The Films You Watched Thread VI: The Undiscovered Movie

[fuse]

Wanted a movie on over the weekend, first thing on Netflix that came up was Kate. Sure, decision made. Couple of bits in the action got an "ooh!" out of me, but largely quite unremarkable revenge-y action fare with some Japanese window dressing and Mary-Elizabeth Winstead convincingly enough facing increasing levels of disrepair. Watchable, but predictable. Enjoyed Atomic Blonde more, for what it's worth.

[QualityChimp]

Fair enough, Neon, but that was just her fuel to make her the Final Girl, IMHO.
[MENTION=3822]fuse[/MENTION], yeah, I wanted Kate to be more than what it is.
That tea room fight is really well choreographed, but it's all a bit forgettable.
There's been a raft of female-lead action films (which I welcome) that are good and watchable but not stellar (Kate, Jolt, Atomic Blonde, Gunpowder Milkshake, The Old Guard, Birds of Prey, Lucy etc.)

[prinnysquad]

Got about 25 minutes into The Blackout (2022) on Netflix, then gave up.

Clunky, cliched dross. A gun battle in a corridor did for me. Rotten and utterly lacking charisma.

[Atticus]

I'd avoided The Nightingale (Jennifer Kent, The Babadook) due to its reputation for extreme brutality, showing what men might be capable of in an environment of little or no consequences. I suppose you could classify it as a rape/revenge film but it's different in that, yes, you want to see the perpetrators punished for what they did, but it doesn't have you hanging on that eventual cathartic feeling throughout. It's more about the relationship between the main protagonist and her Aboriginal tracker, both of whom have been grossly mistreated by the 'white devils'. These tiny moments of humanity are what keeps it all going. All of the violence is cold. There are no punch the air feelings. It's tough and brutal and isn't one for nana, but it's definitely worth a watch.

[fallenangle]

Just finished The Turning on BBC something.

It is based on Henry James': The Turn Of The Screw, a story that has been adapted several times for TV and film including The Innocents with Deborah Kerr being one of the most highly regarded. It has been the inspiration for a number of other psychological horror films too.

This was easily the worst, fudging to the point of completely ignoring, I'd say, a key element of the original story. But worst of all the 'horror' often consisted of cheap jump scare sequences sometimes strung together three or four in a row. This has the predictable consequence of quickly diminishing their effect as the film progresses,

Avoid.

[QualityChimp]

A Better Tomorrow (1986)
I want to watch the sequel for Woovember, but I'd never seen the original.
I'm not a massive John Woo fan, to be honest. I find him overly dramatic and style over substance, but at least you know you're in for some iconic imagery.
I mean, the film starts with two triads (Ti Lung and Chow Yun-fat) having a lovely time swanning around Hong Kong in a Rolls Royce, checking up on the $US counterfeiting business they run for their bosses. When their lives go wrong after being double-crossed in a deal, the sad sax music starts, but that's kinda the life they chose *shrug*.
Anyway, the action scenes were mint and the sight of CYF chewin' a toothpick and firing two guns is never not cool.



Spectral (2016 via Netflix)
This popped up on my suggestions on Netflix and had it on my watchlist for a while, but I was in the mood for something futuristic and sci-fi. The premise is that in a region in a future war, some US soldiers are taken out by an unseen assailant, but something in their enhanced-vision goggles picks up something that looks like a ghost.
So the inventor of the goggles is requested to look into why his goggles can see something and what they can see, so he's thrown into combat with a team of marines unhappy to be lumbered with a civvy.
So, this definitely steals from Aliens (team in an armoured personnel carrier watching the team getting slaughtered whilst shouting "Get your troops out, NOW!", marine putting their helmet on a child survivor, retrofitting a powerloader for combat, etc.) but it still manages to be its own thing. Perfectly watchable, but there's a long period with no answers as to what's going on, packing all the exposition to the final quarter. Some cool-looking future tech, decent cast and a nice washed-out look.



Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (Film4)
It was the 40th anniversary of this beaut on Saturday, so I had to watch it. I'd recorded it off Film4 earlier in the week, and it's the uncut version. The one I saw first was cut (no bugs out of the saleswoman's face, no drills to the face).
I just love how the soundtrack weaves itself into the story, either using the original score from the telly showing the film (at 7:30? blimey!) or the relentless sonic assault of the test firing until it's cut off, or the rhythmic plinking building to this driving score as people are running away. I think I need to accept I'll probably watch this every October.

[Neon Ignition]

The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Meh. It's reasonably attention holding taken as a legal drama about an exorcism but falls flat as a horror

Terrifier
Just about holds together for its runtime, I'd heard things about the excessive violence but it's very tame really with only one scene attempting and not quite succeeding in pushing things.

[Finsbury Girl]

I will definitely need to revisit my faves for Woovember.

Are these streaming anywhere? I don't want to have to trawl through my shed, find my old DVDs AND hook up my ancient DVD player to enjoy the magic. 576p on a 4k screen, not even Sony magic upscaling can make them look good

[QualityChimp]

I will definitely need to revisit my faves for Woovember.

Are these streaming anywhere? I don't want to have to trawl through my shed, find my old DVDs AND hook up my ancient DVD player to enjoy the magic. 576p on a 4k screen, not even Sony magic upscaling can make them look good

I'm going to do my best to use my existing discs and streaming services to watch there, but there are a couple of gaps where they're not streaming or a bit steep, so I've looked on Archive.org for a couple of them.

Remember, Woovember is not just Woo films, though! You only have to watch one of his films, the rest have other criteria.

EDIT: I'm fully aware of my naughtiness, but I've honestly trawled eBay, Amazon, YesAsia, Facebook and CEX for non-existent bargains!

[Finsbury Girl]

The Hero We Needed

[Atticus]

Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (Film4)
It was the 40th anniversary of this beaut on Saturday, so I had to watch it. I'd recorded it off Film4 earlier in the week, and it's the uncut version. The one I saw first was cut (no bugs out of the saleswoman's face, no drills to the face).
I just love how the soundtrack weaves itself into the story, either using the original score from the telly showing the film (at 7:30? blimey!) or the relentless sonic assault of the test firing until it's cut off, or the rhythmic plinking building to this driving score as people are running away. I think I need to accept I'll probably watch this every October.

Goes without saying I'll be getting a watch in before the 31st. Said if before but after growing up with censored tv and VHS version it's great to finally have it uncut and also looking spectacular

[Atticus]

A Better Tomorrow (1986)
I want to watch the sequel for Woovember, but I'd never seen the original.
I'm not a massive John Woo fan, to be honest. I find him overly dramatic and style over substance, but at least you know you're in for some iconic imagery.
I mean, the film starts with two triads (Ti Lung and Chow Yun-fat) having a lovely time swanning around Hong Kong in a Rolls Royce, checking up on the $US counterfeiting business they run for their bosses. When their lives go wrong after being double-crossed in a deal, the sad sax music starts, but that's kinda the life they chose *shrug*.
Anyway, the action scenes were mint and the sight of CYF chewin' a toothpick and firing two guns is never not cool.

After being schooled on heroic bloodshed when the amazing Hard Boiled landed me and my mates bought up every HK Tartan Video release that followed. None quite matched Hard Boiled but the A Better Tomorrow films were absolutely class. Always remember the theme music on the trailer for 2 ... what an iconic soundtrack! Can't believe a lot of these films feel almost lost in the system somewhere. In this golden age of boutique labels someone should be cashing in bigtime.

[prinnysquad]

There’s definitely a gap. You’ve got daft situations like Righting Wrongs getting luxury releases from two different companies at the same time. Yet others barely get a look-in. I’ve been reading through the Essential Guide reviews of the heroic bloodshed stuff and most of them haven’t had a release since a vhs or laserdisc. Even if they did a releases of two films in the same pack, or four, or whatever, to cover the fact they aren’t big titles.

[Anpanman]

Parasite
Cracking film, didn't know which way it would go, nice acting and photography to boot.

Funny moments as well as shocking and nice little touches like the mother throwing the hammer.

Great stuff.

[fallenangle]

Re-watched Ken Russell's Billion Dollar Brain, the third entry in the Michael Caine/Harry Palmer spy film series, for the umpteenth time yesterday. Its a film that's always attracted, at best, average reviews. Michael Caine apparently didn't much enjoy making it either. But I've always liked it because it has great visual style and a memorable soundtrack too,

It is very much of its time because of its look with Ken Russell's b/w documentary still photographic eye very much in evidence, particularly in the use of the stark Finnish and other snowy landscapes.

But another reason I liked it at the time was the female interest was Francoise Dorleac, Catherine Deneuve's older sister, who died at 25 years old in 1967 as the result of a really appalling road accident before the film was finished. She flipped her car, was trapped inside and burned alive.

She was as big a star as her sister back then but because of her tragically short life and cinematic career she is all but forgotten now.

Sad.