What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

The Black Oil

Moneyball

Pretty good. I know nothing about baseball, but it held my attention. Brad Pitt's up against it, internally and on the field. Touch of Friday Night Lights about it, they go from losers to, well, you can guess by half way and the turning point type montage. A whiff of nostalgia about it, and the emotions were backed by Explosions in the Sky on music duty. Don't think I've ever seen Philip Seymour Hoffman with so little hair.

Capitalism: A Love Story

Like many, I fell out of sync with Michael Moore after Fahrenheit 9/11, which was a little too incendiary. This is no less Moore than his previous efforts, it's got a few stunts and powerful human stories. I think one of most shocking aspects was how little airline pilots get paid.

Paddy Samurai

Nothing new here to see.B movie that was ok.worth a watch ,but I would'nt need to see it again.

Chain Smoker

Enemy
Well, I dunno. I'm leaning towards "giant pile of ****e" but I dunno.

The Journals of Jean Seberg
Yep, liked this a good bit! She's worthy of a documentary and I liked the somewhat odd approach (it's basically a video essay delivered by an actor playing the role of Jean Seberg from beyond grave). Some really good bits about Jane Fonda, among other famous women and how they were used in Hollywood at the time, stuffed in there too.

From Bedrooms to Billions
A documentary about the British videogaming scene.
It's somewhat typical of niche documentaries in that it's pretty long (2.5 hours), not very ambitiously structured and really just has talking heads listing out the history. They made a pretty solid job of consistently editing in relevant scenes from games and old footage though so it's not a hard watch or anything.
However, seeing as how English television does an utterly **** job at conveying just how important the 80s home computer scene in England has been to videogaming as a whole (any documentary about games always seems to follow the US-centric Ultimate History of Video Games template), it's honestly just great that someone done this at all.
It seems to have gotten just about everyone from the time to contribute to some degree or another and doesn't fixate on the big recognisable ones (i.e. Molyneux is in it but he hardly dominates it, Minter is arguably a little bit underused...). I'd imagine most of them were as glad someone finally bothered to make a substantial documentary about the area as I am, to be honest.
So yeah, it's not a top tier documentary or anything, but I'm f*cking glad someone finally made it and tried to pack in as much as they could without feeling rushed.

Harry Palmr

ButtersSuki wrote: »

The Duke of Burgundy with Sidse Babett Knudsen (Borgen) and Chiara D'Anna, recorded from Film 4 last week.

Where do I start? It's very European, in that arthouse and stylistic way. It nods it's head to so many films and genres it's hard to know where to start......the credits and the soft focus camera are very 70s Europorn (think Emmanuelle etc. - not that I ever saw any of those of course....:rolleyes:), the scenery is very rustic French countryside a la parts of Betty Blue (though we're given no clue as to where the location is, it could easily be Spain or Italy too), the relationship between the two leads reminded me very much of Secretary, the use of mannequins are I assume a nod to some other film.

The story explores a lesbian relationship between two lepidopterists (that's a person who studies butterflies to you and me) set in a village inhabited it seems only by female lepidopterists.

One minor irritation was Knudsen's spoken English, which has always struck me as being a little weird, it being very different from how she sounds when speaking her native tongue - this was as true in Borgen as it is here.

It's pretentious and most certainly not mainstream; that's probably why I liked it 8/10.

This was by the Berbarian Sound Studio dir Peter Strickland, just as that riffed on Giallo thrillers The Duke of Burgundy takes its style cues and tone from the Jesús Franco school of 70s lesbo erotic horror. I have it on PVR so will get round to watching it soon (sounds. like a good alternative to the Eurovision song contest!)


Britannia Hospital (1982) Dir Lindsay Anderson

The third and final part of the loose Mick Travis trilogy is in truth not really a Travis film at all, rather BT is a somewhat chaotic broad "State of the Nation" satire based around the royal visit to a the title facility upon the opening of a new high tech wing. It's a good example of film that's interesting for the moments and ideas rather than it's execution. EMI went nuts when they saw it and it was withdrawn in no time.

Malcolm McDowell is very much a secondary figure with hospital boss Leonard Rossiter and the great Graham Crowden (best known for A Very Peculiar Practice and Waiting for God on TV) as the professor who in his secret hospital labs has elevated mankind to a new level of intelligence, taking the plaudits.

Some familiar faces pop up in unexpected places for the briefest moments - Mark Hamill, Robbie Coltrane, Arthur Lowe, Alan Bates.

The scene where the Profs hastily adapted creation runs amok is worthy of Re-Animator.

cowboyBuilder

Bronson http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172570/?ref_=nv_sr_1
A bit strange, but great performance from Tom Hardy - think it was one of his 1st big defining roles.
Cool soundtrack too ..

Hellraiser http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093177/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Finally saw this ! good 80s horror gore - creatures are really creepy, shame they rely too much on CGI today.

Star Wars the force awakens http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2488496/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Just brilliant, enjoyed it even more then when I saw it in the cinema.

Palmeras en la nieve (Palm trees in the snow) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3202202/?ref_=nv_sr_1
awful awful awful awful awful sh'ite

cowboyBuilder

Chain Smoker wrote: »

Enemy
Well, I dunno. I'm leaning towards "giant pile of ****e" but I dunno.

Correct.

LuckyLloyd

Demolition

I'd long held a position that Jake Gyllenhaal doesn't really involve himself in bad movies, so I went to see this despite the lukewarm critical reviews. Unfortunately, I will probably have to moderate my position to 'Jake Gyllenhaal doesn't turn in bad performances' after watching Demolition - a film so deliberately quirky and convinced of its importance that it predictably falls to clichéd pieces by the end. When another thrilling turn from Gyllenhaal and able support from Cooper, Watts and others can't save a film, it has problems. There's a very satisfying movie in there somewhere. Maybe if it was played a bit straighter; maybe if it didn't take itself *so* seriously; maybe if it sketched out the supporting characters a bit better. As it is, the scenes that work (and there are a lot of them to be fair) seem like disconnected lifts from better films. The final cringe worthy scene bookends a number of dreadful 'our character is now freed' ideas that pepper the final quarter.

A bit of a wasted opportunity really.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I watched American Hustle today.

Didn't like it much.

From what I could grasp there was probably a pretty decent con story in there with some nice little twists but it's just a mess. I genuinely don't know what Christian Bale was saying most of the time, Bradley Cooper was just as bad. I thought Jennifer Lawrence's character was hilarious but she was hardly in it and seemed to serve no real purpose other than getting another woman in a ridiculously low cut dress. Why do these actresses keep working with David O. Russell? I genuinely think he might be a pervert. I think I saw every inch of Amy Adam's body at one point or another in this film.

Chain Smoker

The Miracle Worker
Well this was a pleasant surprise! Some really physical scenes, it had all the uplifting stuff you'd expect but it really didn't back away from how daunting of a task it was, how.. unrewarding (?) a lot of it seemed. The whole thing was performed that I can't imagine a film being able to do post-Tropic Thunder.

Valley of the Dolls
Really bad, the only so bad it's funny bits were the repeated deadpan delivered lines about f*gs.

Suspiria
Pretty bad in loads and loads of ways but brilliant in almost all the ways it needed. I gather the score is divisive but I thought it was ****ing great to be honest, can see it not working at all at home though.
Wish I saw it when I was 4, **** would've blown my mind; I'll make my kids watch it.



I also was at work for 10 hours today, pretty productive day!

Tony EH

Chain Smoker wrote: »

Suspiria
Pretty bad in loads and loads of ways but brilliant in almost all the ways it needed. I gather the score is divisive but I thought it was ****ing great to be honest, can see it not working at all at home though.
Wish I saw it when I was 4, **** would've blown my mind; I'll make my kids watch it.

A real marmite film if ever there was one. I like it, but I can certainly understand people who either find it laughable, stupid or plain boring.

The score, though, is brilliant and part of its dubious charm. Although I like a lot of Goblin's scores for those Italian horror flims from the 70's/80's. Listening to a YouTube mix right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQejiArD608

charlie_says

Didn't like that Suspiria at all, although soundtrack did redeem it from me turning it off. Also the promise of lesbian ballerinas (spoiler: none unfortunately) keep me going.

Just didn't date well at all and the fake blood looked like ketchup.

Must check out Amer for a more modern sexy take :-)l

Easca Peasca

The Jungle Book (2016)

A live action remake of Disney's 1976 classic. A number of big names lent their voices to this one, including Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murry and Christopher Walken.

First off, I know it's a kids film but the OH was mad to see it (secretly, so was I :pac:). I'm usually skeptical when it comes to remakes but I felt this one did the original version justice. It was of course heavily reliant on CGI but it was smooth from start to finish. Came across as a film that was really aiming to live up to its predecessor, no corners were lazily cut.

When songs like "the Bare Necessities" and "I wanna be like you" came on, it really made it clear that original Disney films are absolute treasures.

A nice modern twist on a classic, it always had huge shoes to fill. 7/10 from me.

cowboyBuilder

Deadpool

wow what a dissapointment that was - some funny moments but overall complete crap.

People give Batman v Superman a hard time but it was way better then this junk.

SeantheMan

10 Cloverfield Lane

I really enjoyed the claustrophobic feel it had, nothing like the previous Cloverfield film...on a spiritual successor in name.
3 people in an underground shelter, outside is a 'possible' doomsday scenario.
1 of the 3 wakes up in the shelter after being rescued from a car crash, the owner won't let her leave...so she doesn't know if said situation is real or not.

Chain Smoker

Orlando
Oh dear, not very good is it?
Haven't read the book but I imagine it's one of those "unfilmable" books. Wouldn't be too surprised if it's actually quite faithful to the source material all the same, feel like it could have been a lot bolder than it was, it had the perfect lead to work with. The feminist message of the film felt fairly dated too, in a way that I honestly wouldn't expect a book by Virginia Woolf to so I'm putting that on the director.
Shocking ending too, shhhhocking. It was at a cinema where everyone applauds every ****ing film that ends, they applauded the 35mm screening of Radiohead's new song between films a few days ago, but the ending was such a bag of ****e here that it got total silence.

Only Lovers Left Alive
I hated this when I saw it in cinema a few years ago, mostly because I actually loved the hell out of it and was annoyed with myself over that. Some horrific dialogue ("there's Jack White's house"?), silly characters, everything involving John Hurt's character... Jarmusch at his most pathetically Jarmusch-esque throughout; shaking my head in embarrassment throughout at some of the ****e in it.
...and yet, ****, it might be my favourite of his films! It's mostly pretty gorgeous looking, hiddlestone delivers some of the grumpy moany lines in a way that successfully unearths their humor, Mia Wasikowska is a source of energy that's a perfect balance to everything else going on, it's a fun fun film. The score's pretty ****ing great when you can let go of the way they hype all the music in the film.

briany

The TV Set (2006)

David Duchovny stars as a Hollywood writer who is in the process of trying to get his TV pilot approved, filmed, and commissioned as a series, while trying to stand up to the corporate machine trying to alter his work for maximum commercial potential, as well as dealing with difficult actors and other people associated with the production.

If you have seen and liked stuff like Living in Oblivion and the BBC comedy, "Episodes", then you'll like this, I think. Really funny to watch Duchovny's character slowly hating life more and more as he fights all these little battles to keep his creative vision intact. Sigourney Weaver stars alongside him as the ruthless TV exec who's bent on making the show into something that she sees as selling.

briany

SeantheMan wrote: »

10 Cloverfield Lane

I really enjoyed the claustrophobic feel it had, nothing like the previous Cloverfield film...on a spiritual successor in name.
3 people in an underground shelter, outside is a 'possible' doomsday scenario.
1 of the 3 wakes up in the shelter after being rescued from a car crash, the owner won't let her leave...so she doesn't know if said situation is real or not.

I really liked this film but I

would have preferred a more ambiguous ending.

Harry Palmr

The Green Man (1956) Dir Robert Day (but mainly Basil Dearden in fact)

Alistair Sim plays a cunning assassin who's big job takes an increasingly chaotic turn in this adaptation of a stage farce. Very enjoyable but Sim was brilliant just for being alive. Good turn by George Cole as the Vacuum cleaner salesman who inadvertently becomes the hero of the hour and 20 minutes.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) Dir Martin Ritt

John le Carre's early hit novel gets an appropriately downbeat treatment with Richard Burton and Claire Bloom both excellent, as is Cyril Cusack. Oscar Werner alas is more of a problem or rather his clipped diction through a thick accent is. Its quite hard to make out some of what he says, fortunately a lot of the pertinent material is re-hashed during the tribunal scene where the big twist is revealed The ending feels a bit rushed in truth. Filmed at Ardmore Studios with the Wicklow mountains standing in for East Germany.

Chinatown (1974) Dir Roman Polanski

What can one say? The most glorious depiction of golden age Los Angeles yet put on film, perfect set and costume design, John Alonzo's cinematography is sublime as are the performances and the dialogue. The story, inspired by real events in pre-war LA remains as pertinent as ever. It starts quietly enough in true private eye yarn fashion but builds through several increasingly fraught revelations to a climax which had me holding my breath. That this film only won one of its 11 Academy nominations isn't a case of crass stupidity, just bad timing - it was the year of Godfather Part II.

budgemook

Harry Palmr wrote: »

The Green Man (1956) Dir Robert Day (but mainly Basil Dearden in fact)

Alistair Sim plays a cunning assassin who's big job takes an increasingly chaotic turn in this adaptation of a stage farce. Very enjoyable but Sim was brilliant just for being alive. Good turn by George Cole as the Vacuum cleaner salesman who inadvertently becomes the hero of the hour and 20 minutes.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) Dir Martin Ritt

John le Carre's early hit novel gets an appropriately downbeat treatment with Richard Burton and Claire Bloom both excellent, as is Cyril Cusack. Oscar Werner alas is more of a problem or rather his clipped diction through a thick accent is. Its quite hard to make out some of what he says, fortunately a lot of the pertinent material is re-hashed during the tribunal scene where the big twist is revealed The ending feels a bit rushed in truth. Filmed at Ardmore Studios with the Wicklow mountains standing in for East Germany.

Chinatown (1974) Dir Roman Polanski

What can one say? The most glorious depiction of golden age Los Angeles yet put on film, perfect set and costume design, John Alonzo's cinematography is sublime as are the performances and the dialogue. The story, inspired by real events in pre-war LA remains as pertinent as ever. It starts quietly enough in true private eye yarn fashion but builds through several increasingly fraught revelations to a climax which had me holding my breath. That this film only won one of its 11 Academy nominations isn't a case of crass stupidity, just bad timing - it was the year of Godfather Part II.

I preferred Chinatown to Godfather part 2

B.A._Baracus

Just watched Buster (1988) on BBC there.
Phil Collins is good in the role and it's quite an enjoyable movie for the most part. It's just that when

he goes on the run to mexico

the movie goes down hill.

The Black Oil

Burn After Reading

I recall wanting to see this due to the trailer. It's got a top drawer cast. Whilst I laughed a few times, I found it rather underwhelming. One the Coens' lesser efforts.

ButtersSuki

The Ladies Man yet another DVD from the vaults that I bought many years ago but never watched until last night. Based on a Saturday Night Live skit, it's your usual SNL ensemble cast production (along with a very short cameo from Julianne Moore). Lee Evans doing his (awful) American accent also features, as does Will Ferrell. It's mildly amusing at best, it's really a sketch stretched over 90mins, which is far too long for the weak material. If you like SNL stuff, you'll possibly like it, if you don't - avoid! Tiffani (Amber) Thiesen appears at the end for a few scenes, and she looks amazing in that way that only she can - if you know her you'll know what I mean! Good soundtrack though. 4/10.

MilesMorales1

Everybody Wants Some! was awesome as ****. On the one hand, I agree with Kermode's review that these are the kinds of people I actively avoid, i.e the Jocks, but in the context of the film I found them highly enjoyable to watch, although I can't say I warmed to any of them, as in they were all pretty unlikeable. At the very least, it doesn't over rely on 80s references and what not for novelty purposes (not unlike boyhood) and it doesn't try to make the jocks appear more likeable than they were or may have been in Linklater's own life, as their retrograde attitudes about women seem pretty bizarre to our modern sensibilities, at least mine anyway. But yes, very enjoyable.


I also saw Chef in the week. Which was the first movie I saw on my unlimited cinema pass, either that or Cold In July, I forget. Still a good movie, Real solid performance from the entire cast. Its trite, predictable, basically fluff, but its very enjoyable, shot well, looks nice, and made me hungry. Interesting cameos from RDJ and Scar Jo as well.

But more importantly, I saw Green Room! Which is the best movie I've seen all year by a country mile and you need to go see it right now. Fantastic performances, sickening violence though never gratuitous, tension that'll have you on the edge of your seat, and a narrative that strips down the typical siege movie, and a pitch black sense of humour. Highly recommended.

Chain Smoker

The Blair Witch Project
Saw this film around the time it was a constant punchline and, to my surprise, I loved it.
Was expecting to be a bit disappointed on rewatch but, no, it's ****ing great! It's really relentlessly edited in a way that I imagine most found footage films aren't (not that I've seen many), I imagine it's heavily improvised and they figured out how to structure it in post production? Makes really good use of the switching between the ****ty quality color video and relatively decent quality monochromatic film.
Only thing I might possibly complain about is that they didn't need that interview at the start that explains

exactly what's going down at the end.

Liam McPoyle

Chain Smoker wrote: »

The Blair Witch Project
Saw this film around the time it was a constant punchline and, to my surprise, I loved it.
Was expecting to be a bit disappointed on rewatch but, no, it's ****ing great! It's really relentlessly edited in a way that I imagine most found footage films aren't (not that I've seen many), I imagine it's heavily improvised and they figured out how to structure it in post production? Makes really good use of the switching between the ****ty quality color video and relatively decent quality monochromatic film.
Only thing I might possibly complain about is that they didn't need that interview at the start that explains

exactly what's going down at the end.

If you liked BWP the you should go out of your way to seek out The Poughkeepsie Tapes.

Its a mockumentary/found footage movie.

Aside from Cannibal Holocaust it my favourite FF related movie.

ButtersSuki

Thirteen Days Political drama dealing with the Kennedy administration's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Quite good performances all round from quite a good cast. The biggest failing it has is lack of consistency of delivery of the "Bwoston"/Massachusetts/New England accent - and not just by Costner. Despite that, I'd still give it a 7/10.

Chain Smoker

Saul T Nutzz wrote: »

If you liked BWP the you should go out of your way to seek out The Poughkeepsie Tapes.

Its a mockumentary/found footage movie.

Aside from Cannibal Holocaust it my favourite FF related movie.

The genre doesn't really appeal to me at all in general. Blair Witch succeeds for reasons other than its marketing campaign or relying on the found footage premise (specifically leaving the actors by themselves with the cameras and a general outline to figure a huge amount of it out themselves and showing as little as possible). It's a great example of what can be gained from treating your actors like total ****!

Really should check out Cannibal Holocaust though, if only so I'll get the endless references to it I seem to encounter.


I saw the Mother and the Whore there on Sunday, still thinking about it so I might write up more later but I was surprised how much of Linklater I could see in it at points. Really entertaining for the most part, it's kind of weird just how funny of an actor the boy from the 400 Blows became.

briany

Welcome To Leith (2015)

Documentary showing the attempt of one Craig Cobb, noted White Nationalist, and his attempt to take over the community of Leith, North Dakota (pop. 16) by buying up various disused properties and lots in the area and establish an all-white community as part of his "New Little Europe" project, creating severe antipathy with the locals.

Interesting documentary. Leith's a bit of a dump in the middle of nowhere, to be fair to the place, and as far as I can see the only thing that it had going for the Nazis is that it had dirt cheap real estate for sale. Cobb and his ilk come across just about as you'd expect. At times menacing and at times comical, like where one of his followers, a skinny disabled war veteran, does a big theatrical sieg heil in the local community hall.

Chain Smoker

briany wrote: »

Welcome To Leith (2015)

Documentary showing the attempt of one Craig Cobb, noted White Nationalist, and his attempt to take over the community of Leith, North Dakota (pop. 16) by buying up various disused properties and lots in the area and establish an all-white community as part of his "New Little Europe" project, creating severe antipathy with the locals.

Interesting documentary. Leith's a bit of a dump in the middle of nowhere, to be fair to the place, and as far as I can see the only thing that it had going for the Nazis is that it had dirt cheap real estate for sale. Cobb and his ilk come across just about as you'd expect. At times menacing and at times comical, like where one of his followers, a skinny disabled war veteran, does a big theatrical sieg heil in the local community hall.

Thought that documentary done a remarkable job at presenting it all in an even handed manner, considering they were dealing with such total c*nts it was quite the achievement.

briany

Chain Smoker wrote: »

The genre doesn't really appeal to me at all in general. Blair Witch succeeds for reasons other than its marketing campaign or relying on the found footage premise (specifically leaving the actors by themselves with the cameras and a general outline to figure a huge amount of it out themselves and showing as little as possible). It's a great example of what can be gained from treating your actors like total ****!

There's a lot of very bad Found Footage films out there. It's a genre that lends itself to cheapness of production because you can basically shoot a film of this type on your phone or with a handheld camera and it'll have an authentic look. However when done right, as I think BWP was, they can hit the mark and hit it hard. I think that Blair Witch succeeds as a film because it's actually very atmospheric and there's a good amount of backstory that goes into the film, and this was provided in part by the promotional campaign which was, and remains, an interesting way to flesh out a film's plot.

To me, BWP is like Halloween in that it popularised a sub-genre and is a film that is often imitated but rarely duplicated, at least not in its execution of impact.