Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Dirty Schwein said:
Come Play
The parents of an autistic child have to protect him from Larry, a demon that manifests through screens. I enjoyed the short film this was based off of and always wanted to see a film that tackles the themes of loneliness and screen-time. I wondered why this hadn't been done before and now I have my answer. Technology + Supernatural = Bullshit. Maybe it's because supernatural is meant to be otherworldly and technology is man-made, there just is a disconnect between the two... especially newer technology, which this film relies on.

Whilst I was interested in the concept and there were some neat scare tactics peppered throughout, this film lacked originality. A lot of the big moments are taken from other films/short films and it has that old cliche of stupid characters doing stupid things to move the plot forward. That's ok in the 90s but not in this day and age. Example: The parents refuse to believe the child when he says he's seeing a monster. Then the mother experiences it and tells the dad how the lights on the screens all go nuts and a monster comes. He tells her she needs more sleep. Then this exact thing happens to him and he thinks it's just the wind etc etc...

There is a good movie in here somewhere, just needed a few re-writes to actually make the narrative flow organically 5/10
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I agree with this 9 times out of 10, I'm not 100% sure on why but as you said it might be man-made thing not pairing up with my vision of the supernatural. I can think of a few films where they've managed this combination well though.

Kairo was one. I didn't particularly like the film, but I remember watching it when I was quite young and being very unnerved by the first half. The supernatural and technology are directly intertwined and what has often not worked for me in other pictures this film managed to really hit a spot. I remember being less impressed by the second half, but if you haven't seen it before I would say it might be worth a watch solely for the technology ghost thing
 
Cascarino said:
I agree with this 9 times out of 10, I'm not 100% sure on why but as you said it might be man-made thing not pairing up with my vision of the supernatural. I can think of a few films where they've managed this combination well though.

Kairo was one. I didn't particularly like the film, but I remember watching it when I was quite young and being very unnerved by the first half. The supernatural and technology are directly intertwined and what has often not worked for me in other pictures this film managed to really hit a spot. I remember being less impressed by the second half, but if you haven't seen it before I would say it might be worth a watch solely for the technology ghost thing
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Yes, Kairo is very good as is Ringu, the original One Missed Call etc... Maybe our friends from the other side of the world know how to make it work... I guess those three films rely on tone and atmosphere a lot whereas this movie (Come Play) never gave me any reason to be invested in the plot or the characters... It was just paint by numbers, which makes the technology thing feel even worse.

For me, I prefer tech horror to be more about things like the dark web as those horrors are still relatively unknown but very real and horrifying.
 
Dirty Schwein said:
Yes, Kairo is very good as is Ringu, the original One Missed Call etc... Maybe our friends from the other side of the world know how to make it work... I guess those three films rely on tone and atmosphere a lot whereas this movie (Come Play) never gave me any reason to be invested in the plot or the characters... It was just paint by numbers, which makes the technology thing feel even worse.

For me, I prefer tech horror to be more about things like the dark web as those horrors are still relatively unknown but very real and horrifying.
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Ah I thought you might have watched it as you watch a lot of films.
The bolded is a good point, iirc the plot and characters are wafer thin, it's just a very unsettling atmosphere with some unnerving camera shots.

Over the last few years I've almost completely stopped watching films as I've just been watching football, but I want to get back into it and I actually saw a comment you made about the Wailing, looks interesting and I think I'm going to go with it.
 
Loon said:
UK, but I have a VPN…
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I think it's the same everywhere in Canada, but if not: I'm in Ontario specifically.

I think you'd have to look those films up by the English titles btw. But maybe Netflix would find the French titles as well.
 
The Thing Inside Us

Daniel and Shelly have lost everything to the LV pandemic that has currently engulfed the world. Most show no symptoms to the disease, but Daniel barely survived the infection. Shelly seems fine except for a strange case of sleepwalking.
Dreadful acting, the concept was decent enough, it could have been decent.
The ending was just horrible.

3/10


There's Someone Inside Your House

The graduating class at Osborne High is being targeted by a masked assailant, intent on exposing the darkest secret of each victim, and only a group of misfit outsiders can stop the killings.
It is just an average slasher film , with nothing you have not see before, it has its moments.
Not bad, but not great either

5/10
 
Shockwave (also called 2020)

A stolen seismic weapon is activated in Yemen. A hostage freed there tries in vain to warn against its global effect. It starts seismic activity at the Californian fault line where her daughter and ex are monitoring it.
Just a generic disaster film , it been done to death.
It is just a bad film.

2/10
 
The French Dispatch

Loved it and need to see it again on the big screen as lots to take in. It will be good to watch at home in future too so scenes and shots with lots of info or just looking gorgeous etc can be paused or replayed.

When I realised that it was Bond's Madeleine Swann who was completely naked on screen posing for the lucky Del Toro I felt slightly guilty to be seeing 007's missus in the nude. I think watching the last two Bond films very recently and then having the unexpected nudity of a character I'd got to know was really quite weird. It was like Del Toro was playing a psycho Bond villain who had forced a captured Madeleine to pose nude for him in some sort of 15 rated deleted scene. I quickly got over my shock and enjoyed her performance as Simone in the film.

I raise a glass of mouthwash de menthe to Wes Anderson

For me it's between 7.5 and 8.5/10
 
Red Notice

ugh. Ryan Reynolds elicits the odd chuckle but is too Ryan Reynoldsy. Dwayne Johnson just phones it in, and is in súper generic form. Gal Gadot tries to do this whole character actor performance but cannot act at all and is just painfully annoying. Honestly, I don’t know how she gets any acting work. The plot is largely inconsequential. It feels like an extended SNL sketch. Just fecking awful.

2/10
 
simonhch said:
Red Notice

ugh. Ryan Reynolds elicits the odd chuckle but is too Ryan Reynoldsy. Dwayne Johnson just phones it in, and is in súper generic form. Gal Gadot tries to do this whole character actor performance but cannot act at all and is just painfully annoying. Honestly, I don’t know how she gets any acting work. The plot is largely inconsequential. It feels like an extended SNL sketch. Just fecking awful.

2/10
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I read that the budget for this was $200m. Yikes.
 
Cascarino said:
Ah I thought you might have watched it as you watch a lot of films.
The bolded is a good point, iirc the plot and characters are wafer thin, it's just a very unsettling atmosphere with some unnerving camera shots.

Over the last few years I've almost completely stopped watching films as I've just been watching football, but I want to get back into it and I actually saw a comment you made about the Wailing, looks interesting and I think I'm going to go with it.
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I've lessened my movie intake recently too, but that's because I'm managing 4 hours sleep per night so keep dozing off during the movie :lol:

I loved Wailing but you will get more out of it if you understand Korean culture. But even without, it's very unique and enjoyable. You'll have a lot of questions/reading to do after it's finished.

You seen Calibre or Forgotten (Korean)?

simonhch said:
Red Notice

ugh. Ryan Reynolds elicits the odd chuckle but is too Ryan Reynoldsy. Dwayne Johnson just phones it in, and is in súper generic form. Gal Gadot tries to do this whole character actor performance but cannot act at all and is just painfully annoying. Honestly, I don’t know how she gets any acting work. The plot is largely inconsequential. It feels like an extended SNL sketch. Just fecking awful.

2/10
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Because she's hot (not my type) and sells. That's Hollywood.
 
The French Dispatch

A great addition to Wes Anderson's oeuvre. Perhaps the greatest demonstration yet of his cross-section camera style. Some might argue there is nothing "new" here but it's the film equivalent of a connected group of short stories rather than a straight novel. I thought it was wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute and all the separate, connected shorts. it such a wonderful work that has absurdist elements. It's ag great "post post-modern" film in my mind that is highly entertaining especially if you enjoy Anderson's subtle brand of humor.
Overall, I'd say 8.5-9/10.
 
simonhch said:
Red Notice

ugh. Ryan Reynolds elicits the odd chuckle but is too Ryan Reynoldsy. Dwayne Johnson just phones it in, and is in súper generic form. Gal Gadot tries to do this whole character actor performance but cannot act at all and is just painfully annoying. Honestly, I don’t know how she gets any acting work. The plot is largely inconsequential. It feels like an extended SNL sketch. Just fecking awful.

2/10
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Yep utterly forgettable.
 
I turned off Red Notice after that first scene where Ryan Reynolds was fannying about with the scaffolding for some reason
 
Just watched The Harder They Fall (Netflix) really enjoyed it. Johnathon Majors, Idris Elba, Regina King, Zazie Beetz and Lakeith Stanfield who every time I see him in something is brilliant. Again a great character just ashame he’s a right twat.

Old western with great music, great scenery, some decent performances and standard western cliches ticked off. Worth a watch.
 
Shang-Chi and the etc etc

Didn’t expect much, but started out really well with good pacing, good humour, and great action. After the bus fight scene - about a third of the way in - it was just a slow inexorable decline until this bore fest finally came to an end. I really didn’t care what was happening by the time the final big cgi fight came around. No clue whatsoever how this has 92% on RT. It’s Sunday afternoon nap material.

5/10
 
Red Notice (2021)

Available on Netflix. Having had my interest peaked by a snappy trailer, it didn't take long into this film to realise that once again I had been duped by those crafty execs at Netflix. After watching Reynolds in Buried all those years ago, I was convinced that there was a half decent actor behind all that one-dimensional bluster and bravado that he has inexplicably opted to portray time and time again. Yeah it works in Deadpool but come on this shit is really becoming so tiring. Anyway, on to the movie. Ridiculous story, ridiculous plot, contrived set pieces, awful dialogue and complete with Scooby-Doo-esque monologuing. Lazy writing resulting in a rehash of hundreds of films that have preceded it makes this one of the most predictable and formulaic pieces of turd that I have seen in a long time. Scripts must have been slim during lockdown because what the hell was Gadot thinking. I suppose there are worse ways to pass the time and pad out those bank balances.

By the time you get to the extravagant plot twist, which in normal circumstances would have been a real WTF moment, by this time you're just too numb to even give a shit. Well I was anyway, and that's assuming you've stuck with it this far. Yeah I'm guessing they had a blast making this film but seriously Ryan, you really need to start mixing things up a bit.

I'm giving this a 3/10.
 
Filière 13 (File 13). Another Quebec comedy. A police detective and PR guy both have a mental breakdown and end up at the same boring surveillance job. They bond (ish) and find bigger fish to fry.

Or something like that. It's not a typical buddy comedy, or police comedy, or detective story. There's a little bit of all of that, but none of it really gets developed. The story is rather some sort of way to go through some scenes from their private and professional lives. There are also a fair few boring bits in the film. But when it's funny, if really works, and some of the weirder/awkward situations are really hilarious (on purpose).

So I'm not entirely sure about this one, but in the end, I do feel positive about it looking back, and I'm happy we chose to watch it.
 
Shang Chi

Just watched this, and it was enjoyable enough. Plot went off the rails when they arrived at that mystical place and we got dragons and what not. Get that the MCU is not everyone's cup of tea, not sure this will change people's minds. Needed more time spent on kung fu/crime family as that was easily the more interesting aspect of the film. Tony Leung as an immortal crime lord was great and Simu Lai was good as Shang Chi

7/10
 
Red List
4/10
How far have we fallen that this is considered entertainment. ‘Let’s make an Indiana Jones movie, right down to the Nazis… but let’s cast the Dwayne Charisma Vacuum Johnson alongside Gal The Ghoul Gadot and make Ryan Reynolds do all the heavy lifting by doing the same shit he always does.

No idea why I’m giving it four. Probably just for Reynolds highlighting just how bad an actor The Rock is. The man just talks. That’s it.

Perfect hate-watch.
 
Salt Bailly said:
I read that the budget for this was $200m. Yikes.
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Biggest opening day for a film on Netflix. Money well spent from their point of view. Just goes to show people will watch anything if you put a bunch of algorithm friendly superstars in it.
 
No Time To Die starts really well with some classic Bond chase scenes. I really liked the first half and there were some great female characters with some depth for a change. The down side is that the conspiracy/threat is piss weak and Remi Malik is a terrible bond villain. The second half is rather poor in comparison and the end was meh. Worth it for the car chases and the action sequences especially if you are a bond fan. 6/10

Red Notice Seems like something that wasn't quite good enough to get made in the 80's. Purely a vehicle for the charismatic main stars to play themselves again but so inconsequential I couldn't remember if I'd finished watching it last night without concentrating. Probably something to watch half cut after the pub on Friday night. 4/10
 
Red Notice - Gal Gadot is the absolute worst, and this film even managed to make Reynolds annoying. Pointless all round. These circle-jerk buddy movies where the Hollywood elite get together and ejaculate their crappy vanity projects onto 35mm as some sort of benevolent endowment for us plebs has to stop. Also, Gal Gadot has to stop. Or be stopped. Whatever it takes.
 
SmashedHombre said:
Red Notice - Gal Gadot is the absolute worst, and this film even managed to make Reynolds annoying. Pointless all round. These circle-jerk buddy movies where the Hollywood elite get together and ejaculate their crappy vanity projects onto 35mm as some sort of benevolent endowment for us plebs has to stop. Also, Gal Gadot has to stop. Or be stopped. Whatever it takes.
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Usually he does that all by himself.
 
Tempted to watch Red Notice now given how bad the reviews in this thread are.
 
kps88 said:
Biggest opening day for a film on Netflix. Money well spent from their point of view. Just goes to show people will watch anything if you put a bunch of algorithm friendly superstars in it.
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That's why I unsubscribed myself. Not much of their content feels organic anymore, it all feels like it's been curated with that data in mind.
 
Eternals

Promised so much but barely delivered. I felt like it was just taking bits from other movies rather than trying to create something new.

Neither the performances nor the effects are particularly memorable, I thought it was just an average Marvel film.

6/10



Cry Macho

In a way it's sad to see Clint Eastwood looking every one of his 91 years. In the opening scene he looks so immobile you wonder how he's possibly going to make it through the next hour and a half.

It's a good story, based on a 1975 book and having read up on it they've been trying to make the movie for over 30 years, with various actors lined up for the lead role at different times.

I mean you can't not love him, he is as much of a legend as it's possible to have in Hollywood but it actually made me tired watching him try to act.

If you can look past that and concentrate on what, as my comment above is actually a good story then you'll probably enjoy it but don't make the mistake I did and go to see it at 10.30 on a Friday night when you've already been to see one film!

7/10
 
I've recently taken two 12 hour flights, so plenty of time to watch some movies...most of them Nolan movies that I haven't seen.

Interstellar - interesting sci-fi flick from Nolan, thought the ending didn't totally land (the 'ghost' reveal mainly). Otherwise, it was a good movie that kept me interested and engaged. 8/10

Motherless Brooklyin - neo noir set in 1950s New York with a truly awesome cast. The underlying mystery wasn't as deep as I thought it would be. Ed Norton starred and directed this and he really is a brilliant actor in my opinion. Also had a great song from Thom Yorke in it. 8/10

Godzilla vs Kong - big CGI nonsense fest. 4/10

Dunkirk - engaging WWII flick with minimal dialogue. Thought the three young uns on the beach (the main dude, Gibson, and Harry Styles) were excellent. Tom Hardy was doing Tom Hardy things in a plane and a nice understated performance from Cilian Murphy. An enjoyable flick. 7.5/10

Tenet - I mean, where do I start with this. It was weird af. Kenneth Branagh doing a Russian accent was probably the weirdest bit. I don't think I've properly understood it. ?/10

Shang Chi & the Legend of Ten Rings - decent standard Marvel flick with some awesome fight choreos. Always enjoy watching Tony Leung. 6/10
 
kps88 said:
Biggest opening day for a film on Netflix. Money well spent from their point of view. Just goes to show people will watch anything if you put a bunch of algorithm friendly superstars in it.
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Yeah, I think I said before that, by both owning the content and the platform, they can create their own virtuous circle: they hype their own product, so a good number of people watch it on opening day, that sets into motion the algorithms pushing it up, so more people watch it - and it probably takes a while before downvotes and negative reviews and comments on social media break that circle.
Vidyoyo said:
That's why I unsubscribed myself. Not much of their content feels organic anymore, it all feels like it's been curated with that data in mind.
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You can break that circle yourself as well though; you don't have to watch the shitty content. And Netflix has a ton of other stuff as well. Not what you're into from what I read from your reviews, but e.g., Parasite appeared in my account yesterday and I already had a good few interesting films still on my watch list, so Netflix is working quite well for me right now.
 
Wibble said:
Red Notice Seems like something that wasn't quite good enough to get made in the 80's. Purely a vehicle for the charismatic main stars to play themselves again but so inconsequential I couldn't remember if I'd finished watching it last night without concentrating. Probably something to watch half cut after the pub on Friday night. 4/10
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Johnson and Gadot are what AI would judge to be ‘Charismatic’. They are vacuous one-note non entities.

Reynolds phones it in. But he’d be the life and soul of any party.

This idea that Gadot and Johnson are charismatic is nonsensical. They are algorithm friendly characters. That is not the same. They’re the embodiment of “There was this one time, at X”. The soulless empty vessels that make life about them.

Ryan Reynolds resorts to schtick in this movie, but it’s clear that he has a personality.

Yuk to almost all of it.
 
kps88 said:
Biggest opening day for a film on Netflix. Money well spent from their point of view. Just goes to show people will watch anything if you put a bunch of algorithm friendly superstars in it.
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We deserve better. We want better. We would watch genius that cost £1,000,000 if they gave it to us.

They are stupid business people.
 
I think it's time people stop watching Red Notice.
 
Cheimoon said:
Yeah, I think I said before that, by both owning the content and the platform, they can create their own virtuous circle: they hype their own product, so a good number of people watch it on opening day, that sets into motion the algorithms pushing it up, so more people watch it - and it probably takes a while before downvotes and negative reviews and comments on social media break that circle.
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It is not a Virtuous Circle, it’s a cycle of moronic deceit. Paying $60m for talent against a $200m budget to deliver a tumescent movie is ridiculous. They are willingly producing hot garbage as idiots consume it. Including me.

Yeah they’re all making money hand over fist but they’re still cnuts. Making passively consumable sh1te just because it makes money is the worst possible power structure.

Jurassic World doubled the box office of Jurassic Park. One was a shower of shit. One was a classic. Yup.
 
UnrelatedPsuedo said:
It is not a Virtuous Circle, it’s a cycle of moronic deceit. Paying $60m for talent against a $200m budget to deliver a tumescent movie is ridiculous. They are willingly producing hot garbage as idiots consume it. Including me.

Yeah they’re all making money hand over fist but they’re still cnuts. Making passively consumable sh1te just because it makes money is the worst possible power structure.

Jurassic World doubled the box office of Jurassic Park. One was a shower of shit. One was a classic. Yup.
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Just to be clear, I meant that it's a virtuous circle for them (business-wise), not for us. From my own point of view, Netflix's big-budget action films have been a mess. (Extraction is not bad, but Old Guard and Project Power were quite poor, Outside The Wire looks shit to me, and now Red Notice is getting slaughtered everywhere as well.)
 
Cheimoon said:
Just to be clear, I meant that it's a virtuous circle for them (business-wise), not for us. From my own point of view, Netflix's big-budget action films have been a mess. (Extraction is not bad, but Old Guard and Project Power were quite poor, Outside The Wire looks shit to me, and now Red Notice is getting slaughtered everywhere as well.)
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All good brother.

Worst thing is… most of those movies had a great premise, a high budget and an expensive cast.

It’s criminal that they’re all sh1te movies.

They’re not Netflix movies though. They just buy them. It’s a shitty system. 250m people watching an average movie is good business. Making a better movies for less money that’s watched by 200m people is considered less financially viable.

Broken.
 
simonhch said:
Red Notice

ugh. Ryan Reynolds elicits the odd chuckle but is too Ryan Reynoldsy. Dwayne Johnson just phones it in, and is in súper generic form. Gal Gadot tries to do this whole character actor performance but cannot act at all and is just painfully annoying. Honestly, I don’t know how she gets any acting work. The plot is largely inconsequential. It feels like an extended SNL sketch. Just fecking awful.

2/10
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Damn how could it be so bad? Was looking forward to this .
 
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