not so much a film...
but more of a series - Kolchak: The Night Stalker - about a two-bit reporter for a crappy paper who goes off to investigate random things like, say, shoes being stolen or the theft of ham sandwiches from a late night delicatessen and inevitably ends up tracking down a pre-incan demon, or some weird monster. All the production values of Quincy ME, but with the occassional nudey 70s lady and some bad fake blood. Genius. Also, try Q: The Winged Serpent, as I believer this was the "big budget" outing for him...

Actually, now I think about it, BBC2 used to be awesome - you'd get the Videodrome series showing some great films and then they'd follow it with a Kolchak film. Everything from the eponymous Cronenberg movie, to American Werewolf in London (look for a young Rik Mayall in the pub scene, playing chess with Brian Clough of Tetley Tea fame...), to the spaghetti western Django, to..well, anything, really - sci-fi, avant garde, slighlty dodgy not-quite-porn, horror.. that was back when TV was worth watching. Now all we get is Help, I'm a Big Celebrity Brother in the Jungle Kitchen Hell.
(Chad, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:47, 2 replies)

Best Films Ever
Way back in the day a mate used to work in the editing room of a well known production company.
Now of course due to the lack of CGI, all effects were done by chopping and splicing bits of film. Like a very long winded cut and paste...

*MISSING TEXT*


And I shall never forget that tale of his

Best Film Sever


/coat
/sorry
/length
(never-right -getting it wrong since '78, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:43, Reply)

Transformers the animated movie :D
I'm not ashamed to say that when they killed off Optimus Prime I cried real tears. I was 7 at the time though and had every toy/comic.

I've had to stop myself repeatedly from buying it on DVD in Tescos for £3(!!!) mainly because the missus was with me and would regard me as a total tit. Will have to pay Tescos a visit while she's away....
( Jeccius Steam Borderlands 2 junkie, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:42, 4 replies)

Black and white special
Saw this film as a child, and always remembered it as a classic, "The Hell Drivers"
with William Hartnell, Patrick McGoohan, and even I think Sid James in a serious role.
A gritty enthraling black and white sunday afternoon movie !!
(Betty Boothroyd's Love custard Tourettes at the KOB, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:36, 3 replies)

".... talking Italian..." (but no Robert de Niro waiting)
I started studying Italian at university a year or two after Cinema Paradiso came out.

I'd never seen it, but luckily, one of my flatmates had the video, so it got a lot of use that year and as my Italian got better, I thought I pretty much understood what was being said and congratulated myself on becoming good enough at the language that I could follow everything going on in the film.

Or so I thought; as they say, pride comes before a fall.

A few months later, we found out that one of the cinemas in town was showing it as a Sunday matinee, so a few of us decided to pop down and watch it on the big screen. There were four of us, and we were all had a pretty good command of Italian compared to the rest of our year, so we were looking forward to sitting back, ignoring the subtitles and just enjoy it.

When we got to the cinema, most of Cardiff's Italian community must have been there. Plus a load who'd made the trip from Swansea, Merthyr, Newport, you name it, the older ones all done up in Sunday best.

So the film starts, and of course because the four of us had all seen it before, we knew which bits to laugh at, etc. Except it turned out we didn't.

You'd have a bit of the movie where something was (or wasn't) happening, with or without dialogue, and suddenly all the older Welsh/Italians (but not the younger ones) would start pissing themselves laughing.

This happened a good few times during the film, and to this day, I have no idea what they were getting out of it that we weren't. And on my year out, watching the movie on TV with my (Italian) flatmates, they didn't seem to be reacting the same way that the aged Italians back in Cardiff had.

And it wasn't the jokes about how people in Sicily viewed those from Naples as Northerners, nor the father dragging his son to school because otherwise "you'll never get into the Carabinieri" (reinforcing a stereotype about the number of Sicilians who serve in it); no, this was something much more subtle that was making them have hysterics.

Fifteen years on, Cinema Paradiso remains one of my favourite films, and I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.

But I'm still mystified about what they found so funny during the film at that screening in Cardiff. I'm sure there was some kind of Welsh - Italian conspiracy going on...
(Capo, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:24, 2 replies)

Copland
May not be the best film ever but its one I think doesn't get enough mentions around here. Absolutely star studded and I just love the way its shot and some of the characters are amazing.

Also the climax (!!) is aaaaaaawesome - I love films with a good old climax. Thats why I like the Usual Suspects so much as well.

Special mention to Batman Begins, can't wait for the new one and can't wait to see the Joker in action =D
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:22, Reply)

Night of the Lepus
Giant killer rabbits...

scared me when I was a kid..

edit: sorry about all the posts..films keep coming back to me.
(scotsbloke, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:21, Reply)

Would have to be...
cling film
( Mr Nerdy-Speccy-FuckNuts Ouchy ouchy wa wa!, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:09, Reply)

Just before I go
I just had a look at my DVD collection.....

Has anyone mentioned Bubba Ho-Tep?

Not by any means is it a classic, but if you're after a quirky horror comedy, this is definitely worth a go :D

Stars Bruce Campbell (of Evil Dead fame) as Elvis, who it turns out didn't die and now lives in an old folks home where a Mummy has begun sucking the souls of the residents.

I'm not making this up.

I'll go now and stop filling the page with my ramblings :P
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:08, 6 replies)

In keeping with the "Big Long List" thing....
as I'm here I'll share my absolute love of late 70's/80's horror. At a time just before CGI started to come into use and animatronics and make up were at their peak, this was a heyday for horror movies.

John Carpenter's early stuff was just great. Now I know, recently things have went a bit crap.... Vampires was ropey, and Ghosts of Mars was just pish, but the early years were glorious. Films like The Fog, Halloween and The Prince of Darkness were all perfect examples of Carpenter's true style... small enclosed settings, simple effective stories and his trademark eerie soundtrack. The Thing, in my opinion his best film and one of my top 10, is the perfect example of this.... the effects are stunning, the tension is incredibly well built up and the story is genuinely frightening. He also did many more films around that time, not all horrors, like Starman, Escape from New York, Assault on Precinct 13, Big Trouble in Little China and They Live, all of which are great and worthy of a watch. They Live is especially good for it's sheer cheese factor.... Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David have the longest fight scene I've ever seen, it's hilarious. But that was when Carpenter was at his best, when the storylines were simple.

There were many other gems, stuff like Poltergeist and The Amityville Horror were truly terrifying, Fright Night was ace, the Return of the Living Dead was hilarious and still quite gruesome and the People Under the Stairs was just classic (although that was from 1991). The eighties also had a lot of horror compendiums too which we never see these days.... things like Creepshow, Grim Prairie Tales (90's again but meh) and Twilight Zone - The Movie. Ah halcyon days.

They just don't make em like they did then any more.
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 15:54, 7 replies)

another list to read....
Some favourites...

Das Experiment - Dramatised re-telling of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment. Very dark film.

Russian Ark - Feature length film shot entirely in one single take on steadicam. The producers had to develop a proprietary digital recording system to enable them do it in one take (when shooting with film stock you can only shoot about 13-15 minutes footage before having to change). I don't think i've ever seen a film shot as beautifully as this, it's incredible to watch

L.A. Story - Back in the days when Steve Martin was good he made this gem. Kookily funny, plenty of nods to the superficial nature of LA life and it even features Sarah Jessica Parker back in the days when she was fine

Twin Town - If only for the four most effective words in cinema historyL "Cardiff: Pretty Shitty City". I rest my case

The Man Who Wasn't There - One of the lesser acknowledged Coen brothers films. Bloody good though

Le Samourai - A film about an aging hitman who takes on one last job. Stars an impossibly cool Alain Delon and is pretty much responsible for the look and style of a lot of the action/espionage films of later years.
( applehead herp derp, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 15:52, 5 replies)

BMX Bandits

that is all.
( M3rx likes the Asian ladies, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 15:31, 1 reply)

I'm sober now
and on my PC, so I can now do justice to my favourite film.

It has been mentioned a few times before, but it deserves a write up. Dead Man's Shoes.

All of Shane Meadows's films are fantastic, but Dead Man's Shoes really struck a chord with me. The setting of the movie is so realistic and recognisable and the central character is a tremendous split personality played amazingly by Paddy Considine. The end of the film is so moving and yet so horrific, just awesome.

All the boxes are ticked.... hilariously funny, tender and yet often violent and stomach churning. And it all happens in a small town in the midlands, making it instantly believable.

If you haven't seen this film, it has the Baw__Bag seal of approval, you'll love it. It led me into more of Shane Meadows' films such as This Is England and A Room For Romeo Brass.... all of which are also fantastic, yet none quite so much as Dead Man's Shoes.

Get it watched, you'll like it :D
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 15:24, 9 replies)

Weekend at Bernies
fin
(Dan dan dan They tik urh jerbs!!!, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 15:04, 2 replies)

Tampopo (or Dandelion) 1985
It's an awesome Japanese film by Juzo Itami. It has been dubbed a 'noodle western', it involves fighting, drunkenness, masterchef hobos and the erotic use of a raw egg. Seriously, go buy it!
(Moniker1, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 15:00, 2 replies)

Is it a bird? Is it a 'plane?
Up until recently, my hometown had its own independent cinema, the Playhouse. It was as proper old-style cinema, with a balcony level sitting proudly above the stalls. It cost an extra 50p to sit up there. My most abiding memory of the place was being taken to see Superman: The Movie when it came out in 1979.

Now this was my first experience of going to see a brand new, blockbuster movie. My cinema experiences up to that point had consisted of dusty old kids films that have long since passed into the obscurity of memory. I was excited. I loved Superman comics, and here was a full-blown movie! Entering the foyer of the cinema, I bought my ticket, got some sweets and went to find a seat. As the curtains opened and the Pearl and Dean music started, I got a little shiver of excitement. The adverts passed so, so slowly, then the regulation Tom and Jerry cartoon started before the main feature.

As an image of a comic came up on screen, complete with young boy’s narration, I leaned forward, taking in every word. And then the music started… Goose bumps. One of the best movie themes ever, surely? The credits seemed to go on forever, and then, suddenly, we’re on Krypton…

The next two and a half hours had me completely drawn in; captivated. This was awesome stuff. I remember the thrill of first seeing Superman in costume, the flying sequences looked so convincing. Two and a half hours later I left the cinema with a spring in my step and feeling utterly elated by what I had just watched on the screen.

Looking back, I still have fond memories of the film, and have it on DVD. Every now and again I’ll rewatch and it takes me back to 1979 and that cinema. OK, looking at it now some of the flying effects have dated a bit. The scene where young Clark Kent races the train was ropey even in 1979, and some of the comic relief grates slightly. But I still love that film, and the music still gives me goose bumps. For a lot of years, I thought Superman 2 was better as it had really cool villains. But these days, I think that the original is the best. And Christopher Reeve is the definitive Superman.

And the cinema? It closed last year, due to the retirement of the owners. It’s being turned into flats.

Another part of my childhood has just died. Bloody planners.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Mon 21 Jul 2008, 14:49, 2 replies)

The best film I never saw*.
I have never seen Jackass: The Movie. Most likely I never will. I do own a copy that was given to me as a present, but it remains encased in the shiny cellophane and I would have to be really, really bored before I would ever consider actually watching it, because I am certain it will be shit. But I love the film dearly anyway, because of the tangential amusement it has brought me.

My brother is five years younger than I am. In 2002, when Jackass came out, he was 17. And our parents were away. There was really no choice in the matter, he had to throw a party, and as a mature, responsible adult of 22, it would be my job to supervise**. In due course his friends began to arrive, bearing with them skateboards, a camcorder and a plan: they would create their own Jackass movie.

I swiftly declared indoors out of bounds for this sort of activity, and settled back in the garden with a cold beer.

I am hard-pressed to choose a highlight from that evening. The repeated falling out of trees was funny, certainly, but lacked flair. The drunken climbing frame adventures held my attention for a few minutes, but I don't feel that all the possibilities were explored. Falling through patio furniture is rightly considered a classic, but lacks innovation, and flinging oneself into a thorn bush is frankly rather old hat. Attempting to ride a skateboard down a child's plastic slide to get up enough speed to use an upturned galvanised steel wheelbarrow as a jump? Absolutely, if briefly, superb***. Never before or since have I seen someone fall of a skateboard in such a way as to fling it so far straight up that it landed upright and quivering, one end embedded in the turf.

The thing that will stay with me from that evening, though, is the vodka. Simply drinking the stuff was not considered sufficiently EXTREME, so rather than witness a vodka bong (and the inevitable ambulance ride to follow) I suggested that they might like to snort it. This, they decided, was a stroke of genius.

Picture, if you will, a succession of plastered 17-year-old skaters hurtling around my garden, a spoonful of vodka in one hand, a plastic drinking straw in the other. Periodically one would stop, snort the vodka through the straw, choke, cough, scream, collapse, cry and finally stagger back to their feet, eyes bloodshot and watering, nose bleeding, and announce "That was BRILLIANT!" before running off to get some more.

This went on for nearly an hour before the vodka ran out, and at no point did I stop sniggering. So thank you, Jackass: The Movie, for one of the most entertaining evenings of my life.

* It's tenuous, I know, but rather than posting another dull list I thought I'd try and shoehorn a story in somehow.

** Purchase beer for them, with a frankly excessive "I have ID and you don't" surcharge.

*** It actually looked like someone was going to break a leg doing this, so I felt obliged to stop them. I'm not a monster.
(wellgroomedwookiee is a filthy-minded hobgoblin, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 14:28, 3 replies)

My favourite film is a small Brazilian film called "Two Girls One Cup"
it made me hungry
(Chopper3, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 14:10, 2 replies)

whoever wins...the tofu burgers were great.

(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 14:03, Reply)

Dark Crystal
Personally, I think this is cool.

Not seen it for a while, but bought the Collectors Edition on DVD yesterday.

One of the best Jim Henson & Frank Oz films ever made I reckon. And, a bit scary for kids too, especially with the nastiness of the Skeksis and the Garthim. Scared the crap out of me as a kid, and I recently introduced my GF to the film and she loved it.

Am I being cynical, or is the sequel "Power of the Dark Crystal" going to be nowhere near as good? I just don't reckon it will work somehow...
(Panteneman Isn't entirely sure why he bothered on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 14:03, Reply)

Film?
A while ago I was working for the government and we had a terrible reputation with the public. To help improve our image my boss allowed the whole company to be filmed as part of a fly on the wall documentary. According to the fat bearded bloke who ran the TV crew and filming, he was going to film a year or so with us and some other party that was attempting to take over to show people they day to day side of things from both perspectives. I wasn't too chuffed at appearing on TV (What with my disability) but as my boss had already given the nod I could do sod all about it.

Over the time the crew were with us they got some decent material, including one of our remote offices being closed due to vandalism and a board meeting that nearly resulted in an all out brawl. The problem was they decided to keep a camera on me all the time, I couldn't even take a piss by myself.

My anger was kept in check until the closing weeks of the filming when I brought my kid into work to speak to the boss about a possible job. The boss was a tad pissed off as my son had a couple of ideas that didn't really fit in with his policies AND my boss found out that my kid may have had something to do with the vandalism of our other office. My boss was a tad pissed off and smacked my son, now I'm all against disciplining a kid but I think he took it too far (I had only just got back in contact with him so it wasn't the best thing to do). I lost it, I picked the old bastard up yelling at him about his lack of respect and the fact that this reality show was going to be the death of us and threw him onto the floor. I didn't even wait for him to tell me that I was fired and walked out the door.

Turned out the show was put on the back burner until a few years later when it was repackaged as a movie trilogy (and has been mentioned once or twice on this site already). Some scenes were edited, they cut off an amusing incident in the canteen and I was made to look like a bit of a twat to start with, they also changed my quitting scene to a shot of some bloke dressed like me throwing my old boss down a well (Who the hell would have a well in their office FFS). Oh and according to them I'm now dead (The truth is I live in an old folks home in Bournemouth).

Going to go now the Bingo's starting



Darth

EDIT: Ooh and those 3 'prequel' films about my rise to power- they are a total lie from start to finish. I was really a bit of a goth that worked in the Alderaan branch of Starbucks before an accident with the Latte machine caused me to have to live in this suit- next time you watch A New Hope you can see me laughing as I got my revenge on the place by blowing it up.
(mon bison powered by magnets, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 13:57, 1 reply)

More memories....
Children of the Dog Star.

Remember that?

A series made in NZ about a young girl called Gretchen who visits her relatives farm and discovers an alien artifact in the woods via a windvane attached to the farm house.

Kinda reminiscent of The Tommyknockers by Stephen King

Looking for it for years and finally managed to track down a VHS copy of the whole series...transferred it to DVD so I now have it. However, it ain't the same as I remember it. The effects were crap...but looked good then.
(scotsbloke, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 13:43, 3 replies)

shining
ok i've not seen it but the trailer looks good.
romantic comedy staring jack nicholson

check it out www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuaYk-yDAgc
(suboftheday, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 13:35, Reply)

Banilieu 13
is my best surprise film of recent years, forgotten from my earlier list. Watched it at friends house, who'd just a got a dvd from France (where it's set\made) and I didn't have a clue what to expect. Unknown cast (to me), apart from the well known free runner. Excellent bad guys - Taha isn't a typical bad guy name, or K2, but they both play proper bastards, who you just love to hate.

Gritty, urban free running thriller I guess would describe it, but that does it an injustice. Has some of the best fights and chase sequences I've seen. From the excellent, single shot intro scene, through the banilieu, to the chase scene moments later.

Funking awesome free running spectacular. Great cars, fights, filming and the rest.
( LemonEntryMyDearWatson This time, Moriarty, the hand is on the other foot, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 13:34, 1 reply)

Mysterious Cities of Gold
OK, so it's not a film: it's a series of 39 animated episodes.

However, I have a sneaking suspicion that, given the average age of B3ta members, there will be more than a few who remember this series from the '80s when it was originally broadcast.

Quite simply - they don't make cartoons like this any more. It is without doubt the most amazing series I've ever seen, or am ever likely to see. Remember the golden condor, soaring over the forests and plains of Peru - powered only by the sun? Remember the hauntingly beautiful music which ran through every episode?

One of my enduring childhood memories was of the moment when Esteban and Zia finally took their medallions and inserted them into the doors which would reveal the City of Gold. In later years, I found the episodes available to download - and was able to relive those memories.

Now I just discovered that the series has finally been released on DVD! Wooyay... go and see it!
(EuroSong I love horse meat: best of all the animals, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 13:30, 5 replies)

Oh my word
Whoever made "It's Pat" should be shot.

It was the single most stupid, utter piece of crap waste of time I've ever seen.

I'd rather get herpes from a Margaret Thatcher shemale lookalike that watch something like that again.
(Bluffboy South Africa! World Champions!!!, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 13:25, Reply)

Romantic Comedys
I Love 'em!

Once We're Warriors (NZ)
Bad Boy Bubby (Australia)
Gummo (USA)
(Kalgoorlie, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 13:23, 2 replies)

Favourites
I love films and have quite a few favorites over several different genres and at this point I think they've all been mentioned & done to death!

But here's a few personal favourites.

Aliens - Saw this for the first time when I was about 12. Made a hell of an impression then and still does today.

Alien - Only "discovered" the first one after watching the second one. An excellent film, very tense, dark and well acted. Aliens wins because of Pulse rifles & Smart guns though. :-)

Pan's Labyrinth - for all the reasons already stated. Cronos was excellent, if a little weird, as well.

John Carpenter's The Thing. This terrified me as a kid and have I just recently bought the DVD again to re-live it. The chest biting scene and the scene with the huskies is still brilliant. In fact the whole movie has withstood the test of time quite well. Shows these modern day CGI filled fuckfests how it was done!

Hellboy - another one of Del Toro's films. I loved the comic book styling in this. I think Ron Perlman was made for this roll. I'm really looking forward to the sequel.

Sunshine. One of the recent sci-fi films that has actually been any good at all. I rented this one a few months ago and really, really enjoyed it. Instant amazon order after watching the film. Great effects, it had suspense in droves and it was all done on a budget of "only" $20 million.

Other faves include - Shawshank, Predator, LOTR trilogy, Batman Begins, The 1st Matrix (despite Keanu's & Carrie-Annes acting), Das Boot, Die Hard, The Abyss, and Jaws and finally, last but not least - Who can forget Big Trouble In Little China!
So many to pick from!

My "Guilty pleasures" would include such laughably dire horrors and god-awful Sci-Fi as I can lay my hands on - "The Cave", "The Core", "Sphere" and "House of the dead" to name a few. - Anything this bad is comedy gold after a few beers!
(uk_viper stopped lurking on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 13:11, Reply)