What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

44thservice

Magic Magic


It was boring, could have been made more weird with murder etc !!! didn't make sense either :rolleyes:

ButtersSuki

Bank Holiday weekend allowed for some catching up.....this will be brief as I'm up the walls but typing this as I have a coffee.

The Verdict Paul Newman courtroom drama, supported by Milo O'Shea (and his eyebrows) and Charlotte Rampling. Not bad per se but pales in comparison to newer courtroom/legal stories. Hasn't aged all that well. 6/10.

The Company Men Ben Affleck, Tomy Lee Jones, Chris Copper, and an underutilised Kevin Costner and Maria Bello, tells the story of the effects of the economic crisis primarily on one executive and his family. Could have been so much better, but again, it's ok. 6/10.

We Need To Talk About Kevin Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly and latterly in the movie a star turn from Ezra Miller as kevin. Uncomsfortable viewing at time but undoubtedly powerful. 8/10.

Judgement Day

My Life for Ireland (1941) on YouTube - aka “Mein Leben für Irland” - a Nazi WW.II. propaganda movie set in Ireland pre-independence but filmed in Germany. English subtitles.



I'd been putting off viewing this movie for quite a long time - especially since my experience watching a similar Nazi WW.II. effort, "Titanic" (1943), which was dreadful - but with the day that was in it, I decided to give it a whirl. While the propaganda is crude, there's a genuine story here and the cast, although entirely German, look and act the part and the sets aren't bad either. Some of the uniforms leave a little to be desired but this does not detract much as you soon get used to them.

The basic synopsis is that following a rebellion in 1903, the sons of the rebels are removed to a pro-British school (in Ireland) where they are re-educated to be good British citizens. However, the school is a hotbed of revolution and the students can't wait to join the fight against the ancient enemy. I liked it and will be buying it on DVD. The story would stand a remake - perhaps for 2016? 9/10

charlie_says

Judgement Day you sure love your WWII movies!

tunguska

Riddick

Didnt expect much from this at all. Hadnt seen the chronicles of Riddick and from all accounts I wouldnt want to but I thought Pitch Black was whopper. This was basically assault on precinct 13(which I suppose means its Rio Bravo)and thats fine by me. Dialogue was very ropey and the acting a little ripe but all in all like I said, not bad.


Mystery Men

I saw this years ago and remember cracking up in places but feeling it was less than the sum of its parts Second time round and a few years later I feel the same way. Genuinely hilarious in parts (Paul Reubens character has the best scenes) but it falls a bit flat overall. I know it didnt really do well at the time but I'd love to see a sequel, theres a lot of mileage to be got from those characters. Wes studi as the Sphinx was brilliant.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

bill and ted's excellent adventure


the 80's was weird

Mike Litoris

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

bill and ted's excellent adventure


the 80's was weird

Did you manage the whole thing? I was 18 and a rocker when that came out...I thought it was deadly.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

oh yeah I got through it all, my faith was tested until they got to the police station and (you know what, i'm goint to spoiler this anyway)

they realised that they needed a set of police keys. so they made sure that once they had finished the events in the movie, they'd find teds fathers keys, time travel back to the current moment and leave them under the sign they were standing beside. Then they checked the sign and wow, the keys were there. I'd forgotten all about that and it was just so... perfect. Primer never got time travel that well

I dont know what age i was when i last saw that movie but the "what number are we thinking of" "69 dudes". laughed my ass off, completely over my head as a child.

Judgement Day

charlie_says wrote: »

Judgement Day you sure love your WWII movies!

I do, I do! I forgot to mention that, as an aperitif, I listened to a recently purchased two-hour BBC Radio adaption of "The Eagle has Flown" on audio cassette- the Jack Higgins sequel to the "Eagle has Landed" - not bad but some of the attempts at German accents grated a bit. I did my best to imagine Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland from the original movie. I'm surprised that "The Eagle has Flown" never made it onto the screen as the plot was about as realistic as that of "The Eagle has Landed". I really need to get a life!

p to the e

Having put off viewing 'Anti-Christ' for some time I decided to settle in over the Bank Holiday for controversy á la Lars Von Trier. Within the first ten seconds a full penetration shot shows that we're in for a hell of a ride (pun kind of intended).

I initially thought this was going to be a full on artsy affair but after roughly 30 mins I began to get sucked into the atmospheric horror feel of the film. Don't get me wrong there are enough dream sequences and psychoanalysis to keep Freudians content but overall it works well as a chilling piece of cinema. Be warned there are several strong sexual scenes and madcap violence from early on.

e_e

I'll never forget going to see Antichrist in cineworld and witnessing 20+ people walk out (some within the first 5 minutes). One of my most memorable cinema experiences ever. :P

charlie_says

So much to like and dislike in Antichrist. Certainly generates much discussion.

e_e

Nymphomaniac was equal parts "haha gotta love Lars Von Trier" and "oh **** off Lars!" for me too.

Mickeroo

No been able to bring myself to watch Antichrist yet, been on my to do list since it came out but I'm not sure I'm cut out for those kinds of films anymore

Looper007

e_e wrote: »

Nymphomaniac was equal parts "haha gotta love Lars Von Trier" and "oh **** off Lars!" for me too.

That's the way Mark Kermode, Von Trier's most vocal critic although he does like some of his work. But Kermode exactly would say this :pac:. Love how Dafoe is trying to defend Von Trier as a artist and Kermode doesn't give a crap and basically doesn't buy half the crap Von Trier sprouts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBH6jDvg_bk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5MTYp0sI2w

To be fair to Von Trier, he has made some excellent work Breaking The Waves (which Kermode hates), Dogville, The Idiots I love but I never liked Antichrist or Nymphomaniac. He can be quite pretentious and buys into his myth quite a bit. For me the best Dogma movie is Festen and if there's a director that deserves more praise that's Thomas Vinterberg, The Hunt and the criminal underrated Submarino are works of art.

johnny_ultimate

Transiberian - I like the cast, I like the setting, but I don't like the film. Initially director Brad Anderson and his co-writer Will Conroy seem like they're going to play with audience expectation's a bit, and for the first half there's an intriguing sense of uncertainty about what's going on on this train trip through Siberia. There's an interesting enough dynamic between Emily Mortimer's restless adventure-seeker and Woody Harrelson as her conservative but loving husband - it seems as if the film is intent on exploring their marital strife in an engaging way. It's a cool setting too - the claustrophobia and chaos of the train compared to the wild snowy landscapes surrounding it.

Alas, everything unravels with a series of preposterous contrivances that send the film hurtling down the most generic of territories. A mid-film murder that sets the plot wheels turning proper is a leap in credibility, but it only escalates in silliness from there onwards. It's hard to find it thrilling when everything is so garishly cartoonish, and a dodgy coda allows the credits to roll while eliciting little more than a bored shrug. Consistent characterisation? No time - there's shoddy plotting and setpieces to get through.

There's probably a great film to be made about the Transsiberian railway. Transsiberian is not that great film.

e_e

Looper007 wrote: »

To be fair to Von Trier, he has made some excellent work Breaking The Waves (which Kermode hates), Dogville, The Idiots I love but I never liked Antichrist or Nymphomaniac. He can be quite pretentious and buys into his myth quite a bit. For me the best Dogma movie is Festen and if there's a director that deserves more praise that's Thomas Vinterberg, The Hunt and the criminal underrated Submarino are works of art.

Ugh, hated that film. Festen is good though.

Looper007

e_e wrote: »

Ugh, hated that film. Festen is good though.

really? I have to say I thought it was a great film myself. Festen is more then good e_e, probably one of the best films of the 90's for me.

upstairs for coffee

House of Games - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Games

A delicious story, reminiscent of Robert Redford's The Sting. Some wooden dialogue between the actors does gnaw away at the viewers immersion in the story.

Overall loved it.

8mv

Watched 3 very different DVDs last weekend

Gravity
Certainly a technical wonder and it's edge of the seat stuff. But good grief, it's preposterous.

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
Jimmy Stewart's first feature, I believe, directed by Frank Capra. All the elements are there - Stewarts lovable everyman, the tough Baltimore gal with a heart of Gold, the surprisingly corrupt politician. And we get to see a fillibuster in action. Points lost for the abrupt ending that is very unconvincing.

Good Vibrations
We liked this one a lot. I knew the basic story before (Hot Press reader in the late 70's / early 80's) but this was very well played. Richard Dormer is excellent as Terri Hooley and I bought it because Jodi Whittaker is in it. Leaves you smiling.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

8mv wrote: »

Good Vibrations
We liked this one a lot. I knew the basic story before (Hot Press reader in the late 70's / early 80's) but this was very well played. Richard Dormer is excellent as Terri Hooley and I bought it because Jodi Whittaker is in it. Leaves you smiling.

I was very disappointed with Good Vibrations. Thought it was a bit of a mess really.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Just watched Withnail and I for the first time in years. Was too young on first watching to really appreciate it, thoroughly enjoyed it this time around.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Just watched Withnail and I for the first time in years. Was too young on first watching to really appreciate it, thoroughly enjoyed it this time around.

I **** arses
Who ****s arses
Maybe he ****s arses!

Mickeroo

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

I **** arses
Who ****s arses
Maybe he ****s arses!

Here hare here?

Looper007

Mickeroo wrote: »

Here hare here?

“You can stuff it up your arse for nothing and **** off while you're doing it!”

“Give me a Valium, I’m getting the FEAR!”

“I have just narrowly avoided having a buggering, and have come in here with the express intention of wishing one upon you.”

“I have a heart condition. If you hit me, it's murder.”

“This place has become impossible. Nothing to eat, freezing cold and now a madman on the prowl outside with eels.”

It's the most quote able film and probably the best Comedy Britain's ever produced for me with the most downbeat ending to a comedy too.

charlie_says

The Machine (2013)

Interesting British Sci-Fi movie that revolves around the development of Artificial Intelligence for weapons in fictitious Cold War between UK and China sometime in the near future. In a high security military research facility a top scientist is working with very lifelike super soldier androids and integrating new forms of AI into their programming for a pretty nasty government who seem bent on beginning a war.

Without giving too much away from the plot, I quite enjoyed the questions voiced in The Machine about what it is to be alive, can a machine reach sentience and how do we behave towards it morally if it does. Many of the themes in Solaris are explored here, admittedly in a less philosophical manner. It also has some Skynet/Matrix as well as 2001 Space Odyssey references and homages. Also some actual scientific terms in relation to robotics and AI are used in it that are factual relevant to the storyline so some elements of hard Sci-Fi are there.

Visually quite impressive (the setting reminded me of the facility in Aliens) with such a low budget, in particular lighting was used very effectively throughout, though although overall I wasn't too impressed with the synth soundtrack it seemed a to try a bit too hard. It did go into fight/shoot mode in the final scenes but the buildup was worth it for a few minutes of generic violence, which was also done to a fairly high quality if you are into that kind of thing.

An interesting dystopian flawed gem. Definitely worth a watch if you are into Sci-Fi with a bit of meat to it. Also seeing Caity Lotz dancing naked is fun too :pac:

I actually posted this on a seperate thread, but figured that more people look at this, only cos I think it's worth a watch - I'm not thanks whoring

Birneybau

p to the e wrote: »

Having put off viewing 'Anti-Christ' for some time I decided to settle in over the Bank Holiday for controversy á la Lars Von Trier. Within the first ten seconds a full penetration shot shows that we're in for a hell of a ride (pun kind of intended).

I initially thought this was going to be a full on artsy affair but after roughly 30 mins I began to get sucked into the atmospheric horror feel of the film. Don't get me wrong there are enough dream sequences and psychoanalysis to keep Freudians content but overall it works well as a chilling piece of cinema. Be warned there are several strong sexual scenes and madcap violence from early on.

Just watched it myself, hypnotic.

*shudder

grohlisagod

Just back from Locke. Interesting concept, well executed. Another excellent performance from Hardy. Well worth it.

jcsoulinger

Looper007 wrote: »

“

It's the most quote able film and probably the best Comedy Britain's ever produced for me with the most downbeat ending to a comedy too.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j5EmCKbWS6c


one of my favs.

Tony EH

e_e wrote: »

Nymphomaniac was equal parts "haha gotta love Lars Von Trier" and "oh **** off Lars!" for me too.

Always thought he was a complete chancer. A bullshit artist with a bit of genuine flair. But, way too in love with taking the mickey.

Kind of liked 'Dogville' though.