What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

CastorTroy

Central Intelligence - Just a fun movie. Dwayne and Kevin Hart work well together as also in in Jumanji, and Dwayne seemed to be enjoying himself playing such an over the top dorky character.

The Little Mermaid - Yeah, I'm a grown man watching this for the first time. Decided to make my way through Disney animated movies I haven't seen. I enjoyed it

2 Scoops

The insider. Seen it years ago but forgot most of it.

Don't think I'm overstating when I say it's one of the best thrillers ever made.

branie2

The Mark of Zorro a few days ago which i recorded off Film4. I always enjoy a good swashbuckler.

2 Scoops

2 Scoops wrote: »

The insider. Seen it years ago but forgot most of it.

Don't think I'm overstating when I say it's one of the best thrillers ever made.

Gets better every time you watch it

Tony EH

2 Scoops wrote: »

Don't think I'm overstating when I say it's one of the best thrillers ever made.

I don't think you'll find many people disagreeing with that.

Well, maybe some ex-Brown & Williamson execs who hold onto the idea that smoking isn't bad for anyone. :pac:

Frankly, I'd like to see more films like it. There are far too few adult stories in cinemas these days.

pixelburp

The Post (2017)

Vacillated between noble and preachy from scene to scene, but with Spielberg, Hanks and Streep all on good form, exuding confident dependability, it never got too nauseating or dull. As with all historical dramas, there was a tendency towards exposition for those not knowing the minutiae of real events, but again it never veered too far into a gussied up college lecture. Solid, middle-of-the-road Spielberg from his "grown up" phase of filmmaking, and a decent reminder of why a free & sceptical press is important in a functioning, healthy democracy.

branie2

Mission: Impossible - Fallout at the cinema this evening. It was brilliant

Sad Professor

Ivan Reitman Jr's Tully with Charlize Theron

I thought it was unspeakably awful. Reitman's worst film, even worse than Labor Day and that pretentious movie about the internet. The premise itself is fine, it's the direction and the tone that's the problem, reminded me of The Book of Henry. And despite the sole writing credit going to Cody, Reitman's fingerprints are all over it, especially the third act.

I also spent the first third of film wondering why Theron was married to her brother. It turns out her husband and brother are different characters played by different actors, but they sure fooled me. I had to pause and check IMDb to confirm. Even then I was convinced that the fact that she married a guy who looked like her dorky brother was important. And maybe that was the idea to distract the audience from what the film is really about, I don't know. And this was before that ridiculous third act.

What a stinker!

Tony EH

Mark Duplass and Ron Livingston resemble each other alright.


87% on RT currently. Seems to be getting good reviews elsewhere too.

Sad Professor

Glad it's not just me. Like, why would you cast these guys in a movie and not make them related to each other?



The funny thing is an incest twist would have been less absurd than what actually happens. Unlike Up in the Air, though, it is obvious something is coming because the tone is so off.

I'm mystified by the reviews. Theron and Davis make it watchable, I guess.

Frank O. Pinion

Good god, as a fan of Ron Livingston (Office Space!) and a big fan of the Duplass brothers, I never would get Ron and Mark confused. Spending a third of a film thinking two characters are siblings and married to each other is a terrible example of understanding the narrative, how can you even critique the film after admitting that?

Sad Professor

It's a tribute to how little impression either of them have ever made on me that I have trouble telling them apart, though that quality generally works well in the kind of films they star in. Also it's from the director of Labor Day and Men, Women and Children. I probably wasn't paying that much attention at the beginning.

Re: not following the narrative, well, Reitman is up to some tricky stuff in the the early parts. The film is basically Fight Club crossed with Mary Poppins for middle class women. I'd encourage everyone to watch it for the same reason that they should watch the awful The Book of Henry, but I'm not sure why critics and viewers gave this one a pass and not Trevorrow's film, especially since Reitman is pulling the same crap they've previously vilified him for.

radonicus

pixelburp wrote: »

The Post (2017)

Vacillated between noble and preachy from scene to scene, but with Spielberg, Hanks and Streep all on good form, exuding confident dependability, it never got too nauseating or dull. As with all historical dramas, there was a tendency towards exposition for those not knowing the minutiae of real events, but again it never veered too far into a gussied up college lecture. Solid, middle-of-the-road Spielberg from his "grown up" phase of filmmaking, and a decent reminder of why a free & sceptical press is important in a functioning, healthy democracy.

Agree it can be a little preachy, and not very subtle in its message and the timing of it, but has some great acting in it - the scene at breakfast between Hanks and Streep where he warns her off interfering is excellent, both act and react superbly during it.

pinksoir

The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

I watch these probably every year and man are they masterclasses at action film-making. The Terminator shades it for me now these days, with T2 being my favourite since I was a kid. The role Arnie was born to play: the weird accent, robotic acting skills, and inhuman physique.

The Terminator is the perfect B-movie, and it of course has many imitators, but I can't quite put my finger on what really separates it from the rest of the B-movie fare from that period. The SFX are pretty dodgy and while I was watching it I was thinking that Star Wars an Alien had far better SFX work, and they came 7 and 5 years before it. Granted, they had bigger budgets. Blade Runner too, of similar vintage, also offers more in its SFX. I just love the miniature work, though; there's just something charming about it and while it's clearly 'faking it' there's a certain heft and realness about working with physical objects that is lost through modern CGI. The stop motion Terminator endo-skeleton is fantastic as well, which is mixed with a great use of full scale model close ups. I guess using less convincing technology encourages the director towards a less-is-more approach which helps to build tension. In the end, The Terminator is all about the tension. And I think it did it better than the other similar types of B-movie that were doing the rounds. Much like Alien was a haunted house in space, this is a slasher movie with a robot from the future, where the antagonist keeps coming back for one last scare.

T2 is a very different affair. The SFX are light years ahead, and the scenes with the T-1000, which were lauded at the time, still hold up for the most part. There's a lot more comedy here, mostly between John and the T-800, which makes it much more lighthearted. While The Terminator is played completely straight, T2 knowingly winks at the audience. There's a lot of cheesiness, not least the surrogate father aspect of Arnie, but the mix of action, comedy, tension, and payoff is just perfect. Robert Patrick is perfectly cast as the lighter, nimbler foil to Arnie's lumbering T-800, and provides a very different type of menace to Arnie in The Terminator. Having him be liquid 'smart' metal remains an inspired choice that is still suitably futuristic 27 years later. With a bigger budget, T2 could afford to go bigger and better, and it happily does this. Though these choices always seem just right, never gratuitous or for the sake of it, and the movie remains lean and tight because of it. Yes there's spectacle, but the spectacle serves the story.

Couple of notes/goofs:

In The Terminator, after Kyle Reese is shot in the arm and he and Sarah are sitting under the bridge, Sarah pulls out a first aid kit to apply a field dressing. The first aid kit appears from nowhere! What, was it just lying there under the bridge?

How come the T-1000 can travel through time? He's liquid metal, not a 'cybernetic organism'.

The clear stunt double in T2 when Arnie jumps on his bike down in to the LA River! Never gets old.

Apparently the T-800 that breaks into the Resistance hideout in The Terminator was a friend of Arnie and also a bodybuilder.

Tony EH

Always thought the T-1000 was stupid.

Padraig Mor

pinksoir wrote: »

The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

I watch these probably every year and man are they masterclasses at action film-making. The Terminator shades it for me now these days, with T2 being my favourite since I was a kid. The role Arnie was born to play: the weird accent, robotic acting skills, and inhuman physique.

The Terminator is the perfect B-movie, and it of course has many imitators, but I can't quite put my finger on what really separates it from the rest of the B-movie fare from that period. The SFX are pretty dodgy and while I was watching it I was thinking that Star Wars an Alien had far better SFX work, and they came 7 and 5 years before it. Granted, they had bigger budgets. Blade Runner too, of similar vintage, also offers more in its SFX. I just love the miniature work, though; there's just something charming about it and while it's clearly 'faking it' there's a certain heft and realness about working with physical objects that is lost through modern CGI. The stop motion Terminator endo-skeleton is fantastic as well, which is mixed with a great use of full scale model close ups. I guess using less convincing technology encourages the director towards a less-is-more approach which helps to build tension. In the end, The Terminator is all about the tension. And I think it did it better than the other similar types of B-movie that were doing the rounds. Much like Alien was a haunted house in space, this is a slasher movie with a robot from the future, where the antagonist keeps coming back for one last scare.

T2 is a very different affair. The SFX are light years ahead, and the scenes with the T-1000, which were lauded at the time, still hold up for the most part. There's a lot more comedy here, mostly between John and the T-800, which makes it much more lighthearted. While The Terminator is played completely straight, T2 knowingly winks at the audience. There's a lot of cheesiness, not least the surrogate father aspect of Arnie, but the mix of action, comedy, tension, and payoff is just perfect. Robert Patrick is perfectly cast as the lighter, nimbler foil to Arnie's lumbering T-800, and provides a very different type of menace to Arnie in The Terminator. Having him be liquid 'smart' metal remains an inspired choice that is still suitably futuristic 27 years later. With a bigger budget, T2 could afford to go bigger and better, and it happily does this. Though these choices always seem just right, never gratuitous or for the sake of it, and the movie remains lean and tight because of it. Yes there's spectacle, but the spectacle serves the story.

While the second is undeniably a fantastic action film, the first shades it for me as well - it's just that bit more lean and taut. T2 definitely has a bit of flab, but when it's done as well as it is, who's complaining? And, let's face it, every penny of its record breaking budget is on the screen - most of the effects are still genuinely impressive today.

The clear stunt double in T2 when Arnie jumps on his bike down in to the LA River! Never gets old..

Unfortunately, Cameron CGI - 'fixed' that on the recent 3D rerelease.

pinksoir

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Unfortunately, Cameron CGI - 'fixed' that on the recent 3D rerelease.

Sad face emoji.

pinksoir

Tony EH wrote: »

Always thought the T-1000 was stupid.

How so?

CastorTroy

I remember thinking about how groundbreaking the T1000 effects were, then a couple years later it (or a lower budget version) was replicated for a weekly kids show in The Secret World of Alex Mack

Sad Professor

pinksoir wrote: »

Couple of notes/goofs:

In The Terminator, after Kyle Reese is shot in the arm and he and Sarah are sitting under the bridge, Sarah pulls out a first aid kit to apply a field dressing. The first aid kit appears from nowhere! What, was it just lying there under the bridge?

No, it was in the boot of the car they pushed into the ravine in the previous scene. We see Reese find it and hand it to Sarah along with a bunch of other stuff.

pinksoir

Sad Professor wrote: »

No, it was in the boot of the car they pushed into the ravine in the previous scene. We see Reese find it and hand it to Sarah along with a bunch of other stuff.

Ah! Good spot.

Tony EH

pinksoir wrote: »

How so?

A liquid robot never did it for me.

al87987

JFK - 8/10 - Long flick but worth it. Excellent ensemble cast and a truly incredibly story. Oliver Stone is a great man for telling these types of tales. Would recommend the Untold History of America too.

Keanu - 6.5/10 - I'm a fan of Key and Peele so I enjoyed this flick but probably not for all. Funny in parts.

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom: 6/10 - Not a lot going on here. Pretty forgettable.

Cell 211 - 8/10 - Spanish prison riot flick.

Logan lucky - 7/10 Decent thriller.

You were never really here - 7/10 - As above except darker.

Quiet Place - 9/10 - Immense and intense.

Tar.Aldarion

Brigsby Bear - loved it

Del.Monte

"The Hateful Eight" (2015) - on Netflix last night.

If you like Quentin Tarantino you'll love this bloodbath!

A great cast including Samuel L Jackson; Kurt Russell; Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bruce Dern.

Nearly all 187 minutes of the movie are set in "the haberdashery" a stage coach stopping post in post civil war Wyoming. Too hard to explain the plot but it involves bounty hunters, a hangman, a new sheriff (?), a female prisoner on her way to her hanging and various others. Snowed in at the staging post, will anybody get out alive. 9/10

Del.Monte

Whilst trawling through Netflix last light I happened upon "Bad Day for the Cut" (2017)

I had been looking forward to this Northern Ireland shot production but came away slightly disappointed.

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

Donal, a middle-aged Irish farmer still lives at home his mother, content with a simple life. However, when she is savagely murdered he sets off for Belfast looking for answers – and revenge. What he finds is a world of violence and brutality that he can’t understand and a secret about his family that will shake him to his core.

Nigel O'Neill is well cast as Donal, but some of the supporting actors aren't up to it.

Direction and continuity are poor in places but still worth a watch instead of all the American tripe on Netflix. 6/10

Nerdlingr

Isle of Dogs

Bit disappointed with this to be honest. Thought there would be more meat to its bones. Obviously the animation and setting etc is fantastic but i dunno, just felt a bit meh..unfulfilled. Got a bit bored by it towards the end to be honest.

6/10

Harry Palmr

Not seen it but I find that I usually need to see Anderson films twice before really liking them.

Cantona's Collars

A Prayer Before Dawn.

Based on the memoir of a young English man who ends up in prison in Thailand due to his addictions.
Shot on location in a notorious Thai prison, it's gritty and grim but a compelling watch as he turns to kickboxing to try get away from his demons.

budgemook

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Isle of Dogs

Bit disappointed with this to be honest. Thought there would be more meat to its bones. Obviously the animation and setting etc is fantastic but i dunno, just felt a bit meh..unfulfilled. Got a bit bored by it towards the end to be honest.

6/10

I found that, for a relatively short film, it seemed quite long.