What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

johnny_ultimate

Still not sure about the bizarre tonal switch when Tommy Wiseau Caleb Landry Jones

burnt to death in a horrifically graphic scene

. Such a strange scene in an otherwise carefully understated film, albeit one with an obvious dramatic / thematic purpose.

Livid - A gothic horror fairy tale that plays out like a stream of conscience or a half remembered dream. The striking imagery and startling violence creates a genuinely unsettling tone but it's never quite sure what to do with them. Jumping wildly from one genre niche to the next there are elements of a hundred films evident here and while the ever changing tone means that it's impossible to know what will happen next it also gives the film a wildly disjointed tone where none of the elements ever really come together.

Still I'd take a film as adventurously playful as this over pretty much any horror released over the past few years, Livid may never reach the giddy heights of terror intended but it makes for incredibly satisfying cinema and features some of the most lurid and memorable imagery in quite some time.

Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz -The original Outpost is one of those great little genre films which works due to the atmosphere and mood created through startling visuals and a script which realises that the less you show the more horrific it can be, the sequel like all great follow ups took the set up and upped the ante creating a different film yet retaining the sense of fun of the first. Part 3 unfortunate does no such thing and instead attempts to tell the origin to it all, only it does so in such a dull and banal manner that it's hard to care.

Shot with that cheap digital sheen that so many direct to disc sequels favor, Rise of the Spetsnaz feels less like an Outpost film than it does a generic war film that somebody accidentally edited together with some rather boring Nazi Zombie footage. There's a number of striking and memorable moments here but they're lost amongst the shuffle. Far too much of the film is devoted to our heroes running down corridors or through woods. There's not a whole lot going on and at 80 minutes or so feels at least 40 too many.

It's hard to really care about anything here, it's just so formulaic and goes through the motions in a most uninteresting of manner.

Tremors 5 - A far better sequel than it has any right to be and one of the few films to ever make Jamie Kennedy tolerable. The fifth or sixth if you count the TV series, in a franchise that few ever expected to be quite so successful, Tremors 5 is the kind of dumb fun that's perfect for a drunken Friday night post pub watch.

From Beyond - Stuart Gordon, Brian Yuzna, Dennis Paoli, Barbara Crampton and the truly sublime Jefrrey Combs re-team once again to tell a tale of Lovecraftian horror that never quite reaches the giddy heights of their earlier collaboration.

The story is fun and it's obvious that all involved are treating with just the right amount of tongue in cheek though Ken Foree seems to have stumbled in from a very different film and gives a performance that feels like a diluted Terry Crewes from Brooklyn 99. He hams it up but just can't get the tone right which is a shame given how game he is and how well suited the rest of the cast are. Combs is once again that star and has a likability that is infectious, even as he devours frontal lobes he's never less than good fun and the film suffers when it puts the emphasis on other characters.

From Beyond is very much a relic from the 80s, it's from a time where practical FX were king and here the film shines. There's a playful nature to the FX work that gives it a timeless feel and even now, almost 30 years later it looks great.

From Beyond is no Re-Animator but it's damn good fun though is one which is best watched in your teen years.

Sometimes They Come Back - A poignant and eerie Stephen King adaptation that succeeds not through excessive gore and violence but rather the poignant and eerie tone which is established. The story is King at his most humane, a tale of an adult haunted by the mistakes of the past and stuck in an almost perpetual state of inflection. Matheson embodies the role perfectly, the melancholic nature of his character works well to create empathy and make him incredibly likable.

As this is made for TV, it has a somewhat episodic feel which undermines much of the tension throughout. The time frame is a little hard to decipher and you feel that this is one of those tales which would work so much better with a bigger budget and more room to breath. The rushed ending is muddled and it's not quite clear what is happening and for why.

Still, this remains superior King, no quite up there with the like of The Mist but far superior to a lot of the tosh that has his name attached.

Fear Clinic - Considering the talent involved it's hard to believe just how generic and familiar Fear Clinic is, the story is a mess with no idea of just what it wants to say and as a result, the game cast can't do much to muster up a whole lot of enthusiasm.

The story or what passes for one involves Robert Englund's fear doctor helping the survivors of a shooting cope with the aftermath. The shooting itself is never really delved into and feels like an after thought, which sadly isn't helped by the script which tries to place it at the very heart of the film but seems confused as to just what happened. Thomas Dekker's character is shown as both victim and gunman and what could be an interesting dynamic never goes anywhere. The rest of the story and writing is equally confused and the whole concept of Fear stalking it's victims is just poorly handled.

Most disappointing of all is the truly poor FX work which looks cheap and feels like it belongs in a high school production. There's no sense of menace or threat to any of it and more often than not it's more comical than anything else.

Fear Clinic started like as a web-series and should have been left there. As a feature it simply doesn't have enough going on to justify it's existence, it's a bland and boring film which is more likely to put you to sleep than anything else.

The Final Girls - A great set up that never really goes anywhere of interest, there's a number of knowing nods to the genre and a few inspired moments but for some reason the makers opted to create a PG-13 film which resulted in a neutered and safe film that is never able to properly pay homage. The lack of any blood or gore gives this the look and feel of a mid 00s horror and it's really is a shame as The Final Girls could have been far better.

Taken for what it is, this is a film which believes itself to be far funnier and intelligent than it is. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it doesn't make for great cinema and ends up just being good when it could so easily have been great.

Extinction - A dark and brooding apocalyptic film with two good performances from the lead and an foreboding atmosphere that is infectious. The story is familiar but rather than hinder it helps. A lot goes unsaid and the viewer is left to draw their own conclusions which is a brave and interesting way to tell the story.

The real star here though is the cinematography, obviously shot on a set the film looks gorgeous and the fairy tale look gives it a unique fell. There's a number of sumptuous visuals and some truly great moments, disorientating the evolved zombies with some classic rock is great fun and gives the film a light touch so few ever manage.

Cooties - The rarest of things, a horror comedy that's actually funny. Cooties from writer Leigh Whannell is a good old fashioned slice of gore where the laughs come thick and fast with Whannell being the stand out performance. He's by far the funniest character on stage and the film suffers a little when he's not being inappropriate and taking center stage.

Cooties isn't a classic but it's a lot of fun and one of those films where it's obvious that all involved had a blast making it and it actually shows on screen. There's also something incredibly fun about watching kids go mad and murder all that moves aswell as a reassuring feeling when the horrible bullies are killed in a gloriously over the top manner.

Hellbenders - Very much a film which strived to do so much but was held back but budgetary constraints. Hellbenders is wickedly dark and funny horror comedy about the apocalypse and the team of debauched exorcism priests tasked with dealing with the worst of the worst. When a film features one priest telling another to go and sodomise another you know that you're in for one hell of an interesting time.

Hellbenders has the feel of a film that should have been a big budgeted spectacle but due no doubt to the subject matter was made for the catering budget of Edge of Tomorrow and the like and at times suffers as a result. The big finale where the gates of hell are opened look and feels a little small but it has no real negative effect on the film for this is one more concerned with ideas than it is spectacle.

The cast are well game for this with Clancy Brown in particular being an absolute riot from start to finish. He gives the film his all and is obviously having a lot of fun shouting obscenities and acting depraved. The rest of the cast are equally up for it and it's refreshing to find a cast so game to debase themselves.

As the credits roll on Hellbenders you're left with a desperate need to see where the story goes next and in a just world we'd be seeing hundred million dollar blockbuster sequel but sadly it seems that this will be the only time we see The Augustine Interfaith Order of Hellbound Saints doing what they do, and you know what, it's rather glorious.

The Quiet Ones - Some good performances and an interesting set up make this far better than it has any right to be, but the muddled story, illogical leaps, no sense of time passing and an ending that is rushed and nonsensical drag it all down.

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires - Utter nonsense of the more enjoyable kind with a game Peter Cushing hamming it up and having a blast. The combination of Hammer and Shaw Brothers' is a winning one though the script is rather lack-struck and the whole Dracula living in China for the past hundred years makes little sense considering that Van Helsing fought him in Europe not long before.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Deleted User wrote: »

The Final Girls - A great set up that never really goes anywhere of interest, there's a number of knowing nods to the genre and a few inspired moments but for some reason the makers opted to create a PG-13 film which resulted in a neutered and safe film that is never able to properly pay homage. The lack of any blood or gore gives this the look and feel of a mid 00s horror and it's really is a shame as The Final Girls could have been far better.

Taken for what it is, this is a film which believes itself to be far funnier and intelligent than it is. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it doesn't make for great cinema and ends up just being good when it could so easily have been great.

Where did you watch this, if you don't mind me asking? I kind of want to see it but I didn't see anything about it being released here yet?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Where did you watch this, if you don't mind me asking? I kind of want to see it but I didn't see anything about it being released here yet?

It's out on DVD, Blu-Ray and streaming services over here. HMV and the like have it.

Gwynplaine

I know I'll be slated for this.
I watched Blade Runner at the weekend, thought it was a bit meh. Some interesting ideas and some great visuals, but I don't see what all the hype is about.

Mizu_Ger

Gwynplaine wrote: »

I know I'll be slated for this.
I watched Blade Runner at the weekend, thought it was a bit meh. Some interesting ideas and some great visuals, but I don't see what all the hype is about.

You're not alone!

Chain Smoker

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Still not sure about the bizarre tonal switch when Tommy Wiseau Caleb Landry Jones

burnt to death in a horrifically graphic scene

. Such a strange scene in an otherwise carefully understated film, albeit one with an obvious dramatic / thematic purpose.

I read that scene as

a dream, the way the camera focused on the flashing orange light of the occupied bathroom implying a possible motivation for thoughts of fire.

. Not seeing anywhere else say that, it's apparently based on a real thing which happened between them before they moved to NY, the severe heightening of it also leads me towards thinking that.
Still a bizarre tonal switch, mind. She supposedly wrote hundreds and hundreds of pages of notes for them to work with so I guess that increased the odds of them leaving in stuff that didn't really fit the finished piece like that.

hadepsx

Just saw an advanced showing of the new paranormal activity film. Load of poo. Don't waste your money.

Arghus

All is Lost - Whenever the day comes- hopefully in the dim and distant future -when JC Chandor’s career is done and dusted, he should be able to look back on his one great undeniable cinematic achievement to date: He once made a film that left Robert Redford looking slightly peaky.

A fairly glib assessment on my part of what’s a thoroughly good movie. But my initial first impression doesn’t come form nowhere; the whole thing could be called Wet Redford. He has the extremely tough job of being the only guy on screen throughout, and the fact that he does an extremely competent job is probably down to two main things, (a) even in a dinghy in the ocean, star power exists. You find yourself paying attention to whatever Robert is doing on screen and (b), everything that occurs in the film has life or death significance. Literally our man is trying to keep his head above water at all times, so every damn second is fraught with tension and meaning and every existential setback, in the face of twin realities of nature and logistics, is agonizing.

Despite how the title gives the game away regarding the overall sense of hopelessness and without even mentioning how different an experience, formally, the film might seem to some viewers, I wouldn’t necessarily say that All is Lost is a tough watch. In fact, I’d call it one of the most gripping movies I’ve seen in a long time -a stripped down battle for survival, that’s refreshingly matter of fact and unsentimental. There’s a raw immediacy to the way the story is presented, that I can imagine any random viewer getting sucked up into a state of involvement, if, for instance they were to randomly stumble across the movie late night on TV - No doubt feeling like a bit of a kindred spirit with our dehydrated protagonist.

Liam McPoyle

hadepsx wrote: »

Just saw an advanced showing of the new paranormal activity film. Load of poo. Don't waste your money.

Psssst.

For future reference, the clue to a movie being shyte tends to be in the title.

Tony EH

Arghus wrote: »

All is Lost -

Saw this a few months and thought it was a great film, if a little bit of a let down in the end.

He really should have died. The happy ending was a bit meh.

I agree completely, it's never boring. It keeps your attention all the way.

hadepsx

Business Cat wrote: »

Psssst.

For future reference, the clue to a movie being shyte tends to be in the title.

Ah sure I knew it was gonna be. But when I'm given a free ticket I'd thought I'd give it a chance

e_e

Gwynplaine wrote: »

I know I'll be slated for this.
I watched Blade Runner at the weekend, thought it was a bit meh. Some interesting ideas and some great visuals, but I don't see what all the hype is about.

What's what everyone says on their first watch.

4 viewings and 12 years after first being baffled by it it's a top 50 movie for me.

Irish Aris

e_e wrote: »

What's what everyone says on their first watch.

4 viewings and 12 years after first being baffled by it it's a top 50 movie for me.

spot on!
First time I saw it (can't even remember how long ago), I thought it was OK, but not really enthusiastic about it. I saw it 2 more times since, and it has grown on me a lot.

Orson Welles: having only seen Citizen Kane, I took the opportunity to see 2 of his films in Mubi recently.

Chimes At Midnight (1966)
Not sure what to make of it and I will admit that from a point on I found it difficult to concentrate on what was going on. The story follows Falstaff, a character that appears in 2 or 3 different plays by William Shakespeare and mainly concentrates on his relationship with Prince Hal. The tone is comical at times, dramatic at others, to me seemed unbalanced overall. I can understand why Welles considered this a milestone in his career, but it didn't do it for me, although admittedly I will need to give it another chance in the future.

The Stranger (1946)
This is probably as audience friendly as you can get from Orson Welles. A solid suspense drama bout the chase of a renowned Nazi that hides in a small town in the U.S. The approach seems a bit conventional, but Welles creates a great atmosphere and does great use of both internal and external spaces. Solid performances from the 3 leads, although at times they stray a bit towards over the top.

Chain Smoker

Top Five
I really enjoyed this! There isn't a whole lot to the story (the Woody Allen comparisons are obvious but his work with Julie Delpy might be a more likely source for the change in approach), there's the occasional misjudged portion (I'm not even counting the unfortunate reference by his character about how great Bill Cosby is) and the final act is less funny in the way that most comedy films are. However, there's absolutely tons of very funny moments and Chris Rock has clearly started to get a hang on how to adapt his comedy towards film. Was pretty resigned to the idea that he just couldn't cut it in films at all but this was extremely promising, with the right plot device to wrap his comedy around, he could make something great altogether.

NachoBusiness

The Last Witch Hunter.

Boring.

pixelburp

Terminator Genisys (2015)
A shoddy Greatest Hits of the previous Terminator films mashed together in an plot so brazenly convoluted & incoherent I can only assume the writers truly were just making it up as they went along; a scene in the parking lot felt like an exact point the writers openly admitted they were just shooting the breeze. You only notice how truly important a solid plot can be to even the dumbest blockbuster when it's as bad as this one. Within this we had an Arnie basically parodying / mocking his most famous role, while accompanied by a pair of charmless, talentless acting vacuums. Jai Courtney & Emilila Clarke had no chemistry, no charisma, and absolutely nothing on the previous actors to portray these roles. Nostalgia-baiting horsesh*t essentially; and given the wrangling that went on over the rights to the Terminator franchise, I suspect horsesh*t produced purely to make use of those rights.

Horns (2014)
Not sure what to make of this one really: kinda came and went in the cinemas, and it's somewhat easy to understand why. The tone was often really wavering & all over the place, dancing from comedy, to horror, to drama, sometimes all three at the same time & yet never so effective and pronounced that you could definitively earmark the film as that particular genre. So generally it was hard to decide how I felt, except that it was a bit of a mess really. Conceptually very interesting - a pariah lead character who involuntarily compels others to reveal the darkest, most intimate secrets and desires - yet again the film couldn't commit properly to it all. Daniel Radcliffe's American accent was also a little distracting and forced. Watched it via Netflix and that's about the right level for it.

The Imitation Game (2014)
A genuinely fascinating period of history, and equally fascinating & tragic individual at the heart of it, yet it was just a little too flat by half. Felt like a BBC made-for-TV film, although given how cinematic many original BBC productions feel these days (look at Dr. Who or The Musketeers), that's not an entirely accurate statement.

fin12

Suffragette . .Really good film, Carey Mulligan is very good in it. Really proud of these woman. Was really shocked when I found out that France didn't allow women to vote till 1945 and New Zealand was the first self governing country in the world to allow women to vote in 1893. Well done New Zealand.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

fin12 wrote: »

Suffragette . .Really good film, Carey Mulligan is very good in it. Really proud of these woman. Was really shocked when I found out that France didn't allow women to vote till 1945 and New Zealand was the first self governing country in the world to allow women to vote in 1893. Well done New Zealand.

Switzerland didn't give women the vote until the 70's.

fin12

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Switzerland didn't give women the vote until the 70's.

Ya and I just read there that the Vatican city still doesn't allow women to vote. I think Saudi Arabia allowed women to vote this year.

Del.Monte

"All Things to All Men" (2013) on Netflix.

British crime drama.

Avoid this rubbish at all costs. Unfathomable plot, dire acting and has poor Gabriel Byrne featured in a worse production since his days as Pat Barry in RTE's series - "Bracken"? 0/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbypfjTJha0

ButtersSuki

Haven't post in a while for a host of various reasons. Anyhoo....."on to de fillums so to speak"

Black Mass I saw this on my recent travels. Incredibly disappointing. It tries to be Goodfellas in places and fails, and then tries to be any other investigate movie in places and fails at that too.The most interesting part for me was one scene near the end where Depp grins and he looks quite like Jack Nicholson - yes, that was the most interesting part. It's just lazy. Avoid, and watch the far superior Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger documentary instead. 5/10.

Sicario*
Very good on a first watch, though I would like to see it again. Very gritty and dark, it's definitely up there at the peak of what I've watched of this year's releases in an actual cinema. Despite the subject matter, it is very stylish and very slick (I'm not going to wax lyrical about Roger Deakins' cinematography - just watch it). Though she's good in it, I can't see what all the fuss is about Emily Blunt's performance. For me, the very slimmed down Benicio Del Toro (looking like a Latin Brad Pitt with the haircut and goatee he's sporting) and Josh Brolin's performances were stronger and more memorable. It's been a week since I saw it, but the latter 2 performances are still fresh in my mind. A definite purchase on release for repeat viewings. An easy 8/10.

*If you were the person who sat in my (designated, assigned and paid for) seat and hurled a barrage of insults and abuse at me when I politely asked you were you sure you were in the correct seat - thanks for being a c&nt.

MadDog76

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Sicario*
Very good on a first watch, though I would like to see it again. Very gritty and dark, it's definitely up there at the peak of what I've watched of this year's releases in an actual cinema. Despite the subject matter, it is very stylish and very slick (I'm not going to wax lyrical about Roger Deakins' cinematography - just watch it). Though she's good in it, I can't see what all the fuss is about Emily Blunt's performance. For me, the very slimmed down Benicio Del Toro (looking like a Latin Brad Pitt with the haircut and goatee he's sporting) and Josh Brolin's performances were stronger and more memorable. It's been a week since I saw it, but the latter 2 performances are still fresh in my mind. A definite purchase on release for repeat viewings. An easy 8/10.

*If you were the person who sat in my (designated, assigned and paid for) seat and hurled a barrage of insults and abuse at me when I politely asked you were you sure you were in the correct seat - thanks for being a c&nt.

No problem

ButtersSuki

Mila Clumsy Termite wrote: »

Depends how you look at it I suppose. He hasn't been out of work at any point in the past ten years and anyone with more than a passing interest in contemporary film is going to know who he is. He's not a leading man, but he seems perfectly capable of landing decent parts in big films. He's usually reviewed very positively, I've seen infinitely more reviews going 'why doesn't Paul Dano get any recognition he's so great' (which get a bit self-contradicting after they pass a certain critical mass like) than I have seen negative reviews of his performances.

He's not mega famous, but he's far from underappreciated for what he is.

Hand on heart I can find him a bit OTT from time to time, he has a tendency to 'go full retard' as it were, but generally I really like him

Almost fell off my chair laughing at that. Thanks! Cheered me up no end!

I really like Dano too FWIW.

Irish Aris

The Queen of Ireland (2015)

The perfect companion to Rory O'Neill's autobiography Woman in the Making (released earlier this year), this follows Rory and his alter ego, the drag queen Panti Bliss.
As expected the film focuses on the "PantiGate" and the marriage equality referendum, whereas the book was also a great account of how Rory grew up, details of the gay scene in the 80's and 90's and how Panti came about.

As a gay man, I found The Queen of Ireland very touching at times (a few tears and all), not sure whether it could appeal outside the gay community.

Harrocks

Monster Hunter a good horror/creature feature.Horrors set in the cold/snow always seem to work for me.Does anyone know why movies are released with different names over here sometimes.This one is also called Dark was the night.

bnt

Watched True Romance for the first time in about 15 years. It hasn't aged very well, I thought. :cool:

Tony EH

None of Tony Scott's filmography is anything to write home about. Still full of great scenes though.

cowboyBuilder

I Origins (2014) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2884206/

At first I thought it was an arty farty load of bull (especially since its directed by the same guy who did Another Earth) , but wow ... what a film

highly recommended.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I watched Brothers this evening.

Remake of a Danish film about a guy who gets "killed" in Afghanistan and his screw up brother steps up to help look after his wife and kids, then the husband is found alive and comes back.

Jake Gyllenhaal is solid as always and Natalie Portman does a decent job as the grieving wife. Tobey Maguire though.... I just don't like him. There's something a bit blank about him. The best bits of the film are the family coping without him, then he comes back and ruins it all.

I haven't seen the Danish original but I believe they just went scene for scene with the remake. It feels like they missed something in translation though, there's just not a lot of purpose or direction to it.