What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Sugarlumps

King Arthur - Endured 30 minutes, then gave myself a lobotomy.

david75

Del.Monte wrote: »

Available on VHS and DVD.

https://irelandsmovies.wordpress.com/q/

THank you!

ButtersSuki

A Hijacking finally last night on Blu Ray and continuing my recent subtitled run. I've owned this since release and just hadn't gotten around to it....only to find when I went to watch it I have 2 copies on Blu Ray :rolleyes: (FFS, I really need to stop doing this). Anyway, the movie: imagine an intelligent, non-Hollywood, non-Special Forces intervention version of "Captain Philips" and this is it. Starring lots of people you'll know from The Killing, Borgen etc. (Søren Malling and Pilou Asbæk are the main two characters) if you watch Nordic Noir, it was a delight from start to finish. No bullsh*t and nothing unnecessary - it's non-Hollywood in the best possible ways and a very fine film. 8/10.

Needed something less intense after that and watched At All Costs on Netflix; an interesting fly on the wall type documentary about the goings on in the AAU basketball circuit in the US (AU is basically a summer league for elite high school players). It's very "street" in terms of the style and language etc., and tbh if you're not interested in basketball or US pro sports I doubt there's much there for you, but I enjoyed it as an easy watch. 6/10.

branie2

12 strong, a great film about 12 US soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Heckler

Dear Zachary.

Thought it started out like so many murder documentaries but gut punched me an hour in because I'd never heard of the case.

Very good. His parents are heroes.

david75

Avatar

It just doesn’t stand up. Amazing Cinema experience and by far the best 3D I’ve ever seen. But without that and watching at home, it’s so flimsy. Enjoyable enough but all flash and no substance really.

castletownman

Hacksaw Ridge

Incredible story from WW2 brought to life. The battle scenes on Okinawa are some of the best I have seen in a long time, and it's directed in such a way that you have empathy for the protagonist from the get-go. Keeps up the trend of portraying the Japanese as properly terrifying soldiers on a battle-field. While I was pleasantly surprised at Andrew Garfield's performance, looking at actual photos of Desmond Doss at the end, he was completely miscast

Overall a very enjoyable watch, and up there with Dunkirk and Unbroken as some of the better recent WW2 films 8/10

Spotlight

Now I wouldn't usually be a fan of journalism-inspired films, but this really stood out as a masterpiece in its genre. Thought-provoking and gripping throughout. It's infuriating to discover the extent of the problem in the church, and heartbreaking in equal measure to realise that it's more than likely as prevalent in this country, only our media don't have the balls to investigate it.

Highly recommended 9/10

Decuc500

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Very strong first half. It was creepy and intense. Shame that it turned to every horror movie cliche in the book in its second half. Pretty crap 'if it makes money we can have a sequel' ending too.

A wasted chance for what could have been a very good horror film.

funkey_monkey

Il Grande Silenzio (1968)
Dubbed in English


Loved it. Dark - very dark. I really don't know how I missed this one previously as I absolutely love westerns.
One of the most shocking endings I've seen to a western.
Not as good as the Leone offerings, but is widely claimed to be the best 'snow western' and I would not argue with that. It is different and that puts it high up my list of westerns - near the top.
You can get the vibes of the political undertones of the movie, but for me this narrative was an interesting and challenging take on things.

Plus it has a fantastic score by Ennio Morrocone. Up there with his best work.


If you are even just a casual fan of the western genre this is essential viewing.

9/10

buried

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Nice wan. Never heard of this but looks right up me street. Ordered. Cheers

funkey_monkey

Let me know what you think of it.

ButtersSuki

Wild Tales on Blu Ray this evening. Argentinian (in Spanish language) dark comedy from a few years ago with six unconnected tales all rooted in one way or other in violence. Some of the stories are stronger than others which is understandable, but overall the quality is quite high. Loved the Giorgio Moroder music in the car/road rage story too. Worth a look IMO. 7.5/10.

Looper007

Recently got two Jerzy Skolimowski film's on Blu Ray (Skolimowski, also Co-wrote Roman Polanski's debut film Knife in The Water, he's also a actor, you might remember him as Naomi Watt's Russian Uncle in Eastern Promises).


Deep End (1970)

Skolimowski's first feature in English, also set in London, but also filmed in Germany. Mike (John Moulder-Brown), a 15-year-old bathhouse worker, develops a crush on his older, attractive co-worker, Susan (Jane Asher). At first they help each other secure bigger tips by swapping their respective male and female clients. But their tidy business arrangement is severed when Mike discovers that Susan has not only shunned him, but is cheating on her fiancé with an older swim coach. As Mike begins stalking Susan in an effort to break them up, his innocent crush spirals into obsession.

Fantastic film, with great performance from Moulder-Brown, think Max Fletcher from Rushmore if he went even darker. It's a coming of Age film that turns into a film about Obsession. Jane Asher is fantastic as Susan, who isn't the most likeable of characters.

The cinematography here is outstanding, with every stain, crack and spot of dirt in the grimy bathhouse evident. It certainly appears to be a place where any sensible person would hesitate to walk barefoot through, and the sets are loaded with strange signage and bizarre props. The exterior locations are expertly filmed also, and give a great impression of the U.K. at the end of the 1960's. The scene where Mike is stalking Susan and her boyfriend with Can's "Mother Sky" during a long uncut scene is fantastic. Not a film for everyone but I loved it 9/10

The Shout (1978)

When a wandering man named Crossley (Alan Bates) insinuates himself into the lives of British composer Anthony Fielding (John Hurt) and his wife, Rachel (Susannah York), the couple is cautiously hospitable. Isolated out in rural Devon, where Anthony works on his music, the Fieldings find that their enigmatic guest has some strange preoccupations, most notably an obsession with dark Aboriginal magic. Crossley claims that he can kill a person with a mystical shout, but is he telling the truth?.

One of the more bizarre British film's you are likely to see, which goes from relationship drama to Arty film to horror in a flick of a switch. With a fantastic turn from Alan Bates, John Hurt doing downtrodden better then anyone and Susannah York holding her own. Also watch out for a small roles for Tim Curry and a young Jim Broadbent. This the type of film no studio would make today, but it's one of the best films from British cinema in the 70's. 9/10

ButtersSuki

Heckler wrote: »

Dear Zachary.

Thought it started out like so many murder documentaries but gut punched me an hour in because I'd never heard of the case.

Very good. His parents are heroes.

A while since I've seen it but wasn't it the grandparents?

If you liked that, try Capturing The Friedmans.

limnam

Paterson

While I'm partial to two hours of not much happening on a screen.

This felt like two hours of torture. Watching the mundane life of the protagonist Paterson who's a bus driver in Paterson NJ. Surprised to see such high scores on IMDB/Metascore etc. 2 Hours of complete rubbish.

ButtersSuki

99 Homes recorded from Film 4 over Christmas. It's solid, but I feel with better casting and a more developed storyline it could have been excellent. Michael Shannon is fantastic in it as the slimy real estate agent/evicter Richard/Rick Carver. Andrew Garfield however (though very good relative to anything I've seen him in prior to this), is I feel miscast and unable to hold his own with Shannon. The story starts off very strongly and the first hour is quite engaging; the 2nd just didn't work for me unfortunately and is let down by the story itself. It's not terrible per se, and is worth watching for Shannon's performance alone. 6.5/10.

Tony EH

'The Hateful Eight'

The best Tarantino film since 'Reservoir Dogs'.

For the first 60 minutes that is. Then it takes a turn off to stupidville and loses me completely.

A good premise and a great setup is blown apart when the coffee gets poisoned and everyone starts geysering blood from their laughing gear. Samuel L Jackson starts shouting (which I was bored of by 1996), awkward Civil War politics gets dumped into the mix and bullets start flying around like nobodies business into legs, arms, arses and balls.

In the end it all feels a bit like a betrayal of the excellent opening scenes.

Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh take the gold medals for their parts. Everyone else is just sort of there. A special nod goes to Bruce Dern. But that's just because I like Bruce Dern. Jackson needs to expand his horizons, Goggins get irritating "mighty fast", Madsen never looks comfortable and Roth seems to be playing his character like he thought Christoph Waltz would.

Music is provided by Morricone, but he seems to have skimped here and there, because there is clear reuse of music from 1982's 'The Thing', which did nothing but take me out of 1875 Wyoming and plant me back on my couch.

It has the best of Tarantino and the worst of Tarantino unfortunately. It's not quite the nadir that 'Inglorious Basterds' was, but it can't sustain the consistent high tide that 'Reservoir Dogs', 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Jackie Brown' had.

4/10



'Cold Skin'

Fairly low budget semi-horror about a remote, lonely, lighthouse manned by two men. The two men - Ray Stevenson and David Oakes - are besieged by fish/human hybrids whose motivations are unknown. But, co-habiting the lighthouse with the senior and longest serving keeper (Stevenson) is a female fish-person (Aura Garrido) who provides him with dubious carnal pleasures.

Based on a book of the same name, it appears that author Albert Sanchez Pinol has read 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' a couple of times, because the parallels to Lovecraft's story are quite clear.

It's too long by about 30 minutes and, despite decent makeup, the CGI gets a bit obvious here and there. But, it remains an interesting enough film, especially if you're a fan of the New England author.

5/10


'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'

'In Bruges' director Martin McDonnagh crafts a fascinating tale that sees a woman, Mildred (Frances McDormand), try to guilt the local sherrif and police department into doing more to find the killer(s) of her daughter, Angela. To that end she hires the eponymous three billboards to display in bold lettering her disapointment in the police's attempts at justice.

The story then winds on down the road to its, to be honest, non-conclusion. But the film is more about the characters that inhabit the story, rather than the story itself. Nobody is who they first seem to be here and there's a genuinely interesting progression of the three major characters, throughout the film.

Less strong are some of the tonal shifts that go on. Much like the aforementioned 'In Bruges', there are uncomfortable moments at attempted levity that just don't feel easy at all. They're not as bad as 'In Bruges' however and feel a little more natural. 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' has been, kind of, marketed and, in places, reviewed as a "dark comedy". But, I didn't see that at all. There is some humour sprinkled throughout, but it's limited to something a character says, mostly. But a "comedy", dark or otherwise, it's not.

There are also moments where the events go a bit over the top here and there, but they don't derail the film. However, 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' is best watched for it's characters, who are played excellently by, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and (a brilliant) Sam Rockwell.

All in all, very entertaining, if you let it be what it is.

9/10

Harry Palmr

Looper007 wrote: »

Recently got two Jerzy Skolimowski film's on Blu Ray (Skolimowski, also Co-wrote Roman Polanski's debut film Knife in The Water, he's also a actor, you might remember him as Naomi Watt's Russian Uncle in Eastern Promises).


Deep End (1970)

Skolimowski's first feature in English, also set in London, but also filmed in Germany. Mike (John Moulder-Brown), a 15-year-old bathhouse worker, develops a crush on his older, attractive co-worker, Susan (Jane Asher). At first they help each other secure bigger tips by swapping their respective male and female clients. But their tidy business arrangement is severed when Mike discovers that Susan has not only shunned him, but is cheating on her fiancith an older swim coach. As Mike begins stalking Susan in an effort to break them up, his innocent crush spirals into obsession.

Fantastic film, with great performance from Moulder-Brown, think Max Fletcher from Rushmore if he went even darker. It's a coming of Age film that turns into a film about Obsession. Jane Asher is fantastic as Susan, who isn't the most likeable of characters.

The cinematography here is outstanding, with every stain, crack and spot of dirt in the grimy bathhouse evident. It certainly appears to be a place where any sensible person would hesitate to walk barefoot through, and the sets are loaded with strange signage and bizarre props. The exterior locations are expertly filmed also, and give a great impression of the U.K. at the end of the 1960's. The scene where Mike is stalking Susan and her boyfriend with Can's "Mother Sky" during a long uncut scene is fantastic. Not a film for everyone but I loved it 9/10

The Shout (1978)

When a wandering man named Crossley (Alan Bates) insinuates himself into the lives of British composer Anthony Fielding (John Hurt) and his wife, Rachel (Susannah York), the couple is cautiously hospitable. Isolated out in rural Devon, where Anthony works on his music, the Fieldings find that their enigmatic guest has some strange preoccupations, most notably an obsession with dark Aboriginal magic. Crossley claims that he can kill a person with a mystical shout, but is he telling the truth?.

One of the more bizarre British film's you are likely to see, which goes from relationship drama to Arty film to horror in a flick of a switch. With a fantastic turn from Alan Bates, John Hurt doing downtrodden better then anyone and Susannah York holding her own. Also watch out for a small roles for Tim Curry and a young Jim Broadbent. This the type of film no studio would make today, but it's one of the best films from British cinema in the 70's. 9/10

Two good choices there - Deep End also has one of the best allusory visual jokes in cinema involving a somewhat frustrated middle aged woman in the bathhouse. The Shout I saw again in the last six months or so on Talking Pictures, it's not aged as well as Deep End but still got that something unique about it.

MrKingsley

Fruitvale Station

Story about a black father shot dead by police on New Years 2009. Michael B Jordan is excellent in this and whilst some of the scenes drag out too long I love the way it is shot.

Very enjoyable film that made me think long and hard about a serious issue

7/10

expectationlost

Parallax View what a slow boring silly film

Fysh

Good Time

This was every bit as good as I'd been led to hope for by the discussion of it on here, I'm just disappointed I didn't get to see it at the cinema (if it got a theatrical release near me it must've been a blink and you'll miss it affair). I'm still not convinced Pattinson has all that much range as an actor, but the Safdies coaxed a great performance out of him here, as he constantly tries to keep one step ahead of the spiralling problems he's mired in.

Kills On Wheels
I got a chance to see this dark Hungarian comedy/drama at the cinema and enjoyed it quite a lot; good performances all round, an engaging story and a perspective that's not often featured in film came together very enjoyably andn odd story that's simultaneously an odd crime caper about a wheelchair-bound hitman who recruits two young lads from the clinic where he is undergoing physio to help him plan his next jobs. Bonus points for the striking and lovely comic artwork featured occasionally.

Looper007

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)

A fictionalized account in four chapters of the life of celebrated Japanese author Yukio Mishima. Three of the segments parallel events in Mishima's life with his novels (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses), while the fourth depicts the actual events of the 25th Nov. 1970, "The Last Day".

Banned even to this day in Japan, thanks to the widow of Mishima who didn't want any mention of her late husband's bi-sexuality mentioned in the film, which is barely touched on aside from one scene. Plus also down to controversy of Mishima's politics which still offend many to this day in Japan. It's a shame though as this one of the greatest film's of the 80's and for me Paul Schrader's greatest work (even he say's so himself, it's like nothing he's done before or since and you definitely see his love for Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist all over it), looking at it you swear it's a Peter Greenaway film in places (especially the scenes set around his novels). Great Cinematography from John Bailey also. Also produced by George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.

Great performance from Ken Ogata (Vengeance is Mine, a film many should check out) even though he looks nothing like Mishima. But the biggest praise must go to Philip Glass masterful soundtrack which is still one of the greatest soundtracks ever produced, stunning. A film that I'm amazed got made in the 80's that I be shocked if anyone could get it greenlit today. 10/10

Tony EH

/\

Been on my To Do list for something like 20 years. Ever since I saw the 'Hollywood Mavericks' doco. :rolleyes:

I WILL get around to it one day.

johnny_ultimate

Mishima’s own film, Patriotism, is well worth a look. It’s an immensely intense and beautiful film. I mean, you have to accept that his suicidal, fetishistic nationalism is kind of repugnant, but doesn’t make the film any less striking :pac: Good intro to that period of politically-charged Japanese cinema too.

Looper007

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Mishima’s own film, Patriotism, is well worth a look. It’s an immensely intense and beautiful film. I mean, you have to accept that his suicidal, fetishistic nationalism is kind of repugnant, but doesn’t make the film any less striking :pac: Good intro to that period of politically-charged Japanese cinema too.

It's mentioned in the Schrader film, also Patriotism got a Criterion DVD release. By the way anyone interested Mishima: A Life in Four Chapter's is getting a Blu-Ray upgrade by Criterion next month.

branie2

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri at the cinema this evening, a brilliant film about a woman who wants her daughter's murder case solved.

david75

I listen to a brilliant podcast called the Cinefiles where they break down a classic pre 2000 film. They really are great and they’ve done a show on Big trouble in Little China, and I’ve never seen it, somehow.

They mention that they were worried it wouldn’t stand up, being one of those films you have to see at a certain time in your life. And it’s absurd and silly.

Is it worth a watch?

funkey_monkey

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Il Grande Silenzio (1968)
Dubbed in English


Loved it. Dark - very dark. I really don't know how I missed this one previously as I absolutely love westerns.
One of the most shocking endings I've seen to a western.
Not as good as the Leone offerings, but is widely claimed to be the best 'snow western' and I would not argue with that. It is different and that puts it high up my list of westerns - near the top.
You can get the vibes of the political undertones of the movie, but for me this narrative was an interesting and challenging take on things.

Plus it has a fantastic score by Ennio Morrocone. Up there with his best work.


If you are even just a casual fan of the western genre this is essential viewing.

9/10

This was brilliant. Kinski fantastic, flitting between psychotic, harmless and pure evil. Great recommendation

Aidric

Watched two movies almost back to back today in a rare cinema binge, Three Billboards and Call Me by Your Name.

Both movies hung on outstanding lead performances albeit from completely different perspectives. What has stuck with me hours after watching both movies is the quality of the writing. The notes read aloud from Harrelson in Three Billboards and the final scene in Call Me by Your name between Elio and his father had me close to tears.

david75

Call me by your name is the most beatiful film I’ve seen in years.
That scene with the father and the final scene with the phone call and fireplace, it deserves more than Oscars just for those. The kid deserves best actor too.