Latest Movie That You Watched!

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Neil W

Neil W

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May 27, 2008
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Watching Bone Tomahawk later tonight--has anyone seen that one?
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From some time ago:
After considerable setting up of characters and story elements, four men ride off in pursuit of a group of particularly savage Indians, in order to rescue captives who, it transpires, have been taken in order to restock the larder.

This atmospheric and fairly leisurely film is a horror movie slyly pretending to be a western. And it's rather good.

A great cast, mostly at the tops of their games, engage us as they go on their mission: we care about them and want them to succeed even though they - and we - don't really know what they're up against. The very opening shot shows a man having his throat brutally and explicitly cut so, despite some amusing dialogue (which continues throughout - the script is great fun), we understand that this is not a comedy, but no-one is prepared for the savagery they find. This is not a film for kids.

It's a good film, though, and entertains solidly throughout its 2 hour-plus running time.
 
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Gerald

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skimom2 said:
It is its own story, independent of the books. Another turn of the wheel, so to speak, taking place after the end of the 7th book. Seemed a clever way to handle it, to me, since seemingly no one was going to be happy with a straight adaptation (a failed thing, I suppose, since people gripe about this story, too--lol). I had read the books and loved it, because I could separate the two media.
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I can separate media too, but why wouldn't people be happy with a straight adaptation? It seems what most people want, a Game of Thrones like series.
 
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Gerald

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Blacula (1972)

The title itself is one of the best B-movie titles, but the film doesn't live up to it. It's one of those filmtitles where you go 'This HAS to be fun!', but it is quite poor.
I like blaxploitation in general, and while I feel some well-known movies in the genre are overrated, there are certainly good ones - this is not one of them though.
It's just very unimaginative. Dracula himself is actually still white in the film and at the start curses a black prince who visits him at his castle with his name into the title character, Blacula. Unfortunately the actor playing Blacula (William Marshall) doesn't manage to give him much charisma and so the story plays out completely perfunctory. The finale especially is very disappointing and takes place at an un-atmospheric place (some chemical plant). The heroes seem to think of bringing only one stake and when the wrong one is staked Blacula seems to have the upper hand, but it's no problem really as Blacula decides to end his own existence.
For Salem's Lot fans at least Elisha Cook is in it shortly, but apart from that it's completely forgettable. In fact, I think I'd seen it once before but completely forgot it.

It still did well enough to get two sequels, Scream Blacula Scream and Blackenstein. I haven't seen those, but it seems not to get much better although the first at least has Pam Grier.
Bottom line though: great title, poor film.
 
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fljoe0

fljoe0

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Apr 5, 2008
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Gerald said:
at least has Pam Grier.
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I always add a star for Pam. ;-D

I saw Sheba, Baby on TV a recently and it was decent but not as good as Foxy Brown. One thing I love about some of these movies (in addition to Pam) is the low budget film making techniques they used. There are many street scenes in these movies that were shot without permits and watching the people in the background is fun because they are wondering what is going on. ;-D
 
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Gerald

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fljoe0 said:
I always add a star for Pam. ;-D

I saw Sheba, Baby on TV a recently and it was decent but not as good as Foxy Brown. One thing I love about some of these movies (in addition to Pam) is the low budget film making techniques they used. There are many street scenes in these movies that were shot without permits and watching the people in the background is fun because they are wondering what is going on. ;-D
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Foxy Brown I find a little overrated, it's rather mediocre in my opinion. Truck Turner is one I quite like. But it's not a genre I'm totally dedicated to, I watch them every now and then and find them entertaining. I find them too simplistic often, not just in the way they're shot but also how they're written.
If you look at a movie like Assault on Precinct 13 for example, which is not blaxploitation, but does feature a black lead and could have been blaxploitation, you see the difference in how much better made and more intelligent it is.
In fact it now seems unbelievable these films were most likely meant serious at the time, because they seem so over the top. Now they almost feel like parody. When you watch an actual (great) parody like Black Dynamite, it's not a big step from the actual films and the parody of it.
 
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fljoe0

fljoe0

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Gerald said:
Foxy Brown I find a little overrated, it's rather mediocre in my opinion. Truck Turner is one I quite like. But it's not a genre I'm totally dedicated to, I watch them every now and then and find them entertaining. I find them too simplistic often, not just in the way they're shot but also how they're written.
If you look at a movie like Assault on Precinct 13 for example, which is not blaxploitation, but does feature a black lead and could have been blaxploitation, you see the difference in how much better made and more intelligent it is.
In fact it now seems unbelievable these films were most likely meant serious at the time, because they seem so over the top. Now they almost feel like parody. When you watch an actual (great) parody like Black Dynamite, it's not a big step from the actual films and the parody of it.
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Most of them were made for drive-ins
 
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Gerald

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fljoe0 said:
Most of them were made for drive-ins
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Yeah, that's what I figured. The majority is from AIP. But were they specially catered to black people, or rather as the term suggests exploitationfilms that just happened to be about black people. Like, say, nun-sploitation features nuns but is obviously not meant for that audience: Nunsploitation - Wikipedia
 
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Gerald

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Gerald said:
Yeah, that's what I figured. The majority is from AIP. But were they specially catered to black people, or rather as the term suggests exploitationfilms that just happened to be about black people. Like, say, nun-sploitation features nuns but is obviously not meant for that audience: Nunsploitation - Wikipedia
Click to expand...

It seems they initially were made for black urban audiences, but that their appeal broadened across racial lines. And they indeed did get backlash for portraying stereotypes, which seems unavoidable when you see them.

A big part of their appeal (for me at least) is the music of course. It's funny how in Blacula the music is not at all in tune with the subject: when Blacula follows a girl in the street at night there is no spooky music, but rather that you would set an action scene to.
 
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doowopgirl

doowopgirl

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Aug 7, 2009
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Neil W said:
From some time ago:
After considerable setting up of characters and story elements, four men ride off in pursuit of a group of particularly savage Indians, in order to rescue captives who, it transpires, have been taken in order to restock the larder.

This atmospheric and fairly leisurely film is a horror movie slyly pretending to be a western. And it's rather good.

A great cast, mostly at the tops of their games, engage us as they go on their mission: we care about them and want them to succeed even though they - and we - don't really know what they're up against. The very opening shot shows a man having his throat brutally and explicitly cut so, despite some amusing dialogue (which continues throughout - the script is great fun), we understand that this is not a comedy, but no-one is prepared for the savagery they find. This is not a film for kids.

It's a good film, though, and entertains solidly throughout its 2 hour-plus running time.
Click to expand...
One of the weirdest films I have ever seen. Gruesome, but in ways I feel sure happened. Loved it, though
 
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swiftdog2.0

swiftdog2.0

I tell you one and one makes three...
Mar 16, 2010
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Finally got around to watching Deadpool

I liked it. Although, Ryan Reynold's portrayal of Deadpool is pretty much the same schtick he employed in playing Hannibal King in Blade Trinity. That's not a bad thing because he cracked me up in that movie.

Now I'll never be able to watch a zamboni clear the ice without thinking of this movie ;;D
 
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GNTLGNT

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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swiftdog2.0 said:
Finally got around to watching Deadpool

I liked it. Although, Ryan Reynold's portrayal of Deadpool is pretty much the same schtick he employed in playing Hannibal King in Blade Trinity. That's not a bad thing because he cracked me up in that movie.

Now I'll never be able to watch a zamboni clear the ice without thinking of this movie ;;D
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....it is one of, if not my favorite all time movie-his comedic timing is spot on.....
Deadpoolzoom.jpg
 
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kingricefan

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
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Did a re-watch of Needful Things a couple of days ago. Hadn't seen it since it was first released. It still holds up. Now on to my bluray of It. I really wish they had included the deleted scene (yes, I watched all the 'extras' before seeing the movie again!) where Stanley tells it like it is during his speech in the synagogue. It is hilarious!
 
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