Halloween Horror Movies Revisited

You may recall my horror movie round-up from last year. Well, this year’s is ready and it’s over at Mr. Movie Fiend. You should check it out…or else

Point Blank

Well? What do you think? I’m getting a very “Taken” vibe from this film.  The trailer reminds me of “Tell No One” which I thoroughly enjoyed.  It also brings to mind that now classic Polanski film “Frantic” although while I felt that “Tell No One” rose to similar heights at times, “Point Blank” looks like it will spend most of the film falling short.  Of course, all this is from seeing the trailer.  One should never spend too much time over analyzing a trailer.  they can be intensely misleading.

Episode 21: The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Listen to our discussion of “The Good, The Bad, The Weird”, here

Our next episode will be Visioneers

Visioneer George Washington Winsterhammerman (Zach Galifianakis) lives a comfortable but monotonous life in this slightly futuristic black comedy. But when people start exploding from stress and George is showing early symptoms, he’s forced to examine his life. Taking a look at his prestigious job, his sexless marriage and his resistance to life coaching, George reconsiders the philosophy of happiness through mindless activity (Summary provided by Netflix).

Episode 20: The Horseman

Listen to our discussion of The Horseman… here

The next movie we will be discussing is… The Good, The Bad, The Weird

On a train crossing the Manchurian desert, an unlikely trio — good bounty hunter Park Do-won (Woo-sung Jung), bad gangster Park Chang-yi (Byung-hun Lee) and weird train robber Yoon Tae-goo (Kang-ho Song) — unite to find a treasure map’s promised loot. Racing through the unforgiving landscape, they stay one step ahead of rivals and the Japanese army. Ji-woon Kim directs this Sergio Leone-inspired adventure (Summary provided by Netflix).

Watch The Good, the Bad, the Weird Online

SNL: British Movie and American Pop

I love movies, and the best part is, different countries have their own special genres.  You can rely on them to specialize in that type of film and produce the best around.  Hong Kong does amazing Kung Fu, Japan has Horror, Hollywood is the home of the Big-Budget Action Flick.  Now I’m not saying that these are the only films they can make but, they continuously produce the best.  It’s like they have the master copies, the blanks from which all others come.  Great Britain loves their Gritty Gangster Films. In the past, I’ve complained about how hard some British films are to understand, so when I saw this little sketch from Saturday Night Live, I just had to share it.

Don’ You Go Rounin’ Roun To Re Ro

Now, I’m terribly disappointed that your average Brit will never experience the frustration that comes from not being able to understand a film that’s already IN ENGLISH.  I only hope that, on rare occasions, they too have to fumble for the subtitle option on films made in America just like we do when we pick-up some inocuous looking title only to find it absolutely  filled with unintelligible dialogue.  To be fair, I find that this happens much more often with Irish films.

Now that we’ve covered that, I was looking for a film clip on YouTube the other night and found just the one I wanted.  It’s the last few minutes of Ralph Bakshi’s “American Pop”. While I found the film’s narrative and pacing  as a whole to be a little uneven, the artwork and animation is amazing.  I love the rotoscoping techniques used in this film.  The whole story, while more or less depressing, leads ups to this amazing end sequence in a recording studio that quite possibly saves the entire film. 

I challenge you to find a more beautiful piece of animation. Personally, I’d have to say that the pink elephants sequence from “Dumbo”, What’s Opera, Doc? from Merrie Melodies, and the creation sequence from “Watership Down” all come in as close seconds. Oh man, I’ve forgotten all about Studio Ghibli and the work of Genndy Tartakofsky. All right, I’m going to have to give this some serious thought.

Episode 19: The Reckoning

Audio is available here

Our next posted episode will be The Horseman

This Orkin Man takes care of much larger vermin...like human-sized ones. Do you get it...'cause he kills, like people, you know?

Unsettled by his teenage daughter’s (Hannah Levien) untimely and suspicious death, a vengeful father (Peter Marshall) sets out on a purposeful road trip across rural Queensland, Australia, to find out who killed his little girl — and to make them pay. Along the way, he becomes a father figure to a troubled young runaway (Caroline Marohasy) who might be the one link he has left to his own humanity (Summary provided by Netflix).

Watch The Horseman Online

Podcast: Ondine

Listen to our Discussion of Ondine Here

I don't remember that scene at all

Our next podcast episode will be The Reckoning

A priest (Paul Bettany) on the run gets mixed up with a band of wandering thespians in this tale of salvation based on the book Morality Play by Barry Unsworth. In a tiny village, the group comes upon a woman who’s been charged with murder and sentenced to death. The actors put on a production based on the crime and soon realize that the townsfolk know the woman isn’t guilty (Summary provided by Netflix).

Watch The Reckoning Online

Podcast: John Rabe

Listen to our discussion of John Rabe here

Next podcast will be Ondine

An Irish fisherman (Colin Farrell) hauls in an unexpected catch when a mysterious girl (Alicja Bachleda) gets tangled in his nets and soon affects the lives of everyone around her in this fantastical seaside tale from director Neil Jordan (Interview with the Vampire). Is it possible this beautiful stranger is a mythical sea nymph who’s been summoned from the ocean’s depths … or is she something far more common? (summary courtesy of Netflix)

Watch Ondine Online

Podcast: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans

Listen Now

At the end of this episode, it says that the next movie we will talk about is Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. After saying that, we decided to change our minds.  The next episode will be: John Rabe

Florian Gallenberger directs this gripping drama about John Rabe (Ulrich Tukur), a German businessman living in Nanking, China, who in 1937 used his Nazi party affiliation to save some 200,000 Chinese civilians from slaughter at the hands of the Japanese army. As Rabe labors to establish an official safety zone to shelter the innocent, he forms an unlikely friendship with an American doctor (Steve Buscemi). Anne Consigny and Daniel Brühl co-star (Summary courtesy of Netflix).

Hope to hear from you.

 

Next Discussion: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans

Thank goodness they cut out Cage's gigantic forehead

Oh yeah, here we go again with another episode. This time it’s Werner Herzog’s “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans” (2009).