What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

pixelburp

The Meg (2018)

A complete mess that managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (pun not intended): it's another one of these Chinese films masquerading as a Hollywood blockbuster, by way of a (probably overpaid) star, and the end result was of a bore with flabby, unfulfilling action, dull wheel-spinning & an irritating cast that ticked the stereotypes so aggressively, it nearly mutated the film into parody. And while some might cry that a film about a giant shark shouldn't be criticised for lacking rich characterisation, the obvious comeback is that Jaws managed this feat 40+ years ago; heck, The Meg couldn't even manage some basic coherence or sense, the plot careening around ad-hoc within an under-explained setting.

p to the e

CrankyHaus wrote: »

Senakers (1992)

Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Sidney Poitier, Ben Kingsley and Dan Akroyd in a crime thriller about an ex-radical turned bank cyber-security white-hat hacker who is enlisted by the NSA for an espionage assignment that goes sour.

I was surprised to not have come across this film before. It was very prescient about cyber threats to vital infrastructure and Ben Kingsley's scheme was basically copied by a big film several years later. At the same time the film feels like a last hurrah for 70s espionage thrillers like The Conversation. The heist elements made it engrossing and entertaining. Great cast even if none of them put in career best performances. 7/10.

Haven't seen this in years and remember really enjoying it. Don't think Dustin Hoffman is in it though. However it was one of River Phoenix's last roles.

CrankyHaus

p to the e wrote: »

Haven't seen this in years and remember really enjoying it. Don't think Dustin Hoffman is in it though. However it was one of River Phoenix's last roles.

You're dead right. I confused him with Dick Strathairn. Thanks for the correction.

rob316

Final Score - a fun, fast and brainless "kill all the terrorist bad guys" action movie. Enjoyable 90 mins.

al87987

Searching 8/10

Very good and well told through screens and technology. Mysterious disappearance of 16 a year old girl is investigated by her father, the MILF guy/Harold or Kumar.

Plenty of twists and turns in this one

Gimme A Pound

Winter's Bone. Harsh and bleak. Gives me plenty of perspective.

Pretty amazing that it's 21st century America.

Outlaw Pete

Aisling(",) wrote: »

I went to see The Grinch last night.

I know its still November but I enojyed the Chrismtassy feeling. It was funnier than the 2000 live action film and I prefer this one.The Grinch is nicer to his dog Max in this film and while still the mean old grump I think he's far more relatable and you understnad his grinchness far more.

My favourite piece was the

goat who screamed like a human

. Could have done with some more of him!

Probably deserves it's own thread but yeah, I agree, better than the 2000 one.

We had two under 10's with us and they were immersed from start to finish (as it seemed were many other similarly aged kids at the screening too) and I feel that's probably the best review the film could have really.

Lots for adults to enjoy also and so it's genuinely an animation the whole family can enjoy. Not since Toy Story III have I really felt that was the case.


Also seen Cédric Kahn's The Prayer (La prière) recently at the French Film Festival and really enjoyed that. Not for everyone for sure and can see many being frustrated with the slow pace but it's well worth persevering with.

Also seen one of Kahn's earlier films, Roberto Succo, at another screening and man, fcuking loved that. Don't know how that film has passed me by and would absolutely recommend watching it if like me you've somehow not seen it.

buried

You Were Never Really Here (2018) Gave this a second watch sober and was much better. Must try to not watch things after too many beers because this second sober view was much much better. Watched this with a double bill of 'Taxi Driver' first which is a good watch with this if you have both copies. Good honest heartfelt brutality showcase! Great soundtrack too. Looking forward to watching again real soon. 9/10

Sicario 2 (2018) Good solid action thriller fare, could have done with being a small bit longer and the ending a bit better and coherent. Not as good as Sollima's other recent work but still decent enough for what it is. 7/10

A Dark Song (2017) Woman hires a demented occultist to contact a dead relative in a remote house in Wales and it all goes pear shaped. Enjoyed this, majority of the film its just the two in the house but the tension, the claustrophobia builds up and up and whole thing flies by. Won't be for everyone,

I can see people flinging their remotes at the TV as it ends lol

not the standard horror flick, heavy on occult ritual side of things and I really enjoyed it. 8/10

Gomorrah - Season 3. (2018)This got a bit too soap operaish for me at certain parts, and new characters introduced are nowhere near the levels of the ones that have left. Still, its really good in parts, one of the episodes, the one set in Bulgaria is absolutely brilliant work and outshines most full length crime drama feature films from any time. 7/10

The Deuce - Season 2 (2018) This really doesn't know what it is at all. Right on PC drama shtick? Whodunnit shtick? Police Department drama shtick? New York Mob Shtick? Lighthearted look at birth of the porn industry shtick? Too many shticks. Too much going on as it goes from mild half gritty to mild laid-back half comedy. In the end all of it amounts to feic all. Bought the last series on Blu-Ray, which was way more gritty and even that series wasn't that gritty at all, will not be buying this one. A lot of the sets looked really poor compared to the first series. Some of them looked like sets from 'Seinfeld' or something. Really noticeable, really bad. There was about two good scenes in the whole 10 hours so 2/10

Mandy (2018) I was looking forward to seeing this, but for the full 120 minutes I was bored to bits. The film just tried too hard to be as cracked as the Nicholas Cage performance in it and it was just too much, too much as in too much all over the place and I couldn't care less what was happening. It was like watching a mixture of a badly written 2 hour serial drama episode that tried to be like 'Hobo with a Shotgun' all set to the colour palette of 'Stranger Things'. Now that may be some peoples thing but it ain't mine. Will not be returning. Reminded me to watch Hobo with a Shotgun again so 3/10

ButtersSuki

Off topic, but...

I have 4 tickets to Sauvage in the IFI tonight at 8:40pm as part of French Film Week that I can't use now. Won them elsewhere but offering to a boardsie.

If anyone wants them can you PM me?

Thanks.

ButtersSuki

Off topic, but...

I have 4 tickets to Sauvage in the IFI tonight at 8:40pm as part of French Film Week that I can't use now. Won them elsewhere but offering to a boardsie.

If anyone wants them can you PM me?

Thanks.

ButtersSuki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Off topic, but...

I have 4 tickets to Sauvage in the IFI tonight at 8:40pm as part of French Film Week that I can't use now. Won them elsewhere but offering to a boardsie.

If anyone wants them can you PM me?

Thanks.

Still available if anyone wants them!

branie2

Robin Hood at the cinema this evening. I thought it was very good.

Gwynplaine

Watching Live and Let Die here now. Great movie, haven't seen it for years. The old ones are the best, and Roger Moore is, by far the best Bond.

Bowlardo

The circle(Netflix)- fairly decent cast but woeful soulless movie. 3/10 movie.

branie2

JFK on TG4

fin12

branie2 wrote: »

JFK on TG4

Ya seems to go on for ever... still on...

Del.Monte

"Fury" (2014) last night on Netflix.

An anti-War (?) movie that keeps you watching until the very end and never flags despite being 2 hours and 14 minutes long.
An American tank crew experience the last days of the WW.II. deep inside Germany - to tell more would spoil the story.
Brad Pitt stars so what's not to like?

A rare 10/10 from me.

Tony EH

/\

Really? I thought it was largely awful. It's depiction of tank warfare is laughable. It has some good moments, but over all it was rubbish and that ending was utterly ridiculous.

Surprised at how crap it was too, because 'End of Watch' was very good. But, then again, Ayer did write the woeful 'U-571', so I suppose I shouldn't be expecting any WWII film he's near to be good in the first place.

Snake Plisken

Saw a recommendation for Cold in July starting Michael C Hall Don Johnson & the late Sam Shepard if you liked movies like Hell or High water you will like this, starts out as one type of movie and turns into something totally different also it was directed by Jim Mickle who directed Stakeland. I really enjoyed it, worth seeking out.

droidman123

R.I.P Bernardo Bertolucci

branie2

Star Wars: A New Hope on Blu-Ray.

bnt

I finally got to see one of those films that everyone else has apparently seen but completely passed me by: Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Spectacular, exciting, but headache-inducing, to put it politely.

Nerdlingr

Watched Three Identical Strangers last night.

3 triplets separated at birth accidentally find each other 19 years later.....
Mad story that gets weirder as it goes along. An easy watch thats only an hour and half long.

8/10

the human race is sh*t though isnt it? what the hell are we doing to each other in the name of science??? and that old woman that took part in the experiments...no remorse...was she nazi youth i wonder? what a beee-itch!!!

Noveight

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - 1966

Really, really enjoyed this. Something refreshing about the pureness of it. Three timeless characters and one of the most iconic soundtracks ever made.

Cracking film.

johnny_ultimate

Escape From New York - this is an incredibly dumb film that feels like it was written by teenagers. It's pretty great!

Escape From LA - this is an incredibly dumb film that feels like it was written by teenagers. It's horse****!

(To expand a little - it's curious to see a sequel that is so similar to the original yet so tragically misses the mark. While there's some minor fun to be had as Carpenter dials up the brute force political satire and absurdity, it's hopelessly dragged down by some of the most ludicrously appalling special effects and 'jump the shark' - or should I say 'ride the tsunami'? - moments in cinema history)

Eighth Grade - I can legitimately not think of a single piece of media that has ever had me cringe as frequently as Eighth Grade did. This is almost physically painful on occasion as you watch an awkward teenager navigate a series of awkward teenage situations. Yet it's all by design, and in his directorial debut Bo Burnham has created one of the truest, most incisive portraits of middle-class adolescence one could hope to encounter. He's not too shabby a director either - the camerawork is intimate without feeling invasive or inappropriate, and unsurprisingly for someone so musical he knows how to make the music cues hit. The kid's going places, as is star Elsie Fisher. The ending's too neat and it dips too far into sentimentality at times, plus its ambitions are reasonably limited all things considered. But this is mostly an impressively accomplished if often borderline unwatchable film. I mean borderline unwatchable in a nice way.

The Wild Pear Tree - A beguiling, meandering Turkish spin on Waking Life. Nuri Bilge Ceylan's films have this way of hooking me despite being so unhurried, and this is no exception - following this one obnoxious college graduate as he converses with locals around his hometown is a genuine treat as the conversations explore a range of political, personal and philosophical subjects.

While the film is at times one of the most ravishingly shot of the year - some of the landscapes are breathtaking - there's one weird quirk that pulled me out of the film from time-to-time. When characters are moving, sometimes the camera switches to a lower grade digital one (obviously to follow them more easily). Nothing wrong with that in theory, but the implementation is shoddy and it's too distracting on the big screen. Ceylan - typically (and mostly here too) a real formalist - notes this in his Sight & Sound interview on the film, saying he wasn't as bothered by beauty this time around and wanted to stay with the characters instead. Again, an admirable idea, but just something about it that looks and feels off... maybe it'll look better on the small screen.

Back to the Future trilogy - Got the urge to rewatch these recently. As a kid I always loved Part 2 - granted, I reckon that was largely down to the hoverboards, but there was something about it's wacky, cartoon future that always appealed to me. Revisiting them now, have to admit that sheen's worn off somewhat - instead, it's the first one that really and truly impresses, given how tightly, wittily designed the whole thing is. The second isn't without its many moments, don't get me wrong... but it feels hyperactive and unfocused in a way the first isn't. While that was probably part of the appeal as an eight-year-old, part one has only grown in my estimation. Don't know what the ****'s up with the bizarrely dark Libyan terrorist business, mind you?

Part 3 is as it ever was: a strange, redundant and messy sequel that is nonetheless charming and enjoyable on its own terms. Still love that big train sequence - the way it combines cowboy tropes, sci-fi technology, silent movie physicality and more remains a treat.

branie2

Fantastic Beasts - the Crimes of Grindlewald at the cinema this evening; I thought it was very good

Gimme A Pound

Just watched Manchester By The Sea - holy crap...

I made the mistake of assuming all the wrong things about that film - that it was a Good Will Hunting type story (and to be fair, some of the same people are involved) about a forlorn young lad who's angry and rebellious and unwilling to show emotion, and then along comes his cool uncle who brings him out of his shell. A story that's been done to oblivion.

How wrong was I... The young lad is pretty well adjusted, it's his uncle who is the tortured soul. And the backstory as to why... utterly floored me.

Absolutely heartbreaking but beautiful piece of work. The writing and acting are just sublime. Casey Affleck is incredible, as are Michelle Williams and the young lad. And the Massachusetts coast is a stunning backdrop.

Tony EH

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Escape From New York - this is an incredibly dumb film that feels like it was written by teenagers. It's pretty great!

If you get the chance, watch it with the audio commentary with Carpenter and Russell. Sounds like they had a lot of fun making that picture.

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Escape From LA - this is an incredibly dumb film that feels like it was written by teenagers. It's horse****!

Incredible stuff altogether. I remember paying £12 at the time to see this in Leicester Square and felt like a mug coming out of the cinema. The absolute nadir of Carpenter's 90's output. The decade of his meteoric decline and I say that as someone who'd give a good word to the likes of 'In the Mouth of Madness', 'Ghosts of Mars', 'Vampires' and 'The Ward'.

Lightening really doesn't strike the same place twice.

branie2

Doctor Zhivago on Blu-Ray

Captain Red Beard

A Simple Favor. It's kind of a weird one tone wise but still enjoyable. The leads are having the craic and it's got a decent soundtrack. Worth a watch.