Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Magnolia is the one I like least as a film, it's too long with too many compartmentalised narratives. It builds to a revelation that never arrives and ends in some unsatisfying fatalistic biblical mush. A shame because there is so many brilliant things in the film, such as the intro, the character development and the performances, particularly from Macy and Moore.
It feels to me like the set up of a brilliant magic trick, performed by a master showman, but when he pulls the curtain back the elephant is still stood there munching on some hay.

Punch Drunk, The Master, Blood never fully arrive either but they satisfy through a more central character focus and there is less of a sense of being strung along.
 
The Sessions

I kind of of got drawn into watching it this afternoon but ended up thoroughly enjoying the film. Maybe it reflects certain stresses in my life at the moment, but I never thought I would be giving the thumbs up to what is basically a kind of feelgood movie. That said, it is certainly a quirky one and more than that. Helen Hunt and the guy who plays the chap with polio are excellent. I liked the offbeat nature of the relationships and the candour of the conversations.

I would argue that Helen Hunt's character's taking of notes and trying to psycho-analyse him -blaming his hang-ups variously on religion, family, guilt etc...- felt like a bit of an add-on that is never really explored and was thrown in to try and give the film more gravitas, but all the same, it is enjoyable.
I liked the guy's relationship with the pretty cool vicar too.

It's only an hour and a half long so give it a whirl- on Sky Prem this week.

8/10
 
a short film about love - if only i too had a creepy stalker i could invite into my house, have sex with then suddenly feel affection for. didn't like it much.

a short film about killing - enjoyed it much more, the murder scene was terrific but some of the imagery still felt really forced. haven't enjoyed any of his films enough to watch more.

heart of a dog - amazing :D most of the big russian adaptations for tv are done brilliantly, the comedic tone was spot on. it being in sepia worked really well too.
 
Jippy said:
The Sessions?

What did you make of the ending?

EDIT: I can't get spoiler to work and don't want to be a prick to others who haven't seen it.
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I thought it wasn't bad especially as it was pretty much what really happened.
 
Wibble said:
I thought it wasn't bad especially as it was pretty much what really happened.
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I didn't know it was a real story. It's rare that you watch a film that you haven't heard of and you really enjoy it. A number of posts in this thread moan about the hype surpassing the reality. The surprise factor is good. Helen Hunt is still quite tidy too.
 
Jippy said:
I didn't know it was a real story. It's rare that you watch a film that you haven't heard of and you really enjoy it. A number of posts in this thread moan about the hype surpassing the reality. The surprise factor is good. Helen Hunt is still quite tidy too.
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I think it could have been a bit more complex, something that people who read the autobiography that this was based on say is a let down, but I really enjoyed it for what it was.
 
Home Sweet Home
A case of style over substance. The director took too much inspiration from Kubrick and it tells. It seemed like he was too eager to show what a good director he is and forgot about the story and conventions of home invasion, plus all shots were elongated, making me think he didnt have enough content to last 80 minutes. Shame as it did look amazing in terms of cinematography but missed the mark in the story 4/10
 
Limelight - Chaplin's last great work. A very personal and bittersweet film with Chaplin reflecting on his career, showing his usual tenderness. The scene with him and Buster Keaton was great and cinema history.
 
Byzantium: Surprisingly well told and entertaining supernatural drama which has a good script, is well paced and has just enough of a basis in folklore to keep the whole thing well grounded in some sort of reality. Also has good performances from Gemma Arterton and most notably Saoirse Ronan to keep it engrossing. Worth watching wasn't massively impressed by the ending though.

7/10
 
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LoveInTheAsylum said:
a short film about love - if only i too had a creepy stalker i could invite into my house, have sex with then suddenly feel affection for. didn't like it much.

a short film about killing - enjoyed it much more, the murder scene was terrific but some of the imagery still felt really forced. haven't enjoyed any of his films enough to watch more.

:D
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kieslowski's a fantastic director - you need to watch 3 coleurs or Veronique
 
Keenst said:
I seem to be in the minority when it comes to Prometheus. I saw in the cinema in 3D which I think helped as the visuals were excellent. For some reason the plot holes and questionable plot didn't bother me and in the end I thought it was intense and visually striking, if a little stupid. Fassbender was great too. I actually really liked it.
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Agree completely, I thought it was really good.
 
Saw Dallas Buyers Club last night. Thought it was excellent. Between this and Mud, we're seeing the side of McConaughey that we always knew was there, but he just hid by doing dire films. He's a great actor. Jared Leto is great too.
 
Dallas Buyers Club

I enjoyed this but it felt like a couple of really great performances in a movie that was otherwise only decent. The sentimentality is really spooned on, particularly in the second half of the film. But the performances are so good they don't allow you to focus that much on the weaknesses.
 
I just watched the extended edition of the Second and Third LOTR films (I didn't really want to), and it turns out that nearly every 'extended/additional' scene is awful. From Legolos, Gimli and Aragorn jumping through a maze of skulls (reminded me of Pirates of the Carribean which isn't a compliment), to the 'Mouth of Sauron' goading Aragorn about Frodo's death (you've seen that hobbits have the ring Sauron and you know that the hobbits aren't dead or you'd have the ring, and apparently you know the hobbits are in Mordor!.. come on!), to Saurmon discussing politics with Gandalf (yawn), to Sean Bean being everywhere... and to Frodo and Sam joining a platoon of Orcs.. they were nearly all terrible.

The only two scenes I'd say are the exception are the scene where Gandalf has his staff shattered (if only so we know why he can't use it again) and the scene where the forest kills loads of Orcs.

I've also had the misfortune of watching the first LOTR with extended scenes (so much extra walking, including extra walking out of Rivendale scenes) and the Phantom Menace with extended scenes (Shall I go with you? No I want you go with them. Okay I'll go with them. *walks with them*).


Are there any films where the extended scenes actually make the movie better? I've watched 'The Prestige' extended addition too which I thought was excellent, and apparently had an extra opening 30 minutes but I've not seen the shortened version. Everyone always says Kingdom of Heaven directors cut, but I just thought that was an okay film.
 
Brophs said:
Dallas Buyers Club

I enjoyed this but it felt like a couple of really great performances in a movie that was otherwise only decent. The sentimentality is really spooned on, particularly in the second half of the film. But the performances are so good they don't allow you to focus that much on the weaknesses.
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I'm not sure about this film at all. On the one hand I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, Jen Garner possibly wasn't too amazing, but on the other hand it just didnt seem Oscar worthy. "First Do No Harm", a much worse film, had me far closer too tears. Now obviously that isn't any metric to rate a film but I didn't really think it was that special.
 
Brophs said:
Dallas Buyers Club

I enjoyed this but it felt like a couple of really great performances in a movie that was otherwise only decent. The sentimentality is really spooned on, particularly in the second half of the film. But the performances are so good they don't allow you to focus that much on the weaknesses.
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Yeah I'd wholly agree with that. The performances are really stand-out and are the main reason to go see it I'd say. The plot was good, but doesn't seem to go too into depth about any of the issues/themes, which isn't necceserily a bad thing, but did sort of make it feel a little by the numbers.

Still, as you say, two excellent lead performances are worth seeing alone.
 
Ruby Sparks. About a writer who magically create one of his character into life and fell in love with her. I thought this is really nice movie, but would be better if the ending was changed
He doesn't meet the girl again, he met someone else. That scene at the end where she do whatever he types was brilliant[/quote]
 
rcoobc said:
Are there any films where the extended scenes actually make the movie better? I've watched 'The Prestige' extended addition too which I thought was excellent, and apparently had an extra opening 30 minutes but I've not seen the shortened version. Everyone always says Kingdom of Heaven directors cut, but I just thought that was an okay film.
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Funny, I'd read your message this morning very quickly and didn't see the last sentence. Kingdom of heaven is one of the films I was going to use as an example! The director's cut doesn't make it a masterpiece, but it turns it into a fairly decent film, whereas the theater version was very elliptic and lacked a bit of character development.

The one that really springs to mind is Watchmen. The director's cut of that one is excellent, with notably one scene that was cut out of the theater version that is actually one of the best of the picture. It adds loads of little things all along the film and fleshes out character relationships and so on, just making it better.

Didn't know Prestige has an extended version, I'm surprised, Nolan hates that kind of stuff.

Also I love Apocalypse Now redux, but I don't know whether it's actually a director's cut, and I haven't seen any other version of the film. But given it's one of my favourite films of all time, I guess it deserves a mention.
 
Wolf Of Wallstreet
Thought it was really enjoyable and Leo and Jonah Hill were superb as was the cameo of Matthew McConaughey. Probably should have been 30 mins shorter as it dragged towards the end but none the less a great entertaining film. One of Scorcese's best for sure 8/10

Fingerprints
Pile of dog shit. Had one funny line "We're not scared of you bum!" 1/10
 
reelworld said:
Ruby Sparks. About a writer who magically create one of his character into life and fell in love with her. I thought this is really nice movie, but would be better if the ending was changed
He doesn't meet the girl again, he met someone else. That scene at the end where she do whatever he types was brilliant
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I really, really enjoyed Ruby Sparks... probably far more then I should have. Possibly because I thought it was going to be your typical "magic girlfriend" film - but it ended up going in a more interesting direction.

Rooney in Paris said:
Funny, I'd read your message this morning very quickly and didn't see the last sentence. Kingdom of heaven is one of the films I was going to use as an example! The director's cut doesn't make it a masterpiece, but it turns it into a fairly decent film, whereas the theater version was very elliptic and lacked a bit of character development.

The one that really springs to mind is Watchmen. The director's cut of that one is excellent, with notably one scene that was cut out of the theater version that is actually one of the best of the picture. It adds loads of little things all along the film and fleshes out character relationships and so on, just making it better.

Didn't know Prestige has an extended version, I'm surprised, Nolan hates that kind of stuff.

Also I love Apocalypse Now redux, but I don't know whether it's actually a director's cut, and I haven't seen any other version of the film. But given it's one of my favourite films of all time, I guess it deserves a mention.
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I really like the directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven. True it isn't a masterpeice, but it certainly elevates it towards a very good film in my opinion.
 
Yeah, it's definitely one of those where the director's cut makes it better than the original.

All the Alien films have had director's cuts which change some stuff quite heavily I think. The third one notably is radically different from the theater version, but I don't think it's a director's cut per se, I don't think Fincher had anything to do with it, even though it's meant to be closer to his vision of what the film was going to be.
 
Wolf Of Wallstreet 9/10

Best movie have seen in a while. Had me engrossed with some fantastic characters, a punchy script and tonnes of capliatlist debauchery.

Leonardo diCaprio is stunning and delivers a near oscar performance. Scorcese back to his best too.

Only complaint is perhaps could have been 20 mins shorter but still the 2 hours 50 mins did not drag and I loved every minute.
 
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R.N7 said:
A Short Film About Killing/Love are expanded parts of Kieslowski's The Decalogue. Watch that if you liked them, his masterpiece imo.
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peterstorey said:
you're beyond help I'm afraid
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Ha, yeah I figured as much. Appreciate the recommendations nonetheless, thanks. I've read the Decalogue version of Love had a much more satisfying ending, I just have no desire to watch anything else for a while.
 
Probably a bit delayed, as it's been released for a while and I'm sure most of you have watch it, but it still deserves mentioning again.

12 Years a Slave - 9/10

Certainly one of the best films I have seen this year and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say one of the best ever. Incredibly harrowing and brutal film, but that is what the reality was and it was depicted in the correct way. I can't imagine the emotional capacity Ejiofer had to portray as a character in nearly every film, showing how demanding his role was, but he was excellent. Michael Fassbender stole the show in every scene though and really gave everything to display a sadistic and confused man. Some impressive cinematography depicting the landscape and desperation too.

My one criticism however, would be the pacing of the film which I thought was either to fast-paced or slow and didn't display the right consistency and I found the dialect a bit hard to follow at times, but that's more to do with me than the film!

I'd recommend this film to anyone and I think it's especially good for white people to full understand the true nature and brutality of slavery. No other film depicts it in the right manner, as this one does.
 
rcoobc said:
I just watched the extended edition of the Second and Third LOTR films (I didn't really want to), and it turns out that nearly every 'extended/additional' scene is awful. From Legolos, Gimli and Aragorn jumping through a maze of skulls (reminded me of Pirates of the Carribean which isn't a compliment), to the 'Mouth of Sauron' goading Aragorn about Frodo's death (you've seen that hobbits have the ring Sauron and you know that the hobbits aren't dead or you'd have the ring, and apparently you know the hobbits are in Mordor!.. come on!), to Saurmon discussing politics with Gandalf (yawn), to Sean Bean being everywhere... and to Frodo and Sam joining a platoon of Orcs.. they were nearly all terrible.

The only two scenes I'd say are the exception are the scene where Gandalf has his staff shattered (if only so we know why he can't use it again) and the scene where the forest kills loads of Orcs.

I've also had the misfortune of watching the first LOTR with extended scenes (so much extra walking, including extra walking out of Rivendale scenes) and the Phantom Menace with extended scenes (Shall I go with you? No I want you go with them. Okay I'll go with them. *walks with them*).


Are there any films where the extended scenes actually make the movie better? I've watched 'The Prestige' extended addition too which I thought was excellent, and apparently had an extra opening 30 minutes but I've not seen the shortened version. Everyone always says Kingdom of Heaven directors cut, but I just thought that was an okay film.
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I'm going to be honest here and say that the last LOTR film was the most boring film I've ever completed. I watched the extended edition and I felt like I was watching broke back mountain for 3/4 of it.
 
sammsky1 said:
Wolf Of Wallstreet 9/10

Best movie have seen in a while. Had me engrossed for nearky 3 hours. A must watch for drama with some fantastic characters, a punchy script and tonnes of capliatlist debauchery. Leonardo de Caprio is stunning delievering a near oscar performance. Scorcese bak to his best too. Only complaint is could have perhaps been 20 mins shorter, but still the 2 hours 50 mins did not drag and I loved every minute.
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Agree with this, DiCaprio was fantastic. It didn't feel nearly 3 hours when I watched it.
 
ATM
A film about 3 friends who get trapped by a psycho while at an ATM machine. To my surprise I quite enjoyed this. It was quite claustrophobic and suspenseful but there were too many coincidences and the ending left a sour taste as it never really wrapped up the film. With some better script writing, this could have been really good, but as it is, it just misses the mark 5.5/10
 
42 - Nice little sports film about the baseball player Jackie Robinson. A lot of the tropes that you find in sports vs. racism are here, and it doesn't go anwhere you don't expect it to go, but it's well acted and the real-life story is strong enough to see the film through.
 
Bull Durham - Somehow I managed not to see this film for 20+ years despite it being about one of the local minor league baseball teams. Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins are essentially the only characters of note in the entire film. The plot isn't necessarily groundbreaking but I enjoyed the movie. All three actors do a great job. 8/10

Lego Movie - Went to see it with some friends at a weekend matinee. For some reason we didn't expect there to be children everywhere. I'm not sure why, but the movie was awesome. It looked fantastic and was quite funny. Many of the jokes went over the kids' heads, which made it seem like we were laughing more and louder than the kids. At a kids movie. Or we're just children. 7.5/10

Wolf of Wall Street - It was 3 hours long? The movie seemed to drag a little towards the end but it still didn't seem nearly that long. Jonah Hill and Leo are both brilliant. I am still curious how they got away with that much nudity in a rated R movie and not NC-17. 8/10
 
Sir Matt said:
Wolf of Wall Street - It was 3 hours long? The movie seemed to drag a little towards the end but it still didn't seem nearly that long. Jonah Hill and Leo are both brilliant. I am still curious how they got away with that much nudity in a rated R movie and not NC-17. 8/10
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It got the highest rating in Australia so I'm surprised to hear that. Films shouldn't get the top rating on sex and language I don't think. Just violence. But usually the rating boards treat sex a lot more harshly than they do violence.
 
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