Rookie numbers! Lowest number of films viewed over the course of a month. Couldn't find the time to cotch and watch like I'm accumstomed to.
Still managed to discover a few gems, regardless: Kinji Fukasaku's Samurai Reincarnation was a sublime chanbara fantasy tale; William Cheung Kei's bonkers Calamity of Snakes is possibly the most extreme creature feature I've ever watched; and Dennis Hopper's steamy, southern noir The Hot Spot was one of those rare films which complimented the recent heatwave.
Film:
Test Tube Babies (W. Merle Connell, 1948)*
The Devil's Sleep ((W. Merle Connell, 1949)*
Plan 9 from Outer Space (Edward D. Wood Jr, 1957)
The Initiation of Sarah (Robert Day, 1978)*
Samurai Reincarnation (Kinji Fukasaku, 1981)*
Calamity of Snakes (William Cheung Kei, 1982)*
The Forest (Don Jones, 1982)*
Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
The Hot Spot (Dennis Hopper, 1990)*
Reality (Tina Satter, 2023)*
Television:
Mr Benn (David McKee, 1971 - 2005)
*First time viewings.
Dada Debaser Notes:
- The Initiation of Sarah is made for TV Carrie rip-off set amongst two rival sororities. Way
too slow and sanitised for my liking, but Shelly Winters as an evil
house mother, along with an admittedly fun occult ritual finale, are
legitimately fun highlights from an otherwise forgettable film.
- Finally watched The Forest and it's nearly as bad as the other backwoods slasher it's often compared with - Don't Go in the Woods (1981.) LOL @ the repair guy fixing the antagonist's fridge after getting caught with the adulterous wife.
- Thanks to Calamity of Snakes' shameless soundtrack robbing, Bill Conti's Runaway is the one positive highlight from my least favourite James Bond film starring Roger Moore.
- Think Reality would have clicked better for me if I cared about American politics like Kermode does. Did appreciate the performaces, however.
8 comments:
Damn, I haven't seen The Hot Spot since it came out. Really liked it at the time. I have zero interest in 'Murican politics and was totally unfamiliar with the IRL story beforehand, but I loved Reality. It was all about the passive aggressive talky-tension for me.
Movies:
Seven Days To Noon
Where Has Poor Mickey Gone?
Every Last One Of Them
Reality
TV:
Tried watching that new Shane Meadows BBC thing, but gave up after 15 minutes because it was just Brummies saying "fuck" and "fucking" every 30 seconds. So instead I rewatched Ulysses 31 from start to finish, and rewatched Round The Twist series 3 for the first time in over 20 years. Every bit as good as series 1 and 2.
Was impressed by The Hot Spot. Old school noir mixed with nineties erotica. Worked like a charm for Dennis Hopper's film. Probably explains why we got Basic Instict.
I ended up watching the entire series of Mr Benn after my Pete Walker post. Didn't even know there was an episode there was one-off new episode produced in 2005.
Don't think I've watched any films by Shane Meadows since he did that film with Nottingham's answer to Vinnie Paz.
His This Is England TV series was progressively wretched.
The Mr. Benn episodes which have stuck in my head even though I haven't seen them since I was a kid are the space one and the pirate one.
The TV show I wanted to watch this month but couldn't was the lost Blackadder pilot episode which UK Gold broadcast. Bastards.
Fave Mr Benn episodes: Red Knight, Spaceman & Frogman. I like how Ray Brooks went on to star in Carry on Abroad and The Flesh and Blood Show the following year after completing them.
Been meaning to revisit Blackadder after that post you made. Can barely remember the first series other than Baldrick being a bit smarter than in the sequels. They’re all on BBC iPlayer! Also searched for Blake’s 7 on there. No luck.
I rewatched some Blake's 7 on Forces TV and it holds up well. R.I.P Jacqueline "Servalan" Pearce.
Don't have Forces TV. Tempted to cop an old set of the complete series, but it's a bit much for a bunch of DVDs.
Only lasting memory was Avon and the controversial ending.
Forces TV died about a year ago. I only discovered it a few months before it ended but it showed classic old Doctor Who, Bkake's 7, UFO etc etc. Not what you'd expect from a TV station for squaddies 😆
I'd rather watch all that lot than any of the current tosh on TV any time.
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