Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Jesus' Son - Alison Maclean

Super interested in this as it's based on the collection of short stories by Denis Johnson who I'm a big fan of, and it didn't disappoint. A dark comedy that follows in a dream like way the whacky adventures of a druggie loser through the lives and situations in small town America as fecked up as he is, with occasional stops in New York.

For an indie film it had some pretty big small characters such as Jack Black, Dennis Hopper and Holly Hunter. An infinitely creative and unique story and you end up as if you've just been on a bender yourself. A bit too long, though, and Holly Hunter seems poorly employed.

Very funny in its own psychedelic, twisted way.

Something I noticed about Jack Black. He seems fine in these comedy vehicles for mass consumption, but when he's in an edgy indie movie he seems out of his league. Weighs it down with all his exaggerated hijinks.

I loved this film.

9 cocks up
 
Nobby style said:
Jesus' Son - Alison Maclean

Super interested in this as it's based on the collection of short stories by Denis Johnson who I'm a big fan of, and it didn't disappoint. A dark comedy that follows in a dream like way the whacky adventures of a druggie loser through the lives and situations in small town America as fecked up as he is, with occasional stops in New York.

For an indie film it had some pretty big small characters such as Jack Black, Dennis Hopper and Holly Hunter. An infinitely creative and unique story and you end up as if you've just been on a bender yourself. A bit too long, though, and Holly Hunter seems poorly employed.

Very funny in its own psychedelic, twisted way.

Something I noticed about Jack Black. He seems fine in these comedy vehicles for mass consumption, but when he's in an edgy indie movie he seems out of his league. Weighs it down with all his exaggerated hijinks.

I loved this film.

9 cocks up
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So did I.

Totally random choice at the DVD rental joint but spent most of the film laughing my arse off. Really random and quirky but in a good way (and I usually find quirky films annoying)

Only thing I'd disagree with was the point about Jack Black. I thought he was great. Possibly helped that I didn't know who the hell he was when I watched it and wasn't familiar with any of his previous work.

Cracking performance from Bily Cruddup too. Again, the first time I'd seen him in a movie but you could tell he was destined for big things.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
So did I.


Only thing I'd disagree with was the point about Jack Black. I thought he was great. Possibly helped that I didn't know who the hell he was when I watched it and wasn't familiar with any of his previous work.
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I see what you mean about if you had never seen Black before. He just seems so Hollywood-ized by now and his schtick so reoccurring that for me it kind of tainted my view of his work in this film (Although the bunny litter scene was genius). Imo, he tries too hard, and it seems more negatively noticeable in an Indie film like this. Whereas Hopper and Holly Hunter seemed to effortlessly blend right in. My take, that's all.
 
Jack Black is funny in Bob Roberts. In fact, that's simply an excellent film all round with an amazing cast. Well worth watching anytime there's an election going on.
 
Army of Shadows - For being a film made in 1969 it looked amazing, whoever was responsible for the transfer did a hell of a job. It was re-released in 2006 after having been shunned at the time of it's release for it's pro-De Gaulle views.The resistance fighters in it never seemed to do much fighting though and were always close to being captured and killed, which I think sort of was the point of the film, that state of mind. The dolphin headed lead character was a bit boring and I'd rather they had focused more on Cassel senior's character who was more interesting. His part could definitely have been written a bit better. Le Samourai aside I think Melville's films are watchable but a bit dated as thrillers go and this was also the case for this one unfortunately.

True Romance - Reasonably entertaining, a pretty fecking stupid story that is sort of carried by the excellent supporting cast (Oldman, Hopper, Walken, Gandolfini, Pitt. Not Michael Rapaport though who is as annoying and obnoxious as he is in everything, and he really is in fecking everything!).
 
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Sex and Lucia

Great storytelling. Very well made. Good acting. Good characters, and arguably good character development. At times borderline pornographic, for brief moments actually pornographic, though it never goes overboard and there is no sex for the sake of sex.

8/10, I highly recommend watching it.
 
R.Nilsson7 said:
True Romance - Reasonably entertaining, a pretty fecking stupid story that is sort of carried by the excellent supporting cast (Oldman, Hopper, Walken, Gandolfini, Pitt. Not Michael Rapaport though who is as annoying and obnoxious as he is in everything, and he really is in fecking everything!).
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Is there a more overrated movie than this? What crap.

B-b-but Quentin wrote it.

The Fooey Fighters of Cinema.
 
Mr.Nobody

Can't really quite explain what the movie actually is. But I will tell you this, this movie has some of the best storytelling through direction, brilliant music, amazing screenplay and does really make you think because the story of the movie is just unreal. A visual masterclass for anybody who loves art and who cherishes storytelling as an art. Jared Leto is in this movie.

This movie makes you think and you need to pay close attention to every single frame to appreciate it. Tthe thought put behind making this movie shows through every frame. I really haven't posted my opinions on movies here but I would seriously recommend this to everybody on the caf. Visual artistry.

My favourite movie ever and the best I've seen yet.

10/10.
 
Last Tango in Paris a.k.a 50 Shades of Butter - I think it had some greatly shot sequences and some good psychodrama early on but I'm not really sure what was the point of all the vulgarities in the end. Much of the film felt very real which might be why the actors distanced themselves from the film afterwards, as if it all got a bit out of hand. Much of Brando's dialogues felt improvised and the girl didn't seem to act most of the time and looked as if she genuinely was infatuated and also scared of Brando at times, which would be pretty fair tbf.
 
The Amazing Spiderman - 7/10

Movie was crawling at the start but redeemed itself with the special effects and fight scenes.
 
As long as the new Spiderman film doesn't include a scene where the song Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head is featured then it should be decent. That song has been involved in two of the most nauseating, ludicrous, ill-advised sequences in cinema history. First inprinted in my mind forever when Paul Newman fools around on a bicycle in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and then later in Spiderman 2 when Peter Parker strolls down the street to movie maker effects.
 
R.Nilsson7 said:
Last Tango in Paris a.k.a 50 Shades of Butter - I think it had some greatly shot sequences and some good psychodrama early on but I'm not really sure what was the point of all the vulgarities in the end. Much of the film felt very real which might be why the actors distanced themselves from the film afterwards, as if it all got a bit out of hand. Much of Brando's dialogues felt improvised and the girl didn't seem to act most of the time and looked as if she genuinely was infatuated and also scared of Brando at times, which would be pretty fair tbf.
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Maria Schneider, who recently died, always said she was too young for the experience of working in Last Tango in Paris, and that her role and a manipulative Bertolucci had sort of permanently left her fecked up. Always felt this movie was a classic example of feeling like you're a changed person after seeing it. Like walking into the movie theater as one person, and leaving as another. Speaking of Brando's improvisation, the whole butter/cut your fingernails scene, one of the most famous (or infamous) scenes ever in cinema, was supposedly made up by Brando at the spur of the moment. Still rate Last Tango as the "deepest" cinematic impression I've ever experienced.
 
Nobby style said:
Maria Schneider, who recently died, always said she was too young for the experience of working in Last Tango in Paris, and that her role and a manipulative Bertolucci had sort of permanently left her fecked up. Always felt this movie was a classic example of feeling like you're a changed person after seeing it. Like walking into the movie theater as one person, and leaving as another. Speaking of Brando's improvisation, the whole butter/cut your fingernails scene, one of the most famous (or infamous) scenes ever in cinema, was supposedly made up by Brando at the spur of the moment. Still rate Last Tango as the "deepest" cinematic impression I've ever experienced.
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I kept thinking that Jean-Pierre Leaud's character was some sort of projection of how Bertolucci was like during the filming, which most likely wasn't an intentional thing at the time. You probably had to do some manipulating to get Brando to perform though, the acting he does when he's by his wife's corpse ranks as one of the best bit of acting he's ever done. I definitely think the movie had something, very Bergman-esque and at the same time visually striking with a distinct mood, and I haven't really been able to get it off my mind yet. Somehow it felt like it could have been have executed better though. The sex in it isn't as shocking now but must have been groundbreaking at the time of it's release.
 
R.Nilsson7 said:
I kept thinking that Jean-Pierre Leaud's character was some sort of projection of how Bertolucci was like during the filming, which most likely wasn't an intentional thing at the time. You probably had to do some manipulating to get Brando to perform though, the acting he does when he's by his wife's corpse ranks as one of the best bit of acting he's ever done. I definitely think the movie had something, very Bergman-esque and at the same time visually striking with a distinct mood, and I haven't really been able to get it off my mind yet. Somehow it felt like it could have been have executed better though. The sex in it isn't as shocking now but must have been groundbreaking at the time of it's release.
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I can still remember as a kid the massive controversy swirling around both Last Tango in Paris and Clockwork Orange around the same times. Both were banned in some countries, I believe Bertolucci was even given a jail sentence in Italy, yet at the same time, in France there were huge lines at movie theaters to see it. Seems like a joke by today's standards, but it was a big deal back then. Good luck getting the movie out of your mind, it's been creepily stuck in mine for about 30 years now, ha ha.
 
Yesterday I watched two very different movies that I both liked a lot:
The Raid: Redemption (one of the best martial art movies I've ever watched, some amazing stunts and fights)
Puss in boots (I'm not the type to watch these animation movies but this one in particular cracked me up.Potté is an amazingly funny character and I loved the dance scenes)
 
I was watching a documentary on martial art in movies and The Raid was mentioned several times.I wanted to see the beast with my own eyes and boy I wasn't disappointed
 
Pure action, something often promised and rarely delivered. I can't remember a martial arts film as entertaining as this, not without having other drawbacks.
 
I loved The Raid... just non-stop action/entertainment from start to finish.

Also constantly comes up with inventive ways of killing people, which is something that whole-heartidly approve of.
 
I used to love martial movies when I was younger specially the Jackie Chan types where no one would get killed and the movie would be funny.As I've grown up I completely stopped watching them but now I think I'm really gonna go back at them.The "darker", more serious version of martial art movies.
 
R.Nilsson7 said:
As long as the new Spiderman film doesn't include a scene where the song Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head is featured then it should be decent. That song has been involved in two of the most nauseating, ludicrous, ill-advised sequences in cinema history. First inprinted in my mind forever when Paul Newman fools around on a bicycle in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and then later in Spiderman 2 when Peter Parker strolls down the street to movie maker effects.
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Was aptly placed in that Leslie Nielsen movie. Not sure which one but think it was with him as Dick Steele.
 
Thanks to you lads, I just watched The Raid. It's brilliant. The fight scenes are incredible, and I have never really been a fan of martial arts films. I see the director has another film called Merantau. Any of you seen that?
 
A quick search tells me no one has mentioned Taken in this thread, which I find hard to believe, unless they just didn't have the adequate superlatives in their vocabulary to do it justice, so I'll give it a go, with as few spoilers as possible, but just in case:

When people ask me what my favourite film is, I can't give a definitive answer, because for me, Inception, though very different, is every bit as good as Taken. There is no 1 & 2, they're just both top of my list.

For me, and I imagine everyone else, you get attached to characters, and unlike TV shows where you get numerous episodes to do that, you have about 15 minutes in a film, and Taken does it brilliantly. I watched Children of Men recently and I wasn't impressed, but that's in part down to the fact that I couldn't care less what happened to any of the characters. It didn't give enough of a backstory for me to actually care, whereas you know instantly that Bryan Mills loves his daughter more than life. He pays great attention to detail, and when he's looking at the karaoke machine, the owner says "If I charged you a dollar for every time you looked at this machine, you'd already own it." Because it needs to be perfect for his daughter.

He then gets upstaged at Kim's birthday party by the stepfather, and you can see how much it saddens him.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON IN:
Then of course, after numerous warnings expressing caution and doubt at Kim going abroad, she goes missing. There's no 'I told you so' about it, it's as if he expected it, then of course, comes one of the great movie lines of all time: "I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you." Neeson's delivery of that line is chilling.

Then of course we see him go about his business using his aforementioned skills to track down 'Marko'. Two absolutely incredible parts come very quickly. We see him scanning the room for Marko, checking out their appearances. He thinks he's got him, and gets him to repeat the "Good luck". "You don't remember me do you? I told you I'd find you." It is on!

Then follows the 'torture' scene. The very scene that made me almost not watch it. My dad was about to watch it, and I saw on the DVD cover that it contained a scene of torture, and that sort of thing just isn't for me. Seeing James Bond have his bollocks smashed to bits turned my stomach. But it's alright, he's electrocuting the guy who took his daughter, so who cares? Then comes another brilliant line: "I believe you... but it's not going to save you." Cold-hearted, ruthless killer.

There are many little nuances for the rest of the film as it goes about its business, until the inevitable happens, and he finds Kim, and they all live happily ever after.

10/10, faultless film. I can't believe that there are people out there who still haven't seen it and if you are one of those, read the first part of the spoiler, and do it.
 
I really enjoyed Taken. Sure it's no art-fest that everybody involved gobbles each other over how awesome and new and different and artistic they are, but as a piece of cinema for the masses it's pretty damn good and does exactly what it says on the tin. It engaged me from start to finish, I cared about what happened, the action was great and it's one of the few films I would gladly watch again.

Any of you who watch films to 'critique' cinematography, soundtrack and acting performances are just frustrated wannabe filmmakers / actors who obviously aren't good enough to actually do it, and as such aren't really in a position to criticise others for enjoying a film that was made for them to do just that.
 
Red State - Bit of a departure for Kevin Smith, and I have to admit I didn't realise it was his film until the credits rolled at the end. Was a slow starter for me, but once it got going it threw up enough surprises and often enough to be enjoyable. 7/10
 
Nobby style said:
Maria Schneider, who recently died, always said she was too young for the experience of working in Last Tango in Paris, and that her role and a manipulative Bertolucci had sort of permanently left her fecked up. Always felt this movie was a classic example of feeling like you're a changed person after seeing it. Like walking into the movie theater as one person, and leaving as another. Speaking of Brando's improvisation, the whole butter/cut your fingernails scene, one of the most famous (or infamous) scenes ever in cinema, was supposedly made up by Brando at the spur of the moment. Still rate Last Tango as the "deepest" cinematic impression I've ever experienced.
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It left me feeling a bit odd at the end and I still can't work out if I enjoyed it or not.
 
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