What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

briany

The Oregonian (2011)

Indie file about a young woman who gets into a car accident while driving a remote stretch of road. When she comes to, stumbling out of the car, confused and bloody, she begins a surreal, dreamlike odyssey in order to find help.

Think low-budget 70s Italian horror crossed with David Lynch and that would fairly accurately describe this. Some oversaturated colours, oversaturated sound and a host of strange characters for the protagonist to meet. There isn't much story going on but it's a decent little film if you put yourself in the right headspace for it.

droidman123

No mercy (2010)
Another brilliant crime thriller from korea.a womans body is found murdered in an esturary,dismembered,a guy is arrested for it within a few days,then the story really begins.its a really clever movie with a twist at the end that i never seen coming.
9/10

The Black Oil

Big Game

Air Force One is under attack! Escape pod for POTUS! Back in the US, Jim Broadbent figures things out over a glass of water and a sandwich.

Some questionable acting from Samuel L. Jackson, but it's really Oskari's film. Good advert for Finland.

Looper007

Lion (2016)

One of those Oscar runners that I see living on past the award season, Dev Patel is on top form as Saroo Brierley (although Patel looks nothing like the real Saroo), he really shows the heartache of a man just wanting to find his way back home, this would be a great back to back watch with Slumdog Millionare. But the film and the journey doesn't work if it was for Sunny Pawar's performance as young Saroo, he is the heart and soul of the film and those first 50 minutes really sell the film.

Nicole Kidman gives her best performance in quite a while although she's only on screen for 15 minutes at most. Rooney Mara, who I rate highly, is sadly a little underused as Saroo's Girlfriend, although she give a good performance. A great film overall, and looking forward to Director Garth Davis next film Mary Magdalene with Rooney Mara as Mary, Joaquin Phoenix as Jesus, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Peter. That's some cast. 9/10

Disposable1

droidman123 wrote: »

No mercy (2010)
Another brilliant crime thriller from korea.a womans body is found murdered in an esturary,dismembered,a guy is arrested for it within a few days,then the story really begins.its a really clever movie with a twist at the end that i never seen coming.
9/10

Watched this last week and did not think much of it at all. There is some smart stuff in the first 20 minutes but after a certain point, don't want to get in to spoiler territory, it's ridiculous, just completely implausible. I felt like it is an Oldboy knock off.

Best Korean film I have seen in the last five years is I Saw the Devil. Absolutely loved it

droidman123

Disposable1 wrote: »

Watched this last week and did not think much of it at all. There is some smart stuff in the first 20 minutes but after a certain point, don't want to get in to spoiler territory, it's ridiculous, just completely implausible. I felt like it is an Oldboy knock off.

Best Korean film I have seen in the last five years is I Saw the Devil. Absolutely loved it

Yeah I saw the devil was another class movie. I suppose no mercy was a bit far fetched and had a few plot holes,but it kept me watching and interested all the way through,I thought the twist in the end was really clever

Jelle1880

Hidden Figures, about 3 black women in the USA of the 60's who work for NASA.
It's pretty good, shows their struggle in a segregated country and workplace.

The 3 leads are brilliant.

As for Korean movies: I Saw the Devil is class indeed. Have you guys seen The Man From Nowhere ? Another one man army movie, but absolutely brilliant.
Joint Security Area is good too, about 2 North Korean soldiers who are killed at the DMZ between North and South Korea, and a research team has to find out what happened.

NIMAN

Manchester By The Sea, slow but pretty good.

Liam McPoyle

I.D. 2 : Shadwell Army.

The follow up to the mid 90s football hooligan movie I.D. this is the follow up centering around an undercover police officer that infiltrates the hooligan "firm" of a resurgent Shadwell FC.

Its been many years since i saw the original but I do remember enjoying it at the time. The story is pretty much a carbon copy of the original with some added anti Muslim commentary thrown in to give it a more modern feel.

Such a poor movie. Football hooligan movies are usually more miss than hit and this is no exception. Terrible acting and script and none of the hard hitting terrace based carnage that others have.

Avoid at all costs.

ButtersSuki

Get Out Way, way, way over-hyped and certainly something that's benefiting from being of the zeitgeist (racially etc., particularly in the US). I like comedies, I even like stupid comedies, I like horror and I even like spoof horror. This was trying to be all of the above at times, a hybrid at others and its own thing the rest of the time and failed at most. It has a few good moments, but not enough to keep you fully interested. It is drawn out at times, then ends very quickly (I really felt it should have been a lot longer). I like Peele's work (I quite liked Keanu for example), but this is uneven, messy and not fully developed. I know it's intentionally made a B movie meets spoof horror but it just didn't work for me. And there's a lot of plot holes. I was very disappointed with it tbh.

Also reminded me why I tend to only go to press screenings or early morning shows - cinema was full of loud people who cannot turn their phones off, eat very smelly food (McDonalds/KFC smuggled in by some people) and generally don't know how to behave in a cinema.

Movie was a 4/10 btw (I await the derision).

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

The Girl With All The Gifts

Missed this in the cinema last year and then forgot I bought the Blu Ray about a month ago. Watched it tonight and liked it.

I'm not a big watcher of "Zombie films" so I don't know how it stand up to other ones but I enjoyed it.

Basically there's a zombie outbreak and survivors discover there's a second generation of infected humans who are able to think for themselves and aren't just brain dead zombies. Problem (for some) is that they're children. Glen Close is close, no pun intended, to developing a vaccine through experiments she's doing on these kids. When the army base they're on is breached by "hungries" Close, Paddy Considine, Gemma Arterton, a test subject and a few random soldiers manage to get out and try to make it to the safety of another base. Arterton's character is trying to protect the kid because she likes her, Close's character wants to keep her alive so she can later chop her up to create the vaccine and Considine is just trying to keep them all alive.

I thought I knew how it was going to end and at a point it started to look like it was playing out that way but then it took a turn. As I said above I'm not a zombie film aficionado so I don't know whether this adds anything new or special to the genre but it's definitely worth a watch, in my opinion.

Fysh

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Get Out Way, way, way over-hyped and certainly something that's benefiting from being of the zeitgeist (racially etc., particularly in the US). I like comedies, I even like stupid comedies, I like horror and I even like spoof horror. This was trying to be all of the above at times, a hybrid at others and its own thing the rest of the time and failed at most. It has a few good moments, but not enough to keep you fully interested. It is drawn out at times, then ends very quickly (I really felt it should have been a lot longer). I like Peele's work (I quite liked Keanu for example), but this is uneven, messy and not fully developed. I know it's intentionally made a B movie meets spoof horror but it just didn't work for me. And there's a lot of plot holes. I was very disappointed with it tbh.

Also reminded me why I tend to only go to press screenings or early morning shows - cinema was full of loud people who cannot turn their phones off, eat very smelly food (McDonalds/KFC smuggled in by some people) and generally don't know how to behave in a cinema.

Movie was a 4/10 btw (I await the derision).

Theres a thread for it here if you prefer to post there. I really liked Get Out, but I'm curious - what elements did you think were plot holes?

ButtersSuki

Fysh wrote: »

Theres a thread for it here if you prefer to post there. I really liked Get Out, but I'm curious - what elements did you think were plot holes?

Small things that annoy me, like:

SUV damage completely inconsistent with the impact from the deer given the angles etc.
Rose in the house (a large house at that) and with headphones on hears the car outside.
Also in that scene, she heard the noise of the car but didn't smell the wooden house burning - which allowing for any logical timeline required to kill the mother, father and brother would be at least 5-10mins. Come on!
The grandparents brain-swap bit was completely ridiculous, even for a spoof horror.
Considering they had murdered many young black men, the idea of Rose calling the police and draw attention to herself with yet another black man was just...meh.

There's more but I'm too tired to go into it (Note: I actually typed that last night but only sending i now, I think I fell asleep typing it)

david75

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Get Out Way, way, way over-hyped and certainly something that's benefiting from being of the zeitgeist (racially etc., particularly in the US). I like comedies, I even like stupid comedies, I like horror and I even like spoof horror. This was trying to be all of the above at times, a hybrid at others and its own thing the rest of the time and failed at most. It has a few good moments, but not enough to keep you fully interested. It is drawn out at times, then ends very quickly (I really felt it should have been a lot longer). I like Peele's work (I quite liked Keanu for example), but this is uneven, messy and not fully developed. I know it's intentionally made a B movie meets spoof horror but it just didn't work for me. And there's a lot of plot holes. I was very disappointed with it tbh.

Also reminded me why I tend to only go to press screenings or early morning shows - cinema was full of loud people who cannot turn their phones off, eat very smelly food (McDonalds/KFC smuggled in by some people) and generally don't know how to behave in a cinema.

Movie was a 4/10 btw (I await the derision).

Totally agree. Still can't decide if it is trying to speak to the time? If so way too obvious and on the nose. Or if it was a spoof? And who exactly is the subject of it? There were rampant stereotypes both sides. So a spoof? it's not a very good one.
Totally overrated film.

Dots1982

The king of New York - one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Badly directed, hopelessly acted, no story, no characterisation, terrible script

droidman123

In order of disappearence (2014)
A cracking thriller from norway set up the snow filled highlands.a snowplough drivers son is mistakenly killed by the local hoods and be sets out for revenge,it eventually, through circumstances,involves the serbian mafia too.stellen skarsgard plays the lead (i find it impossible to rate him as an actor because he has the exact same emotionless expression in every movie i have seen him in)bruno ganz also makes an appearence as papa,the head of the local serbian mafia.the movie is very coen brothers like, with splashes of black comedy in a rather serious thriller.definitely recommended
8/10

Del.Monte

I watched "In order of disappearance" last year - a real cracker. Have you any recommendations for similar foreign films?

droidman123

Del.Monte wrote: »

I watched "In order of disappearance" last year - a real cracker. Have you any recommendations for similar foreign films?

I will make a list tomorrow,I have watched tons and can't remember which ones were great and which ones were crap offhand

droidman123

@ del monte
heres a list of some great foreign language movies you might like.they are not all in the same genre as the above movie, but top class all the same.i have posted earlier on the thread about a lot of the movies so I wont go into details about them,do a quick imdb search on them before you watch any

no mercy 2010
lauf jung lauf
the fury of a patient man 2016
the chaser 2008
I olga 2016
Danish crime trilogy-keeper of lost causes 2013,the absent one 2014,flaskepost fra 2016

a very long engagement 2004
a bout portant 2010
a war 2015
at the end tunnel 2016
black book 2006
bullhead 2011
cold fish 2010
das leben der anderen
the last secret 2010
el cuerpo 2012
Europa Europa 1990
frontiers 2007
martyrs 2008
hana bi
incendies 2010
insomnia 1997
joyeux noel 2005
julias eyes 2010
king of devils island 2010
land of mine 2015
lesson of the evil 2012
like crazy 2016
mama 2015
marshland 2014
max manus man of war 2008
mea culpa 2014
memories of murder 2003
midnight fm 2010
nine queens 2000
northface 2008
revanche 2008
silenced 2011
suburra 2015
tell no one 2006
terribly happy
troll hunter 2010
the hidden face 2011
the hunt 2012
the treatment 2014
the clan 2015
the dark valley 2014
the high frontier 2016
the memory of a killer 2003
the secret in their eyes 2009
the unknown woman 2006
the yellow sea 2010
toro 2016
wakolda (the german doctor)
what we become 2016



2 Norwegian comedies which I surprisingly found very funny.the humour is very dark at times and really close to the bone
klown-the movie 2010
klown forever 2015

there is a mixture of horror,thriller,world war and comedies all from Germany,belgium,spain,argentina,poland,france and probably some other countries
this is just a selection of some I have,theres to many to go through them all but hopefully you will find some of those above interesting and entertaining

MilesMorales1

I wrote a review of why I liked The Neon Demon so much! Mainly cos it seems to have so many detractors.

Despite the grueling depravity, the sleaziness, and the sheer mire The Neon Demon leads us into, It was a truly transcendent cinema experience for me. Jealousy, diseased vanity, narcissism, superficiality- all infections infesting the films diseased perception of LA, a corrupting sickness of a city that pushes Jesse's arduous journey onwards towards it's logical extreme. Elle Fanning's electric performance determines the narrative, while the directors wonderfully indulgent mind and vision provides what could best be described as the emotional thrust.

The images he summons are magical, gorgeously absurd and hyper-stylized, telling a story all their own parallel to Fanning's descent into hell via LA modelling studios. I've seen some people say the film is nothing but that, pretty images and a hollow narrative, composed of undeveloped characters and shallow lines of dialogue. But it's much more than that. The director is a grotesque artist, undeniably intoxicated with the exploration of the darkness of the human psyche in contrast to the exteriors we create to conceal it. The Neon Demon is metaphorical and seedy, an mesmerising fairy-tale set to endless flashing lights and electric dance music, telling a tragic, yet vicious fable of the classic tragedy of yet another person's innocence forfeitted to the sordid charms of Los Angeles.

johnny_ultimate

The Lost City of Z - James Gray travelled back in time to the mid-70s with a few reasonably famous actors, made a film, and travelled back to release it in 2017.

It's pretty good stuff. Sumptuous design and the hyper-retro delivery make for a fine match, and there's an equally satisfying conflict between a mannered costume drama and a strange Herzogian epic about obsession. Some of the acting isn't up to much, and the film generally can be a bit stiff in its weaker moments (especially when it returns to Ireland & England). But it largely works, and it's pleasing to see such an unashamed relic of an epic made and released in 2017. Wish I'd seen it in 35mm, mind.

Black Book - Elle encouraged me to finally catch up on this other 'prestige' Verhoven vehicle, and it's grand old stuff. He casually jogs along the border between pulpy genre film and serious historical drama but manages to retain artistic coherence throughout. It is legitimately lively, which given some of the historical context makes for a pleasant surprise. Capable of being frivolous and serious in more-or-less the same breath, above all this is simply a damn good thriller with a stellar lead performance.

The Salesman - Propelled to extra prominence as a consequence of widely-despised US foreign policy, The Salesman thankfully rises above being merely the film that won an Oscar as a **** you to Trump (although such a sentiment is always appreciated). I've grown slightly colder towards Farhadi since his marvellous one-two punch of About Elly / A Separation, but this is another worthy piece of Tehranian character study. It takes a while to kick into gear, and I didn't fully buy the lead character's reasonably awkward shift from decent guy to hateful revenge-seeker. But as is Farhadi's way the slow-burn pays-off, and the last act is suitably emotionally and morally devastating. He also has a way of poking at some of Iran's deep, deep societal issues - censorship is a particular concern here, as well as the treatment of an unseen 'woman of the night' - without becoming consumed by them. Which isn't to say the more explicitly politically radical art of, say, Jafar Panahi shouldn't be celebrated and encouraged, because of course it should. But I like the way Farhadi makes films about modern Iran that also serve as universally appealing moral dramas at the same time.

Sugarlumps

Suicide Squad - Possibly the worst film of all time. He-Man was a god damn awful film, but this was on another level. Did they corral a group of kindergarten kids high on candy to write and direct it.

BattleCorp

Sugarlumps wrote: »

Suicide Squad - Possibly the worst film of all time. He-Man was a god damn awful film, but this was on another level. Did they corral a group of kindergarten kids high on candy to write and direct it.

Suicide Squad is poor enough but let me present the following in mitigation:

[img][/img]https://i.img.ie/0Q7.jpg

Sugarlumps

BattleCorp wrote: »

Suicide Squad is poor enough but let me present the following in mitigation:

[img][/img]https://i.img.ie/0Q7.jpg

Unreal, happiest male crew and cast. I'd need a fresh roll of duct tape and industrial strength super glue daily.

8-10

Deliverance (1972) - Thought I'd watched this years ago but only realised over the weekend when watching it that I'd barely seen half of it previously. The right type of darkness in a movie - unsettling from the beginning. Not over-the-top but you get the right level of unease throughout the movie to keep you in suspense. It's not easy to get thrown into a movie and have the scene so well set from the start but the dueling banjo's bit at the beginning sets the tone perfectly and from then on you're brought along on the journey downriver completely enthralled and wondering where it's taking you.

Only read afterwards that the actors weren't insured when doing the movie so they did a lot of their own stunts which is pretty impressive. Made it feel more real, especially as you know in other movies a lot of the canoe shots would have had doubles doing them which were obviously not the real actors. Just having the guys actually there, even if the rapids weren't too crazy, gave it a good feel.

jh79

8-10 wrote: »

Deliverance (1972) - Thought I'd watched this years ago but only realised over the weekend when watching it that I'd barely seen half of it previously. The right type of darkness in a movie - unsettling from the beginning. Not over-the-top but you get the right level of unease throughout the movie to keep you in suspense. It's not easy to get thrown into a movie and have the scene so well set from the start but the dueling banjo's bit at the beginning sets the tone perfectly and from then on you're brought along on the journey downriver completely enthralled and wondering where it's taking you.

Only read afterwards that the actors weren't insured when doing the movie so they did a lot of their own stunts which is pretty impressive. Made it feel more real, especially as you know in other movies a lot of the canoe shots would have had doubles doing them which were obviously not the real actors. Just having the guys actually there, even if the rapids weren't too crazy, gave it a good feel.

Southern Comfort is another good example of this genre.

looie

8-10 wrote: »

Made it feel more real, especially as you know in other movies a lot of the canoe shots would have had doubles doing them which were obviously not the real actors. Just having the guys actually there, even if the rapids weren't too crazy, gave it a good feel.

Reminds me of one of Buster Keaton's last films, The Railrodder, where he insisted on doing all his own stunts, otherwise it wouldn't be right.

Keaton and Gerald Potterton, his director, discussed and occasionally argued over gags in the film with the director concerned about the safety of his star.

Keaton insisted that his comedic ideas about a map flapping about on his ride was not a dangerous stunt; the scene remained in the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HOWv7Ce69E

droidman123

A man called ove (2015)
I only got around to watching this movie tonight and what a treat.its a 2 hour swedish movie about ove,a grumpy old man who looks after the housing complex where he lives and makes sure everyone sticks to the rules of the association rigidly.There are some really funny moments In the movie, but on whole it's a very sad and poignant movie.a new family moves in next to over and at first they drive him mad,but a really touching relationship between ove and the married woman begins (not romantic) oves tragic life is told In flashbacks through out the movie.the lead is brilliantly acted by
Rolf lassgard.recommended
8.5/10

Chain Smoker

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

The Lost City of Z - James Gray travelled back in time to the mid-70s with a few reasonably famous actors, made a film, and travelled back to release it in 2017.

It's pretty good stuff. Sumptuous design and the hyper-retro delivery make for a fine match, and there's an equally satisfying conflict between a mannered costume drama and a strange Herzogian epic about obsession. Some of the acting isn't up to much, and the film generally can be a bit stiff in its weaker moments (especially when it returns to Ireland & England). But it largely works, and it's pleasing to see such an unashamed relic of an epic made and released in 2017. Wish I'd seen it in 35mm, mind.

How does it compare to Gray's last two films? I'm a bit surprised Gray got the chance to make such an epic after showing how unable he is to generate any kind of audience at all.

Man, I suppose it's a step up that this one actually got a theatrical release in europe, James Gray's films are made for cinema in a way few others are, but it's already gone from pretty much every cinema near me before I even realised it was out.

Arghus

Star Trek Beyond - Yeah, alright, I suppose. Didn't really feel madly like I needed to watch it - 2009 Star Trek was okay I thought and Into Darkness was utterly, utterly atrocious. But I wanted light and breezy entertainment and that's what I'd read Beyond was all about and sure enough on those bare minimum fronts Beyond delivers. It's just a pity that Beyond is so inconsequential, just happy enough to coast along at being entertaining. Because, obviously, some care has gone into it: the cast are good with good chemistry and banter between them, the effects are dazzling, set design is cool - the movie looks great and holds you well enough for two hours, but then the moment it's over - poof - all thoughts of it are gone. All the modern Star Trek films feel like a real waste to me - they've got so much to work with and yet out of the three there hasn't been a solidly good movie yet, even if Beyond is probably, just, the best of the bunch.