Thought it was very underwhelming too. It was kind of neat and im glad i watched it just about. I think i liked the premise more than the execution
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
- Thread starter golden_blunder
- Start date
Oh nice. During lockdown I did the same with Micheal Mann films and it was great to see a director style and ideas develop over time. Really made me appreciate how much a long term craft film making is.
Completely agree. The first 3 used practical stunts and speed ramping techniques. Fury Road was an orgy of CG mixed with some practical stuff, but what made Road Warrior so classic is that so many scenes look like the actors were cheating death with the stunts and explosions. It's also a triumph of editing. RW was also really weird. Humongous, Lord of the Wasteland, the Feral Kid, dudes with mohawks, the Gyro Captain - so many weird wacky (but awesome) characters. Fury Road they overdid it. Because of the stars in it, it did feel Hollywood-ized. Theron I can take or leave. I liked Nicholas Holt in it though.
Perfect Days
Wim Wenders gives us a Fukuyama horror movie. Kōji Yakusho plays a worker devoid of revolutionary potential and unable to be a agent of history.
Politics and the future are dead and never coming back. The end of history is here and all that’s left is vending machines and cassette tapes packed with decayed nostalgia.
A symbol of Japan stagnating economy and a film which is an insult to the human spirit.
0/10
Wim Wenders gives us a Fukuyama horror movie. Kōji Yakusho plays a worker devoid of revolutionary potential and unable to be a agent of history.
Politics and the future are dead and never coming back. The end of history is here and all that’s left is vending machines and cassette tapes packed with decayed nostalgia.
A symbol of Japan stagnating economy and a film which is an insult to the human spirit.
0/10
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People finding Fury Road boring is crazy to me!!
You're haaaaarsh
Ouch
It’s fine as mood piece about the small joys of life but before watching I saw a comment about the end of history vibe and I couldn’t get it out of my head. A soundtrack in 2024 containing the likes of Patti Smith and Lou Reed is admitting defeat. Kōji Yakusho is a boomer worker already euthanised. It’s still a Wim Wenders film so the directing, acting and cinematography are all great but its all in-service of a incredible bleak view of the world.
Imo Wenders does have a wide range of films. Wings Of Desire is similar to Perfect Days and it’s responsible for this neoliberal monstrosity(I say this as a U2 fan)
But The American Friend and Paris, Texas(Second greatest American movie after Robocop)are incredible works of art. Even recently Wenders said his next project after Perfect Days would have been in Gaza.
But the world is bleak!
True it is but the bleakness in the real world still has movement and history. Things happen and change all the time.
The bleakness in Perfect Days is how unmoving everything is. The film embraces the end of history and then gives consumerism based on nostalgia as its answer. I hope in 30 years time we don’t get a Perfect Days remake watching the millennial version of Kōji Yakusho spending his nights playing PS2 games.
Perfect Fortnite Days
Yeah I thought Fury Road was very overrated and I had tons of problems with it. Road Warrior is easily the best by some distance. I also liked the original and Thunderdome more than Fury Road though both were also flawed
Did you see that news about a company offering those Boston Dynamics dogs with a flamethrower? Robocop is soon going to be a documentary.Normally I agree with your posts but not this one. I really enjoyed it and thought the lead actor was excellent. It tried something different and it paid off. Wasnt big fan of the ending but up until then, I had a great time.
You've just made a very powerful my friend...
Nah. To be fair I thought the lead was the best thing in it. It wasn't terrible by any means but it didn't scratch my horror itch. It's weird because I've never really been a big horror fan until I got older. Now it's my go to along with sci fi.
You seen "When Evil Lurks"? Think you may enjoy that if you are into horror.
Oh god I haven’t. Sounds horrific. Veroheven really understood how comedic/stupid our dystopian future was going to be.
I agree, thought it was very good, in fact one of the better possession films I have seen in a while.
David Dastmalchian was the stand out, agreed the ending could've been better.
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Late Night with the Devil was great. Well paced, intriguing. I forgot I was watching a film and not a real broadcast.
My wife is a huge piker and often goes to bed early on Saturday night due to going to the gym early on Sunday morning (nothing to do with wine - honest). So I often end up watching whatever film is on terrestrial tv.
27/4/2024
The Eagle Has Landed
I loved this film as a kid. I was obviously a stupid child. Idiotic plot with some of the most hilariously bad casting of "Germans". Michael Caine didn't even bother to try to put on a comedy German accent. 1/10
4/5/2024
2012
It was fairly terrible when it came out and the plot, the script, the acting and the cgi have not aged well. How did they think there was enough water in the world for a "super-tsunami" to raise a whole ocean to the height of Everest? So terrible it almost circles round to ironically stupidly good. Almost. -4/10
27/4/2024
The Eagle Has Landed
I loved this film as a kid. I was obviously a stupid child. Idiotic plot with some of the most hilariously bad casting of "Germans". Michael Caine didn't even bother to try to put on a comedy German accent. 1/10
4/5/2024
2012
It was fairly terrible when it came out and the plot, the script, the acting and the cgi have not aged well. How did they think there was enough water in the world for a "super-tsunami" to raise a whole ocean to the height of Everest? So terrible it almost circles round to ironically stupidly good. Almost. -4/10
Whiplash
J.K. Simmons perfectly plays a cnut. Couldn't decide if I loved or hated his character. Thoroughly enjoyable movie
4/5
J.K. Simmons perfectly plays a cnut. Couldn't decide if I loved or hated his character. Thoroughly enjoyable movie
4/5
Kodachrome. A guy who hates his dad joins him and his dad's nurse on a road trip when he finds out his dad is dying and his this one final wish. It's a little on the nose but works pretty well and Ed Harris (the dad) is always great. 7/10
Kiki's Delivery Service. A 1989 animated film about a teenage witch who moves to a new town on her own to start her own life as a teenager, but has to overcome various challenges in her new environment on her way to maturity and independence. Another absolutely lovely film by Studio Ghibli, gorgeous, lively, and friendly as ever, but I felt it falls flat a little in the second half, and doesn't remain as captivating as their preceding work. Still 8/10.
Bullet Train. A bunch of mercenaries and assassins all end up on the same bullet train with conflicting assignments, and mayhem ensues. I know this got mixed reviews (and accusations of whitewashing - but I didn't know the novel and only found out afterwards), but I thought it was great. There's a lot of Snatch in this, and I loved how that style and humor worked out in this. It held up pretty well until the end, too, except for the overly long bit of exposition by the bad guy just before the final action sequence. 8/10
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. A fantasy action adventure for teenagers. I like how the film doesn't take its time for anything but just from fun scene to fun scene (after all, why waste time on drama and conversation in this sort of film?), but the logical leaps are quite insane and it did get irritating (to me) how the story just constantly refuses to make sense. Some fun moments though, and my kids loved it. But for me, 4/10.
Maybe I do. Two people in a relationship disagree about whether they need to get married, half split up over it, and then have long conversations with their parents, who also were cheating on each other with each other, and then have to meet. What a crap film. Most of the humor isn't funny, the dialogues are crap, and a large part of the film feels like they just taped a performance of the original theatre play. Also, what is this stupid obsession with marriage? As if they weren't already in a long-term relationship! Terribly on too many fronts to mention. 2/10
Kiki's Delivery Service. A 1989 animated film about a teenage witch who moves to a new town on her own to start her own life as a teenager, but has to overcome various challenges in her new environment on her way to maturity and independence. Another absolutely lovely film by Studio Ghibli, gorgeous, lively, and friendly as ever, but I felt it falls flat a little in the second half, and doesn't remain as captivating as their preceding work. Still 8/10.
Bullet Train. A bunch of mercenaries and assassins all end up on the same bullet train with conflicting assignments, and mayhem ensues. I know this got mixed reviews (and accusations of whitewashing - but I didn't know the novel and only found out afterwards), but I thought it was great. There's a lot of Snatch in this, and I loved how that style and humor worked out in this. It held up pretty well until the end, too, except for the overly long bit of exposition by the bad guy just before the final action sequence. 8/10
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. A fantasy action adventure for teenagers. I like how the film doesn't take its time for anything but just from fun scene to fun scene (after all, why waste time on drama and conversation in this sort of film?), but the logical leaps are quite insane and it did get irritating (to me) how the story just constantly refuses to make sense. Some fun moments though, and my kids loved it. But for me, 4/10.
Maybe I do. Two people in a relationship disagree about whether they need to get married, half split up over it, and then have long conversations with their parents, who also were cheating on each other with each other, and then have to meet. What a crap film. Most of the humor isn't funny, the dialogues are crap, and a large part of the film feels like they just taped a performance of the original theatre play. Also, what is this stupid obsession with marriage? As if they weren't already in a long-term relationship! Terribly on too many fronts to mention. 2/10
Just back from Fall Guy - thought it was very funny and thoroughly entertaining. Gosling is just so effortlessly charismatic in these type of roles.
Mad Max 2 Road Warrior
Miller has a very strange storytelling method. As he half builds up characters which you think will pay off later but then kills them off incredibly quickly. Overlaying their deaths with very dramatic music which for some people would feel unearned but I liked it.
The film also continues the great underlining theme of the more time you spend on the road the more insane you get. The bad guys in ones are incredible. All different variations on the leather man from the band Village People. A storyline based on getting revenge for post apocalyptic twink murder.
Like the first film this one has clearly influenced Fury Road. The final 20 minutes is pretty much a truck chase. While the stunts aren’t cinematic they are insane. It’s impressive how they made everything work in time.
Overall it’s a stunt movie with a basic action story chucked on top. A big step toward from the first film. The only downside was the god awful Lucas style wipe transitions.
9/10
Miller has a very strange storytelling method. As he half builds up characters which you think will pay off later but then kills them off incredibly quickly. Overlaying their deaths with very dramatic music which for some people would feel unearned but I liked it.
The film also continues the great underlining theme of the more time you spend on the road the more insane you get. The bad guys in ones are incredible. All different variations on the leather man from the band Village People. A storyline based on getting revenge for post apocalyptic twink murder.
Like the first film this one has clearly influenced Fury Road. The final 20 minutes is pretty much a truck chase. While the stunts aren’t cinematic they are insane. It’s impressive how they made everything work in time.
Overall it’s a stunt movie with a basic action story chucked on top. A big step toward from the first film. The only downside was the god awful Lucas style wipe transitions.
9/10
Went to see Challangers earlier tonight. It was very funny, had a banging soundtrack and was quite entertaining, but didn't really work for me. Too much slow mo, and cutting between now and then to a fault. It's all a bit hollow as well. It's one of those that I had a good time with, but at the same time felt that it could have been so much better with a few different creative choices.
The Idea Of You
Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine (2024)
It is really hard/next to impossible to find a movie everyone in this house will agree to watch. This is what we picked. I like Anne Hathaway, although this story didn't sound too appealing: A Harry Styles-type of singer in a boy band starts a relationship with a divorced 40 year-old mother. There's a section where Hathaway's character gets a lot of internet abuse, just like the real actress got in real life when the internet decided it hated her for no reason. So you could feel those emotions. I watched this whole movie thinking Austin Butler was doing a great London accent, and then found out at the end it was a different actor. Anyway, decent enough romantic film, not really a "rom com" but more a "rom drama". Rated R but should be PG. For this genre of movie it's probably an 8/10 because those movies are usually very twee and saccharine. This had a lot of true notes, I thought. 7.5/10
One of the rare occasions when the Oscar for best editing actually went to the best-edited film. That final music number is a tour de force of editing.
Spent the last few nights watching Star Wars, started at Episode 1.
The Phantom Menace.
The story had to start somewhere.
It was a poor, best part was the pod race.
Lian Neeson was dreadful has was Ewan McGegor.
Portman was the pick of the bunch, along with Jake Lloyd
5/10
Attack of the Clones.
This was very poor, you have McGregor but this time add Christoper Lee, Samual L Jackson and Hayden Christensen , you have 4 really bad performances.
Portman and Jake again saved the film, along with Ian Mc Diarmid has Palatine.
2/10
Revenge of the Sith.
Best of the Trilogy and by someway, but still had its huge faults, I have the high ground and the lest said about "where is Padme?" and "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" from Vader?! the better.
Anakin's turn to the dark side should have been better, but his transformation in to Darth Vader was good.
The the fights between Yoda and Palapatine and Anakin and Obi-Wan were good.
6/10
Solo
enjoyed the story of Han and Chewie getting together and how Han won the Falcon.
It was not a classic, but it is not the worst, its very watchable.
5/10
Rogue One
Decent film, it was back to the original Star wars.
Liked the way they interrogated in to a New Hope. Felicity Jones was top notch, in fact all the acting was excellent, one down side was the creepy CGI of Leia
7/10
Star Wars
I still love it now, for me it has lost none of the excitement from the first time I watched it.
OK some of the lines are cheesy and some of the acting is not good but I don't care, the story is excellent.
The love triangle between Solo , Luke and Leia works well.
Alex Guinness and Ford both excellent.
It has everything you could possibly want: action, romance, cool creatures, quotable dialogue, midgets in bear suits, a great score
8/10
The Empire Strike Back
For me this is Sci-Fi at its best.
Everything that is needed to make a sci-fi classic is here: intense and dramatic battles, memorable dialogs & quotes, superb acting, and an excellent story.
Harrison Ford was even better in this and the chemistry between him and Luke and Leia was clear to see.
The fight scene with Vader and Luke was the best part of the whole film, ending with the classic line given at the end.
Sometimes it is good that the bad guy wins.
Perfect film for me.
10/10
Return of the Jedi
Yet another cracker.
The parts with Luke and the Emperor on the new Death Star when the fleet is trapped and beaten is very intense, and the end fight with Luke and Vader is fantastic.
I watched the touched up one and the lame ending of the original was replaced by a huge victory celebration spanning the entire galaxy, instead of just a small Ewok village, which was the case of the original and that didn't really end a story this big the way it deserved.
10/10
Star Wars The Force Awakens
Loved it, when I watched it the first time and did again, right up there with the original 3 , yes there was plot holes but it was a Star Wars I did not care.
Loved the story line and how it unfolded.
Plenty of good acting , Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver were the standouts for me.
Han and Chewie still bumming around the Galaxy getting in trouble was great.
2 hours of everything you want in a Sci-fi film, not the perfection that was Empire Strikes Back but not far off
9/10
Star Wars : The Last Jedi
Daisy Ridley and John Boyega were excellent Adam Driver has Kylo Ren was very good again.
Did not really enjoy the grumpy bad tempered Luke, I was expecting a wiser and better Luke what we got was more Victor Mildew, his death was more of an after thought, he deserved a better death.
6/10
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
I was not to impressed the first time I saw this, this time I enjoyed it a lot more.
Having said that, it was not the best of films to end a franchise that has spanned 40+ years, there was holes, there was some bad acting, they tried to cram far to much in for the last and some of it just did not work.
Again Daisy, John and Adam were the standout, but there was quite a few very good performances.
Ian McDiarmid return as Palpatine was decent enough.
It was not the best Star Wars, but its far from the worst and then ending was decent enough, I think it was a satisfying ending to an epic sage.
First time round I gave it a 6, this time its gets more.
8/10
The Phantom Menace.
The story had to start somewhere.
It was a poor, best part was the pod race.
Lian Neeson was dreadful has was Ewan McGegor.
Portman was the pick of the bunch, along with Jake Lloyd
5/10
Attack of the Clones.
This was very poor, you have McGregor but this time add Christoper Lee, Samual L Jackson and Hayden Christensen , you have 4 really bad performances.
Portman and Jake again saved the film, along with Ian Mc Diarmid has Palatine.
2/10
Revenge of the Sith.
Best of the Trilogy and by someway, but still had its huge faults, I have the high ground and the lest said about "where is Padme?" and "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" from Vader?! the better.
Anakin's turn to the dark side should have been better, but his transformation in to Darth Vader was good.
The the fights between Yoda and Palapatine and Anakin and Obi-Wan were good.
6/10
Solo
enjoyed the story of Han and Chewie getting together and how Han won the Falcon.
It was not a classic, but it is not the worst, its very watchable.
5/10
Rogue One
Decent film, it was back to the original Star wars.
Liked the way they interrogated in to a New Hope. Felicity Jones was top notch, in fact all the acting was excellent, one down side was the creepy CGI of Leia
7/10
Star Wars
I still love it now, for me it has lost none of the excitement from the first time I watched it.
OK some of the lines are cheesy and some of the acting is not good but I don't care, the story is excellent.
The love triangle between Solo , Luke and Leia works well.
Alex Guinness and Ford both excellent.
It has everything you could possibly want: action, romance, cool creatures, quotable dialogue, midgets in bear suits, a great score
8/10
The Empire Strike Back
For me this is Sci-Fi at its best.
Everything that is needed to make a sci-fi classic is here: intense and dramatic battles, memorable dialogs & quotes, superb acting, and an excellent story.
Harrison Ford was even better in this and the chemistry between him and Luke and Leia was clear to see.
The fight scene with Vader and Luke was the best part of the whole film, ending with the classic line given at the end.
Sometimes it is good that the bad guy wins.
Perfect film for me.
10/10
Return of the Jedi
Yet another cracker.
The parts with Luke and the Emperor on the new Death Star when the fleet is trapped and beaten is very intense, and the end fight with Luke and Vader is fantastic.
I watched the touched up one and the lame ending of the original was replaced by a huge victory celebration spanning the entire galaxy, instead of just a small Ewok village, which was the case of the original and that didn't really end a story this big the way it deserved.
10/10
Star Wars The Force Awakens
Loved it, when I watched it the first time and did again, right up there with the original 3 , yes there was plot holes but it was a Star Wars I did not care.
Loved the story line and how it unfolded.
Plenty of good acting , Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver were the standouts for me.
Han and Chewie still bumming around the Galaxy getting in trouble was great.
2 hours of everything you want in a Sci-fi film, not the perfection that was Empire Strikes Back but not far off
9/10
Star Wars : The Last Jedi
Daisy Ridley and John Boyega were excellent Adam Driver has Kylo Ren was very good again.
Did not really enjoy the grumpy bad tempered Luke, I was expecting a wiser and better Luke what we got was more Victor Mildew, his death was more of an after thought, he deserved a better death.
6/10
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
I was not to impressed the first time I saw this, this time I enjoyed it a lot more.
Having said that, it was not the best of films to end a franchise that has spanned 40+ years, there was holes, there was some bad acting, they tried to cram far to much in for the last and some of it just did not work.
Again Daisy, John and Adam were the standout, but there was quite a few very good performances.
Ian McDiarmid return as Palpatine was decent enough.
It was not the best Star Wars, but its far from the worst and then ending was decent enough, I think it was a satisfying ending to an epic sage.
First time round I gave it a 6, this time its gets more.
8/10
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The original Star Wars only got an 8?
yeah fair point, I enjoyed Rise of Skywalker on a par with the original, thought it deserved the same 8.
Is that where they have horses in spaceship?
I had a conversation with a doctor friend of mine on the 4th, and we were commiserating that Star Wars universe used to be something we'd obsess over, and now it's so filled with mediocrity that we can't even be bothered to check the newer stuff. I fortunately saw the first Star Wars when I was very young, just the right age.
Phantom Menace 2
Attack of the Clones 4
Revenge of the Sith 5
A New Hope 10
The Empire Strikes Back 10
The Return of the Jedi 6
The Force Awakens 8
The Last Jedi 3
The Rise Of Skywalker 4
Rogue One 9
Solo 3
Godfather 2
Coppola gives us a critique of hollow bourgeois family clap-trap. The rise of American 20th century capital with it’s reshaping of old traditions into new wealth is side by side with the 70’s stagnating and individualistic future.
As much a horror film as a gangster flick. Also correctly pro Fidel Castro. Masterpiece.
10/10
Coppola gives us a critique of hollow bourgeois family clap-trap. The rise of American 20th century capital with it’s reshaping of old traditions into new wealth is side by side with the 70’s stagnating and individualistic future.
As much a horror film as a gangster flick. Also correctly pro Fidel Castro. Masterpiece.
10/10
I agree with almost everything you’ve said, and your ratings. Delighted to see a 9 for Rogue One, which was fecking brilliant. Add Andor to the mix, which was another 9/10.
Maybe only disagreement is The Last Jedi. O thought that took the series in a direction that could’ve been really interesting, if the last film had brought it home. But it didn’t. At all. I hated the stuff on the Gambling planet, but some of the other stuff in it was quite good. More like a 6 for me. Otherwise agree on it all.
I saw the first Star Wars when I was 13, loved it saw it 3 times in the first week it was released at The Mayfair in Whitefield.
I have watch most of the new stuff, Andor is brilliant 9/10 very close to a 10 , The Mandalorian, first 2 seasons also 9/10 3rd was not as good 7/10 , Obi-Wan Kenobi I thought was very good 8/10,
The Book of Boba Fett also very good 8/10.
Scores for the films are not a million miles apart, A New Hope yeah there is a case for higher than an 8, but not a 10 , Return of the Jedi is better than a 6.
Rise of Skywalker only a 4, harsh I think.
Yeah it is, when watching, I thought brilliant, cant jam a horse like a speeder, but now thinking more about it, its daft
Rise of Skywalker got the pan because I felt the makers of that film didn't even understand what their mission was. I can't imagine you or I or anyone who was (at one point in the distant past) passionate about Star Wars creating that story. Return of the Jedi made me feel like I'd been pranked, the fecking Ewoks would remain the worst things in the Star Wars extended universe until Jar Jar and Young Anakin came along. Space teddy bears. Carrie Fisher was totally strung out in that film too and looked 10 years older than she was.
Of the TV stuff, I watched The Mandalorian (first season very good), Book of Boba Fett (dreadful). These two competing Mandalorian shows seemed to be operating from different mythologies. Didn't see Andor or Obi-Wan Kenobi. Watched some of Star Wars Clone Wars with the lad. Better than a lot of the live action stuff.
I think the thing that's missing in all of these now is the sense of awe and wonder. My mind was blown wide open when I saw the first Star Wars, all these new technologies, ships, alien worlds, droids, evil knights in black armor. It was amazing. Then Young Annie took over and everything got dumbed down. Compare and contrast with the new Dune movies: there are all kinds of ships and tech they don't even bother to explain, they just show you something that looks dope. The Star Wars Universe went back to the Tatooine well a few too many times, and its whole aesthetic.