What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

The Black Oil

Eagle Eye

Heavily inspired by 2001 and Minority Report.

Nerdlingr

I thought Dredd was very poor tbh.About half way through I was getting bored. Walk along a corridor, bang bang, shoot people. Walk along a corridor bang bang , shoot people.

The part where they got 'locked down' as well was utterly ridiculous. "yeah we've locked him in, there's no way he getting out of this one"..."you wait here, i'll just walk up along this corridor and shoot a few people. we're only locked in from the one side

". Ma-Ma was a rubbish villain -what exactly does she do?

Worst showdown EVER

!! People running wlily-nilly in front of bullets asking to be shot. Christ I could go on and on...didnt like anything about it to be honest. Least he kept his helmet on this time I guess, thats something.

Mickeroo

Deleted User wrote: »

Checked this out last night. I found it nice for a while, a very interesting and clever concept for a movie. But then I found it forced the longer it went on and full of cliches. The music was very derivative - nice lyrics but very derivative and bland, I ended up turning it off about two thirds of the way through after one cliche too many!

I really enjoyed Rudderless, it was undoubtedly manipulative though. I'm a long time fan of Ben Kweller though so I was always going to give it a pass if I liked the music.

There's a revelation of sorts towards the end that puts things in a bit of a different light, I didn't see it coming though I probably should have

had you gotten that far?

Tony EH

Nerdlingr wrote: »

I thought Dredd was very poor tbh.About half way through I was getting bored. Walk along a corridor, bang bang, shoot people. Walk along a corridor bang bang , shoot people.

The part where they got 'locked down' as well was utterly ridiculous. "yeah we've locked him in, there's no way he getting out of this one"..."you wait here, i'll just walk up along this corridor and shoot a few people. we're only locked in from the one side

". Ma-Ma was a rubbish villain -what exactly does she do?

Worst showdown EVER

!! People running wlily-nilly in front of bullets asking to be shot. Christ I could go on and on...didnt like anything about it to be honest. Least he kept his helmet on this time I guess, thats something.

'Dredd' is based on a comic book for kids, not an Ernest Hemingway novel. So, it's going to have a particular framing about it.

The story itself is relatively small scale. A simple investigation into drug dealing in a Mega City One citi bloc that gets out of hand. It's Anderson's "hotdog run" gone wrong. It's a small scale project because the producers hadn't the money to do anything bigger, but for what's it's worth (as a childhood fan of 2000AD) I think they did very well.

As for Ma-Ma, she's a simple drug lord that deals slo-mo, who is involved in a gang war with other dealers. What do you want her do? at least she isn't trying to take over the world, like every other comic book villain.

'Dredd' is a satire, that takes liberty with certain realities, as all comic book adaptations do. I suppose you have to have some love for Dredd, in the first place, before going in.

Nerdlingr

Tony EH wrote: »

'Dredd' is based on a comic book for kids, not an Ernest Hemingway novel. So, it's going to have a particular framing about it.

The story itself is relatively small scale. A simple investigation into drug dealing in a Mega City One citi bloc that gets out of hand. It's Anderson's "hotdog run" gone wrong. It's a small scale project because the producers hadn't the money to do anything bigger, but for what's it's worth (as a childhood fan of 2000AD) I think they did very well.

As for Ma-Ma, she's a simple drug lord that deals slo-mo, who is involved in a gang war with other dealers. What do you want her do? at least she isn't trying to take over the world, like every other comic book villain.

'Dredd' is a satire, that takes liberty with certain realities, as all comic book adaptations do. I suppose you have to have some love for Dredd, in the first place, before going in.

I just didnt find it terribly exciting or entertaining is all. Poor villain. Repititive action scenes. Poor dialogue. For me its just a very average film.

LuckyLloyd

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl...I'm not going to lie, I had to wait out the credits at the end to compose myself.

A very clever and well made coming of age dramedy.

Mickeroo

Mickeroo wrote: »

I really enjoyed Rudderless, it was undoubtedly manipulative though. I'm a long time fan of Ben Kweller though so I was always going to give it a pass if I liked the music.

There's a revelation of sorts towards the end that puts things in a bit of a different light, I didn't see it coming though I probably should have

had you gotten that far?

I made it to the part where

he walked out after playing the gig and his sons girlfriend was there waiting to tell him off about them not being his songs.

I probably should have stayed til the end, that moment just made me cringe too much and gave me the gut turn it off reaction!

Wottle

Deleted User wrote: »

I made it to the part where

he walked out after playing the gig and his sons girlfriend was there waiting to tell him off about them not being his songs.

I probably should have stayed til the end, that moment just made me cringe too much and gave me the gut turn it off reaction!

You just had to give it another couple of mins may have changed your opinion

Wottle

Wottle wrote: »

You just had to give it another couple of mins may have changed your opinion

I may have to return to it so!

The Rise of the Krays watched this tonight, seemed to have gotten some bad reviews but found it enjoyable and well acted, particularly Ronnie Kray. Pretty low budget, but a very effective tone set, and good music. Very, very violent and quite chilling at times! Worth a watch ahead of the Hollywood version coming out

The Black Oil

3 Days to Kill

Kevin Costner does 'cleaning services' for the CIA and naturally, everything in his personal life has fallen apart. Everything is set up from the get go and you know the daughter situation will have done a 180 by the end. This is clear from the bike, name, flashbacks, etc. The plot here is quite thin and it's easily 30 minutes too long. A least they had fun with the ring tone.

Chain Smoker

Nights of Cabiria
Ohhhhh I loved this, by far my favourite Fellini film! Has something of a perfect meeting point between the neorealist movement (lots of ruins, poor people, etc) and a Chaplin-esque(?) tragedy(??) of sorts. Despite being placed pretty low in society, the character is thoroughly filled with a kind of respectability and pride in how she carries herself (she's clearly putting on a front but it isn't one that betrays her character) that it was pretty much impossible to not be complete smitten by her, a far better Chaplin than Chaplin ever was, pathos out the wazoo.
The build

to the inevitable ending had me really hoping against hope that it'd just end with everything working out alright

to a degree I've rarely ever felt for a character. Not entirely sure what I think of the final scene yet but the film was brilliant, just look at the gibberish I'm spewing, that's how brilliant it was.

Chain Smoker

I am Chris Farley
So I was a bit fascinated about this when I heard it was being made. Out of all the SNL performers I can think of, Chris Farley always seemed to be the least talented, basically just an adult version of the fat kid who tried too hard to be funny from your class when you were about 10. The kind of guy who'd actively make something unfunny with his misguided attempts to hog everyone's attention.
This documentary strains quite heavily to make him seem like he was a bigger loss than he was, but all the claims by the participants are immediately undermined by showing the incredibly unfunny clips they're talking about. There's also a very intentional effort to avoid looking in any serious way at the darker side of his life, what prompts someone to be so extremely desperate for people's attention, skims over the substance abuse issues as much as it possibly can too... in fact it kind of accuses critics giving Tommy Boy (which has supposedly been reappraised to be considered an all time classic comedy film?) negative reviews as being the cause of his substance abuse issues before later alluding to him having issues as far back as college.
If I knew more about the guy, I bet this would be pretty interesting for what it omitted. I was kind of surprised that there were no stories of him being an extremely nice guy behind the scenes though, sort of assumed he'd have been pretty nice behind the scenes but it sounds like he was just always like that :eek:


"david spade and chris farley were a perfect ying-yang of comedy" - Dan Ackroyd
"'fat guy in little coat' that WAS Chris Farley!"
"A movie that has never gone away"

ButtersSuki

Re-watched Layer Cake on Blu Ray last night for the...actually, I don't know many times it is now. For me it's right up there with the best British Gangster films of all time. I love it on so many levels; from the acting, the dialogue, the twists, the double and triple crosses, and a soundtrack that gave my system a bloody good workout as well as managing to walk that fine line of simultaneously being of the time and timeless. I could waffle on for ages on here about how good it is and why it works for me on so many levels but I'm too tired - I may edit this tomorrow.

Ok, I'm back on this:
A pre-Bond Daniel Craig (you can see in some scenes in particular he's almost auditioning for the Bond role, like

when he first takes the gun from Gene's arsenal and walks around the corner pointing it

oozes calm and collected cool while most of those around him lose theirs. He also reminds me so much of Steve McQueen at times in this, such is the calmness of his performance at times. Michael Gambon's performance on the other hand is a fantastic menacing wolf in sheep's clothing turn, and his voice and accent were made for the lectures he doles out to Craig at various points in the film; whilst the supporting cast is full of familiar faces (including a young Tom Hardy) with Kenneth Cranham, Colm Meaney, George Harris and Dexter Fletcher all on top form for this. Hell, Layer Cake is so stylish that even a Brookside actor can look cool in it!

It's slick and stylish and though it has some humorous moments, doesn't resort to the cheap laughs that Lock, Stock and Snatch engage in at times. Considering director Matthew Vaughn was involved with both of those you really have to congratulate him for not slavishly following that heavy slapstick injection formula; and while this likely lessened it's appeal to a more mainstream audience at the time of release, for me Layer Cake stands head and shoulders above the aforementioned Guy Ritchie vehicles and is right up there with Sexy Beast.

If you haven't yet seen it, watch it. 8/10.

Tony EH

It's on the list. A list which gets longer and longer. Just no time these days.

Harry Palmr

Shoot 'em Up (2007) Director Smith & Wesson (Michael Davis).

Ludicrous but at 80 minutes enjoyable non stop kill fest as mystery bloke who likes carrots attempts to keep a baby with a secret alive as an endless stream of baddies attempt to kill both. The fairly small budget shows through in the high flying penultimate scene but otherwise it's slick and good looking.

Looper007

Millers Crossing (1990)

For many the best thing Coen brother's ever done, for me it's certainly up there. One of the best Gangster film's ever made and best films of the 90's, career best performance for our very own Gabriel Byrne (aside from this and Usual Suspects, it surprises that he didn't go onto bigger things) and Albert Finney. Also a great bonkers performance from Coen Regular Jon Polito and brilliant slimy performance from John Turturro. Marcia Gay Harden was never more beautiful and amazing then in this. Barry Sonnenfeld cinematography is stunning, and Coen's dialogue wouldn't have felt out of place in any film noir from 40's. Love the Sam Raimi cameo too.

D'Agger

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl...I'm not going to lie, I had to wait out the credits at the end to compose myself.

A very clever and well made coming of age dramedy.

Glad to hear, trailer looks brilliant, looking forward to seeing Thomas Mann who was very good in Project X

Irish Aris

Looper007 wrote: »

Millers Crossing (1990)

For many the best thing Coen brother's ever done, for me it's certainly up there. One of the best Gangster film's ever made and best films of the 90's, career best performance for our very own Gabriel Byrne (aside from this and Usual Suspects, it surprises that he didn't go onto bigger things) and Albert Finney. Also a great bonkers performance from Coen Regular Jon Polito and brilliant slimy performance from John Turturro. Marcia Gay Harden was never more beautiful and amazing then in this. Barry Sonnenfeld cinematography is stunning, and Coen's dialogue wouldn't have felt out of place in any film noir from 40's. Love the Sam Raimi cameo too.

I am one of these people, my favourite Coen film (haven't seen it in ages).
Just started a subscription in Mubi.com, so great to reconnect with world cinema and discover films that sometimes I wasn't even aware of. First 2 films I watched:

Days Of Being Wild (1990)

One of the early films of Wong Kar Wai. Some of his signature themes are already here-especially the use of music. I also liked how the stories of the characters (particularly the 2 male leads) intertwined, although admittedly I got a bit lost towards the end

around the fight scene

.


Bad Guy (2001)

I am always fascinated by how the South Korean director can convey so much emotion from so little dialogue. Han-gi, the bad guy of the title (played brilliantly by Cho Jae-hyhn) has just a couple of lines in the film, but he owns the film with his physical presence. The rest of the cast is also very good. I found the editing a bit abstract at times and certain things are probably open to interpretation

(the photograph, for example)

, but overall a very interesting film, despite (or maybe because of) the difficult theme (it centers around prostitution).

ButtersSuki

Glengarry Glen Ross Another DVD I took the cellophane off this evening and watched (bizarrely) for the first time (I must be one of the few film fans who hasn't seen it). I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed. Yes the performances are great from the ensemble cast

particularly Kevin Spacey who actually looks poor by comparison to the others until he turns and you see the power of the earlier performance

but the most bizarre thing to me watching it was how much Jack Lemmon's acting reminded me of the little ticks and subtleties of Bryan Cranston's Walter White.I don't know if Cranston has ever mentioned this or even if it's ever been discussed elsewhere, but it's like looking at WW (the put up version, not Heisenberg!) at times it's so uncanny. Pacino is in the early stages of his shout phase, but he's still pretty good, and bar Carlito's Way this is for me anyway one of the best of his latter day performances. No matter how hard they try though, it just screams "play" rather than film, and ultimately it falls down for me anyway on that front in particular (whilst also feeling like it's rushed. It's still worth watching for the performances if you haven't seen it. 7/10.

shazzerman

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Glengarry Glen Ross Another DVD I took the cellophane off this evening and watched (bizarrely) for the first time (I must be one of the few film fans who hasn't seen it). I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed. Yes the performances are great from the ensemble cast

particularly Kevin Spacey who actually looks poor by comparison to the others until he turns and you see the power of the earlier performance

but the most bizarre thing to me watching it was how much Jack Lemmon's acting reminded me of the little ticks and subtleties of Bryan Cranston's Walter White.I don't know if Cranston has ever mentioned this or even if it's ever been discussed elsewhere, but it's like looking at WW (the put up version, not Heisenberg!) at times it's so uncanny. Pacino is in the early stages of his shout phase, but he's still pretty good, and bar Carlito's Way this is for me anyway one of the best of his latter day performances. No matter how hard they try though, it just screams "play" rather than film, and ultimately it falls down for me anyway on that front in particular (whilst also feeling like it's rushed. It's still worth watching for the performances if you haven't seen it. 7/10.

It wouldn't be the first time Lemmon and Cranston were compared, and I think Cranston himself may have mentioned Lemmon as an inspiration in general.

ButtersSuki

shazzerman wrote: »

It wouldn't be the first time Lemmon and Cranston were compared, and I think Cranston himself may have mentioned Lemmon as an inspiration in general.

Thanks. As I said I hadn't heard or seen anything about this comparison before but it's so obvious when watching it I found it hard to actually concentrate on lemmon's character without thinking of Walter White.

Tony EH

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Glengarry Glen Ross Another DVD I took the cellophane off this evening and watched (bizarrely) for the first time (I must be one of the few film fans who hasn't seen it). I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed. Yes the performances are great from the ensemble cast

particularly Kevin Spacey who actually looks poor by comparison to the others until he turns and you see the power of the earlier performance

but the most bizarre thing to me watching it was how much Jack Lemmon's acting reminded me of the little ticks and subtleties of Bryan Cranston's Walter White.I don't know if Cranston has ever mentioned this or even if it's ever been discussed elsewhere, but it's like looking at WW (the put up version, not Heisenberg!) at times it's so uncanny. Pacino is in the early stages of his shout phase, but he's still pretty good, and bar Carlito's Way this is for me anyway one of the best of his latter day performances. No matter how hard they try though, it just screams "play" rather than film, and ultimately it falls down for me anyway on that front in particular (whilst also feeling like it's rushed. It's still worth watching for the performances if you haven't seen it. 7/10.

I felt pretty much the same way Butters, but it's one of those pictures that your appreciation grows for with repeated viewings.

I can say now that I consider the film one of my favorites and it gets rolled out quite often in my gaff. I love the scene at the end

when Spacey collars poor old Jack Lemon

.

Turtyturd

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I may have to return to it so!

The Rise of the Krays watched this tonight, seemed to have gotten some bad reviews but found it enjoyable and well acted, particularly Ronnie Kray. Pretty low budget, but a very effective tone set, and good music. Very, very violent and quite chilling at times! Worth a watch ahead of the Hollywood version coming out

Watched this last night. Thought it was terrible. It's like 2 hours of Crimewatch re-enactments spliced together.

Garden State: Originally seen this about 10 years ago when it was released on dvd. Must have only passively watched it because a lot of it passed me by at the time. Really enjoyed it this time around.

ButtersSuki

Tony EH wrote: »

I love the scene at the end

when Spacey collars poor old Jack Lemon

.

Ta. Yeah,

Spacey's turn in that scene is unbelievable. He looked so out of his depth up to that point that I felt he was very mis-cast and too in awe of the talent around him that everything was suffering in it as a result until he turns on Lemmon. The turn is Kaizer Soyze (light) like. Astonishing really.

Tony EH

Yeh, I think Kevin Spacey aces that role, which is probably the hardest one to play. His character is a little shit and it sort of looks like Spacey isn't doing it right, but at the end of the film it all comes together.

In fact, I think everyone is pretty much on top of their game in 'Glengarry Glen Ross'.

Another scene that's great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVMM1mRGEg0

Looper007

Caught up with some films recently

Festen (1998)

The first dogma 95 film and still it's best for me. Thomas Vinterberg's best film (just give it the nod over the excellent The Hunt). At Helge's 60th birthday party, some unpleasant family truths are revealed. Don't want to spoil it for people who haven't seen it. Brilliant performance from the underrated Ulrich Thomsen (from the brilliant Banshee TV show and many other great Danish films) as the eldest son. Other great performances from Trine Dyrholm (check out Troubled Water, she gives one of the greatest performances ever) and Vinterberg regular Thomas Bo Larsen as the headcase younger brother. Like the Hunt, it's a tough hard hitting watch especially when

Thomsen character reveals he and his dead twin sister were sexually abused by their father, the fact they didn't tell the extra's a thing about what the secret was makes it even better with their reactions

that's when the crap hits the fan. A true masterpiece of cinema.

Barton Fink (1991)

Another masterpiece from the Coen's. A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood. Written in three weeks when they ran out of ideas when filming Miller's Crossing. This has John Turturro best performance in a Coen film as Fink and Goodman's too booth too. Judy Davies delivers a great performance in her only Coen brother's film. This is one of their film's you either get or don't. For me it's A list in their canon, for me the 90's belonged to the Coen's.

No Country for Old Men (2007)

The film that won them the best Film and best Director awards at the Oscars (the only time I think it went to the wrong film, There Will Be Blood should have won both) but that doesn't take away from one of Coen's more entertaining films, with one of the greatest performances in Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh. Josh Brolin delivered his greatest performance too in this film

still love they didn't show you his death in the shootout, that takes some guts not to show that

. Tommy Lee Jones was also excellent and his speech at the end to his former partner was a thing of beauty. But this film based on Cormac McCarthy's novel still has the touch of Coen's in it especially in the scene with Chigurh and the old man shop owner when he asks him to flip a coin in which he either kills him or lets him live. Not the Coen's best film but still up there with their best.

bikeresearcher

Used to watch a lot of movies a few years back but not so much anymore. Best I've seen in the last year or two are No County for Old Men and Sweeney Todd.

bikeresearcher

Agree completely about Barton Fink by the way. Maybe their most underrated movie. John Goodman was a revelation.

fin12

Looper007 wrote: »

Caught up with some films recently

Festen (1998)

The first dogma 95 film and still it's best for me. Thomas Vinterberg's best film (just give it the nod over the excellent The Hunt). At Helge's 60th birthday party, some unpleasant family truths are revealed. Don't want to spoil it for people who haven't seen it. Brilliant performance from the underrated Ulrich Thomsen (from the brilliant Banshee TV show and many other great Danish films) as the eldest son. Other great performances from Trine Dyrholm (check out Troubled Water, she gives one of the greatest performances ever) and Vinterberg regular Thomas Bo Larsen as the headcase younger brother. Like the Hunt, it's a tough hard hitting watch especially when

Thomsen character reveals he and his dead twin sister were sexually abused by their father, the fact they didn't tell the extra's a thing about what the secret was makes it even better with their reactions

that's when the crap hits the fan. A true masterpiece of cinema.

Barton Fink (1991)

Another masterpiece from the Coen's. A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood. Written in three weeks when they ran out of ideas when filming Miller's Crossing. This has John Turturro best performance in a Coen film as Fink and Goodman's too booth too. Judy Davies delivers a great performance in her only Coen brother's film. This is one of their film's you either get or don't. For me it's A list in their canon, for me the 90's belonged to the Coen's.

No Country for Old Men (2007)

The film that won them the best Film and best Director awards at the Oscars (the only time I think it went to the wrong film, There Will Be Blood should have won both) but that doesn't take away from one of Coen's more entertaining films, with one of the greatest performances in Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh. Josh Brolin delivered his greatest performance too in this film

still love they didn't show you his death in the shootout, that takes some guts not to show that

. Tommy Lee Jones was also excellent and his speech at the end to his former partner was a thing of beauty. But this film based on Cormac McCarthy's novel still has the touch of Coen's in it especially in the scene with Chigurh and the old man shop owner when he asks him to flip a coin in which he either kills him or lets him live. Not the Coen's best film but still up there with their best.

No country for Old men, I couldn't understand a thing that went on in that film, hated it.

Chuck Fadanoid

Trainwreck.
Thought it was really poor and a waste of the talent they had at their disposal. Hard to warm to a movie like this when the lead character doesn't have any redeemable qualities.

Ex Machina
Really enjoyed this. Great performances. Good story. Loved the pacing.