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Hell or High Water

I enjoyed it for what it was. It kind of felt like a throwback to the idea of gangster as folk-hero sticking it to The Man. The setting in West Texas is handled very well and almosts acts like another character. The Texas Ranger characters after our "heroes" are also compelling.

I recommend it. I would love to hear Frazzleds take on it.

 Easy E wrote:
Hell or High Water

I enjoyed it for what it was. It kind of felt like a throwback to the idea of gangster as folk-hero sticking it to The Man. The setting in West Texas is handled very well and almosts acts like another character. The Texas Ranger characters after our "heroes" are also compelling.

I recommend it. I would love to hear Frazzleds take on it.

Absolutely loved it. Showed some of the spirit of West Texas. Note, much of actual West Texas is even worse (its literally No Country for Old Men). It really represents the struggle of working people and their desperation.

Also has the Llano Escacado!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llano_Estacado


EDIT: May I also recommend, if you can, Chernobyl. Its a mini series, not a movie, but incredible acting and show. There's a reason it just won a truckload of Emmys.

I loved the scene in Hell or High Water where the rangers come across cowboys herding a bunch of cattle away from a brush fire.

The Cowboy's dialogue is hilarious, infuriating, and frustrating all at the same time.

Per IMDB:

Marcus Hamilton : [Rangers encounter cowboys driving cattle across the road before a brush fire] Hey! What you all doing? You burning this field?

Cowboy : Why in the s*** would we do that? This kicked up on the highway, been chasing us ever since.

Marcus Hamilton : Wish we could do somethin' for ya.

Cowboy : Ought to let it just turn me to ashes, put me out of my misery. *Cut that fence!* 21st century, I'm racing a fire to the river with a herd of cattle. And I wonder why my kids won't do this s*** for a living.

 Easy E wrote:
I loved the scene in Hell or High Water where the rangers come across cowboys herding a bunch of cattle away from a brush fire.

The Cowboy's dialogue is hilarious, infuriating, and frustrating all at the same time.

Per IMDB:

Marcus Hamilton : [Rangers encounter cowboys driving cattle across the road before a brush fire] Hey! What you all doing? You burning this field?

Cowboy : Why in the s*** would we do that? This kicked up on the highway, been chasing us ever since.

Marcus Hamilton : Wish we could do somethin' for ya.

Cowboy : Ought to let it just turn me to ashes, put me out of my misery. *Cut that fence!* 21st century, I'm racing a fire to the river with a herd of cattle. And I wonder why my kids won't do this s*** for a living.

I believe the cowboy is actually the movie director in a sneak in scene.

Bad Times at the El Royale:

Bit of a disappointment, I was expecting more of a psychological thriller but it never really lived up to the promise of its opening few scenes.

Barbarella

A very 60's vision of the future, and thoroughly enjoyable to boot! I can see why it is such a classic.

Barbarella is a great film to watch with a likeminded significant other. It's quite...provocative.

Haha well I'm glad you and Mrs Bob are getting into the spirit of things.

Jane Fonda does spend a hilarious amount of time dressing and undressing in the film!

Saw It: Chapter 2 last week...

Hated it.

Oh, Barbarella is good fun.

MS Gundam: Stardust

Huh. That didn't seem to add anything new, but it was fun to see some Gundams and space navy battles.

@Easy E: I have seen next to no Gundam stuff at all. Do they at this point even aim to add something new? I mean it's this huge, venerable universe (or is it a genre by now?), and people would burn anybody who changes something about it at the stake?


Well, i haven't really watched any films lately I have to admit. Unusual, because I try to watch those rather than tv shows, but somehow I thought it was time to catch up on Deep Space 9 in full. It's good. Up to now I only ever watched single episodes.

I also watched the second season of Disenchanted. I defended the first season, because it was OK and entertaining with a nice idea here and there. The second season annoyed me more than anything else to be honest. Especially the last two episodes. For a thing that's supposed to tell a serialized story (a problem with all too many shows these days I think), this just feel cluttered, unfocussed and messy. Reeks of Netflix production. If it's gotta be a Netflix thing, I'd rather watch Glow again.

Speaking of which, I also watched a bit over a season of Jack Whitehall's Travels with my Father, after a friend of mine suggested it. I'm not a big fan of Jack Whitehall. The show is somewhat entertaining, but the show's about ONE joke and it wears thin, especially during the Europe trip. Just made me wanna watch Top Gear specials. Which by the way come across much more authentic and less scripted than that show, and that's saying something.

I also watched the first episode of the new season of South Park last night. For a while now, South Park's become really depressing, but it's painfully sharply on point.

So yeah. Sorry for talking about tv shows, because this isn't the thread for it, but DS9 is basically the reason why I don't watch many films lately.

 Sigur wrote:
@Easy E: I have seen next to no Gundam stuff at all. Do they at this point even aim to add something new? I mean it's this huge, venerable universe (or is it a genre by now?), and people would burn anybody who changes something about it at the stake?

No it is definitely a genre......

I say they didn;t try to add anything new, because it felt like (even to a relative know-nothing like me) that the plot had all been "done before" in the Gundam franchise.

Speaking of Japanese animaltion films.... here's three I watched yesterday. A German tv channel ran a special and ran Studio Ghibli films all day.

Howl's Moving Castle (2005)

A witch turns a young girl into an old woman. She enters the services of an eccentric (and very pretty) magician as a cleaning woman.

The plot is meandering weirdly. To be honest I probably couldn't give a synopsis on all the things that happen and why. And I've seen the film at least five times by now. However, it's brilliant. It's heart-wrenchingly beautiful. While I was watching it I asked myself if it's overly divisive in terms of emotion, but couldn't see where. It's just beautiful to watch, it's beautiful to look at, it's beautiful to listen to. Here's the thing - Studio Ghibli films make me cry. Every single time. And out of all of them this one does it the most for some reason. The way the old lady turns young again and old again during scenes is subtle, and is just such a clever and nice way to display how she feels. Howl (or Hauro in the original Japanese and German dubbed versions) is a greatly entertaining character. Very aloof and out of grasp, and halfway through the film he actually gets a character, and it's a brilliant turn. The whole mythos behind the film is, as always with Ghibli films, fascinating while being light-hearted. It's a thing that's very much lacking in most other modern fantasy things - made top-heavy, static and overwritten with explanations and that eagerness to please "sense".

Must Watch. It's brilliant. It's kinda like the Jackie Brown of Ghibli films. Often overlooked, but might turn into my favourite of the whole lot. The German dub works really well. Don't know about the English one, but I hope it's good.


My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

THE Ghibli classic. A story about two sisters, 8-ish and 4 years old, moving into a new house with their father in the country. The whereabouts of their mother is explained very soon as well. The girls encounter strange creatures and one bit at a time get to meet the spirit/monster/god/demon/teddy Totoro.

The less one knows about this one going in the better I think. It's a fascinating film about being a kid, the great and small tragedies of life, fantasy, dreams, nature, family, ... all that stuff. The amazing thing this film does is how it combines realism with mind-boggling fantasy. And both intertwine and overlap, and still are perfectly sensible and believable at the same time.

Granted, it's an earlier film, and especially early on you have to be able to handle the smaller girl's antics. It's not hard, but English anime dubbing has a tendency to use overly squeaky voices for girls, which I find very grating. With the German dub it was OK. Never seen it in the Japanese original.

I don't use the term lightly, but the way this film handles facts of life and very real fears and dangers along with the most fascinating and endearing fantasy creatures possible is genius.

Must Watch.



Spirited Away (2001)

Chihiro and her parents move to a new home. On their way they encounter an abandoned amusement park. Her dad explains that these popped up in the early 90s and then got shut down during the economic crisis. I love this bit, because it places the film firmly in the contemporary, which makes the shift to what happens later on all the more impactful. Her parents find a restaurant and start eating, Chihiro is scared of the place and refuses to eat. Things get weird, Chihiro runs back to her parents, only to find they they turned into pigs. The whole park seems to have changed with nightfall as more and more odd spirits appear and move towards a huge pagoda.

That one's probably the Ghibli film I've seen the most. Brilliant. Based on very basic childhood fearss, we see how Chihiro overcomes these hurdles and finds friends in this wholly alien world.

In terms of creating an alien fantasy world, this film's probably the one in which they do the best job. There is so much stuff to look at, there are so many ideas, and so on. It's just a joy to watch and from 10 minutes into the film we're fully invested in Chihiro and how the whole thing turns out for her.

Must Watch.



Princess Mononoke (1997)

Ooooh, that's a good one. Ashitaka, a boy from a tribe somewhere far off, saves their village from a demon's attack. During the fight the demon touches his arm, thus transferring to the boy. He is exiled from his village to travel far away to maybe find a cure before the demon inside kills him.


Possibly objectively (even disregarding the emotional side) the strongest Ghibli film. It's got a message, it's told in a stringent manner, it's an adult, thoughtful and beautiful film with some amazing action scenes. Even in this one, in a situation of war between various factions, Studio Ghibli manage to do that thing they do in everyone of their big films: There are no bad guys. There are standpoints, life and situations, but there are no baddies. Just one of the reasons why these films, while often feeling strange and alien, are so strong and immediate to us. Great characters, great designs of ...everything, great female characters, excellent story about technology, nature, myth, and the points where these things rub.

Must Watch.

seconding everything what Sigur dun said

Mononoke is most likely the best of them, but Porco Russo is my fav

also watch the last few episodes of Preacher, totally botched it, although all of S4 (bar Genesis' dad) was a gak show

Yeah, I've never seen Porco Rosso. I gotta do that. Same with Kiki's Delivery Service.

What I have seen a bunch of years ago was Pom Poko. It feels like this one's the most Japan-specific. Not just because of the whole testicle thing. But also a lot of the themes of modern vs. traditional lifestyle and all of that. Also good film. Unique.

I saw the Joker film, so put something in that thread.....

The Dark Tower

This was my second viewing of the film.

Summary:

A near faith-less adaptation of a 7-book series, condensed to an hour-and-a-half movie.

The movie is a post-apocalyptic modern western, in which the protagonist is the last of the Gunslingers. Part politician,part judiciary, the gunslingers were the ruling class tasked with maintaining law and order as well. Frontier justice was the order of the day. The movie shifts between a post apocalyptic future and modern day Earth, across alternate realities.

A sorcerer acts as the key antagonist, attempting to destroy the Dark Tower, the structure responsible for holding back Cosmic Horror from destroying reality. This is accomplished by harnessing the psychic energy of children collected through space, time, and alternate universes to fire destructive psychic projectiles at the tower.

That’s a lot to cram into an hour and a half, coupled with an existing mythos to draw from and a seeming desire to set up a sequel while eliminating one of the key antagonists that drives the book series.

Analysis:

In viewing the film for a second time, I wasn’t coloured by counting the ways my expectations from the books weren’t being met. Instead, it viewed much like a superhero movie. The protagonist Roland has supernatural weapon handling skills, and (unexplained) supernatural healing. The secondary protagonist, Jake, has psychic powers in “The Shine” that are sought by the Antagonist Walter that is himself a sort of sorcerer. All with the fate of the multiverse at stake.

By ignoring the lack of connection to the source material, the movie has solid performances. Roland is stiff, but that suits the character he’s based on. Walter’s casual sadism and “charm” is also well played.

The movie is enjoyable when viewed as a simple superhero movie. It’s not great by any means, but a decent movie that touches on the source material in a somewhat interesting way. I’d say the film’s greatest crime is failing to explain Walter’s motivation as anything other than being a “bad guy” that wants to destroy the multiverse.

Little Monsters (Hulu and small release)
Small Budget Australian film about a loser who takes his sister's kid to school and ends up on a field trip (because he has the hots for the elementary school teacher) to a kids animal park. Park is located near a US base which has a Zombie outbreak. In contrast to most movies the military is competent and quickly contains the problem. Unfortunately a bunch of zombies are drawn to the kid's park and the military to bomb it, making the kids having to get out on a clock.

Loved it. Its basically a kids zombie movie except there's a truckload of Aussie profanity in it. Wife fell asleep but Rodney gave it two and half paws up (so that I would rub his belly through the movie).

Christopher Robin

This was a great movie about modern men needing to stay connected to their imaginative and child-like world of wonde rin order to properly function in modern society....

.... and then the last 30-40 minutes was a total studio hack job to make is "mainstream" enough. Honestly, the movie easily should have needed with Robin getting his friends back, and then a short epilogue.

Instead, we get a chase sequence, a come-uppance scene, comedy moment, and a touching father-daughter moment to create closure. What a desperate attempt to make a very touching and messaged movie mainstream. Just sad really how little the producers of the film thought about the general audience.

Anyway, Ewan McGregor does fine job in the title roll. Pooh and company deliver the goods. Hayley Atwell is given nothing to do, except carry a bunch of stuffed toys around the climax of the film..... wasted.

If you watch it, turn it off after Robin and Pooh come to terms. That is where is should have ended anyway and the rest is a boring chore.

Attempted to watch In the Long Grass last night on Nflix. Dire stuff, got up to the point where the dad goes on a ramble about the black rock thing and simply hit the power off button.
Avoid at all costs.

Bedtime Stories

This is an Adam Sandler film... from Disney. Let that sink in for a moment.

This movie had a ton of star talent attached to it, I recognize Lucy Lawless, Guy Pierce, Courtney Cox, Russel Brand, and so many more well-known performers.... how?

A by-the-numbers wish fulfillment movie. Not that funny with some VERY Adam Sandler-esque jokes at some points.

Malificent II: Mistress of Evil

While the first one felt like a cheap LoTR and Narnia rip-off, this one feels more like super-hero flick in the vein of Avengers: Endgame. Not nearly as fulfilling though.

This movie is beautifully shot, and the scenes in the fortress of the Dark Fae are really well-done cinematically, especially when Maleficent wakes from her trip. It was like something off a deviant really good art emo-page!

In the end, lessons are learned! Plus Michelle Pfeifer is having a ball and it was fun to see Warwick Davis, even if his character makes no sense!


Dead in a Week
A suicidal man meets a hitman who he pays to kill him within a week. Hi-jinks ensue.

This was actually a fairly dark and fun British comedy.

 Sigur wrote:
@Easy E: I have seen next to no Gundam stuff at all. Do they at this point even aim to add something new? I mean it's this huge, venerable universe (or is it a genre by now?), and people would burn anybody who changes something about it at the stake?

Yes. Gundam fans tend towards crazy fanatical.
Even the ones who skip all the talking (largely endless exposition about revenge and why determined pacifists are justifying killing loads of people) to watch giant robot fights.

Long running and frankly variable of late tale of future threat and man’s idiot hubris pays off.

Yes, Terminator Dark Fate.

It’s not perfect, but it is good!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Easy E wrote:
Bedtime Stories

This is an Adam Sandler film... from Disney. Let that sink in for a moment.

This movie had a ton of star talent attached to it, I recognize Lucy Lawless, Guy Pierce, Courtney Cox, Russel Brand, and so many more well-known performers.... how?

A by-the-numbers wish fulfillment movie. Not that funny with some VERY Adam Sandler-esque jokes at some points.

Other than the first two, I feel you’re stretching the definition of ‘star’ some.

Russel Effing Brand? Reason enough to avoid like the plague.

Sound & Fury (on Netflix)

This movie is more like a series of closely linked music videos in sequence. The music ranges from a sort of Guitar-Heavy electronic, to more mellow folk-rock, to a dance music segment... its a real trip. Since I watched it the first time, I’ve thrown it on for background music a couple of times. Watch past the start of the credits, there’s more movie after that.

Some of the songs are quite catchy, like listening to an album for 45 minutes. If you’re old enough to remember music videos as something you watched on TV, not YouTube, then you might remember Daft Punk had a series of linked music videos about blue aliens that were also rockstars?

The premise of linked music videos is what I’m getting at.

The picture-part of the movie tells a tale of revenge. The characters “Business and Pleasure” come to a remote temple where they kill everyone except the Samurai Master, who then swears revenge and to rescue his captured daughter. Oh, and it’s a dystopian future? Pretty standard Anime stuff. There are also a couple of side stories, and a section about the end of civilization from a first-person perspective.

It’s really neat. I’d recommend it even if you’re not an “anime” fan, just for the music.

If you’d like a sample, go to YouTube and search...

Sturgill Simpson - Sing Along

NSFW WARNING - Brief flashes of cartoon boobies. This is a section of the movie, as it plays. It’s one of the electronic-rock sections. If you dig it, you’ll probably like the rest.

I have not had time to go through the entire thread so apologies if I have repeated some stuff people have already said.



So many people slept on this movie!
I was very disappointed that by the time I got around to watching it in cinema (not even 2 weeks after premiere) they already stopped screening it. Watched it as soon as it was available and me and my friend loved it. Matthew Mcconaughey's acting the villain was suberb!!! The best villany I have seen in a very very long time, probably since Heath Ledgers joker...! That man deserved an Oscar. Idris Elba is just boss at everything he does obviously, goes without saying. Highly recommend this film.

For me a great hidden animation gem:

"The red turtle". Its indescribably hunting and I'm getting goose bumps just remembering it. Couple things: Its a non-spoken animation film. Beautifully depicts mans journey through life. I mean its honestly impossible to describe. Prepper to have your mind blown. I cannot describe what an absolute master piece this is in my opinion.

Another film most people I spoke to haven't seen is Alpha - Its a story about the first hunter gatherers eeking a living. Its a beautiful story of how we possibly might have tamed the first wolves. The film really shines due to excellent scenography. Its all spoken in a dead language so expect subtitles (caveat as I know some people think subtitles the devil). Extremely happy I got to see it at cinema.

Just some rapid fire catch up:

IT: Chapter 2: Crap. Just a far worse version of the first movie which was grand. Unnecessary.

Angel has Fallen: Okay for a popcorn movie. Enjoy Gerard Butler's characters in these. I think I enjoy these silly "Fallen" movies simply because they're not trying to be anything other than what they are - and that's hugely refreshing in this day and age.

Brightburn: I enjoyed this. You get exactly what it says on the tin, and while not groundbreaking has some excellent spooky scenes and some great visuals. Fun.

Avengers: Endgame: Crap. Felt like a three hour self-congratulatory circle jerk with a boring story and far too many things being addressed. I think in general "cinematic universes" are good for box offices and crap for actual film making.

Never Ending Story: Picked this up to watch with the niece/nephew. Boy it barely holds up at all...unlike a lot of films of that age. Still enjoy the premise but it's really rough around the edges. Hadn't seen it properly since I was maybe 8-9, but the kids liked it.

Did I watch any films recently? I know I watched Borat on Netflix. Any review of that one would be a bit of a waste of time, wouldn't it. I caught the last quarter of Borg/McEnroe, which is basically just the match. Really, really impressive filmmaking. Got the last third of Jack Reacher. I really like that film. I know it's got its flaws, but I really like the film. It's just entertaining as hedge.

Last week a German TV channel ran a bit of a Chuck Norris double feature. Very interesting, because I hadn't seen the first film ever and the second film I hadn't seen in a long time.


Black Tiger (1978)

Chuck Norris (who also produced this film) was part of a superspecial group of supersoldiers under the CIA, they were code named Black Tigers. They went to rescue POWs. After the end of the war each member of the group basically disappeared and took on civilian identities. Now somehow Chuck Norris is being followed around by a spunky reporter (late-70s Anne Archer. She's good, isn't she.) who asks questions about his past. At the same time former members of the Black Tigers are dying in mysterious ways. John T. Booker (great name for Norris' character) and the journalist travel the US to find out what's what.

I'm not the biggest fan of Chuck Norris. Amazing feats of athleticism and discipline aside, he's always struck me as kinda bland, lacking charisma and engaging acting skills. It's a bit problematic that the film (and 90% of shots in it) is solely centered around him. He does have good hair and a good moustache, that I have to admit. And the acting fits the slower, more 70s style of the film.

There isn't a whole lot of action. More dialogue, and it actually works. Also a lot about Norris' admittedly sweet car. Overall, the film has a bit of a James Bond feel to it actually. The last quarter of the film is getting a bit silly, but also very entertaining, as T.Booker gets his pal as basically a sidekick (no, it's not Jonathan Brandis, you cheeky aficionados). The ending is quite unsatisfying. It almost seems like it should have gone a bit differently (now that would have had quite some impact!), but the studio (or the producer, ehem) decided to keep it more 'safe'.

Overall though it's nicely entertaining, not the least due to the late 70s look of everything and the generally a bit hokey tone while played seriously.


Pass (if you're interested in old action films though and need a dose of 70s: Watch It. If you're a Chuck Norris fan: Must Watch. It's a classic in that niche, I hear)


Right afterwards they showed THE Chuck Norris classic (Missing in Action aside) - Invasion USA (1985)

It's a bit silly, but I kinda have to squee in joy when I see the cannon films logo and a producer credit of Golan AND Globus. By the way, watch every single documentary on Golan and Globus you can find on youtube. I greatly enjoy that stuff. Chuck Norris helped writing the screenplay as well.

The film starts with South American immigrants on a broken-down ship being more or less capsized off the shores of the US. A US coast guard ship turns up, captained by Richard Lynch, so we know that this may go unwell for the poor peeps in that boat. In this very first scene we already get a taste of how downright mean-spirited this film is.

The plot develops into an invasion (landing ships, beach, etc included) of unspecified South American terrorists onto US soil. They all jump in to trucks and drive off into the night to cause havoc and spread ...well, terror to destabilize the US within a 24 hours. Meanwhile we learn that a.) there's a Chuck Norris (Matt Hunter), living in the swamps where he chainsaws trees apart, wrestles alligators, and generally does very manly things with his man-pals "old swamp dude", a lizard and "other crusty dude". We learn that Hunter and Hames (Richard Lynch's character, who actually is Russian, but took on an anglo name, the sneaky git) have a past in that the latter always kept on doing evil terrorist things, and the former always thwarting his plans. So Hames is kinda obsessed with killing Hunter and insists that the invasion can only start once he killed him. They make sure of that in hilarious fashion. In general, there is a lot of man-portable rocket launcher action in this film.

Hames thinks Hunter's dead (spoiler: He isn't) and the terrorists gleefully invade. They dress up as policemen to terrorize The Minorities(tm), so when the real good police turn up The Minorities(tm) are angry at them. You see the sneaky ways of the terrorist here. In a less subtle move, they just blow up rich suburbs on christmas. Yup, this is a christmas film, which I absolutely didn't remember. So we learned that not only Lethal Weapon, but also Invasion USA are in fact christmas films. Good trivia.

Soon the modus operandi of the film is getting clearer: Terrorist massacre US civilians, Hunter shows up, massacres the terrorists. Slowly, but surely, Hunter (in his Mack Truck) gets the upper hand against the army of terrorists. There's also a not-so-spunky female journalist again, but other than Anne Archer she's barely a factor in the whole film. In fact, she's entirely a non-factor, but I guess they felt like they had to have a female character apart from a prostitute who shows up for about 8 seconds total. PC gone mad.
In the end the US army shows up, lures all of the terrorists into a trap and then we see about 20 minutes of US army infantry and tanks killing terrorists they surrounded prior while Hunter stalks terrorists and Hames in an office building.

This film is a blast to watch (it even has Billy Drago in a great early scene in which Richard Lynch sells drugs to Billy Drago. Just imagine that. The two most sinister dudes of the time doing shady dealings.). It gets a bit repetitive, but simply due to how insane the whole thing is right from the get-go it's hard not to watch along. Chuck Norris is just that, but all the character work and dialogue is cleverly left to the bad guys anyway.

If you're into 80s action films, Must Watch.

So this film is great fun while watching it. Looking back at it, of course it's an insane Reagan-era time capsule, filled to the brim with power- and revenge fantasies that would make Call of Duty writers blush. It's also rather mean-spirited in playing it's very, primitive emotional fiddle of baddies being bad, good thing we got Chuck Norris to kill them until finally the sluggish, centralist army is mobilized.

Seeing these films back to back really shows the difference between the 70s and 80s in Hollywood films. While being extreme examples (at least Invasion USA is), it's rather interesting to watch. Black Tiger has an individual protagonist who is damaged by his government's actions and now is further being damaged and has to fight a corrupt politician while Invasion USA basically is purely a war propaganda film during a time without the US being involved in no open wars at all. The way the baddies (an amalgamation of bogeymen of the time. 'Reds', Mexicans, drugs and to an extent the easily instrumentalized minorities on US soil) operate in that one reflects the 'new wars' which emerged at the time. All very interesting stuff.

Oh well. I just remembered I watched another film.


Alien Tornado (2012)

I usually have no interest in watching Asylum films (or similar) any more. They were fun for a while, when they did silly mockbusters, but I have little interest in shark films to begin with, nor in tornado films, and I certainly have no interest in people trying to manufacture 'cult films'. But I was at my brother's, and the film happened to be on, so we watched it for some reason.

Mysterious tornadoes turn up in the US, going for US federal institutions and areas and swallow people. Turns out aliens direct their movement. Good ol' boy, salt-of-the-earth farmer Jeff Fahey, his teenage daughter, a hilarious policeman and a lady scientist/journalist/blogger/"i used to work at that place and the boss owes me a favour" deus ex machina person with a surgically altered face have to save the world.

It's cheap spank. Don't watch. It's not that it's entirely without entertainment factors. The German dub for instance is also very cheap. That adds to the thing. The acting is prettty bad (apart from Fahey of course), the very old bad guy is overacting and generally weird. The effects are really bad. But then again - bad practical effects are cool and fun. Bad CGI effects are just crap. So yeah, don't watch it.




It's Halloweensy times, so let's talk about our favourite horror films, shall we. In this case I'll restrict myself to fun films I'll readily watch, show to friends, have on in the background at a party and so on.
I guess the go-tos would be

Evil Dead 2 (of course the first one's fun as well, a milestone, and to be watched, but compared to the quasi-remake that is the sequel it's a bit less entertaining and the improved effects do help)
Army of Darkness (obviously)
Fright Night (I hear that the second one's got a lot of fans as well, but I Haven't seen it in ages)
Waxworks (I'd really like to watch that one again. I remember it being good fun once it got going proper)
Seed of Chucky (yeah, yeah. But I just enjoy that film for its absurdity and for Jennifer Tilly)
Dawn of the Dead (the remake)
Trick R Treat
Creepshow (the horror anthology film classic)
Blood Diner

Honorable mentions for: Monster House (for the kids, but I enjoy it too), Comedy of Horrors (because Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. In fact, watch all of Corman's Poe films.) and Santa's Slay (the Bill Goldberg one. Entertainment value aside, one of the main reasons why I like that film is the insane mythology they made up to justify the going-ons.)

Price's House on Haunted Hill
The Undertaker and his Pals
Dementia 13
Army of Darkness
Dead Alive- The Peter Jackson one with the Sumatran Rat Monkey
Creepshow
Omega Man
I Bury the Living

Sicario: Day of the Soldado: Still an excellent little franchise. While not as good as the first film, there are still a lot of elements which are uncomfortably accurate (it happens to take place where I used to work, so it's accuracy is appreciated)

Das Boot: I mean, what can you say? This is legendary, and remains so. I watched my preferred version (the 209 minute directors cut). There are no other submarine movies that can touch it.