What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Mizu_Ger

Harold and Maude
Watched this as it's considered a classic, but found it very difficult to get into as the main character is so unlikeable. The relationship between him and Maude is well done and fun at times, but I just wanted to punch that guy in the face :eek:. It's offbeat and different, but I don't see how anyone can enjoy watching this (and I don't see any other reason for watching it).

Mizu_Ger

pixelburp wrote: »

Really? That's the first genuinely positive response I've seen about this film, the consensus previously suggesting Untold was an unqualified train wreck. Certainly what little I saw of it myself did little to make me think otherwise

I thought it decent enough too, but could have done with less CGI and spectacle. Some of those big scenes destroy the film.

ButtersSuki

Looper007 wrote: »

Out Of The Furnace (2013)

A film that seemed to go under the radar when it was released sadly. I think its film that deserves rewatching. Steelworker Russell Baze (Christian Bale) works a dead-end job and holds tight to his sense of family, duty and loyalty. Rodney Baze (Casey Affleck), Russell's brother, returns home after serving in Iraq and, with his debts piling up, becomes entangled with a vicious crime lord (Woody Harrelson). So… Moreon afterward, Rodney disappears mysteriously. The police fail to solve the case, so Russell -- feeling he has little left to lose -- puts his life on the line to bring his brother home. Affleck and Bale are excellent as the brothers, Harrelson steals the show as the Hillbilly psycho. great support from William Dafoe and Forest Whitaker. It's maybe a bit too slow moving for some but its a film I love. 8/10

Is it on Netflix? I saw it at release time and though it was ok-ish but I might give it a 2nd watch. The standout for me in a pretty strong cast was Harrelson's genuinely menacing performance. And Zoe Saldana looking very nice.

johnny_ultimate

Mizu_Ger wrote: »

Harold and Maude
Watched this as it's considered a classic, but found it very difficult to get into as the main character is so unlikeable. The relationship between him and Maude is well done and fun at times, but I just wanted to punch that guy in the face :eek:. It's offbeat and different, but I don't see how anyone can enjoy watching this (and I don't see any other reason for watching it).

Is this a necessity though? To me it doesn't matter whether a character is likeable, unlikeable or somewhere in between - as long as they're interesting. I'd go so far as to propose cinema suffers from a lack of legitimately interesting yet horrible characters. Edge of Tomorrow was a recent film that was infinitely more interesting when the main character was an arrogant, cowardly asshole than when he grew into a generic action hero.

As for Harold & Maude, I'm not even sure I'd call Harold particularly unlikeable, and he's IMO fascinating. While he is an immature ass at times, I also found his cynical streak endearing, and his character growth / relationship with Maude more believable than most screen romances even with the added quirk factor. And how could someone enjoy watching it? Well there's said central relationship, the lively script, the smart soundtrack, and not forgetting that it's often riotously funny Love the way this gag particularly delivers its slowly-building joke so casually in the background of the frame. Illustrates Ashby's keen eye for cinematic jokes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU3F4QPUVQw

Mizu_Ger

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Is this a necessity though? To me it doesn't matter whether a character is likeable, unlikeable or somewhere in between - as long as they're interesting. I'd go so far as to propose cinema suffers from a lack of legitimately interesting yet horrible characters. Edge of Tomorrow was a recent film that was infinitely more interesting when the main character was an arrogant, cowardly asshole than when he grew into a generic action hero.

As for Harold & Maude, I'm not even sure I'd call Harold particularly unlikeable, and he's IMO fascinating. While he is an immature ass at times, I also found his cynical streak endearing, and his character growth / relationship with Maude more believable than most screen romances even with the added quirk factor. And how could someone enjoy watching it? Well there's said central relationship, the lively script, the smart soundtrack, and not forgetting that it's often riotously funny Love the way this gag particularly delivers its slowly-building joke so casually in the background of the frame. Illustrates Ashby's keen eye for cinematic jokes:

I agree that enjoyable films don't need likeable characters, but this type of film needs to have some level of likeability (or empathy) in the main character. Maude is sympathetic (and a shot of her arm later in the film drives this home), but Harold is just a creep. He's in every scene of the film and his character is stamped onto the feel of the whole film. There are enjoyable episodes like the one you posted and I liked the scenes with the policeman, but that's it. The only thing I'll say for him is that his fashion sense is interesting!!

Looper007

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Is it on Netflix? I saw it at release time and though it was ok-ish but I might give it a 2nd watch. The standout for me in a pretty strong cast was Harrelson's genuinely menacing performance. And Zoe Saldana looking very nice.

It's on Netflix. Harrelson is really a standout as is Bale and Affleck. The opening scene when Harrelson beats up a woman and man is one of the strongest openings I've seen in years. Saldana is always nice to look but she's a little wasted in this and I can't buy her getting with Forrest Whitaker :pac:. I think it's a film that gets better with rewatching.

ButtersSuki

Looper007 wrote: »

It's on Netflix. Harrelson is really a standout as is Bale and Affleck. The opening scene when Harrelson beats up a woman and man is one of the strongest openings I've seen in years. Saldana is always nice to look but she's a little wasted in this and I can't buy her getting with Forrest Whitaker :pac:. I think it's a film that gets better with rewatching.

She wanted stability. Bale couldn't provide it, she probably thought he'd be killed in combat or would come back with PTSD. As the sheriff in a sh!tty hicksville town Whitaker probably had the only decent job with something resembling security attached to it. I can buy that.

Looper007

ButtersSuki wrote: »

She wanted stability. Bale couldn't provide it, she probably thought he'd be killed in combat or would come back with PTSD. As the sheriff in a sh!tty hicksville town Whitaker probably had the only decent job with something resembling security attached to it. I can buy that.

you are thinking of Affleck;s character who was clearly suffering from PTSD. Bale's was sent to jail and she never went to vist him or waited for him. Plus I don't think she ever told him she left him either. A little unfair on Bale's character but I can understand from her characters point of view, the only chance of a good life was with Whitakers sheriff.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

No need to watch it now.

ButtersSuki

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

No need to watch it now.

Whoops......sorry!

It's still worth it for Harrelson's performance.

the_monkey

Wild(2014) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2305051/

Really good film about the true story of Cheryl Strayed - who hiked the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) after a personal tragedy.

Reese Witherspoon is excellent in it.

Mickeroo

the_monkey wrote: »

Wild(2014) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2305051/

Really good film about the true story of Cheryl Strayed - who hiked the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) after a personal tragedy.

Reese Witherspoon is excellent in it.

Would recommend you give Tracks a watch too.

Looper007

Mickeroo wrote: »

Would recommend you give Tracks a watch too.

Excellent film, went under the radar last year. Great performance from Mia Wasikowska and some beautiful photography. It's on Netflix.

the_monkey

Mickeroo wrote: »

Would recommend you give Tracks a watch too.

Thanks so much just checked out the trailer, it looks amazing .

fin12

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Whoops......sorry!

It's still worth it for Harrelson's performance.

what film are ye talking about?

johnny_ultimate

Celine and Julie Go Boating - I was a bit concerned at the 180 minute mark when the eponymous duo had yet to go boating. But thankfully the last ten minutes delivered!

Jacques Rivette's meandering, unwieldy and occasionally mystifying feature is a goddamn masterpiece of 1970s cinema. It's a lot of things: a buddy comedy, an occult thriller, a meta commentary on cinema, an exercise in cinema verite, and a musical at one point. I repeat: It's a lot of things, and they're all very good things. It's beautifully controlled chaos, full of ideas. It takes a good while to warm up, but by the end I was hooked, especially since the last hour is a heady tangle of surreal brilliance. Fantasy and reality have rarely collided so satisfyingly.

Things wouldn't work nearly as well without the delightful chemistry between Dominique Labourier and Juliet Berto. The two play off each (and subtly morph into each other, as the narrative dictates) giddily, at times almost childlike in their unwavering friendship. They're the ideal guides to lead the audience through all this strangeness, as they're intent on having the best damn time they can while they're at it.

Liam McPoyle

Cannibal Holocaust.

A movie thats equally reviled and revered across the movie viewing public, it certainly cannot be ignored nor forgotten.

Ive watched it a number of times but last night I watched the new Blu Ray transfer that Grindhouse Releasing put out earlier this year. It looks absolutely stunning, digitally restored from the original directors cut, its a beautiful release. The sound is fantastic and the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack by Riz Ortolani is as good as ever.

The movie itself (for those that may not have seen it) follows an anthropologist on the trail of 4 documentary makers that disappeared while filming a study on cannibal tribes deep in the Amazon. He encounters a tribe that have some items belonging to the 4 in their possession and eventually he finds their film cans and brings them back to New York to try and figure out what happened.

What follows illustrates just how far some people are willing to go to get their work noticed.

While the movie is widely known for its depictions of animals getting slaughtered (all real) and written off by many as nothing more than a bad taste shock movie, there is so much more to it than that.

In the 60s and 70s there were a raft of shockumentaries produced with many coming from Italy. The "Mondo" movies genre including Mondo Cane, Africa Addio and Goodbye Uncle Tom were very much exploitative with the producers facing accusations (many of which are true) of them fabricating more shocking scenes for their film in an effort to get them more press coverage.

The closing line of Cannibal Holocaust is "I wonder who the real cannibals are" is an indictment of these "documentary" makers and their practices but the subtext of the film was lost under a hale controversy with director Ruggero Deodata being prosecuted for obscenity and murder and having to go so far as to get some of the cast together on screen to prove they were alive and well, aswell as having to explain how the infamous impalement scene was done.

It also fell foul of the BBFC under the whole video nasties furore in the mid 80s.

This is also arguably the first found footage movie and its pretty clear when watching something like The Blair Witch project that the makers of that were heavily influenced by the makers of this.

It would be very easy to write this movie off as just another Italian shocker but there is so much more to it than that. It showcases just how far some more unscrupulous people are willing to go for the sake of a story. It also highlights the blood thirst we have as a species and our desire to be sickened by seeing carnage on our screens, with one line in the movie essentially saying that society wants more and more to be shocked. This was made in 1980 but with the advent of social media nearly every day my news feed on Facebook is chock full of video clips of violent acts from around the world masquerading as news footage, we have come full circle in terms of what we watch and want to watch from rallying against everything in the 80s to embracing / demanding to be horrified in 2015.

Who are the real cannibals indeed.....

9/10

Harry Palmr

The Faculty (1998) Dir Robert Rodriquez

High school of arses and slackers is infiltrated by alien parasites who invade the teachers, a motley group of pupils fight back. Not bad of its type though you have to laugh at the depiction of the school and the obviously too old actors. A host of familiar faces from the past (Bebe Neuwirth, Piper Lawie, Robert Patrick) and the future (Elijah Wood, Salma Hayek, Jon Stewart, yes that Jon Stewart!) are game for a laugh though its a bit too "meta" for its own good at times.

Mizu_Ger

Get Hard
Will Ferrell's backside makes an appearance within 5 minutes, unfortunately the laughs never appear. Feels like someone watched Trading Places and tried to make something broadly similar (but without the laughs!). I didn't feel the racism that others have pointed to. That's just Ferrell's character. Anyway, just watch Trading Places instead.

Brute Force
Burt Lancaster film directed by Jules Dassin. Concerns a prison, it's inmates and a sadistic guard. Everything works well, with some good action and performances all round. The guard in particular is played brilliantly (and unsympathetically) by Hume Cronyn (I recognised his face, but didn't know his name). The only drawback is the inmates back stories which try to push them as the good guys a little to hard (they committed crimes, but only out of necessity or their own failings).

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Red Road: I've been meaning to check this out ever since I saw Arnold's follow up, Fish Tank. A complex portrait of loss and longing, in which both spectator and characters are tied up in the question of the ideology of the cinematic apparatus, and the difference between observable facts and truth. Really liked it.

The Descent: Actually has a peculiar amount in common with Red Road, now I think of it. Anyways, kept seeing this on Best Of Horror lists, thought I'd throw it on and give my claustrophobia some fuel. Ranges from competent to distinctly above average for most of the runtime (the absolute pain in the bollocks that shoot must have been notwithstanding), made marginally more interesting by the all female cast and mild tinkering with standard horror character tropes. The five minutes either end though, are what for me really makes this film worth mentioning, that final shot would stick with you. One thing that really started annoying me though

fair enough the creatures are blind, so they can't detect light. Can they not detect when they are inches from a burning flame?!

ButtersSuki

Released from hospital this morning and went directly to the Straight Outta Compton press screening. I'd been looking forward to this since I'd first heard about it - I was really into rap as a teen and beyond and when NWA arrived on the scene in 1989 it truly was a cosmic shift in the world of rap music. Sure, Ice-T had ventured into Gangsta Rap territory before NWA, but NWA took it mainstream. What we get in the movie is a very sanitised version of the story, one that aims to present the protagonsists in a much better light than many of them deserve - and I say this as a fan. It's a very one-sided telling of a tale, with lots of poetic licence added for reasons I don't really understand - the true story is in itself compelling enough without the embellishments. And it leaves out (one has to assume deliberately) some of the darker things various members of the group have over the years done or been accused of. It'll be a hit because of the hype alone, and the release timing with the current Police-African American tensions in the US must be like winning the lotto for the filmmakers. Looking at the production credits, one can't help but think that there's a highly cynical money-making exercise at the back of this as the NWA back catalogue are sure to chart again and the families will rake in the royalties. One last note on the performances: Ice Cube Jr. is like a twin of his Dad when he has the geri-curl (less so when it's shave off) but he's ok in it, Giamatti too is ok in his role as their manager (bar one weird scene where he repeats the same lines) and the rest are passable. Maybe it's just me, but I think I'd have preferred a documentary, and an honest one at that. 6/10.

ButtersSuki

fin12 wrote: »

what film are ye talking about?

Out of the Furnace with Harrelson, Christian Bale, Casy Affleck, Forest Whitaker, Willem Defoe and Zoe Saldana amongst others.

duckysauce

Cop Car

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3813310/


Kevin Bacon plays a nut bag per usual and is great . Well shot simple film , about a couple of kids who rob a cop car .

ButtersSuki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Released from hospital this morning and went directly to the Straight Outta Compton press screening. I'd been looking forward to this since I'd first heard about it - I was really into rap as a teen and beyond and when NWA arrived on the scene in 1989 it truly was a cosmic shift in the world of rap music. Sure, Ice-T had ventured into Gangsta Rap territory before NWA, but NWA took it mainstream. What we get in the movie is a very sanitised version of the story, one that aims to present the protagonsists in a much better light than many of them deserve - and I say this as a fan. It's a very one-sided telling of a tale, with lots of poetic licence added for reasons I don't really understand - the true story is in itself compelling enough without the embellishments. And it leaves out (one has to assume deliberately) some of the darker things various members of the group have over the years done or been accused of. It'll be a hit because of the hype alone, and the release timing with the current Police-African American tensions in the US must be like winning the lotto for the filmmakers. Looking at the production credits, one can't help but think that there's a highly cynical money-making exercise at the back of this as the NWA back catalogue are sure to chart again and the families will rake in the royalties. One last note on the performances: Ice Cube Jr. is like a twin of his Dad when he has the geri-curl (less so when it's shave off) but he's ok in it, Giamatti too is ok in his role as their manager (bar one weird scene where he repeats the same lines) and the rest are passable. Maybe it's just me, but I think I'd have preferred a documentary, and an honest one at that. 6/10.

Not surprised to hear this review. I remember watching the trailer when it first came out and was wondering where Eazy and Ren were. Looked like a money making exercise for Cube and Dre.

ButtersSuki

Deleted User wrote: »

Not surprised to hear this review. I remember watching the trailer when it first came out and was wondering where Eazy and Ren were. Looked like a money making exercise for Cube and Dre.

Eazy featured very heavily, one of the main 3 characters. MC Ren has f all to do in it.

They really go for a BS happy ending too……they have the band about to reunite before Eazy's death and Cube and Dre getting all emotional about it. Fact is neither even attended his funeral.

. I'd say it'd be really good however if you didn't actually know the story. All said, it's worth a look - how many genuine hip hop history movies will get as wide a distribution run as this?

Arghus

Cop Car - Seems a lot of us are getting to see this movie. We must be spending a fortune in order to fly to the States to see it... har har har... Anyway... By and large Cop Car is lean and mean entertainment. The first act in particular is terrific - setting up the story nicely and filled with moments of humour recalling the foolhardy stupidity of being a young boy in the middle of nowhere during the endless summer months, which contrast nicely with the grittiness. For the first hour the movie doesn't really put a foot wrong. Every little moment adds to the steadily winding tension in some important way. I've a hard-on for movies that follow what I would call The Die Hard Principle- no messing about and everything moves the story forward. Cop Car nearly nails it. It gets mighty close but is undone a bit by the end by heaping just a little too much drama and peril atop of everything else. But I'd still wholeheartedly recommend it, it's extremely entertaining, well-made and blackly funny, in a way reminiscent of The Coens. And the director, Mr Spiderman-to-be- who is soon to, no-doubt, have all the tactile feeling sanded out of his film-making- has a definite eye for an arresting shot or unexpected beauty. Thumbs up.

Hyena - Director Gerard Johnson and actor Peter Ferdinando worked together previously on 2009's Tony - which was one of the grimmest serial killer movies I'd ever seen on my life, which is to say it was one of the absolute best. This is a different kettle of fish- the story of a corrupt vice officer, whose life begins to fall apart when he gets involved with exactly the wrong type of gangsters to be getting involved with. I know, I know - sounds like the plot to hundred bent-copper movies or tv shows. And this is Hyena's biggest problem - it never becomes unfamiliar and proceedings feel somewhat cliched. Which is a real pity because once you look past the reheated elements of the plot there's a lot here to recommend it. Johnson possesses panache. I'd love to see what he could do with a bigger budget because, visually, he's got it going on- an early drug raid sequence is mesmerizing and oddly beautiful, despite the accompanying visuals of dudes getting their craniums smashed with fire extinguishers. He's got skill, kind of like a Nicholas Winding Refn who actually cares about human emotion - Hyena is always interestingly lit and shot. When it's camerawork aligns with the stakes in the narrative it has hypnotic and propulsive power. And it has an absolutely fantastic performance at it's centre from Peter Ferdinando - whose sweaty, jittery mix of danger and vulnerability often pulls you through whatever unspeakable acts are on-screen, or forks in the narrative road that you'll feel you've traveled before. This guy is an amazing actor, really honestly - his range between this and his performance in Tony is something else. I'd check out anything he has a part to play in. Hyena is totally worth a watch if you like your crime movies ultra-gritty - and I mean dismemberment of a corpse in the bath level gritty. It's just a pity it couldn't put all it's great ingredients into something a bit more fresh.

Del.Monte

"The November Man" (2014) on Netflix.

Post Cold War CIA type thriller starring one of my least favourite Irish actors - Pierce Brosnan - and, surprise, he's good!

A somewhat convoluted plot involving an ex.Russian general who is extinguishing everything from his murky past that might interfere with his plans to become President. Brosnan is an ex.CIA operative brought back from retirement to extract one of the general's aides who knows where all the bodies are hidden. Great, realistic action all the way to a suitably satisfying finish. 9/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREIRTyj9Mk

Sugarlumps

Upside Down: The Creation Records Story: The definitive film about Creation Records, one of the world's most successful and colorful independent labels.

Ronan|Raven

duckysauce wrote: »

Cop Car

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3813310/


Kevin Bacon plays a nut bag per usual and is great . Well shot simple film , about a couple of kids who rob a cop car .

fantastic movie.

ButtersSuki

McCullin biopic of acclaimed war-photographer Don McCullin. Upsetting and disturbing in places in both pictures and words, it's nonetheless a very interesting, thought-provoking and memorable insight into a man who has seen a lot of things most of us could barely stomach. The OH couldn't finish it but for me it's an easy 8.5/10.