What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

NIMAN

Eye in the Sky (2015)

Tense thriller starring Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman (think it was his last film).

Story about military drones and the rights/wrongs of using them against terrorists/civilians.

Not bad. Worth a watch. Solid 6.5 or 7/10.

Harry Palmr

Danger:Diabolik (1968) Dir Mario Bava

John Philip Law stars as mysterious master criminal Diabolik complete with underground base full of groovy art direction and set design. He's making a mockery of the government stealing all their money so a plot is hatched to trap him with a big prize.

Based roughly on the 60s Italian comic book Diabolik, this is a bit of a mish mash and about 20 minutes too long, the background to the production is probably more interesting than the film itself and worth reading up on esp it's links to Barbarella (see wiki entry). Bava's brings his usual visual style to bear and that's always enjoyable.

david75

Avengers

Gotta be honest. I didnt love it. I mean it’s good. It’s competent and easy enough for a non fan like me and I can see where it’s doing big fan service to keep the hardcore engaged (our heroes fighting each other at various points. )
It’s worrying that I’ve seen this before. Completely forgot I had. And can watch again.
I love the iron man movies and am about to watch them this week. He was my entry and standard for all these. Avengers just didn’t grab me though.

ILikeBoats

ButtersSuki wrote: »

There's a more light-hearted cine-pod I listen to called "The Rewatchables" on The Ringer Podcast Network that I quite like. It's very-American, and more mainstream than cinephile, but I've enjoyed most of them.
https://www.theringer.com/the-rewatchables

Just gave the Point Break one a listen, it's enjoyable. I like that I've seen most of the films discussed so I'll continue listening.

Good shout!

Paddy Samurai

david75 wrote: »

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?

Tongue in cheek , crazy over the top everything !.:D
I have watched it about three times since it first came out and found it to be highly entertaining ,once you don't take it too seriously.The right crowd and a few beers.............

Although maybe I might be taking it too seriously as I just bought the boardgame.;)

https://bigtroublegame.com/

Paddy Samurai

branie2 wrote: »

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

I enjoyed this big time , McDormand and Harrelson were top notch in this one.

Paddy Samurai

CrankyHaus wrote: »

Mississippi Burning (1988)
A great cast anchors a unique take on the detective thriller as two FBI agents hunt the KKK murderers of 3 civil rights activists in early 1960’s Mississippi.
I’d forgotten how much fun Gene Hackman could be to watch.
The portrayal of Jim Crow era racial oppression is chilling, although the film lets itself down by keeping all of the black characters as background. I can see why it was criticised on release for this.
The film is still extremely entertaining and moving.
9/10

Great film,one of my favourites. A top notch cast ,but Hackman was brilliant in this one.

Wombatman

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Il Grande Silenzio (1968)
Dubbed in English

I do like a good western but this wasn't for me. The opening sequence got me off on the wrong foot with a sloppy, Rambo like, shootout. The first whip scene was utterly ridiculous and pushed me over the edge. Had to quite after a half hour. Stylish yes....... everything else you would expect in a decent movie, no.

ButtersSuki

ILikeBoats wrote: »

Just gave the Point Break one a listen, it's enjoyable. I like that I've seen most of the films discussed so I'll continue listening.

Good shout!

Haven't actually listened to that one as not a massive fan of Point Break, but the others are good - even the Miami Vice one (which currently has the nerd in me looking for the extended director's cut on Blu Ray even though I have the regular version.......:rolleyes:)!

Standing Bear

"To Live and Die in L.A." (1985) on YouTube.

Cop thriller about counterfeiting with a twist in the tail. At almost two hours long it has withstood the test of time well though its car chase scenes are very tame after "Ronin". 8/10

Tony EH

/\
One of the best WTF scenes in any picture I've seen. :eek:

Wiliam Petersen - the star of the flim gets blown away about 10 minutes before the end.

Nerdlingr

Watched Zodiac again last night.
God I love that film. 2hr and 40 odd minutes long but i still love every minute of it.
Outstanding cast and performances all round. One of my favourite movies of all time I think.
2007 was a great year for film.

Wombatman

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)

A well crafted biopic of Wonder Woman creator, exploring themes of dominance, inducement, submission and compliance in the comic book and in Marston's unconventional love life.

A tasteful, intelligent, deep and erotic film, brought to life by skilled performances from the three main characters, beautiful cinematography and period detail. Hall is just wonderful and has the presence of an erstwhile screen goddess.

Well timed considering the current debate on sexual mores and the direction of feminism.

Probably the best superhero movie of 2017

8/10

pixelburp

Origin Wars / The Osiris Child (depending on territory) (2016)

Found this by accident during a random trawl through Netflix, and it perked my interest: a low-budget, Australian space opera adventure - which is not something you hear of every day - while the trailer certainly made it look like the production team performed minor miracles with (what I presume to have been) a minuscule piggybank. It was impressively full of convincing, grungy CGI, sweeping vistas of the Ozzie Outback doubling as an alien planet, and a fairly ambitious scope that was broadly successful in execution. The script however was where it all went wrong; beyond hopeless & inept, throwing a whole bunch of generic sci-fi clichés into a blender, with tepid results, all framed by a clumsy narrative and some really jarring story transitions. Plus, any film that goes for a 'science experiment gone wrong' angle lives or dies by its monster of choice, and in that respect the film failed, featuring an almost adorable animatronic puppet, that looked like a Skesis from Dark Crystal humped a melted mars bar. Ten out of ten for ambition, no question there & if nothing else was a good demonstration of how low-mid budget SciFi really shouldn't be a stretch in this day and age; I wish more studios took a gamble on these kind of things.

El Duda

The Red Turtle - 7/10

Stunningly animated, highly ambitious fable from studio Ghibli about a man who is trying to flee a deserted island. The film follows the unnamed man as he tries to build a raft and escape but a mystical Red Turtle keeps sabotaging his efforts.

I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I anticipated. The animation is brilliant but the plot lost its way a bit after a mid story revelation. After this moment, it becomes a little too deep/pretentious for my liking.

It also has to be noted that this film creates an odd tranquility and ambience that made both me and my other half fall asleep when we first tried watching it one evening. It's beautiful but not the most engaging animation I've seen lately.


Chinatown - 7.75/10

Widely regarded as one of the all time greats and quite rightly so. Although the story itself isn't as original and shocking as it once was, this is still a well plotted, enthralling mystery that unfolds at a glacial pace. By today's standards this is restrained film making with little or no flab and well drawn out, three dimensional characters.

This won the Oscar for best screenplay and you can see that it must've been fairly groundbreaking at the time. For me, the second half of the film doesn't quite deliver on the promise of everything that is set up in the first act. That said, it is testament to the quality of the director/script that a fairly complex plot is never difficult to follow and always feels clear and coherent.

Us modern day movie fans are used to seeing Nicholson ham it up and chew scenery in films like The Departed, but watching him in older roles like this makes you realise just how charismatic he was.

The climax of the film is still quite shocking and the ambiguity in that final, iconic line adds a lot of weight to the story. Fully deserves to be praised as an all time great.


Confessions - 8/10

A warped Japanese film with lush cinematography about a school teacher plotting her revenge on some students who were involved in her infant daughters death.

It's one of those films where you really feel like you are seeing the directors vision actualised on screen. A lot of thought and careful planning has obviously gone into this to marry such a twisty, winding plot with such striking visuals/music.

The cinematography is just incredibly artistic and well used. It really adds to the story and keeps you mesmerised throughout. Not only that but the sound/music choices blend in perfectly.

It's a film that is constantly revealing its unfolding plot to the audience, making you gasp & squirm as each character 'confesses' a little bit more of the story. The climax isn't quite as clever or satisfying as other revelations that precede it, but its a decent pay off nonetheless.

Demented Japanese story telling , beautifully told with gorgeous aesthetics. A real stand out piece of cinema.

ButtersSuki

Back in subtitle mode and just finished French film "Bande de Filles" / Girlhood on Blu Ray. It's the first film I've watched from Celine Sciamma, but based on this I'll be back for more of her work. I'd write more but I'm shattered. 8/10.

Standing Bear

"Time After Time" (1986)

BBC made for TV movie based on the novel by Molly Keane.

Shot on location in Ireland - Enniskerry etc.

A wickedly funny comedy set in a crumbling Anglo Irish "big" house with a very strong cast including Sir John Gielgud and Trevor Howard. Never released on VHS or DVD but a watchable copy is currently available on YouTube. 8/10

david75

The Florida Project

Jesus this is a tough watch. A bit too real and each character totally realised. The kids are wonderful actors but really tough subject matter.
Give it a go but brace yourself.

j.s. pill II

Threads (1984)

A BBC docu-drama exploring what would happen in the event of an east-west nuclear confrontation with a focus on Sheffield.

BBC, relatively low budget, Sheffield, some coronation street actors. How grisly could it be??

My god - this film packs a punch. Without doubt the most grim film I have ever seen. Makes The Road look like Elmo in Grouchland. Despite the low budget, the attention to detail is incredible and the the visual effects are very convincing. Almost too convincing. Some scenes are going to stay with me for a long time I'm sure. Somewhat inevitably, it featured heavily in my nightmares last night

Highly recommended.

Standing Bear

j.s. pill II wrote: »

Threads (1984)

A BBC docu-drama exploring what would happen in the event of an east-west nuclear confrontation with a focus on Sheffield.

BBC, relatively low budget, Sheffield, some coronation street actors. How grisly could it be??

My god - this film packs a punch. Without doubt the most grim film I have ever seen. Makes The Road look like Elmo in Grouchland. Despite the low budget, the attention to detail is incredible and the the visual effects are very convincing. Almost too convincing. Some scenes are going to stay with me for a long time I'm sure. Somewhat inevitably, it featured heavily in my nightmares last night

Highly recommended.

Even more relevant given the pronouncements from that Fascist thug in Moscow about nukes yesterday - lost in the snow news nonsense.

j.s. pill II

Standing Bear wrote: »

Even more relevant given the pronouncements from that Fascist thug in Moscow about nukes yesterday - lost in the snow news nonsense.

Pretty much very single retrospective review since 2001 has said something along the lines of 'ever more relevant to the times we live in'. That's not to be dismissive of your point of course. I don't read the news anymore so I can't comment.

Still though, how ever close, or not, we are to such happenings - fail to prepare and prepare to fail :cool:

Wombatman

Frantz - 2017

A beautifully shot Gothic melodrama following two young people trying to put their lives back together after WW I. A subtle exploration of war, loss, romantic love and forgiveness.

7.5/10

run_Forrest_run

Possession (1981) - I remember someone mentioned this movie here when discussing some other more modern film possession based theme (Babadook I think).
After checking it out on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB which both give it glowing ratings I was looking forward to this...

Well what utter muck. Clearly the director was on a lot of acid or something. Sam Neill gives a masterclass in over-acting. Isabelle Adjani did a good job of looking out of her mind in fairness. OK this was set in Berlin Wall era Germany but jesus the makers clearly didn't feel the need for a few extras, a capital city so deserted.

Absolute shíte.

Liam McPoyle

j.s. pill II wrote: »

Threads (1984)

A BBC docu-drama exploring what would happen in the event of an east-west nuclear confrontation with a focus on Sheffield.

BBC, relatively low budget, Sheffield, some coronation street actors. How grisly could it be??

My god - this film packs a punch. Without doubt the most grim film I have ever seen. Makes The Road look like Elmo in Grouchland. Despite the low budget, the attention to detail is incredible and the the visual effects are very convincing. Almost too convincing. Some scenes are going to stay with me for a long time I'm sure. Somewhat inevitably, it featured heavily in my nightmares last night

Highly recommended.

This was recently released on blu ray for the first time. I've only ever seen the grainy downloaded version so I'm looking forward to checking out a more polished format. It's exceptional stuff.

The most harrowing parts for me were the last 20 to 30 minutes.

It should be shown in every school.

Tony EH

It's not that more polished.

Problem with 'Threads' (or not, depending on your point of view) is that the source is 1984 16mm BBC film, with many other sources thrown in.

Simply put, it'll never be a super clean. Certainly not in the fashion that we've come to expect from Blu Ray releases.

The blu of 'Threads' is darker and a little cripser. But it's awash with grain ( ) and looks every bit like it's from an 80's BBC drama.

None of that bothers me, as I consider it the pinacle of BBC dramas and nuclear war programmes/films.

I supose we can be thankful that it was actually shot on film, because if it followed BBC convention at the time, it could have ended up on video tape, which looks simply awful on our screens today.

ButtersSuki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Back in subtitle mode and just finished French film "Bande de Filles" / Girlhood on Blu Ray. It's the first film I've watched from Celine Sciamma, but based on this I'll be back for more of her work. I'd write more but I'm shattered. 8/10.

For anyone interested I see Film 4 are showing this on Thursday night/Friday morning 8th/9th March next at 1:10am. Late, but set record! Highly recommended.

Edit: I've thought about this movie a lot since my first viewing last week (which in itself says something) and if anything I under-rated and under-scored it. I'd stretch it to an 8.5/10 which, if you've watched my scoring over the years is right up there for me as I can be pretty tight with my scoring.

Tony EH

Those who are interested in 'Threads', might get something out of this. It's the 'Protect and Survive' public information film that you can hear in the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6U9T3R3EQg

Standing Bear

Business Cat wrote: »

This was recently released on blu ray for the first time. I've only ever seen the grainy downloaded version so I'm looking forward to checking out a more polished format. It's exceptional stuff.

The most harrowing parts for me were the last 20 to 30 minutes.

It should be shown in every school.

Little point in that, copies should be sent where it matters - to Putin, Trump, and Rocket Man. If you want to really depress yourselves further try "The Day After" (1983) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After

CrankyHaus

Tony EH wrote: »

Those who are interested in 'Threads', might get something out of this. It's the 'Protect and Survive' public information film that you can hear in the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6U9T3R3EQg

I actually think The War Game, the 1965 Peter Watkins film that was withdrawn by the BBC until 1985, is better than Threads. It was on Youtube last time I checked but I couldn't find it today. I'd give it 8/10.

I watched a fair few films while snowbound in recent days.

In Order of Disappearance, 2014
Stellan Skarsgaard does an excellent turn in this Norwegian revenge saga. I found the main villain a bit hammy and unconvincing but this is a solid film that makes very good use of it's setting in a remote, snowy part of Norway. The script is fairly sharp too. 7/10.

The Hunt for Red October, 1990
What ever happened to John McTiernan? He was on a serious roll making films like this. Great casting and direction and a well adapted screenplay. Even the bad bits are good in a cheesy way ("I never made it to Montana" laments Connery's defecting second-in-command as he dies in his arms). Stellan Skarsgaard even pops up as the Soviet sub commander hunting the Red October. 9/10

The Beast, 1988
In Afghanistan a soviet tank and its crew are hunted by Mujahideen avenging the massacere of their village. I'm surprised this isn't better known as it's an excellent film, well shot and well written. Certainly
far better than Rambo III from the same year. There is a lot of nuance in the portrayal of the characters, both Russian and Afghan. The battle scenes are good and the whole film has a pleasing versimilitude. 8/10

Harry Palmr

CrankyHaus wrote: »

What ever happened to John McTiernan

Went to jail for perjury, he is out now but he'll "never work in this town again" I suspect. In the old days he'd have ended up making B movie actioners in the east Asia for Roger Corman but that market doesn't really exist any more.