Good to hear. Sounds like something I'll like.
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
- Thread starter golden_blunder
- Start date
Good to hear. Sounds like something I'll like.
I found it very weird, but not that bad as you. But it's definitely not funny.
Abigail making them her bitches was ridiculous, it's not that hard to learn how to make a fire after seeing her every day doing it, probably the same goes for fishing.
I didn't know that actress died, that's very sad to hear, her performance was very good.
Yep, Till was a bit of a tough watch, but essential if you want to understand the horror from where AAs came in the South during the 50s & 60s.
I’m on the other end of the scale, 1/10. Maybe the most pretentious film I’ve ever seen, with three leads so unlikable not even the writer/director could give them a decent send off.
character fates:
Brad Pitt’s character is presented as a true rake, a ladies’ man who drinks his way through his roles with aplomb. He’s a forward thinking, almost visionary, filmmaker. After one conversation (a very stagey one at that) with a gossip columnist, he slowly walks upstairs, slowly gets his revolver, slowly walks into the bath out of frame, then shoots himself. Maudlin. Sappy. Amateur. This guy was the can-do hero of the first 1/3, and he goes out off camera like a coward? This was a writing fail, never mind how cheesily it was filmed.
Margot Robbie shows up wild, drunk, high as feck, swearing like a sailor, talking about fecking anything that moves. At the end of the film she is… exactly the same. Why Manny loves her is unknown and unknowable. Her exit is equally shit to Pitt’s: she sashays down a dark street into a VFX blackness and disappears from view. So heavy. Ignoring the fact she’s placed Manny’s life in danger, and tangentially caused 2 deaths. Her character is a fighter and a striver, determined to be a star, and her storyline has her fade from view and then her fate is learned in a newspaper montage (where her body is found dead of a suspected overdose at 34). Some way for the feisty heroine to have her arc concluded.
Manny? Who even knows. He showed 2 emotions the entire film. Supposedly a natural with directing, a veritable genius and problem solver, but it’s never clear what he wants or why he wants it. It’s never clear why he loves Nellie, it’s never even hinted at her having some affect over his life or his decisions in any way being pulled in her direction, until of course the final bit when she comes to him for money. His character is cardboard. His ending, presumably scampering out of town after also causing 2 people to be murdered - and knowing who the murderer was but evidently not caring enough about their families to tell anyone - and then showing up some interval later with a wife and child to stare at the gates of a studio - another extremely ham handed touch.
Margot Robbie shows up wild, drunk, high as feck, swearing like a sailor, talking about fecking anything that moves. At the end of the film she is… exactly the same. Why Manny loves her is unknown and unknowable. Her exit is equally shit to Pitt’s: she sashays down a dark street into a VFX blackness and disappears from view. So heavy. Ignoring the fact she’s placed Manny’s life in danger, and tangentially caused 2 deaths. Her character is a fighter and a striver, determined to be a star, and her storyline has her fade from view and then her fate is learned in a newspaper montage (where her body is found dead of a suspected overdose at 34). Some way for the feisty heroine to have her arc concluded.
Manny? Who even knows. He showed 2 emotions the entire film. Supposedly a natural with directing, a veritable genius and problem solver, but it’s never clear what he wants or why he wants it. It’s never clear why he loves Nellie, it’s never even hinted at her having some affect over his life or his decisions in any way being pulled in her direction, until of course the final bit when she comes to him for money. His character is cardboard. His ending, presumably scampering out of town after also causing 2 people to be murdered - and knowing who the murderer was but evidently not caring enough about their families to tell anyone - and then showing up some interval later with a wife and child to stare at the gates of a studio - another extremely ham handed touch.
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There was a big, concerted push for Glass Onion to get Oscar nominations, and I’m pleased as feck that effort failed. It did get an adapted screenplay, I believe.
I watched Villeneuve's Enemy (2013) yesterday, which is almost a Gyllenhaal solo performance, and awesome as such. (Although others have smaller roles and are also good.) I anyway thought it was a great film. Basically a psychological puzzle, with the perfect direction to go with it - brooding, dark, slow, pensive, menacing: everything perfectly in sync with what the film is trying to do.
I have to admit I didn't fully grasp the point, although I got fairly close (variants of the same person making different decisions - although it's rather showing how this person from a more friendly starting point still returns to his selfish self that doesn't care about women). For those interested, these articles did, I think, a really good job trying to get to the core of things (but don't fully align - it's close though):
https://www.vulture.com/article/enemy-movie-ending-explained.html
https://screenrant.com/enemy-ending-explained-meaning/
Anyway, I really liked it. Based on comments I read, I thought it would be very bleak and would leave me feeling miserable after, but it's not like that; it's really a psychological puzzle and a very interesting one at that, I think (and complete in 90 min; there's a limit to this sort of thing). You have to be up for that to like it though; it's not casual entertainment.
The only criticism I'd have is that Villeneuve appears to be completely incapable of conveying emotion through camera movement. No matter what happens, the camera will swing and zoom with utter calmness and mathematical precision. A little odd once or twice, but a minor detail.
Oh, and a film shot in Toronto that's also set in Toronto! How about that for a change!
4/5
I have to admit I didn't fully grasp the point, although I got fairly close (variants of the same person making different decisions - although it's rather showing how this person from a more friendly starting point still returns to his selfish self that doesn't care about women). For those interested, these articles did, I think, a really good job trying to get to the core of things (but don't fully align - it's close though):
https://www.vulture.com/article/enemy-movie-ending-explained.html
https://screenrant.com/enemy-ending-explained-meaning/
Anyway, I really liked it. Based on comments I read, I thought it would be very bleak and would leave me feeling miserable after, but it's not like that; it's really a psychological puzzle and a very interesting one at that, I think (and complete in 90 min; there's a limit to this sort of thing). You have to be up for that to like it though; it's not casual entertainment.
The only criticism I'd have is that Villeneuve appears to be completely incapable of conveying emotion through camera movement. No matter what happens, the camera will swing and zoom with utter calmness and mathematical precision. A little odd once or twice, but a minor detail.
Oh, and a film shot in Toronto that's also set in Toronto! How about that for a change!
4/5
I haven't the first clue what it was about and im not sure i really want to.
I didn't get the Toronto part. It felt like it was set on an alien planet and original Jake Gyllenhaal was a rat in a creepy experiment to me. I didn't find it particularly bleak but the last was disturbing. And probably more than for the obvious reasons though i couldn't say why
Just re. my Toronto: a lot of films are filmed in Toronto or Vancouver due to tax credits available in Canada, but those films are virtually never actually set in either city. So it's nice to see Toronto feature in a film and be explicitly referred to as such. It doesn't matter for the plot though.
See this video for reference:
I disagree with pretty much everything in your take of the film, but just on the fate of Pitt's character - that's not at all how it happens.
It's how it happened in the version I watched two days ago. Do you disagree with the "slowly" part, or what?
Glass Onion
Really enjoyed that. Seems like the cast did too. Main gripe is that it's all a bit too predictable... Which defeats the purpose of a mystery film but still, had a blast with it 7.5/10
Really enjoyed that. Seems like the cast did too. Main gripe is that it's all a bit too predictable... Which defeats the purpose of a mystery film but still, had a blast with it 7.5/10
Anyone seen Groove, a 2000 flick similar in plot to Human Traffic? Similar reviews in RT. I can’t remember if I’ve seen it or not, but the music is outstanding, curated well by Scott Hardkiss. Just wondering if it is worth an investment.
I very much liked Human Traffic & the music was stellar in there as well.
I very much liked Human Traffic & the music was stellar in there as well.
Countdown
When a nurse downloads an app that claims to predict the moment a person will die, it tells her she only has three days to live. With the clock ticking and a figure haunting her, she must find a way to save her life before time runs out.
I was not expecting much, it played the jump scare playbook to the letter.
The story was decent, could have been a much better film.
The ending was horrible, please god dont make another one.
3/10
When a nurse downloads an app that claims to predict the moment a person will die, it tells her she only has three days to live. With the clock ticking and a figure haunting her, she must find a way to save her life before time runs out.
I was not expecting much, it played the jump scare playbook to the letter.
The story was decent, could have been a much better film.
The ending was horrible, please god dont make another one.
3/10
I've seen it. If I remember my feelings from that era, I thought Human Traffic was the best of that era of rave movies but Groove is still worth a watch if you have nostalgia for the 90s. Beats (2019) is also worth a watch as a new movie from that same genre.
Helios, 2015 Hong Kong action thriller. Criminals steal a secret Korean weapon of mass destruction and intent to trade it to a buyer in Hong Kong, while a combined Chinese-Korean team tries to get it back, each for their own purposes.
It's a busy mess. There are a ton of characters with all kinds of intrigues going on, making the story kinda hard to follow. Unfortunately, the story is rather uninteresting and the action unengaging. The acting also seems fairly poor, although I was fully reliant on subtitles for everything that was said (which seemed to rather shorten texts). The ending was fully ridiculous, completely changing the tone of the film and turning the protagonists around.
Looks like they had wanted to make this into a series but guess it didn't happen. Good.
1/5
It's a busy mess. There are a ton of characters with all kinds of intrigues going on, making the story kinda hard to follow. Unfortunately, the story is rather uninteresting and the action unengaging. The acting also seems fairly poor, although I was fully reliant on subtitles for everything that was said (which seemed to rather shorten texts). The ending was fully ridiculous, completely changing the tone of the film and turning the protagonists around.
Looks like they had wanted to make this into a series but guess it didn't happen. Good.
1/5
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There is Something Wrong with the Children
A family takes a weekend trip with longtime friends and their two young children, but, they suspect something supernatural when the kids behave strangely after disappearing into the woods overnight.
Annoying kids, annoying parents, it should be re-named. There is something wrong with the film.
Just like Countdown, this could have been so much better, there is a back story that they should have used more.
It filled in 90 mins of a very quite night shift.
3/10
A family takes a weekend trip with longtime friends and their two young children, but, they suspect something supernatural when the kids behave strangely after disappearing into the woods overnight.
Annoying kids, annoying parents, it should be re-named. There is something wrong with the film.
Just like Countdown, this could have been so much better, there is a back story that they should have used more.
It filled in 90 mins of a very quite night shift.
3/10
The title should have been a red flag.
That's a shame. The director worked in the first few V/H/S movies and Southbound, which are excellent anthology films. Guess she was unable to transition to stretching a story to feature length.
M3GAN
Enjoyed the themes of consumerism and our over reliance on technology and it was well made and quite funny but the kills were super safe and felt like the studio was more focused on creating a tween franchise as opposed to a horror experience. I know this was tamed to get a PG-13 rating but I would love to watch the original cut as I believe if it is as violent as I read about it, then this could have been a great film for people who grew up watching Chucky as opposed to a new generation 6/10
Enjoyed the themes of consumerism and our over reliance on technology and it was well made and quite funny but the kills were super safe and felt like the studio was more focused on creating a tween franchise as opposed to a horror experience. I know this was tamed to get a PG-13 rating but I would love to watch the original cut as I believe if it is as violent as I read about it, then this could have been a great film for people who grew up watching Chucky as opposed to a new generation 6/10
Has anyone seen Skinamarink? Apparently it's an experimental horror film (low-budget) that's making a bit of a stir - although apparently partly because people go see it on the basis of cool short clips that have gone viral and are then irritated at how unconventional it actually is:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/skinamarink-review-1.6729363
Not something for me, but having read that article, I was wondering what people on here think, given we have a lot of horror fans.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/skinamarink-review-1.6729363
Not something for me, but having read that article, I was wondering what people on here think, given we have a lot of horror fans.
Ill check it out the next couple of days. Thanks for sharing
That movie was dire.
I watched a few films over the weekend
It had been recommended on here, it's a bit of a hidden, and yeah Spontaneous was really great. Very fresh take on the teen movie genre, it switches from humour to drama effortlessly and really delivers on the pains of growing up, of those teen years. The relationships feel very genuine, whether it's the romantic one, or the best friend. It just felt like a really nice, cute film that more people should see.
I'm a massive fan of Aubrey Plaza, so I had Emily the Criminal in my watchlist for a while but just never got round to watching it... until Saturday. I wasn't blown away by it, it's a decent thriller but very much paint by numbers exercise. She's absolutely great in it, a proper badass, and makes it somewhat watchable, but it's quite forgettable.
The best film I saw over the weekend though was Armageddon Time, James Gray's latest film. There is no better director to create a family and social environment, and to create a canvass in which his stories take part. Every single interaction between the characters is so well written, feels so genuine, that you're immediately transported into this 1980s coming-of-age tale set in the New York suburbs. I understand it's a very personal film for James Gray and he drew a lot from his own personal experience growing up, and it's perfectly served by a great cast (Anthony Hopkins is wonderful, Anna Hathaway is great, just as is Jeremy Strong) and some really good kids performances. This is beautiful cinema, with moments of grace and truth. At 54 years of age, Gray already has a filmography that ranks as one of my favourite amongst working directors, and I can't wait for his next effort.
It had been recommended on here, it's a bit of a hidden, and yeah Spontaneous was really great. Very fresh take on the teen movie genre, it switches from humour to drama effortlessly and really delivers on the pains of growing up, of those teen years. The relationships feel very genuine, whether it's the romantic one, or the best friend. It just felt like a really nice, cute film that more people should see.
I'm a massive fan of Aubrey Plaza, so I had Emily the Criminal in my watchlist for a while but just never got round to watching it... until Saturday. I wasn't blown away by it, it's a decent thriller but very much paint by numbers exercise. She's absolutely great in it, a proper badass, and makes it somewhat watchable, but it's quite forgettable.
The best film I saw over the weekend though was Armageddon Time, James Gray's latest film. There is no better director to create a family and social environment, and to create a canvass in which his stories take part. Every single interaction between the characters is so well written, feels so genuine, that you're immediately transported into this 1980s coming-of-age tale set in the New York suburbs. I understand it's a very personal film for James Gray and he drew a lot from his own personal experience growing up, and it's perfectly served by a great cast (Anthony Hopkins is wonderful, Anna Hathaway is great, just as is Jeremy Strong) and some really good kids performances. This is beautiful cinema, with moments of grace and truth. At 54 years of age, Gray already has a filmography that ranks as one of my favourite amongst working directors, and I can't wait for his next effort.
I liked spontaneous too. Its nice when you see a good a movie in a genre you never expected to like.
Penguin Highway - The dubbing is pretty laughable at times but it's the kind of easy-going movie you can throw on and not think too much about: something about penguins and a mysterious bubble where the world either does or does not exist. The animation is done really well and some of the end scenes look absolutely gorgeous. Plus it has penguins and penguins are pretty darn cute. 3/5
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Yeah it’s a shame as the plot is interesting enough(Someone entering the crime world because of how awful todays economy is) and Plaza performance is great but visually it’s so boring to look.
I guess the film is going for some type of “realistic” feel but it doesn’t work. Overall it’s a missed opportunity for something that could have been pretty great.
Yeah it's just so... bland. Also the motivations of the character (shafted by her student loans) would've made a great backstory and good political comment in the hands of a talented director, but this just felt like cheap writing to make her more sympathetic, but it's never really used.
Everything about the film is just very low energy. I rewatched the trailer and even that lacks any kind of pop, especially when compared to similar modern films like Drive or the Sadfie Brothers work.
This movie should have really been Plaza Uncut Gems moment, a actor normally known for comedy taking on a more serious role(I know she has done more serious work in the past)Yet it looks like a TV movie more than anything else.
I could be wrong but I think it’s the director first feature film, so maybe there’s some conservatism about just not wanting to mess it up. But still why go through all that effort to make something so bland and lifeless.
Disappointing.
Feck's sake, I have such shite taste. I liked Emily the Criminal. It wasn't amazing, but it hit its beats for me.
I've got Armageddon Time on pre-order, I think it drops on Apple first week of Feb? Looking forward to it.
I've got Armageddon Time on pre-order, I think it drops on Apple first week of Feb? Looking forward to it.
Nah man, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with Emily the Criminal and I can understand people enjoying it, it just didn't quite work for me and I feel in line with what Sweet Marvel Loving Square wrote, i.e. it could've been much more. I hadn't even made the parallel with Uncut Gems, but yeah that's a very good point (but then again, the Safdie brothers are quite unique). Overall, I feel Plaza got some plaudits for it, which was deserved, and it should help her build a career out of comedy, but it just feels like a bit of a waste (for me).
As for Armageddon Time, dunno if you've seen other James Gray films, but if you have and have enjoyed them, then this should be no different. The same themes run through the film, which is a bit more personal, so there should be no (bad) surprises.
I haven't, but new releases are thin so I pre-ordered it.
I didn't get on with Uncut Gems at all when I tried to watch it on Netflix, but still bought the Criterion disc, so yeah... I will give it another go one day though.
The most complimentary thing I can say about Emily the Criminal is that it was kinda like a lesser episode of Better Call Saul only without the stellar cinematography and fewer montages…. Which is to say pretty good, but a bit lightweight for a film, and more like an episode of a good TV show that also isn’t really anyone’s favourite (so, bit like @Sweet Square alluded too) ..: I didn’t actively dislike it but I’ve also kinda forgotten it.
The bones of a very good film was there, shame it was not done.
Tbh I wouldn’t disagree with you, it’s not a bad
film but just a missed opportunity and a bit bland.The story of a higher educated but downwardly mobile millennial woman having to enter the low crime world is a interesting idea.
The interview scene with Gina Gershon should have been a really intense moment and the breaking point for Plaza character(A women in her 30’s getting told she is spoiled because she wont work for free). But what we get is a perfectly ok scene which is played as a awkward and frustrating interaction, with a mild bit of anger at the end. There’s no score, only the ambient noise of cars going pass outside and it takes place in brightly lit ugly office(Or the car stealing scene which last about two minutes and uses a rip off attempt of Chromatics - Tick Of The Clock).
Compared to say Uncut Gems which by using : moog synth, some choir vocals and referencing the film Akria. Essentially turns a 50 year old man getting high off building up paddy power accumulators into a religious sermon.
Or the complete opposite end, Sean Baker & Shih-Ching Tsou made a film about Chinese illegal immigrant labour in the United State, with a film budget of around $3,000. And while it’s the not the greatest piece of art ever made, its at least attempting to do something interesting(And at times visual impressive)
Again I shouldn’t slag off Emily The Criminal too much, as it was ok.
True. They have really fine tuned a certain type of anxiety(Although I sort of see them as the non racist version of Abel Ferrara).
Tbh I haven’t see Better Call Saul but it did remind me of a poor Breaking Bad episode. Near the end, the film turns into “I’m the one who knocks now” but for girl bosses. Which was also very meh.
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Tuesday
Short 10 minute film by director Charlotte Wells made 7 years before Aftersun. Own it’s terms it’s nice solid work and Wells is great at capturing the little details of real life. Now if you’ve watched Aftersun before this then yeah it’s heartbreakingly sad and beautiful.
Short 10 minute film by director Charlotte Wells made 7 years before Aftersun. Own it’s terms it’s nice solid work and Wells is great at capturing the little details of real life. Now if you’ve watched Aftersun before this then yeah it’s heartbreakingly sad and beautiful.
Skinamarink
Did you curse me?
Its a hard film to review. Its not enjoyable or watchable or good by any traditional measure. I mean i dont think the camera is pointing at the action or the subject once in the entire movie and its quite boring unless you like staring at the ceiling for an hour and a half. But its absolutely bloody terrifying, creepy and disturbing.
If hollywood got their hands on this it would be a prop in a movie starring Sarah Michelle Gellar where she finds a cursed video and has to get some idiot on redcafe to watch it to avoid being killed in 5 days.
10/0
If i die under mysterious circumstances then its Cheimoons fault and i want to be avenged please. Can someone else watch this?
So I'm played by Sarah Michelle Geller in this story? Should I be honoured?
Anyway, thanks for checking it out, that sounds bizarre and even more reason for me to avoid it!
The Eva Green court case about the collapse of A Capital is mildly entertaining, not least her 'shitty peasants from Hampshire' quotes etc...
https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/ne...led-peasants-remark-court-evidence-film-crew/
https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/ne...led-peasants-remark-court-evidence-film-crew/
Till
Decent movie. Felt bad laughing in the 2 emotional scenes in the movie. She kinda overdid it in the acting part but overall she was good. 6/10
Decent movie. Felt bad laughing in the 2 emotional scenes in the movie. She kinda overdid it in the acting part but overall she was good. 6/10
Black Panther 2
Another weak Marvel movie. Its a bit better than recent output but i think i'm going to give it a lower score regardless. I'm just tired of seeing the same weak, low quality storytelling. Are they ever going to start turning the tanker or can i forget about them addressing the criticisms of Black Widow etc for another year or three?
Chadwick Bosemans death lends real weight to some scenes and Angela Basset is excellent so its not entirely devoid of anything of value. Its just lost with them introducing 5 new characters no one cares about and dragging it out into a near 3 hour film. Cut out Iron Man 2, cut out the wakanda spy / royal guards who's name i can't be bothered to learn. Cut out Martin Freeman who's redundant and you might be able to scrape together a decent 90 minute summer family action movie. At 2 hrs 40 this is a waste of your time
3/10
Another weak Marvel movie. Its a bit better than recent output but i think i'm going to give it a lower score regardless. I'm just tired of seeing the same weak, low quality storytelling. Are they ever going to start turning the tanker or can i forget about them addressing the criticisms of Black Widow etc for another year or three?
Chadwick Bosemans death lends real weight to some scenes and Angela Basset is excellent so its not entirely devoid of anything of value. Its just lost with them introducing 5 new characters no one cares about and dragging it out into a near 3 hour film. Cut out Iron Man 2, cut out the wakanda spy / royal guards who's name i can't be bothered to learn. Cut out Martin Freeman who's redundant and you might be able to scrape together a decent 90 minute summer family action movie. At 2 hrs 40 this is a waste of your time
3/10