For a second there I thought you were talking about the 1974 pseudo-movie made up of episodes of the 1960's TV show chopped up to make zero sense, all because of the sudden Bruce Lee craze.
A 'film' of which I was not aware until now. No, I was referring to the 2011 Seth Rogen POS. I've never encountered Seth Rogen before. Is he always such an utter dick?
Tonight I shared my stupid affection for The Rocky Horror Picture Show with my 75 year old mum. She thought it was "the weirdest film" she's ever seen - but had laughed like a drain all the way through it.
Back to the Lewton festival - The Leopard Man was the first Lewton dud for me. (A) we've already done Cat People and done it much better. (B) the exposition had me wanting a character to get eaten, delayed it interminably and, by the time it happened, had tried hard to get me to not want it any more. (C) the whodunnit was obvious. (D) etc etc etc. (E) Edit: forgot - the bolted-on romance was lame. If it wasn't going to be good, I wish it had been worse. As is, it wasn't even interestingly bad.
On the other hand, while significantly flawed, The Ghost Ship was pretty good. There weren't no ghosts on the ship, which might disappoint some folks and this was a more ordinary proto-slasher flick than Lewton flicks are usually prone to be, and there's a bad red herring involving an incriminating note, and a questionable "mute" and a couple of poorly choreographed fights including one that leads to an iffy ending in which the protagonist plays an odd part and I might have wished for more of the Platoon-like "two father figures, good angel/bad devil-on-shoulder" thing that seemed to be going on with Sparks and the Captain before they got carried away with how obtuse the officers and crew would be... *gasp*
Okay, like I said, there's a lot wrong with this one.
But it was a neat depiction of ship life that had a tangibility and interest of its own. The depiction of madness was kind of hammy but still pretty nifty for all that. It was nicely suspenseful for the most part and really well paced with a relatively relaxed 2/3 that gave it plenty of energy for the final sprint and Judge Reinhold's grandfather (kidding) works well in this part. I dunno - not up with the best, but I liked this one okay.
And, just as much as The Bus, another Lewtonism seems to be the "singing person". Almost every flick has some character singing, usually in a way that seems like non-diegetic music before being shown to be a character. Not real fond of that, but oh well. Speaking of, the one good thing in The Leopard Man was its Bus. I said to myself, "here it comes" and then this pathetic thing happened. I couldn't quite believe it was that lame but it was close enough that I sort of accepted it. So THEN came the real Bus. Nice.
Bus spoilers:
I'm speaking, of course, of when the girl goes under the darkened bridge and stops and... this tumbleweed comes rolling out. And then, on her way back, when I was thinking about cat eyes and have forgotten about startling noises, the train goes roaring overhead.
another Lewtonism seems to be the "singing person". Almost every flick has some character singing, usually in a way that seems like non-diegetic music before being shown to be a character
Interesting but, as much as I've generally enjoyed this, I doubt I'll get to that one - probably just stick with the RKO thrills'n'chills. But that might actually bug me less, at least in theory. I'm not a big fan of musical movies but, like with Rocky Horror, if it's really the point and the songs work (and the whole thing is deeply crazed), it can be good. But the "one obtrusive guy" thing is a little different.
Interesting but, as much as I've generally enjoyed this, I doubt I'll get to that one - probably just stick with the RKO thrills'n'chills. But that might actually bug me less, at least in theory. I'm not a big fan of musical movies but, like with Rocky Horror, if it's really the point and the songs work (and the whole thing is deeply crazed), it can be good. But the "one obtrusive guy" thing is a little different.
It's not a musical. There's just a scene where the beleageured townsfolk sing a rousing Welsh hymn as they face almost certain death. (I think the writers of Zulu must have seen this film.) Apache Drums is not a great film, the ending - without giving too much away - is utter pants but it builds up some nice edgy tension before it gets there.
The gore in this film is a huge step up from Dawn of the Dead (1978). Some of Tom Savini and Gregory Nicotero's finest special effect make-ups that hold up incredibly well today. The real star of this movie is Sherman Howard who plays the zombie Bub and is arguably the most endearing movie monster since Boris Karloff in Frankenstein.
Sometimes you need a break from the usual sort of comedy you watch, and this was one of those times. The trailers looked good, and the reviews were terrible... but it was enjoyable. It got plenty of sniggers out of me, with a couple of proper laughs.
Not a film I'd sit down to watch, but I found it a good use of two hours whilst I mined for diamonds.
I watched Rock of Ages....(think Glee with leather pants) and Dark Shadows.
Didn't really care much for either of them even though I love the idea of Depp as a vamp with Burton directing and Elfman doing the soundtrack...but it failed to wow me
I finally got around to watching Worlds End. I found it relatively entertaining but i definitely prefer Spaced to any of the Cornetto trilogy.
I also watched Enders Game. Good soundtrack, good set design. It was entertaining enough, but i can't help feeling that the film lost something by trying to stick too close to the book. I'll watch it again with the GF to see what she thinks.
I liked all three, but they were each quite different from one another. Admittedly, a younger Simon Pegg was quite successful in putting together a highly entertaining series with Spaced. One to watch again now & then.
I also watched Enders Game. Good soundtrack, good set design. It was entertaining enough, but i can't help feeling that the film lost something by trying to stick too close to the book. I'll watch it again with the GF to see what she thinks.
Looking back on it, I think I can agree with your assessment. I was happy that they followed the book as well as they did, but it was hard to portray the tension of the subterfuge fomented by Harrison Ford, et al on film. Much more effective in print.
I have watched a lot of movies recently as my work contracts have been coming to an end. A lot of have been mediocre but the ones that stick out for me for various reasons are below.
Mr Jones - a small budget movie in the found footage genre. I thought this was beautifully filmed, and succeeded in places where most horrors fail in that I cared about the two characters. It has a meta approach - esp the ending - and it works so well. It twists a couple of tropes nicely. The ending - whilst great - is far too long, by quite a few beats, and I found myself saying 'okay, we get it' to myself a few times. A couple of things irritated me in terms of character motivations here and there but I don't want to say too much about this film in case I spoil anything. It also introduced me to the fabulous artwork of Pumpkinrot - my house would be filled with these sculptures if I had the money.
The Banshee Chapter - I wasn't expecting much from this movie simply because I hadn't heard much about it, and I had seen a lot of turkeys in the weeks running up to watching it, and had become cynical that there were any good horrors left for me to watch. It starts off with the found footage conceit (something I actually quite like) before morphing into a more traditional form. From the introduction to MK-Ultra and the Number Stations early on in the story, I was pretty excited, but as soon as Ted Levine makes his Hunter S Thompson-esque entry, I was hooked. He is simply fantastic and the interplay between him and the MC is wonderful. There is a really great (chilling, original) concept in this movie which I won't spoil (and a lovely nod to HP Lovecraft).
Cannibal Holocaust - I should say, straight up, that I am no fan of torture porn movies like Saw or Hostel or The Human Centipede, but I keep seeing this movie recommended on 'most influential/scary/disturbing horror movie lists, so I figured I should see what the fuss is about. Also, I was about 10 or 11 when the video nasty débâcle happened in the UK and remember all the myths about those movies and the feared decay of societal fabric as pronounced by heavily conservative zealots. As a result of seeing other so-called video nasties, I was expecting a rough, poorly made film which was probably going to be nothing but torture from the get go. I was surprised that this movie had an actual narrative and point. However, I did find it pretty disturbing, not because of the violence, implied cannibalism, rape or even the somewhat ignorant westernised take on 'barbaric savages', but because of the horrendous animal cruelty. The actual real slaughter of a turtle, monkey, coatimundi, spider and snake was incredibly shocking. You can imagine what would happen today. I rarely look away from the screen in movies (vomiting or pulling out of nails usually are the only things to get me to look away), but I could not watch the turtle scene. I disliked the movie but not from an artistic merit point of view. I enjoy things that make me question my moral centre and the bitterness of life, and I appreciated this film in those terms. However, it has stayed with me as an unpleasant mental after-taste.
Interesting to start with, but after the third hour of explosions and wreckage, I began to lose all interest. Nicola Peltz is good at squealing. Kelsey Grammer and Stanley Tucci try to be good at yelling. Marky Mark tries to be heroic. And if you think there won't be another sequel, I've got a nice used truck to sell you.
I watched Rock of Ages....(think Glee with leather pants) and Dark Shadows.
Didn't really care much for either of them even though I love the idea of Depp as a vamp with Burton directing and Elfman doing the soundtrack...but it failed to wow me
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