I wish Amazon would have developed Oasis. It has a great pilot episode.
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I wish Amazon would have developed Oasis. It has a great pilot episode.
I missed that one. Looks interesting.Quote:
Originally Posted by SKIP INTRO
It looks like it's no longer available.
Will I need subtitles? 'Cause I watched "Gavin and Stacey" recently and needed them. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by PNWbrit
I needed subtitles for parts of Gavin and StaceyQuote:
Originally Posted by skaredshtles
Fucking Welsh. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by PNWbrit
It's worth watching even knowing you will only get one episode. I am guessing there wasn't enough in the budget to do both The Expanse and Oasis.Quote:
Originally Posted by PNWbrit
:)Quote:
Originally Posted by skaredshtles
Don't watch Rab C Nesbitt then ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EpyPymnCIM
Noticed that The Night Manager is now on prime.
Superb John le Carré series if you missed it on cable.
I stumbled upon this '80s anime gem last night.
I am not an otaku by any means, so I am not at all well versed in anime. I have seen a few of the hallmarks of the genre such as Alita, Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, Fist of the Northstar, Vampire Hunter D, and Cowboy Bebop.
At any rate, this one caught my eye with the title and colorful poster. Also, as I was looking for something lighthearted and not terribly long to watch after a 7 hour hike/ski day, the 1 hour and 39 minute running time was equally appealing.
It definitely fit the bill.
It is basically a loose and sillly space opera that has elements of westerns, swashbucklers, and classic sci-fi.
The story is a bit convoluted, but you get the gist of it by the second act and once you do, it becomes clear that it is pretty cool. Granted, it's the old standard where a rapscallion takes on an evil conglomerate while trying to save a princess, but there's enough original elements to make it rise above cliche.
For example, the villain, Crystal Boy, is one of the greatest and most bizarre antagonists ever put to film.
And while the animation is like low-end anime mixed with Filmation rigidity, It's kinda cool in a retro way. There is awkward nudity and a plethora of mildly hallucinatory sequences that lend the whole affair an off kilter sense of maturity.
It's just a fun and quirky romp.
RIYL: Heavy Metal (the animated movie); Cowboy Bebop;
Holy shit - that is GOLD!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Pow
I turned on the subtitles - they must have some AI doing the subtitles... 'cause it was complete nonsense. :D
Amazon's new LORD OF THE RINGS series cannot use most of the main story!
https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...wP3V9Z4ENQ31uw
Got sucked into CARNIVAL ROW yesterday and powered through all 8 episodes of Season 1.
It's like Deadwood-meets-Narnia.
I would call it a middle-fantasy as it stradles the border between low-fantasy and high-fantasy, borrowing tropes from each, not to mention a touch of neo steam punk. Yet underneath all the fantastical trappings, it's really just a sordid soap opera relying on obvious plot twists and devious characters, yet it still sucks you in.
Large chunks of the story are really familiar to anybody who has read Shakespeare, watched their mom's soap operas, or seen any previous dark fantasy shows/movies, yet these "cliches" are delivered by a solid cast (primarily British), which are able to make the somewhat hokey and familiar story seem at least moderately fresh and interesting. The production is of fairly high quality, too, unlike quite a bit of shows of this nature that usually have crappy effects and sets.
Orlando Bloom is the co-lead along with Cara Delevingne and they unfurl an off-kilter Romeo & Juliet storyline teeming with dark magic and tragedy.
It's filmed in a washed-out turqouise sepia tone (kind of like Pirates of the Caribbean), so it has that steam punk gleam.
The ending of Episode 8 was open enough to allow for a second season, but also closed enough that if it gets cancelled you won't be terribly left out in the cold in terms of the story.
Entertaining if you like dark fantasy.
Oh yeah, lots of swearing (who knew faeries loved to say "fuck" so much?), some moments of gore, and faerie/human sex and nudity (faerie, human, and satyr).
Yeah, that’s a good one. I’m rationing myself to one episode at a sitting. Have to savor this one.
Got a few left in carnival row, digging it. Watched Bone Tomahawk the other night and quite enjoyed it but I'm really digging some pretty fucked up variations on the spaghetti westerns.
Recommendations of said "fucked up variations on the spaghetti westerns? (i.e. what have you been watching?)Quote:
Originally Posted by lifelinksplit
A bevy of great low-budget cult genre films have popped up on Prime recently...
CUBE
This 1997 debut from Vincenzo Natali is a fantastic low-budget sci-fi/horror psychological nail-biter of the same caliber as Dreamscape, The Terminator, and The Arrival (i.e. a small film with a great story, decent acting, and cool practical effects).
The film comes out the gate with a bang and keeps you tightly wound up for the duration.
Not linking to the trailer as it gives away most of the cool twists.
If you dig claustrophobic sci-fi with a psychological sense of dread and confusion augmented with some gooey and gory practical effects, this is a gem.
^^ Cube is indeed a gem. Don’t bother with the sequels though.
Too late for that!Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyoverland Captive
Watched the sequel and prequel when they were released on VHS!
But, yes, they both sucked and don't even hold a burnt out candle nub to the original.
Cube's definitely worth a watch! That one totally flew under the radar when it came out but thankfully I watched it back then when I saw it at my local rental shop. Don't you miss those days? Browsing the aisles and being like "What's this? Guess I'll check it out" with pretty much nothing but the box to go by and then sometimes being kind of blown away. Coming home with piles of movies was always fun. For better or worse, it was always a surprise.Quote:
Originally Posted by dookey67
Is it bad that I have them all? Haha. The original's DEFINITELY the best, but the others were kind of fun too in their own low-budget ways. Especially Cube Zero. I kind of liked how they tied a bunch of stuff together with that one and pulled back the curtain a bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by dookey67
More low-budget awesomeness:
THE BLOOD OF HEROES
This Rutger Hauer/Joan Chen ditty is a post-apocalyptic yarn that is best described as The Road Warrior if it were about Death Rugby and not high octane mayhem.
Directed and written by David Webb Peoples (co-screenwriter of Blade Runner and screenwriter of Ladyhawke, Unforgiven, and Twelve Monkeys).
This is a gritty little sci-fi action flick.
The last two are already off prime. Lame!
LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM
Ken Russell's deliciously delirious psycho-sexual and hallucinatory slant on the vampiric mythos is teeming with modern gothic nuance, dark humor, and gratuitously kinky camp.
Watch the trailers at your own peril as they give away quite a bit of the story.
Vintage Trailer
DVD Trailer
Another great, late night, quasi-grindhouse classic has popped up on Prime.
We're talking The Blackboard Jungle meets The Warriors.
Perry King!
Timothy Van Patten!
Michael Fox before he added the "J"!
Roddy McDowell sans ape make-up!
Ultra violence, loud music, and unbridled mayhem!
Watched the shit out of this back in the VHS daysQuote:
Originally Posted by dookey67
This too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DAhIHu7mYE
UNDER THE SILVER LAKE
4/5
Currently Streaming on Amazon Prime
Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell (best known for It Follows), this neon noir could easily be considered a blatant nod to Sir Alfred, and while it undoubtedly is, it is also heavily filtered through the skewed eye of Brian De Palma and the demented cerebral cortex of David Lynch.
Mixing twisted conspiracy theories with wacked-out urban legends and hobo linguistics, UTSL is a hypnotic, hallucinatory, and generally absurd romp through Los Angeles' angst ridden millennial underbelly. Fueled by cigarettes, weed, day old pizza, booze, and an innocent, yet creepy lust for the ladies, our somewhat clueless, yet no less intrepid protagonist finds himself spiraling down a fucked-up rabbit hole, learning that pop music is fixed, rich people can do whatever the fuck they want, and paying rent on time is overrated.
Every time you think you know where the movie is going, it flips a bitch and heads in the opposite direction. Likewise, every time you start to feel that shit is getting lame, BAAAAAM!, shit gets real weird.
This film makes me want to move to L.A.
I also wish I'd seen it on the BIG screen in theaters.
Oh well.
RIYL
Blue Velvet; Body Double; Mulholland Drive; Blow Out; North By Northwest; Rear Window; Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (the BBC teleplay)
A TOWN CALLED PANIC
If you dig animation and are willing to read subtitles, then this film is worth the gamble.
It's teeming with quirky Gallic humor and a ribald sense of absurdism.
Definitely watch the French language version as the voices are way funnier than the dubbed ones.
Zany, off-kilter, and thoroughly engaging.
MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN
Here's another great late night watch (sober or off-tilt).
An early Bradley Cooper vehicle that is a slick, yet harrowing cinematic adaptation of a classic Clive Barker story.
Vinnie Jones, too.
And Leslie Bibb.
Plus Brooke Shields.
Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, it is his first English language film. If you are unfamiliar with Kitamura's work, I highly recommend checking out Versus, as well as Aragami, both are killer arthouse genre fare that twist up both the zombie motif and the demonic motif, respectively.
Great film
I have been posting a lot of genre and low-budget recommendations lately, so I thought it was high time to get classic and existential...
THE SWIMMER
1968
starring Burt Lancaster
This is a film which I first stumbled upon late night on broadcast TV. I recall coming into it more than halfway through and it enthralled me.
I eventually tracked it down years later on VHS/DVD and watched the whole thing.
It's mesmerizing and hallucinatory, but not in a drug induced way, just more in a surreal suburban nightmare kind of way.
I was drawn to it initially because I was a swimmer all through elementary and high school and freshman year in college and grew up with a pool in my back yard.
But the film is much deeper than the pools our protagonist swims his way across.
Still have never read the John Cheever story that it's based on, though.
Lancaster is great as the titular aquaman and the film's subject matter is teeming with social commentary galore.
Sure, it gets a little lurid and a little soap opery at times, but overall it's an interesting endeavor.
It’s been a while since I watched it but I remember liking it. A different kind of movie, for sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by dookey67
Here are a couple of quasi arthouse horror gems, perfect for some late night Friday the 13th perusal:
HAUTE TENSION (aka HIGH TENSION)
This slick, Gallic thriller is gory and a complete headfuck. When it first came out I was a bit disappointed/non-plussed by the ending. But I revisited it again earlier this year and I think it has aged well. Easily the best thing Alexandre Aja has ever done (he started doing pretty mediocre-to-crappy American horror films after this and nothing he's done has ever reached the heights of High Tension, imho).
GINGER SNAPS
This Canadian sleeper is a great "coming of age" horror film in the vein of Carrie and Let The Right One In and Heathers.
CLIMAX
Gaspar Noe's latest endeavor owes no small debt to Dario Argento's Susperia (FWIW, Noe name-checks Susperia and several other films in the opening segment), especially in terms of the use of bright, saturated primary colors (Red, Blue, Green) and an over-the-top, blistering soundtrack (here a hodge-podge of electronica).
Noe is known for his stylistic depravity and here the stylism is rife, but the depravity is rather tame: I was expecting serious ultra-violence and while there are some shock-worthy moments, overall it's pretty mild compared to some of his previous films.
Still, the dance sequences are well choreographed and rendered in a dizzying melee of hyper activity, which, combined with the murky story helps keep you on the edge of your seat, never knowing what is actually gonna go down.
All the Noe trademarks are here: lush cinematography, crude dialogue, and twisted interstitials .
In the end, however, it reminded me a whole lot of Anna Campion's lone feature film Loaded from 1994: a lot of tension is created, but the payoff is rather ho-hum in retrospect. Still, the journey is intriguing enough to keep you glued to the screen.
All in all, if you dig arty French films with a subversive nature and like modern dance, this could be your jam (be warned, though, as it's kinda like an episode of Fame gone terribly awry).
When all is said and done, a mediocre effort from Gaspar Noe is still 100 times more scintillating and whacked-out than most anything else committed to celluloid these days.
Been enjoying the new prime HD music service that launched today.
It's getting to be that time to watch The Blizzard of Ahhhhhs again
FAULTS
4/5
Riley Stearns’ (The Art of Self Defense: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...16#post5729516) debut feature is a dark, creepy, and incredibly unnerving little motel room thriller. The film bursts out the gate introducing our warped and erratic protagonist, who is acerbic, eccentric, and not the least bit likable. An “expert” on cults, he is soon hired to deprogram a couple’s young daughter. Things go off the rails from the moment the woman is “kidnapped” and taken to a motel where she is contained in the hopes of being reunited with her family. The film is played low-key and every character is just a bit off, creating a surreal and disturbing aura. Things move along in a dreamlike state (actually, it’s a bit more like a stifling nightmare) with subtle events unfolding in a deliberate pace, one which keeps you wondering just exactly what the fuck is happening from moment to moment.
RIYL: Sound of My Voice; The Invitation; Martha Marcy May Marlene
Rocketman: mad Mike's mission to proof the flat earth
Fucking hilarious.
GOODNIGHT MOMMY
If you are in the mood for some twisted, mind bending psychological horror with a Central European slant (it's an Austrian film, so it's in German with subtitles), then this is a great little thriller that should keep you on edge, not to mention having your brain spinning trying to figure out what exactly is happening.
It's creepy. It's claustrophobic. It's mental.
RIYL
Suture; It Comes In The Night; The Devil's Backbone; Hereditary
Holy Carp Shit
Who the fuck is responsible for the third season of Goliath??
The second season was weak, but they've tripled down on the third. It's infuriatingly bad.
^^ Jeez. I found season 2 irresistible. Actually spent last night finishing until waaaayyyy too late/early. Loved it.
Going to hit season 3 soon.
Could be me - not a fan of herky jerk, dreamy plots and Dennis Quaid, but I found the dialogue empty the central characters silly.