Mission Impossible: Fallout
The best of the series, I think. Great stuff.
8.5/10
The best of the series, I think. Great stuff.
8.5/10
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Piercing (2018)
I had some problems with plot holes and the motivations of characters being shown and developed. The lead female is a good actor though and the only reason this isn't graded lower. I'd like to see her in better films and shows.
5/10
Standoff at Sparrow Creek (2019)
This generations Reservoir Dogs. A brilliantly executed plot with great characterizations and wonderful acting performances. This was a January, 2019 release so I hope it gets some Academy Award play as its already in my top 2 of 2019. Highly recommended for any Tarantino, Coen brothers or fans of similar.
9/10
I had some problems with plot holes and the motivations of characters being shown and developed. The lead female is a good actor though and the only reason this isn't graded lower. I'd like to see her in better films and shows.
5/10
Standoff at Sparrow Creek (2019)
This generations Reservoir Dogs. A brilliantly executed plot with great characterizations and wonderful acting performances. This was a January, 2019 release so I hope it gets some Academy Award play as its already in my top 2 of 2019. Highly recommended for any Tarantino, Coen brothers or fans of similar.
9/10
A Bronx Tale
Wow, this was even better than I remembered. Great, great movie. They really don't make em like that anymore.
Wow, this was even better than I remembered. Great, great movie. They really don't make em like that anymore.
Creed 2 was gash. Just a rehash of Rocky 4 but without being fun and uplifting. Sly has weird eyebrows too. Looks like his old mum used to.
Exactly what I said about it.
Creed 2
I was looking forward to this , Creed was excellent , good story , cracking fight.
This felt more like a remake of Rocky 4 and a poor remake at that.
The story was almost identical , I was massively disappointed
4/10
Creed is just not likeable. He comes across like a bitch whatever he's doing. At least Sly can do the sad lummox and get you on his side.
To kill a king was good. It follows the events surrounding the trial of Charles I. Tim Roth is inspired casting as a particularly scabrous Cromwell and Everett is enjoyable as the king. It goes a bit Horrible Histories but I quite like that. It does a good job of painting a moral morass, replete with split loyalties, self serving politics and @Eboue -sque betrayal. It plays a little fast and loose with the recorded history and it strangely omits the juicy trial and plea theatrics. More Eikon Basilike than Eikonoklastes but fun.
The Taking Of Deborah Logan
An elderly woman battling Alzheimer's disease agrees to let a film crew document her condition, but what they discover is something far more sinister going on. Slightly above average found footage movie. The acting is really good, especially from the woman playing Deborah Logan and has enough suspense and scares to be worth the watch. Has quite a memorable scene towards the end also 6.5/10
Blair Witch
After discovering a video showing what he believes to be his vanished sister Heather, James and a group of friends head to the forest believed to be inhabited by the Blair Witch. Pretty much follows the original beat for beat but with a higher budget and better equipment. It carries on a bit after the end shot of the original, which was a nice touch. But overall, needed to find its' own identity rather than just rehash what was already done before 5.5/10
An elderly woman battling Alzheimer's disease agrees to let a film crew document her condition, but what they discover is something far more sinister going on. Slightly above average found footage movie. The acting is really good, especially from the woman playing Deborah Logan and has enough suspense and scares to be worth the watch. Has quite a memorable scene towards the end also 6.5/10
Blair Witch
After discovering a video showing what he believes to be his vanished sister Heather, James and a group of friends head to the forest believed to be inhabited by the Blair Witch. Pretty much follows the original beat for beat but with a higher budget and better equipment. It carries on a bit after the end shot of the original, which was a nice touch. But overall, needed to find its' own identity rather than just rehash what was already done before 5.5/10
The Talented Mr Ripley 8/10
Leon 8/10
Miller's Crossing 8/10
Leon 8/10
Miller's Crossing 8/10
The training scene in the desert was great though.
Blade Runner
After finding the 4k HDR remasters of First Blood and Predator to be stunning I thought I'd give this a go, while it does look fantastic and better than it's ever looked it doesn't quite have the same impact as the other two. Probably because it always looked great anyway.
What a film though, absolutely brilliant. Although the final directors cut annoys me, Scott seems to want to go back and force the idea that Deckard is a replicant while pretending that's what he planned all along, the rest of the cast and crew don't seem to agree with this notion. It smacks of his Alien tinkering in Prometheus, the Alien required no explanation and the less is known about it the better.
For me Deckard is not a replicant. There's too many leaps and too many people involved for that to be plausible and he gets smacked around physically by the replicants, he's no match for them at all. It's a better story for me if he's a human that's been killing them for years and is now questioning his humanity. But I liked that it was open to interpretation before Scott tinkered again and then started outright declaring Deckard a replicant in interviews. The question of the replicant's humanity and Deckard's humanity are two of the best bits of the film, they don't need outright answers.
10/10
After finding the 4k HDR remasters of First Blood and Predator to be stunning I thought I'd give this a go, while it does look fantastic and better than it's ever looked it doesn't quite have the same impact as the other two. Probably because it always looked great anyway.
What a film though, absolutely brilliant. Although the final directors cut annoys me, Scott seems to want to go back and force the idea that Deckard is a replicant while pretending that's what he planned all along, the rest of the cast and crew don't seem to agree with this notion. It smacks of his Alien tinkering in Prometheus, the Alien required no explanation and the less is known about it the better.
For me Deckard is not a replicant. There's too many leaps and too many people involved for that to be plausible and he gets smacked around physically by the replicants, he's no match for them at all. It's a better story for me if he's a human that's been killing them for years and is now questioning his humanity. But I liked that it was open to interpretation before Scott tinkered again and then started outright declaring Deckard a replicant in interviews. The question of the replicant's humanity and Deckard's humanity are two of the best bits of the film, they don't need outright answers.
10/10
Yeah. In fact, the ambiguity is far more important than the answer - it's the whole point of making us consider artificial life as 'human' also.
Exactly. I think the unicorn scene was too on the nose.
Yep perfectly next to each other
Guess this is what is called as getting mixed reviews
Climax (2018 France)
I can't give a movie like this a number review. To some people this will be the easiest 10 ever and to others a 5 for the ending.
Structure
I've never seen a movie structured like this. Its like a metafiction amalgam with modernist storytelling techniques from novels that structure the movie in a unique storytelling pattern that goes from a scene from the middle to interviews with all the characters to interspersing creative raw dancing . Gaspar Noé is simply one of the most innovative and brilliant filmmakers.
Acting and Dance
Most of the entire cast are not actors but actual skilled dancers in real underground dance styles from vogueing to bonebreaking to breakdance to locking to krumping. For this alone I have to give Noé more respect than even Baz Luhrman on Get Down. This is quite simply the type of "outside Hollywood" way of making a movie that needs to happen to advance film as an art form. The entire cast of this movie shits all over ever commercialed dance bullshit like Step Up from a great height. Not since Breakin in 1984 have I seen so many real street dancers that know whats up be cast in a movie. This also leads to much raw acting than I have seen in Hollywood movies.
Depictions of being Hallucinogens
This is my only criticism. The film is hit and miss here. On one hand it presents some of the best scenes of reflecting a real psychedelic trip I've ever seen (rivaling El Topo (1970) in sheer audacity). But it focuses too much on certain aspects of psychedelia and loses accuracy. I know some types of people won't like the last 30 minutes at all.
Conclusion
For the structure and dance alone this is the most innovative movie of the entire 2010s. It mixes concepts in film I have only read in novels before. But like Gaspar Noé masterpiece Irreversible (2002) its goal is to be so intensely realistic as to make some people uncomfortable. I can't think of a film more opposite to Marvel superheroes than Climax so anyone looking for something drastically different, this is it. it also foretells new ways of conceptualize different genres from dance movies to horror movies.
Also anyone that has any interest in working in film, this is a must see. More innovative than anything nominated for Oscars in the last 10 years. This is a true genre transcending piece of art.
I can't give a movie like this a number review. To some people this will be the easiest 10 ever and to others a 5 for the ending.
Structure
I've never seen a movie structured like this. Its like a metafiction amalgam with modernist storytelling techniques from novels that structure the movie in a unique storytelling pattern that goes from a scene from the middle to interviews with all the characters to interspersing creative raw dancing . Gaspar Noé is simply one of the most innovative and brilliant filmmakers.
Acting and Dance
Most of the entire cast are not actors but actual skilled dancers in real underground dance styles from vogueing to bonebreaking to breakdance to locking to krumping. For this alone I have to give Noé more respect than even Baz Luhrman on Get Down. This is quite simply the type of "outside Hollywood" way of making a movie that needs to happen to advance film as an art form. The entire cast of this movie shits all over ever commercialed dance bullshit like Step Up from a great height. Not since Breakin in 1984 have I seen so many real street dancers that know whats up be cast in a movie. This also leads to much raw acting than I have seen in Hollywood movies.
Depictions of being Hallucinogens
This is my only criticism. The film is hit and miss here. On one hand it presents some of the best scenes of reflecting a real psychedelic trip I've ever seen (rivaling El Topo (1970) in sheer audacity). But it focuses too much on certain aspects of psychedelia and loses accuracy. I know some types of people won't like the last 30 minutes at all.
Conclusion
For the structure and dance alone this is the most innovative movie of the entire 2010s. It mixes concepts in film I have only read in novels before. But like Gaspar Noé masterpiece Irreversible (2002) its goal is to be so intensely realistic as to make some people uncomfortable. I can't think of a film more opposite to Marvel superheroes than Climax so anyone looking for something drastically different, this is it. it also foretells new ways of conceptualize different genres from dance movies to horror movies.
Also anyone that has any interest in working in film, this is a must see. More innovative than anything nominated for Oscars in the last 10 years. This is a true genre transcending piece of art.
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Completely agree. Deckard being a replicant makes no sense at all, it was just Scott trying to be clever.
Yeah I saw it recently. I was like the feck is going on ?! during the latter half of the movie. Fantastic dance performance from everyone involved and beautifully shot. It’s an experience more than just a movie IMO and not everyone would like it. It reminded me of Requiem For A Dream with all that was going on.
It really wasn't, the dream sequence with the unicorn and the origami at the end?
The clues with the replicants regarding the pupils in the dark. If you pay attention the clues are there. It's not about Ridley trying to be clever.
I could be wrong but the unicorn dream scene and the pupils were added later on(The unicorn scene is from another film Scott was working on). Ford, Hauer and I think even the writers never thought Deckard was a replicant.
Also if Deckard is a replicant, how does the final fight with Batty make any sense ? The point(Well one of them as there are countless interpretations, I guess)is that Batty a non human machine is able to be more human (By saving Deckard and not killing him) than the actual human being he is fighting against. The tears in the rain speech is the moment were there is no difference between a replicant and a human.
If Deckard is a replicant then the final fight is just robot wars.
There are seven cuts of the film. The directors cut and final cut are the intended versions by Ridley. The other versions with the voice over and Shining Hollywood ending ect have to be disregarded. That's too long a discussion but let's just say Ridley had no creative control. I don't know when you seen Blade Runner and what version.
All I can say is the tears in the rain speech was done by Hauer right at the end. He was quoting different poetry and Scott liked it.
I'd advise you too watch the commentary on the final cut. I've written and spoke about this film too much, done my thesis on my second degree on it. On it's post modernism influence on cinema. Trust me, he's a replicant and clues are subtly scattered. It wasn't something just made up years later.
If you like the film and want closure watch the final cut commentary by Scott.
I know what Scott intended with Blade Runner but frankly its a rubbish twist and a much better film if Deckard isn't a replicant so I'm going to ignore what he intended (and hope he stops releasing new versions that make it even more apparent what he intended)
I'm not arguing the Scott doesn't think Deckard is a replicant but that he is the only one who does(If Scott started with the intention of Deckard being a replicant, then why didn't anyone include the Ford know this until years after the film came out ?)
Sorry if this might bore you but how does the film work if Deckard is a replicant ?
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The unicorn scene was added later in one of the other cuts and Ford thinks the red eyes on Deckard is just the light that's giving Rachael red eyes shining on him too. The red eye thing never made much sense anyway, if they all have red eyes in the dark then why bother with Blade Runners and Voigt Kampf tests to find them? Just turn the lights off and wait.
Deckard definitely being a replicant is just too awkward. How long was he a Blade Runner? Did all the other Blade Runners know? How did that even come about? Then you get into how he ended up meeting Rachael and if that was intended or not and why Edward James Olmos let both of them go. What was the point of it all if they are all replicants? Some weird experiment where all their creators get killed and two of them run away while the cops turn a blind eye at the end. It makes no sense.
Deckard definitely being a replicant is just too awkward. How long was he a Blade Runner? Did all the other Blade Runners know? How did that even come about? Then you get into how he ended up meeting Rachael and if that was intended or not and why Edward James Olmos let both of them go. What was the point of it all if they are all replicants? Some weird experiment where all their creators get killed and two of them run away while the cops turn a blind eye at the end. It makes no sense.
If you really want closure read the original story by Phillip K Dick where the creator of the character wrote Deckard as human
In battles of canon the original creator always trumps the adaptator.
The anti-Replicant brigade are in the right IMO. The film is infinitely worse and less interesting if he is. It’s a dumb film student twist for the sake of a twist...
The writer doesn’t think he is, the original author doesn’t think he is, and Ford doesn’t think he is... it’s just Ridley “the Alien should bite Ripleys head off” Scott’s obsession..
The whole "replicants are just as human as humans" motif only works if a human learns it. Otherwise the whole film is an empty excersize in a bunch of robots fighting each other, on some admittedly nice sets.
The writer doesn’t think he is, the original author doesn’t think he is, and Ford doesn’t think he is... it’s just Ridley “the Alien should bite Ripleys head off” Scott’s obsession..
The whole "replicants are just as human as humans" motif only works if a human learns it. Otherwise the whole film is an empty excersize in a bunch of robots fighting each other, on some admittedly nice sets.
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Scott is drunk!
Gangs of New York
Decent movie but expected a bit more. Doesn't have rewatch value.
Decent movie but expected a bit more. Doesn't have rewatch value.
The book isn't much more than an inspiration for the film though.If you really want closure read the original story by Phillip K Dick where the creator of the character wrote Deckard as human
In battles of canon the original creator always trumps the adaptator.
The problem (or rather one of many) with the original cut(s) is that the hints that Deckard may be a replicant are too subtle on a single watch. The adding of the unicorn dream to link in to the origami unicorn at the end perhaps pushed things too far the other way, especially now after it has been discussed to death for 20 years.
I think I prefer the origami unicorn as a sign that Gaff was letting them run even if the possibility of a happy future was a myth as per the original film. Removing the sunrise bullshit makes it more ominous anyway.
The Final Cut looks georgeous. Perhaps cut the unicorn dream and it would be close to perfect?
And 2049 was excellent. So many opportunities to feck it up by paying too much homage to the original avoided.
I think I prefer the origami unicorn as a sign that Gaff was letting them run even if the possibility of a happy future was a myth as per the original film. Removing the sunrise bullshit makes it more ominous anyway.
The Final Cut looks georgeous. Perhaps cut the unicorn dream and it would be close to perfect?
And 2049 was excellent. So many opportunities to feck it up by paying too much homage to the original avoided.
The unicorn dream opens up too many questions about Gaff and the rest of the department. I'd agree, cut it completely.
I've only seen 2049 once and don't remember much other than I didn't really like it and there was something involving plot holes that I can't quite remember the details of. I know the soundtrack annoyed me with it's incessant blairing and Jared Leto was fecking awful, I don't get him. It's coming to Netflix at the end of the month.
I've only seen 2049 once and don't remember much other than I didn't really like it and there was something involving plot holes that I can't quite remember the details of. I know the soundtrack annoyed me with it's incessant blairing and Jared Leto was fecking awful, I don't get him. It's coming to Netflix at the end of the month.
Just got back from seeing Hobbs and Shaw. The bad part of having a Cineworld unlimited card, you tend to see most and then you get shite like this. It wasn't even fun while drunk. The Rock really needs to slow down making so many of these bad action movies, it wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't in 3 of them a year but his face is everywhere for months. His IMDB outside of a few ok films like Fast 5, The Other guys and maybe Fighting with my Family his films are so bad. The media in general seem to give him a free pass because hes a nice bloke on Instagram but I hope this run of bad films catches up on him.
Sunshine (2007)
A nice sci-fi flick with a great cast incl. Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh. A spaceship carrying a bomb to the sun to "restart" the star gets a message from it's lost predecessor with mystery ensuing.
The plot really stretches your imagination and has some till eye moments with certain important explanations never given and just assumed.
Still the screenplay and acting keeps you engrossed with never a full moment and the graphics ain't bad despite some psychedelic type camera work.
Definitely worth a watch for sci-fi buffs.
6.5/10.
A nice sci-fi flick with a great cast incl. Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh. A spaceship carrying a bomb to the sun to "restart" the star gets a message from it's lost predecessor with mystery ensuing.
The plot really stretches your imagination and has some till eye moments with certain important explanations never given and just assumed.
Still the screenplay and acting keeps you engrossed with never a full moment and the graphics ain't bad despite some psychedelic type camera work.
Definitely worth a watch for sci-fi buffs.
6.5/10.
Rocket Man was surprisingly good considering I didn't care much for Elton John going into it and had no idea it was a musical where all the songs were his songs until about five minutes into the film, at which point I thought "ah feck, I don't even know much of his stuff", and then it became apparent throughout that I actually did know loads of them because he has so many good songs I didn't realize he had.
I though the Chav guy who isn't actually a chav was also surprisingly good seeing as I only thought he was capable of being a chav.
7/10
I though the Chav guy who isn't actually a chav was also surprisingly good seeing as I only thought he was capable of being a chav.
7/10
Shoplifters (2018 - Japan)
A brilliant little movie from the creator of The Third Murder a few years ago. The plot centers around a poor family on the edge of society in Tokyo that shoplifts to survive. Great cinematography that my friend said was very reflect of the poor districts in Tokyo and the story itself is quite original and very touching.
What I like most in the scenes are how so much information and emotion can be packed into little gestures. Subtext is a technique that reveals the true masters and Hirokazu Kore-eda is an international filmmaker at the top of his game. Highly recommend this to anyone into high quality drama.
A brilliant little movie from the creator of The Third Murder a few years ago. The plot centers around a poor family on the edge of society in Tokyo that shoplifts to survive. Great cinematography that my friend said was very reflect of the poor districts in Tokyo and the story itself is quite original and very touching.
What I like most in the scenes are how so much information and emotion can be packed into little gestures. Subtext is a technique that reveals the true masters and Hirokazu Kore-eda is an international filmmaker at the top of his game. Highly recommend this to anyone into high quality drama.
England Is Mine
If you're a Smiths fan then you might enjoy this more than other people. I really liked it.
8/10
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_Is_Mine
If you're a Smiths fan then you might enjoy this more than other people. I really liked it.
8/10
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Sakura Ando <3
I reckon Kore-eda took a lot of inspiration (especially for Ando's character) from the film 0.5 mm which I liked more than Shoplifters. Written and directed by Ando's sister as well!
Yeah, but what about Mark Strong?
Never explained. The ship exploded and Capa detonates the bomb, so he must be dead either way.
Or perhaps he's just Capa's doppelganger/split personality as nobody else sees/interacts with him. And only Capa hears computer telling of additional crew member.