Last movie watched...

[Buttonman]

Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory which wasn't nearly as good as the title suggests.

Also saw The Marc Pease Experience which starred my new favourite Anna Kendrick as well as Ben Stiller and Jason Schwartzman. It was gawd awful.

[Keef Monkey]

Nightbreed - The Director's Cut

I really enjoyed this. Yeah it's aged, it's a bit clunky and some of the acting's not great but there's a lot to like.
I read somewhere the the aim of Nightbreed was to do for horror what Star Wars had done for Sci Fi. They failed but they gave it a bloody good go. It's a shame it didn't do at least well enough to get a sequel as there are loads of places they could have taken it and it was obviously set up for one.
Perhaps one day someone with enough influence will get this remade, or perhaps adapted as a TV series.

I've always loved Nightbreed, even if Barker's ambition went way beyond the budget at times. It's the ambition that makes it, and it's the movie that most feels like a post-Books of Blood dark fantasy Barker novel I think. Always thought it was annoying that the book ends with a lot of possibilities and then there was no follow-up, maybe if the movie had been successful it would have carried on. My girlfriend saw it for the first time on the recent re-release and I got the impression she found it very cheesy, so could be it's one of those films that's aged quite badly if you don't have a prior attachment to it.

They've changed the ending in the new cut and I'm not sure which I prefer actually.

Coincidentally the new Barker novel has got me revisiting a lot of his stuff, re-reading The Great And Secret Show just now and planning a re-watch of Lord of Illusions which I remember really liking at the time.

[Richmond Clements]

planning a re-watch of Lord of Illusions which I remember really liking at the time

Huge Barker fan, and I love Harry D'Amour, but have never seen that movie...

Through the miracle of Amazon Prime on the bus:
Now You See Me: Daft, but great fun if you just go along with it. Helped by an astonishingly charismatic cast. And Dave Franco.
Sorry, cheap gag - but it's frothy fun and well worth your time.

After Earth: Bad, but not as bad as I had imagined. Will Smith is great, and while I support his giving his children a leg up, Jaden just does not have the acting chops of his old man.
Problems include: Produced and directed by M Night Shyamalan. Producers Will Smith and his wife. Story by Will Smith... This could have been great if they'd had someone to point out and remove the rubbish bits.

[Tiplodocus]

DETENTION OF THE DEAD
If Buffy hadn't  wrung every ounce of drama and comedy out of high school cliquesdealing with horror tropes, this might have had something going for it. Not funny enough to compensate for the lack of genuine scares or gore and bad acting, cliched characters and piss poor dialogue.

More like Detention of the shit.

[Keef Monkey]

Saw that a while back, it really was not good. Came across like a school project that had gotten out of control, or a short film that had been expanded just because they could. It was late at night at the end of a movie marathon and I struggled to stay awake for it sadly.

[Richmond Clements]

Attack the Block. Why the drokk have I not watched this before? Amazing movie and a textbook example of shoe to create menace and threat with zero budget.

[Keef Monkey]

Hercules In New York - Had somehow never gotten round to this turkey, despite a young need to see everything Arnie appeared in. Terrible, but a real curio. It's amazing to think that someone who could put in a performance this appalling could then go on to be the biggest star in Hollywood. For a 'so bad it's good' movie it's actually quite a slog to watch, but does have it's moments (mainly every time Arnie opens his mouth).

[Hawkmumbler]

You forgot the [spoiler]Bear in the park[/spoiler] scene.

[Tiplodocus]

Saw that a while back, it really was not good. Came across like a school project that had gotten out of control, or a short film that had been expanded just because they could. It was late at night at the end of a movie marathon and I struggled to stay awake for it sadly.

I told Tiny Tips the title of this movie and a bit about the basic premise and he correctly guessed what 6 of the 7 main characters would be:
- nerd
- gothy type
- sexy type prom queen/cheer leader
- a couple of jocks
- a teacher

He missed out on the stoner/slacker but not bad going. And probably a sure sign that your movie is predictable shit

[Theblazeuk]

Attack the Block. Why the drokk have I not watched this before? Amazing movie and a textbook example of shoe to create menace and threat with zero budget.

Joe Cornish's interview with Mark Kermode & Simon Mayo is pretty funny. He accurately says that its being judged as though it's part of the cornetto trilogy, so perhaps Mr Kermode might prefer to watch the movie Joe made and not the one Mark thought he was going to watch.

A viewpoint Mark Kermode has since come around to!

I love it. Glad to see Moses leading up the trailer for Star Wars too.

[Colin YNWA]

Attack the Block. Why the drokk have I not watched this before? Amazing movie and a textbook example of shoe to create menace and threat with zero budget.

Joe Cornish's interview with Mark Kermode & Simon Mayo is pretty funny. He accurately says that its being judged as though it's part of the cornetto trilogy, so perhaps Mr Kermode might prefer to watch the movie Joe made and not the one Mark thought he was going to watch.

A viewpoint Mark Kermode has since come around to!

I love it. Glad to see Moses leading up the trailer for Star Wars too.

Love that movie and thanks for making me aware of the Cornish Kermode thing - that interview is fantastic and the politist arguement ever!

[Colin YNWA]

Anyway why I cam here in the first place was to say I've just watched Black Angel

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L8pHKP-vv4

Now I'd long remember this film without knowing it was a thing. I remembered vividly the shots of the knight drowning and fighting to take off his helmet. I knew it was a short I'd seen in the cinemen but couldn't remember the context. So anyway a couple of years ago I stumbled across some info about it and found out it was ahead of Empire, which made sense and that it was long lost and had become a bit of a cult classic.

Anyway its found remastered and out there again so I watched and its kinda telling that what I remembered was some striking visuals and not much else as, well to be honest that sums up the movies. It takes a lovely long time to wander here and there. With beautifully shot scenes and glorious vistas. It bravely mianders and sure takes it time to tell its tall. The trouble is there's not enough to the tale to make it worthwhile. Its so slight that however nicely and visually its made its pretty unsatifying.

From the simply fantastic clouds surrounding the sun in the opening shot to the Black Angel himself (strange that I didn't remember him rather than the drowning - who knows?) it looks great. Just there's not really much else to it.Which is kinda the idea I think but doesn't work for me. One of those films possibly served better by memory.

[Hawkmumbler]

Herm. I have Black Angel lined up in my Watch Later queue....must give it a watch tonight.

[blackmocco]

Kingsman. It was pretty good, if a little smug.

[Professor Bear]

He missed out on the stoner/slacker but not bad going. And probably a sure sign that your movie is predictable shit

What's truly amazing is that any sensible person would assume Detention of the Dead was a straight-to-shelf rip-off of cult anime boobs/gore-fest High School of the Dead*, but it's actually based on a stage play.




*Which has such notoriously unnecessary sexualisation of its female characters that I know one anime fan who will only refer to it as The Wanking Dead.