What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Liam McPoyle

Canadel wrote: »

Blue Velvet by David Lynch. Restored my faith in film-making after watching The Revenant. Really? Well, that's for me to know and you to find out.

How would it restore your faith in film making, it was made 30 odd years ago?

figges

Such a good film. Quite an oldie now but couldn't help watching it again.
The acting is great from all of the main characters.
Ralph is excellent as the repressed lover, Julianne Moore was nominated for an Oscar - she is terrific - and Stephen Rea is kind of heart breaking in how his character deals with all the mess around him.
Such a great mix of themes and challenges to ideals. Wonderful.

Tony EH

Since when was 1999 considered "old".

Now, if you were watching the 1955 version, I'd agree...

ButtersSuki

Harry's Game A first ever watch for me of ITV 3-part series about a British spy sent to Norn Iron to catch the man responsible for shooting a British MP. It's from 1982 (and looks it!) and my DVD copy (bought from amazon) looks like it was at best a transfer from someone's old video tape! I wasn't allowed watch this when it came out first (in fairness I was a child) but I've always wanted to and finally got around to it. It's dated, somewhat clichéd and the NI accents are genuinely awful; but it is quite good despite all of that. Throw in lots of cultural stereotyping, some "stiff upper lip" type language from the Brits (

it's all "I say old chap, wasn't that a frightful spot of bother last night" type stuff; and calling the IRA "Provv-o's" compared to what we'd say ("Pro-vo's")

) and Leeds instead of Belfast but there's something about it that keeps you interested despite all of the above. I'd give it a 7/10, though I imagine at the time it would have been miles ahead of anything on tv and would likely have scored a lot higher.

david75

The death of superman lives: what happened

A doco about the Tim Burton/Nicolas Cage version of Superman, which never got made.


This sounds like a dry boring fanboi wankfest. It's really not. It's a fascinating and frankly scary glimpse into the Hollywood producer system and the pitfalls.

If you have any interest in production design and art direction then watch this.
Or even if you're a fan of sci fi and comic books.

Loved this.

Canadel

Business Cat wrote: »

How would it restore your faith in film making, it was made 30 odd years ago?

Quite easily.

Mulholland Drive - Very enjoyable, for many reasons. Loved the expresso scene. Not the masterpiece it is oft made out to be, but makes most movies I've seen look like they were made by a bunch of kids in comparison. 8.5/10 Thanks

Inherent Vice - Again, reassuring that movies like this are still being made. Pheonix is phenomenal, the true movie star of our generation. Not a perfect movie by all means, quite annoying in places (not sure if the narration is inspiring or insipid), unsure of Owen Wilson's performance still, but while those things would most probably have a major effect on the enjoyment of most movies, there is simply so much more to experience in Inherent Vice that it doesn't matter. Looking forward to re-watching this. 8/10 Thanks

Liam McPoyle

Halloween III : Season of the Witch

The only movie in the franchise not to feature Michael Myers is IMO one of the best sequels.

The story centres around a strange toy manufacturer and a young woman's attempts to find out what its connection is to her fathers murder.

The manufacturers scheme involves mass produced Halloween masks and stolen section of none other than stonehenge!

It sounds very silly and it is very silly but its a huge amount of fun.

The town where the mask makers factory is based is delightfully stepford wivesish, there are some nice kills and there is a great turn from Dan O'Herlihy (the old man / head of OCP in Robocop) as the head of the company, Conal Cochran.

I reckon its a movie people either love or hate, personally I'm in the love camp but can see why some may not be.

The transfer, like with the others, looks and sounds great.

7.5/10

Tony EH

I've often wondered how much better the Halloween series would have been if Carpenter's vision of different, separate, stories centered on the holiday would have worked out if 'Halloween III' had been more successful.

It's a shame, as I think he was on to something there.

Over the years I've come to appriciate 'Halloween III' more and more. A crazy picture.

Chain Smoker

Son of Saul
Star Tours: Holocaust Edition
I get that it was going for a really immersive and visceral approach to the holocaust rather than anything particularly intellectual, and there's something of a videogame influence going on that I'm certainly not opposed to, and I definitely appreciate the aspect ratio choice, but the whole thing just rang false. The way Saul seems to get to tour all over the camp unnoticed and the general beats of the plot done absolutely nothing to keep it away from feeling like a theme park ride. I honestly would've appreciated/enjoyed it more if it was just a regular hellish day in the camp which abruptly ended in his death.
Laszlo Nemes is currently getting all the accolades, but in the long term this is gonna be cited as the breakout film for cinematographer Mátyás Erdély, who had an absolute f*cking ton of work to do throughout and I'm sure loads of people will be wanting to work with him now.

Mildly surprised Claude Lanzmann of all people has been absolutely raving about this film, considering how it completely fails to get across what he managed so thoroughly and relentlessly.
A solid effort and was worth a try, but manages to win up being trapped between two different types of film.


Sleeping With Other People
I liked the bit where Jason Sudekis done the clitoral stimulation DJ thing.

Ciaran_B

The Assassin

I was at a loose-end after work on Friday so I went to see this. It got some strong write-ups and even some film of the year notices but it wasn't for me. I can't remember ever being as bored in a cinema. People were laughing by the end it was so bad. A confusing, unfocused mess. They could have shown the every scene in a random order and it would have made more sense. Terrible.

e_e

Ciaran_B wrote: »

People were laughing by the end it

...and this is why I'm hesitant to go see it in the IFI. Love slow, relatively plotless and meditative films (as well as the other Hou Hsiao-Hsien film I've seen) but a fidgety and passive-aggressive IFI audience can take me right out of the experience. Especially when it's been relegated to the two small and cramped screens. :mad:

fin12

Daddy's Home

Pretty crap film, not funny at all, waste of a cinema trip.....

johnny_ultimate

The plot in The Assassin is that weird combination of being simple yet confounding at the same time. I'd probably advice anyone who feels that's going to be a concern to read up on it first, it's not exactly chock full of surprises so you won't be ruining anything.

Still, I went in blind, and while the specifics of some of the relationships and characters remained confusing, I didn't feel it mattered much at all. The general gist is all that's needed to allow the immense poetic weight of scenes hit. I was simply completely enveloped in its dreamy mood and atmosphere. That said, it is a film where audience will have a major impact on the film, positive or negative, and that's assuming you connect with Hsaio-Hsien's film in the first place, which is far from a given.

Anyway, on a completely different note...

Aloha - It was sitting there. Taunting me. Everytime I opened up and browsed Netflix for the last month or so Aloha was there, the smiling, sunlit faces of Rachel McAdams, Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone beckoning. I knew it would be junk. But I'd read a few responses to the film that suggested this was a fiasco of almost surreal proportions. And Almost Famous has left me with this lingering sympathy for Cameron Crowe, even with the junk he has peddled since. In short: resistance was ultimately futile.

It didn't disappoint. Or it did disappoint, depending on what way you look at it. Basically: it's crap. It's totally misjudged in almost every respect, and casting Emma Stone as a woman of Hawaiian heritage (something that resulted in some minor controversy if you fancy hopping down a Google rabbit hole of mild, almost reluctant media outrage) is fairly far down the list of missteps. More jarring, in my mind, is the crash zoom used to introduce Stone's character. Why is it there? Why is there no camera movement anything like it anywhere else in the film? Is this film held together with duct tape?

Yes to that last question, it seems so. The Sony email leak revealed details of studio dissatisfaction, and while it seems unclear how much forceful tinkering went on, this nonetheless feels like an attempt to throw something vaguely feature film like on screen. Coherency is low down the list of priorities - while things just about make a general sort of sense, the editing is so haphazard that a conspiracy theorist would suggest actual sabotage afoot. Everything is stitched together with what genuinely seems like a random iPod shuffle mix of songs, even by Crowe's standards - add your own soundtrack and odds are it would be just as suited to the images on screen. Character motivations are vague, narrative details simplistic yet poorly explained, and the tone! Oh the tone!

Let me put it this way, and this is something of a spoiler if that sort of thing concerns you (it shouldn't). This is a lighthearted, grounded romantic comedy set in tropical Hawaii that builds its romantic climax around

a man sabotaging an evil billionaire's (played by Bill Murray, because) nuclear-equipped satellite through the power of music

. If anything, it's more preposterous in context.

“The satellite makes no sense. The gate makes no sense. I’m never starting a movie again when the script is ridiculous. And we all know it."

That last paragraph comes from a Sony executive's leaked email that perfectly captures the baffling experience of watching this film.

Let's describe Aloha thusly: it's as if a computer was fed a general algorithm of what a Cameron Crowe film / romantic comedy was, and asked to generate a variation on it. Unfortunately, the computer malfunctions around 43% through the job. So what you're left with is some vaguely familiar elements - a manic pixie dream girl, a pretty location, some attempts at cultural sensitivity, a vague sense of charm etc... But the whole thing is garbled through a series of glitches, malfunctions and formatting errors. You can open the document, but huge swathes of it have been replaced by goddamn Wingdings and other such incoherent nonsense.

That's Aloha. Aloha is Wingdings.

gucci

Spotlight

A good movie, with good performances by all the cast. Pretty difficult subject matter, but it is well told, dealt with respect and there is a decent amount of momentum that carries the film along for the duration.
Not quite sure anything there is Oscar worthy, but it’s no slight to a very decent movie.

Nerdlingr

Spotlight

Really 'enjoyed' it. Great cast, excellent acting and a crazy f*cking story to boot.
Amazing the amount of sh*t the church got away with.

figges

Tony EH wrote: »

Since when was 1999 considered "old".

Now, if you were watching the 1955 version, I'd agree...

Hadn't realised it was a controversial point. But since you mention it ..
Children born since this was made could now have jobs, partners, their own kids - that and the fact that is from the last millennium make it quite old.

The 1955 version - ... thats ancient

Tony EH

figges wrote: »

Hadn't realised it was a controversial point. But since you mention it ..
Children born since this was made could now have jobs, partners, their own kids - that and the fact that is from the last millennium make it quite old.

The 1955 version - ... thats ancient

It's only 2016.

ancapailldorcha

Saw Wild Tales on Sunday. Fantastic film. Great fun watching so many characters go insane over fairly minor offences. It's an odd combination of violence, black comedy and the macabre. Definitely worth a watch.

Going to watch The Big Short tonight and Spotlight when it comes out.

ButtersSuki

hey folks....

Someone on here I recall has a thing for old Irish movies...? Johnny Ultimate or Tickle....is it either of you? Anyway, I found something in my DVD vaults one of you (or the other person) may be interested in. Drop me a PM if so.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

ButtersSuki wrote: »

hey folks....

Someone on here I recall has a thing for old Irish movies...? Johnny Ultimate or Tickle....is it either of you? Anyway, I found something in my DVD vaults one of you (or the other person) may be interested in. Drop me a PM if so.

Twasn't me but I do remember someone being into really terrible free in the Sunday papers style Irish films.

ButtersSuki

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Twasn't me but I do remember someone being into really terrible free in the Sunday papers style Irish films.

No, it's better than any of those...comes in a real dvd box cover and all! No cardboard slipcase from me I'll tell ya!

Tony EH

ButtersSuki wrote: »

hey folks....

Someone on here I recall has a thing for old Irish movies...? Johnny Ultimate or Tickle....is it either of you? Anyway, I found something in my DVD vaults one of you (or the other person) may be interested in. Drop me a PM if so.

I think it was Judgement Day who was always banging on about that stuff.

figges

Tony EH wrote: »

It's only 2016.

Egads man !

OK we'll just have to agree to disagree on relativity.
Its that or down to the green at dawn with your seconds and choice of weapon.

budgemook

Tony EH wrote: »

I think it was Judgement Day who was always banging on about that stuff.

Yeah definitely was Judgement Day

Tony EH

figges wrote: »

Egads man !

OK we'll just have to agree to disagree on relativity.
Its that or down to the green at dawn with your seconds and choice of weapon.

:P

charlie_says

Watched The Assasin(2015) the other day.

Such eye candy! The outdoor locations and the slow panning shots in each were incredible, absolutely breathtaking stuff.I was watching it with a friend who spent a year in rural China who said it was beyond stunning there, "the most video game like land you can ever go to".

I remember whilst watching that one particular filling scene of a few riders going past the camera only about 15 seconds long looked better than the best shots in most movies, and that one was was not one of the remarkable ones.

Was there excessive colouring in post production going on with this? If so it worked very well.

Scrumptious costume and set design too.

Whilst with a bit of careful attention the plot was followable but just not very engaging. At least it wasn't a fighting snorefest but it really wasn't gripping. More atmospheric than plot driven.

It gets a pass just on it's sheer beauty. A visual narcotic.

figges

touche monsieur EH.

LuckyLloyd

e_e wrote: »

...and this is why I'm hesitant to go see it in the IFI. Love slow, relatively plotless and meditative films (as well as the other Hou Hsiao-Hsien film I've seen) but a fidgety and passive-aggressive IFI audience can take me right out of the experience. Especially when it's been relegated to the two small and cramped screens. :mad:

Would have thought that if the audience in the IFI ain't going to give something a chance it's probably because it doesn't deserve it. Not your usual multiplex customer tbf!!

e_e

Eh I don't really buy this dichotomy between mainstream/arthouse audiences. There are always **** wherever you go but to be fairer sometimes a film just doesn't work on a certain audience and the impatience some have can rub off.

For instance I went to see L'Eclisse last year in the IFI and there was an arsehole fake snoring loudly throughout the first half. Has absolutely no bearing on the quality of the film tbh. You tend to notice people around you more during quiet and contemplative films too.

Tony EH

Why would someone do that?

Just get up and walk out. Nobody gives a shit whether you're bored at a film. He probably thought he was gas.

As for **** in "arthouse" cinemas, I agree. Heard them in the IFI too and the old Lighthouse.

Clowns.