VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[DavidB6937]

Quite a few 30 day free trials up on Prime Video for various channels if that's your sort of thing:

BFI Player

Hallmark TV

ITV Hub +

MGM

Shudder

Curzon

MUBI

[Lorne Malvo]

Few things I've caught up with lately;

Turning Red - Really enjoyed this. Fun and breezy, the type of thing Pixar are great at. Weirdly I've heard lots of praise for the third act but I found that to be the most generic part, but this is pretty ace overall. 4 Town are great.

The Adam Project - Just about gets by on the charm of its two leads. It's perfectly fine Friday night fodder but I've already forgotten most of it. It's got that weird mix Netflix films sometimes have where some of it looks incredible and other bits look like they were made for £2.50.

Red Rocket - I loved this. Simon Rex is as good as advertised. His Mikey Sabre is an absolute dickhead of a bloke but I still warmed to the prick. Suzanna Son is great too.

Deep Water - Not as sexy as I expected and really quite repetitive. Ana De Armas (wearing a lot of backless dresses which justifies its existence) shags around while Ben Affleck looks increasingly glum. There's the odd decent moment of tension but for the most part it's quite boring.

Fresh - Sebastian Shaw is having so much fun with this. It's a good mix of Raw and Get Out without being on their level, but I enjoyed it.

Windfall - Jesse Plemons makes an excellent dickhead and it was nice seeing Jason Segel in a different role for him. Tight little thriller, I liked it.

[Devon Malcolm]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (cinema)

Sonic and Tails have a dance-off with some Siberians in a pub.

[Dead Mike]

14 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (cinema)

Sonic and Tails have a dance-off with some Siberians in a pub.

5 stars!

Taking the eldest on Friday. We both enjoyed the first, if it's on a par I'll be chuffed.

[Devon Malcolm]

55 minutes ago, Dead Mike said:

5 stars!

Taking the eldest on Friday. We both enjoyed the first, if it's on a par I'll be chuffed.

It's basically the same thing except with Tails and Knuckles. I wasn't praying for death or anything but I wouldn't have objected if I'd fallen asleep during it either.

[Thunderplex]

The Seed -Shudder.  Adequate modern day take on the old 80’s alien take over movies.  Bits reminded me of Xtro.  Mostly practical effects which is nice.  Don’t expect much and you’ll be entertained.

Edited April 11, 2022 by Thunderplex

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Took up a sub to Shudder’s Amazon channel after seeing the offer talked about on here, made watching In Search of Darkness 2 my first watch on it. Really good follow up to the first documentary albeit it lengthy at just over 4.5 hours and featured quite a few titles I’d never heard of before

[Hannibal Scorch]

Apollo 10 1/2 (Netflix) Richard Linklater does another live action film I am drawing over to look animated film. This one being like an Apollo 11 film mixed with King Of The Hill and a smidge of A Christmas Story. It was enjoyable, but people who grew up in the 60's will probably enjoy it most.

Fantastic Beasts 3. Mads is good, but JK Rowling making a Nazi movie is not what the world needs right now. Not awful but this franchise could and should end now and she should sell the rights over to WB and let them loose with her Wizarding World.

Edited April 12, 2022 by Hannibal Scorch

[BomberPat]

The Sparks Brothers - meant to see this when it came out, combination of timing and Covid restrictions meant I couldn't. Got round to it now that it's on Netflix. It's a testament to how much I love Sparks that I was willing to watch a two and a half hour movie about them, and I'm glad I did because it's bloody lovely. None of the talking heads felt they were doing a lazy "I Love The 80s" bit of remembering, they all seemed genuinely excited to talk about Sparks, and genuine in their enthusiasm and love for the band. And how could you not be? Bloody brilliant. Peeled back the curtain just enough to give you a bit of insight, but not enough to kill any of their mystique. 

The way it contextualised all of their albums has given me new appreciation for some that I'd kind of dismissed, too, so I fully intend to work my way back through my lesser-touched bits of the back catalogue.

[Mr_Danger]

8 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

 

Fantastic Beasts 3. Mads is good, but JK Rowling making a Nazi movie is not what the world needs right now. Not awful but this franchise could and should end now and she should sell the rights over to WB and let them lose with her Wizarding World.

Why would she? It’s her bollocks she made up and as long as people like yourself pay good money too see/read said bollocks she’ll feel like all the stupid shit she says is separate to her work. I’d guess that these films are nowhere near as successful as the Potter films and WB will eventually throw a load of money at something new anyway.

Edited April 12, 2022 by Mr_Danger

[Devon Malcolm]

19 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

The Sparks Brothers - meant to see this when it came out, combination of timing and Covid restrictions meant I couldn't. Got round to it now that it's on Netflix. It's a testament to how much I love Sparks that I was willing to watch a two and a half hour movie about them, and I'm glad I did because it's bloody lovely. None of the talking heads felt they were doing a lazy "I Love The 80s" bit of remembering, they all seemed genuinely excited to talk about Sparks, and genuine in their enthusiasm and love for the band. And how could you not be? Bloody brilliant. Peeled back the curtain just enough to give you a bit of insight, but not enough to kill any of their mystique. 

The way it contextualised all of their albums has given me new appreciation for some that I'd kind of dismissed, too, so I fully intend to work my way back through my lesser-touched bits of the back catalogue.

As an additional note, it's also Edgar Wright's first good film since Hot Fuzz.

[Factotum]

9 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Not awful but this franchise could and should end now and she should sell the rights over to WB and let them lose with her Wizarding World.

Fucking hell.

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 hour ago, Mr_Danger said:

Why would she? It’s her bollocks she made up and as long as people like yourself pay good money too see/read said bollocks she’ll feel like all the stupid shit she says is separate to her work. I’d guess that these films are nowhere near as successful as the Potter films and WB will eventually throw a load of money at something new anyway.

I have a cineworld card. I am not paying to see it and would have waited for it to have hit streaming if that to watch it "for free". I know a few people who have refused to see it as they can't seperate the art from the artist and the box office for this film will be interesting. It is about half of the last film in the UK and a franchise which is only doing a fraction of the numbers of the Harry Potter films. Like George Lucas people who love these worlds think they are best to lead them continunly, but they arent always and this is another example, just like George with the prequels, of that.

That said, I don't really care what happens with the Wizarding World next so whatever

[Mr_Danger]

Nightmare Alley. Incredibly average. Expected more with all the plaudits and acclaim the film received. At least his fish fucking film was incredibly stylish and had good performances. Doesn’t help that Bradley Cooper doesn’t sell being massively charismatic or deeply troubled very well either. 

[Factotum]

2 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

Nightmare Alley. Incredibly average. Expected more with all the plaudits and acclaim the film received. At least his fish fucking film was incredibly stylish and had good performances. Doesn’t help that Bradley Cooper doesn’t sell being massively charismatic or deeply troubled very well either. 

Agreed. I find most GDT films to be really average if I'm honest. I liked Devils Backbone back in the day, and his Hellboy Films, Blade 2 and PACIFIC RIM are great fun, but the rest just leave me cold. I get the artistry involved but its getting a bit tiresome. Maybe he's perfect for genre action films.