| Author | Message | ||
     Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.50.168 |
Apparently this is quite a big deal this one, for horror fans. http://www.britflicks.com/Film%20Trailers/Mum%20And%20Dad.aspx | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.50.168 |
D'oh! | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.214.180 |
Looks rubbish. Sorry! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
It does, doesn't it? I've never heard of it, and that awful trailer convinces me not to watch it. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.50.168 |
But the reviews have been uniformly *excellent*! | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.50.168 |
I actually quite fancy it. http://www.viewbath.co.uk/films/mum-and-dad-film-review-24757.html?utm_source=Ve nueSiteStats&utm_medium=internal&utm_campaign=VenueSiteStats | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
It looks like it could be very good or very bad. I'd probably give it a go. Unfortunately there really are families very like this one... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
That review actually makes me want to see it. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.199.27 |
I'm looking forward to Dean Spanley (based on Lord Dunsany's My Talks with Dean Spanley), starring Sam Neill and Peter O'Toole. I read the book around twenty years ago (it was damn hard to find) and was unaware they'd filmed it until a couple of weeks ago. Anyone seen it? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6d91Ol7rui4 There's the trailer. Peter O'Toole looks extermely old these days... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
I must admit, though, it doesn't really appeal. I'd rather see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - which looks absolutely amazing: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7L6K3fkwr-Y | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.225.37 |
Huw, all the Lord Dunsany I've read has struck me as gutless, self-indulgent, whimsical, faux-decadent nonsense. He's the Enid Blyton of fantasy. Apart from that story about the two bottles of relish, which Ramsey highlighted years ago as being surprisingly good (the qualifier is probably mine, not his). I'm sure there is more good Dunsany unknown to me, but I'm an unforgiving type. Can you recommend a Dunsany novel (preferably set in our world)? | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Don't hold back there, Joel, just say what you think...  | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.225.101 |
They'll have to change the title if it ever comes to the States - "mum" is irredeemably humorous over here. Looks good to me! But then, I go in for this sort of thing... er, this sort of movie.... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
Well, it is allegedly a black comedy. I like the guy playing the dad - seen him in a few funny shows: Operation Good Guys being the standout. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.209.204.67 |
Huw, all the Lord Dunsany I've read has struck me as gutless, self-indulgent, whimsical, faux-decadent nonsense. Yes indeed. In his introduction to 'The King of Elfland's Daughter' Neil Gaiman likens Dunsany's work to 'Fine Heady Wine' whereas I found it to be tepid fizzy orange pop - okay to serve at the parties of children you don't like very much or can't be bothered with but otherwise seriously over-rated. And it's only the punchline in 'Two Bottles of Relish' that has earned it its reputation | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
I found Mum and Dad very harrowing. It's confrontational British horror reminiscent of Pete Walker, and indeed the director turns out to be an admirer of Walker's films (and of Michael Powell, though I can't see the influence). I hope to write about the film for Video Watchdog. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
I'm there! It looks seriously unsettling to me. **shudder** | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
It's confrontational British horror reminiscent of Pete Walker That'll do for me. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.208.214.10 |
It's confrontational British horror reminiscent of Pete Walker, and indeed the director turns out to be an admirer of Walker's films Then he deserves full support from this particular British horror fan. One more for the shopping list | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.190.156 |
Joel, I honestly doubt that you'd like anything I could recommend by Lord Dunsany, given your oft-stated and unbridled hatred for his style. I like him, but I can see why others may not. Nobody else wrote quite like old Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett. You either 'get' this kind of stuff or you don't, I suppose. Some people don't get my love of Hoffmann and Tieck, or Erckmann-Chatrian either, but never mind. And shame on you, Lord P, knocking a fellow Lord like that. Hmmph... ;-) | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Well, I've just watched it. (And I'll be very interested to read your Video Watchdog account of it, Ramsey.) Ugh! Yes, "harrowing" is the word. Fairly repugnant overall and wildly implausible, but it's certainly watchable and never goes too far into self-parody. Not for the faint of heart. Which I'm not, but I still found it very squicky at times. Mostly because of the "parental" dynamic. I asked myself afterwards if it would have been so hard to watch if it had been a HOSTEL-style torture plot and the answer is no, that wouldn't have bothered me at all. So there you go. One thing that really bugs me, though (and frankly bugs me about most movie violence) is that the actors in these films never seem to be able to portray pain convincingly. I have some experience in this area and while I've never actually had a steel spike (not one that big anyway) shoved through my skin, I do know the average person can't hold still for it and they do a little more than wince when it goes in. I often wonder why filmmakers never hire fetish players either as stunt doubles or simply as consultants on set. I should think most actors would welcome the chance to add some authenticity to their performances. There's a couple of great scarification scenes in MUM & DAD, but the overall effect was spoiled for me by the girl's ignorance of how such a thing actually feels and how you react before and during. She did a great job in every other respect (her eyes are amazing), but if someone had just given her a tiny taste - scratched a fingernail down her back - her reactions might have been more convincing. Sorry, that was a bit of a rant, wasn't it?  | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.202 |
Blood, pain and chest X-Rays are three things that film-makers seem to have trouble being authentic about. It amazes me how many wrong ways there seem to be to put a chest X-Ray up, how anyone could mistake the thin raspberry-juice red stuff that often gets used as blood for the real thing, and how little effect things that can really hurt seem to have on people in movies. Of course I hope I've caused more pain than most (hopefully anyone) else on this board, and I definitely hope I've seen much more blood, but Miss Flynn has a very good point (forgive the pun). Having spent many of my years as a junior (and on occasion I even have to do it now) sticking very large very sharp needles into people I can assure you that it really hurts and they really do scream, and that's even if you get it in the right place the first time. And sometimes the local anaesthetic doesn't work or it's too much of an emergency to give it time to work and then they really hit the roof. So that's my rant. It's also my entry in the World Most Painful To Read Message Board Entries 2009 Competition | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
With me it's fights. They are rarely portrayed correctly. I've been beaten up and have beaten up others, and fights hardly ever happen in the movies like they do in real life. Only once in my life have I seen someone genuinely knocked out with a single punch, and that was thrown by someone who boxed and knew how to hit, yet it happens all the time in film. Grrr... | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.202 |
Anyone else care to rant about any regularly observed deficiencies movies have? We've had Miss Flynn's undoubtedly authentic experiences with feeling pain, my undoubtedly authentic experiences with causing pain and bleeding, and Zed's undoubtedly authentic experiences of putting the boot in the groin and of having had the shit kicked out of him. God we'd all make a briiliant film together. Or at least we'd think it was brilliant | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.176.10 |
I could show you guys how I stumble around with my cane when the pain is bad, and how a person used to taking strong painkillers looks (i.e., not stoned all the bloody time, like they sometimes show in movies and TV)... not sure how educational that would be though! | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.176.10 |
Zed, I agree with you about fights, by the way. In my experience (and it's been a while, thank goodness), they are much more ugly and brutal and stupid than they usually come across onscreen. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
OK, since you asked - bondage. If you actually looped a single thickness of rope around someone's wrists and suspended them off the ground, you'd probably break their wrists or dislocate their shoulders. That's if they didn't just slip out of the loose knots most kidnappers tend to tie in movies. Why is it that ropes / handcuffs / manacles are never tight enough to be convincing? I can't count the number of times I've rolled my eyes at the two inches of space between the shackle and the wrist and said aloud that if the stupid victim can't slip her hand out of that, she deserves whatever she gets. Incidentally, what do they get wrong with chest x-rays, Lord P? | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.202 |
Miss F - They often put them the wrong way round, so you can see the heart shadow on the right side instead of the left. In Pete Walker's Frightmare there's an abdominal Xray that's upside down - you can see the plate and screws through the person's hip at the top of the film when it should be at the bottom. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
But... wouldn't it be on the right in a photograph? I mean, if we were face to face, my heart would be on your right, my left. Right? | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.202 |
I see what you mean, and yes you're correct. Sorry, it's my surgical terminology getting the better of me. If I take a chest X-Ray of you and put it on the screen then your heart (which is on your left) would be on my right, but we in the business refer to that as the left side of the X-Ray because it's your left side. And on films it's often put up the other way round. Is that clear? If not I do a lecture on it (well three seconds of one) | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
ugly and brutal and stupid Indeed, Huw. That's exactly what I mean. In real life, violence is brief, brutal, clumsy and degrading. Very few genre films reflect this. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Ah, I see. So it's the same as "stage right" and "stage left" - ie, from the actor's perspective, not the audience's. Thanks for clearing that up! | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 147.252.230.154 |
Oddly, Bridget Jones' Diary has one of the most realistic fight scenes on film. A lot of serious injuries and manslaughters are caused by films. They convey the idea that you can smash a bottle over someone's head without dire physical consequences. Which you can't. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Oddly, Bridget Jones' Diary has one of the most realistic fight scenes on film. Ha! yes, that was quite a realistic scuffle, actually - exactly how two middle-class blokes would scrap. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
And "It's Raining Men" on the soundtrack too - hysterical! I love the way people get knocked unconscious for hours by a blow to the head and they never suffer any ill effects beyond the occasional headache. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
The Bourne films have excellent fight sequences. I recognise half the moves th characters do and they do them all spot on. If you're trained how to fight it can look that impressive. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
yeah, but I'm on about two normal blokes - or untrained people - having a scrap. The Bourne fight sequences are well choregraphed...but they're still not realistic. I've seen highly trained martial artists fighting in back alleys and the fights are still clumsy and ugly. My old kick-boxing and karate instructor used to say "in real life forget about all the fancy moves: just punch him in the throat and run like fuck". | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.125.173 |
I always fancied doing that amazing thing where someone insults you and you punch them flat on their back. Unfortunately, I have always been scared of accidently killing some waster so I tend to play guitar & sing songs instead. gcw | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.97.197 |
Fair enough - Dexter 2. |