Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Rooney in Paris

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Everything Everywhere All at Once Interesteing multiverse premise and done well for the most part. They did well lightening the mood from time to time as this could have taken itself far too serioulsy. It was also nice to see an older, non-white female as the lead of a major film and carrying the film so well. Very enjoyable even if the ending didn't work quite as well as the rest of the film. Well worth a watch. 8/10
Agree with this part (even though I know nothing of any other people that might have been considered), but that's about the only thing I enjoyed about the film. One of the few films I didn't watch until the end from the main 2022 releases, I found it really boring, repetitive and really annoying very early on.
 

Massive Spanner

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Agree with this part (even though I know nothing of any other people that might have been considered), but that's about the only thing I enjoyed about the film. One of the few films I didn't watch until the end from the main 2022 releases, I found it really boring, repetitive and really annoying very early on.
you're just saying that cause your hot girlfriend is half Asian.
 

Desert Eagle

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Aftersun

Very powerful film. Don't think I've ever seen depression expressed so well in a film. Performances from the main actor and actress were both amazing. Liked the directing, soundtrack and cinematography as well.
 

ChrisNelson

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Aftersun

Very powerful film. Don't think I've ever seen depression expressed so well in a film. Performances from the main actor and actress were both amazing. Liked the directing, soundtrack and cinematography as well.
Aftersun was an interesting one for me.

Went in expecting a 9.5 and saw a 7, if I'm honest.

As a directorial debut it's excellent, constructed well, excellent cast choices and a good portrayal of depression but I really think they were down a rabbit hole there and could have kept digging - don't get me wrong, I don't like saying that because of the subject but still I felt slightly underwhelmed.
 

Desert Eagle

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Aftersun was an interesting one for me.

Went in expecting a 9.5 and saw a 7, if I'm honest.

As a directorial debut it's excellent, constructed well, excellent cast choices and a good portrayal of depression but I really think they were down a rabbit hole there and could have kept digging - don't get me wrong, I don't like saying that because of the subject but still I felt slightly underwhelmed.
I can understand feeling that way. It had some moments that felt a bit like a recent film school graduate trying out their favorite techniques which makes sense for a directorial debut I suppose. Like a really beautiful postcard rather than a painting . The two actors really carried the film though, I was going to post a 8/10 rating alongside it but decided against giving it a score because it felt a bit reductive.
 

Sweet Square

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Do it anyway. It'll only rise in price once it goes out of print.

I bought the Shohei Imamura collection when it came out for £50 and it's going for around £350 these days.
Cheers, yeah your right. Tbh I did really hint about the box set around 2 years ago, hoping to get it as a Christmas gift from the family but they ended up getting the Zatoichi collection by accident instead :lol:

Although I can’t complain as it’s a amazing collection of films.
 

ChrisNelson

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I can understand feeling that way. It had some moments that felt a bit like a recent film school graduate trying out their favorite techniques which makes sense for a directorial debut I suppose. Like a really beautiful postcard rather than a painting . The two actors really carried the film though, I was going to post a 8/10 rating alongside it but decided against giving it a score because it felt a bit reductive.
Yeah I agree the lead performances were top drawer, it was like they'd acted together for years.

I read somewhere that they actually went on holiday or spent some time somewhere to bond, so that when filming started they actually had a connection, and had experienced something similar to the actual plot of the film.
 

AlPistacho

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Ambulance 2022 7/10

All action heist & escape movie staring Jake Gyllenhaal. Different to the movies I usually see him in. Very fun movie, a very good heist scene that is as close as I’ve seen to the one in Heat for tension (still nowhere close), followed by a rollercoaster of a ride. Not sure if the dark humour in some parts was intentional, or I’m just a bit sick.

Tries to be a bit more than it really is with some of the characters near the ends. Works in some parts doesn’t add much in others.
 
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Sweet Square

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I'm Thinking Of Ending Things(2020)

Too much collage/university the movie. Honestly could only watch about 70% of the film before having to take a break and listen to the 1 hour loop of the Robocop theme to cleanse my soul and mind.

I’ve liked Kaufman writing in the past especially
Being John Malkovich and of course Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind but this film
so incredibly depressing, nerdy and pointless that it became too much. One of the characters quotes a Pauline Kael review ffs.

Still having said the performances were great, I liked how the film was presented and it’s at least attempting something but it’s ultimately to quote Red Letter Media - “Its a movie that requires you to do homework”. If that your thing then it’s worth a go, if not then save some time and watch this instead

 
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Wing Attack Plan R

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The Shoe - Werner Herzogs

A smorgasbord of interlinked experiences culminating in a five hour scene in which our hero, Fat Bumface, slides toothpicks into a plug socket. Clearly an allegory representing the plight of Soviet farmers after the decimation of Lake Karachay destroyed their livelihoods, it pulls apart the shield of human psyche and presents it's moist internals for all to see.

I particularly enjoyed how the movie has no plot, or dialogue, and the majority of the time Warner has his thumb stuck over the camera lens. It enhances the feeling of dread and despair better than any bangy bangy movie that normos watch nowadays, and I believe it is probably the finest movie ever made since 2017s "Filling Out Tax Returns on a Moped Outside of Tulcea". Some will say it's boring and makes no sense, but I wave my fake pencil moustache at those people.

Devine/10
Finally got around to viewing The Shoe. You were right. Oh my god.
 

Wing Attack Plan R

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The Menu

Mental Ralph Fiennes film with some great performances, especially from our lead. Really odd and interesting film, with some scenes and a presence that I really enjoyed. Thought it was really good throughout without ever getting to the of being brilliant. Very enjoyable and solid film though.

7.5/10


Banshees of Inisherin


I’ll readily and unashamedly admit to being a Martin Mcdonagh fan boy. I have loved all his previous films, and I adore the chemistry between Farrell and Gleason. So with all of that said, I was a little disappointed in this film. It definitely wasn’t as funny as previous McDonagh entries, and it lacked any sort of pay off. In fact I will go as far as to say that in some regards it all felt a little pointless, notwithstanding the important arc of Padraig. Still, an excellent film by almost any standard, but just an okay film by Mcdonagh standards.

8/10 (film scale) 6/10 (Mcdonagh scale)


Dune (part one)

I just rewatched this as part of a Denis Villeneuve rewatch binge. Along with Alex Garland and Martin McDonagh, my favourite director working today. Every time I have seen this (third time now), there is more to see and appreciate. Aside from being one of the most beautifully shot films I’ve seen in a long time, it brings superb performances and a great script to what is, undoubtedly, my favourite genre; science fiction. The more times I see this, the more I am convinced that it is a masterpiece in its own right, and will be even more highly regarding when placed into the context of part two, which is being released later this year.

I would already consider Villeneuve to be one of the finest science fiction directors of all time, after his work on Blade Runner 2049 (another masterpiece), and Arrival (excellent); but this film is the one that really brings it home. One of the best science fiction adaptations of all time, one of the best films I have seen in the last five years or so, and in its own right….one of the best science fiction movies ever made.

Epic, gorgeous, intense, and brilliant.

10/10


Glass Onion


Silly Knives out sequel. Was much lauded for its ensemble cast, but I actually found most of the cast fairly poor. Ended up watching it twice because the fiancé wanted to see it. Was in many respects better the first time around when you knew the solution to the conundrum. But it also showed you how silly the entire thing was. In fairness it’s quite entertaining without ever being particularly good. The first movie was much much better.

5.5/10
Haven’t seen The Menu, agree with you in Glass Onion, agree with what you wrote about Banshees, but I’d give it the 6/10 on both scales.

The Banshees of Innisherin for me represents the epitome of a good film that just doesn’t deliver what it promised. A typical McDonagh Joint. I will say that Colin Ferrell was really good, but Gleason played the same character he always plays. I did find Ferrell’s accent a bit broad at times, and it didn’t match up with his sister or with Gleason, and they all supposedly lived in the same village their entire lives. Accent aside, I liked him, at least it wasn’t as distracting as his American accent.

I don’t mind movies that are all character and setting. As an American of Irish and Scots descent, I will watch any old shit set in either country. After watching it, I realized that if this same story were set in Alabama, I wouldn’t have given two shits. A case in point was when Lasse Halstrom went from My Life As A Dog to Gilbert Grape. I found Dog to be heartbreaking and full of pathos, then when I see a bunch of American jackasses doing a riff on it, I hated it. In particular I despised John C (for Crap) Reilly’s everything in that movie, every fecking frame of him felt fake and took me out of the experience.

So while I enjoyed Banshees, and it mademe want to take another trip to Ireland, it made me curious as to how the simple, rural, Irish islander life plays out to modern Irish. Before I realized it was set in 1926, I was thinking how fake it seemed, with Ferrell in long sleeves and vest etc., and wondering if there really were any Irish villages like that. Did I like the film or do I just like Ireland? More the latter.

The best part for me was the line, “If punching policemen is a sin, we may as well just all pack up and go home.”

6/10
 

Scandi Red

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Critically acclaimed French film from 2022. It's beautiful but also incredibly sad. You will probably cry.

The premise is so simple and obvious and yet I can't remember seeing a similar story before. It's an interesting premise and I also like that a certain detail about the two friends never is revealed as it's not really relevant for how the events kick off. Society is the main villain regardless of this detail.

I recommend Close if you don't mind weeping.
 

Hugh Jass

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Its decent without being brilliant. 3.8/5

Its a predictable story arc you have seen before. Still though i watched it all.
 

Salt Bailly

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Watched Mission Impossible 2 on itv2 tonight (I think).

I hated it upon release but it's actually pretty good. @Sweet Square may be on to something.

The kicking of the sand at the end was awful though.
 

Sweet Square

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Saying JJ Abram’s has ever made a better film than John Woo is straight up imperialism. The future CCP invasion of America will require a lot of reeducation in order to destroy the Yankee mind set.
 

Cheimoon

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I saw the 2015 Macbeth film with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard yesterday. I thought it was, well, boring!

The concept of it was very good, with the droning music, the grim but beautifully conceived settings, the nightmarish feel to Macbeth's state of mind, the choice of actors - all great. I really enjoyed the first half hour or so. But the actual action feels just so horribly slow, it just couldn't keep my attention at all.

Now I'm really not into theatre, so maybe it's just not for me; but I did really like Brannagh's Hamlet when I saw it a long time ago. I can't remember it too well, but it's much longer so it can't be going very fast either. Maybe I should watch it back, see if my taste changed, I came bored too easily, or have just become culturally stupid (I'm not excluding that) - or if this Macbeth is really that slow. (The critics loved it though!)

Anyway, not for me.
 

Unam333

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Critically acclaimed French film from 2022. It's beautiful but also incredibly sad. You will probably cry.

The premise is so simple and obvious and yet I can't remember seeing a similar story before. It's an interesting premise and I also like that a certain detail about the two friends never is revealed as it's not really relevant for how the events kick off. Society is the main villain regardless of this detail.

I recommend Close if you don't mind weeping.
Sounds really interesting. Where did you watch the movie?
 

Massive Spanner

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I really enjoyed The Fabelmanns. I've found a lot of Spielbergs more recent stuff a bit drab, preachy and overly soppy but this wasn't as bad, and it was really funny too. Plus, Paul Dano and Michelle Williams are always great actors to watch.
 

Vidyoyo

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Address Unknown - Another of Kim Ki-duk's brutal social realist movies, this time about a small Korean village where characters include a man who kills and sells dogs, a women fawning over a missing GI who she sends letters despite them never getting there, her angry bastard son, and a girl with a bad eye who gets manipulated by an American soldier.

Horrible won't describe it but there's beauty that punctuates between all the awful shit - which is a clever way to heighten nice things that might otherwise not get proper attention. You kinda have to look beyond all the surface level shit to see these are characters struggling as much with themselves as they are with a society that has mostly left them behind.

Would I recommend it? Hell no but it's a good movie. Not as good nor as horrible to watch as Bad Guy but close.
 

Scandi Red

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Sounds really interesting. Where did you watch the movie?
It's in regular movie theatres everywhere where I live now, but that is probably thanks to an arthouse distributor that handpicks a couple of critically acclaimed foreign films every year. Korean films, Japanese animation and films that do well in the Cannes film festival are more likely to get picked as those seem to do reasonably well with the mainstream audiences too.

If you google "Close 2022" followed by the name of your country then you'll hopefully get some hits. And if not, then I reckon it will be available on streaming soon. Maybe on Mubi?
 

Castia

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Finally got to see Avatar: TWotW in 3D IMAX and it was brilliant. Not sure it would gave hit the same in 2D or at home but it sure was made for IMAX and u can’t wait for the next part.
 

Unam333

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It's in regular movie theatres everywhere where I live now, but that is probably thanks to an arthouse distributor that handpicks a couple of critically acclaimed foreign films every year. Korean films, Japanese animation and films that do well in the Cannes film festival are more likely to get picked as those seem to do reasonably well with the mainstream audiences too.

If you google "Close 2022" followed by the name of your country then you'll hopefully get some hits. And if not, then I reckon it will be available on streaming soon. Maybe on Mubi?
Thanks. I will look into it.
I haven't checked the synopsis yet, but if it's really that emotional as you say it is, then it will be one of those movies that you only watch it once even though they are amazing (like The Mist and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas).
 

Wing Attack Plan R

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Address Unknown - Another of Kim Ki-duk's brutal social realist movies, this time about a small Korean village where characters include a man who kills and sells dogs, a women fawning over a missing GI who she sends letters despite them never getting there, her angry bastard son, and a girl with a bad eye who gets manipulated by an American soldier.

Horrible won't describe it but there's beauty that punctuates between all the awful shit - which is a clever way to heighten nice things that might otherwise not get proper attention. You kinda have to look beyond all the surface level shit to see these are characters struggling as much with themselves as they are with a society that has mostly left them behind.

Would I recommend it? Hell no but it's a good movie. Not as good nor as horrible to watch as Bad Guy but close.
That is the bleakest set up for a movie I’ve ever heard of. Sounds like something @Mr Pigeon would write.
 

Sweet Square

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The only good JJ Abrams film was his beat for beat remake of Star Wars.
Yeah he is safe pair of hands at copying other directors work(Super 8 is just a spielberg sci fi clone), which I’m guessing is why he gets the big films.

Weirdly he seems to have directed one episode of the US Office.
 

Drawfull

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Triangle of Sadness

Another Hollywood movie trying to be funny* and edgy and failing. The second part was just about OK, until the captain's dinner which felt massively forced. The rest is a mish-mash of role-reversal and societal-hierarchy switching. God knows how it won Palme D'Or, or indeed how it's nominated for Best Picture.

Some of the cast were great (the lead, sadly passed now and Woody were stand-outs; the Russian guy (from 2012?) was good). The rest, not so much.

*If you find people projectile vomiting and/or shitting, people in semi-vegatative states, people falling over at sea (there's honestly not much more to it) funny, then your mileage may vary.

2/10
 

Dirty Schwein

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Promising Young Woman
A woman acts drunk and easy to lure men into taking her home and potentially raping her before turning the tables on them. Basically a feminist revenge movie commentating on rape-culture. It was fine, well shot and superbly acted by the lead but felt like they could have done more. The revenge element mainly was more like "don't do that again or you'll be in trouble next time" as opposed to her actually making the men suffer. Also, the film makes its point within the fist scene and then just keeps making the point over and over without anything else really to say. The ending took me by surprise a little though 6/10
 

Sweet Square

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Honestly this just happens to be MI2 but that aside amazing that this is possible



 

ChrisNelson

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Has anyone seen Til? Might see it Saturday.
Yes, enjoyed it.

A harrowing story but as with anything like that it's important it's never forgotten.

Danielle Deadwyler is fantastic as Mamie Till and although she's not in a huge amount of the film, Haley Bennett as Carolyn Bryant (the shopkeeper) really makes you hate her character which is a sign of a good performance.

Definitely worth seeing.