Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Upgrade

S'ok. Like everyone has already said, it's an 80's B-Movie at heart with no pretence outside of that. The fight scenes are gloriously brutal.

Ready Player One

Quite enjoyed this for what it was. Not vintage Spielberg but he's still got the touch. Loads of 80's, 90's pop culture references with the whole 'Shining' sequence being the stand out. Pedestrian plot but hits all the right beats. Kids will love it I imagine.
 
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dumbo said:
I loved Zama personally. It seems every year there's another take on the dark heart of colonialism in the new world (Embrace of the Serpent, City of Z, etc.) and this type of film had become a little stale for me. Zama was the first one Ive seen in a while that seemed to not take it's tonal cues from Conrad and Herzog, instead it felt more like Beckett purgatory meets The Saragossa Manuscript. Jauja is something I'll have to track down.
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Yeah, Embrace of the Serpent was a proper nothing film for me, with nothing fresh to add to the table. I definitely appreciated the boldness and idiosyncrasy of Zama. Jauja's a proper slow burner.

Speaking of Paul Schrader, here's his 'non-narrative film diagram':

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In the new introduction, Schrader diagrams the larger movement by showing how well-known filmmakers move in three different directions as they push away from narrative. There are the “Surveillance Cam” filmmakers (Abbas Kiarostami), who emphasize capturing day-to-day reality. There is “Art Gallery,” cinema which is a move toward pure imagery: light and color, which can manifest itself in films that are abstract, or dream-like (Lynch). And the third direction is what Schrader refers to as Mandala, or “meditation” cinema, films that work on the viewer almost like a trance (Ozu).

“I laid out this cosmogony of where all these directors were after breaking free from the nucleus of narrative and they’re electrons shooting off in these three directions,” said Schrader. “I also drew what I called the [Andrei] ‘Tarkovsky Ring.’ What happens when an artist goes through the ‘Tarkovsky Ring,’ that’s the point where he is no longer making cinema for a paying audience. He’s making it for institutions, for museums, and so forth.”
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https://www.indiewire.com/2018/05/p...film-diagram-lynch-kiarostami-ozu-1201966364/

It's a little flawed, I mean, Straub-Huillet have never ever made a film for a paying audience.
 
Dirty Schwein said:
Extinction
A father has a recurring dream of losing his family. His nightmare turns into reality when the planet is invaded by a force bent on destruction. Fighting for their lives, he comes to realize an unknown strength to keep them safe from harm. Despite really poor reviews, I quite liked this. I am a sucker for apocalyptic movie so slightly biased. This had a great twist as well that completely got me off guard. Only criticism is some of the dumb character decisions and the children were super annoying 7/10
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You scored this crap higher than Upgrade!! wt
f!!!!

Extinction fecking suck!!!!

Upgrade: 7/10

Extinction: 4.5/10
 
Bill.s.preston said:
Haven't seen it for years, but I remember enjoying Universal Soldier when I was a kid, Timecop too.



Hard Target. Was on tv the other night, cheesy as hell, but great fun.
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Which is the one where he punches a snake in the face?:lol::lol:
 
dumbo said:
That looks interesting, or at least interesting bollocks anway, cheers. I like Schrader, particularly The Yakuza which most seem to not like. I've got first reformed ready to watch.
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Yet to watch that one, the thought of Robert Mitchum lumbering across Tokyo very much appeals to me.

I'm quite torn on which of his movies I like the most, the venomness of Blue Collar, the lavishness of Mishima or the all round cocaineness of Cat People.
 
Pacific Rim: Uprising - A rubbish movie that wasn't quite as good at being good at being rubbish as the first one was. However I was pleasantly surprised at how not that bad at being rubbish it was. Despite the plot making less sense than you could reasonably expect from a cartoon, the characters being terrible and making no sense, the extremely lame ending, and the frequent terrible acting, it managed to still be entertaining (if you ignore the first 35 minutes where absolutely nothing happens). The action scenes were pretty cool. The characters had a similar charm to the first. The story, kind of, sort of was interesting...I don't know...it kind of all works if you pretend you're 12. If you watch it as an adult it will probably just make you angry. 6/10

Rampage - I didn't thinnk it was possible for a film to be beneath the acting ability of The Rock, but this is so bad that by the end you can actually tell that even he thinks it's so awful he's blatantly not giving a shit. The best actor in this film is a poorly CGI'd gorilla that is terrible at acting. You know when 5 minutes into a film it's already reached a point where you know it can't redeem itself on even a "so bad it's good" level? This is that film. After this point it just boils down to how long you can go between each cringe. It's a film version of how much you'd enjoy watching if your drunk dad appeared on national TV doing a striptease. Still slightly better than the Mortal Kombat films. 1/10
 
noodlehair said:
Pacific Rim: Uprising - A rubbish movie that wasn't quite as good at being good at being rubbish as the first one was. However I was pleasantly surprised at how not that bad at being rubbish it was. Despite the plot making less sense than you could reasonably expect from a cartoon, the characters being terrible and making no sense, the extremely lame ending, and the frequent terrible acting, it managed to still be entertaining (if you ignore the first 35 minutes where absolutely nothing happens). The action scenes were pretty cool. The characters had a similar charm to the first. The story, kind of, sort of was interesting...I don't know...it kind of all works if you pretend you're 12. If you watch it as an adult it will probably just make you angry. 6/10

Rampage - I didn't thinnk it was possible for a film to be beneath the acting ability of The Rock, but this is so bad that by the end you can actually tell that even he thinks it's so awful he's blatantly not giving a shit. The best actor in this film is a poorly CGI'd gorilla that is terrible at acting. You know when 5 minutes into a film it's already reached a point where you know it can't redeem itself on even a "so bad it's good" level? This is that film. After this point it just boils down to how long you can go between each cringe. It's a film version of how much you'd enjoy watching if your drunk dad appeared on national TV doing a striptease. Still slightly better than the Mortal Kombat films. 1/10
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I was completely agreeing with you until the very last bit... When I felt the need to say: shut yo whore mouf!

Your soul is mine!
 
spwd said:
Which is the one where he punches a snake in the face?:lol::lol:
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It was Hard Target, and yes, it is hilarious!



19 seconds onwards for the delicious build up.
 
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American Animals contains the most intense heist scene I can remember watching and I had to force myself not to look away. It becomes almost neauseating. A story that I would dismiss off hand as privileged, idle yanks run amuck if seen on the news becomes this funny, thrilling, sad story about regret and reckoning, with strong emphasis on the victims of crime.

I was all ready to hate the post-modern docu-narration wrap around but damn it won me over completely and it enhances the tale considerably. The mixing of factual account and recreation is pretty standard these days but this is a standout effort. Fantastic filmmaking from the guy who made The Imposter , itself a fine documentary but you wouldn't know from watching it that the same guy could cinematically out craft most dramatic filmmakers. A must watch.


First Reformed. Quite an odd film. I found the many scenes borrowed from Winter Light quite distracting. I couldn't get past the feeling that the destruction of the environment was a rather piffling matter when contrasted against Bergman's warning of ontological annihilation. Was it straight homage or was it setting itself up as an alternative instructional based on faith and agency. I didn't understand it really. And as for the ending; are we being redeemed by love, grace or earthly delights?

Despite it's rather old observations about the selling of indulgences and money in the temple it's an interesting watch even when it's not working. It looks great and individually there are a few very impressively put together scenes. Worth a watch.
 
dumbo said:
American Animals - contains the most intense heist scene I can remember watching and I had to force myself not to look away. It becomes almost neauseating. A story that I would dismiss off hand as privileged, idle yanks run amuck if seen on the news becomes this funny, thrilling, sad story about regret and reckoning, with strong emphasis on the victims of crime.
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True, the atmosphere they build up is so tense and when they get out of the building the first time, phew, that's when realised that I was holding my breath throughout that scene
Worth watching for that scene alone IMO

Edit : the heist scene in Rififi was pretty tense too and although many call it the greatest heist scene of all time, I think this one takes the cake
 
I loved that sense of relief - as short lived as it was. It was the moment when the 2nd guy arrives at the top of the stairs and then you can hear rather than see the lady still tapping away at her computer that the crushing dread peaked.

Yeah Rififi works, I'm thinking Le Cercle Rouge and The Wrong Trousers.
 
28 Days
Sandra Bullock, a recovering alcoholic checks into rehab and reassesses her life. Mildly entertaining romantic comedy, quite by the numbers 5/10
 
Blackkklansmen - it's weird to see Spike Lee getting so much acclaim for what is such a straightforward film. It's based on a true story, very loosely, and it is a good story but it spirals out of control in the last third as Lee jettisons all historical accuracy. It has been criticised for being too kind to the police in the story and it is, there's also some clumsy subtext about Trump. It's a well-made and disappointing film.

It ends with some footage which is absolutely devastating and gives the film gravitas I don't think it has earned.
 
Hereditary (2018)

I felt the movie was all over the place. Really nice photography in general, decent acting, but lacked direction. (also the typical "people doing stupid stuff for the sake of the plot)

Not really a scary movie, but creepy at least. The young sister specially. Some deaths were good fun though, specially the first decapitation haha.

The movie for me felt like a mix between "House of the devil", "Drag me to hell" and "The Witch", but not as good. Decent effort i guess.

6/10

ps. i would like to see a second part...
 
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Korengal (2014)

A documentary about American soldiers stationed at the Korengal Valley which is or was at that time a sort of supply route for the Taliban.
Kind of a sequel to Restrepo, I loved both of them. Zeroed in on the human side of war and focused on themes like bravery and brotherhood. Goosebumps inducing stuff.
A solid watch.

7/10
 
Barry Lyndon

Methodical but brilliant, looks incredible and directed expertly. O'Neal's quite poor but to an extent the general shallowness of his performance helps add to the feel of the movie and the emptiness of many of its characters.
 
The Incredibles
Saw this when it came out but was stoned and completely forgot it so was like seeing it fresh for the first time. Loved it. A superhero film with heart... amazing 8.5/10

Down A Dark Hall
Kit Gordy, a new student at the exclusive Blackwood Boarding School, confronts the institution's supernatural occurrences and dark powers of its headmistress. The film looked nice. That's it. Awful, boring, cliched, predictable, bad acting. Just an abomination 1.5/10

American Animals
Four young men mistake their lives for a movie and attempt one of the most audacious heists in U.S. history. Saw someone review it here so watched it... amazing. Very intriguing story, great performances, bold directing, superbly edited. VERY tense scenes. Loved how they got the vox pop sections with the real life people the film is about... worked a treat. 100% worth a watch 8.5/10
 
Cheesy said:
Barry Lyndon

Methodical but brilliant, looks incredible and directed expertly. O'Neal's quite poor but to an extent the general shallowness of his performance helps add to the feel of the movie and the emptiness of many of its characters.
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Kubrick's most accomplished film imo. Still need to rewatch 2001.
 
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