What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

johnny_ultimate

Sleep Tight - An enjoyable 90 minutes from the director of REC. A blackly comic thriller, it has enough twists of formula to make it worth a gander. The whole thing is preposterous, occasionally completely incredible (especially in the final half hour) as characters act in absurdly illogical ways or the script indulges in silly contrivances. But at the same time it has no pretenses of being anything other than a playful, creepy portrait of a socio/psychopath, and manages that pretty well. Not as imaginatively directed as REC, but with a solid sense of pace and a confident tone. Switch off your brain stuff, but fun while it lasts with a couple of particularly effective moments.

Judgement Day

"Secret Agent" (1936) Sunday Times promo DVD. 50 cents from a charity shop and I want my money back! From the same stable as "Sabotage" and difficult to believe that Alfred Hitchcock had directed the definitive - for me anyway - "The 39 Steps" the previous year. Poorly acted, implausible storyline and it didn't seem to know whether it was a comedy or a thriller. Apparently the hapless Peter Lorre was heavily into drugs at this time and boy does it show. 0/10



Madeleine Carroll, Peter Lorre and John Gielgud.

Snake Plisken

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Sleep Tight - An enjoyable 90 minutes from the director of REC. A blackly comic thriller, it has enough twists of formula to make it worth a gander. The whole thing is preposterous, occasionally completely incredible (especially in the final half hour) as characters act in absurdly illogical ways or the script indulges in silly contrivances. But at the same time it has no pretenses of being anything other than a playful, creepy portrait of a socio/psychopath, and manages that pretty well. Not as imaginatively directed as REC, but with a solid sense of pace and a confident tone. Switch off your brain stuff, but fun while it lasts with a couple of particularly effective moments.

Ah yes saw this a couple of months back and enjoyed it, creeped out my Wife who is Spanish as these guys work in every apartment block so I'd say it was effective when released to the Spanish market, enjoyable thriller, with some genuine scares

ButtersSuki

Snowbound with a cold yesterday after sitting though the rugby on Saturday so got through 3 movies, in order: Blacula, Silver Linings Playbook and Jaws.

Blacula - "classic"-ish 1970s blaxploitation "Dracula in da hood" type flick. Some seriously awful acting, special effects, costumes and cheesy dialogue all have their charm in this afro-centric take on a modern-day (1970s) black Dracula. So bad it's good in places, it will make you laugh and cringe in equal parts, but the opening credit sequence seems far ahead of its time and the music is very funky (if you like 70s disco). The tagline was "his bite is outta sight" or something like that so you'll get an idea of the jive that's spoken throughout. Far more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be, but you need to take it with a large pinch barrel of salt. 7/10 for what it is.




Silver Linings Playbook was a bit of a revelation for me. To this point I've HATED Bradley Cooper - found him smug and thoroughly unlikeable. This was easily his best performance and I really liked the story, tackling as it does mental illnesses from predominantly the sufferer's point of view. Jennifer Lawrence was great in it too, but I couldn't help but think she was essentially playing the role as Juliette Lewis (remember her?!!!) would have. Stellar support cast too incl. a relatively restrained DeNiro :eek:. A strong 9/10, my favourite film in a long, long time.

Jaws - viewed on widescreen and 7.1 audio on Blu Ray. Awesome. Some of the shark shots look quite fake but I genuinely jumped at some scenes despite knowing what was coming. Still holds up really well on almost every front, you'd never think it's 38 years old. An 8/10.

Tony EH

Judgement Day wrote: »

"Secret Agent" (1936) Sunday Times promo DVD. 50 cents from a charity shop and I want my money back! From the same stable as "Sabotage" and difficult to believe that Alfred Hitchcock had directed the definitive - for me anyway - "The 39 Steps" the previous year. Poorly acted, implausible storyline and it didn't seem to know whether it was a comedy or a thriller. Apparently the hapless Peter Lorre was heavily into drugs at this time and boy does it show. 0/10



Madeleine Carroll, Peter Lorre and John Gielgud.

Years ago when I was younger, I collected most of Hitch's pictures on video and spent a long time making excuses for a lot of them and giving them a pass, because they were directed by "The Master". However, as I got older and...um...less stupid :cool: , I eventually embraced the fact that a lot of Hitchcock's films just aren't terribly good, even if one allows for the period, etc. These days, there are really only a few of his pictures that I can re-watch, 'Psycho', 'Rear Window' and 'Frenzy'. Among the "classics", I no longer care for 'Marnie', 'The Birds', 'Vertigo', 'The 39 Steps', 'The Lady Vanishes', 'The Man who knew too Much' and a whole host of others. Hitchcock films are held in high esteem, because they are products of Hitchcock and if they had been directed by someone else, who was less known or revered, I don't believe they would be as readily embraced as they are.

Tony EH

Bozo Skeleton wrote: »

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.

I saw Herzog's film many years ago and to be honest, I can't remember that much about it. But, a lot of European films from that era were entirely overdubbed, regardless of what language they were shot in. Italian cinema was particularly guilty of this, with many films (if not every one) having an overdubbed Italian soundtrack, despite being shot in Italian and sometimes with extremely sloppy results.

Gamayun

Drive Angry (2011)

I felt like watching a stupid film, and boy this this fit the bill... I think that they were going for a grindhouse syle but it really just came across as silly without the irony.

The effects were a bit ropey in places too,

The crappy playstation1-style CG Hydrogen tanker and the in-car scene's rear projection

.

Also just a minor thing but the end credit sequence looked really crappy and cheap.

Heard and Cage are both interesting to watch in their own ways though! 2/5

Judgement Day

"Contact" (1985) BBC Screen.2. From YouTube via my Wii which makes it a bit easier to watch. Never released on VHS or DVD and the only place to find it is YouTube. The quality of the upload is dire and not helped by the filming techniques used by the director. That said if you're into films about the IRA/The Troubles etc. it's well worth viewing. A British Army platoon's tour of duty in Bandit Country - veering from long periods of tedium to moments of extreme tension, where everything and everybody is a potential threat. A thoughtful, but bleak, piece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MOQZZ_ULPI

krudler

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

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. Skeletor

:pac:

Zeek12

You know you gotta "up your game" when you're on screen with Dolph Lundgren.... in tight shorts:pac:

charlie_says

Room 237

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085910/?ref_=sr_1

Documentary about the possible hidden meanings and symbolism in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

Outstanding exploration of the psychological masterpiece by Kubrick. The level of detail is impressive in interpretation of the movie, sometimes running scenes frame by frame to aid the viewer in spotting what the various narrators are pointing out and their thoughts on how these visual clues tie in with Kubrick's life and intelligence, the world we live and links to history.

One particular part of the documentary has a running commentary of the the actual film being played forwards from the beginning and in reverse from the end overlaid on each other. It really is quite startling the way many of the scenes and imagery match up in a quite sinister and almost choreographed manner. Worth seeing the documentary just for this section alone.

Also the documentary points out many continuity errors in the film, some of which I have spotted myself, and suggests that they may be deliberate and have very poignant hidden meanings. There is so much to pick apart and analyze in the film that it is difficult to imagine that Kubrick's film doesn't have multiple narratives and messages. It uses footage from several of his other films to enhance the validity of the documentary makers claims.

I'm itching to The Shining again after seeing this. One reviewer said of the documentary "Ascher's film is catnip for Kubrickians and critics both professional and otherwise." It's hard to know if the narrators are just obsessed with the film as some of their ideas are a bit loopy, but I couldn't help but be fascinated by it and it's creepy tone and pace that mirrors the format of the original movie really adds to the whole experience.


So far the best documentary I have seen this year. A must for a fan of The Shining.

9/10

DazMarz

^^^^

Thank you!!! I've been looking for that documentary for ages, but couldn't remember the name! Going to watch it now! Such a good documentary! Cheers!

ButtersSuki

charlie_says wrote: »

Room 237

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085910/?ref_=sr_1

Documentary about the possible hidden meanings and symbolism in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

Outstanding exploration of the psychological masterpiece by Kubrick. The level of detail is impressive in interpretation of the movie, sometimes running scenes frame by frame to aid the viewer in spotting what the various narrators are pointing out and their thoughts on how these visual clues tie in with Kubrick's life and intelligence, the world we live and links to history.

One particular part of the documentary has a running commentary of the the actual film being played forwards from the beginning and in reverse from the end overlaid on each other. It really is quite startling the way many of the scenes and imagery match up in a quite sinister and almost choreographed manner. Worth seeing the documentary just for this section alone.

Also the documentary points out many continuity errors in the film, some of which I have spotted myself, and suggests that they may be deliberate and have very poignant hidden meanings. There is so much to pick apart and analyze in the film that it is difficult to imagine that Kubrick's film doesn't have multiple narratives and messages. It uses footage from several of his other films to enhance the validity of the documentary makers claims.

I'm itching to The Shining again after seeing this. One reviewer said of the documentary "Ascher's film is catnip for Kubrickians and critics both professional and otherwise." It's hard to know if the narrators are just obsessed with the film as some of their ideas are a bit loopy, but I couldn't help but be fascinated by it and it's creepy tone and pace that mirrors the format of the original movie really adds to the whole experience.


So far the best documentary I have seen this year. A must for a fan of The Shining.

9/10

Sounds great! Can I ask where you saw this? Is it on DVD? Netflix?

charlie_says

I got it from other sources... ahem. It might be on Netflix, don't have it so can't be sure.

McGrath5

Unstoppable

I was in the mood for a bit of a brain fart film, and found this sitting in my collection.
This is supposedly based on true events about a runaway train and the efforts of a conductor and a engineer to try and stop the locomotive.
Denzel Washington IMO does not really get a chance to properly come out of his shell as we all know he is capable of.

An okay watch with a predictable conclusion.

5/10

crazygeryy

the intouchables

i didn't know anything about this movie until yesterday.i was nicely surprised.its a very good movie and i highly recommend it.

charlie_says

Watched Another Earth last night.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1549572/?ref_=sr_1

An interesting idea, a new planet is discovered in the solar system identical to Earth down to every last detail, including people. It is essentially a mirror image of life here down to every last person and their actions.

Follows the story of a promising young student (Brit Marling, who I found quite attractive in this movie mmmm) and how her first view of the planet in the night sky changes her life and ends the lives of some others.

Not a bad, it didn't grab me though overall. Shame really as there were some decent scenes and reasonably profound dialog. I quite enjoyed the visual style even though it's a very low budget movie. Worth a look.

6.5/10

Judgement Day

"Stella Days" (2011) special offer DVD from Extravision. 1950s rural Ireland - a parish priest (Martin Sheen) returned from the good life in Rome comes under pressure from his 'concrete obsessed' bishop (Tom Hickey) to raise funds for a new church. His decision to open a cinema as a fundraising venture brings him into conflict with the bishop, a newly elected, holier than thou, TD (Stephen Rea) and divides his parishioners. A feel-good movie with some funny one liners, and which captures the era perfectly - rural electrification, dance halls, and kids wearing short trousers. 9/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfVtq1WXxEY

johnny_ultimate

Robot & Frank - This one didn't quite work for me. It is mostly diverting, and to the film's credit it manages to achieve poignancy without excess sentimentality. I wouldn't rave as much about Langella's performance as others have, but he does make for an unusual and believable protagonist. And yet... there's something off about the film overall. Perhaps it's the underdeveloped, even stereotypical cast of supporting actors. Perhaps it's that thematically it feels a little all over the place (it's warm, curious examination of aging in an advancing world is somewhat offset by a strange although perhaps inadvertently hostile portrayal of charitable and archiving organisations). Mostly it was that it felt as if the characters were serving the plot as opposed to the other way around - the third act particularly piles of preposterous contrivances culminating in a bizarre & unconvincing twist

(Sarandon's character revealed as Frank's ex-wife)

that really doesn't benefit the film in any way if perhaps even undermining a lot of what came before. It's as if the screenwriter and director know where they want the characters to be, but really struggle to get there.

It's watchable though, and charming in moderation. There's enough of interest in it - including a relatively unusual tone and convincing 'near future'. Just a shame that the parts ultimately don't work in harmony.

rockatansky

DazMarz wrote: »

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.

Ha, that made me laugh!


Silver Linings Playbook

Have actually watched it twice in the past 2 weeks. Although very funny in parts, it can be quite unnerving at times especially if you know somene close to you with a mental illness. Great performances all round, would recommend it highly. 9/10

Battle Los Angeles

No effort Sci-fi, with plenty of action amd decent special effects if your into that sort of thing. 6/10

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Oz The Great and Oh My God How Long Is This Thing, Why Is It Still On? (I think that's what it's called)

Awful, awful, awful. How on earth does James Franco have a career? He's dreadful. I can only assume the three witches had some bills to pay, no other reason they could have thought this was a good project to work on. I hate 3D anyway, but I really hate when you can tell the scenes they choreographed specifically for 3D.

Avoid this at all costs, it's terrible.

ButtersSuki

rockatansky wrote: »

Silver Linings Playbook

Have actually watched it twice in the past 2 weeks. Although very funny in parts, it can be quite unnerving at times especially if you know somene close to you with a mental illness. Great performances all round, would recommend it highly. 9/10

That's a big part of what makes it great - and not Hollywood BS. Best US-made film I've seen in a long time.

MiloYossarian

SAFE

Jason Statham film that's actually pretty good. I enjoyed it anyway.

Tony EH

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Robot & Frank - This one didn't quite work for me. It is mostly diverting, and to the film's credit it manages to achieve poignancy without excess sentimentality. I wouldn't rave as much about Langella's performance as others have, but he does make for an unusual and believable protagonist. And yet... there's something off about the film overall. Perhaps it's the underdeveloped, even stereotypical cast of supporting actors. Perhaps it's that thematically it feels a little all over the place (it's warm, curious examination of aging in an advancing world is somewhat offset by a strange although perhaps inadvertently hostile portrayal of charitable and archiving organisations). Mostly it was that it felt as if the characters were serving the plot as opposed to the other way around - the third act particularly piles of preposterous contrivances culminating in a bizarre & unconvincing twist

(Sarandon's character revealed as Frank's ex-wife)

that really doesn't benefit the film in any way if perhaps even undermining a lot of what came before. It's as if the screenwriter and director know where they want the characters to be, but really struggle to get there.

It's watchable though, and charming in moderation. There's enough of interest in it - including a relatively unusual tone and convincing 'near future'. Just a shame that the parts ultimately don't work in harmony.

My wife cried at the end, when they woiuldn't give him his robot back.

Wimmin eh? :rolleyes:

Tony EH

Tony EH wrote: »

Edited to remove spoiler
Wimmin eh? :rolleyes:

Why would you post something that ruins the end of the film? Seriously, edit your post and add the spoiler tags to it.

krudler

sigh, thanks for ruining that then.

Tony EH

Deleted User wrote: »

Why would you post something that ruins the end of the film? Seriously, edit your post and add the spoiler tags to it.

Crap!

I thought I did!

Apologies.

crazygeryy

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Oz The Great and Oh My God How Long Is This Thing, Why Is It Still On? (I think that's what it's called)

Awful, awful, awful. How on earth does James Franco have a career? He's dreadful. I can only assume the three witches had some bills to pay, no other reason they could have thought this was a good project to work on. I hate 3D anyway, but I really hate when you can tell the scenes they choreographed specifically for 3D.

Avoid this at all costs, it's terrible.

awful for kids to?

johnny_ultimate

The Ballad of Narayama (1983) - Shohei Imamura cruelly poignant depiction of a small peasant village with its own unique set of rules and laws. It remains rather shocking, powerful stuff - bestiality, incest, witch-hunts and murder are par for the course in this isolated village. Yet Imamura, ever the anthropologist, paints his characters in a deeply compassionate light even in the face of systematic, unforgivable cruelty. Within the obscure rules this society has set itself, there's insight to be discovered concerning the artificiality of 'civilisation' and humans' relationship with nature. Shot in a rigidly realistic manner - with so many shots of animals you could probably cut a relatively convincing nature documentary from it - it all builds up to the famous sequence where old woman Orin and her son Tatsuhei embark on an exhausting climb to the eponymous mountain. At seventy years of age, all elderly citizens are required to make this pilgrimage - and yet the film's hypnotic portrayal of Orin (played with real commitment from Sumiko Sakamoto, who agreed to lose her two front teeth for the role) helps us contextualise her real reasons for making this mysterious, dangerous ascent.

Dark yet beautiful cinema.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

crazygeryy wrote: »

awful for kids to?

Well, there were a lot of kids there when I went to see it but I don't know. It was 2 hours long, which to me seems pretty long for a kids film. It's not overly scary or overly complicated, there wasn't any real plot to be honest. I'm trying to think if it was even visually interesting enough to keep a kid entertained for 2 hours. I don't think I'd have been impressed when I was a kid, but that's just me.

What I will say is it's definitely not the likes of a Pixar film that has an extra layer for any adults that have to bring kids to see it. By the time he even got to Oz I was ready for it to end.