Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Motorola One/P30 Play (Revisited in 2020)
Sunday, 27 September 2020
The Hole in the Ground
Friday, 25 September 2020
PayPal & Amazon
Can receive any amounts of cash, which I can get out of there at nil cost, so the best option for those who might feel the need to contribute, either as a one-off or regularly. You do not need a PayPal account to use this.
This is set up so that if you buy anything on Amazon, I get a cut, if you go in via this link using your browser. It's not much, but it's the same price for you when buying, plus a few free shillings for me!
Monday, 14 September 2020
A Touch of Sin (Tian Zhu Ding)
Sunday, 13 September 2020
Anomalisa (2015)
Tuesday, 8 September 2020
Detour (2013)
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Monday, 7 September 2020
Radioactive (2019)
Sunday, 6 September 2020
#Alive (#Saraitda)
Après Vous (After You)
Saturday, 5 September 2020
Before the Fire & Hour of Lead
Before the Fire (aka The Great Silence)
IMDb: As a global pandemic engulfs Los Angeles, rising TV star Ava Boone is forced to flee the mounting chaos and return to her rural hometown. As she struggles to acclimate to a way of life she left behind long ago, her homecoming attracts a dangerous figure from her past- threatening both her and the family that serves as her only sanctuary.
This was an interesting little film written by and starring Jenna Lyng Adams which takes such a long time to get going. Counting away the first 53 minutes setting the scene and painting the background to the events of the last third in this 90 minute picture was a slow job. And then, suddenly, it comes to life and we're delivered up a feast of thrills, violence and survival behaviour from those involved which is indeed thrilling and chilling.
The lead is very watchable and those around her keep up, each displaying their eventual brand of nastiness. It does indeed turn into a survival tale and the audience ends up rooting for our likeable heroine. The inexperienced Charlie Buhler directs and does so with some interest, though she could have made more of those first 53 minutes! Worth a watch if you get the chance.
Hour of Lead (aka The Vanished)
There's been 1,001 of these films and TV shows made centred around a couple who have their child vanish, so any that come along now have to stand out from the crowd. And this one does.
Husband and wife, 10 year old daughter and family dog like camping. This time, the lakes somewhere in America is the venue in their gigantic Motorhome/RV, to enjoy the fishing and freedom. Pretty much as soon as they arrive there, the couple turn round and the daughter is no longer with them. What has happened to her?
The police roll up and as the couple get more anxious about the situation, they start to behave irrationally and one event leads to another as things get dark and thrilling. I'll say no more as it would spoil things for you. The film is a cut above though and there are interesting turns and surprises along the way.
Peter Facinelli of Twilight fame wrote and directed admirably. Some of the visuals of the lakes and surrounding area have been shot with some artistic leaning. Anne Heche (who I remember showed up everyone around her years ago in Ally McBeal playing a woman with Tourette's syndrome brilliantly) is the woman, and Thomas Jane the man. They both do very well and are convincing, though if you watch closely, their behaviour and mannerisms do paint the picture that all is maybe not quite what it seems. I really enjoyed it. If you can grab it, it's worth a watch.
Underwater Utopia
Following some recent chat on our Projector Room Podcast about underwater thrillers-with-creatures, I grabbed some suggestions from Gareth Myles and lined up a marathon soaking..!
The Rift, 1990
Deepstar Six, 1989
Leviathan, 1989
The Abyss, 1989
Much of it was all good fun but The Abyss stands head and shoulders above the other three here. The first three are, well, very 1980's in terms of acting, cheesy script and delivery. They often feel like TV Movies, an episode of Night Rider (in style and production) or even, for some reason, reminding me of an episode of Land of the Giants! Females on scientific duty with skimpy tops and no underwear, sets that look like something from Dr Who and perfect 80's BIG hairdo's even when wet!
Special mention for Leviathan, the best of the runners-up as the inventiveness of the 'creature' and science is the most interesting, regardless of the above!
All of them have huge nods to Alien and it's not surprising that such a big-budget blockbuster from a decade earlier was so much better, I guess.
All good fun! Catch 'em as they come round.
Thursday, 3 September 2020
Babyteeth (2019)
Centigrade (2020)
Wednesday, 2 September 2020
Whatever Works Merchandise
Aniara (2019)
Aniara is a book-length Swedish sci-fi poem (1956) by Harry Martinson on which this film is based. I haven't read the book/poem but acc...
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This is a WWII drama based on some fact but expanded to a degree, in order to add dramatic extension. It's 1942 and Hitler is successful...
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I've been looking at these Mini PC units for some months or even years now and never quite got to the point where I felt that they were ...
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It's a long time since I had a new Motorola phone. In fact, since 2020 and the Edge Plus - now abandoned by Moto in terms of security up...