'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

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furbicide
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3951 Post by furbicide » Fri May 24, 2019 3:38 am

Well, yes, but I do find LC's visceral reaction to depictions of meat-eating interesting, in that it's something that 90+% of viewers would never even think to notice – whereas, if you are concerned with animal rights, or even just think for a second about the gruesome reality of what meat is (dismembered corpses), then that is totally something that I understand could be distressing. And I say that as a non-vegetarian. So while a lot of the "vegan alert" warnings are funny and OTT, I think they do speak to a disconnect between two fundamentally different perceptions of reality, and I'm not all that certain that us meat-eaters are on the right side of it.

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Never Cursed
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3952 Post by Never Cursed » Thu Jun 06, 2019 8:45 pm

Behold, Jezebel spits out the most stunningly useless piece of film criticism to ever exist (the link is to an archived version of the site, so you don't have to feel bad about giving this clickbait a click)

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domino harvey
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3953 Post by domino harvey » Thu Jun 06, 2019 8:48 pm

Literally the first three random actors mentioned are well-respected and I would say irrefutably talented, this is surely just trolling. No need to keep reading

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DarkImbecile
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3954 Post by DarkImbecile » Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:04 pm

Can’t argue with the reasoning behind the choices, though

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domino harvey
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3955 Post by domino harvey » Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:07 pm

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Jack Kubrick
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3956 Post by Jack Kubrick » Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:20 pm

Jezebel is clearly trolling with some of those inclusions on the list. If there were any real criticism of these actors written by the columnists who penned down this easy-grab clickbait I could at least forgive the provocative title. With just random listing actors from as varied as Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams the writer just draw down a list of actors she seems to hold a grudge against.


I will be the first to defend Nic Cage as a talented actor who just picks garbage projects, but that's a separate topic for another day.

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domino harvey
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3957 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jun 24, 2019 3:35 pm

A Blu-Ray.com forum member gives his dissertation on why he won’t be picking up the BFI Alan Clarke set
I’m sure I’d love it – it would be a sexy box set of unnecessary excess, providing a look of luxury to my exquisite, bespoke, solid oak shelves, already brimming with magnificent titles.

I’m definitely sure I don’t need it… a small (or big thing, depending on disposable income versus personal desire) detail of which I was cognisant 20 years ago but ignored 9/10 times that inner voice of reason. Don’t get me wrong or misunderstand any of the following. Had we been where we are now with this technology 20 years ago, I would have been busy begging, robbing and stealing to ensure the funds are in place for a pre-order.

Frankly, now I just don’t want it. Saying I don’t want it, and meaning it, too, is not a statement I make lightly, or with any hint of derision. The few people who know what films and content make me tick would find my view very much out of character.

I was a child of the ‘70s. They were my formative years and music and books didn’t even enter the equation until the ‘80s because I discovered film in the ‘70s. Truthfully, it was a lot more than discovery, it was more like a sledgehammer landing on my head. What I saw changed my entire personal outlook and worldview, all in an afternoon following school. I found the house empty when I got home, switched on the VHS player thinking I was getting whatever my thing was. What followed was a chance / unintended viewing of two features that should not have been left in the VHS player, thanks to my absent-minded father. He frequently borrowed films from the next door neighbour whose pastime was building a massive library of high quality VHS cassettes of pirated titles... and not just any old popcorn fare.

At the tender age of 9, I sat down to watch whatever it was I thought was recorded for me, and instead was exposed to an uninterrupted, double-bill of Wes Craven’s Last House On the Left and Seka For Christmas; a hardcore but classy porn flick … both completely uncut.

It was a brave new world, and it was a brave new me. Brave enough for me to pop in on my neighbour in secret and ask for more of the same. He agreed provided not a word be said to my mum and dad. Next up, I was watching I Spit On Your Grave and Deep Throat. I didn’t understand my neighbour had a weird sense of suitable double-bills and as I grew acquainted with more of his collection, my hope that he just fancied some sauce after the main dish, were put to rest when he reluctantly let me borrow Emanuelle In America. I can’t name the other film here as it’s a moderated forum, and while I didn’t know at the time which film he was reluctant to let me borrow it, later I learned it was both. Overlooking my neighbour’s oddball billing of harsh horror with hardcore porn, I kept silent, mainly out of ignorance. Even though I felt something was wrong, I wasn’t doing anything to rock the boat. Going by what I saw over the course of two summers, I realise he was a bit of a sicko but not misguided in the way programmers who put out Agustí Villaronga’s masterpiece Tras el cristal on the festival circuit billing it as a gay interest title! Aside from being almost unbearable to watch, it serves as a hard-hitting antidote to the slew of Nazi soft porn films Europe was churning out in the ‘70s.

The forbidden fruit I was privileged with, made every horror film fan outside my circle of friends, green with envy. In my first year of comprehensive school, I loved to eavesdrop on the horror film / fan conversations of sixth-formers, and tell them Friday the 13th was derivative of Bay of Blood, and they should go find films by Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento, Sergio Martino, Luigi Bazzoni, Ruggero Deodato, Umberto Lenzi, Mariano Baino, Aristide Massaccesi – aka – Joe D'Amato, Fernando Arrabal, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Walerian Borowczyk… it’s far from an exhaustive list but these names are worthy of mention because these are the filmmakers that trail-blazed the industry, defined genres and dispensed with them. Their groundwork was for the most part, fertile soil that lazy studios and filmmakers pillaged to regurgitate unending cop-offs; spewing riffs and remakes creating more than enough bilge to create a environmental hazard.

I was never really concerned with VHS and LD, so it wasn’t until DVD arrived that I found myself embarking on my second cinematic rite of passage. An appetite for the regular diet of every dodgy, banned horror; exploitation; transgressive (and sometimes illegal) material I was fed as a pre-teen, came to life again with DVD. Now, not only could I find pristine prints of favourite films I shouldn’t even have had such a long list of, but all sorts of titles considered ‘lost’ were coming out. Movies became the first interest and pastime that stuck.

I wasn’t much for VHS because of its bulk but mainly the prohibitive cost of tracking down pre-certification titles. The advent of DVD and a healthy disposable income turned the pastime into an obsession, that to a far lesser degree remains. In my 20s and 30s all of these films were merely guilty pleasures. Of course, it took a good deal of time for me to understand their true value in terms of history, relevance, context, and influence. The past few years, cinematic gems of atrocity (as I like to call them) that were once a fun pastime are becoming more of an endurance test. I think this tells me much about my immaturity and sense of adventure as a very young man and proves that taste can and does change. I find certain films harder to sit through than the heady days of the late ‘90s, when the true cinephile / movie-buff / scholar, rejoiced because the tools and connections needed to become an effective hound had arrived. It was about living for the hunt; researching every reliable source to track down the best blood before going in for the kill… whatever the cost (I miss you, XploitedDVD and Sazuma), and more importantly, to see whatever they want to see.

In that sense “Last House” has been brought to home video in excised prints, each time getting closer to an uncut or complete form, and probably had more home video releases in the UK alone that times the BBFC took their scissors to it. It is, in my opinion a film more vital than ever. I’m sure now that it isn’t regarded as particularly ‘strong’ or even offensive by some. If any horror / exploitation film fans take such a view, clearly they lack the wherewithal to accurately gauge the impact and controversy of earlier works against harsher standards that have governed a climate over the past decade where pushing limits and boundaries has come at the cost of forgetting morals and abandoning substance.

Boundary pushing in film is only one element; along with other media, the gradual death of mainstream news media, have converged as the agents responsible for broadening the serious problem of desensitisation. (Film is never the only thing to blame). My pre-adolescent, first experience in film could have been damaging. Instead, it has given me a more ‘Cronenbergian’ approach to life. The desire to explore the dark side of film has served me well, broadened my beliefs; finding curiosity in my inner and outer world; given rise to thought-provoking questions and tricky topics. If anyone thinks film can’t harm, educate yourself and read David Kerekes & David Slater, “Killing For Culture: From Edison to ISIS: A New History Of Death On Film”.

Thankfully, film didn’t damage me. Instead it became extremely important to me at a very early age, shaping and moulding a world that in my eyes, could be, or had the room to be more malleable – something, my academic tutors never thought to advise. Thankfully, the movies taught me then, and they teach me now. It was thanks to horror movies – the good, the bad and the ugly ones – that led me to be a film student, and subsequently a student of philosophy. This in turn led me to the work of writers, directors and filmmakers that dealt with the reality of a world filled with real horror. People like Alan Clarke, Roy Minton, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, Peter Mullan. With so many good films yet to be seen, I’d rather spend £150 on BD titles I’ve yet to discover. The “Dissent and Disruption” box set has little to offer me I haven’t seen or want to. Also, going by BD offerings of pre ‘80s TV productions, I’ve seen little by way quality to justify the cost. For PQ alone, the recent BD release of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy has to be the most appalling I’ve seen yet with my CE DVD actually being streets ahead of the BD, which is something I hoped to never say. I also tire of director box sets. This is a rare example of being definitive as there are only a handful of standalone titles.

The arrival of DVD resulted in the rise of large studios dusting off their back catalogues. Boutique labels sprang up; availability was no longer a major hindrance. When the home video market exploded during the mid Noughties, at one point I made it a mission to track down that every cult; classic; horror; thriller; or significant work of world cinema and documentary of the 1970s. I adopted a monthly criteria for my buying roster; one month it would be directors; the next month focusing on a specific year; the next a genre, etc. Now I buy what I really want. I don’t try to fill the missing spine numbers of the Criterion Collection; I don’t buy every release from Arrow, or Shout! Factory because I know full well, most of that stuff will sit on the shelf, opened but unwatched, because the truth is cult films really are an acquired taste, and even in the world of cult films, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

My tastes have vastly broadened over the past decade even though I remain firmly entrenched on periphery of mainstream borders, and I always will. In spite of that, my overall library of approx. 700 VHS; approx. 75 LD; just over 9,500 DVD; approaching 3,000 BD and 9 UHD, is made up of more than half of 1970s feature films. The release of Scum by Powerhouse, Indicator series is one of those ‘no-brainers’ for me. Incidentally, I just received mine as I’m posting this... issue 2,410. It’s a great looking set, and even as I fawn over this wonderful new edition, I still spare a thought for my copy on VHS that remains buried at the bottom of a box hidden in an alcove. The DVD incarnations (of which I know I have at least 2) are neatly stacked in accessible storage boxes. The Indicator release will not sit alongside my Odeon BD release, which is a fine one that features a two-part documentary worth the price of admission on its own. That’s quite something considering Odeon aren’t lauded for quantity and depth when it comes to supplements but they never sought to be the Criterion Collection or Arrow Video to begin with.


By the way, I have the TV version. That’s why I wrote that still need to hold on to my Prism Direct/Leisure CE.


I will pass (not begrudgingly) on the “Dissent and Disruption” release. Another reason is Alan Clarke’s work holds limited appeal to me, now. I’m old enough to remember (only just) the “Plays for Britain” or Fast Hands, 1976) , one episode that was supposed to be a TV series. My lack of enthusiasm for Clarke is by no means a criticism of his work, though I have to admit there is no desire to watch Rita, Sue and Bob Too for the 7th, perhaps 8th time. This writer views – literally and figuratively – regular repeat viewings of many features, twice annually as mandatory. As it happens Scum and Made in Britain are on that list. I own the latter on two DVD releases and am not concerned about having the latter on BD. The Blue Underground release is perfectly adequate for my UHD set-up.

We change, though… maybe not all of us but certainly more of us than are willing to, or comfortably concede. Spending habits change, as do viewing habits. Sometimes we watch the same film over and over, and sometimes that’s the right thing for us to do as individuals. Sometimes, though, we watch the same film over and over, and it’s not a good choice. We flog all sorts of dead horses, for all sorts of reasons, and often we do it for years for no other reason that an innate or misplaced sense of duty; nostalgia, which is an emotion that frequently loses relevance.

Mike Leigh, I still absolutely love. Aside from a handful of works, Alan Clarke’s body of work looks, sounds and feels as old as it is, and yes I know that sounds harsh. His work is still important but with only a few exceptions, I’m afraid I can’t say for me the majority of remains relevant or interesting. I think the main reason for that is due to Clarke never being much of a writer. He was always on the lookout for a topic to bring to the screen but never sure what to tackle, until someone came to him with something, or he read something himself. He was also torn between wanting make good TV and good film. That’s not to say film directors need to write their own stories and / or screenplays to make good films. That said it does help.

In conclusion, this is a great set for newbies as well as Clarke’s many enthusiasts, though its price might put it out of reach of those who want it the most. The fact these were UK TV productions broadcast in PAL format passes as good enough reason for the transfers to be flagged with a 50Hz signal preserving the PAL runtime, however, I take exception to anything released on HD not being flagged for progressive playback.

I used to be a completist. In many ways I still am. There was a time when this set would have been compulsory. Even now, I will double-dip but reasons to do so must meet tougher, yet conversely forgiving criteria. It can’t be simply down to the desire to add another limited edition, or opt for a re-release unless there’s something in the set that compels me. Things that seem vital such as new restorations don’t always cut it.

Criterion, like all the studios and film labels have fouled in the past. Given the level of dedication Criterion claim to bring us the greatest films from the around the world, I find it surprising that even now they’re fouling up. I saw Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Cercle Rouge at the Scala. I pre-ordered the Criterion DVD, and at that time conversion rates were horrendous… it set me back almost £50. When it arrived, I watched it straight away and all I can remember thinking is “WTF have Criterion done to this masterpiece?” It isn’t an isolated incident.

I’ve clocked 30 years plus of seeing then buying – and buying then seeing as many films as possible. As time goes by I try and see as many that I consider to be personally worthwhile. I no longer smell the percolation of marketing spiel enticing me to shell out for yet another version or re-release. I make exceptions but try looking for the next title that will complement my library… something I haven’t yet seen. To that end, I’ve gone out of my way to avoid any information about Jordan Peele’s Us. Starting to get fed-up that no release date is in sight.

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soundchaser
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3958 Post by soundchaser » Mon Jun 24, 2019 3:42 pm

"It was a brave new world, and it was a brave new me" is some prime sub-Out-of-the-Past musing.

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JSC
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3959 Post by JSC » Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:27 pm

Too bad. Someone should tell him the Clarke set is one of the BFI's best releases.
Are you absolutely sure you don't want to buy it?

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domino harvey
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3960 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:28 pm

Do you really want to engage him and run the risk of him answering with another response that needs pagination?

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JSC
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3961 Post by JSC » Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:34 pm

Probably not...but then why would someone write something of
that length if he wasn't really trying to convince himself (if only on
a subconscious level) that he must click that order button!

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Big Ben
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3962 Post by Big Ben » Mon Jun 24, 2019 5:00 pm

This reads like one of those parody copypastas that show up from time to time. Does he really think it was necessary to divulge all that information?

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tenia
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3963 Post by tenia » Mon Jun 24, 2019 5:57 pm

I do think it was vital to learn he had a neighbor giving a 9yo double bills like Last House On the Left and Seka For Christmas (a hardcore but classy porn flick) or I Spit On Your Grave and Deep Throat.


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Big Ben
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3965 Post by Big Ben » Sun Jun 30, 2019 2:10 pm

That's quite a post. My favorite part is when he deems something isn't quality because it didn't make the top ten list on a random Youtube video. That's incredible.

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aox
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3966 Post by aox » Sun Jun 30, 2019 9:41 pm

Big Ben wrote:
Sun Jun 30, 2019 2:10 pm
That's quite a post. My favorite part is when he deems something isn't quality because it didn't make the top ten list on a random Youtube video. That's incredible.
At least two people who read that post liked it:
Thanks given by:
Arawn (Today), Jobla (Today)

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zedz
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3967 Post by zedz » Mon Jul 01, 2019 11:33 pm

JSC wrote:
Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:27 pm
Too bad. Someone should tell him the Clarke set is one of the BFI's best releases.
Are you absolutely sure you don't want to buy it?
My speculation is that this is actually OUR Alan Clarke, who finally saw one of the many Clarke films that isn't about aggressive young men beating one another up and decided the director wasn't really his cup of tea.

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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3968 Post by Jack Kubrick » Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:03 pm

Image

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domino harvey
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3969 Post by domino harvey » Tue Jul 23, 2019 3:20 pm

And they say film criticism is dead 🙄

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colinr0380
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3970 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Jul 23, 2019 3:47 pm

Although The Hollywood Reporter is forgetting that DiCaprio did star in Critters 3 back in the day, as his first feature film role!

(It has been a while since I last saw it back in my early teens but I remember liking Critters 3, mostly because I love claustrophobic 'trapped in a building' films. And for that running gag with the tough lady who tries to escape at one point and falls off the roof, so the other characters think that she might be dead. But it turns out that she is hanging from some wire by her ankles just a couple of feet off of the pavement, and every so often from that point on we cut back to her trying to swing herself ever closer to a payphone to call for help, and just failing to grab it before we cut away again!)

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Boosmahn
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3971 Post by Boosmahn » Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:14 pm

From a Letterboxd review of American Honey (great film, by the way):
Meanwhile, around her, the white kids sing along to rap music and use AAVE at times, oblivious to the implications of cultural appropriation (why would they be otherwise, of course, they aren't amateur film critics...). ... Do you, libertarian, see virtue here? Do you, socialist, find this lack of agency in the illusorily free working class offensive? Do you, liberal, feel your heart bleed? Do you, conservative, dismiss this as distortion and melodrama? Do you queer children notice the queerness here (are they making out by that bonfire? Did I see that right?)? Do you feminists recoil at the treatment the girls receive yet applaud the film for not flinching from showing it? Do you non-feminists not even notice the way the boys subtly harass, the way Jake crosses the line, the way the camera treats that one moment between him and Krystal (so grossly filmed, so directly filmed, so unnerving)? ... I see in this the soul-eater that is capitalism and its weapons patriarchy and white supremacy.
I get that different people have different interpretations, but I really don't think Andrea Arnold was going for that.
colinr0380 wrote:
Tue Jul 23, 2019 3:47 pm
It has been a while since I last saw it back in my early teens but I remember liking Critters 3, mostly because I love claustrophobic 'trapped in a building' films.
Not to stray too far off topic here, but do you have any recommendations? If you haven’t seen them, The Stanford Prison Experiment and The Invitation are good "locked-door" thrillers.

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Big Ben
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3972 Post by Big Ben » Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:26 pm

Ira's tweets usually amount to a mixture of avoidance and sass because he really doesn't have much to contribute past telling someone to "Keep it."

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colinr0380
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3973 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Jul 23, 2019 5:07 pm

Boosmahn wrote:
Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:14 pm
colinr0380 wrote:
Tue Jul 23, 2019 3:47 pm
It has been a while since I last saw it back in my early teens but I remember liking Critters 3, mostly because I love claustrophobic 'trapped in a building' films.
Not to stray too far off topic here, but do you have any recommendations? If you haven’t seen them, The Stanford Prison Experiment and The Invitation are good "locked-door" thrillers.
A lot would be the standard ones such as of course Die Hard, but for a more obscure recommendation there was a great TV movie that came out in the wake of that: Trapped with Kathleen Quinlan (and directed by Fred Walton of When A Stranger Calls), where she plays an overworked executive trapped in a giant office building with a serial killer and having to play cat and mouse games throughout every single part of the building during one night, from penthouse to parking garage; from the floor that is under construction to dangling off the side of the building. It belies its TV movie origins really well and I'd love it if it got a disc release some time. It bears a bit of comparison to that recent film P2, especially in the car chase around the parking garage climax, but Trapped is a bit less skeezy (Quinlan never falls into the hands of her tormentor, for one thing) and more expansive and wide ranging throughout that building.

The other one is the Dean Koontz adaptation The Face of Fear, with Pam Dawber, though it is a bit wackier as the imbd plot description suggests:
imdb wrote:A killer traps an unarmed police detective and her husband, a former mountaineer with psychic powers, in a Manhattan office building.
Of course the mountaineering skills come in handy for an escape attempt from the building!

And whilst its not in a building per se, the best 'escape room' film is still probably Vincenzo Natali's Cube!

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DarkImbecile
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3974 Post by DarkImbecile » Tue Jul 23, 2019 7:26 pm

Jack Kubrick wrote:
Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:03 pm
Image
In response to that, came this:
Image

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domino harvey
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#3975 Post by domino harvey » Tue Jul 23, 2019 7:37 pm

The Internet was a mistake

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