Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Hanna - 5/10

It completely fell apart after the opening 30mins and jumped in and out of different genres badly. The plot was so thin it was almost non-existent and there were so many gaping plot holes it was difficult to keep watching as the film was completely pointless. The "comedy" moments weren't funny and the action sequences were dull. It gets a higher mark because Saoirse Ronan was excellent, the cinematography was great and the soundtrack worked well in places even if it seemed like a rip off of Run Lola Run.
 
Spoony Youngblood said:
What did you two gayers think of In Bruges? I loved it...even when it transcended into the absurdity. Thought the characters were fanastic, all kinda of quirky but well rounded. And the dialogue was fantastic. Almost like a Kafa novella crossed with a black comedy.
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Was my favorite movie trip that year. Bought it later on DVD and loved it just as much.
 
Mockney said:
Hall Pass

Written by a bunch of people who thought they had a good idea for a romantic comedy, but then realised a third of the way in they didn't...unfortunately a good third of the movie after the audience realised it.
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If it was intended to he a romcom then they really missed because I saw it and assumed it was their normal gross out humor and it never occured to me it might be something else. A pale shadow of TISAM even though a few bits were very funny. In fact it would have improved the film significantly if they had merely put the 10mins of decent stuff back to back and lost the rest of the film.
 
Wibble said:
If it was intended to he a romcom then they really missed because I saw it and assumed it was their normal gross out humor and it never occured to me it might be something else. A pale shadow of TISAM even though a few bits were very funny. In fact it would have improved the film significantly if they had merely put the 10mins of decent stuff back to back and lost the rest of the film.
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I didn't find any of it very funny tbh Wibbs...I think I chuckled to myself once and that was at the little Stephen Merchant bit at the very end. I thought the acting was shocking, the script was very poor and the entire subject matter misguided and badly thought out...

None of it seemed plausible from "that bunch of people don't look or talk like they'd ever be friends" to "no one would ever act like that" including the now obligatory "look how crazy people are when stoned on weed!!" scene that people who've seemingly never taken any drugs in their lives seem to find hilarious to put in 'gross out humour' films as some kind of daring (but ironically incredibly safe) set piece...it's Ganj you fecking idiots, it doesn't make you spaz out and shit in a golf bunker..have them take LSD or Crystal Meth or don't do it at all....

Conversely, for a film that presumably wanted to be an OTT surreal "don't take it seriously" type caper, they spent a ridiculously long amount of time doing absolutely nothing, like sitting in restaurants having uninteresting conversations, or agonising over their un-realistic, underwritten relationship problems...Then right at the end an actual sequence of events happened, and then it ended.

Actually, on second thoughts, I hated it.
 
The Adjustment Bureau

Didn't read Philip K. Dick's short story but I cannot imagine it being as boring as this adaptation. No character depth, no chemistry between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Strange and empty. 5/10.

Battle Los Angeles

Started watching it four days ago and haven't finished yet. Says it all, probably.

Les petits mouchoirs (Little white lies)

French drama/comedy with Marion Cotillard and Francois Cluzet. A bunch of pretentious, immoral friends and the shit they go through. Disliked the majority of the characters, however, Cluzet is absolutely fantastic. 6/10.
 
I've never really gotten Emily Blunt in anything...She's a good actress, in that she's not a bad actress, but there's nothing really very interesting going on there is there?
 
Mockney said:
None of it seemed plausible from "that bunch of people don't look or talk like they'd ever be friends" to "no one would ever act like that" including the now obligatory "look how crazy people are when stoned on weed!!" scene that people who've seemingly never taken any drugs in their lives seem to find hilarious to put in 'gross out humour' films as some kind of daring (but ironically incredibly safe) set piece...it's Ganj you fecking idiots, it doesn't make you spaz out and shit in a golf bunker..have them take LSD or Crystal Meth or don't do it at all....
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That's probably my biggest pet hate when it comes to films. Grown people acting all wild and crazy/spastic because they smoked a joint.. Immediately ruins a film for me.
 
Yeah it annoys the bollocks off me and all...They did it in an episode of The Inbetweeners once which really pissed me off cos that's supposed to be a show about what young people are like, starring a lot of young people...You'd think someone somewhere along the line would've gone "you know what? this is actually really stupid"...but then I suppose if that was the case Michael Bay would never have gotten anything made...

It's as if they've written what they consider an "edgy" scene to be like.."How about they take drugs? and freak out yeah?..Awesome!!" but then don't have the courage of their convictions to make it any drugs anyone actually freaks out on, in case it's controversial, so they stick with the safe, almost semi-respectable one, and think "well, drugs are drugs"..Or something..

You know that adage about how children's TV makers are clearly all on drugs?...Well they're clearly not. And the people who make party movies have clearly never been to any parties either.
 
Monsters

Watched it again. Loved it. The pace is good, great characters, nice soundtrack and Whitney Able is just special. She simply radiates such loveliness and tranquillity, you just want to be around a woman like this. 8/10
 
BAMSOLA said:
I just finished watching monsters and while I think it was a decent movie iam wondering what alot of the fuss is about as its perfectly good but nothing special.
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It's not a masterpiece but for a low budget sci-fi I do find it a little bit special as the monsters serve only as a background story while the main focus lays in the development of the relationship between the two lead characters. Plus I'm heavily biased because I totally like the girl in the movie.

And:
there is no happy ending.
 
Couple of good ones on sky this past week.
Ca$h, stars Sean Bean as a bad Bastard whose twin brother (also played by him :lol:) robs a bank and chucks the money in the ensuing getaway. The money lands on a dude's car and him and his missus go on a spending spree. Enter Bean. He wants his money. All of it. But they dont have it all. Not to worry, he has a plan...

Rec2 is a Spanish horror: think Resident Evil meets Omen. Pretty enjoyable romp.
 
Spoony Youngblood said:
What did you two gayers think of In Bruges? I loved it...even when it transcended into the absurdity. Thought the characters were fanastic, all kinda of quirky but well rounded. And the dialogue was fantastic. Almost like a Kafa novella crossed with a black comedy.
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It was like a fairytale.
 
Just saw Ip Man or Yip Man, not sure which it is. Based on the legendary kung-fu master.

Pretty good martial arts film set in the WWII era. Nicely choreographed fighting and the film looked great.

..although reading his wikipedia page, there isn't a mention of these heroics against the Japanese. It does say he was a major opium head though.

It's also a bit boring when the protagonist is a complete übermensch throughout a film. There was a bit of struggle about food.. and when offered he wouldn't even take it even when his wife got sick? Not even from his posh brother for some reason? Other than that he mostly just beats the shit out of people without breaking a sweat.

Still, it was entertaining so I'll give it a..

7/10 Will watch the sequel.
 
Over the last few days have watched The A-Team, Due Date, Hot Tub Time Machine and Scott Pilgrim vs the World.

Due Date was fecking rubbish.

In fact, they all were, but I still enjoyed the other 3.
 
Mockney said:
I thought the acting was shocking, the script was very poor and the entire subject matter misguided and badly thought out...
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Agreed, except a few bits were very funny. Maybe I was just in the mood.

None of it seemed plausible from "that bunch of people don't look or talk like they'd ever be friends" to "no one would ever act like that" including the now obligatory "look how crazy people are when stoned on weed!!" scene that people who've seemingly never taken any drugs in their lives seem to find hilarious to put in 'gross out humour' films as some kind of daring (but ironically incredibly safe) set piece...it's Ganj you fecking idiots, it doesn't make you spaz out and shit in a golf bunker..have them take LSD or Crystal Meth or don't do it at all....
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Agreed, except a few bits were very funny. Maybe I was just in the mood. I had had a couple of beers which might have helped.

Conversely, for a film that presumably wanted to be an OTT surreal "don't take it seriously" type caper, they spent a ridiculously long amount of time doing absolutely nothing, like sitting in restaurants having uninteresting conversations, or agonising over their un-realistic, underwritten relationship problems...Then right at the end an actual sequence of events happened, and then it ended.

Actually, on second thoughts, I hated it.
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Agreed (except for the hate bit), except a few bits were very funny. Maybe I was just in the mood. I had had a couple of beers which might have helped. The plot and acting was indeed rubbish ......
 
All of those films are better than Hall Pass Wibbs...

But then maybe I was just in the mood. I had had a couple of beers which might have helped.

:lol:

(that seems like i'm laughing at my own joke, which is actually your joke....i'm not. Well maybe I am, I have had a few beers...)
 
He should have watched Hall Pass as well. And avoided the few bit that were funny (assuming he had been drinking).

With the exception of one scene (where the cops turn up) I can't actually remember much of anything else about the movie. Hmmmm?
 
Limitless. It's alright, however there is a really annoying plot hole that has been bugging me (ignoring the whole implausible main story line, obviously).

So the guy is a genius who makes $1000 on the stock markets on day one, day two he makes $7,500. He then decides this profit making is too slow and decides to borrow money off of an Eastern European gangster who he knows would torture and kill him if he can't pay up.

He borrows $100k.

You what? It makes no sense. Assuming he carried on with a 750% increase in profit he would have hit 100k within a few days, even if his profit mark- up slowed, at the most it would take him a week to earn 100k. There is no reason for him to borrow $100k from a murdering psycho, other than the fact the film wouldn't work without it. Which is just shit writing in all honesty.
 
So my mate gave me a portable hard-drive with tons of movies on it, and I got around to watching How to Train your Dragon - and I have to agree with the sentiments on here, it's a fantastic movie with great visuals! I absolutely loved the relationship between the main character and the dragon, it reminded me of how much I love my dog.
 
Other movies I've watched from this collection are:

Scott Pilgrim vs the World - I enjoyed this one, it's definitely something different. There were a few genuine laugh-out-loud moments (for me, at least) and enjoyed the action scenes too. Cena's style (or his characters) is a little annoying though. Solid movie, definitely worth watching.

Devil - Pretty average in the sense I was never scared throughout the film.

Legend of the Guardians - Nice visuals, a decent movie but nothing special.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (or the Olympians, depending on where you are) - I enjoyed this one simply because I love fantasy movies. Not that it was deep or had a cracking story, but I just wanted to un-plug my brain for a little while and this did the job.

Gulliver's Travels - Light hearted, but pretty crap nonetheless.
 
BAMSOLA said:
Raise The Red Lantern: Was completely blown away by this movie having deliberately read no reviews of it before hand. A Beautifully shot, amazingly well written look at life in 1920’s Japan though the eyes of a 19 year old girl who is sent to become the 4th wife of a powerful Lord. Taking place pretty much entirely within the confines of the Lord’s large estate, this is the kind of movie that stays with you long after it’s finished thanks to excellent performances (especially Gong Li in the central role), a completely absorbing and engaging plot and a shocking conclusion. A real must see for not just foreign movie fans but any fans of good cinema. Exceptional movie.
9.5/10
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Just watched this due to this review. Didn't disappoint. A bit too depressing though for my tastes.
 
SmashedHombre said:
Limitless. It's alright, however there is a really annoying plot hole that has been bugging me (ignoring the whole implausible main story line, obviously).
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I found that the implausible main story line completely contradicted itself ..in a meta way

So it's a film about the limitless potential of the human mind, and all the amazing, limitless things we can do when accessing it's limitless power, and it's called Limitless....And what does our hero do? Something amazing, unique and startling no doubt? Like curing cancer, or AIDS, or world hunger, or the energy crisis, or becoming an astronaut and figuring out the secrets of the universe...he does that right?

No, he becomes a stock broker, a fecking stock broker!.. Then wins back his old girlfriend, gets involved with cartoon gangsters and then becomes President (probably).....I'd call that limited script writers with limited imaginations.
 
Indeed. To quote my own review 4 pages back

High concept Hollywood bollocks with a title that seems more than a little at odds with the finished result. I expected so much more from the premise of a guy able to tap into his brains full potential (yeah I know it's a myth) but no - ....he just makes a lot of money on stocks and gets really bad headaches.

Also, for a man so smart he makes so many retarded decisions that I had to question whether the drug was merely a plecebo.
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Finally got round to watching both Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive.

Terrific films, both of them, both seem to be very similar too from what I can understand.
 
Mockney said:
I found that the implausible main story line completely contradicted itself ..in a meta way

So it's a film about the limitless potential of the human mind, and all the amazing, limitless things we can do when accessing it's limitless power, and it's called Limitless....And what does our hero do? Something amazing, unique and startling no doubt? Like curing cancer, or AIDS, or world hunger, or the energy crisis, or becoming an astronaut and figuring out the secrets of the universe...he does that right?

No, he becomes a stock broker, a fecking stock broker!.. Then wins back his old girlfriend, gets involved with cartoon gangsters and then becomes President (probably).....I'd call that limited script writers with limited imaginations.
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I wondered why during this period of 'limitless' mental capabilities, he did not at any time look inward, surely with this ability he could have meditated and achieved a state of enlightenment. Really disappointing film.
 
RedKaos said:
Finally got round to watching both Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive.

Terrific films, both of them, both seem to be very similar too from what I can understand.
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Great first watching experience but could you watch them again?
 
CircusMonkey said:
I wondered why during this period of 'limitless' mental capabilities, he did not at any time look inward, surely with this ability he could have meditated and achieved a state of enlightenment. Really disappointing film.
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He was also a writer....Wouldn't a writer be a relatively introspective creative type anyway, who came up with interesting concepts, or at least would be desperately trying to. What kind of writer would pack it in as soon as he became creative and become a fecking stock broker!....Unless the people who wrote this film have a deep, burning insatiable desire to actually be stock brokers. In which case, they should do writing a favour and do it.
 
Mihajlovic said:
Great first watching experience but could you watch them again?
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Yes and I look forward to doing so after more or less placing all the loose ends together. Lost Highway did drag on a little but Mulholland drive flew past despite it's lengthy duration.

Though I don't think I can stomach Inland Empire based on what I've read about it, I'm almost fatigued by Lynch's 'dream logic' to the point where it's beginning to seem a little gimmicky and cliched to me.

Just received my Twin Peaks box set, so that should make for a nice change of pace :)
 
Mihajlovic said:
It's not a masterpiece but for a low budget sci-fi I do find it a little bit special as the monsters serve only as a background story while the main focus lays in the development of the relationship between the two lead characters. Plus I'm heavily biased because I totally like the girl in the movie.

And:
there is no happy ending.
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Yeah, I really liked the special effects which i read before hand were done on the directors laptop, which is pretty amazing. I just couldn't really identify with the two central characters and found the male lead really hard to like(the girl is hot which made things easier).

I realise it is essentially a road movie which for me should have lead to more character development and but I don't think the characters really change alot during the journey, nor do we really get much of an insight into what their motivations in life are.

Having said all that its a pefectly good movie and I'll save my vitriol for more deserving targets like The Hangover movies.

Peasplease said:
Just watched this due to this review. Didn't disappoint. A bit too depressing though for my tastes.
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Certainly a sad ending but a really beautiful journey there. Glad it didn't disapoint though.
 
Limitless was bound to be dull. The same Hollywood writers who keep making films about men who become invisible and can then only ever think of a) stealing money from banks and b) looking at women undressing.

Snigger
 
RedKaos said:
Finally got round to watching both Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive.

Terrific films, both of them, both seem to be very similar too from what I can understand.
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Lost Highway is one of the strangest films I've ever watched, got to say that Mulholland Drive is the superior film though.
 
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is dull. One villain(s) apparently sits twiddling his/her/their thumbs throughout 90% of the movie, then appears at the end like "hey guys, we're just here to be annoying and break stuff, lol bye."

Penelope Cruz is dreadful, and Johnny Depp seems bored throughout. His performance was really the only thing that made the third watchable, but here he phones it in. There is basically nothing at all to laugh at.

The film also commits the cardinal sin of moving from dark places to light places every five minutes, so there was constant BURNING OF MY EYES.

It was basically 75% filler. So much pointlessness.
 
Infection let the Invasion begin.

This is by far the worst film I have ever seen.
I was meant to be a scifi /horror film about an government cover up but it was so bad it was funny,the special effect looked like they had been done on an old Amstrad 464 and not very well , the plot was just pants and the acting was worse than you will see in any B movie from the 60's.

0/10
 
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