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

[T & P]

First three episodes of brand new series Ted, and I am glad to report this is so much better than I had expected. Non-fans of Seth MacFarlane’s brand of humour need not apply, but to everyone else, this is very, very funny

‘Ted’ Is as Filthy, Offensive, and—God Help Us—Funny as Ever

The foul-mouthed, bigoted, horny talking teddy bear that first shocked audiences into laughter in 2012 is back in a new series that, even in this climate, manages to somehow work.

www.thedailybeast.com

 

[May Kasahara]

The Vault of Horror Absolutely classic portmanteau horror from the 70s. See Tom Baker bump off Denholm Elliott via the medium of voodoo-infused art!

 

[redsquirrel]

Bell, Book and Candle - Plot is frothy and pretty light, but it looks fantastic and Kim Novak is just great as the witch that falls in love with James Stewart

The Detective - Surprisingly hard and liberal Sinatra cop picture, with Sinatra as the detective worn down but still trying to fight the system.

The Professionals - Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin and Robert Ryan (along with Woody Strode) are paid by a rich railway boss to rescue his kidnapped wife who has been abducted by Mexican bandits - the leader who is a former comrade of Lancaster and Marvin from the Mexican Revolution. Nothing massively new, but a great cast, good set pieces and some decentish politics

 

[Elpenor]

The Professional - Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin and Robert Ryan (along with Woody Strode) are paid by a rich railway boss to rescue his kidnapped wife who has been abducted by Mexican bandits - the leader who is a former comrade of Lancaster and Marvin from the Mexican Revolution. Nothing massively new, but a great cast, good set pieces and some decentish politics

Like the sound of that one

 

[Nine Bob Note]

Watching the Cluedo gameshow from the early 1990s on YT. Maximum sad case

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Just watched the Florida Project.
Great stuff. Wonderfully shot, beautiful, intense, sad.
Best thing I have seen in ages.

 

[Humberto]

Gretel and Hansel. Really well played with a new take on a creepy classic.

 

[DaveCinzano]

'Surviving The Game' from '94. Low budget Hard Target-a-like with an impossibly young Ice T as the prey turning the tables on the hunters. And theres some good names among them, Gary Busey puts in solid work alongside Rutger Haur and John C Mcginley who you may recognize from Scrubs.

Does Ice T, at any time - perhaps in the immediate aftermath of his brutal dispatching of a minor antagonist, or even a level boss, be it by means banal or exotic (and I must remind the witness that he remains under oath, and so must answer with a truthful answer) - utter words to the effect of “Don't hate The Player, hate The Game”?

 

[belboid]

Scala!!!

I imagine the triple exclamation mark is to distinguish it from other cultural artefacts with similar titles. Anyway, it’s a great documentary about the cinema of thst name once of Kings Cross. It’s more than a bit freaky to see the hip young gunslingers of my youth looking so….more likely to wield knitting needles. Nick Kent! Highly entertaining, a great follow up to the Slits doc that bring back happy memories.

The Nude Vampire

A slightly odd title for a Jean Rollin movie, as it implies all the other vampires in his films are clothed, which they certainly are not. Featuring some terrible acting, a half-arsed script and some weird directorial decisions leaving the camera lingering for no other reason than to linger… it does also have some wonderful shots, a magnificent colour palate that can’t help but bring Michael Powell to mind, especially when it moves to the ‘other worldly’ view which is almost monochrome. Allied to some good ideas and a solid commitment to its premise, it’s one of Rollins best.

The Brood

Another horror classic featuring some terrible acting. But a good solid plot and (eventually) some good body horror. No one other than Cronenberg acquits themselves well, but he does well enough to hold your attention alongside a typically late Oliver Reed performance (he was only arrested once during production, for trying to be able to reach the next bar naked, despite it being 500 metres away in sub artic temperatures). Trust neither psychiatrists nor Canadian police (to be anything but fucking idiots).

 

[redsquirrel]

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension - Extremely daft and all the better for it. Weird and mad but not self-consciously "wacky", the jokes are funny and often clever. Peter Weller is rather good, John Lithgow is scene chewing but it comes off.

 

[Orang Utan]

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension - Extremely daft and all the better for it. Weird and mad but not self-consciously "wacky", the jokes are funny and often clever. Peter Weller is rather good, John Lithgow is scene chewing but it comes off.

When is Lithgow NOT scene-chewing?
I saw Santa Claus: The Movie last week, and his set-mastication was the only decent thing in it

 

[Orang Utan]

I was going to say ‘candidates for shittest films ever’ but I had not previously heard of Zardoz, and after checking it out I am going to guess you’re doing a Sean Connery marathon?

If that is the case, I fear for your mental wellbeing when you get to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

More of a Bond actors’ side-hustle of shame sort of thing.
I’ve been listening to John Rain’s excellent Smershpod podcast, which covers many of the various Bond actors’ most regrettable roles.
Rain is not strict about what he covers though and there’s a long run of them that cover Michael Caine’s string of poor decisions in the 80s and 90s, hence the inclusion here of Jaws The Revenge

 

[Orang Utan]

I actually enjoyed Zardoz, though it is incoherent batshit with some interesting ideas diluted by (apparent) cocaine psychosis.
Jaws The Revenge is risible but it has its moments. Mainly unintentionall humour though.
Spice World is merely a potboiling novelty, with some enjoyment to me mined from the terrible jokes and ill-advised celebrity cameos. The worst culprit here is the screenwriter, Kim Fuller, who got the job cos his brother Simon was the girls’ manager.
Santa Claus was a commerical trifle with high production values but a terrible script with much wasted onscreen talent (mainly English comedy actors as elves). Will Ferrell’s Elf came along two decades later and shamelessly lifted the plot, but that’s ok, because it’s vastly superior.

Got some more turkeys coming up, which will delight no-one.

 

[Orang Utan]

I have also been watching some decent films on Apple+ as there’s a lot of good rentals and buys up there at a snip.

Last night I watched Diary Of A Teenage Girl, Marielle Heller’s directorial feature debut. Almost impossible to fault. Heller directed the excellent Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, so I don’t know why I dragged my feet in seeking this out.
It has a great cast - especially Bel Powley as the lead (not seen her in anything else, but intend to fix that), but also Kristen Wiig and Alexander Skarsgård as her mother and mother’s boyfriend respectively.
Some great animated sections too that embellish the narrative without distracting.
Though it’s quite explicit about a teenage girl’s burgeoning sexuality, it is in no way titillating or exploitative. Indeed, the takeaway is the 70s souring of the 60s hippy delusions of free love and the emphasis on hedonism fuellong poor decisions that lead to toxic relationships and sexual exploitation. And it finds time to be funny, while refusing to demonise some very damaged and damaging people.
Thoroughly recommended.

 

[DotCommunist]

Does Ice T, at any time - perhaps in the immediate aftermath of his brutal dispatching of a minor antagonist, or even a level boss, be it by means banal or exotic (and I must remind the witness that he remains under oath, and so must answer with a truthful answer) - utter words to the effect of “Don't hate The Player, hate The Game”?

sadly not that I recall. He's one of those actors who started out with little ability beyond a certain presence and style of delivery but just got better through keeping at it imo. Another early memorable bit I recall from similar era is where he turns up in Jonny Mnemonic. A wrongly maligned classic gibson adapt.

 

[Orang Utan]

Less said about Tank Girl the better though

 

[Chz]

Less said about Tank Girl the better though

You've found its one fan. Though I'll admit Ice T is pretty bad, even by the film's own standards.

 

[Orang Utan]

You've found its one fan. Though I'll admit Ice T is pretty bad, even by the film's own standards.

I meant Ice-T in it rather than the film. Quite enjoyed the film - great VHS to watch repeatedly whilst stoned on White Widow when we should have been studying.
Should have sent Lori Petty's career stratospheric. Sunk Rachel Talalay's theatrical career too.
The studio ruined it, not the talent.
Cracking soundtrack too

 

[DotCommunist]

Not seen since teen yrs but it's in the malcom mcdowell sci fi villain era like star trek generations

 

[May Kasahara]

Just watched Nope with the boy. Funny, horrifying, fascinating, gorgeously shot and great sound design. We both loved it.

 

[DotCommunist]

Sisu (2022) finnish film, its 1944 and a winter war vet has turned his back on combat and gone prospecting for gold. The nazis are being driven out of finland and are doing the scorched earth loot and burn retreat. They try to take our mans gold, carnage ensues. Some excellent deaths in this, a good dog. Sparse on dialogue. Would recommend if you like this sort of thing. Plot sounds like something James Herbert would have written.

 

[The39thStep]

Sisu (2022) finnish film, its 1944 and a winter war vet has turned his back on combat and gone prospecting for gold. The nazis are being driven out of finland and are doing the scorched earth loot and burn retreat. They try to take our mans gold, carnage ensues. Some excellent deaths in this, a good dog. Sparse on dialogue. Would recommend if you like this sort of thing. Plot sounds like something James Herbert would have written.

It's very enjoyable isn't it ?

 

[The39thStep]

The Sister Brothers- Set in the American west in the mid-19th century Two paid assassins hired by a shadowy powerful figure called 'The Commodore' work with a private investigator to track down and get the secret formula from a man who can find gold. The first part is a bit of a meandering if enjoyable road trip , fleshing the characters out but the film suddenly begins to come together drawing the main characters closer to each other. It's an intriguing and well acted study of different forms of masculinity in a world in which there are no real law enforcement. Great Sunday night film.

 

[DotCommunist]

It's very enjoyable isn't it ?

proper scummy all-order-gone nazis at their most dirlwangerish and hateful getting their just desserts

 

[Virtual Blue]

Past Lives - Not so much a love story but more about constraints of time, age and the pathways we take.
The things we let go to choose a life and then having to commit (and accept) to that life. It was moving in its simplicity, and I can see why so many could relate to it. I certainly did.

The Beekeeper is a silly movie that reminds me of my drunken/ stoned conversations at university. Ridiculous and could easily have been an early Nicholas Cage movie. I recommend it if you want to laugh at something. Mindless.

 

[seventh bullet]

The Creator. Sci-fi action that could've been a heck of a lot better, and probably was at some point before it was cut. It's too on the nose with the references to past US imperialism in SE Asia. It also looks lush. I love the retrofuturistic designs, as if it's an alternate 1980s, and the best set-piece battle between the goodies and baddies involves rumbling, earth-flattening tanks bigger than rows of houses, the design of which reminds me of the cyberpunk anime we watched in the early 90s.

 

[belboid]

The Holdovers

Within fie minutes of this starting it was pretty obvious what was going to happen and, with one small exception, it did exactly as expected. But it did do it absolutely charmingly. Evoked the seventies excellently, witty script and great perfomances from Giamatti, Sessa & Rudolph. A lightweight but enjoyable couple of hours.

 

[secondwind]

The Voices (2014) Brilliant, just what I needed.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Off Beat - Judge Reinhold comedy from 86. Probably got lost for it's poster and publicity dressing it up as a screwball comedy Police Academy clone, but it's nothing of the sort.
Man pretends to be be a police officer to take the place of his cop friend in a police dance recital but falls for a female cop while he's there. . . gets in over his head in the deception.
Also stars a young Harvey Keitel, John Turturro and Penn Jillette.

It's not the greatest film ever made, but it didn't deserve to vanish without a trace (seems quite rare). Could have been more nail biting in the "what the fuck are you getting yourself in to??!!!" department, and probably needed a longer post reveal act to really make the end believable and sit well with all the audience (and characters).

 

[T & P]

Already being discussed in the Disney thread, but worth mentioning here as well. Only on episode two but Shogun is really fucking good and no mistake. Massive recommendation