Last movie watched...

[rogue69]

Mattofthespurs have you watched the animated prequel to Train to Busan Seoul Station it's just as good

[Mattofthespurs]

I watched the trailer. The blu ray now resides in my amazon basket

[Theblazeuk]

Just as good is a bold, bold claim. But definitely worth a watch

[Colin YNWA]

Got to Rise of the Planet of the Apes last night and have to say I really enjoyed it again. I looked back to what I said here after watching it the first time and have to say I pretty much stand by that... so another self quote - oh the humanity... though to be fair far from being based on ego I do this purely from the view of laziness.

Personally I loved it. I thought it was engaging and entertaining. Okay at times it boarded on the melodramatic (but then what Hollywood movie doesn't these days?) and there were plot holes and leaps of logic you could drive a bus through. For all that though it was interesting enough and had good enough characters through out the first two thirds of the film that I let these pass and just allowed myself to be entertained. During the last third frankly who gave a toss by that point it was such an roller coaster romp and such a thrill a minute. To my amazement the CGI was on the whole convincing as well, where so often it seems it abilities seem very over estimated here they seemed to get things just about right, a few sticky moments aside.

Biggest gripe, why oh why is James Franco believed to have enough charisma to lead a film? I find Ben Affleck more engaging. Fortunately he was surrounded by enough great actors to not be to distracting, or is that bland enough to melt into the background? To be fair this might have been a deliberate move to raise the profile of the true star Caesar?

The best thing, the scale of the piece. It didn't over extend itself. The motives and resolution were thrilling enough to be exciting and feel really important, largely due to the excellent set up that proceeded it. It didn't take things too fair and try to cram too much in. These days Hollywood seems to want to cram an extra hour onto any film and the way the film ends here would often have just been the first section leading into a bum numbing third hour that was uncomfortable and not required. Here however they were very clever I felt. There was a real and powerful end that left the film feeling very satisfactory but enough of a tease of what's to come to mean that a sequel is very well set up and they've clearly thought ahead about some of the very questions people have been asking in anticipation of this film. I can't wait for the sequel. Mind I will be avoiding all possible trailers and spoilers of that as a few things aside much of the plot was clear from the outset.

Overall this was a flawed but romping success well worth the trip to the cinema, but then in the word (singular) of The Cosh I'm an ape-ologist.

Onto Dawn tonight...

[Keef Monkey]

I loved Skull Island! I'd really disliked the Godzilla reboot so didn't expect much, had a great time.

Was at Frightfest at the weekend so saw a ton of movies, will try and be brief but here are my thoughts on what I saw -

Lords of Chaos - Dramatized true story of the events around the band Mayhem, and that whole Norwegian black metal mess in the '80s where churches were being burnt and people were being murdered and all sorts. Had a passing knowledge of the events just from reading rock mags back then, but didn't know a lot of the details and the way the movie depicts the whole scene is pretty fascinating. It's a very tough watch in places, particularly as the tone swings around wildly from fun rock n' roll romp to very unpleasant and very violent tragedy. One suicide scene in particular is depicted in such intense detail that it was really hard-going, and at that point the film had to be stopped and an ambulance called as an audience member seemed to faint or have a seizure (we've been told since that he's fine, but was quite worrying at the time).

The performances are fantastic, and despite the Daily Mail apparently seeking to have the film banned for glorifying murder and church-burning, it actually just makes it all look incredibly sad. Just a lot of angst-ridden posers desperate to out-edge each other resulting in things escalating quickly and horribly. Definitely a very difficult film, but I thought it was excellent none-the-less (even if I don't think I'd ever watch it again - after the stoppage in the cinema they were rewinding it a few minutes to resume and we were massively relieved when they picked it up post-suicide, because I don't think anyone in the room had any desire to see that scene again).

Level 16 - This was very good, about women living in a mysterious facility from childhood and being trained to be good and obedient until they graduate to being adopted by a family. As sinister as that is, there are obviously even more sinister motivations going on, and I thought the film did a good job of keeping the intrigue going. Found the last chunk weaker than the journey there, but really liked this overall.

The Dead Center - This was my favourite of the first day of films, keeps the dread and foreboding dripping nice and thick and has some great performances (Shane Carruth of Primer/Upstream Color fame plays the lead and is brilliant, he should be in more stuff!). Really liked this, really tense and creepy and with some moments and images that stuck with me.

Here Comes Hell - A horror spoof shot in a '50s style which is pretty reliably funny throughout. Some great Evil Dead style moments and everyone in it hams it up with glee, great fun!

Black Circle - This had a really odd hypnotic quality to it, and although I felt like it dragged a little in parts it was odd and unusual enough that I found it really absorbing. Right from the start it creates a very off-kilter atmosphere and sustains that admirably, so I give it a thumbs up for that.

Dead Ant - A hair metal band on their way to play a festival get attacked by giant ants. That makes it sound a bit more fun than it is, but it was still quite fun. Might have just been the late night slot it was in, but I found myself laughing at almost as many lines as I groaned at. Basically it's bad, but in the right mood it's the right kind of bad. It's a shame the ants were all terrible cheap CG though, I don't hate CG as such but it's really taken the charm out of cheap horror movies. Some awful physical effects probably would have elevated something like this to cult status, as it stands it'll probably not make it much further than the SYFY channel Sharknado slot.

The Rusalka - This has already been renamed apparently (to The Siren), and was really good. Being a bit of a monster movie/love story means it could probably draw some Del Toro comparisons, but it feels very different. It has a slow and meditative beauty that really drew me in. Quite a mezmerizing film, very much liked it.

Automata - Really wanted to like this one, because the setup is interesting and it's been made in Scotland so I was kind of rooting for it I guess, but it was kind of a mess. Definitely has a ton of ambition and there's an intriguing gothic romance in there which in other hands could have turned out great (actually, Del Toro could probably make a masterpiece with the basic idea), but it just feels unfocussed and very cheap and some of the acting is absolutely howling.

Finale - A very well made, well acted and very good looking film, that did nothing for me really. It just didn't do anything new or interesting enough to justify existing I guess. Expected more but it descends into pointless torture porn eventually, and even the bursts of character that shine through feel reminiscent of other better films. The film it reminded me of most was Rob Zombie's 31, which even as a Rob Zombie fan/apologist I didn't find particularly good, but that at least had that incredible Richard Brake performance that made it hugely memorable all the same. I think I'll only remember this one for making me wince at a couple of nasty moments.

The Witch Part 1: The Subversion - This was BRILLIANT and I absolutely loved it. Basically feels a bit like a Korean X-Men origin story, but when things kick off they kick off with a violent glee that you probably wouldn't see from a similar Hollywood film. Can imagine some folk might find the first couple of acts a bit slow and light on action, but the characters are so absorbing that it had me hooked throughout and when things kick off they kick off in some brilliantly blood-flinging and bone-crunching action scenes. I can't wait to buy this and watch it a bunch more.

Freaks - Again, I loved this, it is very, very, very good. Like The Witch it sometimes feels like an unconventional X-Men story, and the way it starts out massively intriguing (father keeps his daughter sealed up in their house with very little explanation) and then just escalates and escalates means it starts out cool and then just gets better and better as it goes. I'm a little worried that when it eventually gets released the marketing will give away too much, because I went in completely cold so felt like it surprised me constantly and kept up a very admirable pace of discovery and surprises throughout.

I loved this so much, and I'm going to be banging on about it to everyone until I get the chance to see it again. Feels like it could be absolutely massive if it gets the right release, but no doubt it'll wind up as a Netflix original (the director mentioned during the Q&A that the current plan is to remake it as a TV series, which could be very cool but dammit people should see this film!!!)

The Hoard - A spoof reality show thing that was occasionally funny, but mostly just a bit awkward and stilted. People seemed to be enjoying it so maybe I was just tired at this point, but it didn't really do it for me and after the Witch/Freaks double punch of magnificence this felt a bit of a damp fart ending to the festival.

Overall was a pretty great fest though! And because you can never have too much horror, also rewatched Halloween (2018) last night because Mrs Monkey missed it in the cinema. Still love it, think it's about as perfectly fitting a follow up to the original as I could have hoped for and the soundtrack is incredible. Mrs Monkey also loved it, commented early on [spoiler]that she hoped Laurie and her family fight back and turn the table on Myers, so for the whole last act she was cheering them on and fist-pumping with delight.[/spoiler] Was really nice to see her enjoy it as much as I did. As much as I love it though I'm very much not interested in them doing any more, I know it was a huge hit so a sequel is probably inevitable, but it feels like it did justice to the franchise [spoiler]by finally giving Laurie Strode the closing chapter she deserved[/spoiler], and I almost feel like continuing to milk it from there would be a bit of a betrayal of what they did here. Hoping against hope that they'll leave it at this, but I know they won't!

[Theblazeuk]

A lot to look forward to from the sounds of it

[Bolt-01]

Off to watch ALIEN on the big screen tonight.

Jovus I love that film.

[Hawkmumbler]

Off to watch ALIEN on the big screen tonight.

Jovus I love that film.

Be doing the same next Tuesday, the new 4K restoration I believe!

[Greg M.]

Lords of Chaos - Dramatized true story of the events around the band Mayhem

I just watched the trailer for this, and it seemed a lot... well, cheesier... than I'd expected. Your review suggests that may not be the case though. I'm pretty well-versed in the events depicted (not least through the book of the same name by Michael Moynihan, which I assume this is based on) and I suppose I'd expected something more fundamentally humourless (no fun, no core, no mosh, no trends) and drenched in evil.

[Keef Monkey]

Yeah the trailer does make it look a fair bit cheesier than it is, the tone is generally pretty grim. It definitely has some deliberate laughs though and swings pretty hard between the fun rock and roll side of it and the nastiness. In that way it could probably be criticized for trying to be two things at once but I thought it worked for the story, although there were a couple of moments where I felt they'd been a bit too flippant about certain things maybe.

Also I've no idea quite how factually accurate it is! Instead of the intro text stating 'based on a true story' it says something like 'based on truth, lies and what actually happened' which seems a bit of an admission that they've taken some liberties or maybe based it on unreliable accounts. I guess there's no way of knowing what happened in places so they've had to take a fair bit of artistic license.

To someone like yourself you already knows the story then that might be a problem - nobody comes out of it looking good as such but I definitely felt the film pushing me very hard towards taking a particular side in the whole thing, and I don't know how much of that was truthful or just to make the story work!

Didn't realize there was a book, curious to read that now too.

[Greg M.]

The book is a collection of observations on the 90s Scandinavian black metal scene, and features interviews with its various members. Inevitably, the guts of it involve Mayhem and the events (I presume) of the movie. No-one comes out of it looking remotely good - Vikernes seems keen to justify the unjustifiable and likely rewrites history as he does so, but he is, by his very nature, the definition of unreliable. (Of the core Norwegian black metallers of that era, Ihsahn of Emperor is one of the few who comes off as having a degree of class.)

A caveat: Moynihan, the book's controversial co-writer, is generally known to be or have been fairly far-right in his own political beliefs - or, at the very least, he is undoubtedly fascinated by the topic. At no point does the book promote such beliefs, though it certainly gives Vikernes a little too much opportunity to spell out his own warped views. Nonetheless, I'd still give the book a qualified recommendation, provided you are prepared to read about some reprehensible attitudes.

[dweezil2]

I absolutely loath wrestling, so I set myself with a fall for this one-harg, harg!
But knock me down with an elbow drop if Fighting With My Family didn't ultimately win me over.

Some really excellent performances, a very witty script with some surprising grit and a satisfying, if rather predictably structured plot, complete with feel good ending, made for a very enjoyable night out.

It's even got Ma Ma in it!

Definitely a King Of The Ring!

[Theblazeuk]

Watched If Beale Street Could Talk last night - extremely powerful movie, beautifully shot, acted and scripted. You feel the love between the main characters even as you feel their tragedy and the fury of a world that takes all their agency away, just because it can.

[Keef Monkey]

A caveat: Moynihan, the book's controversial co-writer, is generally known to be or have been fairly far-right in his own political beliefs - or, at the very least, he is undoubtedly fascinated by the topic. At no point does the book promote such beliefs, though it certainly gives Vikernes a little too much opportunity to spell out his own warped views. Nonetheless, I'd still give the book a qualified recommendation, provided you are prepared to read about some reprehensible attitudes.

That's interesting, I came away with only a really vague understanding of what his views actually were so they thankfully seem to have been very conscious about not making the film a platform for them.

There's obviously some ranting about the church but Nazism only gets touched on incredibly briefly, and really only as a point of ridicule to show how messy and contradictory his views are when questioned. It doesn't really give a sense of how deep he was into that stuff, it's portrayed more as posturing and a desperation to be taken seriously.

I think that was one of the things I found most interesting about it (at least in the way the film portrays events), the really intense way that music scene appears to have favored authenticity and the lengths that drove people to.

I absolutely loath wrestling, so I set myself with a fall for this one-harg, harg!
But knock me down with an elbow drop if Fighting With My Family didn't ultimately win me over.

I very much enjoy wrestling so was probably going to watch this anyway, but if it's even entertaining people who can't stand it then I'll probably love it! Seems to be getting a lot of good reviews all over the place, looking forward to seeing it.

[dweezil2]

I absolutely loath wrestling, so I set myself with a fall for this one-harg, harg!
But knock me down with an elbow drop if Fighting With My Family didn't ultimately win me over.

I very much enjoy wrestling so was probably going to watch this anyway, but if it's even entertaining people who can't stand it then I'll probably love it! Seems to be getting a lot of good reviews all over the place, looking forward to seeing it.

I'm clearly not the target audience but went to see it based on strong reviews, the cast and Merchant as writer and director.

Be interesting to hear what you think of it!