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Post by loverofbeers on Feb 2, 2014 1:29:23 GMT -5
Okay, the theme for the month is British related flicks and documentaries.
One point for non-horror British made or British themed movies or documentaries.
Two points for Horror themed British movies or documentaries.
The rules: Honor system at play and films/documentaries must take place or have been filmed in England. All Hammer films wherever they may have been filmed as well as Amicus films count. And British Lion films too.
Bring it my friend. Bring it. An aged rum (ron in espanol) Cheers! (Salud!) to ya.
And "S" stood for Sci-Fi related films and Sci-Fi Horror.
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Post by loverofbeers on Feb 4, 2014 0:05:28 GMT -5
Get ready for my streak, Jake. A Buffalo Trace Bourbon Cheers! to you my friend.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Feb 5, 2014 20:58:31 GMT -5
Bring it LOB, I plan to reignite my streak! Also great idea for this month's theme some of my favorite movies have been British (whether horror or non-horror).
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Post by loverofbeers on Feb 7, 2014 0:10:09 GMT -5
Okay, first of all, I have to get a new copy of a movie I have owned and loved for a decade. Like Nosferatu, my copy/version is now outdated and that makes both myself and Christopher Lee happy, as it should be. My first film was The Blood Beast Terror (1968). It stars Peter Cushing and is a beautifully acted and filmed horror film with a preposterous plot. A scientist creates a Were-moth (?), his daughter, who transforms from a beautiful young lady into a vampiric Death's Head moth at will who kills young men to drink their blood. Elements here from Dr. Frankenstein, Dracula, and Mothra. Once again, greatness abounds here with a ludicrous plot set in Victorian England. Next up is the new and nearly complete and perfect version of The Wicker Man (1975), directed by Robin Hardy and starring Christopher Lee and Edward Howard. From Wikipedia: "Robin Hardy reported in July 2013 that Studiocanal intended to restore and release the most complete version possible of the film. Rialto Pictures announced that they were to release the new digital restoration in U.S. cinemas on 27 September 2013. This new version was also released on DVD on 13 October 2013. It is 91 minutes long, shorter than the director's cut but longer than the theatrical cut, and is known as The Wicker Man: The Final Cut". I noticed only one cut from the longer version that I own, but I also easily noticed all the new additions that looked gorgeous. This movie has been called the "Citizen Kane" of Horror films. I agree. All Horror fans must watch this movie, and an Avion Espresso Tequila Liqueur Cheers! to Christopher Lee who worked on this film for free and has spent all the years since pushing for the discovery of the missing footage that has now been restored. The two MVPs for me this month will be Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee who among being Horror royalty both also starred decades apart in the franchise that I have loved for a lifetime from the late seventies to the double aughts and to years in our future, Star Wars. So an Avion Espresso Cheers! to both gentlemen. Long may Sir Christopher walk our Earth and May the Force be with him. Cheers, Salud, Prost, Banzai, and LeChaim! Next up for me is another British Horror film that is considered by some as also the "Citizen Kane" of Horror. My first viewing is about to start. I am kinda sorta dating a chic/broad/skirt/sucubus for the first time in years. I honestly like being single. I introduced her to The Wicker Man last night. Well, she and I are not going to work out. She besmirched what I love. One or two more chances for her this month: Dog Soldiers and An American Werewolf in London. If she shits on these movies too, well, I'll be happily single next month. And to that a hearty fuckin' Cheers! of caffienated alcohol goodness! LOB-4
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Post by loverofbeers on Feb 7, 2014 0:29:47 GMT -5
EDIT: Seventies, not nineties. I have been a Star Wars Kid from 1977 until now regardless of Mr. Lucas's lack of vision.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Feb 8, 2014 17:35:23 GMT -5
Spoilers below:
First I watched Terence Fisher's 1968 horror (and Hammer) film The Devil Rides out starring Christopher Lee. It was adapted from Dennis Wheatley's 1934 novel of the same name and the screenplay was done by horror great Richard Matheson. It's about a pair of friends who find out that their younger friend has joined a worrying astronomical group and takes off from there. The acting ranged from awful-good ,but was generally good amongst the main cast while the extras tended to be awful or bad. The cinematography was good-great. The acts of violence were laughably awful: strikes that don't come close to looking like they connect, bad sound effects to go along with bad strikes, and at one point this halfhearted backhand/reverse forearm that made me laugh. The soundtrack ran the gamut from awful-good. There were parts of it that were awful (there's' this type of mediocre music used in a lot of horror movies through the 60's-70's that I don't really know how to describe and the film is also awful about being incredibly overdramatic with a blaring score when almost nothing is happening),but on the other hands I liked parts of the more traditional horror music and liked the tribal drumming song. The gore was ok. The summoned spirits looked bad as well ,but that first one was particularly awful (although quite funny) it's just a black man without a shirt on staring with a blank look on his face and then slowly smiling ,but it's meant to be terrifying. Like pretty much any movie he's in Christopher Lee has a good presence about him because of the way he carries himself. I thought this movie had some good ideas that weren't executed well. Three in particular spring to mind: I liked how during the first sacrifice scene of the film the congregation isn't raving mad ,but instead think they've seen something beautiful; I liked the idea of occultists knowing that you're physically protected due to magic so they attempt to lure you out by messing with your head; and I liked the idea that the cult leader is always surrounded by guards and does his dirty work through possession instead so that he's essentially untouchable. Now I've used the word awful a lot ,but I don't want to be mistakenly taken as being completely negative about this film. It isn't boring, managed to keep my attention, and had me laughing a few times (though it was probably unintentional. It isn't an awful or even bad film, the best way I could sum it up is as being on the better side of ok. Then I watched Freddie Francis's (who also directed three other Amicus anthologies I've enjoyed during our competitions: Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, Tales from the Crypt, and Tales That Witness Madness)1970 horror film Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny, and Girly. It stars Michael Bryant, Ursula Howells, Vanessa Howard, Howard Trevor, and Pat Heywood. It's about a happy family living in the English countryside who enjoy playing games. The acting, cinematography, soundtrack, acts of violence, and dialogue are all great. The soundtrack is a combination of rock and jazz that is often accompanied with a more traditional horror score which sound like nursery rhymes. All the actors do a fine job, but Vanessa Howard (Girly) in particular did a great job, she just has this presence and way about her, there's a duplicity to almost everything she does. The dialogue is similar in it's duplicity, often times nursery rhymes are said in an ironic way that make's them sexual or threatening. On top of all that the movie manages to be quite funny and so apolitically correct. It's one of those movies where you know right away something is wrong ,but are trying to figure out all the different ways and just how wrong it is. It really shows insanity. This is a great horror movie and a high recommend. Now for some story time concerning both me and this movie. A few months ago I was looking for a film to watch during one of our competitions and I stumbled upon a website that had a picture of Girly and a short description saying how it was an incredibly underrated and unknown British horror film from the 70's I was immediately intrigued ,but was unable to find it until this month under it's original title. See the movie was a sort of dream project for the director and was originally a play called Happy Family that he saw with Brian Comfort, the writer of this film. They both thought it was terrible ,but that it had potential as the base for a future project. At the same time Francis had wanted to film a movie that took full advantage of a location he thought would be great for a movie, Oakley Court. They merged the two ideas into one with Comfort writing a novella that was used as a screenplay for the film. Well the film did terribly in England both critically and financially, being used as a prime example by both the media and politicians who thought films were becoming too sexual (specifically an early scene in this film that tells you something isn't right). However, in America it was retitled Girly and did surprisingly well for itself. Vanessa Howard who was unaware of its reputation in America, was so dismayed that she quit acting just two years later having only acted for a short 8 years and wasn't aware that the film and her efforts had been so appreciated until years later. That's sad and unfortunately a lot of actors and directors used to make films and have no idea how adored they were. At least the advent of the Internet has sort of fixed that. After that I watched Luis Prieto's 2012 British film and remake of the same named 1996 Danish film Pusher starring Richard Koyle, Bronson Webb, Agyness Deyn, and Zlatko Burić reprising his role as Milo. Just like the original it is about a drug dealer who finds himself in over his head and heavily in debt to a crime lord through no fault of his own. The acting, cinematography, dialogue, gore, acts of violence, and soundtrack were all great. Despite the thing being realistic (what is often described as gritty) this film looks incredibly polished and sleek, but it all makes sense and isn't to the point of ridiculousness. The soundtrack is techno, with some being mixed in with a little rock. It does what a good remake should do being close enough to the original that you can see their relation, yet being different enough that it is something new and not a complete shot for shot remake, and as such messes with your expectations while somewhat updating the film. The 4th Pusher film that I've seen and another great one. Finally I watched Bill Bain's 1972 horror (and Amicus) film What Became of Jack and Jill? starring Paul Nicholas, Mona Washbourne, and Vanessa Howard (again yay, although sadly this was her last film due to the aforementioned reasons). It was based on Laurence Moody's novel The Ruthless Ones and is about the aforementioned couple trying to hasten Jack's grandmothers death so they can get her fortune. The cinematography was good ,but I thought it was great during each of the titular characters respective fantasy sequences (hot times and fast muscle cars for Jack and romantic and elegant escapades for Jill). It should be noted that this is one of the only amicus films that hasn't had a proper restoration or DVD release and as a result the version I watched was heavily worn (most likely an incredibly used VHS copy). The soundtrack was great, almost nothing ,but 70's rock (most of it hard rock). The gore was bad/ok and the acting was good. On top of this the movie managed to be funny (some intentional and others more due to how 70's the movie is). It starts out as a money plot ,but then spirals into a degradation of a relationship and the resulting rage. One of the main themes was generation warfare/differences and how the antagonists of the film used an older generations fears against them. It also made a point of saying you should find a happy medium if you're too careful you can lose your chance and if you're too brash you can befall harm as well. Overall a surprisingly good (though the climax feels somewhat rushed)film.
JAS-7
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Post by loverofbeers on Feb 19, 2014 8:08:13 GMT -5
Six more points to report soon, I've been busy with workin'.
LOB-10
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Post by loverofbeers on Feb 27, 2014 2:22:30 GMT -5
So I am still experimenting with my stamina to work too much, but I like what I do.* So I think I have worked all but nine days in the last thirteen or so weeks. I am going to flesh out this entry in a few days, I promise. By the way, Monday was one of the best days of my entire life.... Thanks to working an unlikely shift... I will get back to this.... But it involves an infamous man, my farting like a good man would, and my utter enjoyment out of being wrong but right. In the meantime, I have watched a fraction of what I wanted to watch. Just so you know JAS, these competitions have happily become a monthly priority to me, win, lose, or draw. I love this weird thing that these competitions have become. I look forward to more. Oh yeah, I'm plotting my hand at Horror film making. Want in? So to catch up, I had watched the following: An American Werewolf in London Dog Soldiers Scream and Scream Again LOB-10 More recently I watched: 28 Days Later And I watched Night of the Demon/Curse of the Demon. This was one of the best Horror films of my life. A huge recommend. This movie is a combination of Film Noir, German Impressionism, and Black and White magic. I drank two beers during this movie. The first was a Jenlain, a demonic French Farm/Country Ale that I was aging for a special occasion for about seven years (Vintage 2006?). Second I drank and am drinking a Real Ale "Brewers's Cut" Blonde Barleywine, expressly brewed in commemoration of the tenth anniversary brewing of a brewpub that I loved 1000th brew (their so-named at the time "M"). This beer is delicious and bittersweet, as it tastes like the original "M", brewed expertly by the best brewer in Texas, Tim Schwartz. This Cheers! is to The Bitter End, one of the three best bars I have ever known and loved. brewerscut.com/homeLOB-14 * Monday I farted five times on Donald Rumsfeld while he ate in a small town in Central Texas. Yes really. A great day in my life. A little bit more to come.... Cheers!
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Post by loverofbeers on Mar 1, 2014 0:06:16 GMT -5
WATCHED ONE OF MY FAVORITE COMEDIES STARRING peter SELLERS AND ringo STAR AS WELL AS CO-STARRING raquel WELCH AND sir CHRISTOPHER lee as co-stars. This movie makes me laugh every time I see it. Dammit. I just noticed I had the cap-locks on. Oh well, a Jefferson's Kentucky Straight Bourbon Cheers! to not caring this day. It was a doozie. LOB-15
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Mar 1, 2014 2:47:00 GMT -5
I'm so used to month's ending on the 30th or 31st, that I didn't realize until it was too late that it ended today. I watched: Schalken the Painter Satan's Slave Psychomania Scream and Scream Again
JAS-15
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