What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

gucci

Grand Budapest Hotel

I have recently binged on Wes Anderson movies, since I was enlightened to the pleasures of the Royal Tenabaums about a month ago. (I have since watched Darjeeling Limited & The Life Aquatic…which I had actually seen before, but didn’t realise it was by the same guy)

First of all, once again this movie is absolute eye candy in terms of the colours and novel shooting techniques. Definitely the Anderson has developed a beautiful method of story telling, which in some of the movies (Life Aquatic imo) has often become so over powering that the storyline is insignificant, but that can’t be said of this film. It is charming and funny, and I think every character contributes something important to the movie. The story is an fast moving (complete with accompanying piano key music) old fashioned “who done it”, set in a fictional now abolished country called Zubrowka.
Rather than go down the route of everyone employing a borat style accent (I don’t think there ever was a danger of such a thing) each actor uses their own natural accent / voice. For actors like Adrian Brody and Bill Murray is not unusual or alien, but for Ralph Fiennes (Not unusual for him either is suppose) and Saoirse Ronan is adds a great sense of charm to them.

Raplh Fiennes is excellent, and of all the smaller roles I think Harvey Keitel is superb.

All in all an excellent movie, one that I will look forward to watching again. I think it is my favourite of 2014 so far 9/10

ButtersSuki

Mud on DVD last night. Enjoyed this far more than I thought I would and that's even allowing for the postive things I had heard. Some excellent performances from Matthew McConaughey (still hadn't quite got the shirtless thing out of his system yet ), Ray McKinnon (who I last remember seeing in Deadwood) and the two kids (sorry, can't google their names at the moment!) - as well as brief appearances from Reece Witherspoon and Michael Shannon amongst others. Very scenic and very "Southern" (at times I genuinely struggled with some of the accents) I thought it was a very manly/man's film, but the OH enjoyed it as much as I did. McConaughey has some tan in it - at times he looks a deep shade mahogany - I assume from filming in the sun for the movie, it's still kinda funny. I'd give it a 7.5/10.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^ I loved Mud. I thought that of all the things McConagheyhey was getting love for last year this deserved more than it got.

Decuc500

Cheap Thrills, an enjoyably nasty black comedy with a wicked sense of humour.
The director thanked Adam Wingard in the credits and I watched his film You're Next the next night.
I really enjoyed this too, it's a slasher movie made by someone who obviously loves and 'gets' the horror genre.
There are a number of interesting American horror filmmakers at the moment who all seem to know each other producing well made films.

kryogen

3 Days to Kill (2014, Kevin Costner)

I wouldn't say I actually watched all of this as I fast forwarded lots of it and can't actually remember the end. I do think it is one of the bigger pieces of trash I have tried to watch lately......then we move on to

Exam (not sure of year)

Worse. Actually turned it off, supposed to be clever of course, but just ****e. Cross section of society enter the final process of a job interview, the exam. They have to figure **** out, its boring. Its stupid.

To get over this and try to remember good scriptwriting, good acting and production quality I have begun to watch The West Wing again from the start. Excellent, some of it is dated now, but such a quality show.

sepp_blatter

wolf of wall st

first half hour was great and mathew mc conaghey stole the show

was borded stiff after an hour , overall i was very disapointed , the endless excess became dull and many of the charechters had zero depth ( margot robbie etc )

firestarter51

sepp_blatter wrote: »

wolf of wall st

first half hour was great and mathew mc conaghey stole the show

was borded stiff after an hour , overall i was very disapointed , the endless excess became dull and many of the charechters had zero depth ( margot robbie etc )

I turned it off after an hour meaning to go back to it but I couldn't be bothered
On a happier note 22 jump street, very funny, the end credits are very funny too

marko93

Godzilla

Went to see this in the cinema last night, wasn't very enjoyable at all. Wouldn't really recommend at all

marko93

Godzilla

Went to see this in the cinema last night, wasn't very enjoyable at all. Wouldn't really recommend it to people who haven't yet seen it. Save your cash and see if it pops up on Netflix at some point.

sepp_blatter

marko93 wrote: »

Godzilla

Went to see this in the cinema last night, wasn't very enjoyable at all. Wouldn't really recommend at all

i thoroughly enjoyed that

siblers

Compliance. I was searching the highest rated films on Rotten Tomatoes and came across this. Premise seemed good but quickly into the film it had one obvious flaw which ruined the film. Turned it off after 50 minutes or so. Be curious if anyone else has seen it.

Obvious as hell he wasn't a cop or that what was happening wasn't right..jsut annoyed me

MagicMarker

siblers wrote: »

Compliance. I was searching the highest rated films on Rotten Tomatoes and came across this. Premise seemed good but quickly into the film it had one obvious flaw which ruined the film. Turned it off after 50 minutes or so. Be curious if anyone else has seen it.

Obvious as hell he wasn't a cop or that what was happening wasn't right..jsut annoyed me

You know it's a true story...?

siblers

MagicMarker wrote: »

You know it's a true story...?

Yeah, made me all the more baffled. I'll watch the rest of it though

GreNoLi

The Enemy with Jake Gyllenhaal.

Certainly worth the watch, excellent cinematography/performances and one hell of a jump scare that shook me, to say the least.

Sam Mac

siblers wrote: »

Compliance. I was searching the highest rated films on Rotten Tomatoes and came across this. Premise seemed good but quickly into the film it had one obvious flaw which ruined the film. Turned it off after 50 minutes or so. Be curious if anyone else has seen it.

Obvious as hell he wasn't a cop or that what was happening wasn't right..jsut annoyed me

I've seen this film twice now. Really enjoyed it both times. Ann Dowd is terrific.

ButtersSuki

Watched Hobo With A Shotgun last night, taped from Film4 recently. Another fake trailer from Tarantino and Rodriguez's Grindhouse double bill (which I do like) to be made into a movie (a la Machete) and truth be told that was the only real reason I watched it. It's a homage to low-buget exploitation movies of the 70s/80s, but pales in comparison to Machete for all round sh*ts and giggles. I know it has received quite positive reviews and has somewhat of a cult following, but I just found it boring - maybe I've just tired of this genre? I was going to buy this on Blu Ray recently, I'm really glad I didn't. 4/10.

ButtersSuki

siblers wrote: »

Compliance. I was searching the highest rated films on Rotten Tomatoes and came across this. Premise seemed good but quickly into the film it had one obvious flaw which ruined the film. Turned it off after 50 minutes or so. Be curious if anyone else has seen it.

Obvious as hell he wasn't a cop or that what was happening wasn't right..jsut annoyed me

Saw it a while back. Thought it was interesting, but felt they could have done so much more with it.

Sad Professor

A part of me still thinks Compliance should have been a black comedy. Regardless of the accuracy of the events depicted, people are used to watching smart characters in films. It’s very difficult to ask a viewer sitting comfortably in a multiplex seat or sofa to relate to characters acting so stupidly. Yet there’s something deeply unsettling and provocative about playing it straight and serious like they did. The most disturbing thing isn’t that Ann Dowd and her co-workers are too stupid to recognise a real cop, it’s that seemingly moral people will abdicate all personal responsibility and do utterly grotesque things when instructed to by an authority figure. And that society will condemn them - not for being unquestioning of authority but for being too stupid to recognise a legitimate authority. You know, because a real cop would never do something so shocking, right?

barone

how to train your dragon 2 , watched today, did not disappoint , a equal sequel it sure was

siblers

The Loved Ones, loved this film. Has a brilliant mix of gore and fun to it. Pity that any of the trailers give away the whole film (so maybe watch like the first 20 seconds of any trailer for it). The sub plot didn't really work though, understand why it was there but it just seemed too far removed from the main plot. Your one who played Lola was brilliant in it, she completely nailed her role.

Sad Professor wrote: »

A part of me still thinks Compliance should have been a black comedy. Regardless of the accuracy of the events depicted, people are used to watching smart characters in films. It’s very difficult to ask a viewer sitting comfortably in a multiplex seat or sofa to relate to characters acting so stupidly. Yet there’s something deeply unsettling and provocative about playing it straight and serious like they did. The most disturbing thing isn’t that Ann Dowd and her co-workers are too stupid to recognise a real cop, it’s that seemingly moral people will abdicate all personal responsibility and do utterly grotesque things when instructed to by an authority figure. And that society will condemn them - not for being unquestioning of authority but for being too stupid to recognise a legitimate authority. You know, because a real cop would never do something so shocking, right?

Great post, I just can't get my head around the stupidity of the people involved, there were just so many scenarios where one of them should have realised what the hell was going on wasn't right. I might try watch the rest of it but I dunno, might be worth it just for Ann Dowd.

Liam McPoyle

Godzilla 2014.

Didnt love it, didnt hate it, just a bit meh about it.

I had avoided all spoilers so I wasnt expecting

Cranstons death

and didnt know anything about the

Mutos

so they were two pleasant surprises.

As a rule CGI heavy movies arent my cup of tea but given the nature of this one (giants monster smashes things up) its expected and acceptable.

Wouldnt buy it on DVD, wouldnt be in any rush to watch it again but all in all it was a passable enough way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon.

6/10

ButtersSuki

Went to Devil's Knot in the cinema as the OH wanted to see it. Starring Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth in the case of an apparent miscarriage of justice against three boys in West Memphis in the early 90s. Found it very poor to be honest; Witherspoon is weak in the female lead and jumping somewhere between over-acting and dialing it in, while it's just hard to take Firth credibly as a Yank, let alone a Southern Yank. For me it had a real TV movie feel about it - and a poor one at that. All that said, the OH said she liked it, but I'd give it at best a 4/10.

Tony EH

What?

Colin Firth in a film about the West Memphis Three?

WTF?

That's just all wrong.

ButtersSuki

Tony EH wrote: »

What?

Colin Firth in a film about the West Memphis Three?

WTF?

That's just all wrong.

Indeed it is. It's just awful casting. The script doesn't help either.

Tony EH

Just on that alone, it sounds like a complete injustice.

I hope the lads got some money out of it at least.

catallus

Oculus was pretty good. Some freaky scenes and a cool ending.

I watched Devil's Knot on Netflix last night and found the entire thing to be a pointless waste of time. It's a film made it would seem for those people who find the concept of watching a documentary completely alien. in it's near 2 hour run time there's only a single moment that packs any power and even then it feels like cheap exploitation. There is no doubt that the case is fascinating and the manner in which a town turned on three of it's own is ripe for a gripping tale but sadly Devil's Knot looks and plays out like a cheap, made for TV midweek movie. The biggest compliment you can pay it is that it's a serviceable procedural. Anyone interested in watching the film would be best advised to seek out the trio of Paradise Lose documentaries

smokedeels

I watched Repo Man for the first time at the weekend. I loved it. The humor, the quirky nature of the plot and characters. The dialogue (..."the lattice of coincidence" conversation for instance).

I'll be re-watching this soon.

zombiepaw

Watched Devil's Knot, waste of time and it has nothing new to offer. Paradise Lost docs are way better and offer alot more info. Also watched Avalanche Sharks which was terrible (I strangely didn't want to turn it off), I must be due a decent movie this weekend.

PandyAndy

The Counselor

Stars Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, and Brad Pitt.

Gets a very low 5.4 on IMDB out of 50k votes and usually when that's the case I'd give a film a miss but out of boredom I made an exception, and in the end I quite enjoyed it. Also never heard of this before.

Basic story is The Counselor (Fassbender), an attorney, naively agrees to take part in a drug purchase for a drug baron (Bardem) he represents and through one random coincidence things go wrong and the Mexican cartels get involved believing the counselor is screwing them over and they then go after everybody involved.

As I said I enjoyed but I can see why some people disliked it, some of the dialogue between characters is a little over the top and too long, it's all a bit too philosophical and not what normal conversations are like, but that said 5.4 is a little unfair. I get the impression that people were also expecting an out and out action movie, and constant shoot outs etc, the first hour and a bit is pretty much all talking and when the film ends, it ends in similar fashion to No Country for Old Men... it just ends. I'd probably give it a 6-7 maybe a little bit higher.

Give it a watch.

FortuneChip wrote: »

Watched Michael Mann's "Heat" for the first time in years.
It's just shy of 20 years old, and all the better for it. The heist scenes and shootouts are more tense than any effects reliant action you'll find in current "blockbusters". Probably helped by the fact you're rooting for both sides though.
De Niro is great as the smooth criminal, but Pacino is just brilliant as the coke fueled lieutenant. His scene with Hank Azaria is priceless!

I only realised it was well over 2 hours long when it was over and I realised I'd missed my bus for work. It plays along at a real good pace.

I forgot how good this was, decided to watch there a few days ago after reading this. The heists in this are fantastically done

completely forgot about the bank heist was in the film