Not surprised because it is a good film, of course. But a lot of hamming and cliches in the mix that took me out of it. One I inevitably judges a "classic" by different standards. For example, I knew that Nicholson won one of his two best actor awards for this performance and that the movie completely swept the big awards as well. All of which seemed slightly hard to believe after watching it, particularly his individual award. Oh well, different times I guess.
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
- Thread starter golden_blunder
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Starts off really well but falls apart in the third act.Oh no, really?
I was really disappointed because it made me think that Neill Blomkamp just got lucky with District 9
I though more of the film than you despite normally being annoyed by Nicholson in serious films but the book is at least a couple of notches better.
I got The Hobbit 3 today and I really don't know if I'm going to watch it. The shite humour and CGI in the last one has put me off. Is it worth it?
Days of Wine and Roses
Directed by Blake Edwards and starring Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick and Jack Klugman. Absorbing story of an alcoholic who falls in love with a teetotal woman whom he encourages to drink, she becomes hooked on the booze as well and both their lives spiral downwards to a horrible rock bottom with one of them seeking and finding redemption through the help of AA. Brilliant depiction of alcoholism, much better than Leaving Las Vegas.
Directed by Blake Edwards and starring Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick and Jack Klugman. Absorbing story of an alcoholic who falls in love with a teetotal woman whom he encourages to drink, she becomes hooked on the booze as well and both their lives spiral downwards to a horrible rock bottom with one of them seeking and finding redemption through the help of AA. Brilliant depiction of alcoholism, much better than Leaving Las Vegas.
Is it a good representation of Nickolson though? He's considered as one of the greats and I thought he'd be brilliant in it or something given it won him awards.
CGI is there but there is also a lot of conclusions and resolved issues in a quite a decent battle. It spoils two trilogies nicely.
No two hour ending was also a positive sign. It's watchable. This one's definitely more logical and dramatic than overloaded with dwarf humour.
It also stops being logical when Legolas decides to become Spider-Man... again.
He is always too much of a ham for my tastes which is why he works in As Good As It Gets and Bucket List but (IMO) fails horribly in films like The Departed. OFOTCN is one where he gets away with it IMO.
Nicholson should have received an Oscar for Five Easy Pieces instead.
Never seen it oddly enough. I might have to rectify that.
There are three types of people in the world, sheepdog, sheep and wolves yada yada bullshit. Contrarians are generally the biggest bullshitters.
My comment was meant to be jokey. The thread is there for posters to express their opinions about movies after all.
Tone and the internet.... Probably I should have added a
Quite annoyed cause my local cinema doesn't appear to be showing Still Alice which I really wanted to see FFS.
I was hoping Chappie would be a return to form, especially after he recently talked about Elysium being a failure. Maybe you're right.
The consensus is the easy option, means you don't have to think.
If you haven't seen it i don't want to spoil it for you but its start was in kin with district 9 which really excited me... Unfortunately it lost its way in the second act, and the less i say about the final act the better.
A little worrying given how he's doing the next alien movie :S
Horrible Bosses 2
I saw the first one but can't remember it so well. My fiance wanted to see this so sat down and watched it together and I actually thought it was not that bad. It had enough funny moments scattered throughout to keep you interested and Chris Pine was pretty funny. Soundtrack was also decent. Liked it far more than I should have 6/10
The Pyramid
What a pile of shit. I liked the fact that unlike most found footage films, this didn't spend 1 hour pissing around before getting into the story, but that was the only thing I liked about the film. It was boring, not intense at all, cliched and had some piss poor CGI. It tried to create a sense of claustrophobia but completely failed. Watch The Descent or As Above So Below instead of this crap 2/10
Be Kind Rewind
Had this on my HDD since 2008 and finally saw it. Quite fun. Made me laugh out loud and was a charming film. Recommended if you want something a little different from the Hollywood dribble 6.5/10
I saw the first one but can't remember it so well. My fiance wanted to see this so sat down and watched it together and I actually thought it was not that bad. It had enough funny moments scattered throughout to keep you interested and Chris Pine was pretty funny. Soundtrack was also decent. Liked it far more than I should have 6/10
The Pyramid
What a pile of shit. I liked the fact that unlike most found footage films, this didn't spend 1 hour pissing around before getting into the story, but that was the only thing I liked about the film. It was boring, not intense at all, cliched and had some piss poor CGI. It tried to create a sense of claustrophobia but completely failed. Watch The Descent or As Above So Below instead of this crap 2/10
Be Kind Rewind
Had this on my HDD since 2008 and finally saw it. Quite fun. Made me laugh out loud and was a charming film. Recommended if you want something a little different from the Hollywood dribble 6.5/10
Sorry mate, that was an unnecessarily aggressive post. Was on the turps last night.
The problem is, even though I liked District 9, by all accounts the problems with that are the exact same problems he keeps making, and his 3 films share so many elements story-wise. I wonder if he directed a film he didn't right would things improve, because it looks like he's just not a good writer or as smart as he thinks he is. And keep him away from Sharlto Copley.
Saw a couple of films this weekend:
Was disappointed with Inherent Vice. There are loads of aspects of the film that I enjoyed: the whole formal aspect, the 70s feel to the film, the music, along with the gallery of amusing characters and great performances by the actors. I also enjoyed, at first, the rather subdued rhythm and its quasi hypnotic approach. But after a while, as the convaluted plot continued to unravel, I found myself being bored and wondering why there were so many pointless leads being thrown at us (even though, sure, they all tie in at the end). The rhythm eventually suffers and there are quite a few stop/start moments in the film which meant it was hit and miss for me. I really wanted to like it and there's enough great stuff in there to make it worth a watch, but in the end it's not quite engaging enough to acquire the cult status it's probably aiming for.
In a totally different genre, I thoroughly enjoyed Kingsman, and it confirmed all the good I think about Vaughn. While I was talking about pacing problems in Inherent Vice, Kingsman never suffers from this, with almost 2 hours packed with action and humour, with notably some excellent fight scenes (the church one is superb). Vaughn rolls out the red carpet for the cliché British actors, with Firth being his usual very classy self, Strong being very good also and Caine doing his job as he does. Though there was something quite amusing about Michael 'working class' Caine representing the British establishment and nobility and being the biggest snob of the lot. The only thing it was lacking, I'd say, is an original soundtrack to rival that of Layer Cake's of Kickass's, which may seem silly but for this type of film is really important (I'm convinced Kickass's OST was about 47.8% of the reason it did so well). Anyway, great entertainment value and achieved just what it set out to do.
I re-watched The Queen last night, I saw it when it came out in 2006 and had a positive memory of it, but I didn't enjoy it that much this time around. Couldn't really pinpoint why, but just found it very trivial ultimately.
Was disappointed with Inherent Vice. There are loads of aspects of the film that I enjoyed: the whole formal aspect, the 70s feel to the film, the music, along with the gallery of amusing characters and great performances by the actors. I also enjoyed, at first, the rather subdued rhythm and its quasi hypnotic approach. But after a while, as the convaluted plot continued to unravel, I found myself being bored and wondering why there were so many pointless leads being thrown at us (even though, sure, they all tie in at the end). The rhythm eventually suffers and there are quite a few stop/start moments in the film which meant it was hit and miss for me. I really wanted to like it and there's enough great stuff in there to make it worth a watch, but in the end it's not quite engaging enough to acquire the cult status it's probably aiming for.
In a totally different genre, I thoroughly enjoyed Kingsman, and it confirmed all the good I think about Vaughn. While I was talking about pacing problems in Inherent Vice, Kingsman never suffers from this, with almost 2 hours packed with action and humour, with notably some excellent fight scenes (the church one is superb). Vaughn rolls out the red carpet for the cliché British actors, with Firth being his usual very classy self, Strong being very good also and Caine doing his job as he does. Though there was something quite amusing about Michael 'working class' Caine representing the British establishment and nobility and being the biggest snob of the lot. The only thing it was lacking, I'd say, is an original soundtrack to rival that of Layer Cake's of Kickass's, which may seem silly but for this type of film is really important (I'm convinced Kickass's OST was about 47.8% of the reason it did so well). Anyway, great entertainment value and achieved just what it set out to do.
I re-watched The Queen last night, I saw it when it came out in 2006 and had a positive memory of it, but I didn't enjoy it that much this time around. Couldn't really pinpoint why, but just found it very trivial ultimately.
Anyone seen a film called 'Catacombs?'
@Rooney in Dublin I had pretty much the same opinion of Inherent Vice. It's good fun, but I'm convinced anyone who says they love it actually loves the idea of loving it more than they love the actual film.
Yeah, it's possible aparthied was just such an inherently ridiculous and evil thing anyway that no one noticed his allegory was delivered with all the subtlety of a panto queen riding a singing crocodile in an Eroll Flynn pirate movie. But then refusing people health care should technically be as well, yet he still managed to create such ludicrously evil strawmen characters (one of whom even had the word 'Rich' tattood on his face. ON HIS FACE!) that it almost made me embarassed to be on the same side of the argument as him.
By all accounts this does exctly the same thing with Hugh Jackman, as the character who doesn't think robots should be sentient. A point of view that I'd expect any film about A.I that aims to be at least pseudo-smart to give a tiny bit of examination. Instead he gives it a gun and a mullet and a singing crocodile (possibly)
Yeah, it's possible aparthied was just such an inherently ridiculous and evil thing anyway that no one noticed his allegory was delivered with all the subtlety of a panto queen riding a singing crocodile in an Eroll Flynn pirate movie. But then refusing people health care should technically be as well, yet he still managed to create such ludicrously evil strawmen characters (one of whom even had the word 'Rich' tattood on his face. ON HIS FACE!) that it almost made me embarassed to be on the same side of the argument as him.
By all accounts this does exctly the same thing with Hugh Jackman, as the character who doesn't think robots should be sentient. A point of view that I'd expect any film about A.I that aims to be at least pseudo-smart to give a tiny bit of examination. Instead he gives it a gun and a mullet and a singing crocodile (possibly)
Last edited:
Why would you re-watch The Queen?
Mrs. RiP hadn't seen it, and as I said, I watched it 9 years ago and had a pleasant recollection of it.
But what a mullet! Almost brought a tear to my sun damaged Strayan eye.
When we walked out of the cinema, my wife told me she hadn't really liked it, and I started defending it for a couple of minutes before realizing I actually hadn't enjoyed it either but had just decided beforehand (because PT Anderson, because Phoenix, because it looked nice, because funny trailer, etc.) that I would like it.
I'm curious about reading the book though, cos I wouldn't be surprised if the whole idea holds up much better in litterary form.
The plot doesn't really hold up in the book either but it's definitely easier to follow because more time is given even to the more peripheral characters. I have no idea how anyone who hasn't read it could keep track of the film. I liked both but neither are their creators best work by any means.
Is more importance given to the character played by Benicio del Toro in the book? I thought the idea of having a maritime lawyer would be fun, but in the end it's only very superficially exploited (though it has an importance for the plot resolution, of course), I would've enjoyed more boats jokes. The best kind of jokes.
Out of curiosity, which Pynchon book would you recommend?
Nah the lawyer is pretty much as del Toro plays him although he gets more time in the novel.
Probably start with Inherent Vice if you want easy access. Otherwise Gravitys Rainbow is considered his masterpiece. I found it difficult.
Probably start with Inherent Vice if you want easy access. Otherwise Gravitys Rainbow is considered his masterpiece. I found it difficult.
I followed it. Or at least I think i did. I got the general gist at any rate. I just naturally assumed the bits I didn't were more a case of me tuning out during a meandering bit than an actual lack of coherance. The boring girlfriend's 5 minute naked monologue was wanky too.
I watched Natural Born Killers for the first time in ages recently and was really surprised by how horribly it's dated. It's dated really horribly. Almost to the point where parts of it are unwatchable, and other parts look like a Joel Schumacher Batman film. Also the 'message' that I was sure was really cool and poignant when I was a teenager is actually incredibly crass and cack handed, and when it isn't being rammed home by a Blomkampian strawman character, is actually being spelled out in speech form with the nuance of a steam punk drag queen on a neon dolphin. I'm not surprised I liked it as a teenager, 'cos the whole film is basically like a teenager. Hyperactive and annoying and convinced it's saying something far smarter than it is.
Genuinely a little disappointed by that.
I watched Natural Born Killers for the first time in ages recently and was really surprised by how horribly it's dated. It's dated really horribly. Almost to the point where parts of it are unwatchable, and other parts look like a Joel Schumacher Batman film. Also the 'message' that I was sure was really cool and poignant when I was a teenager is actually incredibly crass and cack handed, and when it isn't being rammed home by a Blomkampian strawman character, is actually being spelled out in speech form with the nuance of a steam punk drag queen on a neon dolphin. I'm not surprised I liked it as a teenager, 'cos the whole film is basically like a teenager. Hyperactive and annoying and convinced it's saying something far smarter than it is.
Genuinely a little disappointed by that.
Speaking of which, I recently re-watched the first 20 minutes of Batman & Robing. The levels of badness within are sky high.
If my memory serves me Shasta's monologue takes about 2 pages in the book.
Also I saw Natural Born Killers pretty late and it was like a shit acid trip, compounded by the first of Robert Downey Jr's shit Australian accents. The second got him an Oscar nom so I see a third in his future.
The Factory
A detective (John Cusack) and his partner (Deb from Dexter) are chasing a serial killer who targets ho's but the stakes are at a high when he captures John Cusack's daughter. Decent little thriller with an ending that got me by surprise but I was shocked how I didn't see it coming. Doesn't really add much to the thriller mystery genre but is a decent ride while it lasts plus it's always good to see Cusack in a film, he seems like a likeable chap 6.5/10
A detective (John Cusack) and his partner (Deb from Dexter) are chasing a serial killer who targets ho's but the stakes are at a high when he captures John Cusack's daughter. Decent little thriller with an ending that got me by surprise but I was shocked how I didn't see it coming. Doesn't really add much to the thriller mystery genre but is a decent ride while it lasts plus it's always good to see Cusack in a film, he seems like a likeable chap 6.5/10
To be fair, I'm not sure anyone would particular enjoy a film with Batman walking around in robes.
And tbf the straight to video sequel Batman Disrobing was an utter disaster. Though it did contain a similar amount of nipple shots.
ffs
I haven't seen it since it first came out and the only two things I can remember about it are the fact that they always leave somebody alive to tell the tale and a coke advert with Polar Bears. Probably says a lot about the film to be fair.
A singing crocodile would be downright pedestrian compared to Die Antwoord.
