Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Theon said:
:lol: And a Best Picture Oscar.

Film can be very subjective, you're always gonna get different views. In general I think it earned it's praise, I found it entertaining and well acted particularly Di Caprio.

Did you watch IA first? Because if you did then you might have been comparing it to IA, rather than just watching it as it's own film.
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Tell me about it! That said, I despised Juno and that did rather well too. In fact, I spat out my tea recently when I read that Cody had been brought on to rework the teen dialogue for a film because "no one knows how teens talk as well as Diablo Cody" ... which is ironic, because what I hated most about Juno is that all the teens talk like thirtysomethings. Grr!

Di Caprio was actually the only thing that stopped me giving up on The Departed. And Sheen.

I did watch IA. Years and years ago, so couldn't quite remember the ins and outs. But just the so-called subterfuge in this was so clumsy. The janitor would have spotted that Damon was dirty. And having Di Caprio having regular meetings in broad daylight with the cops was just lazy, lazy, lazy writing.
 
Prophet_of_Doom said:
I don't even think it holds up on its own though. I genuinely found it comically awful. Dialogue that was pseudo Mamet. Half a dozen fight scenes so poorly choreographed that you could clearly see fist and face were about a foot apart. Dozens of completely pointless scenes (and characters) which could have been removed without impacting on the film whatsoever (well, apart from positively). Law enforcement so incompetent they made Chief Wiggum look like Poirot. Gangsters so unmenacing they made Chief Wiggum look like Scarface. Characters that make absolutely no sense. I just didn't get it. Any of it. It is just the kind of film that makes me wonder if I'm insane because of its critical acclaim. 93% on Rotten Tomatoes for crying out loud!

Rant over ... and all imo of course.
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I agree. I did not like it at all. So much poor and over acting.
 
Never understood the hate on here for The Departed which is pretty well put together film, with some good performances and a great soundtrack. What it has that IA doesn't is Scorsese's ability to go through the motions and tell a story. His skill for visual narration is great, and really benefits the convaluted storyline.

And yes, of course it's a complete rip-off of someone else's original idea, but I don't think Scorsese or anyone else ever tries to pretend they were geniuses for having the idea of the script. Remakes of European and Asian films for US audiences are done all the time, I'd rather this one was made by a skillfull director with such a cast than some hired studio director who would've made it a weak B flick.

Although I do agree it was a farce to give Scorsese an oscar for this one, one of his least personal films and by no means his best.
 
Nobby style said:
L' Enfant Sauvage (the Wild Child) - Francois Truffaut (1970)

Had always avoided this film thinking it would be impossible to make a proper movie on a feral child schtick, and didn't want to be disappointed by one of my cinema idols, Truffaut. Wrong I was. This film was really well done and believable, and holds up perfectly 40 years later.

I guess it was based on a feral child discovery in Southern France in the 18th century, and was pretty believably documented as opposed to so many myths and stories of "feral child" finds. The little feral kid was really well acted and scripted. But most fascinating was the whole scientific look into it that included behavior, language acquisition, educational and theoretical concepts that Truffaut handled masterfully.

He showed himself to be a competent actor as well. I think it was his first role in front of the camera. What was interesting is that he chose to take the role of the doctor and guardian so he could direct the feral youth in front of the camera, and it worked almost perfectly. Great film.

9 cocks up.


*just saw there's some British woman coming out with a book that claims she was raised by "monkeys for 5 years in Colombia, found by hunters who traded her to a brothel for a parrot . . ."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/woman-claims-raised-monkeys-article-1.1189372
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The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser is a good film based on a similar feral child case.

Rooney in Paris said:
Never understood the hate on here for The Departed which is pretty well put together film, with some good performances and a great soundtrack. What it has that IA doesn't is Scorsese's ability to go through the motions and tell a story. His skill for visual narration is great, and really benefits the convaluted storyline.

And yes, of course it's a complete rip-off of someone else's original idea, but I don't think Scorsese or anyone else ever tries to pretend they were geniuses for having the idea of the script. Remakes of European and Asian films for US audiences are done all the time, I'd rather this one was made by a skillfull director with such a cast than some hired studio director who would've made it a weak B flick.

Although I do agree it was a farce to give Scorsese an oscar for this one, one of his least personal films and by no means his best.
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I thought the performances were pretty run-of-the mill stuff. Nicholson for an example really hammed it up. If anything Scorsese dumbed it down and the fact that the screenplay was lauded and awarded with an Oscar was a travesty.
 
I agree with your second sentence. It was an entertaining film, I enjoyed watching it, and for my part I really liked the performances. I thought Di Caprio was great at bringing to screen the slow psychological deterioration he goes through and does really well in that part. Jack Nicholson was fun to watch, for me, but I can understand that people think he's doing too much in this film. Really liked his chemistry with Ray Winstone though, and thought all the supporting cast (Sheen, Wahlberg, Baldwin) was good. Not much to say about Damon, not a very complicated part to play, just does his job.

Don't think it was worthy of all the accolades it got, but I also don't understand the hate for it, as I said above. Just an entertaining cop film with a good plot (albeit stolen from another film, yes) that's easily watchable.
 
Rooney in Paris said:
Don't think it was worthy of all the accolades it got, but I also don't understand the hate for it, as I said above. Just an entertaining cop film with a good plot (albeit stolen from another film, yes) that's easily watchable.
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I think the hate is probably down to the accolades. If it wasn't held up as some flawless gem then there'd be nothing to get angry about and it could be enjoyed for what it is, an indulgent piece of popcorn fluff.

(Sorry, on reading back, that last comment sounds unnecessarily antagonistic - not intended to be, purely imo and I appreciate others, well, pretty much the entire world, opposes that view!)
 
Rooney in Paris said:
What it has that IA doesn't is Scorsese's ability to go through the motions and tell a story. His skill for visual narration is great, and really benefits the convaluted storyline.
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I have absolutely no idea what this means tbf.

The Departed isn't convoluted, because Scorsese and Monahan gut all the convoluted interesting stuff in favour of a down the line goody vs baddie dumb fest. They remove stuff that made IA more than a simple dumb cop film, and they add in stuff that makes it more of a simple dumb cop film (love interest, implied impotence of villan, awful "don't be a rat" visual metaphor comeuppance ending, Marky Mark taking the significance away from Sheen dying etc.)

Rooney in Paris said:
Not much to say about Damon, not a very complicated part to play, just does his job.
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Well that's at the very heart of it I'm afraid. You SHOULD have had more to say about Damon, because he's supposed to be the main character, or at least the prominent co-star. As it is they completely gut his character in favour of a Jack hamfest and absolutely no character development.
 
Andy Lau's character in Infernal Affairs was much more interesting as he was also sort of likeable and multidimensional whilst Damon's character was just a douchebag. Leo was alright but he's no Tony Leung.
 
R.N7 said:
Stranger Than Paradise - Usually the type of film I like but this had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
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I think it has three semi redeeming qualities. 1) Shows a really northern English-esque bleakness in Amerika. 2) John Lurie is decent as a vintage American asshole. 3) Richard Edson's crap face.

But yeah, not all that great. Jarmusch seems to me to be overrated. A bit full of himself. Like some prototype loser hipster midwestern immigrant in New York.
 
R.N7 said:
Andy Lau's character in Infernal Affairs was much more interesting as he was also sort of likeable and multidimensional whilst Damon's character was just a douchebag. Leo was alright but he's no Tony Leung.
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The problem was that 90% of them were one-dimensional douchebags (good choice of word!) At times it seems like Sheen and DiCaprio are actually in a different (and decent) movie. But Damon is clearly still in The Informant, Wahlberg The Other Guys, Nicholson The Witches of Eastwick and Winstone was at home watching the football and sent his disinterested clone in his place.
 
Mockney said:
I have absolutely no idea what this means tbf.
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Nothing extremely complicated, just that one of Scorsese's strengths as a filmmaker is to be able to "tell" a story with great rhythm and makes it extremely fluid, which in turn is a delight for the viewer. Some directors would've struggled with the storyline, especially the beginning where you're introducing different set of characters, and some have that fluency about their filmmaking, which is the case of Scorsese.
 
Nobby style said:
I think it has three semi redeeming qualities. 1) Shows a really northern English-esque bleakness in Amerika. 2) John Lurie is decent as a vintage American asshole. 3) Richard Edson's crap face.

But yeah, not all that great. Jarmusch seems to me to be overrated. A bit full of himself. Like some prototype loser hipster midwestern immigrant in New York.
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The two leads looked so similiar, which was weird because they both had a very distinct, unconventional appearance. I think it suffered from being a bit dated as people have done similar, better films after it.

Dead Man is the only other Jarmusch film I've seen. It was decent but far from amazing.
 
Skyfall- Really, really good. I'd never even seen a Bond before, but loved it. 9/10
 
pauldyson1uk said:
Your first Bond Film :eek:
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And easily the best!

I've seen bits and bobs of some of the other ones, but can't remember which ones! I'm sure I've seen one but can't for the life of me remember which one, so I'm treating this as my first. Probably watch some more now.
 
R.N7 said:
The two leads looked so similiar, which was weird because they both had a very distinct, unconventional appearance. I think it suffered from being a bit dated as people have done similar, better films after it.

Dead Man is the only other Jarmusch film I've seen. It was decent but far from amazing.
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Have seen pretty much everything of Jarmusch and "decent but far from amazing" is a good description. He was certainly a breath of fresh air for American cinema in the 80s, and at the time, Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law were quite interesting, but you're right, his best stuff hasn't aged all that well and there are a lot of directors doing similar stuff with far more originality and poetry. I do think he deserves a lot of credit though for being a sort of pioneer in indie American film making, and he does have his brilliant moments in most of his films.
 
BD94 said:
And easily the best!

I've seen bits and bobs of some of the other ones, but can't remember which ones! I'm sure I've seen one but can't for the life of me remember which one, so I'm treating this as my first. Probably watch some more now.
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Not seen it yet, but will be doing very soon.
Bond films are my guilty pleasure, love them all, even the bad ones.
 
BD94 said:
And easily the best!

I've seen bits and bobs of some of the other ones, but can't remember which ones! I'm sure I've seen one but can't for the life of me remember which one, so I'm treating this as my first. Probably watch some more now.
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You should watch Casino mate it's quality, except for the poker scenes which are absurd
 
Nobby style said:
Have seen pretty much everything of Jarmusch and "decent but far from amazing" is a good description. He was certainly a breath of fresh air for American cinema in the 80s, and at the time, Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law were quite interesting, but you're right, his best stuff hasn't aged all that well and there are a lot of directors doing similar stuff with far more originality and poetry. I do think he deserves a lot of credit though for being a sort of pioneer in indie American film making, and he does have his brilliant moments in most of his films.
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All the "Night on Earth" segments (except the California one) were good. Also liked lots of "Mystery Train". Joe Strummer enjoyed himself.

Mind you he should have been drummed out for "Coffee and Cigarettes". Not sure how you can assemble that much happy talent and get them to be that unfunny. No effort put in on that one.
 
It is so much darker than usual, which was the right way to go IMO, some of the older ones are just so cheesy. When he is in the chair and Le Chiffre is torturing him is such a brutal scene

The whole film is just great though, even the beginning when it has like a pretty standard chase sequence though it's really well shot, but then when Bond catches the guy in the embassy he just shoots him. So much more realistic. Apparently the new one is similar in style
 
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"There’s something inherently wrong with the human personality. There’s an evil side to it. One of the things that horror stories can do is to show us the archetypes of the unconscious: we can see the dark side without having to confront it directly." (Stanley Kubrick)
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MAZES, MIRRORS, DECEPTION AND DENIAL
An in-depth analysis of Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING:

http://www.collativelearning.com/the shining.html
http://www.theoverlookhotel.com/
 
Is Cloud Atlas already out in the UK? I was reading about it yesterday and sounds like an ambitious project, but it doesn't come out in France until March 2013.
 
Next.

FFS I feel cheated out of an ending, Nic Cage plays a magician that can see 2 mins in to his future and is enlisted by the FBI to stop a Nuclear attack on LA.

I was enjoying it until 10 min before the end, only to find over half the film was just a fecking dream, and then you don't know if he stops it or not

3/10
 
The Tall Man.

A very good film, set in a small American town, kids go missing.
Jessica Biel, is a nurse, who's own child goes missing, the kids are allegedly taken by the mysterious Tall Man.

Then the film takes a very unexpected twist and one that I did not see coming and then a nice twist at the end.

Well worth watching.

7/10
 
End of Watch (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1855199/):

Gritty police movie, shot in a very interesting way, telling a wonderful story about bro'mance, gangs, crime.

Some shocking scenes presented in an unpretentious way as well as surprising, unexpected and very sad ending.

Will be shortlisted for several awards, incl best actor and best supporting actor

8.5/10
 
Dresilved said:
Argo A really really good yarn.. Based entirely on true events apparently, well made, well executed, if you're up for a good auld story, this is ideal

6 US embassy workers in Iran flee out the back door as it's being stormed by a mob during the 1980 coup, they hide out in the Canadian Embassy while CIA try to come up with an extraction plan.... what they eventually come up with sounds like an absolutely ludicrous idea, but its what they go with!

A very solid 8/10, easy to watch and very enjoyable
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Saw this over weekend too. Agree with DRES, a well produced political thriller.

Some great cinematography and genuine tension at the end.
 
Killer Joe

Really enjoyed this. Reminded me of a Coen brothers movie in many ways. Plenty of sleazy/quirky characters all wonderfully acted by a terrific cast. Recommended.
 
Goodbye Solo - This is probably what it would look like if Werner Herzog directed a remake of Abbas Kiarostami's A Taste of Cherry. Unlikely, slightly odd people from the fringes of society come to together in a realistic film, set in a depressed town in America and it all plays out totally straight with the odd semi-touching moments. It was a bit too uneventful and didn't have enough poignant moments that really struck a chord in me for me to consider it to be anything special but overall a decent film I must say.

Gosford Park - This was just like Downton Abbey but without all the soppiness. Passably entertaining murder mystery.
 
Right with Halloween coming I decided to watch some horror films this week.
So I started off with one I've heard about for years. the classic:
Rosemarys Baby.
What a load of over hyped wank. Dull, boring and shit. How this can be classed as one of the greats is beyond me. Seriously crap. Not even going to give it a 1/10 it was so disappointing. I felt like I'd gone through 9 months of pregnancy myself by the end of it. Ooh the cinematography, ohh the paranoia. Nicely framed shots and crap art house jazz do not make a film entertaining.
 
Skyfall

That was pretty epic... This goes deeper into humanising Bond than even Casino Royale. Compared to all the other movies it's quite dark in it's tone and there's a clearer sense of realism and vulnerability about. But there's fun to be had here as well along with numerous gun battles and epic set pieces. Silva is definitely one of the most disturbed villians we've come across. He scares you in a psychopathic kinda way. Things do get quite personal between him, M and 007 at times. But in the end the franchise feels refreshed and i'm looking forward to where it goes next.

This is one of the best, and most unique, Bond movies ever made. Therefore it deserves a high score.

9/10
 
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