What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Chain Smoker

Pervert Park
Bleeeeeeeeeeeeeak
Well handled, only thing of possible concern is that they perhaps focused on the types who are more sympathetic (i.e. less awful and/or have more comprehendible causes).

Tony EH

'The Prowler'

7/10

Bog standard entry into the slasher sub genre, that's actually more entertaining than a lot of its kin. Apart from a wierd semi logic hole (why would the killer wait 35 years to start killing again?), it trundles along well and benefits from a decent "final girl" with some simple, but excellent and effective special effects from Tom Savini. The ending though... . Kid me knew this film as 'Rosemary's Killer', and I remember the video cover very well and also my inabiltity to actually rent it (due to the fact that we had no video player and I was way too young) Bizarrely, this ended up on section 3 of the conservatives "video nasty" list, which is remarkable given where we are now. 'The prowler' won't blow you away, but it's certainly worth a watch.

'The Shallows'

5/10

A neat concept let down by poor CGI, an unnecessary back story and a bad series of musical choices. Blake Lively stars as a surfer who runs off to a "secret" beach her dead mother used to visit before she was born. She gets attacked by a great white (of course) and has to combat the shark, blood loss, exposure and a rising tide. Inevitable comparsions with 'Jaws' will abound, but 'The Shallows' is an entirely different film altogether and Bruce would chuckle at the poor representation of a great white shark that's on offer here. However, the film isn't a disaster despite its very strong shortcomings. Lively is decent in the role, the tension is very well built and there's some very attracive underwater photography early on. By the final third of the film, unfortunately, things start to fall apart and the action oriented conclusion is a bad idea, very badly executed. A film that veers toward the good end of the average scale and worth a cautious look.

'Whoops Apocalypse'

4/10

1986 film based on the 80's TV show of the same name, 'Whoops Apocalypse' starts off as a good idea and then destroys it with a woefully unfunny SAS sequence featuring Rik Mayall. For the most part it consists of entertaing satre on the Falklands, featuring genuinely comic moments. It's never laugh out loud, but there are some sniggers to be had, in a sort of "snorty" way. The most fun I got from it was seeing a lot of well known faces pop up, such as John Sessions, Michael Richards, Lorretta Swit, Alexi Sayle and the aforementioned Mr Mayall. Probably, the most entertaining chatacter was Peter Cook's Prime Minister, who's interesting cure for Britain's high unemployment problem and solution to the impending nuclear doom were the highlight's of the film. A sum of its parts, it's difficult to completely trash and it sort of works in a Monty Python "hit and miss" kind of way.

'12 Angry Men'

10/10

A bunch of pretty unlikable characters (even Henry Fonda's character isn't terribly nice) are set in judgement on a possible teenage murderer. The case the jury sits to judge serves as a backdrop to the prejudices of the day, which are sadly all too present in modern times too. An ensamble cast with everyone at the top of their game, so it's difficult to pick outstanding turns. But, a brilliant Lee J Cobb and Jack Warden nudge just ahead. Probably the best film of its decade, if you've never seen this, do yourself a favour.

'Sully'

4/10

Extremely flat and ultimately disapointing telling of Capt. Sullenberger's forced water landing on the Hudson in Jan 2009 and the subsequent inquiry (where the NTSB is presented as an unlikely villain) into whether he could have, instead, made it to LaGuardia and landed there. There's a strangulated effort to attempt to pull some drama out of the post landing events and even the actual landing itself seemed very low key. Tom Hanks is perfectly fine in his role, as is everyone else involved, but there's just not enough story to fill 90 minutes. An odd choice for a Clint Eastwood film.

'31'

1/10

Yet more evidence that 'The Devil's Rejects' was probably a fluke. Rob Zombie's '31' is, at times, an incredibly inept piece of filmmaking, filled with annoying characters and a stupid storyline (which tries to channel 'The Most Dangerous Game') that outstays its welcome with incredible speed. The acting is terrible throughout, even from veterans like Malcom McDowell and Meg Foster (who looks like one of Greg Nicotero's zombies now). Very hamfisted in many places, it's impossible to truly enjoy.

'Bad Day at Black Rock'

10/10

If '12 Angry Men' is the best film of the 50's, the John Sturges' 'Bad day at Black Rock' is a very close second. The tension builds gradually and very well as we follow Spencer Tracy's one armed man in his investigation into a sorry episode in the one horse town of Black Rock, where they inhabitants hide an awful secret. There's brilliant support from Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin. A short, straight forward, film that does what it needs to do.

ButtersSuki

Knee deep in TV boxsets (actual physical copies no less!) at the mo. but caught a few movies too recently that I haven't commented on yet:

Snowden It's all a bit meh tbh though in fairness I think I've read and watched too much of the subject matter to be able to view this completely subjectively. It's by no means bad or awful, and Joseph Gordon Levitt does a good job portraying Snowden. It's not amazing either however, and given the subject matter it could have been much more interesting. You'd likely get more out of watching one of the documentaries that exist on him and the subject matter instead. 5.5/10.

Sully I wondered how they'd stretch what's essentially a couple of minutes of an event into a movie and I was wight to wonder. This (despite Tom Hanks presence) has a real "made for TV' vibe about it; throw in Eastwood's "USA! USA!" schmaltizness and it's really a bad idea all round and I left think why did they bother? Oh and the NTSB scenes are absolutely farcical. 3/10 (largely for some of the special effects and flight scenes).

War Dogs Interesting story (based on actual events), entertaining telling of it and good performances from the leads (Miles Teller and Jonah Hill). The story itself is a real WTAF? story, and there's a few head-scratching and LOL moments too. Easy on the brain entertainment. 7/10.

Noveight

The Woman In Black

Horror flick starring Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe. Really enjoyed this. Thought Radcliffe was good in his role. The story moved at a nice pace and there were some proper eerie scares.

Solid 6/10, worth a watch on Netflix.

j.s. pill II

Noveight wrote: »

The Woman In Black

Horror flick starring Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe. .

That reminds me, last week I watched Imperium (2016), also starring Harry Potter. I meant to post up a quick review but I just plain forgot. My forgetfulness, on this occasion, is actually quite indicative of the film itself as, it is very forgettable indeed. Herr Potter plays a bespectacled young FBI agent who is charged with infiltrating a Far Right group. A lot of well worn tropes from the undercover genre but with none of the tension of say, Donnie Brasco and absolutely none of the raw power of American History X.

It is watchable and not without its merits but certainly not going to be a late entry to any best films of 2016 lists.

One thing I will commend the film for is for not trying to shoe-horn in a romantic subplot (no girlfriend to nag him about getting too caught up in his work and no sexual tension with any sassy female partner). In fact, I don't think any attractive young women have speaking parts in this film. How strange.

Heckler

The Magnificent 7.

Very poor. Made the ultimate movie crime of just being boring.

No need for a reboot.

Del.Monte

Currently I'm stuck between watching a pile of DVDs that I need to watch for research purposes and getting back on Netflix, and this has lead to search YouTube for some light relief.

Sadly this evening it was not to be as I wasted 90 minutes watching an appalling WW.II. movie "Hell in Normandy" (1968) starring Guy Madison.

Dire acting, no real plot, poor continuity and badly dubbed. Hard to believe that rubbish like this ever saw the light of day. There is just so much wrong with the movie that it's impossible to critique. but perhaps it would be useful to anybody that has aspirations to becoming a director/actor/cameraman.... -10/10 if that's possible.

Tony EH

Directed by Al Bradley me arse. More like Alfonso Brescia! Who cashed in on the Star Wars craze in the late 70's, with the likes of 'Battle of the Stars' and 'War of the Planets'.

There's loads of these Italian WWII "Macaroni Combat" flicks floating around. If you have the stomach, check out 'Five for Hell'. I remember that being laughable too.

At least it had Klaus Kinski in it.

Chain Smoker

Nuts
Takes a crazy real life story and between straddling an awkward line between documentary and ugly animated dramatisation (which fills in a lot of gaps), it manages to be infinitely less entertaining than just reading the dude's Wikipedia.
Listen to the Dollop episode 62 instead, covers the same story without all the bull**** that drags it down here.

janis joplin doc
Typically blah biography documentary deal.

Harry Palmr

Tony EH wrote: »

Directed by Al Bradley me arse. More like Alfonso Brescia! Who cashed in on the Star Wars craze in the late 70's, with the likes of 'Battle of the Stars' and 'War of the Planets'.

There's loads of these Italian WWII "Macaroni Combat" flicks floating around. If you have the stomach, check out 'Five for Hell'. I remember that being laughable too.

At least it had Klaus Kinski in it.

Kinski would make any old shi'te in the 60's 70s! Movies4Men shows quite a few of these continental war films which were clearly made for half nothing and are quite unwatchable.

Del.Monte

Watched another horror tonight - "Warhead" (1977) aka "Prisoner in the Middle". when it was released for television.



The late David Janssen plays David Janssen - what else - and makes an unlikely American agent parachuted into the Middle East to defuse a US nuke that accidentally dropped into the desert. A cast of 'no hopers' - including Janssen - blunder through the desert killing each other with our hero being the last man standing. The Arabs are portrayed as vicious, cruel rapists that spend their time molesting sheep, while the Israelis are shown to be intelligent people with real feelings and tears. Disgusting stuff altogether.

Unsurprisingly it was the first and last movie to be directed by John O'Connor whose only previous experience seems to have been in two uncredited roles in two minor 1945 productions.

So far off the scale of bad that even negative points cannot be awarded.

Tony EH

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Kinski would make any old shi'te in the 60's 70s! Movies4Men shows quite a few of these continental war films which were clearly made for half nothing and are quite unwatchable.

Oh, I agree completely. My "at least" is facetious.

Kinski's back catalogue is a litany of cinematic sins, with a few shining examples of quality.

Chain Smoker

Sully
Bit surprised with this one, watched it looking for a film with conservative politics as I was very aware of the criticisms it received. Quite liked it tbh, Tom Hanks carries the film but the whole film is about his internal stress.
The criticisms of it vilifying the NSFT aren't unfounded but they are overstated, if they had cast someone other than Baldy McVillain as the main antagonist and toned down the dramatic license at a point or two (and it's hard to even say Eastwood done this as a political move rather than a I-only-direct-mainstream-films-and-need-to-find-clear-moments-of-drama-somewhere move), it would've been totally fair.

Tom Hanks though, Christ, easy to forget how great he is.


Chef
I'm probably not the first person to ponder whether it's ironic that this film is so bland considering its message


Little Sister
I dunno, I totally dug the setting but everything else didn't work for me. It felt very close to working throughout.

Fysh

I saw The Wailing and mostly enjoyed it, but the more I think about it the more I think it's a possibly great film hiding in a merely pretty good one. It's a bit over-long, in that what happens in it doesn't really need almost three hours in which to happen, and the third act sort of unravels into a mess that doesn't really fit together coherently.

It did manage a very unsettling and insidious sort of mood throughout, so I'm glad I watched. I'll be waiting for a faneditor to polish it up come home release time, though.

Fr D Maugire

Tony EH wrote: »

'The Prowler'



'12 Angry Men'

10/10

A bunch of pretty unlikable characters (even Henry Fonda's character isn't terribly nice) are set in judgement on a possible teenage murderer. The case the jury sits to judge serves as a backdrop to the prejudices of the day, which are sadly all too present in modern times too. An ensamble cast with everyone at the top of their game, so it's difficult to pick outstanding turns. But, a brilliant Lee J Cobb and Jack Warden nudge just ahead. Probably the best film of its decade, if you've never seen this, do yourself a favour.

'

'Bad Day at Black Rock'

10/10

If '12 Angry Men' is the best film of the 50's, the John Sturges' 'Bad day at Black Rock' is a very close second. The tension builds gradually and very well as we follow Spencer Tracy's one armed man in his investigation into a sorry episode in the one horse town of Black Rock, where they inhabitants hide an awful secret. There's brilliant support from Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin. A short, straight forward, film that does what it needs to do.

Two of my favourites. Fantastic movies.

What I have watched.

Star Wars: Rogue One

Just watched today, very different in tone from the main franchise. Enjoyable without being amazing. Kinda falls between being a Star Wars movie and a proper war movie which could be considered its weakness.

Guns at Batasi (1964)

Trying to clear my SkyBox backlog. Thought this was a WWII movie but actually set in Africa as a colony transitions to independence from Britain. Having been reading a book on Africa so tied in nicely.

Richard Attenborough plays the stereotypical stiff upper lip English Sergeant Major who puts his best foot forward to lead his men when the natives in their regiment stage a coup at their base.

Pretty decent with an excellent performance from Attenborough as the disciplinarian Sergeant Major. A beautiful young Mia Farrow also features.

ButtersSuki

Hell or High Water Possibly the best film I've seen this year. Excellent performances as usual from Jeff Bridges and Ben Foster (why isn't he more famous and in more lead roles?) and a breakout performance from Chris Pine, who up to now I have to admit to dismissing largely based on his looks (and from memory only seeing him in Horrible Bosses 2). Modern western tale, it has a lot of nods to No Country for Old Men, but for me is a much better story adn ultimately, movie, than it. 8.5/10

bnt

Finally got to see Planet Terror: holy cow. :eek:

ButtersSuki

bnt wrote: »

Finally got to see Planet Terror: holy cow. :eek:

Is that a holy cow of approval or disbelief, or both? for me it's best appreciated when watched as the directors intended back to back with Death Proof and all the fake trailers. Saw it/them when they came out. Marathon session but worth it IMO.

bnt

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Is that a holy cow of approval or disbelief, or both?

Both. Some of the humour is really out there e.g. what happens to Fergie is a "no-brainer". Then there's what happens to Quentin Tarantino's character ...

tunguska

Its a wonderful life

This was on in the light house tonight, I've never actually seen it so off i went to finally right a wrong. And it was magnificent. The cinema was full and everyone burst into applause at the end. Kind of a magical christmas evening.

Liam McPoyle

tunguska wrote: »

Its a wonderful life

This was on in the light house tonight, I've never actually seen it so off i went to finally right a wrong. And it was magnificent. The cinema was full and everyone burst into applause at the end. Kind of a magical christmas evening.

Watched the colourised version Sunday evening with the missus. Its her favourite Christmas film and it was my first time seeing it in full (the last attempt was in the ifi about 3 years ago and I fell asleep)

Its a brilliant movie, Stewart is outstanding in the lead, Potter is a perfectly detestable villain, there are very few movies with such heart at the root of them.

Just a lovely, lovely film and one that I cannot wait to share with our kids when they are old enough.

Tony EH

'Silkwood'

6/10

Fairly entertaining, but ultimately unappealing drama about Karen Silkwood, a nuclear plant employee who acted as a whistleblower to the AEC about her companies' dangerous work conditions and lack of concern for dodgy materials. Her death under, possibly, suspicious circumstances acts as a hanging conclusion. A great performance by the "best actress of her generation", Meryl Streep, is supported by a functional Cher, Craig T. Nelson and Kurt Russell in post 'The Thing' mode. There's also a whole host of "oh there's that guy" actors playing background characters. Worth a look.

'Hell or High Water'

8.5/10

One of the best films of 2016, that few people have heard of. Why this died at the BO (relatively speaking) is a bit of a mystery. It's a great little film, excellently acted - even by Chris Pine, who I have little time for - with an interesting and tight story. It goes a little ballistic at the end, but remains forgivable and there's another brilliant turn from Jeff Bridges.

Harry Palmr

The Train (1964) Dir John Frankenheimer.

How many times have I watched this now? Must be half a dozen by now. Easily the best philosophical argument disguised as a WW2 thriller about how to stop a train leaving France for Germany ever made. Burt Lancaster is so watchable he's completely believable as Labiche and he also did some of his own stunts. Albert Rémy, Paul Scofield and esp Wolfgang Preiss are excellent as well.

learn_more

The Shining (1980)

9/10

I had only ever seen snippets of this film in the past on TV and finally got round to watching it in full, the remastered HD version.
It surprised me in that it wasn't simply a scary movie but one that has hidden meaning, which one could only understand by reading up about it afterwards. It was scary though but in a sinister way. Jack Nicholson performance in this move is probably the best from him I've seen. Fantastic flick.

bnt

Don't hate me ... but Notting Hill (1999) was on TV the other day, so I recorded it and watched it tonight. It had been so long since I'd seen it that I'd forgotten how much of a prick Hugh Grant was. I also caught up on the movie trivia in IMDB, and learned such factoids that Hugh was openly critical of Julia Roberts, saying he didn't like kissing her large mouth ... what a plonker. Look at their respective lives and careers 17 years on, I think Julia got the better deal, and hasn't become "some sad middle-aged woman who looks a bit like someone who was famous for a while".

I appreciate some of the attention to detail in the movie e.g. there are multiple scenes set in one day that starts with Hugh unable to find his glasses, so he goes to watch a movie wearing a prescription diving mask. Many scenes later, it's all gone pear-shaped, but he hasn't forgotten the mask. The bus he gets on is the correct one for the route he needs to take: the N52 from Central London that goes through Notting Hill. The film-makers could easily have fudged such a little detail.

Del.Monte

Harry Palmr wrote: »

The Train (1964) Dir John Frankenheimer.

How many times have I watched this now? Must be half a dozen by now. Easily the best philosophical argument disguised as a WW2 thriller about how to stop a train leaving France for Germany ever made. Burt Lancaster is so watchable he's completely believable as Labiche and he also did some of his own stunts. Albert Rémy, Paul Scofield and esp Wolfgang Preiss are excellent as well.

Right up there as one of the greatest WW.II. films ever made. And by a country mile the most realistic railway movie ever made. And being shot in b+w just adds to the gritty, realistic atmosphere and I hope that there's never a remake. There was a good colour clip on YouTube video of the making of the film, which is fascinating in itself, but the negative difference colour would have made is immediately obvious. John Frankenheimer directed another classic "Ronin" in 1998 and it contains surely one of the most exciting car chases in movie history?

The making of the train is gone off YouTube but is available on DVD from eBay.fr here: http://www.ebay.fr/itm/DVD-LA-PASSION-DES-TRAINS-N-33-LE-TRAIN-FAIT-SON-CINEMA-EDITIONS-ATLAS-/281603302677



I have the DVD and can positively recommend it.

Heckler

Do Not Resist

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5557976/?ref_=nv_sr_1

A documentary about the militarization of american police. Found it quite interesting. Seeing the police in armoured trucks and tooled up like they're in iraq on the streets of american cities is on the one hand quite shocking but on the other makes them looks faintly ludicrous.

Not a bad watch.

Harry Palmr

Alan Partridge - Alpha Papa (2013) Dir Declan Lowney

Just great!

Gwynplaine

Manhunter. Very good movie. Hannibal is only in for 5 or 6 minutes. Gil Grissom is so young in it.

Heckler

Always watch it at Christmas.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099487/?ref_=nv_sr_3

Edwardscissorhands. Visually stunning, despite speaking about a couple of hundred words Depp nails it and its an FU to suburban conformity.

When Burton gets it right its fantastic.

Danny Elfmans score is fantastic too.

10/10