Comments that which don't warrant a thread

[Nighthawk 0]

Anyway, what I was going to say about Shaft was that it and Sweetback (they came out around the same time) are the perennial blaxploitation flics, because, well... they aren't. Sweetback was Melvin Van Peebles being his usual brilliant self, in a movie about getting the Man's foot outta his ass. Shaft was a mainstream action movie with a black cast. - The purpose being to open doorways for black actors (which it did, in a way), that goal being sabotaged by what became of blaxploitation later, ie Super Fly, which is a good movie, but a pretty bad message, and the scores of outright offensive imitators.

Basically the genre that had started out to combat racism became racist itself.

 

The story of Shaft itself is pretty interesting; the casting, the score, the author of the book and his input... but in the end I think it's just a good solid movie with a lot of historical significance. It was the high end of dignity for blaxploitation, if you even want to call it that.

[King Kamala 0]

Milky, have you seen Across 110th Street? It's on par with Shaft in terms of great blaxploitation movies, I personally like it a little better. Just a really well made film. It's easily the most violent and least glamourous of the genre. An incredibly bleak and depressing movie. Though it's lumped in with the genre, I'm not sure if it's really blaxploitation persay. It had a then popular white actor, Anthony Quinn co-starring . I think of it more as a good crime drama with a predominantly black cast.

 

Good semi-recent review of the film with spoilers

[Nighthawk 0]

I haven't seen it. I have heard of it, and I think I'll go ahead and put it in my netflix queue.

[King Kamala 0]

It's available to watch instantly. At least it was a year or two ago when I first watched it. I think you'd really dig it.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Man, I still love Death to Smoochie!

 

"I'm Rainbow fucking Randolph!"

"ITS A PENIS!"

[Jingus 0]

"Machine Girl"-see this movie now.

Yeesh. I took your advice, and now I will not be taking your advice again anytime in the near future. What a vulgar, disgusting movie. In a bad way. Torture porn disguised as an action flick.

[nl5xsk1 0]

You got your action flick in my torture porn!

 

You got your torture porn in my action flick!!

 

 

[Nighthawk 0]

"Machine Girl"-see this movie now.

Yeesh. I took your advice, and now I will not be taking your advice again anytime in the near future. What a vulgar, disgusting movie. In a bad way. Torture porn disguised as an action flick.

 

*buys*

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

Diary of the Dead sucked ass.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

"Machine Girl"-see this movie now.

Yeesh. I took your advice, and now I will not be taking your advice again anytime in the near future. What a vulgar, disgusting movie. In a bad way. Torture porn disguised as an action flick.

 

*buys*

 

This seems like one of those movies that's more fun to read a plot description of than it is to actually watch. See also: everything Troma's ever done.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Actually, the entire allure of Troma, at least the in-house productions, is that the idea is better than the execution. See: Toxic Avenger II and III, Troma's War, and Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD. Kaufman just started to actually understand how to make anything other than pure, unwatchable shit right around Tromeo & Juliet. But you can't tell me that Citizen Toxie and Terror Firmer are anything but pure b-movie genius.

 

And yes, HSJ. Diary did suck.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Actually, the entire allure of Troma, at least the in-house productions, is that the idea is better than the execution. See: Toxic Avenger II and III, Troma's War, and Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD. Kaufman just started to actually understand how to make anything other than pure, unwatchable shit right around Tromeo & Juliet. But you can't tell me that Citizen Toxie and Terror Firmer are anything but pure b-movie genius.

 

And yes, HSJ. Diary did suck.

 

haha I remember watching TromaTV late at night on Channel4 over here in the UK. When I worked at Virgin Megastore, I snapped up all the Toxic Avenger DVDs when they came in at £4.99 each. Had to import Toxie IV though.

 

Cannibal the Musical is awesome too.

[Jingus 0]

This seems like one of those movies that's more fun to read a plot description of than it is to actually watch.

Oh yeah. The trailer was awesome too, but it was one of those sneaky bastard trailers which stuck every single good moment from the movie in it. In the end it felt like it was made by some guy who really loved Quentin Tarantino's/Robert Rodriguez's/Sam Raimi's movies for the excessive violence and dark humor, but he didn't have any idea how to put it all together himself. A bunch of strange plot twists/holes and crappy bargain-basement CGI effects don't help either.

 

And yes, HSJ. Diary did suck.

Ten-four, good buddy. When a new George Romero zombie flick inspires in me the feeling of "man, I wish this acting and dialogue were at least as good as they were in Day of the Dead", that's not so good. Aside from the handheld camera dealie, it didn't do a single new thing which hadn't already been done in the other series entires. The mockumentary gimmick wasn't handled very well, and mostly made it feel like a Blair Witch/Cloverfield imitator. Extra points for some really awful narration too. It's not a worthless movie, there are a few good bits here and there (Amish guy, swimming pool) but it's easily the worst of Romero's Dead series imo. Felt much more like something which should have come from one of Romero's millions of copycats rather than the man himself.

[cd213 0]

Actually, the entire allure of Troma, at least the in-house productions, is that the idea is better than the execution. See: Toxic Avenger II and III, Troma's War, and Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD. Kaufman just started to actually understand how to make anything other than pure, unwatchable shit right around Tromeo & Juliet. But you can't tell me that Citizen Toxie and Terror Firmer are anything but pure b-movie genius.

 

And yes, HSJ. Diary did suck.

 

You are correct about Troma. TERROR FIRMER is a brilliant, fun movie that I can watch over and over.

 

I enjoyed DIARY OF THE DEAD. Not the best movie, and not his best film, but I enjoyed it none the less.

[Gary Floyd 0]

"Machine Girl"-see this movie now.

Yeesh. I took your advice, and now I will not be taking your advice again anytime in the near future. What a vulgar, disgusting movie. In a bad way. Torture porn disguised as an action flick.

If you can't like a movie where a girl uses her chainsaw arm to kill off motherfuckers, then you have terrible taste in movies. Sorry, just the facts.

 

Also, "torture porn" may be the stupidest term ever created. Every time somebody uses it, they look like an idiot.

[Nighthawk 0]

I also liked Diary of the Dead.

[Jingus 0]

If you can't like a movie where a girl uses her chainsaw arm to kill off motherfuckers, then you have terrible taste in movies. Sorry, just the facts.

I loved it the first time when it was Bruce Campbell. Not so crazy about the wannabe ripoff.

 

Also, "torture porn" may be the stupidest term ever created. Every time somebody uses it, they look like an idiot.

Why? It's a whole subgenre of horror movies now, and a really terrible one at that.

[Nighthawk 0]

Fuck you suck, Jingus.

[Gary Floyd 0]

If you can't like a movie where a girl uses her chainsaw arm to kill off motherfuckers, then you have terrible taste in movies. Sorry, just the facts.

I loved it the first time when it was Bruce Campbell. Not so crazy about the wannabe ripoff.

 

Also, "torture porn" may be the stupidest term ever created. Every time somebody uses it, they look like an idiot.

Why? It's a whole subgenre of horror movies now, and a really terrible one at that.

Like torture is something new in horror. With that kind of thought, I guess "Last House on the Left", "Salo", the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and even "Blood Feast" are "torture porn." Jesus, get that sand out of your vagina and quit being such a weepy pussy when it comes to certain horror movies you weepy pussy.

[Nighthawk 0]

Blood Feast... now there's a movie that sucks. Not because it's torture porn... it's just awful. Kinda funny... then again, I've never seen it sober.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Blood Feast... now there's a movie that sucks. Not because it's torture porn... it's just awful. Kinda funny... then again, I've never seen it sober.

 

"Blood Feast" is really improtant for being the first movie in color to feature graphic gore. Granted, it's a terrible movie on all accounts, but it's influence is undeniable.

[Nighthawk 0]

Does anybody hear me denying the influence? But I wouldn't call it the first color movie with graphic gore... I'd call that, oh... Curse of Frankenstein. Not as graphic, sure, but graphic.

 

As importance as it's lurid color I think is also the testament it presents to marketing. It being sold, sight unseen, as buckets of blood drummed up huge interest for not much of anything. It was a champion of hype.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

Apparently they found a whole bunch of lost Metropolis footage in Buenos Aires. Link.

 

Lost scenes from German-Austrian director Fritz Lang's legendary silent film "Metropolis" have been discovered in Argentina, German weekly newspaper Die Zeit reported on Wednesday.

 

Paula Félix-Didier, head of film museum Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires, discovered an uncut version of the 1927 science fiction film when she looked into reports that a tape in the archive was unusually long. She travelled to Berlin with a copy of the film and met with experts who say they are certain it is the missing original-length version of Lang's masterpiece that reveals key plot scenes and an expansion of minor roles, Die Zeit said ahead of the publication of its Thursday edition.

 

"The film's original rhythm will be re-established," Martin Koerber, the man responsible for the current restoration of the film, told the paper.

 

Head of Berlin film museum Deutsche Kinemathek told the paper it was a "sensational discovery."

 

In 1927, Fritz Lang presented the film in Berlin after producing it in the city's Babelsberg Studios. At that time it was the most expensive film ever produced in Germany, but it was not well received by its German audience. A radically shorter version was subsequently edited in the US, after which historians believed the original version to have been lost.

 

According to Die Zeit's reconstruction of events, Buenos Aires film distributor Adolfo Z. Wilson brought a copy of the original version to Argentina in 1928. Film critic Peña Rodríguez later attained the film, which he sold in the 1960's to Argentina's national art fund. In 1992 copy then went to the Museo del Cine - where discoverer Félix-Didier took leadership this January.

 

I'm pretty amped about this. Hopefully they get it cleaned up/restored and release it pronto.

[Ravenbomb 0]

Hell. Yes. That's the coolest thing I've heard in ages. Now all they need to do is find the original ending to The Magnificent Ambersons and the missing five hours of Greed.

[Blade2kxx 0]

Aww fuck yes... Restored Blu-Ray please?

[Jingus 0]

Cool news on Metropolis. (Don't hold out hope for Greed or Andersons though, since the studios supposedly destroyed all the extra master footage intentionally in both cases.)

 

Like torture is something new in horror. With that kind of thought, I guess "Last House on the Left", "Salo", the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and even "Blood Feast" are "torture porn." Jesus, get that sand out of your vagina and quit being such a weepy pussy when it comes to certain horror movies you weepy pussy.

The fuck is your problem, dude? I don't like a dumbass low-budget Japanese trashy action flick, and you call me names over it?

 

I haven't seen Salo or Blood Feast, so I can't comment there. But I wouldn't extend the totcha-pr0n title to either Last House or Texas Chainsaw. Sure, those movies and countless others like them included prolonged scenes of bloody human agony. But not like the kind of movies which frustrate me with it these days. I'm talking about stuff like the Saw sequels, the new TCM movies, and allegedly Hostels (haven't seen them, and everything I've heard about them makes sure it stays that way). The more recent trend of these flicks typically involve several different scenes in which several different characters are subjected to violent physical assault if not outright mutilation for long periods of time. Yeah, Leatherface had his meathook and the dinner scene with the hammer, but that's a far cry away from the distastefully complex and intricate sadism which guys like Jigsaw routinely display.

 

And these movies seem to feature a hell of a lot more guts and gore these days than they used to. (You can seem to get away with a lot more disgusting violence nowadays than any time previously; I'm still at a loss to explain how stuff like Grindhouse or the new Rambo somehow negotiated an R rating.) Part of my problem with this is personal bias; a lot of times I just don't like lots of gore. I'm fine with it when it's in a genre which goes with the territory, like a war movie or a zombie flick or something like that. But there's just something about the concept of some serial killer tying his victim up and then spending an unnecessary amount of screen time dissecting them... that just gets on my nerves. Not claiming it's a universal truth which everyone should share, obviously it's just individual taste, but it's something which interferes with my enjoyment of movies that feature this type of thing. Especially when they start trying to be darkly humorous about it and make it funny. There are a few rare movies which did that in a manner that I liked, but most of the time I find absolutely nothing funny about some psychopath carving on another human being, no matter how absurd and goofy a Colorful Killer he happens to be.

 

The one example which sticks out most annoyingly is Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, the recent prequel. Our "heroes" are all captured by the killers about twenty minutes into the movie. At that point, I actually had the concious thought, "I hope this doesn't mean I have to watch these dipshits getting tortured for the next hour". And guess what, I was right. First they get the shit beaten out of them, then one tries to escape but somehow manages to step on a beartrap and gets left out there all night, another gets dragged down to the basement and mutilated, someone else gets hung on a meat hook, and there is a whole lot of ear-piercing screaming and red-dyed karo syrup slopped everywhere. And it's not good ear-piercing screaming like Marylin Burns' laudable Fay Wray impression from the original TCM, it was the screaming of a bunch of blandly pretty WB-style actors trying to emote and failing. This literally takes up the entire middle half of the movie. That is what I'm talking about when I speak in a condescending and dismissive tone about Torture Porn. It's not exciting, or scary, or necessary for the dramatic purposes of telling the story. It's just one big commercial for the special effects makeup team. It's the horror movie equivalent of when two wrestlers go brawling off into the crowd Steve Austin-stylez. It may provide a cheap thrill for the marks and simulate that there's some intense action going on, but it's a subtly lazy way of filling time and rarely has any bearing on the final outcome of the match.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I tried sitting through Metropolis a couple years ago when it was on TCM and I think I made it about 30 minutes before I had to give up. I heard nothing but good stuff about it and I watch it and its the most boring movie Ive ever seen in my life.

[Ravenbomb 0]

Cool news on Metropolis. (Don't hold out hope for Greed or Andersons though, since the studios supposedly destroyed all the extra master footage intentionally in both cases.)

 

Oh, I know. Just wishful thinking. I may as well hope for London After Midnight to be found in some random attic while I'm at it.

[Mik 0]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080703/people_nm/holmes_dc

 

Sasha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell are going to star as Sherlock Holmes and Watson. That could go either way...

[Gary Floyd 0]

Universal wants to do an adaptation of the comic "The Goon."