Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

TheReligion said:
It’s a top film and soundtrack!

The Nice Guys is another good Gosling film. Really funny and good chemistry with G man and Crowe.

Thanks mate! not seen that and looks right up my street! Any reviews here for it?
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If you liked Drive and The Nice Guys, you'll like The Place Beyond the Pines. Moody is a good word because its grittier and less flashy than either of those other two but no less enthralling. It's also got another of my all-time favorite actors, Ben Mendelsohn, playing a solid supporting role (incidentally Mendelsohn is also the moody noir film that Gosling wrote and directed, Lost River). Oh and if you haven't seen it, Only God Forgives is another good Gosling movie (though most don't consider it as good as Drive I enjoyed it a lot).
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
If you liked Drive and The Nice Guys, you'll like The Place Beyond the Pines. Moody is a good word because its gritty and less flashy than either of those other two but no less enthralling. It's also got another of my all-time favorite actors, Ben Mendelsohn, playing a solid supporting role (incidentally Mendelsohn is also in another moody noir film that Gosling directed, Lost River).
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Thank you for the heads up. I’ll give it a spin after Mulholland Dr
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
(incidentally Mendelsohn is also the moody noir film that Gosling wrote and directed, Lost River).
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What’s your view on Lost River ? I remember people hating on it and saying it’s a Lynch rip off but I sort of enjoyed it. It’s got some interesting themes, good performances, has a dark fairytale vibe and the soundtrack is great.

Shame that it seems Gosling was put off future directing due to the bad reviews it got.
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
One of my favorite films of the 2010s. I read the novel and it's one of the few instances I enjoyed the movie as improving on the novel. I disagree about the metaphor actually. I thought it was extremely well done and makes perfect sense to me. I also don't agree with that review at all and feel its a bit basic and misses the point but fair enough if you didn't enjoy it like i did. :)
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Yeah, the film just doesn't work for me as a whole.

I also think that article generalizes far too much for the entire film around what's really just fairly small details in the film, but I do think those details are done in poor taste/ethics.
 
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Forrest Gump

Hadn't watched this film in decades and watching it as an adult is nothing compared to watching it as a kid. It has its funny parts, but it's a love story of a multimillionaire mixed amongst a whole bunch of emotional, mental, and physical trauma/abuse. Plus a massive brand plug for Russell Stovers, Nike, Apple, Fortune, etc.

Like wtf. Still 9/10.
 
Sweet Square said:
What’s your view on Lost River ? I remember people hating on it and saying it’s a Lynch rip off but I sort of enjoyed it. It’s got some interesting themes, good performances, has a dark fairytale vibe and the soundtrack is great.

Shame that it seems Gosling was put off future directing due to the bad reviews it got.
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I really enjoyed it. I won't try to rate it on a number scale, but I think you hit it on the head, the themes were interesting, it really captured the dystopian vibe of where the US is heading as a whole (and already there in some aspects), it showcases power dynamics and disparity in wealth/power well and like you said it does have this dark fairytale aspect. And yes, the soundtrack is fantastic, soo moody. I wouldn't call it a perfectly executed movie but as a first effort, I wish Gosling continued with writing/directing.
 
Cheimoon said:
Yeah, the film just doesn't work for me as a whole.

I also think that article generalizes fat too much for the entire film around what's really just fairly small details in the film, but I do think those details are done in poor taste/ethics.
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The opening scene has a very specific symbolic purpose and so does the body scene. They have specific meanings and don't reflect what the reviewer says at all. IMO, it's not in poor taste or ethics. I didn't want to take up too much on this but I found this article breaking it down that I thought did a pretty good job (and more in-depth than I was going to write):
https://filmcolossus.com/single-pos...NIMALS-and-how-to-be-a-find-meaning-in-movies
 
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Cheimoon said:
Did you see it now? Good trash I thought:

Conceptually, it's kinda cool that it's really about gunfire action. There isn't much physical fighting, no explosions, just lots and lots (and lots and lots) of shooting. Giamatti is also a fun choice for the bad guy, a bit out of the ordinary. It's a murderous spectacle though, the body count must be insane and is kinda off-putting.
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The entire movie was off putting, but it lost me when
the mother who had recently had a baby is shot dead for laughs, then Giamatti makes a joke while making the dead mother lactate. Like, he’s milking her, or playing with the mothers milk as she’s just been shot dead. I found it extremely distasteful and I stopped caring about anything that filmmaker was trying to say. Incidentally, the cnut that wrote it lives in my neighborhood.
. Beyond that, if people think shooting at babies is entertaining, fair fecks to them, but the movie just made me angry.
 
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oneniltothearsenal said:
If you liked Drive and The Nice Guys, you'll like The Place Beyond the Pines. Moody is a good word because its grittier and less flashy than either of those other two but no less enthralling. It's also got another of my all-time favorite actors, Ben Mendelsohn, playing a solid supporting role (incidentally Mendelsohn is also the moody noir film that Gosling wrote and directed, Lost River). Oh and if you haven't seen it, Only God Forgives is another good Gosling movie (though most don't consider it as good as Drive I enjoyed it a lot).
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Dear @TheReligion , I fear for your safety. Ol’ One Nil is leading you up the garden path here (is that still an expression?) Gosling is one of my favorite actors, I enjoy Nicolas Refn’s work - and yet - Only God Forgives is so bad as a movie that it is astonishing there’s nothing redeemable in it. It is ludicrous but not a comedy, it’s disgusting, it’s confused as to what type of movie it is trying to be. It’s pretentious , violent, laughable, groan-inducing, and infuriating. The rumor is that after Drive, Gosling said he’d do anything Refn wanted to shoot next , and agreed without there being a script. It shows. It plays like they never had a script and just improvised with minimal direction. Like I said, I love Gosling and this thing deserved to have the original camera files deleted it was so bad. 1/10
 
Cheimoon said:
Nocturnal Animals. A 2016 thriller by Tom Ford featuring Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal. A woman receives her ex-husband's (from like 20 years ago) first book which is a kind of violent metaphor for their failed relationship. I think. The film displays the parallel stories of the woman experiencing reading the book, the development of her relationship with her ex-husband all those years ago, and the story of the book she's reading.

While each individual story is ok and every individual scene plays out well (stylish, well shot, well acted), I thought the film fell flat entirely as a whole. The metaphor just doesn't work at all; it's either extremely exaggerated (and hence silly) or extremely tenuous (and hence irrelevant) - or maybe far too clever for me (since many highly praised the film), cause I'm just not seeing it. Consequently, there appears to be limited reason to connect these three stories as was done. As each individual story is rather simple and stereotypical, the film as a whole became a rather lame experience for me.

I also agree with this article that the women-as-art objects approach that's adopted (the opening sequence, the way the wife and daughter are displayed beautifully on that sofa after their brutal rape and murder, and Amy Adams's general appearance) is rather upsetting.

So all in all, I thought it was a beautifully made but overall rather pointless and ultimately unpleasant film.

2/5
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100% agree on this one. It’s one of those movies where the story being told makes no sense, intentionally, and so the movie becomes a series of vignettes with certain vibes. Aesthetically interesting, trafficks in misery for misery’s sake. I also agree with the review you linked. It was a very unnecessary film with nothing to say.
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
The opening scene has a very specific symbolic purpose and so does the body scene. They have specific meanings and don't reflect what the reviewer says at all. IMO, it's not in poor taste or ethics. I didn't want to take up too much on this but I found this article breaking it down that I thought did a pretty good job (and more in-depth than I was going to write):
https://filmcolossus.com/single-pos...NIMALS-and-how-to-be-a-find-meaning-in-movies
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Maybe. So I guess the point of these scenes then becomes something like 'better be ugly and happy than beautiful but unhappy (or raped and murdered)' (to put it a little crudely). If that's what's meant, it does fit with the theme of the reader's current world (Amy Adams reading the book), but I would still say it could have been done more tastefully.

Also, I would still say that it's not a very interesting point per se (nothing new, and how do we even know those women from the opening sequence are actually happy and weren't just told to smile?) - which would bring me back to my point that the film, to me, essentially consists of three rather uninteresting stories (or two, if you consider the stories about the reader's past and current relationships as one), and fusing them together in the way that's been done does not render the total more interesting. (I like how @Wing Attack Plan R put it, too.)

Guess we won't agree on this one! :)
Wing Attack Plan R said:
The entire movie was off putting, but it lost me when
the mother who had recently had a baby is shot dead for laughs, then Giamatti makes a joke while making the dead mother lactate. Like, he’s milking her, or playing with the mothers milk as she’s just been shot dead. I found it extremely distasteful and I stopped caring about anything that filmmaker was trying to say. Incidentally, the cnut that wrote it lives in my neighborhood.
. Beyond that, if people think shooting at babies is entertaining, fair fecks to them, but the movie just made me angry.
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Reading the plot summary back now, I'm almost wondering if I'm not mixing up two films when I'm talking about this; but I suppose not. Anyway, I don't remember details and would be happy to concede that it was a poor film overall, and/or in poor taste, but I do think the action sequences were good. Did you get to see it, @Sweet Square? One and a half hour of your life you're claiming back from me?
 
Cheimoon said:
Maybe. So I guess the point of these scenes then becomes something like 'better be ugly and happy than beautiful but unhappy (or raped and murdered)' (to put it a little crudely). If that's what's meant, it does fit with the theme of the reader's current world (Amy Adams reading the book), but I would still say it could have been done more tastefully.

Also, I would still say that it's not a very interesting point per se (nothing new, and how do we even know those women from the opening sequence are actually happy and weren't just told to smile?) - which would bring me back to my point that the film, to me, essentially consists of three rather uninteresting stories (or two, if you consider the stories about the reader's past and current relationships as one), and fusing them together in the way that's been done does not render the total more interesting. (I like how @Wing Attack Plan R put it, too.)

Guess we won't agree on this one! :)
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We're definitely not going to agree because like I said it's one of my favorite thrillers and movies from the 2010s that speaks to me a lot from two angles, both what it is saying about creative expressions as an outlet for emotional traumas and tragedy and more directly as echoing some relationships I had when I was younger.

I don't think the bolded is really getting it either. It's using a scene about women demonstrating and exemplifying qualities that Susan lacks to layer themes and metaphors about the story and the Susan character. Non-conformity and freedom from the conventional and restricting ideals of mainstream society is a theme the movie deals with and I imagine in Ford's career in fashion it's even more ever-present. The women in the opening scene are expressing themselves freely which is something Susan cannot do. Personally, I think it was tasteful and any variation of that scene Ford did would have probably garnered some criticism from some people or another. Since this is a polite conversation I'll spare you my opinion of the writer of that review ;)
For what it's worth that scene isn't in the book, which is a much more straightforward telling of Susan reading Edward's novel and reacting/remembering their relationship.

I also don't see where you are getting three stories. It's really just one story - the story of Susan and Edward's relationship and the novel within the story represents Edward expressing his feelings about the relationship and Susan's choices through his novel. Maybe I love the movie because I've been exactly where Edward was in a very similar relationship when younger and now older, I can relate to expressing tragedy/trauma/bad experiences through metaphors in fiction as a way of catharsis and working out personal feelings, which is something every fiction writer (at least the ones that become good) does when starting out. Personally, I found the duality of Susan's PoV in reacting/remembering to Edward's PoV captured in the fictional story to be extremely compelling and interesting and I thought it was a great way of showing what fiction writers do, taking the bad experiences and through expression and creativity turning them into a form of art.

Anyway, as said in the favorite movies, everyone is going to have movies/shows/novels/art that speak to them strongly while not to others. This was a book and then a movie that always spoke strongly to me but fair enough if not to others (I know some people listed movies in those favorite movie threads that I thought were atrocious so I can relate to the other side as well and have to remember some movies speak differently to others).
 
The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin)

This movie is both beautiful and heart breaking. It's a quite simple story, but the cinematography and acting is superb from all the cast. Clear to see why it's the highest grossing Irish-language film of all time.

9.2/10
 
The Enforcer

Back to basics action movie, nothing to rave about but it's slick.

Feels like it's slightly rushed to its ending and could have done with developing the storyline a bit more in the middle part but still give it 7.5/10



Till

A harrowing story but handled perfectly by the Director and portrayed brilliantly by the cast, in particular Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till.

Disgusting to think this happened, although so many of the facts are still in dispute to this day.

Equally disturbing to think that certain parts of America would probably still watch this film and not see what the problem is.

I remember a few years ago Dr Who did an episode on the Rosa Parks incident (in the early Jodie Whittaker days) and it was an incredibly powerful hour of television, this was the same and I was very impressed, 8/10
 
The Menu
Really fun movie. I hope it had a smarter message/themes or at least not so on the nose but regardless, it's still a good movie. Good acting, atmosphere, mystery etc. I love claustrophobic horror/thriller movies. I did have one gripe though:

I always find these films to work better when there's a way to escape for the victims whereas here, their fate is sealed from the start

Also:

I'm not a foodie and my wife is. As they were giving out the dishes, she was salivating and I'm like "feck this shit, give me a cheeseburger with chips any day..." Then that was what happens :lol:

Overall it was decent and I'm glad I saw it 6.5/10
 
If you care about the film more than just watching it on Apple, then CODA* got a 4k disc release in Italy last year, but the real reason for the post is that it comes with a brief manual on Italian sign language, which I thought was pretty cool.

*Apparently it's one of only half a dozen Best Picture winners not to get (other than this) a physical HD or greater release.
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
Anyway, as said in the favorite movies, everyone is going to have movies/shows/novels/art that speak to them strongly while not to others. This was a book and then a movie that always spoke strongly to me but fair enough if not to others (I know some people listed movies in those favorite movie threads that I thought were atrocious so I can relate to the other side as well and have to remember some movies speak differently to others).
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Yeah, I guess we might leave it at that. The movie didn't speak to me at all, and to me personally, those themes don't seem very interesting, novel, or well expressed here. Maybe it helps that you read the book first and had some context already? Anyway, it doesn't seem like we'll find any agreement on that! :)

But for what it's worth: I know the movie basically expersses one story from different moments/angles, but it is presented as three separate segments: the past, the current, the novel. That's what I meant with 'three stories'.

Also, I mostly disliked that article and its tone (and also how it reduces the film to those two scenes, which is rather ridiculous), I just thought the core point rang true.
 
Dirty Schwein said:
The Menu
Really fun movie. I hope it had a smarter message/themes or at least not so on the nose but regardless, it's still a good movie. Good acting, atmosphere, mystery etc. I love claustrophobic horror/thriller movies. I did have one gripe though:

I always find these films to work better when there's a way to escape for the victims whereas here, their fate is sealed from the start

Also:

I'm not a foodie and my wife is. As they were giving out the dishes, she was salivating and I'm like "feck this shit, give me a cheeseburger with chips any day..." Then that was what happens :lol:

Overall it was decent and I'm glad I saw it 6.5/10
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Just watched it too... I was totally gripped for the first hour, but I think it loses it way a bit after that. Still good fun though.
 
TheReligion said:
@Sweet Square @Who's Kissing Cameras?

Fecking disaster here.

Just sat down to watch Mulholland Drive and it’s vanished from my recordings. Went back on Film 4 and they’ve taken it down. My own fault as I recorded it when you said it was on but didn’t get chance to watch it over Christmas :(
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You can rent it on google play, youtube and the other usual suspects for about 2.50
Pretty cheap to buy too
 
Dirty Schwein said:
The Menu
Really fun movie. I hope it had a smarter message/themes or at least not so on the nose but regardless, it's still a good movie. Good acting, atmosphere, mystery etc. I love claustrophobic horror/thriller movies. I did have one gripe though:

I always find these films to work better when there's a way to escape for the victims whereas here, their fate is sealed from the start

Also:

I'm not a foodie and my wife is. As they were giving out the dishes, she was salivating and I'm like "feck this shit, give me a cheeseburger with chips any day..." Then that was what happens :lol:

Overall it was decent and I'm glad I saw it 6.5/10
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Yeah this probably about fair. It is fun, but its far closer to Glass Onion or Ready or Not than Parasite, with the only real criticism being I think it really wanted to be closer to the latter.

It has some really fun dialogue and nicely drawn characters, but is also quite notably an “eat the rich” film written and produced by Hollywood types, ‘cos for a film where the main character is endlessly explaining what he’s doing, it has nothing much more interesting to say than “Cheeseburgers are better than posh food… Amirite?”

Boots Riley, it ain’t. But not an unenjoyable 90 something minutes.
 
The Righteous

A burdened man feels the wrath of a vengeful God after he and his wife are visited by a mysterious stranger.
This was excellent, filmed in back and white, the acting I thought was top notch, story was good.

8/10
 
Knives Out - Glass Onion was a bit shit. Ed Norton and Daniel Craig were enjoyable in their parts, but the story was all over the place and it wasn't as fun or charming as the original one. I've forgotten most of it already actually.

I've been rewatching the M:I films over the past weeks (perfect stuff for airport waiting and flights) and they are fundamentally an exercise in watching Ving Rhames getting larger and less mobile. There is a hilarious moment in one of them where he has to walk about 10 meters through a crowd, pushing them aside, and he's then completely breathless and broken. Really wondering what he's gonna be like by the end of the series. Otherwise, they're fun fluff with good action set pieces, but terrible dialogue if you ever stop to think about it. Rebecca Ferguson has been an excellent addition to the cast, and it's weird how Paula Patton just disappeared.

Ad Astra has to be one of the most underrated and misunderstood films of the past few years. James Gray is one of the most interesting directors currently working, and his family driven themes are oddly fitting for this space voyage where we follow Brad Pitt's meanderings. It's gorgeous, the cinematography is masterful, the score is beautiful, and the films really conveys the futility of Man in the grand scheme of things. I didn't remember how similar to Apocalypse Now (and therefore to Heart of Darkness) it was, probably cos I was exhausted the first time I saw it. Mesmerizing film that I'm sure will age extremely well.

She said was ok, but never managed to elevate itself beyond the subgenre it's part of (the newsroom drama), and is therefore extremely predictable, and at times a little laughable (the journalist's fake breaking down when receiving the final call from Ashley Judd may or may not be factually accurate, but it felt so fabricated it was jarring). Overall it conveys that it was a pretty straightforward investigation, certainly made difficult by the omerta that had been imposed in the milieu, but it was rather linear and the drama felt a bit forced (I also think the fact we now all know how much of a monster Weinstein is doesn't help in building any sense of suspense). Still, good performances from Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan, and it was nice seeing Andre Braugher in a badass role.
 
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Rooney in Paris said:
Ad Astra has to be one of the most underrated and misunderstood films of the past few years. James Gray is one of the most interesting directors currently working, and his family driven themes are oddly fitting for this space voyage where we follow Brad Pitt's meanderings. It's gorgeous, the cinematography is masterful, the score is beautiful, and the films really conveys the futility of Man in the grand scheme of things. I didn't remember how similar to Apocalypse Now (and therefore to Heart of Darkness) it was, probably cos I was exhausted the first time I saw it. Mesmerizing film that I'm sure will age extremely well.
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Yeah, agree with is. I've re-evaluated my original opinions on this movie quite a bit. The ending for me is still a little weird but the journey to get there is great and theres a definite comparison to be made to Apocalypse Now / Heart of Darkness. A better film than first thought.
 
TheReligion said:
@Sweet Square @Who's Kissing Cameras?

Fecking disaster here.

Just sat down to watch Mulholland Drive and it’s vanished from my recordings. Went back on Film 4 and they’ve taken it down. My own fault as I recorded it when you said it was on but didn’t get chance to watch it over Christmas :(
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Ah that sucks, I also planning to rewatch it on film4 as well. Weird that they got rid of it. It's worth just renting from but also there is the original tv plot on youtube in very awful quality(Tbh I've never watched it so don't know what it's like)

 
TheReligion said:
@Sweet Square @Who's Kissing Cameras?

Fecking disaster here.

Just sat down to watch Mulholland Drive and it’s vanished from my recordings. Went back on Film 4 and they’ve taken it down. My own fault as I recorded it when you said it was on but didn’t get chance to watch it over Christmas :(
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That really does suck. It’s 100% worth renting or buying from one of the providers I promise!
 
Cheimoon said:
Did you get to see it, @Sweet Square? One and a half hour of your life you're claiming back from me?
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After renting it, I just wanted to watch the first few minutes to see if everything was working and ended up watching all of the it. Yeah I loved it tbh. Monica Bellucci popping up 20 minutes in as dominatrix was brilliant, the movie is soooo stupid(deliberately so)but cast is in incredibly form.

Paul Giamatti cheering as he runs over a baby and then disgusted to find out later that it was a robot baby was a top tier highlight, along Owen killing a child eating democratic politician.

The only down sides were the cgi blood and muzzle blast. Both looked cheap.

oneniltothearsenal said:
I really enjoyed it. I won't try to rate it on a number scale, but I think you hit it on the head, the themes were interesting, it really captured the dystopian vibe of where the US is heading as a whole (and already there in some aspects), it showcases power dynamics and disparity in wealth/power well and like you said it does have this dark fairytale aspect. And yes, the soundtrack is fantastic, soo moody. I wouldn't call it a perfectly executed movie but as a first effort, I wish Gosling continued with writing/directing.
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Cheers. I will have to give it a rewatch pretty soon. I guess this was impossible but it would have been cool if Gosling directed it under another name, so much of negative reaction was down to him as a celebrity.




Tbh I’m always expecting in the future for it to become a cult classic.
 
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The Pale Blue Eye 7/10

Good murder mystery movie set however many hundred years ago. Acting was good, set design impressive, lost its way a bit near the end.
 
Get Out - finally got round to watching this highly discussed Jordan Peele thriller/horror and it did not disappoint. The storytelling and story were all superb, and a fantastic way to kill a couple of hours. Most horrors (or thrillers) miss their mark but this hit all the right notes without being too cliche’d. 8/10

The Pale Blue Eye - mystery set in 1830s New York after an army cadet is found dead. Christian Bale teams up with Harry Melling (who plays Edgar Allen Poe) to solve the mystery. I have to say - it’s hard to out act Christian Bale, but Melling is superb here. The acting, cinematography and gothic nature are all superb. The story isn’t as enthralling as I would have hoped and it does trundle along rather than gather pace but the last 20 mins are certainly interesting. 7/10
 
The Corinthian said:
The Pale Blue Eye -[/B] mystery set in 1830s New York after an army cadet is found dead. Christian Bale teams up with Harry Melling (who plays Edgar Allen Poe) to solve the mystery. I have to say - it’s hard to out act Christian Bale, but Melling is superb here. The acting, cinematography and gothic nature are all superb. The story isn’t as enthralling as I would have hoped and it does trundle along rather than gather pace but the last 20 mins are certainly interesting. 7/10
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Agree with everything about acting and atmosphere. Although think the end is where it just feels cheap, might have to give a rewatch to see if there are hints & clues, then I’ll say ok it wasn’t just a cheap unthreaded in ending.
 
Glass Onion - Shite......tbf....first half was decent, went downhill from there and the ending is fecking tripe.

Pale Blue Eye - Quite enjoyable. The kid who plays Poe is excellent in it. Bale is always a good watch.
 
Prisoners. Denis Villeneuve's 2013 mystery thriller featuring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal about two girls that disappear and a detective and a dad that go each look for them in their own ways.

As pretty much always with Villeneuve, it's extremely well made, fairly grim, and stays interesting until the end. As with Sicario, though, I felt the film lacked a point, or in this case maybe a heart. It's kinda hard to explain; what's the point of any film that isn't carrying a social or political message?

Still, somehow I felt that Villeneuve's Incendies was positively great, while this film lacked 'something', and made me wonder what was the point of watching it. Maybe it's a lack of emotional resolution (positive or negative) at the end? I mean, the resolution is great in theory: it's a very conclusive ending that completes the story 100% and is rather satisfactory - but at the same time it did little for me emotionally. Maybe it's the understated nature of the ending.

Anyway, too bad. Still 7/10 I guess.
 
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