@kyleforrester87 Really liked "still operational" as well, thanks for sharing! The alternating tones of the music sounded like a slow electronic heartbeat to me, and the moment the lights went out, I loved how you could suddenly see more lights in the same shots from before, where they weren't as visible.
It's admirable you wanna go back and use the tools of yesteryear, especially given how comparatively easy I'm guessing it would be to shoot similar movies on a smartphone and get A.I. to generate some suitable mood music. The audio-visual quality you're achieving isn't something you could fake with a filter, there's a distinct authenticity there which adds so much.
Between these and the Polaroids, you're carving out a great angle for yourself. Keep it up!
***
@Metonymy Took me a while to twig where I could find your own work. If you don't mind me watching it as well, then I'll make time to do so when I'm a little more mentally prepared (since I learned the hard way to always heed an opening advisory). If you'd rather I didn't, just say so!
"If I let not knowing anything stop me from doing something, I'd never do everything!"
I read and loved the novel Incidents Around the House last summer and found it delightfully creepy. The movie adaptation, renamed to Other Mommy, is arriving this fall and I felt that the adaptation will hinge on the cast, especially the mom and the kid. The trailer arrived last month (completely under my radar) and I think it looks very promising indeed. Definitely a trip to the theatre for this one!
@MightyDemon82 I don't know if you follow those DC Comics animated movies, I've watched a lot of them, mostly of course Batman. They just released one for Knightfall, it was one of my first introductions to graphic novels, then I read the actual novel itself (no pictures) and finally the BBC Radio Play. Part one was this week, part two is this year, part three is next year. I'm tempted to watch the first then wait.
These violent delights have violent ends & in their triumph die, like fire & powder Which, as they kiss, consume.
@MightyDemon82 Physical is due on September eighth, right now it should be on Prime Video, Apple TV to rent or buy, it's also in some of those other corners of the internet. That's how I found out about it, I was checking to see how many more crazy people downloaded that Grand Theft Auto Six build that was really just malware and when I saw 'Knightfall' knew they finally made it into an animated movie. I've watched so many of those DC animations, they just keep getting better. I might watch it before bed, if I game before bed it doesn't help insomnia but that movie might. It's one-hour twenty minutes long, so all three might hopefully push for four (If I counted right) The books were really chunky you could throw them at a man and do serious damage, I'm actually hyping myself up thinking about it so I will watch it later.
I just got a freebie to Amazon Prime, so I’m watching Dune Part 2 (loved Part 1). As a kid I saw the David Lynch version (it sounded like he had a nightmare making it), but it was so beautifully weird I loved it. I guess everyone’s seen Part 2 now, but wow, it’s a beautiful film
@DrVenture69 I guess everyone’s seen Part 2 now, but wow, it’s a beautiful film.
I wasn't aware of a part one. I did try the recent game on PC, I got in early by using the journalist card (I'm not one, but where there is a will there's a way) I liked Conan, their previous effort, have some funny memories from that game but Dune kind of suffered from that same thing of depending on the players themselves to build the world and unless you are mixing/Clan'ing up it wasn't the most fulfilling experience. I've only seen the original Dune, I did like it. But I do find it hard to get into some sci-fi, Startrek for example I've never seen these movies or the show and for some people it's life. Like I said recently in the new StarWars thread I found Turkish StarWars first (really something) then SpaceBalls, then the original trilogy. It (excluding SpaceBalls) was like going from what they call Shovelware to Triple-A. My favorite was The Empire Strikes Back and I wrote about that too. It's on-topic, I'll see if it fits here. It might, or might not, I can never tell until I press post, I've done five part posts before for things.
Below is from that post, for some reason I can't make this sentence jump one line.
Having not watching the StarWars television shows (I know how terrible) but having seen most of the movies I thought I'd finally add something to the thread. Like a lot of franchises I was late to the party, StarWars was absolutely no exception to the rule. I first saw Turkish StarWars which was as it sounds a knock-off called 'Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam, extremely low budget and practiced the fine art of theft, it stole from George Lucas's actual film. I then saw SpaceBalls.
By this I mean the special-effects, soundtrack and so many visuals were lifted from the original print. It's common practice in some places, we have different copyright laws. It also lifted the score from Indiana Jones. The plot was as such: Two pilots crash-land on a planet, a supernatural wizard lives there, he like Vader wants to conquer the universe. There was action, effects, magic (stolen from Lucas) strange training montages and so on. For me it was the music that made an impression.
Years later and I'm shown actual StarWars, I think my mouth dropped. My favorite was The Empire Strikes Back because I'd already sided with The Empire, I understood them, and Vader. When I saw Hoth and all of that snow I could relate. I come from a land of snow, they too were in the snow and because that was the start of the movie everything that followed became easier to follow.
For me it had such a strong resemblance to Cold War attitudes, one I was instilled with. The Rebels a small group facing an Empire who used strength, deception, advanced military capabilities and huge arsenals and fleets. The Death Star to me was an ICBM, one capable of destroying whole worlds, I understood the technology and the Rebels faced ongoing anxieties of 'which world will be next'.
Take for example Hoth itself. It was remote, a wasteland of snow and ice, many territories at the time lived that kind of reality, tracking stations in the Arctic, proxies with developing nations. Cloud City to me represented how a Leader was then forced into siding with the Empire to save his citizens and his people. This is exactly how it happened with our satellite States too. They were forced into choosing sides, not just because of us but because of the other global superpowers of the time.
There is also then the surveillance, the probe droids. Both sides did that and still do, it to me matches what the movie did, they needed to locate the Rebels to destroy them, their assets too. They had a network of bounty hunters like the brilliant Boba The Fett, we did and do too. The technology used by both uses covert operatives and certain assets for capture missions, the Mossad practice this too.
Psychologically and ideologically speaking Vader tries to tempt Luke to join him, to 'Rule the Galaxy as Father and son', these were also the Cold War ideals, they were baked into mine too. When Luke turned away from Vader he became a threat to the System, he represented a young upstart, one who could sink the ship if others rallied behind him, took up arms and fought to remove the Empire and their Influence. Allies and enemies both tried to harness the power of similar young people, they wanted to ensure their survival as a Machine as an Empire. This left Vader with no option but to destroy him, his own child. He was prepared to sacrifice him, to ensure the survival of his own kind. Yes it's just a movie but I think cinema can be more than some words, lights and sounds.
On a lighter note I've since watched almost every StarWars knock-off, Turkey, India, South East Asia, Europe and of course Japan. Like most knock-offs Japan does it better.
I watch hundreds of knock-offs from around the world, few are 'good', Message From Space is definitely the exception.
@GirlVersusGame I knew about the Turkish Star Wars. I’ve only seen clips but it looks hilarious, the kind of thing that turns up on Mystery Science Theatre .
I’m showing my age now, but I was there front-and-center as a 7 year old kid when A New Hope came out, so pretty much the perfect age. The scene when Vader enters the blockade runner is iconic. That’s the moment when I thought ‘This guy rules’ . I think Empire is such a great film because there so much going on. So many environments, so many story threads.
I actually watched all the Star Wars content on Disney (films, TV series, cartoons) a couple of months ago. Most of it is ‘fine’, for me Rogue One, Andor and The Mandalorean (the Making Of show is fascinating too!) are the stand outs for me.
And yeah, no art exists in a vacuum, it’s easy to see real world parallels. I think it was as much about George Lucas fighting the existing big film studios and writers guild, but they’re absolutely archetypes (the Hero’s Journey with Star Wars). The best films are ones when you stop feeling like you’re watching a film and just experience it without trying, but then keep thinking about it afterwards (sometimes for years)
This is why you played and like Graveyard Keeper, you are good with the niche. I've watched a lot of weird Turkish movies, they have their own everything from James Bond to Rambo to Terminator and Aliens. And like a lot of Turkish movies of the time they often blend all of the above into one movie. I watched an Italian knock-off recently that copied Aliens shot for shot, word for word, but it was called Shocking Dark and the box-art was stolen from Terminator 2. The Italians had no shame, I enjoyed them though, just to drink in how bad and wonky they where.
That's some short clips, it's pretty funny how brazen they were when it came to copyright.
I’m showing my age now, but I was there front-and-center as a 7 year old kid when A New Hope came out, so pretty much the perfect age. The scene when Vader enters the blockade runner is iconic.
That must have been amazing, I like the old original cuts and even have them on VHS. I do like what George Lucas did with the newer versions but the old ones with all of the goofs and mistakes feel so much like those shady knock-offs. You aren't showing your age, I can't count and calculators are just as confusing. And to be fair it's sound better being seven back then and watching movies then, than if you were seven now and watching movies. There was originality back then, crews were working, artists had jobs creating poster art, matte painting was a thing (painting on glass and applying it to the lens, cities, castles etc) practical effects in general. Then there are the toys which I do see in books and I'm sure you had, I saw them on The Toys That Made Us too. It was marketing and probably FOMO but it was healthier than sitting on Fortnite all day too.
Did you see Aliens or Robocop or Judge Dredd or Jurassic Park in the cinema too? I've never been to one, some premieres, they don't count. I'm sure people scream at some movies, I've got some pirated screeners from the time and watched those to try to pick up on the energy of the venue. Mostly Saving Private Ryan, The Lion King, Independence Day, it was just some guy in a cinema with a camcorder, you can hear coughing etc, it looks like it was under a coat, real advanced stuff but I admire the effort too.
What was it like going from seeing the original trilogy to then seeing The Phantom Menace and then all of the ones that followed after that? I'm curious if it was a quality thing, from great to good, to okay.
These violent delights have violent ends & in their triumph die, like fire & powder Which, as they kiss, consume.
@GirlVersusGame I do like the niche (games, movies and music) , I get bored when I see something I’m expecting. Having said that, I love Terminator 2 (the first one was fine but pretty low budget), everything Alien (I’ve even got a soft spot for Alien Resurrection , Predator 1 & 2, Total Recall et al. I never really got in to Robocop, Judge Dread or Jurassic Park (but I did like the novelisation). I couldn’t get in to Marvel and never thought I would until I saw Legion, I didn’t even realise it was Marvel until the end credits. I pretty much love all of Noah Hawley’s stuff now (Fargo) and I’m half way through Alien: Earth which I’ve really liked too.
But A New Hope was like kid crack to me . I was obsessed for at least 5 years. There was a whole period of years where you could only watch it in the cinema (I saw it 7 times) because there were no videos. I’ve got the original rips too, I like it’s less polished (and I wasn’t a fan of the CGI elements cludged in to the remasters), but I like that. Like the Alien films, the Star Wars universe was dirty and run down for the most part.
I saw The Phantom Menace soon after it came out in 1999, it was the first film I’d seen in the cinema since The Return of the Jedi in 1983! My Ex took me on a sunny afternoon and it made me feel like a 7 year old again . It’s a bit cringe watching it now, the crap Ahmed Best took for Jar Jar Binks is horrendous, but yeah, it a kids movie where A New Hope and Empire never felt like that to me.
I had the 3.5” Kenner toys (I think they were branded differently in the UK), but I sold them all in 1982 when I was “getting too old for them” . I’ve got a Hoth Rebel which my step Dad dug up in the garden years later, as my only remaining one . My Mum was trying to get me more into reading and bought me the novelisation of A New Hope (which I’ve still got!), and I demolished it. I read The Splinter in the Minds Eye (a spin off novel) in one day when I was sick in bed at 9 or 10.
And yeah, the matte painting is amazing in the original trilogy, combined with Ralph McQuarrie’s art work is so good. Everything was done in-camera, no computers except motion control on the cameras. Going from that to The Mandalorean where practically everything is CGI (the huge screen they use is unbelievable, it’s called StageCraft: The Volume, I was convinced everything was shot on site, but nope) is a trip
So do I, and people say it's so terrible but I really like it just because it feels more like one of the novels than the books and it did really well with containing an Alien in just the one ship. I think also it could be down to the Director, I really like Jean-Pierre Jeunet. My second most fluent language is French because I still keep an address there and spent so much of my life going back and forth. Sometimes you can tell where a Director is from by how they shoot, Cinematographers especially and though his other movies like Amélie and Delicatessen are held in a much higher regard I have to give it to him for being self taught. It's a rare quality, especially in Europe. As a whole I just love movies from that time.
I never really got in to Robocop, Judge Dread or Jurassic Park (but I did like the novelisation). I couldn’t get in to Marvel and never thought I would until I saw Legion, I didn’t even realise it was Marvel until the end credits.
I have the nevelizations of all three, movie tie-in novels are really fun ways to see the narrative after the movie, to learn languages too because I'd watched the movie, knew what I saw and then an author expanded on the dialogue, the scene, it was natural progression.
Judge Dredd for some reason is my comfort movie, I can and have watched it so many times. I think it's the setting, the characters, the music and just the fact that he's out there bringing justice. I didn't know it was based on a comic, but when I found out I started reading the books, listening to the radio-plays, really learning about that world and it's characters. Robocop was special for me because it's an eccentric European's view of the American Dream and I've been an eccentric living in America, it was no dream. He showed it like it is, and how it could be.
Verhoven is a lunatic but he was the right man for the job. Eventhough he did make Robocop into Jesus. The resurrection, his torture, the end where he's walking on water in the steel mill, he had some crazy ideas and a lot of it is lost to people. As for Marvel I've seen Blade, one Spiderman, half of the first Avengers movie and I'm not sure what else. I was never been around FOMO, never had social-media, I'm not sure where it became so huge for people but it definitely did. There has to be at least twenty that I need to eventually see. The Punisher might count, I've seen all three, DareDevil if he's Marvel too. I like the older late nineties ones. CGI is fine when used sparingly, these new ones seem to really focus on it. Blade was of course darker too, I really liked Spawn but that's DarkHorse. Movies like Blade and Spawn, DareDevil too, The Punisher, they all introduced me to such great music. That's a lost art too.
I saw The Phantom Menace soon after it came out in 1999, it was the first film I’d seen in the cinema since The Return of the Jedi in 1983!
That's my favorite year for nineties cinema. I have a book about 1999, it goes into movies like FightClub, The Matrix, Three Kings, Being John Malkovich, Sleepy Hollow, The Blair Witch Project, Magnolia, Dogma, Girl, Interrupted, Eyes Wide Shut, American Pie, it was just such a great year for movies and new ideas. And like you said StarWars returned, the theaters must have been constantly jammed with people. Then there's the merchandise which even for England must have been everywhere. I do like Darth Maul though, he has that look. South Park too, I just watched that movie, I tried the show too but I think it was a product of the time. I liked some episodes like the Mongolians and that man's wall, the ladder to Heaven, the Ninja Weapons one, but the movie was easier to digest because it had so many musical numbers. Next I'm trying Archer and then possibly Bob's Burger's. I love that mans voice, I heard it when I'd moved to New York, it was all alien. I turned on the television and found a show called Aqua Teen Hunger Force, he was on it as Moth Monster Man. I watched it all night, then got the DVDs and watched all of those. He has a very dry voice, my English wasn't great but I could understand him.
I had the 3.5” Kenner toys (I think they were branded differently in the UK), but I sold them all in 1982 when I was “getting too old for them”
I've never sold anything before, I still have all of my Barbies, Sylvanian Families, Polly Pockets. Everything for me was gender locked though so it's only now that I'm pushing into different franchises and genres. Batman especially, I saw Batman Forever when I was six but wasn't allowed to have the toys and things, not even batgirl, now I can and do. I buy all kinds of toys just to see them, last-week was Kenner's Aliens. I popped the packets and sort of played with them too, which would probably make a collector scream but I had to give them a try.
I’ve got a Hoth Rebel which my step Dad dug up in the garden years later, as my only remaining one
I hope he's safe somewhere, things like that with the nostalgia aren't replaceable. I wonder what they were doing buried in your garden, maybe you were recreating a battle.
My Mum was trying to get me more into reading and bought me the novelisation of A New Hope (which I’ve still got!), and I demolished it.
I think I have that Batman Forever novelization too, I've collected up (checks) 391 movie books, some are reference, some are cinematography, the rest would be novelizations. One of the last StarWars ones I read was The Science of StarWars and before that a book about retro collecting for the toys. Werehog and I were talking about toys so I had to see for myself and I don't really use the internet for answers, mainly books. Josef mentioned Transformers toys so again I bought a book, about more toys. The networks I use aren't indexed, search engines on your side of the web are really strange. The whole idea of one makes sense I've just been using books for so long that asking the internet seems just really strange.
And yeah, the matte painting is amazing in the original trilogy, combined with Ralph McQuarrie’s art work is so good. Everything was done in-camera, no computers except motion control on the cameras. Going from that to The Mandalorean where practically everything is CGI (the huge screen they use is unbelievable, it’s called StageCraft: The Volume, I was convinced everything was shot on site, but nope) is a trip
I spent a large chunk of time from about fourteen-ish to right now wandering film sets and StarWars is one of them. Pretty much anything that came through Pinewood, which is why I talk about film so much. It ignited a spark and really helped me switch back on when my servers were down. The only odd thing is that some of these movies, I never saw the completed film. The last Batman, StarWars and Bond, I watched them being made but never watched them. I did watch Del Toro's Frankenstein but at the time everyone here was so hyped so I went out of my way to not mention that I was on that set. It's not a name droppery thing either, I care about the cameras, the lighting, the people who put their vision on film, it's really magic. I'd like to have been born much earlier to see some of the greats go through that studio. My Guardian from the time was telling me recently that they all couldn't stand James Cameron and were all loyal to Ridley Scott (on Aliens) so people kept quitting, I like all of the insider details. Hammer Horror especially, he knew all of the Hammer people, it sounded like such a good time to be alive, they are some of my favorites too because my love of film and my education in film all came from him. I'm still finding new movies to watch but by new I mean very old like Fifties and further back. I kind of want to watch some Hammer now just thinking about it. The Devil Rides out is one of my favorite films of all time. It's based on a Dennis Wheatly novel and stars Christopher Lee and Charles Gray, it terrified me back then but now I love it.
Also amazing. Race With the Devil, a 1975 Peter Fonda movie. It's not Hammer but the title is similar and it's so good. Just a better time really, though obviously subjective.
@GirlVersusGame The Devil Rides Out is one of my favourite films as well! I probably watch it once a year, the music is so good too. I saw it on my first colour TV in my room when I was about 12, same with the original Wicker Man (also one of my favourite films of all time, the isolation, the fact he thinks he’s empowered, plus another fantastic Christopher Lee role).
That’s amazing about Pinewood too, it has so much history to it. I can image the crew sticking with the local lad Ridley. He made a Hovis advert in the 70’s or 80’s and that was a 1 minute work of art. I think they had a similar feeling towards George Lucas when he was making A New Hope there. Especially the director of photography, there were some great documentaries on the first DVD release box set, which mentioned some tension.
And yeah, 1999 was incredible for movies, I love The Matrix trilogy as well, and Magnolia (I might have to watch that this weekend) Aimee Mann’s score to that movie is just superb. I’ve got it on Spotify all the time. American Beauty too, just the pacing of it, and the soundtrack of course.
Very cool about your Barbies, I always regretted selling them. I thought I had to do it to grow up. And yeah, the Hoth Rebel was MIA from a pitched battle with a mate, probably for about 20 years
Coyote vs Acme was really fun, strongly recommend it!
If you’re up for playing Granblue Versus Rising, please ping me. I can also play Guilty Gear, Blazblue, Melty or Under Night. No SF6 or Tekken cuz I lack hardware space.
@DrVenture69 The Devil Rides Out is one of my favourite films as well! I probably watch it once a year, the music is so good too. I saw it on my first colour TV in my room when I was about 12, same with the original Wicker Man (also one of my favourite films of all time, the isolation, the fact he thinks he’s empowered, plus another fantastic Christopher Lee role).
This wasn't the answer I expected because I watch it once per-year too, and I was listening to the soundtrack again tonight too. I think something it did really well was cast Christopher Lee as a hero and not a villain though depending on who you ask Dracula is kind of seen as a hero, to me at least. He defended his homeland from the Turks who went on to bring us that StarWars knock-off, he did fight against repression, he preserved his own bloodline and heritage, he did slaughter a lot of people but it was also part of his Patriotism, and he was all for sexual liberation. He didn't hide sexuality behind the social norms that I see in your world (no offense, I'm morally unrestrained in that department and your world is a little strange, as is mine to a keen observer)
I feel a similar way for the Phantom of The Opera, I attend the show regularly, he and Dracula have been with me very a very long time. Dracula especially, he holds onto his own old world sensibilities and morals, I understand that because I live it myself. Like I told Ravix (in some post somewhere recently when writing about movie monsters) in Eastern Europe we tend to not fear them as much, more-so we understand the limits, where they dwell. I've learned to sense things like bears because they do come wandering by for something sweet, honed senses are survival for both sides.
I see the Occult the same way, I don't dabble I study and live it too, there's careful reverence there. Hammer understood that because they understood the aspects of Occultism, which is why I like The Devil Rides Out, it got it right. Modern day Satanism is mostly Left Hand Path now, Satan has been removed and replaced with the need to become a God, a superman. The others use the Church of Satan as a flag for protest, real worship still exists but it's not in the open. As for Magik (not Witchcraft) one of the best I've seen to get it right was A Dark Song. They used proper rituals from very old and very accurate texts, it's a great movie. Disclaimer I'm not championing Satanism, I'm an Occultist, we don't need Ego to practice and live the way we do, I have reverence for God too and I fit both into my life because it's generational/Masonic. Every Satanist I've met was driven by that Ego, every black magician was focused on transactional Magik, real Occultism is quite rare now, but is still around, the very meaning is to remain hidden after all.
It's not just Magik that the movie gets right, including Ego. It's High Magik, there's a lot of proper Enochian and Golden Dawn ceremonial Magik used including the Abramelin Ritual. We're talking Guardian Angels and Kings of Hell, heavy duty advanced. I won't go too deep into it, but you might like the movie, it's a very realistic representation of that particular branch of the Occult. And as for the Wickerman? I watch it far too often and love everything about it and have visited all of the locations, the same for many Hammer movies, I have a book of locations and we marked them off as we visited. Hammer too for me represents old world sensibilities, they were made during a time that I understand, which again is part of the draw. Hereditary is more of a modern exception, it got many things right too, it's not a subject I should discuss too much here I'm already a little too Eyes Wide Shut at times or at least so it seems, consider watching A Dark Song, see what you think. The premise is straight-forward enough, the execution is flawless.
Question, how do you feel about The Ninth Gate?
Magnolia (I might have to watch that this weekend)
People get a little uppity about the movie sometimes, I think it did what it set out to do. I don't like Tom Cruise that much anymore because I'm what Scientology calls an S.P. Suppressive Person, an enemy of their Church, that's a long story, I helped some people who needed helping, they aren't fond of that. I still really like American Beauty too, I view it almost like an Americanized version of Lolita, but I probably can't talk about that movie either. Either way in my opinion it was Jeremy Irons best role. It's a little awkward growing up with European cinema, Americans find it a little risque and sometimes so does England. But I believe you have to be true to yourself, true to your roots, and just get on with life. A good film is a good film regardless and can sometimes be cathartic. I can separate current Kevin Spacey with the one of American Beauty, it's a cinematic masterpiece regardless.
I saw it on my first colour TV in my room when I was about 12, same with the original Wicker Man
I watched them both when I first moved to England so Fourteen'ish, I wasn't alone watching them thankfully. It does sound like you described some highlights of your life, at least to me that sounds like a brilliant time, I owe a lot to film, there are many good memories there too, some bad, but that's life.
These violent delights have violent ends & in their triumph die, like fire & powder Which, as they kiss, consume.
@GirlVersusGame That's a really interesting take on Dracula, I guess in the UK we just know him from the Bram Stoker novel, not someone defending their homeland. I love the imagery like the red armour in the Gary Oldman version (very Legacy of Kain), the original Nosferatu, and Mr Barbara in Salem's Lot (I remember having a movie magazine as a kid and I had to skip past the page with his image )
And yeah, the older I get the more I have to separate the art from the artist otherwise I'd not like anything. I love the 'feeling' of Magnolia, they've all got lives of quiet desperation, some make it through some don't. Cruise's character is a monster at first watch, but his character in the film is also complex which makes it interesting. And I LOVE The Ninth Gate, I watch that at least every couple of years. I remember seeing the trailer on the Barry Norman film show, The Girl gliding down there stairs and I was "Yep, I'm in!" Some films I watch, and I can't remember them the next day, but almost every scene of that is etched into my brain, like the country lane outside a house lit by streetlights where motorbike turns up. I watched Rosemary's Baby for the first time a couple of months ago and couldn't get into it. I guess it's just what clicks with you in the moment.
I'll give A Dark Song a go too, that sounds interesting. Yeah, occult just means hidden, not for everyone. I'm more about vibe and image than doing anything. Paganism and occult have such deep roots. I watched Robin of Sherwood (1984) as a teenager and loved the imagery of Herne the Hunter, Pan, and Cernunnos (mostly thanks to games like Tir Na Nog and Dragontorc on the ZX Spectrum). I don't know the subject to deeply, but I think that's basically where we get The Devil imagery (and yeah, I don't do big egos either ). It's the same with the imagery of the original Doom (1993). I think I'm just wired to have that kind of curiosity, they're all films and games I get lost in (in a good way).
@DrVenture69 I'll give A Dark Song a go too, that sounds interesting.
Please do I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, the last person I suggested it to almost scolded me because it 'scared the living bleep' out of them, I think that's a good thing, there's no point in living if you can't feel like you are actually alive, fear is just one of many natural emotions that help us do that. Which is why Horror movies and literature in the first place, I think fear is very primal and part of our DNA.
Mr Barbara in Salem's Lot (I remember having a movie magazine as a kid and I had to skip past the page with his image )
I like hearing about nostalgia like that, not as in getting pleasure from another's misery, just that an image can become so iconic and so en-grained, film does that for a lot of people.
That's a really interesting take on Dracula, I guess in the UK we just know him from the Bram Stoker novel, not someone defending their homeland. I love the imagery like the red armour in the Gary Oldman version (very Legacy of Kain)
It's a different perspective, by the same token in the German Gothic Musical (which is my favorite Dracula Musical) the line is 'It's a matter of time before London belongs to us', a very real and very accurate sentiment in certain Circles and one I'm all too familiar with. I think it also shows that Dracula is indeed focused on growing his ranks and touching your shores too. This is also another reason as to why I have an affinity for the character. In all tellings of the story he was focused on reaching the West, building something, what he called 'Dark side of the Sun', Interview With the Vampyre played with something similar. It is in essence about expansion and survival of a bloodline, of those ways. Which in-turn makes England it's victim, and is probably why we do have such different views on the character, there's a purposefully fear there, in those movies, in those books. For me it's a comfort, familiar. There's also a kind of truth to the character, the movies capture it, the books too. A kind of a powerful and forbidden love that crosses time, faces eternal separation, and embodies the deep loneliness of immortality, where time itself ceases to exist. Mortals go about their day, unaware, only when 'stay away from that castle, strange things happen there on a moonlit night'. There's a deep distrust there, and so he stays isolated for generations, but he does have wolves for company at least.
I surround myself with many Dracula types in actual life and understand the mentality. I don't use the traditional 'i' in the spelling because like Magik and Magic I avoid parlor tricks, recognition is also it's own form of reverence. You'll never see me use that 'i' in the spelling, vampyres are a fiction to many people, where I come from they are something tangible, something to respect, and to fear. Hammer also kept the tradition alive, and were the kind of familiarity I needed for that softer landing when I like Dracula did come here. And small footnote, which I can't and won't expand on too much. I did dabble with that community when I lived in New York, I can't talk about it, just that a journalist called Susan Walsh hasn't been seen since after trying to infiltrate that lifestyle. So make of it what you will. I expected cosplayers, instead I saw something else. Also my armor in Crimson Desert is dyed just like Gary Oldman's, I posted it yesterday in that thread. It's by no means perfect but I think it works
And I LOVE The Ninth Gate, I watch that at least every couple of years. I remember seeing the trailer on the Barry Norman film show, The Girl gliding down there stairs and I was "Yep, I'm in!"
It's based on a book called 'The Club Dumas' by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte. In my collector circle my nickname is kat corso because like the character I search the ends of the Earth for certain types of reading material, it too has some accuracy to it, the movie. Those books mentioned like Johannes Trithemius's Steganographia and Jean Bodin’s De la démonomanie des sorciers, those are all real. They were Left-Hand Path so there was a little bit of confusion with the script, but other than that I think it does a really good job at showing something outside of 'the norm'. Rather faithfully, though I can't say what.
Beautiful score too, it's Wojciech Kilar who also worked on Bram Stoker's Dracula. His collaboration with Sumi Jo is deeply moving. Arguably his best work to date.
I watched Rosemary's Baby for the first time a couple of months ago and couldn't get into it. I guess it's just what clicks with you in the moment.
Like-wise it was a 'fear of Motherhood' film, there were many, it's a whole genre. And because I have no desire to be a Mother, nor do I believe in marriage, that film did nothing for me, there was nothing to fear, the rest I was too comfortable with. It was definitely a product of it's time too, Satanic Panic was responsible for some very good well made movies. It was one of the only areas and mediums that really balanced the fear with the reality, books certainly didn't.
Susperia on the other-hand did work because it represented so much of what I experienced in finishing school in Paris. I'd been searching for a way to summarize the experience to myself, then I watched that masterpiece and could relate (finally) to true Horror, it's to this day one of my all time favorite movies. Very little on the 'big screen' shocks or scares me, I'm probably as Tjuz called it desensitized, or I've seen behind the curtain a few too many times and can distinguish fact from a very more accessible fiction.
I’m going to watch a Dark Song on Friday, it’s always my Horror Night, I’ll let you know how I get on. And you’ve just reminded me I bought The Club Dumas! I’ve only read it once (about 15 years ago) and I’m definitely up for a re-read (I love the Kat Corso nickname )
@BearsEatBeets It would be hard to be worse than Mortal Kombat 2, it felt like such a letdown except near the end when things got less colourful and a lot more bloody. The CGI was outsourced twice, two different effects houses, I saw an early cut then they delayed it and it came out looking not much better. It didn't help that it felt like it had multiple Directors too, I do think Simon McQuoid did a good job with the first one but things dropped off with the second one in a big way. It looked like a reliance on sound-stages/CGI and not enough hands on martial arts. I know they have powers/fatalities etc, it just felt like wasted potential, those actors didn't help either, Mortal Kombat Annihilation had better acting.
Street Fighter on the other-hand looks like a lot of fun and faithful to each character, I'll be rooting for Bison as usual. I had such a crush on Raul Julia, he played such a good Bison. In the movie Zangief said his speech about the PAX Bisonica almost brought him to tears, me too, I love that man (Raul, unfortunately gone like so many others) I'm not saying I believe in global Domination but if there were a man for the job I'd pick him. His vision was to bring global peace not through diplomacy but by creating an army of genetically engineered super-soldiers like big green Carlos Blanka. Van Damme (Guile) saw him as a Warlord and a Dictator, young kat (me) saw him as a benevolent savior and devastatingly handsome. I hope new Bison is older too (checks) he looks little young but he has potential.
'All I want to do is to create the perfect genetic soldier! Not for power, not for evil, but for good. Carlos Blanka will be the first of many - they shall march out of my laboratory and sweep away every adversary, every creed, every nation, until the very planet is in the loving grip of the Pax Bisonica. And then peace will reign, and the world, and all humanity, shall bow to me in humble gratitude'. - Bison/Raul, RIP.
Also Guile's hair is on-point, it looks fun, it's hard to do fun and cheesy these days, I hope they pull it off. Naked Gun proved a modern movie could capture some of that previous magic, I'm optimistic.
These violent delights have violent ends & in their triumph die, like fire & powder Which, as they kiss, consume.
Forums
Topic: The Movie Thread
Posts 9,341 to 9,360 of 9,424
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic