What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Right Turn Clyde

My only real issue with The Homesman was the few narrative jumps it takes back and forth. I don't think they worked at all and they were also poorly executed on a technical level; the cuts arrive a beat or two before you expect them. I genuinely thought my disc had skipped. I also agree with you about Jones' on-screen persona. It's very repetitive. But then again, the same goes for so many actors of his generation, with some notable exceptions like Gene Hackman.

shazzerman

Right Turn Clyde wrote: »

My only real issue with The Homesman was the few narrative jumps it takes back and forth. I don't think they worked at all and they were also poorly executed on a technical level; the cuts arrive a beat or two before you expect them. I genuinely thought my disc had skipped. I also agree with you about Jones' on-screen persona. It's very repetitive. But then again, the same goes for so many actors of his generation, with some notable exceptions like Gene Hackman.

Now that you're here...why don't you pop over to the Guess the Screenshot thread and tell us what that pic is from(the one that you say is from a European director that has almost as many Oscars as the top two best director award winners). It has been a while, you know.

bodhi085

Arghus wrote: »

The Homesman – I really enjoyed The Three Burials, with it's evocative neo-Western setting and gritty but compassionate view of life, in and around the US-Mexico border. On the whole, I'm a little bit tired of Tommy Lee Jones and his shtick lately, at least in the majority of his onscreen roles. You know what you're going to get-grumpy and curmudgeonly, verging on the edge of phoning it in territory, at times. But I wouldn't be turning my nose up at whatever he promised next as a director. His previous work had shown he had what it took.

So The Homesman- A grandly mounted traditionalist Western, mixed with a harsh and modern sensibility and the director's impressive CV: it was going to be a matter of obligation. I have to say, first off and unsurprisingly, that it reminds me a great deal of Three Burials. Like that The Homesman resists easy analysis and categorisation. It prefers weird eddies, instead of the straight path. Emotional complexity is the order of the day here. Sometimes, this may lead to narrative befuddlement. Or bizarre unheralded shifts in tone. But, for all those inconsistencies, there is also some undeniable flashes of greatness in the film. All of which makes me think that, even if Jones is largely continuing to repeat himself on screen nowadays, on the other side of the camera he still has new things that he wants to say.

The film is gorgeous to look at. Big wide desolation and unspoilt wilderness, which manages to convey the unsullied beauty of that particular time and place, but not without making you think about how mind numbingly tough it must have been to bring some semblance of “civilization” to those untamed lands. As awesome as the scenery is there's an unmistakeable element of terror in it. It's an awful big and empty presence. The film conveys the loneliness and sparseness of people in such an environment, which is a fact of history that's often over looked in recreations of life in the frontier, except for perhaps something like The Searchers.

What press has come the films way has mainly focused on it's credentials as a “feminist” Western. I don't know if it fully qualifies, but it does concern itself with the poor pitiful lives of many a woman back then, in those far flung corners of nowhere. Truth be told - It wasn't great to be anyone in particular in the movies setting - man, woman, or child. It sympathy lies primarily with the wretched, but to a certain extent everyone in the movie, paragons of righteousness or not, are bogged down by having the misfortune to be caught simply existing out in The West. So it's broadly speaking a compassionate film, but also a non-gratiously brutal and matter of fact experience, in which life is filled with random chance, quick moving danger and sudden unexpected turns.

Now I don't know if anyone is reading this that has actually watched the movie, but if they have, they'll know what I'm talking about when it comes to unexpected turns in the film. One in particular. All I can safely say is - I did not see that one coming.. There seems to be no firm consensous on how to respond to the major turning point in the film. When it initally happened, I was so stunned that I felt a bit cheated. It felt like I'd been hoodwinked. Surely for a lot of viewers it's when the story jumps the shark and there's no coming back. But, now I think it's the place where the films semi-greatness is most pronounced. It's a cruel, seemingly random development in the story, but I love it -after reflection- because it's so uncompromising , so totally out of the blue and, to me, that's really brave filmaking. Up until that point the film is gritty, serious but, to a certain extent, in posession of a clear line of where it's headed. After the pivotal moment in the story the film takes on greater complexity and becomes less a tale of The West, than a reflection about how our autonomy is fleeting, and its trappings may be only a mixed blessing to begin with. And I think if a film has merit on the level of craftmanship- as The Homesman does – and manages to say something, even if not always with coherence, about the business of being alive – and to do so in in it's own peculiar, tin-pot way, well then I have to say that it has as good a claim to greatness as any film I've seen in recent times.

Agreed with the turning point in the film..I did not see that coming. I enjoyed the film very much.

don ramo

Spring, an only child who's mother has just died decides to do what his father once wanted to and takes a trip to Italy, where he meets a girl he believes to be the love of his life,

8/10 cause its something very different from what ive been watching the last year or two, and it was well needed, still a solid film, with a slight supernatural twist, honestly its probably 7/10

GreNoLi

Turned off the new Fast and Furious when Vin Diesel said 'race wars' to describe the races in the desert.

Sugarlumps

All This Mayhem

Killer documentary about the Pappas brothers. Searing account of what happens when raw talent and extreme personalities collide.

Drugs and the dark side of professional skateboarding, brothers Tas and Ben Pappas' intense bond and charisma take them from the pinnacle of their sport into a spiraling world of self-destruction.

Pierce_1991

Pitch Perfect 2

Loved the first, loved the second. Might not be everyone's cup of tea but I found it really funny.

Del.Monte

"A Hijacking" (2012) on Netflix.



A Danish cargo ship is hijacked by Somalian pirates. The ships owners drag out the ransom negotiations for weeks but nothing happens - nothing at all! Much ado about nothing and it looks like it was a short that got made into a feature without any additional effort. I can't find out what it cost to make but I reckon about €10k would be excessive. Avoid 0/10

Arghus

Del.Monte wrote: »

"A Hijacking" (2012) on Netflix.



A Danish cargo ship is hijacked by Somalian pirates. The ships owners drag out the ransom negotiations for weeks but nothing happens - nothing at all! Much ado about nothing and it looks like it was a short that got made into a feature without any additional effort. I can't find out what it cost to make but I reckon about €10k would be excessive. Avoid 0/10

To each their own I suppose. I thought this movie was great.

But zero? Out of ten. Jeez, even the worst of the worst are worth a one or a two.

Dr conrad murray

against the sun (2014) is set in ww2 about 3 american navy pilots who have to ditch the plane in the south pacific ocean after running out of fuel. they had no food or water or navigation equipment just a little inflatable raft 1000s of miles from nowhere. I really enjoyed it.9/10
goodnight mr tom(1998) During World War II, an aging recluse's stony heart is softened by his friendship with a young evacuee from London.excellent 10/10

TerrorFirmer

Delivery Man with Vince Vaughan.

Actually pretty decent - not good exactly, but very watchable and the best of his recent lot in my opinion, well worth a watch.

don ramo

Survivor, Milla Jovovich and Pierce Brosnan, decent action thriller, Jovovich is a US security expert who stumbles upon a terrorist plot and is hunted by Brosnan.

7/10

fin12

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Delivery Man with Vince Vaughan.

Actually pretty decent - not good exactly, but very watchable and the best of his recent lot in my opinion, well worth a watch.

that was one of the worst films I have ever seen, dont think I even watched it till the end.

charlie_says

Heckler wrote: »

Kajaki

True story of a bunch of british paratroopers caught in a minefield. I didn't recognise any of the actors but they all did a great job. No jingoism, no discussions on the rights and wrongs of the British being in Afghanistan, not even a musical score. A slightly cliched start gave way to a story of a bunch of friends coping in a horrendous situation.

A refreshing change from American flag waving war stories.

Recommended. 8/10

Thought this was excellent. Thanks for the recommendation.

A truly horrifying and extremely stressful situation of young British soldiers stubmble into a forgotten Soviet era minefield in dusty Afghanistan around 2006. Grisly, funny and downright tense.

Mines are nasty.

johnny_ultimate

The New Girlfriend - Like a cross (word chosen specifically) between a Hitchcock film - Vertigo and Psycho in particular - and an Almodovar one, although not as satisfying as that would suggest. It is a mostly engaging and interesting film from Francois Ozon, that shows the way two people cope with the loss of their friend and wife (respectively). What makes it unique is that the widower - gamely played by Romain Duris - finds comfort in his secret passion -

crossdressing

. Playfully toying with traditional gender dynamics and relationships, the film is cleverly put together so that scenes witnessed in the opening montage (swiftly recounting, Up-like, a lifetime of friendship between two women) echo and recur later with very different dynamics. A compelling lead performance from the fetching Anaïs Demoustier helps - impressing here again as she did in Bird People. A few cheap dramatic twists (

****ING STEALTH VEHICLE

) and the sense that Ozon hasn't quite plumbed the psychological or thematic depths of the premise let it down in the end. It does have enough tonal nuances - embracing both the comedic and dark elements of the story - to make it worth a watch, although never quite manages to really get under the skin.

Results - Andrew Bujalski follows up his wonderfully oddball, experimental Computer Chess with... a conventional rom-com? Not exactly, as there's no fear Bujalski has surrendered to the mainstream here - while it is at its heart a comedy of the romantic sort, the once-mumblecore-auteur approaches the material with an uncommonly insightful, eccentric eye and a strange tone that is unlikely to appeal to a wide audience. And it's not exactly like Guy Pearse, Cobie Smoulders and Kevin Corrigan make up your bog-standard screen love triangle, either, despite being significantly bigger names than Bujalski's previous leads.

What impresses here, as in Bujalski's first three films, is the depth of the characterisation - all three leads here are troubled, weird, conflicted and charismatic, not always likable but always fascinating. The script is witty and full of sharp observational moments, and the relationships develop with nuance instead of constant bolded punctuation marks. Stylistically it is something less distinctive following the 16mm, probing camerawork of his early films and the confidently, fantastically low-fi approach of CC, which is disappointing. But as Bujalski himself unapologetically said, sometimes a filmmaker needs to work on something that might actually pay a liveable salary - and to his credit Bujalski has managed to transition to a slightly more commercial, high-profile arena without abandoning the philosophy that makes him such a memorable filmmaker.

Lost in Translation - Ah sweet 35mm - been 12 years since this film first bewitched me in the cinema, and probably close to a dozen home viewings since a second big screen watch only enhances my love and enthusiasm for what I would easily call one of my all-time favourite films. It has its critics I know, and yes some of its broader jokes about Japan and the Japanese people means one or two suspect moments. But few films, if any, conjure up such a potent, magical mood. Is one of the most cinematically articulate romances ever made, so many shots and edits judged to absolute perfection. It's a film of endless small gestures and unspoken revelations, carried by two great actors who have rarely been greater than they are here (the one-two punch of Her and Under the Skin seeing Johansson finally living up to the potential shown here, thankfully).

But it's that mood; that dreamy, ethereal tone that many have tried unsuccessfully to achieve, and even Sofia Coppola herself has struggled to re-achieve. Like a favourite song, it's one of the very few films that I find satisfying to revisit again and again, as it magics up an improbably tranquil mood that's ever more welcoming and warm. 'til next year, old friend.

DareGod

I watched "Children of Men" last night. 7/10.

Watching "Sunshine Cleaning" at the moment. Enjoyable so far.

SarahBM

We watched the Salvation last night. A Danish Western with Eva Green and Mads Maddsen. Very good.

tunguska

We bought a zoo

I recall when this was released that the reviews weren't great at all. So much so that they put me off going to see it. But it was on the box earlier and I decided to give it a go.........I know it's formulaic, and predicitible but I really enjoyed this movie. It's just a nice film with a good heart and that's fine by me.

captainfrost

Game of throne Episode 8....best episode in the series!!

pixelburp

The Hobbit: The Battle of the 5 Armies (2014)

Looks like the graduation of Peter Jackson as George Lucas' successor is finally complete: this third part of the most superfluous trilogy in modern times inflicted 2 and a half hours of joyless, rubbery CGI centred around the least epic, most tedious & uninteresting battle since ... well, Lucas' own dull war in Attack of the Clones. What was perhaps most surprising amid the boring digital carnage was just how unconvincing it all looked: Billy Connolly's presence as a waxwork CGI version of himself was the high/low point, but by and large the FX was pretty poor; in fact it's pretty telling how the older Lord of the Rings trilogy still looks magnificent 10+ years later, with its broadly physical FX work and restrained directorial choices, yet it's only a year after the release of 5 Armies and it already looks like garbage.

Oh and this film also contained what I can only consider the worst crime against basic physics I've seen in a very long time: Legolas' dash across a crumbling 'bridge' has to be seen to be believed.

Birneybau

captainfrost wrote: »

Game of throne Episode 8....best episode in the series!!

Yeah, not a film but it was a better battle scene than I've seen on the big screen in years.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Birneybau wrote: »

Yeah, not a film but it was a better battle scene than I've seen on the big screen in years.

If you're after battle scenes I'd recommend episode 7 of the Danish drama 1864. Almost an entire hour of a battle scene. Better than anything I've seen on film.

Search Party - From the writer of The Hangover 2 comes a film that was obviously written as a follow for one of the least inspired franchises of all time. Search Party takes a great cast and squanders them on a script that hasn't a single laugh or original idea, it's the kind of lowest common denominator trash that feels like it was made so as to go direct to DVD sometime in the early 00s.

Featuring truly terrible green screen, the worst CGI this side of a Syfy creature feature and a number of scenes in which the cast are obviously not even in the same room this should really be called Wasted Opportunity. Anyone tempted to watch this travesty should just youtube the Garfunkel and Oates scene from the end as it's about the only redeeming thing here.

Sugarlumps

The Purge Anarchy - The first one was just awful, god... I hate Ethan Hawke so much. This one was actually enjoyable.

Ex Machina - Solid film throughout, probably won't be too many films released this year that'll better it.

Fury - Pitt was Pitt me'h, stop dressing up and playing army. Cast of douche bags especially that Grady character, I wished death upon them all. The thoughts of being stuck in a tank with those bozo gives me heartburn.

LCD

Horrible Bosses 2 - Terrible, actually watched is at *2 speed to just get it over with.

St. Vincent - Enjoyable. Some classic Bill Murray lines.

Theory of Everything - Stephen Hawking's life story is just not particularly entertaining or even interesting.

Whiplash - Good, not particularly entertaining but well worth watching. Odd seeing J.K. Simmons in this kind of role

D'Agger

LCD wrote: »

Theory of Everything - Stephen Hawking's life story is just not particularly entertaining or even interesting.

Wut? :eek:

Birneybau

D'Agger wrote: »

Wut? :eek:

Pretty mental alright.

Right Turn Clyde

Del.Monte wrote: »

"A Hijacking" (2012) on Netflix.



A Danish cargo ship is hijacked by Somalian pirates. The ships owners drag out the ransom negotiations for weeks but nothing happens - nothing at all! Much ado about nothing and it looks like it was a short that got made into a feature without any additional effort. I can't find out what it cost to make but I reckon about €10k would be excessive. Avoid 0/10

Zero out of ten? Are you sure you had the subtitles switched on? I thought it was a great film. It makes a great companion piece to Captain Philips.

DareGod

LCD wrote: »

Horrible Bosses 2 - Terrible, actually watched is at *2 speed to just get it over with.[/COLOR]

Your punishment for choosing to watch HB2 is having to sit through HB2.

St. Vincent was very good though.

I thought Whiplash was horribly overrated and one giant cli-ché, and not an interesting one either.

Del.Monte

Right Turn Clyde wrote: »

Zero out of ten? Are you sure you had the subtitles switched on? I thought it was a great film. It makes a great companion piece to Captain Philips.

The whole thing ("A Hijacking") was completely wooden from start to finish.

Talking of wooden , last night I watched "Invasion USA" (1985) on Netflix - classy acting from Chuck Norris and lots of mindless violence. 2/10 for being so bad as to be vaguely amusing.



I'm having withdrawal symptoms having just finished 86 episodes of "Spooks" - 3 per night - and I can't find anything else to interest me. Loads of DVDs to watch but the DVD player is in pieces awaiting remedial work.