What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Looper007

Sad Professor wrote: »

Still Alice just didn’t work for me. What should have been an ensemble plays like a vehicle for Moore. I think a more Tokyo Story-esque narrative would have worked better. A drama about familial obligation and loss of identity that wasn’t afraid to deal with some of the uncomfortable issues the film only touches on. Instead it’s a big issue film about Alzheimer's with emotional speeches, etc. It’s undeniably well-intentioned and powerful in places, but as a film it's terribly undercooked.

They were slightly hinting at the familial obligation thing but they were afraid to go the whole way especially with kate Bosworth's older daughter character

Especially the fact she's got the same illness as her mother, you could have had her not wanting her mother around cause she blames her mom and plus not wanting to be reminded of whats waiting in the future for her (and her feeling guilt that she might pass it along to her children) and having a clash between her and Stewarts young sister

. But you could see they didn't want to bring it to far into a uncomfortable places. That been said Julianne Moore is awesome in it and deserving of her Oscar.

Turtyturd

The Iceman: Did a bit of reading around after I had finished watching and someone had said that it's not really the sum of it's parts which covers it for me.

Some really good performances especially from Michael Shannon, and some unrecognizable ones. The only bad on is Winona Ryder who does a poor Lorraine Bracco impersonation.

I think it suffers too much from trying to cover too much in a short amount of time and not being able to give enough focus to most of it.

Dave147

FaulknersFav wrote: »

And Relatos Salvajes (Wild Tales) over the weekend too. This was fantastic. It's an Argentinian movie made up of 6 short stories all full of violence and revenge. If the short stories sounds a little pretentious or off putting they shouldn't. I found it to be like a combination of Woody Allen and Tarantino, which is about as crazy a mix as this movie is. It's hilarious and outrageous but also carries a punch in terms of it's message regarding the human condition.

I've that ready to watch on my Plex server, just haven't gotten round to it yet. Two other films with Ricardo Darin are Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens) and El secreto de sus ojos (The Secret in their Eyes), loved both of them but the latter is one that simply has to be watched.

Dave147

Del.Monte wrote: »

I'm not a connoisseur of foreign films, but since taking out a Netflix subscription that's beginning to change. Of course I've watched and enjoyed the occasional TV series or movie such as "Das Boot" but not a lot else. During the last week I've watched two excellent crime movies from Sweden both with Rolf Lassgård in the lead role and I can't recommend them strongly enough.


The first was "The Hunters" (1996) in which Lassgard plays the big city policeman returning to his hometown. The unlikely subject of Reindeer poaching forms the backdrop to the film but this is no wildlife movie and murder is afoot in the peaceful community. 10/10

The second was "False Trail" (2011) with Lassgard reprising his role of the Stockholm policeman who returns to his rural roots to solve a murder case. 10/10

Both films have English subtitles - barely necessary - as the plots are easy to follow and there's something very soothing about the Swedish language.

If you like him as an actor then I suggest you watch "After The Wedding", it's a fantastic movie with Mads Mikkelsen, in fact anything with Mads Mikkelsen is worth a watch IMO.

The Black Oil

Sad Professor wrote: »

I think trying to take the audience inside the character’s world is a flawed approach with an identity-destroying disorder like Alzheimer’s. How do bring an audience inside the head of somebody who can’t recognise their own daughter anymore? There’s a reason why Alzheimer’s is generally the domain of sappy romances. It’s a difficult thing to really depict except from a loved one's perspective. Hence why I think the film should have been an ensemble about the effects of the illness on the whole family, not just her. As it stands, with Moore in almost every scene and the film’s attempts to capture her feelings of embarrassment at her condition and fear of being a burden, we don’t get much sense of the rest of the family.

I don't know. I'm not sure what the right approach would be. Maybe Diving Bell succeeded with its tone. Hollywood tends to go for the inside out perspective with more serious conditions. European projects have some similarities, for example, Ben X which looks at a teenager's experience of autism. X+Y is out at the moment, I haven't seen it, but there are problems with portrayals of autism, also.

As it happens, there's an article on NPR this morning indictating that there's still a hesitancy about Alzheimer’s among doctors.

Tipsy McSwagger

Sleepless in Seattle

I'm a big Tom Hanks fan but have never seen this movie. I enjoyed it (wow how hot was Meg Ryan back then) but the film is just totally made for women. The ending is ridiculous

hey we just got engaged and i gave you my mothers ring and we are having dinner on Valentines night, but you want to break it off to go meet some stranger on top of the empire state building...........ok go for it.

adox

I found Still Alice extremely disappointing and instantly forgettable.

I thought it was a very slight film which didnt seem to have any intention of addressing the complex relationships in dealing with alzheimers, but rather seemed to set out to show it from Moores perspective and start with the initial signs and plod through until she was at an advanced stage and then end.

I found it extremely frustrating to watch. I remember when it ended I thought to myself "is that it?"

If you have any interest in the subject matter I`d highly recommend a documentary called "The Genius Of Marian""

http://geniusofmarian.com/press

Nerdlingr

Finally got around to seeing Birdman

Enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Love the way it was shot, adding to that whole 'everyones on the move' vibe you get backstage at theatres. Thought keaton was excellent in it alright and definitely deserved his oscar nomination. Support cast of watts and norton very good as well.
The ending though...hmmmm..would have 'preferred' it if he had

actually jumped

.

8.5/10

Tony EH

Yeh, that's just one of the annoying items in 'Birdman' that prevents me from being glowing about it. But, I'm a definite fan of the director. I think '21 Grams', 'Babel' and 'Amores Perros' are excellent films.

His latest effort, while interesting, just didn't grab me I'm afraid.

I kind of did this face at the end.

jcsoulinger

Birdman was excellent up until the very end, If it ended one scene earlier I would have been a lot happier. The real shame is the film was more than interesting enough with out the ambiguous ending which felt tacked on and a bit like the director was trying to be a bit too clever.

Ipso

Decuc500 wrote: »

Prisoners

I thought this was a gripping movie. The cinematography was beautiful and gave it an ominous feel and the performances were intense. It wasn’t afraid to go to some dark places.
Reminded me of David Fincher’s Zodiac or Gone Girl.

This was excellent, it's in the Premier League and Gone Girl is at the bottom of the Vauxhall Cavalier league staring down relegation.

Frank O. Pinion

I hope this a suitable thread to ask this question, but what sites do people use to go through film lists, year by year? What I mean is, a site that lists films for say 2014, and includes all films released widely/limited in theatres, independent films, VOD films, etc. I don't want to miss anything. I've seen 145 films from 2014, I have been mainly using Wikipedia pages for years in film, like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_in_film, but for example this week I watched The Homesman, starring and directed by Tommy Lee Jones, but is not listed on that Wiki page. I would have missed that film, if I didn't use other sites to become aware of different films.

So what do other people use?

e_e

I'd suggest going on Letterboxd and following people (mainly professional critics) who are up to date on new releases and who make these lists themselves.

http://letterboxd.com/films/year/2014/by/rating/size/small/

You can search by year and filter by popularity, rating and release date too.

Also this may be of use:

http://letterboxd.com/scotttobias/list/the-big-checklist-movies-to-see-2014-complete/

Liam McPoyle

The Untold Story

Legendary Category III shocker staring genre icon Anthony Wong.

Its based allegedly on the true story of criminal who murders an entire family over a gambling debt and who goes on to take over running their restaurant and feeds the unsuspecting public barbecue pork buns made with the victims flesh.

The Category III back catalogue is a mixed bag but this is one of the picks of the bunch. As with alot of them, its interspersed with almost slap stick style comedy while showing depraved content. One thing the genre never shied away from and which rarely (never) gets shown in movies from pretty much any part of the world is the murder of children and this contains some graphic deaths with no cutaways.

This is not a movie for everyone but its one of my favourite Asian flicks and Wong is as reliably creepy as always.

A thoroughly enjoyable slice of extreme film making, I know its a cliche and it is said about alot of movies but its 100% true when it comes to this one, they really dont make them like this anymore.

8/10

Tony EH

I think I saw that under the title 'Bunman'?

There's a scene in it with some kids that was quite disturbing. But, the whole film is offset with some really dopey unfunny comedy.

Bizarre.

Liam McPoyle

Tony EH wrote: »

I think I saw that under the title 'Bunman'?

There's a scene in it with some kids that was quite disturbing. But, the whole film is offset with some really dopey unfunny comedy.

Bizarre.

Bunman is one of the names it was released under alright.

Arghus

Paddington- It's pretty simple really, Paddington is one of the best kids films I've seen in recent memory. It's funny, charming, exciting and the bear is awfully cute. I'm a full grown man and I wanted to reach into the screen and pick him up and give him a hug. The film has a nice message about tolerance and understanding but isn't preachy about it. It's pleasantly old fashioned and nicely polite. I never had any experience of Paddington as a child but I still found the experience hugely enjoyable as an adult viewer. The droll British wit is put to good use throughout and not in a tired way of winking over little ones heads. The world is colourful and filled with some rather poetic moments of visual storytelling. I didn't care for Hugh Bonneville one way or the other before watching this, now I realise he's a brilliant comic actor and I'd be very surprised if he's anything less than a totally sound man in real life. Peter Capaldi is here also and a fine use is finally found for Nicole Kidman's perpetually plasticized features in her weirdly on the nose casting as the evilest taxidermisttress that ever was.

A solid movie.

FloatingVoter

12 Angry Men - A rewatch due to the IMDB top 50 thread. If I believed in making stuff compulsory, then this would be my choice for what everyone should watch before they turn voting / jury age.
A classic but you know that already.

pixelburp

Divergent (2014)

Hard to know where to start pulling apart this 'me too', Hunger Games blow-in. The premise made absolutely no (common) sense, was taken far, far too seriously anyway and if I thought The Maze Runner contained obnoxious levels of pandering to the teenage psyche, it had nothing on Divergent. The entire concept was built off the idea of teenagers figuring themselves out with its clumsy faction metaphors, and by god the film made sure you knew this. At. Every. Goddamn. Moment. All the while peddling a fairly questionable anti-science message and the standard teenage romantic ideal of the hunk with a dickish attiude. The supposed heroes, the 'Dauntless' (jesus) made Katniss Everdeen appear like a paragon of virtue and empathy because these tattooed douche-bags were thoroughly unlikable. A terrible film

The Words (2012)

A random selection from Netflix, starring Bradley Cooper as a struggling author who finds a tattered draft of an amazing novel in a thrift-shop satchel. Cue the moral dilemma of what to do with this literary gold. The plot was genuinely interesting and could have made for a really intriguing examination of art, plagiarism and the pursuit of literary success, but instead it kept missing the mark, never raising itself beyond mediocre, and ultimately managed to say nothing about any of the above. Not half as clever as it thought it was.

"Taps" 1981

Good Sunday afternoon fair about a group of army cadets that take over the academy when plans are revealed to knock it down to build condo's.

Sean Penn, Tom Cruise and Timothy Hutton in very early roles along with George C Scott.

Turtyturd

Get Hard: Generally not a fan of this type of film, as the loud shouting/screeching stereotypical black comedian role really grates on me so my expectations were pretty low, which is probably why it was better than expected. All stuff you will have seen before if you have seen a Will Ferrell movie but some decent laughs.

Looper007

Run All Night (2015)

One of Liam Neeson's better action films, probably his best since Taken (the first one not the rubbish sequels). I think its down to the tense pacing and some fine acting from Neeson, Ed Harris, Vincent D'onofrio and a nice cameo from Nick Nolte. The last ten minutes at the end

With Common's bad guy hitman chasing Neeson and Joel Kinnaman through the woods and that last shot before death was great

. The trailers did make this seem like it was the usual Neeson action fare but it has some great drama involving Harris and Neeson

The scene in the bedroom about Neeson's character having nightmares about the guys he's killed was wonderfully acted

. 7.5/10

Standby (2014)

One of the fair few Irish films that came and went in 2014, it's obviously a nod towards the Before...Trilogy but I thought this was a little gem of a film with a great double performance from Brian Gleeson and Mad Men's Jessica Pare.

Twenty-something Alan (Gleeson) is down on his luck. Stood up at the altar and recently fired from his banking job, he finds himself working with his mother as a part-time tourist advisor at Dublin Airport. It's there he comes face to face with first love Alice (Paré), stuck on standby for a flight home to New York. Their summer romance ended eight years previously with Alan promising to return to the US one day. He never did, and they haven't spoken since. Seizing his chance, Alan convinces a reluctant Alice to stay one more night in Dublin. Over the course of an unforgettable evening, they may just realise that they are more compatible than ever. But time is running out on this brief encounter.

It's not perfect by any means but it was one of those Irish films that deserved a lot better, it was a lot better then half of the romantic films that came out that year. Brian Gleeson shows he could give his brother Domhnall a run for his money and Pare is very easy on the eyes. A film with its heart in the right place and some great shots of Dublin too. 7/10

ButtersSuki

Kill The Messenger Based on the true story of Gary Webb, a US journalist who discovered links between the CIA, Nicaraguan Contra Rebels and the importation of crack into major US cities in the late 80s-90s. Jeremy Renner gives an excellent performance in the lead role, but that's really the best part of this movie. The real story behind the film is far more interesting than the movie (google it and Webb), which at times feels very rushed and mis-paced. Could have been so much better. 6/10

Whiplash Late to the party on this and only got to see it at the weekend. As I'm so late to this I'll say little other than excellent performance from JK Simmons and Miles Teller (who I'd previously only seen in "21 & Over" and "Project X"; needless to say this is a million miles away from both). I thoroughly enjoyed this as I have a huge interest in drums (I play, badly). My only minor quibble would be that it's a little short and underdeveloped and that the

Teller's drumming doesn't match the audio at times

. Still, an 8/10.

Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain A live recording of Kevin Hart's 2013 Tour at Madison Square Garden. Hmm. I should have liked this. I wanted to like this, but the whole thing from start to finish is basically Kevin Hart trying to be Eddie Murphy in "Delirious" (if you haven't seen it and like stand out, it's a must-see), and to a lesser extent "Raw". Laughs are few and far between and there's a very forded vibe coming from it. Hart can be funny (I've seen other stand up segments of his which were a lot better than the material on this), but this is too contrived. Indeed his biggest audience laughs seem to be from variations of him shouting "N!ggggggggggggggggggga" to cursing; neither offends me but it's just more than a little lazy. I almost turned off, and wish in hindsight I had. If you're going to watch it, ensure you've had at least 2 drinks in you beforehand. 3/10.

Glebee

Transformers:Dark of the Moon:
More of the same action in this Trandformers movie, itll keep the kids entertained for a few hours over the Easter buts its only a 6/10 for me. All I rememebr about the film is the noise, my god it just seemed so damn loud. Maybe im getting old:(

jillymayr

The last exorcism!! I love that!!!

Psychedelic

Doctor Zhivago (1965)
With a 3:20 running time from the director of The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia, I was hoping for something special. It was certainly well made with great cinematography and while it held my attention throughout I didn't really enjoy it that much. There weren't any moments where I thought "this is a masterclass of filmmaking" like I would have for Bridge and Lawrence.

The film revolves around a romance between Dr Zhivago and some woman, however the genesis of their love is not shown at all, so for me it failed on that front. The storyline was not interesting enough for me, and there was not the kind of high drama I would expect from a long epic. 6/10

Downfall (2004)
The film that gave birth to those deeply unfunny subtitled Hitler rant videos. It's a good insight to Hitler's final days. Worth the watch but nothing special. I preferred Conspiracy (2001) with Kenneth Brannagh.

D'Agger

The Lego Movie: 2nd time watching it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Fantastic humour, good story of good vs. evil, I laughed loads and it's definitely one of those movies you'd like to slap on around Christmas / if you're bored and could do with a laugh.

Del.Monte

Psychedelic wrote: »

Doctor Zhivago (1965)
With a 3:20 running time from the director of The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia, I was hoping for something special. It was certainly well made with great cinematography and while it held my attention throughout I didn't really enjoy it that much. There weren't any moments where I thought "this is a masterclass of filmmaking" like I would have for Bridge and Lawrence.

The film revolves around a romance between Dr Zhivago and some woman, however the genesis of their love is not shown at all, so for me it failed on that front. The storyline was not interesting enough for me, and there was not the kind of high drama I would expect from a long epic. 6/10

Downfall (2004)
The film that gave birth to those deeply unfunny subtitled Hitler rant videos. It's a good insight to Hitler's final days. Worth the watch but nothing special. I preferred Conspiracy (2001) with Kenneth Brannagh.

You're not a romantic are you? Doctor Zhivago is a masterpiece and a real tear jerker. As for Downfall, another interesting movie but I prefer the parodies. This one in particular. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDNcbcSq3pQ

shazzerman

I would disagree as well, and argue that Doctor Zhivago is indeed a masterclass in filmmaking - in some ways it is even more impressive than (dare I?) Lawrence of Arabia. A few brilliantly cinematic scenes and Julie Christie in the snow...

Del.Monte

"3 Days to Kill" (2014) on Netflix.

Good escapist tripe starring Kevin Costner as a CIA employee who is pensioned off when he becomes terminally ill. However, he is enticed back to work by the promise of a miracle drug that may save his life. The always likeable Costner works his way through a large cast of baddies with extreme prejudice and is the last man standing.



5/10 - but only for the presence of Kevin Costner.