What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

mansize

Del.Monte wrote: »

"Stutterer" (2015) - Oscar Award Winner - Best Live Action Short.

For the day that's in it and it's great to see another Irish writer/director making the breakthrough. Yet again it goes to show what can be achieved on a minimal budget.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1mbNMsJ6Xo

Watched this too. Excellent.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Slow West

Watched this on Netflix this afternoon. Have to say I really loved it. A western but with it's own very distinct personality. I'd love to see the screenplay for it, 5 pages of dialogue and everyting else is "Silas and Jay ride their horses through a forest." "Silas and Jay ride their horses through a pasture" "Silas and Jay ride their horses through a pass".

I used to think Westerns were rubbish and had a dislike for the genre but I think I must have seen too many Spaghetti Westerns when I was a kid. When someone gets one right they're hard to beat.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Sister

As part of my attempts to watch 52 Films by Women this year, which I'm woefully behind on, I watched this from French director Ursula Meier.

Set in a Swiss ski resort a young boy, Simon, steals from wealthy holiday makers to look after himself and his older sister, Louise, who live in poverty in the town below. The sister really doesn't want the kid around and often takes off for days on end leaving him to fend for himself. Léa Seydoux plays the sister and weirdly Martin Compston and Gillian Anderson are both in it too. It's a pretty sad film, the kid goes unnoticed by almost everyone, making it very easy for him to go about his "work" but that isolation and loneliness also leads to some pretty heartbreaking scenes. One in particular, I won't go into detail, might be the saddest thing I've ever seen on film.

Despite all that sadness it's a decent film, worth checking out and the kid playing Simon is really excellent in his role.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

To round off my day I watched this after it popped up on Netflix.

Greg, a high school senior doing his best to coast as invisibly as possible through school, is forced by his mother to befriend a girl at school recently diagnosed with Leukemia. Up until this point Greg has spent most of his time making really terrible home movie versions of classic films.

I really enjoyed this. I feel like it's the kind of thing John Green thinks he's writing with Paper Towns and that awful f**king Fault in Our Stars thing. It's about teens but it's not a "teen movie" if that makes sense. The important parts are universal. I also really liked seeing a male/female friendship done without slipping into romance or unrequited love or any of that. It's a rare thing and I wish we saw more of it.

CastorTroy

Electric Boogaloo actually. Or to give it its full title: Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films

Was actually pretty interesting since I do remember watching some films by Cannon but didn't realise they were basically Asylum or Troma without knowing the films were bad. And was really badly run. The studio that brought us the likes of the Death Wish sequels, Superman IV and the 2 Breakin' movies.
They also did Bloodsport and Masters of the Universe. No matter what anyone says, I liked both those films.

Tony EH

CastorTroy wrote: »

Electric Boogaloo actually. Or to give it its full title: Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films

Was actually pretty interesting since I do remember watching some films by Cannon but didn't realise they were basically Asylum or Troma without knowing the films were bad. And was really badly run. The studio that brought us the likes of the Death Wish sequels, Superman IV and the 2 Breakin' movies.
They also did Bloodsport and Masters of the Universe. No matter what anyone says, I liked both those films.

I'll have to give that doc another spin. I remember thinking it was great.

The same crowd did another doc about Australian cinema that worth a look too, called 'Not Quite Hollywood'.

Easca Peasca

12 Angry Men - 1957

The film follows the story of a jury of 12 men deliberating over a murder case in which a young black man is accused of killing his father. Their deliberation is intensified by the mandatory death penalty for murder.

I felt that it moved quite quickly throughout the 90 minute run time, despite being set in only one room throughout. The characters names are never mentioned, yet there's a in-depth insight in to their personalities, the difficulties that arose and how they were overcome to come to a consensus.

Thoroughly enjoyed it, a very well crafted film.

Arghus

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story: Extremely enjoyable send-up of the traditional musical biopic, particularly of the type that were big in the public consciousness around the time of the mid noughties - Ray and Walk The Line are clearly the prototypes here. That’s the encapsulation, but I’ll go on a bit more...

It’s knowingly stupid throughout and completely, utterly, disarmingly, silly - commendably, it never passes up on the chance to get truly bizarre when it has to. The performances are great and sell the whole thing, no matter how ridiculous the set-ups end up fast becoming. John C Reilly plays Dewey with a kind of genuine sincerity, that makes the ludicrousness hit your funny bone all the harder, but also, somehow, gives this profoundly off the wall experience an emotional core: It’s about a guys journey through a crazy time and it helps that he’s a likeable man-child, who you can empathise with, at least partially. It also has the great comedic feature of having a few repetitive jokes that are milked for their worth, until the very fact that they are repetitive becomes the killer component of the joke. I’m a simple man really, and it those kind of little nuggets which make me think that I’m going to have fun re-watching this one with other people some day. It’s vulgar and crass and still possesses a heart of gold. Being honest, I sort of loved it.

Weirdly enough, considering that it’s a film concerned with music, I wasn’t expecting the songs in the film to be of such high quality; they’re piss-takes for sure, but you can tell a bit of craft and heart has gone into their construction. Kinda illustrates why I really admire this movie. They must have known when making it that it would be a bit of a struggle for it to find an audience. Of course Rock’ n Roll biopicery was very modish at the time, but a spoof of that?...The world wasn’t crying out for it, I’m sure. I find the idea of a faded rocker like Dewey Cox doing a cheesy version of Starman, on his own god-awful seventies TV Show, to be an inherently funny idea, but, God knows, that mightn’t really do it for everyone. This thing has “cult status” written all over it and that fact must have been plainly obvious to the players at the time; that they were aiming for a very particular sliver of the film-watching world. But yet, everyone involved gave it their all and made sure to do their best to bring the house down. It's a real crowd-pleaser of sorts. And that’s pretty damn endearing.

Arghus

Easca Peasca wrote: »

12 Angry Men - 1957

The film follows the story of a jury of 12 men deliberating over a murder case in which a young black man is accused of killing his father. Their deliberation is intensified by the mandatory death penalty for murder.

I felt that it moved quite quickly throughout the 90 minute run time, despite being set in only one room throughout. The characters names are never mentioned, yet there's a in-depth insight in to their personalities, the difficulties that arose and how they were overcome to come to a consensus.

Thoroughly enjoyed it, a very well crafted film.

I always think Sidney Lumet has a good shout at being the most underrated Director of all time. His filmography is astounding. He has a lot of what I would class as masterpieces to his name, and yet he's never really up there in discussions about the greats.

He's appreciated; he should be revered!

youreadthat

Spotlight 6/10

Not a terrible watch at all. Difficult and sad true story, I think it's very low key and maybe that's paying due respect to the issue at its heart and just giving you nuts and bolts to give the message. I wasn't bored or anything, but its not something I'd ever watch again and is very forgettable. Every scene is 2/3 people talking in a beige or brown room somewhere. A well made documentary would have been more entertaining. Also Mark Ruffalo being in it just made me wish I was watching Zodiac.

Chain Smoker

La Belle et Le bete

Jaysis, what the **** was that, the beast was a colossal self pitying creep consistently throughout and the ending was just just baffling. I actually said "what?!" aloud in the cinema and am still in my seat writing this. Dated to the point that it seems to have no grasp on the human condition whatsoever.

Chain Smoker

Probably the most anti climatic ending I've ever seen too. God, I don't get it at all. That was a bad film with some nice, but not amazing, visual effects scattered through it. Nothing there that hits the heights of silent film or anything.

There's another cocteau on now in five minutes, strongly considering leaving so I can get an extra hour of sleep or something.

ButtersSuki

Arghus wrote: »

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story: Extremely enjoyable send-up of the traditional musical biopic, particularly of the type that were big in the public consciousness around the time of the mid noughties - Ray and Walk The Line are clearly the prototypes here. That’s the encapsulation, but I’ll go on a bit more...

It’s knowingly stupid throughout and completely, utterly, disarmingly, silly - commendably, it never passes up on the chance to get truly bizarre when it has to. The performances are great and sell the whole thing, no matter how ridiculous the set-ups end up fast becoming. John C Reilly plays Dewey with a kind of genuine sincerity, that makes the ludicrousness hit your funny bone all the harder, but also, somehow, gives this profoundly off the wall experience an emotional core: It’s about a guys journey through a crazy time and it helps that he’s a likeable man-child, who you can empathise with, at least partially. It also has the great comedic feature of having a few repetitive jokes that are milked for their worth, until the very fact that they are repetitive becomes the killer component of the joke. I’m a simple man really, and it those kind of little nuggets which make me think that I’m going to have fun re-watching this one with other people some day. It’s vulgar and crass and still possesses a heart of gold. Being honest, I sort of loved it.

Weirdly enough, considering that it’s a film concerned with music, I wasn’t expecting the songs in the film to be of such high quality; they’re piss-takes for sure, but you can tell a bit of craft and heart has gone into their construction. Kinda illustrates why I really admire this movie. They must have known when making it that it would be a bit of a struggle for it to find an audience. Of course Rock’ n Roll biopicery was very modish at the time, but a spoof of that?...The world wasn’t crying out for it, I’m sure. I find the idea of a faded rocker like Dewey Cox doing a cheesy version of Starman, on his own god-awful seventies TV Show, to be an inherently funny idea, but, God knows, that mightn’t really do it for everyone. This thing has “cult status” written all over it and that fact must have been plainly obvious to the players at the time; that they were aiming for a very particular sliver of the film-watching world. But yet, everyone involved gave it their all and made sure to do their best to bring the house down. It's a real crowd-pleaser of sorts. And that’s pretty damn endearing.

It's quality alright but not to everyone's taste. I in particular love the innuendo in "Let's Duet"....:) I'd post a link but on the phone, worth a YouTube search if you like your innuendo....;)

briany

Tony (2009)

A reclusive loner living in London spends his days watching action films on video and occasionally wandering the streets of the city in search of human contact and, occasionally, a victim to kill.

One of those hidden gems, I thought. I'd hesitate to say it's a horror - It's more of a downbeat, black comedy with some gruesome elements. It would have been an easy one to make dull and one-dimensional but the performance keeps the main character pretty sympathetic throughout, despite his dark side. I suppose, also, because the people he kills aren't all that nice themselves. Based loosely on the life of serial killer Dennis Nilsen.

johnny_ultimate

A Touch of Zen - it's usually worth avoiding the phrase 'the greatest xxxx ever made' given it is loaded with hyperbole. But here I'll make an exception - A Touch of Zen is very probably the greatest action film ever made. At very least it's very probably the greatest martial arts film ever made.

King Hu's epic film is simply extraordinary. The sheer casualness of its brilliance is particularly noteworthy. Being on a bit of a wuxia kick, I recently rewatched Hero. While it's a pretty film for sure, it feels contrived and weirdly insistent when it comes to its prettiness - the colour and art design distractingly artificial. A Touch of Zen, on the other hand, is absolutely beautiful but modest and understated at the same time. It embraces the wonder of the natural Taiwanese landscapes, and in its more 'designed' settings creates much of its most memorable imagery through subtle framing or lighting choices. The way Hu uses camera and editing is a joy to behold - perhaps to illustrate impossible acrobatic feats, or a zoom or pan that elegantly moves from one stunning frame to another. I can't think of many films that are as consistently, fetchingly formally brilliant.

Like Hu's other films, it's very accessible stuff despite its formal ingenuity and epic running time. There's plenty of fun to be had, the tension is elegantly maintained throughout, and the action sequences are stunning (even if the first sound of clashing swords doesn't arrive until nearly an hour in). The narrative is simple and straightforward, a godsend compared to some of the more impenetrably dense martial arts epics out there. But that's not to say it lacks bite either: after the film's longest, most elaborate setpiece - an almost Home Alone like effort to defend a base through a series of deadly traps and tricks - a follow-up scene sombrely reflects on the carnage and violence we've just witnessed and, indeed, probably cheered on.

Where A Touch of Zen really achieves definitive greatness is in its literally transcendent conclusion. The themes and visual ideas of the idea come together before they're completely subverted and expanded through an hallucinatory final sequence that truly pushes the action into the realm of the spiritual and supernatural. This is a film that truly nails the landing.

I've only discovered Hu's films in the last six months or so, and I'd easily now call him one of my all time favourite directors. A Touch of Zen boasts everything I loved about his earlier films, only to take everything to another level at the same time. I cannot recommend this enough, even for anybody not familiar with or even ambivalent towards martial arts fare - this is as thrilling and beautiful a piece of filmmaking as you're likely to encounter.

The Black Oil

Django Unchained

It's long (read - self-indulgent), humourous in parts and entertaining. Not sure if it adds up to much. Best performance - the horse, Fritz. :pac:

youreadthat

Caught American Hustle on channel 4 tonight. Glad I didn't go out of my way to see it. Really boring and very style over substance.

Chain Smoker

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

A Touch of Zen

Cheers for the review! I've honestly assumed that was one that's so influential that it wouldn't hold up at all any more (i.e. after decades of copycats and technical advancements) so I never even considered checking it out.




Mississippi Grind
Probably the best use of Ryan Reynolds's natural charisma since Adventureland if not ever, but it's really another film that's very good because Ben Mendehlson is very good at that thing he does. I think he's ****ing great altogether.
Of the three Fleck/Boden films I've seen, it's definitely the most blandly indie as far as everything outside the two lead performances goes. Can't imagine anyone not enjoying this a little bit though.

NIMAN

Spotlight 7/10. Agree with comments above, decent enough but was expecting more. Made me angrier than I already am with the CC.

The Big Short 7/10. A scary story about how we are at the mercy of the money men.

ButtersSuki

Love, from French director Gaspar Noé on blu ray (3D) which I bought as I missed its short run in the IFI. I'm honestly not sure what exactly to say about it tbh; it's not awful, but equally it's not something I think I'll be in a hurry to watch again either. It has a lot of nods to other Noé productions insofar as love (or at least a version of it) features in many of them, the colouring (in particular reminded me of Irreversiblé), the soundtrack (including work from regular contributor Thomas Bangalter (one half of Daft Punk)), the camera work and the general "style" of it scream Noé. Unfortunately though it has a sense of self-importance that is never really delivered on. The sex scenes are about as graphic as it gets but it strangely seems more like "love" or lust than sex....insofar as its not shot as porn per se.....if that makes any sense? And that's really the problem with it, I'm really struggling if it was "meh" or if there was something deeper going on. The acting (particularly by the male lead) is wooden, the dialogue is pretty lame, the 3D adds nothing of substance but it looks and sounds good. I'm going to give it 5/10.

johnny_ultimate

Chain Smoker wrote: »

Cheers for the review! I've honestly assumed that was one that's so influential that it wouldn't hold up at all any more (i.e. after decades of copycats and technical advancements) so I never even considered checking it out.

Hu's films have aged gracefully to say the least. A few obvious era-specific quirks aside - although I have a soft spot for the awesome off-screen trampolines - they've barely aged a day. Maybe it's the quality of the film stock, or the fact there's very little in the way of special effects (most of it is done in-camera). It helps too that they're period pieces. But Touch of Zen - and Dragon Inn & Come Drink With Me - are ravishing still, really fresh experiences that have a welcome youthfulness about them. Compare them to Zhang Yimou's efforts - where the CG has already dated them - and it's even more impressive.

Canadel

Inception (2010) - Nonsense. Mildly entertaining nonsense, but nonetheless nonsense. 4.5/10

Still think Interstellar is the best movie ever made mind you so it's not a slight on Christopher Nolan. He's one talented bastard.

gucci

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Well worth a watch for anyone who has an interest in music. (I watched on UK Netflix) A remarkable woman, with an incredible voice and unfortunately much associated emotional and mental baggage that seems to follow many of lifes great performance artists.
Her story is intertwined and aligned with the US Civil rights movement of the 60s, and it’s interesting to see the conflicting interest of her posse in their split between supporting the movement and not wanting to affect the brand.

The whole movie follows a pretty repetitive documentary style and I can’t help compare it to the recent Amy Winehouse movie. Sadly for me it just isn’t as well stitched together despite being probably as interesting of a story if not actually more interesting when you include the historic consequences and political characters Nina collaborated and clashed with. Despite this it is a gripping watch, some of the footage of her performing is chilling and incredible, especially when it is preceded by the detail of her incredibly deep troubles. 8/10.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

gucci wrote: »

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Watched this myself a few weeks ago. What I find sad is how many of these people had very simple dreams and were pushed into other things by other people. Nina Simone never wanted to be the star she was, she seemed incredibly unhappy for most of her career.

ancapailldorcha

Saw Psycho last night, the original. A local PictureHouse had decided to show it in honour of Mother's Day.

mewe

Room

I thought this was brilliant. Great job by Abrahamson and young Jacob Tremblay should have got an oscar nomination for his performance imo.

quickbeam

youreadthat wrote: »

Caught American Hustle on channel 4 tonight. Glad I didn't go out of my way to see it. Really boring and very style over substance.

Watched this last night after recording it on C4. Would have to agree with this statement. Hugely meh film. A shame, considering the cast involved.

Chain Smoker

Working Girl
Well, Christ, it's actually a bit shocking if this was considered to be progressive only 25 years ago. Film didn't work at all, pretty much all the efforts at comedy fell flat, can't fault the cast at all but everything else was awful. Dreadful effort from Mike Nichols.
And that ****ing song has been stuck in my head since...

Spotlight
Yep, good stuff, handled the whole thing incredibly well.
My favourite part of the was when it got to the end and a few people in the crowd started applauding in the way american audiences do at the end of films (this is normal yet saying thanks to the bus driver is weird?) only for a big long list of catholic abuse cases to appear on the screen, awkwardly silencing the applause.

All the President's Men
You know, I've no clue how historically accurate this is, but it is amazing how thoroughly gripping they make a film that at all points seems to call attention to just how boring and repetitive the whole process seemed to be.

Rounders
Some of the exposition in this film seems kind of silly in a lot of ways now (a whole load of "poker requires skill, look, there are these things called 'tells'..." type stuff) but it is undeniably fun in that sleepy john dahl way.

fin12

Chain Smoker wrote: »

Working Girl
Well, Christ, it's actually a bit shocking if this was considered to be progressive only 25 years ago. Film didn't work at all, pretty much all the efforts at comedy fell flat, can't fault the cast at all but everything else was awful. Dreadful effort from Mike Nichols.
And that ****ing song has been stuck in my head since...

Spotlight
Yep, good stuff, handled the whole thing incredibly well.
My favourite part of the was when it got to the end and a few people in the crowd started applauding in the way american audiences do at the end of films (this is normal yet saying thanks to the bus driver is weird?) only for a big long list of catholic abuse cases to appear on the screen, awkwardly silencing the applause.

All the President's Men
You know, I've no clue how historically accurate this is, but it is amazing how thoroughly gripping they make a film that at all points seems to call attention to just how boring and repetitive the whole process seemed to be.

Rounders
Some of the exposition in this film seems kind of silly in a lot of ways now (a whole load of "poker requires skill, look, there are these things called 'tells'..." type stuff) but it is undeniably fun in that sleepy john dahl way.

I love when people start clapping at the end of a film in the cinema, doesn't happen that often. I think people clapped at war horse in the cinema. I remember when I went to see Philomena it was largely an elderly crowd and everyone sat right till the end of the credits no one left till the screen went blank so that was the only time I've ever witnessed that happening.

Tony EH

Always thought it was a bit silly myself.

Who are they applauding?

Unless the director is there, or actors out of the film, it doesn't really make much sense. The projectionist couldn't give a toss.

I've seen it America, but can't recall ever seeing it in Ireland or Europe.