Last movie watched...

[Tiplodocus]

Die Hard in the Whitehouse.  But admit it, that sounds good doesn't it.

Yes it sounds good - and that's the problem. I thought WHD was pretty far from good.

[Theblazeuk]

Blue Jasmine - not a Woody Allen fan really but quite enjoyed this. Charlize Theron does an excellent job of playing someone who is pitiable despite being fairly reprehensible. Jasmine - I mean, Jeanette, is self-delusional to the point of self-harm. If it wasn't for the ingratitude she shows to - and the inconvenience she causes - for the one person who's trying to help her with no ulterior motive, she might be sympathetic. However as the movie progresses, her role in her own downfall becomes clearer and her lies become ever more apparent.

Not a wholly comfortable watch but it has humour running throughout, albeit mostly of an incredulously tragic nature, and the actors are all brilliant. Well, except Louis CK but he basically plays the same guy he plays in his own self-titled show. It's a coin toss as to who does the best job between Theron or Sally Hawkins, who plays long-suffering and down-to-earth (if a little ditzy) sister Ginger. Theron is the focus of the movie and carries crazy off incredibly well, throwing complete instability out there mere seconds after she pulls off the smooth conceit of a spoiled member of high society and rare moments of lucid, resigned determination. However Hawkins completely fills out the role of the poor, low-maintenance sister who has opened her small apartment to her destitute, snobby sibling and who has her own moments of fanciful weakness - but tries to make the best of a life where she's never been entitled to anything.

[Frank]

Blue Jasmine. Charlize Theron does an excellent job

... and yet, it's Cate Blanchett who's getting all the Oscar buzz.

[Theblazeuk]

Woops!

[JamesC]

Halloween 3

So what's the board's consensus on this? I remember seeing it when I was about 10 and I've loved it ever since.
I really admire the original Halloween idea of having an unrelated, stand alone story, released every year and this is still the only Halloween installment not to feature Michael Myers.
I really like the Sci Fi direction and the masks are bloody great.
The 'happy, happy, Halloween' jingle is fantastic and I think that next year I'll try to make a Silver Shamrock mask as part of my outfit.

[Daveycandlish]

I think you and I may be the only folk to actually like that film James!

[Hawkmumbler]

Not at all. Halloween 3 Season of the Witch is actually my favourite instalment in the series. I watched it last night once again for a double bill with ZFE.

[SmallBlueThing]

As a kid, H3 was "the crap one", as it was 15 rated and didn't have Michael Myers. However, as an adult it's brilliant and probably one of my favourite films- certainly one that gets trotted out with increasing  regularity. Halloween every year is punctuated by linked YouTube version of the silver shamrock advert, and (certainly for my kids, if not yours) "that song" isn't 'London Bridge' it's 'Sil-ver shamROCK (do de do de)'.
And even away from all that, it's a damn site better film than H2, H4-6 and H:R.

SBT

[sheldipez]

Yeah Halloween 3 is great, though any horror movie with Tom Atkins is automatically worth a watch!

[Link Prime]

A real bummer for me- caught the fist 30 minutes of Häxan on Film 4 last night, a movie I'd previously heard about, but never seen broadcast before or on sale anywhere.

It was absolutely mesmerizing- I couldn't believe it was nearly 100 years old.
Alas, I was up early for work so had to head into bed.

Tried looking for it on DVD on the usual websites this morning, but it seems to be a scalpers best friend.

If I cant get it for a decent price, I may have to go down that other road.
It's what Benjamin Christensen would have wanted.

[Recrewt]

I enjoy halloween 3 also.  At the end of H2 we are supposed to believe that Michael is finally dead so for H3 Carpenter and Hill wanted to turn the Halloween series into an anthology, more like the twilight zone with different stories/characters in the films but the link being Halloween.  Unfortunately, H3 didn't do as well as hoped so Michael came back for H4.  Although I do love Michael as a horror character, part of me wishes that he did stay dead at the end of H2.  Those first two films are great viewed back-to-back as H2 kicks off right where H1 ended and it continues the ramping up of the killing/violence.  H2 was a great finish as well - Michael and Loomis go up in flames together.  I don't mind having further films because I will watch anything with Micheal in it (including the 2 Rob Zombie films) but sometimes less is more.

Halloween 3 is still a good movie in it's own right - OK it can be a little slow at times.  The original screenplay was written by Nigel Kneale (of Quatermass fame) but was later altered to have the gore/violence pumped up.  I believe the film is largely the same as Nigel wrote though and you can see the similarities with his other work.  One thing that is telling is that I will happily watch through H3 time and time again but I can't say the same thing for something like H4. 

[Dandontdare]

I find slasher movies very boring, so Halloween 3 is the only one of the franchise I like - brilliant idea and the jingle creeps me out still!

[Mabs]

I find slasher movies very boring, so Halloween 3 is the only one of the franchise I like - brilliant idea and the jingle creeps me out still!

Same here, not a fan of Gorno either. Although I have a soft spot for Zombie flicks and proper horror/ Ghost stories. The Exorcist still remains for me, a giant colossus in the horror landscape.

[Dark Jimbo]

Keeping in the spirit of things, I recently watched Hellraiser. Christ, what a turkey. Maybe you had to be there first time around. The acting - almost without exception - is horrifically bad. The cast seem to be practising on-screen for the first time as you watch - it's little surprise that I don't recognise any of them from anything since. The film shrieks '1980s' at the top of its lungs all the way through, and not in a good way. It's all a bit painful. The soundtrack's bad, the plot's bad, the actors are bad, it just... it just isn't a very good film.

And the plot is ludicrous and full of holes almost from the get-go - for example, having spent the opening five minutes badmouthing her husband's no-good brother, it takes 'Julia' all of five seconds to jump into bed with him when he suddenly appears without explanation in the house. We're then asked to believe that this one single shag was so good, so earth-shaking, that not only is all of Julia's disgust for him instantly banished, not only that she suddenly no longer cares about her husband and is now madly in love with this brother, but that when said brother then reveals that he is in fact an undead fiend returned from hell who has no skin and needs her to start commiting multiple homicide for him, she's so utterly besotted that she'll become a serial killer at the blink of an eyelid in the hopes of another such world-class shag. The subsequent scenes of Clare Higgins bludgeoning blokes with a hammer in massive shoulder pads and purple eye-shadow while her 80's barnet (presumably hair-sprayed to within an inch of its life) bounces from side to side are comically bad.

Anything positive to say? Well yes - the effects work is largely superb for the time, and still holds up really well today, to be honest. I don't know, but I'd imagine that early stopmotion scene of a skeleton re-building itself a network of veins and muscles is rightly celebrated. The film picks up hugely when the Cenobites appear for the third act - the effects here are again superb - and even though only two of them speak these are the only guys in the film that can actually act. Doug Bradley is utterly chilling. They were just - just - good enough to convince me to give the sequel a go...

[JOE SOAP]

Halloween 1 & 2 are the only early Carpenter films I've never watched and have little interest in but Season of the Witch is a different story and I wish Carpenter had directed it himself as it suffers not benefitting from his ability to handle tone and pace. It's a shame because it sits comfortably in that grey area between horror & Sci-Fi Carpenter handles so well and there's a fair bit of stuff that foreshadows They Live.

It's also one of Carpenter's best soundtracks and opening credits.

I stilll want to read Nigel 'Quatermass' Kneale's original script since it was re-written by the director and Kneale requested he go uncredited.