What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Sugarlumps

I,Frankenstein - I'd give it a zero, it was absolutely pance.

gucci

j.s. pill II wrote: »

Great film - thanks for the recommendation

No problem, glad you enjoyed it!

OldeCinemaSoz

WER

I caught this on a whim and I'm glad I did. I'm not
doing spoilers when I say WER does for the Werewolf film
what CHRONICLE did for the Superhero film.

Turns everything upside down, every which way and then
spits it all out. Very entertaining and for a 90 min film is far more
worthy of your time than a lot of other bloated messes soon to be
choking up the multiplex xmas dog boxes near you.

I'm sticking this one with an "under the radar" 9/10 gem.

Birneybau

'Wanted' - sh!t sandwich.

Please Hollywood, don't give Timur Ber-blah-blah-blah any more money.

"Common" written by Jimmy McGovern you might remember from Cracker and the Accused. Similar gritty BBC made for TV film to his usual writing, about the "Joint Enterprise" law in the UK where people can get put on trial for murder without actually committing or knowing about the crime. Powerful stuff as is all of McGoverns work.
Watching his TV show "The Street" from 2006 as well, I don't think there is a writer out there that can match him for writing about real people and real problems. Brilliant show, if often difficult to watch.

stampydmonkey

OldeCinemaSoz wrote: »

WER

I caught this on a whim and I'm glad I did. I'm not
doing spoilers when I say WER does for the Werewolf film
what CHRONICLE did for the Superhero film.

Turns everything upside down, every which way and then
spits it all out. Very entertaining and for a 90 min film is far more
worthy of your time than a lot of other bloated messes soon to be
choking up the multiplex xmas dog boxes near you.

I'm sticking this one with an "under the radar" 9/10 gem.

I love that film. So understated but you never lose interest and so many people have never seen it.

McSasquatch II

I have a slight werewolf fixation (:o) so I'll be checking out Wer forthwith!

batnolan

Misery (1990)

James Caan gives a good performance although I was not convinced by Kathy Bates. Good film even though it had one ridiculous scene where James Caan is in a wheelchair and trying to pick up a hairclip and there is a big dramatic close up.

Think a modern remake could also be good.

adox

batnolan wrote: »

Misery (1990)

James Caan gives a good performance although I was not convinced by Kathy Bates. Good film even though it had one ridiculous scene where James Caan is in a wheelchair and trying to pick up a hairclip and there is a big dramatic close up.

Think a modern remake could also be good.

Ah Misery is a cracker of a film and Bates gives a great performance. One of the better King adaptations.

bnt

Well, in the last year I've seen Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, so it stands to reason so that I should watch Pretty In Pink, to complete the John Hughes / Molly Ringwald trilogy. I saw it years ago but can't remember much about it, apart from the OMD-verload in the Prom scene. (I like OMD, but If You Leave has to be their worst song, and the band hates it too.

Andie's friend Duckie is played by Jon Cryer, whose face looked familiar but I had trouble placing him. Turns out he's the "other guy" in Two-And-A-Half Men, one of those shows I've managed to avoid watching.

stampydmonkey

Nightcrawler...great film. Gylinhall plays a blinder. Really well shot and decent score so throughly enjoyed it

ButtersSuki

Dumb and Dumber To in the US during the week. Not as good as the first effort (how could it possibly be?) but certainly one of the better comedy sequels as comedy sequels go. A couple of good laugh out loud moments and some good one-liners, if you liked the first one, I'd recommend this. Will definitely do a repeat viewing at some stage. A solid 7/10.

P.S. Stay until the very end.

The Black Oil

Carrie - original version.

This pretty much won me over. It's not really interested in cheap and quick blood spillage. We begin with some fairly nasty bullying, not long after which we meet Carrie's mother who is heavy on biblical morals, light on compassion and probably a bit psychotic. Soon enough the stage is set for some further underhanded tactics. Thanks to Carrie's ability, the last 30 minutes or so are fairly twisted. The ending scene did startle me a little, which many of this genre do not. Hard not to notice the Psycho inflected score.

Carrie herself is bright, curious and independent minded. See, Hollywood, it's not that hard to write female characters this way.

ButtersSuki

The Black Oil wrote: »

Carrie - original version.

This pretty much won me over. It's not really interested in cheap and quick blood spillage. We begin with some fairly nasty bullying, not long after which we meet Carrie's mother who is heavy on biblical morals, light on compassion and probably a bit psychotic. Soon enough the stage is set for some further underhanded tactics. Thanks to Carrie's ability, the last 30 minutes or so are fairly twisted. The ending scene did startle me a little, which many of this genre do not. Hard not to notice the Psycho inflected score.

Carrie herself is bright, curious and independent minded. See, Hollywood, it's not that hard to write female characters this way.

Classic movie alright and despite some of the reviews, the recent Chloe Grace Moretz fronted remake isn't actually that bad.

Heckler

TUSK

What a bonkers film. I know there's a divided camp on Kevin Smith films but i don't know enough to be on either side. I really liked it. Micheal Parks was tremendous. I could have listened to him telling stories for hours. People are split about whether its a comedy, satire or horror. I found the first hour or so very unsettling and the whole premise in general horrifying. Changed tone in the second half with the introduction of Depps character, who I thought was great and proved himself, despite the detractors, as an actor who can do more than just Tim Burton characters.

Justin Long was good as the asshole podcaster and Haley Joel Osment has come a long way from Cole Sear.

Bizarre film but I really enjoyed it. 7/10

Aidric

The Counterfeiters, winner of the 2008 Oscar for best foreign language film. A compelling film driven by a brilliant lead performance by Karl Markovics.

He has to make tough compromises in order to survive. Stronger willed members of his team risk jeopardising his and all the other team members lives at any point. It's this struggle which keeps the tension present throughout.

e_e

Spent the week watching the bulk of Michael Apted's Up series of documentaries.

Did not disappoint. If you enjoyed Boyhood I can't recommend this enough as it goes even further.

Sugarlumps

Romper Stomper - Been years since I've watched it, Crowe is excellent.

gucci

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Dumb and Dumber To in the US during the week. Not as good as the first effort (how could it possibly be?) but certainly one of the better comedy sequels as comedy sequels go. A couple of good laugh out loud moments and some good one-liners, if you liked the first one, I'd recommend this. Will definitely do a repeat viewing at some stage. A solid 7/10.

P.S. Stay until the very end.

Thats good to hear, i kind of had marked this off as one to avoid as I thought it might ruin the fond memories I have of the original....I will hopefully go in with more optimisim now!!

Del.Monte

Watched "Sweeney" (2012) last night - good action movie but apart from the names of the main protagonists it had nothing whatsoever to do with the original TV series. 8/10

I've started watching the complete original Sweeney series again and it still hits the spot.

dusty207

Zachariah, The First Electric Western (1971)
Saw this in the cinema (picture house!) when it first came out, think it was the Fairview. Great movie at the time, hippies and all that.
Got a VHS copy on ebay about 10 years ago but never got around to playing it. Found it in a box recently, dug out the VHS player and had a look. Not bad, didn't realise Don Johnson was in it, man, those teeth!!! A film of its time.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Win Win

Paul Giamatti plays Mike, a small town lawyer who is having a bit of a cash flow problem. When an elderly client is facing becoming a ward of the state because there's nobody else to look after him Mike tells the judge he'll become the old man's guardian allowing him to remain living at home a he wishes. When the judge signs off on it Mike puts the old guy in a home anyway but still collects the $1500 a month for doing it. Things get complicated when the old guy's grandson, Kyle, turns up on his doorstep and Mike has to take him in. Mike is also the volunteer coach of the High School wrestling team who haven't won a single bout for a long long time. Kyle just happens to be a brilliant wrestler.

It's a great little film with a brilliant supporting cast including Bobby Cannavale who I find hilarious and is one of my favourite actors, Alex Shaffer is great as Kyle too and it's just a great little film.

ButtersSuki

gucci wrote: »

Thats good to hear, i kind of had marked this off as one to avoid as I thought it might ruin the fond memories I have of the original....I will hopefully go in with more optimisim now!!

Yup, it holds up - was at a press screening today and confirmed my suspicions on the first view. Don't go in expecting it to top the original, watch it for what it is and you'll enjoy it. As I said in my original post, it's certainly the best comedy sequel I've seen in a long, long time. Hard to think of better actually. I can only imagine what viewing in a packed cinema would be like for atmosphere - both times I've seen it now it's been pretty empty.

Side note: of the weirdest parts is in the end credits (this is not a spoiler) and they have some stills from the first movie. Carrey looks so young compared to now while Bridges looks pretty much the same!

AND DON'T LEAVE BEFORE THE END OF THE CREDITS!

Harry Palmr

The Fury 1978 Dir Brian De Palma

The much anticipated follow up to Carrie pretty much nonplussed everyone on its release, another tale based around the power of the mind just on a bigger scale was probably the last thing De Palma should have done but that's what he did and its not without merit. Filmed in at times a sub-Operatic fashion with a lush dramatic score by John Williams rather than Bernard Herrmann (alas) its all a bit barking but contains just enough to keep you entertained. The scene in the apartment as Kirk Douglas takes refuse from mysterious government agents is almost sit-com but the director gets away with as its early in the drama.

e_e

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

Even going in as a Ghibli fanatic this just blew me away. Can't remember the last time I was so completely delighted by a documentary.

Del.Monte

"The Triangle" (2005) TV mini series - on YouTube.

The mystery of the Bermuda Triangle solved (?). While the three-part series (240 mins) has its moments it ends very weakly and I wouldn't recommend it to anybody but diehard SciFi fans. 5/10

charlie_says

Don't Look Now 1973

This was recommended to me here on films board, but I really didn't like it. Seemed really poorly made and generally not too interesting. It may be just as it looks very dated and the scenery (Venice in the 70's) looks really drab and depressing.

It was pretty weird in general also, it was supposed to be ahead of it's time as a psychological thriller but I'd categorise more as a poor supernatural film. Wasn't impressed.

Tony EH

'Don't Look Now' has to one of the most overrated films ever, especially in Britain. Most Yanks have never heard of it. I've never understood the hype about it. Perhaps it's because it was directed by Nick Roeg that it's reputation is inflated, but to be frank,

after the child's death scene

feck all happens, until the bizzaro and unintentionally hilarious ending

with the killer dwarf

.

You see at the top of best horror lists with great frequency, especially from people of a certain generation, but I've always been mystified as to how it ends up there.

peckerhead

Tony EH wrote: »

You see at the top of best horror lists with great frequency, especially from people of a certain generation, but I've always been mystified as to how it ends up there.

Ah, yiz'll understand when you're a bit older.

Looking forward to watching Nightcrawler, and recently enjoyed Boyhood (to my great surprise).

Oh, and any Paul Giamatti fans should definitely check out Barney's Version.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Jeune & Jolie (Young & Beautiful)

Francois Ozon film from last year about a 17 year old girl who after losing her virginity on her summer holidays decides to become a prostitute. Yeah. That is literally how it happens.
As it goes on there are tiny little hints or glimpses into her thinking and reasoning but it doesn't really dwell on any of that too much.

It's a weird film. I remember reading reviews when it was out and people saying it was an awful film where nothing happened and nothing was resolved and all that kind of thing. I have to disagree though. Well, nothing is really resolved by the end of it but I found myself okay with that. It wasn't like some films where there's just a terrible ending, I felt like there wasn't really supposed to be an end here. The one thing Isabelle showed any real emotion over was pretty much resolved and I found that was really all I needed to be resolved, if that makes sense.

Definitely worth watching, just maybe not with your parents.