What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 26-07-2015 10:24pm

The Book Of Life

Animated film produced by Guillermo del Toro. It's a love story wrapped up in a sort of Mexican folk tale. Two young boys, Joaquin and Manolo, are in love with the same girl, Maria. The rulers of the two after lives, The Land of the Remembered and The Land of the Forgotten, make a bet on which boy Maria will eventually chose to marry. Xibalba (Land of the Forgotten) chooses Joaquin and cheats quite a bit to make sure his guy wins. Without giving too much else away, Manolo ends up having to travel through both after lives to get back to Maria and all the while Joaquin is busy trying to protect their town from banditos.

The design of the film is really nice, it stands out from the likes of Pixar or Dreamworks and the story is really strong too. I found some of the musical choices hilarious, in a good way, and Channing Tatum is a ridiculously good voice actor with most of the laughs coming from his character, Joaquin.

There's a nice message in there too if you're watching with kids although it is kind of laid on a bit thick at the end, I suppose that's to make sure kids get it. Also, the one problem I had with the whole thing was the choice of Ice Cube to voice The Candlemaker, it just felt very out of place with the other voices.

Looper007 · 27-07-2015 2:06pm

EDEN (2014)

Caught this at Cineworld at the weekend, Directed by Mia Hansen-Love (wife of Oliver Assayas) based on her older brothers life as a DJ in the 90's and 00's. Paul, a teenager in the underground scene of early-nineties Paris, forms a DJ collective with his friends and together they plunge into the nightlife of sex, drugs, and endless music. That's pretty much it, this isn't a film full of twists or turns. Just pretty much 20 years in the life of a DJ's up and downs, we see him go through relationships (one with Greta Gerwig, in basically a 10 minute role at best) Money troubles and drug addiction and comes out of it on the otherside. The Music full of classic Dance house classic's from the 90's are great and the nightclub scenes are great. I loved the Daft Punk stuff, especially

The scene at the houseparty when they play DA Funk for the first time is a standout

and also the fact they can't get into any parties cause their names ain't on the list is pretty funny. They are presented like mysterious figures who come and go without a word.

It's a long film, even at 2hrs 10mins it feels like 3 hours and it's split into two parts. It's a film that has split many down the middle, some think its pretentious twaddle about people taking drugs and sleeping around. While others think its one of the best of the year. I fall into the second camp, I do think it could have been cut down for pace but the performance of Félix de Givry as Paul was good and Pauline Etienne as his probably most serious relationship is really good. Well worth checking out.

Looper007 · 27-07-2015 2:15pm

youreadthat wrote: »

Django Unchained - Loved it a lot. It is a bit too long but I love the way Tarantino tells a story and structures dialogue

It should have ended

When Waltz and DiCaprio were knocked off, the shoot out in the house should have been the last big set piece and with Django saving his wife and riding off into the night

instead we got Tarantino doing a bad Aussie accent and some other stuff. Mark Kermode is right about Tarantino on one thing, he need to edit his films of fat cause its a failing I think that's creeped into his work after Kill Bill volume 1. But Django Unchained is his best film since Kill Bill 1 for me.

fanta c · 27-07-2015 3:19pm

Watched Southpaw last night, great film alright.
It's one of those films that you always know how it's going to end (like titanic) but it's still a great watch. Jake Gyllenhall does a great job in it.

Fysh · 27-07-2015 9:22pm

Looper007 wrote: »

It should have ended
When Waltz and DiCaprio were knocked off, the shoot out in the house should have been the last big set piece and with Django saving his wife and riding off into the night
instead we got Tarantino doing a bad Aussie accent and some other stuff. Mark Kermode is right about Tarantino on one thing, he need to edit his films of fat cause its a failing I think that's creeped into his work after Kill Bill volume 1. But Django Unchained is his best film since Kill Bill 1 for me.

I found Django bloated and self-indulgent in its theatrical release, and I've read somewhere that this is in part because Tarantino decided to stop working withnthe (very good) editor who used to help wrestle his films into shape.

Having said that, I've seen a draft of a fanedit version that cuts the running time almost in half and uses a non-linear structure that made it far better. I wouldn't rewatch the original but I'd gladly watch that fanedit version once it's finished.

shazzerman · 27-07-2015 10:25pm

Fysh wrote: »

I found Django bloated and self-indulgent in its theatrical release, and I've read somewhere that this is in part because Tarantino decided to stop working withnthe (very good) editor who used to help wrestle his films into shape.

Having said that, I've seen a draft of a fanedit version that cuts the running time almost in half and uses a non-linear structure that made it far better. I wouldn't rewatch the original but I'd gladly watch that fanedit version once it's finished.

Sally Menke, who edited most (if not all) of Mr T's early films, died in 2010.

Fysh · 28-07-2015 10:23am

I watched Mr Jones on Netflix yesterday. What a waste of time. An intetesting premise and some nice, considered montage segments can't cover for a script that too often veers into Idiot Ball Territory, frustrating and inconsistent use of a "found footage" approach and indecision on the narrative style being used. On the plus side, there were a couple of genuinely creepy shots (usually diminished by lazy use of "scary" sound effects or scoring) and some of the prop design was very nicely done. In fact, when it wasn't descending into a visually incoherent mess the nightmare sequence at the end had some nice moments too. But I can't really recommend this to anyone.

Pierce_1991 · 28-07-2015 11:08am

Couple I've watched recently:

Southpaw (2015)

Enjoyed it more than most on boards it would seem. It is a fairly nuts and bolts boxing movie but Gyllenhall adds some levity and the relationship with his daughter is developed more than one would expect. Decent viewing for a Friday night but not gonna change the world or anything. 7/10

Ant-Man (2015)

Wouldn't classify myself as a Marvel Universe fan as such. I do like the Avengers and Iron Man movies but have no interest in Captain America and haven't watched the Thor movies. I felt I was going to be quite underwhelmed by this one, particularly after Edgar Wright was removed as director. I must say though I was pleasantly surprised. Paul Rudd does well in the main role and Douglas is very watchable as always. Michael Pena was great as well, there's a couple of hilarious sequences involving his character. I would love to know how Wright would have made the movie but to be fair Peyton Reed has done a good job. I'd look forward to a sequel as well as an inevitable appearance of Ant-Man in a future Avengers movie. 8/10

Accidental Love (2008, or 2014 or something)

It was more out of curiosity I hunted this one down. For anyone that doesn't know it was made by David O Russell in 2008 and stars Jake Gyllenhall, Jessica Biel, James Marsden, Catherine Keener, James Brolin and a few other familiar faces. It was shut down due to financial problems along with other issues. Eventually they filmed the final couple of scenes after Russell had disowned the project and it was released earlier this year.
Has to be one of the most bizarre films I've seen. Really awful, it feels like it was edited together five minutes before the premiere by stapling different bits of the film together. It has some weirdly quirky music playing right the way through which just adds to the mess. If you told me all these stars got together to purposely make a terrible movie as some form of modern art I would believe you. Still though, I won't fault Jake, he actually still throws in a half decent performance as the young congressman who finds himself way out of his depth on capitol hill. 1/10

the_monkey · 28-07-2015 11:19am

Godfather Part II

Good film, but sorry just like the 1st it's overrated ... I don't get the 9.2, and 9.1 ratings they get on imdB , 7/10 solid film.

Pierce_1991 · 28-07-2015 11:42am

the_monkey wrote: »

Godfather Part II

Good film, but sorry just like the 1st it's overrated ... I don't get the 9.2, and 9.1 ratings they get on imdB , 7/10 solid film.

You're a terrible human being

Dair76 · 28-07-2015 12:33pm

Dark Was The Night

Above average creature feature starring the underrated Kevin Durand as a small town sheriff, who has to put his personal grief to one side when a mysterious animal starts terrorising the locals. At times very effective, but also very silly in parts (especially the underwhelming ending). Still, it's far more worthy than the anything done by the Asylum and their ilk.

the_monkey · 28-07-2015 12:52pm

Pierce_1991 wrote: »

You're a terrible human being

They are good films, just I don't think they are amazing ..

Decuc500 · 28-07-2015 2:12pm

Enemy

Very odd, deliberately confusing film about a man who finds out he has a doppelganger and tracks him down. I was struggling while watching it to figure out what exactly was going on. The film seems to present scenes not in chronological order which only adds to the confusion. Then again, the scenes might have been in order, I really don’t know.

After reading multiple theories on the film, they all seem to make sense so it’s one of those films where you make up your own mind about what happened and you’re probably right.

There’s lots of spider imagery throughout which gives it an unsettling air and there’s a really nightmarish scene at the end.

the_monkey · 28-07-2015 5:00pm

Decuc500 wrote: »

Enemy

Very odd, deliberately confusing film about a man who finds out he has a doppelganger and tracks him down. I was struggling while watching it to figure out what exactly was going on. The film seems to present scenes not in chronological order which only adds to the confusion. Then again, the scenes might have been in order, I really don’t know.

After reading multiple theories on the film, they all seem to make sense so it’s one of those films where you make up your own mind about what happened and you’re probably right.

There’s lots of spider imagery throughout which gives it an unsettling air and there’s a really nightmarish scene at the end.

Terrible terrible film .

fruvai · 28-07-2015 5:06pm

the_monkey wrote: »

Terrible terrible film .

Why is it terrible?

the_monkey · 28-07-2015 5:11pm

fruvai wrote: »

Why is it terrible?

Just found it boring, and a totally sh*te ending.

Just my opinion though.

Oh, I watched Big Trouble in Little China (1986) aswell there recently .. what a classic - I hear they are doing a remake .. :mad:

GreNoLi · 28-07-2015 5:57pm

Decuc500 wrote: »

Enemy

Very odd, deliberately confusing film about a man who finds out he has a doppelganger and tracks him down. I was struggling while watching it to figure out what exactly was going on. The film seems to present scenes not in chronological order which only adds to the confusion. Then again, the scenes might have been in order, I really don’t know.

After reading multiple theories on the film, they all seem to make sense so it’s one of those films where you make up your own mind about what happened and you’re probably right.

There’s lots of spider imagery throughout which gives it an unsettling air and there’s a really nightmarish scene at the end.

That last scene left me petrified to say the least.

e_e · 28-07-2015 6:30pm

GreNoLi wrote: »

That last scene left me petrified to say the least.

Somebody audibly shrieked when I went to see it.

expectationlost · 28-07-2015 8:50pm

49th Parreallel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49th_Parallel_%28film%29

continuing my old good films watching (while on exercise bike edition)

i didn't expect this to be so good, I had heard it was a propaganda film by the British (to get the America's into WW2) but it was quite entertaining/interesting, I wass so surprised at the quirkey humour at the start, (the hunter winking at the soldier)

it starts off a german sub attacking ships near Canada and goes from there, one the best films I've ever seen.

Del.Monte · 28-07-2015 11:07pm

I watched "49th Parallel" a while back on YouTube and really enjoyed it too.

the_monkey · 28-07-2015 11:31pm

e_e wrote: »

Somebody audibly shrieked when I went to see it.

That pisses me off, When I went to see Interstellar some hysterical woman screamed at that Dr Mann scene ... they should be taken aside and just slapped.

Barna77 · 28-07-2015 11:33pm

Saw the Neverending Story at the Lighthouse on Saturday night. So much fun. Had never seen it before on the big screen.
It was loud though

the_monkey wrote: »

Godfather Part II
Good film, but sorry just like the 1st it's overrated ... I don't get the 9.2, and 9.1 ratings they get on imdB , 7/10 solid film.

:eek:

Pierce_1991 wrote: »

You're a terrible human being

God forbid s/he likes the third part.....

e_e · 28-07-2015 11:44pm

the_monkey wrote: »

That pisses me off, When I went to see Interstellar some hysterical woman screamed at that Dr Mann scene ... they should be taken aside and just slapped.

Why? If a scene is designed to frighten people you can't argue with people responding so, besides it was like 3 seconds from the end. Hardly gonna turn around and say "You ruined the movie for me. How dare you!" :pac:

I'd rather be with an audience that responds to the film in an engaged way than one that's looking at their phones and running off to the toilet every few minutes tbh.

fin12 · 28-07-2015 11:51pm

the_monkey wrote: »

That pisses me off, When I went to see Interstellar some hysterical woman screamed at that Dr Mann scene ... they should be taken aside and just slapped.

I think its really funny when someone screams in the cinema.

:)
or sometimes when someone has a really funny laugh in the cinema as well.

Or when I went to see the titanic and there was this big group of 12 year olds and they were all like woooooooo when the sex scene came on. hahah

Tony EH · 29-07-2015 12:57pm

Can someone remind me what the "Dr Mann" scene was?

I cannot remember any scream scenes in 'Interstellar'.

Don't forget to spoiler that muddafukka!

shazzerman · 29-07-2015 3:35pm

The one with the Bourne-again actor

Tony EH · 29-07-2015 4:18pm

Eh?

What happened?

MadDog76 · 29-07-2015 4:26pm

fin12 wrote: »

I think its really funny when someone screams in the cinema. :)
or sometimes when someone has a really funny laugh in the cinema as well.

Or when I went to see the titanic and there was this big group of 12 year olds and they were all like woooooooo when the sex scene came on. hahah

I remember years ago I went to the cinema with my Dad, half-way through the movie he drifted off to sleep ........ then he woke up with a start (during a particularly loud scene) and screamed out at the top of his lungs "WILL YOU LOWER THAT F**KING TELEVISION DOWN!!!

Everybody in the cinema sat stunned for about 15 seconds then burst into hysterics ......... that was the last time I ever went to the cinema with my Dad.

shazzerman · 29-07-2015 5:15pm

Tony EH wrote: »

Eh?

What happened?

Can't remember, but he played Dr Mann.

fin12 · 29-07-2015 5:57pm

MadDog76 wrote: »

I remember years ago I went to the cinema with my Dad, half-way through the movie he drifted off to sleep ........ then he woke up with a start (during a particularly loud scene) and screamed out at the top of his lungs "WILL YOU LOWER THAT F**KING TELEVISION DOWN!!!

Everybody in the cinema sat stunned for about 15 seconds then burst into hysterics ......... that was the last time I ever went to the cinema with my Dad.

haha so funny actually when I went to see the 5th Harry potter film, there was a man up the front after falling asleep and he was snoring as well, I wouldn't blame him though the 5th one is the worst Harry potter film.

:)

Fysh · 29-07-2015 5:59pm

Tony EH wrote: »

Eh?

What happened?

At a guess, I'd expect it was the part where

he docks incorrectly, goes off into his self-righteous speech, then abruptly gets killed as the airlock suddenly depressurises.

TerrorFirmer · 29-07-2015 10:44pm

Just watched Sharknado 2. An absolute travesty. 10/10.

Mizu_Ger · 30-07-2015 2:23pm

Blackhat
Feels like a generic action script that had been knocking around for a bit before Michael Mann picked it up and tried to add his style to it. It was obvious that he had not written it himself. The plot bent credibility quite a lot, as in most action films.

The digital photography was good. It creates a lot of energy in the action sequences, especially in one place where some people are running through a narrow alley and the camera is ahead of them looking back. Probably impossible to do this with a film camera.

johnny_ultimate · 30-07-2015 8:53pm

Eden - First there's the euphoria, then there's the downer - it's the musical biopic way. Mia Hansen Love's latest hits all the bases with her semi-fictionalised look at the French garage scene in the 90s and 00s. She does, it must be said, handle it with more grace and understatement than other comparable examples. The emotions are rarely underplayed. There's welcome use of ellipses where there could be melodrama. And underpinning it all is a rather more philosophical mood, that thoughtfully reflects on the spiritual and psychological impacts of giving oneself to music alongside the literal ones.

Yet, like Goodbye First Love, the director's style seems to me lacking in character and at times overly portentous. This suffers less from self-seriousness than that film did, but still struggles to find real energy in material that should be full of it. One would think endless discos would at least offer some opportunity for stylistic experiment, but no such luck. Indeed, the few stylised touches there are here - a pair of superimposed monologues, an opening epiphany, and, bizarrely, a matinee-serial like 'travelling the globe' graphic - jut out of an otherwise capable and naturalistic visual style. The film also does have a slight tendency to lay on the cameos thick and hard (hey, look, it's Daft Punk, just in case you didn't get it the first time!) but at least they feel reasonably logical within the lead character's journey.

Eden is simply 'decent', then: nothing necessarily gravely wrong, but lacking that special something to elevate it towards something greater.

Bonjour Tristesse - I read this book a few weeks ago, and found it quite familiar, which I put down to the numerous 'summer on the beach' works that have followed Françoise Sagan's 1954 book. Around five minutes after sitting down to watch the film adaptation, I found out why it seemed so familiar - I'd actually seen the film (not even that long ago!) and simply forgotten about it.

I liked the film a little more this time, at least! The English-speaking cast comes across as pretty strange when the French setting is otherwise retained, but Jean Seberg is legitimately magnificent here.

Paper Moon - Dug this a lot. Bogdanovich is almost alone in his capability of capturing bittersweet nostalgic Americana, while Ryan and Tatum O'Neal make for a charismatic, dynamic screen duo.

Mizu_Ger · 31-07-2015 9:29am

The Homesman
Tommy lee Jones western. First thing is that it looks incredible. Great widescreen composition to the images and the outdoor settings are beautiful (if stark, they're not John Ford epic backdrops!).

The story is quite bleak, dealing with the harshness of life in the American west where people are carving out their claims and trying to make a life. Some early scenes of the women at the centre of the story are jarringly edited in during the first third, but otherwise it flows beautifully.

James Spader turns up with an awful Irish accent. Don't know what he was aiming for with that!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 31-07-2015 10:56am

The Turning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEd9tzTImNk

Basically this is a collection of short films based on the book collection of short stories by Tim Winton. All the stories are set in and around the same small coastal town in South West Australia and some are loosely connected.

They've gotten a large group of Australian talent together to act, write and direct them. Justin Kurzel, David Wenham, Mia Wasikowska are among the directors. Rose Byrne, Miranda Otto, Callan Mulvey, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and a lot of other recognisable Australian faces pop up in the various stories.

Firstly I think it's a brilliant idea. It's like a giant show reel for the Australian film industry. I got the "full cinematic version" on BluRay from Australia as the release here had a few stories cut out. It runs at about 180 minutes but as it's all short films you can stop and start if you like.

Like any collection of shorts some are better than others and having read the book a few years ago I had my favourite stories that I was looking forward to seeing on screen. Some were better realised than others. The only real problem I had with it was that there is actually one character who appears in a few different stories at various times in his life and a couple of the other stories fill in little bits of his story too. The problem with the film is that with different actors playing the character and different people writing/directing I don't think it's that easy to actually pull this story together. If I hadn't read the book I don't think I'd have realised which films were the same guy. In terms of the films it probably doesn't matter as some of the ones featuring this guy the writer/director doesn't bother putting in the bits that link the stories so overall the film doesn't have the same connected feeling of the book, if that's the right word?

But overall it's a fantastic collaborative effort and much like reading the book and wishing some of the stories were full novels there's a few of the short films I found myself wishing were full films.

Arghus · 02-08-2015 10:35pm

Ant-Man- It's funny how you become accustomed to new features of reality as time goes on; no matter how strange they would have seemed to you at some point in the not so-distant past . A few years ago I didn't care a damn for anything related to what we now all now knowingly refer to as The Marvel-verse: I didn't even know such a guy such as Ant-Man even existed.

Yet here I am in 2015, just after watching the latest Marvel thing. I can't remember the last one I've missed. Maybe the first Captain America? Which was eons ago at this stage : pure phase one stuff don't you know. I feel like I've spent the last few years getting acquainted with this initally foreign-to-me land of super-powers and spandex. It's shocking how now, thanks to countless movies, I can hold a casual conversation about the merits of Thor's hammer versus Captain America's shield. This proves to me the immovability of Marvel in culture at large: it feels fairly secure for now. And yet, I genuinely never feel any love for the Marvel movies. I've never seen one I thought was undeniably good. I go to see them out of a sense of obligation: they're big event movies and part of my brain always stirs at the thought that you might see something in each brand new edition... Something different.

So Ant-Man held more promise than most. The central premise is so daft that they'd surely have to treat it with a bit of levity – dear God, save me from the Saving The World final act please. The cast promised good things. I was genuinely astounded that Edgar Wright was at some point attached to direct this; someone with his kind of Maverick qualities was never going to mesh with the money-making side of all of this. But, I still hoped that his fingerprints would remain on the final product in some way. So then Ant-Man: let's be having you....

And yeah... it does have it's moments. The first half-hour/forty minutes is largely great: the comedy is strong; the tone is dry, but yet loveable. The cast is well-matched to the material, helping to bring out the Wrightian inspired pieces of imaginative visual storytelling. I have no complaints about the first act – it's legitimately enjoyable, without qualification. I also unexpectedly enjoyed the final showdown and the build up towards it. Usually this is where my soul dies during a Marvel movie. It's the custom, to see everything good about what has come before being pulped before your eyes; into a relentless CGI borefest which goes on forever - crushing your spirit and liquifying your brain. As silly and all as the final battle really was, at least it tried to depart from the apocalyptic norm – Amongst the by-now expected top-notch production values- Giant train sets or what-have you- there was an attempt to inject a tangible emotional core to the stakes for the climatic show-down. That, to be fair, is a refreshing difference.

That's what it's all about right now: Trying to spot the difference. Marvel films make me feel bad. They leave me feeling cheap and violated. I pay money in hope and, in the end, I'm always left bereft. No other blockbuster "brand" is as blatant in it's cynicism and downright laziness. Their slavish adherence to formula - not to mention their ever-willingness to plug anything related to the never-ending chain of forthcoming attractions, even at the expense of the actual movie this plugging is taking place in - really gets to me. They have pure gold in source materials and endless resources to make truly amazing movies; if they so wished. That doesn't seem to be what they want. They want the conveyor belt to move on. Whatever film you're watching now is only a mere footnote to whatever other huge film they have on the horizon. Ant-Man isn't the absolute worst in this regard but, it is, at it's core, fairly heartless and functional. The cast does it's best, but the moments of genuine life and vitality exist on either side of an excruciating exposition marathon – which seems to go on forever, inside the confines of a single building. The films vitality is straight jacketed inside the schematics, which are painfully clear here at times. Whatever good there is about Ant-Man is what's surprising, frivolous and witty. In short: what isn't Marvel. These elements are only the cherry on top. Unfortunately the cake has long gone stale. That's why Ant-Man is a true disappointment. It has moments when it shines very bright, but when necessary, all this moves aside, to give way to tiredness and just about good enough all over. And is that what you want? To praise a film that could have been great.... for being simply better than what we've come to expect? What a bummer. I think maybe the time has come to acknowledge that Marvel film is approaching creative bankruptcy, but the money keeps rolling in – thanks in part to ejits like me – so things aren't likely to change any time soon. So that's it: from now on the money stays in my pocket.

Tony EH · 02-08-2015 11:18pm

I agree completely about Marvel films leaving you "cold". I get the same feeling of emptiness after watching one. The last one being the recent Avengers film (I can't even remember its subtitle). I just came out of the cinema feeling numb after it.

It's very difficult to put you finger on just what it is that achieves that effect though, but time and again it happens.

I don't mind superhero films. I was a big fan of the 70's Superman films, love the Nolan Batman films and rather like some of the X-Men and Ironman series. But the likes of Thor, or Captain America, The Hulk, or those S.H.I.E.L.D guys do nothing for me.

Strangely enough though, I did like 'Man of Steel', which I watched the other day, cos it got panned in a review I saw, but it certainly wasn't half as bad as some people were making it out to be.

I dunno, maybe it's just that the Marvel films are "factory" made. They're seemingly churned out with such strict levels of procedure, that they feel about as interesting as a paper cup a lot of the time. Now, it seems that they are scraping the bottom of the barrel for "lesser" characters, hence the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'Antman' (Antman? WTF?). Either way, they've made billions for Marvel, so I don't see either the formula or the films going anywhere soon.

e_e · 02-08-2015 11:53pm

I attribute the coldness of Marvel largely to the light blue color grading and fairly flat digital cinematography. It's almost as if they design their movies for HDTVs rather than cinema screens.

Look at how dull the short clip of The Avengers looks compared to the rest of the visuals in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doaQC-S8de8

johnny_ultimate · 03-08-2015 12:11am

A lot of them are just straight up badly directed. Take the action in the Winter Soldier, for example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oixZxgW7C3s

Notice how many edits there are during the actual fight. The Russos keep cutting away during individual stunts to another angle and another angle and another angle. It's unnecessarily disorientating (towards the end it feels like the guy with the two weapons appears from literally nowhere), and barely makes meaningful use of what is a pretty tiny space anyway. There's no rhythm to the cuts or camera placements. It's fast but far from exhilarating, drawing unintentional attention to the filmmaking mechanics. To me it results in a fight scene with no sense of believably or weight. The edits coming so fast and hard simply highlight how piecemeal it all is, whereas in a majority of great action sequences the directors are confident enough to show the stunt in its entirety from a single action, within practical limits. It's about emphasising the physicality, choosing the right angles and edits to smooth over the seams without losing the essence of the action. They may employ fairly rapid editing overall to keep sequences moving, but that WS scene - and there's one earlier in the film that's even worse - is IMO an example of taking it far beyond reasonable limits. And that's bearing in mind that it is probably one of, if not the most 'grounded' fight sequence in the entire Marvel catalogue, one or two physically impossible movements aside

Compare it to the scene below for example. Again it's very fast paced (even if the average shot length is probably around five to ten times that of the CA:WS scene :pac:) but look how gracefully the camera moves with the action, how it often lingers for a second or two to really take in the consequences and impact of the individual actions. Evans cuts when he needs to, not just because he can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI-V0rrlZBo

e_e · 03-08-2015 12:16am

https://vine.co/v/OhunjWZaIz1

Just reminded of this.

Tony EH · 03-08-2015 12:24am

Why do those Vine videos take so bloody long to load?

budgemook · 03-08-2015 12:32am

Watching "The Mighty Celt" here on TV3 (quality as usual).

It's set up north - why, in the name of God, is the young fella wearing a Dublin jersey? Why?

Liam McPoyle · 03-08-2015 9:27am

South Paw
Predictable but passable. JG does a good job I thought as the battered and broken fighter, the girl playing his kid was quite good too. Nothing new happens but its not the worst boxing movie Ive seen.

5.5/10

The Gunman
Sean Penn plays a former sniper that gets into a bit of a wrangle due to a job he does in the Congo. This is another Taken like flick - a grizzled, retired special forces soldier knocks the bollox off of scores of people, and thats basically it. Pretty silly but somewhat enjoyable.

6/10

Cobain : Montage of Heck

Really enjoyable documentary about the late, lamented Nirvana frontman. It features interviews with his mother, Courtney, a pre Courtney ex and Kris Novaselic (Nirvana bassist). Notable in his absence is Dave Grohl. Part produced by Kurt's daughter it tells his story from childhood to death and is quite poignant as throughout it features snippets from diaries he kept, recordings he had made and home movies, particularly moving are the ones featuring himself and his infant daughter. It doesn't hold back when exploring his and Courtney's drug use either which was refreshing. A touching insight into a hugely troubled but hugely talented (imo) soul.

8.5/10

The Usual Suspects

Nothing to be said really. Even though pretty much everyone knows the reveal at this stage its still a hugely enjoyable flick and is a bona fide classic.

9/10

budgemook · 03-08-2015 10:45am

Business Cat wrote: »

Cobain : Montage of Heck

Really enjoyable documentary about the late, lamented Nirvana frontman. It features interviews with his mother, Courtney, a pre Courtney ex and Kris Novaselic (Nirvana drummer). Notable in his absence is Dave Grohl. Part produced by Kurt's daughter it tells his story from childhood to death and is quite poignant as throughout it features snippets from diaries he kept, recordings he had made and home movies, particularly moving are the ones featuring himself and his infant daughter. It doesn't hold back when exploring his and Courtney's drug use either which was refreshing. A touching insight into a hugely troubled but hugely talented (imo) soul.

8.5/10

Dave was probably annoyed about not being the drummer

Liam McPoyle · 03-08-2015 11:16am

budgemook wrote: »

Dave was probably annoyed about not being the drummer

:pac:

Edited now!

fanta c · 03-08-2015 6:31pm

Just watched the new Mission Impossible film last night, it was a decent enough film with a bit of a story and a lot of action in between but if I have one complaint to make its the role of Simon Pegg in it.
I don't know why the directors felt they had to inject a bit of comedy in it to dumb it down every now and again, the film could have stood on it's own as an action movie with a reasonable plot without having to inject little comedy moments into it to lighten the mood.
In the end I wasn't exactly sure what sort of a movie it was trying to be. I'd give it 7.5/10

Looper007 · 04-08-2015 1:28am

Just had a John Carpenter weekend film marathon, has anyone had a better run then Carpenter with Dark Star, Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, Escape From New York, The Thing, Christine, Starman, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness and They live. That's as good a run as any director. Plus he wrote the Soundtrack and Scripts for most of them.

For me Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, Escape From New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China and They live are my favourites. Plus Carpenter comes of like a great guy when he's been interviewed, not a guy who is up his own backside. He's clearly a influence on films like The Guest, Cold in July and It Follows, not just from the soundtrack influence but from cinematic point too. Great to see him get his due.

Hollywood need to stop remaking his films though.

Tony EH · 04-08-2015 2:54am

Sounds like a good weekend in. Big Carpenter fan myself and there's always something in his pictures that make them worth watching, but it's a pity he hasn't managed to capture that umph that made his previous work great.

I'll have to check out 'The Guest'. 'Cold in July' and 'It Follows' were very good though.

RIP Roddy Piper.

Arghus · 04-08-2015 4:08am

Tony EH wrote: »

Sounds like a good weekend in. Big Carpenter fan myself and there's always something in his pictures that make them worth watching, but it's a pity he hasn't managed to capture that umph that made his previous work great.

I'll have to check out 'The Guest'. 'Cold in July' and 'It Follows' were very good though.

RIP Roddy Piper.

The Guest was probably the best craic I had at the cinema in the last year, I'd rate it a lot higher than the other two "homages" - at least in terms of pure enjoyment. Dan Stevens should be a bigger deal. Before I saw him in action I knew him as the guy from Downton Abbey, now I think Ryan Gosling is a crap version of him.

What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

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