VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Devon Malcolm]

Forgotten Island

Well this was fantastic. Probably Dreamworks' best animated film to date. Same co-director as The Croods 2 and Puss in Boots, and I love both of those but this was even better. Same absolutely mental pace but never tiring with it. Funny and emotional without being obnoxious about it, and the voice work is spot on. Dave Franco as a were-dog the unexpected highlight. The Never Tear Us Apart montage scene is an instant classic. Delighted to have dragged myself away from Mario Wonder to see it.

Pressure

The WWII meteorology film is good, no really! No big surprises here but well acted by all (even Brendan Fraser, who I've never got outside The Mummy films) and destined to be a dad film classic. I was the only one in so even better.

Spider Island

There was a time when Christopher Smith was on course to become one of the best horror directors in the world (remember when I used to bully you all into watching Triangle) - but that time has long since passed. Takes a lot for me to not enjoy a monster movie like this but it's just not good. You do get to see Tim McInnerny lick a toad but just watch Sting or Infested instead.

Evil Dead Burn

I suppose it was only a matter of time before this franchise tackled TRAUMA. The previous one wasn't very good, this is quite shit. Just tiresome brutality with no break and an amazingly stupid post-credits scene. Stop making these now.

Handsome Guys

Korean loose remake of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. Just as funny, even stupider. Loses marks for no Katrina Bowden, gets them back with Gong Seung-yeon. Really enjoyed this.

Queens of the Dead

Disappointed in this. Directed by George Romero's daughter but doesn't contain anywhere near enough horror or danger. Katy O'Brien and Jack Haven (<3) are ace but just watch Slay instead if you want a good drag queen horror-comedy.

Slugs

Superbly disgusting horror film about a mutant slug invasion of an American town. Some awesome practical effects in this. Reminded me of The Blob (remake) in all good ways. What a great double-bill that would be.

The Devil Rides Out

One of Hammer's best. Christopher Lee as a good guy for once, some lovely cheesy effects, never stops being a great time. One of the best folk horrors.

Maniac Cop / Maniac Cop 2

William Lustig and Larry Cohen was a match made in B-movie heaven. Both these are still great, especially the first one. I'm conflicted on Matt Cordell killing all these cops while also being a cop, though. We never did get the Refn remake, did we. Thank fuck.

The Exorcist III

This is so fucking good. Deserves to be regarded as a classic in its own right rather than as 'the good Exorcist sequel'. Can confirm *that* scene is still one of the scariest ever created.

Haunted School

Awesome Japanese kids horror film about some kids trapped in, well, a haunted school. Lovely effects, always quite mental, surprised it was never remade in America. If you can find it you won't regret it.

[gmoney]

Fire in the Sky

Interesting alien abduction movie that whiffs the ending completely. I didn't realise until after I watched it that it was based on someone's memoir of their claim they were abducted, which sort of explains why it fizzles out. The scenes on the space ship are genuinely excellent though, and it's a really well shot film.

R.O.T.O.R

There are millions of low budget, terrible rip off films out there, but only a few (Samurai Cop, Miami Connection) have that magic fascinating watchability where every scene your wondering why any choice was made, and what shite is coming up next. This belongs in that family. This is a Robocop/Terminator knock off which was apparently first written as a comedy but then attempted to be turned into something more serious. The remnants of jokes in the script are by far the least funny thing about it. 

Cry-Baby

Love John Walters, loved this film. Johnny Depp is in it, which is a bummer these days, but it's just wall to wall fun otherwise. 

Edited Friday at 03:52 PM by gmoney

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Just on the way back from seeing Street Fighter and gotta say it’s the absolute definition of a popcorn flick, it’s not as corny as the 90s movie, though there’s a couple of nods to that and the action scenes are well done if a little CG heavy

As for the actors well David Dastmalchian is superb as Bison, Noah Centineo and Andrew Koji are perfectly cast as Ken and Ryu and Jason Momoa steals the scene as Blanka in the same way he did as Lobo in Supergirl over the summer

Cody is ok as Guile, certainly better than JCVD was, but doesn’t really play that big a part, Roman phones it in as Akuma as most of his appearances come in the anime flashbacks and Goto only appears for one fight scene as Honda

Its a solid 7/10 and I’ll be down for a sequel for sure

[SaitoRyo]

@Devon Malcolm Might need to revisit Exorcist III. I remember thinking a lot of it, but it's been years and years. And @gmoney did you check out Fire in the Sky based on my recent watching? I really, really liked it and the ending didn't really stick out as bad to me personally. It had already built up a lot of goodwill with me by that point, mind. 

Anyway...

Special Effects

A egomaniacal film director kills a budding starlet and then makes a movie about it, casting her estranged husband in the lead role.

A very strange and interesting film, this, directed by Larry Cohen. Sort of like a giallo with a bit of the De Palmas about it. Some incredibly vibrant colours and great set design. Script's not all that and the performances vary, but I was intrigued throughout and I love anything that captures gritty 80s New York. I'd call it 'good trash'.

[gmoney]

7 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

 And @gmoney did you check out Fire in the Sky based on my recent watching? I really, really liked it and the ending didn't really stick out as bad to me personally. It had already built up a lot of goodwill with me by that point, mind. 

I didn't actually remember your review (don't take that personally, I remember almost nothing, ever), it's actually coming up on a move podcast I listen to (shout out Action Boyz). I just felt for what they had built up it was very flat, but I do rate the movie highly overall. 

[mim731]

Street Fighter

Great craic. Dumb, fun and utterly silly. Loved it. 

 

 

[WyattSheepMask]

Finally got around to seeing The Odyssey yesterday.

I know it’s got its Home release coming next month and I’d happily watch it again, but I’m glad that my first viewing was in the cinema. An incredibly well made film dragged down slightly by Tom Holland. I’m generally indifferent to him at the best of times, sometimes he’s fine sometimes he’s not, and this was one of his nots. 
The Score was phenomenal throughout it too, going to try and pick up the Vinyl release of that if it’s not ridiculously priced.

With the news that The Prince Charles Cinema has been saved with its new 25 year no break clause lease, they should definitely run a Troy & The Odyssey Double Feature

Edited yesterday at 07:18 AM by WyattSheepMask

[Fog Dude]

Birthday double bill of Street Fighter followed by Forgotten Island this afternoon/evening and yes, in that order so the former was almost empty and the latter packed with the intended audience, i.e. tweenage girls. Thoroughly enjoyed them in different ways. The films, I mean.

Street Fighter probably works best if you have some affinity for the source material like most here, and/or if you're familiar with the original attempt to bring the IP to live action (which is the main reason my big sister's curious about it). Didn't outstay its welcome and the performances of leading WWE stars were adequate. Wasn't expecting them to go all in on the expectation of a sequel already.

Thought they were gonna go with a different ending for Forgotten Island but then it had another 20 minutes to run. Terrific to find out that cheap knock-off trainers can stop you from being a troglodyte. Was wondering where I'd heard the voice of the adorable mushroom warrior from before, and it turns out it's Ronny Chieng from The Daily Show.

Surprisingly, there were a couple of similarities as both movies use anime sequences to fill in backstory (occasionally in a deliberately unreliable way). Both also feel firmly rooted in the early 90s aside from somehow including Who Let The Dogs Out? from the year 2000 diegetically in their soundtracks.

[Jazzy G]

Just finished Street Fighter and it was so much better than I expected or it had any right to be. The soundtrack was a bit all over the place in terms of the time the movie is set, but enjoyable, and the score was great. I can't believe they're setting up a sequel, but at the absolute worst they can stick it out on Paramount Plus. You could tell they had a lot of respect for Street Fighter. There are loads of lovely little easter eggs and nods. 

Spoiler

I absolutely lost my shit when Dan turned up in his outfit.

Well worth a watch. I'm so glad I decided to come and see it. I thought it was going to enjoy how bad it was, but I legit enjoyed it. 

[DavidB6937]

A Whalefall and Street Fighter double bill today. Glad I did them in that order! Really enjoyed both. Both arguably ridiculous and dumb. Austin Abrams has had a great year. It was a little over sentimental but I enjoyed the tense moments. And then obviously the pure insanity of SF lifted the mood. Utterly stupid. Cody is basically Cody with Guile hair. Roman is only in it for a bit. Jason Momoa was basically himself but green. Really wasnt sure about DD as Bison when I saw the casting but made more sense the way he was played in the movie. The rest of the cast were pretty solid and yes I'm definitely crushing on Chun-Li and Cammy all over again.

[Onyx2]

What a ludicrous pile of shit Street Fighter is. 

I was under no illusion what I was walking into but owed it to 12 year old me to see it. It's packed with easter eggs but sadly, also packed with plot as they try to hamfistedly put everything in. It's stuffed to the gills so much Guile 

Spoiler

Loses his tournament match offscreen. 

That's when they bother to show the tournament. The Ryu / Ken story is the interesting bit which shoved aside when they realise Chun Li needs something to do. 

The audience fell about laughing at the

Spoiler

Incredulous use of What's Going On as smelling salts. 

And not one person commented on my Kenny Omega shirt. 

 

EDIT: just realised I want @Supremo to review it like an episode of Raw. 

Edited 10 hours ago by Onyx2

[Jazzy G]

That was the other musical anachronism. Ryu listening to it in 1987 is almost as anachronistic as Baha Men, and I'm pretty sure More Human Than Human by White Zombie was post 93 as well (it was 95, Black Hole Sun was 1994). As great as the soundtrack was, none of it was from the right time. What's Up came out in 93. The soundtrack is good, but terribly inaccurate. 

[davertfnewman]

Surprised to hear What's Up was used so quickly after being used in Masters of the Universe, where it fit better for a number of reasons.