What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

ButtersSuki

El Duda wrote: »

JFK - 8/10

A comprehensive exploration of the many conspiracy theories behind Kennedy assassination, with a stellar cast all at the top of their game. I'd been shown bits of it during school but never got around to watching it fully. It's such a grand production, expertly directed by Stone. I can scarcely believe that he managed to film the whole thing in 72 days.

I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Jack Lemmon and Donald Sutherland but all of the performances are solid here and it's hard to pick a real stand out. A very sweaty John Candy felt a little out of depth when on set with such prestigious colleagues and I think it comes across in his performance a little. Joe Pesci, Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Bacon all deliver solid performances.

Oliver Stone is clearly a proper filmmaker who brings real skill and craft to the table. Some people moan about his tendency to embellish but I think he gets the right balance between entertainment/fact.

No mention of Costner's one take monlogue?

Tony EH

Thought Candy was pretty good as Dean Andrews. The real guy talks like that, sweats like that (especially in a New Orleans Summer), is as fat as that and hid behind dark glasses.

The best scene in the film though is Garrison's chat with Prouty in Washington. For just two guys talking, it's a masterclass in intensity.

El Duda

ButtersSuki wrote: »

No mention of Costner's one take monlogue?

Now there is :P

I didn't know it was done it one take.

ButtersSuki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

El Duda wrote: »

JFK - 8/10

A comprehensive exploration of the many conspiracy theories behind Kennedy assassination, with a stellar cast all at the top of their game. I'd been shown bits of it during school but never got around to watching it fully. It's such a grand production, expertly directed by Stone. I can scarcely believe that he managed to film the whole thing in 72 days.

I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Jack Lemmon and Donald Sutherland but all of the performances are solid here and it's hard to pick a real stand out. A very sweaty John Candy felt a little out of depth when on set with such prestigious colleagues and I think it comes across in his performance a little. Joe Pesci, Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Bacon all deliver solid performances.

Oliver Stone is clearly a proper filmmaker who brings real skill and craft to the table. Some people moan about his tendency to embellish but I think he gets the right balance between entertainment/fact.

No mention of Costner's one take monlogue?

Tony EH wrote: »

Thought Candy was pretty good as Dean Andrews. The real guy talks like that, sweats like that (especially in a New Orleans Summer), is as fat as that and hid behind dark glasses.

The best scene in the film though is Garrison's chat with Prouty in Washington. For just two guys talking, it's a masterclass in intensity.

Yeah Costner gets some stick as an actor but he's one of my favorites and that monologue is his best piece of work ever 
I also thought it was Candy's finest moment, as Tony says he was that guy. I thought he pulled off the tricky slime ball with perfection. 
I can never decide which I prefer, Nixon or JFK. Just absolute masterpieces of filmmaking and acting.

Ipso

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah Costner gets some stick as an actor but he's one of my favorites and that monologue is his best piece of work ever
I also thought it was Candy's finest moment, as Tony says he was that guy. I thought he pulled off the tricky slime ball with perfection.
I can never decide which I prefer, Nixon or JFK. Just absolute masterpieces of filmmaking and acting.

JFK is a great piece of film making, I just wouldn't take it as the final word on the JFK assassination.

ButtersSuki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Watched the extended version(!) of JFK last night. I remember liking this when it came out in the cinema despite the very mixed critical and public reviews at the time. Despite its length (the extended cut comes in at just under 3 and half hours), it held my attention comfortably. I know a lot of people don't rate Kevin Costner as an actor, but he's really good in this. I can't understand how he didn't get an Oscar Nomination for his portrayal of Jim Garrison - the courtroom speech at the end is particularly impressive (allegedly in one take). I'm not saying he should have won (considering Hopkins won for Silence of the Lambs that year), but giving Tommy Lee Jones a Best Supporting Actor nod for not excatly doing very much in the same movie seems a bit bizarre when the two performances are held side by side. Even Donald Sutherland's one scene cameo is a significantly better and more impactful performance than Jones'.

Definitely worth watching again in one sitting if you haven't done so. 8/10.

Had to check what I gave JFK on my last viewing - can't believe it's been almost 5 years (that post was from May 2013). The extended version I mention is a US Blu Ray, I'm not sure if that version has been released this side of the pond.

ButtersSuki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Had to check what I gave JFK on my last viewing - can't believe it's been almost 5 years (that post was from May 2013). The extended version I mention is a US Blu Ray, I'm not sure if that version has been released this side of the pond.

The director's cut version has been on Blu-Ray here for years at this stage, I've had it sitting in plastic in my "I'll watch it sometime this decade pile" for at least 3 years.

ButtersSuki

Deleted User wrote: »

The director's cut version has been on Blu-Ray here for years at this stage, I've had it sitting in plastic in my "I'll watch it sometime this decade pile" for at least 3 years.

I'm delighted to see I'm not the only one who has one of these!

johnny_ultimate

Claire's Camera / On The Beach At Night Alone - To get to see one Hong Sang-soo film on the big screen every few years is a treat... to get to see two in 48 hours is a miracle. Of this pair of recent efforts from the prolific master, On The Beach... is the strongest: while instantly recognisable as a Hong film, there's a new-found melancholic and self-reflective approach driving the soju-fueled social awkwardness. Kim Min-hee (The Handmaiden) is absurdly good, channelling the off-screen tabloid headlines between her and the director to offer a performance that defies easy emotions. It's not as structurally playful as something like The Day He Arrives, but the moments where there is a formal or surreal trick are deployed with total precision. One of the finest Hong joints.

The Cannes-set Claire's Camera is more light-hearted and frivolous, but still a very good time indeed. Good to see Isabelle Huppert teaming up with Hong again, and casting her as a first-time visitor to the Cannes festival is an inspired touch. She traipses around casually photographing a trio of Korean visitors (Kim Min-hee again plays one of the leads), Claire is seemingly unaware of the love triangle playing out between her new friends. This becomes a curious reflection on cinematic storytelling itself - the layers of artifice; the moments seen & unseen; the lines between something genuine and performative. Above all though, it's a lot of fun, full of the very particular magic that makes the director's films so endlessly compelling for me.

The Director and The Jedi - several notches above your usual making-of docu for sure, but not in the upper echelons of great films about filmmaking. Pretty astounding to see the level of physical craft that was put into The Last Jedi - some of the puppets in particular are astonishing creations, and to see such on-set effort really helps explains why so much of the final film is as effective as it is. Rian Johnson also, unsurprisingly, comes across as an absolute champ. It's surely edited in a complimentary way to make the cut on a Disney-manufactured disc, but even allowing for that he seems a very genuine, warm person who put everything they could into the film they were making (which of course shows in the superb final product).

Hamill, too, comes off extremely well - voicing his well-publicised concerns while still putting everything he can into the bringing the character too life. As a documentary, though, The Director and the Jedi feels weirdly fractured, racing around a little bit too much (although sadly probably a consequence of trying to document a project of this scale). While it proves a valuable document of the actual making of TLJ with moments of both comedy and sadness (Carrie Fisher's death is very much addressed), there's little space afforded to what the film its documenting is actually about. Possibly a bit too much to ask of what the filmmakers were tasked with here, and perhaps better addressed in the commentary track - this is still, a solid, well made documentary and a welcome feature-length special feature.

El Duda

ButtersSuki wrote: »

I'm delighted to see I'm not the only one who has one of these!

The amount of money i've spent on DVD's and blurays that just sit in this pile

Tony EH

Deleted User wrote: »

The director's cut version has been on Blu-Ray here for years at this stage, I've had it sitting in plastic in my "I'll watch it sometime this decade pile" for at least 3 years.

ButtersSuki wrote: »

I'm delighted to see I'm not the only one who has one of these!

Half the people who frequent this board have one of those.

Tony EH

Tony EH wrote: »

Half the people who frequent this board have one of those.

I even have a VHS of Barry Lyndon in that pile that I bought 20 years ago :pac:

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Tony EH wrote: »

Half the people who frequent this board have one of those.

I used to work next to a HMV and every lunchtime their 3 for €20 would lure me in. My "to watch" pile was bigger than my watched pile at one point.

Decuc500

I saw Claire’s Camera at its recent showing in the IFI. Very enjoyable film. Kim Min-hee was kind of mesmerising, particularly in her English speaking scenes for some reason.

It was also refreshing to see a film with a short running time of 70 minutes. It didn’t need to be any longer and didn’t feel half formed or unfinished. Put a smile on my face anyway.

branie2

A Quiet Place at the cinema this evening. I have to say that it was different, but very good at the same time.

Fysh

Mary and the Witch's Flower

The first feature length production from Studio Ponoc (set up by former Ghibli animators after the announcement that Ghibli is reducing its production pace), this wears the influence and pedigree of its predecessor proudly; it's hard not to immediately think of films like Kiki's Delivery Service when watching the trailer. The animation is lovely and the visuals are engaging throughout. I wouldn't call it an instant classic, but for a first film from a studio wanting to carry on Ghibli's tradition and standard of film-making, I think it's a very promising start.

A Quiet Place

I won't lie, when I saw the Platinum Dunes production logo at the start I had a sinking feeling. I was pleasantly surprised that most of the film then managed to avoid the sort of silliness or audience-insulting approach to its storytelling. It's hard to think of a mainstream horror film that ratchets up the tension so relentlessly across its running time, or one that uses sound so well (with the exception of a score that feels overly present at times). There are a few jumpscares that feel bolted on, and a couple of developments that feel slightly contrived, but for the most part this is surprisingly effective.

Rob Zombie's 31

Rob Zombie is an odd one. I've enjoyed several of his films - The Devil's Rejects is far more entertaining than it should be, his Halloween remake is at its worst still easily better than two thirds of the films released in that franchise (not much of a challenge tbh), and Lords of Salem has some excellently creepy and tense moments (but was let down by a weak ending and running out of money during filming). So I tend to be willing to at least take a chance on them. But this...this was so clearly a case of having about half a script, no significant ideas beyond a villain and some striking visuals to have in orbit, and using crowdfunding to film the thingnand release it anyway. Frustratingly, some of the visuals and set designs make it clear that it could have been a much better film - but only with more money on the back of a properly finished script.

Only one for Zombie completists, I think.

Tony EH

There's only one thing I can say I truly like from Rob Zombie and that's 'The Devil's Rejects' and I agree completely, it has no right being so entertaining.

Everything else has made me come to the conclusion that that film was a one off, which is a shame because I think he has something to him. But '31' was pretty awful in too many places to be forgivable.

I heard that there's a sequel in the running for 'The Devil's Rejects'. Why and how that's going to happen I don't know, since Spaulding's nasty bunch of shits went out in a blaze of glory at the end.

I have a soft spot for Rob Zombie, I thought his Halloween was excellent and I enjoyed 31 even if it had its flaws. Important to be in the right frame of mind and setting to enjoy a film like that. He picks his music very well.
I heard him on a podcast a few years back saying he wouldn't be able to make the Devils Rejects today Bret Easton Ellis' I think, because the lack of funding available. Be interesting to see can he get a sequel made, can't imagine it being as good as the first though. The final scene in that movie is up there with my all time favorites, much helped by Freebird of course!

Tony EH

I'd say he's finding it hard to get funding for anything, which is why he's gone for the sequel optuin to his most popular film. But, I just cannot imagine that it'll be any use.

Might be a bit of fun to see Sid Haig ham it up again though.

:pac: I remember seeing him as a kid in 'Jason of Star Command', an awful bottom of the barrel bastard child of 'Star Wars'. It used to be on RTE in the early 80's.

Three From Hell is the third entry in the Firefly family series and is currently shooting. I've liked all of Zombie's films to date and think that The Lords of Salem is his unsung masterpiece, a genuinely creepy and unsettling atmospheric mood piece that features some truly striking imagery. I also quite liked 31, it's biggest drawback was the budget and it's a shame that no studio seems interested in Zombie as he's the kind of director who even at his worst is still creating something interesting and twisted.

Fysh

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Three From Hell is the third entry in the Firefly family series and is currently shooting. I've liked all of Zombie's films to date and think that The Lords of Salem is his unsung masterpiece, a genuinely creepy and unsettling atmospheric mood piece that features some truly striking imagery. I also quite liked 31, it's biggest drawback was the budget and it's a shame that no studio seems interested in Zombie as he's the kind of director who even at his worst is still creating something interesting and twisted.

I think Lords Of Salem has moments of Zombie at his very best, but doesn't come together as a film and the ending in particular is a letdown. Which is a pity, because what it was heading towards was very good.

Back to 31 - I'd argue its biggest drawback was that Zombie didn't seem to realise he needed more budget and work to make the film work. It looks ludicrously cheap in places (the sliding transition shots in particular, made worse by the one instance in which they're cleverly used, and that scene with the obnoxious strobe effect should have gotten someone a kick in the nadgers), the music choices were almost entirely forgettable (I watched it two days ago and the only song that stands out to me now is the closing credits song), the story and characters were too slight to hold up even 100 minutes of a film, and yet again front-and-centre we got Sherri Moon Zombie and her very limited acting ability. I know it's supposed to be a throwback exploitation gore movie, but Zombie already did that better about 10-15 years ago and, well, if this sloppily made effort is where his filmmaking is at today maybe he should ease off. Being a genre throwback isn't an excuse to be rubbish, and too much of 31 was a bit rubbish in a bad way.

If Eli Roth can get funding to make stuff like Green Inferno and its sequel, I think Zombie's problems are elsewhere. I think he's a good director, but it's probably about time he made a film in which he wasn't allowed to cast his wife, and possibly in which he worked with a co-writer and editor.

Tony EH

I think Rob's problem is that he's trying to auteur his way though a career and make an effort to emulate the genre greats of the 70's and 80's. He doesn't quite have the chops to do that however. He's certainly no Cronenberg or Carpenter.

You're right in that he needs to collaborate more with others to achieve a more coherent final product and maybe ditching the missus would be a bonus. I admire his matrimonial loyalty and whatnot, but it drags his films down several notches. Although, I'd argue that she wasn't too bad in 'The Lords of Salem'. But, by and large, she doesn't have the ability to carry a film.

darced

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wheresmahbombs

Just finished watching Whiplash a few minutes ago. Brilliant film.

Terence Fletcher comes across as ruthless and heartless

at first glance, but as the film progresses, the reason why he treats his students like this unravels. He tries to push the limits of his students and get them to excel in what they are doing. However, Terence's style of tuition is not suitable for everybody. Mentally and emotionally sensitive people will likely not get along with a teacher like him. In such cases, high resilience is crucial

.

Terence, in spite of his attitude, makes the film for me.

Later, I should see Dead Poets Society.

johnny_ultimate

Custody opens with an extended legal skirmish - the lawyers for a man and a woman duking it out for their clients, each trying to secure a specific deal for custody of the couple's 11-year-old son (their daughter is 18 so doesn't really factor into the equation).

This sets up what at first appears to be a drama with no real good or bad guys, concerned primarily with the innocent kid caught up in the nasty crossfire of a troubled separation - a tone pitched somewhere between A Separation and Loveless. That's not exactly what transpires, though - first-time director Xavier Legrand very much picks a side.

There's the risk of that becoming a somewhat disappointing decision... there's an artful ambiguity to the characterisation that is lost as the film progresses and its true intentions come into focus. But the drama that follows is captured with an extraordinary level of confidence rarely seen in a debut feature. As moral ambiguity transitions to good old fashioned tension and creeping dread, the camera - accompanied by no music or score, barring a loud party scene with a live band - is deployed with devastating precision. A car journey where a frightened child is kept in close-up; the aforementioned party scene where we keep switching perspectives; the gradual ground-level zoom as one character suffers through a long wait in a bathroom stall; a frenzied late film confrontation that is more edge-of-the-seat scary than anything A Quiet Place has to offer...

If the story is familiar at times, that's sadly because of its devastating parallels to the sorts of stories we hear far too often in real-world contexts. This is social realism by way of a tense thriller, and while there's a sense Legrand may be destined for even better things, this is a hell of a calling card for the Frenchman.

Fysh

I caught a screening of Trench 11 yesterday, which was an enjoyable Nazi bunker film despite explicitly setting itself at the end of WWI and therefore predating the existence of Nazis. It's essentially a Dirty Dozen esque mission movie taking place in a horror setting - there's not much depth to the characters but it's breezily paced, albeit by relying occasionally on Idiot Ball moments for progression. The vfx are tremendous, which makes it really frustrating that there are few instances where they are used - but on the plus side, those scenes are excellent. There's a scene in particular which calls back to one of Carpenter's most famous scenes which is great. Ultimately enjoyable but not treading any new ground, this is somewhere between Deathwatch and Dead Snow overall.

I also caught This Is The End on Mubi, which was a mixed affair. There were some funny moments, but it was too long for what material it had and relied too much on familiarity with all the actors involved. I don't know or care who Danny McBride is, which seemed to neuter the effectiveness of his elements of the story. It also doesn't help that this seems to be in the vein of Pineapple Express, a film I gave up on after about an hour. It's not so much bad as just probably not for me. If a ruthless job were done of editing it down to about an hour or so and focusing on a better pace and balance of jokes it could be a lot more entertaining, but I don't imagine anyone could be bothered doing that amount of work to make a mediocre stoner comedy somewhat better...

Chaos Tourist

The Negotiator (1998). Just another one of those action thrillers that's largely forgotten about now. Might watch Rising Sun (1993) starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. What could go wrong there?

CrankyHaus

All the President's Men
Redford and Hoffman give excellent performances as Woodward and Bernstein, the Washington Post journalists who broke the Watergate story.
The film feels like the classic journalist film, with a clear influence on those that came after, most recently Spotlight and The Post. It's well shot throughout, with high exterior shots that give an excellent feel of Washington DC. The dialogue is tight and sharp.

To someone raised on more recent films the climax feels a little flat as does the conclusion, expressed through type-printed headlines documenting the story coming to national attention and Nixon resigning. I assume when the film came out that side of the story was so well known that it would have felt redundant to portray it prominently.

It's interesting seeing how little was known of the background to the Watergate break-in at the time. Declassified information has since given a much more detailed picture of the motivation behind it, that is explained well in Ken Burn's excellent Vietnam War documentary series from last year.

Tony EH

One of the best films of the 70's IMHO. Plays out like a detecive procedural and remains gripping all the way through, even on multiple viewings. It's an excellent example of how to do that type of film.

As for the end, I think anything else would have been too bombastic and overblown. Which is certainly a problem with todays films for sure.

ButtersSuki

I watched Daddy's Home on Netflix Saturday night. It was awful - and I say this as a fan of goofball comedies. 3/10.

Speaking of which, I watched a very small part of White Chicks at some stage last week as I was flicking through the channels (it was on Comedy Central). It was heavily edited. Why bother showing a film like this if you're going to edit it; esp. as you have previously shown this in its unedited form?

It was this scene - and they cut it at 00:55:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixxKKPkxz5o