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Torture Garden (1967)
Torture Garden (1967)
1967 | Horror
6
7.0 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Yet another Amicus horror anthology in which a mysterious stranger tells a mixed bag of actors their fortunes, all of which turn out to be grim. Michael Bryant gets over-familiar with his dead uncle's cat, Beverley Adams learns the dark secret of the Hollywood A-list, Barbara Ewing falls for a man who loves his piano, and it's mutual, and Jack Palance discovers that Peter Cushing owns the ultimate Edgar Allen Poe collectible.

Written by Robert Bloch, which may explain why it's a bit less cartoony than some of these films, and the final twist is not actually the usual one. However, the decision to go with four stories rather than the five or so does slow the film down a bit and there's a bit of meandering about in some of them before we get to the punchline. In the end, there are some good bits: Burgess Meredith's performance is fun and the moment where one character is attacked by a musical instrument has a sort of kitsch grandeur to it. But other films in this series as livelier and more fun. (I should say: not much torture, even less gardening.)
  
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David McK (3786 KP) rated The Old Guard (2020) in Movies

Jul 14, 2020 (Updated Apr 11, 2021)  
The Old Guard (2020)
The Old Guard (2020)
2020 | Action, Fantasy
Netflix's newest (at the time of writing) action-adventure, starring Charlize Theron as the leader of a group of immortals (whose immortality can come and go at any point) that have been alive for centuries, if not (in her case) for millennia. Think a less Scottish Highlander, and with the immortals working together rather than trying to chop each others heads off.

Apparently based on a relatively-new comic series, you can also tell that this is a straight-to-TV affair, with it not *quite* having the budget or flair of a Hollywood film. It's also unclear just what happens if any of these immortals lose a limb - does it grow back?

Anyway, the driving force behind this is the discovery of a new immortal, just after the other's last mission goes sideways, with Big Pharma - in a plot development that will surprise no one - now out to see if they can extract the secret of their immortality from the group (who don't know it themselves).

Also definitely set up for a sequel: if it is half as good as this one, I'll be watching.
  
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Austin Garrick recommended M (Movie) (1931) in Movies (curated)

 
M (Movie) (1931)
M (Movie) (1931)
1931 |
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Had to at least include one from the master Hitchcock. Being the huge De Palma fan that I am, it would be tough to not be a huge Hitchcock fan as well. Bronwyn loves Ingrid Bergman and was the person to introduce me to Notorious when we were younger. What I love about this film is that you get this sincere, Old Hollywood romantic chemistry between Bergman and Cary Grant, in addition to some classic Hitchcock greatness. We project films while we write and record, and this film played a lot during the making of our debut album. Fritz Lang is another one of the greats who I had to have on this list. I first discovered his films through Giorgio Moroder’s 1984 restoration of Metropolis, whose iconic image of the robot on the soundtrack and posters always intrigued me as a child, and once I eventually saw the film, it quickly became one of my all-time favorites. Most who have seen it, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, and M will agree that Fritz Lang is one of the best to have ever done it, but perhaps no one film has earned him that reputation more than M."

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