The characters are hilarious, too. The gay lover of one of the main suspects is a neurotic mess that fancies himself as a super-sleuth. A group of older women living in a stately home don't take kindly to the grounds of their house being used as a brothel and take matters into their own hands. A policeman with a bad back is never able to relax, pain-free, unless he is positioned directly in front of a fan. There are many more and the interactions between them all are hilarious.

9/10

Spoiler: Official Stevenc(S)cenes

Deliria (StageFright) (1987)

A director of an "intellectual musical" and his actors lock themselves inside the soundstage after a stagehand is murdered outside. Unfortunately they lock the killer in rather than out.

This one was pretty much a straight slasher with only some fringe giallo elements. It was also possibly the most 80s thing ever. Very camp, OTT, fun, gory. All in all an entertaining watch. There wasn't a terrible amount of depth to it but, for what it was, it was well executed.

SHOUT OUT to the ridiculous synth soundtrack.

8/10

Spoiler: Official Stevenc(S)cenes

 

[mowgli]

The Ring (2002)
Finally got around to watching this and can't understand what the fuss was about as it's very overrated and not scary at all, Naomi Watts in a wet top was nice to see though. 5.5/10.

 

[SALTIRE]

It's not a patch on the original Japanese version.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

I do wonder if the American producers even understand that "Ring" was a reference to the phone ringing, and not a random circle.

 

[mowgli]

It's not a patch on the original Japanese version.

I wish i had watched that mate but no point now unless the 2 films vary a lot.

 

[Stevencc]

Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer? (The Case of the Bloody Iris) (1972)

Two young women are murdered in the same building, a set of fancy flats. Two women, including sexpot Edwige Fenech, move into said set of fancy flats and more murders happen. Number of suspects. Deformed son of a lunatic, predatory lesbian, love interest who is haemophobic, and a lunatic ex-husband of Fenech's with a thing for group sex.

This one was very stylish, well written and suspenseful. It didn't do anything I haven't seen before in a lot of gialli but it did everything very well. It actually did a good job of keeping the list of plausible suspects well stocked until the very end.

8/10

Spoiler: Official Stevenc(S)cenes

 

[Aber gas]

Rise of the foot soldier 2.
Some cracking Ska on the soundtrack.
4/10

 

[Dirk]

Actually I am watching many of the international movies of German Actress Senta Berger. In 2016 she had her 75th birthday and I have to admit I had a crush on her in my puberty years in the 70's . She's still present in German tv and movies and everybody here loves her. She aged very well:




Yesterday I watched her in the Sam Peckinpah Movie: Cross of Iron (german title: Steiner - Das eiserne Kreuz). Peckinpah's only War movie from 1977. A british-german co-production with James Coburn as Feldwebel (Sergeant) Steiner, James Mason as Oberst (Colonel) Brandt, Maximilian Schell as Major Stransky, David Warner as Hauptmann (Captain) Kiesel and Senta Berger as Nurse Eva.

Plot (from wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Iron)

The film is set on the Eastern Front in World War II during the Soviets' Caucasus operations against the Wehrmacht's Kuban bridgehead on the Taman Peninsula in late 1943.

The film focuses on the class conflict between a newly arrived, aristocratic Prussian officer who covets winning the Iron Cross and a cynical, battle-hardened infantry NCO. The screenplay was based on the 1956 novel The Willing Flesh by Willi Heinrich, a fictional work that may be loosely based on the true story of Johann Schwerdfeger.


German DVD


English Blu-Ray

2 years later they made a sequel "Breakthrough" (German title: Steiner - Das eiserne Kreuz II) where Richard Burton played Steiner. Now they are on the Western Front. Other stars were Robert Mitchum, Rod Steiger, Curd Jürgens. Directed by Andrew v.McLaglen (mostly known for western movies)

********************************

The next movie in my "Senta Berger" Matinee will be: The Quiller Memorandum from 1966 with Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow, George Segal:

 

[mowgli]

I loved Cross Of Iron but it hasn't aged well but in it's time it was a classic film.

 

[Dirk]

I loved Cross Of Iron but it hasn't aged well but in it's time it was a classic film.

That's right, Mowgli. The movie hasn't aged well but Senta Berger (my main reason to watch this movie after decades)

 

[SALTIRE]

Yeah I saw a chunk of Cross Of Iron a while back and it looked all over the place and had a rather cheap spaghetti western feel to it if I remember.

 

[mowgli]

The Equalizer (2014)
Denzel Washington taking on Russian mafia in The US. Very good film with some very imaginative deaths for his enemies with the drill in the back of the head being my favourite and gore abounds. 8.5/10.