Cinema Review

In response to:Into The Psyche of a Broken Man…revisiting John Landis’ Into The Night

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:08:14 +0200

Hi

In Spain have a cinema factory; look www.parral.info or www.parral.soy.es

In response to:The failures of the British Film Industry since 1945

Thu, 03 May 2007 18:33:43 +0200

They recently changed the tax laws which has made it even worse now for films to get funded in the UK.

In response to:City Of God (2002)

Thu, 03 May 2007 18:32:39 +0200

It's a very good film from a relatively new source (i also recomend Bus 174, another great braziliann film) but i dont see any connection to Pulp Fiction whatsoever.

As for being the best of 2003 or 2004, there are many films i preferred over it (too many to list here at least)

In response to:Documenting the Horror Genre

Thu, 03 May 2007 18:30:12 +0200

There are obvious connections between Black Christmas and Haloween, but the later film is undoubtedly greater. BC set down many of the standard clichés and rules of the new genre, whereas Haloween added new psychological depth to antagonist and protagonist alike. I dont think Carpenter has surpassed Haloween in quality since, although The Thing and the Escape From films may be more worthwhile in terms of raw entertainment.

It would be interetsing to link in Scream to Haloween, as the film that spawned a sort of post-Slasher genre that whilst relying on standard genre clichés also plays with them and the audiences expectations that are based on them.

In response to:The Hills Have Eyes - Representation of the male in the new and original versions

Thu, 03 May 2007 18:25:51 +0200

I've only seen Craven's masterful original. I avoided the new one on account of everyone whose opinion i respected telling me it sucked bigtime.

It's one thing to talk about changes from the original narrative, but it has to be born in mind that the original film was simply a rip-off of Craven's earlier film, Last House On The Left. Craven only made The Hills Have Eyes because after LHOTL he had a guaranteed profitable formula, and as such THHE is very similar in structure and theme to that earlier (and in my opinion better) film.

In response to:Are mainstream movies becoming more violent?

Thu, 03 May 2007 18:22:58 +0200

Maybe mainstream movies are becoming more violent, but movies as a whole are not. The most violent, sickest, depraved stuff is still the 1980s wave of eurotrash/exploiation films coming out of Italy (mainly) and Greece (occasionally) plusa some great ones from Germany (checky out Nekromantik and Schramm for seriously sick)

In response to:Are mainstream movies becoming more violent?

Thu, 03 May 2007 16:21:59 +0200

I quite enjoyed Hostel , despite having to shut my eyes a couple of times - It's well made , suspenseful and shocking , and one can reassure oneself that 'it's only a movie' however I agree entirely that marketing movies as ' the sickest , nastiest , most disturbing yet ' is genuinely disturbing in iteslf -
Obviously there are young males who find such films enticing because sitting through them makes them feel Macho .
If that's a growing trend it's cause for concern , obviously . Should graphic scenes of torture be banned in case a tiny fraction of viewers become motivated to try to act them out in reality ? - If females are the victims in such films is that more worrying than if males are ? - I do'nt know .

In response to:City Of God (2002)

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 22:26:50 +0200

It compares well. It has the hard-edge and ruthless tone of British gangster films such as The Long Good Friday, Get Carter, and more recently Dead Man's Shoes and The Football Factory. It's comparisons to Tarantino's Pulp Fiction are more in City Of God's style than anything else, yet the Brazilian film does investigate familial loyalty and cultural identity like other American Gangster/crime films such as The Godfather and Goodfellas.

I'd highly recommend it.

In response to:City Of God (2002)

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:37:53 +0200

i ordered this film only yesterday from amazon rental on a recommendation of a brazilian friend of mine

how does it compare to other films of its genre?