Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

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The Hobbit - 6/10 Decent flick. Some scenes were just way too long and found myself getting a bit bored at times. I was never really a huge fan of the LOTR series, but enjoyed the films as casual movie goer. Some parts felt as if I was watching a live PBS special. I guess I owe that to the 48 fps.
 
The Hobbit 7/10

I was just about satisfied overall but my expectations were unrealistically high due to the fact I was a total LOTR fanboy.
First hour or so was tough to get through, like really tough. None of the actors were particularly great either, it was basically 60 minutes of dwarfs NOT being very funny.
It really picked up when Gollum arrived, not only because his scene was fantastic but just his character being on screen again and all the LOTR memories flooding back simultaneously. It was great.
The battle scenes were fantastic, as you'd expect. The sight of hideously deformed Orcs storming around was so refreshing. The music, the CGI, Peter Jackson on form again. But yeah, first hour - forgettable, second hour, very good.
 
The Hobbit 7/10

I was just about satisfied overall but my expectations were unrealistically high due to the fact I was a total LOTR fanboy.
First hour or so was tough to get through, like really tough. None of the actors were particularly great either, it was basically 60 minutes of dwarfs NOT being very funny.
It really picked up when Gollum arrived, not only because his scene was fantastic but just his character being on screen again and all the LOTR memories flooding back simultaneously. It was great.
The battle scenes were fantastic, as you'd expect. The sight of hideously deformed Orcs storming around was so refreshing. The music, the CGI, Peter Jackson on form again. But yeah, first hour - forgettable, second hour, very good.

Yeah, basically I'd give the first half a 6/10 but the second half a 10/10. Loved it overall because of the end.
 
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia - A police convoy drives around the Anatolian steppe looking for a dead body. The perpetrator has trouble recalling where he buried it and some of the tired policemen start pondering their work and their lifes. Casual conversations are mixed with more ambiguous ones, and there's constantly an ambiguity about the crime itself. Most scenes are played out in real time and it's really a police procedural film at heart. A police procedural Tarkovsky you could say but not quite as overwhelmingly mystical and Ceylan is looking more at the smaller truths in life. It is very long and I think it's a film that non-arthouse viewers should approach it with caution. I enjoyed watching the film but looking back there weren't really that many parts that I recall liking that much, but it was a nice cerebral ride. I did however really like the doctor and his solemn realization about his own life...I will have to think about it a bit more.

Can't sleep, just watched it... I think it's a masterpiece.

Anatolia has it's moments and I thought it generally worked, up untill the sun comes up. Though the characters, situations and dialogue often felt a little artificial and stilted. The scene with the apple and the meticulous way the film is made, just added to this stagey feeling. I didn't think the frequent narrative breaks did the film any favours either. That said, I couldn't fault the competency of the film making. It certainly impresses on a technical level.

Are you kidding? I thought the script and performances were incredible. The only dialogue I found unnatural were the couple of times someone quotes Chekhov. But hey, maybe public prosecutors quote literature in Turkey.
 
The Hobbit

What an absolute fun adventure that truly was. That movie was my childhood come to life in the most beautiful way possible. I mean this movie is going to serve as an inspiration for so many kids today to take up something creative/ artistic and motivate them to work on it and contribute to something similar in their respective futures. So many kids today are going to want to work on films or draw characters or draw monsters or make sculptures based on a three hour experience they had in a movie theater and might go on to discover talents that they never knew they had. I was one of those kids when I was 12 and I read the Hobbit. I am 21 years old now and it was such a gift given to me. Sure this movie had its flaws, was too lengthy or the usual anal nitpickings that happen in the Higher Echelons of The Redcafe Movie Scrutinizing Society. I mean one has to be really cynical or just plain sad to come out of such an experience pointing out the flaws of a movie that was made with such genuine devotion to Tolkien's visual and narrative aesthetics. Well done you.

Sure it doesn't compare to the 'Greatest movies ever made' but it wasn't made to be that. This movie was made to be an adventure and it definitely ticks that criteria. I thank Peter Jackson and his crew for doing justice to a true masterpiece through this amazing and a truly inspiring motion picture, The Hobbit.

Can't bloody wait for the next one.
 
Would you care to elaborate. I've not seen it due to the sparkly vampire, but it still interested me.

Not to speak in Mockney's stead, but it's just a very boring film. The directing is okay, the way they use the space (it's mostly set in his car) is pretty interesting, and Pattinson isn't bad in it (though nowhere near as good as raving critics would lead you to believe, just cause he isn't flying between trees glowing in the dark doesn't make it an oscar worthy effort). But the story and the script are incredibly heavy going and don't seem to lead anywhere. It's just scene after scene of pompous dialogue trying to make you believe something deep and important is going on on the screen.

To sum it up, in one word, it's just really boring.

Yeah, pretty much. It's also really simplistic and dumb for a supposedly "intelligent" film. It's all hugely obvious broad cliche's and metaphors (Oh, super rich capitalist businessmen are cold, calculated and emotionally detached? Lets ram home that point in monotone conversation after monotone conversation. Oh, workers are like rats? Shall we have someone dress like a rat & climb on his car? You're so deep David, this is breaking new ground!)

Pattinson's actually quite good tbf. It's just an incredibly self important and didactic film. And crucially, as RiP pointed out, achingly boring. Mainly because it's entirely long sleek conversations in monotone that no one ever has, that go on endlessly for the only purpose of getting across that this guy's a bit of a dick.

I'm pretty sure Cronenberg was wumming to see how many critics he could get to say it was a masterpiece for fear of not getting it.
 
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Argo - A decent, tense and nice looking film that was suprisingly humourus at times, satirizing Hollywood amongst other stuff and whilst some it was mildly funny I'm not sure how well those elements fitted with the film as a whole. I was bit underwhelmed by the film in general though I must say after hearing all the raving about it and Affleck's acting/directing...it started riveting but just turned too damn Hollywood and cheesy in the end with the typical bending of the truth, diminishing other countries roles and showing America in such a great, amazing light. I agree with what Bradshaw said in his review in the Guardian that it felt like Aaron Sorkin had sat down and said 'I got this' and written the last 10 minutes, to a very schmaltzy end result. I'm no Affleck hater and I didn't think he was bad in this but I think he lacked a bit of screen presence, his protagonist felt pretty bland and the few personal things about him in the film I kinda went 'meh' at. Overall, it's a highly watchable but bland thriller with some really tense moments that I wouldn't tell people to stay clear off.
 
Yeah, pretty much. It's also really simplistic and dumb for a supposedly "intelligent" film. It's all hugely obvious broad cliche's and metaphors (Oh, super rich capitalist businessmen are cold, calculated and emotionally detached? Lets ram home that point in monotone conversation after monotone conversation. Oh, workers are like rats? Shall we have someone dress like a rat & climb on his car? You're so deep David, this is breaking new ground!)

Pattinson's actually quite good tbf. It's just an incredibly self important and didactic film. And crucially, as RiP pointed out, achingly boring. Mainly because it's entirely long sleek conversations in monotone that no one ever has, that go on endlessly for the only purpose of getting across that this guy's a bit of a dick.

Well it is adapted from a Don DeLillo novel.

Mockers, I think you might like that Once Upon A Time In Anatolia. It's phenomenal writing and filmmaking.
 
The Hobbit-9/10

Fantastic movie. I wasn't expecting it to be poor by any means but I had a slight worry that the pacing would be off and I wouldn't enjoy it as much as the trilogy. I was wrong. Despite them really dragging it out, I felt it worked. The acting was excellent, the soundtrack was excellent, it looked fantastic in 3D, the extra detail was very good too and it was great overall. I'll give a more detailed post in the thread for it.
 
The Hobbit-9/10

Fantastic movie. I wasn't expecting it to be poor by any means but I had a slight worry that the pacing would be off and I wouldn't enjoy it as much as the trilogy. I was wrong. Despite them really dragging it out, I felt it worked. The acting was excellent, the soundtrack was excellent, it looked fantastic in 3D, the extra detail was very good too and it was great overall. I'll give a more detailed post in the thread for it.

I have to go see this soon
 
REC 2

I don't really like found footage type films and I like ones with subtitles even less, but this I enjoyed.
An unusual take on the possessed/demon/zombie type films I have seen before.

6.5/10

For a minute I thought somebody had run with the haunted recliner idea.
 
:lol:
 
I have to go see this soon

While I thought it stood up well to all three films from the trilogy if you're comparing them, I would advise it's best to go into it without comparing them and treating it like a different film. Some have criticised it but I still think it's a very good films with the acting, the Gollum scene, and the score being some of it's many notable strong points.
 
While I thought it stood up well to all three films from the trilogy if you're comparing them, I would advise it's best to go into it without comparing them and treating it like a different film. Some have criticised it but I still think it's a very good films with the acting, the Gollum scene, and the score being some of it's many notable strong points.

I'm sure I'll love it I'm a sucker for fantasy movies and I was very upset they didn't start with this one. I read the books also so I'm going to love it either way :)
 
I'm sure I'll love it I'm a sucker for fantasy movies and I was very upset they didn't start with this one. I read the books also so I'm going to love it either way :)

I'm sure you will then. There is a fair bit of deviation at certain points but they've also expanded a lot on the Hobbit book and seem to be trying to make more of an overall prequel and continuing the continuity as well as telling the main story. You'll really enjoy it if fantasy is your thing.
 
Pauldy is awesome.

When he knows that on the internet you leave a line before going into a new paragraph and that a paragraph's allowed to be longer than a sentence, yes, he's awesome.
 
When he knows that on the internet you leave a line before going into a new paragraph and that a paragraph's allowed to be longer than a sentence, yes, he's awesome.

Who does this guy think he is?

Pauldy >>>>>>>>>>>>> Cheesy
 
The House at the end of the Street.

I was hoping for a decent horror film, but sadly I never got it.
All I got was a second rate thriller with some mildly scary parts in it.
The story was decent enough, with a decent twist, but it came far to early.
OK to watch once but never again.
It does have Elizabeth Shue in, always had a thing about her.

5/10 because of Elizabeth Shue , if it did not have her in barely would be a 3/10
 
Originally Posted by dumbo
Anatolia has it's moments and I thought it generally worked, up untill the sun comes up. Though the characters, situations and dialogue often felt a little artificial and stilted.

Just curious, do you speak Turkish? If not, how would you know if the dialogue felt artificial and stilted?

All subtitles feel stilted and artificial.
 
The House at the end of the Street.

I was hoping for a decent horror film, but sadly I never got it.
All I got was a second rate thriller with some mildly scary parts in it.
The story was decent enough, with a decent twist, but it came far to early.
OK to watch once but never again.
It does have Elizabeth Shue in, always had a thing about her.

5/10 because of Elizabeth Shue , if it did not have her in barely would be a 3/10

I love Shue too. She got them out in that monkey film. She was in a piranha film recently that I found very enjoyable.
 
Silent Night.

A good old Slasher film, it had everything you would want from a slasher film. Lots of blood, really bad acting, cheesy lines, no real story and even a bit of very soft porn.
What set this apart from any other slasher flick, it was set at Christmas and the killer was Father Christmas gone bad.
Still a dreadful film, but you watch it knowing it will be dreadful.

4/10
 
Just curious, do you speak Turkish? If not, how would you know if the dialogue felt artificial and stilted?

All subtitles feel stilted and artificial.

I don't think that is true at all. Intertitles can provide silent films with fluid, engaging conversation, without a single word being heard. And translated novels are able to provide believable dialogue. Well written translated subtitles can do similarly.

Besides, there is more to dialogue than word content alone. Things that transcend language and grammar. To use one example from Anatolia: The methodical way in which the tale of the wife unravelled, over a number of conversations and the manner of the delivery, for me, felt contrived and artificial. To the point of predicting the outcome long before it was revealed. Likewise, subject or conversational digressions, can very easily add a layer of perceived artifice. Regardless of language, or quality of translation.
 
Just finished watching 2001: A Space Odyssey. What in the actual feck. I don't even know what to think. I've never been so profoundly confused in my life. I couldn't possibly begin to give it a number out of ten. I'm not sure I remember what a number is actually.


Somebody please explain this shit.