Warlock (1989)
I have only seen half of this, and was planning on watching the rest tonight, but my kids are sleeping in the loungeroom tonight, so an 80s horror film is not the best idea.
I haven't seen this for years, when I grabbed it as part of a "5 movies for $10" deal at Civic Video all those years ago. (Civic Video in Orange was cool, it had a cardboard cave for its horror section and a cardboard pink house for the Adult section). Anyway,
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horror_exchange has uploaded this a while back and I snagged it from there. The plot is pretty simple. A warlock (Julian Sands) is captured in 1691 but escapes with the aid of a time travel portal presumably sent by the Devil. He arrives in 1989 but is pursued by a witch-hunter (Richard E Grant) who in a remarkable stroke of luck is in the same building when the time portal appears. In the present day, The Warlock is charged with obtaining three pieces of a mystical grimoire that can bring about the end of the world. That's the McGuffin for the film.
More to come when I finish watching it. At the moment, it stands at three Darios.
The Untouchables
This is, in my mind, the best gangster film ever. It is also one of the relatively few film starring Kevin Costner that I like. Costner portrays Eliot Ness, the legendary Treasury agent who took on the task of "cleaning up" Chicago during the prohibition era. Of course cleaning up means taking on Al Capone, played by a Robert DeNiro-like Robert DeNiro. Ness assembles a core group of unbribeable, or untouchable police. With a group containing Sean Connery, Andy Garcia, Charles Martin Smith and Costner, can Capone even make a stand? Well yes, of course he can. And the ensuing blood makes this a violent film, with some unbelievable blooshed. But it was written by David Mamet so it is to be expected.
The other great thing about this movie is the music by Enrico Morricone. The opening title gives the feel of oppression, as the bad guys are in control, where the finale is a more positive upbeat composition, when evil has been defeated, and the scales have been balanced.
The Untouchables is a film that can be enjoyed again and again. And despite what Sick Boy says in Trainspotting, it is an Oscar-worthy performance from Sean Connery.
Four and a half Darios
It is however, pretty good fun.
The Phantom (1996)
The Phantom has been continuously published since 1936 and is in fact one of the first superheroes, predating Superman by two years and Batman by three. Not counting the movie serial made in the 1940's, it took sixty years to get The Phantom to the big screen. Was it worth a wait of sixty years? Definitely not. Even by action adventure movie standards The Phantom is a slapped together piece of work. For the nitpicky around here, there are a wealth of oportunities to pick holes in this film. A few of them. Horses and wolves can run faster than a biplane flies, the jungle is full of CGI Blue screens, when you jump from a biplane to a horse you change body shape and facial features completely and ancient jungle skulls and rings can generate laser beams.
But this is The Phantom, and if you are in any way fan of the character, you will know what to expect. The Phantom punching out bad guys, rescuing captive gals, and being mysterious.
I like The Phantom, I have been reading the strip on and off for the past twenty years or so. I also like this movie, but it definitely isn't very well crafted. It does set out to do what it aims for, and that is give us an adventure full of cliched villains, heroic good guys and a moralistic main character. I always feel more positive after watching The Phantom.
Three Darios (for the feel good factor, and the fact it co-stars Patrick MacGoohan)
Not a movie this time but an entire series. Anyone alive in the seventies or eighties, especially here in Australia will remember this. Mention the phrase "three seater bike" to most of the population and they will recall these "Super-Chaps Three" 1
Now The Goodies were classified as a kid's show, due to not only its popularity with kids, who liked the madcap slapstick chase scenes at the end of the episodes, (my favourite is the Western-Epic Movie- Silent Comedy Classic battle from Series 5's "The Movies"), but also due to the fact that it was shown here in Oz during childrens viewing time (5pm).
The Goodies is much more than a kid's show. It is a classic comedy that appeals to all ages. It is the televisual successor to "The Goon Show", in that it had a regular cast of characters, sustained a plot for the entire show, and employed surreal humour, and completely impossible physical comedy scenes for its climax. Now I know a lot of people regard Monty Python's Flying Circus as the successor to the Goons, but when you look at it, Python is really just a sketch show with silly voices. Only once in the Python series did an episode have a running plot for the entire thirty minutes 2 ,and that was just a frame to hang sketches on, not a well developed plot. The Goodies brought surreal comedy, witty jokes and slapstick together with a storyline every episode (except one, which was a Goodies concert).
Five Darios
The Goodies
Torrent at : http://extratorrent.com/torrent/1764851/T
Contains all 70 Episodes, but some are missing the opening or closing credits. No big loss though
You will need a program like Bittorrent to download this file, and I will remind you that downloading copyright material is very very naughty and could strip you of you OBE's and send you to the nick.
1 - "Super Chaps Three" was the working title for The Goodies
2 - The "Python with a plot" was "Mr Pither's Cycling Tour" Episode 34.
Trainspotting (1996)
Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting details the life of a group of heroin addicts in Scotland. (Well only three of the five characters on the poster above are heroin users and one sucessfully kicks it) It is not as some controversy has it, a movie that glamourises heroin use, rather the opposite. There is a very artfully shot overdose scene (set to the song "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed, who was also a heroin user) and one character in the movie (not naming who) actually dies, not from an overdose, but from consequences of becoming an addicted H user.
It is tempting to compare this with the other "great" heroin movie, Christiane F, but these are two completely different films, apart from the subject of heroin use. Christiane F, (which is on my viewing and reviewing list) is a docu-drama of sorts
, while Trainspotting, even though it has a graphic message, is more a comedy, though a very black one.
Watch Trainspotting. If you are a parent of young adults, watch it with them. If you aren't, watch it anyway.
5 Darios
Here's two old classics for you. And they are lumped together because they are essentially one long film.
James Whale's masterpieces Frankenstein (1931) and The Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)
If you have read the novel, and I urge that you really should read the novel, then forget most of what happens in that. You won't be getting a verbose view on life, death, God and soul as you do from the monster in the novel. Whale keeps the monster mute, until the Bride of Frankenstein, and he only gets limited phrases to say, (although, he does appear to have learned some wisdom by the end of Bride), thus we don't get his speech on life that Shelley's creature gives us.
So what do we have in the films?
Doctor Henry (not Victor) Frankenstein creates a creature from pieces of deceased humans, only the mishap comes when his assistant, instead of stealing a normal" brain from the medical labs, steal the "abnormal" brain ofcriminal. (This film was made in 1931 when phrenology (the stdy of a person's character from the bumps on their head) was studied. This results in the creation of a "monster" who later terrorises the local town, or if you look at the way Whale portrays it, the creation of a child in a man's body, who is percieved as a monster because of the way society reacts to him. I'm unsure whether Whale put this in as a statement on persecution because he was an openly gay man in Hollywood in the 1930s.
Bride of Frankenstein, released four years later deals with the other half of the plot of Shelly's novel, that of the creation of a mate for the creature. I do not have the time to discuss the gay reading of this film, and there is an awful lot of subtext here. This is because Whale originally did not want to direct a sequel, thinking he'd pushed the plot as far as he could with the first, and as an incentive he was given a much freer reign for Bride.
Watch these films in one session, as they are one story, and one director's handling of the Frankenstein myth. You will get an awful lot out of these films, probably more than you wil expect.
Frankenstein 4 Darios
The Bride of Frankenstein 4 1/2 Darios.
Gojira (aka Godzilla (1954))
Download link: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4177000/G
Plot Summary from IMDB
Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships explode and are sunk. At first the authorities think its either underwater mines or underwater volcanic activity. The authorities soon head to Odo Island, close to where several of the ships were sunk. One night, something comes onshore and destroys several houses and kills several people. A later expedition to the island led by paleontologist Professor Kyohei Yemani, his daughter Emiko and a young navy frogman Hideto Ogata (who also happens to be Emiko's lover even though she is betrothed to Doctor Daisuke Serizawa)soon discover something more devastating than imagined in the form of a 164 foot tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well. Can the monster be destroyed before it is too late and what role will the mysterious Serizawa play in the battle?
Pretty involved plot summary for a movie most people see simply as a Monster film. Characterisation? In a Godzilla film? Well yes, because this is the original Japanese film from 1954. This was before Godzilla became a monster to pit against other monsters, this Godzilla is a symbol, and is used as a metaphor for the horrors of nuclear power and especially nuclear weapons. Remember this movie was released only nine years after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so the idea of a nuclear powered giant monster (Godzilla has an "atomic breath") was particularly impactful on Japanese audiences in the fifties.
This review is of the original Japanese language film, Gojira. The distributors in America picked up this film, recut it, added scenes starring Raymond Burr, to make it more palatable for American audiences. The result, Godzilla:King Of The Monsters is more geared towards a horror monster film than the Japanese. While it is worth watching, Gojira has the level of masterpiece. Godzilla:King Of The Monsters is simply a good film.
Four and a half Darios
| Friday the 13th (2009) *Extended Cut* Film: Friday the 13th (2009)  Director/Writer(s): Marcus Nispel (director), Damian Shannon (screenplay) & Mark Swift (screenplay). Cast: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle, Aaron Yoo, Derek Mears, Jonathan Sadowski... Genre: Horror | Thriller Plot Outline: A group of young adults discover a boarded up Camp Crystal Lake, where they soon encounter Jason Voorhees and his deadly intentions. Certification: USA:R (for strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, nudity, language and drug material.) Size: 1.36 GB Megaupload: part 1 & part 2. Notes: This is the 'Extended Killer Cut', OK, I've just copied and pasted this in from horror_exchange , because I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. I'll edit this entry with a review and plot summary when I do. |
A new movie today, but one just as cultish and geeky as the others. Watchmen, based on the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons 12 issue comic for DC (although Alan Moore has requested that his name never appears on film adaptations of his work-so he is uncredited on screen)
Watchmen (the graphic novel) is set in 1985 (on an alternate Earth- Nixon is still US president), and the world is closer to nuclear armageddon. In this world were costumed heroes untill a 1977 act made them illegal. Starring costumed heroes based on old comics heros (Night Owl (based on Batman), Rorschach (The Question) Silk Spectre (Black Canary) Dr Manhattan (Catain Atom) etc, the story starts with one being murdered and a select group investigating, coming out of retirement, and dealing with the threat. Pretty simple right? No, In 12 issues is enough subtext, backstory, parallel plots, satire, parody and plot to fill a comic run 100 issues or more. There is a reason the graphic novel is called the best graphic novel in existence.
The movie will not be called the greatest superhero movie ever, at least not by me. It is however a very faithful adaptation, although it loses a lot of the subtext by trying to pack it all into 2 1/2 hours. The director Zack Snyder (Dawn Of The dead, 300) does a very good job though, which is why I'll give Watchmen (The Film) four Darios
No download link for this one, as it is only just in the cinemas. (well actually, it is available online, but not good quality, and it really is a film that should be seen on the big screen)
Shocker (1989)
cast : Mitch Pileggi, Peter Berg, Michael Murphy
Director : Wes Craven
Download : hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=e4e25
10 Parts , Join with HJ Split
Plot: Serial Killer Horace Pinker is tracked down by a Police Chief's son, and executed by electric chair. Failing to die, Pinker instead becomes a supercharged electrical Demon ready to live up to his final words, "No more Mr. Nice Guy"
I love Shocker, there I've said it. I think of all Wes Craven's films this is the second best (after A Nightmare On Elm Street 1 of course). Now realise that Shocker is not a perfect film, full of some poor acting at times, and a plot that makes no sense at all, even within the film. The transforming of Pinker from human to superhumal electrical monster is actually NOT the most ludicrous aspect of the plot, and the way Pinker is tracked down is completely weird, and the final ten minutes are beyond possibility.
But.....
Shocker is very entertaining, if you watch it with a huge amount of Suspension Of Disbelief, you will be entertained with a tale of Good against Evil and a film with more than a few moments of dark humour.
The soundtrack album as well, is superb!
Four and a half Darios!
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