Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

pauldyson1uk said:
Don't feck in the Woods.

Yes this is real.
A group of friends are going on a camping trip to celebrate graduating college. But once they enter the woods, the proverbial shit starts to hit the fan.

I lasted 20 mins, that was all I could stand.

:nono::nono::nono: just dont bother.
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Freakin' rash!
 
Wolves At The Door
Based on the Charles Manson family murders, a group of friends stay at a house when intruders break in and torture them. This was a decent film for the most part. Quite creepy and images of the intruders walking round the house was scary as shit but the final act just ran into genre clichés and ended with a whimper 6/10
 
The Fog (2005)

I have seen this before but a while ago, I love the original, for me it is one of the classic horror films, but this was just dreadful.
Not even close to the original.
Selma Blair has Stevie Wayne was poor compared to Adrienne Barbeau.

3/10
 
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

So I finally got round to watching this today (watching Sleepless and Fast 8 tomorrow). Some of the visuals were great and you gotta love Drax's character with that exaggerated and infectious laugh of his....and of course Baby Groot. The retro music was getting a bit tiresome after the second or third song to be honest, though the opening sequence was great. Yeah it might have worked really well in the first movie but it doesn't mean you have to overplay it to death. Lot more tongue in cheek humour as well. Wasn't really sure where they going with the plot at times and imo the whole Sovereigns thing was completely pointless. Would have liked this franchise to be a bit more badass but it was ok. It will be good to see how they interconnect with the Avengers in Infinity Wars as they seem so detached from the whole Marvel Universe thing. They haven't really had any major baddies to contend with. Still it was ok.

Oh, and is Howard the Duck getting his own movie or what??

I'm giving this a 5/10.
 
Sleepless (2017)

Intelligent, high octane thriller starring Jamie Foxx. Has all the usual ingredients that you would expect in a film of this type; on-the-edge cop with estranged family back story, internal police corruption, powerful crime and drug bosses etc.,etc. Most of the action takes place in the casino with Jamie Foxx's character up against some mobsters who swipe his son after some of their 'product' goes missing. Twists and turns ensue as he battles not only the mobsters but the crooked cops in the LAPD. Was a great movie with enough variation on the formula to keep you engaged. Plenty of action which never lets up throughout the whole movie. Because this type of movie has been done to death, you kinda know how it's going to play out but still worth the watch nonetheless. Foxx is pretty good in this.

I'm giving this a 8/10.
 
Fast and Furious 8

So more of the same but this time with a few twists. I found this outing a bit underwhelming to be honest and would probably place it below 5, 6 and 7. Fast Five is still my favourite closely followed by 6. The franchise just seems to be getting a bit like the Expendables where they have loads of characters that they have to give things to do just to give them some screen time. Statham's character's brother just appeared in the movie then kinda disappeared again. All the hi-tech stuff completely implausible and requiring a significant suspension of disbelief to get on board but yeah it was an ok movie. I'm surprised they've managed to squeeze 8 films out of the franchise to be honest so fair play to them. Rodriguez and Theron just get more hotter as they get older. A good way to end an afternoon of cinema viewing.

I'm giving this a 6/10.
 
So guys I'd like to finally watch Once Upon A Time In America (1984). Which version does the Caf recommend? The 139 min version or the longer one (229?).
 
VorZakone said:
So guys I'd like to finally watch Once Upon A Time In America (1984). Which version does the Caf recommend? The 139 min version or the longer one (229?).
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I've only seen the long one, can't imagine 139 mins would be enough to do it justice. Great movie.
 
2cents said:
I've only seen the long one, can't imagine 139 mins would be enough to do it justice. Great movie.
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I've looked it up and yeah most people recommend the 229min version. Looks like it'll be a long sit.
 
VorZakone said:
I've looked it up and yeah most people recommend the 229min version. Looks like it'll be a long sit.
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As long as you're prepared for it you should be fine, it seems to keep most people engaged.
 
Raw - :lol: superbly weird French-Belgian film about a young vegetarian who, when forced to eat meat, develops a taste for human flesh. The most fun I've had in the cinema this year. I haven't enjoyed gore this much since Green Room.
 
Archie Leach said:
Raw - :lol: superbly weird French-Belgian film about a young vegetarian who, when forced to eat meat, develops a taste for human flesh. The most fun I've had in the cinema this year. I haven't enjoyed gore this much since Green Room.
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I wanna see this one! Was it high quality, or just enjoyable because of the obscurity of it?
 
Archie Leach said:
Very well made and pretty damn smart. Halfway between Cronenberg and some grim Gallic filmmaker likes Jacques Audiard or Gaspar Noe. Rex Reed gave it 0 stars which is as glowing an endorsement as a film can receive.
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Now I have to check it out, cheers :lol:
 
esmufc07 said:
Just watched There Will be Blood and completely unsure what to make of it. Day Lewis superb as always, mind.
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I hated it and that was mostly for DDL's ludicrously OTT performance. He can be superb e.g. Name of The Father but he can't half ham it up e.g. Gandgs of NY and There Will Be Blood.
 
Archie Leach said:
Raw - :lol: superbly weird French-Belgian film about a young vegetarian who, when forced to eat meat, develops a taste for human flesh. The most fun I've had in the cinema this year. I haven't enjoyed gore this much since Green Room.
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Yeah it was a lot of fun and quite impressive for a directorial debut.
 
The director is quite lovely looking and all

LMnlZE4.jpg
 
Just finished watching Fences. Can see why the acting has been highly regarded, but I must admit, I found it fecking boring. Not sure if I'm the only one, but was a bit of a tough watch.
 
saivet said:
Just finished watching Fences. Can see why the acting has been highly regarded, but I must admit, I found it fecking boring. Not sure if I'm the only one, but was a bit of a tough watch.
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Fits the pretentious Oscar nominee profile perfectly.
 
RedPed said:
Fits the pretentious Oscar nominee profile perfectly.
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Filmed in the backyard for most of film, didn't feel there was enough involvement from other characters and most of all, not much happened. A lot of talking, interesting at times and I actually appreciate the deeper message at play, but gosh, not what I'd call entertaining.
 
saivet said:
Filmed in the backyard for most of film, didn't feel there was enough involvement from other characters and most of all, not much happened. A lot of talking, interesting at times and I actually appreciate the deeper message at play, but gosh, not what I'd call entertaining.
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It's a play, and I agree that it doesn't translate well to the screen.
 
saivet said:
Just finished watching Fences. Can see why the acting has been highly regarded, but I must admit, I found it fecking boring. Not sure if I'm the only one, but was a bit of a tough watch.
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You really have to be in the mood to watch it. For me it was a case of, day off work, having seen every single other movie in the cinema and had a few hours to burn in the afternoon.
Would have hated to have watched it at night.
 
Kaili Blues - A dreamy, freewheeling drift through rural China. The title of the film arrived about 40 minutes in and all of a sudden in the middle of the film there was this 41 minutes steadicam single take that was quite breathtaking. It was also a directorial debut, amazingly enough. Gan Bi will be a name to look out for in the future.
 
Jim Beam said:
Watched Miss Sloane.

Surprised how good it was. If you like House of Cards, watch this one.
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I'll have to watch it, I was hesitant but it looked quite good.
Archie Leach said:
Get Out - not as taken with this one as most. It was an enjoyable time but wasn't particularly funny or particularly scary. Also didn't know when or how to end.
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I enjoyed it, I thought it was really well directed, good tension crescendo, some very funny moments and just enough WTF to make it really good fun altogether. I was absolutely shattered arriving at the cinema and thought I'd fall asleep but it kept me hooked throughout.

Also saw Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 which I thought was pretty meh. Not bad, enjoyable overall, but a real step down from the previous one and a very weak storyline. Great soundtrack though, obviously.
 
The Void
A cop takes a patient to an understaffed hospital and starts experiencing strange occurrences, that seemed to be linked to a group of hooded figures that are patrolled outside the hospital. A completely insane Lovecraftian horror film that feels like the lovechild of The Thing and Baskin. Great use of practical effects and shot really stylistically for the most part. The narrative does lose focus a bit and there is a gap between the acting talents involved but overall I was hooked. The first two acts are brilliant but the final act doesn't quite fulfil the potential. What this film needed was a script doctor to refine the overall narrative but I must say, it's good to see a horror film in the vein of Fulci or Carpenter 8/10

@pauldyson1uk check this one out brother.
 
Dirty Schwein said:
The Void
A cop takes a patient to an understaffed hospital and starts experiencing strange occurrences, that seemed to be linked to a group of hooded figures that are patrolled outside the hospital. A completely insane Lovecraftian horror film that feels like the lovechild of The Thing and Baskin. Great use of practical effects and shot really stylistically for the most part. The narrative does lose focus a bit and there is a gap between the acting talents involved but overall I was hooked. The first two acts are brilliant but the final act doesn't quite fulfil the potential. What this film needed was a script doctor to refine the overall narrative but I must say, it's good to see a horror film in the vein of Fulci or Carpenter 8/10

@pauldyson1uk check this one out brother.
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I have sort of watched it, it was on a night shift and I was knackered,I will watch it again.
 
Arrival - 7/10

Would give it more if I hadn't read the book on which it was based. It's much more intimate and they changed some things in the end to make it more action kind of movie.
 
The Devil's Candy
A struggling painter and his family move into a house where there was a murder previously. The painter then starts hearing demonic voices and the murderer from the past enters their life and tries to kidnap their daughter. Technically, this film was excellent. The acting was awesome, loved the color palette, interesting use of cinematography, good sound design etc. but the film was only 72 minutes, and you can feel that there was a lot cut out because there is a sub plot that has absolutely no pay off, which is a shame as it was quite interesting. The film is quite harrowing and builds up tension quite well and has some nice ideas, which it doesn't quite follow through on unfortunately. Apparently the original cut was 90 minutes so not sure why it was shortened further... any way, I would recommend this as there is enough good in it to enjoy 6.5/10
 
Once Upon A Time In America (1984): 9/10

Wow, just wow. I watched it for the first time and it brought out so many emotions. Very powerful movie and fantastic cinematography. They don't make movies like this anymore...
 
American Gigolo - As vapid as Richard Gere's soul. Not nearly as coke-fueled as Cat People. Shame.

I Am Not Your Negro - I didn't really know much about James Baldwin on beforehand and I thought this was a nice, brief summarization of his thoughts on race and the US, but not really much more than that though. I liked that it wasn't totally formulaic, no talking heads and etc. Having a gruff Samuel L Jackson narrating his words was a strange, uninspired choice for me, since Baldwin spoke with a slight effeminate voice. It was overall kinda strange that it barely even touched on the subject of his sexuality.
 
Darling
A woman descends further and further into madness as she takes care of an apartment with a violent past. All black and white with minimal dialogue. The film has moments fo creepy atmosphere and some gruesome scenes but most of the scares are quick flash edits that feel jarring most of the times. Feels like an art house film from someone who doesn't understand art house. Wasnt great but not horrible either 5.5/10
 
I watched Get Out and thought it was brilliant. It smartly blended the subtle observational stuff with more broad comedy elements to create a creepy and hilarious satirical horror. Witty and intelligent in the use of it's wide genre vocab too - referential but reverential.

The complicated plot stuff towards the end was an unnecessary convolution, and as much as I love her, I thought the presence of Catherine Keener provided a degree of star power that jarred and detracted. The film was maybe to tightly contained for that type of Christopher Lee appearance.

Given the hype, I feared it might have been one of those twitter/Grauniad approved bits of feeble, pseudo-subversive bullshit (Lemonade, Crash, Amy Schumer stuff) but no, it's a smartly scripted film with solid filmmaking chops on show. Stick it up there on the board with Prevenge.
 
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