Red

News, Reviews & Features
  • Review: The Aeronauts is an uplifting ode to the spirit of discovery

    Movie Review | Luke Whiston | 26th March 2020

    There's something compelling about a singular premise. Gravity and The Martian both made good use of theirs, squeezing every second of tension out of a sequence of continually escalating nightmare scenarios, all in service of one outcome. What those films have in common are protagonists who want to survive not just through a desire to see their efforts validated, but also as avatars of a very human need to prove we can overcome the challenges of nature as a species able to shape the world around us. It's affecting, connective stuff, and rings true on a fundamental level. But whereas Matt Damon's character in The Martian mostly concerned himself with potatoes, if I've learnt anything from The Aeronauts it's to always carry a knife.

  • Review: See You Yesterday is a deft causality caper with a message

    Movie Review | Luke Whiston | 7th June 2019

    Confession: once at an old job I accidentally sent a test email campaign to a contact list of 40,000 people, with the subject 'Test XXX' and body content consisting of a single centrally aligned picture of a cartoon dog. The point I'm illustrating is that some mistakes can't be undone, leaving you with no choice but to live with the consequences. But hang on, you ask, why not simply travel back in time to stop yourself clicking 'Send' in the first place? Yeah sure I could take the easy route, but that small tinkering could change the man I am today. And besides, I've just seen See You Yesterday, which makes a strong case for leaving the past well alone.

  • Marvel's Cine-CHAT-ic Universe: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

    Movie Feature | Matt Looker, Ali Gray, Becky Suter, Luke Whiston, Ed Williamson | 27th February 2019

    Following the low-point (both in terms of the MCU and our attempts at having an insightful discussion) that was Thor: The Dark World, we’re back on track now with Captain America’s first solo sequel. Don’t let that fool you though - we certainly haven’t stepped up our game in any way. The recurring feature of diminishing returns continues!

  • Incredibles 2

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 9th July 2018

    With more than a decade between Toy Stories or Finding Fish Characters, Pixar’s recent run of belated sequels is clearly part of a canny business plan rather than a sign of creative exhaustion, because these franchise returns do the job of appealing to both the original fans and a whole new generation of toy-demanders. If this has always been the strategy though, Incredibles 2 takes home the trophy for longest audience payoff of all time. Because, with the original film invoking everyone’s childhood fantasies of wanting to be superpowered, this sequel - delivered 14 years later - teaches those of us that have become parents in the meantime that our wish has been fulfilled: we now are heroes.

  • All 154 characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ranked

    Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 25th April 2018

    Avengers: Infinity War signals the end of the first 10 years of Marvel movies and over the past decade we've gotten know the countless characters that have resided within the Marvel Cinematic Universe more intimately than our own weekend lovers. How better to pay our respects to the extended Marvel family than by systematically ranking each notable character from the MCU, pitting them all against one another in an arbitrary internet Royal Rumble? Fight! Fight! Fight!

  • Avengers: Infinity War

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 25th April 2018

    In every way that matters – and it matters in every way – Avengers: Infinity War is basically the biggest movie ever. Ten years in the making, producing some of the highest grossing films on record and some of the most recognisable characters and franchises in the world, it’s astonishing that this climactic crossover event combining all of them in one big-screen adventure is even possible. What’s more astonishing is that it somehow meets every single impossible expectation you have for it.

  • The Snowman

    Movie Review | Ali Gray | 12th October 2017

    Murder mysteries exist in a weird sort of critical stasis while you're watching them, because any story that hinges on an explosive final act reveal floats in limbo until it has shown its hand. Such a reveal - a surprise identity, a killer motive, a shock twist - may cause you to reassess everything you've already seen. The best films of the genre do just that: they cleverly subvert what you think you saw, fill in plot gaps you didn't know were there and, like a smug serial killer, flaunt the fact that they've been one step ahead of you the whole time. Yeah, The Snowman does not do any of that. You watch attentively and wait patiently and cross your legs and twiddle your thumbs but come the crushingly disappointing final act, the only dawning realisation you have is this: The Snowman is a bad movie and it turns out it had been all along. Twist!

  • Marvel's Cine-CHAT-ic Universe: The Incredible Hulk (2008)

    Movie Feature | Ali Gray, Matt Looker, Becky Suter, Ed Williamson | 10th October 2017

    It's official: part two of this new feature means it definitely qualifies as a 'regular', although we haven't quite pinned down how often we'll be catching up with the Marvel movies - it basically comes down to when ITV2 get round to showing the next one. And as nobody came up with a better title, it's time to HULK SMASH the 'Read full article' button and enjoy the next chapter of (*winces*) Marvel's Cine-CHAT-ic Universe: The Incredible Hulk.

  • Blade Runner 2049

    Movie Review | Ali Gray | 4th October 2017

    With all memories of the Ghost In The Shell remake already lost like tears in rain, it's time to leave behind the replicants and look forward to a replican. Blade Runner 2049 is that rarest of sequels: a belated, big-budget blockbuster follow-up that feels like the real deal, not a synthetic knock-off. Not only has Denis Villeneuve managed to capture the essence of what made Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi classic so captivating, he's expanded the Blade Runner universe, growing the original not just visually and geographically but thematically too. Where the first film felt impossibly claustrophobic and hemmed in, possibly due to it being a good few decades ahead of the curve in terms of budget and effects, here the enormity of Scott's aspirations are unleashed in spectacular fashion.

  • Rewriting the synopsis of Our Souls At Night, the title of an actual film

    Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 9th August 2017

    If you are British, you are probably already laughing at that title. If you're American, you're probably wondering what all the fuss is about. If so, please read this tweaked synopsis, which I punched up to play to the film's biggest strength: its amazing title.