film noir-esque dialogue in Match Point? Bullshit.
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
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I thought the film had a real film-noir feel to it, good tragic comedy, loved the setting and the mood and the change of direction at the end was wicked.
You don't see it? I meant in reference to the way Scarlette and Jonathan interact.
Take their first meeting, the dialogue is all sexual innuendo and has that crisp coolness. Scarlette is playing the temptress despite being engaged.
Then again in the cafe as Jonathans trying to seduce her when she is a bit tipsy. 'You are aware of the effect you have on men?' 'No-ones ever asked for their money back' etc It's all classic dialogue you'd see in a film noir.
Plus, the film overall shared many themes with the genre. Scarlette is a femme fatale type character, pulling him away from his wife. The film has greed, lust,
murder
yeah, I have to agree on that one. Still, it has nor the mood or the right setting to pull it off imo.
Since Film Noir is hard to actually define you could call Match Point Film Noir if you like. It has most of the features you associate with Film Noir although for me it is too Woody Allen to be thought of this way.
Although I tend to think of it as irritating shit with 2 main actors who do brilliant impressions of lumps of wood.
Although I tend to think of it as irritating shit with 2 main actors who do brilliant impressions of lumps of wood.
no, you can't.
Blade Runner could be classed as a Noir despite being a Sci Fi. But yeah Film Noir is hard to define but for me it's about a certain mood. Also helps if the film's a crime-drama with a detective voice over - even I can pick those.
it can be a comedy as well, "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" had a real "noir" mood although in this instance it was a mock noir for comedic effect.
Film noir? More like film blanc(mange).
I watched Burn After Reading t'other night, was OK. Funny in parts, I liked the bit with Chad and Ozzie in the car and their telephone conversation, but other than that it was pretty average. It went downhill very fast when
Decent watch, but I won't be going back to it any time soon. If ever. And Spoony rates this above No Country for Old Men?
6/10
Chad was killed
Decent watch, but I won't be going back to it any time soon. If ever. And Spoony rates this above No Country for Old Men?
6/10
I also re-watched Gladiator. Hadn't seen it in years. Not as good as I remembered it to be but still enjoyable nonetheless. Thought Crowe was excellent in it. Didn't like Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus though, thought he was poor.
7.5/10
7.5/10
Oh man as in wow or oh man as in crap.
Women in Trouble. It's got a pretty decent cast. Carla Cugino, Sloan from Entourage, Josh Brolin, and it says Joseph Gordon Levitt in the credits, but I didn't see him at all. It's an awful film though. It's uninteresting women having uninteresting dialogue about uninteresting conversations. Complete waste of time.
Oh man as in I want my £8.90 back you thieving cnuts.
I've watched a few Bergman movies in the last couple of days. Det Sjunde Inseglet, Smultronstället, Persona, and they were all great. I had never seen any of his movies before and it was quite funny how superior they were to every Swedish movie i've seen before. They really need to start showing his movies more on tv here.
Solomon Kane - worst film ever made?
Why did I bother?
Why did I bother?
Really? Shit i had high hopes for it.
I heard it was getting baddish reviews, but i was hoping like its brother Conan it was just a niche thing.
Felt it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Slumdog Millionaire - Very distorted screenplay. The love story wasn't done well. When the characters were kids, the movie was worthwhile. But the whole love-story, gameshow angle ruined it. Dunno why it was that successful.
Milk - Good acting by Penn, as always. Felt it was made with an agenda rather than an unbiased factual account of the events. Like an enacted version of a Michael Moore documentary, if you may.
Let the right one in - It is a Swedish film based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist. In simple terms it is a vampire film, but it is so much more than that. The acting by the two 12 year old lead characters is incredible. Here is a link to the review by Empire as they summarise it better than I can:
Review of Let The Right One In
It is one of the best films I have seen in a long time and would definitely recommend it.
Review of Let The Right One In
It is one of the best films I have seen in a long time and would definitely recommend it.
I just saw the original Ladykillers. Hilarious stuff. Alec Guiness was brilliant.
Watched Prince Caspian(narnia movies) today. Have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Very well made and well directed which I didn't expect even as a fan of the childrens books. A very well told story with some good CGI and a genuinely compelling childrens story.
7/10
7/10
Daybreakers
Decent storyline, but very amateuristic direction and the movie just felt extremely disoriented, transitions between scenes were poorly done and overall felt confusing. Couldn't help but notice a slight resemblance to Equilibrium, but nowhere near the level of the old cult classic.
edit: Willem Dafoe was still awesome though
Decent storyline, but very amateuristic direction and the movie just felt extremely disoriented, transitions between scenes were poorly done and overall felt confusing. Couldn't help but notice a slight resemblance to Equilibrium, but nowhere near the level of the old cult classic.
edit: Willem Dafoe was still awesome though
Any movie that has it's critical advert blurbs flash up in under a second so you can't see who said them is bound to be shit..in fact any film called Solomon Kane is bound to be shit
Just seen Antichrist. I found it a thrilling experience.
I thought it was largely pornographic bollocks. It may pretend to be about pain and grief but it's no Don't Look Now. No this is base cinema at it's best. It's a visceral horror roller coaster. It's use and depictions of nature are startling
The fox sequences and the bludgeoning of the bird scene are incredible
genital mutilation (I did look away).
I've always found convincing, the argument that Von Trier's work is misogynist. He loves his women in peril and loves to treat them like shit. But in Antichrist he just goes crazy (or rather he becomes extremely calculating). It seemed to me as if he was basically sticking 2 fingers up. It's a film by a guy fully aware of his reputation and taking it to an extreme.
I thought the concept of the film was excellent, and could have huge potential. Unfortunately though, I thought it was poorly executed.
It was an ok film all in all, but wouldn't give it higher than 6/10
Vampires have exploded onto the scene in recent years, with Twilight and True Blood making an absolute fortune.
30 Days of Night
I think you will have to go to some lengths to beat 30 Days of Night in the vampire franchise. I'm not a big fan of Josh Hartnett, but i really enjoyed the film.
Vampires shouldn't be seen as mysterious, emo guys that young teenage girls should lust after, they should be the blood thirsty, violently aggressive, ridiculously hard to kill monsters you'd expect to find in the depths of hell.
The vampires in 30 Days of Night fit this mould pretty well.
That said, I prefer lycans to vampires anyway...
One of the best dark comedies ever made. It's better in black and white I thought, one of those you can rewatch.
Eraserhead ?/10
Tried watching this 15 years ago and turned it off after about 10 minutes, completely baffled.
I've been meaning to watch it properly ever since but never found myself in the right mood. Luckily, I had a baby last week that turned out to be a spastic chicken so I decided the time was right for a rewatch.
It's pure effing madness, basically. It's definitely a difficult watch but at least it made makes you feel something. Confusion, mainly... some repulsion... a bit of boredom now and again.
Not sure what score I'd give it (hence the "?/10"). It's more like a bad dream than a film. Glad it's over but it was weirdly absorbing.
Death Race (remake) 0/10
If a shit could do a shit, it would be like this film.
Tried watching this 15 years ago and turned it off after about 10 minutes, completely baffled.
I've been meaning to watch it properly ever since but never found myself in the right mood. Luckily, I had a baby last week that turned out to be a spastic chicken so I decided the time was right for a rewatch.
It's pure effing madness, basically. It's definitely a difficult watch but at least it made makes you feel something. Confusion, mainly... some repulsion... a bit of boredom now and again.
Not sure what score I'd give it (hence the "?/10"). It's more like a bad dream than a film. Glad it's over but it was weirdly absorbing.
Death Race (remake) 0/10
If a shit could do a shit, it would be like this film.
10 is the answer. One of the most finely crafted films.
ArmouredGreat cast but a truly boring run of the mill heist film. If you are really bored and/or really easily pleased then have a watch.3/10
Phone Booth
8/10
Well made short thriller that after the first 10 minutes or so never leaves the one location, a phone box in downtown New York. Colin Farrell and Forest Whittaker are both excellent in their roles and the film genuinely held my interest (which is quite rare for me). Kiefer Sutherland is excellent as the sniper and very reminiscent of Hal in 2001 A Space Odyssey I thought, with the same insane air of menace. All in all a well watchable, well acted film.
8/10
Well made short thriller that after the first 10 minutes or so never leaves the one location, a phone box in downtown New York. Colin Farrell and Forest Whittaker are both excellent in their roles and the film genuinely held my interest (which is quite rare for me). Kiefer Sutherland is excellent as the sniper and very reminiscent of Hal in 2001 A Space Odyssey I thought, with the same insane air of menace. All in all a well watchable, well acted film.
A few oddities for me. Why was the sniper carrying a gun case at end of the film when he'd left his gun in the room ? How did he get out of a building crawling with cops with said gun case ? How did the sniper manage to get the pizza delivery guy off the street and up to the room and kill him if all the events in the film occur in real time and he never hangs up the phone ? What is the point of establishing a plan to deceive the police into thinking it was someone else and then visiting Stu in the ambulance at the end of the film ? He knows that this is going to give away the fact that he is still alive once Stu is able to inform the police.
TD's top 3 road movies.
3. Two-Lane Blacktop
A time capsule film of U.S. Route 66 during the pre-Interstate Highway era notable for its stark footage and minimal dialogue. This 1971 film stars James Taylor (yes that James Taylor), Warren Oates, Laurie Bird (who went on to become Art Garfunkel's missus before tragically committing suicide at the age of 25) and the Beach Boy's Dennis Wilson but the cars are the real stars of the movie, a '55 Chevy 150 in battleship-grey primer and a stunning well oiled, muscled 1970 Pontiac GTO.
The film's premise involves two drag racers (played by Taylor and Wilson) who live on the road in their 1955 Chevy and drift from town to town, making their only income challenging local residents to races. The movie follows them driving east on Route 66 from Needles, California. They pick up a hitchhiker in Flagstaff, Arizona (played by Bird). In New Mexico, they encounter another drag racing drifter (played by Oates, driving an "Orbit Orange" 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge) and challenge him to a race for pinks. The characters are never identified by name in the movie, instead they are named "The Driver," "The Mechanic," "GTO," and "The Girl" which just adds to the film's charm.
Unlike other road movies of the time (such as "Easy Rider", and "Vanishing Point"), Two-Lane Blacktop does not rely heavily on music, nor was a soundtrack album released. The music featured in the film covers many genres, including Rock, Folk, Blues, Country, Bluegrass, and R&B. James Taylor and Dennis Wilson did not contribute any music. There are, however, some notable tracks featured in the film, including "Moonlight Drive" by The Doors, the traditional folk tune "Stealin'" performed by Arlo Guthrie, and the original version of "Me and Bobby McGee" performed by the song's author Kris Kristofferson.
The sense of space in the film is incredible. It is immaculately crafted, funny and quite beautiful, resonant with a lingering mood of loss and loneliness. Not a single frame in the film is wasted, even the small touches, the languid tension while refueling at a back-country gas station or the piercing sound of an ignition buzzer have their own intricate worth. It is a movie of achingly eloquent landscapes and absurdly inert characters, it starts off as a narrative but gradually grows into something much more abstract, it's unsettling but also quite stunning.
2. Vanishing Point
Another cult film made even more pleasurable by featuring a naked chick on a motorbike. Vanishing Point is a 1971 movie starring Barry Newman, Cleavon Little as DJ 'Super Soul' and a white 1970 Dodge Challenger.
Barry Newman plays a car delivery driver named Kowalski who works for Argo's Car Delivery Service in Denver, Colorado and is assigned to deliver the Dodge Challenger to San Francisco. Flashbacks which appear throughout the movie hint that he has lost everything he has ever wanted. He is a Vietnam veteran, a former law enforcement officer, former race car driver, and former motorcycle racer. He lost his job as a cop after being framed in a drug bust, perhaps in retaliation for him preventing his partner from raping a young girl.
It's basically a story built around a car chase but the speed is real, the noise is real and the soundtrack is superb ! A blind DJ at KOW Radio known as Super Soul who calls Kowalski "the last American hero" listens to the police radio frequencies and helps Kowalski to evade the ever increasing heat from the US police force aswell as spinning some top top tunes.
Vanishing Point is a unique requiem for a quickly dying age, a now all-but-disappeared one of truly open roads, endless speed for the joy of speed's sake, of big, solid no-nonsense muscle cars, of taking radical chances, of living on the edge in a colourful world of endless possibility. The film is seasoned with a large number and wide variety of all sorts of unusual characters but as with all great road movies it's all about the car, the desert, the music and the road.
1. Easy Rider
The godfather of all road movies, 1969's Easy Rider was a truly groundbreaking film back in it's day. It tells the story of two bikers (played by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper) who travel through the American South and Southwest with the aim of achieving freedom.
Fonda, who also helped write the film with Hopper, did a superb job of adding into the mix Jack Nicholson's excellent character of George Hanson, a hard-drinking lawyer. The part of Hanson was a lucky break for Nicholson, the role had in fact been written for actor Rip Torn, who was a close friend of screen writer Terry Southern, but Torn withdrew from the project after a bitter argument with director Dennis Hopper, during which the two men almost came to blows. The American Dream has always been about freedom, but like George Hanson says, ''it's one thing to talk about being free, but something else entirely actually being it.''
Nik, nik, nik, feck, feck, feck ......... Indians.
A landmark counterculture film and a touchstone for a generation that captured the national imagination, Easy Rider explores the societal landscape, issues, and tensions in the United States during the 1960s, such as the rise and fall of the hippie movement, drug use, and communal lifestyle. The film is noted for its use of real drugs in its portrayal of marijuana and LSD.
The movie's soundtrack features The Band, The Byrds, The Electric Prunes, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Steppenwolf amongst the seminal 'Don't Bogart That Joint My Friend Pass It Over To Me'. When Crosby, Stills and Nash viewed a rough cut of the film, they assured Hopper that they could not do any better than he already had. Bob Dylan was asked to contribute music, but was reluctant to use his own recording of "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)", so a version performed by Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn was used instead. Also, instead of writing an entirely new song for the film, Dylan simply wrote out the first verse of “Ballad of Easy Rider” and told the filmmakers, “Give this to McGuinn, he’ll know what to do with it.” McGuinn completed the song and the song completed the film.
Easy Rider is a flawed masterpiece, a film that is not perfect but real. By the end it achieves something so great it overcomes its' flaws. It's also one hell of a trip.
..........................................................................................
More here .. https://www.redcafe.net/f27/great-road-movies-287260/
3. Two-Lane Blacktop
A time capsule film of U.S. Route 66 during the pre-Interstate Highway era notable for its stark footage and minimal dialogue. This 1971 film stars James Taylor (yes that James Taylor), Warren Oates, Laurie Bird (who went on to become Art Garfunkel's missus before tragically committing suicide at the age of 25) and the Beach Boy's Dennis Wilson but the cars are the real stars of the movie, a '55 Chevy 150 in battleship-grey primer and a stunning well oiled, muscled 1970 Pontiac GTO.
The film's premise involves two drag racers (played by Taylor and Wilson) who live on the road in their 1955 Chevy and drift from town to town, making their only income challenging local residents to races. The movie follows them driving east on Route 66 from Needles, California. They pick up a hitchhiker in Flagstaff, Arizona (played by Bird). In New Mexico, they encounter another drag racing drifter (played by Oates, driving an "Orbit Orange" 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge) and challenge him to a race for pinks. The characters are never identified by name in the movie, instead they are named "The Driver," "The Mechanic," "GTO," and "The Girl" which just adds to the film's charm.
Unlike other road movies of the time (such as "Easy Rider", and "Vanishing Point"), Two-Lane Blacktop does not rely heavily on music, nor was a soundtrack album released. The music featured in the film covers many genres, including Rock, Folk, Blues, Country, Bluegrass, and R&B. James Taylor and Dennis Wilson did not contribute any music. There are, however, some notable tracks featured in the film, including "Moonlight Drive" by The Doors, the traditional folk tune "Stealin'" performed by Arlo Guthrie, and the original version of "Me and Bobby McGee" performed by the song's author Kris Kristofferson.
The sense of space in the film is incredible. It is immaculately crafted, funny and quite beautiful, resonant with a lingering mood of loss and loneliness. Not a single frame in the film is wasted, even the small touches, the languid tension while refueling at a back-country gas station or the piercing sound of an ignition buzzer have their own intricate worth. It is a movie of achingly eloquent landscapes and absurdly inert characters, it starts off as a narrative but gradually grows into something much more abstract, it's unsettling but also quite stunning.
2. Vanishing Point
Another cult film made even more pleasurable by featuring a naked chick on a motorbike. Vanishing Point is a 1971 movie starring Barry Newman, Cleavon Little as DJ 'Super Soul' and a white 1970 Dodge Challenger.
Barry Newman plays a car delivery driver named Kowalski who works for Argo's Car Delivery Service in Denver, Colorado and is assigned to deliver the Dodge Challenger to San Francisco. Flashbacks which appear throughout the movie hint that he has lost everything he has ever wanted. He is a Vietnam veteran, a former law enforcement officer, former race car driver, and former motorcycle racer. He lost his job as a cop after being framed in a drug bust, perhaps in retaliation for him preventing his partner from raping a young girl.
It's basically a story built around a car chase but the speed is real, the noise is real and the soundtrack is superb ! A blind DJ at KOW Radio known as Super Soul who calls Kowalski "the last American hero" listens to the police radio frequencies and helps Kowalski to evade the ever increasing heat from the US police force aswell as spinning some top top tunes.
Vanishing Point is a unique requiem for a quickly dying age, a now all-but-disappeared one of truly open roads, endless speed for the joy of speed's sake, of big, solid no-nonsense muscle cars, of taking radical chances, of living on the edge in a colourful world of endless possibility. The film is seasoned with a large number and wide variety of all sorts of unusual characters but as with all great road movies it's all about the car, the desert, the music and the road.
1. Easy Rider
The godfather of all road movies, 1969's Easy Rider was a truly groundbreaking film back in it's day. It tells the story of two bikers (played by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper) who travel through the American South and Southwest with the aim of achieving freedom.
Fonda, who also helped write the film with Hopper, did a superb job of adding into the mix Jack Nicholson's excellent character of George Hanson, a hard-drinking lawyer. The part of Hanson was a lucky break for Nicholson, the role had in fact been written for actor Rip Torn, who was a close friend of screen writer Terry Southern, but Torn withdrew from the project after a bitter argument with director Dennis Hopper, during which the two men almost came to blows. The American Dream has always been about freedom, but like George Hanson says, ''it's one thing to talk about being free, but something else entirely actually being it.''
Nik, nik, nik, feck, feck, feck ......... Indians.
A landmark counterculture film and a touchstone for a generation that captured the national imagination, Easy Rider explores the societal landscape, issues, and tensions in the United States during the 1960s, such as the rise and fall of the hippie movement, drug use, and communal lifestyle. The film is noted for its use of real drugs in its portrayal of marijuana and LSD.
The movie's soundtrack features The Band, The Byrds, The Electric Prunes, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Steppenwolf amongst the seminal 'Don't Bogart That Joint My Friend Pass It Over To Me'. When Crosby, Stills and Nash viewed a rough cut of the film, they assured Hopper that they could not do any better than he already had. Bob Dylan was asked to contribute music, but was reluctant to use his own recording of "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)", so a version performed by Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn was used instead. Also, instead of writing an entirely new song for the film, Dylan simply wrote out the first verse of “Ballad of Easy Rider” and told the filmmakers, “Give this to McGuinn, he’ll know what to do with it.” McGuinn completed the song and the song completed the film.
Easy Rider is a flawed masterpiece, a film that is not perfect but real. By the end it achieves something so great it overcomes its' flaws. It's also one hell of a trip.
..........................................................................................
More here .. https://www.redcafe.net/f27/great-road-movies-287260/
The Hurt Locker..
I was a little drunk, but it was quite good, I think.
I was a little drunk, but it was quite good, I think.
Baraka - Amazing. Aside from the obviously stunning cinematography, I thought some of the scenes were very powerful. Sweat shops and slave labour to chicks(living creatures) turned into commodity(I'm sure most people would be put off from eating meat - suppose it's better not to know). Showing our greed and blatant disrespect for life was poignant stuff. But yeah it was very good. . .even better than normal as consequence of being half stoned!
!!
I watched Terminator Salvation today, bland is the word for it, it wasn't bad but wasn't good, the sort of film that makes for a good viewing once but not again 5.5/10
The only way you can accept it's existence is if you pretend it was made by artificial intelligence.
The Crazies - Seen it all before really. Had a few creative moments - The carwash scene was a good 'un. But for the most part is was standard zombie horror stuff. 6/10