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DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently 3 - The Final Insult


Devon Malcolm

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Captain Marvel

Some good stuff, good performances in the main, but fuck me the gags in this stank. I thought I was watching a Doctor Who episode at times. The nostalgia stuff was also really bad. 

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"After a stint in prison for his first robbery attempt, during which he is badly abused, Daniel Morgan (Dennis Hopper) swears revenge on those who ruined his life. Like the outlaws of the American West, Morgan, aided by an aborigine sidekick named Billy (David Gulpilil), becomes a folk hero among the Australian people, while those in power begin to worry about the trouble he is stirring up. Soon Mad Dog Morgan is Public Enemy No. 1, but neither he nor Billy intends to go down easily."

Low budget 70's Australian movie where apparantly Dennis Hopper was off his tits for most of it. Despite his ever so slightly dodgy Irish accent, I enjoyed his troubled performance in this as Morgan and his tragic, self-destructive path. I'm a sucker for the Australian landscape and it looks great here. Don't expect great characters or dialogue but it's a good film that's still carried by Hopper.

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19 minutes ago, johnnyboy said:

The BBFC title card had a category I'd not seen before so keep an eye out for that.

"Scenes of mild peril, some strong language, another bloody superhero film."

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11 hours ago, zep81 said:

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Low budget 70's Australian movie where apparantly Dennis Hopper was off his tits for most of it.

Yeah, it's talked about in that "Ozploitation" documentary that was released a few years ago. Some of the stories are absolutely mental. Definately worth a watch as well as this film.

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11 minutes ago, bAzTNM#1 said:

Yeah, it's talked about in that "Ozploitation" documentary that was released a few years ago. Some of the stories are absolutely mental. Definately worth a watch as well as this film.

Is that the 'Not quite Hollywood' documentary? My friend mentioned that the other day.

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Yeah, it goes very in-depth regarding Aussie films. Definately worth buying.

Best story told is when everybody wanted to beat the shit out "The Man From Hong Kong" star Jimmy Wang Yu. George Lazenby too.

Edited by bAzTNM#1
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On 3/26/2019 at 9:26 PM, organizedkaos said:
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I dunno, I felt was making a more nuanced point than say They Live or Society which were a lot more in line with the basic "rich use the poor, capitalism bad!" message you crticised. The fact our hero is essentially an embodiment of 80s Reganism pulling her way out of lower class into high class and being absolutely willing to step all over 'her' people to ensure she got what she wanted. The symmetry yet jarring differences between things that could be done without a care upstairs yet caused so much damage downstairs (the boys both playing with fire, plastic surgery reflected in facial scars, the talk of c-sections) Our bad guys are those who feel they've had no control in their life, envious of those they perceive to have control (and those who we initially believe to have no knowledge of the destructive sides to decisions they make).  As you said these aren't unusual ideas but I felt he was playing with them in a more complex way than you've given credit for.

So much of this is subjective but clearly something in his films doesn't click for you (which fair play is the way with any sort of media, I'm not trying to take a stance that you're not getting it or whatever just offering a different perspective). I found the first half of the film incredibly unnerving; not really have a sense of what was going on not knowing what the invaders were or what they wanted but knowing it did not bode well for the family, that was far more unnerving than You're Next (which I also loved) trading in a more standard "bad guys have invaded your sanctity, you will die now".  Went in a group and several people were pretty much not OK with that watching that first half at all.
I'm also really surprised you'd use You're Next as an example of something with a greater visual style and ironic soundtrack? Visually Us has continually fantastic shots (from the shadows across the beach to the layering of faces in exposition scene) and whilst the style is a little reference centric the red jumpsuits and glove evoked far more reactions (and memories) than animal masks. Musically You're Next is one song, and Dwight Tilley does links the whole thing together in a brilliant way but that's very different from Us' varied and playful soundtrack (and the fact it's maybe the only film that should be allowed to use a dark reimagining of a pop song). Even the NWA tune which initially felt like a trite joke ended up working by the way it weaved in and out of the scene's tension. 

Again, I really enjoyed You're Next but it's a fun mish mash of mumblecore family drama, home invasion and home alone. Most of the stuff I liked about that film (character work, changing agency, well planned suspense using the house's layout) are quite different from what made me enjoy Us (surreal imagery orientated nightmare trip thing). Obviously whatever buttons it pushed in my brain didn't work for you but I feel the comparisons you've made don't really do justice to what the film really was

I quite liked the opening at the carnival (Black Flag t-shirt ahoy!), but the film fell apart for me when the girl entered the haunted house. I'm such a cowardy custard when it comes to scenes like that (the shower curtain being yanked back etc.) usually, but my heartbeat didn't increase slightly at that moment or indeed for the duration of the film. It all just felt rather tame and toothless, a horror film for people who don't really like horror films, but want to y'know, pontificate. For what it's worth, I didn't detect any signs of fear from my fellow audience members either. 

As for the soundtrack, I thought it was too on-the-nose - like someone saying "Ah ha! Didn't expect to hear that, did you?" rather than coming up with something more subtle or lesser known. The whole "dark reimagining of a pop song" trope is a bit old hat to me at this point - James Wan took all the fun out of it. Speaking of You're Next and its maddeningly catchy theme song, I thought Adam Wingard's follow up, The Guest, did something really interesting with 80s style synth pop in a similar manner to Donnie Darko. I'd rather films introduced me to new stuff (see: Drive) rather than just indulging in comfortable auditory necrophilia, but hey ho. 

Edited by Brewster McCloud
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14 minutes ago, Brewster McCloud said:

I quite liked the opening at the carnival (Black Flag t-shirt ahoy!), but the film fell apart for me when the girl entered the haunted house. I'm such a cowardy custard when it comes to scenes like that (the shower curtain being yanked back etc.) usually, but my heartbeat didn't increase slightly at that moment or indeed for the duration of the film. It all just felt rather tame and toothless, a horror film for people who don't really like horror films. For what it's worth, I didn't detect any signs of fear from my fellow audience members either. 

As for the soundtrack, I thought it was too on-the-nose - like someone saying "Ah ha! Didn't expect to hear that, did you?" rather than coming up with something more subtle or lesser known. The whole "dark reimagining of a pop song" trope is a bit old hat to me at this point - James Wan took all the fun out of it. Speaking of You're Next and its maddeningly catchy theme song, I thought Adam Wingard's follow up, The Guest, did something really interesting with 80s style synth pop in a similar manner to Donnie Darko. I'd rather films introduced me to new stuff (see: Drive) rather than just indulging in comfortable auditory necrophilia, but hey ho. 

This is how I felt. Again, maybe it's because I had expected it to be a horror, but I didn't find it scary, nor did anyone seem to actually flinch at what was going on around them. It was like everybody had enough experience to handle the challenges facing them. I never felt they were in any real danger. Unlike The Purge, an inferior film in everyway, but one in which I actually wondered if anyone would survive. Jordon Peele has an excellent eye for detail, and framing, but I just felt it needed to have more horror and less plot holes. And I am not a huge horror genre fan by any stretch.

Still, always glad to be reminded of Les Fleur being an absolute banger

Edited by Hannibal Scorch
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3 hours ago, bAzTNM#1 said:

Best story told is when everybody wanted to beat the shit out "The Man From Hong Kong" star Jimmy Wang Yu. George Lazenby too.

Good film, that. Brian Trenchard-Smith made some really enjoyable stuff in the 70s and 80s.

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2 hours ago, Brewster McCloud said:

I quite liked the opening at the carnival (Black Flag t-shirt ahoy!), but the film fell apart for me when the girl entered the haunted house. I'm such a cowardy custard when it comes to scenes like that (the shower curtain being yanked back etc.) usually, but my heartbeat didn't increase slightly at that moment or indeed for the duration of the film. It all just felt rather tame and toothless, a horror film for people who don't really like horror films, but want to y'know, pontificate. For what it's worth, I didn't detect any signs of fear from my fellow audience members either. 

As for the soundtrack, I thought it was too on-the-nose - like someone saying "Ah ha! Didn't expect to hear that, did you?" rather than coming up with something more subtle or lesser known. The whole "dark reimagining of a pop song" trope is a bit old hat to me at this point - James Wan took all the fun out of it. Speaking of You're Next and its maddeningly catchy theme song, I thought Adam Wingard's follow up, The Guest, did something really interesting with 80s style synth pop in a similar manner to Donnie Darko. I'd rather films introduced me to new stuff (see: Drive) rather than just indulging in comfortable auditory necrophilia, but hey ho. 

Fair enough, yeah didn't feel like the opening was that freaky. It was more everything from people showing up at the first house to them leaving the second house that had me very on edge, but yeah much less in a flinchy kinda way more a generally very anxious kind of way.

Sound track thing is interesting, totally agree the dark pop song is played out but it thematically worked here - a sort of untethered cover (but aside from that it's a trope that needs to go away). I guess as a synth electro nerd I forget the different ways we can respond to soundtracks. Drive for me was the opposite, I was awesome hearing Kavinsky tracks outside of a club and in a film (that wasn't set in a club) but I've spent far too much time listening to those songs and digging the heck out of 80s Carpenter and the like where that stuff was prolific - Us' combination of the known and unknown (that choral thing from the start that reoccurred throughout was abrasive in the best possible way) resonated more for me. However that corpse digging music style, as you say, is a bit everywhere as far as I'm aware so again mileage probs varies depending on how many films you've already seen use that trick (I felt there were only 2 maybe 3 cues that relied on the "remember this" but perhaps there are others I'm forgetting)

Guest had a baddass score though, total agreement on that (rest of the film was pretty good too, although You're Next is definitely my favourite of Wingard's stuff that I've seen - I do really like that film despite the negative comparisons in my last post)

Edited by organizedkaos
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I took a random day off today to use up my quota. A whole day to myself! Those of you with families will appreciate what a Sankara stone that is. 

I went to the cinema by myself for the first time since 2002 to finally catch the single showing of Fighting With My Family. Terrific! Absolutely loved it, an unashamedly templated film that hits all the right feel-good places. I feel like it's the first mainstream film to capture the spirit of why wrestling works the way it does.

I've only just finished a rewatch of Game of Thrones so seeing Lena Headey in this was confusing. 

Now home to play some Star Wars Battlefront and drink Nesquik. 

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2 minutes ago, Onyx2 said:

I took a random day off today to use up my quota. A whole day to myself! Those of you with families will appreciate what a Sankara stone that is. 

I went to the cinema by myself for the first time since 2002 to finally catch the single showing of Fighting With My Family. Terrific! Absolutely loved it, an unashamedly templated film that hits all the right feel-good places. I feel like it's the first mainstream film to capture the spirit of why wrestling works the way it does.

I've only just finished a rewatch of Game of Thrones so seeing Lena Headey in this was confusing. 

Now home to play some Star Wars Battlefront and drink Nesquik. 

Try watching her in Dredd after this. Even more confusing. I was going to let you know that Cineworld seem to be showing it again next week. Glad you caught it

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