Ridley Scott's wildly uneven sociopolitical thriller/carnage porn is propelled purely by star wattage. Russell Crowe's Foghorn Leghorn accent is at least a diversion.
I found The Zone of Interest quite good.
Wondering if it might have worked as well or better without the sound effects and abstract imagery trying to increase the sense of foreboding.
Also, maybe a bit far-fetched or excessive perhaps, but can be as an allegory of current society where many would just hope that the vines grow and cover the proverbial concentration camp walls out of sight. #films https://m.imdb.com/title/tt7160372/
2024 marks the 45th anniversary of sci-fi horror masterpiece Alien, which was released May 25, 1979.
The first time I saw it I was pretty young, it was on TV and censored. We actually had it recorded on a VHS from TV, which is something my family did a lot. I only saw the full uncensored version years later! 😂
Happy birthday to the great Peter Cushing, who was born on this day in 1913. I'm sure a lot of my lifelong love of #horror came from late night viewings of many Hammer films with Peter and his good friend Christopher Lee, probably at an age when I was too young for them but didn't care, because I loved them.
Tonight's film club choice is Silent Running. When I bought it on DVD, the salesperson at Fopp said it was a classic and that I would like it, but I found it very boring and grim (and dated - there are no women other than in music / computer voices, bit like The Deadly Assassin).
7:30pm UK time, remote over Skype - DM me if you would like to attend (we don't publicise the URL widely now as we used to get Zoom-bombed)
This evening's viewing: a long-overdue revisit to Wings of Desire. First seen many years ago at my beloved Filmhouse, this was the #film that introduced me to Wim Wenders, who would become one of my favourite film-makers.
Achingly beautiful piece of cinema. How many amazing works did the Filmhouse introduce me to that I'd likely never have seen otherwise? So looking forward to its return later this year...