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Hercules (1997)
Hercules (1997)
1997 | Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
9
8.2 (75 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Danny DeVito and James Woods (0 more)
Go The Distance
I love this movie, this is one of my favorite animation films of all time. Its a classic. You have great songs like.."The Gospel Truth", "Go The Distance", "Zero to Hero", "I Wont Say" and "A Star is Born".

The plot: Disney tackles Greek mythology in this animated feature. Hercules (Tate Donovan), a son of gods, was snatched as a baby by Hades (James Woods) and forced to live among mortals as a half-man, half-god. Now a teenager, Hercules needs to perform a rite of passage on Earth to prove himself worthy of living with the gods on Mount Olympus. With his plucky satyr sidekick, Philoctetes (Danny DeVito), along for the ride, Hercules must learn how to use his strength to defeat a series of evil creatures.

Such a excellent, classic disney animation movie.
  
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Wolverine: Origin II
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Poor old Wolvie: he never seems to catch a break.

Early 20th-century (pre WW1) set story about James Hewlitt, the man who would become Wolverine who -as this starts - is living wild in the woods.

When his family of wolves is slaughterd by a bear, however, and when he then kills said bear, this sets in motion a chain of events that sees Wolverine being hunted, eventually captured, put on show and experimented upon ...

Nice art, so-so story.
  
Videodrome (1983)
Videodrome (1983)
1983 | Horror, Sci-Fi
First It Controls Your Mind Than It Destorys Your Body
Holy shit this movie is good. The effects, the psychological espect, the sci-fi, the horror, the suspense, the mystery and James Woods.

The Plot: As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn (James Woods) is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend (Deborah Harry) auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.

Distributed by Universal Pictures, Videodrome was the first film by Cronenberg to gain backing from any major Hollywood studio. With the highest budget of any of his films to date, the film was a box-office bomb, recouping only $2.1 million from a $5.9 million budget.

Now considered a cult classic, the film has been cited as one of Cronenberg's best, and a key example of the body horror and science fiction horror genres.

The basis for the film came from David Cronenberg's childhood. Cronenberg used to pick up television signals from Buffalo, New York, late at night after Canadian stations had gone off the air, and worry he might see something disturbing not meant for public consumption.

After the box office success of Scanners, Cronenberg turned down the chance of directing Return of the Jedi, having had no desire to direct material produced by other filmmakers.

When it came to casting the character of Max Renn, Cronenberg chose James Woods, who was a fan of Rabid and Scanners and met with the actor in Beverly Hills to offer him the part, and liked the fact that Woods was very articulate in terms of delivery.

Its a excellent movie and a must see, same with david cronenberg's early horror films.
  
Cabin Fever (2002)
Cabin Fever (2002)
2002 | Horror
Sick Water
Cabin Fever- introduces Eli Roth in his directorial debut and 80% of this movie is sickening, disturbing and gross.

The Plot: Bert (James DeBello), a college student vacationing with friends in the mountains, mistakenly shoots a local man (Arie Verveen) with a skin infection while hunting in the woods. Panicking, he abandons the scene and leaves the man for dead. When the man stumbles into a reservoir, he infects the water supply, and soon one of Bert's friends becomes infected. The friends struggle to stop the contagious, flesh-eating disease while on the run from a group of ornery backwoods locals out for revenge.

Its a okay underrated horror movie from the early 2000's.
  
Videodrome (1983)
Videodrome (1983)
1983 | Horror, Sci-Fi
Contains spoilers, click to show
This early slice of Cronenberg body horror is one hell of a weird film and serious hallucinogenic drugs must have certainly been consumed during it's production. One thing it's not though is boring , James Woods is a great bit of casting as Max Renn the sleazy TV producer getting mixed up in the world of the titular channel and experiencing the after effects of watching too much. It's an absorbing watch even if at times you feel as bewildered as Wood's character is. Cronenberg's nightmarish visuals , a strange hybrid of the body and television look how most 1980's special effects look in 2019 but are certainly memorable and stay with you long after the film has finished.‬
  
Thursday (1998)
Thursday (1998)
1998 | Action, Mystery
I had a phone, i broke it....in anger
Former big time drug dealer casey wells (Tom Jane) is now an architect, wanting nothing to do with his past, living the quiet life with his beautiful wife.
When former partner Nick shows up out of the blue - on a Thursday, looking to stay for a few day's, casey Reluctantly agrees but quickly becomes increasingly concerned about Nicks "Luggage", so to calm his nerves casey breaks into the briefcase discovering a large amount of heroin.
This is followed by visits from multiple strangers looking for the drug's....which casey flushed down the sink...its gonna be a long day.

This movie is skip woods directional debut film, starring Tom Jane, paula Marshall, Aaron Eckhart, paulina porizkova, James le gros and Glenn plummer as the brilliant Rasta Man.
  
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David Schwartz recommended Videodrome (1983) in Movies (curated)

 
Videodrome (1983)
Videodrome (1983)
1983 | Horror, Sci-Fi

"David Cronenberg’s reflexive masterpiece of modern horror, with James Woods as a seedy purveyor of soft-core exploitation for cable TV, and Debbie Harry as his siren, brought the media-as-message theories of fellow Torontonian Marshall McLuhan to visceral life. This was one of the first movies I rented on VHS, and Videodrome is partly an exploration of the strange, clunky physical sensation attached to the idea of a feature film being available on a paperback-size plastic-and-tape cassette that is inserted into a machine . . . and our brains. A quarter century later, Cronenberg’s dazzling vision of a world where image and flesh are one—“long live the new flesh”—Videodrome’s futuristic vision is timelier than ever. And above all that, the movie is sexy, smart, funny, and fascinating, moving adeptly between its layers of reality, imagination, and that vast territory in between."

Source
  
The Winter Killer (DI James Walker #3)
The Winter Killer (DI James Walker #3)
Alex Pine | 2022 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the third book in the DI James Walker series and the second I have read but do not worry, it can be read as a standalone very easily.

It's New Year's Eve and a body is found on a jetty at the prestigious The Fells Hotel on the shores of Lake Windermere where a wedding is taking place but was it an accident or murder? DI James Walker and his team are tasked with finding out and it soon becomes clear that the death is very much suspicious.

This is a proper who-dunnit with plenty of potential suspects and is anything but simple and straightforward particularly when all manner of revelations come to light including members of the victims family and close acquaintances.

With great characters, an intriguing plot and written at a great pace, this is an engaging read. The setting is perfect - well I would say that as it's my neck of the woods - and Mr Pine captures the weather, scenery and location completely.

Overall, a great read and I look forward to the next in the series and my thanks go to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of The Winter Killer.
  
The Ritual  (2017)
The Ritual (2017)
2017 | Horror
OK, this film isn't trying to do anything new. A bunch of friends decide to head off hiking and take a wrong turn/short cut into the woods. Luckily for us, they don't meet James Corden singing, instead they start to feel like they're being followed, have weird dreams and are eventually stalked by a strange giant monster (which is gradually revealed over time).
This does have a feel of the blair witch but benefits from not having that annoying "found footage" aspect where people running for their lives insist on filming the event.
The film builds tension brilliantly, has some particularly creepy moments and doesn't fall down for trying to explain what is happening too much. Rafe Spall is excellent and none of the characters make any stupid illogical decisions that cause you to shout at the screen.
  
Show all 6 comments.
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Ross (3282 KP) Apr 25, 2018

yes it was on amazon prime, sorry

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Sarah (7798 KP) Apr 25, 2018

Argh thanks I was hoping it'd be Netflix! Never mind

Hercules (1997)
Hercules (1997)
1997 | Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
8
8.2 (75 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Vibrant colours, character development, good story, fun musical numbers (0 more)
Plot was a little light (0 more)
Zero to Hero
Contains spoilers, click to show
Disney's take on the Greek mythological Hero.
 Hercules (Tate Donovan), son of Zeus, was kidnapped as a baby by minions of Hades (James Woods) and is found and raised by mortals in a superman-esque kinda way.
Now a teenager, Hercules wants to know about his real parents. Along the way he needs to perform a rite of passage on Earth to prove himself worthy of living with the gods on Mount Olympus and dealing with his first true love With help from his plucky satyr sidekick, Philoctetes (Danny DeVito), who's along for the ride, Hercules must learn how to use his strength to become the hero he's needed to be.

This movie is very light hearted and has an array of characters you can appreciate, many vibrant colours manage to draw you in, great dialogue and banter between characters with a meaningful story.

My personal favourite Disney animation.