What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Liam McPoyle

Watched The Green Inferno tonight.

We all know the hype, the multi delays in getting released, talk that it may never see the light of day, the cynic in me says that it was all part of a ploy to generate interest in the movie, stories of people vomiting at a screening in the states, if nothing else, Roth is good at building up interest in a movie.

So is it any good?

Its very meh imo.

It follows a bunch of activists that go to the Peruvian rain forest to try and stop some developers from destroying a forest and killing a tribe for the natural gas reserves beneath the forest.

Of course they end up getting captured by a cannibal tribe and get suitably dispatched for their troubles.

Cannibal Holocaust this isn't.

Its an obvious nod to the cannibal genre, the term The Green Inferno is how the rain forest is described in CH.

The cast are thoroughly unlikable, I do think that this is something that Roth deliberately does, Hostel had a bunch of douche bags in it that we were happy to see get killed, likewise Cabin Fever so it does seem, imo at least, to be part of his modus operandi.

The story is simplistic, the acting basic, but there is some excellent gore in it. I will admit to really liking both Cabin Fever and Hostel, they both had some fantastic, practical, cringe inducing gore effects and TGI is the same. Its not nearly as much fun as CF or Hostel but its not the atrocity that some people would have you believe.

Is it a classic?

Certainly not.

Is it going to re-invent the cannibal sub-genre?

Not a hope.

Is it a passable, dumb, pretty enjoyable throwaway piece of trash?

Absolutely.

It seems that Roth is one of those directors that have people queuing up to piss all over his work. He isn't a Cronenberg but doesn't set out his stall to be. He makes fun, gross but mostly forgettable movies.

What he does, he does well.

6/10

Frank O. Pinion

I'll follow The Green Inferno, with another Eli Roth directed film, Knock Knock (2015).

Keanu Reeves is a family man home alone for the weekend, when on a rainy night, two hot girls come knocking on his door. What could go wrong? Very entertaining film, with a "unique" performance from Keanu Reeves, that I feel was channelling Nicolas Cage levels of awesomeness. I'm not sure if it was on purpose or not, but the way he delivered his lines was hilarious. So many quotable lines...

"It was FREE pizza!"

Tony EH

Business Cat wrote: »

Watched The Green Inferno tonight.

We all know the hype, the multi delays in getting released, talk that it may never see the light of day, the cynic in me says that it was all part of a ploy to generate interest in the movie, stories of people vomiting at a screening in the states, if nothing else, Roth is good at building up interest in a movie.

So is it any good?

Its very meh imo.

It follows a bunch of activists that go to the Peruvian rain forest to try and stop some developers from destroying a forest and killing a tribe for the natural gas reserves beneath the forest.

Of course they end up getting captured by a cannibal tribe and get suitably dispatched for their troubles.

Cannibal Holocaust this isn't.

Its an obvious nod to the cannibal genre, the term The Green Inferno is how the rain forest is described in CH.

The cast are thoroughly unlikable, I do think that this is something that Roth deliberately does, Hostel had a bunch of douche bags in it that we were happy to see get killed, likewise Cabin Fever so it does seem, imo at least, to be part of his modus operandi.

The story is simplistic, the acting basic, but there is some excellent gore in it. I will admit to really liking both Cabin Fever and Hostel, they both had some fantastic, practical, cringe inducing gore effects and TGI is the same. Its not nearly as much fun as CF or Hostel but its not the atrocity that some people would have you believe.

Is it a classic?

Certainly not.

Is it going to re-invent the cannibal sub-genre?

Not a hope.

Is it a passable, dumb, pretty enjoyable throwaway piece of trash?

Absolutely.

It seems that Roth is one of those directors that have people queuing up to piss all over his work. He isn't a Cronenberg but doesn't set out his stall to be. He makes fun, gross but mostly forgettable movies.

What he does, he does well.

6/10

I'd give a 4 myself.

I'm not a fan of Roth and 'The Green Inferno' held no surprises for me. However, I am a fan of the films he uses as templates, which, for all their explicit flaws, are a 100 times more entertaining than what 'The Green Inferno' puts on the screen.

As for "stories of people vomiting at a screening...", I have never once witnessed this in all my years of cinema going, no matter what country I've been in and, frankly, believe it to be nothing more than "propaganda" of sorts. A relic of the hoary old cliches that William Castle used to use to get bums on seats.

It's a minor pity that 'The Green Inferno' didn't live up to my already low enough expectation, but that seems to be par the course these days, unfortunately.

crazygeryy

the gift (2015)

what a brilliant movie.its a great thriller written (starring in) and directed by a guy called joel edgerton.
i really enjoyed this movie, it kept the suspense up and keeps you guessing right until the end.
very good performance by jason bateman as well.

Del.Monte

"A Midnight Clear" (1992) on YouTube.

I didn't expect much but was pleasantly surprised with this WW.2. anti-war film. Despite the fact that the plot was a little thin and the inevitable tragic outcome was obvious about halfway through the movie it still held me to the credits. No big stars (although some of them now are) made for little distraction from the storyline. 7/10

Tony EH

Del.Monte wrote: »

"A Midnight Clear" (1992) on YouTube.

One of the best offbeat films about the war that I've seen.

Del.Monte

Watched the exact opposite type of war movie last night but a classic of the genre nonetheless which hit the spot - "The Dogs of War" (1980). Based on the book by Frederick Forsyth who also wrote "The Day of the Jackal" and "The Odessa File".

The trailer (below) is a bit cheesy and doesn't do justice to the movie. 8/10 and I'd it watch again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFzzpyKdzV4

Strumms

Mississipi Grind.. First 45 mins fools you in to thinking there is a good story here and characters but its soon nose dives into a borefest and some...

Sleepy

Tony EH wrote: »

As for "stories of people vomiting at a screening...", I have never once witnessed this in all my years of cinema going, no matter what country I've been in and, frankly, believe it to be nothing more than "propaganda" of sorts.

Well, just so you know it's possible: I vomited during The Blair Witch Project.

the shaky cam was so bad it gave me motion sickness

Tony EH

:pac:

Well, what I mean is vomiting through "fear" or "disgust" at the film.

fin12

Tony EH wrote: »

:pac:

Well, what I mean is vomiting through "fear" or "disgust" at the film.

my sister when she was small she vomited when Watching Jurassic park, it wasn't in the cinema though, I think it was the scene where the guy gets squirted with these black stuff in his face.

The Black Oil

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

This pretty much picks up from the first film and follows its path very closely. It's a little repetitive. That said, I enjoyed this more and I'm not sure why. Donald Sutherland oversees proceedings and there's a heavy concentration camp theme going on - rampant propaganda, severe punishment for defiance, etc. Good springboard into the next one towards the end.

The Signal

Quite impressed with this overall. We meet 3 college friends who are mature and generally sensible. About 20 minutes in, things get turned upside down - enter Larry Fishburne in a hazmat suit. There are stylistic nods to 2001 and The Terminator. It does go a little awry at the end, but I'd give it pretty solid B grade.

fin12

Sleepy wrote: »

Well, just so you know it's possible: I vomited during The Blair Witch Project.

the shaky cam was so bad it gave me motion sickness

Oh I actually read an article where people have been physical sick and had to leave the cinema after watching The Walk.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3253334/Audience-left-feeling-physically-sick-watching-Walk-3D-effects-stuntman-walking-skyscrapers-induce-vertigo.html

Tony EH

Tony EH wrote: »

As for "stories of people vomiting at a screening...", I have never once witnessed this in all my years of cinema going, no matter what country I've been in and, frankly, believe it to be nothing more than "propaganda" of sorts. A relic of the hoary old cliches that William Castle used to use to get bums on seats.

Yeah but did you go to the cinema for the Exorcist or Deliverance? Nowadays you could probably put just about anything on a screen and not get any reaction but back then when films actually shocked society, ive no doubt people were puking and fainting. A male rape scene in the 1970's with a guy being told to squeal like a pig. Stick a few bibled up republicans in there and you would have a "Scanners" like result :pac:

Tony EH

I'm a bit too young for 'The Exorcist' or 'Deliverance' and while I've no doubt that both films, especially 'The Exorcist', caused an uproar when they were released (it's well documented), I doubt that there were too many people puking their guts up at the visuals presented. There were many walk outs though, but that's not really what I'm on about.

As a genre fan, I've grown up constantly hearing stories of how people are so upset by visuals in horror films, that they gloop their lunch everywhere. In some films (kick started I believe by Hershel Gordon Lewis), they handed out sick bags to the customers walking in. It was a gimmick of course, usually limited to low budget schlock, but those stories stick in people's heads.

I'm sure that there have been some people that have felt sick and even threw up at some pictures, but I'm also sure that such an event is very few and far between and virtually non existent today, which is why I think it's funny when I hear it being mentioned for modern films.

johnny_ultimate

Closed Curtain / Taxi Tehran

To say that Jafar Panahi is making some of the most important films being produced today is not the same as saying they're some of the best ones, but frankly I think that's probably true too. No, what makes them so essential is what they stand for - acts of protest and defiance, personal records of censorship and oppression, films that look at Iranian society with a compassionate yet critical eye.

Thankfully, beyond their admirable theoretical and political stance, they're usually a joy to watch too. Indeed, the amount of humour and playfulness in his films continues to delight. Taxi Tehran - a film that occupies that amorphous border between documentary and fiction that all his post-filmmaking ban works have - in particular is a lively beast, the entire first half of the film dedicated to exploring a series of quirky characters who take a ride in Panahi's taxi. Panahi has a near constant smile on his face when he points the camera in his direction, and with the bizarre situations he encounters you can't blame him.

Naturally, there's bite to the laughs too. The passengers - from a chatty film pirate delivering banned movies to customers, to a proud niece attempting to shoot her first film - also exist to articulate explorations of creativity, censorship etc... Taxi is reminiscent of Kiarostami's 'driving' films like Ten, shot nearly entirely via rotatable dash cams, and through its casual conversations has an awful lot to say. But it breaks its deceptively simple form imaginatively too, incorporating footage from phones and the niece's handheld camera to powerful effect.

Closed Curtain is a more challenging but no less rewarding film. It too displays formal experimentation, almost as if Panahi (and co-director/star) Kambuzia Partovi are defying our usual understanding of what a film actually is (albeit not as explicitly as with This Is Not a Film). iPhone footage and self-recording is an integral part of the narrative. It starts, it appears, as an allegory, in which Partovi is seen fleeing to a beachside house to escape authorities who seem to attempting to confiscate his dog (a setup that would seem ridiculous if not for the startling fact that it's very much based on reality in Iran). Things pick up in the drama stakes when a young woman forces her way into the home to hide herself. But that aforementioned nebulous border then starts collapsing, when Panahi himself enters the house, almost as if in an alternate dimension to the other occupants.

Closed Curtain is perhaps the most personal of Panahi's 'non-films' - it intimately probes the psychological and emotional impact of being banned from expressing yourself. It's a film of evident frustration - the camera often stares longingly at the sea outside the windows, but is never allowed venture out itself. Perhaps the most loaded image in the film is one of Partovi somberly staring 'out' a wide window that has been entirely covered with a makeshift black curtain. It's not much of a stretch to see it as a blank cinema screen.

Panahi's situation and his recent work is often heartbreaking and maddening, but there's a thrill too in the acts of defiance that have led to these extraordinary films' existence. While it would be exciting for Panahi to have a reasonably unrestricted (well, by Iranian standards at least) canvas to work on again, where he isn't restricted to apartments and cars, that he's continuing to make these brave, ambitious and lyrical films is nothing less than astounding. In a scene near the end of Taxi Tehran, a passenger - a lawyer who herself has been banned from practicing her profession - joyfully turns to the camera and offers 'us' a rose. Like the films themselves, it's a very welcome gift to the audience.

Irish Aris

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

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.

The original film (directed by Susanne Bier) is actually on Mubi at the moment, I will watch it in the next couple of weeks.

Irish Aris

4 films that have been highly praised by both film critics and film fans that I have never watched before.

Les Parapluies De Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherburg) (1964)

I wasn’t even aware that this was a musical from start to finish. It felt weird at times-I don’t think I have ever seen a musical where all the dialogues are sung and it felt as if it was dragging at times, but I am a big fan of musicals and Michel Legrand’s music is fantastic.
The story in a way is your typical love story with a different “happy ending”.

Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo make one of the most beautiful couples I have seen in a film.

Alexander Nevsky (1938)

This is a film that I admired more than I liked it. It is really impressing what Eisenstein was able to do with very basic means. The battle beautifully shot and is complemented by Prokofiev’s music. The “propaganda” of the film doesn’t becoming annoying, just slightly amusing at times.

Overall I thought that time hasn’t been kind to Alexander Nevsky, but I am glad that I got to watch it.

Manhattan (1979)

For me this is Woody Allen’s most New York film of the ones I have watched (although I haven’t watched that many from the first 2 decades of his career). This is a good one. I felt that the dialogue was witty without becoming “too witty”, and Allen controls his typical neurotic self in great style. Diane Keaton is brilliant as a cultural snob that has her personal issues. To a big extend this is a homage to New York, and there are some really beautiful shots of the city.

Network (1976)

I absolutely loved this one and it easily goes to my all-time favourites list.

Obviously intended as a satire, it also feels rather prophetic on how it reflects today’s media’s agony for ratings. The various subplots and characters blend in nicely - in fact I thought that despite the plethora of main and supportive characters there was enough space for them to develop and some of the actors gave really top notch performances. Lumet orchestrates the film brilliantly - it’s rather a shame that he didn’t win the Oscar that year.

Highly recommended.

Chain Smoker

Man Up
So the main thing I gained from this is that Lake Bell is great, I mean, I already knew that but she's really really good. Not even sure the film would have been watchable without her in it but it wound up pretty good.

Fast Time at Ridgemont High
Was a lot better than I expected it to be, fun quick watch! Kind of confused why Sean Penn got top billing in the credits, his character is fairly tangential to everything. Most of the moments that pushed it a bit beyond a lot of similar movies came from Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance.

The Loved Ones
Absolutely loved the

drip fed tension and payoff of the drill and boiling water scene

, but asides from that really creepy song and some aesthetic choices, the rest of it didn't do much for me though.

Still Alice
Lifetime

briany

Exhibit A (2007)

"Found footage" film about an English family and what happens as things gradually go wrong financially and personally.

Really solid film, I thought. Some genuinely chilling moments and the movie has an extra feel of realism given its familiar setting.

Michael (2011)

Austrian drama about a pedophile that is keeping a kidnapped boy at his house. Loosely based on the Kampusch case.

As you would expect, this is a difficult watch, but I recommend it if you like challenging films.

ButtersSuki

fin12 wrote: »

Oh I actually read an article where people have been physical sick and had to leave the cinema after watching The Walk.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3253334/Audience-left-feeling-physically-sick-watching-Walk-3D-effects-stuntman-walking-skyscrapers-induce-vertigo.html

Though it's been quite a while since I watched it, I do recall reading somewhere that the spiralling camera opening, but more specifically its musical accompaniment (not part of the soundtrack btw) in Irreversible were designed purposely to make you queazy. Not for the faint-hearted and not a date movie btw if you haven't seen it!


And onto another Monica Bellucci flick....went to see Spectre at the weekend. I need to preface this by saying I'm a big Bond fan as well as a big "Craig as Bond" fan (Casino Royale for me is Top 3 Bond Movies ever); all of which actually makes this harder for me to p*ss all over it but that's what I'm going to do. It was painful. This was Bond by numbers; like they asked some focus group "tell us exactly what you need in the next movie" and they answered "everything", and then they tried to deliver that and created this mess. It's simplistically formulaic - open with chase scene; then naked girl titles; then into the office for a meeting, a telling off and then head down to Q for some gadgets; then some silly titillation and so on. They attempt to tie up each and every loose end from the last three movies in a story arc that makes about as much sense as a Bertie Ahern Tribunal speech. The dialogue is awful and clichéd; the storyline has more holes than a Swiss Cheese factory and there are enough goofs and mistakes to keep even the biggest mistake spotters happy

example: the police turning up in seconds and mounting two major roadblocks in central London after the helicopter crash - I know a degree of suspension of belief is required for these things but come on!

. Part of the problem is the bar had been set so high by Casino Royale, that every one since (including Skyfall) has disappointed. There were people laughing aloud at the screening - you couldn't have imagined the dark, disturbed and tortured Bond in Casino evoking a laugh. People will think I'm just saying this for effect (I assure you I'm not) but I even preferred Quantum of Solace to this. Craig's Bond has almost now gone full circle back to the cheesy grin and one liners of Moore and Brosnan, and is all the worse for it. Bellucci (who for once looks her age) is in it for a matter of minutes, whilst Christoph Waltz manages to simultaneously ham it up and yet still appear under and badly used. The other Bond girl is possibly the blandest Bond Girl ever, I'm genuinely struggling to remember anything about her character after a day. Finally, on the dialogue again, some of Ralph Fiennes lines must have been scripted by a transition year student

one of the latter scenes, couldn't he have just left it as "C", without pausing for effect and then saying "clumsy"?

A deeply disappointing mess 4/10 - it's getting that for stunts basically. Oh and the IMAX is LOUD!

This was (almost) my reaction for the majority of the film:

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

Tony EH

Oh that's really disappointing.

I'm not a Bond fan, but I do like Daniel Craig's Bond films, even Quantum Physics has grown on me. I like them precisely because they weren't "Bond" films, if you get my drift. They're more "adult", serious, and entertaining for the right reasons. So it's particularly saddening to see them slip back down.

It's a pity, because Mendes had it pretty much bang on with 'Skyfall', even though there are a few niggles here and there. Although I still think 'Casino Royale' was the greatest of any Bond film that I've seen and I've seen them all.

Pity.


P.S. I listened to Kermode's review this morning and although he liked it, it sounds like 'Carry on Bond', there was so much "laughter" involved.

ButtersSuki

Tony EH wrote: »

Oh that's really disappointing.

I'm not a Bond fan, but I do like Daniel Craig's Bond films, even Quantum Physics has grown on me. I like them precisely because they weren't "Bond" films, if you get my drift. They're more "adult", serious, and entertaining for the right reasons. So it's particularly saddening to see them slip back down.

It's a pity, because Mendes had it pretty much bang on with 'Skyfall', even though there are a few niggles here and there. Although I still think 'Casino Royale' was the greatest of any Bond film that I've seen and I've seen them all.

Pity.


P.S. I listened to Kermode's review this morning and although he liked it, it sounds like 'Carry on Bond', there was so much "laughter" involved.

It's just my opinion; I'm sure it will likely break all box office receipts for a Bond movie (likely fuelled by people who didn't grow up with it though). I'm sure there's probably a thread for it in the wider boards.ie film arena where my thoughts would be attacked from all corners but maybe my problem is I actually liked what they had done with it in Casino and was looking forward to seeing Craig develop the role. It makes me ask why bother having Craig deliver the dark Bond character in the first place if they were going to revert to this? CR was more Jason Bourne than any previous Bond, and all the better for it. This is just a cheese fest.

The laughter elements I just don't get, not at all.

gucci

Whiplash

I missed this in the cinema, and therefore I think I may have missed out on some of the magic of the intensity of the over all experience of the movie. Great tension created throughout and magnificent soundtrack and profiling of the whole music experience. I enjoyed it, but kind of felt it concluded in a slightly cliche manner, but over all a good movie that with great performances by Teller and Simmons.

Tony EH

ButtersSuki wrote: »

It's just my opinion; I'm sure it will likely break all box office receipts for a Bond movie (likely fuelled by people who didn't grow up with it though). I'm sure there's probably a thread for it in the wider boards.ie film arena where my thoughts would be attacked from all corners but maybe my problem is I actually liked what they had done with it in Casino and was looking forward to seeing Craig develop the role. It makes me ask why bother having Craig deliver the dark Bond character in the first place if they were going to revert to this? CR was more Jason Bourne than any previous Bond, and all the better for it. This is just a cheese fest.

The laughter elements I just don't get, not at all.

Aye, there's a thread for it scuttling around somewhere butters, but I haven't delved too far into that and you're not alone in your opinion it seems. A chap here in work echoed your sentiments (unless you're same person!!!). They said it felt a little like an updated Roger Moore effort which, for me, isn't even worth a download TBH.

That kind of goofball effort was grand when I was 10 or 11, but now I just don't want to waste my time, certainly not in the cinema.

I think, to answer your question about character, that Bond isn't a character really. He's just a stand to hang a coat on. In other words a "blank" that shit happens to.

Craig did a brilliant job in 'Casino Royale', so much so that it piqued my interest in the franchise, a franchise that was dead as far as I was concerned and Craig is easily the best Bond by a country mile. He's a bit of a bollocks and I can imagine him in the situations he finds himself in and the violence he deals out. So, neutering him in 'Spectre', with one liners, nods and winks, is a terrible shame.

I've no doubt that it'll make a shedload, but it wouldn't be the first undeserving film to do that.

Del.Monte

"Comes a Bright Day" (2012) on Netflix.

Harmless tale about the botched robbery of a London jewelry shop. Vaguely entertaining but at 90 minutes is at least 30 minutes longer than it needs to be. A vehicle for the wonderful Timothy Spall - little more. 5/10.

david75

Just watched the Amy Winehouse doco, Amy..

man..heavy stuff. Lotta scumbag vampire leeches around her most especially her junkie boyfriend.

Barna77

Volver

Recorded it the other night, and watched it at like 3am.
Laughed out loud at some of the quirkiness. Typical Almodóvar.
Cruz was odd in the movie, and I couldn't stand the little girl.

fin12

david75 wrote: »

Just watched the Amy Winehouse doco, Amy..

man..heavy stuff. Lotta scumbag vampire leeches around her most especially her junkie boyfriend.


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where did you watch it? or did you get it on dvd? Id like to watch that documentary

ziedth

Watched Mission Impossible:Ghost Recon today. Solid enough as they always are in the franchise. Thought the previous one was much better. Tom Cruise really does well for his age in all fairness. Fine for a hungover kind of a day but there are better films out there in the same vein.

6/10 for me.