What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Del.Monte

"Shooter" (2007) last night on Netflix.

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

Mark Wahlberg and Danny Glover. US conspiracy movie. Ticks all the boxes - plenty of realistic action, good storyline and retribution. 10/10

marwelie

Ciaran_B wrote: »

I watched Love and Mercy over the weekend. I’m a huge Beach Boys fan but found this a little underwhelming. The studio bits with Paul Dano were superb. Seeing the great songs being pieced together and hearing them through a cinema sound system was a real treat. But the John Cusack parts were pretty weak and had a TV movie vibe to them. A Pet Sounds/Smile era biopic with just Paul Dano would have been amazing.

Have to agree, Dano is absolutely brilliant as the young Brian Wilson. I cant understand why John Cusack was cast as the older Brian Wilson other than the fact that hes a huge muso. Did he have something to do with producing it because otherwise he was in the right place at the right time. Elizabeth Banks was great as his girlfriend/wife (added bonus, she has great legs ) Thumbs up for Paul Giamatti as well who plays BWs self appointed psychologist, pill popper and minder. An absolute creep in a terrible wig.

Liam McPoyle

Watched The Kingsmen on a long haul flight yesterday.

Terribly silly but alot of fun, Colin Firth is just fantastic, he is like a modern day Hugh Grant, except you don't want to karate chop him in the larynx.

Yamanoto

Love and Mercy

Found an awful lot to like about this movie.

It was a brave decision to cast such very different actors to play Wilson, but I think it's a gamble that pays off. Dano's terriffic as the ebullient bundle of constant creativity that was Brian Wilson in the early to late '60's, but for me, John Cusack really was an unexpected revelation. He absolutely nailed the shell of a man that Wilson had become by the 1980's - frightened, compliant, over medicated & vulnerable, yet with an underlying sweetness that Cusack skilfully conveys with an awkward glance or a skewed half-smile. He may not physically resemble Brian Wilson at all, but it didn't matter, he clearly understood him.

Recording session sequences look great on-screen and the Atticus Ross' score adds tension and texture, whilst giving that oddly beautiful & almost spooky music that characterises much of that Pet Sounds era room to shine.

johnny_ultimate

P'tit Quinquin - Made as a four part miniseries, but now released as an unedited film, Bruno Dumont's latest is a challenging but worthy binge watch.

While seemingly taking the form of a standard procedural thriller - with police investigating a small town murder - it becomes apparent before too long that's merely cheeky window dressing for an altogether more unusual film. A darkly humourous opening 'episode' - including probably the funniest, weirdest funeral scene you'll see in quite a while - morphs into something stranger and more tonally nuanced over the course of its 200 minutes. By the end Dumont has probed many aspects of contemporary French society, often in pleasingly unromantic and skillfully underplayed ways. Bernard Pruvost - as a hypnotically odd police inspector - and Alane Delhaye - as the eponymous Quinquin - lead a capable and talented cast, playing characters that are as fascinating as they are peculiar.

There are comparisons to be drawn to Twin Peaks, but whereas that show became less interesting as it answered more questions, P'tit Quinquin is all about the ambiguity. The body count increases significantly, but the motivations and culprits remain completely unclear. No matter - the 'action' is there to draw the viewer deeper into a film/series full of tricky themes and subtexts, and Dumont trusts the audience to negotiate their own way through a dense but rewarding work.

Captain America: The Winter Solider - I missed (read: actively skipped) this in the cinema, but last night I was tired and in need of something light. It was late, the film was recorded, and had heard some good things.

Frankly, it's just another Marvel film, with its theoretically 'refreshing' aspects let down in execution, or a sad reliance on 'more of the same' elsewhere. Generally, it suffers the same problems as pretty much every recent Marvel film: lack of character, bland visuals, a story that often feels like its setting up several sequels instead of being a satisfying whole. There are indeed one or two scenes (and the presence of Robert Redford, who is wasted) that do vaguely hark back to 70s conspiracy thrillers - but completely lacks the tension, subtlety, formal ingenuity, thematic complexity and artistry of even 'middle of the road' examples of the genre, let alone the standard-bearers. The attempts at integrating social commentary are broad to the point of overbearing, and generally, like Avengers 2, seems reluctant to meaningful engage with the deeper narrative potential the filmmakers are seemingly aware of. To take but one example: the capt'n's struggle to adapt to a new, modern world is clearly highlighted once or twice during the early chapters of the film, but amounts to little in the long-run.

Before the inevitable 'city in peril due to large flying thing (C)' conclusion, there is an admirable effort to keep the action more grounded. Well, grounded in the Marvel definition of the word. Again, execution is the problem, with the Russos seemingly wholly incapable of putting together a compelling fight scene. The rapid fire editing (often cutting three or four times when it comes to a single, brief character motion or stunt) between dozens of different angles robs the combat of any weight, spectacle, spatial awareness or credibility. Fast paced action is often dependent on excited editing, of course, but the Winter Soldier takes it to a ludicrous, barely coherent extreme. Some of the stuff that's happening could have packed a punch with more confident editing, but the few parts of the film that don't feel like a CG extravaganza ultimately have their own fatal problems.

On the plus side, the car chase sequence was alright, and the opening action scene kind of made me want to play through Metal Gear Solid 2's prologue again.

youreadthat

Drive - 8/10

Really nice watch. Unassuming but still holds your attention. Great soundtrack and atmosphere. A nice change from the usual.

The Black Oil

In an effort to unearth some dodgy sci-fi on Netflix...

Miracle Mile, featuring Anthony Edwards with hair and Denise Crosby in a more limited role. Now this is a film about panic and chaos. Even for a nuclear apocalypse film it's quite mental! Whilst watching I did wonder if the people making it knew what they were doing...

Class of 1999

Starting off with ominous music and a voiceover, gangs of youths are rampant and there are areas where the police don't go. There's a committee/board who are keen to find a solution, particularly with school discipline. Enter 3 teachers courtesy of Megatech. On the outside they appear human, but it's a different story underneath. Continuing the similarities with Robocop and Terminator, you get to see their decision making process, internal commands, etc. It's not long before, you guessed it, :pac: they drift from their intended programming. There's a young kid just released from prison who is trying to do the right thing. Soon enough he starts to think something is up.

Somewhat cheesy, and oh yeah, Malcolm McDowell is in it. Bonus point for the kitchen cupboard full of WD40!

Runaway - enjoyed it a lot. Tom Selleck plays Jack, a sergeant in the robotics squad. He's partnered with a younger officer. They've a pretty good dynamic and crucially, don't sleep together. Pretty soon they're out chasing robots that have gone nuts. The first call involves them chasing one around a corn field. Not sure why the farmers couldn't take care of it. Later on, Jack has to wear an 'electromagnetic scatter suit' and there other bits of fun like, early versions of video voicemail, a floater, i.e. a drone, bullets that can go around corners and a police iPad, basically.

The bad guy isn't written all that well, though he is basically immoral and corrupt. There's a bit of character redemption going on for Selleck. He is a widow, is scared ****less of heights, has a young son and a domesticated robot - 'your pasta will be al dente in 2 minutes, 17 seconds.' A series 12 model, no less. Maybe like Tars from Interstellar?

Recommended. Seek it out. :cool:

Mickeroo

Liamalone wrote: »

Interstellar

Another load of balls, stupid nonsensical time travel crap. Avoid.

Most of the "time travel crap" isn't made up...it's actually what would happen if someone traveled that far through space. Apart from the stuff

in the tesseract where he's talking to her through the wall obviously.

youreadthat

Mad Max Fury Road - 8/10

Maybe the most fun I've had watching a film since GOTG. Obviously it is just mental, in the best way. The most impressive thing is that the film is 95% the same car chase, but within that so much more comes across, the richness of the world, subtle character traits and relationship building done with few words. A very fun film.

Schadenfreudia

From Dusk till Dawn (1996) with George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino as too psychopathic brothers (at least in the case of Tarantino).

First half is a conventional crime thriller and then it goes very weird! Watchable, lots of action in the second half, all the the tension is in the first half.

the_monkey

Predator Dark Ages
Fan made short fiction, actually quite decent enjoyed it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4171544/?ref_=nv_sr_4

Del.Monte

the_monkey wrote: »

Predator Dark Ages
Fan made short fiction, actually quite decent enjoyed it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4171544/?ref_=nv_sr_4

Thanks for the heads-up and I've just added it to my YouTube watch list.

MattB11

Hyena- worth a watch

Sugarlumps

Cant Stand Losing You Surviving the Police: A documentary about the rise of The Police.

An Andy Summers account, I had read his book which obviously had more detail to it. His photography is excellent documenting the band, life on the road.

Big fan of The Police, although for me each album contains a lot of filler, that and the fact Sting is a giant egomaniac príck.

MagicMarker

Lol, thought you were telling about the actual police!

ButtersSuki

Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in Pyongyang at the screening attended by Matt Cooper on Thursday night last. Hmmmm. On one hand, I found this quite an uncomfortable watch (made even more so by many members in the audience laughing at what I felt were inappropriate moments), and on the other it does give you a rare insight into the mess that is North Korea. Rodman's descent into poverty and relative obscurity (to the point where he will do almost anything for money or publicity) is a very sad fall from the status he once held. Rodman is presented throughout as an egomaniac, but it wasn't always thus - when he started playing in the NBA he was cripplingly shy (as a basketball nerd this is well known) and no mention is made of this which would have been an interesting foundation piece to the "character" into which he has evolved. I found the filming of him at his worst uncomfortable viewing and unfair to show a man who clearly has psychological issues in this state. Cooper's narration is for the most part fair; a little sensationalist at times perhaps, but overall provides a balanced view of the on-screen drama. The last half an hour of it is quite repetitive I felt and offers precious little to add to the story and has a real feel of "filler" about it. I found his tales afterwards for the large part amusing, but his admission that he did not know of the ill-feeling between NK and Japan a little bizarre as I assumed that everyone with a basic grasp of WW history knew that. Overall, it's ok but has its flaws. An ok 5/10.

Stop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story Yet another LA documentary and the only one that I hadn't seen until now. While it provides relatively little new info. that any follower of the story wouldn't already know it's the access it has to some of the main protagonists (in particular Betsy Andreu, David Walsh, Emma O'Reilly, Paul Kimmage, Tyler Hamilton, Greg LeMond, Frankie Andreu,…it goes on) that sets this apart. Easily the best piece of work I've seen on Armstrong and well worth tracking down. A must watch for any sports fan, an excellent 8.5/10.

Schadenfreudia

Oblivion (2013), on Netflix.

With Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman - a brilliant film, 5 stars.

bnt

Tony EH wrote: »

'Twilight'

F*ckin hell...

GAAman wrote: »

You only have yourself to blame

Spare a thought for yours truly, then: Film4 broadcast all five Twilight films, I DVR-ed them, and watched them all over the last week. Not evenly-spaced, either: the first one last weekend, New Moon last night (Friday), and the remaining three today (Saturday). To be fair, I had one eye on that screen and another eye on my laptop screen.

Well, now I can say I have seen them. I wasn't quite ready for the way the last two (Breaking Dawn 1 & 2) ramped up the sex and violence quotients, though I read that the films are toned down from the books to keep it PG-13. Damned if I know how a 13-year-old is going to deal with this.

For example, the birth scene *starts* with the baby violently breaking Bella's back, and what follows includes lots of horrible noises and Bella's POV view of her guts hanging out her stomach after Edward digs in with a scalpel. Then there's the final "battle scene", in which many heads are removed from shoulders, though with surprisingly little blood.

.

I have questions about that ending, too.

We know Alice's visions are imprecise and subjective, so why did Aro (Michael Sheen) take her vision of the upcoming battle so seriously that he walked away from it? Am I right in thinking she "sexed it up" to include Aro himself getting his head ripped off by Bella (with Edwards's help)?

Tony EH

I barely made it out of one of those, but you managed all five?

There's an Iron Cross heading your way soldier!

the_monkey

Predator - 1987

What a classic , the tension in that film and the pacing is just perfect - 9/10

Probably Arnies best outside of the *two* terminators

bnt

Tony EH wrote: »

I barely made it out of one of those, but you managed all five?

There's an Iron Cross heading your way soldier!

It helped to not give it 100% of my attention at all times. A bit like watching a Cricket test match.

david75

Soaked in bleach.

I can see why Courtney and the nirvana camp are furious about this.

Worth a watch.

david75

Also wat he'd the Irish pub which was really good. Probably didn't need to be that Long but still worthy.

mikemac1

The Eternal Zero


The Zero was a jap fighter plane in WWII and the story is told in flashbacks. Two grandchildren interview people to find out about their grandfather who was an amazing pilot but also a coward. More is revealed as the story goes on

The end of war was approaching and the kamikaze attacks were about to begin.

I thought the action scenes were amazing particularly the ending. It's quite long and is based on a book. Would recommend, thumbs up

Common

Based on a British law called joint enterprise and how a young lad got screwed over when the heavy hand of the Brutish legal system came crashing down. Jimmy McGovern wrote and I thought it was excellent

Rule number 1 - when the police say talk to us you have nothing to fear then you call a solicitor immediately!
Another thumbs up

nicklauski

Interstellar

After a few people of the last few days talking about it, I finally found the time (nearly 3 hours!) to watching it.

I really enjoyed this. Visually it's amazing. The story needs a bit of getting your head around, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!

9/10

Would definitely watch it again.

Let's Be Cops

After the weight of Interstellar on my brain, I needed something a little easier to watch.

It's your generic run of the mill buddy cop (even though they are not cops) movie.

Had some laughs, nothing amazing.
Rob Riggle turns up and plays basically every character he's ever played too.

5/10

Chain Smoker

Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever
115 negative reviews on rotten tomatoes, 0 positive. Not exactly sure what I was expecting but I didn't even get that. The director sounds like a total ****, had huge connections and they've clearly been able to help him force his way into having a semblance of a career. The film is littered with stuff where it looks like he's copying things he saw other films but managing to completely miss out on what specific shots are supposed to do so you get all the cliches without any of the impact, absolutely no patience whatsoever, just bam bam bam bam bam bam bam. It honestly got a bit frustrating seeing these countless big expensive action set pieces shot and edited in ways to reduce any potential impact they may have had, I mean, this isn't a film with a dodgy budget like a Sandler film or the Room, the money is visible in a fair few scenes, if you really look for it.
Apparently it made back about a quarter of its budget in cinemas, that's $20 million so people must've seen it; it's a testament to its colossally vapid awfulness that it hasn't managed to carve out a place as a novelty cult classic for itself.

Mizu_Ger

The Train
Burt Lancaster and Paul Schofield face off at the end of WW2 over stolen Nazi artwork. Has a very real world feel with almost all the action taking place on a real scale, which is refreshing these days. Lancaster and Schofield make for great adverseries and the question of the value of art during war is handled much better than in The Monument's Men. The film is quite brutal at times too. Well worth a watch and the blu-ray is great quality.

Hobson's Choice
Early David Lean film, which I had never heard of before. A social comedy with plenty to say about women's place in the world and the social standings of both men and women. A couple of laugh out loud moments and Charles Laughton is great (as usual!). Must be one of the first things Prunella Scales was in. Saw this on blu-ray too and the quality was fantastic again.

Dumb and Dumber To
Started off well, but got very crass very quickly and I was glad when it ended. Big let down. The Farrelly's need to get themselves back on track.

Del.Monte

"The Train" is one of the best and most realistic WW.ll. films ever made. The use of real railway locomotives, stock, locations - and dynamite - superb storyline, great acting and direction. The fact that the movie was shot in black + white just adds to the gritty realism of the whole production. The Director was the legendary John Frankenheimer - who directed another action epic "Ronin" some 34 years later!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2pEvr32C7g

Mizu_Ger

Del.Monte wrote: »

"The Train" is one of the best and most realistic WW.ll. films ever made. The use of real railway locomotives, stock, locations - and dynamite - superb storyline, great acting and direction. The fact that the movie was shot in black + white just adds to the gritty realism of the whole production. The Director was the legendary John Frankenheimer - who directed another action epic "Ronin" some 34 years later!

This is the best Frankenheimer film I've seen so far. Hits all the right notes across action, characters, acting, direction etc.

Decuc500

The Counselor

I don’t know if I could say I ‘enjoyed’ The Counselor. It is, after all, a Cormac McCarthy story and nobody does bleak and nihilistic quite like McCarthy. But yet, after the critical mauling it received, I was surprised at how well made, coherent and stylish it was.

Ridley Scott brings his usual glossy style so it looks great and the dialogue was unlike anything you would hear in a mainstream film. Thankfully not quite as rambling and philosophical as some of McCarthy’s books.

My overall impression was it was just a bit cold and nasty to really enjoy but I’m certainly glad I watched it.