Last night (and today, as I was too tired to watch the whole thing late last night) I watch The Fog for the first time.
At least I don’t remember watching it in my youth.
I enjoyed it thoroughly.
It actually made me jump in two separate parts, which was nice.
And it was more violent than I was expecting. It’s not actually that graphically violent, but there were a couple of moments I did wince.
And that’s a good thing in horror.
I loved how quick and to the point it was too. As with many of Carpenter’s films I’ve seen, it gets straight into the meat of the film and then as soon as it’s resolved it gets out quickly.
I do enjoy a slow-burn character story from time to time. But when it comes to most horror, I do enjoy it when it stays concise and gets to the point fast.
There’s still a couple of Carpenter’s films I’m yet to watch, and “The Thing” that I desperately want to re-watch.
I’ll just start by saying that I really enjoyed Alien Romulus.
After the atrocity that was Disney’s How to train your alien (Alien Earth) I have been in need of a good Alien fix.
This started with me finally playing through Alien Isolation and absolutely loving it.
I then thought I’d give Romulus a chance, on the advice of a friend. And I’m so glad I did.
What I thought worked really well
The general vibes of the film. It felt somewhere between the first and second Alien films. And that sat great with me.
The storyline is nice and simple.
The Alien itself was actually scary again. None of that running around in bright daylight rubbish.
Some nods to previous films were okay (more on this shortly).
The face-hugger scenes were incredible. Instead of being a means to get the Alien born, they actually featured in two of my favourite scenes in the film. Creepy AF.
And the ending, although I was warned that it was a bit iffy, I actually didn’t mind. Gory as hell and went to a place I didn’t think it would.
What made me cringe
The CGI Ian Holm. This was not needed in the slightest. Pure uncanny valley that just didn’t need to be.
All the bloody fan service. Whilst a couple of scenes that seemed to nod back to previous films were ok, most were just pure cheese.
The re-saying of certain iconic lines were just out of place. They sounded like a film student had won a competition to write some lines of dialogue for the film.
We don’t need fan service dialogue.
The film would have been a strong 8 out of 10, if it weren’t for those bits. I think it sits at about 6.5 for me after all is said and done.
Robert DeNiro as The IrishmanClint Eastwood as The Man with no name
The Irishman
Firstly, I started with Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman.
Loved it.
The main cast have been great in everything I’ve seen them in. And this film was no different.
A masterclass.
For me it had those Jackie Brown vibes, in that a lot of it felt like I was just chilling out with these characters for most of it. Characters I quickly became fond of, despite their dubious business dealings.
And until I saw the conversation between Martin Scorsese and Pacino, De Niro and Pesci afterwards, I had no idea it was all based on a true story.
It took me three sittings to watch it as it was done between sleeps (raising a 2 month old)
Despite it being such a long film, I actually wished it was longer.
A Fistfull of Dollars
The first spaghetti western, and the film that launched Clint Eastwood’s film career.
A Fistfull of Dollars is cool as hell.
The man with no name wanders into a western town where two families are at war with each other.
So he decides to cleverly pit them against one another for his own gains.
I had seen this many years ago, but for some reason westerns didn’t do much for me. That was until I experienced the Red Dead Redemption games, especially the story of Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2
Since then I have been eager to explore more of the genre.
To be honest I think I’m trying to re-experience what I got with Red Dead Redemption 2, but with other stories.
But Arthur Morgan is always there at the back of my mind.
Sobs.
I loved this film.
Trivia: this features the scene featured in Back to the Future part 2, and the emulation that Marty performs in Back to the Future part 3.
At the time of writing I am 30 minutes into “For a Few Dollars More”.
Only taking breaks as I only get chance to see them at night when I have baby duties and of course at that point I’m knackered.
But I’ll get there eventually.
And at least my little girl is getting a good film education early.
Easily in my top three film directors. Possibly even the top spot.
Seeing Inland Empire in the cinema in 2006 (I think) completely blew me away. It still haunts me to this day. And turned me on to the music of Chrysta Bell.
Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Blue Velvet.
Finally watched this film for the first time and I absolutely loved it to bits.
As I sat there sweating through the UK heatwave — my apartment being three or four degrees higher — I became lost in this world of LA.
It goes without saying that Al Pacino and Robert Deniro are at the top of their games in this film, but i’m gonna say it anyway…
…they are both so fucking great. As are all the other performances throughout.
It’s one of those films that has been on my radar for so long but just never got round to watching it. Everyone I’d heard mention it had always said it was awesome — they were all right.
Deniro’s character brought a certain intensity throughout for me — his straight line, get the job done attitude is infectious.
And Pacino does what he does best. His seemingly-random outbursts of animation were such a joy to see. I found myself laughing — but out of shear enjoyment of his performance. He has a way about him that just captures my attention with ease.
Mark and Jezz in Peep Show pretend to watch Heat whilst at a theatre show
Deniro’s and Pacino’s characters are two sides to the same coin. Both representing the opposing forces of law and criminal. I found myself rooting for both of them right till the end. Neither is completely “good” and neither is at all “evil”.
Besides hearing Heat mentioned in one of my favourite TV shows, Peep show (see image above), what actually tipped me into actually sitting for the 2 hour 50 minute runtime was a clip of Tom Hiddleston on the Graham Norton show.
The clip featured Tom appearing with 3 other actors, all there for different reasons, but was sharing the guest sofa with no other than Robert Deniro. Tom was talking with admiration about Deniro in Heat — and in one scene in particular.
The scene was the infamous coffee shop scene in which Deniro and Pacino enjoy their first ever on-screen appearance.
When I finally got to the scene myself I saw where that admiration was coming from.
One of the most conflicting moments for me came right near the end.
There is a chance for Deniro to get away and begin a fresh life, and I was really praying he would. However, I equally wanted him to finish off one piece of unfinished business — with a particularly nasty character.
There’s a moment where he’s driving and you can feel the conflict within him. Deciding desperately which path he should take. And I think he already knows the outcome of both paths before he chooses.
I wont spoil that moment for you here, but I do urge you strongly to watch this. It’s an incredible film.
Not to be confused with the 1995 erotic, straight-to-video film starring Alicia Silverstone. 2017’s The Babysitter is a violent, fun watch and completely ridiculous in all the right places.
I was recommended this by a friend and did really enjoy it. I was surprised that it was a 15 though.
Looking forward to watching the sequel some time soon.
I didn’t enjoy it quite as much on the whole as I did part 2, but it was still a great ride. And it was great to finally see Jason don his infamous hockey mask.
I found myself wondering about the director’s taste when I kept noticing things being pointed right at the camera. Like in the camera’s face. It wasn’t until half way through that I had the distant memory come back about this film having been made for 3D.
Plus a pissed-off 80s biker gang. What’s not to love?
I finally faced my childhood trauma by watching The people under the stairs in full. I saw sections of it as a child and remember only the image of children running from something in the wall cavities of a old creepy house.
It was an absolute surprise and joy to see Everett McGill and Wendy Robie as an on-screen couple again after their iconic partnership in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks as Ed and Nadine Hurley.
Credited as simply ‘Man’ and ‘Woman’ respectively, the pair live in a large fortified house just outside of a Los Angeles Ghetto. That Ghetto is pretty much owned in full by the couple — land and property bought and passed on through the years to subsequent generations of the family.
The couple are Land lords to many in the neighbourhood, but specifically a family struggling to pay the bills due to abject poverty and family illness. The story kicks off when the poor family’s young son, nicknamed ‘Fool’, is used by a criminal friend of the family to help break into the rich couple’s house. They do this to try and find a rumoured collection of gold coins that have been hoarded there.
What follows is them all trapped in the house with no escape, running and hiding from the sadistic couple armed to the teeth and commanding a large, vicious dog. Not only that, but they must also content with the people under the stairs.
The things I found most scary this time around were not necessarily the chases through the walls or the basement encounters, although they were often tense. What I found myself finding most horrific was how these crazed parents treated their daughter Alice.
Alice lives under a constant cloud of threatened, and often enacted, abuse. Later we even see her slammed on to the floor to clean the blood-drenched wooden flooring of the house. And then soon after being force-cleaned by her mother in a visibly-scolding deep bath of water.
How this film went from comedic moments of joy to horrific moments of torture and mutilation was all but expertly done. Despite having so much to offer in terms of tone, it never felt jarring. It was a roller coaster that just kept throwing in loop-da-loops and sharp left turns.
Mcgill and Robie were incredible as the crazed couple hunting for the blood of the intruders whilst trying to keep their current captives under control. And then there is the illusive thing living in their walls.
Oh, and their dog is bloody terrifying.
I loved them both in Twin Peaks. The people under the stairs made me love them even more.
Equally as impressive was the actor playing Fool — Brandon Adams. He had great charisma on screen and his character really kicked ass and held his own against the lunatics.
Fool would often fight back against his pursuers and never made any dumb decisions to merely serve the plot.
He sure is one smart cookie.
I’m actually proud of myself for clocking the satirical take on the nature of capitalism throughout the film too. Maybe all of this writing and thinking a bit more about the films I watch is having an affect on me?
I enjoyed this film so much, and for many different reasons. I really can’t recommend it enough.
