What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Zeek12

DazMarz wrote: »

If you liked that, watch Oliver Stone's Untold History Of The United States. It's a 10-part documentary series where he investigates beyond the accepted and well-known history of the United States and examines the more seedy underbelly. It is really excellently put together and is not easy viewing at times, but it well worth it.

Very easy to track down online. And it left me absolutely numb after watching it. So much of it leaves you so furiously angry at how different (and better) the world may have been at various points that Stone touches upon.

Well worth a watch.

I second that, it's a really interesting series. Although I'm always a little wary of any possible claims or theories Stone advances without solid evidence....his passion for conspiracy theories has not waned over the years!
Still, a very well made series and definitely worth a watch. It's showing on Sky Atlantic at the moment on Friday evenings.

MagicMarker

TBH if I want to watch a documentary then I want to be confident that it is actually factual. So, having Oliver Stone's name attached it it immediately has me questioning it's validity.

But if you're interested in the that particular subject then read Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States".

Zeek12

Zeek12 wrote: »

I second that, it's a really interesting series. Although I'm always a little wary of any possible claims or theories Stone advances without solid evidence....his passion for conspiracy theories has not waned over the years!
Still, a very well made series and definitely worth a watch. It's showing on Sky Atlantic at the moment on Friday evenings.

And I third it! The best television documentary ever made in my opinion, 5 years it took to make which tells you about the level of detail.
Also makes a mockery of the history books and what we grow up learning about what happened back then especially WW2 and who and how it was won. You might find you hate america for a while though after watching it!
If anyone ever doubted Stone after a few blips like Alexander, this is an almighty return to form.

Tony EH

MagicMarker wrote: »

TBH if I want to watch a documentary then I want to be confident that it is actually factual. So, having Oliver Stone's name attached it it immediately has me questioning it's validity.

But if you're interested in the that particular subject then read Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States".

Good luck then. Most documentaries contain numerous mistakes, fallacies and outright falsehoods.

Zeek12

MagicMarker wrote: »

TBH if I want to watch a documentary then I want to be confident that it is actually factual. So, having Oliver Stone's name attached it it immediately has me questioning it's validity.

But if you're interested in the that particular subject then read Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States".

You just need to exercise some caution and watch out for the occasional unsubstantiated theory or comment. But in the main, he's actually been pretty conservative as far as that goes. I watched the episode on the JFK/LBJ years recently and was actually quite surprised at how little time he spent trying to push his usual conspiracy agenda!

MagicMarker

MagicMarker wrote: »

TBH if I want to watch a documentary then I want to be confident that it is actually factual. So, having Oliver Stone's name attached it it immediately has me questioning it's validity.
.

Which of his works before has lacked validity in terms of historical accuracy exactly? Or has your opinion been garnered from reading pro US government journalism?
Stone has been vilified for questioning things for his whole career. He was vilified for Wall Street by the US government initially, which later became hugely popular and is still extremely relevant. The same happened for Platoon. The same happened for JFK. Movies that show an alternative to the bull**** we are peddled by the US government who daily massacre people with drones in the middle east. A government who has been tyrannical around the world, trying to tell me that they are spreading freedom and democracy and not simply expanding their economic policy.
Showing the reality of the American 'system' has earned stone this reputation among the ignorant of being a conspiracy theorist. Its a joke really. You question somethings and suddenly your a conspiracy theorist who doesnt deal in facts, just because you present an alternative to the propaganda of the time.
The same **** was peddled after the release of this series in the US. Hack journalists write hatchet reviews with no facts or reason, just trying to portray the director as a conspiracy theorist.
Maybe its something you can do to Michael Moore who presents extremely one sided films that are not really documentaries. Any of stones documentaries allow the viewer to make up their mind from the facts presented.

DazMarz

Oh, me... Oh, my... what have I started?! :P

Anyway, back to flicks I watched recently:

Dirty Harry (1971)

The granddaddy of every rogue/maverick cop film ever. Don Siegel's 1971 masterpiece starring Clint Eastwood and Andrew Robinson.

The plot is straightforward: a psychopathic sniper is terrorising the city of San Francisco and tries to hold the city to ransom. If the city doesn't pay up, he will keep shooting innocent people. Enter SFPD Homicide Division's most dangerous officer; "Dirty" Harry Callahan.

Callahan has no time for doing things by the book. He bends (and sometimes straight out breaks) rules. He sneers at his superiors for demanding he follow procedure. He believes that the law all too often favours the crook and does little to nothing to protect the innocent. As gruff and violent as Callahan might be, he gets results and does his best to protect the citizens of San Francisco.

This is firmly Eastwood's show, and it is easy to see why. Before this, there had never been a cop shown on film who was so maverick and so willing to go against the book to get the job done. This was a genre-defining moment, and every single cop film after this owes it something of a debt. Without Harry Callahan, there would be no "Popeye" Doyle, John McClane, Martin Riggs, Mike Lowry, Vincent Hanna, Alonzo Harris, etc. I can even see shades of Harry Callahan in the sinister Agent Smith of The Matrix.

But then again, Andrew Robinson is the perfect, maniacal foil to the stoic and determined Eastwood. Robinson's Scorpio Killer is one of the most detestable villains ever put onto the big screen. He kills for the thrill and enjoyment of it. The money he'd gain is almost a delightful bonus. Nothing more. The doe-eyed innocence of the actor makes the killer all the more sinister. Robinson could easily be the man you walked past on the street, your friendly next-door neighbour, the nice man who'd help an old lady cross the street. And then at night, he goes on his rampages, machine-gunning and sniping people from rooftops.

The film did NOT contain the legendary "Dirty" Harry quote of: "Go ahead, make my day!" (this came from the later film, Sudden Impact)

The film also contains one of the most oft-misquoted lines in cinema history: it is NOT: "Do you feel lucky, punk?"... it is:

"I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking, 'Did he fire six shots, or only five?'. Now, to tell you the truth, I've forgotten myself in all this excitement. But being that this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, it will blow your head clean off. You've got to ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?'. Well, do ya, punk?!"

Delivered in that raspy, whispery growl of Clint... there can only be one answer. Nobody is lucky, except Harry Callahan.


Magnum Force (1973)

"Dirty" Harry is back, and it is almost just as good.

This time, instead of a psychotic lone nut sniper, Harry is pitched against a group of SFPD rogue rookie cops who are taking the law into their own violent hands.

The film was made in an effort to assuage the hysteria that surrounded the first film; mainly, that Harry Callahan was a vigilante, a fascist and a complete rogue cop.

In this film, a group of 4 young motorcycle cops are exacting revenge upon criminals who have slipped through loopholes or who are simply flaunting the fact that they can do what they want while the law is helpless to stop them. Harry is consistently being muzzled by his superiors at the same time.

You can see it coming a mile off as to who the offenders are; there is a red herring thrown in, but the four over-zealous, fresh-faced, enthusiastic young cops are plainly the killers. They're just too wholesome and All-American to be anything but cold-blooded killers.

This is not as good as the original, but it is damn close. There are some brilliant set-pieces (Harry foiling a jet hijacking being great fun) and some genuinely blood-soaked moments where the cops exact brutal vengeance upon the criminal underworld.

Harry rails against the vigilantes, refusing to join their "cause". He tells them: "You 'heroes' have killed a dozen people this week. What are you going to do next week?"

From behind his sunglasses, one of them cold bloodedly replies: "Kill a dozen more."

The brilliant point of this film is that it makes us realise that Harry, while he will push the system as far as it will go, will never step outside the law and is not a cold-blooded killer. He will bend (sometimes break) rules, but he will never become judge, jury and executioner. As he tells the rookies: "You've misjudged me".

Excellent viewing with some brilliant set-pieces and intense acting turns. Not as good as the original, but as close as you will get. Dirty Harry had already broken the mould and is as close to the perfect cop film as you will get. Anything that came after was never going to be as good. But Magnum Force comes close.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I watched a film called Waiting For Forever last weekend.

My God, how do I even explain what I was watching?

Basically, Rachel Bilson returns to her childhood home because her dad is dying. Her no good fiance isn't far behind. Neither is her old childhood friend Will, who just happens to run into her outside her house one morning. Except Will has been following her, for years, except he calls it "going where you go" and although Bilson is upset by this revelation she's not as upset as any normal person should be. There's then a bit where Will is framed for murder and then Bilson kind of stalks him a little bit and then I don't even know what happened at the end.

Quite possibly the worst film I've ever seen.

Corkfeen

Watching Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead as part of the buildup to Man of Steel. It still stands out as my favourite of his films. The slow motion scenes aren't overdone and he achieved one of the few remakes that entirely differentiated itself from the original.

It has one of my favourite opening scenes for a film and is up there as one of my favourite zombie films of that decade, particularly for it's choice of song and over the top special effects which are necessary for an apocalyptic vision.

This is why i'd suspect with the proper guidance Snyder may have potentially superb retelling of the origins of Superman.

The Department Store in it was called Metropolis, not sure if that's a good or bad omen. :pac:

johnny_ultimate

See You Tomorrow, Everyone! - latest from Yoshihiro Nakamura (Fish Story, Chonmage Purin etc...) starring his frequent collaborator Gaku Hamada. Spanning two decades, its about one guy's psychological inability to leave his home in the projects. Not amazing or anything, but solidly intriguing and engaging with a pretty unique structure. A well defined character study enhanced by an undercurrent of social change and upheaval - nostalgic, pessimistic and hopeful all at once.

Researched Sion Sono's Land of Hope on the big screen, and glad I did, as there's a lot of design flourishes - especially in the sound design, which is used to both create an unsettling mood and create some intriguing editing echoes and momentum - that are at home in a cinema. My initial reaction to the film is largely unchanged - a powerful portrait of the aftermath of a Fukushima-like incident that is as interested in meaningful commentary on the present and future as merely reflecting on the past. The title is a somewhat ironic one, as characters are led on journeys that range from quietly optimistic to profoundly troubled and uncertain. Placing a simple question mark at the end of the title would perhaps be appropriate - Sono is in an analytical mindset here, and we're asked to question and engage on a deeper level with a film that is considerably more than a traditional family melodrama. Still, likely to prove a divisive proposition even for Sono enthusiasts.

Bipolar Joe

Manos: The Hands of Fate

Wow. Just........... Wow. I wasn't sure what I was watching until I read up on it afterwards. A family accidentally interrupts a small cult on their way to some place or other, and then things happen. Truly bizarre. Not in a mind-bending way, more of a "What the actual fuck am I seeing" way. That being said, it's a very good good-bad movie. Lots of terrible acting, awkward shots and editing that would frustrate David Lynch. Definitely try pick it up if you're a fan of bad films.

The Hands of Orlac (1924)

Loved it. Early Robert Weine and Conrad Viedt. Not as visually surreal as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, more of a super stripped down look instead of warped stuff. Dude loses his hands, and gets them replaced by the hands of a recently deceased murderer, then he descends into paranoia and madness. The acting was great, and I really love how these types of movies are shot. The pay off was kind of a let down, but didn't mar the rest of the film.

Paperhouse

Best of the three. A sick girl accidentally creates a dream-world in her drawing she disappears to when she sleeps. Great cinematography, some amazing atmosphere that genuinely had me a little scared. The set in the dream-world was lovely, couldn't have been better. Some parts that almost made me weep a manly tear. Fantastic, absolutely top-notch. Sound design, everything. Just go and watch it.

crazygeryy

my amityville horror

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1727523/

i was a big fan of the original amityville horror movie and this is a very interesting movie to go along with it.its basicly about daniel lutz who was one of the children who lived in the house when all the goings on were happening in 1975.
to be honest it didnt give to many answers that we dont already have and the ending i was dissapointed in.but very much worth a watch.

Tony EH

DazMarz wrote: »

If you liked that, watch Oliver Stone's Untold History Of The United States. It's a 10-part documentary series where he investigates beyond the accepted and well-known history of the United States and examines the more seedy underbelly. It is really excellently put together and is not easy viewing at times, but it well worth it.

Very easy to track down online. And it left me absolutely numb after watching it. So much of it leaves you so furiously angry at how different (and better) the world may have been at various points that Stone touches upon.

Well worth a watch.

Hmmm...watching this at the moment and I have to say it's surprisingly a VERY bog standard history document at the moment, with some frustrating omissions and some splicing together of fictional film footage with real documentary footage.

Maybe episode 2 ups the ante?

DazMarz

Tony EH wrote: »

Hmmm...watching this at the moment and I have to say it's surprisingly a VERY bog standard history document at the moment, with some frustrating omissions and some splicing together of fictional film footage with real documentary footage.

Maybe episode 2 ups the ante?

It does get better. Once Stone gets his teeth into properly devious and compelling material of the United States and it's near fifty year pissing contest with the Soviets, it really takes off.

There are no interviews or anything in it; it is all archival footage with quotes and Stone's narration over the top of it. Unusual for a documentary, but there you go.

Stick with it. It does get a lot better and a lot more eye-opening.

Tony EH

Well, I have to say that Ollie missed a trick on the first episode, which was nothing special. In fact, it was nothing more than basic 'History Channel' fare, complete with wrong "footage to voiceover" mistakes that no serious producer should even tolerate. At one point, he talks about the Il-2 being "better than the Luftwaffe" and proceeds to show a MIG-3, or mentions T-34's and shows a BT-26.

I'll give a few more episodes a go, but it really needs to pick up. Perhaps post war and onto the 70's is Ollie's best area.

I'd be interested in his Vietnam episodes though.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Watched Rust And Bone today after forgetting it's been on my shelf for months.

I'm not sure what I thought of it, to be honest. It wasn't what I expected, although I suppose my expectations were based solely on the one trailer I saw...

Anyway I kind of thought Marion Cotillard was the main character, but it was really Ali, who was fairly hard to like. She did tell him at one point, be more considerate

but then he upped and left her, and his kid!!

It was an interesting story though, I guess, I'm just not really sure at this point whether I actually enjoyed it or not...

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Posted twice, sorry

johnny_ultimate

Alien, in glorious (if a little red) 70mm. The only way to truly appreciate the film. The film is everything modern spectacle cinema is not, almost to the point where the design shares more with contemporary art cinema than blockbusters. The way the camera observes, negotiates and analyses the surroundings is absolutely breathtaking - the cinematography is a vital way in which the film creates its peerless sense of space, and not the infinite variety. It's all ably supported by stellar production designs, the walls literally dripping with sweat & goo.

The film is incredibly thoughtfully paced, and conjures up its world through a sharp awareness of the cinematic method. When Scott chooses to overwhelm us its done through blinding light, intensely claustrophobic close-ups, disquieting sound design. It drifts between extremes - from near deathly silence to shrill, uncomfortable and manic noise. The mood at any given moment dictates the camera's momentum - whether it's a slow, observational drift like the famous opening five minutes or so, or the dynamically urgent tracking as Ripley navigates the soon-to-explode halls as smoke bellows from every orifice of the rusty Nostromo. Ridley Scott has a true command of form, able to make this most regularly copied of films tower above its prior genre mates and subsequent imitators.

Not bad for a film about a group of people fighting a monster with flamethrowers.

krudler

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Alien, in glorious (if a little red) 70mm. The only way to truly appreciate the film. The film is everything modern spectacle cinema is not, almost to the point where the design shares more with contemporary art cinema than blockbusters. The way the camera observes, negotiates and analyses the surroundings is absolutely breathtaking - the cinematography is a vital way in which the film creates its peerless sense of space, and not the infinite variety. It's all ably supported by stellar production designs, the walls literally dripping with sweat & goo.

The film is incredibly thoughtfully paced, and conjures up its world through a sharp awareness of the cinematic method. When Scott chooses to overwhelm us its done through blinding light, intensely claustrophobic close-ups, disquieting sound design. It drifts between extremes - from near deathly silence to shrill, uncomfortable and manic noise. The mood at any given moment dictates the camera's momentum - whether it's a slow, observational drift like the famous opening five minutes or so, or the dynamically urgent tracking as Ripley navigates the soon-to-explode halls as smoke bellows from every orifice of the rusty Nostromo. Ridley Scott has a true command of form, able to make this most regularly copied of films tower above its prior genre mates and subsequent imitators.

Not bad for a film about a group of people fighting a monster with flamethrowers.

I've always thought it odd that there's a moment during opening where the camera is moving around the ship that it clearly bumps into something, audibly as well, and a load of paper blows as the camera moves past it, odd choice to leave that in but it gives a surreal aspect to drifting through the silent ship.

I only watched it recently on blu-ray and its still stunning looking, a movie thats what 35 years old? It puts modern films to shame with its production design levels, in an age of using digital effects for things as simple as smoke and fire and clothes lending everything a hyper real sheen that distances you from the film Alien has never looked more realistic. Jerry Goldsmith's score is still brilliantly haunting as well, the initial reveal of the Space Jockey is downright creepy musical moment.

mike65

Watching Alien you can only despair at how low standards have fallen - and that includes Ridley Scotts own output.

---

Moving on with a little curio from the mid 70s Dangerous Knowledge Dir - Alan Gibson John Gregson, Patrick Allen, Prunella Ransome star in this drama made by Southern TV (rip) for the Armchair Thriller series. The four parts were later edited together (in common with a few more stories from this series) for wider overseas distribution and video. Obviously being made for buttons its no slick work, complete with wild weather related continuity issues (as was typical of the era of shooting fast and cheap) and the exteriors/film, interiors/telecine contrast which takes one by surprise when it first happens. The story of spooks and betrayal and the woman who moves between the protagonists is well done with plenty of constructive ambiguity. The music score is a fairly awful, someone decided to ape the popular style of Roy Budd but without having his talent or the same facilities to produce a polished sound.

Before his untimely death Gibson had a pretty good career directing a string of better than average drama series like Black Beauty, The Capone Investment, 1990, People Like Us, The Charmer and the two Dominic Hyde tv plays plus a number of prestige TV Movies and various episodes of things like Z Cars, Tales of the Unexpected. His feature genre films (bar Goodbye Gemini) are best forgotten.

skeleton_boy

Seeking a Friend For The End of the World - The story is a bit bland and nothing groundbreaking but I'm a big fan of both the leads and here they create a sweet and sometimes funny story. 6/10

Tipsy McSwagger

The Devil's Backbone
Brilliant Spanish spooky film with a bunch of child actors who are not annoying, 4/5*.

kraggy

Went to see The Iceman. Was decent enough but lacked something. Shannon was great as the deep, cold Kuklinski. But I don't know what the hell David Schwimmer was doing in it. They could have played an unkown younger kid and it would have been far more believable. The connection between Schwimmer and Liota was unconvincing.

That said, great visuals and costuming. The clothes and hairstyles were bang on the money. Definitely worth a look if there's nothing else in the cinema for you you to watch.

Bozo Skeleton

I don't think I'll bother to check out The Iceman. There's 2 separate documentaries made by the same guy that went out on HBO, that are up in full on Youtube. The guy who made them posted them up on his account. Search for "The Iceman, confessions of a mafia hitman". Riveting stuff, it's interviews with Kuklinski in prison. He was one cold motherf*cker.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I watched Juanita Wilson's short film The Door . I'd seen it before but I wanted to add it to Letterboxd and ended up watching it again.

It's a beautifully shot short about a father returning to his abandoned home to steal his old front door. Through flashbacks it's revealed what exactly he wants the door for. They actually shot some of the scenes in one of the towns in Ukraine that was abandoned after the disaster so it really impacts on you the effect it had on these places, and on the people.

You can watch it on www.thedoorshortfilm.com for free. It's only 17 minutes long, I highly recommend it.

Cartel Mike

360 on dvd


Dear god.
Think I kept watching in case something happened.
Nothing happens.
There is no plot other than the fact that we're all connected.
That's not a plot and no one in this film is connected.

Despite Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and someone else who are in the film for 10mins each, the writing was on the wall when the opening credits stated it was some sort a BBC film.

I got mugged on this one and whoever made this should be mugged .

briany

The China Syndrome (1978)

Jane Fonda plays an ambitious TV reporter, anxious to move up the newsroom pecking order and to get her first real scoop. Her opportunity comes when they witness (and film) what turns out to be a near meltdown at a local nuclear plant during what was supposed to be a routine bit about the workings of the facility. She tries to get it on the news but a conspiracy to keep the incident silent moves against her.

Very enjoyable film which has lost none of it's relevance today.

The Life of David Gale (2003)

A staunch campaigner against capital punishment finds himself sitting on death row after being found guilty of a rape and murder. He tells the story of how he wound up that ironic situation to a reporter a few days before execution.

Good mix of thriller, drama, dashes of comedy and mystery all thrown together. Kevin Spacey is good as the titular character. He's basically always playing degrees of himself it seems like so you know what to expect from him.

Judgement Day

The China Syndrome is an excellent movie - I haven't watched it in ages and now I'm reminded I'll have to get it on DVD. "The Edge of Darkness" (1985) BBC mini-series and the more recent (2010) movie of the same name starring Mel Gibson can also be recommended to anybody interested in conspiracy issues in the Nuclear/Military/Political arena.

johnny_ultimate

Attack the Gas Station! It's been years since I first heard about this film, and has been on my to watch list ever since. Its lack of availability in region 2 is surprising given its cult status - made in 1999, it seemed to have just narrowly missed the early-00s surge in popularity for offbeat Asian cinema, and thus has never afforded the same attention as some of its contemporaries 'round these parts as it has been in the States.

Luckily we live in a less bordered world than once upon a time (although watch out - supposedly one of the region 1 releases only offers a dreadful dub). This wacky, energetic farce concerns a group of disaffected young chaps who decide to take over an urban petrol station out of sheer boredom. The night grows increasingly chaotic and violent as more & more people get embroiled in the new filling station order, with the four instigators kidnapping and attacking those who displease them.

While very entertaining on a surface level - the manic energy of the whole thing translated through giddy, dynamic cinematography - the film also serves as a darkly farcical takedown of social order and class in contemporary South Korea, emerging as a working class revenge movie of a sort. It's a little more complex than that though, as director Kim Sang-jin slowly begins to probe the motivations of our (anti)heroes. He doesn't completely revel in the revenge fantasy either - while his sympathies are clearly with the delinquent rebels, he also pushes their actions that bit too far from time to time to make us uncomfortable at the lengths they're going to to try and avenge various societal wrongs.

Still, all the allegorical stuff doesn't weigh down a film that's predominantly a lot of zany fun: full of crazy setpieces, distinctive characters (Mad Dog is a keeper), ever-escalating fight scenes and no shortage of cheesy 90s K-rock, K-pop and K-rap (mostly played on cassette, but the film also features what surely must have been one of the first cinematic references to MP3s). For some reason it reminded me of Empire Records on speed, but I don't know if that comparison would hold up to much scrutiny.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Saw Man of Steel this morning.

Wrote more about it in the film's own thread.

Short version is I really liked it. I like what they were going for even if they didn't always nail it. I think Cavill was perfect as Clark/Kal. It's not without it's faults, and I'm speaking as someone who is not a fan of comics or superhero movies in general. I'm not comparing it to any other franchise , or any other incarnation of Superman.

But I really enjoyed it and I look forward to the sequel.