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

[lee]

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.

seen this comp and it is really interesting

[NPC]

Cursed -Japanese horror about a haunted convenience store, plot logic has a holiday but the imagery is striking. You'll be keeping clear of people in big parkas after this.
The Specials- the best superhero spoof
Slam Dance- superior film noir from the late 80s. Good despite Adam Ant trying to act. Great Stan Ridgeway song over the opening titles

[Neil B]

I've been catching up on a few giallos, for example the ABUS giallo box set a couple of the No Shame's etc.

One thing that made me giggle whilst watching The Bloodstained Shadow last night was in a scene about 2/3rds of the way through the inspector was on the phone and every time he spoke you could see his knees under the desk knocking together twenty to the dozen

[christats]

Just started watching The Munsters series 1.
Out of curiosity I watched the unaired pilot,the colour one on disc 6.Am I glad they changed Lilly and Eddie for the series proper.

[agent cooper]

last night watched dracula ad 1972.

[Vaughan]

More of the Thriller box set. I have watched a couple of really good episodes in this up and down series.

[embmmusic]

Went to see The Departed yesterday. Superb film with great performances all round. Ending is a belter. As a Scorcese film, it's very violent throughout so don't bother if you don't have the stomach for such things. Strangely, it doesn't feel like a Scorcese movie, though.

[SicCoyote]

I've been watching a few things lately
The Eiger Sanction
A Lesser Clint Eastwood affair but of cause it's still perfectly enjoyable, but seems to be more occupied in showing off rock climbing, as one of his quotes in the movie says "This climb'll be hard enough without any intreague"
I knew who the person he was after was straight away. But still the movie had plenty of good moments, but it did make me feel queesy as I'm not to fond of heights and it's all done for real.

Cellular
Much dafter than I thought it was going to be (I don't know what I was thinking) Think 'Speed' mixed with 'Maximum Risk' and you're most of the way too this. It's all quite silly but it's still a decent enough popcorn fuelled ride.

Highlander
Decent enough, thought it was quite fun but I think it's one of those films where the concept blows the actual product out of perportion. It's a great concept, and the use of Queen is great, and the swordfighting is good. But theres quite a bit of B-Grade acting and miscasting in this, not in a way that drags the film down, but it could have been better. Also some of the sets look very phoney it's more what I would expect of a DTV production on some occasions, but maybe I'm being harsh. Overall it's a fun Fantasy film but it could have come out better. Maybe one for a remake.

Frenchman's Farm
I had seen some of this years ago but forgot about it because I had watched the first 20 minutes fell asleep (as it was very late) adn woke up right at the end. But now finally about 7 years later I've gone back to it. It's actually not bad B-Movie stuff. A girl driving down a country road gets transported back in time and witnesses a murder. She escapes and gets back to the present day and starts investigating it with her boyfriend, as do the local police. There's not a lot of action in it but there's plenty of suspense and mystery. Unfortunatly I think the only way to see this is on a DVD released in 2002 which is a 4:3(unknown if this is intended ratio) very dark old video transfer which looks about as good as VHS. I think this would be a film worth re-releasing in a restored version.

The Elephant Man
I wasn't sure quite what to expect and was pleasently suprised, I don't think I have to talk about this much as everyone knows about it. It's a very touching story which moved me to tears on many occasions. The only downpoint I can highlight is 'Boon' playing the night watchman, he's good enough as an actor but he just seemed to stick out in the setting and not totally blend in.

[christats]

Just been watching the 2 disk R1 Street trash.At least the 2 hour documentary.
Not watched the film again yet as I have the Dragon disk,but I have had a scan to see the print.Its looking good.
A double dip I didn't mind.

[christats]

Edit......
Just been watching the Ruling class.
I bought the R2 momentum from HMV for £5.
Now I know the Criterion R1 disk is better.Also a fair bit more expensive.
Apart from being widescreen/better print and having comentaries etc are both the same lengh.
It say 154 mins on the back of the R2.Obviously more like 2 hours and 4 mins.Printing error.?
I have looked on IMDB and DVD rewind but they give conflicting information.

(I just noticed the time of my post,1.54 pm.Unplanned Coincidence.)

[Tony0]

My most recent purchase was Candyman- SE for £5.99 from virgin.

I've seen it twice since I bought it, it brings back a lot of memories from my school days. I used to watch it quite a lot as a kid.

It's stood the test of time.

[mrb]

Body Song home movie/found-film montage of birth/sex/death/dreams with music by Jonny Greenwood - veers between the remarkable and the pretentious. Kind of up there with KOYAANISQATSI.

This film needed a warning at 2 in the morning? When's the watershed then?
Okay there are images of sex birth and death - but i sort of got that.

Nice. But what do i know? Go rent THE WATERBOY instead. It's a right laff.

[christats]

As an afterthought from watching The Ruling Class,at first I thought ,what is this.
By the end of the film,I thought its absurdly great.

Unfortunatley I have been watching the cheapo R2 disc.
I will now have to seek out the Criterion disk as its the full 2 hour 34.Criterion= expensive. After a bit of searching.Some of the forum members probably know this.

[Grant]

Arthur Lowe is terrific.