What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

ButtersSuki

Cracks on Blu Ray with Eva Green (swoon). Bought this on release as I didn't get to see it in the cinema (not sure if it was even released here tbh) and forgot about it until I went looking for something to watch this evening. Filmed mostly in Ireland (Wicklow, Meath and Dublin) though set in an English all girls boarding school it's the story of a teacher (Green) and her relationship(s) with some of her students. Can't really say any more without spoiling it but it's interesting, and beautifully shot. 7/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU2xyM_2jIE

Daft Punk Unchained also on Blu Ray. Have to confess upfront I'm a huge fan (so much so I even own Electroma :rolleyes:) so was really lookign forward to this. There's nothing really new in it if you're a real fan, but the interviews are interesting I guess. What's disappointing about it is that apart from a couple of snippets from old radio interviews, they don't feature themselves - but that's not really a surprise seeing as they've pretty much avoided the media since Day 1. One more for the casual fan or even those unfamiliar with the band. It's surprisingly short too :mad: 6/10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I3maTRmiYU

Del.Monte

Bought "Cracks" a good while back and really enjoyed it. A lot of it was filmed at my old secondary school which made it all the more interesting. Not recommended family viewing though.

ButtersSuki

Del.Monte wrote: »

Bought "Cracks" a good while back and really enjoyed it. A lot of it was filmed at my old secondary school which made it all the more interesting. Not recommended family viewing though.

Do you mean the building or the lake? I'm curious as to where the lake is if anyone knows? I though it was Lough Tay at first but then realised it couldn't be given the angles of the scenery behind the beach/diving tower. From memory it said Headfort (or maybe Kells?) in Meath and Redcross in Wicklow in the credits, was it?

MilesMorales1

Fishtank which was not only a no holds barred portrayal of a modern British council estate and all the hopelessness and despair so many of them manifest, it reminded me so much of where I grew up. Its main character of Mia is so obviously very badly damaged, and in need of help, yet unable to seek it, unable to take it when it does come, and that oddly reminded me of myself so much, it took my breath away.

The fact Mia is so willing to accept Connor as a father figure, as someone who actually takes an interest in her, instead of the apathy and hostility she receives from her alcoholic mother, and the fact the relationship progresses the way it does makes complete and total sense. Mia is crying out for love and affection, yet doesn't get much till Connor shows up.

The state of isolation and sadness Mia lives in, neglected by her mother, treated with hostility by people her own age, no school to go to, drinking all the alcohol she can, and nobody willing to help her, was a stark portrayal of this kind of life, arguably an indictment of that whole state of living in Britain, and Katie Jarvis is amazing as Mia. Not surprised to see it had such a low budget, they did a great job. Can't recommend it highly enough.

tricky D

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Do you mean the building or the lake? I'm curious as to where the lake is if anyone knows? I though it was Lough Tay at first but then realised it couldn't be given the angles of the scenery behind the beach/diving tower. From memory it said Headfort (or maybe Kells?) in Meath and Redcross in Wicklow in the credits, was it?

It is Lough Tay. The folly can be seen @~16mins in.

Bobby Baccala

The Propeganda Game

Saw this documentary on Netflix the other day so decided to have a go. Basically a Spanish film maker is granted access into North Korea and is shown around by a fellow Spaniard who works for the NK government. By far the most well shot documentary on North Korea I've seen as it wasn't a hidden camera job like most are but this meant that it was far easier for the Koreans to stage everything that was filmed such as the

Catholic mass scene

. Recommend giving it a watch but I'm left with far more questions than answers after it.

7/10

ButtersSuki

tricky D wrote: »

It is Lough Tay. The folly can be seen @~16mins in.

Are you sure? I thought that at first from the sand, but there was something about the depth of the background that made me think otherwise.

I'd love to go down there, even just once. Such a shame it's private land.

tricky D

Yep 100%. Checked with the film. Though there are some angles which suggest they shot from a platform out on the lake itself to somewhat remove the rocky mountain slope as a background. The folly is an exact match. https://theirishaesthete.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_5957.jpg

Snake Plisken

Snake Plisken wrote: »

Green Room:- Just finished watching and thought it was an excellent siege movie and a fitting tribute to Anton Yelcin he will be sorely missed as he was a fantastic actor! Nice to see Patrick Stewart do something you wouldn't expect him to do, it reminded me of Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13! The violence is pretty brutal and realistic! A solid 8/10

Thanks for the recommendation enjoyed it a lot.

Fingers Mcginty

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Cracks on Blu Ray with Eva Green (swoon). Bought this on release as I didn't get to see it in the cinema (not sure if it was even released here tbh) and forgot about it until I went looking for something to watch this evening. Filmed mostly in Ireland (Wicklow, Meath and Dublin) though set in an English all girls boarding school it's the story of a teacher (Green) and her relationship(s) with some of her students. Can't really say any more without spoiling it but it's interesting, and beautifully shot. 7/10

Amazingly haunting flick. Best I've seen in a long time. Thanks for the rec.

ButtersSuki

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation on Blu Ray. I was actually about to start rewatching The Bourne Movies in advance of Jason Bourne but when thinking of Jeremy Renner I realised I hadn't yet watched this. It's not awful in fairness. As with all of its predecessors it delivers the fairly standard MI formula; "impossible" operation to be completed, get the band back together, impressive stunts, hot woman, bad guy, double crosses and double double crosses etc. It has its pluses and minuses (+ = Sean Harris as the bad guy, - = Simon Pegg trying to hard, - = Cruise trying too hard to be funny in places). Couple of other observations on the Crusiemeister too:
1) he's looking very old these days, or maybe to say he's looking his age would be a better way of putting it
2) his nose appears to be getting bigger
Overall though it's entertaining in a popcorn way and it doesn't require much thinking! 6.5/10.

The Sunchaser 1996 - With Cimino's death yesterday wanted to check this out finally. Really enjoyed it, a cool story and feel good film about a wealthy doctor that gets kidnapped by a dieing 16 year kid who was in prison for murder. They set off on a spiritual journey and there is some nice character development along the way. Movie got panned by the critics at the time, considering some of the muck that comes out these days and passes for film making its great to watch little gems like this.

cowboyBuilder

Ex Machina 2015

Wow!
This one just blew me away ! - great film, fantastically filmed, eery mood, and great performance from Vikander

MilesMorales1

Now You See me 2 is a very enjoyable, well acted, but largely empty and fluff movie.

For one thing, after the first movie and this movie as well constantly hammering it into you about not believing what you see and constant misdirection and 'there's always more than whats on the surface' etc, its very difficult to believe any of the stuff that happens in a narrative sense, and its very hard to manufacture tension in a scene which we've already been led to believe isn't what we say and our characters are the smartest in the movies. There's also not a whole lot of character development, and while Lizzy Caplan does a great job with her role, it feels very much like her own joke in the movie about her being 'the female horseman' is pretty accurate. What's more, for a movie thats tagline is 'there's always more than whats on the surface' there really isn't in this movie, aside from some beating you over the head social commentary about rich people and lack of privacy blah blah.


But its very well acted, looks amazing, very enjoyable, so thats all good. The magic tricks still look and come across as amazing, even when the movie explains the tricks to you, especially the ones seen in the trailer, like Eisenberg's character making the rain go up. All the cast do a great job, even Daniel Radcliffe who I find hard to see as anyone except Harry Potter. And I was never bored.

So if it is disposable fluff, it was very enjoyable fluff, and I'd happily watch it again.

rufus_firefly

Please don't stop - doc about the band Aslan. As bland as their music.

johnny_ultimate

Taste of Cherry - Abbas Kiarostami was one of the greatest of all time, and Taste of Cherry capably illustrates exactly why. Formally peerless. Thematically & emotionally vibrant. A masterclass in both the close-up and the long shot. The way only he could film a conversation in a car, or even just the driver. If you've never encountered the Iranian master's work, now's the time to do it while his work is being so widely celebrated. Watch this, or Close-Up, or Like Someone in Love, or Ten... Just watch some Kiarostami. Farewell to a true cinematic legend.

The Deer Hunter - Hmm. A film of fleeting brilliance, but a less than convincing whole. There's certainly plenty of good here: the performances; the audacity of opening with a 45 minute chaotic wedding sequence; that Russian roulette scene and its manic, edgy intensity; Vilmos Zsigmond's near ageless cinematography (not the most formally complex of the era by any stretch, but impressively crisp and tactile); the elegiac deer hunting sequences that almost feel like they've dropped in from a different film entirely.

And yet, it felt like a film that took 185 minutes to make some incredibly obvious points. Sure, that opening is bold, but within minutes there's no doubt it's setting us up for a fall. The fall itself is unquestionably powerful in places, but also bordering on preposterous at times. The film's representation of the Vietnamese people & indeed conflict is dangerously lacking in anything resembling nuance, and beyond Michael the characters feel painted in broad strokes to make a big, obvious thematic point rather than be believable people. Cimino was confident enough to take his time, but not always certain what to fill the leisurely running time with.

The Deer Hunter, then, provokes a mixed response, as frustrating as it is compelling and not quite there compared to its enviable contemporaries.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - a pleasure. Loved its casually fluctuating tone, capably combining comedy, action and tragedy into something that just feels really, really right. Even the love triangle, such that it is, has a self-awareness that cuts right through any risk of sentimentality. At times the film is as indebted to Buster Keaton as it is to western tradition. Easily one of the most purely enjoyable works of the 'New Hollywood', if far from the apex. That said, it's fully aware of what it is, and has no illusions of being anything beyond a damn good time (and a light deconstruction of western tropes while its at it).

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finally got around to seeing Love & Friendship today.

Pretty good, very different from your average Jane Austen adaptation.

MilesMorales1

The Legend Of Tarzan is a weird film. It's absolutely dreadful, for a start, but its so weird. Not unlike I imagine will be a lot of people, my only previous exposure to Tarzan outside of a vague awareness that it was based on super old books, is the Disney film, which is a really good movie. This on the other hand is so far removed from that, and what made that film work, its a little bizarre. Not that it should copy the disney film I mean, or that they couldn't try a different interpretation of the character/story, just that it fails so badly, the comparison is inevitable.

When I saw on the internet a few days before I saw the film a comparison of it to Batman v Superman, I assumed that was a mildly humorous joke, but its surprisingly apt. A lot of what went wrong in BvS is also seen in Tarzan, its way too grim, way too dark, takes itself way too seriously, lacks almost any form of levity or lightness to offset the darkness and grimness, takes things that should be beautiful or awe inspiring and makes them ugly with an awful washed out colour palette, yuck.

The story assumes a certain amount of knowledge on the part of the viewer of the Tarzan story, which is fine, and involves Tarzan already living in England as a super rich lord having left the jungle and married Jane and is lured back to the congo by Samuel Jackson as an American trying to expose King Leopold's exploitation of the native people as slavery, and by a plot by the king's representative played by Christoph Waltz who needs to capture Tarzan for another tribe who hate Tarzan for some reason. It takes about 8 minutes of them being back in Africa before everything goes to ****, Jane gets abducted, and Tarzan has to rescue her.

Well, where to start. For one, what a weird film to try and be political, right? Are modern audiences supposed to be outraged at European colonisation of Africa? What message are they even trying to send, that colonialism was bad? Cos I mean, we all get that, and but I don't know if they expect people to care or what. The story is both boring, confusing, and yet lean. Giant obvious metaphors are rampant, Waltz uses rosary beads as a lethal weapon (hmm) before animals and natives rise up against the inhumane colonial Belgians, led by Tarzan and Jackson, respectively an incredibly white British person and an American.

The characters are bad. Alexander Skarsgård looks very physically imposing, granted, but he's a charisma vacuum of the highest order, and he hardly has any presence on the screen. Margo Robbie is an actress I really like and has charisma , but she gets shockingly little to do as Jane, and her and Tarzan have hardly any screen time together. The film tries to make a big deal out of her not just being a damsel in distress, but... she really is. Jackson and Waltz try their best, but Waltz is constrained by his role and the script, and never really gets to shine, which is strange considering how much success he's had playing utter bastards in films before. Jackson fares a little better as the comic relief sidekick with an ex military background, but again, his place in the story constrains him.


It all looks bad, specially after the jungle book, the looks of the animals was just bleh. The action is boring, and there's really not much of it, and hardly any of it looks good at all, calling back to aforementioned washed out palette WB seems to be so fond of. The pacing is bloody awful, which goes with how bad/infrequent the action is most of the time, stuff that I think is supposed to be impressive comes off as lame and limp.


So, The Legend Of Tarzan is awful, but its fascinatingly awful. Don't go see it though.

Del.Monte

Watched "The Quiller Memorandum" (1966) on YouTube last night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iveB1P_FPT0

Nice, atmospheric, slow moving Cold War thriller shot in West Berlin.

Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow and George Segal - what's not to like. 8/10.

MadDog76

Independence Day: Resurgence

Brought my son to see Independence Day, we wanted a Summer Blockbuster Popcorn Movie and that's what we got ........... it was exactly what I expected it to be so no complaints from us. I enjoyed the first one and I enjoyed this one too, my son loved it!
If I was to rate it based on the movie achieving what it set out to achieve then I'd probably give it 10/10, if I was to rate it by comparing it to Citizen Kane then I'd give it a generous 0.5/10 ......... it is what it is and you know (or you certainly should know!) what you're going to get if you go see it so go and enjoy it or just don't go if you know it's not for you, simples.

MilesMorales1

Did anyone else see the Absolutely Fabulous movie? Cos I feel like I was really missing a trick with it. Like, its not funny. Not at all. The celebrity cameos weren't funny, with the possible exception of Jeremy Paxman, and I didn't even recognise half of them till I came home and looked on wikipedia.

I mean I get the humour, given most of it was about as subtle as an arrow to the neck, but it was just like, nothing. Oh look, she's put a moustache on and pretending to be a man, ha ha. These two are awful people who spend too much on drink, how amusing. Oh these are running while smoking cigarettes, how... ugh. Honestly, nothing, not a single laugh, or snigger. Not one single good performance, no laughs, looks bad, bad script, its way too long, what a mess of a film.


I wonder how this will play, if it does, to non British audiences who don't get even the small number of cameos I didn't get. Hmmm.

quickbeam

^^ To be honest, I never got the love for the TV series either. Unlikeable people, where the humour came from them drinking too much and falling over. Never funny to me. Each to their own I guess, as it has a huge fan-base.

gucci

quickbeam wrote: »

^^ To be honest, I never got the love for the TV series either. Unlikeable people, where the humour came from them drinking too much and falling over. Never funny to me. Each to their own I guess, as it has a huge fan-base.

Ditto here, it screamed of a sketch that got carried away and somehow managed to get a few series from it? I recently stuck one or two on Netflix to see if maybe I was too young to actually get some of the humour first time around....nope!

pixelburp

Jackie Brown (1997)
The Hateful Eight (2015)

I watched both films in approximate tandem purely by coincidence. As an exercise in compare & contrast, the difference in style from the same director is so stark it really highlighted for me just how much Tarantino has gone off the rails in recent years. He's still an immeasurable talent as a director of moving images, but his scripts and sense of restraint has just fallen off a cliff.

Where Jackie Brown was smart, layered and mature in its swagger, Hateful Eight was adolescent, gratuitous and indulgent. The earlier film suggested an auteur really hitting a confident stride, rendering a complex, rich landscape full of interesting, human characters. A story of low stakes double-crossing and a soft, ageing romance. The Hateful Eight though was a cartoon, with nothing to say about any of its ... well, hateful cast. And given his spiky, aggressive public persona, his films now feel equally barbed and brazen: crude for the sake of it really, as if to challenge the audience 'go on, hate this'.

If that all sounds like a big rant mind you, it's only because below all the puerile nonsense there still remains one of the most naturally gifted directors in living memory. At first, 70mm cameras seemed like a wasted prospect for a film almost entirely set in a log cabin, a nostalgic affectation, yet if it was nothing else, the Hateful Eight was beautifully composed: every shot, every scene gorgeously framed, the wide lens used to give the audience a full vantage point of the conspiracy unfolding. If you want to understand what it is that makes cinema so dazzling to the eye, watch Tarantino at work. Just don't pay attention to what the characters are doing.

MilesMorales1

Mistress America is one of those films I don't want to gush about too much, but I'm probably going to, cos I absolutely loved it. I was entranced by it.

It's a comedy (a really funny comedy) about a young writing student Tracy (Played by Lola Kirke who is absolutely great) in New York who we see is clever and wants to do better and belong, but doesn't have the motivation to actually do anything about it until she meets her soon to be stepsister Brooke played by Greta Gerwig (who is even better) who as a free spirit, incredibly motivated, a bright light in an almost otherwise dull world depending on your perspective (Some people love her, some people seem to be turned off her, and Lola Kirke describes her as "Being a beacon of hope for lesser people is a lonely business." which describes the slightly darker, more complex side to her character.

Meeting her step sister not only gives a spark to Tracy's life, it also gives her the spark to write (a story called mistress america, ha) about her step sister in reverent but also critical terms, about her and her life, yet she's also utterly entranced by her, as most people we meet seem to be.

So, where to start. It looks absolutely amazing. New York looks absolutely amazing, and it gets even more exciting when Tracy meets Brooke. The music is bang on. The actors are all on point, every single one. Obviously Gerwig is the MVP but Kirke does a great job of hoodwinked Tracy, and her and Gerwig's conversations bounce off each other beautifully. It's not too long, which is always good. It's an interesting examination of the desires and delusions of modern millennials, and how far the world has moved on from the world they expect to find at university, and how sometimes there's no place in the world for certain kinds of people any more.

But more importantly, its a comedy, and its funny. I was laughing all the way through basically, smashed the six laugh test for me. Gerwig, Kirke, Cheung, Ling, they're all hilarious. It's a very talky dialogue heavy film, no slapstick, no stupid jokes about sex or whatever, its just funny dialogue and situations. And like I say, I loved it. I am in love with it. Best movie I've seen for ages.


"They were matches to her bonfire. She was the last cowboy, all romance and failure. The world was changing, and her kind didn't have anywhere to go. Being a beacon of hope for lesser people is a lonely business."

BorneTobyWilde

It was a beautifully unique film with a simplistic story . Leaves one with the feeling of wanting to see more ,to see how their lives progress.

Chain Smoker

Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine
Well, it's very nice, isn't it. Really a huge pile of nothing, and it's bland as hell... this is an extremely convoluted comparison, but it feels like the kind of lovey dovey documentary a teenage film character with aspirations of being filmmaker might show at the end of the school year near the end of the film

Jesus...
Lets try and do better: if Me from Me, Earl & the Dying Girl made a documentary about the Dying Girl after she died, it would tonally feel very much like this film.

Heckler

Sing Street.

As an 80's kid, schooled by the CBS and started playing music in secondary school this one ticked all the boxes.

Haven't seen Once but can see the similarities to Begin Again. But for all that a great feelgood film with a sound track that if you were there you'll love it.

Hokey in all sorts of ways but great.

8/10

ButtersSuki

Steve Jobs on Blu Ray. Have been meaning to watch this for a while having read a couple of books and seen a few documentaries/programmes on him. Fassbender delivers on the a$shole part of the character, but overall it isn't a convincing Jobs IMO. It goes too deep into certain parts of the story and ignores other important patches to its detriment. Despite being over 2 hours long it feel like it's only scratching the surface. It's not awful, but I don't quite see the hype tbh. 6/10.

Note: I'm also getting fed up with movies ending with supposedly uplifting pieces of music/songs by bland bands such as Coldplay. :mad::mad::mad:

Harry Palmr

Jagged Edge (1985!) Dir Richard Marquand

31 years! 31 years! :eek: Where has the time gone?! A Joe Eszterhas script before he became infamous for Basic Instinct and Showgirls though containing the same touchstones of clod-hopping melodrama, sudden revelations and sweary dialogue. Glenn Close is far too good for this stuff as is Jeff Bridges.