Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

The Internship.

I have half a mind to blame the airline, but I've lost a lot off respect for myself for actually sitting through that. 1/10
 
Just saw Elysium on the weekend and have to say, Oh man what a disappointment.

While the story starts promising and I really liked the cast it pretty much turns into a very average action flick half way through and what for me really was a problem is that it's completely unbelievable in so many parts that it just wasn't enjoyable anymore. A science fiction for me always needs a degree of believability and that unfortunately started going all out the window when they started drilling screws as long and thick as a middle finger into Matt Damon's head and it went all down hill from there.

The actions of most characters also pretty much made no sense most of the time especially this Kruger guy who was portrayed as a mad man all of a sudden has the plan to seize control over Elysium? What? I though he was the mad dog, the sadist, the psychopath killer who likes to rape and torture there was never a hint of him having a bigger plan and all of a sudden he wants to be Elysium's new president? Let alone the fact that everyone and their mother seem to understand from one short glance at the code that Matt Damon's character is carrying in his head that it's a restart sequence that will allow anyone to take control over Elysium.

And that's the next absolutely retarded aspect of the film. Who on earth came up with the shit idea that all it took to get a new president instated was a fecking system restart and then typing in a new president? I'm mean common even the most technical illiterate must see that this is complete horse shit, why would a presidency be bound on what is written in a computer program?

Why not makes something plausible like forging the results of a vote through a manipulated system? Let miss security officer cause an impeachment vote on the president because he is threatening the security of Elysium, manipulate the vote and take over Elysium or let Jodie Foster's character use something like the patriot act to take over control of Elysium, oh wait she does that? Then why not stage an attack to begin with, how about she would be clever enough to use heir rogue agents to do it? No made to much sense and they of course needed a way for their hero to turn the whole thing around and a plausible story would only have gotten in the way of that.

Okay enough of the ranting because the film also had it's good moments, especially the first part of the movie were well made and showed a plausible dystopian future which allowed the viewer to put himself into the shoes of so many future refugees who look at the Elysium from a distance, it's a hope for a better life or just better medical treatment that makes them take the journey despite all the danger and I thought it Blomberg made a good job of putting the 1st world viewers into the boots of someone living in a third world country in extreme poverty.

Also a nice touch little attention to detail was that the main language in L.A. seemed to be Spanish which is a real possibility for a future like that, where there is no government on earth that cares about borders or languages spoken. Quite funny as well that the "aristocracy" on Elysium speaks French. :D

But unfortunately all the attention for such detail, that imo make for a great sci-fi movie go out the window when Matt Damon gets those screws drilled into his head and the action starts. That's the point where Hollywood seems to take over and Blomberg's vision seems to vanish and is take over by the usual Hollywood CGI crash, boom, bang.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
You easily could throw a lot of those criticisms (maybe tweak them slightly) at District 9...
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True. I also felt it was over hyped. I liked it but never felt it was that sensational as some proclaimed it was.

I also think Elysium isn't a bad movie and I quite like the style of both movies and both have their problems with the plot.

If he manages to improve in terms of plot development I think he will be an outstanding director but if not I doubt the D9 hype will carry him forever.
 
grosse point blank - always avoided this whenever it's been on (which is always) due to the cast, but it was good fun.

interrogation - great watch.
wasn't sure of an the attraction angle between an interrogator & the lead, but it took a film which contains basically 90 minutes of torture (mostly emotional) to depressing new highs or lows, so kudos.
a few other bits took me out of it but they ended up being kind of welcome. it has some great moments including a good speech from the interrogator & it touching well on the effects of nazism on that whole period yet how fear of it was used to justify similar dehumanisation.

blue valentine - had a few stupid moments, but it mostly felt real & was a great watch.
i think it could have done a better job making both characters equally sympathetic, as the gosling character's faults came more off screen (in movie world, an impassioned speech or two blur just how hard it can be to live with a character like that day to day).

like crazy - a decent advert for passport control, really dull as a film.

the wings of the dove - same henry james novel days of heaven is based on. not bad, mainly thanks to bonham carter being godly as ever. it portrays the psychological aspect a lot better than days of heaven but it doesn't really feel worth watching over the book.

have also been watching some old play for todays, which should probably go in another thread. all seem dated in some way, but most have felt worth the watch.
 
I Spit On Your Grave 2
Didn't like the original or remake too much and this was even worse. At least the 'shock' moment in the first one had some value but this just seems to be made to glorify rape scene for those twisted audiences that want to see that kinda thing. The rape scenes are far too long and their impact becomes less so and the scenes become tedious and difficult to watch. The actress also performs well during the first half of the film and suddenly turns into a revenge parody and overacts to the extreme when executing her revenge. Awful movie and a wasted 1.5 hours for me. 3/10
 
LoveInTheAsylum said:
blue valentine - had a few stupid moments, but it mostly felt real & was a great watch.
i think it could have done a better job making both characters equally sympathetic, as the gosling character's faults came more off screen (in movie world, an impassioned speech or two blur just how hard it can be to live with a character like that day to day).
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That was my exact criticism of the film when I saw it. All my female friends who have seen it feel the opposite though so I think it may come down to gender lines, which I thought was very interesting.
 
Vato1979 said:
Intouchables was another one, but this one was great because you sort of knew where the story was going at the very start. A well acted gripping story with funny moments that made you feel emotionally connected to the characters, just a great film. And not much happens there either, but you feel they made the best out of it. This is where BOTSW failed IMO, it could have been so much more if the characters were developed better or added ones at some point that were actually relevant to the plot instead of some extras with a line or two of text.

Brwned, watch it and post you honest review, I'm curious to see if you agree with me on some points or not.
I mean, it's not a really bad film or anything, but all the hype surrounding it had me expecting way more than it really was, just the same with Tree of Life.

Sorry if this post is a mess but hate posting from my phone..
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Sorry to say it Vato but I really liked Beasts of the Southern Wild and thought the characters were really well developed (though I would've liked to have seen more of the others). I was sitting on the train welling up a bit at the father-daughter scene at the end which is a pretty rare occasion on my end. Their's was one of the most touching relationships I've ever seen. And I loved the giant wild boars shots. Obviously there's a bit of symbolism there - both the boars and the families of the bathtub are beasts of the Southern Wild, hence the girl talking about herself and others as "animals" on various occasions - but even without that it's just a series of really beautiful, atmospheric moments. Maybe you have to like animals/nature a lot to enjoy them? Not sure. I think it's the sort of thing you need to watch at the right time though. The first time I put it on I got the impression I may well come to the same conclusion as you, but I just turned it off after a couple of minutes and decided I wasn't in the mood. Watched it a couple of days later and I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

Much better than Tree of Life as far as I'm concerned.
 
Fair enough Brwned, like I said, it wasn't a really bad film or anything but I didn't think it deserved all the praise either.

Oh, and I really like animal documentaries too so that couldn't have been the issue.
 
I still haven't watched it, but I have to...

Just watched Les yeux dans les bleus, a documentary following the French team in 1998. It's a cult film for many French people and most of my friends, but crazily I hadn't seen it yet. I spent a weekend for a football tournament last week with a guy who knows all the quotes by heart and spent the weekend using Aimé Jacquet speeches to motivate us, so finally checked it out.

Simply, it's one of the best if not the best films about football made. It's a fantastic insight on how a grood of fellow professionnals work under great pressure and how their manager managed to get the best out of a group by knowing when to step forward and when to take a step back (usually for his captain, Deschamps, to take responsibility). It's also great to see all these guys that are know legends in a different light, and you gain great respect for them (even if I'm not a France supporter). Deschamps especially is impressive, so clever and full of brilliant advice.

A must see for any football fan.
 
Dirty Schwein said:
I Spit On Your Grave 2
Didn't like the original or remake too much and this was even worse. At least the 'shock' moment in the first one had some value but this just seems to be made to glorify rape scene for those twisted audiences that want to see that kinda thing. The rape scenes are far too long and their impact becomes less so and the scenes become tedious and difficult to watch. The actress also performs well during the first half of the film and suddenly turns into a revenge parody and overacts to the extreme when executing her revenge. Awful movie and a wasted 1.5 hours for me. 3/10
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I think it's quite solid for a b-movie rape revenge

I can feel her desperation at times, although the original was a classic on its own. True though, second part of the movie is a bit too over the top, although the first half was very realistic (bar how she escaped death)
 
Oblivion
Decent film. Despite Cruise getting plenty of stick for various reasons, he is good at what he does. Enjoyed the movie, good to see Jamie Lannister in a different role! And, again, Morgan Freeman always makes a film slightly better. 7.5/10
 
World War Z

I am not a big lover of Zombie film and tend not to watch them, but I read a few reviews on here and the net and thought I would give it ago, I was surprised, it was OK. Not anything that would win an Oscar but it was a decent film, with some excellent CGI.
The acting was very weak,even poor in parts, Pitt was the only one in the film that has a presence, the rest were instantly forgettable, without him the film would be laughed off has a bad B-Movie, Pitt made the film watch able.
There is going to be a sequel, hopefully they will get a stronger cast behind him next time.
The ending was just a cheese feast, but it worked.
Having said that I did enjoy the film and waiting for part 2.

6.5/10
 
pauldyson1uk said:
World War Z

I am not a big lover of Zombie film and tend not to watch them, but I read a few reviews on here and the net and thought I would give it ago, I was surprised, it was OK. Not anything that would win an Oscar but it was a decent film, with some excellent CGI.
The acting was very weak,even poor in parts, Pitt was the only one in the film that has a presence, the rest were instantly forgettable, without him the film would be laughed off has a bad B-Movie, Pitt made the film watch able.
There is going to be a sequel, hopefully they will get a stronger cast behind him next time.
The ending was just a cheese feast, but it worked.
Having said that I did enjoy the film and waiting for part 2.

6.5/10
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I think there will be better cast next time. This film is based off a book or series of books and they want to make it a trilogy. After so many cancellations and problems during production, Brad Pitt self-produced it and due to it's positive box-office turnover, they have announced two sequels. I guess the success of it will draw in bigger names for the next one.
 
Sharknado - rain, storms, sharks caught in tornados, shit cgi, shit acting, shit storyline.... Absolutely awesome. 10/10
 
Saw Star Trek Into Darkness last night and really enjoyed it. A lot more than the first one. I think it's because it's only this summer I started watching the original series and it helped me empathize better with the characters. Kirk and Spock outside the reactor really got to me.

I think it's time to re-watch the first film.
 
As far as very old films go, I tried watching Man With A Movie Camera (1929) a short while ago, but feck me was it boring. It's always nice to watch the historically significant pieces of cinema though.
 
Silva said:
As far as very old films go, I tried watching Man With A Movie Camera (1929) a short while ago, but feck me was it boring. It's always nice to watch the historically significant pieces of cinema though.
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You need have to have some patience because of the nature of the film but I thought The Cinematic Orchestra score made it pretty spellbinding. A fantastic historical document.
 
PeteReDevil said:
Saw Star Trek Into Darkness last night and really enjoyed it. A lot more than the first one. I think it's because it's only this summer I started watching the original series and it helped me empathize better with the characters. Kirk and Spock outside the reactor really got to me.

I think it's time to re-watch the first film.
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I watched this tonight. I've watched a fair bit of Trek (although not many from the original series), I loved Star Trek 09 and I found this film just as entertaining if not more so. Sure there were some plot points which were somewhat daft, but the characters and the acting made this film so enjoyable to watch. I just hope the next film is released sooner and strives to do something original (which will no doubt feature Klingons as i'm sure they won't be best happy having a few dozen of them killed on their home planet!). Loved it and want to watch it again!
 
http://cinecalbastard.blogspot.ie/2013/09/a-supposedly-funny-thing-ill-never-do.html

A scientist is explaining that fangirls love One Direction so much because they release dopamine into the brain. He’s got a little plastic brain to show us. What the feck is happening? We’re told the group’s backstory, about how they were runners up on the X-Factor but the darn kids and their Twitters kept them in the limelight. I didn’t know they were on that show. Or maybe I did but my brain decided it wasn’t worth memorising. I don’t mean that in a snobbish way, my brain isn’t the best at making those decisions. I can’t remember family member’s birthdays or where my friends live but I’m be a drooling 90 year old and still remember what a damn Magmar is. Magmar has hair that looks like he could be in One Direction. A map of the world is shown gradually being filled with a One Direction logo, like some kind of propaganda video about the Red Menace. I didn’t realise these lads had convinced bopping twelve year old girls to annex Cambodia but that is what this movie is telling me. I need to keep up with current events more. Another song from the concert. It’s about liking a girl. So was the last one.
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So how was your weekend?
 
:lol: Magmar was cool.

LoveInTheAsylum said:
interrogation - great watch.
wasn't sure of an the attraction angle between an interrogator & the lead, but it took a film which contains basically 90 minutes of torture (mostly emotional) to depressing new highs or lows, so kudos.
a few other bits took me out of it but they ended up being kind of welcome. it has some great moments including a good speech from the interrogator & it touching well on the effects of nazism on that whole period yet how fear of it was used to justify similar dehumanisation.
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Good call. Bit grim but there's definitely a certain power to it. Agree on that one main issue. There was enough in there to make the relationship loosely believable and as you say the plotline led to the darkest moments in the film, but it still took something away from the film for me. It was a gritty, realistic portrayal of one of the most oppressive totalitarian government/police forces of the last century and it just felt like that was a cheap way to add further drama. Led to a couple of great scenes though.
 
Insidious 2 - Decent flick. I don't think it was as scary as the first and there was much more of a comedic presence in this one. As the movie wore on I found it becoming at some parts a bit silly and less scary. But I think it's worth at least a matinee showing.
 
I enjoyed You're next, it's a pretty good 'home invasion' horror flick that avoids most traps of torture porn. The first half sets up an oppressive atmosphere but the second half is more full on action with a few humour moments. Altogether, I thought the rhythm of the film was great, it was 90 minutes long and I wasn't bored once. I loved the music in the film, and I thought the acting was ok. The main actress was very good, and not unpleasant to look at. :drool: It's nothing special, it doesn't reinvent the genre, but it's an enjoyable watch.

I also liked Pain & Gain, and I usually dislike Micheal Bay quite a bit. I thought it was a crazy story pretty well executed, though it was easily 20-30 minutes too long and dragged on in many places. The acting was really good though, especially The Rock who turns in a brilliant performance by never over-doing it. Also, Ed Harris, a bit like Morgan Freeman, is enough to elevate the film a bit more. It's a really crazy story with a lot of laughs in it (which is pretty cynical I guess), I think they nailed it. Except for the length, as I said, which is a bit too much.
 
Had a film binge this weekend :D

Insidious 2
Pretty good horror flick which I enjoyed for the most part. Continues pretty much where its predecessor left off. More action packed than the original. Had more elements of comedy and felt slightly more like a domestic thriller with horror elements than a horror film per se. Like the first film, got a bit ridiculous towards the final third and there were quite a few throw-away scenes that could have been left on the cutting room floor. The film was still brilliant and Patrick Wilson was excellent. Overall, I really enjoyed it but not as good as Insidious Part 1 or The Conjuring. Seems like the sequel was slightly forced by producers but James Wan has nailed down the techniques of creating suspenseful scenes 8/10

Truth Or Dare
Not as bad as I thought it would be. About a bunch of college mates that are tortured by the military brother of a boy they bullied. Was quite intense but lost its way towards the end of the film. Some good performances though and a decent 90 mins 7/10

The Chronicles Of Riddick
Read some awful reviews and yes, it's not half as good as Pitch Black but still is an ok blockbuster film. Vin Diesel was badass as usual. 6/10

The Haunting In Connecticut
Not very scary. Didn't enjoy it much the first time and definitely didn't enjoy it this time around. Too much CGI, which puts me right off. The performances were ok but the storyline was exaggerated and quite boring. Should have stuck to the actual story of this rather than 'hollywood' it up 5/10

The Haunting In Connecticut 2
I preferred this to the first one. Had quite a few scares but again, the story goes ape shit as the horror is being explained. Promising start but as with most horrors, the writers just don't know how to end it... 5.5/10

R.I.P.D
Generic Hollywood style over substance action flick. I can see why this bombed at the box office. Not a shred of originality. It was like an amateur did a mash-up of Ghost Busters and MIB. Jeff Bridges was the only enjoyable element. The trailers never even showed that Kevin Bacon was the antagonist in the film which is weird considering his popularity these days. I fear for Ryan Reynolds, two box office flops in Green Lantern and this... 4/10
 
Margin Call - Really good film set in a fictitious bank (based on Lehman Brothers) on the eve of the financial crisis. Superbly acted pertty much all around but especially Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons who steals every scene he is in as the big boss. Paul Bettany annoed me, not sure whether it's the quality of his performance though or if he just annoys me, small quibble for a very good film though.
 
Ivor Ballokov said:
Margin Call - Really good film set in a fictitious bank (based on Lehman Brothers) on the eve of the financial crisis. Superbly acted pertty much all around but especially Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons who steals every scene he is in as the big boss. Paul Bettany annoed me, not sure whether it's the quality of his performance though or if he just annoys me, small quibble for a very good film though.
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This is one of my favourite films of these last few years, I have to say. I love Jeremy Irons' first scene, it's a masterclass in acting.
 
The Blind Side.
Saw it last night for the 1st time. I liked it. Yeah Bullock was overly nice in it and her hubby was too agreeable but still a good story.
Not sure how true to life it actually is, but that guy was part of the Ravens Superbowl win last year and, according to the movie anyway, it could have all turned out very different for him.
 
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