VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Chris B]

14 minutes ago, Magnum Milano said:

Batman: The Movie (1966)

The Penguin, The Joker, The Riddle and Catwoman put their criminal brains together in order to hold the World to ransom, but they’ve got to get Batman out of the way in order to do so. All sorts of camp fun, highlighted by Batman fighting with the rubber shark! Does peter out towards the end.

While I get you on that, I love the ending more each time I see it - it's the sheer nonsense of them incredibly seriously doing something very, very stupid, and even finding some kind of a moral to it at the end. "Let's go, but inconspicuously, through the window" makes me laugh every time.

 

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande

I'd seen Kermode's review, which mentioned how stagey this is, and I'm glad, because it changed my expectations slightly. As a result, I really enjoyed it. It isn't particularly realistic, but it's not trying to be. It's a reasonably light-touch look at sexuality, desire and societal standards, centred on a woman in her 60s who's never been sexually satisfied and hires a sex worker as an adventure. It's sweet, lovely and has two really strong lead performances. Emma Thompson's full-frontal scene has got the press, but the whole thing has a sense of real intimacy to it. Really won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I liked it a lot. 

[Mr_Danger]

The Northman

My favourite Eggers film so far, unsurprisingly owing to it being his most conventional. Well, by his standards. Not as interesting as The Witch and doesn’t have performances on the level of The Lighthouse but as an revenge action film I enjoyed it a lot. Alexander Skarsgaard does a fine job leading it.

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Relentlessly weird and innovative and it features my favourite comeback performance in years. Not quite the masterpiece I’d heard it was but it’s great to see films like this getting made in the Marvel age.

Spiderhead

Chris Hemsworth is Elon Musk and Miles Teller should play Springsteen one day. Decent film with some fun moments with a heavy dose of fucked up darkness.

 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Watched a couple of 80’s slashers over the weekend 

Nightmare Beach (Freevee) - an Italian/American film about a town overrun by young people on Spring Break who get taken out by a mysterious figure in biker leathers and a blacked out helmet, believed to be a notorious gang leader who was seemingly given death by electrocution for his crimes. The victims meet their grisly end by variously similar ends and it’s up to a broody college footballer and the barmaid he has the hots for to solve the mystery. John Saxon of Nightmare on Elm Street fame plays a corrupt cop superbly

Intruder (Arrow) - a checkout girl’s ex boyfriend causes trouble at the end of her shift and her and her colleagues are stalked around the store on their night shift by someone believed to be him however it’s not all it seems. This was a movie heavily promoted as starring Bruce Campbell, as it came out 2 years after Evil Dead 2 and in between the Maniac Cop films, however he and Sam and Ted Raimi barely featured (it’s Ted who gets the most screen time)

[Hannibal Scorch]

Elvis (2022) as someone who thinks Elvis is massively overrated, this film didn’t manage to change that opinion. That said, Austin Butler is phenomenal. The whole cast are wonderful and probably my favourite Baz Lehrman film since Romeo + Juliet. The 2hr 30 odd run time didn’t drag too much and I thought have a fascinating insight into why he became so big and important in the 50’s (Spoiler: it’s because Americans and the culture are massively behind most of the western world).   

[Devon Malcolm]

Lightyear (cinema)

Perfectly decent entertainment for a film clearly made under Disney duress. They're looking daft with this tanking at the box office after sticking Pixar's last couple on Disney+ though. Twats.

Find Me Guilty (Prime)

Another of Sid Lumet's lesser known films, this one sees him return to the courtroom with Vin Diesel. With hair. Once you get over the shock of that, and the fact Diesel can actually act, this is a solid film well down the list behind Lumet's best.

No Country for Old Men

I think I have settled on this being the Coens' best now. It may not quite have their usual wealth of characters and humour, but the story never stops moving and every shot counts. A masterpiece.

Crossfire (1947) (iPlayer)

Brilliant old noir from the great Edward Dmytryk. Daring for its day, tackling anti-semitism among American troops, and as such works in tandem as a social drama and crime thriller. Robert Ryan and Robert Mitchum in the same film? Yes thanks.

The Candy Tangerine Man (ok.ru)

Little seen but excellent blaxploitation film. Very funny, very sexist and very violent, just like most of the best films in this genre. Loved it.

Snow on tha Bluff (Vimeo)

Must admit I'd never heard of this until recently. A found footage crime drama focusing on a black neighbourhood, this was a real surprise. Horror has never been as well suited to found footage as these kinds of more realistic dramas are. Very good, this.

The First Great Train Robbery (iPlayer)

Michael Crichton may have been a better film director than writer. Very enjoyable crime caper with Donald Sutherland's awful accent and Sean Connery having a good laugh. Crichton's films are all so rewatchable and this is no different.

Deep Cover

Just can't buy Jeff Goldblum as a drug dealer and this is saved by Laurence Fishburne and some great anti-cop and war on drugs stuff. It's alright but never any more than that.

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

The Wind In The Willows (BritBox) - the pilot movie for the 80’s stop motion animated series of the same name made by Cosgrove Hall (the company behind the likes of Danger Mouse, Count Duckula and The Animal Shelf). Wonderful bit of childhood nostalgia with Sir David Jason stealing the show as the mischievous Toad

[Devon Malcolm]

Minions: The Rise of Gru (cinema)

Minions are funny, stop pretending they're not to look cool on the internet. They cast Jean-Claude Van Damme in this for some voice acting and he doesn't get a single line of dialogue, which was the funniest thing about it.

Caught (1949) (YouTube)

Awesome noir with Robert Ryan playing possibly his most unpleasant character ever. And he played loads of bastards in his career, always brilliantly. The ending is a bit abrupt but otherwise this is inch perfect.

Shield for Murder (YouTube)

Great debut from Howard W. Koch, who would go on and make other under-appreciated quality crime films like The Last Mile and Violent Road. Edmond O'Brien's crooked cop loses the plot entirely and it's superb to watch.

Crazy Joe (YouTube)

Bipoic about Crazy Joe Gallo, who was one of the key characters in The Irishman. Once you get past the shock of Peter Boyle with hair, this settles down into something really good. Boyle was such an excellent actor.

The Dion Brothers (YouTube)

Really enjoyable action comedy with Stacy Keach, which makes a spectacular start at a baked bean canning factory and an equally great ending in a demolished building.

Night Falls on Manhattan (Paramount+)

Another Sid Lumet banker. Moves a bit too fast for its own good at times but it's probably his most anti-cop film, and he made a lot of those. Minus a star for the way Andy Garcia pronounces 'defend-ANT'.

[Hannibal Scorch]

Minions - Rise of Gru - Far funnier then it should be. I stopped counting how many lines Jean Claude Van Damme had his fifth so not sure why people thinks he says nothing in it. Great soundtrack, some jokes I wasn’t expecting and just had a fun 90 minutes. The 3D was the best I’ve seen in quite some time as well. If you need to do something with the kids in the holidays, this is the superior kids film.

[Lorne Malvo]

Top Gun: Maverick - As great as everyone has already said. Top class blockbuster filmmaking. Probably my favourite film of the year so far.

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness - Standard MCU fare. It's got a really fun middle section but these films feel increasingly inconsequential.

Elvis - The first hour of this is a mess, it's actually a better movie when it settles down and becomes a conventional music biopic. Bonus points for If I Can Dream having a big moment as that's a banger.

Tigers - An interesting naturalistic look at mental health isuses amongst elite footballers, with a really strong performance from Erik Enge.

Nitram - Justin Kurzel is rubbish. This is yet another relentlessly bleak, grim film which thinks it is saying a lot whilst actually saying very little. I genuinely don't see why this needed to be made.

[Devon Malcolm]

The Gray Man (cinema)

Netflix doesn't need to give all its originals cinema runs, obviously, but it should be obvious for a film like this. I loved it from start to finish - constant action, lots of laughs, Chris Evans looking and behaving like a convincing sociopath, and a Jessica Henwick pixie cut. I'll have another seven, thanks.

$ (1971) (or Dollars if you're trying to Google it) (ok.ru)

The well of brilliant 1970s crime film just never runs dry. Very smart caper film for the first half, then spends its second half on one of the longest and most enjoyable chase sequences I've seen. Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn, a magical pairing.

Brooklyn's Finest

Antoine Fuqua is a reserve team Tony Scott these days, which I'm ok with, but his more serious films are not good and that includes this. I still enjoyed it for the cast but it's too long and stupid for its own good.

Very Bad Things

Mine and @Scott Malbranque's favourite maker of probably crap, but always fun, films Peter Berg's best film. Hysterical at the beginning, completely fucking bonkers at the end. Still love it.

The Black Panther (Prime)

Not that one. The 1977 British crime biopic about Donald Neilson. Stunning lead performance from Donald Sumpter, and really gritty and bleak. One of the best British films of the 70s.

The Presidio (Prime)

Peter Hyams never lets me down but he almost did here, although it's not his fault. The script has nothing in it but he does wring a couple of excellent action scenes out of it.

Scum (Prime)

Up your fuckin' borstal!

[Scott Malbranque]

There's so, so much right with that post, D-Mal. 

I couldn't believe how good The Gray Man was. I was a bit arsey going into it this evening coz I had to see it at a Movies@ Cinema and couldn't get my Odeon Nachos, but then Gosling and Evans turned my arse on it's head and I was only delighted for the duration. The popcorn tasted like poxy sawdust though because Movies@ don't even do butter,and their nachos are basically hard pieces of beige with cold, salty wallpaper paste for a dip. State of them. 

You were spot on earlier on Twitter and I went in going "D-Mal says this is up there with The Nice Guys". It's fantastic, you were right and I can't wait to watch it again in my sitting room - complete with takeaway Odeon Nachos - next week. 

I think I'll watch Very Bad Things again tonight. "105lb problem" said in such  earnest, always creased me and I'd go so far as to say it's Slater and Pivens' finest hour. It was a perfect movie for its time, and the age I was then (18) and I remember it coming out close enough to Something About Mary (which it was being unfairly compared to, because of Diaz and was unfairly limped in the 'Gross Out Comedy' genre), but I much, much preferred this as in the cinema me and one of my mates genuinely had to be peeled up off the floor come the end. Spent the duration absolutely howling, whereas it was only really Matt Dillon who made me chortle in Something About Mary. 

But yeah, to sum up, The Gray Man is sensational and I adore Peter Berg. 

Any excuse to post this few seconds of wonder by Berg:

 

 

[Devon Malcolm]

22 minutes ago, Scott Malbranque said:

There's so, so much right with that post, D-Mal. 

I couldn't believe how good The Gray Man was. I was a bit arsey going into it this evening coz I had to see it at a Movies@ Cinema and couldn't get my Odeon Nachos, but then Gosling and Evans turned my arse on it's head and I was only delighted for the duration. The popcorn tasted like poxy sawdust though because Movies@ don't even do butter,and their nachos are basically hard pieces of beige with cold, salty wallpaper paste for a dip. State of them. 

You were spot on earlier on Twitter and I went in going "D-Mal says this is up there with The Nice Guys". It's fantastic, you were right and I can't wait to watch it again in my sitting room - complete with takeaway Odeon Nachos - next week. 

Me and my brother saw it at an Everyman and opted out of snacks and went to Nando's afterwards. So it was a double good outing.

But yes, it was excellent. Even better than Extraction, which is getting a sequel, so I see no reason why this shouldn't. The whole Vienna sequence is incredible.

[chokeout]

Just went to see Pulp Fiction in the cinema. The gf had never seen it and went in blind. She loved it and it was great to watch for the first time in probably a decade. Not a bad performance in it (apart from QT obviously) and the Sam Jackson / Travolta dynamic is still wonderful. 

It'll always suck that we never got the the Vega brothers spin off film 

[Keith Houchen]

1 hour ago, Scott Malbranque said:

Any excuse to post this few seconds of wonder by Berg

Christ I’d forgotten all about that, absolutely marvellous!!

[BigJag]

I found this interesting and entertaining. It borrows a lot from Scarface and other gangster movies. It also has Indiana Jones elements to it. It's a 2 parter.

It has production links to Bhaubali which is more of an historical epic. Which should be available on Netflix/Prime.