Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Terminator Dark Fate The good news is that it is the best Terminator film since T2 and forgetting that any other films were made is what we would all like to do. The action is fun and what you would expect and having Linda Hamilton and Arnie back together worked. The plot is silly for a number of reasons and why a Terminator has aged as would a human is left unexplained but turn your brain off and it is fun. 7.5/10
 
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duffer said:
Did you think it would be different a second time around?

Maybe try a 3rd and 4th viewing.
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Sometimes films appear better on a second viewing. I think I'll pass on the 3rd and 4th. There's no hope for this crock.

Wibble said:
All of the Avenger films were just unwatchable gibberish imo (or they were when I stoped watching half way through the second one).
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Age of Ultron was pretty dire but nah I will say Infinity War was pretty solid. Definitely the best.
 
1917

Powerful movie. It's probably going to stay with me for a while.

But I kind of feel like any competently directed film about WWI or WWII - with gritty and realistic special effects - would have a similar impact. The cultural significance of those two wars makes it difficult not to have an instant empathy.

Very much Oscar bait, but well done nonetheless. Not much by the way of story, though. Probably wouldn't make it into the top 20 movies about the world wars, but it's almost in that company.
 
The Assent

After a series of disturbing supernatural events in his home, Joel, a young single father, comes to suspect that his young son may be possessed.
Just another crappy possession film, that fails to deliver, really dont waste your time.

2/10
 
The Seven

60 Years ago a group of Devil worshipers died in a mysterious fire which burnt their mansion down to the ground. Now years later a college stands on the site where the mansion once stood. ...
FFS I know I like to watch crappy horror, but this was something else, the acting , the story was just horrible.
Has for the ending, with the Harry Potter Kings Cross rip off !!!! Pretty sure they have been smoking something when the filmed it

WTF/10
 
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1917

Two young British soldiers during the First World War are given an impossible mission: deliver a message deep in enemy territory that will stop 1,600 men, and one of the soldiers' brothers, from walking straight into a deadly trap.
I thought the film was amazing, the filming was stunning, the story was moving, the acting of the main 2 was outstanding.
2 hours just flew by.

9/10
 
Wibble said:
Terminator Dark Fate The good news is that it is the best Terminator film since T2 and forgetting that any other films were made is what we would all like to do. The action is fun and what you would expect and having Linda Hamilton and Arnie back together worked. The plot is silly for a number of reasons and why a Terminator has aged as would a human is left unexplained but turn your brain off and it is fun. 7.5/10
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Agree. It was definitely the better Terminator movie since T2. Good fun.
 
Wibble said:
Terminator Dark Fate The good news is that it is the best Terminator film since T2 and forgetting that any other films were made is what we would all like to do. The action is fun and what you would expect and having Linda Hamilton and Arnie back together worked. The plot is silly for a number of reasons and why a Terminator has aged as would a human is left unexplained but turn your brain off and it is fun. 7.5/10
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I enjoyed this one too. I think they explained in Genysis why a Terminator aged, but then got stuck in a trap. Assumed the audience understood why, but forgot they retconned the last couple of movies? That’s my guess.

But overall I thought this movie was really enjoyable. It’s a nice end to the Terminator mythology and introduces some interesting concepts; such as what happens to a Terminator once its mission is completed in the past. The action is fantastic. As a trilogy T1, T2, and Dark Fate make a nice story.

It’s still not the level of the first two, but it’s ten levels better than Rise of the Machines or Genysis. I can’t even bring myself to think about Salvation.

Unfortunately this franchise is dead now, as it bombed at the box office. I really wish they had cared for the content more carefully after T2. The first two had one of the best sci-fi directors of all time at al the helm, and they went from that to a bit of a nobody (Mostow), a fecking clown (McG), and someone better suited to TV (Taylor). I can only imagine how fantastic it would have been if the third Terminator movie went to a true Sci-Fi auteur like Denis Villeneuve, Alex Garland, Ridley Scott, Duncan Jones, Christopher Nolan, or Niell Blomkamp. Oh what could’ve been....

Anyway, 7/10
 
Midway

My second War film of a quite night shift and it was a cracker.
The whole crew was outstanding, for me Ed Skrein as Dick Best stole film, he was outstanding.
Was it historically correct, from what I have read I think it was, loved every minute of it, 2 hours + flew by.
An historic WW2 even that was told very well.
I would 100% recommend it.

9/10
 
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simonhch said:
I enjoyed this one too. I think they explained in Genysis why a Terminator aged, but then got stuck in a trap. Assumed the audience understood why, but forgot they retconned the last couple of movies? That’s my guess.

But overall I thought this movie was really enjoyable. It’s a nice end to the Terminator mythology and introduces some interesting concepts; such as what happens to a Terminator once its mission is completed in the past. The action is fantastic. As a trilogy T1, T2, and Dark Fate make a nice story.

It’s still not the level of the first two, but it’s ten levels better than Rise of the Machines or Genysis. I can’t even bring myself to think about Salvation.

Unfortunately this franchise is dead now, as it bombed at the box office. I really wish they had cared for the content more carefully after T2. The first two had one of the best sci-fi directors of all time at al the helm, and they went from that to a bit of a nobody (Mostow), a fecking clown (McG), and someone better suited to TV (Taylor). I can only imagine how fantastic it would have been if the third Terminator movie went to a true Sci-Fi auteur like Denis Villeneuve, Alex Garland, Ridley Scott, Duncan Jones, Christopher Nolan, or Niell Blomkamp. Oh what could’ve been....

Anyway, 7/10
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My biggest gripe with the plot is

That a totally different future produced another but very different AI gone mad apocalypse that also discovered time travel and sent a terminato of their own, that was very similar to the fluid metal terminator of T2, back to kill someone who was annoying them.
 
Wibble said:
My biggest gripe with the plot is

That a totally different future produced another but very different AI gone mad apocalypse that also discovered time travel and sent a terminato of their own, that was very similar to the fluid metal terminator of T2, back to kill someone who was annoying them.
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You have to account the fact that the past for both futures is the same, so it's bound to end in something similar.

Wouldn't surprised me that different AIs would reach the same solution to a similar problem
 
Wibble said:
My biggest gripe with the plot is

That a totally different future produced another but very different AI gone mad apocalypse that also discovered time travel and sent a terminato of their own, that was very similar to the fluid metal terminator of T2, back to kill someone who was annoying them.
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That half bothered me too. Not so much the AI gone rogue as I like the constancy of that. That we can’t escape the singularity and ensuing Armageddon. Even the repeatable time travel aspect is just about swallowable, but I agree the continuity of design is just too much. Any half intelligent AI would just release a biological agent. But I guess we could say that about all the terminator films.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
Midway

My second War film of a quite night shift and it was a cracker.
The whole crew was outstanding, for me Ed Skrein as Dick Best stole film, he was outstanding.
Was it historically correct, from what I have read I think it was, loved every minute of it, 2 hours + flew by.
An historic WW2 even that was told very well.
I would 100% recommend it.

9/10
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Have you seen the old one with the large star cast? Be interesting to see how it compares.
 
Wibble said:
Terminator Dark Fate The good news is that it is the best Terminator film since T2 and forgetting that any other films were made is what we would all like to do. The action is fun and what you would expect and having Linda Hamilton and Arnie back together worked. The plot is silly for a number of reasons and why a Terminator has aged as would a human is left unexplained but turn your brain off and it is fun. 7.5/10
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Personally I hated the film and my ears will never forgive me.

But putting that aside the worst plot element seemed to be it was terminator movie set in a universe where everyone on the planet had seen the other terminator films. The Dani character at no point questions the idea of machines traveling back from the future, she basically goes oh this is like that robot Arnie movie from the late 90's, which I vaguely remember.

If you've never watched a terminator movie before(Which ok that's a low number of people)this lack of concern about killer death machine fighting each, has to be at best very confusing.
 
Parasite (2019)

Brilliant technically but a underwhelming plot despite good acting. Suffers from pacing issues and caricature-y characterizations. Not impressed despite the rave reviews. If you are looking for dark irony, then may be it, but apart from that meh!

4/10

Characterizations are just awful. The poor family are shown as not being able to do simple stuff like folding boxes competently, despite being sound of mind and body. Then they suddenly get opportunistic and scam a gullible family, get innocent driver fired and kill a partly innocent maid, dream of marrying into the rich family themselves. They do not even show a speck of morality having committed murder and "let's forget about it" type reactions sucks any pity you may feel for them. The faults of rich family complaining about smell pales into insignificance compared to the crimes committed by the poor family.

The mom/son are lucky to haven got away on probation for fraud rather than accessory to murder.
 
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Radioflash

When a nuclear device causes an electromagnetic pulse that kills power to more than 200 million people, a teenage girl must help lead her family to survival in a dark new world.
More to do with escaping a crazy family than the actual detonation, could have been a lot better, it was watchable and the ending was OK

5/10
 
Ready or Not

A bride's wedding night takes a sinister turn when her eccentric new in-laws force her to take part in a terrifying game.
Brillant, mush better than I expected, plenty of blood and guts and just the right amount of humour and that ending.
If you like your horor with some comedy thrown in, this is a very good watch.

7/10
 
Just Mercy (2020) (out now)

Some excellent performances from Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx in the leads as well as several support roles.

Foxx is Walter McMillan, a black man wrongly sent to death row in 1988 for murder after a 'judge override'.

Jordan is the lawyer representing him and many others in Alabama at the time who couldn't afford their own representation, and about whose convictions there were serious doubts. Most were black and many on death row.

I think you tend to find with films that tread in such delicate areas the performances are usually very good, some of it is quite intense and it really does make the blood boil to think what people had to put up with - you can only hope it's seriously declined or eradicated now.

One of those where you really find yourself rooting for an acquittal, and at the end you also get shown the real life people and told what happened to them (which obviously I won't repeat here in case anyone goes to see it).

This will for obvious reasons be connected to To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (not just because of the plot but McMillan is from Monroeville, Alabama as was Lee) and A Time To Kill by John Grisham.

It also explores more generally the issue of racial prejudice in a similar way to Green Book which is an outstanding film, one of my all time favourites.

Easily an 8/10.
 
Had a spare 3 hours last night so I finally got round to watching Tarkovsky's Stalker. Definitely something you need to be in the mood for and fortunately after a row with the other half and wanting some alone time I was definitely in that mood. If you enjoy going to art galleries and staring at paintings you'll enjoy this. Absolutely one of the most beautiful films committed to the screen and I loved the switch up from monochrome into colour when they enter The Zone. For a film that revels in being ludicrously slow I was quite happy to let it wash over me. On another day I might not have been so accepting so I can easily understand both those who consider it a masterpiece and those who think it's akin to watching (sepia) paint dry.
 
Terminator: Dark Fate

Whoever wrote the dialogues must be choked with a rusty wire. Plot from T2 has been rehashed with different names. Some cool graphics, esp the fight scenes which Mackenzie Davis does a good job. Arnold and Linda does a decent job. But that's it. Lots of plot holes and time paradox ignored.

Dani Ramos's character is cringeworthy and despite good efforts, Gabriel Luna just does not fit as a bad robot.

5/10 (and probably the best T movie after T2)
 
thepolice123 said:
Great film but I don't think its better than Incendies, Arrival or Blade Runner.

Denis Villeneuve is probably the director of the decade.
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Incendies was amazing, hadn't seen it yet so thanks for the tip!

Not sure if I'd rank it above Ex-Machina though but it sure comes close for me.
 
Rewatched the doc Hail Satan (9/10)
Chronicles the rise of The Satanic Temple and their fight to remove a religious monument from government property. These lads are basically fighting for religious freedom, the seperation of church and state and many other issues like abortion, racism etc
Amazing watch, The Satanic Temple is a brilliant organisation. Kinda wish there was a chapter in my country, would have defo signed up.
 
Cats

Haven't seen the movie but have just sat through a 20 minute rant about the movie from the girlfriend who was "forced" to sit through it because her grandmother wanted to see it.

In short, everything bad you've heard about the movie has not been exaggerated. She was offended by how poor of a product it was. The CGI has not been fixed. Still feet disappear into floors, actors glide instead of walking/dancing, hands are sometimes human and sometimes not and the fur is just random. She even saw an extra straight up wearing the bodysuit with no CGI. The size scale makes no sense. Some cats are tiny, others are huge and in a scene with mice and cockroaches the mice were comparable in size to us rather than a cat.

Jennifer Hudson overacted way too much and she said it felt like this movie was made specifically to get her a "Anne Hathaway" Oscar but she was just so bad and whilst singing was crying too much and there was too much snot that it was uncomfrotable to watch. Lots of poor accents and bad acting (unsurprising considering the number of "non-actors").

Her grandma did like it but she's old and racist so there's that.

0/10 no redeeming qualities as a movie, not even ironically.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
Parasite (2019)

Brilliant technically but a underwhelming plot despite good acting. Suffers from pacing issues and caricature-y characterizations. Not impressed despite the rave reviews. If you are looking for dark irony, then may be it, but apart from that meh!

4/10

Characterizations are just awful. The poor family are shown as not being able to do simple stuff like folding boxes competently, despite being sound of mind and body. Then they suddenly get opportunistic and scam a gullible family, get innocent driver fired and kill a partly innocent maid, dream of marrying into the rich family themselves. They do not even show a speck of morality having committed murder and "let's forget about it" type reactions sucks any pity you may feel for them. The faults of rich family complaining about smell pales into insignificance compared to the crimes committed by the poor family.


The mom/son are lucky to haven got away on probation for fraud rather than accessory to murder.
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I think you are expecting strict realism which really isn't what Parasite is about because at its very core it is a dark comedy/satire. Many of the plot points and film settings are metaphorical. It was hinted a few times throughout the film.

The message its trying to send there is that people, no matter how poor, can do great things or extremely terrible things when motivated by a cause. On the flipside of their crimes, they actually managed to masquerade as highly qualified individuals to fit the extremely stringent demands of the Park family - That requires skill itself.

The smell represents discrimination of the poor. Something which greatly bothered Kim Sr but couldn't get rid. Even in the final scene, the father of Park family was repulsed by the smell, despite the situation calling for him to quickly retrieve the key. This shows how much it dominates their life.

Out of all the oscar nominees I've only watched Marriage Story and The Irishman. Personally, I think Parasite is easily better than the both of them.
 
The Laundromat
A widow investigates an insurance fraud, chasing leads to a pair of Panama City law partners exploiting the world's financial system. A shitter version of The Big Short 4/10
 
Single White Female (1992)

Available on Sky Cinema. Single White Female was one of those classic films being churned out in the 90s where substance certainly prevailed over style. Gritty, tense thrillers and dramas that really had you on the edge of your seat where the taut direction, smart scripts and solid acting was very much the order of day and a complete contrast to a lot of the vacuous, pretentious and overcooked stuff we see today. 1992 was a particularly good year with timeless classics such as The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Basic Instinct, The Lawnmower Man, Unlawful Entry, My Cousin Vinny, Sister Act, Death Becomes Her, A Few Good Men, The Bodyguard, Under Siege, Bram Stoker's Dracula...and a whole lot more. Too many to list here. It certainly was a great time to be a movie buff. How Unforgiven cleaned up at the Oscars that year will also forever be a mystery....and ironically never be forgiven.

Anyway, I digress. Single White Female automatically starts off as a solid 7.5 purely due to the Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh factor. The whole room-mate thing is a quintessential North American phenomenon but that resonance is not lost at all on us foreigners and is the basis of the whole story. What happens when you share your living space with a person who rapidly becomes unhinged and starts taking over your life? Bridget Fonda's character Allie, a successful software designer who has recently split with her boyfriend soon finds out. Trying to keep a handle on what she has she needs a roomie to make ends meet and stumbles across the seemingly perfect roommate Hedy, brilliantly portrayed by Jennifer Jason Leigh. Come on, you should know that if something appears too good to be true, it usually is.

After managing to worm her way into Allie's affections and circle of trust, Hedy fills some of the void that was left by the cheating boyfriend. However, the prospect of a reconciliation is what quickly tips Hedy over the edge and now things ain't so much fun anymore. Fonda and Leigh deliver great performances as they ratchet up the tension and peril. The supporting cast is pretty solid too. Yes, Hedy is deranged but is one of those rare antagonists with whom you will probably end up having more sympathy for than any other character in the film. To that end the final act is not very satisfying at all. I was very conflicted when I watched this the first time. So there are a few plot holes but they are forgivable in what is overall still a great movie nearly 30 years later. Visually it still looks great and has one of those movie iconic lines and scenes. Obviously with the change in social attitudes, the workplace sexual predator/assault (not that it was ever really acceptable) sub-plot may jar with some. I also wonder whether the non-consensual sex scene is as controversial with the genders being reversed? That's perhaps a debate for another day. Anyway, Jennifer Jason Leigh is great. Go, watch it.

I'm giving this an 9/10.
 
Uncut Gems
Adam Sandler in a serious role and he nails it but its a very hard watch as the plot which is based around Sandler's character (who is a gambling addict) is absolutely manic ( a bit like the life of a gambling addict). I didn't know what to make of it when the credits rolled at the end but have found myself thinking about it throughout the day and liking it more for that reason, however I'd still only give it a generous 5.5/10
 
Dante said:
1917

Powerful movie. It's probably going to stay with me for a while.

But I kind of feel like any competently directed film about WWI or WWII - with gritty and realistic special effects - would have a similar impact. The cultural significance of those two wars makes it difficult not to have an instant empathy.

Very much Oscar bait, but well done nonetheless. Not much by the way of story, though. Probably wouldn't make it into the top 20 movies about the world wars, but it's almost in that company.
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no story? I guess I watched a different movie then you or my definition of a story is different to you.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
I would have to agree with this , 1917 is excellent, yes there is a story there, but I thought it was also more about the experience.
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It isn't an insult. It was obviously meant to focus on the experience of the trenches and ww1 and it did that very well. The 2 hours flew past which is always a good sign.
 
Just Mercy True story of a miscarriage of justice. Raw telling of an appauling miscarriage of justice. Well worth watching. 8.5/10
 
Peanut Butter Falcon
A down syndrome kid escapes his care home in search of his wrestling hero. On the way, he meets a drifter played by Shia Lebeouf. I thought this was really heartwarming story and Shia put in a great performance. Would recommend 7.5/10
 
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