Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Apartment 212

Jennifer Conrad is a small-town girl starting over in the big city. Fleeing an abusive relationship, all she wants is a chance to begin again. But it is hard to start over when something is eating you while you sleep . . . one painful bite at a time.
I liked this , not a classic by any means but keeps you watching , the ending has a nice if predictable ending.

6.5/10
 
Terrifier

A maniacal clown named Art, terrorizes three young women on Halloween night and everyone else who stands in his way.
I didn't hold out much hope for this movie. Was expecting the usual bad acting and shoddy plot. If you like gore, a little bit of nudity and a killer clown that kind off pulls of crazy without saying a word then then is for you.

4/10
 
Looking Glass

A psycho- sexual thriller following a couple that buys an old motel in the desert looking for a new beginning, but what seemed at first as an escape is soon a thrilling ride through a mysterious world when Ray discovers a two way mirror and witnesses a horrifying murder. In a twisted game of cat and mouse, Ray (Cage) must race to save his wife and himself from a gruesome secret connected to the motel and the strange people who visit there.

I like Cage , but this is not a good film, Ray is a messy unlikable character and the snoopy Sheriff Howard is even worse.
It is not completely dreadful and if you like Cage, you will get something out of it, it was just lacking.

4/10
 
Ready Player One: A mildly entertaining yet disjointed Spielberg flick that certainly has exactly the right guy at the helm when you considerer just how many 80’s references this manages to shoehorn in over the course of its 2hours 19mins running time. What comes across as a little strange here is that conversely the most believable part of the film is the actual VR CGI generated world which has been well created and feels tangible and believable for the most part whereas the actually real world outside of VR in the movie feel a lot less believable by comparison to the point of feeling pretty flimsy and in most parts lacking in any really interesting themes and ideas. It also doesn’t help that most of the characters outside of Sheridan’s Wade and Olivia Cooke’s Aretemis feel a little one dimensional with both of wade’s guardians(aunt and her boyfriend) being two particularly bland characters.

It’s only really the VR world that works here with a particularly highlight occurring during a trip into the scenes of one classic horror film. However even during the trips into these films/mini-worlds the film still suffers from something that I’m seeing increasingly more and more during films today especially action adventures and that is a lack of peril.

Movies like this nowadays either don’t appear to know, don’t appear to want or don’t appear to understand the importance of creating situations where it actually feels like some of the main characters might be in genuine danger. This movie is no exception to this trend so whilst it feels mostly entertaining it doesn’t really do as good a job as it might have done of creating setbacks or genuine uncomfortable moments for its protagonists. A decent watch mainly for both reasons of nostalgia and how well the VR world has been created, but it could have been so much better with a more convincing and interesting real world and for daring to put its characters into more challenging and genuinely perilous situations it would also have benefited from just having more interesting characters.


5.5/10



PS: And just for the record I’m still not buying Tye Sheridan and Barry Keoghan being two different people.
 
Tomb Raider. The first act is imperfect but charming and contains the best pushbike chase scene I can really remember. It even reckons with dark subject matter for a brief moment. But once it establishes the premise it completely loses focus and plays it so safe that the moments which should have my heart racing just leave me feel nothing other than confusion as I try to remember why they're happening. Once [a certain character] appears the film forgets what it's about, essentially, and never really recovers. What you get is a film that just left me wanting to watch Raiders instead. 5/10.

A Wrinkle in Time. Every beat of this film should push towards its heartwarming message: that achieving personal acceptance in order to become one with both yourself and the universe is the hardest fight of all. But for 95% of the action we're whisked off on a journey we can't get to grips with, joined by characters whose origins and driving forces are poorly defined, and left completely stranded by a dizzying screenplay that explains nothing of the world it creates. Frustrating. 3/10.
 
Colossal (2017)

A weird and strangely compelling film available on Amazon Prime Movies starring Anne Hathaway as a high spirited woman who returns to her hometown and reconnects with her childhood buddy played by Jason Sudeikis after breaking up with her boyfriend.

Now here's the wacky part. Whilst back in her hometown a story breaks out on the news about a giant monster causing havoc in the same part of Seoul, South Korea at the same time each night. Turns out though that this monster is apparently some kind of extension of Hathaway's psyche and mimicking every single move she makes in real time...with initially disastrous consequences.

Sounds ridiculous, right? But it actually works! What starts off as a bizarre and completely implausible story takes a slightly darker turn when Sudeikis realises that Hathaway, for whom he has had a thing since childhood is not sharing the same vibe. Without giving too much away, he somehow manages to gain some leverage on Hathaway to force her to stay with him.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this film and almost knocked it on the head after 20 minutes or so, but glad that I stuck it out. It surely is an original story and if you've seen the trailer you'll probably be thinking 'What the hell??'. But somehow they manage to pull it off...but only just!

It's not an all out comedy fest, which is just as well and despite the ridiculous premise, there's still a decent story in there, with the giant monsters getting just the right amount of screen time and adding to the story rather than over-powering it. Using Hathaway and Sudeikis gives the film a lot more credibility, with great performances from both in what could easily have been a trainwreck of a film.

It may not be to everyone's taste but it certainly is different and really comes into it's own in the second half. It's a monster film with a human story.

I'm giving this a 6.5/10.
 
Justice League

Terrible. Apart from WW and Superman, everyone else was abysmal. What was the point of having Aquaman? feckin useless. Cyborg has such bad acting and fake iron man'esque costume. The comic sense and timing was Flash was cringe worthy. flaky plot, flakier characters, shit movie.

3/10
 
The Florida Project - Holy wow, what a gem. Reminds me a lot of Nobody Knows, fewer kids but Moonee alone manages to drive it through pure energy and joy.
 
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I just watched Vertigo. It's my first Hitchcock. Not sure what to think of it, it was a weird experience. The woman was hot though.
 
R.N7 said:
Annihilation - Meeh. "Hey, let's remake Stalker but make it as dumb as humanly possible".
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That's a complimentary review and hate you for it.

I have a special hatred for this movie. I just seethe in anger when thinking I actually watched this shit....and I've watched terrible movies before. The alien dance climax...don't get me started. If there ever was a move, I feel the need to physically assault to movie makers, this this it. I HATE it. I feking HATE this movie :mad:
 
I'm surprised Nilsy didn't dig Annihilation (though not surprised Pillow didn't) Not because I thought it was particularly great myself (it's mid-level Garland. Above The Beach, Never Let Me Go and the end of Sunshine, but below Ex Machina, 28 Days and the first 3/4s of Sunshine.) but I did find it sporadically entertaining. Particularly the 'bear' scene, which made little sense, but was viscerally fun.

My main problem with it was Natalie Portman, and her unavoidable Natalie Portmanness. Otherwise I thought it was fairly interesting, especially once you realize it's all about Cancer. It's portentous as feck, sure, but still the kind of thing I'd rather get made than 90% of everything else in it's genre.
 
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I need to rewatch Annihilation, I fell asleep for about half an hour and missed this bear scene everyones going on about
 
Isle of Dogs. There's something slightly lacking, something intangible but noticeably absent all the same. Still, there's a good handful of laughs in here, even if it is a story that concerns itself with the iron fist of authoritarianism, and it's wonderful to look at of course. Not on the level of Rushmore, Moonrise Kingdom, Grand Budapest, but still good. 8/10 (just about).
 
Mockney said:
I'm surprised Nilsy didn't dig Annihilation (though not surprised Pillow didn't) Not because I thought it was particularly great myself (it's mid-level Garland. Above The Beach, Never Let Me Go and the end of Sunshine, but below Ex Machina, 28 Days and the first 3/4s of Sunshine.) but I did find it sporadically entertaining. Particularly the 'bear' scene, which made little sense, but was viscerally fun.

My main problem with it was Natalie Portman, and her unavoidable Natalie Portmanness. Otherwise I thought it was fairly interesting, especially once you realize it's all about Cancer. It's portentous as feck, sure, but still the kind of thing I'd rather get made than 90% of everything else in it's genre.
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My wife got the book just to get the background better. Seems the story in the award winning book was totally different and far better.
 
VorZakone said:
I just watched Vertigo. It's my first Hitchcock. Not sure what to think of it, it was a weird experience. The woman was hot though.
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Kim Novak:drool: Not seen it in years. How has it aged?
 
Silent Running - Set in a utopian future where disease has been all but eradicated, poverty is no more and the entire world is in full employment. A crew of dedicated workers are preparing to finally return home to their families after several years in space when they are murdered by a psychopathic ecologist. We then spend the rest of the film watching said lunatic playing cards with men in dustbins before it dawns on him that plants don't get a lot of sunshine in space. Meanwhile, Joan Baez warbles interminably over the soundtrack. A more sentimental Wall-E, except Wall-E is also the unabomber. Made me long for the cold, dead-eyed sterility of 2001. Bah humbug.
 
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Grinner said:
She's getting on but I'm sure you'd still do her, you dirty cow.
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Time has not been kind to her, that and some botched plastic surgery.
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BAMSOLA said:
Ready Player One: A mildly entertaining yet disjointed Spielberg flick that certainly has exactly the right guy at the helm when you considerer just how many 80’s references this manages to shoehorn in over the course of its 2hours 19mins running time. What comes across as a little strange here is that conversely the most believable part of the film is the actual VR CGI generated world which has been well created and feels tangible and believable for the most part whereas the actually real world outside of VR in the movie feel a lot less believable by comparison to the point of feeling pretty flimsy and in most parts lacking in any really interesting themes and ideas. It also doesn’t help that most of the characters outside of Sheridan’s Wade and Olivia Cooke’s Aretemis feel a little one dimensional with both of wade’s guardians(aunt and her boyfriend) being two particularly bland characters.

It’s only really the VR world that works here with a particularly highlight occurring during a trip into the scenes of one classic horror film. However even during the trips into these films/mini-worlds the film still suffers from something that I’m seeing increasingly more and more during films today especially action adventures and that is a lack of peril.

Movies like this nowadays either don’t appear to know, don’t appear to want or don’t appear to understand the importance of creating situations where it actually feels like some of the main characters might be in genuine danger. This movie is no exception to this trend so whilst it feels mostly entertaining it doesn’t really do as good a job as it might have done of creating setbacks or genuine uncomfortable moments for its protagonists. A decent watch mainly for both reasons of nostalgia and how well the VR world has been created, but it could have been so much better with a more convincing and interesting real world and for daring to put its characters into more challenging and genuinely perilous situations it would also have benefited from just having more interesting characters.


5.5/10



PS: And just for the record I’m still not buying Tye Sheridan and Barry Keoghan being two different people.
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Totally agree about the lack of real jeopardy in recent films...I thought Baby Driver was about to go there and was wondering how protagonist was going to get out of tricky situation when one of the main characters does massive about face and changes outlook on life to let him go.....

You've made me realise why i really disliked that scene....I've been starved of real threat!
 
buchansleftleg said:
Totally agree about the lack of real jeopardy in recent films...I thought Baby Driver was about to go there and was wondering how protagonist was going to get out of tricky situation when one of the main characters does massive about face and changes outlook on life to let him go.....

You've made me realise why i really disliked that scene....I've been starved of real threat!
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Yeah, unfortunately its a huge Marvel and DC problem too with their films. I think a lot of main stream movies play it too safe with their protagonists.
 
Recent films are shit, they have no heart, no character, it's all rather safe and uninspiring.

My daily rant for today.
 
VorZakone said:
Recent films are shit, they have no heart, no character, it's all rather safe and uninspiring.

My daily rant for today.
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Watch Sweet Virginia. Pretty good film with none of that hollywoody vibe. Plot wise maybe not the best film of the last few months but some great acting and realistic feel. Jon Bernthal and the guy who plays the bad guy are both excellent in this.
 
Unforgettable (2017)

Available on Sky Cinema. Typical revenge thriller that should actually be re-named 'Forgettable'! There was a time when the 90s ruled for these types of movies but more recent ones just don't seem to cut it. Unlawful Entry, Cape Fear, Breakdown, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, Fatal Attraction, Double Jeopardy are just a few examples of films that were done right. More recently, even 'Obsessed' featuring Idris Elba, Ali Larter & Beyonce was a decent watch if I recall. However this offering won't be entering that Hall of Fame any time soon.

Unforgettable is a story that has been done many times before about an unhinged woman who cannot come to terms with her ex-hubby moving on with his new fiance. Things start off reasonably amicable at first....until the subject of marriage and their young daughter come into the equation. This causes the ex-wife to descend into an emotional meltdown where she uses all kinds of underhanded trickery to create aggro between her ex-hubby and his new fiance. The two warring women are played by the gorgeous Rosario Dawson (who keeps ignoring my marriage proposals by email) as the fiance and the slightly weird looking Katherine Heigl as the furious ex-wife, who by comparison has succumbed to the lure of the surgeon's knife (even though she's only a year older than Dawson).

While they both portray their roles very well, it's the story and real lack of dread that lets this film down. Maybe it's because these films have been done to death now but they just don't seem to be as chilling as they used to be, especially like the great films mentioned above. They really could have gone to town with Heigl's character and made her more menacing but she does the best with what she is given. Dawson is such a great actress and is what ultimately makes the film watchable. All the usual elements and formula are there for a thriller of this type but we are spared any 'bunny boiler' moments. There are plot holes aplenty though and lazy directing, which moves things along too quickly thus not allowing that tension and anticipation to be built up to a decent extent and keeping the viewer hooked. This film could have probably done with an extra 20-30 minutes. There's nothing here that you won't have seen already but we do get to see Dawson's ass.

I'm giving this a 5/10.
 
Vato said:
The Ritual - Horror done right. 7,5/10
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Really? I never got passed the trailer because the acting looked so shit. Is it really worth a watch? I cringed at the guy twisting his ankle in the trailer because of how shite it looked :lol:
 
Summit said:
Really? I never got passed the trailer because the acting looked so shit. Is it really worth a watch? I cringed at the guy twisting his ankle in the trailer because of how shite it looked :lol:
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It's really good. Well, good as far as horror films go of course. Worth a watch for sure.
 
Mockney said:
I'm surprised Nilsy didn't dig Annihilation (though not surprised Pillow didn't) Not because I thought it was particularly great myself (it's mid-level Garland. Above The Beach, Never Let Me Go and the end of Sunshine, but below Ex Machina, 28 Days and the first 3/4s of Sunshine.) but I did find it sporadically entertaining. Particularly the 'bear' scene, which made little sense, but was viscerally fun.

My main problem with it was Natalie Portman, and her unavoidable Natalie Portmanness. Otherwise I thought it was fairly interesting, especially once you realize it's all about Cancer. It's portentous as feck, sure, but still the kind of thing I'd rather get made than 90% of everything else in it's genre.
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I did dig some aspects of it but the bad ones outnumbered the good ones in the end. Kinda disappointed with the score as well seeing as I really liked the ambient one for Ex Machina, those guitar plunkings were lame.
 
Nymphomaniac Vol I & II (2013)

Available on Netflix. Watched this years ago and it's still just as depressing now. A film by Lars von Trier that was split into two parts (like Kill Bill) and had a limited theatrical release...and plenty of hype. Charlotte Gainsbourg stars as a woman named Joe who is found, badly beaten in an alley, by a passer-by called Seligman played by Stellan Skarsgård. During her recuperation at his home she confesses that she is a nymphomaniac, having lost all sexual feeling at any early age and begins to recount her sexual experiences with the hundreds of men that she had been with in her bid to get that feeling back.

This is where the film plays out with a star studded cast portraying her family, friends and sexual encounters from her childhood to present. The film is a series of short stories within a story, with some narration from Gainsbourg which soon becomes very monotonous and boring. Do we get a real insight into the plight of a nymphomaniac? I'm not so sure, but then again I've never met one (as far as I know). The first part deals with her early childhood, sexual awakenings and exploration of her sexuality...and how she lost her mojo. The second part gets more darker as the obsession begins to take hold of her life, preventing her from connecting emotionally with the people around her and compelling her to subject her body to more extreme forms of abuse.

It is during the second part that the masochistic encounters with the weirdo played by Jamie Bell are the most difficult to watch. I refuse to believe that there are people out there who put themselves through that kind of treatment. Anyway, this is a von Trier film so expect lots of nudity and graphic sex. That being said, the scenes aren't depicted in a salacious manner. I don't even think they're meant to titillate either. The absence of the 'mood' sax music, lighting, slow motion shots, camera angles etc., prevents the viewer from getting whipped up into any kind of sexual excitement. Instead you get a feeling of the hopelessness and lack of satisfaction that Joe is experiencing. It's not glamourous. It's not edifying. It's fecking grim at times!

At over 4 hours in total, there is a lot of story to tell. Seligman seems very keen on listening to all the gory details of Joe's sexual past...but does he have his own reasons for this? Perhaps he is getting some kick out of it himself? Uma Thurman puts in a great performance during her limited screen time, Jamie Bell is very unnerving as the deviant sadist and for once Shia LeBeouf is not acting all cringeworthy in a proper acting role. Rather than focus on some of the themes like relationships, trust, integrity, which would have redeemed the film somewhat, the viewer is ultimately subjected to what becomes a borefest of mind-numbing dialogue delivered with no passion or intensity, mixed with plenty of unglamourous rumpy-pumpy. The film avoids thrusting any moral judgments on the viewer, but in the end you find yourself not caring one way or the other anyway. Very little style and very little substance. I will say though that Gainsbourg's nips deserve a paragraph of their own but I've rambled long enough.

I'm giving this a 4/10.
 
sullydnl said:
Silent Running - Set in a utopian future where disease has been all but eradicated, poverty is no more and the entire world is in full employment. A crew of dedicated workers are preparing to finally return home to their families after several years in space when they are murdered by a psychopathic ecologist. We then spend the rest of the film watching said lunatic playing cards with men in dustbins before it dawns on him that plants don't get a lot of sunshine in space. Meanwhile, Joan Baez warbles interminably over the soundtrack. A more sentimental Wall-E, except Wall-E is also the unabomber. Made me long for the cold, dead-eyed sterility of 2001. Bah humbug.
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:lol: I still don't think I know what the film is about but I very much enjoyed the review :D
 
Rooney in Paris said:
Thats brilliant.

Is it from Family Guy?
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Yep.
RedPed said:
Nymphomaniac Vol I & II (2013)

This is where the film plays out with a star studded cast portraying her family, friends and sexual encounters from her childhood to present. The film is a series of short stories within a story, with some narration from Gainsbourg which soon becomes very monotonous and boring. Do we get a real insight into the plight of a nymphomaniac? I'm not so sure, but then again I've never met one (as far as I know). The first part deals with her early childhood, sexual awakenings and exploration of her sexuality...and how she lost her mojo. The second part gets more darker as the obsession begins to take hold of her life, preventing her from connecting emotionally with the people around her and compelling her to subject her body to more extreme forms of abuse.
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"Perhaps the only difference between me and other people is that I've always demanded more from the sunset. More spectacular colors when the sun hit the horizon. That's perhaps my only sin."

If I remember rightly this was his depression film, and I think it's a brilliant exploration of a depressive's obsession-dissatisfaction cycle. A film of serious - and not so serious - spiritual, intellectual, physical flagellation/masturbation.

Largely disagree but interesting review nonetheless.
 
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