Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Archie Leach said:
It's got a mediocre rating from the mainstream critics because it is mediocre. The sad posturing from the hardcore fans pretending the original wasn't shit is the most hilarious element. Like I said originally, it's a crap remake of a crap film.
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My point is that not one of the reviews has it as less than mediocre. Usually a big budget movie (especially a remake) that turns out so bang average would get panned by at least a few of the more high-brow critics. But, instead, they all seem determined to avoid being seen to side with all the arseholes and are insisting on faint praise. Which is fair enough, I guess. Amusing though.
 
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Archie Leach said:
It's got a mediocre rating from the mainstream critics because it is mediocre. The sad posturing from the hardcore fans pretending the original wasn't shit is the most hilarious element. Like I said originally, it's a crap remake of a crap film.
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Ghostbusters really is shit.
 
Archie Leach said:
Ghostbusters - garden variety bad remake of a not very good 80s cult film. Classic Feig school of comedians standing in a room trying their best stand up routines. Kate McKinnon will probably be a breakout.
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I predicted this a while back. She is the standout on SNL week in week out. She just needs to avoid being too Amy Poehler and a bit more Amy Schumer.
 
Central Intelligence

Decent movie. The format where there's a skilled cop/agent with a clueless partner has been done many times but this is a new plot kind of. It's a good watch and moves quickly. Would recommend if you want 2 hours to fly past. 7/10.
 
Gol123 said:
Ghostbusters really is shit.
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I'm not getting these notifications...


Also, is anybody else a sucker for a long shot? James Wan had a load of them in The Conjuring 2 and I loved it.
 
Dredd (2012)

Not often I re-watch a film and completely change my mind on it, but with this I have.
I switched off to the original one with Silvester and watched this has a brand new film, and I loved it , much better the the original, I still did not like the slow mo bit in it but they worked.
What was I thinking the last time when I said I liked the original more.
Last time I gave this a 5, this time.

8/10
 
Ip Man 3
Loved the first two Ip Man films and whilst this was still good, it was definitely a step down from the previous two. This is slightly different in tone, whereas the first two heavily feature nationalism, this is more about life. This was a nice change, especially the storyline about Ip Man and his wife who is dying of cancer. It was also cool to see the fight between Donnie Yen and Mike Tyson. Quite well choreographed. However, there were too many storylines that were not handled right and the film therefore jumped from one to the other and felt like a mess at times. Oh and some casual racism calling foreigners "foreign devils" :lol: Still the fight scenes were superb and Donnie Yen is a really likeable actor 6/10

Green Room
Been really looking forward to this for a while, so was expecting BIG things. In the end, it was good but didn't meet my lofty expectations. Loved the gore in it, mainly because there wasn't too much gore but when there was some, it felt real, which is much better than something like Hostel, where it's caricature. The story felt compact and the acting was really good but there just wasn't enough characterization to make me care for any of the characters which was a shame 7/10

The Witch
Wow talk about overhyping. This film was very well directed and had fantastic cinematography, set design and costumes but I was bored for chunks of the run time. It had a very creepy atmosphere and was genuinely unnerving at times but overall, I really didn't connect to the film. It was enjoyable but no way is it the masterpiece the press will have you believe. It was a creepy film with spooky atmosphere but I never felt scared watching it. Keep you expectation in check and you'll enjoy it a lot more 6/10

London Has Fallen
Didnt expect much and didnt get much. Was a slightly better version of Olympus Has Fallen, which isn't hard. Gerrard Butler does his best John Mclane impression and runs around the film with the infinite health cheat he discovered in the first film. Switch your brain off and you wont completely hate it. Oh and the CGI was terrible 5/10

Concussion
This was a decent film but I really couldnt get past Will Smiths nigerian accent. It just threw me off. The film doesnt get going for a good hour and then things happen too quick. Average at best 5/10
 
A Brighter Summer Day - First real masterpiece I've seen in a while. A stunning novelistic 4 hour epic that depicted loads of stuff like teenage angst, gang violence, loss of cultural identity and political turmoil. It's a graceful, naturalistic and complex tapestry that made me think of such films as The Godfather, Rebel Without a Cause and Yasujiro Ozu's family dramas.
 
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Dirty Schwein said:
The Witch
Wow talk about overhyping. This film was very well directed and had fantastic cinematography, set design and costumes but I was bored for chunks of the run time. It had a very creepy atmosphere and was genuinely unnerving at times but overall, I really didn't connect to the film. It was enjoyable but no way is it the masterpiece the press will have you believe. It was a creepy film with spooky atmosphere but I never felt scared watching it. Keep you expectation in check and you'll enjoy it a lot more 6/10
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I feel the same way as you on this one, partly due to expectations, but partly just because it wasn't that good. The pacing had huge issues and while it looked brilliant and the atmosphere was great, you can't help but feel they could've done so much better with a bit of re-writing at certain points. It's an ok film and it's unnerving at times, but overall it's a bit of a letdown.

I'd still be curious about catching the director's next film because he's certainly talented.
 
Dirty Schwein said:

The Witch
Wow talk about overhyping. This film was very well directed and had fantastic cinematography, set design and costumes but I was bored for chunks of the run time. It had a very creepy atmosphere and was genuinely unnerving at times but overall, I really didn't connect to the film. It was enjoyable but no way is it the masterpiece the press will have you believe. It was a creepy film with spooky atmosphere but I never felt scared watching it. Keep you expectation in check and you'll enjoy it a lot more 6/10
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Yeah i'd agree with this too. Similar to the The Revenant you could say lots of things from a technical point of view that were pluses, and it had a lot of talented people involved but the film as a whole wasn't as engaging as it should be seeing as it ticked a lot of boxes i'd normally look for in a film.
 
and I rewatched Ghost in the Shell tonight. It's still brilliant, obviously, but, yeah, it could have ehrmm...standed (is that even a word?) to have been a bit longer. I wonder if the manga also ends at the same point.

I'm now kinda tempted to rewatch Raise the Red Lantern. It's like it's 2010 all over again, where's @Spoony talking about Korean films and finally getting around to watching his copy of Ashes of Time Redux?
 
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R.N7 said:
and I rewatched Ghost in the Shell tonight. It's still brilliant, obviously, but, yeah, it could have ehrmm...standed (it's that even a word?) to have been a bit longer. I wonder if the manga also ends at the same point.

I'm now kinda tempted to rewatch Raise the Red Lantern. It's like it's 2010 all over again, where's @Spoony talking about Korean films and finally getting around to watching his copy of Ashes of Time Redux?
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Yeah I remember when the end came, I was a little surprised. Seemed as though it was missing its entire final act.

Chaplin - thought this was pretty interesting even though it hits all the classic biopic beats.
 
Yeah, Chaplin's pretty decent for a standard biopic. It's hard to make the early Hollywood era seem uninteresting though, at least in my mind.
 
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Outlaws and Angels

What can I say? This is beyond any Western you've ever seen. I thought I was tripping on acid at times. It's not that it's visually psychedelic or anything, it's just that the storyline goes off in directions that traditional Westerns don't.

The premise is this: bank robbers fleeing the posse come across an isolated dwelling. There's a husband, wife and two daughters living in it. The three robbers charge in, take over, eat some grub, then get chatty with their hostages. Then the veil is lifted over this seemingly innocent family. I'll put the rest in a spoiler if you don't want to know what happens next. It's crazy, though.

The father is abusive, the mother knows it, the daughters hate each other because the older one is jealous that the younger one is now sharing her father's bed, the younger one ends up falling for the gang leader and telling him what her dad did to her and her sister, the mother gets fingered by a gang member whilst lying next to her hubby while he's pretending to sleep, the younger daughter shoots the older daughter, one gang member almost rapes the dad, the younger daughter then beats the dad to death with a rifle, she joins the gang and they leave the mother some of the bank robbery money, the leader of the posse shows up later, is killed by the mother, the gang stops for a rest and the younger daughter shoots the gang leader and another gang member, she runs out of bullets and is about to be shot by the third gang member when he's shot and killed by the dying gang leader, they all die and she chops all their heads off for the bounties, she then goes back and kills her mum and takes the rest of the money. The end. Fuc. Kin. Mental.
 
Badunk said:
Outlaws and Angels

What can I say? This is beyond any Western you've ever seen. I thought I was tripping on acid at times. It's not that it's visually psychedelic or anything, it's just that the storyline goes off in directions that traditional Westerns don't.

The premise is this: bank robbers fleeing the posse come across an isolated dwelling. There's a husband, wife and two daughters living in it. The three robbers charge in, take over, eat some grub, then get chatty with their hostages. Then the veil is lifted over this seemingly innocent family. I'll put the rest in a spoiler if you don't want to know what happens next. It's crazy, though.

The father is abusive, the mother knows it, the daughters hate each other because the older one is jealous that the younger one is now sharing her father's bed, the younger one ends up falling for the gang leader and telling him what her dad did to her and her sister, the mother gets fingered by a gang member whilst lying next to her hubby while he's pretending to sleep, the younger daughter shoots the older daughter, one gang member almost rapes the dad, the younger daughter then beats the dad to death with a rifle, she joins the gang and they leave the mother some of the bank robbery money, the leader of the posse shows up later, is killed by the mother, the gang stops for a rest and the younger daughter shoots the gang leader and another gang member, she runs out of bullets and is about to be shot by the third gang member when he's shot and killed by the dying gang leader, they all die and she chops all their heads off for the bounties, she then goes back and kills her mum and takes the rest of the money. The end. Fuc. Kin. Mental.
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Christ :lol: I'll be watching that later tonight
 
Archie Leach said:
Yeah I remember when the end came, I was a little surprised. Seemed as though it was missing its entire final act.

Chaplin - thought this was pretty interesting even though it hits all the classic biopic beats.
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That was the first coming of Robert Downey Jr , wasn't it? Great expectations but the movie disappointed at the box office, and after that his career stalled for a long time until he was reborn as the tin man.
 
Ben-Hur has been remade! That used to be a real telly event on a bank holiday. I wonder if they've retained Gore Vidal's gay subplot.
 
Ben Hur will probably flop. The 1959 version hasn't really aged with grace, an absolute chore to sit through. In terms of biblical/christian films I think I've only really enjoyed two, The Last Temptation of Christ & The Gospel According to St. Matthew.

Passion of the Christ had it's merits I guess but I haven't seen it since it was new.
 
R.N7 said:
Ben Hur will probably flop. The 1959 version hasn't really aged with grace, an absolute chore to sit through. In terms of biblical/christian films I think I've only really enjoyed two, The Last Temptation of Christ & The Gospel According to St. Matthew.

Passion of the Christ had it's merits I guess but I haven't seen it since it was new.
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I have to disagree about Heston's Ben Hur. I think it's a beautifully made movie but of its time. The religious message is too central and too naive for a modern audience.
 
R.N7 said:
Ben Hur will probably flop. The 1959 version hasn't really aged with grace, an absolute chore to sit through. In terms of biblical/christian films I think I've only really enjoyed two, The Last Temptation of Christ & The Gospel According to St. Matthew.

Passion of the Christ had it's merits I guess but I haven't seen it since it was new.
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I have not sat thought Ben Hur for a while, but when I do I enjoy it, the only other one I like is Spartacus.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
I have not sat thought Ben Hur for a while, but when I do I enjoy it, the only other one I like is Spartacus.
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Yep. They're my two favourites of that genre. Although El Cid is pretty good. I've tried to watch Anthony Mann's The Fall of the Roman Empire on a couple of occasions but for some reason couldn't sit through it. Sophia Loren was yummy though.
 
Will Absolute said:
Yep. They're my two favourites of that genre. Although El Cid is pretty good. I've tried to watch Anthony Mann's The Fall of the Roman Empire on a couple of occasions but for some reason couldn't sit through it. Sophia Loren was yummy though.
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El Cid is good also, add to that The Ten Commandments.
These films always had the huge stars of the day in , Heston , Brynner etc.
Dont mind Jesus of Nazareth(1977) Robert Powell was excellent.
The Greatest Story ever told , very watchable
First English film for Max Von Sydow and who could forget John Wayne and the words, Truly this man was the son of God.
It would seem I like quite a few of the old biblical films.
 
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Is Ben-Hur like 2001 (in terms of dragging along)? If so, I hate it
 
Melbourne International Film Festival starts next weekend and it's got a great lineup. I've booked tickets for Jim Jarmusch's Paterson, Olivier Assayas' Personal Shopper, Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women, Louis Theroux' My Scientology Movie, Paul Verhoeven's Elle, Tobias Lindholm's A War and Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann.

Considering the complete lack of worthwhile releases recently it's a relief to look forward to going to the cinema.
 
Actually it's going to be Ben-Her, with Kylie Jenner as Jesus and Queen Latifah as Pontius Pilate.
 
Archie Leach said:
Melbourne International Film Festival starts next weekend and it's got a great lineup. I've booked tickets for Jim Jarmusch's Paterson, Olivier Assayas' Personal Shopper, Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women, Louis Theroux' My Scientology Movie, Paul Verhoeven's Elle, Tobias Lindholm's A War and Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann.

Considering the complete lack of worthwhile releases recently it's a relief to look forward to going to the cinema.
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The last two years or so have seemed pretty dismal on the movie front, or maybe I've just not looked hard enough.
 
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