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


Devon Malcolm

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I would've liked then to expand more on Pitt's character supposedly getting away with murdering his wife though.

I was glad it was never explained. How you view that moment then informs how you view the ending in my opinion

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@HarmonicGenerator I'm dragging you over here from Sydow to get your thoughts on the Exorcist. I've been watching it for over twenty years and it never loses it's power to shock or compel. I cannot see it for the first time so I'm interested what it looks like to fresh eyes.

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I thought it was great. Genuinely shocking, wonderfully built and paced, beautifully directed. Von Sydow definitely my favourite performance - he just had this aura of gravitas around him. I go into it a little more on a recent episode of our podcast (search for Nerdfest UK) where my memories of it are a bit fresher but the above is the gist of my thoughts.

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11 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

I go into it a little more on a recent episode of our podcast

So I went and found it

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1mClzgkYnVabZguWHm05TV?si=6beNOpxVQrWFyUDh1uf8uw

It's thrilling to hear someone experience Exorcist for the first time. It's such a visceral, real film. A couple of aged FX shots aside it's played totally straight which completely sells it. Great listen, thanks HG. (Although your man John (?) is inaccurate about the shotgun, Friedkin actually fired a revolver during one take to get a startled reaction out of Karras. The slapping of Sydow is another crazy story.) 

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I got around to watching Streets of Fire last night after picking up a cheap copy on eBay.  I've a hunch someone mentioned this on here a while back and, being a big fan of The Warriors, made a note to check it out at some point.  I definitely saw elements of The Warriors in this (the settings at times, Gangs, making your way back home, Deborah van Valkenburgh etc) but found it a blast from start to finish.  First up the music is phenomenal and I've pretty much had "Tonight Is What It Feels To Be Young" and "I Can Dream About You" on loop ever since.  Outstanding visuals and it's almost as if it's from some neo-apolocalyptical another world in places with the colours, fire and explosions.  Diane Lane is great as Ellen Aim, but my standout performances are from Rick Moranis, as her slimy manager come lover, and Amy Madigan.  I did find the confrontation at the end a bit lackluster but am glad that I gave this a watch.  Southern Comfort is the plan for tonight as I continue my Walter Hill voyage.

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Den of Thieves. On holiday in Magaluf a girl once told my mate "You're not as good as you think you are." Whilst they were indulging in a bit of the old in out in out. That's how this film made me feel. It literally rips off the federal reserve job in GTA 5 and it's longingly wanting to be Heat but doesn't come close to either.

Cube jr is wasted and Gerard Butler is at the lower end of the Gerard Butler scale here. Pablo Schreiber was pretty good, he was the best/worse thing in OITNB, best thing that hadn't been in Lovejoy  in American Gods and the best thing in this.

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The Hunt - Get Out meets The Hunger Games and The Purge. Much better then it had any right to be. Funny, shocks, some great kills. A lot of fun

Bloodshot - Some of you here will love this 80’s throwback. Cheesy, awful accents, terrible continuity. And yet was entertaining enough, especially if you love Running Man, Terminator etc

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A day later than planned as I ended up watching Brewster's Millions (which no-one needs telling of right?) after Streets of Fire.  Set in the Louisiana bayou Southern Comfort is about a group of National Guardsmen who get lost out in the swampland and incur the wrath of some local Cajun's.  A slow burner of a film with the intensity ramping up and you're on the edge of your seat by the climax (on more than one occasion it made me jump due to things that happened).  Some stellar performances from Powers Boothe, Fred Ward and Keith Carradine, quality Cajun music at the shindig and I didn't know who to trust or what was going to happen towards the end. 

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9 minutes ago, Magnum Milano said:

A day later than planned as I ended up watching Brewster's Millions (which no-one needs telling of right?) after Streets of Fire.  Set in the Louisiana bayou Southern Comfort is about a group of National Guardsmen who get lost out in the swampland and incur the wrath of some local Cajun's.  A slow burner of a film with the intensity ramping up and you're on the edge of your seat by the climax (on more than one occasion it made me jump due to things that happened).  Some stellar performances from Powers Boothe, Fred Ward and Keith Carradine, quality Cajun music at the shindig and I didn't know who to trust or what was going to happen towards the end. 

Outside of The Driver, it's my favourite Walter Hill film. I've watched it six or seven times now and it improves on each viewing. It's the film Deliverance could have been if the character work had been as strong as Southern Comfort's is. The last 20 minutes are some of the best American cinema of the 1970s. The use of music and long shots is ingenious.

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Just now, Devon Malcolm said:

Outside of The Driver, it's my favourite Walter Hill film. I've watched it six or seven times now and it improves on each viewing. It's the film Deliverance could have been if the character work had been as strong as Southern Comfort's is. The last 20 minutes are some of the best American cinema of the 1970s. The use of music and long shots is ingenious.

I got outbid on The Driver when I was picking a bunch of Walter Hill films up off eBay.  When I was reading up on him that was one that always got strong reviews/recommendations.  I have a soft spot for The Warriors so find it tough to rank Southern Comfort above that, but did prefer this over Streets of Fire.

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1 hour ago, Magnum Milano said:

I got outbid on The Driver when I was picking a bunch of Walter Hill films up off eBay.  When I was reading up on him that was one that always got strong reviews/recommendations.  I have a soft spot for The Warriors so find it tough to rank Southern Comfort above that, but did prefer this over Streets of Fire.

Yeah, The Driver is an absolute masterpiece. Even after his 70s and early 80s peak, Hill still made a bunch of really enjoyable films, bit like a Tony Scott precursor. Plus his writing work is largely overlooked too.

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On 3/6/2020 at 10:42 PM, Devon Malcolm said:

This is my thread now then.

Spenser Confidential

Be interested to see what fellow Peter Berg devotee @Scott Malbranque made of this. I thought it was one of Berg's worst. It tries to be a bit of about five or six different things rather than keeping things simple like Berg's films normally do. Iliza Shlesinger can't act either so she can add that to not being able to do comedy well. Really disappointing.

Watched it last night, and it was a bit gik, wasn't it, D-Mal.
I love and anticipate Peter Berg movies like I used to Tony Scott's, and from my point of view - and I'm sure Berg would be delighted - that's as big a compliment I can pay him, and even though Mile 22 was regarded as shite, I actually loved it, but this was a mess and lends further credence to the fact that the Big Name Actor/Director straight to Netflix flicks really can ask my bollocks for the most part.
Was entertaining at points, but as you said, it didn't know what it wanted to be or do and it had potential to be a decent, funny buddy cop movie, but Winston Duke really isn't that funny or charming. 
I probably would have switched Bokeem Woodbine with Winston Duke as Woodbine and Wahlberg had decent chemistry in The Big Hit, even back when neither were really very good at this acting thing, but yep, a mess.
 

11 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Twelve Monkeys

Shouldn't have done really. Bit more paranoid now.

Don't watch Contagion. I did. Shouldn't have.

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