Agree with this part (even though I know nothing of any other people that might have been considered), but that's about the only thing I enjoyed about the film. One of the few films I didn't watch until the end from the main 2022 releases, I found it really boring, repetitive and really annoying very early on.
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
- Thread starter golden_blunder
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you're just saying that cause your hot girlfriend is half Asian.
That is a very, very good point.
Aftersun
Very powerful film. Don't think I've ever seen depression expressed so well in a film. Performances from the main actor and actress were both amazing. Liked the directing, soundtrack and cinematography as well.
Very powerful film. Don't think I've ever seen depression expressed so well in a film. Performances from the main actor and actress were both amazing. Liked the directing, soundtrack and cinematography as well.
Aftersun was an interesting one for me.
Went in expecting a 9.5 and saw a 7, if I'm honest.
As a directorial debut it's excellent, constructed well, excellent cast choices and a good portrayal of depression but I really think they were down a rabbit hole there and could have kept digging - don't get me wrong, I don't like saying that because of the subject but still I felt slightly underwhelmed.
I can understand feeling that way. It had some moments that felt a bit like a recent film school graduate trying out their favorite techniques which makes sense for a directorial debut I suppose. Like a really beautiful postcard rather than a painting . The two actors really carried the film though, I was going to post a 8/10 rating alongside it but decided against giving it a score because it felt a bit reductive.
Cheers, yeah your right. Tbh I did really hint about the box set around 2 years ago, hoping to get it as a Christmas gift from the family but they ended up getting the Zatoichi collection by accident instead
Although I can’t complain as it’s a amazing collection of films.
Yeah I agree the lead performances were top drawer, it was like they'd acted together for years.
I read somewhere that they actually went on holiday or spent some time somewhere to bond, so that when filming started they actually had a connection, and had experienced something similar to the actual plot of the film.
For anyone interested YouTube channel with nearly 200 Korean film(Many with English subtitles) -
https://youtube.com/@KoreanFilm
https://youtube.com/@KoreanFilm
Ambulance 2022 7/10
All action heist & escape movie staring Jake Gyllenhaal. Different to the movies I usually see him in. Very fun movie, a very good heist scene that is as close as I’ve seen to the one in Heat for tension (still nowhere close), followed by a rollercoaster of a ride. Not sure if the dark humour in some parts was intentional, or I’m just a bit sick.
Tries to be a bit more than it really is with some of the characters near the ends. Works in some parts doesn’t add much in others.
All action heist & escape movie staring Jake Gyllenhaal. Different to the movies I usually see him in. Very fun movie, a very good heist scene that is as close as I’ve seen to the one in Heat for tension (still nowhere close), followed by a rollercoaster of a ride. Not sure if the dark humour in some parts was intentional, or I’m just a bit sick.
Tries to be a bit more than it really is with some of the characters near the ends. Works in some parts doesn’t add much in others.
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I'm Thinking Of Ending Things(2020)
Too much collage/university the movie. Honestly could only watch about 70% of the film before having to take a break and listen to the 1 hour loop of the Robocop theme to cleanse my soul and mind.
I’ve liked Kaufman writing in the past especially
Being John Malkovich and of course Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind but this film
so incredibly depressing, nerdy and pointless that it became too much. One of the characters quotes a Pauline Kael review ffs.
Still having said the performances were great, I liked how the film was presented and it’s at least attempting something but it’s ultimately to quote Red Letter Media - “Its a movie that requires you to do homework”. If that your thing then it’s worth a go, if not then save some time and watch this instead
Too much collage/university the movie. Honestly could only watch about 70% of the film before having to take a break and listen to the 1 hour loop of the Robocop theme to cleanse my soul and mind.
I’ve liked Kaufman writing in the past especially
Being John Malkovich and of course Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind but this film
so incredibly depressing, nerdy and pointless that it became too much. One of the characters quotes a Pauline Kael review ffs.
Still having said the performances were great, I liked how the film was presented and it’s at least attempting something but it’s ultimately to quote Red Letter Media - “Its a movie that requires you to do homework”. If that your thing then it’s worth a go, if not then save some time and watch this instead
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Finally got around to viewing The Shoe. You were right. Oh my god.
Haven’t seen The Menu, agree with you in Glass Onion, agree with what you wrote about Banshees, but I’d give it the 6/10 on both scales.
The Banshees of Innisherin for me represents the epitome of a good film that just doesn’t deliver what it promised. A typical McDonagh Joint. I will say that Colin Ferrell was really good, but Gleason played the same character he always plays. I did find Ferrell’s accent a bit broad at times, and it didn’t match up with his sister or with Gleason, and they all supposedly lived in the same village their entire lives. Accent aside, I liked him, at least it wasn’t as distracting as his American accent.
I don’t mind movies that are all character and setting. As an American of Irish and Scots descent, I will watch any old shit set in either country. After watching it, I realized that if this same story were set in Alabama, I wouldn’t have given two shits. A case in point was when Lasse Halstrom went from My Life As A Dog to Gilbert Grape. I found Dog to be heartbreaking and full of pathos, then when I see a bunch of American jackasses doing a riff on it, I hated it. In particular I despised John C (for Crap) Reilly’s everything in that movie, every fecking frame of him felt fake and took me out of the experience.
So while I enjoyed Banshees, and it mademe want to take another trip to Ireland, it made me curious as to how the simple, rural, Irish islander life plays out to modern Irish. Before I realized it was set in 1926, I was thinking how fake it seemed, with Ferrell in long sleeves and vest etc., and wondering if there really were any Irish villages like that. Did I like the film or do I just like Ireland? More the latter.
The best part for me was the line, “If punching policemen is a sin, we may as well just all pack up and go home.”
6/10
Close
Critically acclaimed French film from 2022. It's beautiful but also incredibly sad. You will probably cry.
The premise is so simple and obvious and yet I can't remember seeing a similar story before. It's an interesting premise and I also like that a certain detail about the two friends never is revealed as it's not really relevant for how the events kick off. Society is the main villain regardless of this detail.
I recommend Close if you don't mind weeping.
Critically acclaimed French film from 2022. It's beautiful but also incredibly sad. You will probably cry.
The premise is so simple and obvious and yet I can't remember seeing a similar story before. It's an interesting premise and I also like that a certain detail about the two friends never is revealed as it's not really relevant for how the events kick off. Society is the main villain regardless of this detail.
I recommend Close if you don't mind weeping.
Smile
Its decent without being brilliant. 3.8/5
Its a predictable story arc you have seen before. Still though i watched it all.
Its decent without being brilliant. 3.8/5
Its a predictable story arc you have seen before. Still though i watched it all.
Watched Mission Impossible 2 on itv2 tonight (I think).
I hated it upon release but it's actually pretty good. @Sweet Square may be on to something.
The kicking of the sand at the end was awful though.
I hated it upon release but it's actually pretty good. @Sweet Square may be on to something.
The kicking of the sand at the end was awful though.
It’s not complete shit, but it is by far & away the worst of the series.
No arguments here, definitely the weakest. Still watchable though. Wasn't a big fan of 3 either.
Saying JJ Abram’s has ever made a better film than John Woo is straight up imperialism. The future CCP invasion of America will require a lot of reeducation in order to destroy the Yankee mind set.
I saw the 2015 Macbeth film with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard yesterday. I thought it was, well, boring!
The concept of it was very good, with the droning music, the grim but beautifully conceived settings, the nightmarish feel to Macbeth's state of mind, the choice of actors - all great. I really enjoyed the first half hour or so. But the actual action feels just so horribly slow, it just couldn't keep my attention at all.
Now I'm really not into theatre, so maybe it's just not for me; but I did really like Brannagh's Hamlet when I saw it a long time ago. I can't remember it too well, but it's much longer so it can't be going very fast either. Maybe I should watch it back, see if my taste changed, I came bored too easily, or have just become culturally stupid (I'm not excluding that) - or if this Macbeth is really that slow. (The critics loved it though!)
Anyway, not for me.
The concept of it was very good, with the droning music, the grim but beautifully conceived settings, the nightmarish feel to Macbeth's state of mind, the choice of actors - all great. I really enjoyed the first half hour or so. But the actual action feels just so horribly slow, it just couldn't keep my attention at all.
Now I'm really not into theatre, so maybe it's just not for me; but I did really like Brannagh's Hamlet when I saw it a long time ago. I can't remember it too well, but it's much longer so it can't be going very fast either. Maybe I should watch it back, see if my taste changed, I came bored too easily, or have just become culturally stupid (I'm not excluding that) - or if this Macbeth is really that slow. (The critics loved it though!)
Anyway, not for me.
Sounds really interesting. Where did you watch the movie?
I really enjoyed The Fabelmanns. I've found a lot of Spielbergs more recent stuff a bit drab, preachy and overly soppy but this wasn't as bad, and it was really funny too. Plus, Paul Dano and Michelle Williams are always great actors to watch.
Address Unknown - Another of Kim Ki-duk's brutal social realist movies, this time about a small Korean village where characters include a man who kills and sells dogs, a women fawning over a missing GI who she sends letters despite them never getting there, her angry bastard son, and a girl with a bad eye who gets manipulated by an American soldier.
Horrible won't describe it but there's beauty that punctuates between all the awful shit - which is a clever way to heighten nice things that might otherwise not get proper attention. You kinda have to look beyond all the surface level shit to see these are characters struggling as much with themselves as they are with a society that has mostly left them behind.
Would I recommend it? Hell no but it's a good movie. Not as good nor as horrible to watch as Bad Guy but close.
Horrible won't describe it but there's beauty that punctuates between all the awful shit - which is a clever way to heighten nice things that might otherwise not get proper attention. You kinda have to look beyond all the surface level shit to see these are characters struggling as much with themselves as they are with a society that has mostly left them behind.
Would I recommend it? Hell no but it's a good movie. Not as good nor as horrible to watch as Bad Guy but close.
It's in regular movie theatres everywhere where I live now, but that is probably thanks to an arthouse distributor that handpicks a couple of critically acclaimed foreign films every year. Korean films, Japanese animation and films that do well in the Cannes film festival are more likely to get picked as those seem to do reasonably well with the mainstream audiences too.
If you google "Close 2022" followed by the name of your country then you'll hopefully get some hits. And if not, then I reckon it will be available on streaming soon. Maybe on Mubi?
Finally got to see Avatar: TWotW in 3D IMAX and it was brilliant. Not sure it would gave hit the same in 2D or at home but it sure was made for IMAX and u can’t wait for the next part.
Thanks. I will look into it.
I haven't checked the synopsis yet, but if it's really that emotional as you say it is, then it will be one of those movies that you only watch it once even though they are amazing (like The Mist and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas).
Academy Awards announced this morning.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oscar-nominations-2023-nominees-list-1235307974/
Some good picks in there.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oscar-nominations-2023-nominees-list-1235307974/
Some good picks in there.
That is the bleakest set up for a movie I’ve ever heard of. Sounds like something @Mr Pigeon would write.
The only good JJ Abrams film was his beat for beat remake of Star Wars.
Yeah he is safe pair of hands at copying other directors work(Super 8 is just a spielberg sci fi clone), which I’m guessing is why he gets the big films.
Weirdly he seems to have directed one episode of the US Office.
Babylon
This one is a love or hate movie, i loved it. 9/10
This one is a love or hate movie, i loved it. 9/10
Triangle of Sadness
Another Hollywood movie trying to be funny* and edgy and failing. The second part was just about OK, until the captain's dinner which felt massively forced. The rest is a mish-mash of role-reversal and societal-hierarchy switching. God knows how it won Palme D'Or, or indeed how it's nominated for Best Picture.
Some of the cast were great (the lead, sadly passed now and Woody were stand-outs; the Russian guy (from 2012?) was good). The rest, not so much.
*If you find people projectile vomiting and/or shitting, people in semi-vegatative states, people falling over at sea (there's honestly not much more to it) funny, then your mileage may vary.
2/10
Another Hollywood movie trying to be funny* and edgy and failing. The second part was just about OK, until the captain's dinner which felt massively forced. The rest is a mish-mash of role-reversal and societal-hierarchy switching. God knows how it won Palme D'Or, or indeed how it's nominated for Best Picture.
Some of the cast were great (the lead, sadly passed now and Woody were stand-outs; the Russian guy (from 2012?) was good). The rest, not so much.
*If you find people projectile vomiting and/or shitting, people in semi-vegatative states, people falling over at sea (there's honestly not much more to it) funny, then your mileage may vary.
2/10
Has anyone seen Til? Might see it Saturday.
Promising Young Woman
A woman acts drunk and easy to lure men into taking her home and potentially raping her before turning the tables on them. Basically a feminist revenge movie commentating on rape-culture. It was fine, well shot and superbly acted by the lead but felt like they could have done more. The revenge element mainly was more like "don't do that again or you'll be in trouble next time" as opposed to her actually making the men suffer. Also, the film makes its point within the fist scene and then just keeps making the point over and over without anything else really to say. The ending took me by surprise a little though 6/10
A woman acts drunk and easy to lure men into taking her home and potentially raping her before turning the tables on them. Basically a feminist revenge movie commentating on rape-culture. It was fine, well shot and superbly acted by the lead but felt like they could have done more. The revenge element mainly was more like "don't do that again or you'll be in trouble next time" as opposed to her actually making the men suffer. Also, the film makes its point within the fist scene and then just keeps making the point over and over without anything else really to say. The ending took me by surprise a little though 6/10
Honestly this just happens to be MI2 but that aside amazing that this is possible
Yes, enjoyed it.
A harrowing story but as with anything like that it's important it's never forgotten.
Danielle Deadwyler is fantastic as Mamie Till and although she's not in a huge amount of the film, Haley Bennett as Carolyn Bryant (the shopkeeper) really makes you hate her character which is a sign of a good performance.
Definitely worth seeing.