What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

poundapunnet wrote: »

I watched Toy Story 3 for the third time yesterday as my mother was watching it, thought I'd surely be immune to the emotions this go round but nope. It's the strongest of the bunch in my opinion, I've never seen another kids' film like it in terms of reducing grown ups to blubbering wrecks while still being very entertaining and appropriate for children, makes for a few jarring shifts in tone but overall a tricky balance finely managed. A film revolving around toys

escaping from a day-care centre

shouldn't be able to make you think about your own mortality, the nature of love and dependence and the gut-punch of letting go of childhood like that! Me and my mam had to take a break after the scene

where they've accepted being burnt in the incinerator

because she was too upset (she's terrible at sad films, can't do them at all). I had to convince her to watch the rest and stay for the credits to cheer herself up. An incredible way to wrap up the trilogy

I thought it was rubbish. I wasn't even entertained never mind emotionally moved. Don't get it at all.

Tony EH

'Peep Show'

Watched the entire show over the last two days. 48 episodes. Bloody hell.

Anyway, a brilliant example of comedy and apparently Channel 4's longest running comedy show ever. David Mitchel's character, Mark, is the quintessential "middle aged" 30 something nerd who's life just seems to get worse and worse, especially in the lurve dept. Jeremy (Robert Webb) is the endless hanger on. A leech that keeps on sucking the life-blood from a willing host. Both are great.

The close up POV camera and blurted audible thoughts of the two are an excellent device to pin a comedy show around and still works, even after 10 years.

Series 9 is out next year...or this year...or whatever...

poundapunnet

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I thought it was rubbish. I wasn't even entertained never mind emotionally moved. Don't get it at all.

Hmm, well each to their own I guess (you heartless bastard!:P), out of interest what did you think of the other two?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

poundapunnet wrote: »

Hmm, well each to their own I guess (you heartless bastard!:P), out of interest what did you think of the other two?

I know I saw the first one when it was originally released, I was quite young, but I don't have any strong feelings one way or the other on it, and I don't remember the second one at all, although I know I've seen it.

poundapunnet

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I know I saw the first one when it was originally released, I was quite young, but I don't have any strong feelings one way or the other on it, and I don't remember the second one at all, although I know I've seen it.

I think a lot of the impact of the third one is playing on the fact that a lot of people have such affection for the characters, and also that a lot of viewers who saw and loved the first two would have been kids when they first watched them, even the fact that Toy Story was made in 1995 makes me feel old and nostalgic and the third one played on that brilliantly. So if you didn't have that attitude going in I could see how it'd lose a lot of impact, you're just not the target demographic. And they're one of those things people give you stick for not liking so I get where you're coming from. And I'm not a hard sell as far as crying at films and overreacting completely goes, I actually went and dug out my old teddy yesterday :pac: which isn't a thing a grown woman should do no matter how good it is.

Mike Litoris

poundapunnet wrote: »

I think a lot of the impact of the third one is playing on the fact that a lot of people have such affection for the characters, and also that a lot of viewers who saw and loved the first two would have been kids when they first watched them, even the fact that Toy Story was made in 1995 makes me feel old and nostalgic and the third one played on that brilliantly. So if you didn't have that attitude going in I could see how it'd lose a lot of impact, you're just not the target demographic. And they're one of those things people give you stick for not liking so I get where you're coming from. And I'm not a hard sell as far as crying at films and overreacting completely goes, I actually went and dug out my old teddy yesterday :pac: which isn't a thing a grown woman should do no matter how good it is.

I didn't like 1 or 2 at all but loved 3. I was also a whinging mess after the incinerator scene.

poundapunnet

Mike Litoris wrote: »

I didn't like 1 or 2 at all but loved 3. I was also a whinging mess after the incinerator scene.

Yeah, but if you don't care for the first ones it'd be understandable to not be too messed up by the third. Even the things like the way the song and traditional play-scene at the start are used are deliberate callbacks to the earlier installments, though as a stand alone film I do think number three is the strongest and the one most aimed at adults

dark crystal

The Butler:

Lee Daniels' follow up to the murky The Paper Boy, sees Forest Whitaker star as Cecil Gaines, a son of slaves who goes on to become one of the longest serving butlers in the White House.

We follow his journey and that of his family through 8 Presidential terms (from Eisenhower to Reagan) and through the civil rights era, Vietnam, right up to South African apartheid.

Whitaker is excellent, as are the all star supporting cast, including Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr, Lenny Kravitz and Vanessa Redgrave. The Presidents on screen are played (with varying success) by Robin Williams, James Marsden, Liev Schreiber, John Cusack and Alan Rickman.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, well worth a watch.

8 out of 10.

Da Shins Kelly

The Toy Story trilogy is amazing as far as I'm concerned. People wax lyrical about Up all the time, but as far as I'm concerned that trilogy and Wall-E are the crowning achievements of Pixar.

Tony EH

I honestly cannot understand how anybody couldn't, at least, like Toy Story.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

The Toy Story trilogy is amazing as far as I'm concerned. People wax lyrical about Up all the time, but as far as I'm concerned that trilogy and Wall-E are the crowning achievements of Pixar.

I've tried watching Up a few times but have never been able to get into it. Wall-E is amazing on so many levels, in my opinion.

Tony EH wrote: »

I honestly cannot understand how anybody couldn't, at least, like Toy Story.

I don't hate it, I just never felt any real attachment to it as a child, and as someone pointed out, this is probably why the 3rd one didn't leave me an emotional disaster zone. When I watched the 3rd one I felt like it was deliberately trying to make me cry and I recognised all the moments where I was supposed to cry but I just didn't feel anything other than slight annoyance at their attempts at emotional manipulation

johnny_ultimate

The Toy Story trilogy is perilously close to perfect. Again, I'm exactly the right age for it (I saw the first in the cinema as a kid, and 9 year old me instantly promoted it to 'best film evar'), but it's a case study in how to craft a series of careful, intelligent sequels. Each film builds on the thematic scope and characterisation of the previous entries, without losing the humour, warmth and excitement. It goes without saying that to get the most out of it you must feel an attachment to the characters and situations, but for me each entry ups the emotional stakes dramatically to achieve what I feel are genuinely some of the most poignant moments in cinema history - it'd be manipulative if they weren't so hard-earned and stylistically consistent. If anything, young kids these days won't ever be able to enjoy the full scope of the Toy Story arc when all three films - and the middling short spin-offs that have been produced since the conclusion of the feature trilogy - at their fingertips. With perhaps only the 'Before...' series as a contemporary comparison, it's one of the few series of films that has used time - both in real-world terms and internal timeline - as such a powerful, urgent storytelling tool.

Watched Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life today - a film that had been sitting at the top of my to watch pile for months, and was finally compelled to watch it following the death of one of its stars (Juanita Moore) yesterday, alongside the mention of Sirk's work in the Blu-ray thread. Fifty-five years on it still stands as a brave, nuanced tackling of challenging subject matter for a mainstream studio film - single parenthood and racial tension & identity most prominently. It's a rather dark film, regularly sidestepping expected conclusions and developments to tell a more intriguing story or explore the characters' psychology in other ways. It's also subtlety subversive in the way: for example, it twists traditional concepts of a 'protagonist', instead taking turns to put different characters in the spotlight. It is famous as one of Hollywood's great melodramas, and I have to admit some of its more overblown emotional moments lost me, especially in the final stretch (although the funeral sequence at the end is memorable stuff, especially the final moment shared between three main characters). But generally its accessible, populist tone is a tool Sirk uses to deliver a film that's altogether more challenging, more accomplished and more timeless than any soap opera.

Sad Professor

If you are seeking out more Sirk, I’d recommend All I Desire and There’s Always Tomorrow, both in b&w and staring the always magnificent Barbara Stanwyck. The latter is a particularly savage attack on ‘50s American values. It has one of those obviously studio-mandated endings but it’s as bitter as gall.

poundapunnet

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

The Toy Story trilogy is perilously close to perfect. Again, I'm exactly the right age for it (I saw the first in the cinema as a kid, and 9 year old me instantly promoted it to 'best film evar'), but it's a case study in how to craft a series of careful, intelligent sequels. Each film builds on the thematic scope and characterisation of the previous entries, without losing the humour, warmth and excitement. It goes without saying that to get the most out of it you must feel an attachment to the characters and situations, but for me each entry ups the emotional stakes dramatically to achieve what I feel are genuinely some of the most poignant moments in cinema history - it'd be manipulative if they weren't so hard-earned and stylistically consistent. If anything, young kids these days won't ever be able to enjoy the full scope of the Toy Story arc when all three films - and the middling short spin-offs that have been produced since the conclusion of the feature trilogy - at their fingertips. With perhaps only the 'Before...' series as a contemporary comparison, it's one of the few series of films that has used time - both in real-world terms and internal timeline - as such a powerful, urgent storytelling tool.

what he said, that's what I was trying to say! Me no talk good.

I'm watching written on the wind later coincidentally, must be a Sirk-y kind of a day.

Sad Professor

Written on the Wind is much the same territory (and even the same cast) as The Tarnished Angels. It’s worth watching just for Dorothy Malone. She’s ridiculously hot and crazy and acts Bacall off the screen.

Chareth Cutestory

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane was on TG4 earlier. I had it on in the background while pottering about the house, but ended up sitting down to watch the whole film. I'd never seen it before and was hooked.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I watched Gnomeo and Juliet (recorded off BBC last night)

I was disappointed. It's quite a clever idea, Romeo and Juliet but with garden gnomes, plenty of scope for a great story but it just falls short on everything it does. Shame.

MilanPan!c

Watched Rush.

After all the glowing reviews I was very excited, and......





Not disappointed.

Very, very good.

Not exactly for me as I don't care about car racing, but you can't really fault the movie itself.

Fantastic direction, very good acting (especially for fans of Green Wing!) and an interesting story.

Huzzah Ron Howard.

Saying that, I was surprised to discover that the two main characters were actually flat mates for a while. Funny that's left out of the film.

hefferboi

MilanPan!c wrote: »

Watched Rush.

After all the glowing reviews I was very excited, and......





Not disappointed.

Very, very good.

Not exactly for me as I don't care about car racing, but you can't really fault the movie itself.

Fantastic direction, very good acting (especially for fans of Green Wing!) and an interesting story.

Huzzah Ron Howard.

Saying that, I was surprised to discover that the two main characters were actually flat mates for a while. Funny that's left out of the film.

Yeah, I looked it up after I watched it as well. I wasn't that surprised as you could see the respect they had for each other. I wonder did the scene where he kicked the ****e out of the journo really happen?

MilanPan!c

hefferboi wrote: »

Yeah, I looked it up after I watched it as well. I wasn't that surprised as you could see the respect they had for each other. I wonder did the scene where he kicked the ****e out of the journo really happen?

It's def a movie that makes you wonder just how much if it actually happened.

budgemook

Mandela: The long walk to freedom.

Caught the screening of this on Monday in liffey valley. As a fan of biopics I wasn't disappointed. Excellent performances from the two leads and a good story told well. One criticism is that it became a little boring a couple of times. Odd considering how much needed to be told in such a short time.

The secret life of Walter Mitty.

I like these types of quirky movies and enjoyed this too. As a bit of a day dreamer / spacer the movie had me questioning my own tendencies to drift off into my own world from time to time. Some great scenery and pretty good characters. Once or twice they threw in some slapstick comedy which I didn't care for.

Both well worth a watch and no better month for keeping out of the pub and going to the cinema. Looking forward to American Hustle, 12 years a slave and the new Coen brothers one.

poundapunnet

The King's Speech: Fluff, but fluff of a pretty high order. Not an unpredictable thing in it plot or script wise but well shot and very well acted. Take Colin Firth out and I'd say it would collapse, but that's not to take away from how brilliant his performance is. Geoffrey Rush and Guy Pearce are reliably watchable, didn't care for the score but it was effectively and sparingly used, have to love the costumes, some bits were very genuinely touching and it's just the right length. Hard to have strong feelings about it either way but a grand way to spend an evening, though it does mean it's too late to watch written on the wind now

Judgement Day

"Bean" (1997) on DVD - part of the Mr.Bean Suitcase Edition Box Set - complete with Teddy (!) which I bought my youngest son for Christmas. Possibly a tad on the yawny side but there are some classic moments of Rowan Atkinson madness. 9/10

DazMarz

Judgement Day wrote: »

"Bean" (1997) on DVD - part of the Mr.Bean Suitcase Edition Box Set - complete with Teddy (!) which I bought my youngest son for Christmas. Possibly a tad on the yawny side but there are some classic moments of Rowan Atkinson madness. 9/10

One of my favourite moments in film history is when David Langley (Peter McNichol) freaks when he sees Bean's interpretation of Whistler's Mother:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7S-xAql5Xg

Bipolar Joe

I love Mr. Bean. Serious soft spot.

Riddick

Another soft spot. PB was a great film, tCoR was a good-bad movie for me, and shone a light on the character that made him more than just a murderer. Riddick was a good return to form. It still looks like the sets and CG was done by the same guy from Farscape, but I can forgive movies like this for it. The series is a clear passion project for Twohy and Diesel.

Some hammy acting and weird dialogue. I loved the sabre-toothed zebra dog. Not a whole lot to say about this one, really! It is what it is. I really enjoy the character, and I'm hoping there's another one or two like there's talk of. I don't believe for a second that this was meant to be a series, though. There's so many conflicting stories, and some people involved seem to be attempting to retcon history. Either way, I'm glad they didn't let the fact the tCoR bombed put them off. At 46, Diesel is getting on in life. Let's hope they keep it all going.

MJ23

Watched the new Wolverine movie today, and Watchmen.

Wolverine - Much better than the last one, some great action in it. I would have missed the bit at the very end only for I was seeing to the fire and had to rewind it. I'd give it 7 out of 10.

Watchmen - Nothing like I had anticipated. A very different type of superhero movie. The Dr. Manhattan stuff is brilliant. I'd give it 6 out of 10.

Going to watch Mud later on. The reviews for it look promising.

zx complex

Watched The Desolation of Smaug last night, Excellent action movie but nothing like the book at all if that is what you are expecting.

The Wolverine: a lot more violent than your average Marvel effort, I really liked it.

Man of Steel: I loved it, boo if you want.

Anchorman 2: Funny when it is not being overly misogynistic. Great cameos.

zx complex

Immortals in 3D: Awesome action and stunning visuals.
The Gods vs Titans scene in 3D is just pure class, well worth the price of the disc.

kryogen

A Serbian Film

Avoid like the ****ing plague. I get it, I understand what the film was trying to do but this kind of trash should be allowed nowhere near civilization.

Disgusting.

ButtersSuki

kryogen wrote: »

A Serbian Film

Avoid like the ****ing plague. I get it, I understand what the film was trying to do but this kind of trash should be allowed nowhere near civilization.

Disgusting.

A true Christmas Day Film for the whole family! :rolleyes::D