Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

The Bourne Legacy - 3/10

I'm going to start by admitting that I didn't mind the other Bourne movies. But this one was poor. The plot was, as far as I could tell, completely inexplicable. Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz were pretty dull and Ed Norton must be short of a few quid to have done this. Then they just ended the movie after a high speed chase through Manilla, despite the fact that they seemed to have been chased by every policeman in the city.

A bit rubbish.
 
Behind the Candelabra

Very good biopic of Liberace superbly played by Michael (Cunnilingus) Douglas concentrating on his relationship with Scott Thorson played by Matt Damon who put in a good shift himself. Its amazing how much the world has moved on since the late 70's to mid 80's where the action here is set. Liberace who was the Queen of Gays in his day was totally paranoid about being outed by the newspapers and even successfully sued a newspaper that claimed he was gay, crazy because nobody would bat an eyelid these days. He was a complete control freak who manipulated Thorson into severing all ties with his friends and family. His camp even tried to gag the truth about his death from AIDS. It was interesting seeing this aspect of the film and the ends people back then would go to hide their sexuality, it wasn't that long ago. I'd give it a solid 7/10.

ps I am totally aware that the above post contains many unintended puns, anyone who tries to make an issue of this is as gay as Kylie riding a pink unicorn through Disneyland at Christmas.
 
After Earth

Will Smith an his son are space soldiers but they crash on Earth. They're from Earth but they had to leave because we done fecked up the planet. Earth has gone to shit and baboons, a big feck off bird and a some scary fecker who can only tell where people are by smelling their fear try to kill Smith Jr. Aliens made the scary thing as the perfect human killing machine apparently. A set of eyes wouldn't have gone amiss just in case.

They also all talk in some weird American-English hybrid accent. Space did that I guess.

6/10
 
The Hamiltons

I watched this expecting some blood, gory and horror, and what did I get a crappy vampire film.
Dreadful story, dreadful acting and a really shitty ending, I enjoyed watching Cocktail more.
90 mins of my life that I wont get back.
3/10 and even that is being generous.
 
After Earth - 3/10

Anyone planning to see this shouldn't waste their time, its one of the most boring films I've seen in the cinema. Will Smith is a secondary character and its really about his son who simply can't act, and the times Will Smith is on screen he is a boring, emotionless, humourless robot who literally sits in a the same chair the entire time. The whole thing is so predictable and clichéd.
 
Every single review I have read as singled our Jaden's awful performance. I don't think I've seen such universal condemnation before, it really must be terrible.

In other news, who keeps giving Shyamalan money.
 
Four Lions

Watched this again and I still love it. Very comedic, but not too over the top and the plot has a lot of depth to it which is more apparent in the second viewing as the first viewing is spend getting stitches from laughing. The acting is superb with every character possessing brilliant timing in delivering their lines. It was criminal that this film didnt get the distribution it so deserved. 9/10

Vampire's Kiss

Nic Cage's most eccentric over-the-top performance and one of the highlights of the infamous Nic Cage Losing His Shit video. It's such a hilariously outrageous performance that you cant help but admire it's sheer genius. Enjoyed every minute of, but not sure if it was for the right reasons! 8/10
 
pauldyson1uk said:
The Hamiltons

I watched this expecting some blood, gory and horror, and what did I get a crappy vampire film.
Dreadful story, dreadful acting and a really shitty ending, I enjoyed watching Cocktail more.
90 mins of my life that I wont get back.
3/10 and even that is being generous.
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You should try watching The Thompsons. It's the sequel but it's actually quite a bit better.
 
Archie Leach said:
Every single review I have read as singled our Jaden's awful performance. I don't think I've seen such universal condemnation before, it really must be terrible.

In other news, who keeps giving Shyamalan money.
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It's pretty bad alright, though he does get a bit better as the film goes on. He does a decent job in the most emotional part(s), it's just like he has no idea who to be natural or likeable the rest of the time. The writing has to shoulder some of the blame too, this is a script that managed to suck all the charisma out of his Dad.
 
Dirty Schwein said:
Four Lions

Watched this again and I still love it. Very comedic, but not too over the top and the plot has a lot of depth to it which is more apparent in the second viewing as the first viewing is spend getting stitches from laughing. The acting is superb with every character possessing brilliant timing in delivering their lines. It was criminal that this film didnt get the distribution it so deserved. 9/10

Vampire's Kiss

Nic Cage's most eccentric over-the-top performance and one of the highlights of the infamous Nic Cage Losing His Shit video. It's such a hilariously outrageous performance that you cant help but admire it's sheer genius. Enjoyed every minute of, but not sure if it was for the right reasons! 8/10
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Four Lions is excellent, it's just amazing how they can take such a topic and make it so hilarious.
 
An American Haunting

Not a perfect film but I thought it was very good, based on a true story.
It was well written and well acted.
Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek both excellent, as usual. But the real star is Rachel Hurd-Wood, who plays the haunted girl, she puts in a stunning performance.
Its not the best haunting film you will see, but it is well worth watching.

7/10
 
Fast and Furious 6

Not as good as Fast 5. Tried the hype up the emotional content without success. Takes too long to get into the action and storyline is not that interesting. The race sequences are nice, esp one with the tank. Climax scene is way too long for a runway.

Kinda happy the Japanese guy and his gf died...boring characters. Getting Jason Statham in the last s end as prelude to next movie is slick. Can't wait to see him in action.[\spoiler]

6/10
 
Muffled Funk said:
There is a whole series of them;

I watched them years ago when I was younger on some late night channel. Don't think I'd seen that kind of b-movie gore before, thought it was crazy at the time.
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Yeah I've only seen the first one, quite a few times at this stage. The Troma studios that made the Toxic Avenger series have done loads of similar films, most of them are just as ludicrous.
 
Cheesy said:
I think you're being incredibly harsh on the film here. Don't get me wrong, it had it's flaws in places, but some of your criticism I think is too much to be honest.

Firstly, Gatsby's kind of supposed to be OTT. His house is supposed to be too big and ridiculous, the parties are ridiculous and over the top full of excessive, drunk guests. I haven't seen a modern adaption of Sherlock, but I'm assuming when you say that it's quite restrained and that might work for that; but for me Gatsby has to be over the top in a way. The previous adaptions of it largely failed because they were simply boring; the parties weren't colourful and full of excessive drunks as much as this was. Perhaps it was too much, but it's better for it to be a tad too much instead of not enough.

I can understand why people didn't like the modern music but again I think it worked. The aim of it was to be used in the way jazz was seen back then; at that time it was the new, popular thing, but now it'd be fairly meaningless. The music allows us to kind of experience the parties in the way they would have back then, if that makes sense. I have to admit I didn't like guests dancing to the rhythm of the music, but apart from that I have little complaint with it.

The casting for me was spot on. Maguire might have not been the best for Nick, but I didn't actually mind him and again I think some of the criticism of him here is too much. I don't see what was wrong with the casting for the other roles either. I thought Di Caprio was superb as Gatsby and that's coming from someone who's generally thought he wasn't as good as people said he was before. Mulligan was very good as Daisy and I think Edgerton arguably gave the standout performance as Tom; he brought across the character's horrible arrogance like most do; but he also managed to capture that brutish sense which was described in the novel that many others fail to.

I know plenty who have read the novel and have enjoyed the film like me. If you don't like it fair enough, but I thought some of this was a bit too harsh.
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I think you're right.

Came back here to say I re-watched it and think I might have been a little bit too harsh on the movie. Indeed, as you say, perhaps Gatsby HAS to be OTT, but I don't think to the point of ridiculous, it wouldn't work, I think. I still didn't like the parties.

Actually, I did like the music a lot, regardless of the film, not in relation to it. But you do have a point that they help convey the feeling of the people of the era to us, twenty first century viewers. I think we'll agree to disagree on the cast (although Edgerton was a stand out and Di Caprio was much better than I thought he'd be).

However, there are some things that I still disliked:

-I think this Daisy is not as materialistic, cold and annoying as in the novel and other adaptations, and that she is actually much more in love with Gatsby. That's fine, if Lurhmann wanted to portray her own Daisy, that's fine, but why would that Daisy leave in the end, just like the colder and materialistic Daisy did. I disliked the fact that they (or he, Lurhmann), uses the Daisy that best fits the movie, even if it's not the same.
-Excessive green light reference.
-
Gatsby's death. I thought it wasn't that well delivered

Yeah, I was a bit too harsh with it to be fair.

I still hated it, though.
 
Fruit Cake said:
Fast and Furious 6

Not as good as Fast 5. Tried the hype up the emotional content without success. Takes too long to get into the action and storyline is not that interesting. The race sequences are nice, esp one with the tank. Climax scene is way too long for a runway.

Kinda happy the Japanese guy and his gf died...boring characters. Getting Jason Statham in the last s end as prelude to next movie is slick. Can't wait to see him in action.

6/10
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You should really spoiler that second paragraph.
 
MUFC07 said:
I think you're right.

Came back here to say I re-watched it and think I might have been a little bit too harsh on the movie. Indeed, as you say, perhaps Gatsby HAS to be OTT, but I don't think to the point of ridiculous, it wouldn't work, I think. I still didn't like the parties.

Actually, I did like the music a lot, regardless of the film, not in relation to it. But you do have a point that they help convey the feeling of the people of the era to us, twenty first century viewers. I think we'll agree to disagree on the cast (although Edgerton was a stand out and Di Caprio was much better than I thought he'd be).

However, there are some things that I still disliked:

-I think this Daisy is not as materialistic, cold and annoying as in the novel and other adaptations, and that she is actually much more in love with Gatsby. That's fine, if Lurhmann wanted to portray her own Daisy, that's fine, but why would that Daisy leave in the end, just like the colder and materialistic Daisy did. I disliked the fact that they (or he, Lurhmann), uses the Daisy that best fits the movie, even if it's not the same.
-Excessive green light reference.
-
Gatsby's death. I thought it wasn't that well delivered

Yeah, I was a bit too harsh with it to be fair.

I still hated it, though.
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I thought Daisy was fairly close to being done as well as she could have been done. The problem with other adaptions is that they often go over the top in making her annoying, ie the Robert Redford one made in the 1970's. Yes, she's over the top and ridiculous at times, but there's got to be something about the character that still makes her alluring to Gatsby. Of course her wealth is one of the main parts of that, but there's got to be something more and I thought Mulligan played it well by being over the top but in a much more subtle way.
 
Westworld

Watched it last night for the first time in about 15 years and I thought it was still pretty good, stood the test of time very well.
No special effects were used, just strange camera angles and some scary music, which was not really scary.
Yul Brynner as the out of control gunslinger was really good.
The film is now 40 years old, I think a remake could be really good.

7/10
 
After Earth

Shockingly, this isn't the worst film every made... in fact, it's not that bad at all. If this wasn't directed by Shyamalan, I would be incredibly confused as to why there is such widespread condemnation of this film... but as the fella has a target on his back, well, I suppose the grading is harsher.

That's not to say that this is a great movie or anything, it's pretty average really... there are some pretty good ideas floating around in this film ('ghosting' for one, which is an interesting concept that should have been explored more... as well as his multi-tool thing, which we could have seen more of, some of the shots are really well done (I thought the crash was a highlight) and I really enjoyed the music.

Unfortunately, not enough happens really... the story is there, but I would have expected a bit more peril and suspense in the journey. I think the problem is that Shyamalan isn't an action director (which is evident by the fact that none of the action set pieces are really all that interesting - apart from the fight at the end which is okay) so probably shy's away from that... but considering he can be okay when it comes to suspense, I don't see why he didn't throw more of those moments into the film. Also, Jaden Smith isn't great, but then he is 13/14 or whatever, I think physically he does an okay job, but scenes which require emotion he struggles with... but again, it's not the worst thing in the world.

So yeah, it's average to good I would say. Certainly not terrible. It's a small, simple story that could have been grander.
 
Just watched The Warrior without knowing what it was. Great movie. A bit too unbelievable at times in the sense that the leads get it easy but it helps build the emotional tension in the movie. Its probably one of the best I've seen recently. Its definitely worth a watch or two. 8/10


EDIT: I just found out that the movie isn't well known one and I think this is probably the best fight based movie since the Rocky movies. I highly recommend it for an evening watch with your girlfriend/ wife. I can bet you that you'll earn a few brownie points.
 
As an aside, these are the movies I've seen in the past 3 weeks. If anyone's interested, I can give a tiny write up. But I'm not too good at critiquing.

Beasts of the southern wild: 7/10
End of Watch: 7.5/10
Flight: 4/10 (wtf Denzel?)
Gangs of Wasseypur 1 & 2: 7.5/10
Ted: 5/10
Warrior: 8/10
Your sister's sister: 5/10
Pi: 6.5/10
Moneyball: 6/10
 
Interval Level said:
As an aside, these are the movies I've seen in the past 3 weeks. If anyone's interested, I can give a tiny write up. But I'm not too good at critiquing.

Beasts of the southern wild: 7/10
End of Watch: 7.5/10
Flight: 4/10 (wtf Denzel?)
Gangs of Wasseypur 1 & 2: 7.5/10
Ted: 5/10
Warrior: 8/10
Your sister's sister: 5/10
Pi: 6.5/10
Moneyball: 6/10
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You don't have to be, just put what you think about the film.
 
Keenst said:
Anyone ever seen The Toxic Avenger? Absolutely hilarious.

Not for everyone mind you...
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:lol:

I can't remember if it was TA one or 3, but yeah I saw it and it was fecking amazing.
 
Watching Switch at the moment. Seems like a decent crime thriller, but I can't really tell if Cantona's a good actor or not since it's all in French. Only £1.99 on blu ray in hmv!
 
Interval Level said:
As an aside, these are the movies I've seen in the past 3 weeks. If anyone's interested, I can give a tiny write up. But I'm not too good at critiquing.

Beasts of the southern wild: 7/10
End of Watch: 7.5/10
Flight: 4/10 (wtf Denzel?)
Gangs of Wasseypur 1 & 2: 7.5/10
Ted: 5/10
Warrior: 8/10
Your sister's sister: 5/10
Pi: 6.5/10
Moneyball: 6/10
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I thought Flight was really good.
 
The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia


It is billed has a sequel but its not really, It has nothing to do with the first film.
A story of a young family who move to a house that is haunted, soon thing start to happen.
Pretty standard haunting stuff, there is a really good back story that is not really touched, it could've made the film so much better, but I really enjoyed this film, the story that was told was good.
The cast was OK, the little girl was excellent and for such a young girl did very well.
There was a few mild scary moments but nothing much.
If you like a ghost story, you will like this.

6/10
 
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