Party was nice.
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
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First Blood
An outsider arrives in town and runs into trouble with the local law as a stubborn battle of ideals plays out and chaos ensues. I bought the 4k blu ray version and it looks pretty incredible especially for a film so old, it's the best it's ever looked and sounded.
One of my top 10 all time films and it annoys the feck out of me when people just refer to it as just an action film. It's not, it's a film about ideals, about conflicting beliefs, about how America treated its war heroes, about what happens when two people won't back down and all hell breaks loose. It's a film about a broken man that society wants no part of trying to find a place in a world he no longer belongs in, a very broken man. It's barely an action film at all and Rambo is certainly not the hero of it, he's a nutjob that wanted that mess to happen because it's the only thing he calls home. The cops aren't the heroes as they treated him like scum for no reason and gave him the excuse to snap when they abused him. Teasle could have just let the guy get something to eat.
The franchise went from the start of this film where he's clean shaven, friendly and optimistically looking for his friend. Then after finding out he's dead we next see him with a thousand yard stare and a face full of stubble as he starts to unravel. To Rambo 3 where he's charging a helicopter on a horse. It's quite the journey. Although I think this should have ended with the original ending where Trautman shoots him. Trautman was being built up for it thoughout the film. He only actually kills one enemy in this and that's by accident. Although it's glossed over, towards the end he clearly murders whoever is in that garage when he blows it up.
The 4k remaster is gorgeous too. It's beautifully shot, you can almost feel the cold in a lot of those scenes, it's got a wonderful sense of place. Not to mention the soundtrack is excellent what little there is. My only complaints are how quickly he built that stake trap and his knife while looking cool is actually cack, that hollow handle would seriously be detrimental.
10/10
My Cousin Vinny
An outsider arrives in town and runs into trouble with the local law as a stubborn battle of ideals plays out and chaos ensues. I've not seen this in 20 years, but I remember enjoying it as a kid and Marissa Tomei causing funny feelings in my crotch at the time. It had Herman Munster too! It's a great film and was a pleasure to re-watch. It's amazing how many scenes I remembered having not seen it in so long.
Joe Pesci was excellent in the lead, he gets stick but I always find him good value. Fred Gwynn was great as the judge and the chemistry he had playing off Pesci as rural stuck up southern judge tries to deal with smart mouthed Brooklyn "lawyer" was enjoyable. The thing that this film seems to be most known for these days is people scoffing at Marissa Tomei's OSCAR. Now I dunno who she was competing with back then, but she was genuinely great in this. She was sweet, charming, bitchy and sarcastic often at the same time and always managed to pull it off. Most of the laughs in this came from her. Her delivery was spot on. I dunno if it's OSCAR worthy, but neither was Black Panther so who gives a feck now? I'd give her an OSCAR or anything she asked for.
It's perfectly paced and everything he learns in the south being brought back to help with the case was great to watch unfold. An argumentative shit wins a case by being a fake lawyer and an argumentative shit.
9/10
Both of those films were well under 2 hours long. First Blood at a nice 1hr 33mins and My Cousin Vinny at 1hr 40something minutes. It's a far cry from almost every new film I watch now that seems to end up being over 2 hours, sometimes even 3 hours long. I see a run time like that and my immediate thought is "this better be fecking worth it" It rarely is. Godzilla King of the Monsters was well over 2 hours long and the majority of that film should not have been in the film at all and was of very poor quality compared to the rest of the film, that's a film that could have done with being a brisk 1hr 33mins. Every once in a while a long film is fine, but every fecking film can't be hitting the 2 hour mark, it's absurd.
An outsider arrives in town and runs into trouble with the local law as a stubborn battle of ideals plays out and chaos ensues. I bought the 4k blu ray version and it looks pretty incredible especially for a film so old, it's the best it's ever looked and sounded.
One of my top 10 all time films and it annoys the feck out of me when people just refer to it as just an action film. It's not, it's a film about ideals, about conflicting beliefs, about how America treated its war heroes, about what happens when two people won't back down and all hell breaks loose. It's a film about a broken man that society wants no part of trying to find a place in a world he no longer belongs in, a very broken man. It's barely an action film at all and Rambo is certainly not the hero of it, he's a nutjob that wanted that mess to happen because it's the only thing he calls home. The cops aren't the heroes as they treated him like scum for no reason and gave him the excuse to snap when they abused him. Teasle could have just let the guy get something to eat.
The franchise went from the start of this film where he's clean shaven, friendly and optimistically looking for his friend. Then after finding out he's dead we next see him with a thousand yard stare and a face full of stubble as he starts to unravel. To Rambo 3 where he's charging a helicopter on a horse. It's quite the journey. Although I think this should have ended with the original ending where Trautman shoots him. Trautman was being built up for it thoughout the film. He only actually kills one enemy in this and that's by accident. Although it's glossed over, towards the end he clearly murders whoever is in that garage when he blows it up.
The 4k remaster is gorgeous too. It's beautifully shot, you can almost feel the cold in a lot of those scenes, it's got a wonderful sense of place. Not to mention the soundtrack is excellent what little there is. My only complaints are how quickly he built that stake trap and his knife while looking cool is actually cack, that hollow handle would seriously be detrimental.
10/10
My Cousin Vinny
An outsider arrives in town and runs into trouble with the local law as a stubborn battle of ideals plays out and chaos ensues. I've not seen this in 20 years, but I remember enjoying it as a kid and Marissa Tomei causing funny feelings in my crotch at the time. It had Herman Munster too! It's a great film and was a pleasure to re-watch. It's amazing how many scenes I remembered having not seen it in so long.
Joe Pesci was excellent in the lead, he gets stick but I always find him good value. Fred Gwynn was great as the judge and the chemistry he had playing off Pesci as rural stuck up southern judge tries to deal with smart mouthed Brooklyn "lawyer" was enjoyable. The thing that this film seems to be most known for these days is people scoffing at Marissa Tomei's OSCAR. Now I dunno who she was competing with back then, but she was genuinely great in this. She was sweet, charming, bitchy and sarcastic often at the same time and always managed to pull it off. Most of the laughs in this came from her. Her delivery was spot on. I dunno if it's OSCAR worthy, but neither was Black Panther so who gives a feck now? I'd give her an OSCAR or anything she asked for.
It's perfectly paced and everything he learns in the south being brought back to help with the case was great to watch unfold. An argumentative shit wins a case by being a fake lawyer and an argumentative shit.
9/10
Both of those films were well under 2 hours long. First Blood at a nice 1hr 33mins and My Cousin Vinny at 1hr 40something minutes. It's a far cry from almost every new film I watch now that seems to end up being over 2 hours, sometimes even 3 hours long. I see a run time like that and my immediate thought is "this better be fecking worth it" It rarely is. Godzilla King of the Monsters was well over 2 hours long and the majority of that film should not have been in the film at all and was of very poor quality compared to the rest of the film, that's a film that could have done with being a brisk 1hr 33mins. Every once in a while a long film is fine, but every fecking film can't be hitting the 2 hour mark, it's absurd.
My Cousin Vinny prob a top 10 film of all time.
The Way, 2010
fiction: Tom Avery (Martin Sheen) does Spain's Camino de Santiago (de Compostela) in honour of his son Daniel (Emilio Estevez).
Has some interesting parts and some fabulous scenery.
I liked the Dutch actor, Yorick van Wageningen. Most of the characters were a bit one dimensional though.
As the topic interested me my rating is higher than it might be:
7/10.
background to me being interested in this: My wife had been on me for some time to watch this so we finally got around to it.
She really wants to do the Camino and so do I, but we differ on how. I want to do walk the entire thing (800 km) with a backpack, while she's into the shortcut and the glamping.
fiction: Tom Avery (Martin Sheen) does Spain's Camino de Santiago (de Compostela) in honour of his son Daniel (Emilio Estevez).
Has some interesting parts and some fabulous scenery.
I liked the Dutch actor, Yorick van Wageningen. Most of the characters were a bit one dimensional though.
As the topic interested me my rating is higher than it might be:
7/10.
background to me being interested in this: My wife had been on me for some time to watch this so we finally got around to it.
She really wants to do the Camino and so do I, but we differ on how. I want to do walk the entire thing (800 km) with a backpack, while she's into the shortcut and the glamping.
Avengers: Endgame could easily have had an hour shaven off with no deterioration of the final product.
It really could have. They seem to have just stopped respecting people's time. Three hours is a long time to be sat in the cinema too, especially if there's not a lot of leg room.
The Cleaning Lady.
As a means to distract herself from an affair, a love-addicted woman befriends a cleaning lady, badly scarred by burns. She soon learns, these scars run much deeper than the surface.
Decent film, with a pretty horrific back story.
Its pace is a bit slow, but I enjoyed it.
6/10
As a means to distract herself from an affair, a love-addicted woman befriends a cleaning lady, badly scarred by burns. She soon learns, these scars run much deeper than the surface.
Decent film, with a pretty horrific back story.
Its pace is a bit slow, but I enjoyed it.
6/10
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what does love-addicted mean
Recovery
The patients and staff of a secluded heroin treatment center must do battle with more than their own demons as a mysterious killer begins picking them off one-by-one.
It was rubbish, It's about a few heroin addict girls trying to get clean in a rehab center and they fight each other like prisoners would in prison. That's all the movie is all about.
This had 7.1 on imdb !!! How.
2/10 and thats being generous.
The patients and staff of a secluded heroin treatment center must do battle with more than their own demons as a mysterious killer begins picking them off one-by-one.
It was rubbish, It's about a few heroin addict girls trying to get clean in a rehab center and they fight each other like prisoners would in prison. That's all the movie is all about.
This had 7.1 on imdb !!! How.
2/10 and thats being generous.
I have no idea !
Very weird. As is the case with Lynch's work interesting at least but not sure it all comes together.
Cheers, mate.
I am Mother
So the director basically played through Horizon:Zero Dawn and decided that'd be cool for a film too but I better leave out the robot dinosaurs because that's a bit much. Still, pretty decent (by Netflix standards) up until a point, good acting and the robot looked cool. Alicia Vikander Mk. II is a good young actress.
7/10 for the first two acts and 4/10 for the third act.
So the director basically played through Horizon:Zero Dawn and decided that'd be cool for a film too but I better leave out the robot dinosaurs because that's a bit much. Still, pretty decent (by Netflix standards) up until a point, good acting and the robot looked cool. Alicia Vikander Mk. II is a good young actress.
7/10 for the first two acts and 4/10 for the third act.
I really liked this, the "twist" is predictable as feck, but they played it out splendidly I thought. Ok, perhaps splendidly is giving it too much credit, but we've been starved for decent SciFi lately.
And yes, the young actress will be a star. Very convincing.
By chance I happened to watch two Asian-actor-led rom coms over the weekend.
Crazy Rich Asians was a let down, the ads had made it out to be hilarious and the reviews seemed to back this up but instead it was pretty generic with the excess money being the only new addition to the genre. Some funny moments but mostly by the numbers . I'd say that I wasn;t the target audience but my wife wasn't all that impressed by it either - 4/10
Always Be My Maybe was tipping along as a slightly above average rom com until the mid point restaurant scene which had some genuine belly laughs thanks to one most excellent cameo. The leads in this were both a lot more likeable and fleshed out than in Crazy Rich Asians - 8/10
Crazy Rich Asians was a let down, the ads had made it out to be hilarious and the reviews seemed to back this up but instead it was pretty generic with the excess money being the only new addition to the genre. Some funny moments but mostly by the numbers . I'd say that I wasn;t the target audience but my wife wasn't all that impressed by it either - 4/10
Always Be My Maybe was tipping along as a slightly above average rom com until the mid point restaurant scene which had some genuine belly laughs thanks to one most excellent cameo. The leads in this were both a lot more likeable and fleshed out than in Crazy Rich Asians - 8/10
Absolutely love this movie. Remember when I first watched it, laughing so much when the second kid dropped his own lawyer to get Vinny.
The bits with the judge were great too.
13 Assassins
Rewatched this after 8 years. Fecking brilliant. Somehow the Japanese (which is all gibberish to me) fits the hacking people to pieces with swords brilliantly. Still makes me want to buy a kimono and Katana.
9/10
Magnificent 7
Heard this was based on the above movie. Kind of liked it honestly. Chris Pratt is funny and I liked the set pieces. Dunno why critics panned it.
8/10
Rewatched this after 8 years. Fecking brilliant. Somehow the Japanese (which is all gibberish to me) fits the hacking people to pieces with swords brilliantly. Still makes me want to buy a kimono and Katana.
9/10
Magnificent 7
Heard this was based on the above movie. Kind of liked it honestly. Chris Pratt is funny and I liked the set pieces. Dunno why critics panned it.
8/10
Careful mate. A jap friend of mine lost his thumb playing around with real katana
Tbf 99.9 percent would never know how authentic it is being the 0.1 percent rich folks. So.. shrug..
Always be my maybe - Definitely one of the better romcoms the wife has made me watched - thanks to two very charming leads in Ali Wong and Randall Park... especially Park, who i'm a big fan of due to Fresh off the Boat... but yeah, has some good laughs (and a superb cameo) and enough going for it to overcome the more generic romcommy moments.
Searching - Surprised by just how much I liked this... the idea of a film taking place entirely on a computer screen is not something that I thought would appeal to me at all... but this is really well done. The story/mystery is good, John Cho as the lead is excellent, and the film really nails all the small/little details, which went along way into me buying into the film.
Searching - Surprised by just how much I liked this... the idea of a film taking place entirely on a computer screen is not something that I thought would appeal to me at all... but this is really well done. The story/mystery is good, John Cho as the lead is excellent, and the film really nails all the small/little details, which went along way into me buying into the film.
Steven Coogan has the looks, if the biography is to be made.
Booksmart was pretty good I think - 7
The Black Dahlia (2006)
A poor man's noir.
5/10
A poor man's noir.
5/10
When They See Us was quite excellent. I reckon Ava DuVernay is a skilful filmmaker, with a real ability to make accessible cinema out of her often biting scripts. I can't think of anyone working out of the mainstream who is hitting as hard as she is - and she sights some pretty bold targets (although Trump is fish in a barrel). There is always the fear that bland careerists with sharp elbows and dull visions will rise to the top in the battle for greater representation. So it's good to see someone with creativity putting black stories up on screen for a mass audience. Just might watch that dreadful looking Wrinkle In Time thing now.
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
A writer who struggles to be relevant uses her skills in a deceptive way to make ends meet. Not my usual kind of movie but this was a really good film that felt quite original. Melissa McCarthey was really good in it and Richard E. Grant was amazing too. The story unraveled at a good pace and I really didn't want it to end 8/10
A writer who struggles to be relevant uses her skills in a deceptive way to make ends meet. Not my usual kind of movie but this was a really good film that felt quite original. Melissa McCarthey was really good in it and Richard E. Grant was amazing too. The story unraveled at a good pace and I really didn't want it to end 8/10
X Men Dark Phoenix - Yeah Sophie Turner can't act, and having a movie focussed on someone with so little charsima to carry it was always going to end badly but this thing has got a load more problems. It's just so dull. You're only left with a few of the characters you are actually interested in from the previous films, the newer ones get barely any development. Weirdly though it takes almost an hour and a half before we get our first real fight scene, in a 2 hour movie. Barely any action and no real humour, just mediocre drama in a super hero film. Probably worse than Last Stand.
This X Men reboot has turned out to be utterly pointless, not to mention progressively more awful by the movie. At least the old trilogy had the gloriously hammy gravitas of McKellen and Stewart to carry it through it's dumb moments. These have just been an absolute train wreck (barring the time jump one which was a very good first half of a movie, peters out pathetically by the end)
It Follows Dumb, pointless and not at all scary. Typical modern horror film in other words. I want my hour and a half back please. 1/10
I am Mother
A teenage girl is raised underground by a kindly robot "Mother" -- designed to repopulate the earth following the extinction of mankind. But their unique bond is threatened when an inexplicable stranger arrives with alarming news.
I thought this was very good , plenty of twists and turns in it , the acting was very good , film was well written.
Did not expect much for a Netflix film, but it is well worth watching
The ending was a bit
7/10
A teenage girl is raised underground by a kindly robot "Mother" -- designed to repopulate the earth following the extinction of mankind. But their unique bond is threatened when an inexplicable stranger arrives with alarming news.
I thought this was very good , plenty of twists and turns in it , the acting was very good , film was well written.
Did not expect much for a Netflix film, but it is well worth watching
The ending was a bit
7/10
Bandersnatch
Interactive movie about the unraveling life of a computer games designer. I liked the ambition but as it is a first of its kind, they should have not had the story keep going back in time, made it feel more repetitive and a gimmick. Decent idea overall but they should have focused more on the narrative 5.5/10
Stronger
A man loses his legs in the Boston marathon bombing and becomes the symbol of hope for a country but struggles with his new life. Great performances but felt like it was trying too hard to pull on the heart strings. The overall story doesn't really go far, which was inevitable as it was based on a true story. I felt annoyed because I thought it was a sports movie for some reason 5/10
Interactive movie about the unraveling life of a computer games designer. I liked the ambition but as it is a first of its kind, they should have not had the story keep going back in time, made it feel more repetitive and a gimmick. Decent idea overall but they should have focused more on the narrative 5.5/10
Stronger
A man loses his legs in the Boston marathon bombing and becomes the symbol of hope for a country but struggles with his new life. Great performances but felt like it was trying too hard to pull on the heart strings. The overall story doesn't really go far, which was inevitable as it was based on a true story. I felt annoyed because I thought it was a sports movie for some reason 5/10
I liked the ending...I am Mother
A teenage girl is raised underground by a kindly robot "Mother" -- designed to repopulate the earth following the extinction of mankind. But their unique bond is threatened when an inexplicable stranger arrives with alarming news.
I thought this was very good , plenty of twists and turns in it , the acting was very good , film was well written.
Did not expect much for a Netflix film, but it is well worth watching
The ending was a bit
7/10
it implied Mother had kept a lone female human alive as an insurance policy. The flawed human mother figure lies to the child just as Mother lied to her. She gives the child the idea that she has died but is actually still hanging around to watch over as the child begins to repopulate the now fertile planet again.
Lots of plot twists and great styling from a relatively low budget film. Explores female roles and touches on issues of abortion, genetics and parenting approaches.
Great to see a robot played in a more nuanced way too.
That film left me feeling depressed for a few days... it's really sad but ultimately quite rewarding. It's in a repeated viewing that it all comes together but can see how it is a hard slog for some.
It's a very personal look at breakdown and whilst you don't need to love the main characters for it to work...it sort of helps if you can identify with one of them.
Thanks very much, mate.
Eternal Sunshine is shit.
Your spoiler makes sense.
The drop.
10/10 brilliant movie. Great performances all round. I miss gandolfini, such a great presence on the screen.
10/10 brilliant movie. Great performances all round. I miss gandolfini, such a great presence on the screen.
You're shit
The Name of the Rose (1986)
Good film. Like a living history lesson.
7/10
Good film. Like a living history lesson.
7/10