The aliens were probably the best aliens of the genre I've seen in recent times. Can't think of any that were better.
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
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The aliens were probably the best aliens of the genre I've seen in recent times. Can't think of any that were better.
I do like horror films, and I hated the first one. But I actually enjoyed the 2nd one a lot. Especially the opening scenes.
I can see I'm in the minority here
The world moved on from those kind of action films. But Scotts still there doing solid stuff. If you havent seen it yet, check out the documentary "in search of the last action heroes". It details the action genre over the past 50 years with interviews galore. It shows the rise of the action genre in the 60s and 70, the Golden era of the 80s and the start of the decline in the 90s when hollywood started to figure out it could train actors to do this stuff instead of martial artists and body builders who couldnt act. And even goes into the genre today and its stars like Scott Adkins and Michael Jai White. Its really good.
Not comparing him to them. But among real martial artist actors like donnie yen, jet li, iko, tony ja etc.
Ah, yeah fair enough. I actually watched Ip man 3 and 4 last week. Though I like his cop movies more where he does the mma thing. Wing Chun is a bit meh to me.
Kind of lost track of Tony Ja after the protector. Didn't he get fat and join a monetary or something? Another great one is the dude from The Raid. Igo Uweis or something?
Edit: ah wait the Iko you mentioned is the dude from the raid of course
Even then, as a Taekwondo person myself I admire Adkins insane acrobatic kicking prowess.
Yea I agree - this and the aliens in A Quiet Place 1 & 2 have been a step up from the usual.
Will check it out for sure. Michael Jai White made some great guilty pleasure films. Blood and Bone and the Never back down movies are great popcorn flicks.
I'm a fan of B movies in general though.
Has anyone seen Locke with Tom Hardy? Watched it this evening, it’s a movie from 2013 but spotted it on sky and gave it a shot.
Really enjoyed it. I don’t give ratings so will just say it’s good
Really enjoyed it. I don’t give ratings so will just say it’s good
Yeah, It's a really good film. They did a great job of making it interesting and surprisingly tense when you consider the limited scope of the movie. Was really gripped throughout. Tom Hardy is obviously brilliant.
Yes! I enjoyed it. Can't say much in the review or you'll give it away but a definite 7/10 for me and well worth a watch. Also the film runs real time.
Scare Us.
A chilling horror anthology comprising five short stories, penned by an unlikely group of aspiring writers, in Sugarton - a small town plagued by the apparent return of an infamous serial killer, dubbed "Cutthroat." They've come to share their scary stories (with each other and the bookstore owner, Peter, who leads the group), but soon discover they've become the stars of a sick killer's own twisted tale
The reviews I read for this were pretty bad , but I enjoyed it, thought the stories were good.
Well written, OK some of the acting was ropy but I saw past that.
6.5/10
A chilling horror anthology comprising five short stories, penned by an unlikely group of aspiring writers, in Sugarton - a small town plagued by the apparent return of an infamous serial killer, dubbed "Cutthroat." They've come to share their scary stories (with each other and the bookstore owner, Peter, who leads the group), but soon discover they've become the stars of a sick killer's own twisted tale
The reviews I read for this were pretty bad , but I enjoyed it, thought the stories were good.
Well written, OK some of the acting was ropy but I saw past that.
6.5/10
Honest Thief. A fairly typical 2010s-type Liam Neeson film. He's the good guy, gets stuck in a problem, and gets out of it (no that's not a spoiler, it's a given) in a fairly slow action thriller. It's an OK watch, not very bad, but no kinds of good either. Some disappointment near the end when the sympathetic cop with kids gets killed by the real bad guy and Neeson's character doesn't seem to care (doesn't fit the tone of the film).
The sort of film where you can't really go wrong if you know the type, but don't really feel afterwards like it was a good choice either.
The sort of film where you can't really go wrong if you know the type, but don't really feel afterwards like it was a good choice either.
The Yakuza (1974)
Decent crime flick for a one-time watch.
Decent crime flick for a one-time watch.
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)
I’m interested in history and love a war movie so this is well up my street.
The movie depicts parts of the Crimean war in particular one of Britain’s disastrous manoeuvres in military history..
Although there were some good performances I thought the film dragged on a bit though.
It isn’t till the British head off to the Crimea to have it off with the Russians about half way through the movie it picks up pace.
decent 7/10
I’m interested in history and love a war movie so this is well up my street.
The movie depicts parts of the Crimean war in particular one of Britain’s disastrous manoeuvres in military history..
Although there were some good performances I thought the film dragged on a bit though.
It isn’t till the British head off to the Crimea to have it off with the Russians about half way through the movie it picks up pace.
decent 7/10
Queen of the South
According to legend, an ominous entity known as the Queen of Spades can be summoned by performing an ancient ritual.
Its been done many many time and a lot better than this!
Acting is bad , story is bad, they even took tried a bit from The Exorcist, that was also bad.
Just avoid this.
3/10
According to legend, an ominous entity known as the Queen of Spades can be summoned by performing an ancient ritual.
Its been done many many time and a lot better than this!
Acting is bad , story is bad, they even took tried a bit from The Exorcist, that was also bad.
Just avoid this.
3/10
Love that!
In The Heights - Musical movie from creator of Hamilton and dorector of Crazy Rich Asians. Sunday film with the mrs, actually enjoyed it although it's not my type of movie, feel good story about a community in NYC striving for better lives. Music was okay in parts as well. 7.5/10
You owe me 1h37 of my life back. We can settle for 1h cos of the gorgeous Morena Baccarin.
Dunno what's happened to you man.
Old age I guess. I like the idea that I apparently may have had taste once though. Although I'd say that kinda disappeared when I melted some 10-15 years ago. I don't notice shit anymore and mostly watch simple crap these days. I haven't even gotten round (i.e., found time, i.e, made time) to watch Mank yet, and that should really be a film for me. Or it would've been anyway. Uncut Gems is another one. (More because of the music, thanks to @Sweet Square.)
Or I'm just spending too much time on the Caf. A lot shorter, less melodramatic, and probably more true. But that's not the kind of films I'm watching, so I'll go with the whiny explanation.
Anyway. Didn't you watch a trailer first? In this case, it basically tells you all you need to know, so that should've put you off already.
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There is a perfect meme response I could post here but I can't!
Tbh you really have to be in the right mood to watch Uncut Gems otherwise you'll get a headache.
A Special Day 1977
A working class Italian mother stays at home as the rest of her family go to see Hitler visit to Rome. Can't really say much as it will spoil it but it's a brilliantly beautiful film on how fascism traps, destroys and dehumanise individuals and their neighbours. Also how utterly dysuopitan the ''traditional'' family unit is.
10/10
A working class Italian mother stays at home as the rest of her family go to see Hitler visit to Rome. Can't really say much as it will spoil it but it's a brilliantly beautiful film on how fascism traps, destroys and dehumanise individuals and their neighbours. Also how utterly dysuopitan the ''traditional'' family unit is.
10/10
Old (2021)
Enjoyed this more than I thought I would, I always find Shyamalan films 50/50 whether it will be really good or absolute tripe. Some of my most ready-to-walk-out moments in cinemas have been at his films in the past.
However I think he's hit the nail on the head with this one.
The premise is that a group of people find themselves on a beach which speeds up the ageing process and they have to work out why, and how to escape.
I've seen some comments calling it disjointed and criticising some of the performances however I would disagree with both points. At 1hr 49mins it's not a short film but I think it works its way through nicely, it's a plot that needs explaining so he takes his time to do it.
And there's nothing wrong with the acting for me, they do a good job of bringing out the panic with which each character is stricken.
Love the ending, on which I won't comment for obvious reasons and would recommend to any fans of Shyamalan or the genre overall.
8/10
Enjoyed this more than I thought I would, I always find Shyamalan films 50/50 whether it will be really good or absolute tripe. Some of my most ready-to-walk-out moments in cinemas have been at his films in the past.
However I think he's hit the nail on the head with this one.
The premise is that a group of people find themselves on a beach which speeds up the ageing process and they have to work out why, and how to escape.
I've seen some comments calling it disjointed and criticising some of the performances however I would disagree with both points. At 1hr 49mins it's not a short film but I think it works its way through nicely, it's a plot that needs explaining so he takes his time to do it.
And there's nothing wrong with the acting for me, they do a good job of bringing out the panic with which each character is stricken.
Love the ending, on which I won't comment for obvious reasons and would recommend to any fans of Shyamalan or the genre overall.
8/10
Se7en
Had seen it before, but watched it with misses Kirk since she's seen nothing that's not made this millennium.
Still a great movie. Gwyneth Paltrow seems to age backwards by the way.
8.5/10
Had seen it before, but watched it with misses Kirk since she's seen nothing that's not made this millennium.
Still a great movie. Gwyneth Paltrow seems to age backwards by the way.
8.5/10
Woah, talk about a contrast! I just watched a spoilerless review from a critic who's generally not that strict and he basically said that it's so terrible that it becomes funny. He even compared it to The Happening!
Needless to say I'm curious now
The art of self defence
Black humor. fecked up. But not strong enough to my taste for a dark humor.
Nevertheless an interesting movie.
6/10
Black humor. fecked up. But not strong enough to my taste for a dark humor.
Nevertheless an interesting movie.
6/10
Nah didn't watch the trailer, just followed your reco - I like a well done romcom, I like Martin Freeman and Morena Baccarin (for different reasons), and I trust your taste, so I thought it'd be an entertaining Sunday afternoon watch.
I was being harsh, we connect with these kind of things differently I guess, but there's nothing about this film that I can say I enjoyed. It's a testament to Hollywood that they can somehow sell Martin Freeman as Morena Baccarin's romantic interest, and then double down and add that vacuum charisma who plays his brother to the mix (whose name I refuse to learn and shall just call Plop), but everything just seems so contrived, and the aunt's cancer was crowbarred into it, with a weird mix of drama and then comedy. It was a bit all over the place. I think I lost it completely at the shitty fight between the brothers and Freeman going over the railing and almost dying.
Generally speaking I like your reviews here and have followed some recos not being disappointed, but this one was a miss. And when a romcom is a miss, it's a particularly painful moment to endure.
The Tomorrow War
Maybe I'm in the minority but I really enjoyed this. This felt like a dumb, switch-off-your-brain action movie from the premise and that's exactly what it was... what were people expecting? Lots of action set-pieces, really cool alien design, a whole load of cheese etc. Back in the day, this would have been a massive cinema release but now we get it free with our Amazon sub. It did what it set out to do and I appreciated that 7/10
Maybe I'm in the minority but I really enjoyed this. This felt like a dumb, switch-off-your-brain action movie from the premise and that's exactly what it was... what were people expecting? Lots of action set-pieces, really cool alien design, a whole load of cheese etc. Back in the day, this would have been a massive cinema release but now we get it free with our Amazon sub. It did what it set out to do and I appreciated that 7/10
Woah, talk about a contrast! I just watched a spoilerless review from a critic who's generally not that strict and he basically said that it's so terrible that it becomes funny. He even compared it to The Happening!
Needless to say I'm curious now
It's not phenomenal, it's split the critics out of the ones that I have read, but that's film - it's like football for being so subjective. One person's film of the century is another's disaster! Similarly someone might look at Messi and call him overrated!
There's generally no right or wrong and that's what I love about films but it's strange because I've slated some of his stuff in the past but I'm actually willing to stick up for him here and say he's done a good job.
I would recommend to watch and see what you think - the comment regarding it being so terrible it becomes funny I do find very harsh and to compare it to The Happening... savage!
I agree wholeheartedly with this
The only reason for why I brought up this particular critic is because he's found himself a nice sweet-spot between the critics and the general audience. He's by no means snobby when it comes to film, so it's quite rare to see him trash a film like this. Though in his defence: he did compliment Shyamalan for his boldness in the sense that he goes all out with his visions.
Save the Green Planet
A strange film. Like a postmodern pastiche of Korean murder mysteries crossed with a 50s b-movie but with loose cultural commentary about how humans - yes, you Oleboiii - are slowly syphoning off the planets natural resources for your own selfish means while simultaneously inflicting pain, misery and hardship on other people. It's quite entertaining. I hated all the characters.
A strange film. Like a postmodern pastiche of Korean murder mysteries crossed with a 50s b-movie but with loose cultural commentary about how humans - yes, you Oleboiii - are slowly syphoning off the planets natural resources for your own selfish means while simultaneously inflicting pain, misery and hardship on other people. It's quite entertaining. I hated all the characters.
I love this scene. Me and a colleague of mine always try to drop in the Marky Mark delivery of "What? No!" into team meetings and the one that gets it in more receives a free coffee after the meeting.
Just finished this docu. Quite interesting, but a bit long and monotonous though.
Hearing Paul Verhoeven speak English is hilarious.
That's the thing with romcoms, isn't. The story pattern is 100% certain (fall in love, dance around it, get together, fall out, last-minute safe), a large part of the 'com' is often the differences between the main characters which also renders the 'rom' generally wholly implausible (or at least certainly short-term), and more generally the story and setting tend to be crap and predictable.
So a romcom film lives or dies by whether you like its sense of humor, and whether there is just enough spark between the characters and sense in the plot to make you accept its implausibility and predictability. As you say, it's a very fine line, and one person's crap is another person diamond. (Well, cheap replica. It's still a romcom.)
So yeah, I liked this one. I actually don't really disagree with anything you said above - but its sense of humor and the way it has just a few weird things just worked for me. Sorry!
That's a great film! Been ages since I saw it but it was very good, yeah.
That's mean, I need to see that meme now!
I watched Murder on the Orient Express yesterday, the classic version from 1974. I had been really looking forward to this given its reputation, cast, and director, but I came out of it kinda disappointed. I'd love to be told what I missed, but here's what I thought.
It's an awesome ensemble cast, but given the dynamics of the story, they don't get to do a whole lot of acting. Apart from Poirot, all characters have just little snippets of action, and that makes it hard to put in a noticeable performance. Of course, even 5 seconds of acting can be great, and they do each get at least one scene (the interrogation) to shine. But take Bergman: her 5 min continuous interrogation scene is supposed to be awesome and what got her the Oscar, but I don't get it. She was given some awful lines to work with. I mean: 'I was born backwards. That is why I work in Africa as missionary, teaching little brown babies more backwards than myself.' Or all the excessive religious stuff she says. That's just unsalvageable no matter the performer. And this way, everyone seems to have been given a sort of miniature caricature and ditto lines to deal with.
Even Finney can't escape that. With Poirot, he's obviously the one person that really gets to shine; but then Poirot is this weird and awkward person, and as much as Finney might have set the standard here for how Poirot will always be seen, it is a bit of a clown. You can do that well, of course, and indeed Finney does; so maybe it's me and my expectations, but the whole character seems just 'too much', and as such difficult to fully enjoy or appreciate.
Don't get me wrong, I liked the film and I'm happy I watched it. I just didn't feel it lived up to its reputation. And that's not because it's a film from 1974; I've seen plenty of films from the 70s, also before. It's really something about this film specifically. Maybe I expected too much and forgot the story, as any adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express comes with very specific restraints, of course.
I should probably read the book again (that's been 25 years probably ), and I am now also really wondering how the 2017 film was different, as I think I did like it better. But I don't think I'm going to make this into such a big project.
It's an awesome ensemble cast, but given the dynamics of the story, they don't get to do a whole lot of acting. Apart from Poirot, all characters have just little snippets of action, and that makes it hard to put in a noticeable performance. Of course, even 5 seconds of acting can be great, and they do each get at least one scene (the interrogation) to shine. But take Bergman: her 5 min continuous interrogation scene is supposed to be awesome and what got her the Oscar, but I don't get it. She was given some awful lines to work with. I mean: 'I was born backwards. That is why I work in Africa as missionary, teaching little brown babies more backwards than myself.' Or all the excessive religious stuff she says. That's just unsalvageable no matter the performer. And this way, everyone seems to have been given a sort of miniature caricature and ditto lines to deal with.
Even Finney can't escape that. With Poirot, he's obviously the one person that really gets to shine; but then Poirot is this weird and awkward person, and as much as Finney might have set the standard here for how Poirot will always be seen, it is a bit of a clown. You can do that well, of course, and indeed Finney does; so maybe it's me and my expectations, but the whole character seems just 'too much', and as such difficult to fully enjoy or appreciate.
Don't get me wrong, I liked the film and I'm happy I watched it. I just didn't feel it lived up to its reputation. And that's not because it's a film from 1974; I've seen plenty of films from the 70s, also before. It's really something about this film specifically. Maybe I expected too much and forgot the story, as any adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express comes with very specific restraints, of course.
I should probably read the book again (that's been 25 years probably
), and I am now also really wondering how the 2017 film was different, as I think I did like it better. But I don't think I'm going to make this into such a big project. Warrior
Love this film. Never gets old. The performances, especially Nick Nolte are so damn good and the story is so gripping. Just love it! 8.5/10
Love this film. Never gets old. The performances, especially Nick Nolte are so damn good and the story is so gripping. Just love it! 8.5/10
Monsters University. I tend to like Pixar movies: they usually come up with an interesting concept, and then work that out in an imaginative, funny, and gripping way. If the concept isn't there though, their films are like anybody else's, and a lot of the attraction is gone. Monster's University, like Brave or the Cars sequels, is in the latter category. After Monsters Inc, this world is known; it's just a different story (the prequel: how Mike and Sully became buddies at school) set in the same environment. It's decent movie, don't get me wrong, and fun throughout. But it's just another well done animated movie for kids that plays it entirely safe in terms of style, story, and humour (unlike, say, The Mitchells vs The Machines) - as there are so many.
The Secret Life of Pets 2. This, on the other hand, is just crap. Pt 1 did so well in cinemas that they had to do a Pt 2, but unfortunately, no-one had ideas for a film-worthy story. Instead, they created three stories with the level of depth of a lame kids tv show and switch between those thoughtout the movie - until they come together superficially and unnecessarily at the end. Nothing else stands out either, although it is also well done otherwise. (This is not awkward crap like Pets United.) But it's fully of easy gags all the time, so my kids loved it. Sigh. (Grumpy parents for the win.)
The Secret Life of Pets 2. This, on the other hand, is just crap. Pt 1 did so well in cinemas that they had to do a Pt 2, but unfortunately, no-one had ideas for a film-worthy story. Instead, they created three stories with the level of depth of a lame kids tv show and switch between those thoughtout the movie - until they come together superficially and unnecessarily at the end. Nothing else stands out either, although it is also well done otherwise. (This is not awkward crap like Pets United.) But it's fully of easy gags all the time, so my kids loved it. Sigh. (Grumpy parents for the win.)
One of my favourtie shots in a recent times
I watched it on the Mubi site and it wasn't in sepia monochrome but more muted colours. Still a great film.
Beautiful. I do think mainstream directors for quite a while have paid too little attention to scene composition and staging. Just put everyone in convenient places, put a couple of cameras in place that can capture at all and can do close-ups, and then edit it so that the audience can see everything the main actor of any specific moment does at any time. It's rather uninspired and impatient, and makes actual beautiful or otherwise interesting shots stand out even more.
Grr...
Official Secrets (2019)
Decent watch. Boy, was the buildup to the Iraq War dirty, wasn't it?
Decent watch. Boy, was the buildup to the Iraq War dirty, wasn't it?