DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently #2

[Wrestlingsnob]

Sorry if I am putting this into the wrong thread but it seems to be the most suitable......

 

Can someone help me identity a couple of films that have got themselves stuck in my head. They are both probably from the mid 80's and both fairly low key/obscure releases. From what I can recall (which is not much) the details are:

 

Film 1:

A) Had a Mad Max 2 post-apocalyptic setting

B) The hero rode a motorcross/scramble bike of some type (I suspect that a lot of the action sequences involved the hero jumping over stuff with explosions going off in the background).

C) The hero is wounded at some point and has the other good guys cauterize the wound so he can go out & save the day.

 

Film 2:

A) Is a buddy cop film where the twist is that one of the cops is killed off fairly early on but then is somehow re-animated and comes back to help is partner.

B) I am not sure why but I think one of the main actors may be a 'reasonably' well known B movie level actor.

 

Sorry my recollections are so vague.

 

Cheers in advance to anyone who can help.

[Devon Malcolm]

Second one is probably Dead Heat. Dunno about the first one.

[patiirc]

Just throwing them out there, probably wrong

 

Film 1

 

Cherry 2000

 

 

Film 2

 

EDIT What Gladstone said !!

Edited April 13, 2012 by patdfb

[Wrestlingsnob]

Just throwing them out there, probably wrong

 

Film 1

 

Cherry 2000

 

 

Film 2

 

EDIT What Gladstone said !!

 

 

Dead Heat - Yes!!! Thats the one. (+ to make things even better the full movie up on Youtube. Thats tonights viewing sorted).

 

Re film 2 - Had a quick look on Wiki & I'm 99% certain its not Cherry 2000. I actually have a vague recollection of when Cherry 2000 was released on video & I am pretty sure I saw my mystery film well before then.

[Harvey Dent]

Just saw Cabin In The Woods tonight and without spoiling a nano second of it I'll just say it's one of the most entertaining 90 minutes I've had in a cinema for a while. Definitely best served with no prior knowledge, just give it a go.

[Hyperion]

Just throwing them out there, probably wrong

 

Film 1

 

Cherry 2000

 

 

Film 2

 

EDIT What Gladstone said !!

 

 

Dead Heat - Yes!!! Thats the one. (+ to make things even better the full movie up on Youtube. Thats tonights viewing sorted).

 

Re film 2 - Had a quick look on Wiki & I'm 99% certain its not Cherry 2000. I actually have a vague recollection of when Cherry 2000 was released on video & I am pretty sure I saw my mystery film well before then.

Sounds like my old 80's fave Battletruck which I actually saw before Mad Max 2. If it's not that I'll throw 'Stryker' & 'Wheels Of Fire' into the mix too. Early 80's were awash with Road Warrior movies.

[Wrestlingsnob]

Just throwing them out there, probably wrong

 

Film 1

 

Cherry 2000

 

 

Film 2

 

EDIT What Gladstone said !!

 

 

Dead Heat - Yes!!! Thats the one. (+ to make things even better the full movie up on Youtube. Thats tonights viewing sorted).

 

Re film 2 - Had a quick look on Wiki & I'm 99% certain its not Cherry 2000. I actually have a vague recollection of when Cherry 2000 was released on video & I am pretty sure I saw my mystery film well before then.

Sounds like my old 80's fave Battletruck which I actually saw before Mad Max 2. If it's not that I'll throw 'Stryker' & 'Wheels Of Fire' into the mix too. Early 80's were awash with Road Warrior movies.

 

Cheers.

 

Based on the trailer you linked it could well be Battletruck. Def not Stryker although from the clip I found on Youtube I am probably going to have to hunt a copy of this down as well - it looks like it falls into the 'so bad its awesome' category of film that I love.

 

 

Edit - have just watched Battletruck on Youtube & it is the film I was trying to identify. Cheers to everyone who helped identify the films.

Edited April 14, 2012 by Wrestlingsnob

[Murtz]

Ladies and Gentleman of the UKFF I ask of you, neigh, I plead of you; DO NOT let some naughty bugger spoil 'Cabin In The Woods' for you. Just don't.

 

Don't investigate, don't research, don't ask; just get your arse into a cinema.

 

Just saw an advanced screening, i've never seen a film as joyous or as entertaining. It's fucking excellent.

I went to watch this after seeing this post and the fact that Rotten Tomatoes gave it 93%. I absolutely loved it! I just love how everytime you think you know the answers the plot changes direction. Awesome film. I want a sequel!

[ukfan11]

Watched American Movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181288/) the other night and I quite enjoyed it, quite a funny documentary. I watched Coven after watching it as well.

[Mr. Seven]

Went to Cabin In The Woods. I enjoyed it for the most part but I don't think it's quite the genius deconstruction of the genre that it, and others, seem to think it is. Just because you point out that you're employing archetypes doesn't mean that it's highly intelligent and witty to place them in archetypical situations. Despite pulling back the curtain, it doesn't really do anything original with it. Still, it's fun, the acting is good (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford especially), there are some good laughs and the final act is worthy just for being as mental and relentlessly nasty as it is. But it's no Scream and doesn't subvert and reinvent the genre like that did 16 years ago.

 

Fuck. Scream is sixteen years old. That's depressing.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I wasn't really aware of the claims of the Cabin In The Woods being something that redefines a genre, or as being a pivotal moment in horror's history. I can see why people would jump to those conclusions, though i'm not convinced it's revolutionary, as it is certainly a more expansive film conceptually than horror has become. I tend to agree with Whedon, he said that it wasn't about redefining a genre or breaking new ground it was about reacting to how narrow the genre has become.

 

Pre-Scream (and before I get Chuckle's angry, I bloody love Scream) you could argue that 'horror' had far much more scope, but post-Scream marketing executives from mainstream cinema studios have sanitised and homogenised a horror genre to fit in with the popular 'teen slasher' model.

 

Either way, I didn't love it because of some deconstruction of genre. I loved it because i've never been so entertained in a cinema. I'm seeing it again tonight.

[lightningxlock]

Any James Bond fans? I got the Roger Moore boxset at Xmas but haven't watched any of it yet. Im pretty sure i've seen them all when I was a kid but cant remember which ones were the best. So, what are the best ones of his to start with? Here's whats on offer:

 

Live and Let Die/The Man With The Golden Gun/The Spy Who Loved Me /Moonraker/For Your Eyes Only/Octopussy/A View To A Kill

[patiirc]

Any James Bond fans? I got the Roger Moore boxset at Xmas but haven't watched any of it yet. Im pretty sure i've seen them all when I was a kid but cant remember which ones were the best. So, what are the best ones of his to start with? Here's whats on offer:

 

Live and Let Die/The Man With The Golden Gun/The Spy Who Loved Me /Moonraker/For Your Eyes Only/Octopussy/A View To A Kill

 

They are all really good save Octopussy, which I saw again recently and thought was a bit shit.

 

Gun to my head, Id say

 

Live and Let Die

The Spy Who Loved Me

A View to A Kill

The Man with the Golden Gun

Moonraker

For Your Eyes Only

Octopussy

 

But Im sure everyone will be different.

 

 

Films Ive watched recently

 

 

JCVD- Finally got around to watching this after some time sat on my DVD shelf. It's neither brilliant nor is it naff. It's good, with a bit of fourth wall bending thrown in for good measure. JCVD is masterful, as are the villains.

 

SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

The Botched Bank Job set up has been done a million times, and it was kind of obvious what was going to happen. The shoehorning of the custody case, didnt really add much to the whole thing. Though JCVD's soliloquy/monologue was great.

 

 

 

Fast and Furious (Fast 4)- Well that was a load of bollocks. There wasnt much to save it from being a clusterfuck of near epic proportions . The first two Fast and Furious films were decent enough actioners, Tokyo Drift was meh, but this was devoid of anything. I know that it was all about the reunion of two characters, but it felt empty. The death of one of the characters was also pretty poor. Jordana Brewster was uber hot and some of the action sequences were okay where they werent spoiled by over use of CGI. Other than that it dragged and criminally was deathly dull in parts. Is Fast 5 any better?

 

Snake in Eagle's Shadow- Not seen this for ages. Bloody Brilliant Jacky Chan Chop Socky. The stuff with the sliding the rags under the feet of the master is utterly sublime and the fights are really well done. Eagle Claw/Snakes Fist/ Cat Style and a Cat vs Cobra fight.. Awesome

 

Romeo Must Die- I'd not seen this in ages. From Grace Park (Sharon Valerii etc from Battlestar Galactica, Inspector 'something from the new Hawaii 5-0) lezzing up in the opening scenes, it is a pretty decent Hip Hop-Socky film. Aalyiah made a good lead and could have gone on to have a semi decent acting career had she not been unfortunately killed in a plane crash. Jet Li played his normal role of silent but deadly dude, with a heart of gold. Delroy Lindo was great as the gloriously named Isaak O'Day and the whole film flew by, and the X-Ray fatality/bone break stuff was great and not over done. The Wire Fu is a bit ropey though and it seems Joel Silver raided the Matrix special effects bank for the fighting sounds which was a distraction. Overall a good film nonetheless

Edited April 15, 2012 by patdfb

[EdgarTheSlouch]

watching the inbetweeners movie - its not bad!

[Devon Malcolm]

lightningxlock, just watch them in that order, they're all good aside from A View To A Kill.

 

I wasn't really aware of the claims of the Cabin In The Woods being something that redefines a genre, or as being a pivotal moment in horror's history. I can see why people would jump to those conclusions, though i'm not convinced it's revolutionary, as it is certainly a more expansive film conceptually than horror has become. I tend to agree with Whedon, he said that it wasn't about redefining a genre or breaking new ground it was about reacting to how narrow the genre has become.

 

Pre-Scream (and before I get Chuckle's angry, I bloody love Scream) you could argue that 'horror' had far much more scope, but post-Scream marketing executives from mainstream cinema studios have sanitised and homogenised a horror genre to fit in with the popular 'teen slasher' model.

 

I think that you can only really claim this from the Hollywood angle. Scream has changed very little outside of mainstream US horror cinema. Certainly, within that, Scream was massively influential but not in a good way at all. In fact, Scream was an absolute stain on horror cinema - still massively overrated, nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is, and responsible for three shocking sequels, not to mention a whole raft of referential clever dick slasher films. I rewatched it recently and it's just not very good at all as a standalone film.

 

That leads on to Whedon and the point he makes. The genre is not narrow as a whole. It is in fact as wide as it has ever been if you are prepared to look outside of Hollywood. There is some fascinating stuff coming out of Spain and Mexico these days especially, covering ghost stories, zombies and more mystery based horrors. France is still producing some edgy and daring horror films, one or two of which could easily be massively influential themselves. Australia, the UK and Scandinavia all have very notable and varied horror output right now. Whedon is absolutely wrong but him being a Hollywood product he is being perhaps understandably myopic about what is out there.

 

Also, obviously I've not seen Cabin In The Woods as yet so I've no idea if it is the game changer that many people are claiming it as, but this wouldn't be the first time that a product of Whedon's has been claimed to be something hugely original and trailblazing when it's actually been nothing of the kind - usually over-dramatic nonsense dreamed up by his legions of fanboys and fangirls, but then Whedon himself has never exactly been forthcoming about his influences, so you can understand why they might be missed. The same things were spouted of large parts of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly, both of which are actually not in the slightest bit original and actually rather derivative.

 

That said, because of this and because Whedon's shit, I'm going into Cabin In The Woods with really low expectations, which I think gives it a far better chance of being enjoyable to me. However, I do worry about any film that is immediately branded as a 'game changer' because it means we are now probably going to end up with another raft of inferior derivatives clogging up the place. First Scream, then Saw, now this?

Edited April 15, 2012 by Gladstone Small