What DVD / Video did you watch last night? (pt3)

[Orang Utan]

The Columnist
Black comedy-horror about a writer who gets trolled on social media and wreaks their bloody revenge. While trite and unsubtle as the social media it is criticising, it's a fun watch. 3 grim trophies out of 5

 

[Orang Utan]

Curveball - A True Story, Unfortunately
Farcical German comedy-drama about a bioweapons expert who finds himself embroiled in interstate shenanigans that led to millions of deaths in the Middle East. Not sure about the tone of this, but it does feature the funniest sleigh ride since Cool Runnings, so it's not all bad and at least this expert doesn't kill himself at the end like his British counterpart. 2 sexed-up WMD reports out of 5

 

[T & P]

Blimey! Don’t forget to eat or sleep occasionally, Orang Utan

 

[Orang Utan]

Blimey! Don’t forget to eat or sleep occasionally, Orang Utan

Eating is fine, sleep not so. Have until the 30th to watch them all now anyway, but still need to step it up a gear

 

[platinumsage]

Changeling - thought it was a policing drama, then it turned into a horror movie, then I thought oh shit this is too fucked up it has to be a true story, which it was.

 

[krtek a houby]

Succession

Amazon prime effort from writer of Peep Show/Fresh Meat. It's not at all like them, so far it's a 21st century Dynasty meets House of Cards... full of unlikeable characters but a great cast, writing and can't help feeling it's a thinly veiled drama about the Trump/Murdoch families...

 

[belboid]

Kiss and the Attack of the Phantoms

Or, more properly, Kiss Meet the Phantom of the Park, as I think I got the original US tv version rather than the European release - you can tell because Ace Frehley has lines.

it is, perhaps unsurprisingly, dreadful beyond words. With a plot that would make a fine scooby doo episode stretched painfully over 96 minutes, unhilariously dreadful effects, and completely random cuts and scene jumps it could only be saved by a solid script and committed performances. Neither of which it gets. Even the bits of concert footage aren’t very good.

Paul Stanley does preen towards the camera quite attractively at times.

 

[Orang Utan]

Dear Comrades
Gripping B&W depiction about the real-life events of a violent suppression of a strike in the USSR at the height of the cold war, and the state's subsequent efforts to cover up the carnage. Told from the point of view of a party loyalist whose daughter is one of the protestors, it's a savage indictment of Soviet totalitarianism 4 unmarked graves out of 5

 

[Orang Utan]

High Ground
Unrelentingly grim thriller about the persecution of Aboriginal people in post-WW1 Australia. Australia never looked so beautiful but the events depicted are ugly and brutal. 4 startled cockatoos out of 5

 

[starfish]

Just watched 'The Captain' on Prime. Fuck me its bleak. Really bad people doing really bad things in Germany two weeks before the end of WW2.

For some reason it said it was 3hr 58m but its half that. After the credits the film plays again.

 

[Reno]

Greenland, a disaster movie of the comet/meteor variety, starring Gerard Butler. If you like that type of film, it's actually pretty good. It ticks off one cliche after the other (the marriage of our hero is on the rocks, his kid has a medical condition and of course they lose his medication) but I find that comforting in a film like this. A mid-budget effort as befits Butler's second rank stardom, it doesn't have the budget to dazzle with non-stop CGI mayhem (every major effects sequence is featured in the trailer), so it concentrates on building tension and it succeeds in that. I'm at a point where I miss the occasional dumb blockbuster and Greenland did the job fairly well.

 

[Orang Utan]

Chop Chop
Crap Crap more like.
The first turkey of the festival.
Thinks it's Tarantino but in reality it's Ed Wood
1 premature ejactulation out of 5

 

[Orang Utan]

Sisters With Transistors
Enthralling doc on pioneering women in electronic music. Will have to watch this again as it's packed with content. 5 Buchla synthesisers out of 5.

 

[Badgers]

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.

Enjoyed it a lot

 

[Orang Utan]

One Day In The Life Of Noah Piugattuk
An Inuit elder meets with a Canadian government agent who is trying to persuade him to abandon his nomadic lifestyle and go live in a settlement. Surprisingly absorbing for what is essentially a 2 hour meeting in the snow. 3 dogteams out of 5

 

[trabuquera]

Sauvage (2018) - mucky, grimy, interesting but infuriating French film following a homeless, crack-taking gay hustler through various chaotic episodes. Almost cliched in its late-night-Channel-4-French-arts-provocations - this one would DEFINITELY have rated one of those infamous red triangles in the corner of the screen - for extremely explicit sex, drugs, violence, crime, exploitation, and so on. It reaches for higher things - there's some decent acting and moments of surprising kindness amid the squalor - but for most of the time it's (quite literally) a trawl through the gutter and leaves you feeling pretty bruised. Like its protagonist. Sort of wants to be that kind of Genet (even sexed-up Victor Hugo?) 'jewels in the depths' narrative, that society's outlaws are the only truly free blah blah blah, and it takes some dramatic turns which are genuinely interesting and wry. At least it doesn't end up as a cliched 'redemption' story. But seems to me to be just mostly romanticising desperation in a particularly pretentious poverty-tourist way. Lead actor's got the absolutely perfect face and look for the role though.

One to definitely NOT watch even a few minutes of in your parents' company

 

[Orang Utan]

Sauvage (2018) - mucky, grimy, interesting but infuriating French film following a homeless, crack-taking gay hustler through various chaotic episodes. Almost cliched in its late-night-Channel-4-French-arts-provocations - this one would DEFINITELY have rated one of those infamous red triangles in the corner of the screen - for extremely explicit sex, drugs, violence, crime, exploitation, and so on. It reaches for higher things - there's some decent acting and moments of surprising kindness amid the squalor - but for most of the time it's (quite literally) a trawl through the gutter and leaves you feeling pretty bruised. Like its protagonist. Sort of wants to be that kind of Genet (even sexed-up Victor Hugo?) 'jewels in the depths' narrative, that society's outlaws are the only truly free blah blah blah, and it takes some dramatic turns which are genuinely interesting and wry. At least it doesn't end up as a cliched 'redemption' story. But seems to me to be just mostly romanticising desperation in a particularly pretentious poverty-tourist way. Lead actor's got the absolutely perfect face and look for the role though.

One to definitely NOT watch even a few minutes of in your parents' company

it's very rude isn't it?

 

[trabuquera]

Uncomfortably so! The subject matter's not far off Pixote or Requiem for a Dream but it's way way more sex-heavy than either.

 

[Orang Utan]

The Reckoning
Truly abysmal medieval nasty torture porn from Neil Marshall who should know better. Woeful acting from the leads and a very poor script. Watch Witchfinder General instead - Sean Pertwee is no Vincent Price. 1 Pear Of Anguish out of 5

 

[Supine]

I've downloaded a film called African Kung Fu Nazis. I haven't dared watch it yet

 

[T & P]

I've downloaded a film called African Kung Fu Nazis. I haven't dared watch it yet

With that title, how could it possibly be anything other than great?

 

[T & P]

The Undoing episode1, new HBO thrillery mystery thing. Will definitely watch episode 2.

On episode 4 now. It’s good and solid enough, but certainly a bit slow paced and not particularly remarkable so far.

It’s funny how having made his acting career and spanning most of it as a hapless, mumbling timid likeable Englishman in romantic comedies, Hugh Grant has suddenly revealed himself as a semi-decent actor playing unlikeable characters in dramatic roles.

 

[T & P]

Well, I’d been meaning to check out Color out of Space, and finally did last night. I’ve watched some fucked up shit over the years, but this might yet top it all.

Apart from his love of HP Lovecraft in general and his desire to be in film adaptations of his works, I can imagine Nicolas Cage jumping at the chance to play his character here and make it his own, as he indeed does

 

[The39thStep]

Well, I’d been meaning to check out Color out of Space, and finally did last night. I’ve watched some fucked up shit over the years, but this might yet top it all.

Apart from his love of HP Lovecraft in general and his desire to be in film adaptations of his works, I can imagine Nicolas Cage jumping at the chance to play his character here and make it his own, as he indeed does

On topic slightly but I watched the first two episodes of Lovecraft Country which I’d downloaded . Not made my mind up completely but I’d give it 6.5 out of 10.

 

[T & P]

On topic slightly but I watched the first two episodes of Lovecraft Country which I’d downloaded . Not made my mind up completely but I’d give it 6.5 out of 10.

I would say on the whole it’s watchable and a 6/10, but no more than that. It varies from episode to episode as well. One or two of them I thought were very good indeed and in the 8/10 territory, but some others were firmly in ‘meh’ territory.

One thing to be said for it is that the final episode is one of the better ones, and it mostly concludes the story, as opposed to being one of those series left completely open ended. So if you make it to the first two thirds it’s worth to conclude it even if you’re still unconvinced but not disliking it.

I also reckon the series it might benefit from one being able to binge it, or at least watching the next episode as soon as you feel like it. We watched it as it first premiered and had to wait a week for each new episode, and whereas that works pretty well with really good series, I kept thinking ‘well that didn’t feel like waiting a whole week for’.

 

[The39thStep]

I would say on the whole it’s watchable and a 6/10, but no more than that. It varies from episode to episode as well. One or two of them I thought were very good indeed and in the 8/10 territory, but some others were firmly in ‘meh’ territory.

One thing to be said for it is that the final episode is one of the better ones, and it mostly concludes the story, as opposed to being one of those series left completely open ended. So if you make it to the first two thirds it’s worth to conclude it even if you’re still unconvinced but not disliking it.

I also reckon the series it might benefit from one being able to binge it, or at least watching the next episode as soon as you feel like it. We watched it as it first premiered and had to wait a week for each new episode, and whereas that works pretty well with really good series, I kept thinking ‘well that didn’t feel like waiting a whole week for’.

Thanks for that . Must admit watching the first episode I was struggling to pay any attention till the last fifteen minutes which completely changed my view .

 

[T & P]

Thanks for that . Must admit watching the first episode I was struggling to pay any attention till the last fifteen minutes which completely changed my view .

The production values are undoubtedly very good, and there is some good action ahead of you, so if started to get into it as the episode progressed you’ll likely not regret sticking with it.

On the subject of H.P. Lovecraft, there seem to be a lot of TV and film adaptations of his stories about of late. I’ve been wondering jf perhaps some copyright on his works has recently expired, and studios can now produce adaptations of his books without seeking permission from his estate/ paying royalties? Does Reno or any other film buff know?

 

[Reno]

The production values are undoubtedly very good, and there is some good action ahead of you, so if started to get into it as the episode progressed you’ll likely not regret sticking with it.

On the subject of H.P. Lovecraft, there seem to be a lot of TV and film adaptations of his stories about of late. I’ve been wondering jf perhaps some copyright on his works has recently expired, and studios can now produce adaptations of his books without seeking permission from his estate/ paying royalties? Does Reno or any other film buff know?

The only recent Lovecraft adaptation I can think of was The Color of Space. Lovecraft Country isn't an adaptation of Lovecraft's work, it's based on the novel by Mark Ruff.

 

[Detroit City]

Diehard with Bruce Willis

 

[krtek a houby]

Diehard with Bruce Willis

Any good?