Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

[Sweet Square]

We live in interesting times. Never thought I'd see the day when Frankenhooker was talked about reverently, yet here we are. Not disagreeing with your idea that it's the best version, just feels like I'm in an alternate universe where people not only know this movie exists, but also like it.

One best things about the internet is finding films I had no idea existed. I’ve got Frankenhooker on blu ray but have yet to watch it. Tbh I was sort of hoping it might get a cinema release to due Poor Things.

The Frankenstein genre is so fascinating.

 

[Sweet Square]

@berbatrick

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[Mickeza]

Watched the new Ghostbusters - it is perfectly enjoyable, made me laugh a few times and no clue why it’s getting the reviews it is.

 

[Cheimoon]

I’m glad you watched it a second time round and enjoyed it more but I agree with pretty much everything CoopersDream has said here. It’s a rare 10/10 movie for me - and a pretty perfect adaption of the book (not saying it’s a faithful adaption but a perfect adaptation from book to screen).

What you have to remember with this movie is that our protagonist is Tommy Lee Jones’ character, so the bleakness and emptiness of the situation comes from his framing of the story. He’s not saving the day and killing the bad guy. He’s retiring because he doesn’t understand the world and society he’s been a sheriff for all of this time. In fact he’s fearful of this world now and he doesn’t recognise it (that scene where he enters the motel room and he imagines Javier Bardem hiding behind a cupboard with a gun for example). The other element to consider is the lack of control from all three central characters - no one gets what they want in the end. Bardem doesn’t kill Brolin or recover the cash, Lee Jones doesn’t save Brolin, and Brolin doesn’t survive. Bardem tries to force his own warped form of order and control on the world but even he is left walking into the sunset half broken due to a car crash which happens out of the blue.

Anywho, can I recommend you read Blood Meridian next @Cheimoon it’s the same author as No Country for Old Men.

Yeah, I get all that. I guess ultimately the movie isn't for me, cause that sort of plot doesn't much appeal to me overall. I mean, I can see the greatness of it, I can recognize what it's doing, and I really like it up to the final minutes - and then I'm just disappointed that it ends the way it does, while acknowledging it probably couldn't end differently.

It's like fusion (jazz-rock): I love the sound and feel, but ultimately I want my music to be bit more song-focused. I'm a simple guy that way.

 

[Gringo]

Watched the new Ghostbusters - it is perfectly enjoyable, made me laugh a few times and no clue why it’s getting the reviews it is.

I have a Odeon limitless membership and a lot of the times I go by reviews on what I'm going to watch. I had booked Ghostbusters but then cancelled due to the reviews so I might go back and see it now after your suggestion.

 

[The Corinthian]

Yeah, I get all that. I guess ultimately the movie isn't for me, cause that sort of plot doesn't much appeal to me overall. I mean, I can see the greatness of it, I can recognize what it's doing, and I really like it up to the final minutes - and then I'm just disappointed that it ends the way it does, while acknowledging it probably couldn't end differently.

It's like fusion (jazz-rock): I love the sound and feel, but ultimately I want my music to be bit more song-focused. I'm a simple guy that way.

Fair dos, but don’t forget my book recommendation!

 

[berbatrick]

@berbatrick

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you guys have no idea how simultaenously powerful and thin-skinned one country can get

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[Mickeza]

I have a Odeon limitless membership and a lot of the times I go by reviews on what I'm going to watch. I had booked Ghostbusters but then cancelled due to the reviews so I might go back and see it now after your suggestion.

I love the first and went in with low expectations due to the reviews so maybe that plays a part - but I’d say it’s at least on a par with after life.

 

[Sweet Square]

you guys have no idea how simultaenously powerful and thin-skinned one country can get

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Finally I can justify my dislike of Peele! This review

Spoiler

https://www.ign.com/articles/monkey-man-review#:~:text=This review is based on,muddled politics and tepid execution.

suggests the politics of the film are over the place and right wing. I can see Monkey Man turning out like Shin Godzilla in that most western audiences will see the fun action and not the insane right wing politics.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Finally I can justify my dislike of Peele! This review

Spoiler

https://www.ign.com/articles/monkey-man-review#:~:text=This review is based on,muddled politics and tepid execution.

suggests the politics of the film are over the place and right wing. I can see Monkey Man turning out like Shin Godzilla in that most western audiences will see the fun action and not the insane right wing politics.

I like Dev but this sounds like a pile of poop.
I’ve seen some hyperbole about Peele being the greatest horror director of all time, but I personally feel his films suck balls. Go back and watch Get Out and notice when the film goes off the rails as the reshot scenes take place. He’s a very lucky man.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

I have a Odeon limitless membership and a lot of the times I go by reviews on what I'm going to watch. I had booked Ghostbusters but then cancelled due to the reviews so I might go back and see it now after your suggestion.

The Ghostbusters people should make the original pitch for the first film, which was supposed to be a straight, scary, story of the occult and demons arriving on earth, with a small band of occult experts tasked with stopping them. Think of a bloody, R-rated Ghostbusters. I’d see it. I have zero desire to see another version of the slapstick goofy shit VFX ghosts with new people wearing the uniforms and SHOUTING through the whole film, whether that’s an all-women team, cameos from the original team, or a bunch of shitty kid actors out in farmland.

 

[Massive Spanner]

I’m finding Anatomy of a Fall a reeeal struggle to get through. I get it’s meant to be a good film but it’s all so drab and boring so far.

 

[Gringo]

There's a definite lull in the middle, it picks up again once they get to court.

 

[Rooney in Paris]

I’m finding Anatomy of a Fall a reeeal struggle to get through. I get it’s meant to be a good film but it’s all so drab and boring so far.

Epitome of meh

 

[Dirty Schwein]

Epitome of meh

Sounds like a better title for the film

 

[Massive Spanner]

Epitome of meh

Yeah I managed to get through it. The performances are great and it’s well shot but I expected much more given all the acclaim it got. A rather meh experience, as you say. 2 1/2 hours was way too long, too.

 

[Rooney in Paris]

Sounds like a better title for the film

 

[Sweet Square]

I like Dev but this sounds like a pile of poop.

I’ll give it a watch as I’m alway interested in o

but it doesn’t look great. The action looks very similar to every modern action aka John Wick style. Which is very dull these days and non cinematic. I miss the John Woo days when action was used as form of storytelling. Plus the most recent trailer has In The Air Tonight playing throughout for some reason.

I’ve seen some hyperbole about Peele being the greatest horror director of all time, but I personally feel his films suck balls. Go back and watch Get Out and notice when the film goes off the rails as the reshot scenes take place. He’s a very lucky man.

Yeah the hyperbole is insane. Tbf to Peel he does know this as I remember him telling fans comparing him to John Carpenter to shut up. But still I agree he is very lucky. Speaks to lack of original Hollywood film makers. Also as producer he has backed a lot of crap.

 

[Suv666]

@berbatrick

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these fecking fascists have got insane pull. Feck them.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Café Society (2016)
Directed and Written by Woody Allen, with Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carrell.

I didn’t pick this one. I used to love Woody Allen’s films. He’s written and directed 50 movies, with probably 30 of those being classics. He’s been nominated for an Oscar 16 times for writing, and he’s won 3. He’s also a pervert.

This movie is easygoing and bland. It’s definitely not a comedy. You don’t care about any of the characters. A kid moves from NYC to Hollywood where his uncle is a big talent agent. He falls in love with his uncle’s assistant (and secret lover). She chooses the married uncle over him. He goes back to NYC and works in a nightclub with his gangster brother. He marries Blake Lively. His uncle and former girlfriend visit in NYC and they shoot smoldering looks. She goes home. The end.

Eisenberg is the same as he always is. Stewart can’t act. Sets look nice. Classic jazz soundtrack. Low stakes, unmoving, detached, and a little boring.

I would have been fine turning it off halfway and playing video games.
5/10

 

[Rooney in Paris]

Seeing the hate for Peele in here makes me sad

 

[duffer]

Roadhouse - 2024

So bad, it's bad.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Dumb Money

Biopic about the GameStop stock short squeeze. Rather good, very well put together, with a very good cast. Paul Dano is always a good watch, as is Sebastian Stan. Seth Rogen is surprisingly good in a non goofball comedic role, although his screen time is relatively brief. Really nice score too, mostly ambient and trippy minimal electronica. I always take more notice of a score when it's more synth-based, rather than orchestral, for some reason.


Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Bad. Worse than the previous one. I don't know why I paid to see it instead of waiting a couple of months for it to go to streaming. I hope this puts the franchise to bed, we don't need any more Ghostbusters. Though it does mean that all Ghostbusters films can be neatly ranked in the order they were released, with the original 2 in the top spots, the reboot in the middle, and these 2 latest steaming piles at the bottom. I know the 2016 reboot is hated, but despite it being a bang average comedy of made-for-TV quality, it's still better than Afterlife and Frozen Empire, by a distance.

 

[Wibble]

Seeing the hate for Peele in here makes me sad

I've only seen Get Out which was OK if rather on the nose.

 

[Sweet Square]

All Of US Strangers

Maybe my heart is turning cold but honestly this didn’t really work for me.

Substantially I don’t know if the film is any different than a Hallmark tv movie. Everyone in the film is just soooo nice and sad. There’s hardly any anger or conflict. The film seemed terrified at making the audience uncomfortable. Which for me leads to strange outcomes.

The abuse which these two men have faced and almost defines them(The characters rarely talks about anything else)is so watered down that it seems like they are overreacting. Homophobia in 70’s/80’s becomes gay men can’t play sports or bigoted views on adoption. But even this bigotry doesn’t last as by the end the mother and father have been cleansed of their ignorant ways. Despite how openly gay the film wants to be it’s pretty conservative when showing gay sex or even like a cock. There’s a few “sex scenes”’ but they are “artistically” done as to not offend.

Plus it did annoy me how the middle class bloke gets redemption and closure but the working class vibes coded Yorkshire lad get nothing.

Still there are positives like interesting mirror shots. Plus a scene where the main character watches Homes Under Hammer while eating digestive biscuits.

Overall more like a therapy sessions than cinema.

6/10

 

[Sweet Square]

Seeing the hate for Peele in here makes me sad

His directed movies are fine imo but overly massively praised.

I remember in a interview he said he would never make a film with a white lead or cast if he could. Which tbh sounds very strange but that progressive appeal is imo who his film are aimed at(Keke Palmer doing a awful Akira bike, etc).

Tbh his work wouldn’t be as annoying if I didn’t recently found out he signed a god awful letter pretty much thanking Biden for giving Israel bombs.

 

[Rooney in Paris]

His directed movies are fine imo but overly massively praised.

I remember in a interview he said he would never make a film with a white lead or cast if he could. Which tbh sounds very strange but that’s progressive appeal is imo who his film are aimed. Keke Palmer doing the Akira slide is cinematic for some unknown reason.

Tbh it wouldn’t be as annoying if I didn’t recently found out he signed a god awful letter pretty much thanking Biden for giving Israel bombs.

Didn't know about that last part. As for the bolded... Not exactly his fault and does it really matter?

 

[Sweet Square]

Didn't know about that last part.

I had no idea until I saw a tweet replying to the new Monkey Man trailer. The letter was over a year ago and then he signed a ceasefire afterwards. Just bizarre and opportunist. Still god awful politics doesn’t mean the guy is a terrible dictator. Although tbh seeing the indifference from a lot directors while not surprising is still depressing. So far away from what Jean-Luc Godard called solidarity cinema.

As for the bolded... Not exactly his fault and does it really matter?

Definitely isn’t his fault and he knows the hype around him is over the top. In the end it doesn’t really matter as it’s just movies and if Peele wasn’t popular something else(and potentially worse) would get made instead.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Dumb Money

Biopic about the GameStop stock short squeeze. Rather good, very well put together, with a very good cast. Paul Dano is always a good watch, as is Sebastian Stan. Seth Rogen is surprisingly good in a non goofball comedic role, although his screen time is relatively brief. Really nice score too, mostly ambient and trippy minimal electronica. I always take more notice of a score when it's more synth-based, rather than orchestral, for some reason.

God is merciful.

 

[ColvaleGoa]

Late Night with the Devil had a collection of 666,666. At the box office.

 

[Salt Bailly]

Late Night with the Devil had a collection of 666,666. At the box office.

That's up there with No Time To Die's worldwide gross of $774,153,007.

 

[Cheimoon]

Seeing the hate for Peele in here makes me sad

Yeah, it's unfortunate. I agree that Get Out is a little too on the nose, but there's no way it's a bad film. And I haven't seen Us, but I thought Nope was really very good, even if I can understand why it isn't for everyone. I don't know where that classifies Peele (three films anyway isn't a large body of work), but you just can't say he's a poor film maker.

 

[Sweet Square]

Possession(1981)

Well that was fecking horrible.

9/10

 

[CoopersDream]

Possession(1981)

Well that was fecking horrible.

9/10

I enjoyed that quite a bit, but my lasting thought was mostly that I didn't know what it was that I watched. Interesting film nonetheless.

 

[Sweet Square]

I enjoyed that quite a bit, but my lasting thought was mostly that I didn't know what it was that I watched. Interesting film nonetheless.

Yep same. I got a vague handle of some the themes but overall I’m going to have to dig deeper.

I’ve watched another film by Zuławski called On The Sliver Globe and the experience was very similar. Confused but in awe at what was on screen. Very interesting director.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Yeah, it's unfortunate. I agree that Get Out is a little too on the nose, but there's no way it's a bad film. And I haven't seen Us, but I thought Nope was really very good, even if I can understand why it isn't for everyone. I don't know where that classifies Peele (three films anyway isn't a large body of work), but you just can't say he's a poor film maker.

He dwells in the grey expanse between GOAT and poor.

 

[Sweet Square]

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[Cheimoon]

He dwells in the grey expanse between GOAT and poor.

At least he's not alone there.

 

[Dirty Schwein]

Road House (2024)
Watching Jake Gyllenhall walk around beating people up and smiling for the first half of the film was amusing but then they introduced Conor McGregor and it became a different film. He was over the top cartoonish with that silly walk where he forbids his thighs to touch... It just became a car crash of movie. Jake was overall decent in it but McGregor really really really made it a laughable movie. Also, so unrealistic that McGregor didn't tap to the rear naked choke, must have been his input into the script 4/10

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

Love Lies Bleeding

What a fantastic 21st century noir from an up and coming director Rose Glass and A24. I feel like there should be another name for how these directors are playing with old noir themes and tropes in new ways. Neo-noir started around the 70s so 50 years on I think they should have new name for the direction these newer noir are moving. Neon-noir is more about the visual aspects of Refn and others and this could, at a stretch, qualify for that name but it could be something new.

Anyway I loved this movie. The acting rivals any great noir. Kristen Stewart and Katy Obrian put in gritty, believable and compelling performances. Great supporting roles from Jena Malone and weirdo Anna Baryshnikov and Ed Harris is perfect for his role.

It's a masterclass in show don't tell and the dialogue nevers get expository like super hero films. Dialogue is fantastic and almost on par with Sexy Beast which is one of the best examples of using dialogue correctly in film history.

By flipping some tropes around, it brings out some great themes. This is a great feminist movie, it's a great commentary on the 80s and plays with crime and punishment themes. Also, obviously love. And it brings in a dash of magical realism that is also metaphor with a touch of body horror.

I can see this appealing to horror fans like @Dirty Schwein to fans of feminist movies to anyone that appreciates the last 50 years of neo-noir. Megan Abbot would love this movie since she is all three.

Between this and Dune in the last two weeks, I'm loving the quality of 2024 movies so far.