VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Mr_Danger]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

Andrew Schultz is one of those right-wing libertarian snide cunts. Absolute helmet.

Schulz is deffo one of Rogans ‘edgy’ mates but Eric Andre is good people as far as I know. Definitely not MAGA.

[BomberPat]

I watched Godzilla Minus Zero at the IMAX last night - first time seeing anything in IMAX, so that was fun. 

I was the low man of my group, everyone else absolutely loved it. I thought it was good, but obviously not a patch on Minus One - how could it be? - and a bit clunky in places. The plot seemed to revolve entirely around someone saying they had a plan, then not telling you what the plan was, so half the film was characters flying around in planes while someone barked orders over a walkie-talkie to another group of people to do something that hadn't been explained to the audience. 

The first film did such a good job of threading the needle of Godzilla as a metaphor for the nuclear bomb, and dealing with survivor's guilt, post-war reconstruction, and trauma in general, without ever feeling silly for it, and I don't think this one nailed those themes at all, they just had a lot of characters saying them out loud repeatedly. The human element was so strong in Minus One, and so weak and hackneyed in this one, with some absolutely preposterous acting from Min Tanaka at one point, that it's a good thing that the monster designs were really strong, and that it was visually interesting enough to make up for it. Some fucking dreadful CGI crows, though, it briefly turned into Birdemic for a couple of minutes.

[SaitoRyo]

City of Industry

Late-90s neo-noir starring Harvey Keitel as a retired thief who vows revenge on the man who double crossed him after his last heist. 

This was perfectly fine. A professionally-made film with a great lead performance by Keitel. It's not to be lumped in with the rest of the post-Tarantino crime films from that era, as the criminals don't sit around spouting post-modern pop-culture references (thank God). It's a simple story, decently told and they get it wrapped up within 100 minutes. It has some late-90s/early 2000s things that I don't like it (some of the music, the way certain scenes are shot etc.), but I'd say it's worth a watch overall, especially if you're a Keitel fan (and you'd be a fool not to be really). It's on Tubi.

[Hannibal Scorch]

On 11/5/2026 at 2:44 PM, Supremo said:

Street Fighter truly did feel like, “WWE Monday Night Raw The Movie.” A bloated, style-over-substance, empty-calorie mess that I enjoyed in the moment but will never ever watch again.

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Fittingly, Cody Rhodes plays the most ridiculous man to ever live. Equal parts preposterous and magnetic. The role he was born to play. Funny though; even in playing Guile, with that hair, they still decided his neck tattoo was too ridiculous, so covered it up. What an indictment on your stupid tattoo, RollerCodester. Not even Guile, in the fictional world of Street Fighter, would rock that ink! Laser it off already!

I wonder if Cody would only agree to covering up the tattoo if he could do the job off-screen. Felt downright bizarre when they randomly announced he was already eliminated. The way everything fell apart in the final act, I’m assuming there’s some mad three-hour cut that they’ll eventually release to streaming.

Similarly, Roman Reigns also plays himself. Doesn’t bother turning up for any of the build up, only appearing at the pay per view (tournament) itself, to the point wherein it took me a second to even realise he was playing the same character from the earlier anime sections. Lazy prick, relying on video packages to do the hard work for him. 

It even had those annoying celebrity appearances, straight out of Raw! I don’t even know if Andrew Schulz or Eric Andre are MAGA whoppers, but they’ve spent enough time on WWE television for me to assume as much. Biggest surprise was Dana White not making an appearance.

A load of silly bullshit. Three and a half stars. Will watch the sequel if it comes out. WWE Smackdown The Movie. We love to have fun.

 

I made a similar comment on social media and it was like kicking a hornets nest.

[Jazzy G]

Wow, what an experience Godzilla Minus Zero was. I didn't expect them to go there with their choice of villain, but it was done really well. The stakes escalated, sneaky Americans with their nefarious scheme. 

The underlying theme about running/hiding front your trauma was there. These Godzilla movies are always about the emotions and feelings of the characters, and the monsters turn up and have a scrap. The professor's obsession with avenging Hiroshima, Noda and Aoyama wanting to make amends for their past failures. Noriko accepting herself after what she went through. Koichi right there by her side as they go through it all again. It's always the people's story, Godzilla and Co just happen to be there for the exciting monster fighting fun. 

Spoiler

I thought it was Rodan at first, in spite of them using Ghidorah's theme over the Toho logo at the beginning. The scene where they were trying to get the lightning connectors into him and he turns into King Ghidorah, combined with the scene at sea where Godzilla turns up had me losing my shit. It was great execution. 

The moment where it looks like it's all over and then Godzilla turns up then fires the atomic breath and the music for that initial fight scene was amazing. The little "too soon" from Professor Noda as well. Sets up the final. Act beautifully.

The whole fight between Godzilla and King Ghidora was classic Toho kaiju throw down fun. Cutting off a head with the tail spine was great, and the ending when Ghidorah spouts the Godzilla spines and starts getting his own atomic breath ready at the end? It had been set up at the beginning with the talk of absorbing traits of animals it came into contact with. There were some fantastic visuals throughout and the monster scenes were spectacular. 

I don't know where they'd go from here, or whether you would go somewhere from here. Some kind of 1950s or 60s American built Mecha-Godzilla? Biollante, as was teased for this one? Mothra? There are options. Cast somebody as an older Akiko? This iteration of Godzilla feels like it needs to be more than just "a monster has turned up, how do we send for Godzilla?" It's about Koichi, Noriko and Akiko and how Godillza etc impacts their lives. I guess you could do something about the fugitive lifestyle and how everybody around you just wants to use you, combined with having to step up and do your bit, but some of that would just reread this one. 

It works as a little two hander., and I don't think we need any more from here, especially since they've done pretty much everything that needs to be done in terms of Godzilla and enemies. Let this be its own cycle and leave it in its own bubble, like Shin Godzilla, and the other Godzilla eras before it.

Sorry for the essay. Best movie I've seen at the cinema all year. How To Rob A Bank looked like it could be entertaining from its trailer. Not sure what to make of that Danny Boyle film about that shitty newspaper.