Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Batman Begins - 9/10

I just watched it again, and I think it's well better than The Dark Knight, which was good, but way over-hyped for reasons which had nothing to do with the movie. I think a Batman movie should be more about Batman, and less about other characters. It was very well acted, the cinematography was brilliant to say the least, and the story, and music, were very good too.

I would give it a 10 but for Katie Holmes, who I felt was average at best.
 
Paper Man 10/10

Jeff Daniels is simply immaculate. Absolutely brilliant movie about a forlorn writer befriending a young girl near Montauk, NY. Daniels has an imaginary friend named Captain Excellence. Terrific movie, I was welling up at the end.
 
Summer with Monika
Romantic tragedy about the love between a free-spirited young woman and a young man, at first the passion of youth takes them over but once they settle down the relationship slowly falls apart. Think Revolutionary Road set in Sweden.8/10

The Virgin Spring
After a young girl is violently raped and killed her parents exact revenge on her murderers. It’s a brutal little film about vengeance and faith in God.7.5/10

Through a Glass Darkly
First film of the ‘Faith trilogy’, a woman recently released from a mental hospital with an incurable disease has visions of God and slowly loses touch with her family and reality.7.5/10

Winter Light
Second film in the trilogy, a pastor of a church loses faith in God and questions his existence. 8/10

Bergman is just awesome...
 
Toy Story 3 Finally got round to watching this, it was pretty good. Don't think it was quite up there with the first two, but a nice way to end the trilogy for sure. 8/10
 
Seems like many people are really into Tarkovsky. I need to watch some films of his. Is Solyaris a good start?

The Ghost Writer
I quite liked this one. Intense and well written story. Looked good, sounded good and I liked all the characters.

The Girl Who Lept Through Time
Got the tip from here to get my Manga fix. Interesting story. Maybe not as good as films like Paprika or Ghost in the Shell, but I very much enjoyed it.

The Mesrine..err duology?
Great French films about the life of the legendary Robber Jacques Mesrine played by Vincent Cassel. Loved it.

DouLou said:
Summer with Monika
Romantic tragedy about the love between a free-spirited young woman and a young man, at first the passion of youth takes them over but once they settle down the relationship slowly falls apart. Think Revolutionary Road set in Sweden.8/10

The Virgin Spring
After a young girl is violently raped and killed her parents exact revenge on her murderers. It’s a brutal little film about vengeance and faith in God.7.5/10

Through a Glass Darkly
First film of the ‘Faith trilogy’, a woman recently released from a mental hospital with an incurable disease has visions of God and slowly loses touch with her family and reality.7.5/10

Winter Light
Second film in the trilogy, a pastor of a church loses faith in God and questions his existence. 8/10

Bergman is just awesome...
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Through a Glass Darkly is the best Bergman film I've seen. I've grown up with a close family member who suffered from schizophrenia and I think Bergman really gets the mental illness bits perfectly right in his films. Loved the character interactions, great dialogue.

My other two favourites of his are Wild Strawberries and Persona. Haven't seen Summer with Monika yet. The Wolf Hour is a great horror story too.

Personally I couldn't really get into Winter Light. Maybe my attention span isn't long enough, but it was too slow paced and for me it felt quite dated. Maybe it's because I feel that the whole God question is answered.


By the way I really like this thread. It's like a big film club. The best place to discuss films I've found on the net. Many people with good taste in films who aren't pretentious assholes either.
 
Solyaris is a good start, just be sure that you are in the right frame of mind before you watch it.

I didn't really get Through a Glass Darkly, she was suffering from schizophrenia but not much really happened and then it pretty much ended. There's a lot of possible incest in his movies isn't there, it's sort of apparent in that one, Cries and Whispers, The Silence.
 
I think Ivan's Childhood is the best starting point for Tarkovsky, perhaps the most accessible film but a stunning piece of work. It's his first feature film. I'd say watch everything in order from there and see him develop as a director, he was truly incredible. There were a few shorter films prior to Ivan's Childhood as well but I'd say that's the best place to begin.
 
Iron Stove said:
Through a Glass Darkly is the best Bergman film I've seen. I've grown up with a close family member who suffered from schizophrenia and I think Bergman really gets the mental illness bits perfectly right in his films. Loved the character interactions, great dialogue.

My other two favourites of his are Wild Strawberries and Persona. Haven't seen Summer with Monika yet. The Wolf Hour is a great horror story too.

Personally I couldn't really get into Winter Light. Maybe my attention span isn't long enough, but it was too slow paced and for me it felt quite dated. Maybe it's because I feel that the whole God question is answered.


By the way I really like this thread. It's like a big film club. The best place to discuss films I've found on the net. Many people with good taste in films who aren't pretentious assholes either.
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I've got a few more Bergmans to see but Persona is definitely my favourite so far... even ahead of his more popular Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries.

Winter Light, like most of his stuff.. just hooked me. It's kind of unexplainable, but every film has the ability draw you in. Every piece of dialogue, the themes, the way they are shot etc.. Winter Light did seem to repeat a little of Through a Glass Darkly with the 'God is love' lines though.

I think my least favourite so far is probably The Silence. Great in its own right, but felt a bit hollow, although that's maybe because the two characters were both seemingly devoid of any faith. It didn't have the themes of God/Religion that the other two films have which is why it seemed a bit strange that it's considered part of a 'Faith trilogy', but maybe it was a look at two opposite aspects of a personality absent of any faith.

For Tarkovsky, I'd recommend Solyaris as a start, then Stalker. Maybe save The Mirror till last since it's probably the most abstract of them all.
 
Greenberg Really liked this a lot but then i'm a sucker for these kind of introspectivey films. Ben Stiller is very good in the lead and his character was someone I felt quite a lot of empathy towards which was quite scary as he'd just left a mental institute.

Mallrats & Chasing Amy Mallrats was great and Jason Lee was almost as funny in both films than his footballing counterpart but what lets Chasing Amy down in comparison is Ben fecking Affleck, how on earth would anyone think that he should get a lead role in any film ever is beyond me, his "acting" consists of varying how gormless he looks, close your fecking mouth you knob. Oh and it was obvious that a lesbian would fall in love with him as with that facial hair he looked like a talking cnut.

Ladykillers The original Ealing Studios version. It's a fantastic film, great script, Alec Guiness is brilliant, basically awesome.
 
Has anyone seen Burning Bright? And if so, is it as awesome as it's plot description makes it sound?

A thriller centered on a young woman and her autistic little brother who are trapped in a house with a ravenous tiger during a hurricane.
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feck it, I think I might have to watch it.
 
Sunshine Cleaning - 7/10
A short, enjoyable movie about a family trying to make it through reasonable difficult times. Sisters Amy Adams and Emily Blunt start cleaning post crime messes to earn some money. I'm not going to pick on the bad stuff since I wasnt expecting much and the movie was actually better than what I expected. All I'll say is, Emily Blunt - way cool.
 
I saw Waltz With Bashir last night. A very different kind of film to what I usually watch but I liked it. Not sure what rating I'd give but I'd certainly recommend it. I'd maybe give it an 8/10.

Seen a few films lately.

Man From Earth - I loved this. Fascinating story and very original, I thought. 8/10.

The Lives of Others - Fantastic film, I thought. My mate who I watched it with weren't as impressed as me but I was gripped through the whole film. The mood, the suspense, the acting - all top notch. 9/10

Clash of The Titans - Lots of action, lots of nonsense. 4/10.
 
Man From Earth was actually quite dull and predictable I thought.

Centurion- film about the legendary ninth legion of Rome which mysteriously disappeared in Britain sometime around 110 AD. I think. I can't remember, it's been a while since I read up on that period of Roman history. Anyway, the films focuses more on a small group of Roman soldiers stuck behind enemy lines and battling to get home. It's alright. And I say that as a biased lover of almost all fantasy/historical/sword and sandal action films. it suffers from the scripting and speech being quite formulaic at times. Very similar to films like The Last Legion etc. Olga Kurylenko really should be recognised as one of the most beautiful women on the planet. A solid 6.5/10

Ink- weird. I guess it's main storyline is the struggle between two forces who come to being when we sleep and impact on our dreams/nightmares. Though really there is a whole lot more that can be taken from this film if you're happy enough to look for it. Very existential, but even so has some quite clever action scenes (though it's best not to put as much thought into these as the rest of the film). Some of the cinematography and shots were quite beautiful as well, and it switches between American Beauty style silent allegory to Matrixesque action scenes quite well. Though does neither as well as the aforementioned, obviously. I actually really liked it, but I think it's a film that falls firmly into that group you will either love or hate, so for that reason- 7/10
 
She was lovely in Centurion TC. Kicking ass with a spear and dressing up as the legendary Scottish hero, Mel Gibson.

Centurion-Trailer.jpg
 
So, I was totally wrong about when Scott Pilgrim comes out in Ireland. It comes out on the 25th, the same day as the UK, which is so sensible it was pretty dumb that I didn't know. Anyway, I rallied some mates to go see it this afternoon, and rather than cancel those plans entirely, we went to go see...

The Sorceror's Apprentice, which was everything you could expect a Disney Nicholas Cage family action-adventure film to be. Cage was Bland!Cage instead of Mad!Cage, the lead dude was annoying and was trying way too hard. It also featured some guy who seemed to be doing a really bad Russell Brand impression, Alfred Molina, who seems to be firmly on the thespian-hams-up-shit-film scrapheap at this stage, some boring hot chick, and dancing mops. Why did I do this to myself? 4/10
 
Right I just saw Solyaris.. and what can I say, just an absolutely incredible film. The other one's he did, are they in the same class?

Btw, cheers for the tips guys! I'm definitely watching more of his films.
 
Iron Stove said:
Right I just saw Solyaris.. and what can I say, just an absolutely incredible film. The other one's he did, are they in the same class?

Btw, cheers for the tips guys! I'm definitely watching more of his films.
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Offret!
 
Eat Pray Love... besides the wretched bounty hunter this pile of tripe is the worst movie i have ever seen this year. Julie looked great but the film is just another wooo is me tale of a rich white hot women having to find herself. Kramer vs Kramer handled this much better.

cinematography 9/10

movie
2/10
 
Just watched Elizabethtown, a really really poor film. Being a big fan of Almost Famous I expected a lot better from Crowe. 3/10
 
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht - A very captivating film that just flows on in a calm way, the score was very haunting. It was the sort of horror I expected from Herzog, atmospheric and visually great.

I also watched La Strada...enjoyable, depressing. The girl was just adorable.
 
Accidents Happen Lovely cinematography at times, a good script and some great performances make this worth a watch. The black humor works well particularly at the beginning. Sadly the film fades our rather than finishes leaving you a bit didappointed which is a shame. 7/10

The Joneses Not a bad idea and the main actors are pretty good, Dukovney in particular but the theme is blatantly and crassly put across, the cinematic equivalent at speaking very loudly and slowly to someone who isn't deaf or stupid, that by the time the screaminlgy obvious "point" arrives you have long ceased to care. Demi Moore has also been botoxed to the point where she no longer has an expression. 5/10

A Solitary Man A great performance from Michael Douglas but that apart I;d give this a miss. The script isn't funny enough for a comedy drama noe dramatic enough for an out and out drama. Plainly written by (and for) misogynists who manage to make almost all the characters both male and female unlikeable.3/10
 
I watched the Joneses last night, I actually quite liked. I think the point was supposed to be blatantly obvious from the beginning, the film makers never tried to hide it. It was a novel idea, well executed by the cast I thought. For a smallish, independent film where in reality not a huge amount was happening, it kept you watching on the chemistry of the 'family' alone, and the small character twists. I would say it's worth a watch and give it about 6.5

I was going to watch Solitary Man but opted for Killers instead. Not an Ashton Kutcher fan so wasn't expecting much, but it's actually pretty good. It's Mr and Mrs Smith part 2 for all intents and purposes. Only replace Mrs Smith with a typical Katherine Heigel character. Kutcher and Heigel were good together, the latter especially, and it's just an easy to watch comedy/action film with a few laughs along the way. I was surprised to be honest, as I really wasn't expecting much but it's solid all the way through and seems happy enough to take the piss out of itself without actually providing you with any truly hilarious moments. Another 6.5


Also watched Hunter Prey which is a small independent sci-fi movie about a humanoid alien hunting another humanoid alien across a desert planet. The hunted alien is the last of it's race and 'extremely dangerous'. The storyline itself is good, with a few twists that you might not have seen coming (or expected given the nature of the movie). The ending is quite clever and the film runs at a nice pace throughout. It's obviously low budget but you don't really notice it, or care. Hard to score as, for the materials they worked with, the cast did extremely well. But in the grand scheme of things and in comparison to some of the huge hollywood blockbusters, it pales. Good one for sci-fi buffs though, so 5.5
 
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