What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Del.Monte

"Shadows on our Skin" (1980) (75 mins) BBC Play for Today.

Watched this on YouTube tonight and was well pleased. Set in the mid-1970s, an atmospheric tale from the Troubles in Derry - shot on location. Based on a story by Jennifer Johnston.

Don't ask how it ever got shot on location in the poisonous atmosphere that prevailed at the time - only in Ireland.

14-year old Macrea Clarke - pictured below - had the lead role and was ably supported by Lise-Ann McLaughlin.




Summer 1979... Macrea Clarke and Paul O'Reilly pictured at Long Tower Primary School.

Some background here: http://www.derryjournal.com/whats-on/tv-and-film/recalling-shadows-on-our-skin-35-years-on-1-6125853

Give it a whirl if you like real drama - think "Kes" and transplant to Derry.

NIMAN

Watched Arrival the other night, very disappointed.

Fysh

I watched The Boy And The Beast over the weekend, and really enjoyed it - partly for the character dynamic between Ren/Kyuta and Kumatetsu, and partly for the way that the narrative structure didn't feel like the 3-act bildungsroman structure had been used as a stifling template. It's a welcome surprise when, an hour into the film, the focus shifts from Kyuta's training under Kumatetsu to Kyuta's desire to reconnect with the human world, and his efforts to catch up on everything he's missed by being out of school for most of a decade. One thing that made me laugh was

the "Ichirohiko is human" reveal, given that this is a character with no animal features, and who wears a hat with cat ears

.

darced

This post has been deleted.

BattleCorp

Jason Bourne

Brief synopsis. It's exactly the same as all the other Bourne films. The end.

Del.Monte

BattleCorp wrote: »

Jason Bourne

Brief synopsis. It's exactly the same as all the other Bourne films. The end.

If only! It's very poor in comparison to any of the others.

quickbeam

Sunshine on Leith - lovely. Just lovely!!

droidman123

The eyes of my mother (2016)
Nicolas Pesce debut as a writer/director and if this movie is a sign of things to come from him,I can't wait.its a gem of a movie.Some words I could use to describe it are,weird ass,disturbing,horrific,engrossing.quick synopsis,a girl and her parents living a nice life on a farm,the parents come to a tragic end and the girl grows up disturbed and extremely psychotic.theres not a lot of dialogue in the movie and it's filmed in black and white.i can't wait to see what pesce follows this movie up with.i left a fair bit out of the plot because it's hard to describe what happens without spoilers.definitely worth a look.
7.5/10

Del.Monte

Back to Irish research tonight and a DVD from my collection that I've been putting off months...



"Dead Long Enough" (2006)

A comedy - allegedly - but not that you would notice.

Shot in Wales and Donegal.

Two brothers on a 'Stag' break travel to a remote village in Donegal where they had a good time seventeen years previously. Old acquaintances are renewed, old lovers reappear and some stage Irish 'RA heads' and Gardai make up the rest of the entourage.

The plot is woeful, the acting worse, the humour virtually non-existent and some clever clogs thought recreating various scenes from John Hinde postcards would be really edgy. There's nothing to recommend this rubbish, but I have it ticked off and the DVD sold to a US buyer.

Three big fat turkeys are well deserved.

Canis Lupus

Miami Vice.

I LOVE this movie. I love the night cinematography. I love Farrell and Foxx being super serious. I love the guns and I love the soundtrack. This movie is my guilty secret pleasure.

Del.Monte

Came across this obscure Irish film on YouTube last night - "The Best Man" (1986) - a drama (described as a comedy) about alcohol, relationships and marriage in Norn Ireland. Shot in Derry and Buncrana.

I quite enjoyed it, but then I haven't got a problem with alcohol except not being able to afford it.

Nerdlingr

Watched "Lion" last night.

Its a first feature length film from Director Garth Davis, and it looks like the boy got skills! Thought it was excellent. Dev Patel plays an Indian boy who gets lost, adopted, ends up in OZ and tries to make his way 'home'. Strong performances all round. Only realized after Patel has been nominated for an oscar for this (best 'supporting' for some reason?). It's based on a true story so its definitely a film that hits you in the guts. Someone was chopping onions in the room with this one. Would thoroughly recommend. Such a sad state of affairs all the kids worldwide that fall between the cracks. Tempted to give it 9..but will settle for 8.5/10

buried

Suburra (2015)

Watched this Italian crime thriller last night and its absolutely brilliant. Dodgy dealings between the mafia, the Vatican and shady politicians erupts into all out mob warfare on the streets of Rome. Fantastically shot, great mixture of characters, great drama and intelligent, exciting action set pieces directed by Stefano Sollima (Gomorrah). Highly recommended, great watch for the weekend.

5 mob families out of 5

j.s. pill II

buried wrote: »

Suburra (2015)

Watched this Italian crime thriller last night and its absolutely brilliant. Dodgy dealings between the mafia, the Vatican and shady politicians erupts into all out mob warfare on the streets of Rome. Fantastically shot, great mixture of characters, great drama and intelligent, exciting action set pieces directed by Stefano Sollima (Gomorrah). Highly recommended, great watch for the weekend.

5 mob families out of 5

Very good show indeed. Thanks for the recommendation

budgemook

Del.Monte wrote: »

Came across this obscure Irish film on YouTube last night - "The Best Man" (1986) - a drama (described as a comedy) about alcohol, relationships and marriage in Norn Ireland. Shot in Derry and Buncrana.

I quite enjoyed it, but then I haven't got a problem with alcohol except not being able to afford it.

Did you previously post under the username Judgement Day?

NIMAN

Del.Monte wrote: »

Came across this obscure Irish film on YouTube last night - "The Best Man" (1986) - a drama (described as a comedy) about alcohol, relationships and marriage in Norn Ireland. Shot in Derry and Buncrana.

I quite enjoyed it, but then I haven't got a problem with alcohol except not being able to afford it.

Thanks for bringing back an old memory for me.
I am from Derry, and we were shown that film at school, I think as a warning about the effects of alcohol.

The main actor in it, Seamus Ball, lives near where I grew up, and still see him weekly out walking.

Written and directed by Joe Mahon, who presents Lesser Spotted Ulster programme on TV.

D'Agger

Hunger (2008)

Can't believe it took me so long to get around to watching this, as somebody who would consider themselves a Fassbender fan.

The dialogue scene with Liam Cunningham was on reddit midweek, single shot, 10min + conversation was brilliant and reminded me that I needed to watch this. As per usual with McQueen, a depiction that was very close to the bone. As stupid as this is going to sound, his movies are almost too real, they make you uncomfortable with thoughts of 'this happened and it was actually this brutal.'

Brilliant movie.

Tony EH

Yeh, have to give that another go soon. Remember really enjoying it when I watched it when it was first out.

Del.Monte

budgemook wrote: »

Did you previously post under the username Judgement Day?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz8RjPAD2Jk

budgemook

Del.Monte wrote: »

<snip>

I missed the obscure Irish movie posts from this forum

Fysh

I caught Hidden Figures last night and enjoyed it quite a bit - in that it has the hint of biopic to it, but manages to remain better and more interesting than many such films. The NASA/computing/engineering stuff is well-presented and pretty accurate as far as I could tell (no "Imitation Game" style guff here where they don't even bother finding out how to pronounce the names of the theorems they're mentioning), and reminded me of The Martian (no bad thing, since I really enjoyed that film).

The handling of the civil rights movement elements is generally strong, focusing generally on how it affects individuals who generally don't see themselves as particularly political but also highlighting the fact that the protagonists are up against institutional racism *and* sexism.

The visual effects are nice, with some good work going into fake aging effects for certain shots to allow better integration with the real footage from the era that was used.

Fingers Mcginty

buried wrote: »

Suburra (2015)

Watched this Italian crime thriller last night and its absolutely brilliant. Dodgy dealings between the mafia, the Vatican and shady politicians erupts into all out mob warfare on the streets of Rome. Fantastically shot, great mixture of characters, great drama and intelligent, exciting action set pieces directed by Stefano Sollima (Gomorrah). Highly recommended, great watch for the weekend.

5 mob families out of 5

Wow ....that was amazing!!!!

Chain Smoker

Dreamgirls
Pretty terrible. Beyonce's top billing is fairly baffling.
You'd've thought Jennifer Hudson would be a huge star from then on out, mind, she's out and out the highlight.

30 For 30: This Was the XFL
Whoa, didn't half go easy on Vince McMahon, did it? Bob Costas was the only person who seemed wholly honest in it.

Making of Do the Right Thing
Comes across like Spike Lee was teaching himself documentary film on the side while making one of the best films ever. Pretty good cinema verite style doc.

Observe and Report
Like a really bad Danny McBride project except he somehow managed to miscast himself

Tower
Yep, very good doc, worth the reviews. Takes a bit to get used to the delivery technique (rotoscope heavy) but it works and doubtless cost very little for what they got.

Client 9
Alex Gibney doc

Windy City Heat
Weird comedy central mockumentary (I think?), sleep deprived so I'm too tired to expand, but there was plenty that was hilarious, parts that seemed a bit mean and parts that made it very confusing to figure out which bits were legit.

Christine
Kind of pointless? Solid performance and all but there isn't really a film there (in this straight retelling at least)

droidman123

Filth (2013)
Good Scottish movie about a drug addled detective using all sorts of skullduggery to gain a promotion post.it's an extremely dark comedy with an emotional and sad ending.definitely worth a watch,and a great soundtrack as well
6.5/10

david75

John wick.
Action movies aren't my thing at all. But this was great. Stylish and mostly unpredictable.

Chain Smoker

Arrival
The more of these sci-fis with a focus on the emotions I see, the more I realise Interstellar was actually quite good. Bored the arse off me, this one, very emotionally hollow and lacking in suspense. Can only imagine how weak it would've been without an actor as good as Amy Adams in the middle.
Sat around at the end to see who the cinematographer was cos I was disappointing in the muddled and muted vision, finding out it was Bradford Young broke my heart a little

Hell or High Water
Pretty damn great, if anything it could've done with a bit more time to let the misery of the area sink in.

Old Yeller
Nowhere near as bleak as I was hoping

Beyond the Lights
Wayyyyy better than the utterly ****e synopsis would make you think, and I'm not sure why... good performances?

Always Shine
Caitlin Fitzgerald (Masters of Sex) and Mackenzie Davies (the Martion, Halt and Catch Fire) are cast perfectly to type, like, perfectly. Everything is laid on pretty thick in terms of the film's message but they're cast so well and the film is basically the two of them being really false around each other that it's grand
...until the twist (?) occurs, from then on neither of them works and I think that's part of its point but it results in everything being way too on the nose. I dunno, for a film that was hitting some really good notes regarding women in society as a whole and in film, it was really disappointing for the final third of the film to become this stupid 60s art house style nonsense.
Worth it for the first two thirds though, for sure.

George Harrison - Living in the Material World
The Beatles, despite being great and all, were remarkably boring people.
Scorsese, despite being great and all, is a remarkably boring documentarian.
Did a man whose noteworthy solo career achievements began in 1970 and ended in 1971 need a four-hour documentary?
this was no different.

Harry Palmr

Bullitt (1968) Dir Peter Yates

The film which now is only remembered for one thing and one thing only is in fact a pretty absorbing and low key, almost modern noir policer based around the conflict between law and order and political ambition as the title character is tasked to look after a mob informer before a Grand Jury appearance. The only weak aspect is the shoehorning in of a romantic interest who, this being the late 60s is also his conscience who makes the odd short speech to prompt Bullitt to get out of the game. Made as the Hays Code was replaced by the new rating system Warners were at the forefront of pushing the boundaries with films like Bonnie and Clyde, Dirty Harry, the Devils and Clockwork Orange, here the new attitude is in the depiction of violence which is graphic for the time - no simple small blot of blood here, it gets everywhere. The film currently is PG 13 in the states and had a AA (15s) in the UK at the time.

Jan_de_Bakker

Kill Bill Vol 1 + 2

Forgot how good these films were, I wasn't that pushed when I saw them 1st in the cinema years ago, but really enjoyed these two over the weekend .

Tony EH

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Bullitt (1968) Dir Peter Yates

The film which now is only remembered for one thing and one thing only is in fact a pretty absorbing and low key, almost modern noir policer based around the conflict between law and order and political ambition as the title character is tasked to look after a mob informer before a Grand Jury appearance. The only weak aspect is the shoehorning in of a romantic interest who, this being the late 60s is also his conscience who makes the odd short speech to prompt Bullitt to get out of the game. Made as the Hays Code was replaced by the new rating system Warners were at the forefront of pushing the boundaries with films like Bonnie and Clyde, Dirty Harry, the Devils and Clockwork Orange, here the new attitude is in the depiction of violence which is graphic for the time - no simple small blot of blood here, it gets everywhere. The film currently is PG 13 in the states and had a AA (15s) in the UK at the time.

IIRC, there's a particularly "post Hays code" shotgun blast that as a kid I remember thinking WTF? That's what shotguns do? :eek:

It's a pity that the only thing people remember about this film is the car chase - as good as it is. There's a bit more to it than that.

budgemook

The People vs Larry Flynt
Saw this when I was much younger and certainly did not appreciate it at the time. Excellent performance from Woodie Harrelson as Larry Flynt, especially during the second half of the movie, I really enjoyed Edward Norton's final arguments in court. In fact, all of the main characters were better in the second half I thought. I had to check who won the best actor Oscar that year (I've never seen Shine).

"why do I have to go to jail for your freedom" - sums the movie, and the point of it, up pretty well.