Jul 1, 2013

Monthly Movie Recap - June 2013

Hey, it's July! And you know what that means...just about four months til Halloween!
Let's get this recap started!


Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1974) aka They Call Her One Eye
I'm still not sure if Shawn Robare of Branded In The 80s and Cult Film Club deserves thanks or blame for introducing me to this one. For the record, there are two cuts of this, one of which has extra sex/prostitution/rape scenes and that's the one I saw, lucky me. It spends way too much time on Madeline's predicament and gets uncomfortable. I understand a girl being forced into drug addiction and prostitution shouldn't be easy to watch but I wish I'd watched the shorter version.

Cool: Seeing her use her prostitution money to get training so she can kick some ass; trenchcoats and slo-mo bullets are always a good time; rumor has it they used an actual cadaver for the eye removal scene!
Lame: Even once the revenge starts, it's still kinda boring; way more anus than I ever want to see, seriously, watch the shorter cut!
Rating: 5.5/10


28 Weeks Later (2007)
I really liked 28 Days Later but I just didn't "get" this one. Sure it had some really intense scenes with the infected and parts that can get a little hard to watch (in a good way) but I didn't feel like there was much of a story. Yes, there's the whole survival thing but none of the characters are given much to do except try not to die.

Cool: Lots of now familiar faces in the cast; plenty of carnage
Lame: The helicopter vs infected scene was cool but I guess they forgot the blood can infect you?
Rating: 6/10, still better than some of the zombie overload we've been given

Man of Steel (2013)
I don't know I would have ever thought to take Superman the sci-fi action route, but I like it! After the last one, I'm glad we're getting away from the romance. I really enjoyed the way they avoided doing the same old origin story first movie. Is DC finally getting their movie act together?

Cool: The Kryptonian ships and gear; some great moments with young Clark
Lame: During non-actiony parts the camera should not be shaky! Overuse of the "quick zoom" tracking shot; Smallville will never recover unless Superman helps them rebuild
Rating: 7.5/10, where do you go with the sequel after saving the Earth?


Superman: Unbound (2013)
I know they likely released this to capitalize on the Man of Steel release, but it felt equally about Supergirl as it does Superman. Overall, it was just ok for me compared to some of the other DC direct to video movies.

Cool: Where else would you get Stana Katic, Molly Quinn and John Noble in a Superman movie? As an extremely casual DC fan, it was good to see why Kandor is stuck in a bottle.
Lame: Brainiac is kind of a dick in the way he "preserves" things
Rating: 6/10

Month Total
 New:4

Year to Date
New: 42, Rewatch:1

3 comments:

  1. I've always hesitated to watch Thriller because of the eye-removal scene, but I still really want to see it someday.

    Love the idea of people keeping track of the films they watched throughout the year. I started a notebook for 2012 and continued into this year. And it's even easier thanks to websites like Letterboxd.com.

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    Replies
    1. You don't so much see it being taken out, it's on par with 70s gore which means it's relatively tame by today's standards.

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  2. I realized after that you're actually already on Letterboxd, so I feel silly for even mentioning it.

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