Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

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Rare Beasts (2019 / 2021).
Starring, written and directed by Billie Piper.
Mandy, a delicious worker at an ad agency, starts a relationship with Pete (who also works at the ad agency) and is complete fecking tool. Mandy is a piece of work as well. Her parents fecked her up somehow but they don't seem all that bad. Her mother is dying of cancer and her father (David Thewlis) comes back to mend the fences (?).

Mandy and Pete have a wretched time together but stumbled towards the alter... only for it to turn out to be an "anti-rom com". They are a quirky, weird, unpleasant, difficult couple to watch, and her son with autism rages is also hard to watch. Not sure if Pete smiles even once. He's uptight, boring, and wounded all the time which makes him angry. Mandy is just trying to find out what she wants.

Some really hilarious bits of dialogue. There's one part where Pete is praying and he says something about "God testing me, testing me, and why does my cock look so small in her giant hands..." and so on, a very typical prayer that everyone has said once or twice. Cleverly written film. Pete is grating and unpleasant but he's written that way. Stopped the film with 30 minutes to go, finished it 2nd night. That says a lot about the endurance required, and it's only 97 minute film.

Enjoyed the ending. Gets meta and surreal, but emotionally satisfying. Piper as star, writer, and director shows some amazing chops. She's great. Wouldn't watch again though. Score is a bit low because it starts becoming a series of unpleasant but funny vignettes, and you never see what Mandy likes about Pete other than he's there and breathing. It definitely doesn't tout the magic of love, more female empowerment than a black comedy rom com.


7.0/10
 
Wing Attack Plan R said:
A Ghost Story (2013). Casey Affleck, Wayne Rooney.
We watched this the other night. Not as emotional as was fearing, as some of you softies led me to believe it was going to be. Amazing example of small scale filmmaking, available light, long takes, sparse coverage. More of a poem than a movie. Also, ghosts can get fecked. Even in a sheet with cartoon eyes they are scary. feck them.
8/10
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You hard bugger. It killed me
 
jungledrums said:
:) Similar themes perhaps but Truly, Sadly, Deeply seems somewhat comedic? Maybe a lighter take on grief and loss.
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TMD was comedic but also very black humor at times and the grief bits were far from humorous.

I'll watch Ghost Story tonight and report back :)
 
La Llorona
Guatemalan movie about an army general who was ruled to have lead a genocide being haunted by the cries of a supernatural woman. Very on the nose but at least it tried something unique by blending horror and politics. Far more ambitious than the American version of this myth. The issue is that's it's a real slow burn driving up mystery but if you know the story of La Llorona (as I did), you know exactly where it's going, which makes the film feel boring. It'll be better for people that know nothing of the myth 5.5/10
 
Juror Number 2

Decent cast for this latest Clint Eastwood movie but the premise is inherently dumb so requires quite a suspension of disbelief to go with it. Basically a guy is accused of murdering his girlfriend but one of the jurors may or may not have killed her in a hit and run and as such has to wrestle with his conscience and influence the jury. It's no 12 Angry Men and there's a scene right near the end with Toni Colette's prosecuting attorney that's unintentionally hilarious.
 
Red One
Critics were very harsh, it's nothing special but it's exactly what you'd expect from an Christmas movie with some spectacular FX and action thrown in. 7/10
 
Wibble said:
Ghost Story I enjoyed it but the glacial pacing and the sheet silliness didn't help. Not a patch on TMD. 6/10
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Settled.

It was interesting in how it tiptoed up to the chasm of grief but the ghost sheet thing undercut the depth of loss and grief. I wondered if Affleck was really under that sheet the whole time. He is a very good actor with a very expressive/sad face, and I think I kept waiting to see his face behind the sheet, like how they show Robert Downey Jr.'s face when he's Iron Man.

Check out the A Ghost Story merch: https://www.brianewing.com/blog/2021/7/8/ghost-boner-toy-now-available
 
Wing Attack Plan R said:
iu

Rare Beasts (2019 / 2021).
Starring, written and directed by Billie Piper.
Mandy, a delicious worker at an ad agency, starts a relationship with Pete (who also works at the ad agency) and is complete fecking tool. Mandy is a piece of work as well. Her parents fecked her up somehow but they don't seem all that bad. Her mother is dying of cancer and her father (David Thewlis) comes back to mend the fences (?).

Mandy and Pete have a wretched time together but stumbled towards the alter... only for it to turn out to be an "anti-rom com". They are a quirky, weird, unpleasant, difficult couple to watch, and her son with autism rages is also hard to watch. Not sure if Pete smiles even once. He's uptight, boring, and wounded all the time which makes him angry. Mandy is just trying to find out what she wants.

Some really hilarious bits of dialogue. There's one part where Pete is praying and he says something about "God testing me, testing me, and why does my cock look so small in her giant hands..." and so on, a very typical prayer that everyone has said once or twice. Cleverly written film. Pete is grating and unpleasant but he's written that way. Stopped the film with 30 minutes to go, finished it 2nd night. That says a lot about the endurance required, and it's only 97 minute film.

Enjoyed the ending. Gets meta and surreal, but emotionally satisfying. Piper as star, writer, and director shows some amazing chops. She's great. Wouldn't watch again though. Score is a bit low because it starts becoming a series of unpleasant but funny vignettes, and you never see what Mandy likes about Pete other than he's there and breathing. It definitely doesn't tout the magic of love, more female empowerment than a black comedy rom com.


7.0/10
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Is it about her relationship with Laurence Fox?
 
Did a double feature yesterday and saw Moana 2 and Heretic.

I had planned to see Moana before, but realized when I sat down to watch it that I forgot to do that. Anyway, it was about what I could expect from such a film. Some funny scenes, one or two good songs and a decent story. Nothing to write home about, but at least The Rock voiced his character with aplomb. 5/10

Heretic, however did impress me quite a bit. I can see why many thinks it fell apart towards the end, but it worked for me. For me it was consitently engrossing, sometimes unnerving and very well acted. Hugh Grant the obvious standout and he is incredibly entertaining to watch. He's really emerged as an actor with several great performances lately. East and Thatcher were great as well. Throughout the film though I kept thinking that Anya Taylor-Joy was suprisingly great in the film, but turned out it was Sophie Thatcher. 8/10
 
Sweet Square said:
To Live and Die in L.A.

Opens with a Ronald Regan speech then followed by Robby Müller blood red cinematography of LA at sunrise. All scored with Wang Chung drum machine pulsing in the background.

image-w1280.jpg


Friedkin shows the every growing power of neoliberal money printers along with incompetent cops full of paranoia and bizarre artistic criminals.

Clearly Friedkin saw the film Paris, Texas and replaced the disconnect relationships with the most vulgar money relations. No one is likeable or trying to achieve anything positive in society. It’s pure revenge, making money and a system which produces the same violence over and over again.

Brilliant film.

45-1235.jpg

9/10
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Would love to watch it again. I think Friedkin is my personal fav as a director with Lynch and Antonioni
. From Cruising to French Connection to Sorcerer (and this). All amazing and quite unique in style, score, cast.. great stories.
 
CassiusClaymore said:
Juror Number 2

Decent cast for this latest Clint Eastwood movie but the premise is inherently dumb so requires quite a suspension of disbelief to go with it. Basically a guy is accused of murdering his girlfriend but one of the jurors may or may not have killed her in a hit and run and as such has to wrestle with his conscience and influence the jury. It's no 12 Angry Men and there's a scene right near the end with Toni Colette's prosecuting attorney that's unintentionally hilarious.
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Which scene?

It really was more than a bit silly but also pretty fun. If you don’t take it seriously I think it’s a half decent watch, I guess the problem is that it takes itself way too seriously for such a daft film
 
Massive Spanner said:
Which scene?

It really was more than a bit silly but also pretty fun. If you don’t take it seriously I think it’s a half decent watch, I guess the problem is that it takes itself way too seriously for such a daft film
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Where she basically just
googles the guys wife and it instantly comes up with a picture of her and him together like they're some famous couple or something.
feck off.
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Trap (2024). Not M night Shamylan's best but I still enjoyed it. Josh Garnett is excellent as both a caring Dad and sociopathic serial killer. Movie should have never left the concert setting it kind of lost steam in the last act 5/10
 
Wing Attack Plan R said:
Settled.

It was interesting in how it tiptoed up to the chasm of grief but the ghost sheet thing undercut the depth of loss and grief. I wondered if Affleck was really under that sheet the whole time. He is a very good actor with a very expressive/sad face, and I think I kept waiting to see his face behind the sheet, like how they show Robert Downey Jr.'s face when he's Iron Man.

Check out the A Ghost Story merch: https://www.brianewing.com/blog/2021/7/8/ghost-boner-toy-now-available
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Also her grief was mainly taking forever to eat a pie before inevitably barfing. It felt like a student Freshman reel at that point.
 
MiceOnMeth said:
Trap (2024). Not M night Shamylan's best but I still enjoyed it. Josh Garnett is excellent as both a caring Dad and sociopathic serial killer. Movie should have never left the concert setting it kind of lost steam in the last act 5/10
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Can you blame them? If you had to choose between listening to more songs by M Night’s daughter, or risk getting murdered by a serial killer… I’d take my chances with the serial killer.
 
weetee said:
Would love to watch it again. I think Friedkin is my personal fav as a director with Lynch and Antonioni
. From Cruising to French Connection to Sorcerer (and this). All amazing and quite unique in style, score, cast.. great stories.
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Imo Friedkin is the anti Spielberg. Spielberg will almost always leaves the audience on a high note that world is in some form good. Which is a talent but a evil one.

Where as Friedkin tells the audience the world is violent, full of conflict and strange in ways we can’t understand.
 
CoopersDream said:
Heretic, however did impress me quite a bit. I can see why many thinks it fell apart towards the end, but it worked for me. For me it was consitently engrossing, sometimes unnerving and very well acted. Hugh Grant the obvious standout and he is incredibly entertaining to watch. He's really emerged as an actor with several great performances lately. East and Thatcher were great as well. Throughout the film though I kept thinking that Anya Taylor-Joy was suprisingly great in the film, but turned out it was Sophie Thatcher. 8/10
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The acting and otherwise technically Heretic was quite good but I thought the story was just way too silly.
 
Sweet Square said:
Imo Friedkin is the anti Spielberg. Spielberg will almost always leaves the audience on a high note that world is in some form good. Which is a talent but a evil one.

Where as Friedkin tells the audience the world is violent, full of conflict and strange in ways we can’t understand.
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Well, if you put it that way..one is looking at the light at the end of the tunnel whilst the other one looks back at the headlights of the train.

To be honest, haven‘t watched a Spielberg movie in decades and don‘t think I‘ll ever see one in my life again. Maybe Jurassic Park because kids (forgot he made the Indy ones..some of them for nostalgia too I guess).
 
weetee said:
Well, if you put it that way..one is looking at the light at the end of the tunnel whilst the other one looks back at the headlights of the train.
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That’s a great way to put it.

weetee said:
To be honest, haven‘t watched a Spielberg movie in decades and don‘t think I‘ll ever see one in my life again. Maybe Jurassic Park because kids (forgot he made the Indy ones..some of them for nostalgia too I guess).
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I’m not sure why but I do tend to watch Catch Me If You Can almost every Christmas. I haven’t seen any of his newer works.

He is one of the few directors who can pretty much appeal to everyone which is something I sort of hate!
 
weetee said:
Well, if you put it that way..one is looking at the light at the end of the tunnel whilst the other one looks back at the headlights of the train.

To be honest, haven‘t watched a Spielberg movie in decades and don‘t think I‘ll ever see one in my life again. Maybe Jurassic Park because kids (forgot he made the Indy ones..some of them for nostalgia too I guess).
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You'll watch jaws again. Too many iconic movies to skip him.
 
Sweet Square said:
Imo Friedkin is the anti Spielberg. Spielberg will almost always leaves the audience on a high note that world is in some form good. Which is a talent but a evil one.

Where as Friedkin tells the audience the world is violent, full of conflict and strange in ways we can’t understand.
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I like the “anti-Spielberg” designation, but I’d go further and say that Spielberg is a pap merchant, a trafficker in cheap sentimentality with the velvet touch of a paedo.
weetee said:
Well, if you put it that way..one is looking at the light at the end of the tunnel whilst the other one looks back at the headlights of the train.

To be honest, haven‘t watched a Spielberg movie in decades and don‘t think I‘ll ever see one in my life again. Maybe Jurassic Park because kids (forgot he made the Indy ones..some of them for nostalgia too I guess).
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I will never watch another Spielberg movie. I can’t wait for the era of Spielberg to be over. He’s somehow seen as a gold standard but his movies are the equivalent of a Dave Matthews album. And people will say “how do you know if you don’t see all his movies “. A Catch-22 indeed.
 
Wing Attack Plan R said:
I’d go further and say that Spielberg is a pap merchant, a trafficker in cheap sentimentality with the velvet touch of a paedo.
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:lol:

Christ!

Mr Ebert you’ve had too much to drink!

Wing Attack Plan R said:
I will never watch another Spielberg movie. I can’t wait for the era of Spielberg to be over. He’s somehow seen as a gold standard but his movies are the equivalent of a Dave Matthews album. And people will say “how do you know if you don’t see all his movies “. A Catch-22 indeed.
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Yep Spielberg at his best captures a sort of pure ideology.

The genius of a film like Jaws is how both a right wing reactionary and Fidel Castro can both love the film. The reactionary because it’s a local community fighting(Under the leadership of strong man figure)against a evil outsider. Where as for Castro the shark is American imperialism coming to Cuba.
 
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weetee said:
Would love to watch it again. I think Friedkin is my personal fav as a director with Lynch and Antonioni
. From Cruising to French Connection to Sorcerer (and this). All amazing and quite unique in style, score, cast.. great stories.
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Friedkin, Lynch, Antonioni — you got good taste, sir!
 
Sweet Square said:
:lol:

Christ!

Mr Ebert you’ve had too much to drink!


Yep Spielberg at his best captures a sort of pure ideology.

The genius of a film like Jaws is how both a right wing reactionary and Fidel Castro can both love the film. The reactionary because it’s a local community fighting(Under the leadership of strong man figure)against an evil outsider. Where as for Castro the shark is American imperialism coming to Cuba.
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I think with Jaws (a great film) he benefited from several lucky accidents. Among them that Coppola and Lucas and DePalma were fecking around with the mechanical shark and broke it, so that necessitated only using it in quick glimpses. Another was a charismatic actor (Robert Shaw) in the throes of alcoholism being allowed to terrorize another cast member (Dreyfus) on a daily basis. That film’s great despite Spielberg not because of him.

One only needs to look at A.I. to see what Spielberg thinks makes a movie compelling. Kubrick would have had an aneurysm if he’d seen what Spielberg did to that script.
 
Wing Attack Plan R said:
I think with Jaws (a great film) he benefited from several lucky accidents. Among them that Coppola and Lucas and DePalma were fecking around with the mechanical shark and broke it, so that necessitated only using it in quick glimpses. Another was a charismatic actor (Robert Shaw) in the throes of alcoholism being allowed to terrorize another cast member (Dreyfus) on a daily basis. That film’s great despite Spielberg not because of him.

One only needs to look at A.I. to see what Spielberg thinks makes a movie compelling. Kubrick would have had an aneurysm if he’d seen what Spielberg did to that script.
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A.I. was thrust upon Spielberg just like The Hobbit was thrust upon Peter Jackson. Where do you stand on Schindler's List, wingy?
 
Wing Attack Plan R said:
I think with Jaws (a great film) he benefited from several lucky accidents. Among them that Coppola and Lucas and DePalma were fecking around with the mechanical shark and broke it, so that necessitated only using it in quick glimpses. Another was a charismatic actor (Robert Shaw) in the throes of alcoholism being allowed to terrorize another cast member (Dreyfus) on a daily basis. That film’s great despite Spielberg not because of him.

One only needs to look at A.I. to see what Spielberg thinks makes a movie compelling. Kubrick would have had an aneurysm if he’d seen what Spielberg did to that script.
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AI wasn't too bad. At least not as terrible as Kubrick would have made it.

Two directors at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum. Spielberg sometimes overshoots into sentimentality, with Kubrick the robot/alien who doesn't even understand the concept of emotion.
 
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Salt Bailly said:
A.I. was thrust upon Spielberg just like The Hobbit was thrust upon Peter Jackson. Where do you stand on Schindler's List, wingy?
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Mostly very good, with some riveting performances by Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley. Liam Neeson did okay for a mannequin carved out of a block of wood. I think this film was really elevated by Fiennes' icy charisma. A few scenes were brilliant, like when Fiennes is seeing his mistress/sex slave in a basement and he can't reconcile his love/lust for her and his Nazi beliefs. The film is sentimental though, and a retrospective version should cut out the real life interviews (a technique borrowed from Warren Beatty's Reds) and the colorization of the little girl's red coat. SS was trying in his way to really tie a bow on the impact of Schindler's actions (showing the real Schindlerjuden) but it detracted from the film.

Similar mechanism in The Zone Of Interest when the camera travels down a hall and suddenly it's a modern day holocaust museum. Somehow this didn't feel heavy handed whereas SS's did.

I'm not sure any film adaption has really shown the banality of evil in a way that makes sense of how the German people descended/dove into such barbarity. In films they are basically demons in snappy uniforms, but I think with the rise of the MAGA Nation, we are getting a look into how movements like this really are born. I used to think no more Holocaust movies were needed because we would never be going down that path again, and then America went and re-elected Trump, so here we are.
 
Wibble said:
AI wasn't too bad. At least not as terrible as Kubrick would have made it.

Two directors at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum. Spielberg always sometimes overshoots into sentimentality, with Kubrick the robot/alien who doesn't even understand the concept of emotion.
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This sounds very accurate to me.

I just don't like his work. He's a great guy and given a shit-ton of money to children's hospitals in L.A. and so forth, his movies are just not made for me.
 
Get Santa. A British Christmas comedy about a guy and his son who have to break Santa out of prison and get his sled and reindeer back, while the police are after the guy because he's breaking his parole conditions. That sound a bit messy, but it works well in the film and there are a lot of really funny moments. Nothing deep or particularly noteworthy, but it's a fun ride. 7/10
 
Wing Attack Plan R said:
Mostly very good, with some riveting performances by Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley. Liam Neeson did okay for a mannequin carved out of a block of wood. I think this film was really elevated by Fiennes' icy charisma. A few scenes were brilliant, like when Fiennes is seeing his mistress/sex slave in a basement and he can't reconcile his love/lust for her and his Nazi beliefs. The film is sentimental though, and a retrospective version should cut out the real life interviews (a technique borrowed from Warren Beatty's Reds) and the colorization of the little girl's red coat. SS was trying in his way to really tie a bow on the impact of Schindler's actions (showing the real Schindlerjuden) but it detracted from the film.

Similar mechanism in The Zone Of Interest when the camera travels down a hall and suddenly it's a modern day holocaust museum. Somehow this didn't feel heavy handed whereas SS's did.

I'm not sure any film adaption has really shown the banality of evil in a way that makes sense of how the German people descended/dove into such barbarity. In films they are basically demons in snappy uniforms, but I think with the rise of the MAGA Nation, we are getting a look into how movements like this really are born. I used to think no more Holocaust movies were needed because we would never be going down that path again, and then America went and re-elected Trump, so here we are.
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Agree with all of your posts on this topic. no white text too. Was thinking about Kubrick when mentioning Lynch, Antonioni and Friedkin (and he's right up there for me) but strangely I find myself mostly watching either Dr. Strangelove or Shining (and possibly 2001 every 5-8 years).

I also immediately thought about the red coat which in retrospect makes it look just extremely superficial (something that I connect with basically everything Spielberg) while on the contrary showing it as just one of thousands of rugged jackets lying lifelessly around would have been the correct call. Everything is totally on the nose and painted with the broadest brush available hence his popularity. I'm talking purely from an artistic point of view not about him as a person.
 
Roosney said:
The acting and otherwise technically Heretic was quite good but I thought the story was just way too silly.
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It's a bit silly but it's also a horror film which and it's sort of standard for them. At least within the story I didn't find the characters stupid or anything like that which is a much bigger issuer for me.
 
CoopersDream said:
It's a bit silly but it's also a horror film which and it's sort of standard for them. At least within the story I didn't find the characters stupid or anything like that which is a much bigger issuer for me.
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That is annoying as I was going to watch it until I knew that. Horror bores the crap out of me.
 
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