What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

mewe

Barna77 wrote: »

Some bumpy moments though, but nothing too serious.

*changes underwear* :pac: sorry couldn't resist

briany

Barna77 wrote: »

The Conjuring.
Much hype about it. I thought it was alright, but mostly many films we've seen before all thrown together into one. Some bumpy moments though, but nothing too serious.

I will say that the conjuring is as close as Holywood has come to decent, old-fashioned scares in quite a while. True, it deals in clichés also but it at least tries to play upon 'what you don't see'.

bnt

Caught Hitchcock's film The Trouble With Harry at lunchtime today, after seeing it billed as a black comedy in the schedule. I love a good black comedy, and this is up there with the best of them. The "trouble" with Harry is that he's dead, his body lying on a hillside near a small Vermont town, and several of the local characters seem to be somehow involved yet not at all alarmed. Just what is going on?

I read a bit about it afterwards: it's an important film, being the film debut of Shirley MacLaine, the first of Hitchcock's collaborations with composer Bernard Herrmann, and reportedly the director's favourite of all the films he made.

johnny_ultimate

Here, Then - A magnificent debut feature from Chinese director Mao Mao. Multiple characters leads to a rich tapestry of contrasting ideas and stories - various explorations of contemporary China, sexuality, disconnected people, urban vs rural living etc... It offers few easy answers, and those looking for definitive resolution are best looking elsewhere. But it's an immensely atmospheric and emotionally evocative film. This is in large part due to its majestic cinematography and sound design. There's constantly hypnotic use of focus, zooms, tracks, geometry and more - the takes are very long, but the presentation is constantly inventive and articulate. There are numerous powerful moments, but none more so than a single fourth-wall breaking shot that genuinely rattled me with its intensity. A really great film - well worth tracking down the DVD if you're in the mood for something fresh and experimental.

Cleo from 5 to 7 - Agnes Varda's iconic New Wave classic, following (in pretty much real-time) 90 formative minutes in a singer nicknamed Cleo's life, remains as vibrant and compelling as ever. It's easy to call it a 'feminist film', but really above all it's a multi-layered character study of a person who is struggling to deal with her current situation. Because of that emotional depth, it's a more accessible (in a good way) film than many of Varda's contemporaries. It's immaculately crafted, and yet another brilliant cinematic portrait of Paris. There's two great scenes where the film temporarily adapts two different but complementary styles - that of a musical performance and a silent comedy film. As well as being thoroughly enjoyable stylistic tangents, they also elegantly represent the way we all attempt to temporarily escape through art.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Watched Good Vibrations last night.

Didn't really like it, to be honest. It felt like they didn't know what kind of film they were trying to make. They only very lightly touched on "The Troubles" and the historical setting of the film, if you weren't from Ireland would you have any clue what was going on, really? Which I think does the story a massive disservice. This guy gave the youth of Belfast something to live for other than killing one another, an identity they could share and not one that meant you were on one side or the other. I felt like none of that came across properly in the film because they seemed to only give the setting the briefest of mentions. Even the odd newsreel footage here and there didn't really get that across.

Also, in spite of the good he may have done, Terri Hooley seems like a bit of a dick. He had a one track mind for doing what he wanted and didn't seem to care about anyone else or the consequences of what he was doing. Obviously he wouldn't have achieved what he did without that mindset but it makes it hard to root for a guy when he's pretty unlikable.

After all the rave reviews this got I have to say I was very disappointed. A fairly watered down version of something that was historically and socially quite important. They seemed to want to make a feel good sing along kind of thing but thought they better throw in a bit of historical context and a bit of drama every now and then but just did it all willy nilly and it ended up a very confused piece of work.

ManOnFire

The Way Way Back - really enjoyed this, such an easy watch and the performances are great by all. Steve Carrell excels in an untypical role and as ever Sam Rockwell is excellent. My only complaint was that I felt the shy awkward teenage boy was a little overdone at times but overall it was thoroughly enjoyable.

In A World - written, directed by and starring Lake Bell this was a charming little indie movie. Although nothing of great substance it was a fun watch and one Id happily sit down to again.

Oblivion - not one I would recommend, performances were ok but it just didn't grab me. Possibly need to re-watch it but just felt it lacked something.

dark crystal

Repulsion (1965)

Now THIS is how you do horror.

Catherine Deneuve plays Carol, a beautiful Belgian beautician living with her elder sister in a run down flat in London. She is shy, distant, often distracted and seems anxious and skittish around men, which begins to manifest itself as pure terror and revulsion further into the film.
Her sister is involved with a married man, whose very presence disgusts Carol and when the couple leave her alone in the flat to go on holiday, Carol's psyche begins to unravel at a terrifying rate.

The first in Polanski's 'apartment' trilogy, Repulsion is a masterclass in psychological horror. You'll jump in places, but the scares aren't cheap and shoehorned in like so many cliche ridden horrors of recent years. The slow build up to Carol's madness is thrilling to watch and Deneuve plays it brilliantly. Just watch the use of a rabbit to signal the character's mental breakdown, 20 years before Glenn Close went and boiled one up!


Highly recommended; 5 out of 5.

johnny_ultimate

The Gleaners & I - Who'd have thought the image of people picking things off the ground could lead to such an incredibly beautiful slice of cinema?

Agnes Varda uses the concept of gleaning to embark on a freewheeling and imaginative exploration of class, history, cinema, art, personalities, politics, law and more. What appear to be tangents always loop back and connect, making this a multi-layered essay that always justifies its flights of fancy.

While many 'essay films' come across as self-serious, Varda's vision is enlivened by her deep cinematic wit and personal honesty. The film is positively overflowing with humanity - both the wide range of fascinating 'gleaners' Varda encounters on her road trip, and the frank ways she addresses both her own thoughts on aging, mortality and - above all - enthusiasm for cinema. Indeed, a prevailing idea in the film is how filmmaking is itself a process of gleaning - plucking ideas, images and people in an attempt to create something truthful and interesting (Varda frequently draws her attention to her - at the time - new digital cameras as a fresh way of furthering that goal). It's a purposefully loose analogy, and Varda articulates it most memorably through various images - most beautifully, the image of her hand attempting to 'pick' passing trucks on the motorway.

Funny, poetic and intelligent, The Gleaners & I is just about as rich as non-fiction film gets.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

watched the fifth element last night and ghostbusters just now

first time seeing either movie in hd

i think charming is the word i'd use for the effects


the fifth element i lost interest in towards the end, usually happens unless i'm really in the mood for it but I'm generally happy so sit through the entire thing because of the first hour and a bit.. until they're on the spaceship for a while

ghostbusters I just forgot how incredible it was, bill murray is quite possibly the funniest actor ever recorded on film.

--edit


watched spaceballs after ghostbusters, great fun.

Baked.noodle

Killer Joe (2011)

Have to say I enjoyed this film a lot. Some of it is uncomfortable viewing, but it builds tension and the plot is quite intricate. 8/10

6 Souls (2010)

I usually find ghost stories predictable and unsatisfying but this film is very good. I like Julianne Moore, and she does a great job trying to figure out what the hell is going on here. The film never gives the game away until the right moment, and it wraps up well in the end. 7/10

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

One Day

Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway almost hook up the night of their graduation from University in Edinburgh. Skip forward a year to the same date they're BFFs. Then keep skipping forward a year to the same date and get increasingly bored with any of their lives that don't involve the hilarious Rufus Sewell or the wonderful and amazing Romola Garai. The end.

p.s. I don't get Anne Hathaway at all. She seems perfectly nice and all but she's always the same in everything I see her in. Plus her accent in this is like a grand tour of English dialects.

upstairs for coffee

Eraserhead (1977)

My second Lynch experience. Some themes are fairly straightforward whilst other themes are more complex and will, and I hate the use of this remark, require a second viewing. I found Mulholland Drive to be a more enjoyable experience.

7/10

gucci

Delivery Man – Absolute dirge, I turned it on for a low expectation easy Friday night lazy no-brainer type movie. I didn’t realise the makers obviously had equally as little enthusiasm making it! Just felt ridiculously cliché and every scene looked emotionally forced. Considering Vince Vaughan’s acting past, he was clearly always going to struggle trying to be a jack the lad who finds his emotional side.
To be honest, my ill-founded low expectations were probably badly misplaced as I thought it would be more light comedy based rather than basically a dressed up romantic comedy, with lashings and lashings of supposed “feel good” factor. Definitely one to avoid.

Decuc500

American Mary

It’s about a trainee surgeon who takes jobs in the underground scene of body modification.
She gets abused by male colleagues and takes revenge in creative ways.

I was quite disappointed with this as I had heard so much good about it.
I think because it’s a female revenge movie there was supposed to be a point to the nastiness but it was basically just feminist torture porn.
I didn’t buy the lead characters transformation into slightly deranged avenging angel. It all happened way too quickly.
Katherine Isabelle is always watchable though.

Gamayun

Get Lamp (2010)
Interview based documentary about Interactive Fiction/Text Adventure games.
Unlike, say, Indie Game: The Movie or The King of Kong there's no real human drama here for the casual viewer to latch onto, as such I think this is only worth checking out if you were/are a fan of the Infocom style IF games but it'll probably bore anyone else senseless.

dark crystal

Blow Out (1981)

John Travolta, Nancy Allen and the great John Lithgow star in this conspiracy thriller from Brian De Palma. Being a fan of De Palma and of conspiracy thrillers in general, I was really looking forward to seeing this, as the premise seemed right up my street, but I was left somewhat disappointed by it.

Travolta's character works as a sound technician for a low rent film company and one evening, whilst out recording various sounds for work, he witnesses a car accident involving a prominent politician and his lover. He saves the girl and later, listening back to the recording, he realises the accident may not be all it seemed.

The first half of the film is promising and Travolta does a great job in his role as a man piecing together the truth. However, it veers off into needless melodrama towards the second half and Allen, whether due to a bad script or just bad instincts, puts in an annoying, sub-par performance.

Worth seeing for Travolta's performance alone, 3.5 out of 5.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Never Let Me Go

Set in the past (80's/90's) but also weirdly in the future..... kind of. Three kids at a special boarding school form a close relationship and the story follows them as they grow up and move towards their inevitable futures..... basically being one stop organ donation shops until they die, usually after the 2nd or 3rd donation. It's based on a book, which I haven't read, and I'm sure the book probably fleshes everything out more but I have to say I thought the film was pretty good in it's own right.

They probably could have focused more on the science of it all, or the ethical questions surrounding the whole process but instead they've focused on the relationship between Kathy, Ruth and Tommy and their unusual circumstances are almost irrelevant and at the end Kathy sums it up pretty well, when it comes to life and death regardless of how much time you have is it ever really enough?

The more I see of Carey Mulligan the more I think she's one of this generations top actresses. There's something so natural and charming about her, she just owns the screen, even her voice is lovely. Someone should hire her to do audio books or narrate wildlife documentaries, but I digress..... I like Keira Knightley but she can be very hit and miss in films, I think this is one of her best performances, you never quite like Ruth but you still can't help feel bad for her.

My only issue acting wise is with Andrew Garfield. To quote another film, it felt like he went "full retard". Young Tommy was a bit soft but adult Tommy was soft in the head, I don't know what he was going for but it didn't work for me at all. The funny thing is that I was reading on imdb that the director had the adult actors rehearse the scenes that the younger versions had to actually film to help the inexperienced kids get a grip on their characters but the actor playing Young Tommy seemed to have a far better grip on the character than Garfield did. I don't know, I mean I could see why young Kathy would like young Tommy, but I just couldn't see what either Kathy or Ruth saw in older Tommy. The casting for the younger versions was brilliant too. The girl playing young Carey Mulligan looked like she could actually have been young Carey Mulligan and although the young Keira Knightly didn't look as much like her she had the same sort of air about her... if that makes sense. The young Tommy I thought was great but there was a serious disconnect between him and adult Tommy.

That issue aside it's a beautifully shot film, the score is beautiful and Andrea Riseborough does the most amazing Irish accent I've ever heard from a non Irish person

Judgement Day

"Pancho Villa" (1972) on YouTube. With a cast of Telly Savalas and acting heavyweights - Clint Walker, and Chuck Connors - I should have known better. Supposedly a biopic about the Mexican revolutionary but it's a train wreck - literally - and 90 minutes of my life that I want back. The Director obviously couldn't decide whether it was to be a comedy or action movie and so it ended up neither. Utter rubbish from beginning to end. AVOID. Unworthy of any rating.

marwelie

Found this by accident on TG4 last night. Great performances all round by the three leads. Very natural dialogue. Probably a cliched ending but enjoyable nevertheless 8/10

Tony EH

Warning: the post below WILL contain spoilers for the show up to the end of series 2.



'Battlestar Galactica'

The (relatively) recent reboot of old cheesy 70's 'Star Wars' cash in is a strange fish. It's beloved by many and is often hailed as the greatest sci-fi series of modern times, but I have to admit, after getting through the miniseries, series one and just about to finish series two...I'm unsure whether I actually like it or not.

I keep on going, not because the characters are anything special, or that the weekly stories are anything to rave about. I keep going because I want to know how all this crap is going to end.

It's really that simple.

For those who don't know, it's about a war of extermination between the Cylons, a race of androids and their human creators. The Cylons have launched a devastating nuclear attack on the humans homeworlds (no, Earth is not included) and have forced them to abandon them and hightail it into space on a journey to find a mythical planet where they can live in peace...yeh...Earth. So, it's basic plot, is pretty much like the 1970's show with Lorne Green and Dirk Benedict.

It does have a level of entertainment, but the show is lumbered by a large amount of unnecessary awfulness, that at times I feel like the friend of a friend who's kid is sometimes an idiot and is let get away with too much, but you're afraid to say.

The schticks that the show employ become tiresome as well. The idea that Gaius Baltar is rigged to "see" his phantom Number 6 robot started off rocky, then got ok...but now it's just annoying. There isn't any way in the world that he'd be taken seriously, with the amount of silliness that the man is caught engaging in. He'd be locked in an iso cube, not acting as vice president (soon to be president, I presume). James Callis does a decent job as a "little bollocks" though, but the game is running dry here.

Another bad(ish) move are the "human" Cylons angle. I have terrible trouble with it. They're classified as "robots" in the show and constantly referred to as such, but they are as human as anyone else involved. They bleed, break bones, have physiology, form emotive attachments, fall in love, even have children!...yet their memory can be downloaded when they die and "USB'd" into another body. I think the tipping point was the even have children part. Having Sharon, or number whatever, get pregnant by a Galatica crew member was such a ridiculous idea. It's eyerollingly bad and should never have been considered, never mind run with...and as of the series 2 finale...has amounted to absolutely nothing. The bottom line is, the Cylons are TOO human. I would have had no problem if they were more like replicants from 'Blade Runner', but they are missing the mark...or hitting it too perfectly.

The actual human characters too are often a confusing mix. While, at first, being very meh about a female Starbuck, I grew to like Katie Sakhoff's portrayal, once she, herself, grew into the role and quit being a cheap, cigar chomping, guy-wannabee. Her Starbuck has had major issues in her life and has developed into a self-reliant person focused on her job as a fighter pilot in the Colonial Fleet. But, she is still a woman (or human) and subject to the frailties that come with that. Edward James Olmos as Commander Adama is the anchor of the show and he's excellent as the Captain of the eponymous starship. His role holds everything together and we get to see a lot through his eyes and actions. He not perfect, he's very flawed, but he's generally been the window onto the show's plot points for the viewer. Mary McDonnell's "Madam President" role is decent, too, but she's too often reduced to spouting modern political cliche that can have my hand reaching for my remote.

The flip side is that there are a few too many weak characters, who mainly inhabit the sidelines, but some are front and centre. Adama's son, Apollo, is one of those. Jamie Bamber just hasn't got what it takes for the role he's in. He's just too...preppy. Nothing about him sits right and I just cannot buy into him at all, although, I will admit that his accent is quite convincing. Grace Park tries to do well with what she's got and she's very easy on the eye, but the "Sharon" storyline goes awful once the "pregnant Cylon" angle is explored. But, there's just too many "forgetfulls" among the faces, who have very little to do. Even among the Cylons, who number 12 models apparently, there's been focus on just two really. Sharon and the generally excellent number 6 (Tricia Helfer).

Another few really terrible angles are the amount of "modern" political tropes that are awkwardly inserted into the program. The most pungent and, at the same time, insipid buzzword of the "Noughties" is used at many turns. The word "Terrorist" is invoked far, far too often and the episodes in which it's employed leave a lot to be desired. Other political words like "Democracy" just don't belong in a sci-fi show that doesn't include the plant Earth (except as a myth). It's TOO close to our own Earth, as we know it.

In addition to that, there are just way too many items of today's equipment being used in the show. The human characters use machine gun weaponry, which in and of itself if ok, but some of them are machine guns that exist today on this planet. Vehicles, too, suffer from the "now" problem. At one point there are a group of people traveling around in an army Humvee and I swear, there's a Citroën DS in an underground carpark on a planet called Caprica!

Really?

I know budgets can be tight, but if you cannot get a decent model of a futuristic vehicle on a planet that's supposed to be millions of light years from the planet you're sitting on, then just don't show anything. It's difficult to buy into a situation where a set of beings can use faster than light speeds in space, but still drive 1950's style French cars.

Last, but not least, is the use of terminology. There is just too much modern military jargon being utilised in 'Battlestar Galactica'. CIC, ASAP, SITREP, ACTUAL, HACK, KLICK, etc. It's really difficult to suspend disbelief and buy into the show with such modern day items being flicked around.

But they still won't say "fuck"

Frak off.


tl;dr - I'm not sure about it

johnny_ultimate

Probably better suited to the television forum - don't mind some general recommendations in the Netflix thread, but the more in-depth discussion has its own dedicated space where you'll likely have a healthier response

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

damnation

i think I need to watch this again. I felt I was keeping up until the end and suddenly I just lost track of what was going on.

dark crystal

The Perfect Host (2010)

Frasier's David Hyde Pierce stars in this interesting psychological cat and mouse thriller cum dark comedy.

A bank robber on the run looking for sanctuary for the evening, sweet talks his way into Pierce's immaculate home. What starts out as a potential hostage drama....turns into a completely different kind of hostage drama.

The needless twist of the third act jars somewhat and feels as if it's from a different film altogether, however, I enjoyed what went before it so much I can almost forgive it.

Well worth a watch.

Bipolar Joe

Dick Figures

A feature length movie based on the web series. Blue and Red, two stick figures, go on an adventure to find a mystical sword in order to get a present for his girlfriends birthday.

Having never seen the series, I went into the film cold. I kind of knew what to expect, seeing as comedy web series tend to have a certain type of immature humour. I quite enjoyed it. It zipped by really quick, everything made sense within the context of the film, and you don't need to have seen the show to get it. The animation was simplistic and smooth, and lent a nice charm to it. Script wise, it's not the cleverest, the whole thing is based on a macguffin, but it really doesn't matter. You just watch the film play out. Recommended to people who want a simple enough comedy for a lazy afternoon. 8 / 10.

I Know That Voice

A documentary about voice acting, voice actors and the industry.

Putting faces to some of the voices you hear in cartoons is always a mind blower. Even though you always see Hank Azaria doing Moe, it's still really enjoyable. This film goes from old-school to new-school, and while modern alumni weren't in it (Frank Welker and Tress Macneille) it's still one Hell of a talking heads documentary. Everything from film to television to web shows is covered. Seeing Dee Bradley Baker do his bag of tricks is enjoyable as all Hell.

It all does seem a little bit too lovey-dovey, though. I can't help but feel like maybe some shittier aspects were forgotten. All in all, I really enjoyed it. Being a fan of voice acting and getting to see more behind-the-scenes stuff, even though it was minimal, is always good. Recommended to people with an interest in the industry as a primer to bigger and better documentaries. 7 / 10.

Sam Mac

Just finished watching 12 Years a Slave.

Wow! What a film!!

Superb performances, direction & script.

Prefer this one over Shame IMO. Have yet to see Hunger but will check that one out soon.

9/10

The Black Oil

Headhunters

This is a Norwegian action/thriller film. We meet Roger who's got an attractive wife and spends too much money. Headhunter by day, art thief in his spare time with quasi ninja skills that come in handy rather quickly. When things go pear-shaped, it becomes rather bonkers (Jo Nesbo has a hand in this, after all) , but in a good way. In fact, you might say it's brilliantly entertaining because it knows it's daft. There are parts, to borrow from Bobby in Supernatural, that don't make a lick of sense! It's a brutal (I don't mean terrible) in places. I mean, there's a lavatory (outhouse) scene, a psycho cat and dog, infiltration skillz, see, tracking devices, former special forces bloke and a tractor - what more could you want?!

mike65

My Week with Marilyn (2011) I had heard the book as read on BBC radio and had enjoyed it, so gave the film a spin on BBC2 this evening. Loved it I have to say, I dunno how much licence the film takes with the book and the book with the absolute truth as recounted by Colin Clark but as a wistful, impossible romance it worked perfectly.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I wasn't sure if Headhunters was a thriller or a comedy until it got to the scene where

he's trying to escape on the tractor at 5 miles an hour with a dead dog impaled on the front. Then I knew it was a comedy.

dark crystal

The Grey (2012)

Wow, this really wasn't what I was expecting!

I usually avoid Liam Neeson in action mode films like the plague, but the oh was in the mood for a bit of action and so I caved and we stuck it on. To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement.

Suspenseful, thoughtful, provocative and utterly thrilling, I loved it. Treads some of the same sort of ground as 'The Ghost and the Darkness', but digs much deeper than that. Perfect ending, too.

Highly recommended. 4.5 out of 5

Snickers Man

Baked.noodle wrote: »

Conspiracy (2001)



This film is chilling, and really gets into your head. Kenneth Branagh does an amazing job portraying Reinhard Heydrich, and the support cast do an excellent job. It's unbelievable how little time some of these bastards did.

The best film about institutionalised evil that I have ever seen. Might take a few viewings to really get into it but it's worth the effort.

I know this is an old post but I looked for mentions of this film following a discussion about 12 Years a Slave which, for my money, is a hugely over rated and unrewarding, although hardly unrewarded, film.

This film depicts a group of 15 men engaged in a board room discussion about implementation of a directive from a higher power. Although some of the men are depicted as boorish, uncouth and murderous brutes the majority are not. They have human frailties, to be sure: self importance, professional ambition, sycophancy, petty interdepartmental jealousies, but in another context these might be fairly harmless vices.

In this context, however, their behaviour leads to the worst barbarism in human history: the systematic extermination of millions of people deemed to be unfit to share the planet with the Master Race.

This film shows how ordinarily quite decent guys (they're all men) can be drawn in with a mixture of flattery, devotion to duty, appeals to the group ethic and ultimately threats of an extreme nature both to themselves and their families to do the bidding of others. It shows that there is more power in the hands of a clever manipulator of personalities than in the hands of a flogger.

12 Years a Slave leaves you wondering "God, they were evil back then. How could they not see it?" Conspiracy leaves you fearful that if you were in the position of those men, would you have had the guts to argue with the masters? Could you have convinced yourself that as there was nothing you could do about it, you might as well knuckle down and do what you were told.

A masterful movie. Great performances from Stanley Tucci, Barnaby Kay, David Threlfall and Colin Firth. Branagh does well too but I think he is miscast as Heydrich. Too avuncular; not smoothly menacing enough. But the real strength is in the script. This is how you do it, Mr McQueen.