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Started by SmallBlueThing, 04 February, 2011, 12:40:44 PM

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mogzilla

watched on stranger tides last night ....meh

and, "13 assasins " which was bloody good

SmallBlueThing

#1096
The Devil Rides Out

Following a read of 'devil worship in great britain', i got hold of this to see what causal links i could find in the early sixties satanism panic. Basically, Dennis Wheatley, the hackmeister general, has a great deal to answer for.

Richard Matheson's script is a lark- and through the lips of chris lee, patrick mower, charles gray and paul eddington (yes, basically played jerry) every alarmist and portentous utterance becomes swathed in serious meaning. Matheson must've had a laugh when he saw the cast, knowing how they'd play it.

It's hamstrung by what they couldnt show; the ritual orgy scenes look like a disco, and there's no nudity at all. Not even a solitary tit. The only bloodletting happens offscreen, and the scenes of demonic attack in the early part of the film are melodramatic and uneffective.

However, following an exciting car chase, from the moment 'the goat of mendez' appears on the rock, it steps up a gear. Even now there's a frisson at the realisation of satan, as if it's somehow transgressive even to show him, despite looking as if he's just stepped out of the bbc's narnia adaptations. I remember as a small boy finding the idea that a film 'showed the devil' very frightening indeed.

The final battle is nicely done, but better in concept than in execution; though the giant spider is very well done. The angel of death is pathetic however- did they run out of cash, or was Matheson having an offday?

The resolution's at least ten times dumber and more mawkish than it first appears to be, and actually elicited a groan chez-sbt.

Wheatley, and Hammer, were largely resposible for the moral outrage surrounding 'satanism'. He responded to the permissive society by placing it in a mystical, satanic context, literally putting the goat of mendez at the heart as a threat to english values. Hammer rightly made it ludicrous, but the public ignored that and used it to fuel their own fears. Hammer had a hit, and fifty years later i had an entertaining night in front of the telly.

SBT

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Spaceghost

Quote from: mogzilla on 14 September, 2011, 04:36:11 PM
"13 assasins " which was bloody good

You're not wrong there. Fantastic it was.

The guy who played the evil and sadistic Lord who the assassins are out to kill was played by Goro, a member of SMAP, Japan's long running, wholesome and family-friendly boyband (and my wife's teenage crush). The English equivalent would be to have the villain played by Howard from Take That.

He did a bloody good job though.
Raised in the wild by sarcastic wolves.

Previously known as L*e B*tes. Sshhh, going undercover...

James Stacey

Really enjoyed 13 Assassins. Ticked almost every box for me. They just don't make movies like this any more. . well they clearly do, but only when it's a remake.

Greg M.

Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 15 September, 2011, 10:02:56 AM
Hammer had a hit, and fifty years later i had an entertaining night in front of the telly.

'The Devil Rides Out' is undoubtedly one of my all-time favourite films – pride of place in my living room goes to a big, red, lurid original quad poster for the movie. The story is slightly hindered by lopping off the last section of the novel where, divorced from linear time, the heroes travel to Paris and then onto a damned monastery (in Greece, I think... I re-read it quite recently). The book's ending is still a bit of a near-literal deus ex machine, but it is foreshadowed fairly effectively. That said, the film just about gets away with it - "Yes, Simon. He is the one we must thank" - though the fact they have to commune with Tanith to find out where Richard's daughter is and it turns out to be exactly the same place they were the other night   seems like rather a waste of necromancy. But by God, Lee lends that film a remarkable weight (portentous utterances is indeed the perfect description of his delivery), Eddington is the perfect Richard Eaton, Patrick Mower is wonderfully tormented as Simon and Gray as Mocata is sublimely sinister (it's all in the eyes - he's far superior to the novel's Mocata, a shameless Crowely-lite figure.) The 'inside the circle' sequence is one of the great horror cinema set-pieces, only marred by the fact they forgot to stick in a background for the bit when the Angel of Death is revealed. (I don't mind the comparative naffness of the Angel - by that stage, the film, and Lee in particular, has sold the idea so well that it almost doesn't matter.)

An absolute classic.

Richmond Clements

Quote'The Devil Rides Out' is undoubtedly one of my all-time favourite films

Mine too.
It is not for nothing my Xbox name is rexvanryn

Hawkmumbler

Street Fighter- Legend of Chun Li
Oh dear sweet god this fucking sucks.

Albion

Only eight years behind most people but last night I watched Daredevil.

Mrs Albion turned the TV on to BBC3 just as it was about to start so I decided to finally watch it.
Oh dear.....not the best Marvel movie is it? I've never really been a fan of Daredevil so didn't expect much. I have heard about the longer and apparently much better directors cut so maybe in another eight years or so I'll watch that.
I thought Colin Farrell as Bullseye was bloody awful.
Dumb all over, a little ugly on the side.

JOE SOAP

The longer version is better -not great- but unfotunately Ben Affleck is still in it. What is really stupid is that the director had the choice which version to release theatrically. Even though he believed the longer version to be better, he released the other.

SmallBlueThing

Quote from: Albion on 15 September, 2011, 08:09:53 PM
Only eight years behind most people but last night I watched Daredevil.

Mrs Albion turned the TV on to BBC3 just as it was about to start so I decided to finally watch it.
Oh dear.....not the best Marvel movie is it? I've never really been a fan of Daredevil so didn't expect much. I have heard about the longer and apparently much better directors cut so maybe in another eight years or so I'll watch that.
I thought Colin Farrell as Bullseye was bloody awful.

In the spirit of disagreeing with everything you say this week Mr Albion  :D  I have to admit to really liking Daredevil. It used to be my favourite of all the Marvel movies- back when the best they could manage was Spidey or XMen. Of course nowadays we've had the far superior THOR, Captain America and arguably (well, I love it) The Incredible Hulk. Also, I haven't seen it in years, so memory may cheat.

Anyway- I remember it as being dark, fun, grimy and with an excellent villain in Bullseye. I especially liked the rap music that introduced him in the pub scene; "I'm Irish! I'm a leprechaun!". Oh, and Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin is class. I liked that it used all the religious iconography of the more recent Daredevil comics (that I had read at that point), and that it reminded me of 'Man Without Fear', or whatever that series was called- the JRJR one.

Anyway, each to their own and all that!

SBT
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COMMANDO FORCES

I watched that Fast and Furious 5 the other night and thoroughly enjopyed the mindless spectacle paraded across the screen in front of me. I watched the first one in the series and didn't bother with the rest. The only reason I wanted to 'eventually' watch this was because I knew The Rock would have to have a fight with Vin and their confrontation didn't disappoint.

The start of the film with the bus scene was hilarious as everyone survived, which was amazing. We then had the train action piece which was fun but let down with the editing as the bridge approached but still I found it entertaining, especially the climax. Then we have the robbery with the safe, I absolutely loved the utter balls out madness to this, the carnage was fun to watch. Even though I enjoyed these sequences I thoroughly enjoyed the shoot outs and all the weapon play.

Overall this was a decent Friday night film (although I watched it on a Wednesday)

Albion

Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 15 September, 2011, 08:18:33 PM

In the spirit of disagreeing with everything you say this week Mr Albion  :D

Of course nowadays we've had the far superior THOR, Captain America and arguably (well, I love it) The Incredible Hulk. 

Oh, and Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin is class.

And disagree we shall my friend. I haven't liked either of The Hulk movies.  :)

But I will agree that the Kingpin was very good.
Dumb all over, a little ugly on the side.

Professor Bear

Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 15 September, 2011, 08:18:33 PMIt used to be my favourite of all the Marvel movies- back when the best they could manage was Spidey or XMen.

/nerd
Spidey was a Sony Pictures movie, X-Men a Fox product.  Marvel now have a studio to make their own movies like Captain America, Thor, Avengers, Iron Man, and to me, this explains why Spidey 3, X3, Wolverine and First Class were the messes they were - the studios literally had to make any movie at all within a certain time frame or the rights revert back to a rival studio.
Oddly, I am still looking forward to Amazing Spider-Man.  Shitty costume and all.

I like Daredevil a lot, especially the Director's Cut.  I have no idea why it's hated beyond that some of the cast inspire an emotional reaction from some pundits - and that's fair enough, because whatever the reasons you don't like it you don't like it and that's that - but find the notion that it's a benchmark in bad superhero movies an odd one.
Mind you, I don't rate Daredevil much beyond one or two stories from the 1980s and a run by Ann Nocenti that gets ignored because she committed the crimes of remembering that (1) Daredevil is a superhero comic and (2) was a woman.  Since then every story seems to be about how Matt Murdoch's life gets suckier and then he became the king of the zombie ninjas and I figured it was time to call it a day.

JOE SOAP

It is quite a difference between both versions of Daredevil, not the same films at all. When I saw the theatrical version it just felt like half the film was missing and as I found out later that's actually what it was, half of another film mixed with some sex scenes. Although it still has many problems, the director's cut is in no way the worst of the hero flicks but the theatrical version probably is.


I would consider it on a par with the last X-Men flick which suffers from far too many useless/uninteresting/superfluous secondary characters -all X-Men films do- and a sloppy plot.



SmallBlueThing

Quote from: Professah Byah on 15 September, 2011, 11:07:33 PM
/nerd
Spidey was a Sony Pictures movie, X-Men a Fox product.  Marvel now have a studio to make their own movies

Yes... I actually meant "Movie about Marvel characters", you big nerd.

SBT
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