I saw it last night, I think you're being quite generous - I appreciate the work that went into the prosthetics and the reality of the life as an obese person, and Brendan Fraser is seriously excellent in it (almost worth it for his performance alone), but I felt it lacked a real emotional impact. I never quite bought into the redemption arc thing, and the side story of that kid and his parents was a bit meh. I mean it's not a bad film, but overall I just felt it was a bit... flat. Brendan Fraser deserves all the plaudits he's getting and I'm glad for his own redemption story, cos he seems like a genuinely great guy, but apart from that, very underwhelming I thought.
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
- Thread starter golden_blunder
- Start date
Yeah I get where you're coming from - if Fraser's performance had been anything less there's a chance that it wouldn't even have been released because nothing much else in the film sticks in the memory.
Perhaps 8 was a tad generous but I would feel bad lowering my score because it really is one of the standout individual performances of recent times.
I loved that scene. I thought about it a few months ago when two groups of teenagers would not stop talking during Smile (had to walk out after complaining to manager who said he couldn't do anything about it).
I was expecting it to come back to get him later on in the film but nope it's just a thing that happened. Loved it.
Grimcutty
A suburban teen girl and her little brother must stop a terrifying internet meme brought to life by the hysteria of their parents.
The title had it right, this film is grim, its been done before better.
2/10
A suburban teen girl and her little brother must stop a terrifying internet meme brought to life by the hysteria of their parents.
The title had it right, this film is grim, its been done before better.
2/10
Phew. Thought it was just me. Clichéd bollocks. I could hear my own eyes rolling.
Last edited:
Infinity Pool
what the actual feck?
what the actual feck?
Transfusion
One of the few movies in my life I couldn’t finish. Avoid.
One of the few movies in my life I couldn’t finish. Avoid.
Where did you watch this? I'm interested in it.
Oh my tv definitely legally.
The Menu
Bonkers served with a side salad. 8/10
Bonkers served with a side salad. 8/10
Man's a fecking fraud. Who the feck serves an American cheeseburger with crinkle chips??? I would have spat in his face when I saw that monstrosity
Should have asked for tomato sauce
I'm a chilli/garlic type of guy myself
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Vanilla cheesy plot but still entertaining
7.5/10
Vanilla cheesy plot but still entertaining
7.5/10
Host
An online seance leads to the participants getting malevolently killed. Very good movie technically when you consider how this was made during lockdown using iPhones and old school stunt work. I feel the 60 minutes run time works against it a bit as an extra 20 minutes could really have helped flesh out the characters. But still, short and sweet and quite inventive. Enjoyed 7/10
An online seance leads to the participants getting malevolently killed. Very good movie technically when you consider how this was made during lockdown using iPhones and old school stunt work. I feel the 60 minutes run time works against it a bit as an extra 20 minutes could really have helped flesh out the characters. But still, short and sweet and quite inventive. Enjoyed 7/10
Aftersun
Beautiful, heartbreaking film. Cleverley structured, brilliantly acted, subtlety written, beautifully shot, just fantastic.
Beautiful, heartbreaking film. Cleverley structured, brilliantly acted, subtlety written, beautifully shot, just fantastic.
Watched Everything Everywhere All at Once. Maybe I'm just too thick, but I thought it was terrible.
Yeah I thought it was massively overhyped personally. Maybe I'll try it again once I've forgotten it a bit more.
I watched Lansky last week, the 2021 film with Harvey Keitel and Sam Worthington. I didn't like it much. It's a biography of Meyer Lansky told through flashbacks as he tells his life story to a journalist. The way that's done creates next to zero drama: we just get a couple of stories around important moments in Lansky's. The drama instead comes from an FBI investigation into Lansky's life that's inserted into the journalist's story, but that goes nowhere. In the meantime, Lansky is largely portrayed as a pretty cool and (street-)wise guy who lived a life of luxury and (crime) successes (except at home), and he is even praised at the end for having contributed significantly to the creation of the US casino sector. More difficult episodes of his 'professional' are glossed over. The acting etc. is alright, but it's thus a film with next to no tension that pretty much glorifies a gangster. No thanks. 1/5
I also watched Goodfellas again. I can see how it's well done and all that, and read a bunch about it afterwards that further strengthened that. But again, the subject matter just can't appeal to me, and I find it mostly irritating. As I said elsewhere, it's a lot like Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street in that sense really. Sure, there's the dude's downfall, but that's not due to his 'job', it's him personally. Scorsese said that he doesn't get how people can watch that film and want to be a gangster, but I don't get why he thinks the film portrays that life negatively. I suppose I don't properly respect the art form properly this way, but I find it hard to appreciate a film like that, and it's my personal perception I'm describing here. 3/5
The Godfather on the other hand (yeah, I've been on a mafia streak I guess) - as brilliant as I remember it, although you can now really tell it's a 1971 film. Especially in the first half, it can sometimes feel quite old stylistically, including little bits of the acting. But the tableau style cinematography is unmatched (yeah, reading a book about the making of the film now where I've found that term), and so on and so forth. 5/5
I also watched Goodfellas again. I can see how it's well done and all that, and read a bunch about it afterwards that further strengthened that. But again, the subject matter just can't appeal to me, and I find it mostly irritating. As I said elsewhere, it's a lot like Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street in that sense really. Sure, there's the dude's downfall, but that's not due to his 'job', it's him personally. Scorsese said that he doesn't get how people can watch that film and want to be a gangster, but I don't get why he thinks the film portrays that life negatively. I suppose I don't properly respect the art form properly this way, but I find it hard to appreciate a film like that, and it's my personal perception I'm describing here. 3/5
The Godfather on the other hand (yeah, I've been on a mafia streak I guess) - as brilliant as I remember it, although you can now really tell it's a 1971 film. Especially in the first half, it can sometimes feel quite old stylistically, including little bits of the acting. But the tableau style cinematography is unmatched (yeah, reading a book about the making of the film now where I've found that term), and so on and so forth. 5/5
Last of us- do we do series?
It’s very clever I think, Sci-fi with little subplots really enjoying so far.
It’s very clever I think, Sci-fi with little subplots really enjoying so far.
Went in to watch 2 movies in the cinema on the same day Last week. Knock on the Cabin and Puss in Boots….
I can’t believe I liked Puss in boots more than Knock on the cabin. What a brilliant movie. It makes sense the people who did this are some from Attack on Titan which explains the way they did a scene at the start (Levi flying through the streets scene). Unbelievable animation and the villains were just great, especially Death, he’s awesome and scary looking. Great story, great animation, great characters, genuinely funny moments. Has no right to be this good. 10/10
Knock on the Cabin. MNS is very hit and miss with his movies. I feel like this is in the middle, it’s not bad but it’s not great like Split for example. I enjoyed the premise. I love movies that question your morals, like what would you do in this situation. It’s always a cool experience. Everyone was good in it. I enjoyed it though. Just surprisingly not as good as PIB. 7/10
I can’t believe I liked Puss in boots more than Knock on the cabin. What a brilliant movie. It makes sense the people who did this are some from Attack on Titan which explains the way they did a scene at the start (Levi flying through the streets scene). Unbelievable animation and the villains were just great, especially Death, he’s awesome and scary looking. Great story, great animation, great characters, genuinely funny moments. Has no right to be this good. 10/10
Knock on the Cabin. MNS is very hit and miss with his movies. I feel like this is in the middle, it’s not bad but it’s not great like Split for example. I enjoyed the premise. I love movies that question your morals, like what would you do in this situation. It’s always a cool experience. Everyone was good in it. I enjoyed it though. Just surprisingly not as good as PIB. 7/10
Last edited:
I think a whole bunch of parents will have a whole load of explaining and talking to do about Death after that movie. I thought they’d tone him down toward the end as you’d expect in a film primarily aimed at kids, but nope!
Agree, Goodfellas really is just look at how amazing the life of a gangster is, even if it wasn’t the director intention. Scorsese is simply too good of a filmmaker that he can’t help but very make cool scenes.
Imo Casino is by far the better film on this subject.
The Mummy: Resurrection
When an infamous "cursed" Egyptian sarcophagus falls into the hands of unscrupulous huckster Everett Randolph, he becomes obsessed with resurrecting the mummified princess held within it.
Mummy films have been done to death, this was no different to the rest, it was not the worst, but far from the best.
Acting was meh to bad.
Horror film are just crap at the moment.
3/10
When an infamous "cursed" Egyptian sarcophagus falls into the hands of unscrupulous huckster Everett Randolph, he becomes obsessed with resurrecting the mummified princess held within it.
Mummy films have been done to death, this was no different to the rest, it was not the worst, but far from the best.
Acting was meh to bad.
Horror film are just crap at the moment.
3/10
Has anyone on here seen The Hand of God/È stata la mano di Dio? It's an Italian film from 2021 by Paolo Sorrentino. It's autobiographical, depicting a short period when some dramatic things happened in his life (I won't spoiler which) which, in a way, helped him find his calling. It plays in Naples just as Maradona goes there, hence the title; but it's not at all a football film. (In fact, the title has more meaning for what happens in the film.)
It's really fun, well made, and so on. Especially the first half, before the drama strikes, is just so full of life and lots of awesome scenes, moments, and observations. But it also feels a little directionless. Apparently, the film stays quite close to Sorrentino's real life, which I guess explains this lack of direction: real life very rarely shapes up as a smooth story. But the result is that it did leave me a bit puzzled at the end: what did I just watch, or rather, why? What's the point?
I suppose it's my problem that I need a point (if only a (much stronger) narrative point; not necessarily a lesson or criticism, or something like that), but so I was wondering what others thought about this film.
I'll add that, again, I did find it good and enjoyable, and didn't ever feel like turning it off. Add a little narrative punch and it's great. As it is, 7/10 for me.
It's really fun, well made, and so on. Especially the first half, before the drama strikes, is just so full of life and lots of awesome scenes, moments, and observations. But it also feels a little directionless. Apparently, the film stays quite close to Sorrentino's real life, which I guess explains this lack of direction: real life very rarely shapes up as a smooth story. But the result is that it did leave me a bit puzzled at the end: what did I just watch, or rather, why? What's the point?
I suppose it's my problem that I need a point (if only a (much stronger) narrative point; not necessarily a lesson or criticism, or something like that), but so I was wondering what others thought about this film.
I'll add that, again, I did find it good and enjoyable, and didn't ever feel like turning it off. Add a little narrative punch and it's great. As it is, 7/10 for me.
I agree with what you said above - I've seen a lot of coming-of-age films and it was above average but yeah, a little directionless and long, so would probably give it a 6 overall. I prefer one of the director's earlier films, Youth, in which Maradona makes a brief appearance as a guest at a luxury spa (he's overweight and does keepy uppies, basically). It has a good cast, and despite the title, is about older men.
Recent good films I've seen include Spetters (1980), which is another coming-of-age film, a Dutch one this time directed by Paul Verhoeven (of Robocop, Starship Troopers and Basic Instinct fame). It's about what you'd expect from him - pretty wild, sometimes controversial and with plenty of nudity, it's a little dated perhaps but it has an impact and, mosty importantly, despite being a film in such a familar genre, you don't know where it's going or where it'll end up. 7/10
Straight Time (1978). Love little more than a gritty 70s crime film, and this was a good one. Starring Dustan Hoffman. "After being released on parole, a career burglar assaults his former probation officer, returns to a life of crime, and goes on the run." Well worth checking out, but I fear I'm running out of these hidden crime gems. Deciding between a 7 and 8 out of 10 for this one.
(First time posting in this thread, gone back a few pages and it's been a good read. I'm always way behind with new films tho!)
Recent good films I've seen include Spetters (1980), which is another coming-of-age film, a Dutch one this time directed by Paul Verhoeven (of Robocop, Starship Troopers and Basic Instinct fame). It's about what you'd expect from him - pretty wild, sometimes controversial and with plenty of nudity, it's a little dated perhaps but it has an impact and, mosty importantly, despite being a film in such a familar genre, you don't know where it's going or where it'll end up. 7/10
Straight Time (1978). Love little more than a gritty 70s crime film, and this was a good one. Starring Dustan Hoffman. "After being released on parole, a career burglar assaults his former probation officer, returns to a life of crime, and goes on the run." Well worth checking out, but I fear I'm running out of these hidden crime gems. Deciding between a 7 and 8 out of 10 for this one.
(First time posting in this thread, gone back a few pages and it's been a good read. I'm always way behind with new films tho!)
I read something years and years ago along the lines that Scorsese wasn’t 100% happy with Goodfellas and Casino was in part an attempt to correct some of its flaws. Think it said he especially regretted making Henry the main character in Goodfellas, although obviously that was just going along with Pileggi’s book.
The baftas are pathetic aren't they. 7-9pm showtime, Alison Hammond hosting... I didn't even notice it was ending. I think all quiet on the western front won best film?
Oh well, at least Barry K was rightly celebrated.
The Oscars have the right idea, 5 hours of unapologetic pomp and Ryan Seacrest repeating the words "who are you wearing" several hundred times while a parade of lost souls hold their cellphones aloft in a vain attempt to secure a portrait photo of The Rock's substantial back.
Oh well, at least Barry K was rightly celebrated.
The Oscars have the right idea, 5 hours of unapologetic pomp and Ryan Seacrest repeating the words "who are you wearing" several hundred times while a parade of lost souls hold their cellphones aloft in a vain attempt to secure a portrait photo of The Rock's substantial back.
Yeah, you usually need to adjust the historical events quite a bit to get a good story out of them. (And then I'll complain it's not historical. I'm aware that I'm a whino.
) I also did read that he's apparently a great director. I have to admit that I hadn't heard of him before, but I'm definitely curious to see more now.I've never actually seen this one, despite having grown up in the Netherlands. It's definitely regarded quite highly in Dutch cinema though. (Even if the standards might admittedly be relatively low...)
Shutter Island
***speaking of, anyone seen Southpaw, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a boxing champ? It's directed by Antoine Fuqua, and you either love or hate his style. I am basically in the hate camp, although I watched it because I dig JG. Jake bulked up and toned out and is actually physically believable as a boxer. The story is one of those misery pile-ons and at the 2/3 mark through the film, you basically are face down in the gutter. Not sure the ending redeems what came before. Jake is quite good, though!
6/10
I saw the trailer and guessed the plot and ending. Either the movie was simple or the trailer tipped their hand too much. Either way, I have a hard time anyway with DiCaprio, I just don't believe him in almost all of the films he's doing. Imagine if he were suddenly cast as a boxing champion***: you wouldn't buy it. This is how I feel when I see DiCaprio being cast as a detective, it's just not believable. 3/10
***speaking of, anyone seen Southpaw, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a boxing champ? It's directed by Antoine Fuqua, and you either love or hate his style. I am basically in the hate camp, although I watched it because I dig JG. Jake bulked up and toned out and is actually physically believable as a boxer. The story is one of those misery pile-ons and at the 2/3 mark through the film, you basically are face down in the gutter. Not sure the ending redeems what came before. Jake is quite good, though!
6/10
No disrespect to your view, RiP, -[I’m not saying this just to argue, and I’m not saying you care what my opinion is] but I had an almost polar opposite reaction to this film than you did. The shaggiest of shaggy dog stories. Did not fulfill the promise shown in his first film It Follows. UTSL played like a musical that they went back in at the last minute and excised all the songs. The acting and staging were silly. As a resident of LA, UTSL played like a tourist's version of the hipster guide to the city, like the director came out here for a summer and someone showed him around. Many problems with this film, starting with a run time that was almost 2 1/2 hours. I thought Andrew Garfield was about as wrong for this part as could be. He had no edge, no hard surfaces, just grinning, milquetoast, and boring. The story itself went nowhere, it descended into farce, and ended up being an unresolved question. Masturbatory. Like a 2 1/2 hour guitar solo by someone who isn't very good at guitar. It was a $10,000,000 student film. 2/10
Last edited:
Hah, I suppose that is a fine balance. I was wrestling with something like it over Xmas rewatching Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. Granted, it's a completely different type of film, but because it's a world so distant from me and one that doesn't often get the Hollywood treatment, I was thrilled to be immersed in it and can forgive any historical inaccuracies.Yeah, you usually need to adjust the historical events quite a bit to get a good story out of them. (And then I'll complain it's not historical. I'm aware that I'm a whino.
I've never actually seen this one, despite having grown up in the Netherlands. It's definitely regarded quite highly in Dutch cinema though. (Even if the standards might admittedly be relatively low...)
I've seen one of Sorrentino's other films, The Great Beauty, which got amazing acclaim and won lots of the major foreign language film awards. Sort of like an updated La Dolce Vita, full of hedonism, but really wasn't for me. Still, it's so highly regarded I'll probably revisit it (but I'm talking decades into the future!)
Yeah, I looked at some of the extras with Spetters and it seems like it was very controversial at the time but overall has a good reputation today. I don't think I know much about Dutch cinema beyond Verhoeven and the actors he's collaborated with like Rutger Hauer and Carice Van Houten etc. But Verhoeven's an interesting figure, so I reckon I'll get round to watching all his earlier Dutch films at some point (this was my first).
I am now. Wanna see?
Last edited:
Oh I didn’t know that. Would make sense as there isn’t really a main character in Casino and and the story of the mob losing control to big business is far more systematic.
Better film but I can see why it isn’t as popular. Tbh I think a lot of the hate The Irishman gets is due to people hoping to get another Goodfellas
I mean there's this...
It's just quite a long and pretty boring film in my opinion.
I enjoyed The Irishman better on a second viewing once I understood that it's a movie about getting old/old age, and that this is the entire point of casting really old men in the leading roles (at least that's my interpretation).
Goodfellas is just extremely entertaining, but yeah it doesn't have much interesting to say about anything.
Casino is a great story, but I find De Niro so dour and wooden in it, one of his weakest roles before he gave up on serious acting completely. But in fairness, the character he portrayed, Lefty Rosenthal, wasn't particularly charismatic or fun it seems: