What Have You Been Watching? (no sports or politics!)

[Companero]

I thought it were high time that we started a thread to discuss what we've watched recently, so that first thoughts and overall impressions can be posted.

Last night I watched 'Prime Cut' (1972). the film stars Lee Marvin, Gene Hackman and in a "can't believe your eyes, she's actually quite attractive" Sissy Spacek in her feature film debut.

The film itself is a typical seventies production revolving around guns and gangsters but 'Prime Cut' is a real oddity. There's plenty of humour, much of which arises from the outrageous scenario, itself.

Paramount's disc is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 and looks very good for its age. The sound is undistinguished mono.

[Companero]

The night before last I watched 'Overnight' a documentary chronicling the rise and fall of Troy Duffy, the director of Boondock Saints.

The R1 disc on the ThinkFilm label is an absolute must for anyone with aspirations of becoming a filmmaker. Duffy was ushered into Hollyowwod after Miramax optioned his screenplay. The detail, brokered by Harvey Weinstein, was thought to be worth just under $1m, with the mogul promising the up and coming director that his band, The Brood would produce the soundtrack. Weinstein even offered to but the bar where Duffy had worked the door!

The Boondock Saints became the most talked about project in Hollywood and with The Brood locked for soundtrack duties, the band were courting an offer from Madonna's label, Maverick for a monster record deal. Things were very rosy for Mr Duffy...

Well suffice to say, it all goes terribly wrong. Weinstein's Frankenstein creates a monsters that became so egotistical, the Miramax head put the film into turnaround and Duffy's reputation ensured that no other studio would show interest and Maverick drop his band like a lead balloon. But this is just the beginning.

After Franchise Pictures pick up the film and greenlight it with less than half of the its original $15m budget and another Atlantic records show an interest in the The Brood, Duffy continues his downward spiral into self-imposed humiliation.

'Overnight' is as compelling as documentary filmmaking gets. Duffy is an absolutely fascinating character, and even at his egotistical worst, one cannot help but ponder the reasons why he does what he does.

An absolute must for anyone that enjoys a cracking Hollywood expose.

[Count Yorga]

I watched Creepshow and Fear no evil last night.
/J

[Rissos]

I started in on some of my "left on a shelf for months" collection and watched The Hills Have Eyes. Would you believe it was my first time seeing it!!

[hoezone]

watched House of clocks last night....one of the cheap vipco offerings...not bad though ive seen worse

[Companero]

I actually quite enjoyed House Of clocks - I was expecting it to be terrible, so it took me by surprise

[Wes Moynihan]

I'm getting into Japanese 70's exploitation - all last week there was a ZATOICHI festival courtesy of AnimEigo's 7-disc boxset, and last night, I watched R1 LADY SNOWBLOOD. Looking forward to seeing Criterion's STORY OF A PROSTITUTE...

[the dude]

Well I'm on the second week off my two weeks off work so have had time to catch up on the 140+ DVDs that I've yet to watch:

The Warriors - classic stuff- seen before
Black Christmas - interesting film, not as great as some made out though
Night of the Hunter - very good film, great visuals
Critters - need I say any more, dumb fun - seen before
Pet Sematary 2 - very good for a sequel to a Stephen King novel/film
Hitch-Hike - good stuff, David Hess in another excellent performance
The Deadly Spawn - low budget nonsense but still fun

The Descent but that was at the cinema, obviously.

[demented_uk]

Fortunately us Teacher's have 6 weeks off now so hopefully i'll be able to watch more than two films a night without falling asleep.

Last night I watched BOUND and considering I hated THE MATRIX I thought this was fantastic and not just because of the lesbian scenes with the gorgeous Jennifer Tilly.

After that I fancied some mindless action so I watched METRO with Eddie Murphy.

Tonight I think i'll be getting through seasons one and two of Quincy and maybe SCREAM OF THE WOLF.

[christats]

Darkness,uncut version.A slow film but I've seen worse.
Are you being served series 1
Sledgehammer Series1/2
Gradually working through 28 episodes of department S
Love Object,okayish
Xtro 3 ,terrible
Jabberwocky
Sweeney series 4
Seed of Chucky
Legend,extended R1
Rojo Sangre
Imoral Mr Teas
Stepford Wives(original film)
Filthy McNasty,rubbish low budget turd
and I have just bought Bullets over Broadway.Not seen this and I am not a huge Woody Allen Fan,but Jennifer Tilly is supposidly good in this.Might watch this in a minute.

[MrC]

I had before yesterday not watched a film for a about a week, so I had a small number of films to watch just piling up,had a couple days of work so I decided to watch a few, have just watched "The Amateur" an 80s spy flick not bad worth the £6 I paid for it, and the videos "Zone Troopers" and"Terrorvision" fancied a bit of 80s Sci-fi, gonna watch "Slayground" on DVD a bit later before heading back off to work tommorow.

[haydw]

AMITYVILLE 2 (nice camerawork,and Diane Franklin's breast)
CONFIDENCES TROP INTIMES (Sandrine Bonnaire is still lovely)
OUT FOR JUSTICE (what?? It's a bloodbath)
EQUILIBRIUM (mmm guns)
CRIMINAL (not as good as NINE QUEENS)
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3,with audio commentary
MY ARCHITECT (amazing)
ALONE IN THE DARK (the uwe boll atrocity,someone please kill him)

Thats all since friday.And doesn't include DEADWOOD,SMOKING ROOM,BADDIEL & SKINNER and the new Matt Holness,Richard Aaoyade (GARTH MERENGHI) comedy material being tried out up the Riverside studios.

[Balthazar]

The last movie I watched was One missed Call. I thought it was very good, a very effective little chiller. I had wanted to see it for quite a while and was not let down. Great atmosphere in this one.

Other films I've been re-watching lately are some of my older favourites...Blue Velvet, Harold and Maude, and Tati's Playtime, to name a few.

[Vaughan]

Onibaba and Steptoe and Son (series).

Onibaba is a classic.

Steptoe and Son holds up brilliantly, I really must get more.

[the dude]

I also watched Videodrome - will watch again soon to better appreciate the film, cos i was really tired the last time and didn't enjoy it as much as i thought i was going to

[MarcMorris]

I saw VIDEODROME when it was originally released theatrically and was double billed with The Rolling Stones' (then banned from TV) promo video of UNDERCOVER OF THE NIGHT. Anyone else remember seeing these together? I know, I'm an old git..

VIDEODROME is definitely in my top 20 films.

[Rich]

Recently watched the following:-
Dead And Buried - had the DVD some time,have only just got round to watching it,good film!
Session 9 - creepy movie,with some fine acting.
Evilspeak - seen this before on pre-cert video,not a bad little gore movie.
Living Dead At Manchester Morgue - a classic,given the respect it deserves by ABUK.
The Hitcher - I hadn't seen this film for years and had forgotten how much I enjoyed it,a great DVD package from Momentum.
The Fog - seen this loads of times,but never tire of watching it.
Class Of 1984 - hadn't seen this film for years,still holds up.
New York Ripper - I was originally going to buy the Japan Shock DVD,but thought better of it.Instead I went for the ABUS edition,the transfer is just fine and FULLY uncut.The film I'm afraid I didn't like too much,I can't believe the BBFC didn't cut the broken bottle scene on the Vipco version.
The Brood - a Cronenberg classic.

[zanner]

yesterday i watched :-
boogeyman...not that good
war of the worlds...not a patch on the original(even with it's cgi)
exorciist 3...bloody marvellous

zanner.

[zanner]

I saw VIDEODROME when it was originally released theatrically and was double billed with The Rolling Stones' (then banned from TV) promo video of UNDERCOVER OF THE NIGHT. Anyone else remember seeing these together? I know, I'm an old git..

VIDEODROME is definitely in my top 20 films.

i watched a bit of videodrome once & found it very tedious... ...zanner.

[the13thman]

i watched a bit of videodrome once & found it very tedious... ...zanner.

Videodrome tedious? Its genius, pure and simple, and on top of that features one of the finest American actors alive today, James Woods.

I guess if you don’t like Cronenberg’s style there’s no point recommending you watch it, but I can’t see how you can find fault with this film.

Anyways, last night I watched The Five Man Army, an Argento scripted western with a Morricone score so outstanding that I almost cried. Oh for a proper DVD release of that one….