What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

mikemac1

The Iceman

I read the book years ago and what was in the book was a lot more shocking then the film.
But they carried over little parts of it like him saying if you're praying to your God then why doesn't your God save you.

And how he started in that whole business by killing random homeless people.

Michael Shannon was excellent throughout and he covered the different ages and looks/weight just fine.

There is a youtube documentary of Kuklinski up a few years now and Shannon nailed it, right down to the constant clicking of his jaw.

Thumbs up for me

miralize

Rewatched Submarine (2010/11 not sure) yesterday. I still love it.

Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige had excellent chemistry and Richard Ayoade did a remarkable job for his first feature film.

The kid is so fixated on being unique and different, that at the end of it, he's still just a teenager and the problems that he has are problems that everyone has. Oh and its very funny.

johnny_ultimate

Pale Flower - giddily nihilistic new-wave yakuza film from Masahiro Shinoda. With a self-destructive relationship between a just out of prison gangster (Ryo Ikebe) and a bored, mysterious upper class woman (Mariko Kaga, with her heart melting stare often captured in stark close-up) at its centre, Pale Flower is psychologically unusual and stylistically exhilarating. The soundscape is a compelling mix of avant garde jazz and shuffled handafuda cards, but it's the remarkable widescreen photography that really bewitches. Full of dark rooms and creeping shadows, the cinematography really comes into its own during a surreal dream sequence that must be one of cinema's finest examples of that often abused technique.

L'atalante - Speaking of dream sequences, a shared nocturnal experience is one of the purest, most transcendent sequences in Jean Vigo's astonishing film. Almost had to double check the year of production given this film's technical mastery, thematic depth and penchant for rule-breaking. A frank, realistic depiction of the first few days of a marriage, this barge-set tale is a bittersweet portrait of love and an anarchistic look at 1930s France. Rebellious and experimental in equal measure, L'atlante still suckerpunches with its vivid, evocative presentation that cinema struggled to catch up with for another two decades.

Amirani

miralize wrote: »

Rewatched Submarine (2010/11 not sure) yesterday. I still love it.

Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige had excellent chemistry and Richard Ayoade did a remarkable job for his first feature film.

The kid is so fixated on being unique and different, that at the end of it, he's still just a teenager and the problems that he has are problems that everyone has. Oh and its very funny.

I must re-watch that actually. I really enjoyed it in the cinema.

johnny_ultimate

Bonjour Tristesse - This has a bit of a cult following as an underappreciated masterpiece of mid-century masterpiece, so had been meaning to check it out for a while. Does it deserve its kind reappraisal? Only sort of. A sort of hybrid Hollywood melodrama and French New Wave experiment, that odd mixture is both its biggest asset and liability. It's mostly engaging and well told, although a few missteps - like a painfully over-explanatory voiceover - are redundant at best, diegesis-breaking at worst. The acting from the likes of David Niven and Deborah Kerr is solid, even if they're not always graced with the material to make the most out of it.

Still Preminger does manage some powerful sequences, and there's load of curious intertextual references worth teasing out (almost acting as a stylistic homage to the classic Powell and Pressburger films). A performance of the title song is spine-tingling. But it's all held together by a superb performance from future-Breathless star Jean Seberg. Her character Cecile is equal parts charming and conniving, an affectingly self-destructive little witch. Even when her line readings aren't 100% convincing, there's a rare, improbable charisma to her performance.

Neat Saul Bass opening too.

Gee Bag

Dredd

I had feared the worst after the abomination with Stallone, a friend that I used to swap 2000AD with when I was a young fella told me it was worth seeing. I really enjoyed it, hope they make do make the proposed sequels, especially if it features Judge Death.

kryogen

Blackfish

Very good documentary I thought, I guess in a similar vein to The Cove. It is a subject that matters to me so I guess it was always likely to impact on me, I would imagine it would be thought provoking for anyone who watched it though.

johnny_ultimate

I saw Blackfish last week, and while it certainly provides an argument well worth making and shines a light on a pretty shocking situation, as a documentary I felt it would almost have been more at home on a small screen. With its focus almost entirely on standard archive footage and talking heads, it didn't exactly leap off the screen, especially with the strange court room illustrations. Also felt it had a tendency to lose its train of thought at times.

Wasn't as convincing as it could have been, then, but certainly something is better than nothing on the subject.

bellinter

You're Next.

I enjoyed it. Thoroughly. Had its frights, its shocks, its laughs and its gore and all worked well together. Good to see Cassie from Home and Away again too, been way too long!

briany

Disconnect (2012)

A film about social media, emotional isolation and the need to connect. In the style of films like Crash, it concerns multiple stories that occasionally overlap, connect or hold parallels to one another.

A pretty powerful film, I thought. Don't watch it if you're already at the tipping point of full misanthropic because I think this film will put you over the edge.

Mizu_Ger

Evil Dead (2013)
Was entertaining. I can't remember much of the original (I'm not big into horror films), but this kept moving nicely and had gallons of blood. It wasn't particularly scary, but fun none the less. I doubt I'll ever see it again though!

salacious crumb

Pain & Gain
I found it quite funny in parts, although whoever decided to make a comedy movie based on this true story might just need some professional help :pac:

mikemac1

The Warlords

Set during a civil war in China in the 1860's.

A commander is left alone after all his soldiers are slaughtered. Of course this is very shameful for him and his life falls apart and he falls in when some outlaws.

But he gets a second chance as the outlaws are recruited by the Imperial forces to fight the rebels. So he becomes a commander again

It's loosely based on real events, the civil war happened anyway and there are historical notes on how many died.

Unlike many films of this genre it doesn't have outrageous stunts of one man taking down 50 others while jumping over buildings. Ok there are tricks but it's not Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon here, every man in this can die.

Thought it was fantastic and the best in this type of film I've seen

Thumbs up

jcsoulinger

salacious crumb wrote: »

Pain & Gain
I found it quite funny in parts, although whoever decided to make a comedy movie based on this true story might just need some professional help :pac:

Seen this movie recently and liked it allot, Dwayne Johnson as a born again Christian with a drug problem was particularly entertaining. I don't think it set out to be so comedic, but the story was so crazy it had little choice.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Watched Cat on a Hot Tin Roof this afternoon. It was alright. I'm not a huge fan of older films because a lot of them seem very over the top and soapy. This was fairly good though. Best not to pick it apart too much, from a modern point of view Maggie should have murdered every one in that annoying family and took off with Big Daddy's fortune.

Oh, and young Paul Newman was incredibly hot

FortuneChip

salacious crumb wrote: »

Pain & Gain
I found it quite funny in parts, although whoever decided to make a comedy movie based on this true story might just need some professional help :pac:

Really thought this was muck. And I'd be a fan of both Wahlberg & Dwayne Johnson.
I thought Johnson's character was particularly obnoxious and was way over the top.

The only credit I can give it, is that it has such crazy source material to work with.

Tony EH

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Watched Cat on a Hot Tin Roof this afternoon. It was alright. I'm not a huge fan of older films because a lot of them seem very over the top and soapy. This was fairly good though. Best not to pick it apart too much, from a modern point of view Maggie should have murdered every one in that annoying family and took off with Big Daddy's fortune.

Oh, and young Paul Newman was incredibly hot

It'll grow on you.

I used t think it was just alright years ago. But today I love it.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

She's The Man was on e4 just now. Watched it because there was nothing else on and I was bored. It was actually pretty hilarious. Amanda Bynes is/was a great comedic actress, shame she's gone..... whatever she's gone. Based on Shakespeare's 12th Night apparently, if you want an excuse to watch it

johnny_ultimate

Post Tenebras Lux - well that was something! Anyway looking for easy answers or standard narrative progression might be advised to keep away from this strange, sometimes baffling film. Constantly jumping around in terms of characters, temporality and even reality / imagination, it's a puzzle that steadfastly denies easy explanations.

But it's breathtakingly filmed at times, and as the film progresses we can start identifying thematic links and similarities between the sometimes completely separate segments (this is the kind of film that on two occasions randomly cuts away to a random English school rugby match). There's definitely an underlying violence, melancholy and sense of grief to proceedings, while there are several separate but carefully contrasting family dramas helping everything coalesce into a relatively coherent whole. Some scenes are surprisingly beautiful - an impromptu Neil Young cover - others deliriously weird and captivating, especially the two fantastical scenes that open the film (one of which involves the appearance of a CG Devil - a bizarre image only topped later in the film when

a man pulls off his own head.)

salacious crumb

FortuneChip wrote: »

Really thought this was muck. And I'd be a fan of both Wahlberg & Dwayne Johnson.
I thought Johnson's character was particularly obnoxious and was way over the top.

The only credit I can give it, is that it has such crazy source material to work with.

I thought it was hilarious. Not normally a fan of Whalberg unless he's playing this type of dumb f*ck, but I thought The Rock was fantastic myself. The character he played was apparently an amalgamation of two or three real people.

briany

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

She's The Man was on e4 just now. Watched it because there was nothing else on and I was bored. It was actually pretty hilarious. Amanda Bynes is/was a great comedic actress, shame she's gone

Hollywood got to her, I believe. She's off doing fashion related stuff and saying loaded stuff like she doesn't want to be friends with ugly people. She says only pretty people will have her back. Shame.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

briany wrote: »

Hollywood got to her, I believe. She's off doing fashion related stuff and saying loaded stuff like she doesn't want to be friends with ugly people. She says only pretty people will have her back. Shame.

I thought she had actual mental problems... she's under hospital care (involuntary psychiatric hold) at the moment anyway and her parents were given conservatorship over her affairs because she had a "lack of capacity to give informed consent to medical care." Apparently.

Shame.

Charlie19

salacious crumb wrote: »

Pain & Gain
I found it quite funny in parts, although whoever decided to make a comedy movie based on this true story might just need some professional help :pac:

I watched about 40 minutes and then checked to see what was left, although I did get a few laughs, there was no way I could sit through another 80 minutes or so.

True story:eek: Did not catch that.

Birneybau

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I thought she had actual mental problems... she's under hospital care (involuntary psychiatric hold) at the moment anyway and her parents were given conservatorship over her affairs because she had a "lack of capacity to give informed consent to medical care." Apparently.

Shame.

That's the version I'd go along with. I mean, she tried to set fire to trousers...while wearing them. That's when she was taken in.

Sure is a pity, she was a charming little goofball.

McChubbin

The World's End
A new take on the onscreen dynamic of Pegg and Frost's bromance- it was interesting and somewhat disarming at first to see Frost loathing Pegg's character. THe comedy was in full swing, the alien/robots were great and there was plenty of action. A fitting end to the Three Colours Cornetto series.

johnny_ultimate

I really did not care for This Must Be The Place, so was a bit cautious about going to see Sorrentino's follow-up The Great Beauty. The caution was ill-advised. The Great Beauty is an exquisite piece of work. It it again full of sweepingly elaborate camera angles, quirky characters and surreal flourishes, but this time it gels into something extraordinarily rich, engaging, funny, intelligent and - ultimately - moving.

A sort of three quarter life crisis movie, the film also acts as a bold examination of Roman high society - a world of fakes, hypocrites and dulled souls. But it's equal parts repulsive and exhilarating - you can easily see how our protagonist Jep (Toni Servillo) has been drawn into this obscene but addictive 'void'.

The film is full of oddball incidents and peculiar comedic setpieces. Some, like the visit of a pack of flamingos, threaten to veer into twee territory. For the most part, though, it's wildly successful. Some scenes, such as Jep encountering a wall of personal photography or a giddily devastating character assassination, are some of the year's best, not to mention a stunning pair of opening scenes. As great as the scenes are though, it's the loving, deeply involving character study at the core that allows our truly intense connection with the film. The epic tale finished, Sorrentino even brings us back down to Earth with a gorgeous, lengthy camera drift down the Tiber.

Go to see it while you can, as it's a film that demands a cinema viewing. Allow it to overwhelm you. A great beauty? Absolutely.

LCD

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

She's The Man was on e4 just now. Watched it because there was nothing else on and I was bored. It was actually pretty hilarious. Amanda Bynes is/was a great comedic actress, shame she's gone..... whatever she's gone. Based on Shakespeare's 12th Night apparently, if you want an excuse to watch it

Sky+ this & watched it last night. It was beyond horrible

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

LCD wrote: »

Sky+ this & watched it last night. It was beyond horrible

Oh, you old cynic

miralize

We're the Millers.

Jason Sudekis was surprising bearable in this. Hadn't heard of the boy in the film, turns out he's English. He tends of overexpress in his acting but I guess it is a comedy. Jennifer Aniston played the role of the stripper / fake mom fairly well, but Emma Roberts character was a bit bland. Funny, but not rewatchable material.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

miralize wrote: »

We're the Millers.

Jason Sudekis was surprising bearable in this. Hadn't heard of the boy in the film, turns out he's English. He tends of overexpress in his acting but I guess it is a comedy. Jennifer Aniston played the role of the stripper / fake mom fairly well, but Emma Roberts character was a bit bland. Funny, but not rewatchable material.

He was in Son of Rambo....