Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

The Damned United

A good little film about Brian Clough's short stint at Leeds, great central performance from Michael Sheen. The stakes were a little low but still really enjoyed it. Hard to gauge how interesting it would be for people not interested in football.
 
Archie Leach said:
The Damned United

A good little film about Brian Clough's short stint at Leeds, great central performance from Michael Sheen. The stakes were a little low but still really enjoyed it. Hard to gauge how interesting it would be for people not interested in football.
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Pretty interesting: my girlfriend doesn't really care about football but loved it, thought it was really interesting and fun! (I was surprised to be honest)
 
Archie Leach said:
The Damned United

A good little film about Brian Clough's short stint at Leeds, great central performance from Michael Sheen. The stakes were a little low but still really enjoyed it. Hard to gauge how interesting it would be for people not interested in football.
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I watched with somebody who had no interest in football, had no idea who Brian was and they enjoyed it.
It is a very good film.
 
R.N7 said:
Say Anything... - Pretty average and rather dull actually, not much going on. Don't understand the praise at all. It had that nauseating 80's vibe to it as well.
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I randomly caught this last week, and also don't get the praise at all. It's a nothing film, thats entirely predicatable and devoid of anything remotely interesting.

But the main thing I didn't get is how the much heralded, often referenced scene of John Cussak holding a stereo above his head is a throw-away moment in a throw-away scene, that doesn't actually effect the storyline of the film at all. Which I thought was odd...
 
World War Z Can't believe I almost gave this great film a miss having read some reviews in here. I can only conclude that this place is full of hard to please critics who love moaning at minor flaws.

If like me you were thinking of giving it a miss having read the reviews, don't, it's really worth a watch. 7.5/10
 
Vato1979 said:
World War Z Can't believe I almost gave this great film a miss having read some reviews in here. I can only conclude that this place is full of hard to please critics who love moaning at minor flaws.

If like me you were thinking of giving it a miss having read the reviews, don't, it's really worth a watch. 7.5/10
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Same. I had this film for a while and couldn't be bothered to watch it due to some of the reviews here. I only watched it in the end because my girlfriend loves zombie flicks. I was glad I did.
 
Vato1979 said:
World War Z Can't believe I almost gave this great film a miss having read some reviews in here. I can only conclude that this place is full of hard to please critics who love moaning at minor flaws.

If like me you were thinking of giving it a miss having read the reviews, don't, it's really worth a watch. 7.5/10
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I was the same, but it was an OK film, my only real moan was Pitt he was the only cast member that was any good, anybody but him in the star role and the film would of been just another Zombie flick.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
I randomly caught this last week, and also don't get the praise at all. It's a nothing film, thats entirely predicatable and devoid of anything remotely interesting.

But the main thing I didn't get is how the much heralded, often referenced scene of John Cussak holding a stereo above his head is a throw-away moment in a throw-away scene, that doesn't actually effect the storyline of the film at all. Which I thought was odd...
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Agreed. I thought it was gonna be the climax of the film or something but when it happened it was just like, 'meh'.
 
R.N7 said:
The Man Without a Past - Very Scandinavian, dark, deadpan humour. It contained one of greatest, most low-key bank robberies ever. Decent film.
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Just watched Le Havre, also by Kaurismäki. It had the same setting except for being set in France instead of Finland...a port, containers, people on fringes of society. I think I liked this one more, very sweet, ironic and optimistic film.
 
R.N7 said:
3 Women - A rather strange film. Very atmospheric, like a mysterious unexplainable dream (it was apparently based on a dream Robert Altman once had). Overall it had a strong Persona vibe. I liked it but I might have to see it again to get full the gist of it, if that's possible that is.
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After the first half hour I thought it was going to go down as one of my favourite films but as it went on the endless symbolism made it drag a little bit. Loved the performances anyway. Sissy Spacek really had that mix of innocence, fear, insecurity and bewilderment nailed down. I'm reading all these reviews saying the same thing but I think the Persona comparison is really tenuous, it might've been loosely inspired by Persona but the films are so, so different IMO. Other than the loose theme of two women essentially being mirror images of one woman's personality there's not much linking them together from what I can see.

Anyway, well worth a watch.
 
Princess Mononoke (1997) - 10/10

One of the greatest anime I've ever seen. A bit like Avatar but without the Hollywood bullshit.
 
Barton Fink - 8

Right up there with the Coen brothers' best films. Are there any directors with a similar style? Love their characters and the dialogue pretty much every time.
 
R.N7 said:
Ratcatcher - A good little film. Bleak, sad and beautiful coming of age story. I enjoyed some of the directorial touches.
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Loved this film and the direction, especially the eery beginning scene. Certainly wish I would've downloaded some subtitles for it, though. Couldn't even get half the dialogue, but it didn't matter so much as it was so visually affecting. Thought her Morvan Callar was a massive let down after this film. She did better with We Need to Talk About Kevin, but still not in the same class as Ratcatcher.
 
Brwned said:
Barton Fink - 8

Right up there with the Coen brothers' best films. Are there any directors with a similar style? Love their characters and the dialogue pretty much every time.
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I need to watch that one again at some point, such a rich film.

They're pretty unique and so versatile that there's not much many other directors you can compare them with. Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman and Wes Anderson might be the ones who comes closest in terms of idiosyncrasy.
 
Nobby style said:
Loved this film and the direction, especially the eery beginning scene. Certainly wish I would've downloaded some subtitles for it, though. Couldn't even get half the dialogue, but it didn't matter so much as it was so visually affecting. Thought her Morvan Callar was a massive let down after this film. She did better with We Need to Talk About Kevin, but still not in the same class as Ratcatcher.
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I had to turn it off after a while and download subs, did the same mistake with Trainspotting!
 
The Conformist

Bernardo Bertolucci's breakthrough film in a way, it's one of the best looking films you'll ever watch. I had a few problems with the direction, especially a few clumsy exposition scenes but it was still pretty great. You could watch it with the sound off and still enjoy it.
 
I'm away to watch American Psycho for the first time.

Edit: A complete mindfeck. I was completely lost after the ATM scene.
 
Rush - Brilliant. A really well made film that has good performance (Hemsworth accent sometimes waivers, but he's good overall - the bloke who played Niki Lauda is great though, definitely the stand out performance), has an interesting story that provides two good character studies. The race scenes themselves are definite highlights, they all look great and Howard does some interesting things with them (the end race in Japan looks fecking fantastic)... and I can definitely see this film getting an Oscar Nomination for sound design.

Definitely one of the best films I've seen at the cinema this year.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Rush - Brilliant. A really well made film that has good performance (Hemsworth accent sometimes waivers, but he's good overall - the bloke who played Niki Lauda is great though, definitely the stand out performance), has an interesting story that provides two good character studies. The race scenes themselves are definite highlights, they all look great and Howard does some interesting things with them (the end race in Japan looks fecking fantastic)... and I can definitely see this film getting an Oscar Nomination for sound design.

Definitely one of the best films I've seen at the cinema this year.
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Good news! Looking forward to this.
 
I saw Rush last night, thought it was good although some unnecessary Holloywood scenes, Bruhl was outstanding as Lauda. Seemed like Howard at times was trying to be a bit arty/edgy (lots of engine porn).

Also saw Metro Manila today and was disappointed as it got good reviews but seemed very cliched and largely dull - family from the country go to the city to improve their lives, get preyed upon bad corrupted, been seen so many times before and the only original part was the location.
 
Room 237, a documentary examining alleged secrets hidden with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, is now on Youtube:

 
Brwned said:
Barton Fink - 8

Right up there with the Coen brothers' best films. Are there any directors with a similar style? Love their characters and the dialogue pretty much every time.
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R.N7 said:
I need to watch that one again at some point, such a rich film.

They're pretty unique and so versatile that there's not much many other directors you can compare them with. Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman and Wes Anderson might be the ones who comes closest in terms of idiosyncrasy.
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Although I agree with RN I would also throw in Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom. It's a bit like a Anderson/Coens hybrid.
 
Rush - 5/10


Though not at all a fan of racing, I already knew the story of this. In truth, I'd have preferred to watch a really well made documentary about it. Daniel Bruhl is excellent as Lauda, but Chris Hemsworth is a bit ropey as James Hunt. His acting is pretty soapy and his accent seems to waver at times. The race sequences are probably the worst bit of the whole movie. They're the usual shaky camera, drama-filled sequences with cars inexplicably passing each other out with ease just because one of the blokes moves the gear stick quite angrily. My main issue with it, though, is that it just seemed like a revision guide to the whole story; plenty was covered but in no sort of depth and usually in quite a frothy way, despite the seriousness of the subject matter. It will probably grab a particular group of cinema-goers, but to me it just felt like they'd spunked a massive budget on crashes and explosions to no real end, other than in the case of Lauda's crash. There's very little depth to Hunt's character, which is a shame, as he was obviously quite interesting.

I'm probably not the target audience so I suspect others will have enjoyed this far more than me.
 
Brophs said:
Rush - 5/10


Though not at all a fan of racing, I already knew the story of this. In truth, I'd have preferred to watch a really well made documentary about it. Daniel Bruhl is excellent as Lauda, but Chris Hemsworth is a bit ropey as James Hunt. His acting is pretty soapy and his accent seems to waver at times. The race sequences are probably the worst bit of the whole movie. They're the usual shaky camera, drama-filled sequences with cars inexplicably passing each other out with ease just because one of the blokes moves the gear stick quite angrily. My main issue with it, though, is that it just seemed like a revision guide to the whole story; plenty was covered but in no sort of depth and usually in quite a frothy way, despite the seriousness of the subject matter. It will probably grab a particular group of cinema-goers, but to me it just felt like they'd spunked a massive budget on crashes and explosions to no real end, other than in the case of Lauda's crash. There's very little depth to Hunt's character, which is a shame, as he was obviously quite interesting.

I'm probably not the target audience so I suspect others will have enjoyed this far more than me.
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There is a very good bbc4 doc on the year of the championship when Lauda got BBQ'd that may still be on iplayer.
 
R.N7 said:
Just watched Le Havre, also by Kaurismäki. It had the same setting except for being set in France instead of Finland...a port, containers, people on fringes of society. I think I liked this one more, very sweet, ironic and optimistic film.
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Beautifully understated movie, funny and touching.
 
Rush - Not sure what i was expecting, so maybe it seemed a solid enough movie for that reason. Daniel Bruhl is excellent, Hemsworth tries hard, the women are add-ons. Liked the closing montage. Just get the feeling that Howard goes a bit overboard with the obvious symbolisms and stylish camerawork. Someone like a Danny Boyle would've covered more on their individual stories in the same time, at a better pace.
 
Yeah, even I thought most of the theories were nonsense. I do think there's something in the Native American one though.
 
So yesterday I risked it and watched After Earth. Consider the horrible IMBD rating of 4.9 I was expecting a really shitty film but to be honest it wasn't even that bad. Not a good film but not really bad either. Seems like the rating is more down to people hating the director and Will Smith's son.
 
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