What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Tony EH

Looper007 wrote: »

It's a pretty downbeat film especially in the third act. I was expecting a Grease like film with some foul language when I first saw it years ago :pac:. But it's a bit Mean Streets with Disco in a way, Travolta is really awesome and the ending is a little sequel. Although avoid the sequel. makes a mockery of this film.

Yeh, it kind of is. It's very "slice of life", like 'Mean Streets' and just as downbeat in many ways and contains characters that are just as much assholes as Scorsese's film.

The disco scenes are still awful, but essential to highlighting Tony's only escape from his mundane and pretty miserable life.

I've never seen 'Staying Alive' and I never will.

nicklauski

Tony EH wrote: »

Yeh, it kind of is. It's very "slice of life", like 'Mean Streets' and just as downbeat in many ways and contains characters that are just as much assholes as Scorsese's film.

The disco scenes are still awful, but essential to highlighting Tony's only escape from his mundane and pretty miserable life.

I've never seen 'Staying Alive' and I never will.

Count yourself lucky!
Myself and the OH love SNF.
We put on Staying Alive as we found it on Netflix. Turned it off not long after.
God knows what Stallone (&Travolta) were thinking!

j.s. pill II

Eastern Promises (2007)

Directed by David Cronenberg & starring Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises is a Russian mafia/gangsta thriller set in London. Didn't think much of this one at all. Very thin plot and loaded with tropes & cliches.

However, it's one redeeming feature is it's gritty realism: just as in real life, all the Russians in the film dress in black and wear gold chains, constantly have a glass of wodka in hand and make frequent references to their veeeelage in mother Russia.

The Strawman Argument

American Sniper
Was gonna go on a bit long rant about all of the issues I have with this film but it's all just depressingly obvious so I'll save myself the time and summarise it in three words instead

sh*t for c*nts

Birneybau

The Strawman Argument wrote: »

American Sniper
Was gonna go on a bit long rant about all of the issues I have with this film but it's all just depressingly obvious so I'll save myself the time and summarise it in three words instead

sh*t for c*nts

Haven't seen such a succint review since 'Sh!t Sandwich'!

Ranchu

citizenfour

Documentary about Edward Snowden. Remarkable film and will be viewed as a piece of history in itself.

MagicMarker

Ranchu wrote: »

citizenfour

Documentary about Edward Snowden. Remarkable film and will be viewed as a piece of history in itself.

where did you see this?

calex71

We watched Detachment last night with Adrien Brody in a browse the netflix and lets see what comes up.

It was ok, I like Brody as an actor but I feel the ambiguity of his monologue bits were unnecessary at the end, it didn't need a 'draw your own conclusion' bit, it needed an ending, not some hand drawn and themed cuts throughout to emphasise it's indieness

Worth a look though. Disturbing in parts too especially when i googled Erika and realised she was 15 at the time of filming, and the cat in the bag :eek:

FloatingVoter

MagicMarker wrote: »

where did you see this?

Citizenfour is online in the usual places. Not starting a debate about downloading but it is worth a watch. What starts as a humdrum documentary about privacy suddenly blows up in real time as the Snowden circus erupts around the crew making the documentary.

Ageyev

Citizenfour played in cinemas here I think in November it was. The main draw is a series if interviews held with Snowden in China over the course of a week while he was "on sick leave" from his job. There's not much new material in it that wasn't already published in the Guardian and elsewhere though seeing him there telling a journalist about all these surveilance programs - the journalist doesn't even know Snowden's name! - was quite something.

It's got an Academy nomunation for best doc.

Ageyev

A Walk Among the Tombstones

This was a bit of an odd one as I was expecting the usual Neeson actioner he has been doing the past few years but this is actually kind of engaging. It's a little bit Cop and a Half, Hardcore and Dirty Harry (with a conscience). I admired the absurdity of it. Two thumbs up, 4* out of 5.

Neeson's performance reminded me of Tom Selleck in Night's Passage, another alcoholic cop film based on a series of novels.

j.s. pill II

Ageyev wrote: »

A Walk Among the Tombstones

This was a bit of an odd one as I was expecting the usual Neeson actioner he has been doing the past few years but this is actually kind of engaging. It's a little bit Cop and a Half, Hardcore and Dirty Harry (with a conscience). I admired the absurdity of it. Two thumbs up, 4* out of 5.

Neeson's performance reminded me of Tom Selleck in Night's Passage, another alcoholic cop film based on a series of novels.

Watched this one last nigh as it happens. Not terrible by any means but I felt it was a little bit tame, especially in light of the opening scenes.

Ageyev

I thought it was far from tame, if anything it was too violent - violence against women, some brutal murder towards the end.

I found it a tad quirky as in I was laughing at some of the studd with the kid because it was a bit out there, Cop and a Half as I said. Haven't read the novels so I dunno if that stuff is in the source material.

Liam McPoyle

Whiplash

Loved it, it grabbed me from the get go, held me throughout and the closing act was just thrilling. Brilliant stuff.

9/10

I kept waiting for Terence to call one of the lads prag.

:pac:

e_e

Ageyev wrote: »

I thought it was far from tame, if anything it was too violent - violence against women, some brutal murder towards the end.

Yeah the film's trying so hard to go for that Se7en violent underworld atmosphere but the director doesn't have any of the style or sophistication of Fincher. Found it not only unpleasant but really really dull.

Ageyev

Flight. This is the Denzel show and whether you like the film or not depends on whether you like him in dramatic roles. I quite liked it.

Man on Fire First rewatch of this in a long time. Tony Scott went a bit overboard with his shakey cam/zoom/high contrast/slow-motion stuff in this and it bothered me more on this watch than previously.

The Equilizer This played out like a Steven Segal film but with Denzel giving a better performance though not a career best; not as good as Man on Fire mind. The secret ex-black ops guy hiding in your neighbourhood who goes back to killing so as to help his new friends is a well worn trope. The bad guy is barely a step above the usual cookie cutter psycho. Some decent action nonetheless and worth a watch if it's on TV/Netflix/whatever.

figges

Comedy - of sorts. If you're struggling to connect with your kids and are left cold by social media this might say something to you. Does contain one of the best cameos ever. Bit like watching a mildly entertaining 1-1 draw with one good goal in it. 7/10 - just.

Bad turn worse
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2873214/
average indie robbery with consequences caper, not great, except for a few lines that the bad guy has. not really worth it.

The little death
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2785032/
Original Aussie comedy with some genuinely funny bits, recommended.

crazygeryy

watched american sniper last night.bradley cooper did a good job,i thought he acted well in it.
it gave you an insight inot the lives of those snipers if nothing else.its worth a watch for sure.

Birneybau

Business Cat wrote: »

Whiplash

Loved it, it grabbed me from the get go, held me throughout and the closing act was just thrilling. Brilliant stuff.

9/10

I kept waiting for Terence to call one of the lads prag.

:pac:

'Not quite my tempo.' eek

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Birneybau wrote: »

'Not quite my tempo.' eek

Did you find it rushed? Or dragged?

e_e

They need to make this.

Birneybau

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Did you find it rushed? Or dragged?

Eh...HELP ME!

Harry Palmr

Shogun Assassin 1980

A part of Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance and most of Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (both from 1972) edited together with a dubbed English language soundtrack by Robert Houston with new Moog led synth score and a 3 year old character (in the baby cart) doing the narration. It really shouldn't work on any level and yet its a jaunty splatter fest of martial arts, sword fighting and unexpected mystical moments looking good in v-e-r-y widescreen.

Gwynplaine

Watching Cast Away now on TV3. I only ever saw the last half hour of it before.
It's excellent.
Tried to watch 12 Years a Slave earlier. Had to turn it off, wasn't in the humour for it. Very grim and depressing.
I put on The Gambler then. Fell asleep after 20 mins.

OldeCinemaSoz

HOT FUZZ

Not a very amusing as I though but kept the little lad happy after the disappointment of
the kingsman rejection. still fun and we had a right good laugh.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Just watched About Time. Richard Curtis film starring Domhnall Gleeson, Bill Nighy and Rachel McAdams.

Much more than I was expecting it to be. Another example of a film getting entirely the wrong PR. I remember it being marketed as a typical rom com with the added twist of time travel but it's much more than that. I mean, it's still a Richard Curtis film, but there's some genuinely hilarious moments and some really heartfelt stuff too.

Looper007

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Just watched About Time. Richard Curtis film starring Domhnall Gleeson, Bill Nighy and Rachel McAdams.

Much more than I was expecting it to be. Another example of a film getting entirely the wrong PR. I remember it being marketed as a typical rom com with the added twist of time travel but it's much more than that. I mean, it's still a Richard Curtis film, but there's some genuinely hilarious moments and some really heartfelt stuff too.

It really is about Family that's its love story, its probably Curtis second best film after Four weddings and a Funeral. It really has its heart in the right place. Gleeson and Nighy are wonderful together and their scenes are the real standouts. Gleeson is turning into an awesome actor like his dad but he has the good looks to be a A-list actor.

I can see why they did the trailer they way they did, they had a big rom com star in Mcadams and even though she has a biggish role she really takes a back seat in lot of the film to Gleeson and Nighy. So to bring the audience the studio bigged up the rom come and made you think McAdams had a bigger role in the film. Although I think its Mcadams best role in ages.

SarahBM

Looper007 wrote: »

It really is about Family that's its love story, its probably Curtis second best film after Four weddings and a Funeral. It really has its heart in the right place. Gleeson and Nighy are wonderful together and their scenes are the real standouts. Gleeson is turning into an awesome actor like his dad but he has the good looks to be a A-list actor.

I can see why they did the trailer they way they did, they had a big rom com star in Mcadams and even though she has a biggish role she really takes a back seat in lot of the film to Gleeson and Nighy. So to bring the audience the studio bigged up the rom come and made you think McAdams had a bigger role in the film. Although I think its Mcadams best role in ages.

I absolutely adore that film. I completely agree, the love story is the family and it definitely wasn't the silly rom com it was marketed to be in the trailers. And I thought it was kind of refreshing that for once it wasn't a dysfunctional family at the centre of the story, like in so many films these days. They were a normal family who actually loved, and importantly LIKED eachother Im glad to say it reminded me of my family, which is probably another reason I loved it. I wish I could time travel. just a little bit.

The Strawman Argument

Funny Games
Yeah, I don't think I really needed to see this. Didn't do much for me at all, wasn't especially put off by it or anything but I guess there could be a case that it has had some kind of influence on a wider scale which has dampened the effects of it somewhat. Kind of regret not watching the US version instead because Michael Pitt is ideal for this.

High and Low
Really really good procedural. Something about samurai just puts me off roughly half of Japan's great movies so it's a bit of a relief that Kurosawa found some time to make the occasional film in the present..

Inherent Vice
Eh... get back to me on this one, will you?