Rewatched it recently and was shocked by how good it is. One of the best movies of the 21st century in my opinion, from story to acting to themes to mood to cinematography. It's a 10/10 masterpiece for me.
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Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
A star is born
I maybe loved it a little bit less than I had hoped because my expectations had been inflated by the reviews. But it's still a poignant, well-directed movie carried by two top performances from Cooper and Lady Gaga. I thought the first half where the two main characters meet was stronger than the latter. Some of the supporting roles faded a bit towards the end and there were some plot developments that felt a bit forced.
8/10
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Such a blast this film. The energy, the humour, the self-irony and the brilliant comic book aesthetics made it an incredibly fun ride. I'm a bit conflicted about some characters that were introduced late on who didn't quite fit into the universe (which was, admittedly, kind of the point) and a few clichés crept in during the climax. But it was truly a breath of fresh air into the genre and gave 'Avengers: Infinity War' and 'The Incredibles 2' a real battle for the title of best superhero movie of the year.
8.5/10
I maybe loved it a little bit less than I had hoped because my expectations had been inflated by the reviews. But it's still a poignant, well-directed movie carried by two top performances from Cooper and Lady Gaga. I thought the first half where the two main characters meet was stronger than the latter. Some of the supporting roles faded a bit towards the end and there were some plot developments that felt a bit forced.
8/10
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Such a blast this film. The energy, the humour, the self-irony and the brilliant comic book aesthetics made it an incredibly fun ride. I'm a bit conflicted about some characters that were introduced late on who didn't quite fit into the universe (which was, admittedly, kind of the point) and a few clichés crept in during the climax. But it was truly a breath of fresh air into the genre and gave 'Avengers: Infinity War' and 'The Incredibles 2' a real battle for the title of best superhero movie of the year.
8.5/10
Actually it was adapted from a pretty famous book. Agree regarding the quality of the end product though.
Children of Men is brilliant. And the one shot scenes are incredible.
Agree. And it's ageing very well.
I stewed over it last night and I think I need to bump up my grading top 9.5. The story really stayed with me.
Everything about it was great, the story, the competing agendas, the acting, the setting, etc.
gonna rewatch Children of Men then, didn't think it was that great the first time I saw it
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4131496/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Keepers [also known as The Vanishing] 2018. Set on a lighthouse island about the size of a football pitch and based on a true story about how the three lighthouse keepers 'vanished' from the island. Gerard Butler gives arguably his best performance in years and is ably assisted by a top-notch supporting cast including the brilliant Peter Mullan. This is a fictional theory of what happened to the three 'keepers', begins slowly but the tension gradually accelerates into an excellent storyline that reminded me somewhat of the classic 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'. A very solid 7.5/10
Keepers [also known as The Vanishing] 2018. Set on a lighthouse island about the size of a football pitch and based on a true story about how the three lighthouse keepers 'vanished' from the island. Gerard Butler gives arguably his best performance in years and is ably assisted by a top-notch supporting cast including the brilliant Peter Mullan. This is a fictional theory of what happened to the three 'keepers', begins slowly but the tension gradually accelerates into an excellent storyline that reminded me somewhat of the classic 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'. A very solid 7.5/10
My housemate was watching The Breakfast Club in the sitting room and I was reminded of just how much I hate that film. It's actually painful to watch.
I just tried to watch La La Land and remembered how much I hate musicals. It has to be the worst film genre by quite some distance.
It could be worse. The actors could be singing their lines through the entire film.
I thought that until I saw La La Land.
Same here. Brilliant movie. Aged ok too, holds up incredibly well.
Could only manage about 5 minutes of it. Just not for me.
Alfonso Cuarón's Downton Abbey - I would rather just have watched the opening shot with the puddle for 135 minutes, it was much more invigorating than the subsequent anemic, flavourless robot filmmaking.
Green Book Enjoyed it. The acting was great and the story was fun if rather predictable (although allegedly true). I've seen some criticism of this being too much of a black bloke getting saved by a dumb white bloke and/or that it wasn't really representative of racism from most black people's perspective but I enjoyed it. 7/10
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It was decent but I've never heard anyone calling it a masterpiece before. Then again Shawshank Redemption is loved so what do I know?
I like a good musical but LaLaLand was bloody terrible.
The Favorite Great historical source material, great settings, fantastic cast with some great lines but this director just doesn't know how to tell a story although this is better than The Lobster or that Killing of a Sacred Deer nonsense. Shame as bits of it were fun. 5/10
One of the most overrated movies of all time. Was incredibly disappointed when I finally had the chance to watch it.
"Overrated" is a kind description, it's an actively bad film. The acting is terrible, the characters aren't even vaguely believable as human beings let alone teenagers, the way they behave over the course of the film makes zero sense, they individually and collectively manage to be immensely irritating & dislikeable, the film seems confused as to what its own message is and the way it treats its female characters is dodgy as feck. Oh and then there's that dance sequence. Poor film that has dated horrendously. Bah.
I can't imagine that it has aged well.
I hate The Breakfast Club
It's one of the most acclaimed films of the century and have been included by several reputable outlets and critics on ''best of the century" lists.
It is still nothing more than a harmless popcorn movie with a feel good end.
A feel good end? I'm not sure that constitutes feel good end. Maybe a hopeful ending but certainly not one that makes you think everything is going to be ok.
The entire film is incredibly bleak and beautifully shot. And the single-shot scenes in the film were basically unprecedented at the time. Sure, the plot was simple but I think it's one of those films that's more than the sum of its parts. Definitely one of the 21st centuries best films, for me.
When you compare it to sci-fi stuff that people go wild for these days (Annihilation / Arrival spring to mind), it absolutely blows them out of the water.
I didn't hate it, although the short story it was adapted from was better, but I don't get the adulation at all.
I really like both the movies you mention but I agree that Children of Men is possibly the best sci-fi film of the century.
Sci-fi? Am I thinking of the wrong film? Dytopian future film set in Britain?
Yeah. I can see argument both for and against the sci-fi label.
I was just thinking I might have the wrong film. Carry on nothing to see here
It seems that one person's discussing Shawshank; the other, Children.
I've been in the mood for rewatching stuff lately. Two films I decided to give another chance was Black Narcissus & The Red Shoes. When I watched them a few years ago I remember dismissing them as garish and hysterical but watching them now with supreme quality on a big TV screen I just couldn't get over how good they looked. The eroticism of Black Narcissus is a little antiquated but it makes up for it a-plenty with it's stunning visuals, pretty much every post-Kathleen Bryon breakdown scene had me shook. Just delightful, feverish and melodramatic dancing on the grave of the British Empire.
The literal dancing in the subsequent The Red Shoes was great and it had the same great sense of open spaces. Probably an overall more accomplished work than Narcissus. You could tell that Moira Shearer wasn't a professional actress but there was just something transfixing about her vacant blue eyes.
Two films rightfully deserving their statuses as masterpieces of British cinema.
And then two I haven't seen since I was a kid:
Robocop had a lot of stuff going on for it, from deflty unsubtle satire to a Ray Harryhausen-esque robot being foiled by a flight of stairs. I'll never look at the dad off The 70's Show in the same way again.
Aliens was a cheesier and duller sequel to a film I was never really that crazy about, but at least that one had some fine sense of dread, horror and aesthetics. I kept cringing at some of the dialogue and checking how much of the running length was left.
The literal dancing in the subsequent The Red Shoes was great and it had the same great sense of open spaces. Probably an overall more accomplished work than Narcissus. You could tell that Moira Shearer wasn't a professional actress but there was just something transfixing about her vacant blue eyes.
Two films rightfully deserving their statuses as masterpieces of British cinema.
And then two I haven't seen since I was a kid:
Robocop had a lot of stuff going on for it, from deflty unsubtle satire to a Ray Harryhausen-esque robot being foiled by a flight of stairs. I'll never look at the dad off The 70's Show in the same way again.
Aliens was a cheesier and duller sequel to a film I was never really that crazy about, but at least that one had some fine sense of dread, horror and aesthetics. I kept cringing at some of the dialogue and checking how much of the running length was left.
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Act of Violence hilariously bad plot and acting, to the point where I'd actually recommend watching it
At one point I was actually wondering if it was a really great parody, but nah its just shit
At one point I was actually wondering if it was a really great parody, but nah its just shit
The Sisterhood seems made for the big screen (visual and thematic dynamite) and BN is up with the best. The Red Shoes dance is one of my all time favourite moments in film. Hoffman is worth a go if you haven't seen it. It goes on a bit and gets a little stuffy but Shearer makes an interesting Olympia and the design is grand. I can't fault The Archers, Blimp surprised me by how darkly odd it is and A Matter of Life and Death seems like it shouldn't work but does. I think their prestigious style could be seen as a little ostentatious, if it wasn't grounded by such superb writing. You've convinced me to go back and watch Black Narcissus.
And the only films to be recognised in the Alien series are Alien and Alien Covenant. And everyone else is wrong. You've convinced me to go back and watch Alien Covenant.
I hate musicals as well but I thought La La Land was alright more for the dialogue scenes, the good acting and chemistry between the leads and the perfect ending.
Iron Sky
Was bored and picked this simply for being a sci-fi.
Nazi's build a base in dark side of the moon. They capture a Black astronaut from America and "cure" him by injecting a albino serum and turn him into a blue eyed Aryan. The astronaut then finds a de-albino serum and converts himself to being a black man again.
And hooks up with a True Aryan teacher who believes Nazis come in peace before finding enlightenment. Nazi's invade, world retalites and wins, then finds power source on moon and all countries nuke each other out. Apocalypse.Some good graphics in a otherwise ridiculous movie that's too bad even to be called a spoof.
2/10.