Last movie you saw.

[Bear 1817]

The Colony - 90 minutes of over-used ideas, cliches and boring characters. There's absolutely nothing of interest here.

 

I Love You Phillip Morris - Still an allright film. Not a masterpiece, but both funny and interesting enough to make me entertained, without ever being hilarious. Probably Jim Carrey's best performance and films post-Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. And while on it, I feel that the very, very good Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is quite underrated and overlooked. Deserves so much more attention than what it has got.

[indigo 389]

The Kingdom Of Dreams And Madness

 

A documentary about Miyazaki Hayao and the making of Studio Ghibli's anime film The Wind Rises. I'm not even a big Ghibli fan but I've always thought that Miyazaki is an interesting person. He's a perfectionist, strict and has a clear vision of what he wants from his films, but he's also very down to earth person with wonderful sense of humor, not caring about fame and fortune. It was great to hear his thoughts. The documentary also touches briefly the WWII and Fukushima nuclear disaster.

[Original Saku 1593]

Just got back from seeing Guardians of the Galaxy in IMAX 3D and damn that was fucking amazing. The movie is really good but what really blew me away was the IMAX experience, I haven't been to IMAX in years and I have to say that they've really came a long way since the last movie i saw there, almost 6 years ago. I don't think I will ever be able to see a movie regularly again after that....

[JukaForever 758]

Saw Guardians of the Galaxy a while ago as well, now i'm pumped for the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy collab to beat probably...Thanos. I just finished watching, a couple months back, the anime series but they were taking down Galactua in that one. I would love for it to translate to the big screen.

[togz 2004]

Lucy.
While I found it interesting i think it's marketing choices and advertisements were a little misleading as a lot of action movie lovers showed up and were disappointed. I mean it has some cool action stuff in it... but they're a lot more to it than just.... you know bad ass stuff.

[Bear 1817]

Haunt - I watched about 30 minutes ofthis horror film before I started thinking about suicide. What an awful film! I ended it (my girl still watched it, but I couldn't.) and turned on some music. It's a pice of shit film!

Charley Varrick - This is a fantastic heist film with Walter Matthau, who does so fucking good here. Great film and a must-watch for anyone into heist film.

 

Dogtown and Z-Boys - Fantastic documentary about how team Zephyr, a bunh of surfers, revolutionized skateboarding in the 70's. You get newer interviews with Zephyr members, people like Henry Rollins, Tony Hawk and Glen E. Friedman and both videos and pictures from the 70's. This is topped off by a fantastic soundtrack!

 

Cottage Country - Poor, poor film. A horrorcomedy that just tries way too hard to be funny, and Lucy Punch is so fucking annoying throughout the whole film. Kudos for amazing special effects, though. Shame there isn't more blood and gore here.

 

Zatoichi the Outlaw - The 16th fil about Zatoichi, and in general just more of the same. It's predictable. You know where it'll go, what'll happen and so on, but it's so well-done and so exciting. Shintaro Katsu is amazing as always. It's an uneven film, and not among the best in the series, but still worthy of your time. Some of the humor feels a bit out of place, and it lacks a great badguy, but what it doesn't lack is violence, blood and a Grindhouse-feel. It actually feels like an early grindhouse film at points because of the violence and blood, and that is positive. I loved that! Great film despite its faults.

 

Murk - Decent danish psychological thriller/horror. Not a masterpiece, but decent entertainment. Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Nicolas Bro are both very good here.

 

Kandidaten - Another danish thriller with Nikolaj Lie Kaas. Again not a masterpiece, but entertaining.

 

Wallander: Innan frosten - The first film/episode in the Wallander series from 2005. A bit predictable, but very good.

 

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - Awful remake of a cultfilm from the 70's, which I don't know if I have seen. But this was awful. No atmosphere, boring acting and Bailee Madison is so fucking annoying.

 

Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 - There's nothing left to be said about this film. It's a masteriece! A huge homage to Hong Kong martial arts-cinema and Japanese chambara, as well as other genres and films. Vol. 1 feels like a homage to Japanese cinema (and it obviously is), while Vol. 2 feels like a homage to Hong Kong martial arts-cinema. You just gotta love that!

 

THe cast is great. Uma Thurman is perfect as the Bride, and the rest are well too. But I notice Sonny Chiba (The Street Fighter) as Hattori Hanzo, Chia-Hui Liu/Gordon Liu (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin) as Johnny Mo and Pai Mei, David Carradine (Kung Fu) as Bill and Chiaki Kuriyama (Battle Royale) as Gogo Yubari really well. They all stand out here. Fantastic!

 

The silhuett-scenes ae beautiful, the massive amount of blood is even more beautiful and the soundtrack is great. 4 hours of badassnes!

 

Death Proof - I can, to some degree, understand why people don't like this too much, but I feel as if it is a bit underrated and I just fucking love the film. It feels like I am watching a mid 70's, slow-burning exploitation flick. Kurt Russell is amazing and does his best role sine Big Trouble in Little China where he was perfect, and that's impressive. All the girls aren't top notch, but as this feels like an exploitation flick I don't mind that.

 

Also, Jack Burton's tank top is hanging on the wall in the bart. Jack Burton is the main character is Big Trouble in Little China and was played by Kurt Russell, and that is fucking awesome.

 

And don't miss all the awesome film posters in the taco bar. Awesome!

 

Kelly's Heroes - Great, and perhaps a bit overlooked, WWII war comedy heist film. Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O'Connor and Donald Sutherland. Great film!

 

Monster House - Decent animated horror film that comes off as weaker than what it could've been because of the boring animation and lack of charm in the visual style. But the story and characters are great. Shame about the animation and visuals.

 

Danny the Dog - Still a great film! Jet Li haven't done as well in america as in China, and he comes off as a poor actor with great martial arts skills for most part. But in this film he actually gets to use his acting skills as well, and he does nicely. His best american film besides The Expendables films and Leathal Weapon 4. Crazy choreography, badass soundtrack by Massive Attack and lots of violence. Great film!

 

Hang 'em High - Clint Eastwood, western, 1968. That's all you need to know. Great film!

 

My Wife is a Gangster - This is a cool, charming and sweet romantic action comedy, but it's too long. Cut 20-25 minutes and you're left with a great film, but because of the lenght it's only decent. Eun-Kyung Shin is great!

 

Not seen the sequels, but I guess I should do something with that soon.

 

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - Decent, but somewhat disappointing sequel. I like that they've gone further out and added to the madness of the first, but it just lacks the humour of the first. Hank Azaria is hilarious and Amy Adams is so charming and cute.

 

Sunshine - Great sci-fi-horror with a lacking third. I don't mind it, but it could've been done better. But it's a great film, and the special effects are superb. Some of the best CGI ever, despite being 7 years old. Great film!

 

Fear Is the Key - Cool 70's thriller. The fist half of the film is amazing, but it looses some of its punch in the second half. But it's still enjoyable and worth watching because of the first half alone. Badass!

 

Flash Gordon (1936) - Great serial in 13 episodes and 245 minutes long. Crazy serial with great special effects, over the top dialogue, rubber dragons, shark men, hawk men, sea monsters and a mad professor. Oh, and Charles Middleton doesn't just act as Ming the Merciless, he IS Ming the Merciless. What a performance!

Big Trouble in Little China - When I moved in with my girl I went from watching this at least 4 times a month to not watching it. Less time to watch films means I have to choose a bit more carefully. So this was a rewatch I appreciated. Still the best film ever made! Just to make you realize how good this film is:

 

If you choose to call it:

1) an action film it is still the best film ever, even better than Die Hard.

2) an adventure film it is still the best film ever, even better than Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

3) a comedy film it is still the best film ever, even better than Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb & Dumber.

4) a kung fu film it is still the best film ever, even better than The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.

 

That's how good this film is. Fucking hell, man!

 

John Carpenter is one of the best directors ever, and Kurt Russell in his prime one of the best actors ever, and together they were DY-NA-MITE! Escape from New York, The Thing, Elvis and the best film ever, Big Trouble in Little China. God fucking damn! Golden!

[Bear 1817]

Drive Angy - Christ allmighty, what an abomination of a film this was. Everything sucks, and the CGI are just aweful. So.Fucking.Bad. Not even the beautiful and usually very good Amber Heard (whom I became a huge fan of after seeing the semi-masterpiece All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) manage to do anything productive here besides being mad sexy. Craaaaaaaap!

[Flame-X 441]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

I went in with no expectations, then came out fairly entertained. The best part about this movie is how everyone was in character. Some action scenes were great but others were disorientating with the close up camera shots and the constant background motion shots. I didn't care for the plot cuz whatever. Megan Fox still doesn't get a spec of dirt on her after all the action. Above average movie at best. 6/10

[Bear 1817]

The Town That Dreaded Sundown - Let me just start off by saying that this film has one of the absolute coolest posters ever. 10/10!

 

Anyway, fantastic, early slasher from 1976 by Charles Pierce, the same man who made The Evictors which I wrote about a few pages ago. This is a superior film, though. The narrative, Vern Stierman, actually heps this film a lot and just makes it creepier and more effective, even though you know that the film is only loosely based on the actual Phantom Killer-story. Very loosely I'd dare to say. But still, it just helps so god damn much. It's also good to see that this is even better now than when I first saw it 7-8 years ago.

 

 

The poster alone should be enough to make you wanna watch this masterpiece:

 

 

This film is actually getting a meta-remake scheduled for release in 2014, and they've tried to keep it low budget to held onto some of the cinema verite, something which I am very positive about. It'll probably disappoint, but actually looking forward to a remake of a classic piece of slasher film like this feels very weird. But yeah, can't wait!

[Jigsaw9 6783]

22 Jump Street - Didn't have many expectations, cuz even though the first movie was decent, we all know how typical bromance comedy sequels are. Well, seems like I was proven wrong cuz this movie was pretty much kickass all the way. Okayish action scenes, fun/dumb atmosphere that pokes fun at the story being essentially the same again, and of course lots of laugh-out-loud moments (haven't heard so much laughter at the cinema for a long time, and this was a press screening even! lol). I totally recommend watching it if you enjoyed - or even just "somewhat liked" - the first one.

[Bear 1817]

My girlfriend went away to her parents yesterday and I decied it was about time I watched some Japanese exploitation flicks from the 70's. I've rewatched a shitload of films, and I am gonna watch some I've never seen before. Japan made a massive amount of great exploitation flicks in the 70's.

 

Lady Snowblood - One of my all time favourite films. A good story, lots of violence and blood, Meiko Kaji (which is one of my personal favourites), lovely cinematography and one of the best theme songs ever in form of Shura No Hana/The Flower of Carnage. There's just not much to say about this film except for the fact that it is one of the best films ever. Not many films are better. This film i perfect. Simple as that.

 

Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance - A bit more complex, different and less violent and bloody film than the first one, but still a fantastic film and it never feels like anything but a Lady Snowblood film. Meiko Kaji is as good an actor as she is beautiful, and once again the cinematography is beautiful.

 

When watching these two films it's so easy to see where Tarantino got his main inspiration for Kill Bill. Yes, he's influenced by a lot of different genres and films, and he's not afraid to show it, but these are the main inspiration for sure. And I can't understand why there ain't more Kill Bill fans checking out these two films. They serve as a massive inspiration to Tarantino and they are way bette than Kill Bill. Superb!

 

The Streetfighter - A very over the top and extreme martial arts film with Sonny Chiba in the leading role. Lots of violence and blood, and Sonny Chiba is awesome. He was actually told that his character should be some kind of an evil Bruce Lee, so there's some Bruce Lee imitation in this film as well. Too cheesy for some, but I fucing love it. He execute it so well.

 

Return of the Street Fighter - A bit weaker than the first, but mainly because of the flashback scenes and a bit less engaging plot, but it's still a fantastic film. Should be impossible to not enjoy this film if you're a fan of bloody and violent martial arts flicks and Sonny Chiba.

 

The Streetfighter's Last Revenge - Cool, but a very disappointing film. Sonny Chiba is as cool as ever, but the story is weaker, the violence is weak and the amountof blood isdisappointing. It feels like a different film from the first two, and there's just something Mission: Impossible over the whole thing with his masks, hidden rooms and god knows what. But Sonny Chiba and the always fantastic Reiko Ike saves the film.

 

Blind Woman's Curse - Fantastic film by Teruo "The King of Cult" Ishii with Meiko Kaji in the lead role. It's a very unique mix of periode-yakuza action and semi-surrealistic horror. It's just a very weird and unique film. Superb stuff!

 

 

 

I'd seen all of these except for The Streetfighter's Last Revenge, and I will continue with some I've never seen before after the football ends tonight. Looking forward to it!

[RoseOfHizaki 131]

Guardians Of The Galaxy

[Tokage 5930]

Dance of Reality - Visually powerful and extremely interesting. Most likely Jodorowsky's most linear narrative, but it still manages to be captivating. Apparently the movie contains autobiographical elements... I'd like to know exactly which parts were supposed to be autobiographical because some parts of the movie were fucked up, heh. Some aspects of the movie reminded me of Shuuji Terayama's Den-en Ni Shisu. 

 

The Perfect Host - Entertaining little thriller about a bank robber on the run who ends up hiding out in the wrong house. Fell apart completely at the end for me, though. Still, worth watching if only to kill time.

 

Insidious 2 - I kinda liked the first part because it managed to startle and unnerve me at several points despite the many, many parts which fell flat for one reason or another. This part... I don't know. Not enough spoopy ghosts, I guess. It didn't really fill me with any sense of dread. I'd watch a spinoff movie focusing on those ghost hunter dudes though, they're very entertaining. 

 

The Fantastic Mr. Fox - Hell yea....... Stop motion movie based on a Roald Dahl story. Probably one of the best family-friendly films I've seen. Didn't feel like it was too childish. In fact, I could see younger viewers hating it instead for being somewhat 'different' from the traditional "funny talking animal" movies that have been released in recent years. 

[Bear 1817]

I really liked Insidious 2. It wasn't as good as the first one, but I thought it was great anyway. I am really looking forward to Insidious 3.

 

School of the Holy Beast - A blasphemic, 70's Japanese nunsploitation film that does really well in showcasing one side of the pinky violence "genre". It's sexy, sleazy and a bit violent. The plot is straight forward and unoriginal enough, but Yumi Takigawa is damn good in the lead and the cinematogaphy is out of this word and the films strongest point. It's an absolute leasure to the eye through and through. Magnificent visuals.

 

Sister Street Fighter - The Streetfighter proved to be a huge success so what's better than giving it a spin-off with a female in the lead? I don't know, because this is great. Not quite as good as Return of the Street Fighter (the second best films in the Streetfighter trilogy), but not far behind either. Etsuko Shihomi is badass and does a great job, and Sonny Chiba has a small role here as well. He plays a different character, though. But Sonny Chiba is Sonny Chiba, and Sonny Chiba is always fantastic. Anyway, great films and if you like martial arts exploitation you'll like this. 85 minutes of non-stop karate-o-rama.

 

Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread - The second film in the trilogy of the female Street Fighter, and it' even better than the first. It's more or less the same, just with better badguys and more violence and blood, and that's enough for me. 85 minutes of non-stop karate-o-rama.

 

The Razor: Sword of Justice - Shintaro Katsu, best known for his role as Zatoichi in the 26 films and 100 epiodes long series abotu Zatoich, stars in this film about Hanzo, based on the manga by Kazuo Koike, best known for Lone Wolf & Cub (which was made into a six film long series with Tomisaburo Wakayama, Shintaro Katsu's brother, in the lead). Hanzo is a detective in the edo-period in Japan that's as well known for his loveshaft and torture tactics, as for his swordplay and martial arts skills. Violent, bloody and at times hilarious film with lots of stylish cinematography and visual play. Fantastic film, but the weakest in the trilogy.

 

Hanzo the Razor: The Snare - This is more or less just more of the same, but everything is executed in a better way than the first one.The plot is better, the violence and bloodshed is better, the characters are better and the cinematography is on a whole other level. Oh, and it's a lot more sleazy than the first. Fantastic film and the best of the three.

 

Hanzo the Razor: Who's Got the Gold? - Again, more of the same basically. It's straighter and easier to follow than the first, and less stylish, dramatic and bloody than the second. A notch better than Sword of Justice and two notches worse than The Snare. A fantastic film!

 

[Bear 1817]

Zatoichi Challenged - The 17th film in the series, and an excellent film. Not as exploitation-like as the previous film, but it's a lot better. I'd wish for a bit more blood, but it's a fantastic film.

 

Encounters of the Spooky Kind - This is probably the first jiangshi-film ever, and it's a fantastic one. Sammo Hung both directed and stars this film, and he executes both with brilliance. The horror elements aren't as prominent as in Mr. Vampire and many other jiangshi-films, but they are there. The film is unbelieveably funny film, and the martial arts scenes are amazing.

 

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Not the comedic duo's best horror-comedies, but a good one nonetheless. Lou Costello is hilarious as always, and Boris Karloff (Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde) are fan-fuckin-tastic... as always!

 

The Strange World of Coffin Joe - Anthology film consisting of three short films.

 

The Dollmaker is a very ordinary, straight forward and predictable film with no surprised or annything whatsoever. Spends way too much time on the rape-scenes. But it was OK.

 

Obsession is less predictable and a weird one. Semi-surrealistic weirdness that lacks in some departments, but it's mroe than OK. Enjoyed it quite a lot for its weirdness.

 

Theoryis the third and last film, and the only one to include Coffin Joe himself. It's a very typical Coffin Joe film and by far the best one here. A bit weird, fucked up and comical, but great fun.

 

The Nail Gun Massacre - This is a eally cheap so-bad-it's-good-slasher from the 80's. There's nothing about this film that's actually good,but it's a hilarious film. A fantastic piece of so-bad-it's-good-cinema.

 

Jurassic Park - Since this came in 1993 there's not been a single blockbuster that comes close to it. It's almost perfect, and it just gets better and better and better the older it gets. The mix of practica special effects and CGI are just perfect here. THIS is how you use CGI. Despite being ove 20 years old, it still has the best CGI ever. That is impressive. CGI is fantastic when used properly, but sadly it rarely is used properly, just like drum triggers, auto-tune, photoshop and so on. It's most often overused. Sad but true.

 

Beethoven - I don't get the hate for this one. It's a sweet, at times funny and very cute family film. Nothing more, nothing less. And the dog is fantastic!

 

Little Miss Sunshine - Fantastic film, and one of the best and funniest road-films ever. Great cast where Alan Arkin and Steve Carell stands out the most.  Laughed from the begining to the end.

[Bear 1817]

Bringing Godzilla Down to Size: The Art of Japanese Special Effects - Great documentary about lots of Godzilla. Mostly about the special effects (Godzilla, the sets and so on) and it's great. Good interviews and lots of fun. Well-woth a watch.

 

Tsutomu Kitagawa (1999-2004), Haruo Nakajima (1954-1972) og Kenpachiro Satsuma (1984-1995), the three who have had the honor of playing Godzilla throughout the times, as well as other monsters.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Some stuff I watched recently:

 

Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo: A decent/not bad adaptation of the non-fiction book of the same title. Obviously the written original is far superior, with nuances and details they just couldn't cram into the 2-hour runtime of the movie. Also, I thought the film made sudden jumps too often and didn't really give enough time for the viewer to "settle in" the feel of the events (which, in turn, seem like they happen to rapidly). Anyway, it's okay for what it is, and the appearance and non-stop soundtrack of David Bowie is a plus, heh.

 

Howl: A fantastic and pretty compact movie dealing with the creation, subject matter and courtroom trail of Allen Ginsberg's famous poem. The artist is played wonderfully by James Franco here, he gives a really authentic performance. I especially liked how the whole poem is recited in its entirety throughout the whole movie, and illustrated with some pretty trippy / beautiful / scary animated imagery. It's also a nice insight into how the public felt about such things at that time, especially the people giving their opinion in the court.

 

Guardians of the Galaxy: An all around cool flick. Fun, action-packed, light and doesn't want to appear more than it should be. The story is pretty straightforward as expected, and wrapped up in a gallery of wonderful visuals and funny one-liners / dialogues. The "retro music" soundtrack is a good touch too. Good fun.

[Tokage 5930]

American Psycho - Enjoyed the novel, enjoyed the movie. The novel felt a whole lot more gruesome than the movie, but the movie's atmosphere of dark comedy bordering almost on the surreal definitely made up for it.

[Bear 1817]

Hitchcock - A fantastic biographical drama about the man himself, Alfred Hitchcock, and the making of Psycho. How true thi is to what happened, and how Hithcock was, I do not know, but it's a geat film because of the film itself, no matter if it is historical correct or not. It just feels very real. Anthony Hopkins is superb as Hitchcock, but Helen Mirren is what drives this movie. Faaaaantastic performance. The lobby scene is hilarious. It's just... god damn! What a scene.

[Original Saku 1593]

Hitchcock - A fantastic biographical drama about the man himself, Alfred Hitchcock, and the making of Psycho. How true thi is to what happened, and how Hithcock was, I do not know, but it's a geat film because of the film itself, no matter if it is historical correct or not. It just feels very real. Anthony Hopkins is superb as Hitchcock, but Helen Mirren is what drives this movie. Faaaaantastic performance. The lobby scene is hilarious. It's just... god damn! What a scene.

you know I was going to watch this last Halloween when I was doing my psycho marathon but never got to it... I think I'll try to do it this year

[Bear 1817]

You should, because it was a great film. I'm gonna watch The Girl one of these days as well. It's a very different film as it portrays Hitchcock as less sympathic and funny than what Hitchcock did. It hould be interesting, but I doubt it'll be as good and interesting as Hitchcock, much due to Hitchcock's ability to spellbound the viewer with it's witty, feel-good charm. But it should be good.

[Vitne Eveille 65]

I started watching Rambo First Blood the other day but had to stop to do something with the fam.  I had actually never seen the first one, just the fourth one, hahah.  I need to finish it!

[Bear 1817]

Punk in Africa - This is a documentary about punk in South-Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and it starts in the begining with the bands that came in the 70's and all the way to today. The first half, which is about the 70's and 80's punk movement in South-Africa, are fantastic, but after that it focus more on what happened in Mozambique and Zimbabwe in the 90's and up till today, and it's mostly about ska. I'm not that into ska so I didn't really enjoy the second half too much, but it was decent enough. But the first half is good enough to make up for it.

 

Sister Street Fighter: Return of the Sister Street Fighter - The third and last film in the official Sister Street Fighter trilogy, and it's more of the same. It's ten minutes shorter than the previous two and contains even more fighting, which is insane. It's almost too much to be honest. But they balance it just good enough to not make it annoying. The bad guy is like a main villain that came straight from a James Bond film, and ever now and then it pops up a scene that gives you this Sergio Leone-feeling, which is a nice thing, and I just think that it must've been meant as a tribute to the guy. Cool film!

 

Blue Is the Warmest Colour - Fantastic romantic drama that contains fantastic acting, a great plot and a very elegant, and at times quite shocking diretion, mostly because of how the sex scenes are showed. The whole thing gave away this Wong Kar-wai-feeling, and I liked that a lot. Adèle Exarchopoulos are more or less perfect here. Fantastic!

[Original Saku 1593]

I saw a advanced screening of As above, So Below Thursday night and it was okay, not as bad as I though it was gonna be and for a hand-cam movie it was actually not the worst I've seen. But hey it was free so beggars can't be choosers xD

[Bear 1817]

I suddenly got this urge to watch the Roger Corman/Poe films on day and decided to watch al of them in the order they were made and released, because I haven't seen all of them.

 

Let me just start off by saying that Roger Corman is one of the most underrated directors of all time. Yes, he's been involved in a lot of lesser good films both as a director and producer, but every now and then he showcased his actual talent pretty well, and it is those films people firstly should remember him from, not just as the king of shits and giggles b-films and all that. He used to make low budget films in black and white and sent them back-on-back at cinemas and earned a lot of money from doing so, but there was more to him than just that and this was proved when the market for cheap sci-fi and horror films went down in the late 50's. Many of the Poe adations, X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes, A Bucket of Blood, Little Shop of Horrors, The Intruder and The Wild Angels are soemof the films that shows him from his best side as a director, and he also produced classics such as Piranha, Death Race 2000 and The Slumber Party Massacre. So he had an eye for things.

 

The guy loved money, but he also loved cinema, and in a time when it was hard for newcomers to get a chance in Hollywood, he gave a lot of newcomers a chance both behind the camera and on the screen. And who knows where Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante, James Cameron,  Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Robert De Niro. David Carradine and many more would've ende dup if it wasn't for Roger Corman? The man knew talent when he saw it, and he gave youngsters a fair chance in Hollywood.

 

 

Roger's completely unique. One can never expect anyone else to be doing what Roger's doing. Roger's a genius, like the archvillains in the Superman and Batman comic-books. He's a genius who's got his own thing, he's got like a criminal mind. Roger has a very special mind. He's not the regular thing, he's not like a philosopher or a businessman, or any of those things, he's a mad scientist!

-David Carradine

 

 

 

Touching stuff.

 

 

Now, onto some of his movies:

 

House of Usher - Corman's first Poe-adaption ain't his best, but it's a fantastic gothic horror film which showcases some of his skills as a director. The sets are beautiful, the costumes looks great, it's very stylish with strong colours and Corman chooses some very surprising and weird angles for his shots, that just adds so much to this film. There's four ators in the film whom are all fantastic, but Vincent Price are the star here. Theatrical, dramatic and very over the top, but it suits a Poe-adaption very well. Lovely atmosphere throughout the whole film.

 

Pit and the Pendulum - This one is even more stylish, dramatic, theatrical, over the top and better than House of Usher. Vincent Price are even more theatrical, dramatic and very over the top, but it doesn't take anything away from the atmosphere or anything. It just adds a lot of quality to al of it. His performance here are probably one of those love/hat kind of performances, but I love it. Barbara Steele and Luana Anders are fantastic here as well.

 

Premature Burial - Corman decided to make this film outside of American International Pictures, and as Vincent Price had an ongoing contract with AIP he couldn't get him to do this film. Ray Milland steps inand does great, but he's no Vincent Price. The only reason this ain't as good as House of Usher and Pit and the Pendulum is because of that, because everything else are top notch. But it's a great film!

 

Tales of Terror - Corman was getting a bit tired of the horror, so with this anthology film he went in a more comedic direction. Still horror, but with lots of comedy thrown in, and it it works really well. Vincent Price is back and plays a huge role in all three of the shorts, other actors includes Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone. The Black Cat are mmy favourite. Price and Lorre both shiens here, and they're both hilarious and they hel eachother out. Lovely chemesty between them. This is an underrated gem.

 

The Raven - Corman was really tired of horror at this point and went in a more comedic fantasy direction, and he doesn't hit too good with it. This is a pretty bad film, and if it wasn't for Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and a very young Jack Nicholson this would've been a disaster. But these four actors makes it enjoyable enough.

 

Roger Corman: Hollywood's Wild Angel - A short documentary on Roger Corman from 1978. It's allright and has interviews with a lot of eole who Corman helped out early in their careers.