What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Gamayun

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

In a word, spellbinding.
The director John R. Leonetti manages to marry the dark religious overtones of Bergman with the masterly action nous of Kurosawa, all swaddled in the staid, solemn embrace of the elegant (frankly Tarkovsky-esque) poetic structure of the film.
The fight sequences instantly bring to mind Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, the savage, the noble, the ethereal and the beautiful all played out by actors and stunt-men alike with virtuosic, balletic precision.
The cinematography is absolutely awe inspiring, using both standard and slow motion capture, and with a combinations of either one, or many, actors in-frame each shot.
The pinnacle of western art? Western culture? World culture? The zenith of Man's creations?
I cannot say for certain, however I am sure that all future acts and deeds shall be compared to this triumphant exultation of Man's evolution. Truly a watershed moment for all existence and non-existence, inside and outside of time immortal, this shall stand alone, both forever and never.







2/5

Sean Quagmire

Mike Litoris wrote: »

Now You See Me

Worse film I've seen in a long long time. Good cast and a nice concept written and directed by children for children.:p The big twist, if you want to call it that, is laugh out loud bad!!

Jesus yeah, shocking film. I knew the twist as someone spoilt it for me so I could see the stupidity of it all the way through.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Shotgun Stories

I saw Mud earlier this year and really liked it so decided to watch Jeff Nichols' other films whenever I could. Spotted this in the library this morning and here we are.

I'm not really sure how I felt about it. The general premise, feuding brothers, didn't sound that interesting and I was worried it would just be gory violence and no real substance. I was pleasantly surprised in this respect. It wasn't at all what many other films with similar subject matter were. It was quite slow paced but this made it much more believable. It's the kind of story you could well see play out in any small town.

To anyone who has seen it though... the ending...

I read about Take Shelter and how Nichols' deliberately left the ending kind of ambiguous, and I saw some people suggest he'd done the same with Mud, so is that what's going on here too? Boy seems to have talked the other brothers into a truce of sorts but they've no idea what Son will do when he wakes up, and neither do we at the end. There were a few jumps on the dvd though, so maybe I missed something, but it felt kind of open ended...

Daemos

Primer

Love time travel films, and was very open to this indie take on it. Sadly it didn't click with me at all. Like many, I had to go online to understand what was happening. That is not the sign of a deep and complex film - it's the sign of a film that fails to explain what the hell is going on. I don't expect to be walked through it at every step, but even give us a diagram to explain it and it would have been much better

Especially with indie films with low budgets, it's important to focus on the story rather than the production values. Funnily enough, in this case I thought the production values were stellar when you look at how much was spent. Unfortunately, however, the story let this one down. It had moments of interest but was mostly a dull load of nonsense

The Cabin In The Woods

All I knew going into this was that it was a horror film written by Joss Whedon, so I expected some interesting twists on the genre. Quite how far he would take those twists, however, exceeded even my expectations The 'B-story' was a generic horror film affair, but then again that was the point. I was far more interested in the 'A-story', it was full of humour which I wasn't expecting at all, and it did take me a while to figure out what was going on

Overall, not what I expected, but also far more entertaining than I expected

TerrorFirmer

I also watched that movie The Colony recently, for a relatively low budget affair it was good - decent CGI, credible acting, and some nice elements of horror. Limited, but most definitely worth a watch for sure if you enjoy post apocalyptic style movies.

I also watched We're the Millers, once of those rare comedy films I thoroughly enjoyed despite readily admitting that it's not all that funny and equally despite the fact that you would imagine its strength would lie in outrageous comedy. I saw both that and The Heat in a very short time period, and for the aforementioned outrageous laugh out loud comedy, The Heat really hammers the nails into the coffin of the Millers. Both are worth a watch in their own way, though The Heat is a much better, and infinitely funnier, film.

I tried to watch Gallowwalkers, but it was one of the most irredeemably offensively bad pieces of film I've had lay siege to my eyeballs in recent memory. I had to turn it off after 40 minutes, and I have an atypically high tolerance for nonsense when it comes to film.

That's my Boy, I'm a little late on this one, but I was surprised - yes, it's low brow, cheap, and really, just as tacky and predictable as you'd expect from any Sandler film of the past few years, but as with We're the Millers, the fact that it's not exactly a laugh a minute - even far from it at times - doesn't take away from what I'd call an overall decent experience against my every expectation.

Hatchet Trilogy - does what it says on the tin. A plot that could-have-been-and-probably-even-wasn't-even scribbled down on a post it, atrociously transparent acting, a collective 270 minute solid homage to every cliche imaginable in and out of the horror genre since Nosferatu, made good by lashings as what can only be described as gore-porn. Really enjoyed it.

That's all for now from KEWL MOVIE REVIEWZ, thanks for reading.

Baked.noodle

Margin Call (2011)

Follows the key people at an investment bank, over a 24-hour period, during the early stages of the financial crisis. This is the best finance film in years. Up there with Wall Street. All star cast with Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci, Demi Moore and Paul Bettany. Great performances all round, with jargon tactfully explained in layman's terms. Excellent. 8 out of 10.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finally got around to watching What Richard Did

I was a bit wary about it due to all the hype and praise it's gotten since it's release. It's not your stereotypical Irish film, that's for sure. I've seen Adam & Paul so had a fair idea of what to expect from an Abrahamson film and it delivered pretty much what I was expecting. It's very... ambiguous, if that's the right word. Abrahamson doesn't seem to believe in pointing out the morals of the story. He just puts it all up there and it's up to you to decide what's what and, a lot like real life, everyone tends to be grey rather than black and white.

I thought the way the film was structured was great. The first half, before Richard does what he does, shows him as the centre of this universe, everyone wants to be seen with Richard. The second half, after he does what he does, has almost like for like scenes for a while except he's alone in them. I found that quite striking. Obviously there's good reason for this but it kind of hammered home how fickle and delicate everything in life is. One tiny moment is all it takes for everything to end.

Jack Reynor was very impressive as Richard but I must say after seeing him on the Late Late show a while back I'm not sure how much of this character was him acting and how much of it is just him. But still, very impressed with the whole film. I think Lenny Abrahamson is a different class of Irish film maker. I'm not saying he's a genius or anything but I'd like to see more like him who are actually making films that just happen to be set in Ireland than making "Irish films" if you know what I mean.

snubbleste

We're the Millers made me laugh. I was not expecting that to happen, but it was an ok plot with some unexpected laugh out loud moments.

Mike Litoris

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Watched The Imposter last night after taping it on Film 4 last week. From reading a few pages back I see a couple of other boardsies did too! Incredible story on so many levels, but from the outset I was wondering why the hell didn't they just do a DNA test from the outset? Seems like the first logical thing to do to me? That aside, it's very cleverly told and filmed interspersing reconstructions, real-life footage and interviews with the key protagonists. A couple of slightly disturbing scenes at the end

with the Michael Jackson dancing and the "I don't give a ****" attitude after all the damage he did to other families he called from his prison cell

, but you can't help but think we'll never really know what happened to that kid.

7.5/10.

Just watched this, great doc, really well put together. But what a crazy crazy story. :eek:

Charlie19

The Cove documentary.

Fu*king hell this made my blood boil, the footage shown around 115 mins was absolutely shocking. Dirty evil cruel b*stards.

excuse the language.

delbertgrady

The Way, Way Back
Normally I'm suspicious and cynical of these rites-of-passage things; insular loner undergoes radical transformation in the space of a few weeks (that whole, "I was never the same after that summer" nonsense... Jesus); but the script is superb, and the performances are all excellent, especially the ever-reliable Allison Janney as the boozy neighbour, Steve Carell brilliantly playing against type as the a**hole boyfriend, and Sam Rockwell outstanding as the unlikely father figure who takes our hero under his wing. I also liked the fact - as some reviews have pointed out - that it has that Napoleon Dynamite feel of not being rooted in any set time. A gem.

We're the Millers
Two words that would normally put me off anything - Jennifer Aniston - but I thought the trailer for this showed potential, and whatever mood I was in, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It rattles along nicely, there's a very good dynamic between the four family members and it doesn't outstay its welcome. The outtakes in the credit sequence alone (and one in particular) brought the house down. Once they don't f**k it up by doing a "more extreme" version on the DVD, I'd very happily sit through this again.

Sugarlumps

Evil Dead -2013
Man I thought this film was gonna be pants, it exceeded my expectations and beyond. Effects were bítchin, like how they had tinkered with the storyline. Main actors did a sterling job, film of the year for me.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Charlie19 wrote: »

The Cove documentary.

Fu*king hell this made my blood boil, the footage shown around 115 mins was absolutely shocking. Dirty evil cruel b*stards.

excuse the language.

Don't mean to highjack the thread but you (and the others who watched this recently) may be interested to know that it's started again yesterday. http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/08/30/cove-slaughter-2013-begins-ric-obarry-taiji-japan?cmpid=organic-share-facebook

There's also a petition you can sign targeting Air China who transport the captured dolphins who aren't killed and are instead shipped to the likes of Sea World for a life of captivity. www.whales.org/en/campaigns/ending-japanese-dolphin-hunts

Barna77

Hard Candy.
At the beginning it felt creepy, but wow, not an easy movie to watch. But very good. Superb Ellen Page.

Snake Plisken

World War Z Saw this tonight and have to be honest I really enjoyed it, I know it's not a patch on the book but just taking it as a straight up zombie movie I thought it was very good. Jumped into the action straight away and some tense moments throughout.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Adam

Guy with Asperger's Syndrome (Hugh Dancy) forms a relationship with his new neighbour (Rose Byrne) and they pretty much struggle to make it work.

It's an interesting idea I suppose. I know a few people with various forms of Autism, one of whom has Asperger's and I suppose I'd never really thought about how much more difficult a relationship would be for them.

At the start of Adam and Beth's relationship she's not really looking for anything heavy and Adam's emotional problems aren't an issue but inevitably the relationship changes and what he can or can't give her does become an issue.

I feel like it could have been a much weightier film but at the same time it could have been a horrible cliched Lifetime Movie of the Week type of thing. It's not a bad film and it raises some interesting questions. What's more important? To feel love or to feel loved? But at the same time I feel like it only scratches the surface on the Asperger's thing.

triplejointed

Torment - early Bergman written film about a bunch of lads studying in college and not getting along with their teachers.

cursai

Bad MIlo.
Instant classic. Laughed a lot in a low brow way. Very good though if you want a break from thinking.

titan18

The East

Superb film. Well shot, quite thought provoking and some excellent acting by Marling and Skarsgaard. My favourite film of the year so far

johnny_ultimate

The Tarnished Angels - Douglas Sirk's dark, intelligent adaptation of Faukner's novel Pylon. Certainly one of the most quietly subversive films from 1950s Hollywood, with a cynical edge to it that ensures it's a cut above. Beautifully shot and acted (Rock Hudson is excellent, especially in his crushing climactic monologue), it also contains a couple of scenes of air stunts and plane racing that still come across as thrilling and magnificent.

Psychedelic

titan18 wrote: »

The East

Superb film. Well shot, quite thought provoking and some excellent acting by Marling and Skarsgaard. My favourite film of the year so far

Where'd you see it? It's been on my watch list for most of the year but still doesn't appear to be available in cinemas or online.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Psychedelic wrote: »

Where'd you see it? It's been on my watch list for most of the year but still doesn't appear to be available in cinemas or online.

I wanted to see this too. They had this in the "coming soon" section on the Lighthouse Cinema's website back in May or June but I don't remember it actually showing.

titan18

Psychedelic wrote: »

Where'd you see it? It's been on my watch list for most of the year but still doesn't appear to be available in cinemas or online.

I found it online for download. Not sure it came into cinemas over here sadly. Didn't see it listed anywhere close to me anyway.

The East is available through VOD in America.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

The Science of Sleep

Visually I loved it. The stop motion and the crazy dream sequences but other than that I wasn't really sure what was going on. It felt almost like a very thin story tacked on to pad out the fun dreaming stuff.

triplejointed

Barbarella - dated sci-fi from the '60s. Fonda searches for Duran Duran and visits a planet where she crashes underground, escapes from caves, and meets a resistance leader. Good when the music is on.

Mike Litoris

World War Z. I'm about half way into it and I cant go on, an absolute shocker this one for me. If you love Zombies and like Marc Forsters "no scene can last more than .2 of a second" style of movie making you might like it.

Snake Plisken

RIPD Enjoyable "leave your brain at the door" kind of movie good chemistry between Bridges & Reynolds, much prefer this then Men in Black. 6/10

Red Finally got round to watching this decent action movie with a great cast 7/10

Tony EH

Mike Litoris wrote: »

World War Z. I'm about half way into it and I cant go on, an absolute shocker this one for me. If you love Zombies and like Marc Forsters "no scene can last more than .2 of a second" style of movie making you might like it.

Yeh, I knew this was going to be a right bucket of crap. But, I still went against my own better advice and watched it. I'd say if you love zombies stay away.

Can't believe that this misfire has made so much money. Really shows that even if you produce absolute rubbish, put in a big hollywood "actor", spend millions on advertising...you can still make a profit.

Incredible.

Sleepy

Bernie - a black comedy with Jack Black playing an undertaker. Surprisingly good and based on a true story. Worth a watch.

The Colony - post apocalyptic horror. Far, far better than I expected it to be and apparently made on quite a low budget too. Surprised it hasn't gotten more attention.