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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 20 Nov 2021, 04:10 
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teddanson wrote:
takeshi666 wrote:
Just watched It's Alive (1974).

Wow, that was...not very good.



Why? Was it dead? :D

It was a horror movie clearly made to cash in on the success of Rosemary's Nightmare Baby in that extremely niche genre of "scary movies specifically aimed at expectant parents".

A lot of the characters' decision making didn't feel organic, the editing is weird, the mutant baby is pretty obviously a full-grown person in a costume, and there are some shots that honestly feel like they're straight out of an early Peter Jackson movie which just comes across as really jarring in an otherwise pedestrian film. The mother is quite understandably losing her marbles but the movie doesn't really focus on her as much as it does on the father.

I know what you're thinking, but I'm gonna be totally honest, you'd probably find it boring, too. It's not good and it's not bad enough to be entertaining, it's just incredibly mediocre. The fact that they actually re-released it whole three years later with a new marketing campaign before anybody paid any attention to it should be pretty telling. The best part about the film is the delightfully creepy poster.
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 25 Nov 2021, 14:44 
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I watched no time to die. I didn't like it very much. I guess for me it was mixed, i wanted to love it but it was so uneven like all of the Craig entries in the Bond series.

It was the worst film since Quantum of Solace for me. But not the worst ever. The worst i've ever seen was Die Another Day. I like Brosnan but i can't defend that movie.
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 25 Dec 2021, 00:39 
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Watched The Polar Express (not through choice! :lol: ) again today. Didn't go for the anaglyphic 3D version, just the standard Blu. Say what you want about the film but personally, and after having seen it about 912 times now, I think it's excellent. A big hit with mini lunatics too so gets played every year.

Another annual traditional viewing is Mel Smith in Father Christmas. One I keep meaning to get on Laserdisc or DVD but end up watching on any streaming service that's carrying it.

It's very dated now and some stuff in it would probably irk people with nothing better to do. There's no denying the animation is first class and the story is very warm and endearing. Another big hit with mini people and a must view on Christmas Eve in this gaf. :thumbup:
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 30 Dec 2021, 15:53 
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Watched a handful of films the past few days. A couple of rewatches. Forced at gunpoint (I jest) to watch You've Got Mail (again :| ) and followed that up with a favourite of mine that I've seen about 6 trillion times, Doc Hollywood.

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Then I watched Human Traffic again (the original theatrical cut, not the Remix Edition which I'll watch soon). Hadn't seen it in a good few years. Great to watch it again after so long. Yes it's dated a bit, but as mentioned in the tat thread, if you lived that period of time, the film will mean absolutely everything to you. It still does for me, and always will. Too many fond (read, scrambled!) memories of my relationship with this film and so many good years.

There's some interesting stuff I learned about Human Traffic though. Firstly, if you look at all the promotional material for the film, you will notice that Nicola Reynolds, who plays Nina, doesn't feature in any of it (see the above poster for example, no idea who the blonde lady is in the background, she's not in the film). I never knew this until now but apparently she was removed from all the promo material over a pay dispute. She was allegedly never paid for the film initially. I don't know the outcome of it, if she was paid or not, but that leaves a bit of a nasty taste when you read that.

Even worse is that the director Justin Kerrigan, for whom Human Traffic was his directorial debut, earned NOTHING from the film. It cost pennies to make and grossed a few million at the box office. He never saw a cent of it because he naively sold off all rights to the film (apparently for £1) just to get it made. Kerrigan allegedly never received the £1 for the contract either from producer Allan Niblo (ref: Wikipedia). The other odd news that's come to light in recent years is that Human Traffic 2 has been wrriten and ready to go for some time. The main problem is in getting the film funded. I noticed there was an unsuccessful crowdfunding campaign in recent years, hopefully someone will come along and buy the film soon. According to director Kerrigan, most of the cast are signed on to be in it except for John Simm (Jip) and Lorraine Pilkington (Lulu) as far as my research shows at least.

Fingers crossed that Human Traffic 2 gets made soon, and if it does, that it's done right and done fairly to all involved.


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Next up I watched The Beyond via Jeff's video service. Jeff appears to like the Shameless Blu Ray release with the sepia opening sequence, so that's what I had to settle for too.

Not sure what to make of this film. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind to watch it but it done my head in as it was all over the place plotwise. The gore and kills were exceptional. If you have a thing for eye gouging I guess this film will be heaven for you. :crazy: One scene in particular with a bunch of tarantulas was particularly repulsive and did make me squirm a bit. Just when you think the film isn't going to push the boundaries any further, it does and goes much further past the line of what is acceptable in terms of trashy horror and splatter films.

The last 20 minutes or so are genuinely very good, as the dead begin to walk the Earth and you do get that little tingle, that little flashback in your mind to just how wonderful his earlier film Zombi (aka Zombi 2 aka Zombie Flesh Eaters) was. That's a very high bar to beat and aside from 1978's Dawn Of The Dead and perhaps 1985's Day Of The Dead, I can think of little, if anything, that can even touch those films. Such is their status in horror royalty.

One thing to mention about the Shameless version of The Beyond, with the sepia opening sequence; this was done much later from a new scan using a new processing technique and involving the co-operation of the original crew (minus the late Lucio Fulci of course), is the audio is downright terrible. It's all over the place. When it all starts to get hectic and you've sound effects here, soundtrack score there and gurgles and burbles and screams filling the rest of the sound stage, it's a giant collection of loose, watery stools. You cannot fathom what is being said over the rest of the noise. From reviews I've read apparently I'm not the only one with this gripe and that the Arrow and Grindhouse Releasing discs are no better. Someone messed the audio up on the English track good and proper and it's not been fixed (as far as I am aware).

Despite all of that, the Shameless Blu Ray is something I might still look to pick up at some stage. It's got branchable opening sequences so you get the colour scan, the black and white scan and the sepia version as well as an absolute RAKE of goodies packed in. I think I'd rewatch it enough for the last 20-30 minutes alone to get enough value out of the disc. I don't, however, think it's the Fulci masterpiece everyone seems to think it is. It's too frenetic in terms of plot and makes naff all sense (there's a lot of nonsense out there trying to defend the film for this in my opinion, just admit it's a plot disaster!). It's not as truly engaging and frightening and filled with dread like Zombi is, but again, the bar that film set is way up there in film royalty status. I'm not a fan of the soundtrack that much either, again look to something like Zombi (which is a masterclass in film scoring) or the fantastic work done with the Cannibal Holocaust soundtrack.

Anyway, The Beyond is well worth a watch for the kills and the masterclass in gore effects and creativity of the kills, and just how far it goes over the line. Other than that it's a bit so-so in my opinion. If you don't want to buy the disc, see if Jeff has it on his video service in your region (or VPN to Germany and watch it via Jeff there).

Hoping to squeeze in a handful more films before 2021 is out. :thumbup:
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 30 Dec 2021, 19:44 
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Watched my first film on laserdisc in its entirety for a long time today.

Blood In Blood Out in German. Great film with a great story and solid performances ( Danny Trejo playing the tough prison
inmate as always haha :lol: All he has to do is sit on a chair in the prison canteen and look tough ) First time I saw this one.
Most certainly one of the best gang films ever made.
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 30 Dec 2021, 20:26 
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teddanson wrote:
Next up I watched The Beyond via Jeff's video service. Jeff appears to like the Shameless Blu Ray release with the sepia opening sequence, so that's what I had to settle for too.

Apparently the Shameless transfer is noticeably worse than the older release from Arrow which I'm still hoping to get my hands on some day, unfortunately it's long since out of print and the US release (which does include the soundtrack on a CD, and I absolutely love) is region locked and I just don't want to deal with that crap.

I do agree that the movie is a bit all over the place; from what I've heard, the decision to include zombies wasn't Fulci's own idea, and some of the scenes seem rather unnecessary, like the little girl who gets to watch her mom gets dissolved by a toppled jar of acid, but on premise I thought it was quite cool, and I particularly liked the incredibly dark ending, which is rather unusual for me.

For some reason the scene that sticks out to me as the most memorable one is the one with the blind woman on the bridge, which I found just delightfully creepy, probably thanks to the accompanying piano solo.
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 31 Dec 2021, 12:28 
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Oh that's interesting, I've not read up a great deal on the PQ differences between the Grindhouse, Shameless and Arrow releases. The one thing that struck me was that the Shameless release is the only one with all of the different possible opening sequences, and that they are branchable on the disc too which is a nice bonus.

I didn't mind the soundtrack so much but I don't think it comes anywhere near (and keeping it within the Fulci filmography realm) something like Zombi, which is such an iconic work both then and today. The audio track though is just so poor, I don't know how it was deemed to be acceptable in the QA phase before going to the pressing plant. Is the audio as bad on the other releases?

Agreed, the ending is so bleak. I loved the film for that.
[Reveal] Spoiler:
I liked the way that the gate to Hell played tricks on them. That once they crossed the bridge in the basement and ended up in Hell, they both knew they were done for and that they had no chance of survival.
It was a good way to end it I think. Better than a more formulaic ending, that would have made the film feel pretty flat.

The gore was so well done, even a bit obvious by today's standards. Some of the kills were real squirm in your chair moments! :lol:
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 31 Dec 2021, 14:17 
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After it being on my Xmas list for years someone finally got me Flying Clipper aka: Mediterranean Holliday.

This is a movie we’ve talked about a little here but not much. It’s main claim to fame is that it was the first 70mm German movie and it’s famous for being a high quality photo document of its time and place. It’s a documentary that follows some young sailers on a three sail clipper all over Italy and Czechoslovakia and Egypt and you name it.

I got this pretty much only for the visuals. I really like HQ footage of things that no longer exist. I really like Tokyo Olympiad, for example. That movie feels almost like a “time scope” that you use to look very closely at a certain time and place. I was hoping the Flying Clipper would be similar and it is, maybe even better.

Whereas TO is a more realistic “hands off” style document, this is slightly more Hollywood and editorialized. It has scenes filmed just for the documentary, where as TO was nearly hidden camera by comparison. FC goes looking for the beauty on purpose.

This year was the first year that my kid finally “got” Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. He’s been singing “Silver and Gold” for a few weeks now. So imagine how pleased we were to find that the English version of the Flying Clipper is narrated by none other than Sam the Snowman himself Burl Ives! He even sings sea shanties. It’s a home run casting choice! I’ll never watch the German, sorry German.

Anyway, I love this movie for life. It’s much more friendly and light hearted than I thought it was going to be. I recommend it highly for anyone interested. The footage of the 1962 Monaco GP is slim but easily the highest quality 60s F1 I’ve ever seen. I’d own it just for that, but really every inch is fun.

I watched the 1080p version which is quite dark, way too much contrast. I was able to adjust it enough where it was fine and there’s a good chance you’ll have to do the same unless you have your TV set to VIVID all the time. I’m told the (also included) 4K disc looks better but I haven’t watched it yet.

The whole film is on YT: https://youtu.be/adtIbOVphYI
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 31 Dec 2021, 19:30 
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I saw The Beyond 2? years ago, right as the lockdown started, fun film, not great but always love these types where the painting and they get locked into painting.
But I know its not really the painting.
Wish they did more of the anthology type films stories, the Italians are great at horror but I feel horrible at pacing, it would have been fun to see those
old EC story ones done by the Italians rather than the UK or Hammer.
Short, gory, scary, crazy.
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 01 Jan 2022, 15:41 
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Said goodbye to 2021 with a viewing of Poliziotto Sprint (aka Highway Racer) from the Arrow Video 'Years of Lead' Blu Ray box set. May as well see out a year with a healthy dose of 1970's Italian Crime action!

This high octane actioner from Stelvio Massi (yes, he of the excellent Speed Driver) and scored by the awesome Stelvio Cipriani (yes, he of the excellent Speed Driver too) is not exactly your formulaic poliziotteschi film. Yes, it stars Maurizio Merli, but he appears without his iconic moustache here. He does have a permanent chip on his shoulder throughout the film though so the film recoups some lost bonus points for the 'tache fiasco here. The thing is, it's not really a procedural pissed off cop going on the rampage and busting skulls open like a can opener. It's not filled with ultraviolence and pure unadulterated rage that the needle on the rageometer is so maxed out that a new range hasn't even been invented for the needle to hit yet. That honour belongs to the beautiful Napoli La Cammora Sfida La Cita Risponde of course. :thumbup:

What you have here is a sort of gung-ho cop who loves driving but keeps messing up until his department boss takes him under his wing to school him to become a master chase driver before throwing him in deep undercover to sting a crime lord he has previous with. Now that's fine, but it sees the film take a 90% focus on the cars and the driving rather than further developing any back story or fleshing out the characters a little more. With that said, it's for the best that the film focuses on car chases and spectacular driving sequences because these really are the star of the show and make the film. In fact I'd go so far as to say some of the work on display here by the hugely respected Remy Julienne is some of the very best I've seen. You get your traditional poliziotteschi fare of Fiats and Alfa Romeo's being ragged around everywhere. But then you get the good stuff too. There's a Ferrari 250 GTE as the star of the show here that gets hooned to death with some spectacular driving and stunt work. When you look at the price a Ferrari 250 GTE goes for today (approaching €500,000 for one in reasonable condition but still needing work) all you can do is wince and think how cool but what a waste 40+ years from 1977 that's going to be!

Palma's (Merli) love interest in the film, Francesca (Lilli Carati)works in a Lancia dealership in the centre of Rome. For the few scenes she is in, the petrolhead in you cannot help but notice the abundant display of exotic Lancia's in the showroom. Some real hyper rare cars are on display and all you can do is wish you could turn the clock back and beg them not to be so careless with such amazing cars! There's also a great selection of Porsche, Ford and Citroen cars on display too that are thrown around the streets at breakneck speeds leaving the viewer in 2021 torn as to whether they should cheer on the action or cry in to their hands at the waste of such beautiful and today very rare cars getting written off. Talking of which, there's a great extra on the Blu Ray disc that features an interview with an Italian cinema historian who mentions that the ending for the film was changed on the spot as it was filmed.

*MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD DO NOT REVEAL IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE FILM*

[Reveal] Spoiler:
The ending was changed because the driver of Il Nizzardo's Citroen mistimed the chasm jump at the end and wrote off the car in a ball of flames. Stelvio Massi originally wanted the climax chase to be a draw and for Palma and Il Nizzardo's characters to have a respect for each other. With the car totally destroyed and no spare, Massi changed the ending on the spot and made it so Il Nizzardo died instead.


Having discovered this after watching the film, I actually think the changed ending works a lot better. I don't think the original ending would have had the same effect on the story at all. Call it fate I guess? From what I learned later, about 18 exotic cars were destroyed making this film.

The same Blu Ray interview brings up some pretty bleak information surrounding the film too, or rather the cast. Lilly Carati was discovered after winning 1974's Miss Italy. She done a few films here and there after Highway Racer, but sadly spiralled in to drugs which ended up dominating her life. Her addiction was so bad that she ended up making hardcore p0rn films literally just to use the money from them to pay for her habit. There's a mention in the interview of a now infamous TV appearance she made in Italy while clearly out of her mind on drugs (by the way she's rubbing her nose I don't think she has a cold). I found the video of it and posted below. It's pretty sad to see. The real kick in the balls though is that despite her battles with addiction, she overcame them eventually and then ended up diagnosed with brain cancer which cut her life terribly short at just 58 years old.



One interesting piece I learned from the film and it's history is that part of it is actually based on a true story about a great police pursuit driver and a criminal. There's a scene in the film that was shot in the city at 5am where two cars are rolled down the Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti (the famous 'Spanish Steps'). Apparently it was a recreation of a chase that actually happened in the 1950's (or 60's I forget). There's a photo of Maruizio Merli on-set with the famous police pursuit driver putting Merli in handcuffs with the pair of them smiling for the camera. How they got away with filming that I've no idea, it's so reckless yet so thrilling! As an aside, I wanted to add that I'm almost certain that the race track used later on in the film is the same one used in the Fabio Testi hyperfilm Speed Driver (which was made not long after in 1980). If it isn't it looks really similar!

Talking of which, it should be said once again that the stunts and the driving choreography here really are the star of the show. It's genuinely some of the best I've ever seen. The risks those drivers must have taken and to get some of those cars to do things they weren't even designed to do is truly amazing. One thing the HD release does show up though are some of the obvious dummies used in the crashes. One scene in particular sees a car flip over multiple times. If you look closely you'll see the head of one of the dummies flying out the back windscreen! It's still a stunt a masterclass for sure. So is the soundtrack too, another awesome slice of work by the master Stelvio Cipriani. Most of his soundtracks are on Spotify et al so do check them out if you can.

My only real gripe with the film is that it feels about 10-15 minutes too long. If the editing were a little tighter in the non-chase sequences and some of the more talky scenes were either trmmed down or left out completely it would make the film a much sharper package overall. Maybe a fan edit would be an interesting proposition? :think: Highway Racer is a strong film and an alternative slice of poliziotteschi. Well worth watching, if for the exceptional driving work alone.

By the way, I'd have loved to have learned more about this film, but the entire end of the booklet that comes with Years of Lead, and covers Highway Racer, is inexplicably missing from the book, yet is quite clearly listed in the contents! I'm going to contact Arrow Video about this and see if they had similar complaints. Hopefully I'll get a replacement copy. Check yours if you own this box set too.
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 03 Jan 2022, 15:11 
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Kicked off 2022 the way 2021 ended, with another 1970's poliziotteschi!

Alas this one was a really dull poliziotteschi. Absolutely nothing of interest happens in it. George Hilton is utterly wasted in this role as the vigilante cop hiding in plain sight. It's such a shame because he's a great actor. I really enjoyed watching him in The Case Of The Scorpion's Tail and even more so in Sartana's Here Trade Your Pistol For A Coffin! throughout 2021. The supporting cast are utterly beige too and offer little to the film. You can tell this was made on zero money and at the point where the poliziotteschi genre was on it's deathbed towards the end of the 1970's. Even the Stelvio Cipriani soundtrack can't save this one. In fact it's so repetitive and recycled (it's lifted from the incredible Execution Squad (aka Das Syndikat) that it becomes utterly terminal after you've heard the same recycled sequence over and over.

Again, the sum of all parts of this film just result in the whole thing being a let-down. The trailer promises a lot, though post-viewing once you've seen the trailer you've pretty much seen the whole film. Also the opening sequence is really nice but a bit devoid of ideas. I do love those guerilla style shots in cars cruising around 1970's Rome at night. It just oozes cool and style, especially with a great soundtrack to propel it. The opening sequence leaves you feeling like the film is setting itself up to deliver something spectacular, but it never really delivers at all (like the rail service, or whatever political party is currently in government where you live).

The film does get better towards the end, but by that time you've really cashed out any investment you had in the film and are really just watching the clock as the runtime draws near. In particular the final sequence of comeuppance is done reasonably well so the finale doesn't end a drab film on a sour note. Quite the opposite.

If you do end up watching this film then avoid the English dub at all costs, it's horrendous. Think of the very worst martial arts film dub and multiply that by infinity and you're still nowhere near just how much of a shambles the dub for Torino Violenta is. No really, it's bloody awful. I'm annoyed too because the Eurocrime box set has the Italian, German and English tracks for this film but no English subtitles so I was lumbered with the dub for this viewing. I always like to watch my films in their native tongue where possible so I may dump this disc to my NAS and run an SRT track through ALASS on it in the near future.

In summary this film is akin to the excitement of getting a piñata, cracking it open and finding the only thing inside it is an unpaid gas and electricity bill. For poliziotteschi fanatics (e.g. myself) only.
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 06 Jan 2022, 17:45 
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Cracked open the Female Prisoner 701 Blu Ray box from Arrow yesterday evening and settled down for the first of four films, Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion, which was made in 1972 and, to put it bluntly, was f'ing excellent.

As a film it doesn't offer a great deal in terms of the actual plot. Woman gets catastrophically taken for a fool by a bent copper and his boss. Woman seeks revenge. That's it in a nutshell. However the true beauty of the film is comprised from many factors, mostly around how it was put together and how the sum of all it's parts are executed.

For a directorial debut this is some effort. Made in 1972 at times it feels like it is a film that is light years ahead of it's time. There's the Argento-esque lighting, the wild use of camera angles (similar in style to the Sister Street Fighter films) and the minimal yet raw and savage soundtrack that rubs caustically against the viewer throughout the film to great effect. The majority of the cast aren't up to much in terms of dazzling acting skills, and some of the fights are pretty poorly choreographed and executed. That's not to discredit the wonderful Meiko Kaji, our main lady, who puts in an epic performance as the battered, bruised and tormented Nami Matsushima. Kaji is one tough cookie and I absolutely would not like to spill her pint in the pub, she'd absolutely BATTER you! :shock:

This isn't (at least in my opinion) one of those 'Women In Prison' films that were made prominent by the likes of Jess Franco et al. It doesn't go down the sleazy route despite the amount of skin on show throughout the film's fairly swift 87 minutes or so. The nudity and the exploitative angle the film takes, I think, serves a purpose to backup the rage, anger, humiliation and torment being felt by our heroine. I mean, if you want to tug your choskers and knock out a litre of trouser custard you'd get more value from the 10 minute freeview's on satellite telly or ring Babestation if you're that desperate. This isn't that kind of a film.

At times the film felt almost comic book-like in it's style and execution. There's a fantastic flashback scene near the beginning as we see Nami falling in love only for the scene to switch to her boyfriend conspiring with his boss to frame her, the whole time with the previous scene in the front of the picture. Colours and use of shadows reminded me a lot of some moments from Kill Bill Volume 1, which ironically I had literally just been watching the Japanese DVD of that I bought recently (just to check out the full colour sequence missing from all other releases).

Make no mistake, this is a proper film and a whopper directorial debut. From what I've read, the second film is even better than the first so I cannot wait to get stuck in to that fairly soon. If you are keen to watch these films, definitely get the Blu Ray box as it's got a great picture and the mono soundtrack sounds superb too. Just don't watch these films with yer nan! :lol:
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 17 Jan 2022, 12:46 
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More poliziotteschi action with 1973's Franco Nero-driven shouting fiesta, High Crime aka The Marseilles Connection aka La Polizia Incrimina La Legge Assolve aka a million other titles.

This one is directed by the director of the sensationally EPIC 'Street Law' (also starring Franco Nero), Enzo Castellari and is a film that immediately grabs your attention with both a tremedous soundtrack by the always brilliant Oliver Onions (aka Guido and Maurizio De Angelis) and a superb opening chase sequence that goes on for about 10 minutes. I loved the way the film opens in a tunnel, with the sleazy beatnik score gurgling away as the camera approaches the tunnel exit before giving way to a magnificent car chase through the city.

The opening in the tunnel reminded me a little bit of the wonderful 1970 film Puppet On A Chain, which(in my opinion) is home to one of the greatest chase sequences ever filmed. What would have been nice is when the cars go out on to the motorway and leave the city, that the soundtrack remained silent with just the engine noises and tyre squeals filling the audio void. I think that would have worked to greater effect as the sudden bursts of music take away a little from the overall effect of the sequence which is a little disappointing. Still, the thing as a whole is highly entertaining, which cannot really be said for the film as a whole.

Franco Nero plays the pissed off cop but delivers his entire script by shouting. This becomes a little grating after a while and you begin to wish he would just calm down a bit. It's understandable that he's pissed of, due to events in the film, but to be so hyper the whole time is a little much. This is why I prefer his role in Street Law (which followed High Crime) if I have to choose between the two. The supporting cast are pretty good but not exceptional (perhaps the dubbing hurts it a little), look out for Brooks from Shawshank Redemption! The problem that I think plagues High Crime is that after such a bright start, the film falls a little flat for a while. There's a few nice chases and some rather gruesome fight sequences sprinkled here and there, but it's not until the final sequence that the film progresses from a simmer to a faster boil. Just as the end sequence gets going it all comes to a sudden halt. I wasn't really expecting that and, in my view, it massively affected the impact of the sequence that unfolds just before the ending.

I think High Crime is a bit of a mixed bag. There's some serious potential here but it's marred by Nero's constant shouting, a bit of a jumbled plot and the abruptness of the final sequence. You're just left wanting a little more out of it. A shame really as there's a lot to like otherwise, especially that gorgeous soundtrack and also Castellari's magnificent, trademark 'guerilla'-style camerawork.

Edit: I forgot to mention, this film showcases one of the greatest things I've ever seen. The Matchbox Cascade! :shock:



Note that Matchbox released this in 1972, so the same time High Crime was being filmed I would imagine.
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 19 Jan 2022, 09:05 
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Mr. Mean is a 1977 blaxploitation masterpiece from the king himself, Fred Williamson. Mr. Mean is disappointingly, alas, not the latest blaxploitation epic based on the classic Roger Hargreaves novellas.

Mr. Mean is without a doubt one of the worst films I've ever seen. But on the other hand, actually, it isn't. I'll try to explain.

Make no mistake, Mr. Mean is a terrible film. It's poorly shot, poorly acted and the editing is absolutely criminal. Just to reinforce a point around the editing, it's so bad that scenes skip and jump with like a cable subscriber channel hopping 6837 different channels trying to find something good to watch. Not only is the editing beyond sloppy but some of it is just downright unforgivable. Several scenes start with the actors already talking but without any audio. So either you miss important plot points (:lol:) or the dialogue actually starts where it's supposed to just the editor didn't trim the negative accurately enough while making the edit. It really is a p**s poor effort.

Then there's the soundtrack. Hats off to Williamson for roping in the Ohio Players to do the soundtrack, which is admittedly excellent (and also available on Spotify etc). They also did the score.

Oh my God the score. :crazy:

Imagine loading a troupe of elephants up on alcohol and PCP then letting them loose in a room filled with Bontempi's and recording the whole aural sonic experience. You're still not even close to just how goddamn awful the incidental music in this film is. It's beyond appalling. By the end I wanted to claw my eyes out and fill my sockets with sulphuric acid. I wished I was dead it's that bad. The incidental music score in Mr. Mean is so bad it makes the music in The Exterminator 2 sound like a Morricone masterpiece. Christ on a bike that was an awful experience. I'm going to have therapy for years for it.

Let's not forget the completely outrageous and utterly nonsenical plot, dreadful script and atrocious acting. It feels like the whole film was just cobbled together as production went along.

Well here's the punchline. It was.

From what I understand, having looked in to the history of Mr. Mean, it turns out that during filming for Inglorious b*****ds (directed by Street Law and High Crime legend Enzo Castellari), Williamson wrote the story for Mr. Mean on Monday to Friday evenings and shot what he had written during the week on Saturday and Sunday. He used a bunch of the camera and lighting equipment (apparently without asking first) from the set of Inglorious b*****ds and asked the crew of said film to help him shoot Mr. Mean and put it together.

Taking this in to account, along with all the negative preamble I've spouted and I end up with the resulting feeling, as the end credits roll, that I actually like this film. Despite how utterly turgid the whole thing is, there's this overwhelming sense of endearment about it. There are also some genuinely interesting moments, particularly the nice plot twist at the end.

I love how sloppily the film is put together. How hokey the whole experience is. I love that the score is so goddamn awful I wanted to throw myself off a cliff. I love how the negatives are so badly damaged that they look like they've been dragged through a hedge backwards when scanned for the Blu Ray release. It tells me this film was probably laid dormant and forgotten for years and no film, no matter how terrible it is, should be left to rot in to oblivion. At the end of the day someone cared enough to make a film, no matter what the underlying reason was. The only exception being The Executioner Part 2, a film so s**t that Part 1 doesn't even exist. Seriously, don't waste your time with it. I love the atrocious acting, the non-existant plot and the air of narcissim that oozes from every pore of this film. The whole experience doesn't even fall in to the 'so bad it's good' category, it's an entirely different trip altogether.

TL;DR? I loved Mr. Mean. :thumbup:

Edit: Apologies if it appears i'm taking over this thread. I'll cool off putting any stuff up for a while if it's doing anyone's head in. :oops:
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 19 Jan 2022, 14:51 
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The other night I watched the Criterion Blu-ray of Wings of Desire.

This is a movie I’ve seen more times than I can count. I get something new out of it every time. It’s many things to many people. A beautifully shot movie, and examination of the present, an examination of the past, it considers the barriers that hold us back in life, real and metaphorical and many shades in between, a celebration of the human spirit, the most romantic movie ever made, or just a movie with amazing music. One thing I realize more now is that this movie wasn’t just a product of a young hotshot director, there are many voices. The script is amazing and good enough to work on its own as a novel or something. The stars each contributed to their roles considerably and the movie as a whole, the cinematography would make anything interesting and the music, which excellent, holds it all together.

The white subtitles on the Criterion BR suck. I don’t know why the hell white subtitles came back from the dead. I hate the f***ing things, especially in b/w movies. Other than that this disc seems great. I haven’t watched most of the bonus yet. A+ recommendation.

https://youtu.be/wHFEeVKjHGw (NYT video review)
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 19 Jan 2022, 21:40 
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signofzeta wrote:
The white subtitles on the Criterion BR suck. I don’t know why the hell white subtitles came back from the dead. I hate the f***ing things, especially in b/w movies.


Criterion:

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Every HK release circa the 1980's and 90's:

"Hold my beer..."


Coincidentally I was watching a docu a few nights back and I recall it mentioned that a lot of HK theatrical releases back then had those awful see-through subtitles due to censorship back then? Films would be rushed out with hokey subtitles fairly quickly. Hence how awful they were.
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 06 Apr 2022, 08:37 
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Watched: A Civil action that I got on LD recently. Saw the movie for the first time. They don't make intelligent movies like that anymore probably because modern generation has the same attention span as a tiktok video.
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 07 Apr 2022, 21:47 
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Do Blu-rays count?
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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 09 Apr 2022, 02:18 
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thestudioghibifa wrote:
Do Blu-rays count?



Of course they do !

Just viewed Hellboy (original) and the blu ray extra suppliment installment for Hellboy Golden Army.
Really enjoyed all the extra content especially all the thought and creativity that went into Blink and all the Troll Market extras. Del Torro is literally a creative GENIUS. (ALONG WITH HIS ARMY OF TEAM MEMBERS).

Also just viewed the blu ray Fifth Element and Valerian and the City of 1000 planets.
Luc Besson classics.
Also that week, Kurt Wimmer epic "ULTRAVIOLET"
Mia Jovovich utterly epic performance of the comic heroine VIOLET Song Jat Shariff....
Check it if ya haven't.

Cheers mates !


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 Post subject: Re: What have you been watching?
PostPosted: 09 Apr 2022, 13:16 
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Watched Forbidden Planet for the first time since lord knows when.

It's actually pretty amazing how well the optical effects hold up; I've seen newer films where the effect isn't quite as seamless as it is here; but the most impressive part of the film to me is still probably the script, and how well ahead of it's time it was. In a way, Forbidden Planet laid the groundwork for science fiction decades to come, especially Star Trek; rather than bug-eyed monsters created by radiation, it is humans themselves aboard a flying saucer flying to alien planets. Although we never see a single Krell, they're never once implied to have been the hostile type, although I suppose you could read their failure to predict the outcome of activating their machine the result of hubris.

With minor changes this could've easily been an episode of Star Trek, although undoubtedly with a lot less impressive special effects work.
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