What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

DazMarz

Crimson Tide 1995

The late Tony Scott directs, Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington star and temperatures rise in the submarine.

When Russian ultra-nationalists seize control of military bases, naval shipyards and, most crucially, nuclear missile silos on the Eastern coasts of Russia, the United States is flung into peril; the rebel controlled missiles can hit any city in the USA at will (the Western Seaboard directly, or the Eastern Seaboard via the missiles going over the North Pole).

As the missiles launch codes have not been compromised, the US Navy counters the rebel threat by deploying nuclear submarines to the area, to permit a preemptive strike should the missile codes be cracked.

The film centres generally on the conflict between the two most senior officers on one of the US Navy's submarines, the USS Alabama; Captain Frank Ramsey (Hackman) and Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter (Washington). Ramsey is an old hand in naval combat, one of the few remaining submarine captains to have seen true combat. He is instinctive, impulsive and intuitive. Hunter has no combat experience, but is an able officer. He has a more cautious, analytical and patient than Ramsey. The two immediately develop a dislike of one another.

When the Alabama receives an order to launch a nuclear strike against the rebel positions, Ramsey prepares to carry out the order. However, the Alabama is attacked by a Russian submarine loyal to the rebels. A second order is coming through at the time of the attack, and only a partial fragment is received. It could be an order to launch, it could be an order not to launch. Ramsey is insistent that the first order must be followed. Hunter insists that they should try to repair the damaged radio communications systems and not launch until confirmation has been received.

So begins an incredibly tense stand-off between two strong-willed men with very different techniques and personalities; both believing that they are right.

The tension that builds through the film between the two leads is superb. Hackman is brilliant as the rough and ready Ramsey, a man who believes that might is right and who is intensely loyal to the Navy. Washington is the perfect foil; calm, collected, considerate and someone who believes that war is the truest enemy of mankind. He would not want to be a part of war or combat unless absolutely necessary.

The supporting cast is superb, including James "Tony Soprano" Gandolfini (RIP) as a hotheaded lieutenant loyal to Ramsey and Viggo "Aragorn" Mortensen as a weapons lieutenant who is conflicted between his friendship with Hunter and his mission as a US Naval Officer.

This is a film where you cannot help but admire and root for both leads; Ramsey is inspirational and a leader. A bit extreme at times and a bit hotheaded, but he could be right. Hunter is more considered, more enlightened and is also able to inspire and lead. Perhaps a bit too cautious and too stuck in his beliefs, but he could also be right. Hackman has never looked so damn intimidating as the cigar-chomping Ramsey, even if he does have a small, rat-like dog at his side!

While it was a bit dated even at the time of release (the Cold War was over; nuclear holocaust was as dead as disco), this is still one cracking film. The tension throughout is palpable; the scenes where the men prepare to launch the nuclear missiles is so different to what we'd expect. These men know what they are about to do; to bring fiery death down upon millions of people. There is no grinning, no macho bullshít, no back slapping. There is silence, sweat, regret and remorse. There is nothing fun about war here.

With a shot in the arm from Quentin Tarantino writing some of the script, this film whips along and holds and grips at all times. Well worth a look.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Rumble Fish

Francis Ford Coppola directs Matt Dillon and Mickey Rourke in a tale of two brothers and gang violence. Rusty James (Dillon), an absent-minded street thug struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's (Rourke) reputation, and longs for the days when gang warfare was going on.

I couldn't figure out at the start if this was supposed to be a proper drama or a camp West Side Story style gang thing. It settles down soon enough though and while it's not exactly pure drama it hits some nice spots and Mickey Rourke is really good as the possibly/probably crazy Motorcycle Boy. It's filmed in black and white despite being made in 1983 and is generally quite a stylized piece.

It's not the best film you'll ever see but at just over 90 minutes it's an entertaining watch that won't eat up your day.

cursai

Inside LLewyn Davis.
Nice soundtrack to the week of a pretentious lazy whinger who can sing.

mewe

Just back from 12 Years A Slave. The most powerful film I've seen in a long time. Uncomfortable viewing but worth it.

GAAman

Today I saw America F*ck Yeah! AKA Call of Duty 12, but some insist on calling it Lone Survivor

Where to begin, I haven't had that much propaganda shoved down my throat since Act of Valor, or Black Hawk Down.

Yes it is based on a true story, but to be honest at the risk of sounding crass I almost laughed as RPG's were blowing up mere feet away from them and no real damage done. I could almost see the red come over the screen and hear the laboured breathing ala Call of Duty games.

At one point a character is killed and I honestly expected him to adopt Willem Defoe's arms outstretched pose from Platoon!

Currently watching The Terminator to scrub my brain clean :pac:

MJ23

The Man With The Iron Fists - Very enjoyable film. Great music and brilliant over the top fight scenes. Maximus is excellent it.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

before midnight

was a very different experience because i knew how it ended whereas the first time I just got sucked in and was along for the ride

zx complex

BUNRAKU, A crazy Martial Arts Western with the visual style of Sin City and Dark City meets Monty Python.

Plenty of action and an amazing performance from Kevin McKidd, I loved it from start to finish.

Mizu_Ger

Rush:
A bit disappointed with this. As some have already pointed out the race scenes were not particularly good. Lots of editing, but no tension. The human side of the story was the main focus anyway, but was a little soap-opera (very Hollywood) and I was constantly wondering how much of the story was true (which I didn't do during Captain Phillips).

eg. Did Hunt really attack a photographer after the press conference? No!

Also, the real ife stills shown at the end seemed to be at odds with the story

One shows Hunt and Lauda leaning against a wall in race gear having a chat, which is a million miles from any of the encounters they have during the film

. I thought the two leads were good though.

Le Mans:
Following on from recommendations here I gave Le Mans a go. Very different to Rush!! Almost documentary in style with limited dialogue, a melodramatic storyline off the track that comes and goes (lots of meaningful stares!), the essential meaning being men drive because they have to and the women do the worrying! A bit old fashioned, but the race scenes that have plenty of energy and make for a more unusual experience.

Pain and Gain:
Had heard equally good and bad things about this. Generally I can take a Michael Bay film for the dumb action beasts they usually are, but this was a bit too mean spirited. No characters to root for and the increasingly out-of-control story leaves a bad taste in the mouth. When the Ed Harris character appeared it help to calm things down and act as an antidote to Wahlberg's antics. But it was too late at hat stage.

MilanPan!c

Captain Phillips -

went in knowing it was most likely untrue to a certain degree and couldn't really enjoy it as a result

. ??/10

Hunger Games 2 - Good cast, but seemed even less complete than the first Hobbit movie. 7/10

12 Years A Slave - Should win Best Picture and best supporting actress, deservedly. Though not best director. As good as everyone says, but not perfect. 9/10

Rush -

Didn't know how untrue it was

- liked the acting - didn't notice or care about the quality of the fake race car-ing. 7/10

Snake Plisken

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.

Yeah this kind of proves that Speilberg actually directed Poltergeist, as rumours have always suggested otherwise it would have been a weird mess like this, Hooper's finest hour will always be Salem's Lot imho, even rate it higher then Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I hope one day we get a Blu-ray release of Salem's lot mini-series. Still Lifeforce was interesting to re-watch, i'm kind of in the "it's so bad it's good" camp

Birneybau

MJ23 wrote: »

The Man With The Iron Fists - Very enjoyable film. Great music and brilliant over the top fight scenes. Maximus is excellent it.

Gladiator sequel?

Nerdlingr

Went on a bit of an Oz fest recently, watched 'Animal Kingom' and 'Snowtown'. Both excellent. Think I 'enjoyed' Snowtown more. Never knew about the true story it was based on...think the

last killing where he lures his cousin/half brother to his death

was the worst for me.

Thought there might have been some redeeming end to the main character but no

. Probably made it a better film that way. Real life sure is f*cked up sometimes!!

Also saw Blue Jasmine...Blanchett a shoe in for the oscar. Great performance.

Sleepy

A few from the past couple of weeks:

American Hustle - Enjoyable enough but I didn't love it. Will do very well at the Oscars but seriously over-hyped. 6/10

Rush - Really enjoyed this as someone who knew very little about that era of F1. Spent half the rest of the night googling the real story and even if it's not particularly faithful to reality, it gets across just how crazy the drivers of the time had to be. 8/10

Hunger Games 2 - Well acted for this kind of fare and nicely shot. Finnick's darker story lines were left out to his characters detriment and he just wasn't good looking enough for the role imo (a huge deal is made in the books of how beautiful he is). Very much a middle movie of a trilogy and suffers a little for it when you get to the end and are just left wanting a conclusion. Seems almost unfair to mark it as a movie in it's own right as it really is a "middle act" of a larger story. 6/10.

Don Jon - A very nice directorial debut.

Never thought I could see Julianne Moore as sexier than Scarlett Johansson!

. Nice to see Tony Danza on screen again too! 7/10

A.C.O.D. - Predictable as all hell but not as awful as it first appears. 5/10

Last Vegas - Nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be, got a few chuckles from it. 5/10

Carrie (2013) - Despite some good casting this really should never have been made. Some awful dialogue and some daft changes to the story from the original. 4/10

Gravity - Almost forgot to add this one. Visually stunning but I simply couldn't warm to Sandra Bullock. Felt I'd have really enjoyed it were a better actress in the role and had they had her less of a snivelling mess as things started to go wrong. 6/10

MagicMarker

Do the Right Thing

I've seen a few Spike Lee movies now, and I still can't quite decide if I like him. Do the Right Thing, 25th Hour, Inside Man, Malcolm X, they're all good but I feel they're rated far higher than they should be.

charlie_says

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Went on a bit of an Oz fest recently, watched 'Animal Kingom' and 'Snowtown'. Both excellent. Think I 'enjoyed' Snowtown more. Never knew about the true story it was based on...think the

last killing where he lures his cousin/half brother to his death

was the worst for me.

Thought there might have been some redeeming end to the main character but no

. Probably made it a better film that way. Real life sure is f*cked up sometimes!!

Loved both of these. Dark stuff and well acted. Thought Snowtown was the better of the two, but a close run thing.

Watched Nebraska the other day. Excellent film. Superb acting and a simple visual treat. Highly recommend a visit to the cinema for this one.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

russian ark

I had planned to watch something else after this but screw it, it'd just be unfair.

DazMarz

Enemy Of The State 1998

The year is an important one on this film; this was pre-9/11, pre-PATRIOT Act, pre-War On Terror America. At the time it was seen as a good, old fashioned thriller with a healthy dose of paranoia thrown in for good measure. Eyebrows were raised at this film, as it was fictional and firmly so. Now, 16 years on from its release and 13 years on from 9/11 and in the midst of the likes of Edward Snowden's revelations and the NSA tapping everyone's phone from Angela Merkel to your granny, it looks a helluva lot more plausible.

This is a great, white-knuckle thriller film. It's all here; shadowy government agencies, even more shadowy and sinister agents, corrupt politicians, disgraced former agents with a hunger for revenge and the poor, innocent fúckers that get caught up in the middle of the web of deceit, murder, conspiracy and blackmail.

The cast is absolutely superb and staggering, with some real heavy-hitters in the mix. Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Lisa Bonet, Stuart Wilson, Jason Robards, Barry Pepper, Jason Lee, Scott Caan, Gabriel Byrne (in a blink-and-you'll-miss-him role), Jack Black, Jamie Kennedy, Seth Green (uncredited for some reason), Jake Busey, Philip Baker Hall, Dan Butler, Larry King and a pre-Breaking Bad Anna Gunn.

Robert Clayton Dean (Smith) is a labour lawyer who works for a prestigious law firm in Washington D.C. Dean has the house in Georgetown, the BMW, the wife, the kid, the good job, the lot. Set for life.

When an old college friend of Dean's, Daniel Zavitz (Lee) inadvertently videos the murder of a high-ranking Congressman (Robards), directed by corrupt State-Department/NSA politician Thomas Reynolds (Voight), Zavitz finds himself pursued with murderous intent by several NSA agents under Reynolds' control. A short chase sees Zavitz dead, but not before he passed the incriminating video to Dean, who is unaware that the video was slipped to him. Unfortunately for Dean, he gave Zavitz one of his business cards. When the NSA agents find Dean's card, they are sure that Dean has the incriminating video and will stop at nothing to get it back.

Slowly and inexorably, the NSA pulls strings and has Dean's personal and professional life torn apart. Bugs, wires, tracers and all sorts are planted in Dean's home, office and clothing. Eventually seeking answers, he tries to track down the elusive private investigator he hired via his ex-girlfriend (Bonet). This leads to a confrontation with 'Brill' (Hackman), who wants Dean out of his life before the NSA catches up with him. All the while, the tenacious NSA agents are closing in and are desperate to stop their man from getting away.

This is taut and frenetic from the word 'go'. The desperation, confusion and terror of Dean is palpable. He doesn't know what is going on, initially thinking that the mobster he is investigating is behind the fact that his life is unravelling, hardly daring to think of what his own government might be up to.

The NSA agents are so sinister, tearing a man's life apart and not caring one whit (even stealing his favourite blender and using it to make drinks in their van while sitting outside his house!). You have the 'grunt' agents, who do all the chasing, shooting, kicking down doors and so on. Then you have the 'tech' agents, who sit around behind computers and do the behind the scenes work and allowing the technology to assist in doing so much of the dirty work. Voight is superb as the higher power who only wants more power; he is as insidious and creepy as his fake smile would suggest.

As I've mentioned, this film takes on a whole new meaning and direction nowadays than it did when first released. Back in 1998, most people would (naively, maybe) say "Oh, our government CAN do that... but they WOULDN'T..." Now, with the United States and Obama squirming after all the revelations that have come out in the past few months, with 9/11, with the PATRIOT Act and so on, it is hard not to look at this film and think "This is mild compared to what they actually did". Maybe the chases and gunfights were not done, but all the high-tech surveillance, phone tapping, cameras, etc., that stuff is all frighteningly real.

Aside from the moral messages of Big Brother and the US Government being a supreme power... this is a fine thriller with some excellent acting, set-pieces and it whips along very nicely. Well worth a look.

zx complex

Stake Land- Nice twist on the Vampire genera, almost Zombie like with fangs.

Only I watched the credits I would never have guessed Kelly McGillis was in this as she is totally unrecognizable.

Nice action throughout but the acting is only average and it is predictable in parts.

Bipolar Joe

Raze

Exploitation flick where a group of women are forced to fight each other to the death with their bare fists, one on one, by a secret society who believe they're doing the women well spiritually.

The plot sounds really dumb, but this is a great film. Starring Zoe Bell (Who I fell in love with a little bit), the fight scenes are absolutely amazing and brutal to watch. No holds barred, very little cut aways on the impact. Choreography was fantastic, the effects were great (Apart from one at the end). Not a whole lot in the way of plot, but completely worth it to see modern exploitation at its absolute best, especially as it doesn't go so far as to make it a T&A movie. This is heavy brawling. I was even talking with someone lately about how most action movies seem to be kung fu chopping and roundhouse kicking, and there's very little in the way of just pummelling the absolute fuck out of each other. That's how real fights go down. One just smashes the other to pieces.

Brilliant. Absolutely fucking brilliant. Recommended to those tired of action movies and want something different. 9 / 10.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

la grande illusion

loved it, Pierre Fresnay reminded me very much of a french david niven. will have to check out more of his stuff, hopefully the sarcastic looking-ever-so-slightly down his nose at everyone else is a common theme in his acting.

it reminded me a little of the life and death of colonel blimp, blimp clinging to the old way of war making and teo politely pointing out the modern world wasn't the place for that sort of thing.. like the camp commander and fresnay's character, Boeldieu seemed far more at ease with the rise of the common man and the end of the old ways.


jesus maybe I shouldn't read the imdb trivia pages for movies after i watch them

"The little girl who played "Lotte" never saw the film, having died of the flu some weeks before the film was released."

I knew there was a good chance she'd be dead anyway, but that's just depressing.

SVG

I hadn't been to the cinema at all yet this year so I went and did a double-bill of Her and Inside Llewyn Davis.

I saw Her first and I liked it- the design was lovely and it's great to see Joaquin Phoenix do this and The Master in the space of a couple of years. I'd probably be even more enthusiastic about it if I hadn't seen Llewyn Davis straight after which is brilliant brilliant brilliant- Oscar Isaac, the music, the cat, everything. I can't stop thinking about it. I'm going to have to go see it again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksLh9uYgZdc

johnny_ultimate

White Material - Found this to be quite a troubling and thought-provoking film in many ways. Claire Denis manages to create a subtle, challenging look at post-colonialism and race relations in an unnamed African country. Isabelle Huppert plays a coffee plantation owner, reluctant to abandon the land as rebellion and violence creep ever nearer the doorstep. While in other hands this could be problematic, even deeply regrettable subject matter, in Denis' hands it encompasses multiple perspectives and subtleties to create a more complex thematic landscape that challenges our expectations and assumptions. There's a lot for the viewer to work through, but it's a fascinating watch.

Woman is the Future of Man - A more straightforward effort from Hong Sangsoo than some of his later, trickier works, but still well worth a watch. It follows two old friends who are reunited after years, and end up tracking down a woman they both had relationships with. It explores many of Sangsoo's prevalent concerns - as ever, one of the main characters is a film director / academic - and is an intriguing character study and relationship drama that takes some left-field turns right up until the final moments. But it works best as a self-depreciating exploration of masculinity and sexuality, including several of the most miserable

blowjob

scenes you'll ever see! It's a simple tale, told in a surprisingly complex way, although in some ways a rough draft of a directorial style that has since evolved in more ambitious directions.

Le Pont du Nord - Well, I'm not sure what to even say about this! A baptism of fire introduction to the films of Jacques Rivette, this is an elusive, bizarre and challenging piece of cinema. It's the kind of film that I watched, found intriguing and in some ways absolutely beguiling, but also had an urge to rewatch almost immediately after reading a few essays and articles on it :pac: Its exploration of surveillance culture, cinematic perspective (watching eyes are a recurring motif, including a Kagemusha poster), narrative structure and even French society in the 1980s are designed to provoke debate, perhaps even completely negating the possibility of simple answers. It can be a lot of fun to watch, and has a playfulness to it as the two 'heroes' get embroiled in a dangerous, citywide board game. What is without question, however, is a delightful 'city' film: Paris might be one of the most filmed cities on the planet, but it has rarely if ever been explored so evocatively as it is here. Rivette is romantic but also critical, exploring the stunning sights but as the film goes on also visiting crumbling, desolate areas of the city and suburbs. A very difficult film, but if you're up for the challenge here's a film that defies and subverts tradition at almost every turn.

Judgement Day

Must be two moons in the sky as I've managed to watch three films in a row without being disappointed. First off the wonderful Paul Gallico short story "The Snow Goose" (1971) starring Richard Harris & Jenny Agutter ... as the blurb says a tale from Dunkirk. Read the book several times over the years - only takes thirty minutes or so but time well spent. Sadly, due to problems with the Paul Gallico Estate there's never been a VHS or DVD release and a poor quality YouTube upload is all that's available. Still worth 10/10.

"The Terminator" (1984) has stood the test of time against the sequels. Includes such great lines as '**** you asshole' and 'Ill be back'. 10/10

Lastly, a movie that I'd not seen before - "The Red Baron" (2008) - a German production shot in the Czech Republic. The story of WW.I. German air ace Baron von Richthofen. A good storyline which holds up well but the aerial scenes don't compare favourably with the "Blue Max" despite the fact that the latter was made as far back as 1966! Still worth watching. 8/10

hedgehog2

Escape plan with Arnie and Stallone,awesome movie those two really gel together.

Nerdlingr

Watched Kill List last night...started off great, building up the tension, domestic issues, whats gonna happen etc etc. but ended in some

weird wickerman cultish nonsense

..i dont know did the director change the story half way through or what but its a pity it didnt go the direction I thought he might have.
that scene with the "librarian" as well...jaysus!! had to turn away!
3/5 for me.

"Raze" Movie about chicks beating the **** out of each other for the pleasure of some twisted rich folk.
Ridiculous fight violence that you just have to turn away from some of the time.

Predictable, and tedious after a while. People into fight scenes and gore will like it though.

crazygeryy

hedgehog2 wrote: »

Escape plan with Arnie and Stallone,awesome movie those two really gel together.

Really? Was that the first movie youve ever seen?

Tony EH

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Watched Kill List last night...started off great, building up the tension, domestic issues, whats gonna happen etc etc. but ended in some

weird wickerman cultish nonsense

..i dont know did the director change the story half way through or what but its a pity it didnt go the direction I thought he might have.
that scene with the "librarian" as well...jaysus!! had to turn away!
3/5 for me.

Yeh, felt the same way really. A couple of friends of mine swore by it, so I gave it a look. But, you're correct,

it's all Ken Loach for most of its running time, then suddenly switches to Dennis Wheatley at the end, which really pissed me off, I have to say. I felt it was a bit deceitful.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Tony EH wrote: »

Yeh, felt the same way really. A couple of friends of mine swore by it, so I gave it a look. But, you're correct,

it's all Ken Loach for most of its running time, then suddenly switches to Dennis Wheatley at the end, which really pissed me off, I have to say. I felt it was a bit deceitful.

I was annoyed at this the first time I saw it but after reading lots of discussion about it I realised that there are actually lots of hints of what's going on all the way through it. That said... I still didn't like it.