What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

ButtersSuki

DazMarz wrote: »

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.

Completely off-topic, but that review, bar a few key words, sounds like the description of the last days of thre Cowen-led FF Govt. where he attempted to re-allocate the resigned Green Party Ministries to his buddies.:rolleyes:

Downfall is excellent - great review too.

johnny_ultimate

This Is Not a Film - finally got around to seeing this after a delayed home release. It's magnificent - a bold, subtle, insightful day in the life of Iranian director Jafar Panahi who is under house arrest and a twenty year filmmaking ban by his country's government. Not much happens in the traditional sense, so instead we're given a look at Iranian society from the inside through phonecalls, conversations, glimpses out windows etc... It's also a rumination on the very nature of cinema and documentary. What really defines a film in the traditional sense? It's a film to get angry at for the injustices it hints at, but it is not weighed down by excessive politicising. It is instead a portrait of a creative, tortured spirit rebelling in his own modest way using an iPhone and a video camera, while his fellow Iranians protest outside his homely prison with fireworks. Compelling, pure and passionate cinema. With the current popularity of Argo, this vastly more provocative and fascinating film has never been more vital.

Mickeroo

Carnage:Thought this was pretty good. It was obvious it was adapted from a play as it still felt like one but I liked it regardless. Christoph Waltz was great as usual and it was good to see him outside of a Tarantino production. It's quite funny in places and I like the way it tried to show how childish adults really can be sometimes.

The Hunt (Jagten): Local film club had a screening of this lastnight. Really great film about a good man who gets wrongfully accused of pedophilia. I was just angry for most of the running time. Mads Mikkelson is brilliant in it and the film does a great job of showing how common sense can desert people and a lie can spiral completely out of control. Highly recommended.

McGrath5

The Hunger Games (2012)

No doubt about it, this film for me did a good job in conveying the sheer terror and isolation of these childern pitted against each other in a battle to the death.
I think it did suffer a little bit from not been that violent "enough", obviously the creators did not want to push it up to a 18 cert.

Woody Harrelson is also superb in his supporting role.

7/10

Judgement Day

"Rendition" (2007) €1.50 DVD from a charity shop and worth every cent. Depressing subject matter but a very well crafted movie involving two intertwined stories. If there's a criticism, it's that the viewer is left wondering about the innocence or otherwise of the victim of the rendition process. 8/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gQzrWzGyhQ

candy-gal1

Patch adams

toys

heartbreakers!

run_Forrest_run

Snowtown....I'm off to seek help now:eek:

Judgement Day

"Alfred the Great" (1969) On DVD. King Alfred of Wessex battles the Danes in this early epic shot in County Galway and involving thousands of extras including 450 members of the Irish defence forces. Starring David Hemmings, Michael York, Colin Blakely, and Peter Vaughan. Braveheart it is not but worth viewing nonetheless. The battle scenes are quite realistic and the general atmosphere of 9th century Britain comes across well.Worth tracking down a copy. 7/10.



Members of the Irish defence forces go through their moves before shooting begins. More info here: http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/5331



The final battle scene from the movie where Alfred's tactics (his forces are the arrow) learnt from a book about the Spartans come in handy.

MiloYossarian

Me Myself and Irene

It's not great but it's not bad either. It's still funny in places.

Mickeroo

MiloYossarian wrote: »

Me Myself and Irene

It's not great but it's not bad either. It's still funny in places.

I think it's the Farelly's best film (well it's my favourite anyway :P). Carrey is hilarious in it, seems to be channeling Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead II in some scenes.

Tony EH

'Mad Max'

The original and most definitely the least of George Miller's post-apocalyptic film series is a strange affair. While it garners an inordinate amount of positive feeling from a myriad of different quarters, it remains a strangely awkward viewing.

Set "A few years from now", the budget for this particular post-apocalypse is extremely low and the consequence is that the future dystopian rural Australia looks just like 1979's rural Australia. There are no hints given of exactly what kind of apocalypse has befallen the world (unlike in Mad Max 2 - 3, which is a clear post-nuclear war breakdown) and society seems to be functioning just fine...well, fine for the outback anyway. There's even a police force (The MFP) and a courts system, which is as useless as it has always been.

It a member of this police force, Max Rockatansky, which the film gets its name from and focuses on, even though the yet-to-be-a-star Mel Gibson doesn't have an awful lot of screen time, or even that much to do.

'Mad Max' takes its cues from the traditional western and the 50's biker film and includes the usual tropes from those genres. The villains are a crazy bunch of bikers who are out to avenge the death of one of their own, a cop killer called the "Nightrider" (sans K.I.T.T. obviously) and they cause havoc with the men of the MFP and the people of a local town. This leads up to a specific incident that causes the hero, Max to...er...get "mad" and hunt them down.

'Mad Max' is very rough, in that its limited budget shows clearly, although there is certainly enough admirable stuff happening on screen and for the money, there's a lot to be said for it. However, the story is just too weak for the running time and plods along to its obvious conclusion. Brian May's music (no, not that Brian May) is also ill-fitting a lot of the time and seems out of place on a number of occasions.

The acting is perfectly fine for a low budget Australian picture, even if the young Mel Gibson doesn't really show any of the screen umph of his later years. The best performance is from Hugh Keays-Byrne as the maniacal Toecutter, the leader of the motorcycle gang and there's a creepy turn by Geoff Parry as Bubba, Toecutter's right hand man. Unfortunately, none of them have the sheer madness of Humongous from the vastly superior sequel.

The cinematography works well and David Eggby fills his 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen lens amply. 'Mad Max' was actually the first Australian picture to be shot using such a lens.

The real star of the show is the stunt work and there are some fantastic car chases and smashes to enjoy, and in 1979, it was that element that audiences enjoyed the most. But it just isn't enough to hold the interest and I did actually catch myself looking at my watch a few times.

Although well remembered, it was 1981's 'Mad Max 2' that really put the trilogy on the map and I reckon that when most people are fondly reminiscing about Mad Max, it's actually the much better sequel they are recalling and not the first film.

When 'Mad Max' was released in America, the distributors feared that the American audiences wouldn't be able to understand English, so they dubbed it - into English, with some unintentionally funny results...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIDlDO3eoo8

krudler

I don't like the first Mad Max at all, the sequels are much better, Beyond Thunderdome isn't great but it has its moments, The Road Warrior is fantastic though.

DazMarz

I do love Mad Max, but it is the inferior relation of the trilogy. It has some classic moments, but The Road Warrior is infinitely superior.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Watched Made In Dagenham on BBC tonight.

I remember this being in the cinema not that long ago but had no idea of what it was actually about. They marketed it as some sort of Full Monty style feel good Brit com type thing. It's nothing of the sort.

It's based on the true story of the women machinists from the Ford factory in Dagenham who went on strike in the late 60's for equal pay. They were ultimately responsible for the equal pay law being passed in the UK which then had a knock on effect in lots of other developed countries. A very interesting story.

That said, the film itself isn't great. It drags a bit and Sally Hawkins plays the lead and, maybe it's because I'm not generally a fan of hers, but she's not that believable as this force behind massive social change. Some of the supporting cast are quite good though. Daniel Mays, Jamie Winstone and Andrea Riseborough stood out more to me in quite small roles.

Not the best film but worth a look for the story behind it.

Sitec

Ted
Finally got around to watching it, utter tripe.

mewe

Django is amazing!!

dark crystal

Watched Smashed last night and really enjoyed it. Mary Elizabeth Winstead did a great job in the lead role. Reminded me a bit of Days Of Wine And Roses, but with a modern, quirky twist.


Just finished watching Chained, directed by Jennifer Lynch (David's daughter).
It's a pretty harrowing watch, but I loved it. Vincent D'Onofrio is brilliantly chilling as the twisted lead character. Kudos also to the two young actors who portray his captive.
Save for a somewhat needless twist ending, it was a great watch and will stay with you well after the closing credits.

The Hunger Games: Having not read the book beforehand I went into this just about knowing the basic premise of the story. I liked it through and through despite some 'flaws' encountered. My main gripe can be attributed to the rating. The film does a seriously good job of building the dread that the participants are feeling going into the Games, and you genuinely do feel like anything can happen, that is until after the first 'battle' in the tournament when you realise that this isn't an 18s+ Battle Royal-type vision, but a tween-friendly tale where the makers leave most of the violence to the imagination/distant camera shots. Still a very entertaining movie with a great turn from Woody Harrelson, playing a reluctant anti-hero character not far off his turn in Zombieland, unfortunately no Bill Murray or 'That'll do pig" here!

Children Of Men: Staying with the 'The Future Is F**ked' theme, I watched this movie recently for the first time since 2008. I think I could write an essay on this movie...but won't here! Parts of me love it and parts of me wish it was different at times, not better, but different. It is quite a bleak movie and I'm not sure if

killing Clive Owen's character was entirely necessary to the story, felt to me like it was done just for the sake of it, everyone dies in this movie!

It is shot absolutely beautifully, some scenes really did blow my mind in the way they were shot, and what they were shooting (car ambush, entry to Bexhill, epic hero walk near the end). No doubt about it, the film will leave the majority of viewers wanting exposition-wise, but for me the director Alfonso Cuaron leaves enough hints throughout to help you decide what happened after the credits roll.

The fact that the sight of a baby can literally stop men at war among other hints here and there says to me that things can change for the better. On the other hand, given the bleakness of the film throughout, there's a strong argument that the boat which was to pick up the child and mother, simply lifted the baby on board and shot the mother in her rowing boat and she died there along with Clive Owen's character.

Who knows, great movie anyway.

The Campaign:
Typical Will Ferrell fare, you either love it or you don't. Most of the time my feeling is the former, and this time was the same. It did take me some time to warm to Zach Gilfianakis in the movie but eventually he and Ferrell develop a chemistry and the jokes follow suit. Yes it is balls-out, baby-punching fun for the most part, but the underlying themes and satire are not actually that far from real life, it does one hell of a job digging at Americans and their political views, ideologies and their seemless ability to change them at a moment's whim. Some great supporting roles from Brian Cox, Dan Akyroyd, John Lithgow and Dylan "Dermot Mulrooney" McDermott of all people! Recommended for some brainless, yet though-provoking if you want it that way, fun.

Argo:
My anticipation and own hype for this was in the red by the time I got to see it. There's no denying that it is a gripping watch and the attention to detail aesthetically speaking is striking, but I don't know if I took as much from Argo as I was expecting/hoping to. Thing is I'm really not sure what is holding me back from declaring this a great movie, it will definitely require a second watch. I was on the edge of my seat, I was rooting for the characters, I was emotionally involved, I found the acting and dialogue to be top notch, loved Affleck's direction, there's just something slightly 'off' for me. Ah f**k it, Argo is great until I figure out what is bugging me

Could be that Wikipedia revealed to me that Alan Arkin's character didn't actually exist in the real world, imagine by disappointment when I found out the same about Batman

Tipsy McSwagger

Lost in Translation

Never seen it before. It's one of those film you just don't want to end. 5/5*

Snake Plisken

Imported Flight on Blu-Ray a couple of weeks back and got to watch it yesterday, really enjoyed it great performance from Denzel, he should have really got the Oscar instead of the hammy Day-Lewis, Crash sequence is brilliant, but the story is more about addiction, good supporting cast plus extra bonus points for getting to see the beautiful Nadine Velazquez naked.
Also happened to turn on J Edger on sky movies, it's ok good performances from Leo and Armie Hammer, but I think Hoover in general wasn't an exciting subject matter for a movie.

Cantona's Collars

Red Dawn,the remake.

Was ok as I had my expectations set low,the missus was bored & constantly said "get on with the movie,this bit is pointless"

Never going to be a classic but it could've been worse.

Zero Dark Thirty,

Now this was a movie I enjoyed,didn't get all the hate for The Hurt Locker and thought this was a good watch and well made by Katherine Bigelow.

pixelburp

Saw "Robot and Frank" this afternoon in the Screen Cinema; seems it doesn't have a thread of its own, but it's a worthwhile, gentle comedy with a dash of sci-fi; it stars Frank Langella, who'd I watch reading the phonebook tbh, and his performance is understated and sympathetic, playing the eponymous Frank. Definitely worth checking out of a quiet evening...

Bozo Skeleton

pixelburp wrote: »

Saw "Robot and Frank" this afternoon in the Screen Cinema; seems it doesn't have a thread of its own, but it's a worthwhile, gentle comedy with a dash of sci-fi; it stars Frank Langella, who'd I watch reading the phonebook tbh, and his performance is understated and sympathetic, playing the eponymous Frank. Definitely worth checking out of a quiet evening...

I was going to see that in the Lighthouse tonight, but something came up. It was my prediction for the surprise film in the Film Festival, (it wasn't, it was Welcome To The Punch.) I've seen the trailer for it a couple of times in the cinema, I prefer seeing films without having seen a trailer first #minorquibble.

Bozo Skeleton

Tony EH wrote: »

'Mad Max'

When 'Mad Max' was released in America, the distributors feared that the American audiences wouldn't be able to understand English, so they dubbed it - into English, with some unintentionally funny results...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIDlDO3eoo8

It's about 30 years since I saw Mad Max. Yeah, I remember it was dubbed
Which reminded me. Fitzcarraldo, (a stupendous Werner Herzog movie) was actually filmed in English, then dubbed in to German. I found that out while watching the directors commentary. Then I re-watched it in English, it's the better and more authentic version, in my opinion. So, top tip. If you haven't seen Fitzcarraldo, watch it, and watch it in English.

charlie_says

Stander (2003)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0326208/?ref_=sr_2

Just a sh*t hot bank heist film.

Set in apartheid South Africa a young rising star white police captain is on riot duty and shoots an unarmed black man in a township rally. As a result he transfers from his serious career duties to being the ranking detective of the central JoBerg city precinct, which is a quiet due to the disturbances outside of the city. Then he starts to rob banks whilst leading an investigation against himself.

Crazy and true. A great bit from the Wikipedia page about the real guy is this "Andre became well known for the audacious manner with which he carried out his crimes: He would sometimes rob banks on his lunch break, often returning to the crime scene as an Investigating Officer."

Well worth checking out. Plenty of action and great scenes.
I liked the soundtrack also. Quali ty.

8/10 (rewatch)

e_e

Bozo Skeleton wrote: »

It was my prediction for the surprise film in the Film Festival, (it wasn't, it was Welcome To The Punch.)

That's because it was in the festival schedule.

Bozo Skeleton

e_e wrote: »

That's because it was in the festival schedule.

Was it ?? Ha, I didn't see it in the programme.

e_e

Missed it unfortunately. Frank Langella was there too!

Bozo Skeleton

e_e wrote: »

Missed it unfortunately. Frank Langella was there too!

Ack, that would have been great.

johnny_ultimate

I could be wrong, but I think they ended up cancelling his JDIFF appearance?

He'll never top his role as Arlington Steward in The Box.