films you've seen recently and would NOT recommend

blacktulip

blacktulip

Pregnant with mandrakes
While on this wonderful, savage, cathartic thread:

Berberian Sound Studio

Do not waste your time. Listen to Ralph Vaughan Williams for a couple of hours instead.

Gardening.

Anything.
 
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rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
yeah i talked about berberian sound studio before. has to be the most overrated film all year. if you want to watch a good film about sound recording, watch the conversation or blow out, if you want to watch something that is actually scary, watch suspiria or something. but do not watch BBS (that directors first film, which is a semi art house rape revenge movie, is a 100 times better). critics lap up meta horror far too easily - its not clever anymore.

on a similar note, the house of the devil is really great at all the suspense building 80s horror homage stuff (far better than BBS), but when it gets near the end, i.e. the point where its all meant to come to a head and actually make you shit yourself, it totally blows it and makes you hate the film.
 
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stephenk

Well-known member
haven't seen bbs yet, but i didn't think the end of the house of the devil was that bad, though your comment is not the first negative one i've read about it. where else could it have gone?

as far as meta-horror or genre revamps or whatever is concerned, amer is still my absolute favorite. so beautiful.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I'd like to check Amer but every time time I think of looking for it I can't remember what it's called - strange name right?
 
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rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
life of pi. never liked the book very much but i thought the film might have been good, but the key factor that ruined it was that it all looks so obviously studio-set. totally destroyed the illusion of adventure it might have otherwise had.

the tiger was amazing though.
 
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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
IdleRich said:
I'd like to check Amer but every time time I think of looking for it I can't remember what it's called - strange name right?
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As in 'Bitter' (no idea if it's a french film?)? Not heard of that one.

House of the Devil and Kill List were both amazing...though I can understand anyone who was disappointed at the ending of either/both.

Looper - so, so annoying. Like Primer without the intrigue and the brains - ended up like a bizarre tribute to 12 Monkeys-era Bruce Willis.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
"life of pi. never liked the book very much but i thought the film might have been good, but the key factor that ruined it was that it all looks so obviously studio-set. totally destroyed the illusion of adventure it might have otherwise had.
the tiger was amazing though."
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Gotta admit my first thought was "why on earth would someone want to make a film out of that book?". Seems totally bizarre to me.

"Looper - so, so annoying. Like Primer without the intrigue and the brains - ended up like a bizarre tribute to 12 Monkeys-era Bruce Willis."
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Yeah, started ok but just leaked tension from about half-way in. And my thoughts exactly about 12 Monkeys - I was thinking that Willis had already starred in one rip-off of La Jetee, why do another one but worse?
 
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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
ah, i recognise that film now - the only Belgian giallo, presumably?

Only other Belgian horror I can recall is 'Calvaire', which as I remember was a bit disappointing, esp given how much I like most of the new wave of french horror films.
 
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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Re Bruce Willis, I've never seen the appeal. I guess he was quite winning in Pulp Fiction, but otherwise, don't really get him.
 
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stephenk

Well-known member
baboon2004 said:
ah, i recognise that film now - the only Belgian giallo, presumably?

Only other Belgian horror I can recall is 'Calvaire', which as I remember was a bit disappointing, esp given how much I like most of the new wave of french horror films.
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ah, it is belgian. doesn't feel especially belgian though, with the grand decaying mediterranean setting. i loved it because it's so vivid, and also because it's such a deconstruction (am i using that word right? probably not) of giallo, it's like a jumbled collage of the genre's main parts...
 
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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
So many, sadly.

American Gangster - despite the potentially original angle of being about a black gangster rather than an Italian-American one, STILL managing to be the most generic gangster flick I have ever seen.

Knocked Up - was asked to watch this by my girlfriend to verify just how terrible/reactionary it is, in the face of the bizarrely positive esteem it is held in by some critics. Mesmerisingly appalling.

Your Friends and Neighbors - not really terrible, so doesn't belong here, but Labute doesn't half want to make his viewing public suffer. Retread of the Company of Men, with suitably diminsihing returns.
 
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mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Life of Pi is one of the truly great 3D films that has been made so far. I liked the fact it looked studio-bound, heightened the trippiness of it.

I've said it elsewhere, but The Hobbit is very close to being the worst film I've ever seen, and is certainly the most disgusting looking film I've ever seen. It looks like Rentaghost. But without the funnies.
 
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continuum

smugpolice
The 3D in Life of Pi isn't that great. No more so than Avatar. For those that didn't like or see Avatar in 3D Life of Pi will be the greatest 3D film they have seen. Life of Pi is a good film though and worth watching or reading the book. Life of Pi also serves a function for the anti-Tolkien brigade as the film everyone should see instead.

The Hobbit is awesome, don't let people convince you otherwise. Not 100% sure on the 48FPS second resolution it's been filmed in as it does make it look a bit funny but perhaps that's because we're not used to it. Love the way the original Hobbit story has been fleshed out with bits from the appendices of the other books. Looking forward to seeing it in 2D to see if it looks any different and experience again.
 
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