What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

MiloYossarian

Bad Boys

It's an enjoyable film.

mewe

Went to see This is 40 in the cinema last week.

Was looking to go to somethin lighthearted with my girlfriend but had a feelin this mightn't be great and unfortunately that turned out to be the case.

Big thumbs down for this film and way too long at 140 mins for a supposed comedy!

delw

The Impossible,well worth a watch

johnny_ultimate

Boiling Point - oddball Takeshi Kitano yakuza number. It's not Hana-Bi qualities, and don't expecting narrative coherence or anything like that, but it works well in a hard to pigeonhole sort of way: weird, dark, occasionally hyperviolent and frequently very, very funny. There's some very memorable imagery (a visit to a field full of wildflowers particularly) although there are times you wish there was more to the characters rather than blank slates (the women particularly). Still, for Kitano fans its a less entry in his filmography, but an absurd and entertaining one.

Le Jetée - Chris Marker's beautiful, influential short sci-fi (it was 'remade' in the very loosest sense of the word as Twelve Monkeys). This tale of a post-apocalyptic time traveler is told (almost) entirely through a series photographs and accompanying dreamy narration. More a visual poem than a traditional short film, it nonetheless offers a narrative that ponders many of the grandest thematic concerns of them all - most pressingly ones of time and mortality. One of the most haunting, moving endings I've ever seen is a perfect conclusion to a short but very sweet masterpiece.

Sans Soleil - Another one-of-a-kind from Marker, this time with moving images A female narrator reads from philosophical letters concerning her time traveling through Japan, Africa, Iceland and San Francisco. It's a film one needs to watch to truly understand - a 'non-narrative' experience (an essay, one might say) that is captivating and thought-provoking in a manner that is hard to articulate convincingly. It's a stream of ideas and ruminations on modern technology, memory, culture, the nature of images, natural / social destruction etc... There's even an insightful, loving analysis of Vertigo in the middle. Tying it all together are visual motifs - cats, trains, computerised images, rituals. It's a more haunting, intelligent and endearingly ambiguous approach to the essay film than, say, the new-agey Samsara or Quatsi films offer, even if its 16mm visuals are less grand than those film's gorgeous 70mm ones. Again, it's one to just give yourself over to - you could get weighed down by analysing it, but it's the pure, poetic experience itself that makes this a must-watch.

e_e

I couldn't stop laughing at that scene in Boiling Point where the guy gets bottled and beaten up twice in one take. Really absurd film, but in a great way.

johnny_ultimate

I did think the gas tanker bit was one of the most brilliant left field endings I've ever come across - and the scene afterwards was like a second punchline. Kitano is always great at delivering visual punchlines, actually.

I don't think it's his best film by a long stretch, but it is always refreshing to see a film so endearingly bat**** insane.

e_e

Yeah I like its go for broke absurdity. His other 90s comedy Getting Any? is even more out there but that film was a total failure imo.

johnny_ultimate

Yeah Getting Any? is a bit of a disaster. Don't even remember much about it. A handful of laughs, but easily the worst Kitano film I've watched.

Bozo Skeleton

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Kitano is always great at delivering visual punchlines, actually.
.

I love Kitano. Shots of him staring stoney faced in to the camera with no dialogue or sound, powerful. Haven't seen a movie of his in a while. Many recommendations, to pick one, Sonatine is brilliant.

e_e

Hana-bi is still one of the few films I'd call perfect. Every frame is so significant and beautifully formed.

skeleton_boy

Alien & Aliens - Two terribly entertaining films in two very different ways and more importantly two more off the movies I should have seen before list.

pixelburp

As part of the film club, I watched Let the Right One In; I'm not sure what I think of it yet, though certainly not sure I agree with the common theory that it's a love story t heart - quite the opposite in fact. But I shall save my thoughts for when the clubs thread opens up

Bipolar Joe

pixelburp wrote: »

As part of the film club, I watched Let the Right One In; I'm not sure what I think of it yet, though certainly not sure I agree with the common theory that it's a love story t heart - quite the opposite in fact. But I shall save my thoughts for when the clubs thread opens up

If it sways you, the back story to the old dude is that he fell in love with Eli as a young boy and stuck taking of her ever since.

pixelburp

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

If it sways you, the back story to the old dude is that he fell in love with Eli as a young boy and stuck taking of her ever since.

Well yeah I got that bit all-right, but still doesn't make it a love-story; a creepy tale of grooming & swaying a young, disturbed mind to your whim maybe, not of love.

Seedy Arling

I watched Grabbers last night. Irish horror movie. It was really well made, funny and the acting was decent in it.

There was an old guy in it who played the local alcoholic and he had some terrific one liners in it.

I was really surprised at how good it was!

ButtersSuki

Doubled up on the cinema this weekend as I needed to see both of the above before they left.

Django Unchained - despite being a massive Tarantino fan, I couldn't help but be very underwhelmed and dare I say it disappoined by Django. It's hard to pinpoint anything really bad about the movie (save maybe the silly KKK sheets/hoods conversation and the needless cameo by QT himself); but it just seems like the same old QT story all over again in a different setting/genre. The performances from Don Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz are all excellent, but for me, Samuel L. Jackson's is almost unrecognisable and excellent as Stephen. Being very fussy, one could say Waltz's character is a little too similar at time to the Jew Hunter role he had in Inglorious Basterds - but again, hard to really fault it. Overall, I just felt it was missing "something". Maybe I expected more than I should have, but Tarantino for me appears not to be evolving anymore...it's just the same old, same old. I don't think I'll repeat-view this anything like I've done all of his classics. A disappointing 6.5/10 for me - it's entertaining, but nothing more.

Zero Dark Thirty was just pants to me. Maybe because I've read so much about the raid, maybe because I've seen the excellent documentaries on the raid on Discovery, History, the Beeb and Channel 4 that I was possibly over-prepared for this. It was just meh really. The raid feature glosses over some crucial facts (like the additional Black Hawks close to the target area in case something went wrong etc.) and the acting was tedious. At times I felt like I was watching "Homeland" and was almost waiting for some "USA! USA!" chants at times. And Chris Pratt is woefully cast as a joker in the SEAL team - think his Andy from "Parks & Recreation" character as a trained killer.......daft casting. Jessica Chastain got an Oscar nomination on the basis of one short scene from what I could see - and were this anything but a flag-waving American film, I doubt she's have gotten it. Save yourself the time and watch one of the documentaries if they're on tv. Terrible. 3/10.

krudler

Seedy Arling wrote: »

I watched Grabbers last night. Irish horror movie. It was really well made, funny and the acting was decent in it.

There was an old guy in it who played the local alcoholic and he had some terrific one liners in it.

I was really surprised at how good it was!

Fun little movie that, should have been the hit The Guard was, had way more charm and hardly anyone went to see it, some cracking oneliners and nods to other B movies. the Jaws, Aliens and Close Encounters references were well done.

Bozo Skeleton

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Django Unchained - despite being a massive Tarantino fan, I couldn't help but be very underwhelmed and dare I say it disappoined by Django. It's hard to pinpoint anything really bad about the movie (save maybe the silly KKK sheets/hoods conversation and the needless cameo by QT himself); but it just seems like the same old QT story all over again in a different setting/genre. The performances from Don Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz are all excellent, but for me, Samuel L. Jackson's is almost unrecognisable and excellent as Stephen. Being very fussy, one could say Waltz's character is a little too similar at time to the Jew Hunter role he had in Inglorious Basterds - but again, hard to really fault it. Overall, I just felt it was missing "something". Maybe I expected more than I should have, but Tarantino for me appears not to be evolving anymore...it's just the same old, same old. I don't think I'll repeat-view this anything like I've done all of his classics. A disappointing 6.5/10 for me - it's entertaining, but nothing more.

I wanna go see this this week, before it finishes up, to see it on the big screen. I've hummed and hawed about going so far because I have a feeling I'll be underwhelmed, plus it's nearly 3 hours long, not necessarily a bad thing, but I have to fit it in around work . It's showing few and far between in the Lighthouse (in fact it may have finished up there) it's my local cinema, and I have a loyalty card, so would prefer to see it there, but may have to go to the Savoy to see it.

Judgement Day

"The Bourne Legacy" (2012) Finally bit the bullet and bought a used copy from Xtravision. If, like me, you're a fan of the original trilogy you will be disappointed by this effort but probably want to have in your collection for the sake of completeness. Jeremy Renner is good in the lead role but he's no Matt Damon and the plot is fairly sparse and really just cashing in on the Bourne franchise, leaving it wide open for further sequels. The only thing that it has in common with the original series is confusion - you'll need to watch it a few times to take it all in . I enjoyed the drone attack. Apparently Matt Damon may yet return to reprise his role at a future date....we can only keep our fingers crossed. 5/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSzy9qQ3mDE

krudler

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Doubled up on the cinema this weekend as I needed to see both of the above before they left.

Django Unchained - despite being a massive Tarantino fan, I couldn't help but be very underwhelmed and dare I say it disappoined by Django. It's hard to pinpoint anything really bad about the movie (save maybe the silly KKK sheets/hoods conversation and the needless cameo by QT himself); but it just seems like the same old QT story all over again in a different setting/genre. The performances from Don Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz are all excellent, but for me, Samuel L. Jackson's is almost unrecognisable and excellent as Stephen. Being very fussy, one could say Waltz's character is a little too similar at time to the Jew Hunter role he had in Inglorious Basterds - but again, hard to really fault it. Overall, I just felt it was missing "something". Maybe I expected more than I should have, but Tarantino for me appears not to be evolving anymore...it's just the same old, same old. I don't think I'll repeat-view this anything like I've done all of his classics. A disappointing 6.5/10 for me - it's entertaining, but nothing more.

Zero Dark Thirty was just pants to me. Maybe because I've read so much about the raid, maybe because I've seen the excellent documentaries on the raid on Discovery, History, the Beeb and Channel 4 that I was possibly over-prepared for this. It was just meh really. The raid feature glosses over some crucial facts (like the additional Black Hawks close to the target area in case something went wrong etc.) and the acting was tedious. At times I felt like I was watching "Homeland" and was almost waiting for some "USA! USA!" chants at times. And Chris Pratt is woefully cast as a joker in the SEAL team - think his Andy from "Parks & Recreation" character as a trained killer.......daft casting. Jessica Chastain got an Oscar nomination on the basis of one short scene from what I could see - and were this anything but a flag-waving American film, I doubt she's have gotten it. Save yourself the time and watch one of the documentaries if they're on tv. Terrible. 3/10.

It really baffles me how anyone thinks ZDT is a flag waving "'Merica **** Yeah!" movie, it isn't when it could so easily have been.

ButtersSuki

krudler wrote: »

It really baffles me how anyone thinks ZDT is a flag waving "'Merica **** Yeah!" movie, it isn't when it could so easily have been.

Ahhh, it kinda is......it's there subtly. My OH saw it in the US in a cinema - she said there was "hootin' and hollerin'" going on towards then end....and this was in NY! :rolleyes:

My point was that were this any other film I doubt Chastain would have gotten an Oscar nomination.

krudler

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Ahhh, it kinda is......it's there subtly. My OH saw it in the US in a cinema - she said there was "hootin' and hollerin'" going on towards then end....and this was in NY! :rolleyes:

My point was that were this any other film I doubt Chastain would have gotten an Oscar nomination.

That's an audience reaction though, the film isnt some cheesy lets kill dem terrorists movie, its pretty low key and even the final scene shows no celebration from Chastain's character about what she did, I'm just glad it didnt end on real life footage of them announcing Bin Laden's death in Times Square and the like.

Sad Professor

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Ahhh, it kinda is......it's there subtly. My OH saw it in the US in a cinema - she said there was "hootin' and hollerin'" going on towards then end....and this was in NY! :rolleyes:

That doesn't prove anything. NY audiences are well known for their um, enthusiasm.

ButtersSuki

krudler wrote: »

That's an audience reaction though, the film isnt some cheesy lets kill dem terrorists movie, its pretty low key and even the final scene shows no celebration from Chastain's character about what she did, I'm just glad it didnt end on real life footage of them announcing Bin Laden's death in Times Square and the like.

Fair enough...but my core point was that this had been done to death via the various documentaries and the film brought very little that was "new" to the table except personalising the Chastain character. I'd rather have watched a better documentary than a lame movie. But then again I like documentaries, so maybe it's just me?

ButtersSuki

Sad Professor wrote: »

That doesn't prove anything. NY audiences are well known for their um, enthusiasm.

Ah come on, I said it's subtle and at times like I felt I was watching "Homeland" - are you going to deny the "Homeland" styling/sequencing/acting style/tension etc.? ANd I did say "almost" on the "USA! USA!". granted it's not "let's kill dem terrorist A-RABs" movie.

On NY cinemas, went to see "The Breakup" (Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughan - not my choice before I get slagged!) there in 2006. Pretty lame movie, the crowd were in hysterics shouting "you tell him girlfriend", "oh no you didn't" etc. all the way through. Was much funnier than the movie itself tbh.

GAAman

Watched Doomsday Book last night on netflix

Really enjoyed the three stories in this and was left wanting to know more in each story

Check it out if you have a chance

charlie_says

Just finished Mientras Duermes (Sleep Tight) 2011
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1437358/?ref_=sr_1


This was a recommendation from this thread, and boy I was glad to get it!
A tale of a concierge in a city center residential apartment building who works an unusual and definitely unsanctioned night shift.
Extremely dark and tight French thriller, the main protagonists character was both reprehensible whilst being very easy to root for at times. Great performance from Luis Tosar.

Possibly not a good first date film

DazMarz

Der Untergang/Downfall (2004)

For about the 100th time, I watched this masterpiece that chronicles the final 10 days or so of the Third Reich as it unfolded within the Fuhrerbunker underneath the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

The desperation, delusion, madness and depression of the key players is palpable. Hitler moves his divisions around on a map to combat the rampaging hordes of the Red Army, but they only exist on his map. In the reality of battle, there are nothing more than the few exhausted Wehrmarcht and SS troops and the enlisted Hitlerjungend and Volkstrom to combat the Red Army and the Western Allies.

His remaining loyal generals and politicians stay by his side, all of them knowing that the end is nigh, but none of them daring to speak their minds in front of Der Fuhrer.

The acting is superb, and the small subplots are excellent (the boy soldier Peter, the arrival of the Goebbels children, and other stories intertwining throughout the war-torn streets of Berlin).

Up there amongst the greatest war films ever made. Well worth a watch.

Also: many people will be familiar with the much parodied scene where Hitler goes apesh*t at his generals when he realises that they have been unable to attack the Soviets.

johnny_ultimate

The Profound Desires of the Gods - Sometimes you watch a film quite unlike any others, a work completely unto itself. Shohei Imamura's 1968 opus is one such film. Shot over an 18 month period, the film is a wild portrait of an Okinawan island, its 'primitive' inhabitants, and the odd changes that occur when a Tokyo engineer shows up to build a well. It is on one simple level a compassionate examination of tradition clashing with modernity, but it's a whole lot weirder and harder to define than that - yet it also resonates in sometimes not completely fathomable ways. The tropical photography - with snakes, owls, fish and other creatures always lurking somewhere in the frame - is intoxicating and sometimes broken up by surreal setpieces or even the occasional burst of straight up supernatural and/or divine activity. The characters are intriguing, the situations fascinating. Many will consider it too long - felt there was a bit of a rough patch around the 120 minute mark myself, but the sheer bulk of the work is largely justified.

It's impossible really to condense the film's three hours into an easily compactable recommendation. If anything I said above sounds appealing - and I'm sure for many it will be a case of 'the **** is this guy talking about?' - it's worth a gander. It really is a one of a kind and at least sometimes a work of distinctive brilliance. The Masters of Cinema BluRay is stunning (with a helpful video primer on some basic Okinawan mythology included), not really any question that's the way you should watch it.

ButtersSuki

WatchedThe Queen of Versailles last night.What started as a documentary about a couple building the largest home in theUnited States became (post the 2008 Financial Crash) an altogether differentstudy of what happens to even the insanely-rich when they potentially stand tolose their home. Filmed over a number of years the story centres on the Siegels– him an insufferable old crank as the money-man and her the former beauty queen siliconeenhanced trophy wife as the main protagonists. I actually felt sorry for her(relatively) by the end of the film as she comes across as well-meaning butpossibly a little too idealistic; whilst I was uncomfortable at both how sheand her husband described their relationship; and his relationship (or lackthereof) with his 13 kids from 3 marriages. Throw in the PH Towers deal in LasVegas for a juicy side story and you get real-life, high-stakes drama added tothe interpersonal stories.

Thearrogance, ignorance and hubris displayed in the film is striking – both from a consumption point of view but also when it’s revealed that the house was fully self-financed (at $100million)prior to development, but he subsequently took out a mortgage on it to use togenerate (in theory) more moneyelsewhere.
Onescene that jumped out at me though was how Mr. Siegel “swapped” either an$18million or an $11millio debt to his bank and took a $3.2million debt in itsplace via a third party. Even he asks “is it any wonder the banks are the waythey are when they lend like this?”

It’son Netflix (US at least, not sure about Irish version) and on rotation everyother week or so on BBC4 if you want to see it for free. Definitely worth a look. 8/10, which I thinkis the highest score I’ve given anything here yet!