Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

The end - A documentary by Nicola Collins whose father Les Falco was/is a notorious gangster in London's east end. Basically a set of interviews with a number of gangsters of differing ages it looks at why they got into the business, how they felt, and where the journey has taken them rather than what they did as clearly most of the things would get them in all sorts of trouble. It isn't groundbreaking and it doesn't solve any social problems but it is a very thought provoking piece, put together well on a very small budget with interesting characters and an insight into a world most of us only ever see in Guy Ritchie films.

7.5/10 - definitely worth seeing.
 
Harry Potter - man, that hurt. Took one for the wife there. So tedious, went nowhere, no action, way overlong. 4/10

Knowing - good idea for a movie, dull execution, bad philosophising, silly mishmash of the religious and the alien, downer all the way through. 4/10

W - about as expected. Treated Bush as a bit of a dick rather than ask serious questions about a bit of a dick could make it to President in the first place. Missed the target a bit. 6/10

Frost/Nixon - entertaining and intelligent. Good performances, good script. 7.5/10
 
Crips and Bloods: Made in America. Not a particularly revelatory documentary even for someone who knows little about LA gang warfare and the direction is sporadic. But it has a number of insightful interviewees, that make it an interesting watch. 7/10

Hellboy 2. Really enjoyed this film. Great effects and characters and the story is strong. The first film was fairly good but this was a much better film than the previous Hellboy and the Blade film Del Toro directed. 8/10

Religulous Enjoyable documentary that takes a lighthearted look at the negatives of religion. I was expecting it to be a lot more sneery than it was. And it's jovial approach was a nice change from the patronising and humourless attacks by the fundamentalist atheists like Dawkins and co. 7/10
 
Did a long helpful review of the new Ice Age film, which I posted first in the wrong place, so here it is. Spoilered it because as I said, it is long.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Suffice to say that I did not enter the cinema expecting too much. I have an orange contract, I was in town with my girlfriend, and so as usually naturally progresses on a wednesday, we went to see the film for £5 for the both of us. There were other options, but removing the films we'd seen from that list, it did not look too clever and therefore we decided to mingle with the kiddiewinks (in a non sexually abusive fashion, I hasten to add) and feast our eyes on the mediocre-ly entertaining film that is, Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Now my natural history isn't the sharpest, but I struggled to understand what any creatures from the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods respectively would be found doing in a mammallian ice age, but I put these particular feelings aside as I slipped on the 3d glasses and settled down.

All in all, the film is OK. Nothing awful, nothing even along the lines of threatening to be a quality film, it's just something that you'd do if you had a fiver and 90 minutes to spare. Which brings me conveniently onto my next point - its length. I think this may be quite possibly the best length for a film. Ever. Anything more than this and you'd start to think "God this really is a bit shit isn't it?" and anything less and you'd probably think "God that really was shit wasn't it?" but at an hour and a half, it just seems to work, explicably.

On to the main meat of the film. The 'humour' in it was much better than I was expecting, much more prime time evening comedy than your bog standard CBBC stuff, and there was plenty of stuff there that only adults/extremely intelligent baby would understand and indeed appreciate. This film, compared to its predecessors relies much less upon visual aspects for its humour, and more on wordplay and intrigue, which sat well with me, seeing as I considerably increasing the average age in the cinema up at least a couple of years.

As for the plot, it was the standard 'A' gets into quite a predicament, 'B' and 'C' go and help 'A', 'Z' happens to them and everything ends up pretty much where it started. In fact, I'm struggling to think of a single thing that changes from beginning to end. Hmm...err....oh, there was 'X'. Large segments of the plot were increasingly incoherent, as is usually the case with films like these, and the characters are true to form in the sense that they make huge decisions and do outrageously dangerous things for no apparent reason, but I quickly forgave this as some of the 3d effects were superb. The film also sees a happy ending to its famous sub-plot, though it is ultimately too brief and as the film finishes, so does the elated feeling of warmth inside as things go back to normal. Ring any bells?

This third installment of the Ice Age franchise also sees a whole host of new characters, the most high profile of the lot being voiced by Britain's very own Simon Pegg, and what a brilliant job he does. This is an important point though - the quality of the 'acting' is really what keeps this film alive, and adds a new dimension to each well thought-out character.

So overall, the film is entertaining enough to be looked at once, though I daresay there'd be something better to see at the cinema unless you really have rinsed it dry. Any children under 8 would love the film, as their critical faculties would not have developed the "boring arsehole" mode yet, and any adults tagging along with them should be pleasantly surprised, I know I was. All in all, it's a perfect Orange Wednesdays film. You didn't want to see it, but you're not really that sad that you did.

I'll give it 5/10
 
Please only use the spoiler feature for the parts of a review that are actually spoilers. If any.
 
The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford - I thought it was a gem of a movie. The pacing, the dialogue, stunning cinematography, great score, the narration and the performances - oh man the performances - I had heard that Cassey Affleck was good in this movie, but I wasn't expecting THIS. Without a doubt, one of the finer performances in recent times. All his expressions and mannerisms seem so genuine. Brad Pitt is good too, albeit a lil' wooden, I didn't see the charm that Jesse James was reknown for. Sam Rockwell was great as well. I think it takes a kind of person to appreciate this movie. I loved it, What did everyone else who has seen this think about it?
 
The_Red_Hope said:
The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford - I thought it was a gem of a movie. The pacing, the dialogue, stunning cinematography, great score, the narration and the performances - oh man the performances - I had heard that Cassey Affleck was good in this movie, but I wasn't expecting THIS. Without a doubt, one of the finer performances in recent times. All his expressions and mannerisms seem so genuine. Brad Pitt is good too, albeit a lil' wooden, I didn't see the charm that Jesse James was reknown for. Sam Rockwell was great as well. I think it takes a kind of person to appreciate this movie. I loved it, What did everyone else who has seen this think about it?
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Pretty much the most boring film ever made. I sat around waiting for something to happen and then by the time the 3 hours was up I realized the story was shit anyway. All the great cinematography in the world couldn't make me watch that pile of drivel again. I imagine Benjamin Button to be pretty similar so I'm not going to watch that either.
 
The_Red_Hope said:
The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford - I thought it was a gem of a movie. The pacing, the dialogue, stunning cinematography, great score, the narration and the performances - oh man the performances - I had heard that Cassey Affleck was good in this movie, but I wasn't expecting THIS. Without a doubt, one of the finer performances in recent times. All his expressions and mannerisms seem so genuine. Brad Pitt is good too, albeit a lil' wooden, I didn't see the charm that Jesse James was reknown for. Sam Rockwell was great as well. I think it takes a kind of person to appreciate this movie. I loved it, What did everyone else who has seen this think about it?
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Fully agree. Thought it was fantastic as well. I didn't quite like the nebbishy narrator though. Took some of the sand out of it.
 
mexos said:
I'm watching, To kill a mockingbird, so far so great.
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Superb. If you haven't tried the book, you'd be the better for it.

Caught "2010" at the hotel again the other day. Great book that a movie couldn't match. Still a good watch. I get a bit soppy at the part when he has to leave HAL.

Saw "All Quiet on the Western Front" for about the 50th time. Absolutely perfect movie. Can't say enough about it. Only movie I've liked better than the book.
 
(500) Days of Summer. I really liked it. A love story that's not quite a love story(it tells you that from the beginning). Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel play their roles very well. It may not be for everyone though.
 
88 Minutes - A like it in Chessy wicker man remake way - 6/10
Surveillance - Good little twisty movie - 7/10
Dragonball Evolution - Crap - 3/10
 
The Chaser

Really good film. Perhaps one or two plot holes and I thought the ending could and perhaps should have been darker but very well acted and directed and a riveting storyline so can't complain. 8/10

For example though, why was the little girl attacked? Who did it? And surely they could have worked it so the serial killer had stitched him up at the end and pinned the murders on him? Although tbf I haven't really thought it through, maybe there's a reason for that.
 
1tw.jpg



ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST​


Classic film, saw it again the other day in the cinema.

Sergio Leone on top form. Alright it's all a bit camp at times, but the guy's control is incredible, the way he gets you working at his pace.

Four great, great characters played brilliantly by Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale (who if you're male and straight will virtually give you a blood-clot), and Henry Fonda playing superbly against type.

Fantastic, elemental story - when near the end you have a character say, "It ain't about the land, the money or the woman no more" and then fight a duel to the death, you know you're doing something right.

Quality music and all. It's the nuts.


ouatitw04.jpg

Uuhrgle.
 
I think... I tore... my sack...

Speaking of which, I just watched There's Something About Mary, one of my favourite films, and didn't find it that funny. Is it possible that all the times I saw it before I was scoobied off my shnozzle, or have I just seen it too many times?
 
Plechazunga said:
I think... I tore... my sack...

Speaking of which, I just watched There's Something About Mary, one of my favourite films, and didn't find it funny. Is it possible that all the times I saw it before I was scoobied off my shnozzle, or have I just seen it too many times?
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I loved it and all. You've probably seen it too many times. Then again, tastes change.
 
Martyrs 3/10

Pointless, tedious crap. Lots of blood and torture, but little else. There seems to be a lot of debate about the end of the film and what it means. I can't see why - the premise of the film is so ridiculous it's amazing anyone cares.
 
Plechazunga said:
onceuponatime2.jpg

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST​


Classic film, saw it again the other day in the cinema.

Sergio Leone on top form. Alright it's all a bit camp at times, but the guy's control is incredible, the way he gets you working at his pace.

Four great, great characters played brilliantly by Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale (who if you're male and straight will virtually give you a blood-clot), and Henry Fonda playing superbly against type.

Fantastic, elemental story - when near the end you have a character say, "It ain't about the land, the money or the woman no more" and then fight a duel to the death, you know you're doing something right.

Quality music and all. It's the nuts.


ouatitw04.jpg

Uuhrgle.
Click to expand...
Fantastic movie indeed.
 
Plechazunga said:
I think... I tore... my sack...

Speaking of which, I just watched There's Something About Mary, one of my favourite films, and didn't find it that funny. Is it possible that all the times I saw it before I was scoobied off my shnozzle, or have I just seen it too many times?
Click to expand...

You must have seen it too many times. It is often the little asides that crack me up now - like when he is being taken to the ambulance after the zipper accident and the the retarded brother is running behind the gurney shouting "he was masterbating" and when he catches a sight on him years later in Miami he just says "Frank and beans, frank and beans".

The fake sagging tits still amuses me in a very juvenile way as well.

I think you need to get pissed and watch it again.
 
Stolen Kisses

The second, or possibly third, of Truffaut's Doinel films, set in 1968 during the student riots. This time Doinel's been discharged from the army and attempting to hold down a job, trying his hand at being a nightwatchman, a TV repairman and a private detective. I'm always a bit apprehensive about watching great directors' work because quite often the deeper meaning flies straight over my head. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be one. Just a straightforward coming of age farce with a young character bumbling through life and love.

It was a bit disjointed at times but frequently amusing and featured some truly impressive tracking shots which probably would have been groundbreaking at the time. A good study in how clever techniques can be used to further a good story rather than taking over it.

7.5
 
The Front

Woody Allen film set during the McCarthy era, in which the central character acts as go-between front for three blacklisted TV writers, submitting their scripts and pretending he wrote them himself.

Basically any time you've got Woody Allen in a movie you're onto a winner and he doesn't disappoint in this one. Furthermore, it's just beautifully written. It's got all the typical screwball-type one liners and exchanges but it's also a great human story, managing to deal with theme's like love, depression and the changes in the Woody Allen character's moral values without descending into mawkishness.

And while we're posting pics of birds from films, here's Andrea Marcovicci

225324299.jpg


8.5/10
 
Funny People. Waaaaaaaaaaay too long for its own good. Apatow's other movies were each about 2 hours, but they never really seemed like it. At times it was painfully obvious how long it was, especially the third act. Learn how to edit a movie down, Mr. Apatow. Overall it was funny, but not as funny as his other movies.
 
Mel, your bird looks like Ivan Lendl, she's nothing on Claudia C.

Wibble said:
You must have seen it too many times. It is often the little asides that crack me up now - like when he is being taken to the ambulance after the zipper accident and the the retarded brother is running behind the gurney shouting "he was masterbating" and when he catches a sight on him years later in Miami he just says "Frank and beans, frank and beans".

The fake sagging tits still amuses me in a very juvenile way as well.

I think you need to get pissed and watch it again.
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I think it was also cos I was watching it with my missus, who was also reading a book about Afghan women setting themselves on fire, and her sister, who wasn't finding it that funny. I'd massively hyped it up, and was feeling that pressure when people aren't into something you've oversold them.

The "He was masturbating" bit is one of my favourites too, and the whole tangent when he picks up the hitch-hiker is brilliant.
 
Plechazunga said:
Mel, your bird looks like Ivan Lendl, she's nothing on Claudia C.



I think it was also cos I was watching it with my missus, who was also reading a book about Afghan women setting themselves on fire, and her sister, who wasn't finding it that funny. I'd massively hyped it up, and was feeling that pressure when people aren't into something you've oversold them.

The "He was masturbating" bit is one of my favourites too, and the whole tangent when he picks up the hitch-hiker is brilliant.
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The whole hitch-hiker scene was one of the sharpest bits of scripting in a comedy ever. It must have taken a great deal of time to get the conversation right where he thought he was admitting to picking up a few hitch-hikers over the years and the police thought he was confessing to serial murder. Brilliant.
 
Funny People 6/10 Not really that funny, and long as fecking shit for a supposed comedy
 
Plechazunga said:
1tw.jpg



ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST​


Classic film, saw it again the other day in the cinema.

Sergio Leone on top form. Alright it's all a bit camp at times, but the guy's control is incredible, the way he gets you working at his pace.

Four great, great characters played brilliantly by Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale (who if you're male and straight will virtually give you a blood-clot), and Henry Fonda playing superbly against type.

Fantastic, elemental story - when near the end you have a character say, "It ain't about the land, the money or the woman no more" and then fight a duel to the death, you know you're doing something right.

Quality music and all. It's the nuts.


ouatitw04.jpg

Uuhrgle.
Click to expand...




Morricone is a genius.
 
Just saw Blackhawk Down again on the telly. Still a quality action movie despite being 8 years old now, although some of the dialogue is a bit cheesy. 7.5
 
Seen a few films in the last few days on telly and such.

Be Kind Rewind is an awful, awful film. The plot is terrible, Jack Black isn't funny and rarely has been for yonks, and I'm sad that Danny Glover was even involved with this shite. It tries to be kind of wacky funny but it just doesn't work. Turned it off halfway through. 3/10

Quantum Of Solace was also a bit pants. The plot is one of the worst I've ever seen for a Bond and the ending is rubbish. Bond eventually gets information out of Greene, but do we the viewer find out what he knows? feck no. Most of the fight scenes involve some sort of action going on while a camera swoops around it giving you no clue whatsoever of what is going on. 5/10

Quarantine is a decent horror flick. Not many jumpy moments but made a good watch. Is good when the chaos unravels and I'd shit myself put in some of the situations. 7/10

Had never seen Equilibrium before so gave it a watch the other day. Wasn't really sure what to make of it, it wasn't brilliant. Reminded me a lot of 1984 and I liked the concept, but there was something about it that I can't pinpoint that didn't do it for me. Fichtner should have been given a bigger role, good actor that bloke.
 
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