Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
9/10, Parody inception
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9/10, Parody inception
The life of a parodist is parodied in this parody
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
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This isn't actually a Netflix movie, is it? And I think it's most people, period, that generally prefer to watch straightforward fun movies. So as a big company, Netflix unsurprisingly tries to cater to that demographic with their blockbuster productions.
(That doesn't excuse them for being so poor at it though. Netflix had yet to make a good action blockbuster I think, and it's not for a lack of trying!)
All Quiet on the Western Front
After watching BoB, 1901 and Saving Private Ryan this year, i was pleased to see another film had been released as i had really enjoyed the ones mentioned alot. The Mrs tends to leave me to watch them on my own but she had mentioned how brutal it was supposed to be, and how they aren't pulling any punches in terms of how graphic some of the scenes are, which naturally only heightened my curiosity.
Turn it on and watched the first scene...... Its all English dubbing
Terribly done too, it's nigh impossible to take a film like this seriously when you know you are watching Germans in Germany yet they are all talking in American or English accents. I just can't do it, it was like Squid Games. At least do English speaking with German accents, which really wouldn't have been hard to do.
With that in mind i watched the whole film how it should be watched, and thats English subtitles, and it was far better for it. The film is outstanding, i loved every second of it.
The scenery, lighting and special effects are all stunning. It looks spectacular at times. The only gripe i have is the actual story line towards the end where they decide to return to the farm, just as the war is pretty much over, knowing there is a guy with a gun there. They were asking to be killed early and you'd think you'd be happy with your lot and not taking any risks, but to be honest what do i know!
But all in all 9/10. Superb film.
After watching BoB, 1901 and Saving Private Ryan this year, i was pleased to see another film had been released as i had really enjoyed the ones mentioned alot. The Mrs tends to leave me to watch them on my own but she had mentioned how brutal it was supposed to be, and how they aren't pulling any punches in terms of how graphic some of the scenes are, which naturally only heightened my curiosity.
Turn it on and watched the first scene...... Its all English dubbing
Terribly done too, it's nigh impossible to take a film like this seriously when you know you are watching Germans in Germany yet they are all talking in American or English accents. I just can't do it, it was like Squid Games. At least do English speaking with German accents, which really wouldn't have been hard to do.With that in mind i watched the whole film how it should be watched, and thats English subtitles, and it was far better for it. The film is outstanding, i loved every second of it.
The scene where he's stabbing someone to death and watching him die, and then tries to help him is particularly harrowing and hard hitting, also when later he's battering someone's face with a shovel and you see blow by blow the face getting shredded.
The scenery, lighting and special effects are all stunning. It looks spectacular at times. The only gripe i have is the actual story line towards the end where they decide to return to the farm, just as the war is pretty much over, knowing there is a guy with a gun there. They were asking to be killed early and you'd think you'd be happy with your lot and not taking any risks, but to be honest what do i know!
But all in all 9/10. Superb film.
Yes it was pretty fun and entertaining, without being particularly brilliant, but it was excellent, light hearted action fare. And I always have time for that.
No issues with you thinking JW is shite. I find them reasonably entertaining, but they are increasingly preposterous, sort of the Fast & Furious of hitman action movies. Somewhat saved by Keanu Reeves being eight billion times more likeable than Vin fecking Diesel. But anyway, that wasn’t why I quoted you. I quoted you because I was shocked anyone found Atomic Blonde to be even remotely decent. Some of the most unrealistic, preposterous female action hero nonsense since the borderline anorexic Angelina Jolie in Salt. I don’t know what it is, but I can suspend my disbelief to watch Keanu Reeves fight off motorcycle, machine goons from the back of a horse, with nothing but a stick - that feels like it’s supposed to be ridiculous - but I just can’t handle those gritty, supposedly realistic action movies where a 90lb heroine takes headshot punches from a 220lb dude, doesn’t go down, then knocks him out with a punch that resembles a tickle. I think what does it, is that we are supposed to believe that’s realistic; but it always makes the movie laughable to me, and Atomic Blonde was full of that shit.
Thank you for reminding me this was available. Was thinking about watching it, but that’s tipped me over the edge. Will put it on later and report back.
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Enola Holmes 2 - Watched this based on the excellent reviews and was left baffled by what made it so well received critically. Really very run of the mill detective story but without anything particular clever or interesting. You could see the case solution a mile away, so you quite literally didn’t need to be any of the Holmes siblings to solve it, and the Moriarty twist/reveal was extremely anti-climatic, in fact borderline pathetic. The action was rubbish, and the stakes not very high. No tension, no big mystery. Frankly, it was all around pretty lame. What baffled me the most though, was Millie Bobby Brown. I had to actually check she was English, because I thought I was losing my mind. I couldn’t fathom how someone who is actually English could have a least convincing English accent. It reminded me of Winona Ryder in Dracula, or Keanu Reeves in Much Ado About Nothing. Truly like an American trying too hard to sound very 19th century proper English. Bizarre.
Then there were the 4th wall breaks. Which were dreadful.
4/10
Atomic blonde was actually more realistic than John Wick. She's lightly build and her fighting skills actually believable on what a light chick would do with the power struggle. No me against dozens of goons type of things
And for all the praise he gets John Wick is actually wooden in the martial arts department nobody with an ounce of training took him seriously as someone who can beat not one but 2 masters at one
Well that’s the thing. I didn’t take John Wick seriously, and felt okay with that because I didn’t think I was supposed to. I also didn’t take Atomic Blonde seriously, but wasn’t okay with it because I felt like I was supposed to. I’ll give you that AB was more realistic than JW, but I never felt JW was going for realism. AB was, and in my opinion failed horribly.
You mentioned that no one with an ounce of training would take JW seriously, and I wasn’t sure why you’d say that quoting my post when the word I used to describe his action scenes was “ridiculous”. Maybe you just skimmed the post. Not sure. But I definitely didn’t say that. If it was a suggestion that I don’t know what I’m talking about (even though we’ve already established it’s not what I said), I will point out that I’m proficient in Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Capoeira, Wushu, Wing Chun, and Jeet Kun Do, have fought at the State level in boxing (Golden Gloves), and perhaps most relevantly am certified by IDF special forces in hand to hand and armed combat (4 years training). So I’m not a total muppet.
With that in mind, I still didn’t find the hand to hand combat scenes in Atomic Blonde to be believable. Regarding John Wick, I think I compared its ridiculousness to the Fast and Furious movies.
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Chill out rambo... Just saying.
People have this notion that John Wick... Keanu by extension is a good action hero due to the popularity of John Wick. I'd simply says he's actually a shit action hero actor. His moves are so wooden it beggar beliefs he's the all conquering John Wick. That's all.
And yes. He's too comical for practicality he wont last a minute out there. You dont need to be an IDF certified Krav Magist to see that
And i too enjoy John Wick for what it is.
You know, in fairness, you’re the one who brought up the whole “anyone who had an ounce of training, something, something, masters”, like you were Bruce fecking Lee.
But at least we can agree that John Wick isn’t realistic.
I don't see anything outrageous with that claim. He is not a martial artist, he's acting as one. You really don't need to be Bruce Lee to see that. And the 2 master I was referring to was the 2 Indonesian Martial Artist he casually beat with a belt.
No need to get so agitated over a film review. I'm not even attacking your opinion, merely dropping a comment.
Whenever I watch a John Wick movie I think of that scene from Austin Powers where the woman finds out her henchman husband died. John Wick's body count is out of control.
Top Gun: Maverick
Much preferred this to the original. Very fun action blockbuster. I wish I had those abs though 7.5/10
Lightyear
Better than I expected but I was hoping for something more than a generic action animation 6/10
Firestarter
Two parents must protect their daughter, who can set things on fire with her mind. Stephen King adaptation. Why was this made? Why is Zac Efron in this? Why was it so shit? I have no idea 2/10
Much preferred this to the original. Very fun action blockbuster. I wish I had those abs though 7.5/10
Lightyear
Better than I expected but I was hoping for something more than a generic action animation 6/10
Firestarter
Two parents must protect their daughter, who can set things on fire with her mind. Stephen King adaptation. Why was this made? Why is Zac Efron in this? Why was it so shit? I have no idea 2/10
I haven’t said at any point that it is an outrageous claim. I agreed since the beginning.
Keanu is actually a fairly proficient martial artist, but watching John Wick, you get the impression a lot of his fighting is in slow motion, and the people he is going up against are much faster and much more skilled. They are pretty silly movies all things considered. They also do that classic action guy movie thing, where the guy standing behind him waits to attack until he is finished dealing with the guy in front of him, usually by standing there acting dazed until Keanu is ready. But we are in that era of dad/grandpa action heroes. Arthritis and dulled reflexes included free of charge. Stallone and Neeson still going strong at 76 and 70 respectively.
Still prefer it to watching a 90lb woman render a 220lb thug unconscious with a meek backhand though. Even if it is all nonsense.
Marshall. About an early noticeable case of Thurgood Marshall (played by Bosewick) who would go on to become a US Supreme Court judge. This plays in 1941in Connecticut, where Marshall, while working for the NAACP, goes to help defend a black man against the accusation that he raped and attempted to murder a socialite.
It's mostly a courtroom drama, and a pretty good one at it - even if the outcome is never in question given Marshall's subsequently career. It is always jarring to see how deep the racism went back then, and we're not even in the usual southern setting this time. That theme isn't worked out much though, it's just there and at the end it still is. But then the film is a biography about this event in Marshall's life, so I guess that made sense. Still, a bit of a missed opportunity there.
All the same, 8/10.
I anyway didn't like John Wick much, it's fun for a bit but then quickly gets uninteresting. Same for Atomic Blonde for that matter, if for different reasons. Very stylish but it left me cold.
It's mostly a courtroom drama, and a pretty good one at it - even if the outcome is never in question given Marshall's subsequently career. It is always jarring to see how deep the racism went back then, and we're not even in the usual southern setting this time. That theme isn't worked out much though, it's just there and at the end it still is. But then the film is a biography about this event in Marshall's life, so I guess that made sense. Still, a bit of a missed opportunity there.
All the same, 8/10.
Yeah, that's really started bothering me in films. Also The Hitman's Bodyguard. I know it's meant to be nonsense, but I find the casual mass killing rather disturbing nowadays.
I anyway didn't like John Wick much, it's fun for a bit but then quickly gets uninteresting. Same for Atomic Blonde for that matter, if for different reasons. Very stylish but it left me cold.
Nightmare Alley
A grifter works his way up from Circus assistant to renowned psychic and collides with a psychiatrist who wants to expose him. Like most Del Toro films, stunning to look at the cinematography and set design and excellent acting. The narrative was engaging. Main issue was the run time... It didn't need to be that long... But definitely a worthy watch 7.5/10
A grifter works his way up from Circus assistant to renowned psychic and collides with a psychiatrist who wants to expose him. Like most Del Toro films, stunning to look at the cinematography and set design and excellent acting. The narrative was engaging. Main issue was the run time... It didn't need to be that long... But definitely a worthy watch 7.5/10
Tbh I’m never really bothered by that sort of stuff. The Raid is a great action film and that has a two vs one fight scene which pretty much turns into something from dragon ball z. It’s a movie at the end of the day.
Atomic Blonde reminds me of Hideo Kojima game, in that it gives you all the fun action stuff while also telling the viewers that this action packed environment produces horrible violent paranoid human beings, who legends are all bullshit. Atomic Blonde is a anti action movie that gives you all the cool action.
The super spies in the film are all incredibly shite at fulfilling their missions. They can produce the kicks, flips and tricks to take down the grunts, but in the end these best of the best Cold War spies lose out to pure brute force and dull violence.
The getaway scene where Theron has to drag her rescue target(Which includes a 10 minute single take action scene)across Berlin, builds up to a chase scene that does include big action moments - cars flipping over, headshot’s, 80’s soundtrack, etc. But the result isn’t some smart escape plan or Theron performing a John Woo bullet time trick shot, instead it ends with her car getting smashed into a river by a jeep she didn’t even see coming and her target dying by drowning. All her training, years of experience and 99% accuracy of no scoping is all underdone by pure luck and the fact your rescue target had fat feet.
Mcavoy end of speech brings together these themes, the only thing he is certain that he loves Berlin. His character is the end result of living the life of a paranoia state killer, it makes the person into an empty soulless freak. And then he dies like all the other top spies, not in some big shootout but in a back alley.
It’s one of those film where people realise the themes such as the paranoia or get cold hearted empty vibe of the film but then list these things as negatives rather than seeing this as the film achieving it’s goal.
It’s very underrated imo.
Well that’s certainly more of an analysis than I expected of Átomic Blonde, but well appreciated. Maybe I’ll give it another shot one day and look beyond the things that bothered me. I remember watching it years ago and not particularly caring for it, for the reasons I mentioned, although I am generally a fan of McAvoy performances.
Causeway
Nice little low-key indie drama with expectedly solid acting from Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry, playing characters both recovering from traumatic incidents.
Nice location (chilled, lazy-summer New Orleans) and a quiet but emotional tone. The perfect film for when you can't sleep at night.
On Apple TV+
4/5
Nice little low-key indie drama with expectedly solid acting from Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry, playing characters both recovering from traumatic incidents.
Nice location (chilled, lazy-summer New Orleans) and a quiet but emotional tone. The perfect film for when you can't sleep at night.
On Apple TV+
4/5
Good man. I thought Nightmare Alley was a fantastic adaptation of a lesser-known but classic noir novel. Loved that novel and movie. (7.5 is a little too low for me but I'll take it!)
If it were 20 minutes shorter, would have been an 8. I'm only ok with ridiculous durations if a film absolutely warrants it. I didn't used to be like this but now I'm older and need more piss breaks
Laal Singh Chaddha - this is the Bollywood remake of Forrest Gump. It’s a very, very, faithful adaptation. Literally most scenes are recreated. Aamir Khan plays the titular character but I definitely preferred Tom Hanks’ take on the character. Hanks is a little more subtle and understated. He knows Gump is slow but makes up for it with a lot of heart. Aamir Khan playing Laal Singh comes across a bit too goofy, and lacks some subtlety. Overall it’s a good adaptation, but not a lot new here. 7/10
@simonhch completely agree with the accent of Millie Bobby Brown in Enola Holmes. The problem is they always try to go for hugely stereotypical English accents but it often sounds wrong.
Also it's been a while since I watched the first movie so not sure if it was addressed but...
Also it's been a while since I watched the first movie so not sure if it was addressed but...
Enola being Alone spelled backwards I assume was by design right?
If it were 20 minutes shorter, would have been an 8. I'm only ok with ridiculous durations if a film absolutely warrants it. I didn't used to be like this but now I'm older and need more piss breaks
Did you watch it in the theatre?
Otherwise, there is amazing new invention called the pause button
I watched it at home but it's still annoying to keep stopping but my issue with durations takes cinema going into the thought. I remember Blade Runner 2049 and The Batman... missed so much because of pissy piss timeDid you watch it in the theatre?
Otherwise, there is amazing new invention called the pause button
Not sure why any of that would make me a muppet. The reply came in response to someone saying anyone with “announce of training” would know etc etc. So I pointed out that I have more than an ounce. If someone had said that anyone with any knowledge of data science would know….., and I happened to have a Doctorate in AI and Machine Learning, no one would have an issue in me pointing that out. But because I have extensive fight experience and training, it’s somehow weird. I wouldn’t have brought it up were it not for the original belittling comment.
I watched it at home but it's still annoying to keep stopping but my issue with durations takes cinema going into the thought. I remember Blade Runner 2049 and The Batman... missed so much because of pissy piss time
Good grief man, are you pounding pints like its World Cup time already? I can empathize if you are
Moonfall:
I like disaster films, they're silly. But this film... not only were the actors pretty bloody awful but by god was the action hilariously bad with a plot invented by a 6 year old playing with some lego in his room. What the hell were Hollywood smoking when this got made. It's close to being so bad it's good, but it's over 2 hours long!
I like disaster films, they're silly. But this film... not only were the actors pretty bloody awful but by god was the action hilariously bad with a plot invented by a 6 year old playing with some lego in his room. What the hell were Hollywood smoking when this got made. It's close to being so bad it's good, but it's over 2 hours long!
I saw something recently on Twitter and she said she'd picked up an American accent with living and working on mainly American stuff, and had to "re-learn" how to be English again and struggled.
I finally saw Get Out, and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I think it's really well made in terms of the camerawork and the script (really crafty how everything hangs together etc.). It's just that, after all the hype, I had expected something deeper, or just more interesting, than the fairly transparent plot (certainly to my wife who's great at puzzles like this), fairly uninteresting situation (I mean what's going on with the family; although maybe not so much uninteresting as only superficially explored), and fairly obvious societal commentary/criticism (even if I probably missed quite a bit of it as white person who's not from the US).
Again, I don't think it's bad, I had just expected more based on everything I had read. To me, Nope had a lot more going for it. (I haven't seen Peele's other film (Us) yet.)
7/10
Again, I don't think it's bad, I had just expected more based on everything I had read. To me, Nope had a lot more going for it. (I haven't seen Peele's other film (Us) yet.)
7/10
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I was rather underwhelmed as well.
Yeah, I looked up earlier posts on it and came across yours as well. I think it sounded a lot like my impression.
I was unimpressed with that one as well.
Not terrible and I quite enjoyed it but the racism analogy felt a bit heavy handed imo.
I thought it was good but i think i saw it before the hype really took off. Going in expecting a fairly run of the mill horror and it over delivered with them expectations
I thought the opposite pretty much and felt there was a lot of subtlety to how he got his message across
Agree with this. It was done with humour and tension. It's not quite 12 years a slave, and it's done as well as it can be given its genre. Sure, the subtext is obvious, but I don't think that's synonymous of heavy-handed.
To Leslie
Woman wins lottery and proceeds to piss it up the wall whilst pissing everyone off in the process, before eventually trying/failing and getting sober. The lead (Andrea Riseborough) is genuinely excellent, and hard to believe it's the same woman as e.g., Oblivion (I should probably watch Mandy). It's a little formulaic, with obvious plot points and ending, but pretty good nonetheless.
6.5/10
Woman wins lottery and proceeds to piss it up the wall whilst pissing everyone off in the process, before eventually trying/failing and getting sober. The lead (Andrea Riseborough) is genuinely excellent, and hard to believe it's the same woman as e.g., Oblivion (I should probably watch Mandy). It's a little formulaic, with obvious plot points and ending, but pretty good nonetheless.
6.5/10
I don't know about heavy-handed, but I won't complain about racism being dragged into the open; for me it's more that all the talk about this film seemed to suggest something a little more subtle. I thought the film as a whole was quite in-your--face about its themes and story.
I mean, very well crafted as a whole, everything works, etc. - but to me it lacks a little something that makes it truly great. Personally, I thought Nope that did aspect a lot better.
I also feel he's gotten better as a filmmaker and at infusing the themes into his films. I think Us was a step in the right direction (even though lots of people disliked it, I think), and Nope was really great.