[zuko]

Same here. I quit Blackhat maybe 10 minutes in. And I was cautiously optimistic. But I'll give it another go if it gets a strong recommend from Brother Zuko. And speaking of...

@Zuko - Have you seen Goldstone or the MR series yet? I have them both but haven't watched either. I really liked Mystery Road and am almost nervous for an expanded universe if you will. Everybody was excellent in it, particularly the always amazing Hugo Weaving and Aaron Pederson, and the film had great atmosphere.

No, didn't even know there had been a sequel until I heard about the TV show. On the watchlist, for sure.

Blackhat: I don't know about strong recommendation but it ticks all the Mann boxes; fever dream Bond movie with lots of po-faced people and ridiculously loud gunfights.

[ScoJo]

Blackhat: I don't know about strong recommendation but it ticks all the Mann boxes; fever dream Bond movie with lots of po-faced people and ridiculously loud gunfights.

And full-blown, over-emotive soundtrack selections?

[inksb]

I know this was mentioned by some of you last year, but I finally started watching the German Netflix show Dark. Only three episodes in, but I am loving it a lot. Very interesting and well made. Score by Ben Frost.
If you have not checked this out, please do and do not be bothered by the German language. I know you Americans do not really love to read (subtitles) but give them a go!

I loved Dark. It was an extremely captivating show. I hope they do more. And for those too good for subs, it has one of the worst dubs I've ever heard, it's insane how terrible it is.



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What the hell did I just watch? I had no idea that this film was this. Why do people not talk about this more? It's so fucking nutty. It's absurd. I just assumed it was an 80's flick with Stamos about motorcycles (basing this on the Shout Factory bluray cover). Oh it's so much more. It feels very much like a Cannon film in all it's let's make an American action film, but made by people who are not American but love the genre. STARGROVE!

[Jimmy_Mike]

Gents, Suspiria was spectacular.

I went with my buddy who has an Italian brother in law. Neither of us had seen it before. Texted him before it started and the paisano said "like Black Swan but more fucked up." I haven't seen Black Swan, but okaaaaaaay, lets do this!

Sound and music really did it for me. Incredible stuff.

One quick question, what was the giant slinky stuff in the room Sara falls in before getting schwacked?

[Bezulsqy]

One quick question, what was the giant slinky stuff in the room Sara falls in before getting schwacked?

I believe it is barbed wire. No idea why it is there.

From the internet:

Though it’s hard to top the film’s opening murder, Suspiria delivered another unforgettable death scene when Sara dives into a room full of razor wire and becomes trapped. Actress Stefania Casini arrived on set that day aware that she was filming a death scene, but unaware of how her character would be killed. When she saw the wire, Argento told her to simply dive in and struggle to reach the window on the other side of the room. Buoyed by a positive mood on set, Casini eagerly obliged. While the barbs were, of course, removed from the wire, it was still real wire. As she struggled, Casini found that the wire kept tangling and wrapping itself around her limbs, pinching her flesh as she struggled. Luckily, the scene was shot in one take.

“I remember when we were done, I went home, I looked like I had been bitten by thousands of ants,” Casini said. “I will never forget that scene."

[Mateo Sanboval]

@Zuko - I'm gonna give 'em both a try. Likely this week. And I'll give Blackhat a true go. I enjoy most Mann films and I want to enjoy this.

@Inks - Never To Young To Die is one of the few cult classics that I can still surprise people with. Even those who like cult/exploitation/trash flicks. Evwn the World Wide Web is relatively unaware of it. That may fall off precipitously now that it has a Blu-ray release. Incidentally, the "bad" movie night I've been running for years came to a close a couple of weeks back and Never To Young To Die was one of the films shown that final night.

@James Michael - Glad to hear you enjoyed Suspiria. It's an absolute classic. I got to see it in the theater last year and it was played at glorious ear bleeding levels. To say nothing of those restored colors. Oh my.

[Jimmy_Mike]

Will they continue to release all these Argento flicks in 4K or was this done only as promotion for the remake? I gotta say, this 4K business is the tits.

[Mateo Sanboval]

Will they continue to release all these Argento flicks in 4K or was this done only as promotion for the remake? I gotta say, this 4K business is the tits.

Not sure about 4K, but a lot of the Argento pictures have been or are getting remastered for home video.

As an interesting side note (to me, anyway) there is a lot of evidenced based research out there regarding how much of 4K we humans can actually appreciate, which hardware actually displays it properly, and how it is essentially an "endgame" resolution due to the limitations of the human eye. I'm by no means a video resolution nerd, but I've really enjoyed reading about this format over the years.

[ScoJo]

Will they continue to release all these Argento flicks in 4K or was this done only as promotion for the remake? I gotta say, this 4K business is the tits.

Not sure about 4K, but a lot of the Argento pictures have been or are getting remastered for home video.

As an interesting side note (to me, anyway) there is a lot of evidenced based research out there regarding how much of 4K we humans can actually appreciate, which hardware actually displays it properly, and how it is essentially an "endgame" resolution due to the limitations of the human eye. I'm by no means a video resolution nerd, but I've really enjoyed reading about this format over the years.

64K or GTFO

(in 96 fps!)

[Mateo Sanboval]

Will they continue to release all these Argento flicks in 4K or was this done only as promotion for the remake? I gotta say, this 4K business is the tits.

Not sure about 4K, but a lot of the Argento pictures have been or are getting remastered for home video.

As an interesting side note (to me, anyway) there is a lot of evidenced based research out there regarding how much of 4K we humans can actually appreciate, which hardware actually displays it properly, and how it is essentially an "endgame" resolution due to the limitations of the human eye. I'm by no means a video resolution nerd, but I've really enjoyed reading about this format over the years.

64K or GTFO

(in 96 fps!)

Mario Kart 64 OGTFOH.

[inksb]

Will they continue to release all these Argento flicks in 4K or was this done only as promotion for the remake? I gotta say, this 4K business is the tits.

I doubt it. Suspiria has been painstakingly restored in 4K by Synapse films (in the US) for the last 5 years. It was not done as promotion of the remake, the remake didn't even start production until last year which the 4K restoration had already started it's rounds theatrically. In Europe another company did a 4K restoration but I don't know much about it and it seemed a lot of people were not happy with their color correction.

As Mateo stated, lots of Argento has been getting new editions over the last few years for bluray and most of them are great. Arrow Video and Synapse Films have done a majority of it. Arrows Deep Red is stellar, Phenomena from Arrow is excellent, although Synapses is very good even though its from an older scan. Cat O Nine Tails, Bird With Crystal Plummage both received treatment from Arrow and Synapse did a good job with an older scan of Tenebrae although I fully expect Arrow will do a new scan and color correction with in the next year or two as well. Opera was done by Scorpion Releasing and has a fancy deluxe edition coming in the next few months. Sleepless/Two Evil Eyes will be getting new blurays next year from Scorpion and 88 Films is releasing Two Evil Eyes. It's a glorious time to be an Argento fan.

I will note that none of those restorations are on the same level as Suspiria though.

As an interesting side note (to me, anyway) there is a lot of evidenced based research out there regarding how much of 4K we humans can actually appreciate, which hardware actually displays it properly, and how it is essentially an "endgame" resolution due to the limitations of the human eye. I'm by no means a video resolution nerd, but I've really enjoyed reading about this format over the years.

I have a 65" 4K LED with HDR10 support, it is quite pleasing to watch. Honestly 4K while an uptick in resolution isn't as noticeable as 480 to 1080 but it is better. The real draw for UHD is HDR, the improved contrast and color gamut is pretty fucking awesome. Blade Runner 2049 looks amazing on the format. I don't think there will be any benefit going beyond 4K in the home unless you plan on having a 120" or larger projection system and even then a 4K projector at that size is nothing to scoff at. On TV's though, there is not point. The farther you sit away from your set the harder it is to tell the difference.

[NathanLurker]

I've started picking up these Argento Blus, Inksb. I don't want to get into the Blu ray collecting game as much as I am into the vinyl collecting one.... but I have fun trying to get some small scale collection. I'm picking up these Argento, then I'll probably build a Fulci one, and I'm picking up the Seijun Suzukis. I have a lot of Vincent Price too, and the whole 88 ASIA collection. oh and got the 2 Paul Nashy collection sets.

[inksb]

Those Naschy sets are awesome, it's too bad the license holders wouldn't allow Scream Factory to restore or rescan any of the negatives, which means we are stuck with some films in 4:3 when they were shot in wider formats. I'm not even a huge Argento fan but I love to pick up the sets that have been released, the films look so different than what I watched on VHS and DVD. And Fulci, well I'm a bit of a fan, so I think you should buy all of the Fulci because I'm biased. There is a wealth of Fulci on bluray and more on the way, although there are a few titles strangely missing from the format like Conquest, Contraband, The Eroticist, Le Pretora, Massacre Time and Four of the Apocalypse. I have heard that a restoration was done for Four of the Apocalypse but no one has announced it since I was told that last year. I own a German Mediabook version of The Psychic but that is coming from Scorpion Releasing later this year or early next. As much as I've seen people talk down about Fulci as a director I find him extremely underrated and he is one of my favorite filmmakers period.

edit: Scorpion Releasing should be putting out a Naschy collection of 3 films but I don't remember what ones they are.

[Mateo Sanboval]

I would love to get a proper BD of Conquest. What a treat that would be.

[deafmetal]

@Bez - Dark was exceptional. Jamie keeps asking when the next season will be available. Also, we watched it in German with subtitles.

[zuko]

And full-blown, over-emotive soundtrack selections?

Actually, sadly not, it's fairly subdued in that regard. What soundtrack there is the usual Mann story of multiple composers, rejected scores, and even some cues lifted from another movie (Ryan Amon's work for Neill Blomkamp's Elysium).

@Zuko - I'm gonna give 'em both a try. Likely this week.

Coolio, let us know if they're worth a look

[ScoJo]

And full-blown, over-emotive soundtrack selections?

Actually, sadly not, it's fairly subdued in that regard. What soundtrack there is the usual Mann story of multiple composers, rejected scores, and even some cues lifted from another movie (Ryan Amon's work for Neill Blomkamp's Elysium).

@Zuko - I'm gonna give 'em both a try. Likely this week.

Coolio, let us know if they're worth a look

I have neither forgotten (nor forgiven) the suspiciously Nickelback-esque howler during the Metaphorical Wild Dog scene in Collateral.

But then he goes full-redemption with that extraordinary piece of modern classical at the end (is it something like Antonio Pinto?)

[Bezulsqy]

not sure if this is a good idea

[Bezulsqy]

^ it was a good idea

[inksb]

"Who am I here?" line was one of the best parts of the film.

[ScoJo]

Off the top of my head:
Atmospheric Australian rural Cop/Noir: Mystery Road: (2013)

I really enjoyed this, big thanks for the tip-off ma brother. It really snuck up on me by the end, when the penny dropped that this was a film all about personal arcs (rather than 'shocking revelations'), with the crimes acting as catalyst for multiple characters. The ending was quietly amazing.

Seriously impressed with this filmmaker's chops too - as well as writer/director, he was also cinematographer (gorgeous), editor and score composer (excellent). Wow.

Thanks again.

[Mateo Sanboval]

not sure if this is a good idea

Hell yeah it is.

^ it was a good idea

Hell yeah it was.

[Mateo Sanboval]

Off the top of my head:
Atmospheric Australian rural Cop/Noir: Mystery Road: (2013)

I really enjoyed this, big thanks for the tip-off ma brother. It really snuck up on me by the end, when the penny dropped that this was a film all about personal arcs (rather than 'shocking revelations'), with the crimes acting as catalyst for multiple characters. The ending was quietly amazing.

Seriously impressed with this filmmaker's chops too - as well as writer/director, he was also cinematographer (gorgeous), editor and score composer (excellent). Wow.

Thanks again.

Glad you enjoyed it. It is one of my favorite "finds" of the past few.

[ScoJo]

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Ahh, St Antoine....it's really great to see you...

I've actually visited the castle location of this film- Burg Eltz in Germany.

[zuko]

That’s by the guy that wrote The Exorcist right?

I’ve gone for something a little more highbrow this evening:

E64DF550-7CC7-408C-BDCB-553DEE1023F3.jpeg (331.01 KiB) Viewed 2224 times