What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Judgement Day

"The Boat that Rocked" (2009) on DVD. No Irish connection! As it says on the wrapper - 'A hugely enjoyable feelgood movie'. Set in the late 1960s, on a pirate radio station operating from a ship in the North Sea. The British Government are determined to crush the pirate radio phenomena.........
A must-see movie for anybody who ever wanted to be a pirate DJ, and anybody old enough to remember listening to stations like Radio Caroline or Luxembourg will enjoy this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyXu0mC38SE

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Judgement Day wrote: »

"The Boat that Rocked" (2009) on DVD. No Irish connection! As it says on the wrapper - 'A hugely enjoyable feelgood movie'. Set in the late 1960s, on a pirate radio station operating from a ship in the North Sea. The British Government are determined to crush the pirate radio phenomena.........
A must-see movie for anybody who ever wanted to be a pirate DJ, and anybody old enough to remember listening to stations like Radio Caroline or Luxembourg will enjoy this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyXu0mC38SE

Chris O'Dowd is in it.

Judgement Day

There's still one ship broadcasting rock music http://www.radioseagull.com/1395AM.html but I don't think it can be termed a 'pirate' despite its output being similar. The "Jenni Baynton" usually broadcasts from its quayside mooring in Holland but still makes the odd trip to sea for special events.



Have a listen live here: http://www.radioseagull.com/popup-player.htm

livinsane

Watched American Movie tonight. Hadn't a clue what it was going to be about before I started watching it so at first thought it was a mockumentary and was impressed with how natural and believable it was, but the internet then educated me on the fact that it was actually a documentary. Really charming film of the making of a low budget horror movie. The characters are endearing and I was happy to find out that the film [Coven] was actually made but ratings on imdb aint good. Still want to see it though! I loved the comically expressionist black and white shots.

Verdict: check it out.

siblers

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Animal Kingdom

Recorded it off film4 last night after seeing lots of talk about it on here. It's grim but it's good. I kind of liked how they didn't really try to redeem anyone or preach about anything, but still kind of got the point across. Question though...

Did J only decide to get Pope out of prison so he could shoot him? Was that his plan all along? Like he realised that sending him to prison for what he did wouldn't be enough for him?

Really enjoyed it, really liked how their lives were so mundane and there was nothing OTT about what was going on. The way it progressed felt very natural.

Not entirely sure myself, J never really passed me as someone whould plan it out like that and judging by his aunt's reaction to the shooting, it seemed like she planned it.

mike65

Rosemary's Baby (1968) nope I'd never seen it before despite having any number of chances. Pleasingly low key and even naturalistic horror drama which would be bombast central if made by the Hollywood machine these days. Mia Farrows accent is a curio, sounds English and yet not quite.

KERSPLAT!

don ramo wrote: »

just watched Compliance, with Ann Dowd and Dreama Walker, it said it was based on actual events, which i always take to mean "this is taking massive liberties", but after reading stories about the actual incident the films seems to be fairly accurate, which is really a sad refection on human society,

Watched this after your review and all I can say is WTF... how could something like that happen!

johnny_ultimate

The Thin Blue Line - the persuasive, passionate and hugely influential documentary classic from Errol Morris. Puts forward a convincing and logical argument where the Texan legal system completely failed to do the same. A little tricky to follow at first, but ultimately paints a compelling and infuriating portrait of the failure of the judicial system (and as persuasive an anti-capital punishment argument as you could get). Can cinema make a difference? Well, in this case it did!

Red Eye - this was just starting as I happened to walk into a room. Ended up watching it all (seven years since I saw this in the cinema?! Egads!). A beyond ludicrous setup, yet there's something oddly engaging about the whole thing. It was made in 2005, but it reminds me of the claustrophobic, 'high-concept' thrillers of the 80s and 90s more than anything - almost feels like a relic, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Nonsensical but endearingly lean and entertaining, which is all it has to do really. Wes Craven's direction is pretty workmanlike, though - only the credits and the very physical, claustrophobic chase sequence (straight out of Scream) at the end give his presence away. Still: solid, unpretentious fun, and an amusingly OTT performance from Cillian Murphy.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

siblers wrote: »

Really enjoyed it, really liked how their lives were so mundane and there was nothing OTT about what was going on. The way it progressed felt very natural.

Not entirely sure myself, J never really passed me as someone whould plan it out like that and judging by his aunt's reaction to the shooting, it seemed like she planned it.

When they were in the museum though he seemed to not really want his granny near him, he told her to bugger off and get a drink in the end. Also she seemed to think her boys were more important than her grandson as seen when

she went full on bitch to get the bent officer to try to kill J

I guess it doesn't matter really, it's just like J says at the beginning, kids just are where they are and they're just doing what they're doing.

How good was the guy playing Pope though? The conversation with Darren about if he was gay or not, was so creepy. I think I'd be scared of him in real life if I ever met him

barone

impossible.

very enjoyable ,if i can use that term about a massive disaster. watts is excellent.

as are the kid actors.

killing them softly.

enjoyed it, reminded me of lock stock.

flight.

very good movie, not what i was expecting.

ButtersSuki

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Leap Year

I'd heard a lot of talk about this one and because I quite clearly hate myself I sat down to watch it.
This might be the single worst film in the history of films, EVER. It's borderline racism! (maybe not) but clearly no research into Ireland done her at all. I won't bore you with the ridiculous plot, or the many many stereotypes, or the horrific Oirish accents. I think even to the non Irish this film is just abysmal. I'd give it minus 5 stars.

I was on a flight back from the US when this came out and it was shown on the plane. I watched in a mix of outrage, bemusement and horror at what was before my eyes. I was tired......too tired to stop it.

Not to engage in stereotyping of my own:rolleyes::rolleyes: but as I was getting off the plane I overheard an overweight, loud American couple talking about how much they loved it.........................

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

ButtersSuki wrote: »

I was on a flight back from the US when this came out and it was shown on the plane. I watched in a mix of outrage, bemusement and horror at what was before my eyes. I was tired......too tired to stop it.

Not to engage in stereotyping of my own:rolleyes::rolleyes: but as I was getting off the plane I overheard an overweight, loud American couple talking about how much they loved it.........................

Even taking the Irish side out of it, it's a terrible film. It's a threadbare script, there's no chemistry between the two of them, she loves her boyfriend so much she's willing to fly 3000 miles to see him, but it only takes 2 days with a grumpy "Irish" man to make her change her mind?

I think it's just generally a bad film, and when you add in the stereotyping, the inaccuracies, the accents, the down right insulting etc. etc. it makes it 10 times worse.

siblers

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

When they were in the museum though he seemed to not really want his granny near him, he told her to bugger off and get a drink in the end. Also she seemed to think her boys were more important than her grandson as seen when

she went full on bitch to get the bent officer to try to kill J

I guess it doesn't matter really, it's just like J says at the beginning, kids just are where they are and they're just doing what they're doing.

How good was the guy playing Pope though? The conversation with Darren about if he was gay or not, was so creepy. I think I'd be scared of him in real life if I ever met him

Fair point about the museum, I thought J and Pope were both superb in it.

Really found myself rooting for J, really wanted things to work out for him, anytime I was watching Pope it was fairly tense as you'd expect him to snap any second

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

siblers wrote: »

Fair point about the museum, I thought J and Pope were both superb in it.

Really found myself rooting for J, really wanted things to work out for him, anytime I was watching Pope it was fairly tense as you'd expect him to snap any second

I was rooting for J too but I wasn't sure whether it was a happy ending or not? Like....

he got rid of Pope and the other two guys that were involved heavily in crime were dead too so maybe that puts an end to that lifestyle for them. But by getting rid of Pope he himself has become like them and is a killer now. It's not really a happy or sad ending, but is kind of both at the same time, if that makes sense? I guess the ending is left up to interpretation but not in a n annoying way like some films do it. It seemed like the perfect ending.

Either way it was a great film and one that sticks with you.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Red Eye - this was just starting as I happened to walk into a room. Ended up watching it all (seven years since I saw this in the cinema?! Egads!). A beyond ludicrous setup, yet there's something oddly engaging about the whole thing. It was made in 2005, but it reminds me of the claustrophobic, 'high-concept' thrillers of the 80s and 90s more than anything - almost feels like a relic, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Nonsensical but endearingly lean and entertaining, which is all it has to do really. Wes Craven's direction is pretty workmanlike, though - only the credits and the very physical, claustrophobic chase sequence (straight out of Scream) at the end give his presence away. Still: solid, unpretentious fun, and an amusingly OTT performance from Cillian Murphy.

What does that mean? Not trying to start a feminist bra burning revolution or anything, genuinely interested, is there a noticeable difference between the way male and female directors make a film?

Basq

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

What does that mean? Not trying to start a feminist bra burning revolution or anything, genuinely interested, is there a noticeable difference between the way male and female directors make a film?

Well.. "workwomanlike" isn't a word, whereas "workmanlike" is.

It's nothing to do with gender!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Basq wrote: »

Well.. "workwomanlike" isn't a word, whereas "workmanlike" is.

It's nothing to do with gender!

Did you edit that? I was sure the OP said "woman like" :eek:

I thought I was going to learn something insightful about the different inner workings of male and female directors brains Turns out I need to learn how to read

Sorry

sbsquarepants

Silver linings playbook - I really enjoyed it, well worth checking out. Bradley Cooper can actually act and Jennifer Lawrence is outstanding, not to mention hot with a capital H. A thoroughly enjoyable, quirky, slightly unconventional chick flick (which despite not being a chick, i seem to have a bit of a weakness for:))

briany

Saw John Dies at the End.

It's about a young man and the story he recounts to a reporter after the young man tries a new street drug called 'soy sauce' which gives it's users an acute extra sensory perception and awareness of other planes of existence. Based on the novel of the same name and directed by him who also directed Bubba Ho-tep.

Brilliant film. Very weird first half an hour or so but the plot coalesces as the film moves along and it moves along pretty swiftly. It reminded me of Total Recall in as much as it's about what's real and what isn't and

you see the occasional head explode

. Also similar in that you never really know what's around the corner or who's going to pop up.

Birneybau

So, "Life of Pi". Some of it stunning, great spectacle, overall a bit too GODdy for me. Worth a watch in 3d on the big sreen though.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

The Young Victoria

Basically focuses on about 4/5 years of Queen Victoria's life immediately before she became queen and the first few years of her reign including her courtship and marriage (to her cousin!!!)
It was quite interesting, if a little bit romanticised in places. She was basically manipulated by everyone around her (including her mother) for her whole young life and then by a different bunch of people as soon as she became queen. Even her courtship with Albert was set up by their uncle who wanted some control over the British throne.

I checked the history books after just to see how accurate it was and most of it is pretty spot on. There were a few bits left out as I guess they wouldn't have made Victoria look very sympathetic, and some bits were exaggerated

Albert taking the bullet for her

but all in all it was a fairly interesting film.

mike65

48 HRS (1982) popped up on Film Four at 9 pm last night, must be the oldest film they have shown at that time for quite some time so in thrall to contemporary junk are they since they went "free to air". I saw this on its initial release and it was a real crowd pleaser (and the critics liked to to) the film that pushed Walter Hill into the big time with of course disastrous results, it turned out his was much better working in the margins of the mainstream. Eddie Murphy shines in his debut as Reggie Hammond who's tongue is as sharp as his suit, its no surprise he immediately took off which turned out to be a mixed blessing for him of course as he was making lazy junk within 4/5 years. 48HRS is also the template for the modern contrasting character led action and/or comedy which goes from the high of Lethal Weapon (1985) to any number of lows.

Anyway, it hasn't aged terribly well in truth, the dialogue exchanges between Jack Cates and his girlfriend are cringing as is the fact she gets such a marginal role anyway. Walter Hill was always a mans man director and one suspects Annett O'Tools character was shoehorned in simply to widen out the appeal a bit by giving Jack a bit of domestic backstory. The scene in the redneck bar is amusing but lacks the fizz when first seen at the time while the bad guys are pretty much one dimensional goons.

Clint Eastwood and Richard Pryor were both cast for this film when first put together in 1978 but the former went off to make Escape from Alcatraz so it was limbo for a few years and recast. Walter Hill of course used the time really well making three great films - the Warriors, the Long Riders and Southern Comfort. In retrospect its a pity he ever made 48HRS as it put him on a wrong path.

FloatingVoter

Down And Out In Beverly Hills - still a minor classic. Sure, the clothes have dated etc. but the chemistry between all the leads is sparkling. I know its a remake of a French flick but I don't do subtitles unless I have to.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Even The Rain

As a director and his crew shoot a controversial film about Christopher Columbus in Cochabamba, Bolivia, local people rise up against plans to privatize the water supply.

I recorded this off BBC 4 (I think?) a few weeks ago. Got around to watching it today.
It's about a Spanish film crew making a film about Columbus' discovery of the New World, and the exploitation of the natives by the Spanish empire. They've decided to make it in Bolivia because they can get everything done dirt cheap and save lots of money by hiring local natives as extras for next to nothing. Meanwhile the Bolivian government is trying to privatise the water supplies and make the locals pay extortionate amounts for their water, even going so far as to make it illegal for them to harvest rain water (hence the title, even the rain). The leader of the civilian opposition just happens to be the guy the film crew hired to play the leader of the native tribe in their film and they have to try to keep him out of trouble long enough to get their film made.

It's a really interesting film, it sounded like it might be very complicated to follow as they jump between making the film, what's really happening and there's a few bits of "documentary" footage in there too as there's a girl with the film crew filming them filming.... if that makes sense. It's so well edited though that it just flows and fits together perfectly.
There's also very interesting parallels between how the Spanish were exploiting the natives when they first arrived, how the film crew are trying to make a film about this but are themselves exploiting their poverty to get their film made on the cheap and then the exploitation of the natural supplies by the government and foreign investors.

I'd recommend this film, it's definitely worth a watch. Only problem being my flipping DVR cut off before the end! Most if it was wrapped up, so I'm sure I only missed a few minutes but I was annoyed none the less. So if you watch it, or indeed have seen it already please fill me in on what happens at the very end.

mike65

The Fog (1980) or should a I say John Carpenters The Fog Something that struck me watching and I kept an ear cocked for the rest of the film once I spotted it was that the dialogue, written by Carpenter and Debra Hill is virtually expletive free. just one sh-i-tfaced if I recall rightly which is virtually unheard of on a 15 rated film. So hats off for the restraint. That low key approach tends to apply to the film as a whole, mild tension and the odd jump moment with the emphasis on atmosphere and keeping a very straight face.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Watched Everyday today.

Had it on the DVR from ages ago. It's a Michael Winterbottom film about a family where the dad is in jail and it follows them over 5 years. They actually filmed it over 5 years and cast 4 real life brothers and sisters as the kids. It's a great idea to show how much time has passed as the kids get bigger and bigger.

To be honest though, the kids were the best part about it. When they're very young at the start it's just natural reactions they're giving, it's very endearing but as they get older you start to see them become more aware that they're acting. I don't know if that's why the two older kids appear less as it goes on?

I found it hard to care about the parents though. I just wasn't interested in their story and they didn't really delve that deeply into how him being in prison was impacting the kids, who I did care about. A lot of it seemed like just variations of the same scene over and over, which I guess might have been the point. You can see from the kids that time is passing and they're getting older and older but their lives are kind of standing still as they keep repeating the same things over and over again while he's in prison. I'm not sure if that's what they were going for?

Anyway, it's an interesting way to make a film, and better than where they have one set of kids you get attached to and then they replace them halfway through with older actors, but other than from a film making point of view I'm not sure it's that great a film.

MiloYossarian

Mr Deeds

It's a pleasant film. Deeds himself is such a nice person.

Shame

Finally a vehicle for Michael Fassbender's penis. Now I know where the 'bend' comes from in his name because it's bent at the top.

It's really good. There's something about films like this that just get be. When it's just a snapshot of a moment in peoples lives.

Technocentral

mike65 wrote: »

The Fog (1980) or should a I say John Carpenters The Fog Something that struck me watching and I kept an ear cocked for the rest of the film once I spotted it was that the dialogue, written by Carpenter and Debra Hill is virtually expletive free. just one sh-i-tfaced if I recall rightly which is virtually unheard of on a 15 rated film. So hats off for the restraint. That low key approach tends to apply to the film as a whole, mild tension and the odd jump moment with the emphasis on atmosphere and keeping a very straight face.

Splendid nonsense! One of my favourite "horror" films and I hate horror.

Liam McPoyle

Tucker & Dale Vs Evil,tremendous fun.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

The Good, The Bad, The Weird
A Bittersweet life
All about lily chou-chou


today was a good day