What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

david75

Fantastic Beasts and where to find them


What an odd film.

This was like the third or fourth film in a franchise in terms of tone.
No big punches or grab factor you'd expect in the first from a franchise. It's not bad. But just weirdly paced and depends too much on gags and vague connections to potter universe to get by.
Weren't even any remarakable performances to elevate it. It was just meh. Watch it but don't expect much.

Chain Smoker

Looper007 wrote: »

I think it's the same with Snowpiercer and Enemy too, yet to get any release on any format over here. Shame. The Immigrant and Snowpiercer both having a hard time with Harvey Weinstein meddling, supposedly he had the Immigrant down as his Oscar bait film of that year but after it's lukewarm debut in Cannes, he totally buried it. Shame as I think it probably has Cotillard best performance in a American film and could have had a Oscar nod for it. It's flawed and a bit overblown but it's a fantastic film that deserved a wider release.


Gray has directed some fantastic films, my personal favourite is Two Lovers, probably has Phoenix best performance in it. But The Yards is another personal favourite of his.

Yep, Gray is a guy who very clearly has a ****ing masterpiece in him if things pan out correctly. His better films tend to lean toward very limited mass appeal (or even significant niche appeal, Two Lovers isn't exactly gonna grab your Fincher/PTA/Lynch/insert-cool-director loving cinephiles) though and he needs a big enough budget. The Immigrant is a really interesting and distinct flawed mess of a film, I loved it personally. Would have loved to have seen it in a cinema



Still not willing to concede that Weinstein wasn't onto something with Snowpiercer needing an edit though

Decuc500

Looper007 wrote: »

I think it's the same with Snowpiercer and Enemy too, yet to get any release on any format over here. Shame. The Immigrant and Snowpiercer both having a hard time with Harvey Weinstein meddling, supposedly he had the Immigrant down as his Oscar bait film of that year but after it's lukewarm debut in Cannes, he totally buried it.

Obviously there's other ways to see these films but I bought all region Australian blu-rays of The Immigrant and Snowpiercer. Haven't watched Snowpiercer yet but I can't wait to finally see it.

Chain Smoker

Nanking
Okay, I really don't think it should be a criticism calling a documentary about this topic po-faced, and yet here we are. The move to have actors reading out extracts from people's journals fell really flat.
There's one story from a survivor that's amongst the saddest things I've ever heard though.

The Nice Guys
A Shane Black film.

Shallow Grave
Jesus, Ewan's bad in this isn't he? Did he only learn to act at all at all between this and Trainspotting?

The Decline of Western Civilization Part 1
Not as good as part 2, but Spheeris still manages to mine some great laughs. I feel as though she's responsible for everything good about Wayne's World.

Hail Caesar
Mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Eve's Bayou
Interesting directorial debut but bigly flawed. Could see someone loving it though.

MadDog76

Chain Smoker wrote: »

Eve's Bayou

Interesting directorial debut but bigly flawed. Could see someone loving it though.

One of my all time favourite movies ......... was never sure why though, can't put my finger on what I find so appealing about the film?

Chain Smoker

MadDog76 wrote: »

One of my all time favourite movies ......... was never sure why though, can't put my finger on what I find so appealing about the film?

Cinematography? It's pretty heavily stylised, didn't really do it for me but I could see it grabbing someone's attention in a big way.



Morris From America
Not as good as Chad Hartigan's last film, don't really have anything to say beyond that... uhm... I expected a bit more from Craig Robinson?

Sugarlumps

Into the forest - Ellen Page and yer wan from Westworld. Avoid like the plague.

pixelburp

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

A turgid and blatantly cynical sequel whose very existence comes down to the continued attempt to pick our nostalgia pockets; a film devoid of even an ounce of the cheesy charm & thrills the original film possessed, the source of which mostly belonging to Will Smith (in what was arguably his breakout role). He wisely passed on the sequel, so instead we're subjected to a parade of generic, B-list Hollywood lunks gurning against unconvincing CGI backdrops that contrived to make the film look worse than its 20 year old progenitor - say what you will about the 1996 film, it still holds up & looks great; the same cannot be said of Resurgence. Jeff Goldblum did his best, but even his oddball charm couldn't save things; if anything, he looked faintly embarrassed throughout, and who could blame him.

Bad enough to have endured the film in the first place, but what was a little frustrating was that there was an interesting, low stakes sequel that could have been made. Passing remarks in the first act were made about how Africa was left to fight a gruelling ground war against the remains of the original invasion; that sounded like a fantastic sequel! Yet instead, Roland Emmerich's involuntary compulsion towards CGI orgies of urban destruction insisted the better film involved Judd Hirsh fleeing a colossal UFO as it - literally - landed on top of planet Earth. I think Emmerich has finally shot his bolt with his sense of scale.

droidman123

Nine queens (2000) very enjoyable movie from Argentina.it tells the story of two conmen selling a rare stamp collection (nine queens) to a dodgy politician.it has twists and turns everywhere and keeps you guessing who is actually conning who for the duration of the movie.great cast and it's the type of movie that keeps you Interested for every minute and scene.highly recommended!

Noveight

The Hunter - 2011

Aussie flick starring Willem Dafoe. Available on Netflix atm.

A solid film all round, Dafoe himself is excellent in his role. Enjoyed it but can't help feeling that it ran out of gas near the end after a promising build up.

6.5/10, well worth a look.

ButtersSuki

Haven't been in here for a while as I'm buried knee deep in TV shows but watched David Brent: Life on The Road on a flight last week. I should state in advance I'm a huge Office fan (UK and even more so the US version), I liked Extras and I've watched all of Gervais' stand up DVDs. This however is just ok, it lacks the warmth and feeling the Office had and just appears sad at times, cruel at others. Gervais happily jumps between bully and victim in the Brent role, and whilst it has a few moments, they're more smirk than LOL. I now realise that Gervais needs Stephen Merchant far more than Merchant needs him. Without Merchant the writing lacks subtlety and nuance that Merchant's efforts bring (Hello Ladies for example). This was a tick box exercise for me in watching it; writing it appears to have been a similar exercise for Gervais. 5/10.

j.s. pill II

Hell or High Water (2016)

In a nutshell: Two boyos drive around rural Texas robbing banks (all of which are branches of the bank that foreclosed on their mother's ranch) with law man Jeff Bridges hot on their tails.

I really enjoyed this one. It ultilises a lot of Western motifs and landscapes but not in an overly hammy way (though what was rather hammy was the political message that was being half-heartily put forward). Superbly acted and just the right length.

Highly recommended


Also watched Arrival recently. In a nutshell: very disappointing - all the more so because I love sci-fi and I'm slightly in love with Any Adams. (I once watched Julia & Julia in it's entirety just because she was in it )

j.s. pill II

droidman123 wrote: »

Nine queens (2000) very enjoyable movie from Argentina.it tells the story of two conmen selling a rare stamp collection (nine queens) to a dodgy politician.it has twists and turns everywhere and keeps you guessing who is actually conning who for the duration of the movie.great cast and it's the type of movie that keeps you Interested for every minute and scene.highly recommended!

That's a cracker alright

Bus Boy

droidman123 wrote: »

Nine queens (2000) very enjoyable movie from Argentina.it tells the story of two conmen selling a rare stamp collection (nine queens) to a dodgy politician.it has twists and turns everywhere and keeps you guessing who is actually conning who for the duration of the movie.great cast and it's the type of movie that keeps you Interested for every minute and scene.highly recommended!

If you like Ricardo Darín you have to watch 'The Serets in Their Eyes'. Original Argentinian movie that won a load of awards.

droidman123

Bus Boy wrote: »

If you like Ricardo Darín you have to watch 'The Serets in Their Eyes'. Original Argentinian movie that one a load of awards.

Yes i seen that movie,fantastic!

Del.Monte

Just watched the 4 Bourne movies in preparation for No.5. which I'm expecting from Amazon shortly - can't wait! Following all that mayehm and as a bit of easy viewing I watched the 7-part "Fortunes of War" (1987) BBC TV series starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. Not bad, great cast and scenery but not a lot happens - multi award winning in its day. 6/10.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortunes_of_War_(TV_series)

The Hunted Freidkin directed Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro a kind of a cross between First Blood and The Fugitive its quite an entertaining chase down flick where Tommy Lee is hired by the FBI to track down a former soldier he trained. Some very good knife fights between the two, and its good entertainment for 90 mins

Rules of Engagement Another Freidkin flick with Tommy Lee again and Samuel L and Guy Pierce about a court marshall case in the army where US marines were called into a US embassy in Yemen that was under attack and innocents got killed when Marines returned fire. Again good entertainment for 90 mins without being outstanding.

Chain Smoker

Great World of Sound
Decent idea for an indie flick, carried by two great leads.

LIE: Long Island Expressway
Dano is great, otherwise it's meh

Barbershop 3
Bit disappointing, I like the first film a lot and this isn't close, I hate to admit it cos he's got some great albums and usually preaches good things, but common annoys the **** out of me.

Following Sean
kind of vapid Ross McElwee doc but somehow kept me pretty interested throughout, most likely cos they were hanging out super close to where I used to live. There was something very interesting about the lead guy they didn't fully tap into though.

Tickled
Tbh I think the episode of the dollop about it is more fun, but it's a fun documentary.

That Black Panthers documentary
It's grand, fairly straight.

Real Life
Definitely the closest Albert Brooks came to capturing his genius. Time has probably taken away from it a bit but it was a lot of fun.

This years Alex Gibney documentary
Another Alex Gibney documentary

Chain Smoker

Swiss Army Man
Didn't work at all tbh but I can totally see how it got made, the idea is actually really sweet and could've worked very well.

The Killers
aka the film where Ronald Reagan plays a bad guy, aka Ronald Reagan's last film.
He's a nonentity, one of those films where Lee Marvin plays a real Lee Marvin character and that's enough to carry it but only just.

johnny_ultimate

Chi-Raq - this film is an absolute bloody mess that doesn't come close to completely working, with many fundamental elements - not least its 'rap opera' dialogue and 'sex strike' plot - feeling half-baked or actively cringey. AND YET. It also feels like the OTT American satire 2016 needs - often funny, scathing and even analytical. Unsurprisingly for a Spike Lee joint it is actively engaged with issues of race & inner city violence, and in a way that feels urgent, even if his films lack the verve and surprise they once did. To be clear: Nobody will be mistaking this for a documentary or journalism, and plenty of its claims are exaggerated. AND YET.

Edge of Seventeen - This is a film inherently limited by what it is - a middle-of-the-road American coming of age drama. AND YET. It is what it is with uncommon nuance and intelligence. Kelly Fremon Craig's script is sharper than her direction, but the writing is more important here. Thankfully, while it shares DNA with the likes of Juno, the quirks and tweeness are much less pronounced. When you cringe, it'll mostly feel like its on purpose! The emotional substance of the film is endearingly messy, and

while the happy ending is frustratingly neat

the film is refreshingly honest and unromantic elsewhere. If it wasn't for Hailee Steinfeld - probably only her second really significant performance after True Grit? - it may have fallen apart, but she completely sells the material. A film with a limited purview, then, but one that impressively shines within its own limits.

The Unknown Girl - Undoubtedly underwhelming by Dardennes standards, but still a plenty engaging and assured moral fable from the brothers.

It's Only the End of the World - I have a personal bias towards films shot almost entirely in close-up, but sadly that prolific youngster Xavier Dolan fails to justify his artistic decision in a largely visually and dramatically tedious piece of work. Rare bursts of energy in flashback sequences and a capable cast do only a little to enliven a shouty story that does not overcome its theatrical origins.

Bus Boy

Going to watch 'Manchester By The Sea' today. Getting rave reviews.

johnny_ultimate

It is deserving of the praise and then some. Thread here about it: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=100947427

Bus Boy

Thanks Johnny. It was excellent.

budgemook

Where is Manchester By The Sea showing?

Chain Smoker

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Chi-Raq - this film is an absolute bloody mess that doesn't come close to completely working, with many fundamental elements - not least its 'rap opera' dialogue and 'sex strike' plot - feeling half-baked or actively cringey. AND YET. It also feels like the OTT American satire 2016 needs - often funny, scathing and even analytical. Unsurprisingly for a Spike Lee joint it is actively engaged with issues of race & inner city violence, and in a way that feels urgent, even if his films lack the verve and surprise they once did. To be clear: Nobody will be mistaking this for a documentary or journalism, and plenty of its claims are exaggerated. AND YET.

Yep, except I might be more positive about it all.

When Spike Lee goes completely unrestrained and nuts like this, he's ridiculously funny (see also: parts of bamboozled) and he gets an awful lot across in the midst of the chaos. He's made his perfect movie 27 years ago, this is the kind of **** I want from him now, along with his docs.

johnny_ultimate

budgemook wrote: »

Where is Manchester By The Sea showing?

Out in Ireland next month, think it's gone on release in the States over the last few weeks. I caught it over at the London Film Festival.

Chain Smoker

Author: the JT Leroy Story
Interesting topic I guess but the actual woman is a bit sad and extremely annoying, it's very difficult to get involved in it. I feel like people were very susceptible to this kind of insincerely dark bull**** around the turn of the century.
The extracts throughout the documentary were pretty ****ing awful.

Mackman

Trolls

Brought my daughter (4) to see this in the cinema and we both enjoyed it. She actually watched the whole thing.

It moves along at a brisk enough pace, the story was nothing new really, but it was really well done. And I though having it all in its own universe, i.e. not having trolls having a mad-cap adventure through New York, worked really well and was refreshing.

It had a nice message too, and delivered it without beating you over the head with it either. Overall quite enjoyable for a little kids movie.

Bus Boy

budgemook wrote: »

Where is Manchester By The Sea showing?

Caught it in Chicago.

Fysh

I caught Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Creepy last night, and thought it was a film of two halves.

The first half is a pretty good setup of a tense suspense story around a family's unsolved disappearance and an ex-detective who gets pulled back into the case by a colleague. In tandem to this is a storyline about the ex-detective's new neighbour, who behaves oddly towards him and his wife.

Unfortunately, in the second half it all starts to unravel - various scenes and plot developments just sort of happen, without feeling coherent, and in some ways all feel as though they are from different cuts of thr movie in which different elements were to be pushed to the foreground. Most significantly, the procedural element of the storyline is progressed by a succession of idiot ball moments across several characters building to a conclusion that is pretty woefully executed. Particularly galling is the fact that, having featured several logical leaps, Kurosawa felt the need to justify one transition from a scene in a house to arriving by van elsewhere with a snippet clearly filmed on a soundstage of the characters driving somewhere in the van, and done so cheaply it actually looks like they're all committing mass suicide by starting the van engine inside a locked garage. By the time this happens the film is so far into "And then this happens because why not" territory that it took me a good 30 seconds to realise it was just badly filmed rather than looking like that on purpose.

Pretty disappointing stuff, particularly considering the potential of the first half.