Movie Night! The Sublime and... the other one...

Apologies for the brief radio silence yesterday. I'm not going to lie, I was asleep for a large chunk of it and then I was at my daughter's birthday party for another large chunk. That's all just scene setting though ;o) The chunk that we're here for is the bit where I sat in my chair and watched a couple of movies; one a re-watch (albeit for the first time a number of years) and the other one a random find on Prime. Let me tell you about them...


'Assault on Precinct 13' (1976)

A Highway Patrol Officer, two criminals and a station secretary defend a defunct Los Angeles Precinct office against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang bent on revenge...

I first watched 'Assault on Precinct 13' years ago, at college, and seem to remember sitting through it but not really getting into it as much as I'd hoped. It's funny how things can change a few years (okay, a number of years, damn I'm old) down the line... 'Assault on Precinct 13' is currently free on Prime so I thought I'd give it another go and... Bloody hell, it's good and funnily enough, for all the reasons that were a blocker the last time round.

'Assault on Precinct 13' doesn't have a lot of plot to it's name and really doesn't care, choosing instead to really lean into that air of uncertainty and go for a 'things just happen and it's up to unsuspecting people to either take a stand or die' approach that really works. I loved the fact that the people in the precinct had no idea why they were under fire and the reason was not only right in front of them but catatonic through shock. Because of this, 'Assault on Precinct 13' becomes a murderously tense affair, that I really got into this time round. I'm looking forward to watching it again, I probably won't leave it so long this time.


'Blades' (1989)

Somewhere in New Jersey, a killer lawnmower stalks a small town's gold course...

When I saw that blurb on Prime, I just knew that every other film I was considering (okay, 'Saw X', 'What Lies Below' and 'Cobweb') would have to wait until I'd watched 'Blades'. And... It was alright but clearly not as funny as it wanted to be which isn't so good when you're selling yourself as a horror comedy. Maybe it's just me... There were some funny moments, just not enough of them.

What I will say though is that any film that sets out to send up 'Jaws', and the shark is a killer lawnmower, gets my time and respect, even if it doesn't work, and the good news for 'Blades' is that it really does work here. I won't go into too much detail but the film is really faithful to the 'Jaws' plot and there are loads of moments where you go, 'hang on, that happened in...' I enjoyed that, especially in the climactic moments.

Not a great film then (certainly not as compelling a watch as 'Assault on Precinct 13') but 'Blades' had its moments and those proved to be enough for me :o)

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