Ex Machina - not for me. Found it off putting and not for the obvious reasons. It felt like a rather mean spirited empty rethink of portions of Blade Runner (and I find BR extremely depressing) Still, Oscar Isaac had a couple of funny moments and (wow that Bluebeard element with ... well never mind.) I think I'll be renting new movies and buying old ones for the foreseeable future (as I have been... but Ex Machina proved this.)
And the usual diet of Kung Fu movies lately. Celestial productions, help me I've rediscovered the Venom mob and am digging deeper into the Shaw Brothers catalog.
I'd seen Five (Deadly) Venoms as a teenager which strangely did not register while slightly lesser The Kid with the Golden Arm did. Nothing like making up for lost time. The former is a fun and entertaining movie even after you know who the mystery Venom is. The latter had one great standout fight, but misused the actor/martial artist playing the title character. I like it, but of the many films made with the fellows who played the Venoms, this is an occasional viewing. The nicest surprise was watching a crude digital bootleg the Shaw Brothers version of Sword Stained with Royal Blood. That was outstanding, very operatic, some amazing fights and easy to understand despite the convoluted story.
It is bumming me out that the only official dvd version available is the soon to be out of print region 3 Hong Kong blu. Since Robert Rodriguez' El Rey network showed this in March and the distributor are continuously releasing a healthy dose of SB films on iTunes, I can hope this is included in the next wave after the Brave Archer series etc. Ditto for the Secret Service in the Imperial Court.
I've seen and bought a ridiculous amount more (but thankfully due to coupon codes, gift cards and cancelling all future comic book pre-orders) I'm in a good place budget wise and in a great place film watching wise.
@twietee:
Buio Omega is NUTS. Very, very dark and mean spirited. One of the most bizarre and crazy Italian horrors. The lovely actress who played the blind blonde woman in The Beyond is the lead in this. I haven't seen it in some time (last year it was under $10 at Amazon U.S., guess it's getting scarce.)
The Jeckle one I've heard of, but do not think I've seen it.
Oh you might like this Martial Arts horror film, Human (Skin) Lanterns from 1982 I'm waiting on my copy but it sounds like a very off the trails mix of Murders in the Rue Morgue, giallos and one of the many Chinese hells (being skinned alive.) The soundtrack sounds giallo-like too through an Eastern filter. What little I've seen plays like a period piece Chinese Argento which has me all kinds of curious (despite my Italo horror burn out) Unfortunately the other film that plays like a Chinese version of Argento's Deep Red (Dreadnaught) is priced out of my budget now. I do think that's on YouTube though.
Glad you liked MMFR.