What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

buried

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 film. compelling stuff. killer soundtrack. don't miss this one.

pixelburp

pixelburp wrote: »

Train to Busan (2016)

Energetic and nerve jangling stuff, and definitely one of the stronger monster-oriented horror films of 2016. The confined environs were used to great affect, with some truly tense set-pieces set aboard the titular train, while the zombies themselves moved at a near relentless pace, not unlike those seen most recently in the sub-standard adaptation of World War Z. Unlike that film though, which overused CGI for its maniacal undead, 'Busan' instead used what I presume to have been contortionists and acrobats, making them seem like demented puppets, all dislocated joints & only adding to the sense of the unpleasant and uncanny.

Equally enjoyable was a cast not entirely made up of idiots: there were some little vignettes that gave the stranded characters more intelligence that is often seen in this genre. Once the threat established itself, most people adapted fairly quickly & didn't overly panic. That said, the actual characterisation left a lot to be desired, and was either utterly absent or else ramped to to an absurd level of cliché. The business man being the prime example of the latter, whose scenery chewing dickery felt like it came from another movie entirely. Even the main character we were ostensibly following didn't really have much of an arc, despite the film at pains to suggest as much in the opening 10 minutes.

The only other minor quibble was the frequently inconsistent speed of the zombies. On more than one occasion, and despite demonstrably running at constant breakneck speed, the zombies conveniently failed to catch our heroes, who included among their number a pregnant woman & two ageing sisters. It broke the spell a little, but not enough to ruin enjoyment mind you.

I watched this after seeing some good reviews. I thought that it was fairly rubbish. Constant and unsubtle use of speeding up the play speed for the demented zombies effect grated after the first time and the attempts at eliciting pathos fell completely flat for me. Basically there is no story. Zombies on a train was less interesting than snakes on a plane.

SILVAMAN

Just watched "Be Here Now", a documentary on the late Andy Whitfield of Spartacus fame.
It follows his life as he begins treatment for a recurrence of lymphoma.

MadDog76

SILVAMAN wrote: »

Just watched "Be Here Now", a documentary on the late Andy Whitfield of Spartacus fame.
It follows his life as he begins treatment for a recurrence of lymphoma.

Noticed this on Netflix earlier, added it to my list to watch over the weekend .......... had no idea he was dead until I READ YOUR F*CKING POST! Thanks. :mad:

SILVAMAN

MadDog76 wrote: »

Noticed this on Netflix earlier, added it to my list to watch over the weekend .......... had no idea he was dead until I READ YOUR F*CKING POST! Thanks. :mad:

Hard to believe-comes across a really down to earth and all round nice guy.

MadDog76

SILVAMAN wrote: »

Hard to believe-comes across a really down to earth and all round nice guy.

Ever heard of Spoiler Tags? :mad:

quickbeam

^^ Hope the above is a joke!

blondeonblonde

Just watched Anatomy of a Murder (1959) last night with James Stewart. Fantastic show! Really slick and funny. Highly recommended. Quite a long film but didn't feel it, always a good sign.

Fysh

glasso wrote: »

I watched this after seeing some good reviews. I thought that it was fairly rubbish. Constant and unsubtle use of speeding up the play speed for the demented zombies effect grated after the first time and the attempts at eliciting pathos fell completely flat for me. Basically there is no story. Zombies on a train was less interesting than snakes on a plane.

I thought it had a pretty good balance of action sequences, tension, smaller stories for each character and some very funny moments (my favourite being the exchange about the ringtone). But if you're not enjoying it within 20-30 minutes, you're probably not going to enjoy it at all.

MadDog76

quickbeam wrote: »

^^ Hope the above is a joke!

SILVAMAN ruined my planned viewing of the documentary he recommended on Netflix by not including Spoiler Tags in his post ......... I don't think he got my subtly pointing that out to him hence the above "joke".

SILVAMAN

MadDog76 wrote: »

SILVAMAN ruined my planned viewing of the documentary he recommended on Netflix by not including Spoiler Tags in his post ......... I don't think he got my subtly pointing that out to him hence the above "joke".

Where were you when the guy died? It was all over the media:( Someone else even assumed Whitworth's role.

MadDog76

SILVAMAN wrote: »

Where were you when the guy died? It was all over the media:( Someone else even assumed Whitworth's role.

I'd never heard of him or his death ............ please don't assume, just use Spoiler Tags ......... thanks.

quickbeam

By the way,

the Titanic sinks at the end.

:P

Easy Rod

MadDog76 wrote: »

I'd never heard of him or his death ............ please don't assume, just use Spoiler Tags ......... thanks.

Mad dog, you're being ridiculous.

I remember my mate being amazed at the 'twist' at the end of Senna...the fact that Ayrton Senna dies in the movie! I actually think I was annoyed at the fact that he got more than me out of an already fantastic movie.

The Black Oil

London Has Fallen

I've had Kermode's entertaining review of this on a loop for about a week. My expectations, along with reading comments elsewhere, were very low. I mildly enjoyed it. The first one was just dumb on a whole other level. Start is fine, then there's the attack. Granted, I could hardly see where the shots were coming from - it was pretty messy. Mike 'this doesn't feel right' Banning (Butler). Helicopter stuff, again a bit poor. Terrorists with a seemingly endless supply of motorbikes. Colin Salmon delivering lines about good guys and bad guys, come on, Colin. I did laugh out loud at the 'known landmarks', line from the journalist. Oh dear. Morgan Freeman has the odd clunker too. Not recommending, but not seeing the immense dislike for it, either. I started to watch Criminal, but it felt like fingernails on the blackboard compared to this. Haven't gone back to it.

MadDog76

quickbeam wrote: »

By the way,

the Titanic sinks at the end.

:P

Easy Rod wrote: »

Mad dog, you're being ridiculous.

I remember my mate being amazed at the 'twist' at the end of Senna...the fact that Ayrton Senna dies in the movie! I actually think I was annoyed at the fact that he got more than me out of an already fantastic movie.

CHARTER RULES: SPOILER USAGE
Unless specified in the thread title, it’s always recommended to use spoiler tags when discussing major plot points. There’s no need to ruin films for other users.

TerrorFirmer

In fairness a documentary about a celebrity who's been dead for several years is pretty fair game, hardly a spoiler. Also, I hardly imagine one watches a documentary about someone's cancer journey for the nail biting suspense of 'do they live or die!' So I really can't see either way how this could possibly be a spoiler.

MadDog76

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

In fairness a documentary about a celebrity who's been dead for several years is pretty fair game, hardly a spoiler. Also, I hardly imagine one watches a documentary about someone's cancer journey for the nail biting suspense of 'do they live or die!' So I really can't see either way how this could possibly be a spoiler.

Be Here Now
"Trace the brave journey of actor Andy Whitfield, who received a devastating cancer diagnosis while starring in the series Spartacus:Blood and Sand."

That's the description from Netflix, it got me interested enough to add it to My List to watch over the weekend ............ notice it doesn't reveal how his journey ended, now why do you think that might be? :rolleyes:

johnny_ultimate

Afraid I can't really agree it's a spoiler. He was a (relative) celebrity and his death was widely covered across the media. It's a shame you feel your viewing experience was spoiled, but I don't really think we can impose any rules / mod actions on details of recent and widely known real world events.

MadDog76

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Afraid I can't really agree it's a spoiler. He was a (relative) celebrity and his death was widely covered across the media. It's a shame you feel your viewing experience was spoiled, but I don't really think we can impose any rules / mod actions on details of recent and widely known real world events.

That's convenient ............ it's only a Spoiler if you personally don't know about it.

I'll stop using Spoiler Tags myself so ......... if I know the ending then surely everybody does or should. :rolleyes:

Netflix disagrees with you by the way ..........

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

MadDog76 wrote: »

Netflix disagrees with you by the way ..........

There's at least 5 reviews on Netflix for this documentary that mention his death specifically or talk about him in the past tense.

scouttio

You're asking us to spoiler real events, that really happened..
You must get palpitations whenever the news comes on.

MadDog76

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

There's at least 5 reviews on Netflix for this documentary that mention his death specifically or talk about him in the past tense.

That's one of the many reasons I don't read reviews ........... a point, you have one?

Dair76

MadDog76

scouttio wrote: »

You're asking us to spoiler real events, that really happened..
You must get palpitations whenever the news comes on.

I'm not asking you to do anything, the Charter Rules are asking you/us to use Spoiler Tags so as not to ruin the viewing experiences of future viewers ......... it's up to the Mods, not me, to enforce those Rules .......... all I can do is point out a breach.

Frank O. Pinion

MadDog76 wrote: »

That's convenient ............ it's only a Spoiler if you personally don't know about it.

You're talking about an actor that is even more famous than he was because he died of cancer. I didn't even watch Spartacus, or anything with Andy Whitfield, and I know he died.

Sad Professor

No need for the sarcasm and snide remarks, guys.

The charter refers to spoiling "major plot points". A plot being something usually found in a work of fiction (which may be inspired by fact). Traditionally documentaries don't have plots. Stories and narratives yes, but not plots. There have been exceptions to this, especially in recent years. Dear Zachary, for example. But as others have said, Andy Whitfield's death was well publicised. So even if this was fictional movie with an actor playing Whitfield I'd still be reluctant to consider this a major plot point worthy of spoiler tags. But even if you didn't know about it, I doubt it's presented as a plot twist in the film and thus unlikely to ruin your enjoyment of the documentary by knowing it in advance, as I'm sure the vast majority of people who watch it will.

MadDog76

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

You're talking about an actor that is even more famous than he was because he died of cancer. I didn't even watch Spartacus, or anything with Andy Whitfield, and I know he died.

*shrugs* Never heard of him personally ............... but I am interested in his story.

MadDog76

Sad Professor wrote: »

No need for the sarcasm and snide remarks, guys.

The charter refers to spoiling "major plot points". A plot being something usually found in a work of fiction (which may be inspired by fact). Traditionally documentaries don't have plots. Stories and narratives yes, but not plots. There have been exceptions to this, especially in recent years. Dear Zachary, for example. But as others have said, Andy Whitfield's death was well publicised. So even if this was fictional movie with an actor playing Whitfield I'd still be reluctant to consider this a major plot point worthy of spoiler tags. But even if you didn't know about it, I doubt it's presented as a plot twist in the film and thus unlikely to ruin your enjoyment of the documentary by knowing it in advance, as I'm sure the vast majority of people who watch it will.

Thanks for that .......... I'll give it a watch so ............ would have preferred not to know the ending in advance though.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

MadDog76 wrote: »

That's one of the many reasons I don't read reviews ........... a point, you have one?

You don't read reviews but read posts in a thread where people review things they've just watched?