What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Mike Litoris

aidankkk wrote: »

Watched Rush last night, and it is very seriously over-rated.. Very poor race scenes (cars way to slow), fake sounding accents etc. Really they should have just used the real race scenes. Still a decent enough film but one that will be looked back on in a few years wondering what all the fuss is about. (which puts it in the lord of the rings and batman club for me)

Agree on the race scenes....what were they thinking? The CGI was awful looking.

Thought the film was less than average. There are a couple of documentaries on the Battle and just on Hunt himself. They are more exciting to watch imo. Maybe being a fan knowing the detailed history doesn't help.

budgemook

budgemook wrote: »

Has been done to death in this thread already but King of the Travellers is just finishing on TV3. Watched it again as there's nothing else on.

Lord Jaysus it's awful ****e.

I spent 12 hours in A&E yesterday and the worst past wasn't the overpowering smell of wee, or the constant crying of children or the fact that I was there so long but rather the fact that King of the Travellers was playing on the TV in the waiting area. It was excruciating having to listen to the god awful dialogue and catch the odd glimpse of the ineptness of the filmmakers.

tunguska

Life of Pi

I really enjoyed this. Didnt expect to like it so much, I remember when it was released the reviews seemed to be fairly divergent. Amazing photography, you could really watch it with the sound turned down.

Knight & Day

Tom Cruise gets a lot of stick and sometimes you can forget that hes a really good actor. Maybe it was down to having zero positive expectations but I really enjoyed it. I think Cruise is a great actor but he's also got great comic timing, which is something that cant be said about a lot of actors. It was a bit of a flop and they hate it over in RT but I'd go see a sequel.

kryogen

Mike Litoris wrote: »

Agree on the race scenes....what were they thinking? The CGI was awful looking.

Thought the film was less than average. There are a couple of documentaries on the Battle and just on Hunt himself. They are more exciting to watch imo. Maybe being a fan knowing the detailed history doesn't help.

It wouldnt help, it was made to appeal to as broad an audience as possible and was good for what it was

ButtersSuki

I keep saying this every time someone mentions Rush on here, watch Le Mans people! Just frickin' do it!! For a movie made 43 years ago it has all the best race driving scenes of any movie ever (as it was real, long before CGI was even thought of) and the sound is just incredible - especially on a half decent system. Put it on for the old man at Christmas and his face just lit up, he thought it was the coolest thing ever. The Blu Ray is almost always on offer on amazon.co.uk as part of their 3 for £17 promo; trust me, it's worth every cent.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

the red shoes

i had no idea anton walbrook (i dont think I like knowing his real name, he'll always be theo to me) was in this. was a nice surprise when it started. I got it ages ago on the strength of a matter of life & death and colonel blimp but was never quite willing to sit through a movie about ballet. Loved it, loved every minute of it. would watch it again now if it wasn't too late in the day. I'm reading roger eberts review of it now (well, I started to) and I had no idea the ballet sequence was 17 minutes long. It obviously felt longer than 5 or 10 minutes but I wouldn't have been able guess at all how long it took, I was just sucked into it from beginning to end.

I wasn't 100% behind the ending..

obviously it had to happen, the movie wouldn't have made any sense if it didn't but I thought it was going to end on a much more sinister note of vicky hobbling down the hall towards the stage still controlled by the red shoes, with her eventual death implied. Maybe a final scene of julian on the train tracks looking broken and boris in his theater box looking just the evil side of inscrutable. I guess that would have made them the focus of the film instead of her, *shrug* it is what it is.

saw in the credits that scorsese was involved in the restoration, man's obviously an archers fan if I remember right he was involved somehow in the american dvd release of "stairway to heaven".


--edit
julian craster *was* conductor 71 in life and death, I bloody knew it.

GAAman

Tonight I watched Akira for the first time in a long time. Well that's not strictly true I got this on Amazon a good few years back but it was the dubbed version and it really killed it for me knowing that Kaneda's voice was basically Leonardo from the original animated Turtles, so I don't think I even finished it that time.

I managed to get the real deal with english subtitles today and I was transported back to being a kid. My mam taped this on bbc2 for me when I was between 8 and 11 years old. I remember telling her about it and wanting her to tape it, still think if she knew what was on it I never would have seen it :pac:

But watching it again made me realise where my love for Manga, Asian films and dystopian future based films stemmed from. Akira is an amazing storyline and the visuals are still unreal to this day.

Let's face it, any kid who saw this wanted this bike something fierce!!

safetyboy

A single shot

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1540741/

really enjoyed it.

MilanPan!c

GAAman wrote: »

Tonight I watched Akira for the first time in a long time. Well that's not strictly true I got this on Amazon a good few years back but it was the dubbed version and it really killed it for me knowing that Kaneda's voice was basically Leonardo from the original animated Turtles, so I don't think I even finished it that time.

I managed to get the real deal with english subtitles today and I was transported back to being a kid. My mam taped this on bbc2 for me when I was between 8 and 11 years old. I remember telling her about it and wanting her to tape it, still think if she knew what was on it I never would have seen it :pac:

But watching it again made me realise where my love for Manga, Asian films and dystopian future based films stemmed from. Akira is an amazing storyline and the visuals are still unreal to this day.

Let's face it, any kid who saw this wanted this bike something fierce!!

I saw this - in Arkansas - at about 17 - in the cinema - at a midnight movie - untranslated. So impossible to follow, but still watched it al the way through....

Like you it set me on a path of loving Asian movies for years and years.

It's pretty radically different, but ... you should hunt down Aachi & Ssipak if you haven't yet... so weird, but really over the top in an Akira way...

McGrath5

Hunger

Finally got around to watching this, going to see 12 years a Slave in the next few days.
Really enjoyed it, Fassbender lost a scary amount of weight to play the role of Bobby Sands.
Really looking forward to 12 Years a Slave now.

constitutionus

went to see delivery man.

bizarre film as its marketed as a comedy and its anyting but. i enjoyed it dont get me wrong. it even brought a tear to me eye in several places.

but its nothing like the telly ads are trying to say it is. more sentimental drama than anything else with some light moments. ive never had such a hard time catagorising a film.

i can see ALOT of people being pissed for being sold a pup, but once you get passed the "its not a comedy" bit your left with a really nice heartfelt film.

7/10

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

A Prairie Home Companion


Robert Altman's last film about the last broadcast of a radio show after the station has been bought by some big company. A lot of big names in this and there's plenty of light humour and great musical numbers throughout. I didn't get the point of the lady in white though? I think it'd have been much better if they'd just left her out of it.

snow scorpion

Electric Horseman

God forgive me for saying something nice about Jane Fonda, but that woman had an amazing ass back in the mid-1970s.

FloatingVoter

snow scorpion wrote: »

Electric Horseman

God forgive me for saying something nice about Jane Fonda, but that woman had an amazing ass back in the mid-1970s.

You'll enjoy Klute then.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067309/

He'll be saying lots of nice things next.

Kylo Ren

In a world...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZHBjLFu5is

This was a bit of a random watch but I really enjoyed it. Lake Bell is hot and it has Demetri Martin. Good stuff.

kryogen

Have in a world on the box, was gonna watch it last night, ended up watching 5 episodes of The Shield instead!

Is it really worth giving it a go other then Bells hotness?

Kylo Ren

kryogen wrote: »

Have in a world on the box, was gonna watch it last night, ended up watching 5 episodes of The Shield instead!

Is it really worth giving it a go other then Bells hotness?

Have to finish the Shield myself. Started like a year ago and just stopped like 5 seasons in. Can't even remember why.

Ah it is. Very charming film and will be looking out for Bell's future work now.

Tony EH

snow scorpion wrote: »

Electric Horseman

God forgive me for saying something nice about Jane Fonda, but that woman had an amazing ass back in the mid-1970s.

It was even better in the 60's.

MilanPan!c

Watch Ender's Game - knowing nothing about it.

Very cool twist, but it was like watching the synopsis of a movie...

2/5

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

12 Years A Slave

I wrote long and rambling thoughts about this in the film's own thread so I'll just say here I thought it was amazing. Powerful, moving, thought provoking. A must see, but a only see once.

Goldstein

MilanPan!c wrote: »

Watch Ender's Game - knowing nothing about it.

Very cool twist

, but it was like watching the synopsis of a movie...

2/5

Spoiler alert there.

Knowing there's a twist is a spoiler as you spend the whole film second guessing what it is.

MilanPan!c

Goldstein wrote: »

Spoiler alert there.

Knowing there's a twist is a spoiler as you spend the whole film second guessing what it is.

Ehhhhhh... If someone doesn't watch that movie because of my post they can send me a thank you card.

TerrorFirmer

Watched Battle of the Damned. Dolph Lundgren stars in a movie that mixes up mercenaries, zombies, and killer robots in an abandoned city held together with a wafer thin plot, but is a lot better than it had any right to be.

Birneybau

"American Hustle"

Entertaining, grossly overrated.

cursai

Her.
Interesting concept. But was waiting for demon seed to happen.

Didn't Happen

johnny_ultimate

The World - a film that benefits from a stunning setting: a theme park in Beijing that features miniature 'copies' of international landmarks and settings, staffed by actors who 'adopt' different nationalities every day to amuse visitors. It's a truly poetic choice of location, that serves as a vital tool in realising director Jia Zhangke's themes and characters: conflicted, frustrated young adults dreaming and hoping of life beyond China and their own bizarre little reconstruction of the world. The film can at times be rather testing as it is in no rush whatsoever to get anywhere, but it's a work of subtlety and intelligence, of a very understated kind.

Lifeforce - I've been meaning to watch this for a while, and the brief discussion about it here recently reminded me to do so. It's an absolutely appalling film: a complete mishmash of half formed ideas, absurdly adaptable internal logic, an incompetent script, stylistic confusion (the entry into the alien craft at the start must be the worst edited sequence I've seen in a long time) and just general confusion. But it is sort of fascinating the way it bellyflops from genre to genre, and seemingly has no interest in making any sort of sense: depending on one's mood, it's devil may care attitude could be called endearing. Some of the effects work is imaginative, other stuff pretty awful, and it's fun seeing Patrick Steward pop up only to

explode

soon afterwards. This isn't a good film, but it's worth a watch out of sheer curiosity. It's not every day a big budget film this utterly insane gets made, and even though it's appalling and hardly rewatchable, I give it some sympathy marks for effort.

The Gospel According to Matthew - Avowed atheist Pasolini tackles one of the gospels in quite intriguing ways, helping to illuminate many aspects of the story and characters without the adoring perspective of a believer. Barring the odd miracle (evocatively realised through simple camera edits and match cuts) it's a down-to-earth version of the most famous story of them all, portraying how Jesus succeeded as an orator, leader and maybe even revolutionary first and foremost: so there is a lot of preaching, but it's starkly realised through strong visuals, with a particular emphasis on some devastating close-ups. It's not in any major way as graphic as other versions of the story, but it is raw, stylistically accomplished and often quite beautiful film. Some sequences - the hunt for the newborn child, the baptism, walking on water, Jesus' rebelling against the authorities - are breathtaking. Some of the wordier middle sections are pretty tough going, and ultimately one could say the whole thing is loyal to a fault. But it's a fascinating watch for religious and non-believing viewers alike. As someone without a religious bone in their body, it was certainly interesting to see such an influential tale recounted from an alternative perspective.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

black narcissus

i suppose it was a lovely looking film. some good performances, kerr and may hallatt.. took me ages to figure out where I recognised hallatt from. I wonder if she plays the same character in everything.

I had to struggle quite a bit to stay with it, didn't really start to enjoy it until the last 20-30 minutes. I didn't realise it was based on a book, which makes sense. It suffers from the same thing a lot of adaptations seem to, where it just jumps from bit to bit trying to lnclude all the relevant story bits without being all that cohesive. I'll watch it again, although i'm in no hurry.

pixelburp

Yeah, to all you people who have mentioned Lifeforce in the last few days, screw you! :P Oddly I'd seen this film recently spoken of elsewhere, on other sites, with a fair amount of affection that suggested it was a guilty pleasure from the 80s. Yeesh. Man, I have a very soft spot for fun, sci-fi schlock, but even I struggled to sit through the incoherent nonsense of this film. Mind you, it felt like a movie you could get enjoyment from in a MST3K style atmosphere: preferably in a group and with drinks involved - watching this sober was a chore.

I was very surprised to learn of the talent behind the picture because I would have expected a little more from the likes of Tobe Hooper or Dan O'Bannon - especially Hooper considering he directed this as his follow-up to Poltergeist. What I will say in its favour is John Dykstra's FX work is solid and too good for the likes of this, while there's a great score from Henry Mancini, with the opening track particularly stirringly old-school and memorable, full of promise for adventure. Then the movie starts and you realise you're watching a load of badly-scripted tosh.

Birneybau

"Her" written and directed by Spike Jonze.

Man falls in love with operating system.

My god, what a mesmeric, beautiful film, his pinnacle thus far.

I actually found listening to it through earphones made it a more intimate piece as Scarlett Johansson's incredible voice acting filled my head. Joaquin Phoenix's performance blew me away.

Amazing.

johnny_ultimate

pixelburp wrote: »

Yeah, to all you people who have mentioned Lifeforce in the last few days, screw you! :P Oddly I'd seen this film recently spoken of elsewhere, on other sites, with a fair amount of affection that suggested it was a guilty pleasure from the 80s. Yeesh. Man, I have a very soft spot for fun, sci-fi schlock, but even I struggled to sit through the incoherent nonsense of this film. Mind you, it felt like a movie you could get enjoyment from in a MST3K style atmosphere: preferably in a group and with drinks involved - watching this sober was a chore.

I was very surprised to learn of the talent behind the picture because I would have expected a little more from the likes of Tobe Hooper or Dan O'Bannon - especially Hooper considering he directed this as his follow-up to Poltergeist. What I will say in its favour is John Dykstra's FX work is solid and too good for the likes of this, while there's a great score from Henry Mancini, with the opening track particularly stirringly old-school and memorable, full of promise for adventure. Then the movie starts and you realise you're watching a load of badly-scripted tosh.

I remember around Halloween, with the Horrorthon screening and the BluRay release, the film seemed to have gotten the reputation as something if a misunderstood gem, a cult classic in hiding. The film does not deserve such forgiveness: it's certainly different, but not in a good way.

The BluRay cover is better than the film. Probably the only time I've been inclined to make that point :pac: