What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Ruu

Rewatching Vincent Price films, Abominable Dr. Phibes/Phibes rises again and Theatre of Blood. Always end up cheering for the characters portrayed by Price.

Looper007

the_monkey wrote: »

The Perks of being a Wallflower
A real teenager's film but surprisingly good, some great scenes in it.
http://www.imdb.co.uk/title/tt1659337/

I agree with Mark Kermode when he said The poster for this film gave off the wrong impression on this truely brillant film. It's one of the darkest coming of age films i've seen and probably the best since Dazed and Confused, Lorgan Lerman gives one of the most heartbreaking performances i've seen from a young actor in a while and Ezra Miller is turning into a young Johnny Depp before Captain Jack ruined him. Emma Waston isn't as bad as i taught she be but still i've yet to be conviced by her. Great soundtrack and performances from Paul Rudd and Dylan McDermott in smaller roles.

I see this been a cult film but along with Dredd this was one of my biggest surprises from last year.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Looper007 wrote: »

I agree with Mark Kermode when he said The poster for this film gave off the wrong impression on this truely brillant film.

Don't know about the poster but the trailers for it made it seem like The Perks of Being Emma Watson. I know if you've got someone with a built in fan base of millions in your cast you exploit it, but it was a bit ridiculous in this case.

Looper007

The Debt (2010)

One of those films that always shown on the Sky Movie channels but is sadly overlooked for been a pretty good Thriller.1965, three Mossad agents cross into East Berlin to apprehend a notorious Nazi war criminal. Thirty years later, the secrets the agents share come back to haunt them. Jessica Chastain/Helen Mirren are brillant as the young and old same female character and Jesper Christensen (Mr White from Casino Royale and QOS) is pretty damn scary as the Nazi they are hunting down. Sam Worthington proves he can act although Ciaran Hinds as the older version of Worthington is underused. It's not perfect but well worth checking out. 8/10

Looper007

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Don't know about the poster but the trailers for it made it seem like The Perks of Being Emma Watson. I know if you've got someone with a built in fan base of millions in your cast you exploit it, but it was a bit ridiculous in this case.

I agree the promtional side for this really undersold it as another teen by numbers film.The sad thing about it is she's the weakest of the cast and i taught was miscast imo. I could see they were trying for the Harry Potter fanbase but this film is a far more darker and heartfelt film that seems to have been impressing more of an adult audience then a youth one.

Liam McPoyle

Watched In Bruges for the first time the other night and I thought it was rubbish,really struggling to see where all the love comes from for this movie from a lot of people.

Seven Psychopaths is infinitely more entertaining IMO.

johnny_ultimate

Close-Up - Abbas Kiarostami's beautiful and clever deconstruction of cinematic form. The film concerns the real life story of an Iranian man who persuaded a family that he was actually a famous filmmaker. The film is a unique hybrid of documentary and fiction - recreations mixed with real time coverage, although even then with Kiarostami playing tricks with traditional concepts of objectivity and authorship. The film asks us to negotiate reality from cinema, and the answers are never easy. It all builds up to a near perfect conclusion, where technical playfulness meets poignant carthasis to electrifying effect.

Many critics herald it as the most important film of the 1990s. Hard to argue with them.

Judgement Day

Necronos wrote: »

Watched In Bruges for the first time the other night and I thought it was rubbish,really struggling to see where all the love comes from for this movie from a lot of people.

Seven Psychopaths is infinitely more entertaining IMO.

Haven't seen Seven Psychopaths but can't agree with you about "In Bruges" which is a classic of the genre. What's not to like about it?

firestarter51

fall of the essex boys
absolutely shocking, story has been told a few times before.
this was the worst i have seen so far, acting was very poor.
one actor was narrating the story, but he was shouting in a terrible accent far from essex, avoid this like the plague

Decuc500

The Innkeepers.

Like Ti West’s previous film House Of The Devil, The Innkeepers is a slow paced horror film that reaches a satisfyingly scary conclusion. It’s a ghost story set in a hotel that’s about to close down. The last two remaining staff are convinced it’s haunted and try to find proof.

The film creates an impressive atmosphere of dread without resorting to cheap scares. It’s a nice antidote to some of the nasty, sadistic films masquerading as ‘horror’ nowadays.

Tony EH

Judgement Day wrote: »

Haven't seen Seven Psychopaths but can't agree with you about "In Bruges" which is a classic of the genre. What's not to like about it?

Two skanky hookers and a racist dwarf.

Mickeroo

Looper007 wrote: »

I agree the promtional side for this really undersold it as another teen by numbers film.The sad thing about it is she's the weakest of the cast and i taught was miscast imo. I could see they were trying for the Harry Potter fanbase but this film is a far more darker and heartfelt film that seems to have been impressing more of an adult audience then a youth one.

I was put off by the trailers too but the film very much won me over.

duckysauce

End of Watch

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1855199/

LAPD docu style movie very enyjoyable.

Looper007

Judgement Day wrote: »

Haven't seen Seven Psychopaths but can't agree with you about "In Bruges" which is a classic of the genre. What's not to like about it?

I liked Seven Pyschopaths but it was a disappointment as well as it was too quirky for its own good plus the mix of comedy and drama wasn't as well done as it was in In Bruges. Sam Rockwell,Colin Farrell,Christopher Walken and Woody Harrleson were great. In Bruges for me was the way better film but Seven Pyschopaths was good but was a bit of a letdown of 2012 for me.

duckysauce

Tony EH wrote: »

Two skanky hookers and a racist dwarf.

Have you never had a night out with Two skanky hookers and a racist dwarf?

Don't knock it.

:P

Looper007

Berberian Sound Studio (2012)

One of the best films i've seen this year, thanks to Mark Kermode given it Best Film in his Kermode awards this year i decide to buy it second hand from xtravision and was totally blown away. It's not for everyone as its very slow but i found it very haunting and funny with towering central performance from the great Toby Jones.Sound engineer Gilderoy, (Toby Jones) a meek, middle-aged bachelor, is transplanted from home-counties life living with his Mother to engineer the soundtrack for a 1970s Italian film. Trapped in the Italian studio with manipulative, Producer, Francesco (Cosimo Fusco) and a monosyllabic, aged, studio manager, he has no idea what elusive Director, Santini (Antonio Mancino) has in the can beyond the title, The Equestrian Vortex. Confronted by twin Foley goons smashing watermelons in lab coats, Gilderoy questions the relevance to horse riding! While he recoils at the violent, exploitative 'giallo' horror that Francesco reveals, Gilderoy is ensnared in the menacing studio, cashless and unable to recover any of his costs from beautiful, contemptuous, secretary Elena (Tonia Sotiropoulou). Ignorant of the language, overwhelmed by the explosive dynamics between charismatic, unscrupulous Santini, Francesco and the cast, Gilderoy retreats into his work, his only outside communication the letters from his Mother recounting the changing pastoral life he longs to record. Immersed in the simulation of sonic sadism, the resonance of repeated takes twist Gilderoy's grasp of reality.

B.A._Baracus

Salt (2010)

Not that good. I know it's a check-your-brain-at-the-door type of movie but even then there are are still major plot holes.

Stupid movie.

Looper007

duckysauce wrote: »

End of Watch

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1855199/

LAPD docu style movie very enyjoyable.

Along with Perks been a Wallflower and Dredd, one of the biggest Surprises of 2012 great performance from Micheal Pena although the ending

Pena Character dies but Gallyhael doesn't takes away from the impact of both of them dying which would have been a more powerful ending

a great movie that will hopefully will garner a cult following on Dvd.

Liam McPoyle

Judgement Day wrote: »

Haven't seen Seven Psychopaths but can't agree with you about "In Bruges" which is a classic of the genre. What's not to like about it?

I dunno, I just didnt like it, found it pretty boring throughout, thought the midget was only part of it for cheap laughs and the ending could be seen coming a mile away.

Maybe its a case of having it hyped up by so many I had envisioned something different in my head.

Jimmy Iovine

the_monkey wrote: »

Casino
I might be going to Vegas later on this year so this got me in the mood
A classic - love it, maybe even better then Goodfellas.
http://www.imdb.co.uk/title/tt0112641/

:eek:

NO! It's great but it'll never match up to the perfection of Goodfellas.

Joe Pesci is in fine form again though.

His death scene is one of the most gruesome that I've ever seen and one of the few scenes that I can't watch.

Mocha Joe

Looper007 wrote: »

Along with Perks been a Wallflower and Dredd, one of the biggest Surprises of 2012 great performance from Micheal Pena although the ending

Pena Character dies but Gallyhael doesn't takes away from the impact of both of them dying which would have been a more powerful ending

a great movie that will hopefully will garner a cult following on Dvd.

Cult following? It was a big mainstream movie. I was really disappointed with it. The hand-held cam felt incredibly stupid and I never got very emotionally invested. Biggest disappointment of the year for me.

MiloYossarian

Necronos wrote: »

I dunno, I just didnt like it, found it pretty boring throughout, thought the midget was only part of it for cheap laughs and the ending could be seen coming a mile away.

Maybe its a case of having it hyped up by so many I had envisioned something different in my head.

It's interesting that you say that, because I thought that the ending was the best thing about it, the way you don't know if he lives or dies to apply the lessons he's learned.

Get Over It

Enjoyable light entertainment.

Judgement Day

"The Gingerbread Men" (2012) on DVD. Very low budget (€12,000) Irish production directed by Dáire McNab. Described as a dark romantic comedy-musical. Set in Dublin, it's the story of two TCD student friends, one of whom who can't keep his pecker in his pants and the other who can't find the opportunity to get his out! It's so typical of the films that I watch that it's those you expect least from are the stand-out ones and this was one such. Beautifully shot, with lots of south county Dublin scenery as a backdrop, the film moves along at a good pace for all of its 104 minutes. Unusually, for a movie of its type, there are no really unlikeable characters, and we can easily identify with them as people we knew growing up in Dublin - whether it was in the 1980s or in 2010.

I'm giving it 9/10 and I'd love to see what the director could do with a bigger budget behind him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE1hYpK25SA

Barna77

The Tall Man. Children disappear, twist at the end... meh.

Tony EH

duckysauce wrote: »

Have you never had a night out with Two skanky hookers and a racist dwarf?

Don't knock it.

:P

Just the dwarf.

MiloYossarian

Godzilla

They've just started shooting the new one so I wanted to give this one a rewatch. I never got all the hate for this. I really enjoyed it when it came out and I really enjoyed it last night as well. I loved the the creature design, the effects still hold up to this day, likable leads, funny moments and it has exciting action and good ideas. Like the whole reason for moving Godzilla to New York was a very plausible idea. Having the eggs and then having them hatch was a really good idea.

It's a movie where humanity is the bad guy. They created the creature with their unnatural testing and then killed him and all his children, because let's just face it, it was too damn inconvenient to let him live. Godzilla was just an innocent creature trying to make his way in the world, and he was murdered for it. I could spend more time drawing comparisons between Godzilla and Gandhi or especially comparing Godzilla and the American civial rights movement and Malcolm X (Godzilla didn't land on Manhattan Island, Manhattan Island landed on Godzilla), but I don't want to scare you with my massive intellect, you would try to kill me because you don't understand me and because you don't understand me you would be scared of me, just like what happened in that film, Godzilla.

johnny_ultimate

Vertigo - If ever a film benefits from 70mm screenings... Second time watching I found myself much more able to appreciate the form and artistry in unison with the basic plot mechanics. It is simply a wonderful example of visual storytelling - the elegance of Hitchcock's recurring motifs and symbols ('real' and imagined) drawing us into this tale of mad obsession. Despite its endlessly creepy, provocative nature, there's also a great sense of humour, with many of the gags - such as Midge's painting - smartly preempting later developments. The potential for in-depth, academic analysis is endless, particularly through the constant reversal of the male and female gazes. If there's one thing rightly flagged by the introduction at the start of the IFI screening yesterday, it's one or two of the later flashbacks and revelations are delivered a tad on the nose, but a minor complaint in one of the most subversive studio films ever made.

Although the film is of course a visual masterpiece, Hermann's intense score genuinely benefits from a theatrical airing. Apart from a somewhat damaged first reel, it was a great cinema experience, and definitely helps contextualise that whole 'greatest film of all time' thing.

MiloYossarian wrote:

It's a movie where humanity is the bad guy.

Or you could just watch the original Japanese film where, dodgy suits aside, that aspect is intentional and explored in depth as the film serves as an allegory for a post Hiroshima/Nagasaki Japan.

I'm pretty sure the sequels were just Gojira wailing on other giant monsters, though.

Gamayun

Fish Story (2009)

Japanese film about a punk song affecting different people in different decades, with a comet heading toward earth in 2012, very enjoyable. Sample lyric:

"The story of my solitude. If my solitude were a fish. It'd be so enormous, so militant. A whale would get out of there"

Super (2010)

With Ellen Page and Rainn Wilson. I had heard this described as a poor man's Kick Ass but I thought it was very well done, funny and dark at times too.

Jimmy Iovine

Once Upon a Time in America - I bought it more than a year ago but was too afraid to watch it due to the running time. I'm glad that I finally got around to watching it. Will have to watch it again to really appreciate it, I feel.

Corkfeen

Did a bit of a film marathon last night so watched two films that i've been putting off for a while

Martha Marcy May Marlene: I always tend to put off heavy films such as this but always regret doing so afterwards. It's an extremely dark film filled with paranoia that both the viewer and Martha experience. Credit really has to be given to Elizabeth Olsen as it was clearly a difficult role from the perspective of her portraying a character with such a horrible hidden past. We understand how this past motivates her while others are somewhat oblivious. I don't really want to give anything away about it. - 10/10

Holy Motors: An altogether different film. While it can be extremely dark at points, I found it to be highly amusing and had points where I burst out laughing during some particularly strange scenes. The cinematography and performances are superb. I really have to rewatch it which is a good sign. I'm not sure if anyone else has drawn a contrast to The Artist. But I found Holy Motors did exactly what The Artist failed to do . I personally found The Artist to be somewhat of an homage that offered nothing new. I also found Holy Motors to be an homage to cinema but at the very same time it offered something new from the perspective of story and the idea of the machinations of cinema. There's a sense of doubt of what future lies ahead for cinema. I could say tons about this but I think everyone should go watch it. I'll leave ye with the interlude. - 10/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEgsxC78psc