What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Heckler

Requiem for a dream : i know its ages old but never got around to seeing it. Didn't like it. Burstyn was impressive. If I never saw another lash of pill popping, veins, dilated pupils it would be too soon. Boring boring. Almost as bad as Black Swan.

Anchorman 2. Fan of the first but this was complete and utter ****.

johnny_ultimate

Veronica Mars - the bitch is well and truly back. A rock solid return from TV's once teenaged detective (Kristen Bell in what may well be the role of her career), now older, wiser and a little more hardboiled. This is a blatant 'for the fans' affair (your average anime contains less fan service :pac:), but I'm one of them and had a great time. The writing is sharp, Neptune remains a beautifully nasty setting for a good murder mystery and the characters are as engaging as ever. Visually it sits somewhat awkwardly between a TV show and a film, but it plays much better on a big screen then I had expected. Be warned, though: if you have no idea who Veronica Mars is, then you'd be best advised staying away and tracking down the show first - the barrage of names and characters might leave you lost otherwise. It remains one of the great preemptively cancelled shows of the last decade, so it's refreshing to see a follow-up arrive without ruining its legacy In fact, after an uneven final season, this a 'that's better!' conclusion that happily leaves the potential for more should this be an unlikely success. Whatever the series' future, this is should well please anyone who's already been won over by Mars' unique charms.

An Inn in Tokyo - Arriving over a decade before The Bicycle Thieves, this silent Ozu film is a strong example of early neo-realism that must surely have inspired some of the Italian directors who went on to define the movement. The story of a father and his two sons as the patriarch futilely attempts to find work and shelter, it's of course defined by Ozu's trademark empathy and strong directorial control. The somewhat tragic story is lyrically told, and made more compelling by moments of bittersweet humour. As a very late case of silent storytelling, it's a lot more accessible for contemporary audiences than many earlier examples of the form.

Odd Obsession: A striking and unusual film, albeit one that feels just a little undercooked. Shifting between multiple protagonists, it's a - as the title gives away - an odd experience, a mix of melodrama and subtle character studies. The themes are actually really interesting throughout - exploring concepts of aging, appearance (a lot of subversion and critiquing of the typical male gaze), mortality, collapsing family values, social changes - and Ichikawa is quite subtle in the way he engages with them. Tying it all together is an uneasy, tragic undercurrent constantly adding a layer of uncertainty to the experience. There's also hints of black comedy, including a bold opening directed at the viewer, and an inspired scene involving a vigorous massage. The story itself can feel rather mechanical in its delivery, and the characters can shift between compellingly and frustratingly enigmatic. Superb widescreen photography, though!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Margot At The Wedding

Made it about 40 minutes in before I had to turn it off. Same deal as Baumach's Greenberg. Thoroughly unlikable characters talking a lot but not actually saying anything. I didn't realise Baumbach was written a few of Wes Anderson's films, including Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I love, so it must be his directing that doesn't work for me.

Mickeroo

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Margot At The Wedding

Made it about 40 minutes in before I had to turn it off. Same deal as Baumach's Greenberg. Thoroughly unlikable characters talking a lot but not actually saying anything. I didn't realise Baumbach was written a few of Wes Anderson's films, including Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I love, so it must be his directing that doesn't work for me.

I didn't mind Greenberg so much but Margot at the Wedding is definitely his worst film imo. The Squid and the Whale (personal favourite) and Frances Ha are well worth giving a chance to if you haven't already though.

Baked.noodle

The Ladykillers (2004)

Coen brothers write and direct this charming comedy. All the characters are wonderfully stereotypical, and I think it doesn't detract from the entertainment as you might expect. Enjoyable. 8/10

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Safety Not Guaranteed

A journalist and his 2 interns try to track down a guy who posted a personal ad looking for a partner to time travel with him, must have their own weapons.

I was pleasantly surprised by this. I don't like New Girl or any of it's cast so Jake Johnson being one of the leads was problematic for me. I'm not a fan of Aubrey Plaza either as she seems to be the same angry/grumpy/sarcastic/monotone person in everything I've seen her in and maybe even in real life..... so yeah, very surprised by how much I liked this film. I guess I'm a fan of Mark Dupless, he's great in Your Sister's Sister and I enjoyed his brief appearances on The Mindy Project too. He's the right mix of charming and goofy and seems to know exactly what he's doing with the improvisation style of acting, unlike a lot of people.

I thought the ending was interesting.

The time travel machine actually worked? Which maybe made his explanation for why the ex girlfriend was still alive actually be an explanation and not just him being a mental case? I don't know. But I was kind of glad they went that way instead of trying to explain away his character as just being a crack pot.

ButtersSuki

Not a movie but I started at Christmas and last night finished all three seasons of Danish political drama Borgen on Blu Ray (a present). Some great performances, especially by Pilou Absaek as the PM's Spin Doctor (who for some reason has a much smaller role is Season 3). Also starring lots of Danes you'll recognize if you watched The Killing.

It's slow though, so be warned - some critics might desribe it as "richly layered" (lol). The OH gave up as she didn't have the patience for it. if you're interested and looking for a physical copy, I'd imagine DVD will be grand, nothing special about the Blu Ray IMO. Heard rumors of an American remake (please don't). A solid 8/10.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Not a movie but I started at Christmas and last night finished all three seasons of Danish political drama Borgen on Blu Ray (a present). Some great performances, especially by Pilou Absaek as the PM's Spin Doctor (who for some reason has a much smaller role is Season 3). Also starring lots of Danes you'll recognize if you watched The Killing.

He was off making films and what have you. Also why his general appearance changed so much from Season 2 to 3 and then all through 3 too. He's also presenting Eurovision this year

ButtersSuki

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

He was off making films and what have you. Also why his general appearance changed so much from Season 2 to 3 and then all through 3 too. He's also presenting Eurovision this year

Eurovision? No way? I thought his star was more brightly lit than that? Although I could be underestimating how big a deal Eurovision is to other Euro countries I suppose. Derek Mooney will be thrilled though. :roll eyes:

I figured it would be something like that alright, even though they tried to explain it in other ways in Borgen.

Figure we'll see Birgitte Hjort Sorenson (or whatever her name is) popping up a few movies too. Keeping it Euro-pop, as Roxette* said "She's got the look"……..as well as being a good actress. lol.

*I'm going to report myself for that one.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

He's co-presenting with 2 other TV presenters. I think it's just because it's in Denmark and he's a recognisable face in more than one country thanks to Borgen.

Gamayun

Rundskop AKA Bullhead (2011)
Enjoyable Belgian crime drama based around the use of illegal cattle hormones. Great performances all round especially the lead, Matthias Schoenaerts, who plays a bemuscled farmer with an interesting backstory.

Silent House (2011)
Psychological horror with Elizabeth Olson. This remake of a Uruguayan film (La casa muda, which I haven't seen) was edited to look like one continuous shot. Olson is quite good in this, and with 90% of the screen time being close shots of her it needed a strong performance. I thought this was interesting but wasn't as engrossing as it could have been given the genre/subject matter.

kryogen

Watched Gravity last night

Pretty boring tbh

Looper007

Gamayun wrote: »

Rundskop AKA Bullhead (2011)
Enjoyable Belgian crime drama based around the use of illegal cattle hormones. Great performances all round especially the lead, Matthias Schoenaerts, who plays a bemuscled farmer with an interesting backstory.

Schoenaerts has the Tom Hardy vibe to him, really a talent to watch. Really great film sadly overlooked by his performance in Rust and Bone but I think this is the better performance and you actually feel for the guy even though he's a bit of a violent bastard.

Looper007

The Lives of Others (2006)

A film that get's better and better each time I watch it, A top class performance from the late Ulrich Mühe and some great performances from all involved and any film that beats out Pans Labyrinth for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars must be awesome and it is. A truly tense and heart breaking piece of Cinema. Pity director/writer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck went on to make the awful The Tourist.

Saltwater (2000)

Directing debut of Conor McPherson who wrote the wonderful I Went Down. He pretty much has the same cast here but the results aren't as classic as he tries to go for Altman style Short Cut's set around a Chipper owning Italian/ Irish Family. The best bit's involve around Laurence Kinlan from Love/Hate (making his debut) and Peter McDonald. Brendan Gleeson does the best he can in a underwritten role and Brian Cox is a little underused. a university lecturer with a mid-life crisis, is juggling two women and an imploding career plot line should have been cut and would have made for a better all round movie. Pity it hasn't been given a DVD release as it's a decent Irish film.

crazygeryy

Iron man 3
I didn't like the second one at all. I found it boring. But the third one was enjoyable. Aside from rdj s attempts at being funny it is well worth a watch. Stunning cgi with intense action sequences culminating in a tour de force of movie making.

upstairs for coffee

Filth

James McAvoy delivers a fantastic performance. Really interesting story of a man and his breakdown garnished with dark humour and great soundtrack.

Really great story and movie. 9/10

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Hunger

The most difficult of Steve McQueen's films to watch for two reasons. 1) the subject matter and the literal load of ****e for the first half hour or so and 2) it's the most "arty" of his films.

It's his first feature film and it's so obvious that he's coming from a "visual artist" background rather than a "movie" background. The scene between Sands and the priest is incredible, it's got about 95 % of the dialogue of the whole film though and a lot of the other stuff around it is padding. That one conversation would have made an incredible short. I suppose the padding was necessary to set the scene and for an audience unfamiliar with Sands and the hunger strikes it goes some way to explaining the situation. It's still a difficult one to watch though.

You can see clear differences in style between Hunger and Shame and then again to 12 Years a Slave, which is McQueen's most movie like movie, if that makes sense .

But yeah.. it's worth it for that scene between Fassbender and Cunningham.

ButtersSuki

Final Destination 5 on DVD, a Christmas present that I only got around to watching last night. I said "thank you" on receipt, I really wanted to say "do you know me at all?". That said I watched it with an open mind, having previously seen 1 and 2 (I think). This however is just awful. Terrible 3D-type scenes that look so dated, terrible acting and just a crap storyline. Not sure if it's even in the so bad it's good category. 2/10.

A Time To Kill from the other half's DVD collection. Starring Matthew McConaghey, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, both Donald and Kiefer Sutherland, Brenda Fricker, Chris Cooper, Ashley Judd and Sandra Bullock amongst others it's the story of the trial of a black man on trial for killing the white men who raped his daughter in the South. Full of cliches, dodgy lines and a corny story overall this has aged badly and I can see why I avoided it at the time. Fricker and Spacey's southern accents are brutally bad too. The highlight for me was seeing Ashley Judd in her prime.....oh Ashley you is mighty purdy.

There was one unintentionally funny part where Doug Hutchinson says something like he "likes them young". Considering his marriage to Courtney Stodden many years later that gave me a giggle.

5/10 at absolute best. Even the OH said she didn't remember it being anywhere near a bad as it seemed this time around.

old hippy

kryogen wrote: »

Watched Gravity last night

Pretty boring tbh

Really? We saw it in 3D (first time watching 3D in cinema) and were blown away; the pace, the performances, soundtrack and cinematography. I'd put it as a companion piece to Clooney's "Solaris".

ButtersSuki

old hippy wrote: »

Really? We saw it in 3D (first time watching 3D in cinema) and were blown away; the pace, the performances, soundtrack and cinematography. I'd put it as a companion piece to Clooney's "Solaris".

+1 for me on the meh for Gravity, here's my post from my viewing.

Gravity….hmmm. disappointing. Went to see it in the IMAX in 3D in Cineworld. Went away thinking the 3D was underutilized and the best part of he experience was the "prepare for your 3D experience" (or however they describe it) before the film started. Story I found somewhat meh, and the repeated space hopping went from being necessary to repetitive to ridiculous. I really don't see what the fuss was all about. A disappointing 6.5-7/10

No that I look back at that score I was extremely generous. I'm going to restore it as 5/10.

As for the 3D, as I said, best part of it was BEFORE the flipping movie started! I want my €30 (I paid for herself) back!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

stalker


not altogether sure what I just watched but it was lovely

Sam Mac

Just after finishing the French body-drama film 'Dans Ma Peau' ("In My Skin")

Directed by and starring Marina de Van.

The plot is about a woman who, after a freak accident, becomes obsessed with the wounds on her body.

The first half was very slow, almost made me turn it off, I was getting very bored. The second half got much better though. Its a quirky and interesting little film.

Would recommend watching if you liked other French films such as Calvaire or Irreversible.

---

Tomorrow night: "Girl Most Likely" (Kristen Wiig) & "Philomena" (Judi Dench) as well, if I have the time.

MJ23

The Last Samurai. Saw it when it came out, remembered it was good. An enjoyable watch. Tom Cruise is great in it.

kryogen

old hippy wrote: »

Really? We saw it in 3D (first time watching 3D in cinema) and were blown away; the pace, the performances, soundtrack and cinematography. I'd put it as a companion piece to Clooney's "Solaris".

Yeah, it looked nice of course, some great cinematography, but overall it was a pretty boring film for me.

Kolido

kryogen wrote: »

Yeah, it looked nice of course, some great cinematography, but overall it was a pretty boring film for me.

Watched it also few nights ago and have to totally agree with you, while the visuals and soundtrack were great the movie was boring.
Don't know what the 3D experience was like so can't comment on that.

Its difficult to make a movie with just 2 actors entertaining especially when 1 of them is gone a third of the way into it

Sugarlumps

Insidious 2 - Probably the worst film I've ever seen.

Sam Mac

Just finished watching 'Garage' starring Pat Shortt.

Excellent film, one of Ireland's best IMO. Shortt really put his all into his role as Josie.

Highly recommended 4.5/5

NyOmnishambles

Have been to the cinema a few times over the last week so a bit of a round up is due

NonStop
Standard enough Liam Neeson fare these days but this would be at the better end of his output. Yes it is silly but it doesn't take itself too seriously which helps with enjoyability and the main action pretty much taking place in a confined location works in its favour
Worth a watch if you are looking for a bit of brainless time passing but I certainly wouldn't have gone to see it without the use of an Unlimited card

Dallas Buyers Club
There are no major surprises in Dallas Buyers Club if you know the general gist of the story before going in but it is a well made movie that doesn't pretend that the central character is a really ncie guy and doesn't go out of its way to push a damascas like conversion on him so i respected it for that
The interest here was to see if the acting Oscars were deserved and to be honest I would be on the fence as to if they were
Whilst the physical commitment to the role is evident and McConaghey is rightly lauded for it at the end of it there wasn't a huge amount of acting required for the role so i guess it depends on how much emphasis you put on the physical transformation part which it seems the Academy will generally reward you for it
Jared Leto's performance is the more noteworthy I feel, he could ahve gotten away with turning in a standard camp performance for his character but it is much more than that, it is layered and nuanced and almost underplayed but pitched just right to make the character believable and pityable

Wolf of Wall Street
Watch immediatly after Dallas Buyers Club and thankfully it was in that order as Dallas Buyers Club would have seemed very boring after the brash excess of Wolf of Wall Street
Again the oscars was in mind when watching and it is hard not to feel sorry for deCaprio here. he puts in an excellent performance and truely makes you believe he is this larger than life character (there were moments that I found similar to Orsen Wells in Citizen Kane when watching) he owner the role and the screen
Johan Hill and his teeth were very good in support
The whole movie is a hoot, my presonal highlight being the Lemmon Ludes and DeCaprio's performance here is outstanding
Highly recommend giving it a watch, it was very GoodFellas-esque in parts and this is no bad thing, the 3 hours ticks along with very little lag and the soundtrack is great as always

cookiecakes

Re-watched Crazy Stupid Love last night. It was a lot sadder second time around and I didn't really enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Looper007

Sam Mac wrote: »

Just finished watching 'Garage' starring Pat Shortt.

Excellent film, one of Ireland's best IMO. Shortt really put his all into his role as Josie.

Highly recommended 4.5/5

I have to say out of all of Lenny Abrahamson's Work, it's the one I really can't understand the praise for. I found it so pretentious. His other work has been excellent but this is the one I go back least too. Shortt is great in it though.