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


Devon Malcolm

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Anyone seen Heavy Metal (1981)? What a psychedelic dose of action and fantasy that was. A series of short stories from vastly different settings all tied together by a central artefact. Each of the stories was awash with colour, bizarre creatures and characters, fair doses of female nudity and even the odd bit of shagging.

 

HEAVYMETAL_zpsdcfbd342.jpg

Taarna: Warrior chick from the final scenes

 

I thought this was absolutely brilliant, being a fan of other, more mainstream 80's fantasy animation works such as the Thundercats TV series, etc. It was just completely outside the box, and was almost entrancing, in that you find yourself amazed by the colours and settings but with absolutely zero idea of what is coming next.

 

Does anything else even remotely close to this exist? I want more, NOW.

 

Thought it was very hit and miss to be honest certainly worth at least one watch though.

 

Only thing I can think of close to it is the excellent South Park episode Major Boobage which was inspired by Heavy Metal.

 

EDIT

 

Surprised it took you this long to see it though Heavy Metal is a very well known animated cult classic I believe.

Edited by The King Of Swing
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I've been watching the special edition DVD of Enter the Dragon, which I've had lying around for years unwatched. It's packed with really interesting extras - documentaries, interviews and the unedited final fight scene from Game of Death is included as well.

 

Looking up the cast I'm surprised how many of them are still alive. Bolo, John Saxon, Jim Kelly and Bob Wall are all still going strong. Shih Kien (Han) lived to the age of 96!. Sadly Ahna Capri (Han's secretary) died in 2010 as a result of a car crash.

 

I just read on Wiki that Angela Mao, who played Bruce Lee's sister, was paid $100 for her role. I know it was a short part but even in '70s money that's taking the piss. She was great as well.

 

The Enter the Dragon soundtrack is still amazing.

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Thought it was very hit and miss to be honest certainly worth at least one watch though.

I liked all of the stories, personally, and really liked the take no prisoners approach to being overly sexualized and violent. To me, it set out to be completely trippy and OTT, and it achieved it. The only part that I thought didn't really fit with the rest of it was the

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fantasy cartoons are cool etc.

 

Richie there's a couple of cool fantasy cartoons from the late 70s and early 80s by Ralph Bakshi (the animator who made Fritz the Cat and the Lord of the Rings cartoon) they're called Wizards and Fire and Ice, Wizards looks really trippy and old fashioned now but Fire and Ice still looks like cool standard fantasy stuff. I loved them as a kid and they're worth checking out, Wizards is great but it's been so long since I saw Fire and Ice my memory is hazy, I remember it's a collaboration with Frank Frazetta which is pretty awesome as he's the best fantasy painter of all time.

 

Wizards is on Youtube

 

Wizards_poster.jpg

Fire_and_Ice_1983_poster.png

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I watched one like those when I was up about 2am watching Sky Movies one time. "Fantastic Planet". It was actually quite good. Very French and very weird. Very old too, made in 1973.

Fucking hell Baz, that's some really abstract stuff right there. I've seen some weird stuff in my time but that film just about ranks as one of the most surreal thing I've seen. For the firs 5 or 10 minutes I was contemplating giving up with it and finding something else to view, but within the half hour I found myself totally absorbed into and memorised by the worlds presented to me in the film. The art style was pretty unique, and somewhat creepy, and the musical score and overall audio tone seemed to echo the surreal and distant imagery.

 

FantasticPlanet7_zps57468f01.jpg

Some of the strange visuals reminded me of Salvador Dali's artwork

 

Really good stuff, thank you very much for pointing me in the direction of something which I would have probably never seen otherwise. I was pretty blown away by that.

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So, I think I may have mentioned that I've been watching classic films lately that I've never seen.

 

Most recently watched, Bonnie and Clyde and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I liked them both, but Butch and Sundance I enjoyed a lot more. I found it to be just hilarious in places. Bonnie and Clyde, while I did like it, I don't know exactly...there was something about it that just left me a bit cold.

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Went for a quick change of pace to try to prevent the abstract animation films losing their impact. Unfortunately, I chose Gargoyles (1972). Nothing much to see here, very little in the way of storyline and plot, though it did deliver a fix of old school live action monster costumes (fuck CGI and all that). That's about all it was good for though, no real terror or anything else of much interest here. Sadly, I can't wave my arms around recommending this one as I have done with others lately.

 

gargoyles_cap21.jpg

Can't beat a good old monster suit though, can you?

 

Going back to the animation then, it was Twice Upon a Time (1983) next. Strange one this, a lot of the visuals and character designs look like they are aimed at young children, but with bits of blue language and some not too subtle sexual undertones dotted throughout, it's clear that toddlers are certainly not the target audience here. Interesting animation styles and interesting concepts of transferring through different worlds, controlling dreams, nightmares and time itself, all wrapped up in a blanket of vulgar and partially slapstick comedy. Thanks for the recommendation Rosey.

 

Good arrows also to Jobs, Keith and G. I'll be sure to check that lot out during the course of tonight and tomorrow. Cheers.

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We were talking about Butch Cassidy in the Chat last night, I honestly think it's unfairly revered as a classic, especially of the Western genre when their's so many superior films out there. While I did enjoy it and the chemistry between Redford and Newman is undeniable I felt the film relied fair too much on montages to progress the story in the second half of the film which left plot developments feeling cold, it almost seemed like two seperate films with the first half being them trying to desperately escape from the law after they ride the train then the other half when they go down to Mexico, I could have watched a whole film about them on the run from the Marshall's pursuing them. Some of it was absolute cheese aswell, especially the whole Raindrops falling on my head bit.

Edited by Inspector Paul Solo
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I watched one like those when I was up about 2am watching Sky Movies one time. "Fantastic Planet". It was actually quite good. Very French and very weird. Very old too, made in 1973.

Fucking hell Baz, that's some really abstract stuff right there. I've seen some weird stuff in my time but that film just about ranks as one of the most surreal thing I've seen. For the firs 5 or 10 minutes I was contemplating giving up with it and finding something else to view, but within the half hour I found myself totally absorbed into and memorised by the worlds presented to me in the film. The art style was pretty unique, and somewhat creepy, and the musical score and overall audio tone seemed to echo the surreal and distant imagery.

 

FantasticPlanet7_zps57468f01.jpg

Some of the strange visuals reminded me of Salvador Dali's artwork

 

Really good stuff, thank you very much for pointing me in the direction of something which I would have probably never seen otherwise. I was pretty blown away by that.

I absolutely adore this movie. The imagery is just insane.

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We were talking about Butch Cassidy in the Chat last night, I honestly think it's unfairly revered as a classic, especially of the Western genre when their's so many superior films out there. While I did enjoy it and the chemistry between Redford and Newman is undeniable I felt the film relied fair too much on montages to progress the story in the second half of the film which left plot developments feeling cold, it almost seemed like two seperate films with the first half being them trying to desperately escape from the law after they ride the train then the other half when they go down to Mexico, I could have watched a whole film about them on the run from the Marshall's pursuing them. Some of it was absolute cheese aswell, especially the whole Raindrops falling on my head bit.

 

I'll probably get shit from Gladstone, but I'm not a big fan of Butch Cassidy really. The style of it, with the montages, the non-period music, all of that, has aged and when I re-watched it last year I found myself profoundly disappointed with the whole thing. Even the ending wasn't as cool as I remembered it.

 

It's especially pointed when you compare it to The Sting, which has probably just got better with age. Amazing film, so much fun.

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