What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

The Puppet Masters 1994 This is about as Donald Sutherland as you can get. Aliens invade an start taking over peoples bodies and minds. Good fun

The Score 2001 De Niro, Brando and Norton in a nice thief flick. Really good detail on the actual score, and nice twists. Enjoyable stuff

Guyana The Tragedy of Jim Jones 1980 Probably Powers Booths strongest work as a guy with ambition who goes from a simple preacher to having his own cult in Guyana. Very shocking true story indeed, and great performance from Booth

Zipper 2015 Cool little independent film about a district attorney who gets addicted to escorts

Without Limits 1998 Donald Sutherland this time as a coach of a college running team and how he deals with coaching a potential superstar Prefontaine up to and through the Olympics. Great film, true story.

Lock up 1989 This one got destroyed by the critics at release - Sly Stallone prison movie, with the evil governor Sutherland making his life a living hell. Good stuff for the couch

Human Trafficking 2005 2 part TV movie about Russian gangster Robert Carlyle and how they entrap young girls in eastern europe and then traffic them to the states, as well as paedophile rings in asia. Donald Sutherland is in this too. Its pretty good, even if it does have the made for tv sheen to it and the lead woman is not great, but still very entertaining.

Nerdlingr

The Lego Batman Movie

Loved it! Loved all the nods to the older tv series/films that had gone before it.
First the lego movie , now this. Keep the craziness coming!! :)

Tony EH

Saw about 20 something minutes of this on Friday night and thought it was awful. Nowhere near as smart as 'The Lego Movie'.

Might have to try again. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood.

Nerdlingr

Tony EH wrote: »

Saw about 20 something minutes of this on Friday night and thought it was awful. Nowhere near as smart as 'The Lego Movie'.

Might have to try again. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood.

Yean can see where you're coming from, its a little bit hectic at the start (and had me worried) but 'settles down' once the main story gets going.

Tony EH

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Yean can see where you're coming from, its a little bit hectic at the start (and had me worried) but 'settles down' once the main story gets going.

Mmmm. I wasn't feeling it at all and it became irritating very quickly. From the opening I felt it was kind of off. I lasted up to the point where the Joker reveals he's working with Sauron, etc and Robin shown up and Barbara locks them up. But, 90% of the jokes (unrelenting jokes) were terrible. The "wiseness" of the wisecracks was largely absent, whereas in 'The Lego Movie' a lot of the jokes had an intelligent background to support them.

As said, I probably should give it another go and see what I make of it then and if, as you say, it settles down, it might be worth it.

Nerdlingr

Tony EH wrote: »

Mmmm. I wasn't feeling it at all and it became irritating very quickly. From the opening I felt it was kind of off. I lasted up to the point where the Joker reveals he's working with Sauron, etc and Robin shown up and Barbara locks them up. But, 90% of the jokes (unrelenting jokes) were terrible. The "wiseness" of the wisecracks was largely absent, whereas in 'The Lego Movie' a lot of the jokes had an intelligent background to support them.

As said, I probably should give it another go and see what I make of it then and if, as you say, it settles down, it might be worth it.

Jaysus you watched a good bit of it so if you've seen up to Sauron etc appearing. Maybe its just not for you so . Thought it might grate if the craziness at the start continued throughout, like i thought the lego movie might when i first watched that, but no i just went with it and enjoyed it.

Tony EH

Maybe the Guinness got in the way of my enjoyment. LOL

:pac:

Decuc500

Eden

Mia Hansen-Love’s film about a young DJ in the Paris club scene of the 90’s. It’s set over a number of years as he grows older and finds it a struggle as money and real life problems get in the way of the endless parties and club nights.

I thought it was fantastic. It’s not a scene or type of music that I ever particularly liked but the film seemed to capture the hedonism and rush of the dance club lifestyle brilliantly.

It has the same free-wheeling style and energy of Hansen-Love’s (apparently former) partner Olivier Assayas’s films. Very French and very cool.

Harry Palmr

The List of Adrian Messenger 1963 Dir John Huston.

Enjoyable detective story which features an all star cast in disguise but that shouldn't be allowed to distract from the mystery and a typically fine lead performance by George C Scott.

david75

The Martian

I really really enjoy this movie. Loved the book and it's a bang on transition to the screen. Third time seeing it.

MilesMorales1

Whiskey Galore is a curiously inert film. The set up of a bunch of Scottish islanders helping themselves to whiskey they've been denied due to war time rationing from a crashed ship and the bungling home guard commander trying to stop them seems like a set up ripe for a farcial comedy sort of thing, which is what they did with the 1940's original.

However this remake is lifeless and flat. It's not nearly as funny or as silly as it should be. There's no real drama or hinderances to the characters either to compensate, and a lot of the acting and script fall flater than a popped balloon. There's a stupid political subplot in there that goes nowhere and achieves nothing except making the film feel even more like a badly paced slog than it does already. It's mildly charming, inoffensive fare. The sort of thing you'd watch on Netflix on a Sunday afternoon when you're sick of Fawlty Towers or Daredevil.

MilesMorales1

Colossal is a wonderfully unique, came out of nowhere suprise of a film. An original screenplay with such a bizaare weird premise made it to a mainstream release? Thats fantastic, I love it. I love this film.

Colossal is a story about alcoholism, abuse, what we do when our lives don't turn out as big as we expect, toxic masculinity and abusive relationship. And it tells us this story as part monster film, part Anne Hathway thing? Yeah its weird, but it works so well, its scary.

Part of why it works so well is how willing it is to go dark, particularly with Anne Hathway's character Gloria and the central relationship between her and the at first seemingly harmless childhood buddy Oscar played by Jason Sudeikis and how the interactions between them change over time as the relationship turns much darker than you'd think it would.

Using the monster in Seoul is such a weird yet clever metaphor for Gloria's destructive alcoholic behaviour cos of course, self destructive behaviour is never just that, is it? And it goes so quickly from this clever yet simple metaphor into something else, which corresponds with the relationship between Gloria and Oscar (without spoiling) that its just amazing, and by the end the intial alcoholism monster metaphor has been completely turned on its head into something... different. But brilliant.


Also looks amazing, beautifully shot. Excellently scored with great music, superbly acted, particuarly by Hathaway and Sudeikis in the lead roles. Fantastic from start to finish.

ButtersSuki

Decuc500 wrote: »

Eden

Mia Hansen-Love’s film about a young DJ in the Paris club scene of the 90’s. It’s set over a number of years as he grows older and finds it a struggle as money and real life problems get in the way of the endless parties and club nights.

I thought it was fantastic. It’s not a scene or type of music that I ever particularly liked but the film seemed to capture the hedonism and rush of the dance club lifestyle brilliantly.

It has the same free-wheeling style and energy of Hansen-Love’s (apparently former) partner Olivier Assayas’s films. Very French and very cool.

Have it at home on Blu Ray just haven't gotten around to it yet, thanks for the reminder.

Haven't been around these parts myself in a while but watched Krush Groove from 1985 on DVD last weekend:



Loosely based on the story of Def Jam founder Russell Simmons (he's the real-life brother of "Run "of Run DMC), and starring a very young Blair Underwood in his first major role, Shelia E. (from Prince/Piasley park fame) as well as pretty much everyone from the Def Jam records label at the time (Run DMC, LL Cool J (spelt LL Kool J on a poster in a background scene at one stage bizarrely), The Fat Boys (yes...), Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Kurtis Blow, The Beastie Boys, 2 members of Full Force (as bouncers/thugs for hire) and mega-producer across many genres Rick Rubin. I saw this first in the 80's when I was much, much younger and thought it was so cool - everything from the fashion (I'm still a sneaker freak 30years+ later) to the music to pretty much everything inbetween. I've always liked Sheila E. and "A Love Bizare" is my favourite track of hers and it gets a pretty much full-airing early in the movie (which largely made the video for the track at the time). Her acting ability is in fairness probably the best of what's on show here, though she has very little in the way of comeptition. It's aged badly though; the acting I was willing to forgive as barely a teen is laughable now (even allowing for the fact they're not actors), the story is paper thin and there's not much else on offer - the featured rap tracks from the time (bar LL Cool J and The Beastie Boys' cameos) were pretty simplisctic compared to what followed - I can't fathom how they thought including The Fat Boys brought any cred to the film even at the time, it's just truly awful stuff. It's worth a look if you're interested in Hip Hop history I guess, but otherwise I wouldn't go out of my way to find it. 4/10.

droidman123

Hwayi: A Monster Boy (2013)
This is up there with some of the best korean thrillers i have seen.story of a young boy kidnapped for ransom,ends up being raised by them.they are 5 ruthless criminals and he calls them all dad,make no mistake,this is not a comedy.the main story,which i havnt outlined,is highly original with lots of twists and turns.some great car chases and shootouts and a lot of blood and gore,but the core of this movie is the story.the acting is top class as is the score.brilliant all round.
8.5/10

MilesMorales1

I wish I hadn't wasted my time with Snatched. Amy Schumer must be the unfunniest comedian I can recall seeing. The vast majority of her material is fat jokes, jokes about her vagina or her breasts, or that incredibly unfunny American comedy thing right now, riffing presumably without a script, poor performances from the rest of the cast with a completely uncompelling narrative and little theme, predictable gags and set pieces, and it looks and sounds awful. What a horrible film.

droidman123

The camp aka naked among wolves (2015).this is a must see movie set in buchenwald concentration camp towards the last few months of ww2.a prisoner is transferred to buchenwald from austwitch,but the other prisoners discover a young boy hidden in his suitcase,the young lad is a jew and is sure to face certain death if found by the s.s. the problem is the inmates,knowing before the allies get to the camp,realise the will all be shot.they have a survival plan in place,but the discovery of the boy throws their plans into dissaray.some of them want to kill the boy so they can save hundreds of other lives.its a superbly acted and directed german tv movie.i think its a remake of a 1963 movie of the same name,which i havnt seen but must check out.highly recommended
8.5/10

droidman123

24 wochen (24 weeks) 2016
German movie about a pregnant woman who finds out her baby has downs syndrome,she and her partner have to decide to have the child or terminate.they decide to keep the child but then they discover that the child has further complications and will need a lot of delicate heart operations when its born.this gives the parents more to think about and the movie shows the trauma and anguish they go through trying to decide.its at times a heartbreaking movie and throws up a lot of ethical questions,but it is handled in a sensitive way.the two leads are excellent but a big shout out to julia jentsch who is amazing.a really moving film almost comes across as documentary style in parts its so realistic
8/10

MilesMorales1

Baywatch is... a film that exists, that I'm kinda struggling to articulate my thoughts on. It's not very good. The plot is needlessly over explained yet underdeveloped. The wink wink 4th wall breaking to the audience doesn't really work here like it worked on the jump street films. The characters are also ludicrously underdeveloped or played as caricatures, and if The Rock wasn't a machine of charisma, then the whole thing would fall apart, and frankly its kinda brilliant casting to cast The Rock to play himself, or a version of the character he voiced in Moana. It also doesn't look great, not shot very well, and its all very down market humour. So I can see why people have taken against it.


Except I didn't, not really. Not much as I expected. It could have been way worse really. The Rock and Zac Efron do provide every single joke that isn't terrible and the rest falls so flat I was afraid it might splatter if it hit the ground (some guys dick getting stuck in the bench slats, really?) but it somehow wasn't completely horrible for me. The chemistry and bro competing between Brody (Efron) and Mitch (The Rock) is just funny enough. Just about.

It falls apart completely in the second half mind, when it decides to have an actual plot with its boring underdeveloped villain and there was really no hope of saving it. But its not completely awful horrible. It has attractive people in swimsuits performing lowest common denominator humour, and if they took The Rock out of it, it wouldn't work at all.

buried

Alien Covfefent

why did I bother my arse/10

castletownman

Boyhood

Beautiful film. Outstanding acting from the lead cast, particularly Patricia Arquette. The two child actors had a real presence from the start too, and it really felt like we were watching them grow up (in essence we were). Good use of a sound-track to add to overall setting (even to pin-point what year the film had progressed into ).

By the end, you had to feel proud of the single-mom and how her kids ended up normal despite the kind of f*cked up family life they endured (some of those scenes with the first step-dad were heartbreaking. What an ass). Mason's constant questioning of the meaning of life near the end started to grate though.

.

Have to spare a thought for Mason Sr. too. Genuinely affectionate towards his children, and there was a good dad in there had things worked out differently. Kind of ironic the poor life choices the mother made (from a family life POV anyway), and yet he was somehow seen as a dead-beat dad by his children early on in play ("do you even have a job Dad?")

It did kind of lag towards the end, but that's partly to blame for the near three hour running time (including ad-breaks on RTE). But then again, it had 12 years of footage to cram in

Overall though, it was a very enjoyable film, and certainly uniquely shot and produced. Definitely standalone in that regard.

8/10

MilesMorales1

Oh, What a Lovely War! is a lot better than I imagined it might be. I think it might be almost impenetrable to a non British person since it is very very British, and assumes an amount of base knowledge on part of the viewer. It's partly realistic and dark, showing the war at the front from the men fighting it, its portryal of the officers as upper class idiots cheering the men on while staying as far behind the lines as possible, and partly surreal as political developments, and British high command decisions and plans are shown from a dream like pier in England. And it's almost all set to either songs of the war, or taken from dialogue said by the participants of the time at the time.

So it definitely might turn some people off, as it arguably is a tad disjointed, particularly in the mix of bizarre surrealism and parody, and dark realism of life at the front set to songs.

But it worked for me, I loved it even if the film and I don't think on exactly the same wavelengths. Some shots are beautifully shot and composed, and greatly enhanced by the nature and slightly odd sensiblity of the film, such as the ending shot, the scenes of the high command, the music hall scene with Maggie Smith as a female recruiter. It's extremely well acted as well, and the music works. It feels to say the music works given the context of the film, but it does. Great film.

Hrududu

I saw Colossal this evening. Interesting film, it did not go in the direction I thought it would go. I was enjoying it up until

Oscar took a turn. After that it just became almost unpleasant to watch. Which I guess is a testament to the acting. But for the last half an hour I was so put off by his character I just wanted the film to end, I was that done with him.

Tony EH

Yeh, that was kind of me too.

And, by the end, I was just meh. So,

everything is just Oscar's fault?

droidman123

Pandora (2016)
Brilliant disaster movie from Korea. A nuclear power plants water coolers are damaged after a minor earthquake,the race is on to stop core meltdown and millions of lives being lost.I don't know enough about nuclear power plants to judge how realistic/unrealistic the details of the main story is,but it's an amazing movie full of tension and it looks like a lot of money went into making it.the evacuations and the panic of the surrounding cities is very realistic.the last 15 minutes of the movie will bring a lump to your throat,full of typically Korean sweeping strings and stirring music.there's a moral undertone to the movie (is nuclear power good or bad) but not in a preachy way. Highly recommended

8.5/10

LCD

The Girl with all the Gifts

Slightly different take on the zombie film. Some serious plot holes & overall nothing too exciting.

briany

Imperium (2016)

Daniel Radcliffe stars as Nate Thomas, a young FBI agent tasked by one of his superiors to go undercover into the local scene of the White Nationalist movement to investigate on suspicion of a terrorist plot among their members.

Very solid thriller, for me. An undercover scenario is always tense because of the near-constant threat that the protagonist will be found out by the one's he's investigating, and this makes up for any minor shortfall in the plot or character portrayal.

The Lookout (2007)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a young man who's dealing with traumatic brain injury stemming from a car accident several years before. He now has trouble remembering things and has difficulty keeping his emotions in check. He works a night job as a janitor of a local bank, and because of this position and his condition, he slowly becomes caught up in a plot to rob it.

Interesting, slow-build type of film here. Really more of a character study than anything, but a really excellent performance form Gordon-Levitt in portraying the guilt, depression and anger associated with his condition.

Coherence (2013)

A group of very middle-class type friends convene for a small dinner party to watch the near-Earth approach of a comet. Soon, things begin taking a very weird turn.

Compelling, yet you share the confusion of the characters experiencing the events. If you've seen Triangle, it's quite reminiscent of that at times.

Tony EH

Colossal

Generally amusing film, up to a point, about an irresponsible, permanently pissed up, party girl whose issues manifest themselves as a Kaiju in Korea (why not Japan?). Anne Hathaway (Gloria) is very watchable in it, but she is in most things, and the story is quite entertaining, until Jason Sudeikis' character (Oscar) takes a sudden turn. It remains somewhat novel in concept, but the conclusion of the film seems to be suggesting that all of the problems in Gloria's life are the result of the men she has in it.

6/10


Sausage Party

A raucous, irreverent, utterly profane comedy that cares nothing about going overboard and is probably better for it. Making very sniping comments about sex, race and religion, it doesn't even bother to hold anything back, resulting in a pretty scathing spoof on schmaltzly Disney/Pixar films. It's the type of film just either go with or don't and will provide mostly chuckles, with a few belly laughs scattered throughout. Hard to believe, at times, that it wasn't made by a bunch of teenagers.

7/10


'The Karate Kid'

Classic 80's coming age film that's kept its shine pretty well over the last 30+ years. There was a lot more to the picture than I remember, having consigned it to the "80's teen movie" bin a long time ago. But, as an older man, there's still a lot to enjoy and it's not a twee picture by any means. The standout performance of Pat Morita (Mr Miyagi) is still the centre of the film and while there are some characters that border on camp, it doesn't go all in to that route. The greatest limitation of the film, though, is actually the fighting in the tournament sequence finale. I understand the kids (actually people in the 20s) weren't trained in martial arts, but the "karate" is quite awful and further hindered by poor camera work that clearly shows that no contact was being made. Surprising, considering that it was directed by John Avildsen, who made 'Rocky' 8 years previously.

8/10

briany

Holy Wars (2010)

Documentary. Filmmaker Stephen Marshall spends the guts of 5 years following two men of opposing, yet equally ardent, political and religious beliefs. On one side we have Irish Islamic fundamentalist, Khalid Kelly, and on the other we meet a young Conservative Christian missionary from America named Aaron Taylor. The film follows the journey each man's faith takes them on.

Really, really interesting documentary. Seeing how both men tick is fascinating, showing their daily routine and the world they come from. Seeing their beliefs challenged is a sometimes tense experience, knowing that their beliefs are so central to both men's sense of who and what they are. Khalid Kelly is shown here to be a palpably angry and bitter man, here. In a way, he comes across as almost trying too hard, trying to be the most hard-line, traditional, orthodox Muslim of the people he chooses to associate himself with. Aaron Taylor, as well, is a very interesting look into the mindset of Bible-Belt America. He's never really been exposed to opposing views about why a group of people might have any kind of legitimate reason to decry America. Makes you realise how culturally insulated some of those people may be, and the film hints at the idea that cultural insulation is a problem on both sides.

MilesMorales1

I watched Hancock! Which I remember being wayyyy funnier when I saw it in the cinema in 2008, but now had me sitting watching it feeling slightly grim. The humour is low brow and not in the funny way. The acting is all wooden. The superhero action stuff is all rubbish and looks terrible. And the story is so predictable it's boring. Not a great one.

buried

Grey Gardens (1976)

Documentary shot in 1976 by Albert and David Maysles, recording the relationship between Big and Little Edie Beale, mother and daughter, reclusive cousins of Jackie Onassis. The two women live together pretty much as hermits in their East Hampton mansion in New York that is literally falling to bits, nearly engulfed by the jungle garden outside. The place filled with armies of cats and wild raccoons that live in the house with them. Fascinating portrait of a parent/child dynamic, very reminiscent of the documentaries Louis Theroux has done, I'd wager this film was a definite influence on him and other such documentary makers. Funny, sad and very thought provoking.
Word of Warning. If you don't like the sound of screeching cats, may be best then to stay away from this. The actual feline cats make no noise. it's the two Beale ladies that end up taking over that job department in the house

got this on blu ray, Criterion collection series

8/10