What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Chain Smoker

Carrie
Loved it, I'm not sure if it's baffling or kind of obvious that De Palma would just fall apart as he got older. He was obviously technically very solid but everything I've seen up to Blow Out (and I'd argue parts of Mission Impossible) are just dripping with enthusiasm which seems to largely carry pretty messy films.
Sissy Spacek (and the cast in general) push this one over.


Pretty in Pink
The best John Hughes teen film I've seen by a long shot, much more likeable characters than usual. Harry Dean Stanton's character is an underwritten nonentity and the ending's a flop but I honestly wouldn't have liked the original ending any more.

bnt

I watched the latest episode of Game of Thrones this afternoon, so I felt like I needed ... the opposite of Game of Thrones, basically. So I watched Inside Out, the Pixar animation about the things going on inside a girl's head. The imagination that went in to putting all that on the screen is frankly staggering. Followed by that bit during the credits, the one featuring the cat with cats in its head, one coughing up a hairball ...

johnny_ultimate

Love & Friendship - Great stuff from Mr Stillman here. A Jane Austen costume drama is actually ideal ground for the writer/director's sardonic, mannered wit. It's in a sense the costume drama for people who don't like costume dramas - completely aware of its own trappings and embracing the insanity of all the courtship shenanigans. It's super funny - Tom Bennett turns in one of the great comedic performances of recent times. But it's perhaps Kate Beckinsale who surprises here, if only because she's been most prominent in blockbusters for a while. She perfectly captures Lady Susan's conniving, arrogant nature but is so committed to the role and knowing of its absurdity that you're almost rooting for this horrible person. There's not a whole lot of visual nuance here - although the Irish old houses and streets acquit themselves well, and the production designers do a good job making it look more expensive then it was - but it's witty and charming and very much a Whit Stillman film. Loses a bit of steam towards the end, but a lighthearted pleasure all-in-all.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul - Sometimes you watch a classic film and just get that unmistakable sense of the 'real deal'. Fear Eats the Soul is my first Fassbinder film, but it won't be the last (and not just because I got the Blu-Ray as part of a deal with Tears of Petra von Kant). Completely clicked with me - the casual formal brilliance of the whole thing; the sensitive, nuanced performances; the way the narrative and characters shift gear in the third act to properly complicate the dialogue Fassbinder is having with the audience. It's beautiful, compassionate filmmaking that really had me hooked from beginning to end.

Harry Palmr

Death Wish 3 (1985) Dir Michael Winner.

My brain was hurting by the end. Its as stupid as it was cheap with the worst vicious gangs since 50's B movies. Much of it was filmed in London with some establishing shots of NYC to make it look vaguely authentic. The last 20 minutes are just hilarious. I can only assume Martin Balsam, in a supporting role had a tax bill to pay.

ButtersSuki

I'm in bed and too tired to write longer reviews, but here's what I watched this weekend:

Dear Zachary Tragic, sad and ultimately partly preventable tale. I've often heard irt described as one of the best/most i pactful/saddest ddocumetaries ever. It's good, but not quite at those levels IMO. Still, a 7/10.

God Bless America Darkly comic critique of modern American culture, starring the lesser known of the Murray brothers (i.e. not Bill). It reminded me of Falling Down meets American Psycho meets Leon - and I mean that in the best possible way. 8/10.

Here's a snippet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A-Km9zvFao

Del.Monte

Watched "Sunburn" 1999 on YouTube last night.

You'll enjoy if you're a Cillian Murphy fan - it was his first lead role and even then he had star quality. Coming of age movie set mainly in New York. The movie opens in Dublin when, to escape the results of a 'one-night stand', Murphy joins up with a group of other Irish students heading off to the States for a working holiday. Entertaining - 7/10

Noise Annoys

Canadel wrote: »

Dazed & Confused ~ Alriiight Alriiight Alriiiight...

9/10. Masterpiece.

Yes, it is.

Unfortunately the same can't be said about 'Dazed & Confused II' aka Everybody Wants Some!!

It was always going to draw comparisons with Linklater's earlier film, but it really falls far short of the quality of Dazed & Confused. The major problem for me is that most of the characters are unlikeable jocks. At least in D&C there was a mix of personality types, here we just get boorish wise-cracking jerks. And the lead character is just a blank pretty boy. His relationship with the (only real) female character in the film is boring and drippy. There's no chemistry there at all. In fact, the women in this film are simply reduced to prey for the guys, in contrast to D&C where there were many significant interesting female characters, e.g. Marissa Ribisi's 'Cynthia'.

The music is pretty excellent throughout, although I was suspicious about some of its accuracy - were white boy jocks really that into disco music (even if it was just to get girls) and were metalheads listening to SLF's 'Alternative Ulster' in Texas in 1980? Hmmm

Duggy747

The Witch

Proper misery of a film that's nicely crafted and realises it's Puritan setting so well. The bleak tone, slow-burning story and dialogue are great but the film fell quite short of the hype based on the rave reviews from so many.

A psychological horror but one that feels like it's carried more by it's production and soundtrack than it's actual subject and themes such as female empowerment which felt a little flat to me.

We have rabbits so shots of the hare were quite funny to us, especially since we have a rabbit that always looks very angry and evil when she stares at people so the one in the film seemed quite friendly in comparison :P

A well-made film but one I'd temper expectations with based on the praise it's been given, it doesn't stray too far from the horror formula but it's also not a film that relies on gore or "GOTCHYA" tricks.

I do enjoy seeing Ralph Ineson in anything though, that voice could strip paint :pac:

Zootopia

Pretty funny animation with a lot of clever jokes among the mix. Best bit probably being the sloth scenes which I would've found funnier if I hadn't already seen the scene when they were marketing the film, but still good to see nonetheless. It has it's message but it's done tastefully without overly forcing it down your throat and making you sick with it's sweetness.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Leading up to The Nice Guys we gave this a watch since GF hadn't seen it. Very well written and enjoyable mad-cap flick with Downey Jr. & Val Kilmer.

NyOmnishambles

Finally for around to watching Ex Machina at the weekend after seeing it been talked about highly here over time

I very much enjoyed it, it is a plausible take on AI and how it might come into being and I can imagine Mark Zuckerberg having a similar basement/dungeon

Good performances all round and the movie is nicely shot and framed

Definitely worth a watch and a bit of a think about after

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I'm still attempting to do the "52 Films by Women" challenge this year. I am woefully behind, so in an attempt to catch up I watched 3 in a row.

Started with Somewhere written and directed by Sofia Coppola. Nothing happens, for 1hr37mins. NOTHING. It's supposed to be about a high profile actor who lives an empty life in the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, drinking and sleeping with anyone who offers and passing out and doing it all again. Then his young daughter has to stay with him for a few days and he realises his life is awful and blah blah blah. NOTHING HAPPENS. It's not even that it's a slow paced film it's that nothing is happening, NOTHING!

Moving on I watched The Voices directed by Marjane Satrapi. Ryan Reynolds is a guy whose pets talk to him and when he accidentally kills a woman he works with his cat wants him to keep killing. I thought this was a comedy at first but then it gets really dark and even a bit sad but is still weirdly funny at times. I enjoyed it.

This afternoon I watched The Lesser Blessed written and directed by Anita Doron. It's about a young indigenous boy, Larry, living in a very small rural Canadian town. He's got a "dark secret" and is a bit of a loner. When a new boy starts at school they become friends and as Larry starts drinking and doing drugs more his "dark secret" seems to get closer to coming out. It wasn't great, to be honest. I think the casting of the main character was pretty poor, he was rubbish, pretty lifeless and monotone. I think the character was supposed to be a little like that but it felt more like he just couldn't act.

So, bit of a mixed bag but 3 films closer to being slightly nearer to being on schedule

Hell in the Pacific 1968 - Lee Marvin is stranded on an island during WW2 along with a Japanese ship captain. Only 2 people in the whole film, and quite an interesting dynamic between the two. Nice music from Schifrin and some good scenes.

Liam McPoyle

Watched Where to Invade Next at the weekend, the newest Michael Moore documentary.

Interesting watch leaving aside his usual agenda. Its quite sad how much like America we are when you see how forward thinking some other European countries are.

Also watched Bone Tomahawk.

Slow burning but even though it clocks in at 130 odd minutes it didn't feel that long at all in comparison to The Revenant.

Part Western, part horror, its a decent watch, Russell is as watchable as always but the star of the show for me was Matthew Fox as Brooder. A complete wanker in it but extremely likeable for it. Lili Simmons annoyed me and how the ending played out made no sense whatsoever but its still worth a watch.

Duggy747

10 Cloverfield Lane

Really liked this up until the ending where it got far too silly for it's own good (

our fashion designer having now turned into a badass action hero taking down alien ships and going off into the distance to join the resistance...............come on.

)

John Goodman owned the film and reminds you just how much of a presence he has on screen, a great turn with a constant feeling of uneasiness about him.

Though I did think that he didn't look or sound too healthy before realising the film was made a few years back, he's looking far healthier these days fortunately.

MilesMorales1

Hologram For The King today. It was alright. Didn't really get the whole culture clash thing, and it wasn't that funny, and it didn't go into the other stuff nearly enough, the love story, the idea of stuff moving from America to China or whatever, transfer of knowledge or the idea of your man being a bit of a dick, or his personality. It was kind of empty in the end. Vacuous. Not unpleasant, but I doubt I'll remember it in a month or so.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Hotell written and directed by Lisa Langseth.

Alicia Vikander plays Erika, a young, successful and happy woman who suddenly suffers a trauma and finds herself unable to cope. She starts going to group therapy and after discussing with a few group members how sometimes she wishes she could just wake up and be someone else entirely for a day they decide to check into a hotel for the night and pretend to be completely different people. When it comes time to leave they decide to just keep staying in hotels for a while.

It's the kind of plot that I've seen done loads of times before, sometimes well, sometimes terribly cheesy and awful. Here it works really well. You can kind of predict where it's all going the whole time but you'll find yourself drawn into the characters problems and Alicia Vikander is excellent, as she always is.

I saw Langseth's first film, Pure, a while ago, also starring Vikander and it was okay but you could kind of tell it was a first film. With Hotell you can see how much she's developed as a writer and director between the two and I'm really excited to see the next project she's working on with Vikander and Eva Green.

jacksie66

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Chain Smoker

Emperor of the North Pole
It's a sign of how badly spoiled I've been lately that I was furious this was a 2K screening.
Really weird film, has a borderline laughable/unhinged notion of manliness and the hobo life, made a lot more sense when I realised Robert Aldrich directed it! Outside of Lee Marvin (and possibly Ernest Borgnine), no one seemed to be playing with the silliness and that was detrimental. Mostly fun once you could let go of the doubts over whether all of it was intentionally ridiculous or not (some had to be, some I'm less sure of).




There was a trailer for A Touch of Zen on beforehand and that film looked amaaaaaaaaazing, going to it at the weekend!

Duggy747

Overnight (2003)

Documentary that very closely followed the rise and fall of Boondock Saints director Troy Duffy from the very beginning.

I didn't realise just how huge of an opportunity this guy was given. A chance handed to him, a complete nobody, on a golden plate by Harvey Weinstein for the ability to direct and provide the score for his own $15 million dollar movie while being given a record-deal for his band.............unprecedented.

To be catapulted into Hollywood from nowhere and having the ability to mingle with big name actors and executives almost instantly would be a dream for most trying to get into the industry.

Then he just utterly destroys his prospects, burns nearly every bridge and salts the fúcking earth with his horrific ego and behaviour towards people and high-up people in Hollywood...............watching him act like he's the hottest thing in the industry to executives is just a sight to behold.

The fact that he thought he go against Harvey Weinstein is just hilarious.

Duffy literally thought he was better than everybody around him, success was only on the horizon because of him and he thought he knew better than people who were in the business for a long time.

Pissed away the opportunity of a lifetime most people will never get because he acted like a complete dickhead to everyone.

Chain Smoker

There's an Irish souvenirs shop near me here (I'm in the US atm), and there's a whole corner dedicated to Boondock Saints merchandise. Not sure whether he gets any money from that tat (don't think he got a penny from the Boondock Saints Blockbuster rentals success, but if he does he's making a mint from idiot Irish-Americans, I bet.
Never met anyone from Ireland who likes that film at all at all.



Also, for a smaller example of an outsider being gave a huge opportunity by Hollywood and it turning out badly, check out Operation Filmmaker http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/operation_filmmaker/

Essien

Money Monster.

Pretty poor stuff in fairness. Some idiot loses his life savings after a bad investment and blames everyone else. By the following morning he manages to infiltrate a TV station during a live broadcast and strap a bomb vest onto the host.

I assume we were then supposed to root for that idiot, I'm not entirely sure though.

There's a few nice little messages wrapped up in the silliness but ultimately it's a poor thriller without a shred of tension. At no point during this movie did I care about what might happen to any of the cast, I just wanted it to end.

fin12

Essien wrote: »

Money Monster.

Pretty poor stuff in fairness. Some idiot loses his life savings after a bad investment and blames everyone else. By the following morning he manages to infiltrate a TV station during a live broadcast and strap a bomb vest onto the host.

I assume we were then supposed to root for that idiot, I'm not entirely sure though.

There's a few nice little messages wrapped up in the silliness but ultimately it's a poor thriller without a shred of tension. At no point during this movie did I care about what might happen to any of the cast, I just wanted it to end.

Ya it looked pretty crap from the trailer.

13 hours the secret soldiers of bengazi 2016 I suppose you would call this a true story action film. Found it quite good and entertaining, pretty tense as it got going. Interesting to see the shambles in terms of reaction from the US government to an extremely critical situation. Its also kind of twisted how many locals died in comparison to the 'tragedy' of the US lives lost.

The Do Over 2016 Adam Sandlers latest flick. Have to say i laughed out loud many times during this. As comedies go the story was decent and definitely a fun way to spend a couple of hours.

Chain Smoker

Deleted User wrote: »

The Do Over 2016 Adam Sandlers latest flick. Have to say i laughed out loud many times during this. As comedies go the story was decent and definitely a fun way to spend a couple of hours.

Adam Sandler is doing a standup tour there at the moment with Rob Schneider and David Spade supporting him. It's supposedly to be promoting that film, but when the cheapest tickets are $80, that seems kind of weird.

Words cannot express just how strong of a masochistic impulse I had to go by myself. Sitting in a room of two thousand Adam Sandler fans laughing at real-life Rob Schneider repeatedly saying "You can do it!" to placate them as they impatiently wait for the Sands to wow them.
Talked myself out of it in the end though, thank god.

ButtersSuki

Chain Smoker wrote: »

Adam Sandler is doing a standup tour there at the moment with Rob Schneider and David Spade supporting him. It's supposedly to be promoting that film, but when the cheapest tickets are $80, that seems kind of weird.

Words cannot express just how strong of a masochistic impulse I had to go by myself. Sitting in a room of two thousand Adam Sandler fans laughing at real-life Rob Schneider repeatedly saying "You can do it!" to placate them as they impatiently wait for the Sands to wow them.
Talked myself out of it in the end though, thank god.

I saw Sandler do stand up once. He was 10 times funnier than I ever saw him be in a movie in fairness.

MilesMorales1

Teenage mutant ninja turtles 2 is one of those rare films that has no right to even exist, given how blisteringly painfully awful it was. It was a ****ing thief of two hours of my time, and even though I saw it for free, I want my money back. What a piece of vile loathesome ****.

Tony EH

You couldn't drag me to something like that.

What people see in that teenage turtles shite, I'll never know. Bizarre to say the least.

budgemook

Tony EH wrote: »

You couldn't drag me to something like that.

What people see in that teenage turtles shite, I'll never know. Bizarre to say the least.

I'd have a bit of an interest due to being a big fan of the cartoon in the late eighties / early nineties when I was about 10. Doubt I'll ever watch it though. Maybe some day down the line if it's on telly or something.

Tony EH

Oh sure, I know about its history. I first heard about it as a role playing game in the mid 80's. But, I was never able to understand the popularity of it.

One of those things I spose.

budgemook

Tony EH wrote: »

Oh sure, I know about its history. I first heard about it as a role playing game in the mid 80's. But, I was never able to understand the popularity of it.

One of those things I spose.

For 10 year old kids why wouldn't it be popular? Teenage. Mutant. Ninja. Turtles.

Tony EH

It's more the older people who still like it that's the worry.

:pac: