Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

10/01

If you like Call Of Duty, GQ magazine, Elon Musk's brain and randomly pressing the << button on the VCR, then this is the Movie Experience™ for you.

.THI2 filw 5I 3TE7bMO) TIH5 IoI

It's that easy and stupid. I want my 2 and a half hours forward, so I can unwatch this drivel. I hate that it exists even more than I hated watching it.

I feel I should have to view the complete Dziga Vertov, while standing on my head, as cinematic penance.

TENET
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Also, most of the "I didn't understand the part where..." queries that you see everywhere can be answered with either:
1. because of the plot.
2. because it doesn't work.
Which isn't actually one of my personal misgivings. The funky mechanics are the least of the film's problems.

And punching, shooting and cars going backwards must be about as uninteresting as it gets when visualising inversion.
 
:lol:

It's so average it's ridiculous that it got so much hype. I think in two years everyone will remember it as 5/10 movie at best. Would probably be rated something like 4/10 if it wasn't Nolan, I still can't believe how underwhelming that was.
 
AaronRedDevil said:
The Thin Red Line any good? Looked at the cast and it's crazy. So I'm definitely watching it later. Hope it's more like Hasksaw or Ryan and less like Dunkirk
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I remember watching it in Leicester Square when it was released in late 1990's.

Might sound abit immature or naive, but it had a profound and lasting effect on me lasting til even now. It made me understand the futility of war for first ever time. ie: how soldiers are simply propagated souls doing someone's bidding for them.

Perhaps made me very cynical, especially as Bush's post 9/11 wars started soon after.
 
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Massive Spanner said:
TENET

The feck.
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dumbo said:
10/01
If you like Call Of Duty, GQ magazine, Elon Musk's brain and randomly pressing the << button on the VCR, then this is the Movie Experience™ for you.
.THI2 filw 5I 3TE7bMO) TIH5 IoI
It's that easy and stupid. I want my 2 and a half hours forward, so I can unwatch this drivel. I hate that it exists even more than I hated watching it.
I feel I should have to view the complete Dziga Vertov, while standing on my head, as cinematic penance.
TENET
lol1.gif
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There is a 16gb torrent available so I downloaded and tried watching last night. I made it to about 40 mins in and was already confused and not enjoying how it was challenging my brain. So I stopped it, and doubt I will go back. Not sure that's what the director or producers intended.
 
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sammsky1 said:
I remember watching it in Leicester Square when it was released in late 1990's. Might sound abit immature or naive, but it had a profound and lasting effect on me lasting til even now.

It made me understand the futility of war for first ever time. ie: how soldiers are simply propagated souls doing someone's bidding for them. Perhaps made me very cynical, especially as Bush's post 9/11 wars started soon after.
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Sounds like my kind of movie. I’ll be going to buy a dvd of it tomorrow. Look forward to watching it.
 
The only challenge in Tenet is one of the stomach; enduring the dual horror of nauseating, aspirational Tory filth and pubescent GI Joe gamer wank.

Tenet cheatsheet goes: Some stuff go backwards, some stuff go forward and some stuff is the future.

It's shit.
 
Pixote (1981)

Rough movie, but good. I like these gritty rough films.
 
AaronRedDevil said:
Sounds like my kind of movie. I’ll be going to buy a dvd of it tomorrow. Look forward to watching it.
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Let us know what you thought of it. It's a little slow but if you're in the mood, utterly absorbing.
Might watch it again as well!
 
dumbo said:
10/01

If you like Call Of Duty, GQ magazine, Elon Musk's brain and randomly pressing the << button on the VCR, then this is the Movie Experience™ for you.

.THI2 filw 5I 3TE7bMO) TIH5 IoI

It's that easy and stupid. I want my 2 and a half hours forward, so I can unwatch this drivel. I hate that it exists even more than I hated watching it.

I feel I should have to view the complete Dziga Vertov, while standing on my head, as cinematic penance.

TENET
lol1.gif
Click to expand...

Then the film has succeeded as the bolded part is its intention. #teamnolan4ever #inadvertentendorsementfrombrilliantposter
 
The aggressively lifeless, 'Raising Kane' twaddle Mank gets an emphatic 'meh' from me. It rambled on for 132 minutes yet somehow forgot to focus on, you know, the interesting things, instead delving into several sidestories and subplots, like Upton Sinclair's run for governor in California and Hollywood people working to squash the rise of socialism, all seemingly in order to build up Mank's character but...it didn't. I'm also amazed that they managed to get a guy to play Orson Welles that neither looked or sounded like him when copycats seem a dime a dozen.
 
sammsky1 said:
Let us know what you thought of it. It's a little slow but if you're in the mood, utterly absorbing.
Might watch it again as well!
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It's probably my favourite war film. I'd have it up there with Apocalypse Now and Das Boot. Truly stunning film least of all because it was so bloody gorgeous...full of fantastic imagery. But yeah thoroughly absorbing and very powerful. ..best watched if you're chilled and can focus.
 
Would Ran be regarded as a war film?? Damn it's my favourite film ever. It's a war film but it's not a modern war film. So er.... The Thin Red Line it is.
 
Spoony said:
It's probably my favourite war film. I'd have it up there with Apocalypse Now and Das Boot. Truly stunning film least of all because it was so bloody gorgeous...full of fantastic imagery. But yeah thoroughly absorbing and very powerful. ..best watched if you're chilled and can focus.
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mine would be apocalypse now, and the first half of Full Metal Jacket.
 
Spoony said:
It's probably my favourite war film. I'd have it up there with Apocalypse Now and Das Boot. Truly stunning film least of all because it was so bloody gorgeous...full of fantastic imagery. But yeah thoroughly absorbing and very powerful. ..best watched if you're chilled and can focus.
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That’s also my memory of it, especially the cinematography which was pathbreaking for that late 90s era. The storyline reminded me a lot of reading Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

All this talk about it is making me feel like I want to watch it again. Let’s see, I’ll have a go tomorrow afternoon. Hope it’s a film that has aged well, as some films from that era age really badly.
 
Dolittle
I didn't expect much but this was not funny and hardly entertaining. Even my little one was bored. A few nice action scenes here and there but overall, it's a skip 4/10
 
dumbo said:
The only challenge in Tenet is one of the stomach; enduring the dual horror of nauseating, aspirational Tory filth and pubescent GI Joe gamer wank.

Tenet cheatsheet goes: Some stuff go backwards, some stuff go forward and some stuff is the future.

It's shit.
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I always enjoy reading your reviews.
 
The Assistant (2019):
For a movie with no plot and minimal dialogue, it kept me hooked. Knowing the theme beforehand spoilt it a bit. 8/10.
 
The Owners.

A group of friends think they find an easy score at an empty house with a safe full of cash. But when the owners, an elderly couple, come home early, the tables are suddenly turned.
Mental film, Sylvester McCoy was brilliant, but the film is just daft, with a daft ending.

4/10
 
Kindred

Plagued by mysterious hallucinations, a pregnant woman suspects that the family of her deceased boyfriend has intentions for her unborn child.
Did not really go anywhere this, the acting was decent enough, but nothing really happened and the ending well that was it , it just ended .

4/10
 
R.N7 said:
The aggressively lifeless, 'Raising Kane' twaddle Mank gets an emphatic 'meh' from me. It rambled on for 132 minutes yet somehow forgot to focus on, you know, the interesting things, instead delving into several sidestories and subplots, like Upton Sinclair's run for governor in California and Hollywood people working to squash the rise of socialism, all seemingly in order to build up Mank's character but...it didn't. I'm also amazed that they managed to get a guy to play Orson Welles that neither looked or sounded like him when copycats seem a dime a dozen.
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That's a long one, hardly seems worth it.
 
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Heard nothing but good things about this so naturally was a little disappointed with it. It tries too hard, especially with the cheap, windows movie maker special effects which are distracting to the plot and also massively date the film. I really enjoyed the first act but got a little daft after that. The final act picks up again but by then, I was kind of wishing it would finish. Not awfful but not great either 6/10
 
The Thin Red Line

@sammsky1 Finally got around to watching this, bought it in Cex for a euro. Well to start off I thought it was a great movie. Took a while to get going but the wait was worth it. First off, what a fecking cast that movie has, it’s ridiculous. Nick Nolte, Adrian Brody, John Cusack, Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, John C Reilly, Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Kirk Acevedo and then George Clooney was in it for 5 mins. Crazy. The whole fight up the Hills was really intense, the lost of life felt surreal and the soldiers hopelessness was showing after the first minute, it looked impossible for them to even move. Loved every minute afterwards.The acting was brilliant, not a single person was off key. The cinematography was perfect, everything was shot really well. That’s all the pluses and the minus were the Voiceover, wasn’t really doing it for me and kinda breaking the immersion rather then showing what was being said. But to each there own. What was the reason of showing the African village often? Was it about The guy living in Paradise and now he’s back into a Hellish scenario? Anyway this is definetly up there with the best. A bit of a mix with Apocalypse Now and Hacksaw Ridge I’d say. I’d give it an 8.5/10
 
Thanks- dammit, it's not on Netflix or Sky annoyingly.
 
R.N7 said:
The aggressively lifeless, 'Raising Kane' twaddle Mank gets an emphatic 'meh' from me. It rambled on for 132 minutes yet somehow forgot to focus on, you know, the interesting things, instead delving into several sidestories and subplots, like Upton Sinclair's run for governor in California and Hollywood people working to squash the rise of socialism, all seemingly in order to build up Mank's character but...it didn't. I'm also amazed that they managed to get a guy to play Orson Welles that neither looked or sounded like him when copycats seem a dime a dozen.
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I enjoyed it. Nicely put together and great performance by Gary Oldman, and the supporting cast was wonderful too. Not necessarily one I'm dying to get back to, but some interesting insight into how one of the most iconic films in cinema history (whatever you think of it) came to be, and some of its key inspirations. Don't quite agree on the "not interesting sidestories", I enjoyed how it meandered, and immersed us in that era of Hollywood. It was probably a bit indulgent at times, but I have no issues with that with such a great director behind the camera. It won't rank as one of my favourite Fincher films, but it was a fine way to spend a couple of morning hours on a cold bank holiday.
 
Love the gritty independent films and this is one to recommend. Pretty unsettling at times and not one to watch with your mother.

 
Rooney in Paris said:
I enjoyed it. Nicely put together and great performance by Gary Oldman, and the supporting cast was wonderful too. Not necessarily one I'm dying to get back to, but some interesting insight into how one of the most iconic films in cinema history (whatever you think of it) came to be, and some of its key inspirations. Don't quite agree on the "not interesting sidestories", I enjoyed how it meandered, and immersed us in that era of Hollywood. It was probably a bit indulgent at times, but I have no issues with that with such a great director behind the camera. It won't rank as one of my favourite Fincher films, but it was a fine way to spend a couple of morning hours on a cold bank holiday.
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I think Oldman was badly miscast. Mank and Marion Davies were actually born in the same year, yet there's about a 30 year age difference beteen Oldman and Seyfried. It needed a younger actor with some more je ne sais quoi than Gary Oldman doing Gary Oldman shtick.

The problem for me is how little it actually went into the actual conception of Kane. Mank is never shown actually writing at any point in the film, I think. The whole twisting the knife into Welles is left to final five minutes, leaving a very deflated ending. Hearst, the all important figure is mostly kept at a distance with Charles Dance doing a bit of Tywin Lannister glaring. Could have used more Marion Davies as well, her scenes were probably the most memorable, almost felt like walking into the set of the way more interesting Davies biopic.

The political subplot is very 2020 and Mank just isn't the most dynamic character to the be the conduit that waltzes through it. Also, the first 30 minutes has got more namedrops than a The Game album which is never good world immersion.

Anway, get it watched @dumbo .
 
R.N7 said:
Anway, get it watched @dumbo .
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I did.

Mank is interestingly shot in places and I thought the acting was mostly pretty darn good. But although I adore the films that came out of that Hollywood, I don't have any interest in Randolph Hearst and the Californian social set. These are not interesting people to me. And there is little shown here that seems to have informed the character of Kane. Kane is not personality, Kane is broad universal themes. He is Quixote, Ahab, Ozymandias, the future Orson Welles.

The craft is interesting to me. Give me stuff on Mank, Welles, Toland building the darn thing. Even here the more interesting story was going on in a New York theatre.

I found it quite masturbatory. The annoying mannerisms, the jazz score, the ironic prescience thing ("Oz will sink the studio" IoI), the cigarette burns, the way the politics are contorted to draw modern day parallels: Not on my watch. Seriously though, shoot in black and white by all means but what was the point in having the cue marks? when the lighting, focus, steady cam, digital sharpness, aspect ratio are all pulling in the opposite direction and creating this anachronistic aesthetic. This is a minor gripe but either do it properly or don't bother. When you see the convincing job the likes of Anna Biller do on an independent budget, this looks like carelessness. Hell, Fincher himself did a great job of distressing film in the projector scene in Fight Club. I don't get it.

I thought it took only cheap shots at Welles (and he's an easy target). His own film The Other Side of the Wind is a far more substantial and excoriating take on his behaviour.

In terms of portraying the romance of a slosh writer, this is no The Lost Weekend. And as a story behind the film film, it doesn't have the commitment of an Ed Wood, or even Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - as much as I hate it. Mank feels like a sort of fan service for Hollywood gossips and vacuous politics dot-to-dotters.

Still it's quite watchable but the subject matter is really not my cup of tea.

Did I do good?
 
Adisa said:
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Surely Nolan can understand that 2020 and at least the first half of 2021 are not normal times. Relying on theatrical release just makes no sense in a pandemic. His comments read as shortsighted and a bit self-important. I, for one, applaud the decision to release the films on streaming while we trudge through 2021. Sure minus a pandemic the decision would be a bit annoying to some filmmakers but we don't live in that universe.
 
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