Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Shot Caller

Thought it was a great movie. Without giving much of the story away - It's about a business man who accidentally kills his mate in a DUI, and then gets sent to a hard prison. He gets caught up in gang life.

It has a quality cast:
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister)
Jon Bernthal (Punisher, The Walking Dead)
Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice)
Benjamin Bratt (Law and Order)
Holt McCallany (Mindhunter)
Cheddar Bob from 8 Mile

8/10
 
Oh I think I saw that. Remember it being surprisingly good genre pic for its budget. Some cliches but you get bang for buck. Brawl in Cell Block 99 came out and sort of buried it though.
 
Organic Potatoes said:
Buried it in buzz rather than quality I think, due to 99's crazy violence.

Shot Caller was much better.
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Vince Vaughn did his best role in 99 though. Mainly due to him at most speaking three words and not having to do any acting.
 
Saw Widows last night and considering the director and cast, it's shite. If the aim was to fit as many film stereotypes into one film as is humanly possible, they did a great job however.
 
Tarrou said:
how about Swingers?
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Yeah he could halfway do comedies. When the script demands something more of him than delivering a comedic line with his go to perplexed and puzzled expression though he usually fails.
 
Shot Caller had one of the best collections of mustaches ever assembled in movies. (Though I'm sure most were fake)
 
Kingsman Golden Circle. So long and boring(lol). The story is cliched yet confusing, with a bunch of risible social commentary markers thrown in. However, every now and then the film rewards by rolling over to reveal this fairground underbelly, with these odd kitsch set pieces and scenes of wild action. They correspond to nothing else in the story and at times they become irritatingly self indulgent(lol) but heck if there isn't some entertaining stuff in here. Poppyland, Julianne Moore with a meat grinder, the dogs and the final gun-fu showdown set to a country and western cover of Cameo were great, but then Elton and Julianne trading F-bombs feels like over seasoning.

All the pulpy comic stuff is great, there was no need to bloat it up to well over 2 hours with a nothing story.

And why don't these fat horrible superhero studios give these guys (Vaughn and Goldman) a go? Sure their scripts aren't getting any better but they always make films with character and they can put together a great action scene. Or perhaps the studios have market-tested and found that audiences prefer choreography that would shame the Power Rangers tv series. The big, dumb lugs.

Edit: Oh yeah I forgot, they made the good X-Men film.

In a completely unrelated question: If all the films in your series are shit and they are also all made by a paedophile, and then someone who is not a paedophile comes in and makes a good film, why would you go back to the paedophile to make more shit films?

Hypothetically.
 
Insidious: Chapter 2
Watched this again. Still enjoy it. Tried to do something clever as opposed to beign a straight up continuation style sequel. Some scares worked and overall, it was fun although the dialogue was a bit exposition heavy 7.5/10

Spiderman: Into The Spider-Verse
Beautiful animation, good story, characters I cared about, fun action and a dodgy soundtrack. Great superhero film and I can see why everyone was gushing over it 8.5/10

El Bar (The Bar)
In bustling downtown Madrid, a loud gunshot and two mysterious deaths trap a motley assortment of common urbanites in a decrepit central bar, while paranoia and suspicion force the terrified regulars to turn on each other. Spanish bottle-neck horror/thriller on Netflix. Loved the premise (I'm a sucker for a film about a group of strangers forced into one nightmarish scenario) and generally, the film was enjoyable. Funny in parts, horrific in others. The lead actress was fit and there's a scene when she has to strip into her undies and be oiled up so she can fit through a sewer hole. Had to hide the boner from the wife :lol: The final act becomes a bit standard and trope-ridden but overall, it was a fun and short so worth the time 6.5/10

May The Devil Take You
When her estranged father falls into a mysterious coma, a young woman seeks answers at his old villa, where she and her stepsister uncover dark truths. Indonesian horror film on Netflix. I'm a fan of the director so this was a safe bet for me and I loved it. Good atmosphere, very creepy and some jump scares that completely got me. For a horror film, this had surprisingly a good narrative, depth and fleshed out characters. Heavily influenced by Evil Dead, which is by no means a bad thing. Just wish they showed the demon a little less 8/10
 
Fighting with My Family. Schmaltzy sports-themed underdog story that still, despite seeing this sort of thing thousands of times over the years, really worked on me. The passion and love this film has for wrestling charmed even me, and I'm very much an outsider with little to no interest in it. It occasionally chooses to forget that wrestling is scripted to contrive some drama out of key moments, but it's a technique that works effectively on a superficial level. The central performances are all great, especially Florence Pugh and Nick Frost (who gives his best display in years), the amount of times I laughed out loud crept into double figures, and it really beats with a working class heart without being patronising. I only found out as the credits rolled that this was a biopic, which is something I have to credit it for because I can usually smell their stink a mile away. Honestly, if you're bored this month and you fancy sharing some popcorn and some laughs with a friend (and then teasing them for crying a little bit at the end) then this is ideal. 8.
 
The Possession Of Hannah Grace
When a cop who is just out of rehab takes the graveyard shift in a city hospital morgue, she faces a series of bizarre, violent events caused by an evil entity in one of the corpses. Flat, boring, hardly any possession going on despite the title. Just plain awful 1/10
 
Mac and Me
The story of an illegal immigrant in the USA finds common ground with a white suburban family and befriends a physically disabled boy. Together they embark on a journey to escape the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency so that Mac can be re-united with his family. Parallels to what is happening in America today. 10/10
 
Cpt Marvel
Run of the mill Marvel flick. Not bad and entertaining enough. It wants to be culturally significant, but is a bit on the nose about it.


Female lead though so

12/10
 
Runner said:
Mac and Me
The story of an illegal immigrant in the USA finds common ground with a white suburban family and befriends a physically disabled boy. Together they embark on a journey to escape the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency so that Mac can be re-united with his family. Parallels to what is happening in America today. 10/10
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:lol:
 
KirkDuyt said:
Cpt Marvel
Run of the mill Marvel flick. Not bad and entertaining enough. It wants to be culturally significant, but is a bit on the nose about it.


Female lead though so

12/10
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Is it sexist that I'm not fussed about seeing it?
 
Green Book is quite awful yet weirdly likeable. It feels naive and patronising, it never builds enough credit to make the more risque jokes (that extended fried chicken scene and the call back later is odd), and never develops the social perspective to question black identity in the way it attempts to. It's a largely black story told through a white lug's racial awakening, making it feel regressive in a way that something like In the Heat of the Night doesn't. But then the characters are enjoyable, the Odd Couple chemistry works, the scene in the black bar is very charming and it's heart is in the right place (even if it's dick is not), and so I cringed and rolled my eyes and smiled throughout.
 
Runner said:
Mac and Me
The story of an illegal immigrant in the USA finds common ground with a white suburban family and befriends a physically disabled boy. Together they embark on a journey to escape the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency so that Mac can be re-united with his family. Parallels to what is happening in America today. 10/10
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That you Paul Rudd?
 
There's a film on 4 now called No Escape and I think it's too stressful to watch. It's about an uprising in Southeast Asia. Lots of crossovers with how a terrorist group taking over a hotel might go down so far which makes it a tough watch. Absolute worst nightmare.

Brosnan just turned up though so hopefully he'll make it less stressful.

This isn't really a review.
 
Creed 2

I was looking forward to this , Creed was excellent , good story , cracking fight.
This felt more like a remake of Rocky 4 and a poor remake at that.
The story was almost identical , I was massively disappointed

4/10
 
The Possession of Hannah Grace

When a cop who is just out of rehab takes the graveyard shift in a city hospital morgue, she faces a series of bizarre, violent events caused by an evil entity in one of the corpses.

Yet another crappy possession film, this one has some more lacking, it lacked any real possession.
Watched it all in the vain hope it would get better, it got worse.

0.5/10
 
Just rewatched Golden Compass, the visuals and animations really amazing for a 2007 movie. Especially the animals, better than lots of recent movies. Everything else was decent too
 
VorZakone said:
- King Of New York (1990)
- The Departed (2006)
- The Valachi Papers (1972)
- Road to Perdition (2002)
- The Untouchables (1987)
- Carlito's Way (1993)
- American Gangster (2007)
- American Me (1992)
- A Bronx Tale (1993)
- Brooklyn Rules (2007)
- State Of Grace (1990)
- Once Upon A Time In America (1984)
- Kill The Irishman (2011)
- The Iceman (2013)

The bolded ones are my favorites from that list, although not all are purely focused on the Italian mafia.
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How can you omit Goodfellas and put Iceman on there?? :nono::nono:
 
VorZakone said:
If I recall correctly, the post I was replying to mentioned that he had already seen Goodfellas and wanted more recommendations.
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Aaaah I see said the blind man ;)

I didn't see the original comment, apologies.
 
The Rake
After a creature kills their parents when they were children, two siblings and their friends are attacked by the same creature. Based on the creepy pasta, this was an unfortunate let down. No clear protagonist, cliché tropes, characters doing dumb decisions etc. They're were some good scenes but looked mostly cheap and the monster design was laughable 2.5/10

10x10
A man captures a woman and locks her in a sound proof room. Very low budget, minimal actors and locations but wasn't awful. Some of the plot twists were decent but it doesn't go far enough into the story or the violence. Needed to commit more 4/10
 
Overlord
Thoroughly entertaining WW2 cross over into the realms of zombie soldiers. Part Saving Private Ryan (intro), part Dead Snow.

It delivers a thrilling intro that spares no expense and drags you in immediately, however the plot isn't all that meaty and whilst it teases mystery and subplot it never delves that far.

If you are into no brainer (pun intended), action packed gore fest this is the movie for you.

A solid 7/10.
 
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Serenity
A fisherman is approached by his ex wife, who tempts him to take her husband out to the sea and kill him. Starts off decent then has a massive rope-a-dope in the middle that makes the film completely fall apart. I didn't mind the switch up, bit of does nothing with it. The location of the film is beautiful though 5.5/10
 
I watched The Lost City of Z on BBC2 last night, based on the true story of a British Army officer working for the Royal Geographical Society in the early 1900s searching the Amazon for a legendary ancient city deep in the jungle. I liked the sound of it from the previews, but I thought it was a bit too long and dull in places, very average. Charlie Hunnam's refined military accent wandered off into Jax Teller and Green Street territory a few times I thought.
On the iPlayer I think.
 
Anyone watched the Netflix movie Triple Frontier? It's got a good cast and looks like it has potential.
 
Christopher Robin
Nostalgic, charming story with a nice message behind it. Really fun for all ages 7.5/10
 
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