Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

Post by Linden »

Morthrai wrote:What I really need is a recommendation for something to inspire some Out-Law and wilderness/wastelands DC action, but not the obvious ones like Mad Max, Cherry 2000 or even Hell Comes To Frogtown :D
I vaguely remember a film from the 90s,a Terminator knock off called The Digital Man which featured a squad of soldiers pursuing a rogue android through an American desert/wilderness region. Not saying it's any good mind...

In a more serious vein, how about Breaking Bad? Portrays the wilderness as a lonely and hostile place, even before you add in the mobile meth labs, deranged cartel assassins and homicidal stroke victims.

Phulish wrote: HEAT is a good one for street violence, PC style.
Don't forget LA Takedown. :wink:
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

Post by Phulish »

Linden wrote:
Morthrai wrote:What I really need is a recommendation for something to inspire some Out-Law and wilderness/wastelands DC action, but not the obvious ones like Mad Max, Cherry 2000 or even Hell Comes To Frogtown :D
I vaguely remember a film from the 90s,a Terminator knock off called The Digital Man which featured a squad of soldiers pursuing a rogue android through an American desert/wilderness region. Not saying it's any good mind...

In a more serious vein, how about Breaking Bad? Portrays the wilderness as a lonely and hostile place, even before you add in the mobile meth labs, deranged cartel assassins and homicidal stroke victims.

Phulish wrote: HEAT is a good one for street violence, PC style.
Don't forget LA Takedown. :wink:
But Al Pacino's Hanna is something! The old movie "Birds of Prey", where a traffic chopper pilot chases a group of Vietnamvets who robbed a bank is good for an air chase. :mrgreen:
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

Post by ReHerakhte »

Morthrai wrote:I am still a little behind but I might just throw the Kolchak pilot movies into the list! What I really need is a recommendation for something to inspire some Out-Law and wilderness/wastelands DC action, but not the obvious ones like Mad Max, Cherry 2000 or even Hell Comes To Frogtown :D

All suggestions welcome.
Trying to think of a few I've seen in the last few years...
The German post-apocalypse movie "Hell" takes place in a lot of rural areas and features elements that fit well into DC.
And what about the Stephen King story made into movie, "Maximum Overdrive"
I'll also mention the old van Damme movie "Cyborg" for some wilderness scenes.
Kind of a tangent but has some potential for wilderness settings although nothing that screams DC, "The Way Back"

Channeling some more of my post-apoc interests, I'll include an interesting although for me unsatisfying movie (good idea, poor execution), a post-apoc horror movie called "The Collapsed" and also the more satisfying "Carriers".
To end, I'll add two horror movies, one that takes place in a rural US town "Unearthed" and the other in a Middle-East/Far-East setting involving some soldiers encountering legends from the past, "Red Sands".
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

Post by Phulish »

Tommyknockers is a good small town movie by Stephen king. The Creature of Foggy Bottom(?) Not sure about title, is about a sasquatch like critter
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

Post by Linden »

Phulish wrote: But Al Pacino's Hanna is something!
I love how the actor who plays Hanna in LA Takedown seems to be doing an Al Pacino impression, but even he can't out parody the man himself.
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

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ReHerakhte wrote: Trying to think of a few I've seen in the last few years...
(snipped)
There's a couple in your post that I haven't heard of before so those will be checked out :D
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

Post by Phulish »

The TV show "The Player" has possibilities. Jaded Nomes bet whether the PC's can stop various Minions and their plots. :shock:
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

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Movie #20 - One I hadn't seen before, John Carpenter's "Body Bags" is a 90s take on the old Amicus portmanteau movies. This one has three parts, two written & directed by Carpenter himself and one by Tobe Hooper. Both directors clearly enjoyed themselves, and bring all their customary style and flair to the party. Overall, if I were giving marks this would rate a decent enough 6.5/10.

What makes this movie for me is the large number of guest actors littering the screen here, including some famous faces as well as several other horror film names: Robert Carradine, Stacey Keach, David Warner, Mark Hamill, Deborah Harry, Twiggy, Sam Raimi, Wes Craven, Roger Corman, and both Carpenter & Hooper. Also, Sheena Easton for some reason :?
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

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Movie #21 - Time to wander the trackless deserts of south-western Africa. "Dust Devil" concerns a young woman, a mysterious hitch-hiker, an indigenous policeman trying to live in the modern world, and an ancient evil foretold by his tribal ancestors and shamans...and of course all of these things coalesce into the central plot.

I covered this previously on the Dark Conspiracy Movie List, but I think this is a far superior picture to director Richard Stanley's earlier effort "Hardware" even given that movie's more obvious relevance to Dark Conspiracy (urban decay, killer robots etc.)
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

Post by ReHerakhte »

Totally agree in regards to Stanley and Dust Devil & Hardware. While I really enjoy Hardware (it has several pluses for me, one being it's post-apocalyptic), I think Dust Devil is superior and sadly it's quite under-rated (probably because it's not the kind of dumb/shallow Hollywood, formulaic, action movie that most Western audiences prefer).
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

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When Hardware (aka Mark 13) first came out it had a lot going for it, from my personal point of view. Post-apocalyptic, looked kewl, has Lemmy in a cameo and Iggy Pop in voiceover - pretty much pre-sold to 24 year old me. Even BBC movie critic Barry "and why not" Norman kinda liked it...Then I actually watched it :P

In all seriousness, one day I will review Hardware for its DC relevance but it won't be too soon.
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

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Movie #22 - a genuine early classic. F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu" was a clear knock-off of Stoker's vampire tale, and despite changing the character names and much of the action Murnau was sued by Stoker's widow and the prints ordered to be destroyed. Thankfully, people never do what they ought to and the film survived.

It's one of the best films of the silent era, and even if you aren't much of a vampire fan you will at least recognise the cinematic origins of many of the modern tropes. Also, Count Orlok has to be one of the most monstrous figures in European cinema thanks to actor Max Schreck's outstanding performance.
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

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Movie #23 - Although I am well aware that 23 is a number with some significance in our little corner of the horror-conspiracy-weirdness genre, thanks to the legendary Robert Anton Wilson, I actually went for an outright comedy-horror flick :D

1988's "Beetlejuice" is still pretty fine for what it is, and I can't help but love this flick. It has moments of genuine creepiness as well as real humour and a superb cast who never have to stretch their ability too much, even though they are clearly all capable of doing so. Michael Keaton as the title character plays an absolute blinder; by turns funny, scary and plain weird. Even the outright stupid parts are enjoyable. Also, for the Team America fans: AREEK BAWDWEEN :twisted:

Definitely my favourite wrongly-pronounced horror comedy film so far ;)
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

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Morthrai wrote:When Hardware (aka Mark 13) first came out it had a lot going for it, from my personal point of view. Post-apocalyptic, looked kewl, has Lemmy in a cameo and Iggy Pop in voiceover - pretty much pre-sold to 24 year old me. Even BBC movie critic Barry "and why not" Norman kinda liked it...Then I actually watched it :P
And let's not forget inspired by a 2000AD "future shock"story although I think the source material was only formally acknowledged after Tharg threatened to get m'learned friends involved.
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Re: Movie Madness Marathon - 2015 edition

Post by ReHerakhte »

I think the main problem with Hardware is not the story or the execution of the story but the cinematic release for the English speaking world.
It initially had an "X" rating but was then edited to give it a lower rating because the studio wanted to remove any connotation that the movie was a porn flick (as pornographic movies were all typically "X" rated).
Apparently the edits also removed some of the more overt aspects of the fascism and passive acceptance of authority themes that Stanley wanted in the movie.

I had seen the original cinematic release that was available to Australia, I believe it is fairly much the same as the UK and USA "R" rated release and taken from that viewing, yeah the movie feels as though something is missing. Later on I saw the German release which didn't have anywhere near the amount of cuts that the Australian, UK, USA release did and I found the movie more satisfying. I think it wasn't until the Special Editions got made that the movie finally got an uncut release in the English speaking world.

There's still a lot of "hate" for the movie to be found on the internet, typically from people who don't enjoy slow moving stories but I guess another reason I like it is because I do enjoy slow moving stories as much as faster paced ones, I mean, I love Tarkovsy's Stalker movie and you don't get much slower pacing than classic Soviet cinema! :lol:

Speaking of Stalker, it's got some obvious DC utility and could easily go on this list 8)
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