What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

ButtersSuki

Warrior, hmm, I'm torn on this one. Great performances from Tom Hardy (in particular), Nick Nolte and Joel Edgerton but the storyline is a little to "American", schmaltzy and perfect to really make it work. Some pretty good fight scenes too it must be said though I can't for the life of me understand how it has a score of 8.2/10 on the imdb. I'd give it a 5.5/10.

Arghus

Particle Fever- The universe is awfully big and terribly complicated. Thankfully the boys and girls at CERN are on the case, trying their damnedest to make some sense of it all. Whether they will get there or not is a matter we will have to wait and see about, but in the meantime we can enjoy the many documentaries now in existence trying to break down the work at the LHC and make the mind bending world of particle physics accessible to all.

Like the science in question, it's a question of the mix between theory and practical results. In theory I should feel that I've had the shutters pulled up on some area of my own ignorance, but practically, I feel this is sort of an effort of futility when it's comes to this kind of arena. There is an onus, maybe not an obligation, more of a necessary ambition, of these kind of documentaries to explain the science but then there's an equal pressure to make it all digestible. I'm not sure if this is always a totally good idea. There was a feeling in Particle Fever that maybe they tried too hard to marry a narrative onto material that just wasn't as easy and malleable as the super cool ideas that it had as bedfellows. Basically- I felt there was a lot of dumbing down. Not that complicated ideas don't need to be boiled down sometimes, they do, but sometimes they need to stay complicated so we can gain a better understanding, rather than kind of half assedly explaining complexity and then rushing to the big theories that may or may not be true but undoubtedly sound cool. I wouldn't give this a complete thumbs down, but I'd like to see at least one doc of this sort that leaves in the messy meat of the problems, rather than sweeping things under the carpet for the dubious pleasure of a neat streamlined experience.

I also thought there was the bones of another fascinating documentary buried in here of the day to day practical realities of working at CERN. Which would be an interesting enough experience in and of itself.

johnny_ultimate

Mommy: Variations on a theme from Xavier Dolan. Offering his fifth major feature at only the age of 26, he returns to the same realm as his debut I Killed My Mother. But the dynamics have changed, and whereas the mother of that film (played by Anne Dorval) was arguably portrayed as something of a villain (not that Dolan's own character was an entirely jolly, lovable sort), In Mommy the mother (again played by Anne Dorval, again) meets her match in her troubled, aggressive son (Antoine-Olivier Pilon).

If you've seen any of Dolan's previous films, you know what to expect, although this is the first I've seen where sexuality is less of an explicit concern for the young writer/director. But otherwise he continues to revise and build on his style. He again collaborates with Dorval and the ever-excellent Suzanne Clement. His soundtracks continue to use pop music in a way that embraces irony before circling right back around to absolute emotional sincerity. He continues his brave exploration of dynamic aspect ratios: here, the film is predominantly shown in a very unusual 1:1 ratio, which creates some offbeat but fetching imagery and forces Dolan to really embrace the close-up. Most strikingly he repeats a trick from Tom at the Farm and

widens the aspect ratio to 2.35:1 on two pivotal occasions. Here it works much better, tied in to the mood and development of one of the main characters - and there's a melancholic twist the second time Dolan uses the fourth-wall breaking trick

.

Formally, Dolan is much more accomplished than his age would suggest - the camera and editing deeply integrated with the lively melodrama of the narrative and characters (especially great was the use of uneasy, shifting focus in one sequence towards the end). Like most of his other films, there are moments of transcendent beauty here, where story and form cohere to create something remarkably potent. Yet there's still something about his films that leaves me a little cold. This lacks the sometimes infuriating ambiguity of Tom at the Farm, yet substitutes a tale that is instead a little too on the nose. Towards the end scenes start feeling a little redundant, where there are moments that were more articulately expressed elsewhere. And yet at its best Mommy is perhaps Dolan's finest work yet, and in many ways a confident maturation of ideas he has already tackled. And hell he's 26 - certainly will be interesting to see what he's capable of when he's 30.

Padjooshea

watched good will hunting. what was it about

Birneybau

Padjooshea wrote: »

watched good will hunting. what was it about

Really?

Padjooshea

why was robin williams packing up his stuff at the end.

De Bhál

Just watched Interstellar on UPC On Demand.
knew pretty much zero about it bar remembering people giving out when they went to see it.
I really enjoyed it. A feast for the eyes.

Needed to stick on the subtitles after 15mins as I was missing so much of what was been said.

De Bhál

Padjooshea wrote: »

why was robin williams packing up his stuff at the end.

he was taking a break from work to go traveling.

Class movie

Looper007

Phoenix (2014)

A great German film from Writer/Director Christian Petzold (Barbara and Yella) also starring Nina Hoss (probably best known for A Most Wanted Man from Anton Crobijn) who gives a amazing performance as Nelly. Nelly Lenz, a Jewish singer, has survived the Nazi concentration camps but at what cost? She is disfigured and has had to undergo facial surgery. Back in what is left of Berlin, accompanied by her faithful friend Lene, she has only one thing in mind, finding Johnny, her musician husband in the ruins of the city. She wants to know if he still loves her and if he has betrayed her, as Lene claims he has. She does meet him but Johnny does not recognize her. Worse, he asks her to impersonate... Nelly, with a view to grabbing her inheritance. Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo is a very big influence on this film but the thing that makes this special is its ending

After finding out her Husband did indeed betray her, Nelly without words spoken, sings a song in front of a group of her and her husbands friends and a quick glance of the Number on her arm and the way she sings the song, the husband finds out the woman he hired to portray his supposedly dead wife is actually his wife. Once the song is over she just leaves the room

Now that's a ending. 9/10

Glebee

Foxcatcher.
I have no idea what the fuss about this film was. Hated it from start to finish. Maybe the was the subject matter, just could not get into it. Have tried to watch it a few times before but just switched off, but was determined to get through it last night. All believe it got such good reviews. Maybe it's all about the character study but it was lost on me.

Dair76

Burning Bright (Netflix)

A young woman and her autistic little brother fend off a tiger, whilst holed up in a house during a hurricane. As daft as it sounds, yet at times it's still a surprisingly effective creature feature. It does have the occasional dodgy digital effect and a Meat Loaf cameo!

Looper007

The Hard Word (2002)

An Aussie dark Comedy with Guy Pearce (with False Nose) and Joel Edgerton (of Warrior fame), about a trio of good hearted bank robber brothers, who are used by their shady lawyer (played brilliantly by Robert Taylor) to pull off robberies (the big one robbing The Melbourne Cup). Very good performances make up for a film that tails off near the end. But Pearce and Edgerton are excellent as is Rachel Griffiths as Pearce's trampy wife in a small role. 6/10

The Salvation (2014)

A very good western in the vein of Sergio Leone or Sergio Corbucci, In 1870s America, a peaceful American settler kills his family's murderer which unleashes the fury of a notorious gang leader. His cowardly fellow townspeople then betray him, forcing him to hunt down the outlaws alone. Shot in South Africa for America, this is a really good solid Western with a excellent central performance from the always excellent Mads Mikkelssen, as well as a good villain in Jeffrey Dean Morgan. With great support in Jonathan Pyrce as the wimpy Mayor, Eric Cantona as Morgan's Hetchman and Mikael Persbrandt (In A Better World) as Mikkelssen's brother. I thought the ever brilliant Eva Green as the mute sister in law of Morgan, is slightly wasted in her role. The Film is brutal in its violence in places

Morgan brutally shooting innocent town folks in the head especially a old woman and legless man is pretty brutal

. Directed by Kristian Levring (The King is Alive), this is a very well spent 90 minutes. 8/10

The Black Oil

Cowboys and Aliens

Aliens scorched Earth policy isn't much of a premise, but you could hardly fault them for that. It felt more like somewhere there was a meeting in Hollywood wherein the title was the decided before everything else. Also, and I've not criticised a film for this before, it felt rather politicially correct with Ford coming around to being friendly with the Native Americans. Decent first half before slipping into the wrong side of average, really. Strong cast. Sometimes it was a bit too dark, visually.

Next time, ditch the aliens.

Harry Palmr

If Dir Lindsay Anderson (1969) Surly 6th formers get through their last year in an elite boarding school and stage insurrection during a Royal visit.

"run in the corridor!"

Its more than 30 years since I last saw this one (I was 17 and had just left school the last time) this time I saw it less as an exaggerated version of my real life and more as a mordant commentary with more joyous moments than I remembered, esp the little diversion on the BSA (health and safety be damned!).

ButtersSuki

Top Five Essentially a long dialogue between Chris Rock as a comedian struggling to be taken seriously as an actor and Rosario Dawson as the hack sent to interview him. Like the last Chris Rock movie I watched (Two Days In New York), this was a very pleasant surprise. Rock wrote and directed this and even allowing for the clearly autobiographical theme, it shows how much he's developed to produce a work as interesting as this. The score is a mixture of 80s R'n'B and more modern rap and works wonderfully as an accompaniment to the story (the "Top Five" title btw is a reference to a frequently asked question in the movie re. individual's Top 5 rappers of all time). If you like those genres, you'll likely love the score (I do and did). Overall a far more cerebral and interesting comedy than you'd ever expect from Chris Rock, and I mean that purely as a compliment! A strong 7.5/10.

johnny_ultimate

World of Tomorrow: Don Hertzfeldt follows up his remarkable debut feature It's Such A Beautiful Day with this fascinating, eccentric sci-fi short.

Actually, pigeonholing this into a single genre is futile - this is an assault of different moods and tones that ultimately comes together to form a beguiling 'whole'. Embarking on some abstract comic idea one minute, it follows a poignant philosophical tangent the next. In fact, these disparate tones often come all at once. Hertzfeldt's trademark 'stick figure' style once again evolves in radical and ravishing directions over the course of fifteen minutes, with bold use of colour, digital animation and mixed media leading to some masterful images. Its science fiction aspects deal with 'big' concepts like identity and mortality, and mysteries beyond our reach, in a way that's more provocative, much more playful, and far less heavy/cack-handed than the likes of Interstellar.

With most American animation increasingly one tone, it's been a while since somebody threatens to become the 'real deal'. Hertzfeldt is continuing to prove himself worthy of such a title, and is shaking up a medium in serious need of experimental, distinctive voices. This is available on Vimeo for a few euro, and It's Such a Beautiful Day is on Netflix - give them a gander to see some electrifying evidence that there's more to Western animation than Pixar and Dreamworks. Roll on feature number two.

The Strawman Argument

Is World of Tomorrow part of another feature length so? I hadn't seen that mentioned anywhere.

He's fantastic though, yeah. Don't suppose you checked out that book he released last year? I haven't heard anything about it since it came out, no reviews or anything, like.

Surprised he isn't selling much in the way of merch, I'd've thought he'd make a killing on shirts and stuff like that (i.e. I just really want to have an It's Such a Beautiful Day shirt).

johnny_ultimate

Don't think it's part of the new feature, he mentioned in The Dissolve interview he wanted to do some testing with digital animation in World of Tomorrow before moving on to his second full-length.

Haven't read or even heard of the book yet!

Faith+1

Psychedelic wrote: »

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.

Thanks for the heads up. I watched it last night and thought it was amazing. If there's such as thing as having an acting orgasm then this is the movie to watch! Who needs to go to acting school when all you need to do is watch this! Kenneth Brannagh completely stole this movie. 10/10

Tony EH

It's not no where near 'Downfall' though.

TerrorFirmer

Conspiracy is a very good movie but I would be surprised that anyone would consider it better than Downfall which is a masterpiece.

I watched The Water Diviner recently, dreadfully disappointing. Not necessarily terrible and on the contrary very watchable but just so utterly far fetched, ridiculous, and cliche when I would have expected so much more from Crowe.

Faith+1

Tony EH wrote: »

It's not no where near 'Downfall' though.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Conspiracy is a very good movie but I would be surprised that anyone would consider it better than Downfall which is a masterpiece.

I watched The Water Diviner recently, dreadfully disappointing. Not necessarily terrible and on the contrary very watchable but just so utterly far fetched, ridiculous, and cliche when I would have expected so much more from Crowe.

I'd agree that Downfall is slightly better but comparing the two is a big ask. There's a hell of a lot going on in Downfall that would hold the interest of people with little knowledge of WW2.

Conspiracy on the other hand takes place around a table discussing the origins of the final solution. No guns, battles, explosions etc....Just amazing actors showing what they do best with what their given.

Brannagh in my opinion gave one of his finest performances and was totally convincing as Heindrich.

Conspiracy unlike Downfall wouldn't appeal to the casual war movie buff. I think it's best enjoyed if you have at least a basic understanding of these men and what they stood for.

Still highly recommended.

Tony EH

Um...'Downfall' is based on the actual accounts of the people that were present at the time of Hitler's last days in the bunker in 1945. Most importantly, Traudl Junge and Rochus Misch.

'Conspiracy' is purely a fictional drama, based on what some people think could have been said at the Wannsee conference.

While 'Conspiracy' is decent drama, 'Downfall' is far, far more gripping to anyone, yes, who has an interest in the subject.

I'd be very hard pressed to give the honours to one of the leads. Brannagh is very good as Heydrich, but Bruno Ganz gives a career performance as the aging Hitler.

MagicMarker

Tony EH wrote: »

Um...'Downfall' is based on the actual accounts of the people that were present at the time of Hitler's last days in the bunker in 1945. Most importantly, Traudl Junge and Rochus Misch.

'Conspiracy' is purely a fictional drama, based on what some people think could have been said at the Wannsee conference.

Well I would be under the assumption that a great deal of Conspiracy is based on the minutes of the conference.

I'm sure great liberties were taken in both movies of course. Both movies are based on true events, with massive holes filled in by script writers.

Faith+1

MagicMarker wrote: »

Well I would be under the assumption that a great deal of Conspiracy is based on the minutes of the conference.

I'm sure great liberties were taken in both movies of course. Both movies are based on true events, with massive holes filled in by script writers.

Exactly. I just think that they made an excellent movie based on what limited information they had.

Downfall had a lot more source material hense it was an easier film to make. However much like Conspiracy I'd never take everything in Downfall as fact.

Borh are excellent movies that will hold up in years to come.

Tony EH

MagicMarker wrote: »

Well I would be under the assumption that a great deal of Conspiracy is based on the minutes of the conference.

I'm sure great liberties were taken in both movies of course. Both movies are based on true events, with massive holes filled in by script writers.

There was one document (heavily edited by both Eichmann and Heydrich) that very skimpily outlines what was discussed at Wannsee, found years after the meeting. I've read it. There's little in it that is transferred to the script as far as I can remember.

There is certainly no direct dialogue outlined or remarked upon, that would fill a dramatic script, so without doubt, 'Conspiracy' is very much a fictional representation of what could have been said in the 90 minute meeting.

But, you're correct, 'Downfall' too has many areas that have been filled in of course.

FloatingVoter

"Conspiracy" is grounded in the minutes taken at the Wannsee conference. There was an edit - probably to remove swearing, blue jokes, Hilda has big tits rubbish that happens at all meetings. The minutes were never intended to be read by a living soul apart from Goering, Himmler or above...ie. two or three men alone. At that point in the war, it was 50/50 as to who would prevail in Europe. A few months later, Heydrich is dead, Russia has Germany on the backfoot and defeat is inevitable. They didn't know that as they quaffed brandy and legalised genocide.
Downfall is the bunker in it's final days. Every survivor tells a different tale...some in memoirs written for cash, some under Soviet duress, some of them not actually there at all. The broad brush strokes are there though, the suicides, the Goebbels slaughter of their own kids, the drunken panic are all consistent in every tale told. Traudl Junge has proven a reliable witness despite an understandable "I was just a dumb blonde" tendency in her statements.
And agreed, if you don't know anything about the camps or the war in general, Conspiracy will go over your head. It is Kenneth Branagh's finest performance on film and one that I doubt he'll ever equal. For those who want to see a depiction of evil as it walks through life, this is it.

run_Forrest_run

Breaking the Waves - can't believe I haven't seen this until now (considering how much I liked Dancer in the Dark).
I was pretty much left disappointed initially but as I thought about it and did some reading up on the metaphors (I was tired:o) turns out it's another clever piece of work from mad old Lars. I should know by now never to take his movies at face value

s8n

the voices with Ryan Reynolds. Its beyond terrible. what a waste of celluloid

"Eat" Horror movie about a troubled actress who can't get any parts who gradually starts to eat herself. Bringing self harm to new levels.
Some serious gore, although not that frequent, the last seen is almost impossible to watch!
Reminds me a little of Cronenbergs old horror movies.

"Cake" I have yet to watch the last 20 minutes of this, but the part I have watched is pretty depressing. Jennifer Aniston plays a woman who is recovering from an accident and the loss of a child. Flirting with suicide, addicted to painkillers, its not a lot of fun to watch at all even though Aniston does a pretty fine job. It may turn out with a happy ending though!