What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

mewe

I, Daniel Blake
Essential viewing I would say. 10/10 for me.

Arrival
I really enjoyed this. Nothing mindblowing or anything but I liked the way the story was told. Good cast all round but this ones all about Amy Adams really.

Moonlight
I thought Moonlight was very well made but I can't say I enjoyed it that much. I would say the first half of the film grabbed me but felt it didn't really go anywhere and by the end I was disappointed.

Fysh

The Greasy Strangler

Well, that was absolutely barmy. I loved every minute of it - the weird, uncomfortable dynamic between the characters; the bizarre conversations; the inspired lunacy that was most, if not all, of the costume department's contribution to the film (seriously, that spotlight scene!); the storyline overall and in particular I adored the music, which complemented the tone of the whole demented thing just perfectly. (Oh, and Michael St Michael looks like what I imagine a cranky 20-years-older Thomas Haden-Church will look like, which is a bit weird given how, er, much of him we see throughout the film...)

I imagine it's an absolute Marmite film, but if the idea of, say, Napoleon Dynamite crossed with Father's Day appeals, you're in for a treat.

cmac2009

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

Absolutely brilliant and a fantastic soundtrack as well. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

gucci

Suburra is on Netflix (UK anyway) for those who may be keen, I have it on my watchlist and will consume it pretty soon.

mewe

I watched it last night and thought it was a very good watch aswell. Cheers buried for the recommendation.

Nerdlingr

Moonlight.

Watched it last week. Average enough i thought. Don't know why its getting rave reviews all over the place, maybe because of the subject matter

black, male and gay

. But the story isn't that great. Does it really say anything? I 'enjoyed' the middle part more. Maybe because the actors actually spoke to each other and it dealt with a struggle, both inside and out. the rest of it ?? Just long, comfortable silences where people stare at each other... which seems nowadays to equate great acting! Does anyone have conversations in real life like this? People in a kitchen just staring at each other , not saying a word??? Didn't buy the

drug dealer with a heart of gold at the very start either. Breaking down when the boy gets up from the table when he figures out he's selling drugs to his mother?? come on!!

It was well shot but story or acting wise - apart from the middle kid - naaaah, not happening. 3.5/5

GreNoLi

david75 wrote: »

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

Saw it last night, thought it was very mediocre.

Watched The Shooting last night a 1966 western, not a massive western fan but I do enjoy them every now and then. This I wouldn't say was a typical western at all and I'm surprised I haven't seen it before now as it was most certainly my kind of movie. Up there with the likes of Shane in terms of you don;t have to like westerns to enjoy them. Also I hate Jack Nicholson but thought he was great in this.

Harry Palmr

Deleted User wrote: »

Watched The Shooting last night a 1966 western, not a massive western fan but I do enjoy them every now and then. This I wouldn't say was a typical western at all and I'm surprised I haven't seen it before now as it was most certainly my kind of movie. Up there with the likes of Shane in terms of you don;t have to like westerns to enjoy them. Also I hate Jack Nicholson but thought he was great in this.

Monte Hellman never made a standard film in his whole career it's fair to say. Two Lane Blacktop is usually considered his masterpiece.

Passion 2012 Dir Brian De Palma

A cheeky number about machinations in an advertising agency involving studiously mannered glossy young women (as you'd expect) and wayward older men this is a remake of the French film Love Crime. It reads like a 94 minute homage not to Hitchcock but De Palma himself, with the sort of twists and turns that might annoy anyone who isn't familiar with his style ticks. The lush score is by Pino Donaggio as usual. That this was put together with financing from about half a dozen European companies tells you where De Palma is the scheme of things now, which is a pity.

Noveight

Men, Women and Children (2014)

A group of high school teenagers and their parents navigate the many ways the Internet has changed their relationships, their communication, their self-image, and their love lives. Starring Ansel Elgort, Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner and a few more familiar faces.

Watched this on recommendation from a friend and found it pretty good. Nothing overly groundbreaking, but Reitman took a modern approach to dealing with modern issues.

It's on Netflix Ireland atm. Worth a watch. 6/10.

4Ad

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

Thanks for the advice..Great film, very gritty at times and few twists at the end..
Thanks again..

The Black Oil

Rounders

AKA Good Will Gambling. A dry run of Ocean's Eleven for Damon. Pretty aimless and average. Pass.

Frank O. Pinion

tunguska wrote: »

Collateral beauty

This has been getting a tonne of sh1t in the press. Total bomb in the states and an RT score of 13%. So I shouldnt have touched this with a barge pole, but yet i still i found myself sitting in screen 5 in rathmines on one of those christmas days when there aint much else to do but go see a movie. And im glad i did because i liked this, its most definitely not worthy of all the derison its recieved. Yes the screen play needed to be tighter, a lot tighter. And at times it doesnt know if its a drama or a comedy. But that aside at its heart there is some good stuff going on here and it is genuinely moving at times. I can see why its been given crap reviews, but for me personally it did hit me in the feels and if a film does that then its job done.

Kunkka wrote: »

Watched half of Collateral Beauty in the cinema on Wednesday. I can't remember the last time I left a cinema before a movie had ended but this was absolutely awful. So many good actors in it too.... it was like they were convinced to star in this after a conversation in a bar. Avoid at all costs, I normally would at least google an unknown movie before booking but I thought with the 5+ star actors that it would be at least decent... awful!

I guess there wasn't a thread for Collateral Beauty. I've seen 101 films from 2016, and this is THE worst. Shocking that a film so emotionally retarded could even be made in the first place. It's insipidly bad. Every second of this worthless crap is worse than last. The actors looked like they wanted to vomit saying their lines. What were Will Smith or Edward Norton thinking when agreeing to this.

Tony EH

Appropriate Adult

6/10

Mildly absorbing two part drama dealing with social worker, Janet Leach, who was assigned as the titular "appropriate adult" to Fred West during his arrest and interviews with the Gloucestershire police in 1994.

The standout element of the roughly 2 hour running time is Dominic West (The Wire) who captures Fred West's creepy menace and general insanity. Rose West features much less in the film, but when she's on screen she's no less horrible and the part is capably handled by Monica Dolan.

Thankfully, when the focus shifts away from West toward Leach, things don't dull down too much. This is in no small part due to Emily Watson, who handles her role pretty effortlessly and the scenes of her own less than ideal home life contrast to horror of the West's crimes.

However, the film doesn't delve too deep into these crimes and, some what, wisely chooses to remain fixed on the relationship between Leach and West, helping to eliminate a sensationalist approach. But, it remains very dry in places and the West's crimes can be kind of obscured and unclear.

'Appropriate Adult' also feels like it has an awful lot left on the cutting room floor. There's a distinct aura about the final product that suggests a much more had been shot, but sacrificed to attain a comfortable running time for TV. As such, it feels a lot less weighty than a film about such monster should.

jh79

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals

Blu-ray from 88 Films, Uncut and Uncensored for the first time in the UK / Ireland

Great transfer.

The movie is a mix of soft porn and cannibal film. Cheesy clunky dialogue, good soundtrack, bad acting and some nice gore. I loved it.

8-10

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

I guess there wasn't a thread for Collateral Beauty. I've seen 101 films from 2016, and this is THE worst. Shocking that a film so emotionally retarded could even be made in the first place. It's insipidly bad. Every second of this worthless crap is worse than last. The actors looked like they wanted to vomit saying their lines. What were Will Smith or Edward Norton thinking when agreeing to this.

You see stuff like this makes me want to see it, call it morbid curiosity! I'd prefer a review saying simply that it's meh and not worth watching. The 1 star review I read on The Guardian, and what you are saying here, actually probably means I'll give it a go at some stage!

BattleCorp

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

I guess there wasn't a thread for Collateral Beauty. I've seen 101 films from 2016, and this is THE worst. Shocking that a film so emotionally retarded could even be made in the first place. It's insipidly bad. Every second of this worthless crap is worse than last. The actors looked like they wanted to vomit saying their lines. What were Will Smith or Edward Norton thinking when agreeing to this.

I'll have a guess.

$$$ for about 5 minutes work.

jcsoulinger

BattleCorp wrote: »

I'll have a guess.

$$$ for about 5 minutes work.

I'd say Will Smith perceived it as a film that may garnish him with an Oscar or at the very least a nomination, The film ended up being garbage though which is probably what he deserves as he is just not a very good actor.

Frank O. Pinion

BattleCorp wrote: »

I'll have a guess.

$$$ for about 5 minutes work.

Yes, but the terrible reception and box office of the film might hurt Will's future paychecks. I mean, his next film is a Netflix film.

Speaking of Netflix, first two films I've seen from 2017 are both from Netflix...

Girlfriend's Day (2017)

I watched this for Bob Odenkirk, but it's just an average film, with an uneven tone, running only 70 minutes.

I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore (2017)

Great little comedy thriller, starring Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood, written and directed by Macon Blair (the film is similar to Blue Ruin and Green Room, which Blair starred in). If you're unsure of the film at first, stick with it, it's unpredictable with some great twists and turns. I really enjoyed this.

Bowlardo

The seven five on netflix ireland. crazy what they got away with.
Sour grapes on netflix ireland. crazy what they got away with.
Amanda Knox on netflix ireland. crazy what she got away with?
Anthropoid Solid slow decent ending but lacked something. worth a watch
La La Land looks lovely, sounds lovely, lovely ending. The multiple oscar nomination has caused a back lash but it well deserving of all the nominations.

Jan_de_Bakker

Raiders of the Lost Ark 4K remastered in the cinema !

Awesome, the sound was amazing ... the map room scene was incredible, hairs standing on the back of my neck ..

delighted I got to see it on the big screen.

Liam McPoyle

The Story of Ricky aka Riki-Oh

I finally updated my grainy old region 3 DVD to a shiny new blu of this Manga inspired classic.

Set in a dystopian society it tells the story of Ricky, a nice guy with inhuman strength and physical abilities who ends up in a privately run prison.

The prison is run by a corrupt governor and 4 ruthless criminals known as the gang of 4.

Ricky enters the prison and basically sets about cleaning it up, one bad guy at a time.

I first read about this back in the latish 90s in Bizarre magazine who absolutely raved about it. When I got credit card and an eBay account I managed to track it down.

Its tremendous fun, id liken it to a cross between Peter Jacksons Brain Dead and a kung fu movie.

It is ridiculously violent however I should say the violence is very cartoonish, one scene involves someone attempting to choke his foe with his own intestines for example.

While it has aged a little bit, its still a huge amount of fun, the governor is suitably dislikeable and Ricky makes a great hero. Its pure cheese but very very enjoyable cheese it is.

jh79

Rod Munch wrote: »

The Story of Ricky aka Riki-Oh

I finally updated my grainy old region 3 DVD to a shiny new blu of this Manga inspired classic.

Set in a dystopian society it tells the story of Ricky, a nice guy with inhuman strength and physical abilities who ends up in a privately run prison.

The prison is run by a corrupt governor and 4 ruthless criminals known as the gang of 4.

Ricky enters the prison and basically sets about cleaning it up, one bad guy at a time.

I first read about this back in the latish 90s in Bizarre magazine who absolutely raved about it. When I got credit card and an eBay account I managed to track it down.

Its tremendous fun, id liken it to a cross between Peter Jacksons Brain Dead and a kung fu movie.

It is ridiculously violent however I should say the violence is very cartoonish, one scene involves someone attempting to choke his foe with his own intestines for example.

While it has aged a little bit, its still a huge amount of fun, the governor is suitably dislikeable and Ricky makes a great hero. Its pure cheese but very very enjoyable cheese it is.

What's the transfer like ? Heard it is poor enough, put me off buying it.

Liam McPoyle

jh79 wrote: »

What's the transfer like ? Heard it is poor enough, put me off buying it.

I thought it was excellent tbh, sound etc was 100%.

This is the version I got.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00T3FUJ9A/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488401943&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=the+story+of+ricky&dpPl=1&dpID=51nSkKir8RL&ref=plSrch

run_Forrest_run

The Conjuring 2 - I had a great laugh watching the first installment in the cinema, the reactions of people around me made it one of the most enjoyable and hilarious trips to the cinema ever.

This one did well in reviews but it's another laugh riot if you ask me, I have far too many questions and issues with it to even bother taking it seriously. Enjoyable but too long.

Tony EH

'I Am Your Father'

5/10

Interesting only from the point of view that it goes some way to making a case for absolving David Prowse of his "wrongdoing" during the making of the Star Wars saga and his subsequent status as a Lucasfilm persona non grata.

As the story goes, Prowse gave away the familial status of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker between the end of 'Star Wars' and the making of 'The Empire Strikes Back' by leaking the info to the press and was then subject to the wrath of George Lucas.

David Prowse has always maintained that it wasn't him that spilled the beans as he didn't actually know that snippet of information, even when he was mouthing his lines in 1979, which were "Obi-Wan killed your father". His first time hearing the infamous line (and title of the documentary) was when he saw the finished film in 1980.

The documentary also delves into Prowse's past as British bodybuilding champion and his "anti-Darth Vader" role of The Green Cross Code Man that people of a certain vintage may remember. Lastly, it contains an extra and completely unnecessary "reshoot" of the famous unmasking section from 'Return of the Jedi'. This time with Prowse in place of Sebastian Shaw, who was hired to replace him in 1983 for that specific scene.

Prowse, now in his 80's, comes across as a man who genuinely was thankful for his Star Wars opportunity and perhaps felt a bit slighted with the fallout he was part of during the making of the films, but who has long since come to terms with it and he continues to make some form of living from the convention circuit, even if he's banned (quite unfairly) from the major Star Wars events.

Elsewhere there are interviews with other people involved with Star Wars and others that not part of the production. Interestingly, one of these interviews is with a reporter from the newspaper who's story revealed the father/son dynamic prematurely, who states that it was a crew member from 'The Empire Strikes Back' that fed them the leak and not Prowse, which begs the question that if Darth Vader, himself, was unaware that he was talking to his kid, how did this crew member know?

Tony EH

Tony EH wrote: »

Appropriate Adult

6/10

Mildly absorbing two part drama dealing with social worker, Janet Leach, who was assigned as the titular "appropriate adult" to Fred West during his arrest and interviews with the Gloucestershire police in 1994.

The standout element of the roughly 2 hour running time is Dominic West (The Wire) who captures Fred West's creepy menace and general insanity. Rose West features much less in the film, but when she's on screen she's no less horrible and the part is capably handled by Monica Dolan.

Thankfully, when the focus shifts away from West toward Leach, things don't dull down too much. This is in no small part due to Emily Watson, who handles her role pretty effortlessly and the scenes of her own less than ideal home life contrast to horror of the West's crimes.

However, the film doesn't delve too deep into these crimes and, some what, wisely chooses to remain fixed on the relationship between Leach and West, helping to eliminate a sensationalist approach. But, it remains very dry in places and the West's crimes can be kind of obscured and unclear.

'Appropriate Adult' also feels like it has an awful lot left on the cutting room floor. There's a distinct aura about the final product that suggests a much more had been shot, but sacrificed to attain a comfortable running time for TV. As such, it feels a lot less weighty than a film about such monster should.

Watched this last night, pretty good. I remember reading the book about these two years ago and how incredibly chilling a tale it was. Its amazing nobody has made a proper film about this, it has the guts of a great horror film. Perhaps all the depraved sexual stuff has meant nobody wants to touch it....

SILVAMAN

Occupied on Netflix-fast paced and absorbing.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2016/02/02/occupied_a_political_thriller_on_climate_change_now_on_netflix_reviewed.html

Bus Boy

Recommended on Netflix US but also available on YouTube, 'Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father'. Real tear jerker but very good. 9/10

jh79

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Watched this last night, pretty good. I remember reading the book about these two years ago and how incredibly chilling a tale it was. Its amazing nobody has made a proper film about this, it has the guts of a great horror film. Perhaps all the depraved sexual stuff has meant nobody wants to touch it....

If your a fan of low budget horror, "Mum and Dad" had a bit of a Fred and Rose West vibe to it.