Films You Have Watched

[wakka]

The Wicker Man is such a brilliant film. One thing I didn't know until very recently is how poorly it was initially received. It was only when it was shown on TV in the late 80s that a critical reappraisal began and it started to become known (rightly) as the absolute classic it is.

The whole British folk/pagan bit is on a bit of a resurgence lately, interestingly. There is a funky little zine sold in a shop near me called 'Weird Walk' which reports on folky stuff from around the UK. People gathering at stone circles for ceremonies and even things like Morris dancing, which I had never really considered pagan but which totally is. It's an intriguing part of historic British culture which gets away from all the royalty/faded empire crap which we are usually most closely identified (and most closely identify ourselves) with.

Shearsmith noted that every time you see it, you think "Maybe this time it'll end different".

That is so true.

One thing I'd forgotten was just how much music there is in this. People are singing bawdy folk songs throughout the film and it feels like there's barely 5 minutes before someone else is singing. It's borderline a musical!

Yeah, absolutely. It lends it such a strange, eerie feel. They are actually doing a concert of the music at the Barbican on Saturday night and I would absolutely love to go but have a prior commitment

I have pre-ordered the forthcoming LE

You've got me to thank for the release of that...it became inevitable the moment I recently bought the standard Blu

[QualityChimp]

The band on the Q&A met over Lockdown and were actually really good, looking like the parade members and doing decent covers of the songs. Pretty much all the songs are about boning, though...
These guys are NOT at the Barbican and I'm not entirely sold on this description, if I'm honest:
Musics from Summerisle is a live performance celebration of the 50th anniversary of the legendary British cult horror film ’The Wicker Man’.

Performed live by Norwegian singer-songwriter Magnet and original soundtrack musicians Michael Cole and Lesley Mackie.

Featuring two supporting sets: Electronic music project Gazelle Twin & NYX Drone Choir will present an expansion of Gazelle Twin’s 2018 Pastoral album with arrangements by NYX Music Director Sian O’Gorman, featuring electronic contortions of William Blake’s Jerusalem and special versions of The Wicker Man from the original soundtrack. Scottish folk musician Alasdair Roberts performs a specially commissioned folk song suite entitled G-AXZN which will be a dark, ambient journey

I think there are 3 different cuts with one of the missing reels buried in a landfill under the M3, apparently.
For the Director's Cut, they had to go back to Roger Corman and see if he had the original reel when he was editing it and that's where all the additional footage came from.

This new version has even more footage in, but it's comparatively grainy and debatable if it adds much.
There's a bit where Howie sees people rutting in a graveyard and where Summerisle brings a guy for Ekland's character to deflower.
However, there's a cut in the nekkid dancing scene in this new version that's not in the DC and it's quite clunky.

It's one of those where it's cool to see all the different cuts (like Dawn of the Dead) but ultimately it doesn't make a massive difference.

In the Q&A they talked of an early edit to make it more audience-friendly and they moved the nekkidity scene to Howie's first night on the island and that makes no sense because of its importance the events of the following day (going spoiler-lite here).

[wakka]

I dunno, I thought it sounded pretty cool. I like the idea of new music inspired by the film being blended in rather than just a straightforward reproduction of the OST, especially since this folk pagan stuff is having a bit of a moment generally.

I've seen the additional footage as it was included on the Final Cut Blu-ray released a few years ago. I agree that it's interesting, but doesn't add much. Like we talk about before, the overriding sensation when watching this sort of material is 'Oh yeah, I see why they cut that'.

I also think the bit where Ekland has the guy brought to her is a little bit too obvious and I prefer the more enigmatic nature of her character in the theatrical cut.

It is also grainy as hell compared to the rest of it, as you point out, which does give it a feel of THIS IS THE DELETED SCENE flashing on screen

[QualityChimp]

Barbican: I guess I just meant if you were expecting a reproduction of the folk songs from the film, you'd get a shock when instead you got electronic music project Gazelle Twin & NYX Drone Choir play an expansion of Gazelle Twin’s 2018 Pastoral album with electronic contortions of William Blake’s Jerusalem...

Heh! It is really jarring when a DC has a jarring change in film quality!
I suspect AI might fix this in future, but I'm guessing after they've worked out how to charge people to scan their own faces into Goodfellas or summat.

I was thinking about extra footage and how we'd discussed the longer versions aren't always better, but it's usually a middle ground.

Next week sees Indy and Meteor City hit the big screens.
Not sure I'll see them the week of release to avoid the peasants, but they're on my radar.

Saturday there's a Nolan Batman all-dayer, but there's an additional fee, so will give it a swerve and try watching them at home with my son.

Then we have several other Nolan films in preparation for Oppenheimer - Inception, Interstellar and Dunkirk.

Trying to rinse my 6 month cinema pass!

[CMcK]

Saw whatever the new Spider-Man film is called the the other night. It’s rather good. Looks and sounds fantastic with more of a split between Miles and Gwen’s stories. The antagonist kind of disappears leaving a lot of questions about what he got up to while he was away. The changes of style between universes and others that reflect the characters emotional state are really well done. Shame it couldn’t have been concluded in one film but it gives things room to breathe although I’m kind of concerned the next part will be all action.

[Dogg Thang]

Looks bad

Wait, what?

[dataDave]

I didn’t like how the first one looked. I get the style they’re going for, but it’s as if they didn’t have the rendering budget to go beyond 15fps.

[CMcK]

Wait, what?

Damn you autocorrect!

[charlesr]

What's in on Chaz? It's on my bucket list poster, but apart from ITVX, I can't see it anywhere.
I believe this film was inspired the classic Revels advert, right?

It was on BBC on Saturday night, so might be on iplayer?

[Cassius_Smoke]

Thor love and Thunder

I struggle to think of a film were the tone of the movie more all over the place. While some of the comedy landed, and some were more telegraphed, other comedy moments were completely out of place. As an audience member I can't go from laughing and having fun, to dealing with the gravity of someone dying of cancer.
On a plus, I was expecting Female Thor to completely take over the film, but actually for Disney it wasn't so bad. Thor got most of the screen time, and the team up between the two worked well and wasn't ramming the Disney message down your throat.

Overall its an utter mess of a film, but it entertained me. 6/10

[Finsbury Girl]

The Covenant - the new flick by Guy Ritchie with Jake Gyllenhaal and Temurera Morrison doppelganger Dar Salim.

Both leads are wonderful but Salim is particularly awesome.

As the great Molly Meldrum would say, "do yourself a favour and see this movie". Loved it start to finish. Guy is such an underrated film maker.

Nice little cameos from Johnny Lee Miller and Antony Starr.

[Neon Ignition]

The Jazz Singer
Wincing through the opening part where Neil Diamond supports a black jazz group in 'full' costume and then gets chased out of the club by an offended Ernie Hudson, the film is then reasonable enough. Diamond isn't a great actor and the film is very much a marketing tool for his music. The ending is somewhat bizarre also, with him abandoning everyone for a year and being let off for it scot free.

Student Bodies
Well, it feels obvious what Scary Movie ripped off after watching this. It's not great but it was weirdly entertaining enough thanks likely to it being so early in horror's history that it plays it light, not feeling as formularic as modern versions.

Blacklight
Neeson is a tired FBI agent who wants to spend more time with his granddaughter but ends up embroiled in uncovering a conspiracy in his own department. The film struggles primarily with a clear low budget and working around how Neeson isn't capable of the action anymore, it just about holds together to the end but is utterly unessential.

[QualityChimp]

That's such an eclectic mix, Neon! I love it!

[Neon Ignition]

We had one of those weekends where we couldn't agree on what to watch so just worked through stuff as they came up. We've still got so far to go to complete 1981's films too

[Neon Ignition]

The Black Phone
This was alright, to be honest I think the biggest problem with the film is the central supernatural element. You have the whole thing about the phone itself and the spirits that speak through it and to be honest I think it would have been a stronger sell for it to have turned out to be simply something the kid imagines as a coping mechanism. Similar with his sister and her supernatural aspect, it's an over-coincidence and doesn't actually contribute to the outcome of the film either. Grounding the film would have lost nothing and probably made it feel more nail biting.