The last movie you saw was . .

[fenris]

Have seen Scott Pilgrim vs the World and enjoyed it immensely - so much so that I've been and watched it a second time. Although I'm a big fan of Mary Elizabeth Winstead (who plays the film's female lead, Ramona Flowers), I thought that both Ramona and title character Scott were actually quite dull and uninteresting (though Scott is refreshingly shallow). For me, it's the supporting characters who make this movie: Scott's wonderfully dry and cynical gay room-mate Wallace, frequently over-excited and painfully sincere Japanese schoolgirl Knives ("You stole my boyfriend. Taste my steel!"), permanently annoyed Julie Powers (I loved the running joke in which she seems to be holding down every part-time job in Toronto), and best of all - Sex Bob-omb's drummer Kim Pine with her gloriously sullen attitude throughout. Of the Seven Evil Exes whom Scott has to fight in order to continuing dating Ramona, whip-welding lesbian ninja Roxy was my favourite, and I adored the defiance in her last line.

Incidentally, in regards to the repeated comments and theories made elsewhere on the 'net that it's impossible for anyone above the age of the specifically young target audience to understand or appreciate this movie, I'm 40. And when I saw it for the second time, I was accompanied by a friend who is 42. He really enjoyed it as well.

[fenris]

In my opinion, 2010 has been a poor year for movies. Of the films I've seen, the only ones that impressed me were Solomon Kane, Kick arse and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. The biggest disappointment was Iron Man 2, which contained all the expected flashes, bangs and gee-whizz spectacle, but was an utterly empty and soul-less effort, churned off the Marvel production line with no thought or attention paid to characters or story. The most under-rated movie was the supernatural western adventure Jonah Hex, which while undeniably flawed didn't deserve the scathing reviews and woeful box office that it received.

[fenris]

Saw Season of the Witch yesterday. It's a movie with a long and troubled history: production took place in November 2008 and it was originally supposed to hit cinema screens both here and in America in March 2010, but it was pulled from release, sat in limbo for several months, and seemed likely to bypass cinemas altogether and be quietly dumped straight onto DVD. Instead, additional footage was shot in September amidst rumours of extensive re-editing, and eventually a new release date of 7th January 2011 was announced. Initially intended as a dark, medieval horror film (rated R in America), it had been re-conceived - and was being marketed as - a PG13-rated period fantasy/action-adventure.

The movie's narrative is uncomplicated and relatively straight-forward: in the 14th century, veteran Crusaders Behmen and Felson (Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman) grow weary of being ordered by the Church to slaughter women and children whose only crime is not being born Christian. Deserting, they set off on the long journey home and eventually reach eastern Europe to find it stricken with plague. The Catholic authorities have found a scapegoat for the spread of the disease: a young woman (Claire Foy) whose 'confession' of being a witch they obtained via torture. Arrested for desertion, Behman and Felson are offered a full pardon if they will transport the girl to a remote monastery, where the resident monks will perform a ritual to strip her of her powers, enabling her to be killed and thus ending the plague.

While nothing about the movie is particularly remarkable or ground-breaking, the cast all acquit themselves as talented professionals and for most of it's running time Season of the Witch is an entertaining and watchable effort. There are a number of well-handled setpieces on the knights' journey that whittle down their traveling companions, such as an attack by ravenous wolves that transform into hellhounds, and a perilous passage over a collapsing bridge. And although the film doesn't dwell on the wide-reaching effects of the plague, the Crusaders encounter some grisly and impressive sights: hundred of crows (carrion eaters, remember) circling over a city; a dying Cardinal (a cameoing Christopher Lee) hideously deformed by the disease; a starving dog - it's body ridden with weeping sores - feasting on a corpse; an apparently lifeless village in which two inhabitants suddenly emerge to silently dump a body in the street, before retreating back inside; and an open mass grave full of liquefying cadavers. The movie also touches upon all the blood that has been shed in God's name and the blinkered arrogance of those who claim to be His representatives. Some of the characters also express doubts: is the girl truly a witch? Is her early escape attempt merely the action of a terrified young woman who - understandably - wants to avoid being executed? And even if she does possess supernatural powers, is she responsible for the plague?

But eventually the traveling party arrive at the monastery... and the film goes horribly wrong.

SPOILER: Click to show

All the moral uncertainties are abandoned and the movie becomes a disappointingly conventional struggle between clearly defined Good and Evil. The all-action climatic setpiece is marred by hectic and muddled editing. But worse of all is what happens to the title character.
In the trailer that played in cinemas prior to the film's aborted release in early 2010 (see below), there are three shots taken from the movie's climax as it was clearly originally conceived, before the film was substantially reworked: Claire Foy walking straight towards the camera in close up as the caged wagon burns and melts into molten scrap behind her; her then levitating - spinning - through the air, over the heads of her captors; and finally Foy grabbing Nicolas Cage by the throat and slamming him against a wall. All those scenes are still in the film - but

SPOILER: Click to show

Foy is no longer in them. Instead, she's been digitally removed from the footage and replaced by a CGI monster. Yes, that's right - at the movie's conclusion, the witch transforms into an unimpressive seven-foot-tall CGI winged demon that looks as though it's wandered in from the final reel of The Golden Child (1986). Ugh. In my opinion it's unnecessary, misguided and a complete mistake. For example, I thought the 'levitation' shot in the original trailer looked stunning... but in the released film

SPOILER: Click to show

, Foy merely morphs into a dodgy special effect, then blandly flies away. It's hugely disappointing.

Hopefully the original ending, with

SPOILER: Click to show

the heroes battling a demonically-possessed Foy (as opposed to an enemy comprised entirely of pixels), will be included as an extra on the DVD. Even more ideally, I'd like to see a two disc set with the original director's cut on one disc and the theatrically-released version on the other, but it'll never happen.

Original trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLoKm_vUsFY

[fenris]

Sword & sorcery movies are usually set during a fabled, bygone age, in mythical kingdoms populated by dragons, wizards, orcs, goblins, elves and the occasional unicorn. However, from late 2009 onwards a new wave of fantasy/action films has emerged, supposedly set in the 'real world' during medieval times, and depicting witchfinders, knights and Crusaders battling against witches and a demon or two. Examples include Solomon Kane, Dark Relic, Black Death and Season of the Witch.

Commissioned by the American Syfy channel, Witchville (awful title) appears to be an attempt to adapt to this new trend, while retaining most of the trappings of more traditional fantasy fare. Prince Malachi (played by Luke Goss) returns to his homeland after several years away, to discover his father the King is dead and the kingdom is stricken with plague, drought and famine. Learning that a coven of witches are responsible for his nation's plight, Malachi joins forces with a crossbow-welding witch-hunter and a band of warrior-thieves to locate and kill the coven's leader, the Red Queen (Sarah Douglas), unaware that he's actually being stalked by the Queen's lethal enforcer Jozefa (MyAnna Buring).

Witchville's storyline contains no surprises and it is clearly a low budget film, but every penny can be seen on screen, with impressively elaborate costumes and weaponry that seem to be inspired by those in the games Assassins' Creed and World of Warcraft . The movie also boasts effective sword-fighting sequences and more-than-competent direction: Jozefa's entrances throughout the film are especially stylishly handled.

A common weakness in Syfy Original movies is the quality of the CGI effects failing to match the ambitions of the script, but thankfully that's not the case here. Special effects are mostly limited to the Red Queen and Jozefa hurling balls of energy at opponents, and the biggest CGI setpiece - an attack by hellhounds - is conducted with real flair.

The cast all do what's required of them, without any real noteworthy or stand-out performances, although Buring radiates a particularly strong presence as she prowls through the movie like a red-cloaked Angel of Death.

In conclusion, Witchville is a solid and worthwhile, if unremarkable, addition to the sword & sorcery genre.

[fenris]

Did anyone else happen to see William & Kate: The Movie on Five yesterday (24/04/11)? Despite lots of very silly moments, it wasn't quite the complete cringe-fest that I was hoping it would be. Quite ironic to see the lovely Serena Scott-Thomas playing Kate's mother, when she'd previously portrayed Will's mother in the ghastly American TV movie Diana: Her True Story, back in 1993.

And the best (or worse) is yet to come. British porn channel Television X are showing their own version of Kate & Wills' story this Friday (29/04/11). Entitled A Royal Romp, it concludes with the happy couple celebrating their wedding night by having a foursome with Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy. The latter is played by an actress with the delightful name of Michelle Moist. It makes you proud to be British.

[fenris]

Jan 8, 2011 16:50:05 GMT fenris said:

Saw Season of the Witch yesterday. Hopefully the original ending will be included as an extra on the DVD.

According to an article on the Arrow in the Head website, we might get to finally see Season of the Witch's original ending;

20th Century Fox will release Season of the Witch on DVD and Blu-ray on June 28th. Cover art has not yet been revealed, but word did leak out that special features on the Blu-ray will include a commentary track, deleted scenes, two featurettes, an alternate ending and the trailer. Full details are expected in the coming weeks.

Source

Fingers crossed that the above list of extras is also included on the Region 2 DVD.

[fenris]

Apr 28, 2011 18:38:26 GMT fenris said:

According to an article on the Arrow in the Head website, we might get to finally see Season of the Witch's original ending;

20th Century Fox will release Season of the Witch on DVD and Blu-ray on June 28th. Special features on the Blu-ray will include a commentary track, deleted scenes, two featurettes, an alternate ending and the trailer.

Season of the Witch is available from today (27/06/11) on Region 2 DVD and UK Blu-ray, but sadly the original ending isn't available on either of them, despite the fact it's included as an extra on the Region 1 DVD and US Blu-ray which go on sale tomorrow (28/06/11). How annoying. I thought the days when American discs had different/superior features compared to their British counterparts were behind us.

[fenris]

British screenwriter/producer/director Paul Matthews set up his own production company Peakviewing Entertainment in the early Nineties, and started out making low budget horror movies that were filmed in the UK but set in America. By the end of the decade, both Matthews and Peakviewing had graduated to slightly-larger budgeted productions (family films, children's fantasy movies, even a few westerns) that were still British financed, but mostly shot in South Africa.

Written and directed by Matthews, Merlin: The Return is probably the best known example of Peakviewing's output, and even received a wide cinema release in the UK, opening in over one hundred screens across the country during the Christmas holidays in 2000. Presumably titled to trick audiences into thinking it was a sequel to the internationally acclaimed Hallmark TV mini-series Merlin (1998) starring Sam Neill, Merlin: The Return includes an inspired piece of left-field casting (Rik Mayall as Merlin), some familiar B movie faces (Adrian Paul, Craig Sheffer), a couple of former A listers on the slide (Patrick Bergin, Tia Carrere) and assorted unknowns who didn't go on to appear in anything of note (in particular, Julie Hartley as Guinevere).

The plot: approximately 1500 years ago, a final battle at Stonehenge ended with King Arthur (Bergin) and his knights surrounded and vastly outnumbered by Mordred (Sheffer) and his army. With Arthur already badly wounded and left emotionally shattered by Mordred's revelation that Guinevere had been unfaithful with Lancelot (Paul), Merlin desperately used the energy contained within the standing stones to cast a spell that banished Mordred, his followers, Guinevere and Lancelot to a dismal dimension called the Neitherworld. The wizard also placed Arthur and his knights in a deep slumber, from which they would only awaken if Mordred menaced the world again.
Cut to the present-day, and Merlin - rendered immortal by magical means - is living as a hermit in a village close to Stonehenge and regarded as a harmless eccentric by the locals. However, a scientist named Maxwell (Carrere) is conducting experiments involving Earth's magnetic field that are weakening the spell keeping Mordred imprisoned in the Neitherworld, and thus also cause Arthur and his knights to awaken. Reunited with his king, Merlin must find a way to prevent Mordred from re-entering our world.

Merlin: The Return is an entertaining romp, if you're in an undemanding mood, and as a tale of otherworldly warriors continuing their battle on contemporary Earth, it feels like a British version of the live-action Masters of the Universe movie (1987). The biggest surprise is Rik Mayall, who plays the titular role remarkably straight and emerges as the film's strongest asset. He also gets a great set-piece when Merlin single-handedly wreaks mystical havoc at Maxwell's laboratory. Taking his cue from Mayall, Bergin also takes his role seriously, while clearly being aware of the comedy inherent in having time-displaced, sword-waggling Dark Age warriors let loose in the 21st century. Accordingly, Bergin teases some humour into scenes where Arthur finds himself in unlikely situations - such as Merlin insisting that the best way to contact the Lady of the Lake is for the king to throw himself off a cliff.
Adrian Paul came to Merlin: The Return having spent most of the preceding decade starring in Highlander: The Series, so playing a sword-welding immortal must have come as second nature to him, and indeed he portrays Lancelot as just another member of the clan MacLeod. But it's a nicely-judged performance that catches exactly the right tone for the film. Julie Hartley makes for a spirited Guinevere, and especially looks the part when she changes into golden chainmail and armour halfway through the film. She also has great chemistry with Mayall - so much so that Guinevere and Merlin feel more like a natural couple than Guinevere does with either Arthur or Lancelot.
Sheffer glowers, snarls and barks his way through the role of Mordred, and while he does have some effective moments, he often seems more like a street-corner thug instead of the regal Dark Overlord and potential world-conqueror that he's supposed to be. As Maxwell, Tia Carrere doesn't even try to explore the psyche of someone prepared to sell out the human race for her own narrow-minded personal gain, instead choosing to do just enough to earn her pay cheque, no more.

Although clearly intended to be a family film (Merlin is befriended and aided by two pre-teen children - an English girl and American boy for that all-important trans-Atlantic appeal), Merlin: The Return contains some surprisingly adult themes: Mordred and his mother Morgana (Grethe Fox) have an openly incestuous relationship; Guinevere's adultery with Lancelot is an important plot-point; Mordred surrounds himself with scantly-clad witches, handmaidens and female warriors (one of the latter is played by Lee-Anne Liebenberg, who went on to the higher profile role of Viper in Neil Marshall's Doomsday) and while jaunting through the Neitherworld, Lancelot & Arthur stumble across the villain's personal harem; and at the film's conclusion

SPOILER: Click to show

after Mordred has been defeated, and Arthur and the knights decide they don't belong in the 21st century and choose to make a new home for themselves in the Neitherworld, they take Maxwell with them as their prisoner (presumably so she can't cause more mischief on Earth) and it's made clear that her future consists solely of being Gerwain's unwilling sex slave.

The final credits state that Merlin: The Return is dedicated to actress Kadamba Simmons, who starred in Paul Matthews and Peakviewing's first two movies, Grim (1995) and Breeders (1997, aka Deadly Instincts), and was tragically murdered, aged just 24, shortly after the second film was completed. Patrick Bergin and Craig Sheffer later both starred in another Peakviewing movie directed by Matthews, a Highlander-style fantasy called Berserker: Hell's Warrior (2004). At the time of writing, Berserker remains the last film made by Matthews and/or Peakviewing.

[fenris]

I'm not able to get out to the cinema anymore, but I recently watched Captain America: The First Avenger on DVD (came across it in Sainsburys for only £5 and decided to treat myself). Thought it was disappointing - as a flashy, popcorn action movie it's fine, but otherwise it's quite empty and there's a distinct lack of period atmosphere (especially compared to director Joe Johnston's earlier pulp-era superhero film, 1991's The Rocketeer). I suspect the latter is deliberate, as Captain America: The First Avenger actually isn't a WWII movie: although Nazi Germany is referred to a few times at the beginning, Steve Rogers is basically portrayed as a young man desperate to serve his country in A War Overseas. And from about a third of the film onwards, the Third Reich, Hitler, the Axis powers, and the Allies' campaigns on various fronts simply aren't mentioned, and the narrative is exclusively about Cap and his band of elite commandos targetting the Hydra organisation. In other words, it's a movie in which covert Special Forces battle against a terrorist network - this is really a film about the War on Terror. I suspect that the producers decided to take this current/relevant approach due to the fact that all previous superhero movies set in the Thirties or Forties - The Shadow (1994), The Phantom (1995), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), the aforementioned Rocketeer, all the way back to Doc Savage: Man of Bronze (1975) - have undeservedly flopped.
I actually think that the previous Captain America movie, a low-budget effort released straight-to-video in 1990, is better and more enjoyable than The First Avenger.

[fenris]

Professional critics and film fans constantly rave about how Blade Runner is a masterpiece and one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made. Personally, I think it's an extremely over-rated film, but occasionally when it's shown on television I re-watch it to see if a penny will finally drop and I'll suddenly understand why so many reviewers gush over it. So I viewed Blade Runner: The Final Cut when it was screened on BBC2 last night (30/12/12)... and my opinion hasn't changed.

Yes, the visuals are stunning, the production design is incredible and the score by Vangelis is highly memorable. But Blade Runner remains a cold, distant, uninvolving film that keeps the viewer at arms-length and doesn't engage you at any level. The storyline is remarkably simplistic and characterisation practically non-existent. It's also very dull, with lengthy sections of running time passing in which practically nothing happens. The last minute twist, starkly hinting that Dekkard himself might unknowingly be a replicant, is well handled, but the movie hasn't given me any reason to care whether he is or not.

[fenris]

A welcome side-effect of Hollywood's ongoing practice of remaking or paying homage to movies from yesteryear is that it enables the original films to be re-discovered. Case in point: Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino's addition to the series of numerous unofficial sequels and rip-offs that followed the enormous worldwide success of Django (1966), has resulted in a handful of the earlier Django movies being released on Region 2 DVD, most notably Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968).

Made by one of the producers and scriptwriters of the original Django, it's clear that Prepare a Coffin (aka Viva Django) was an attempt to create a legitimate sequel (or prequel, in this case) to Django, instead of just making a bog-standard revenge Western and slapping 'Django' into the title, as happened in the vast majority of the unofficial Django films. It's even rumoured that Franco Nero, who played the title character in Django, initially signed to reprise the role in Prepare a Coffin, but had to pull out due to a scheduling conflict, whereupon Terence Hill was cast instead (a few years later Hill would become a massive star in his own right, due to the comedy Western They Call Me Trinity).

Django, Prepare a Coffin has been released on DVD in the UK on the Arrow label, and is available in two different versions. There's a deluxe DVD with various extras, including a reversible DVD sleeve with a reproduction of the original movie poster on one side, and a collector's booklet about the history of the Django series. Alternatively, there's a budget/no frills DVD (which I bought at my local Sainsburys for just £3) with a new sleeve that's sneakily designed to resemble the poster for Django Unchained and the film's trailer as the only extra.

Although I'm not overtly a fan of Spaghetti Westerns, I do like the better films that the genre has to offer, and having not seen Django, Prepare a Coffin before, I enjoyed it immensely. In fact, I think I prefer it to the original Django.
Now, if only someone would release Django the Bastard (1969; aka The Stranger's Gundown) on Region 2...

[fenris]

I first saw Without Warning (1980) over twenty years ago, and had fond memories of it. There's never been an official DVD release in the UK, but I recently bought the German Region 2 disc (it plays in English) and wondered if the movie would be as good as I remembered.

My thoughts: it's quite amateurish at the beginning, with some clumsy editing, dubbing (when the group of boy scouts run away, they're clearly not making the screaming noise on the soundtrack), and some dodgy acting. But the movie actually improves as it goes along, and the last half-hour is very good indeed. Martin Landhu and Jack Palance both attack their roles with undisguised relish (Palance is clearly enjoying himself immensely), but it's Tarah Nutter who steals the show. She's a first-rate Final Girl who looks stunning and is totally convincing when required to act as though she's scared out of her wits. It's a pity her screen career was so brief.

Final verdict: Without Warning is a solid, entertaining B movie, worth watching.

[fenris]

I've recently watched Devil Girl From Mars (1954) for the first time, having read about it in books, magazines and on websites for any, many years. It was everything that I hoped it would be, and I was thoroughly entertained. Considering it was a low budget British movie the quality of the special effects is most impressive, and in my opinion just as good as those in bigger budgeted American films from the same period, such as The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) and Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956). And I was surprised at how sexy Patricia Laffan was as Nyah, the Devil Girl of the title.

"What's that Miss Nyah? Go back with you to Mars and become your sex slave? Oh, yes please. Is this the queue?"

[fenris]

A couple of weeks ago I saw a version of the ultra-low budget superhero movie Avenging Force: The Scarab on YouTube that was dubbed into German and clearly heavily edited (according to the IMDB, the film is 85 minutes long, but the version I watched was less than an hour in length). Avenging Force was written, produced & directed by Canadian film-maker (and occasional comic book publisher) Brett Kelly, who has performed one or more of the same duties on several other superhero movies: Iron Soldier (2010), Thunderstorm: The Return of Thor (2011), Agent Beetle (2012) and Rise Of The Black Bat (2012). Avenging Force was filmed under the title The Scarab but retitled prior to release. It's easy to assume that this was an attempt to cash in on Marvel's Avengers franchise, but Avenging Force was released on DVD in North America in 2010, two years before the first Avengers movie reached cinemas.

With the exception of Iron Soldier, all of Brett Kelly's superhero movies feature genuine Golden Age comic book heroes whose copyright has lapsed and now exist in the public domain. In addition to The Scarab, Avenging Force also has The Woman In Red, The Black Terror, the original Daredevil (renamed 'Doubledare' to avoid any legal problems with Marvel), and Lady Satan (although a heroine in the original comics, she's portrayed as one of the movie's villains - perhaps Kelly thought a heroic character named Lady Satan would be a hard sell in an America where some churchs organise mass-burnings of Harry Potter books).

Although I’m not fluent in German, while watching Avenging Force I was still able to work out the basics of the movie’s plot (who was doing what to whom, and why) and I enjoyed the film for what it was. I thought the action scenes were well handled, and I was amused that the covert intelligence organization employing The Women In Red was called N.E.D.O.R., after Golden Age publishers Nedor Comics. Here are three separate trailers for the movie;

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMqDBUDr_z8

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoweqdhVGKg

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QlmKRDYwvM

[fenris]

Major Grom (2016). Short film (available to watch on YouTube) based on a comic book series from Russian publishers Bubble Comics about a superheroic Moscow cop. Packs a lot into it's half-hour running time, with a couple of effective twists, a great fight scene that's seemingly shot in a single continuous take (though there must be a few hidden cuts in there) as the camera repeatedly spins 360 degrees around the combatants, and an impressively filmed stunt sequence as Grom pursues a criminal across the very high rafters of an abandoned building. There's also a pleasing vein of meta humour throughout ('I must work on my punchlines' mutters Grom after dispatching a villain and realizing he's got nothing witty to say) including a sequence that pokes fun at the Transporter franchise, and - in a nod to fans of the original comic book - a last second cameo by Grom's arch-nemesis. A solid 8/10. Recommended. Here's the trailer.