Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Cheimoon

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Damn, I should totally have worked Lou Macari's chip shop into that response. That would have really made things gangster. :wenger:

As for the actual article, aren't most action thrillers mostly just (attempting to be) stylish macho affairs? I'm not sure how Mann stands out in particular from that template, apart from doing it better. I read the article fairly quickly, but it felt more like the author was disappointed that Mann had not become the cinematic artist the author had hoped for after Thief. (Which I didn't see, and I don't remember much from Ali, so I likely missed some of the points.)
 

Rooney in Paris

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Damn, I should totally have worked Lou Macari's chip shop into that response. That would have really made things gangster. :wenger:

As for the actual article, aren't most action thrillers mostly just (attempting to be) stylish macho affairs? I'm not sure how Mann stands out in particular from that template, apart from doing it better. I read the article fairly quickly, but it felt more like the author was disappointed that Mann had not become the cinematic artist the author had hoped for after Thief. (Which I didn't see, and I don't remember much from Ali, so I likely missed some of the points.)
I had read that article some time ago, and I felt to me like a guy trying to articulate in an overly verbose way why he doesn't really like Mann. Which is fine, but I feel he's trying to paint a lot of his personal opinion as an erroneous view of what Mann is doing - or more exactly what Mann isn't doing vs what this guy would have hoped Mann would do.

In short, he doesn't like Mann's stuff but doesn't really get it.

He's not welcome in the Church of Mann.
 

Sweet Square

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I need to rewatch Thief and Manhunter, haven't seen them in ages.
Manhunter struggles in final 10 minutes because they ran out of budget but it’s still great. Thief has my favourite Mann character/performance from James Cann.

Both films(Along with LA Takedown) really lay down the blueprint for Heat.
Ali... I find it hard to entirely view it as a Mann film. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent film with some very strong moments, and it's one of the few Will Smith performances I actually appreciate, and thanks to Mann it slightly elevates itself above the usual biopic genre and its tropes... but I still struggle to see it totally as a piece of his overall work.
Interesting cheers. For me I’ve never been that into in the Ail story so I’ve somewhat struggled to make the effort to really sit down with Mann film.

Agree with you with regards to Gong Li, her role in Miami Vice is simple, straight to the point, fits in well with the overall universe he creates, her motivations make sense... It just works. Russell Crowe's wife in The Insider, while not being a particularly poor performance (not particularly strong either), is just very annoying.
Annoying is a good description of how Mann views his female characters. They are mostly used to stop his male characters from doing the cool stuff(Heat is mostly about two men trying their best to avoid women so they can hold hands in a field).

@Wing Attack Plan R Cheers for the posting that.

:drool:
 

Dirty Schwein

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We Always Lived In The Castle
Two sisters and their uncle with a dark past live secluded in a house and their lives take an unexpected turn when a relative of theirs turns up. A decent movie in terms of performances, especially Sebastian Stan and it's interesting enough to keep you hooked but Alexandria Doddario's character is such an imbecile that it ruins it a bit. It needed another few gears 5.5/10

Godzilla Minus One

A Godzilla film where he is the symbol of trauma and threats and we have characters we actually care about? Godzilla is brutal? He's a terrifying force? That's how it should be done. How did they make this on $15m??? Loved it. Next is Kong X Godzilla where Godzilla has pink fecking stripes :lol:... Anyway, so many masterpiece scenes and it feels like a true blockbuster with heart and I loved it 8.5/10
 

Wibble

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Chicken Run 2 pedestrian by-the-numbers sequal of one of the poorer Ardman offerings. Less funny, much less well paced and the cgi imitation claymation doesn't entirely work. 5/10
 

Wing Attack Plan R

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Chicken Run 2 pedestrian by-the-numbers sequal of one of the poorer Ardman offerings. Less funny, much less well paced and the cgi imitation claymation doesn't entirely work. 5/10
I have seen other examples of CGI aping claymation and agree it looks terrible. Why would they even try and do that? Using CGI to pretend it has a handmade look is bizarre - but probably soon to be common with the rise of the machines. Haven't seen this one, but I liked the first one.
 

Wibble

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I have seen other examples of CGI aping claymation and agree it looks terrible. Why would they even try and do that? Using CGI to pretend it has a handmade look is bizarre - but probably soon to be common with the rise of the machines. Haven't seen this one, but I liked the first one.
Not a patch on the original.

Apparently the firm that made the clay is no more. Nobody wanted to take it on when the owners retired (I think). Aardman bought most of the remaining stock but only have enough for 1 more major film - hopefully the upcoming Wallace and Gromit film.
 

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Rebel Moon (Netflix)

Dog shite of a movie. Trash. Lots of expansive visuals and nothing else. No plot, bad acting, cringeworthy dialogues and odd big explosions like a Michael Bay film try and fail to fill the void.

1/10

Jerry & Marge Go Large (Netflix)

Lovely low key feel good film with carried by Bryan Cranston & Annette Bening. Very easy to watch and enjoyable all through.

8/10

Bank of Dave (Netflix)

Another sweet & charming underdog film that charms you all through. A bit heavy handed in it's messaging, but still endearing to watch.

8/10
 

Wing Attack Plan R

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The Sapphires (2012), with Chris O’Dowd
Anything Chris O’Dowd is in is going to be good. This is about a group of Yunta Yunta singers who end up singing for the USO program in Vietnam. Chris is their manager. It’s a sympathetic look at Aboriginal people, has good music in it. The story is based on the writer’s mom’s life. Fairly family friendly, light emotional stuff. Australians of 1967 don’t come off too well in this, but I suppose they were no more or less racist than the US south. I didn’t pick this movie so I wasn’t expecting much, but i would recommend it. It’s weird to rate it because it’s not really my jam but they did a good job. 8/10?
 
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Wing Attack Plan R

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Rebel Moon

Oof. Feels like a movie scripted via AI. Terrible stuff. 1/10, the 1 earnt for the occasional pretty shot.
 

Wing Attack Plan R

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Manhunter struggles in final 10 minutes because they ran out of budget but it’s still great. Thief has my favourite Mann character/performance from James Cann.

Both films(Along with LA Takedown) really lay down the blueprint for Heat.

Interesting cheers. For me I’ve never been that into in the Ail story so I’ve somewhat struggled to make the effort to really sit down with Mann film.


Annoying is a good description of how Mann views his female characters. They are mostly used to stop his male characters from doing the cool stuff(Heat is mostly about two men trying their best to avoid women so they can hold hands in a field).

@Wing Attack Plan R Cheers for the posting that.


:drool:
This trailer looks really bad. I will never understand why filmmakers have people speak English with accents when it's all supposed to be taking place in a different language. Hearing Driver and Cruz do "Italian" accents is painful. There was a war movie (Downfall?) where the Germans spoke German and were subtitled for the first minute or two, then they switched to standard English, letting the audience "understand" the conversation. And they did not speak with German-accented English. Anyway, some shit CGI happening in this one too, Zach Snyder lookout, Mann is coming for the CGI crapfest crown!

 

Sweet Square

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This trailer looks really bad. I will never understand why filmmakers have people speak English with accents when it's all supposed to be taking place in a different language. Hearing Driver and Cruz do "Italian" accents is painful. There was a war movie (Downfall?) where the Germans spoke German and were subtitled for the first minute or two, then they switched to standard English, letting the audience "understand" the conversation. And they did not speak with German-accented English. Anyway, some shit CGI happening in this one too, Zach Snyder lookout, Mann is coming for the CGI crapfest crown!

Blasphemy! Heretic! Traitor!

I get what you mean with the CGI. There’s definitely one awful looking CGI shot in the trailer but hopefully it’s of a better standard in the final film.

The accents if I was Italian might be annoying but for me it’s decent enough. Tbh I’m hoping Ferrari is like Miami Vice in that it’s less about what the characters say and more about how they say it.

I thought the trailer was great. Shows Ferrari is going to hit all the Mann sweet spots such as men at work, the fight against time, the contradictions of work, etc.
 

Cheimoon

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This trailer looks really bad. I will never understand why filmmakers have people speak English with accents when it's all supposed to be taking place in a different language. Hearing Driver and Cruz do "Italian" accents is painful. There was a war movie (Downfall?) where the Germans spoke German and were subtitled for the first minute or two, then they switched to standard English, letting the audience "understand" the conversation. And they did not speak with German-accented English. Anyway, some shit CGI happening in this one too, Zach Snyder lookout, Mann is coming for the CGI crapfest crown!

Yeah, it's bizarre. I suppose it gives a little couleur locale, to prevent a film from looking like it could have been set anywhere in the States; but I far prefer if people just speak the local language(s). But then I watch everything with subs anyway (also close-captioning English; it's easy to miss bits of dialogue), so that doesn't bother me.

Your example wasn't Der Untergang btw, cause that's just a German film. ;) But it sounds like a acceptable approach. (And now it vaguely starts ringing a bell, but I can't think of which film it would be.)

I agree that it's an awful trailer btw. I was curious about this film, and this trailer if anything made me care much less.
 

Salt Bailly

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Just noticed that Mrs Browns Boys d'Movie is on iPlayer. Possibly the pinnacle of Irish contemporary humour/culture
Die Hard
Die Hard 2: Die Harder
Mrs. Brown's Boys: The Movie

Christmas TV doesn't get much better than this.
 

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Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d'une chute) - A nuanced character portrait of a marriage disintegration told within the story of a suspected homicide case. The pacing is excellent and the court scenes are a real highlight, leaving us feeling merely like a fly on the wall and none the wiser about the truth of the case for much of the movie. The setting is also gorgeous and the actors all play their parts well, especially the dog. The only thing I didn't like was that it makes a concerted effort to wrap things up at the end. It's still ambiguous but I think it would have been better being even more ambiguous. It has similarities to Tar in that none of the main character doesn't come across well at all. It also won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. 4/5
 

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After doing our yearly Home Alone and Die Hard rewatch, it's hard to not be surprised over and over again how much better and more realistic special effects were before.

Modern action movies are so shite in comparision, they deserve no respect whatsoever, with just few exceptions, but they are really rare. Die Hard is from 1988 for feck sake. And I cannot imagine how shite Home Alone would be in 2020s style.
 

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Evil Dead Rises Exactly what you would expect. Gore and silliness. Gross, not at all scary, but better than 99% of horror films. 2/10 +3 or more if you like horror films
 

berbatrick

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Training Day: 8/10
A flashier more action-movie version of LA Confidential/The Shield. Everything up until the scene where Denzel Washington's squad
executes that guy
was perfect 10/10, and it could have ended on a brilliant cynical note if it finished soon after that.

Killers of the flower moon: 8/10
Cliche alert - "engrossing despite runtime". Robert de Niro perfect.
Started it expecting some redemptive arc for Leo's character, but nothing - he was pathetic all the way through.
Pleasantly surprised there was some justice at least.
 

pauldyson1uk

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The Gentlemen

An American expat tries to sell off his highly profitable marijuana empire in London, triggering plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him.
I enjoyed this, plenty of action and some funny parts, the cafe scene was excellent.
Charlie Hunnam was the standout for me.
8/10

Dont Look Up


Two low-level astronomers must go on a giant media tour to warn humankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet Earth.
imdb says this is a comedy, personally I did not find it that funny, there was a few moments but that was it for me.
The film itself was decent enough, pretty much bang on for the world we live in, I dont rate it as high has some do, but watchable.
6/10

Evil Dead Rise


A twisted tale of two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.
It was OK , plenty of blood and gore, which is what you want for an Evil Dead film , but it was lacing for me, the original is just so much better.
I should be raving about it, it had all you would expect in an Evil Dead film, but I found it just lacking n something, still worth a watch but I feel it could've been better.
6/10

Leave the World Behind


A family's getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices, and two strangers appear at their door.
I really enjoyed this, well most of it, the story was good, I liked the way you never really knew who was behind it.
There was very good tension, lots of suspense, I thought the acting was very good with a very good cast.
I liked the back story about the 13 girl needing to watch the very last Friends ep.
The film built up to what I though was going to be a blockbuster ending, you saw the mushroom clouds over the city a few text message on the screen, I thought this is it, the blockbuster ending it here, then NOTHING just the end credits.
I was fuming, I felt cheated out of an ending, I was angry for hours afterwards.
8/10 with a better ending, with the ending we got 5/10
 

Parma Dewol

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After doing our yearly Home Alone and Die Hard rewatch, it's hard to not be surprised over and over again how much better and more realistic special effects were before.

Modern action movies are so shite in comparision, they deserve no respect whatsoever, with just few exceptions, but they are really rare. Die Hard is from 1988 for feck sake. And I cannot imagine how shite Home Alone would be in 2020s style.
It’s a shame. Watched Dial of Destiny and felt saddened by the over reliance on CGI. Then watched Last Crusade and was amazed at what they were able to achieve back in the day.
 

CassiusClaymore

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Really enjoyed Saltburn last night both visually and politically. Any film that makes me root for the villain is a winner by me. Cast are all fantastic as well.
 

Massive Spanner

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I’m not sure how Scorsese did it but he made me feel like Killers of the Flower Moon was both way too long and way too rushed.
 

Dirty Schwein

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Evil Dead Rise

A twisted tale of two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.
It was OK , plenty of blood and gore, which is what you want for an Evil Dead film , but it was lacing for me, the original is just so much better.
I should be raving about it, it had all you would expect in an Evil Dead film, but I found it just lacking n something, still worth a watch but I feel it could've been better.
6/10

Leave the World Behind


A family's getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices, and two strangers appear at their door.
I really enjoyed this, well most of it, the story was good, I liked the way you never really knew who was behind it.
There was very good tension, lots of suspense, I thought the acting was very good with a very good cast.
I liked the back story about the 13 girl needing to watch the very last Friends ep.
The film built up to what I though was going to be a blockbuster ending, you saw the mushroom clouds over the city a few text message on the screen, I thought this is it, the blockbuster ending it here, then NOTHING just the end credits.
I was fuming, I felt cheated out of an ending, I was angry for hours afterwards.
8/10 with a better ending, with the ending we got 5/10
Evil Dead was lacking in the comedy element for me. It felt waaaay too serious.

As for Leave The World Behind, I genuinely thought the ending was perfect. Worked thematically and executed in a way that is surprising.