My Wrongs #8245-8247 & 117 - a Chris Morris short - extremely odd and deeply funny, though not to everyone's taste I am sure.
The Long Kiss Goodbye - a decent enough thriller, though there are some egregious plot holes. Some inspired bits of dialogue too.
robdmarsh
Well-known member
Superb film and came out at time when there was rich vein of darker tinged comedies coming out of Hollywood. Sideways I think was in the same year and this was even better to my mind.
Talking of Le Mans '66, watched Steve McQueen's Le Mans (from 1971) on blu ray last night - interesting to see that Ken Miles was one of the drivers used, along with the likes of Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx.
An odd film, in that there's very little dialogue and lots of racing - a bit of a pet/vanity project for the cooler king, I think.
An odd film, in that there's very little dialogue and lots of racing - a bit of a pet/vanity project for the cooler king, I think.
davidf
Well-known member
I thought Graham Hill was in that film, but after checking, I was thinking of Grand Prix from 1966, which also had a number of F1 drivers in the cast.
Shadow of the Vampire - a low budget and (it seems to me) largely unheard-of project - the gist of which is that the actor playing Nosferatu in FW Murnau's film is actually a vampire, a fact only known by him and the director. Great performances from Willem Dafoe as Schrek and John Malkovich as Murnau. Not an absolute classic, but I enjoy it.
Bunny
Active member
As much as some of my favourite SciFi and Fantasy movies have the most amazing scores; I am sat here watching My Fair Lady once again 
Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn work so well together, and it has to be my favourite non-animated musical.
Right this moment am watching Pandemonium on Amazon Prime. My bedroom setup is simple (55” Sony Bravia 4k 10bit, Yamaha YAS-109 Soundbar coupled with a Cambridge Audio SX120 8” Subwoofer). Damn this flick has a nice (i.e. scary as feck) soundtrack with intense surprises.
Later I will be introducing my husband, Jeff, to The Shining is an amazingly good mix of creepy powerful audio, with a creepy as hell visual theme.
Thats today so far….
Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn work so well together, and it has to be my favourite non-animated musical.Right this moment am watching Pandemonium on Amazon Prime. My bedroom setup is simple (55” Sony Bravia 4k 10bit, Yamaha YAS-109 Soundbar coupled with a Cambridge Audio SX120 8” Subwoofer). Damn this flick has a nice (i.e. scary as feck) soundtrack with intense surprises.
Later I will be introducing my husband, Jeff, to The Shining is an amazingly good mix of creepy powerful audio, with a creepy as hell visual theme.
Thats today so far….
Bunny
Active member
Ooooh <shivers go down my spine> I remember that one at the cinema. Haven’t watched it since…
Dog Soldiers on 4k - not a great transfer, but I suspect the source material isn't fantastic - unlike the film. Scary, funny, and the relationship and dialogue between the soldiers great.
davidf
Well-known member
It’s better than the previous Bluray releases! I don’t think it was captured all that well to begin with.
A few years ago, I got a set of used storyboards from Propstore - hundreds of sheets. After a while, we realised we'd have a few framed and the rest would most likely just gather dust, so I sold them in small batches on eBay - recouped most of the original cost in the end, and the feedback was brilliant, including from some who'd actually joined the army because of the film.
davidf
Well-known member
As mentioned earlier in the thread, there are classic films that stand out as the best of their genre, untouched by modern. I’ve always felt that Jaws was the best shark movie ever made. I wasn’t able to see it at the cinema on release as I was 6, and I always missed it at cinemas when it popped up for a day here and there. Last night, I managed to get to Cineworld, who are showing it all week - and got my own private IMAX screening as I was the only one there!
Films like this were made for the big screen, back when we were all watching 13” and 19” CRT TV screens with only 3 channels pre home video, so the only way to see a film like this was at the cinema. And when you see films like this at the cinema, you realise jus what is missing watchign it at home. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a 55”, 65”, or 85” TV, it just doesn’t compare. The latter half of the movie when they’re out at sea to catch Bruce, just looks wonderful. So while what I was watching was obviously the dodgy quality looking 3D version of the film being shown in 2D, and sounded naff with excessively boosted bass (as is pretty standard in IMAX screens), this is what cinema is all about. This is what the public are giving up on right now, and when all the big cinemas have closed down, we may be left with some smaller, independent art house type cinemas, they’ll never have screens of this size.
I look back on not only managing to catch older, classic films at the cinema, but modern films too - some have looked stunning like Prometheus, Blade Runner 2049, The Hateful Eight, Ready Player One, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, and Dunkirk, to name but a few. Soon, people will never experience films like this any more, and will likely miss out on why they’re are so good because so much is lost on a smaller screen.
Films like this were made for the big screen, back when we were all watching 13” and 19” CRT TV screens with only 3 channels pre home video, so the only way to see a film like this was at the cinema. And when you see films like this at the cinema, you realise jus what is missing watchign it at home. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a 55”, 65”, or 85” TV, it just doesn’t compare. The latter half of the movie when they’re out at sea to catch Bruce, just looks wonderful. So while what I was watching was obviously the dodgy quality looking 3D version of the film being shown in 2D, and sounded naff with excessively boosted bass (as is pretty standard in IMAX screens), this is what cinema is all about. This is what the public are giving up on right now, and when all the big cinemas have closed down, we may be left with some smaller, independent art house type cinemas, they’ll never have screens of this size.
I look back on not only managing to catch older, classic films at the cinema, but modern films too - some have looked stunning like Prometheus, Blade Runner 2049, The Hateful Eight, Ready Player One, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, and Dunkirk, to name but a few. Soon, people will never experience films like this any more, and will likely miss out on why they’re are so good because so much is lost on a smaller screen.
davidf
Well-known member
I see my favourite all time horror, John Carpenter’s The Thing is being shown on Halloween at my local Cineworld - I’m definitely not missing that! As long as they’re still around in six weeks…
davidf
Well-known member
I'm sure you know what I mean! When I was a kid, I thought Jaws 2 was as good as the original - it isn't. I've never seen Jaws 3, and don't plan on that changing. Never seen any of these Sharknado-type of things (and never will), and saw something called The Shallows (IIRC) which was passable, but no more. So I repeat, are there any other good ones?!Define “good”…
Hot Fuzz on 4k - love it. Quintessentially British humour. Shaun of the Dead is every bit as good, though I've only seen The World's End once and wasn't that taken.
davidf
Well-known member
I thought Jaws 2 was good when I was a kid too. Not bad, but obviously not as good as the original. For research purposes, I’ve seen few modern crappy Sy-Fy channel shark films:
“2 Headed Shark Attack”, because I wanted to see the physics of how a two headed shark would move in the water, and which direction - of course, two heads pointing in a different direction doesn’t make for good aerodynamics, nor does it help the shark move forward in a straight line. Obviously in the film, it didn’t have a problem. Bad. Doesn’t bode well for ”5 Headed Shark Attack”…
“Ghost Shark”, because I wanted to know how a ghost shark would interact with physical people. Turns out the shark can appear in any body of water - sea, lake, river, swimming pool, etc etc. It also appeared out of a puddle for a victim, and even grabbed a victim who was underneath repairing a sink. Tells you all you all you need to know about the film really.
”Sand Sharks”, because I wanted to see how a shark can swim through sand as easily as it does water.
“Shark Huntress”, because the poster looked a bit cool, so you expect a cross between Jaws and Lara Croft. More like a cross between Flipper and Pippy Longstocking. Turned out to be a big eco-warrior advert, and keeping plastics out of the ocean to save fish, but at the same time trying to kill a shark - seemed a little contradictory! Quite possibly the worst film I’ve ever seen, which was why I didn’t even give it half a star.
”From The Depths” fared marginally better (I gave it half a star). Despite being a shark film, most of the film consisted of a girl who’s sister who was killed in a shark attack visiting her from beyond the grave. Hardly any sharks.
Obviously, they’re all bad. You can tell by the title just how bad they’re going to be. I cant remember whether I’ve watched part of, or all of the first Sharknado film, fully knowing what to expect. I haven’t watched any of the others.
My favourite shark films completely ignoring how good Jaws is, are Bait, Shark Night 3D, and Deep Blue Sea. None are great, but they’re a damn sight better than those previously mentioned. There’s also a three hour, two part TV series called Creature, written by Peter Benchley who wrote Jaws, which is a TV movie, but not too bad. The half man/half creature shark looks pretty cool. And I have to say, and I might get some flack for this, but one of my guilty pleasures is The Meg. Again, not a great film, but the first time I saw it was at the cinema (when I had an Unlimited card, so it was free - I didn’t pay!), and it looked great at the cinema. Funny seeing a shark cruise up to a large underwater window and stop, staring menacingly at a little girl, which looked like something like a scene out of Finding Nemo. But what’s funnier is watching a CGI shark out-act Jason Statham.
The Shallows is pretty good, as is 47 Meters Down (the follow up was ok), and The Reef is ok. That’s how I’d describe them, “ok”. Watchable.
There was a film released in 2015 called “Raiders Of The Lost Shark”, and one this year called “Shark Side Of The Moon”. You’ve just got to watch them with titles like that, haven’t you?!!
Predator on 4k. Boneheaded, but good fun. Only seen the first sequel once, and thought it was awful.
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