What film are you watching tonight/watched last night???

You shouldn't hold back.
 
Species II (1998, streaming on UK Netflix)

Derided at the time for its utterly ludicrous plot underpinning its very high gloss Hollywood sheen, time has indeed been kind to this sex n' grue sequel. Not that its improved the film at all (although its VFX work from legend Steve Johnson remain impressive), more that I can recognise the utter insanity of its script and just wallow in its stupidity - its as if Italian trashmeister Ernesto Gastaldi (he of such impressive credits as 2019: The Fall of New York and Hands of Steel as well as numerous great gialli of the 70s) had finally been given the budget he yearned for.........and taken on that level, this is a glorious trash-terpiece of almost unprecedented levels.

Not only is bringing Sil, I mean Eve back to life via cloning deemed a sensible thing to do after she nearly shagged the human race to death in the previous film, but sending a manned space mission to Mars and land it on the exact spot where billions of years ago the same alien species died and left its DNA ready for the next unlucky life form to pass that way is greeted with nothing more than a 'huh'.

So the hunky space captain is now impregnating every woman he can find and collecting the offspring that are born seconds after their very 90's Hollywood sex is over and Sil, I mean Eve is starting to feel all kinds of horny for this slimy sex god and before you can say "Madsen and Helgenberger really need new agents", its a race against time to stop these two from boffing and yet again destroying the world with the now combined power of their love juices.

Its ridiculous. But its a kind of big budget Hollywood ridiculous we don't get to see very often - probably because the resultant film is poor on so many levels - and as such, needs to be celebrated. And its precisely because of that massive budget that the insanity works - most films of this stupidity have micro-budgets and so look as bad as they actually are. This though, is some next level turd - VFX (and decent VFX at that) all over the place, Henstridge proving yet again she's allergic to most clothing and its a sugary eye candy treat that you don't mind watching, knowing full well its rotting your brain at the same time.

A bona fide trash-terpiece.

Whilst Species got a lot of, erm, playtime on vhs, i vividly remember going into town to buy Species II in the then Virgin Megastore (as one of my first dvd purchases at around £20!).
 
Everest

A real life disaster film (think you would call it that) based on a group of climbers who attempted Everest.

A bit depressing by the end as it obviously didn't go to plan but very well done.

8/10
There are a couple of books on this that are well worth a read, one of which is "Into Thin Air"
 
Sadisterotica (aka Two Undercover Angels)

Gawd bless blu releases of Eurocine.

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Going to watch sexy beast tonight if only to watch Ben Kingsley masterful betrayal as Don Logan feel this was a little underrated, but for me a solid british gangster movie.
 
I had a Steven King double-bill weekend - IT Chapter 2 and Doctor Sleep both Cinema Paradiso BD rentals. Man that sure was a lot of
gruesome child murdering
for one weekend.

Enjoyed both but at over five hours between them there were probably a few bits that could be trimmed. I had no idea what the story for Doctor Sleep was going to be, and wasn't sure about how it would go once it had 'settled' on the big direction - I would guess it took nearly an hour to get to the point where there was a plot. It went very hard
Shining revisit
, including
many shots and even directly reused footage
in the final act. Pretty satisfying overall with some great cinematography, although some of the night scenes did not look great to me.

IT went pretty well as expected - felt the flabbier of the two but still decent - Bill Skarsgård is a great sinister clown again. Something I forgot from the mini series all those years go, or maybe it wasn't there, was the fact that
IT is an alien
?? I looked it up an it seems to be canonical with the book, which has an even more bonkers ending. I did find the constant 'bad endings' joke was somewhat overdone, especially when a certain junk shop owner turns up.

Overall both were up there with the best King films (though definitely not the best) and if you know King films you know pretty much what is going on. Lots of nice little references to the wider King universe, especially if you have read the Dark Tower books - and if not, why not!?!?
 
I had a Steven King double-bill weekend - IT Chapter 2 and Doctor Sleep both Cinema Paradiso BD rentals. Man that sure was a lot of
gruesome child murdering
for one weekend.

Enjoyed both but at over five hours between them there were probably a few bits that could be trimmed. I had no idea what the story for Doctor Sleep was going to be, and wasn't sure about how it would go once it had 'settled' on the big direction - I would guess it took nearly an hour to get to the point where there was a plot. It went very hard
Shining revisit
, including
many shots and even directly reused footage
in the final act. Pretty satisfying overall with some great cinematography, although some of the night scenes did not look great to me.

IT went pretty well as expected - felt the flabbier of the two but still decent - Bill Skarsgård is a great sinister clown again. Something I forgot from the mini series all those years go, or maybe it wasn't there, was the fact that
IT is an alien
?? I looked it up an it seems to be canonical with the book, which has an even more bonkers ending. I did find the constant 'bad endings' joke was somewhat overdone, especially when a certain junk shop owner turns up.

Overall both were up there with the best King films (though definitely not the best) and if you know King films you know pretty much what is going on. Lots of nice little references to the wider King universe, especially if you have read the Dark Tower books - and if not, why not!?!?
I still have not seen It Chapter 2 as I found the first one a bit underwhelming and silly.
That being said - the book is CRAZY. Like absolutely trouser-eatingly insane. It's a great example of King's "talcum powder" writing period in the 80s.
 
I still have not seen It Chapter 2 as I found the first one a bit underwhelming and silly.
That being said - the book is CRAZY. Like absolutely trouser-eatingly insane. It's a great example of King's "talcum powder" writing period in the 80s.
I personally found the book, IT, really disappointing and hard work.

I much preferred Misery, which I've read 3 times and seen the film hundreds of times and The Shining.
 
I loved the book IT, one of my favourite books. Read it loads of times.
 
That's cool, thank you! I'll put them on my reading list 🙂
Left for Dead was the other one.
There is also a made for TV film called "Into Thin Air - Death on Everest", which is worth a watch if you're still thirsty for more.
 
I had a Steven King double-bill weekend - IT Chapter 2 and Doctor Sleep both Cinema Paradiso BD rentals. Man that sure was a lot of
gruesome child murdering
for one weekend.

Enjoyed both but at over five hours between them there were probably a few bits that could be trimmed. I had no idea what the story for Doctor Sleep was going to be, and wasn't sure about how it would go once it had 'settled' on the big direction - I would guess it took nearly an hour to get to the point where there was a plot. It went very hard
Shining revisit
, including
many shots and even directly reused footage
in the final act. Pretty satisfying overall with some great cinematography, although some of the night scenes did not look great to me.

IT went pretty well as expected - felt the flabbier of the two but still decent - Bill Skarsgård is a great sinister clown again. Something I forgot from the mini series all those years go, or maybe it wasn't there, was the fact that
IT is an alien
?? I looked it up an it seems to be canonical with the book, which has an even more bonkers ending. I did find the constant 'bad endings' joke was somewhat overdone, especially when a certain junk shop owner turns up.

Overall both were up there with the best King films (though definitely not the best) and if you know King films you know pretty much what is going on. Lots of nice little references to the wider King universe, especially if you have read the Dark Tower books - and if not, why not!?!?

I'm a big fan of this Dr. Sleep and enjoyed both IT movies as well. As you say, Skarsgard is brilliant as Pennywise.

Speaking of King, currently watching the new version of The Stand. It's not been as good as I'd hoped but decent enough. The other Skarsgard as Flagg is pretty good.

Also can't recommend Castle Rock enough. Especially Season 2. A lovely Misery kind of tribute, and a great turn from Lizzy Caplan as Annie Wilkes.
 
Also can't recommend Castle Rock enough. Especially Season 2. A lovely Misery kind of tribute, and a great turn from Lizzy Caplan as Annie Wilkes.

Thanks - looks up my street - another one to binge on a Starz free-trial ala Counterpart.
 
Thanks - looks up my street - another one to binge on a Starz free-trial ala Counterpart.

Scandalously cancelled, but it matters not for the watch as each season is contained and Season 2 ends very nicely indeed.
 
Red Dragon (2002)
1614096421446.png

A tattoo without character.
Anthony Hopkins, Ed Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel.
Closing the unholy triumvirate of power obsessed serial killers, Red Dragon rolls around to bit of a damp squib for me. The original, with William Petersen as Will Graham in Manhunter, outclasses this at most every turn. Anthony is still great (but then so was Brian Cox) however, he's reduced to second fiddle to Norton's Graham in every respect. He has to buff Graham's ego with simplistic comparisons and yields to weakly set out demands; that he masterfully brushed aside, like a bored cat, from Clarice in Silence of the Lambs. Petersen slid into the role of Graham; like a cheap flannel suit should be worn; with a knowing flare for the task ahead and not like something of a lost boy wonder, as Norton appears throughout, with some really bad lines. To add to my misery, Keitel's Crawford, boss of Will, spends most of the film re-inflating Norton's flaccid ego like a ten dollar whore and not his usual grunt-to-the-fore insistence upon others.
Even Ralph Fiennes feels off, as fledgling killer 'D', in that there's just something missing to fear in his cleaner appearance, flightiness and mansion'd up setting to it all. Whereas, Tom Noonan hit that chord of scary loner nut job with ease; set as he is at 6' 5", in flopping balding squalor of unpleasantness in setting and all around - you just feel uncomfortable in his presence.
But at least there's, dearly missed, Philip Seymour Hoffman to breeze along as one of his sleazy-slumpy characters with ease - take a seat, Phil, then again, better not.
The story's OK for it's completion's sake but never really thrills and ambles along like an assured Sat Nav, detailing every scene ahead.
 
Scandalously cancelled, but it matters not for the watch as each season is contained and Season 2 ends very nicely indeed.

Oh I didn't notice it was cancelled :( - will stop waiting for season 3. Agree on the ending.
 
Oh I didn't notice it was cancelled :( - will stop waiting for season 3. Agree on the ending.

Sorry I thought you hadn't seen any of it!

Yeah Season 3 was rumoured to be taking us to the Overlook. I can't believe it got binned before they did it. Combining some other King work with The Shining could have been absolutely tremendous.

Oh well :(
 
Sorry I thought you hadn't seen any of it!

Yeah Season 3 was rumoured to be taking us to the Overlook. I can't believe it got binned before they did it. Combining some other King work with The Shining could have been absolutely tremendous.

Oh well :(

Yep I watched it around back when S2 ended, but someone missed there was no S3.
 
Waiting - Will drop off Amazon Prime soon, its a film that shows us what an evening is like working in a restaurant through the eyes of young adults who still like to party, but are also looking for something more out of life. Ryan Reynolds shows us why he was born to play Dead Pool and the cast in general remind me of what it was like goofing around in a low paid job. Its good fun, some funny moments and an enjoyable, yet poignant at times, snapshot of the American service industry in a time when we were allowed out of the house..
 
I noticed that The Acid House is on film4 tonight (after Shallow Grave and Trainspotting which are both brilliant films) so recording it and absolutely can't wait to see it after adoring Filth!!
 
Archenemy (2020) - Adam Egypt Mortimer - Amazon Rental

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With its throbbing electronic score and ultra low budget, Archenemy has the grimy look and feel of something from the eighties (which was fine by me). The film begins with a prologue that immediately gives away its indie roots; using an old fashioned, stop motion graphic novel effect to inform the viewer of the protagonist’s backstory. Its a move which may deter some but I thought it was done with some style, and a creative way to get around the lack of production funds. It works great with the story it is introducing, and is made even more effective thanks to Joe Maganiello’s (kind of Bale Batman style) gruff, gravelly tones over the narration.

The premise is an intriguing one - kind of like M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable in reverse (Maybe Mr. Nolan would have been a good fit??). Magniello plays an alcohol and meth addicted homeless bum, who spends his days in a bar recounting to anyone who will listen how he is actually a superhero from another dimension called Max Fist. In a furious battle with his nemesis (the archenemy of the title), Fist is catapulted through the cosmic dimensions, eventually ending up trapped on Earth. The only problem is that he says his superpowers do not work on earth! Becoming entwined with Max’s existence on our mortal planet is a brother and sister known as Hamster and Indigo. Hamster is an impressionable youth whose ambition is to be a reporter for a fashionable social media outlet (I think that’s what its supposed to be). His interactions and online video’s involving Max’s boasts unsurprisingly get a lot of hits. Meanwhile, there is a subplot involving Indigo’s involvement with the local big shot drug dealer. All these strands inevitably come together in the movie’s third act.

Undoubtedly, the most interesting plot point is the main one of Max Fist. His lack of superpowers greatly hinder Fist’s adamant insistence of who he really is. Is he telling the truth or is he a just a drug addicted, dangerous schizophrenic, homeless guy? Egypt Mortimer skilfully weaves this notion into his script, and does a good job of keeping the viewer in suspense right until the very end. Whenever Fist is off-screen, the secondary plot-line becomes a whole lot less involving. Manganiello is perfect casting - it could be argued that it is simultaneously ironic and also very fitting. The actor has made a habit of being the best man but never the groom in terms of superhero roles. He was apparently very close to getting the Man of Steel gig but his contract and filming schedule with True Blood prevented it (very similar to Tom Selleck not doing Indiana Jones). Then there is the Deathstroke thing (perhaps it will happen properly one day). Manganiello is a bit too gruff and rugged to play Superman (although the physique is a no brainer), but ideal for what the character in Archenemy is.

Archenemy has its flaws, most notably that none of the secondary characters are very interesting, so the film goes a bit flat whenever Fist is off screen. However, the lack of budget is not one of them, with the makers being really creative to get around it. The movie does a feel a bit of a throwback to the video shop era; with its pulsating electro score and grubby aesthetic that suggests violence is never too far from erupting. In that respect, Archenemy is in some ways reminiscent of Leigh Whannel’s Upgrade - another low budget, violent offering; and kind of different -but-same genre. I may be a little bit more forgiving than others, as I‘m always intrigued by anything that offers an alternative perspective - away from Marvel and DC - on the now (what many may consider to be) over saturated superhero genre. Movies such as the aforementioned Unbreakable but also the likes of Chronicle and Brightburn. If you’re anything like me, Archenemy is definitely worth a look.

7/10
 
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