Cria Cuervos. A heartbreaking film that deals with loss, grief and aloneness. The film shares a number of similarities with Bergman's Cries And Whispers, most pointedly the trauma of death and the trauma of life. Here these themes are filtered through the eyes of an 8 year old girl and her two sisters, growing up with the recent death of their parents. There are some harrowing scenes that explore almost unbereable truths about death and abandonment. It's not so much a film about the loss of childhood innocence but rather a rejection of the notion entirely. The film effortlessly plays with timelines, dreams, illusion, memory and fantasy to enhance the expression of it's themes, whilst never feeling like style-driven gimmickry. Some Franco-Spain allegory/allusion too if you want them but it was the agonising mother and daughter human condition stuff that made an impact on me.
Film The Redcafe Movie review thread
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Grauniads of the Galaxy 2. Charmless pandering bullshit, long and boring too. We're still doing that Hasselhoff thing then I guess. Marvel couldn't fluke two in a row. Take it Iron Man it's all yours.
Worst Howard the Duck film ever.
Worst Howard the Duck film ever.
But if is automatically on 6.5 because the actresses make out, the rest is just a 1?
That's just a thing I have for Theron and Boutella. But it was a solid 7-7.5 anyway, regardless.
About Time: Watched it based on good reviews on Reddit. Not perfect but quite well made. The moment the movie ended, I was calling up my parents and grandparents. May have shed a few tears too. 8/10
Any views on Spoorloos (The Vanishing)?
Spoorloos is a one of the great chillers, revealing it's darkness with scalpel precision. There's a scene where one of the characters picks up his daughter from school and it's one of the creepiest things.
It's very much a film for Genius Movie Watcher's like myself though, so some puny minds might not be able to handle it.
It's very much a film for Genius Movie Watcher's like myself though, so some puny minds might not be able to handle it.
That's me f*cked then. Back to the Will & Grace vids.
Have you read The Golden Egg on which it was based? Have always meant to check it out. There was also a remake with Jeff Bridges that I never saw.
Spoorloos is probably the scariest films I've ever seen. The remake is absolutely dogshit though.
I haven't read it, mate. The remake is dreadful, apparently.
PS Thanks, both.
PS Thanks, both.
Annabelle Creation
So been looking forward to this. Haven't seen a horror at the cinema in ages and is directed by David Sandberg, who made Lights Out, which I enjoyed. This was ok but it had waaay too many jump scares, especially in the first half of the film. It built up characters well, which is refreshing but laboured on some plot points, and was too long for what was a simple story to tell. There were some great scare scenes however and it tied in nicely with "Wan-iverse" they're trying to create 6.5/10
Abattoir
A reporter and cop investigate a chain of murders, where the room the murders happen in vanish from existence. I really liked the concept, the story and motives of the antagonist were very original, however, it is paced horribly, not very scary and too too much CGI in the final act. Could have been great in the hands of a different director 4/10
The Thing
The Kurt Russell version. One of my favourite horror/sci-fi films. Great tension, plot and makes you feel paranoid, even when you know what's going to happen. Love the practical effects 8/10
Reasonable Doubt
A lawyer runs over a man and didn't own up. Sam L Jackson is then accused of murder. Cat and mouse game begins. Been trying to watch this for three nights straight but I keep falling asleep. Feels more like a feature length episode of law and order, rather than a film 3/10
So been looking forward to this. Haven't seen a horror at the cinema in ages and is directed by David Sandberg, who made Lights Out, which I enjoyed. This was ok but it had waaay too many jump scares, especially in the first half of the film. It built up characters well, which is refreshing but laboured on some plot points, and was too long for what was a simple story to tell. There were some great scare scenes however and it tied in nicely with "Wan-iverse" they're trying to create 6.5/10
Abattoir
A reporter and cop investigate a chain of murders, where the room the murders happen in vanish from existence. I really liked the concept, the story and motives of the antagonist were very original, however, it is paced horribly, not very scary and too too much CGI in the final act. Could have been great in the hands of a different director 4/10
The Thing
The Kurt Russell version. One of my favourite horror/sci-fi films. Great tension, plot and makes you feel paranoid, even when you know what's going to happen. Love the practical effects 8/10
Reasonable Doubt
A lawyer runs over a man and didn't own up. Sam L Jackson is then accused of murder. Cat and mouse game begins. Been trying to watch this for three nights straight but I keep falling asleep. Feels more like a feature length episode of law and order, rather than a film 3/10
The Thing is great, peak Carpenter. I'd forgotten about the remake. Not seen it, is it an abomination?
Baby Driver
All round excellent movie. Original idea to base it around music too, I've never seen anything like it (feel free to correct me!). Excellent cast, I fancy Lily James so much now. Great action scenes, great emotional link, great comedic value. Loved the ending too!
One of the best films I've seen in a while.
9/10
All round excellent movie. Original idea to base it around music too, I've never seen anything like it (feel free to correct me!). Excellent cast, I fancy Lily James so much now. Great action scenes, great emotional link, great comedic value. Loved the ending too!
One of the best films I've seen in a while.
9/10
It's not awful I must say. But nothing special either.
So kind of pointless, ultimately? Dawn of the dead is one of the very few decent horror remakes I can think of.
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It isn't a remake of The Thing, it is a prequel based on the what happened to the Norwegian scientist team that preceeded the guys from the original on the base.
It is the scientist team featured in one of the first scenes of the original, the mad guy Kurt Russel and co meets, the last survivor that tries to warn them in gibberish (Norwegian).
It is the scientist team featured in one of the first scenes of the original, the mad guy Kurt Russel and co meets, the last survivor that tries to warn them in gibberish (Norwegian).
Well I hope the remake is good, because that premise is decent enough for amateur writers to to craft something decent, let alone professional ones.
Ah, right. That feels slightly less blasphemous
It's more pointless than blasphemous really. It spends the whole length of the film trying to explain and tie up the loose ends of the strange or creepy parts of Carpenter's film that it never really feels like it's own film.
And if you see it before Carpenters film it will dilute the 'WTF factor' from those scenes. So yeah pointless, and another of the last decades or so's obsession with crappy 'origins' films that everybody hates. I blame fecking Superhero Cinema!
I might watch purely cos I like the first one so much, particularly the head that grows legs and scurries off.
You gotta be fecking kidding?!
Nah seriously you won't hate it, some people i know who are fans of the first quite like it. I just find it unnecessary and it takes away some of the air of mystery from the first film. After the first minute or so the Norwegians conveniently start talking English and then they go about explaining the split-face man etc.
Tbf, I've got loads of films that I recorded years ago and haven't gotten round to watching yet, so I'm in no rush!
30mins into Kubo and the Two Strings. Does it get any better? Yeah, it's a nice visual, but the story's not doing anything for me. Back to anime I go.
Been meaning to watch this one for ages but haven't been able to get hold of proper subtitles.
Hangman
Returning from vacation, the Miller family find their home has been broken into. After cleaning up the mess they continue with their lives, shaking off the feeling of being violated. But little do they know the nightmare has just begun.
I had high hope for this, the story sounded good, but it was just shite, the intruder took so many stupid risks, there was a few good creepy bits in but not enough to make the film any good.
The acting was very average, nothing to get excited about.
This is definitely a missed opportunity to make a really good film.
3/10
Returning from vacation, the Miller family find their home has been broken into. After cleaning up the mess they continue with their lives, shaking off the feeling of being violated. But little do they know the nightmare has just begun.
I had high hope for this, the story sounded good, but it was just shite, the intruder took so many stupid risks, there was a few good creepy bits in but not enough to make the film any good.
The acting was very average, nothing to get excited about.
This is definitely a missed opportunity to make a really good film.
3/10
Tokyo Story
I don't know what to say about Tokyo Story... it left me speachless, really. So subtle, so moving. I absolutely love Ozu's minimalist approach to filming. How the characters enter and exit the screen, how the shots follow each other up and how he uses the low stationary camera (the camera almost never moves) to create a true piece of art.
Ozu's Tokyo Story is not a soulless exercise in technique, but a subtly well-crafted masterpiece.
I don't know what to say about Tokyo Story... it left me speachless, really. So subtle, so moving. I absolutely love Ozu's minimalist approach to filming. How the characters enter and exit the screen, how the shots follow each other up and how he uses the low stationary camera (the camera almost never moves) to create a true piece of art.
Ozu's Tokyo Story is not a soulless exercise in technique, but a subtly well-crafted masterpiece.
Loveless - another scathing critique of Russian society from Andrey Zvyagintsev, this one concerning a revolting couple in the nasty death throes of a divorce, and their neglected child who disappears. Beautiful, cruel, depressing, brilliantly put together. Is fairly upfront with the political commentary, to the extent some might find it trite, but it's all so relentlessly on point I could forgive that. Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly tried something similar and failed.
Gemini - classic Hollywood noir, brilliant way to kill 90 minutes. Evaporated from the brain minutes after leaving the cinema.
Gemini - classic Hollywood noir, brilliant way to kill 90 minutes. Evaporated from the brain minutes after leaving the cinema.
Kuso(First feature film directed by Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus.)
Its weird.
8/10
Its weird.
8/10
I watched this and really enjoyed it. I found it a real sweet mix of Shakespearean melodrama (not least in the killing) and Brontean gothic (not least in the fecking). Thrillingly visceral, bold and exciting cinema. I thought it brilliantly used ideas about race, gender and class to enhance the drama, exploring interesting character status ambiguities.
I personally found the violence and icy Haneke-like tone suitably macabre. The performances are great, particularly Pugh, Ackie, Jarvis, Grub. And a perfect length at less than 90 minutes too. Good stuff.
I also watched Oktaybr a film about revolution by Aleksandrov and Eisenstein. Say what you will about ruinous totalitarean regimes but they can't half craft some spectacular propoganda.
Thanks a lot! Will definitely check it out.
The most film buff thing I ever did was listening to Roger Ebert's audio commentary to Ozu's Floating Weeds.
I'm a big fan of Flying Lotus but I thought it was terrible. Bog standard Adult Swim content flavoured with lacklustre bumpers and Cool 3d World-esque interludes. Music was great though obviously.
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The Revenant - This film is just torture from start to end. Torture for the people making it, torture for the actors involved and torture for the audience trying to figure out why they made this film in the first place. If only they had a decent storyline to follow through..it might have been worth it.
Ah I hardly watch any Adult Swim or David Firth stuff so I wonder if that had a impact.
I do have a few criticisms, while I did like that they chucked a loads of ideas in, I wished it had been more put together, something in the vein of Pulp Fiction or Boogie Nights, where the characters are in someway connect together or connect to the setting. The film is set around a earthquake in LA but never seems clear that all the character have been affected by it, at least two of the character only mention it in passing and one whole story arch never mentions it at all. Also (And maybe they couldn't do this for budget reasons)I would have loved to see more of LA, we get a glimpse of it when the Asian lady escapes and sees the flying turkeys but apart from that most of the film seems spent indoors.
Still I ''enjoyed'' my time with the film, as you said the soundtrack is great(Flying Lotus ambient stuff is very underrated), for such a gross film it was a times beautifully shot - some of the parts in the forrest where especially nice(I think there was a reference to Tarkovsky in some of the water shots.) and the complete gross out horror similar to the Evil Dead 2 was nice to see as well.
Overall I would be interested to see why Flying Lotus does next.
That one is still on my list! I think Ozu made 2 Floating Weeds films. The first film is called A Story of Floating Weeds if I'm not mistaken. Ozu really is a special director.
A Perfect World (1993): 7.5/10
As usual, the 90s rarely fail me. Good movie.
As usual, the 90s rarely fail me. Good movie.
Yeah saw this. Pretty shit.