Hello cmfireflies, here's to a Merry Christmas and a hopefully better 2022.cmfireflies wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 5:58 pmhey, it's a_c_l long time no "see." By the way, the tagline is hilarious.a_contemplative_life wrote: ↑Tue Dec 21, 2021 12:29 am
Very interesting, slow horror burn from Sweden. Was surprised to see a somewhat older Lacke (Peter Carlberg) in it!
Last DVD/Movie you bought or watched?
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a_contemplative_life
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Re: Last DVD/Movie you bought or watched?
Re: Last DVD/Movie you bought or watched?
"Lamp the Movie". This is an independent 2021 film by Lenwood S. Sharpe (https://lenwood.net/) (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12526387/) . Lenwood has artistic creations in multiple forms and has now a second movie... "Lamp the Movie (That Really Shouldn't Exist); *A Dracula Film" is an independently created and released movie, 1 hr 17 mins. It is a "vampire" movie. No, it's actually a "Dracula" movie. Yeh.
"Lamp the Movie (That Really Shouldn't Exist)" was released into the public domain in about October 2021.
https://films.thrillland.com/lamp-the-movie.html
I like how he introduces himself with "A film by the guy who should not be allowed to make another movie"
"Lamp the Movie (That Really Shouldn't Exist)" was released into the public domain in about October 2021.
https://films.thrillland.com/lamp-the-movie.html
I like how he introduces himself with "A film by the guy who should not be allowed to make another movie"
Re: Last DVD/Movie you bought or watched?
Ronja Rövardotter/Ronia the Robber's Daughter (the 3x50 minute TV version from 1986). Never seen the entire film before, only a few scenes of it. I've also never read the book (or any other Astrid Lindgren book, for that matter; only seen various adaptations of them).
I think I want to like it more than I actually like it. I like the story, world, humor, and music, and appreciate all of the craftsmanship that went into it, but the main drawback is that the two leads are often pretty stiff and unconvincing. The adult actors are fine. Their performances are pretty exaggerated in an enjoyable way and about what I'd expect from an '80s children's movie.
Still, as a whole it's enjoyable and understandably a Swedish classic.
I think I want to like it more than I actually like it. I like the story, world, humor, and music, and appreciate all of the craftsmanship that went into it, but the main drawback is that the two leads are often pretty stiff and unconvincing. The adult actors are fine. Their performances are pretty exaggerated in an enjoyable way and about what I'd expect from an '80s children's movie.
Still, as a whole it's enjoyable and understandably a Swedish classic.
De höll om varandra i tystnad. Oskar blundade och visste: detta var det största. Ljuset från lyktan i portvalvet trängde svagt in genom hans slutna ögonlock, la en hinna av rött för hans ögon. Det största.
Re: Last DVD/Movie you bought or watched?
I finally got around to watching this today. Very thought-provoking. Not sure I'd agree with classifying it as horror, though. Existential horror, maybe.a_contemplative_life wrote: ↑Tue Dec 21, 2021 12:29 am
Very interesting, slow horror burn from Sweden. Was surprised to see a somewhat older Lacke (Peter Carlberg) in it!
Some day I want to read the Harry Martinson book it's based on, as well.
De höll om varandra i tystnad. Oskar blundade och visste: detta var det största. Ljuset från lyktan i portvalvet trängde svagt in genom hans slutna ögonlock, la en hinna av rött för hans ögon. Det största.
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sauvin
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Re: Last DVD/Movie you bought or watched?
I can't remember commenting on this movie before, although I may have:
Somewhere lost long ago in this forum's massive corpus of member contribution was some discussion of the appropriateness of Eli's response to what was happening to Oskar at the swimming pool, with one POV adamantly maintaining that the level of destruction wrought on Oskar's tormentors was "over the top". Some agreed, some disagreed, some shrugged and said "meh".
A great deal of the identification with Oskar in the movie stems from bullying. It seems most of us experienced it and can testify to the indelible psychological and emotional harm that can accrue to its victims. Only in recent years has it started being viewed in this light, as opposed to my experience at Oskar's age (late '60's or early '70's) where most folk simply dismissed it by observing that "boys will be boys" and supposing it might be a good thing because it supposedly helps build character. If you're being bullied, it's because you're doing something wrong, and if you can't figure out what that might be, it's your fault and your problem - still almost as much true today as it was fifty years ago and more.
In the TV treatment of Stephen King's "Carrie", Sue Snell is shown testifying to some kind of board of inquiry that "you can only push somebody so far before they snap"; Carrie's retribution would probably also be seen as "over the top", probably far more so since (hee hee) Carrie rained on the innocent and the wicked alike, sparing basically nobody. She... snapped.
This movie, The Final, is a lot choosier about who gets it and a lot choosier about how it goes about exacting revenge. Låt den rätte komma in, let there be a few fast moments of mind-numbing terror, and let the horrific revenge-takers abscond untrackably into the night. With Carrie, it was the same: snap, crackle and maybe a few electric pops, and then it's just all over. In either movie, the "victims" didn't really have much time to say "what the f....?" before they passed swiftly and almost painlessly into oblivion. In The Final, the wicked are taken away from their homes and lives, chained to the floor of a remotely situated house and forced to watch as each individual former tormentor becomes a victim in various gut-wrenching, blood-curdling and once or twice just awfully icky ways. Eli didn't explain to her victims why they had to die beyond an unearthly scream, and Carrie made no sound at all. The thrust of the narrative in "The Final" isn't in indulgent torture porn - it's in the revenge-takers explaining in so many different ways what drove them to perpetrate this horror show.
Example: captor speaking to a dozen or so suddenly former bullies: "I have some good news for you. We're not planning on killing you. The bad news is... you're going to wish we had."
Example: captor speaking to former tormentor: "Hiding behind a mask? I am not hiding behind a mask. This is a reflection of what you turned me into. I am the monster that you created!" (emphasis mine, I think).
It's not a particularly well-made movie, it's a bit cheesy in places, but the overall narrative is compelling, and it's horrifyingly plausible: think Colombine (a couple of bullied boys in real life shot up a high school) on a far more selective basis, with far better planning and far colder delivery.
Can those of us who'd been relentlessly bullied honestly claim never to have dreamed of this?
Somewhere lost long ago in this forum's massive corpus of member contribution was some discussion of the appropriateness of Eli's response to what was happening to Oskar at the swimming pool, with one POV adamantly maintaining that the level of destruction wrought on Oskar's tormentors was "over the top". Some agreed, some disagreed, some shrugged and said "meh".
A great deal of the identification with Oskar in the movie stems from bullying. It seems most of us experienced it and can testify to the indelible psychological and emotional harm that can accrue to its victims. Only in recent years has it started being viewed in this light, as opposed to my experience at Oskar's age (late '60's or early '70's) where most folk simply dismissed it by observing that "boys will be boys" and supposing it might be a good thing because it supposedly helps build character. If you're being bullied, it's because you're doing something wrong, and if you can't figure out what that might be, it's your fault and your problem - still almost as much true today as it was fifty years ago and more.
In the TV treatment of Stephen King's "Carrie", Sue Snell is shown testifying to some kind of board of inquiry that "you can only push somebody so far before they snap"; Carrie's retribution would probably also be seen as "over the top", probably far more so since (hee hee) Carrie rained on the innocent and the wicked alike, sparing basically nobody. She... snapped.
This movie, The Final, is a lot choosier about who gets it and a lot choosier about how it goes about exacting revenge. Låt den rätte komma in, let there be a few fast moments of mind-numbing terror, and let the horrific revenge-takers abscond untrackably into the night. With Carrie, it was the same: snap, crackle and maybe a few electric pops, and then it's just all over. In either movie, the "victims" didn't really have much time to say "what the f....?" before they passed swiftly and almost painlessly into oblivion. In The Final, the wicked are taken away from their homes and lives, chained to the floor of a remotely situated house and forced to watch as each individual former tormentor becomes a victim in various gut-wrenching, blood-curdling and once or twice just awfully icky ways. Eli didn't explain to her victims why they had to die beyond an unearthly scream, and Carrie made no sound at all. The thrust of the narrative in "The Final" isn't in indulgent torture porn - it's in the revenge-takers explaining in so many different ways what drove them to perpetrate this horror show.
Example: captor speaking to a dozen or so suddenly former bullies: "I have some good news for you. We're not planning on killing you. The bad news is... you're going to wish we had."
Example: captor speaking to former tormentor: "Hiding behind a mask? I am not hiding behind a mask. This is a reflection of what you turned me into. I am the monster that you created!" (emphasis mine, I think).
It's not a particularly well-made movie, it's a bit cheesy in places, but the overall narrative is compelling, and it's horrifyingly plausible: think Colombine (a couple of bullied boys in real life shot up a high school) on a far more selective basis, with far better planning and far colder delivery.
Can those of us who'd been relentlessly bullied honestly claim never to have dreamed of this?
Fais tomber les barrières entre nous qui sommes tous des frères
Re: Last DVD/Movie you bought or watched?
As usual, Sauvin gets straight to the point. 
We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain. (Roberto Bolaño)
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a_contemplative_life
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Re: Last DVD/Movie you bought or watched?
War of the Worlds (1953)
Pretty good film for its time. I liked the 2005 version better.
Has anyone seen the 2019 TV Series?
Pretty good film for its time. I liked the 2005 version better.
Has anyone seen the 2019 TV Series?
Re: Last DVD/Movie you bought or watched?
No, but I did read the Classics Illustrated version as a kid.a_contemplative_life wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 10:19 pmWar of the Worlds (1953)
Pretty good film for its time. I liked the 2005 version better.
Has anyone seen the 2019 TV Series?
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist
Re: Last DVD/Movie you bought or watched?
Enjoyed the original film (re-run) as a kid, enjoyed the 2005 version with Cruise, Dano, and Fanning.a_contemplative_life wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 10:19 pmWar of the Worlds (1953)
Pretty good film for its time. I liked the 2005 version better.
Has anyone seen the 2019 TV Series?
Haven't seen the TV series but have listened to the Jeff Wayne's soundtrack a few times
Can't beat a bit of Richard Burton.
.
"For a few seconds Oskar saw through Eli’s eyes. And what he saw was … himself. Only much better, more handsome, stronger than what he thought of himself. Seen with love."
Re: Last DVD/Movie you bought or watched?
On Body and Soul (2017). Quite unusual and beautiful Hungarian love story.
De höll om varandra i tystnad. Oskar blundade och visste: detta var det största. Ljuset från lyktan i portvalvet trängde svagt in genom hans slutna ögonlock, la en hinna av rött för hans ögon. Det största.