Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Archie Leach · Nov 20, 2019

R.N7 said:
Bresson acting is def an acquired taste. I didn't think much of Balthazar either when I saw it yonks ago.

I've read some compelling analysis of it and why it's seen as great. Might have to get across a few more of his films and revisit.

I do think I struggle to differentiate my expectations of a film from what it seeks to achieve.

Dirty Schwein · Nov 21, 2019

The Standoff At Sparrow Creek
A former cop-turned-militia man investigates a shooting at a police funeral. Low budget film clearly inspired by the likes of Reservoir Dogs. Was decent but the story needed a bit more to feel less derivative. A lot of mumbling too so you'll have to fight with the remote a lot. Overall, it was decent due to the acting and direction 6/10

Solius · Nov 22, 2019

Just watched Game Night. Based purely on the plot it had a high chance of being terrible but thought it was actually pretty good! Predictably cheesy on rare occasion but often a bit smarter and funnier than I expected it would be. 7/10

Dirty Schwein · Nov 22, 2019

The Frozen Ground
An Alaska State Trooper partners with a young woman who escaped the clutches of serial killer Robert Hansen to bring the murderer to justice. Based on actual events. Whilst I enjoyed the story and both Nic Cage and John Cusack were both good, I felt it to be a little boring in places. Vanessa Hudgens pole dancing as a stripper felt weird... Decent film 5.5/10

AaronRedDevil · Nov 23, 2019

The Night Comes for Us.

I watched this on the train to Dublin just randomly. I consider The Raid to be one of the best action/fighting movies I've ever seen. Didn't think I'd ever find a better action movie then The Raid. But this was it. It was entertaining non stop, great fighting, loads of violence and even made me cringe with some of the deaths. The last half hour was relentless, just non stop fighting with just 2 people. Some movies can't even do that with a hundre people. I'm growing into a big fan of Iko Uwais. He's the new Jet Li.

9/10.

R.N7 · Nov 23, 2019

The Irishman - I kept thinking throughout the film that this was kinda De Niro's The Shootist (the tailor-made send off for John Wayne) and whatdoyouknow towards the end of the film there's a shot of a movie theater playing The Shootist, perhaps a self conscious nod by Scorsese. It was a decent if not really that memorable experience, the cast was great though and I didn't really feel the running length. Giving De Niro blue eyes was very distracting.

dumbo · Nov 24, 2019

That was likely the last Tarantino I watch (like I'm important yeah). It's too dispiriting to watch everything he touches cheapened in this way. I hate what he reveres and represents. I'm too old and broken for someone/thing so devoid of decency. I'm shutting his butt down (urgh even that hurts).

R.N7 · Nov 24, 2019

dumbo said:
That was likely the last Tarantino I watch (like I'm important yeah). It's too dispiriting to watch everything he touches cheapened in this way. I hate what he reveres and represents. I'm too old and broken for someone/thing so devoid of decency. I'm shutting his butt down (urgh even that hurts).

Yeah, that one was the last straw for me as well.

hungrywing · Nov 25, 2019

Bill.s.preston said:
Hmm.
I remember reading an article about Disney muscling Tarantino's Hateful 8 out of a theatre designed to show his film in 70mm with the threat of withholding star wars. I guess if they own a branch of cinemas it'll make it easier to ensure their own films always get priority.

Things like that, too, yes - back when the law was passed, those kinds of anti-competitive concerns were the main justifications.

But with all the socio-political and technological shapings going on... Moves like this one are part of the facist playbook and it feels bigger than just anti-competitive. May not matter much right now or even ever, but a lot of the world still looks to America and it's a pretty big signal.

Mockney · Nov 25, 2019

Today I learned that Tarantino’s long term editor died soon after Inglorious Basterds and honestly, that makes sooooo much sense.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Menke

SteveJ · Nov 25, 2019

I acknowledge that I'm the Howard Nurse of the Entertainment forum but, undaunted, I shall continue banging on about Kurt Cobain's 'suicide'...25 years after his death and 4 years after this film was released.

Soaked in Bleach (2015)

Suspicious AF. I even disliked the person playing Courtney Love, so well done to that actress.

7/10

dumbo · Nov 25, 2019

R.N7 said:
Yeah, that one was the last straw for me as well.

My Quentin shit take in light of OUATIH is that I don't even think he loves cinema (or the music, styles, eras). Love implies care and respect and to him it's all a fetish. Which ok fine. But why it's not fine is that he is the establishment and he specialises in punching down appropriation. He is not an outsider, a subversive, grindhouse. He's a 60 year old, (and white and cis and yada yada) powerful industry figure who is best mates with Harvey. And when you happen to be looking every bit the filmmaking equivalent of Prince Andrew, then the least you should do is treat that which you appropriate with some dignity.

Archie Leach · Nov 25, 2019

Mockney said:
Today I learned that Tarantino’s long term editor died soon after Inglorious Basterds and honestly, that makes sooooo much sense.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Menke

I'm not sure that fits as Jackie Brown is 160 minutes and supremely boring and Death Proof is the relatively slight 120 minutes and also very boring.

Cheesy · Nov 25, 2019

Archie Leach said:
I'm not sure that fits as Jackie Brown is 160 minutes and supremely boring and Death Proof is the relatively slight 120 minutes and also very boring.

Kill Bill is also two fairly long movies when it could've probably been about 100 minutes all-in. But I do think there's something to it insofar as his very good movies are generally tighter than anything he's done in the past decade.

Mockney · Nov 25, 2019

Jackie Brown is great. Max is one of his most touching, understated characters (probably ‘cos he’s half an Elmore Leonard character)

dumbo said:
My Quentin shit take in light of OUATIH is that I don't even think he loves cinema (or the music, styles, eras). Love implies care and respect and to him it's all a fetish. Which ok fine. But why it's not fine is that he is the establishment and he specialises in punching down appropriation.

Whose he punching down on, the Manson Family?

Sky1981 · Nov 25, 2019

AaronRedDevil said:
The Night Comes for Us.

I watched this on the train to Dublin just randomly. I consider The Raid to be one of the best action/fighting movies I've ever seen. Didn't think I'd ever find a better action movie then The Raid. But this was it. It was entertaining non stop, great fighting, loads of violence and even made me cringe with some of the deaths. The last half hour was relentless, just non stop fighting with just 2 people. Some movies can't even do that with a hundre people. I'm growing into a big fan of Iko Uwais. He's the new Jet Li.

9/10.

Jet li was a showman, much like Jackie chan. I think they belong to one older generation of martial arts actors. Donnie Yen / Iko / Taslim / Jaa / Adkins was the next generation martial artist. Their movie was as gritty and tries to be realistic (although off course it's being a movie) compared to Jackie / Jet Li which you know is just performing martial arts tricks.

Archie Leach · Nov 25, 2019

Mockney said:
Jackie Brown is great. Max is one of his most touching, understated characters (probably ‘cos he’s half an Elmore Leonard character)

Whose he punching down on, the Manson Family?

Agree Forster was great but the film itself is drawn out and tedious.

And yeah, I don't know how the the Manson family have somehow become proxy for, I dunno, victims of domestic violence or systemic injustice.

hungrywing · Nov 25, 2019

Sky1981 said:
Jet li was a showman, much like Jackie chan. I think they belong to one older generation of martial arts actors. Donnie Yen / Iko / Taslim / Jaa / Adkins was the next generation martial artist. Their movie was as gritty and tries to be realistic (although off course it's being a movie) compared to Jackie / Jet Li which you know is just performing martial arts tricks.

Minor bit of trivia: Jet Li is regarded on a 'There will never be another like him, period. Ever.' level in terms of martial arts ability.

Saying he's a 'showman' like Jackie Chan may not be wrong, per se, but the two came into movies from the extreme opposite ends of the martial arts ability spectrum. A footballing analogy might be like comparing Remi Gaillard vs Messi/Ronaldo. Chan learned a bit of some styles as part of his overall acrobatics training. Li started winning virtually all categories/styles (think Frigid Mongoose, Perplexed Crane, etc) of the national Wushu style competitions barring the occasional slip-up and then continued this for about ten/eleven years. (There's something like twenty categories/styles.) He only quit competition and transitioned fully into movies due to a knee injury.

Also there is a myth of sorts that he only won the balletic form/style comps and never participated in sparring competitions lolol can't fight 4 realz. He won/placed in all the sparring comps he entered at youth level and IIRC the one he entered at adult level; after that he simply didn't enter once he turned eighteen/hurt his knee/got into movies. (Yes, there is his quote about losing to MMA fighters)

One of the funniest(?) facts about him is that five masters passed onto him their style's "secret ultra one finger technique" type thing. Five blind(?) bearded(?) old(?) Asian guys pulled the I-don't-even-teach-this-to-my-own-children-my-master-taught-it-to-only-one-student-as-I-now-teach-it-to-you-if-you-die-without-passing-it-on-it-is-lost-forever-grasshopper on him.

If he dies without finding a "worthy" student for each, five of these things are lost.

Anyways, bit of a difference between him and Chan in those terms.

To bring it back to movies, both men publicly chided the Ong Bak (Jaa) stunt team for 'showing things that are too dangerous/violent' when that movie was released, specifically pointing out that they could (and had) strike their co-stars like that but that it was gratuitous.

Fingeredmouse · Nov 25, 2019

dumbo said:
My Quentin shit take in light of OUATIH is that I don't even think he loves cinema (or the music, styles, eras). Love implies care and respect and to him it's all a fetish. Which ok fine. But why it's not fine is that he is the establishment and he specialises in punching down appropriation. He is not an outsider, a subversive, grindhouse. He's a 60 year old, (and white and cis and yada yada) powerful industry figure who is best mates with Harvey. And when you happen to be looking every bit the filmmaking equivalent of Prince Andrew, then the least you should do is treat that which you appropriate with some dignity.

I don't understand "punching down appropriation?" I assume you don't mean that he's somehow fighting against appropriation given the rest of the post's direction. Do you mean he appropriates to punch down?

Dirty Schwein · Nov 25, 2019

Pledge
A group of college freshmen pledge an exclusive fraternity but soon realize there's more at stake than they could have ever imagined. Not bad. Quite tense, very violent and has some interesting social commentary, albeit a little heavy handed. Some of the character decisions were questionable though and the acting was hit and miss. Decent for a quick 80 minute movie on a low budget 6/10

Hotel Mumbai
The true story of the Taj Hotel terrorist attack in Mumbai. Hotel staff risk their lives to keep everyone safe as people make unthinkable sacrifices to protect themselves and their families. Well acted and insanely suspenseful. Quite horrific considering it was based on a true story. The acting was great, the casting of the terrorists was phenomenal, their dead pan delivery made them far scarier than the terrorists you see on shows like Homeland. Dev Patel is great. A bit heavy but worth the watch 7/10

The Wolf Of Wall Street
I wish I had that much money and access to Margot Robbie in a bedroom. I'd give her the time of her life for 11 seconds too :lol:

8/10

SteveJ · Nov 25, 2019

Swordfish (1999)

Jesus Harold Christ...

1/10

Eric's Seagull · Nov 25, 2019

Shaft (2019) Samuel L. Jackson great as Shaft again. Some very good scenes 7/10.

Jippy · Nov 25, 2019

hungrywing said:
Minor bit of trivia: Jet Li is regarded on a 'There will never be another like him, period. Ever.' level in terms of martial arts ability.

Saying he's a 'showman' like Jackie Chan may not be wrong, per se, but the two came into movies from the extreme opposite ends of the martial arts ability spectrum. A footballing analogy might be like comparing Remi Gaillard vs Messi/Ronaldo. Chan learned a bit of some styles as part of his overall acrobatics training. Li started winning virtually all categories/styles (think Frigid Mongoose, Perplexed Crane, etc) of the national Wushu style competitions barring the occasional slip-up and then continued this for about ten/eleven years. (There's something like twenty categories/styles.) He only quit competition and transitioned fully into movies due to a knee injury.

Also there is a myth of sorts that he only won the balletic form/style comps and never participated in sparring competitions lolol can't fight 4 realz. He won/placed in all the sparring comps he entered at youth level and IIRC the one he entered at adult level; after that he simply didn't enter once he turned eighteen/hurt his knee/got into movies. (Yes, there is his quote about losing to MMA fighters)

One of the funniest(?) facts about him is that five masters passed onto him their style's "secret ultra one finger technique" type thing. Five blind(?) bearded(?) old(?) Asian guys pulled the I-don't-even-teach-this-to-my-own-children-my-master-taught-it-to-only-one-student-as-I-now-teach-it-to-you-if-you-die-without-passing-it-on-it-is-lost-forever-grasshopper on him.

If he dies without finding a "worthy" student for each, five of these things are lost.

Anyways, bit of a difference between him and Chan in those terms.

To bring it back to movies, both men publicly chided the Ong Bak (Jaa) stunt team for 'showing things that are too dangerous/violent' when that movie was released, specifically pointing out that they could (and had) strike their co-stars like that but that it was gratuitous.

I remember it having shedloads of leg and arm-breaking moves.

sullydnl · Nov 25, 2019

Archie Leach said:
Agree Forster was great but the film itself is drawn out and tedious.

And yeah, I don't know how the the Manson family have somehow become proxy for, I dunno, victims of domestic violence or systemic injustice.

Mockney said:
Jackie Brown is great. Max is one of his most touching, understated characters (probably ‘cos he’s half an Elmore Leonard character)

Whose he punching down on, the Manson Family?

I can't imagine anyone could seriously object to the way the film treats the Manson family, so I can only think people are either:

A) Alluding to the way the film treats the Bruce Lee character, something I have read other people argue is disrespectful to both Lee as a person and Asian actors/cinema generally.

B) Reading the film as a conservative reaction against 60's counterculture and the values that emerged from it. Or indeed reading it as an attack by proxy on current cultural shifts within Hollywood.

If it's neither of those then I dunno.

sullydnl · Nov 25, 2019

SteveJ said:
I acknowledge that I'm the Howard Nurse of the Entertainment forum but, undaunted, I shall continue banging on about Kurt Cobain's 'suicide'...25 years after his death and 4 years after this film was released.

Soaked in Bleach (2015)

Suspicious AF. I even disliked the person playing Courtney Love, so well done to that actress.

7/10

If you haven't seen the Nick Broomfield documentary Kurt & Courtney then you're missing the major text in the admittedly niche "isn't Courtney Love awful?" genre. Though it would probably also be the key text in the "isn't Nick Broomfield awful?" genre too.

SteveJ · Nov 25, 2019

I just worry that my dislike is making my view of the death biased, chief.

caid · Nov 25, 2019

SteveJ said:
I just worry that my dislike is making my view of the death biased, chief.

Killing him would have been redundant. He was never going to be long lived, why intervene.

dumbo · Nov 26, 2019

Mockney said:
Whose he punching down on, the Manson Family?

Fingeredmouse said:
I don't understand "punching down appropriation?" I assume you don't mean that he's somehow fighting against appropriation given the rest of the post's direction. Do you mean he appropriates to punch down?

The appropriation: (just for example) Black or Jewish or female identity/culture/history as depicted in his films.
Punching down: Depictions of the above that could be recieved as negative, or use of the above at the expense of the above.

Such as:
The routine use of racial language and casual use of black iconography and history. Like with the slurs in Resevoir Dogs, True Romance's Sicilians, or Django's everything. (see not mine but Spike Lee's criticisms amongst many others)
Or Jewish barbarity in IB and the reducing of Jewish suffering to alternative history (see not mine but Jonathan Rosenbaum's criticisms).
Or The way women are often portrayed and treated in his films. (See not mine but everybody's criticisms)

And all this "in light of OUATIH" because it feels to me like he objectifies the character of Tate and not just through a lecherous male lens (lingering shot of her ass and legs and later feet). He goes on to situate her adjacent to sadistic violence that plays as an inversion of what she suffered. And for what? To gratify Tarantino's vengeance and by extension the audience's? To reduce real world tragedy to a sanitised fairytale. Because it was bad ass? I'm not sure but It seems it is Tarantino's want to recontextualise history through puerile fantasy and fetishization. Whether that be the Jewish holocaust seen through eyes of an all Jewish death squad, or African slavery retold as heroic Western. And (just perhaps) why even the actions of a predatory, rapist film director buggering a drugged 13 year old can be revised by Quentin Tarantino as her being "down with it".

I don't even want him cancelled, or to smear him as some decadent corrupter of our youth. I don't think he does it because him bad man, he does it because he's Quentin Tarantino - a reflextion of our depravity not the cause. And he is still as talented behind the camera as they come, for whatever that's worth.

I just happen to be over his jizzy adolescent contributions.

Not the fecking Mansons (although Boots Riley had something interesting to say about the depiction of them in the film). And not Bruce Lee either: Although, actually it kind of fits - I certainly wouldn't call buffoonish Bruce a loving depiction of Asian-action's tentpole star. Yes it possibly is an example of Tarantino's flippant appropriation of that which he professes to be devoted to.

Archie Leach · Nov 26, 2019

It sounds like you were fed up with him before you entered the cinema because the conflation of different critiques is a little...broad.

Darkhorsez · Nov 26, 2019

AaronRedDevil said:
The Night Comes for Us.

I watched this on the train to Dublin just randomly. I consider The Raid to be one of the best action/fighting movies I've ever seen. Didn't think I'd ever find a better action movie then The Raid. But this was it. It was entertaining non stop, great fighting, loads of violence and even made me cringe with some of the deaths. The last half hour was relentless, just non stop fighting with just 2 people. Some movies can't even do that with a hundre people. I'm growing into a big fan of Iko Uwais. He's the new Jet Li.

9/10.

i really enjoyed this movie. It had lots of action but also a great plot.

Dirty Schwein · Nov 26, 2019

Revenge Of The Pontianak
A small village helps Khalid and Siti prepare for their wedding day. Soon after, a great darkness falls upon the village as a string of horrific deaths and supernatural happenings create widespread fear and paranoia amongst the villagers. Malaysian horror film. Shot incredibly and had a decent score but some of the direction for the scare scenes were abysmal. The story was predictable, which I didn't expect from an asian horror film. To be honest, beyond the cinematography, there isn't much to find here 3/10

Grinner · Nov 26, 2019

I was disappointed by Lake Mungo. It was creepy for a while then it went normal when human villains were introduced, then creepy again but no real payoff. There's a better story in there somewhere.

R.N7 · Nov 26, 2019

I agree with every word @dumbo

R.N7 · Nov 26, 2019

The 100 greatest films directed by women

BBC Culture polled 368 film experts from 84 countries in order to find the best films from female filmmakers – here’s the top 100.

100. The Kids are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, 2010)
99. The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg, 2019)
98. Somewhere (Sofia Coppola, 2010)
97. Adoption (Márta Mészáros, 1975)
96. The Meetings of Anna (Chantal Akerman, 1977)
95. Ritual in Transfigured Time (Maya Deren, 1946)
94. News From Home (Chantal Akerman, 1977)
93. Red Road (Andrea Arnold, 2006)
92. Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016)
91. White Material (Claire Denis, 2009)
90. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982)
89. The Beaches of Agnes (Agnès Varda, 2008)
88. The Silences of the Palace (Moufida Tlatli, 1994)
87. 35 Shots of Rum (Claire Denis, 2008)
86. Wadjda (Haifaa Al-Mansour, 2012)
85. One Sings, The Other Doesn’t (Agnès Varda, 1977)
84. Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke, 1967)
83. Sleepless in Seattle (Nora Ephron, 1993)
82. At Land (Maya Deren, 1944)
81. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2014)
80. Big (Penny Marshall, 1988)
79. Shoes (Lois Weber, 1916)
78. The Apple (Samira Makhmalbaf, 1988)
77. Tomboy (Céline Sciamma, 2011)
76. Girlhood (Céline Sciamma, 2014)
75. Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2010)
74. Chocolat (Claire Denis, 1988)
73. On Body and Soul (Ildikó Enyedi, 2017)
72. Europa Europa (Agnieszka Holland, 1980)
71. The Seashell and the Clergyman (Germaine Dulac, 1928)
70. Whale Rider (Niki Caro, 2002)
69. The Connection (Shirley Clarke, 1961)
68. Eve’s Bayou (Kasi Lemmons, 1997)
67. The German Sisters (Margarethe von Trotta, 1981)
66. Ratcatcher (Lynne Ramsay, 1999)
65. Leave no Trace (Debra Granik, 2018)
64. The Rider (Chloe Zhao, 2017)
63. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola, 2006)
62. Strange Days (Kathryn Bigelow, 1995)
61. India Song (Marguerite Duras, 1975)
60. A League of their Own (Penny Marshall, 1992)
59. The Long Farewell (Kira Muratova, 1971)
58. Desperately Seeking Susan (Susan Seidelman, 1985)
57. The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014)
56. 13th (Ava DuVernay, 2016)
55. Monster (Patty Jenkins, 2003)
54. Bright Star (Jane Campion, 2009)
53. The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)
52. Happy as Lazzaro (Alice Rohrwacher, 2018)
51. Harlan County, USA (Barbara Kopple, 1976)
50. Outrage (Ida Lupino, 1950)
49. Salaam Bombay! (Mira Nair, 1988)
48. The Asthenic Syndrome (Kira Muratova, 1989)
47. An Angel at my Table (Jane Campion, 1990)
46. Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow, 1987)
45. Triumph of the Will (Leni Riefenstahl, 1935)
44. American Honey (Andrea Arnold, 2016)
43. The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, 1999)
42. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, 1926)
41. Capernaum (Nadine Labaki, 2018)
40. Boys Don’t Cry (Kimberly Peirce, 1999)
39. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma, 2019)
38. Paris is Burning (Jennie Livingston, 1990)
37. Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)
36. Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt, 2008)
35. The Matrix (Lana and Lilly Wachowski, 1999)
34. Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, 2002)
33. You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay, 2017)
32. The Night Porter (Liliana Cavani, 1974)
31. The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000)
30. Zama (Lucrecia Martel, 2017)
29. Monsoon Wedding (Mira Nair, 2001)
28. Le Bonheur (Agnès Varda, 1965)
27. Selma (Ava DuVernay, 2014)
26. Stories we Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)
25. The House is Black (Forugh Farrokhzad, 1963)
24. Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017)
23. The Hitch-Hiker (Ida Lupino, 1953)
23. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011)
21. Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)
20. Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995)
19. Orlando (Sally Potter, 1992)
18. American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000)
17. Seven Beauties (Lina Wertmüller, 1975)
16. Wanda (Barbara Loden, 1970)
15. The Swamp (Lucrecia Martel, 2001)
14. Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow, 1991)
13. Vagabond (Agnès Varda, 1985)
12. Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012)
11. The Ascent (Larisa Shepitko, 1977)
10. Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, 1991)
9. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009)
8. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)
7. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)
6. Daisies (Věra Chytilová, 1966)
5. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
4. Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 1999)
3. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, 1975)
2. Cléo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962)
1. The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993)

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20191125-the-100-greatest-films-directed-by-women-poll

The Meetings of Anna and News from Home are def on the wrong end of the list. Lots of really good ones missing like:

Friday Night (Claire Denis)
Girlfriends (Claudia Weill)
Portrait of a Young Girl at the End of the ’60s in Brussels (Chantal Akerman)
The Arch (Tang Shu Shuen)
The Holy Girl (Lucrecia Martel)
The Other Side of the Underneath (Jane Arden)
0.5 mm (Momoko Ando)

dumbo · Nov 26, 2019

R.N7 said:
I agree with every word @dumbo

Appreciate it.

Sky1981 · Nov 27, 2019

hungrywing said:
Minor bit of trivia: Jet Li is regarded on a 'There will never be another like him, period. Ever.' level in terms of martial arts ability.

Saying he's a 'showman' like Jackie Chan may not be wrong, per se, but the two came into movies from the extreme opposite ends of the martial arts ability spectrum. A footballing analogy might be like comparing Remi Gaillard vs Messi/Ronaldo. Chan learned a bit of some styles as part of his overall acrobatics training. Li started winning virtually all categories/styles (think Frigid Mongoose, Perplexed Crane, etc) of the national Wushu style competitions barring the occasional slip-up and then continued this for about ten/eleven years. (There's something like twenty categories/styles.) He only quit competition and transitioned fully into movies due to a knee injury.

Also there is a myth of sorts that he only won the balletic form/style comps and never participated in sparring competitions lolol can't fight 4 realz. He won/placed in all the sparring comps he entered at youth level and IIRC the one he entered at adult level; after that he simply didn't enter once he turned eighteen/hurt his knee/got into movies. (Yes, there is his quote about losing to MMA fighters)

One of the funniest(?) facts about him is that five masters passed onto him their style's "secret ultra one finger technique" type thing. Five blind(?) bearded(?) old(?) Asian guys pulled the I-don't-even-teach-this-to-my-own-children-my-master-taught-it-to-only-one-student-as-I-now-teach-it-to-you-if-you-die-without-passing-it-on-it-is-lost-forever-grasshopper on him.

If he dies without finding a "worthy" student for each, five of these things are lost.

Anyways, bit of a difference between him and Chan in those terms.

To bring it back to movies, both men publicly chided the Ong Bak (Jaa) stunt team for 'showing things that are too dangerous/violent' when that movie was released, specifically pointing out that they could (and had) strike their co-stars like that but that it was gratuitous.

Oh. What i meant as showman arts is how they portray their arts in the movie. Not in real life.

The moves they showed in most of their movies are pure showbiz. While uko and the others are showing realistic moves (even if they're all acting).

Chan acrobatic and props fighting are good examples.

Sky1981 · Nov 27, 2019

Dirty Schwein said:
Revenge Of The Pontianak
A small village helps Khalid and Siti prepare for their wedding day. Soon after, a great darkness falls upon the village as a string of horrific deaths and supernatural happenings create widespread fear and paranoia amongst the villagers. Malaysian horror film. Shot incredibly and had a decent score but some of the direction for the scare scenes were abysmal. The story was predictable, which I didn't expect from an asian horror film. To be honest, beyond the cinematography, there isn't much to find here 3/10

Malaysians arent well known for their film making. Of some that i manages to watch most are bland, superfluous, and badly acted.

The thais has quite a few gems, singapore has their own slapstickish style that you either love or hate, hongkong... nuff said, indonesian too has a few gems and when they do it good they really got it good. Malaysians.... cant remember any good movies they've made.

Redplane · Nov 27, 2019

SteveJ said:
Swordfish (1999)

Jesus Harold Christ...

1/10

Blasphemy.
(o) (o)

Annihilate Now! · Nov 27, 2019

Yesterday - Maybe it's my inherent Danny Boyle bias showing through - but I really enjoyed this. A light, fluffy, inoffensive RomCom with some great music that I would take any day over something like Bohemian Rhapsody. Also the scene near the end with you know who really got me...

As an aside, really cool seeing a British Indian bloke being the lead in a film and his race not being brought up once or being anything to do with his character.

R.N7 · Nov 27, 2019

Bad Black - Obviously the greatest movie of all time.

Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Gooner

Has a 'Best of Britney Spears' album

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Has a 'Best of Britney Spears' album

Full Member

Such tagline. Wow!

Don't Just Fly…Soar!

Such tagline. Wow!

Full Member

Not the only poster to be named Poster of the Year

all-round nice guy, aka Uncle Joe Kardashian

Don't Just Fly…Soar!

Gooner

Bread with dipping sauce

Not the only poster to be named Poster of the Year

Fending off the urge

Gooner

Full Member

Full Member

Has a 'Best of Britney Spears' album

all-round nice guy, aka Uncle Joe Kardashian

Full Member

Sleeps with tramps, bangs jacuzzis, dirty shoes

Ross Kemp's caf ID

Ross Kemp's caf ID

all-round nice guy, aka Uncle Joe Kardashian

Full Member

Don't Just Fly…Soar!

Gooner

Full Member

Has a 'Best of Britney Spears' album

Not fat gutted. Hirsuteness of shoulders TBD.

Such tagline. Wow!

Such tagline. Wow!

Don't Just Fly…Soar!

Fending off the urge

Fending off the urge

( . Y . ) planned for Christmas

...or later, I'm not fussy

Such tagline. Wow!