What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Schadenfreudia

Phantoms (1998) with a young Ben Aflick and an old Peter O'Toole. Watchable sci-fi thriller, somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Schadenfreudia wrote: »

Phantoms (1998) with a young Ben Aflick and an old Peter O'Toole. Watchable sci-fi thriller, somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars.

Affleck was da bomb in Phantoms yo!

No Mans Land 1987

A real 80's flick about a porsche thieves! Charlie Sheen and various other familiar faces, steel porsches and look cool doing it. A bit long, and a slightly made for TV element about it. Directed by one of the Wolf's so I guess thats expected. Great Poledouris soundtrack but the rest of it is just about entertaining.

Danny Collins 2015

New Pacino flick where he plays a guy who reminds me more of Tom Jones then anyone else - an older pop star still touring playing the same stuff he has done for 30 years. Bored and disillusioned he gets a letter from John Lennon that was sent to him 30 years ago that he never saw. That part is actually a true story. The letter changes his life and what he wants so he goes about repairing some of the damage hes done.
As usual an excellent performance from Al, with a lot of funny and touching moments throughout the movie

Tony EH

'Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films'

A very entertaining documentary, by the same guy who made 'Not Quite Hollywood', detailing the sheer, outrageous, chutzpah of the heads of Cannon films, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. The two Israeli chancers who moved to America, bought a film company and proceeded to churn out pictures of, to be polite, wildly varying quality throughout the 80's.



Mark Hartley's documentary is chock full of old faces from some of the greatest/worst films from 80's/90's cinema, or home video, which is where most people will be familiar with these titles. Chuck Norris "Classics" like the Rambo knock offs 'Missing in Action' and 'Missing in Action 2' or 'Delta Force' and 'Invasion USA'. Or Indiana Jones copies like 'King Solomon's Mines' and the bizarre likes of 'Hercules', the franchise killing 'Superman IV' or the mind boggling 'Lifeforce'. There was also 'Breakin' and of course the incredibly named 'Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo'.


Few of the interviewees are kind to the producers memories, however. Most of them don't recall their past pictures with much love and paint a picture of two men that may have loved films, but like making a quick buck out of crap much, much better.


It wasn't all terrible though. There were are few real gems in amongst the dross, like 'The Company of Wolves', 'Runaway Train', 'Barfly' and the surprisingly good 'Death Wish II'.



The "Go-Go Boys" are notably absent from the documentary though. Golan died last year and I reckon Globus just didn't want any part. But, it doesn't suffer from there lack of appearance.


This is an interesting documentary (as is 'Not Quite Hollywood') for anyone interested in film.




8/10

Kunkka

Somehow only got to see American Gangster there at the weekend for the first time. Good movie & some solid performances but I did feel it dragged on a little bit at the end. They somehow portray Lucas as noble in some sort of sick way... he's still alive too from my google work after . I'd give it 7/10

Chain Smoker

Il Posto
This one flew by. Coming of age film about a 15 year old who, to help support his family, has left school to start a job in an office that his parents are delighted with because it's the kind of place where you have "a job for life". The film mostly sidesteps having to deal with the obvious existential issues this would raise for the character by placing him in a temporary position as no full time one is available at the time of hiring and having a love interest arc from the get go*. Instead it focuses on the easily relatable situation of settling into a new environment, other people's attempts to make him feel welcome, the excitement and anxiety of new possibilities and opportunities, etc.
Almost every character is very endearing, Olmi's clearly got a knack for just capturing these sweet kind of awkward moments that felt closer to some of the Czech new wave from a few years later than the neo-realist movement. Spent a lot of the film smiling at the sweetness of it but it never lets you forget the underlying banal hellishness of it all with a melancholic vibe throughout which completely subsumes everything when focus** finally shifts to the future.
So yeah, recommended!

* I could talk heaps more about how the love interest was dealt with, nothing hugely surprising happens but I don't really want to spoil it
** "focus" might be an overstatement

ButtersSuki

Friday Night Lights (2004), movie on which the series of the same name is based. To start with, I'll say that having just recently binge-watched all 5 seasons of FNL it's hard to see anyone other than Kyle Chandler as coach. Billy Bob Thornton plays the character differently; he's less developed as a person, less empathetic and generally more "shouty". It features a couple of actors who went on to star in the tv series (a more subdued Connie Britton as the coach's wife and Brad Leland as the main booster). A young Amber Heard has a small role but I was shocked to see Tim McGraw (yes, that Tim McGraw, the C&W singer) deliver a great performance as the father of one of the players. As a 2 hour snapshot of the (over)importance teenage kids and coaches/families/schools etc. place on winning American football in the southern US states it's an enjoyable watch, but pales when compared with the series. Unlike the series however, you will need at least a basic knowledge of American Football to really appreciate this. Watched it on Blu Ray and 7.1 surround sound and the sounds of some of the tackles genuinely make you squirm. As a sports movie though I'd give it a solid 7/10.

I Give It a Year UK Rom-com and the type of thing I usually go out of my way to avoid but it wasn't my choice and to be fair it's better than most of the genre. Stephen Merchant steals the show for me when he's on-screen but unfortunately there isn't enough of him and his general inappropriateness. Rafe Spall, Rose Byrne (who I used to have a serious thing for but now I'm not so hot on anymore - I'm sure she's devastated...:rolleyes:), Anna Farris, Simon Baker and Minnie Driver amongst others also feature. If you have to delve into this genre, you could do worse...at least the Merchant scenes will give you a giggle. 6/10 (genre-specific rating!).

pixelburp

The Terminator (1984)

Screened by Cineworld as a precursor to the upcoming release of 'Genesis'. What a great film; the original really does hold up to this day... sorta. Some of the stop-motion looks really herky-jerky (even by the standards of stop motion), the 80s fashions are pretty dated and the puppet Arnie head is pretty terrible. What has aged well though is just how brilliantly paced and tense this film continues to be. Equally, what has perhaps been forgotten over the years was just how utterly apocalyptic and grim this film presents itself: Los Angeles in the film's present-day of 1984 is a heaving dilapidated slum, full of filthy back alleys, bums and rotting structures. It doesn't seem like a world worth saving. Also, it's a horror film really, the above tone hinting this in appearance, but the titular terminator himself; he's just another invincible, relentless killer who can't be outrun.

If the new film has half the nous of the original it'll be doing well, but I won't be surprised if its another shiny CGI borefest, full of physics and spectacle as rubbery as Stan Winston's prosthetic head from the '84 film.

Fysh

Another EIFF viewing for me:
Welcome To Me
Mostly a satire of American celebrity culture in which Alice stops taking her medication for Borderline Personality Disorder, wins the lottery and decides she wants to have her own television show, this has some good laughs and solid performances. I don't think it managed to balance its comedic moments with the straight character stuff (something I thought The Voices did well, for example), perhaps because the protagonist spends most of the film happily off her meds and being indulged in her outlandish behaviour by individuals interested in her money; nonetheless it's a pretty good watch. There are a few great moments in terms of soundtrack use as well, notably a version of Where Is My Mind played on a xylophone.

Fysh

And another EIFF report:
Cop Car
I thought this was excellent, a really simple yet taut thriller with two excellent young actors as the leads. A simpe yet taut thriller about two young runaways who find an abandoned police cruiser and go joyriding int it, and the sherrif trying to get back his squad car without drawing attention to himself or the reasons why he had left his squad car abandoned in the middle of nowhere. Somewhat reminiscent of Mud, the film has some lovely visuals, including a bunch of panoramic shots that both set the scene and establish mood. The script and central performances are its biggest strength, though - the two young leads are excellent, as is Kevin Bacon's dodgy sherrif. Definitely worth a watch whenever it gets a wider release.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Fysh wrote: »

And another EIFF report:
Cop Car
I thought this was excellent, a really simple yet taut thriller with two excellent young actors as the leads. A simpe yet taut thriller about two young runaways who find an abandoned police cruiser and go joyriding int it, and the sherrif trying to get back his squad car without drawing attention to himself or the reasons why he had left his squad car abandoned in the middle of nowhere. Somewhat reminiscent of Mud, the film has some lovely visuals, including a bunch of panoramic shots that both set the scene and establish mood. The script and central performances are its biggest strength, though - the two young leads are excellent, as is Kevin Bacon's dodgy sherrif. Definitely worth a watch whenever it gets a wider release.

This is the director that's doing the new Spider-Man film, I think?

Fysh

I went to another EIFF screening last night:
Infini

Unfortunately, I thought this was pretty poor. The description suggested a tense Aliens-esque setup, but the execution and in particular the script was a bit of a let down. On the positive side, it was visually engaging and had a few lovely shots. On the negative side...it was overlong, lazily scored (lots of "tense" moments being ridiculously emphasised by an uninventive score), had entirely 2-dimensional characters (including female characters who either get nothing to do or exist to serve as ambulatory wombs/motivation for male characters), some awful exposition (delivered badly in momentum-killing ways, just to make it worse), and the only interesting ideas in it were ripped wholesale from better films. It feels like a film which needs to have half an hour of flab ripped out of it and some heavy re-editing to give it some sense of its own identity, because as it stands it's a less bad version of Doom. As a side note, if I never again see a science-fiction film in which a team of apparently elite soldiers meet an alien species which causes them to become either incompetent morons or enraged zombies, I'd be quite happy.

johnny_ultimate

The Family Jams - How much do you dig freak folk? If your answer is 'huh?' or 'very little', you can probably avoid this documentary. If you answered in any vaguely positive manner, it could be worth a look. Full disclosure: I think Joanna Newsom might just be my favourite musician working today, so I have a natural bias towards it, and fascinating to see her working just before hitting the big time (there's a scene of her plucking her way through an early draft of Cosmia!). If you like Devendra Banhart or Vetiver you may also dig. Truth be told, as a film it's pretty crude, basically a tour diary shot on a just about serviceable camera - it ain't a big screen film. But it does really get into the camaraderie these musicians shared during their 'just about to hit it big (well, big for experimental folk music)' tour, and there's something positively motivational about the titular jamming sessions.

No, No Sleep - Another entry in Tsai Ming Liang's Walker series, this time set in Tokyo. But while things start off pretty par for the course for the series, things take a revelatory turn when the camera moves away from our intrepid slow-walking monk. The astonishingly vibrant train shot is a gamechanger in a series that has thus far amounted to mostly very long shots of a monk walking silently, and the film splinters off in rather surprising, evocative directions after that (although thematically similar to some of Ming Liang's feature work). The film still manages to maintain this gorgeous, unhurried, meditative, ethereal mood, but the seemingly subtle change in tone and pace makes for a radically different experience that nonetheless fits neatly into this fascinating set of experimental shorts. It's on YouTube too, although very much recommend working through Walker and Journey to the West first as its impact and nuances will only be enhanced taken as the latest chapter in this most avant-garde of serials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2MJ68jedKc

Rififi - taken as a whole, Jules Dassin's film is a pleasingly cynical noir, full of morally corrupt individuals (including our 'hero') and boasting a strong sense of tone and place. It's undoubtedly a key film in the development of the heist film as we know it, and can feel familiar at times as a result (less its fault than time's fault). But all these years later is there a heist quite so astonishingly realised as the one here? Gritty, sweaty, messy and audaciously filmed without music or dialogue, it's a masterclass in visual storytelling and mood-building, and a clear inspiration on Michael Mann's Thief among many others. But few if any of the directors that have drawn inspiration from Rififi have come close to achieving what Dassin does during that lengthy jeweler story robbery. The uncommonly unromantic genre film surrounding it is not by any means shabby, but it's the centerpiece that makes Rififi essential

Fysh

Dead Rising: Watchtower

This was the last EIFF screening for me. I think it might also be the first videogame-to-live-action adaptation that's actually any good
, without requiring the viewer to be a fan of the games. (Note that this allows me to exclude Street Fighter: The Animated Movie from comparisons, because I think it still sets the standard for game-to-film adaptations). Starting as a passable zombie film, the twin strengths of Dead Rising are the focus on assembling weapons for zombie-fighting and, crucially, Frank West as a character interviewed by a news anchor during their coverage of a zombie outbreak. West's character provides plenty of humour to keep the overall tone similar to Zombieland (though I think DR isn't quite as good as that). This becomes most notable in the final act, where a conspiracy/thriller angle takes centre stage and the film starts to creak a bit. For most of the running time, though, it's entertaining fun. If I had to mark it down for anything it would be that structurally it plays like it was made for release as either webisodes or a miniseries, and a couple of transitions are quite clunky in that context.

Fysh

Fysh wrote: »

Dead Rising: Watchtower

This was the last EIFF screening for me. I think it might also be the first videogame-to-live-action adaptation that's actually any good
, without requiring the viewer to be a fan of the games. (Note that this allows me to exclude Street Fighter: The Animated Movie from comparisons, because I think it still sets the standard for game-to-film adaptations). Starting as a passable zombie film, the twin strengths of Dead Rising are the focus on assembling weapons for zombie-fighting and, crucially, Frank West as a character interviewed by a news anchor during their coverage of a zombie outbreak. West's character provides plenty of humour to keep the overall tone similar to Zombieland (though I think DR isn't quite as good as that). This becomes most notable in the final act, where a conspiracy/thriller angle takes centre stage and the film starts to creak a bit. For most of the running time, though, it's entertaining fun. If I had to mark it down for anything it would be that structurally it plays like it was made for release as either webisodes or a miniseries, and a couple of transitions are quite clunky in that context.

It was made for Sony's streaming service Crackle. I watched the opening quarter of an hour but haven't gone back to finish it.

pixelburp

Minions (2015)

Didn't really have the vibrancy and snarky wit of the Despicable Me films, and perhaps was an example of when you shouldn't give a sidekick or ... well, a minion character the spotlight. The minions are funny, just in small doses for me, so a whole movie of their antics got a little dull after a while. There seemed to be fewer jokes too, though the physical comedy could still elicit a hearty laugh here and there. Hard to truly gauge anyway, given I'm at least 25 years past the recommended demographic!

Sugarlumps

The Seven Five: Meet the dirtiest cop in NYC history. Michael Dowd stole money and dealt drugs while patrolling the streets of 80s Brooklyn.

Aidric

Saw Love & Mercy last weekend. It's a biopic of Brian Wilson (Beach Boys creative force), played by two different actors at different stages of his life. Paul Dano plays him in his early Beach Boys days and John Cusack in his later life when struggling with mental illness. Two strong performances from two actors I have a lot of time for.

Interspersed with excellent Beach Boys tracks but at heart this is a deeply personal story on a musical genius who is constantly struggling with self doubt.

Ciaran_B

Sugarlumps wrote: »

The Seven Five: Meet the dirtiest cop in NYC history. Michael Dowd stole money and dealt drugs while patrolling the streets of 80s Brooklyn.

I watched this during the week and really liked it. The way they were able to get interviews with everyone (crooked cops, gangsters, DEA etc) was excellent. It was like something from The Shield. By the end I quite liked Michael.

Sugarlumps

Ciaran_B wrote: »

I watched this during the week and really liked it. The way they were able to get interviews with everyone (crooked cops, gangsters, DEA etc) was excellent. It was like something from The Shield. By the end I quite liked Michael.

Showed no remorse, guy was a psychopath, worse than the actual criminals. His time behind bars, I wonder what that was like?

OldeCinemaSoz

pixelburp wrote: »

The Terminator (1984)

Screened by Cineworld as a precursor to the upcoming release of 'Genesis'. What a great film; the original really does hold up to this day... sorta. Some of the stop-motion looks really herky-jerky (even by the standards of stop motion), the 80s fashions are pretty dated and the puppet Arnie head is pretty terrible. What has aged well though is just how brilliantly paced and tense this film continues to be. Equally, what has perhaps been forgotten over the years was just how utterly apocalyptic and grim this film presents itself: Los Angeles in the film's present-day of 1984 is a heaving dilapidated slum, full of filthy back alleys, bums and rotting structures. It doesn't seem like a world worth saving. Also, it's a horror film really, the above tone hinting this in appearance, but the titular terminator himself; he's just another invincible, relentless killer who can't be outrun.

If the new film has half the nous of the original it'll be doing well, but I won't be surprised if its another shiny CGI borefest, full of physics and spectacle as rubbery as Stan Winston's prosthetic head from the '84 film.

Excellent review. I couldn't have put it better myself. Kudos.

pixelburp

Jupiter Ascending (2014)
This film has received enough of a shellacking without me adding to it - the plot is needlessly convoluted and pompous, even by modern Hollywood standards - however it's almost worth watching for the sumptuous design and visuals; specifically, I mean the production design. The action scenes were a mess but to me it was clear a lot of imagination and creativity went into the world-building and aesthetics. The scenes set in space often looked gorgeous. I quickly gave up hope about the plot, but kept going just to enjoy the background detail. In places it reminded me of Farscape, of a wild unfettered universe bursting with variation. If there was a half-competent script propelling the story, Jupiter Ascending could have been something special. Instead it's another item of evidence that the Wachowski siblings truly are a one hit wonder.

Watch with the sound off, it'll mitigate the plot trying to ruin things.

Black Sea (2014)
Effective, taut, grimy, tense; the feeling of being trapped, metaphorically as well as literally bled through every scene, making it a film best avoided by those suffering from claustrophobia. The characters were uniformly unlikeable though, and that stopped the mobie from being a complete victory: I guess it helped maintain the momentum that all of the crew hated each other, but ultimately it made it difficult to care too much about their eventual fates. Jude Law's Scottish accent was entertaining though.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

The Loved Ones Ripping Aussie horror from 2009. It's ultra-violent, got a pitch black humour, two phenomenal lead performances and fantastic attention paid to things like music, wardrobe and set. Cannot recommend this highly enough to horror fans, normals would probably do best to steer clear though. I had honest to god nightmares after it, and also I'm now terrified of this song.

10/10, would not change a thing about it.

Harry Palmr

Klute (1971) Dir Alan Pakula

Pennsylvania private eye seeks missing industrialist and is immersed in a New York of call girls and double dealing. Curiously toned drama as it observes the milieu with a detached aloofness but the characters who inhabit it with a naturalistic intimacy. No action at all really but it becomes a quietly absorbing portrait of two worlds colliding. The way the climax is filmed and edited is interesting as it leave open the possibility that the female protagonist Bree Daniels saves her own skin while equally suggesting that John Klute has saved her. Maybe that was just a necessary way of getting round the sexual politics of the era.

Del.Monte

"Darling Lili" (1970) on Netflix. Musical/Comedy/Drama.

World War.I. Spy movie. Starring Rock Hudson and Julie Andrews. Directed by Blake Edwards - of Pink Panther fame - and using some of the same actors.



Julie Andrews in the lead role shows a side of her far removed from The Sound of Music. The film is only for fans of slapstick/Julie Andrews/WW.I. biplane aerial dogfights. Much of the film was shot in Ireland using repro warplanes that had been made for the earlier "Blue Max" movie.

Also features Doreen Keogh (Mrs.Dineen - Father Ted) and (Mrs.O'Hanlon in Fair City) - she has some CV if you check her out on Imdb.

6/10 - I stayed awake.

gucci

Aidric wrote: »

Saw Love & Mercy last weekend. It's a biopic of Brian Wilson (Beach Boys creative force), played by two different actors at different stages of his life. Paul Dano plays him in his early Beach Boys days and John Cusack in his later life when struggling with mental illness. Two strong performances from two actors I have a lot of time for.

Interspersed with excellent Beach Boys tracks but at heart this is a deeply personal story on a musical genius who is constantly struggling with self doubt.

Watched this last night myself. Adamantly I am a Beach Boys fan (but find it uncomfortable to watch Brian Wilson perform now

I even had to walk out during the performance in the credits

Really good movie. Paul Dano is really impressive every time I see him and Paul Giamatti was exceptional too. I loved the music production scenes in the studio, just shows how ahead of his time and one in a billion Wilson was. Of course it is a very sad story, but definitely also a celebration of genius and a story well told in this movie.

On a side note another sad element for me is how many artists who have entertained us in various mediums over the years have a similar tortured story, and could make the same type of film about.

Liam McPoyle

Mila Clumsy Termite wrote: »

The Loved Ones Ripping Aussie horror from 2009. It's ultra-violent, got a pitch black humour, two phenomenal lead performances and fantastic attention paid to things like music, wardrobe and set. Cannot recommend this highly enough to horror fans, normals would probably do best to steer clear though. I had honest to god nightmares after it, and also I'm now terrified of this song.

10/10, would not change a thing about it.

While I really liked it, I wouldn't say that I loved it as I felt it got a bit silly towards the end. If the overall tone had continued til the climax then it would be a 9 or 10 for me.

Another brutal Aussie horror Id recommend is Daddys Little Girl. Its as horrific and blackly funny as anything Ive ever seen and it gave me more of a reaction than any of the most "extreme" movies out there such as A Serbian Film, August Underground, Slaughtered Vomit Dolls or Salo etc.

Outrageously hard hitting stuff.

FloatingVoter

Spy - with the original Korean subtitles. It isn't rubbish but certainly isn't the classic that the reviewers are making it out to be. Good little comedy to watch on DVD over a few beers. Any Roger Moore Bond flick was just as funny without trying so hard.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Business Cat wrote: »

While I really liked it, I wouldn't say that I loved it as I felt it got a bit silly towards the end. If the overall tone had continued til the climax then it would be a 9 or 10 for me.

Do you mean the tone got silly or the plot? I thought it was fairly strong til the very end, the last twenty minutes or so of a horror is always going to be the trouble spot but this had pretty good follow through, some dodgy effects in

the previous loved ones in the basement

aside. I definitely can't remember the last time I was so invested for so long in whether or not a protagonist escaped/survived. There were a couple of almost slapstick moments towards the finish but I quite liked them

Another brutal Aussie horror Id recommend is Daddys Little Girl. Its as horrific and blackly funny as anything Ive ever seen and it gave me more of a reaction than any of the most "extreme" movies out there such as A Serbian Film, August Underground, Slaughtered Vomit Dolls or Salo etc.

Outrageously hard hitting stuff.

Shall definitely seek that out, cheers!

mikemac1

The Wiper Times


On Netflix

Set during WWI the title was to do with a newspaper setup by British soldiers in Ypres which the Brits pronounced as wipers.

The newspaper is witty, satrical hysterical little booklet which ripped the piss out of the top brass :pac:

Like any good newspaper they had advertisments and they were equally ridiculous.

Based on a true story and predictably the top brass went ballistic but some realised it was good for morale and it stayed

I liked this little film and Ben Chaplin played the toff officer well but he's very likeable

thumbs up