VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[SuperBacon]

32 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Yeah, I rewatched One Hour Photo the other day and he is magnificent. 

Haven't watched that in a while, so think I'll pop it on today. 

Even his turn in Good Morning Vietnam has a real sense of pathos to it. I think he's such an underrated actor.

[gmoney]

He's a great actor, but not sure he didn't get enough credit for it, he was Oscar nominated four times and won one to boot. 

Awakenings is fantastic, fucking breaks your heart. 

Edited August 7, 2022 by gmoney

[SuperBacon]

9 minutes ago, gmoney said:

he was Oscar nominated four times and won one to boot. 

That's a fair point, but I feel that he doesn't get enough credit for the dramatic side of his acting, that's all.

But then I've just looked up his nominations and they were pretty much all for 'dramatic' roles so maybe he did get the credit?

[gmoney]

His dramatic roles are about the only ones I like, so maybe my view is biased!

[wordsfromlee]

Central Intelligence 

I watched about 20/25 minutes of this and there wasn’t a single joke. I don’t mean an attempt at a joke that wasn’t very funny, but not even a go at one. Properly awful shite. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Lightyear - a bit meh, don’t think we needed a back story for the Buzz Lightyear toy from Toy Story. Worth watching as a one off but that’s about it

Prey - awesome entry to the Predator franchise, I feel they held back on a bit of gore due to being on D+ but some of the kills were good and the new look for the Pred was awesomely creepy, an uglier mother than the one Arnie faced in the original 

Frenzy - stumbled on this on Sky Arts just before, a classic bit of Hitchcock thrill that I’ve seen before and loved. There’s one scene in particular that shouldn’t be funny but is where the killer is trying to retrieve a brooch from a potato truck. Plus there’s a cameo from the late Bernard Cribbins

[HarmonicGenerator]

Lightyear just felt inessential. I don’t think they knew what it was meant to be and that came across when the trailer came out and confused people. So the film starts with text saying that in 1995 Andy saw a Buzz Lightyear movie and got the toy, and this was that movie. Which would have been fine if they’d then gone for a 90s family friendly action blockbuster kind of tone - it’s been done with the 80s often enough. Something along the Men In Black lines crossed with a less adult Mars Attacks, maybe? But it just felt like any other modern day quip-filled superhero movie, and it didn’t quite work for me. Lower tier Pixar but still better than 2 out of the 3 Cars films.

[chokeout]

That was my biggest problem with Lightyear. It was supposed to be the big franchise blockbuster from the 90s that Andy saw. Its should have looked like a 90s blockbuster and gone the Galaxy Quest route.

There should have been janky stop motion looking alien monsters, 90s aesthetics and OTT action. Instead we got Interseller lite for kids. 

It was fine but could have been so much more. 

[Bellenda Carlisle]

My problem with Lightyear was the way it raised huge ethical/social/moral ideas it had no desire to expand on or play with in any way.
 

Spoiler

It felt like the film had only started and I was already pissed off at Buzz for staying young and repeatedly going into space for years at a time while generations of his crew were living and dying on a boring space station because of his mistake or whatever.

Then at the end of the film from what I remember Buzz just kind of decided for them that life on the boring space station was the best thing for them, what the fuck was that about? 

I wouldn't have minded if it had tried to be a deep film and expand on those things but it didn't at all, they were just plot points. 

I also don't believe lightyear as it was presented would be Andy's favourite film. Also the fact that it was a film within a film wasn't really used at all, it served no purpose other than to make it a bit more of a mess to think about 

 

I didn't mind the general animation/character design and especially the ships and stuff were cool.

[BomberPat]

2 hours ago, chokeout said:

That was my biggest problem with Lightyear. It was supposed to be the big franchise blockbuster from the 90s that Andy saw. Its should have looked like a 90s blockbuster and gone the Galaxy Quest route.

Disney are shit at this; they kind of allude to it and then never deliver. There's some Marvel one shot things on Disney+ that are like little mockumentaries, but none of them are convincingly filmed in the right style, there's no effort to match the format of what they're trying to achieve.

Wandavision did it a lot too - the window dressing of a style/era of TV production, but that's all. 

[Keith Houchen]

10 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Disney are shit

True. 

[lanky316]

18 hours ago, wordsfromlee said:

Central Intelligence 

I watched about 20/25 minutes of this and there wasn’t a single joke. I don’t mean an attempt at a joke that wasn’t very funny, but not even a go at one. Properly awful shite. 

There was! You just missed it, it was the greatest joke in the history of cinema but it's very subtle.

Spoiler

There was a fat kid, AND HE WAS DANCING NAKED!

I'll sadly say that was as close to a "highlight" for the most part, at least it lets you know to switch the film off early.

[Mr_Danger]

Scream (2022)

Surprisingly decent. If you don’t like the chin stroking deconstruction of the slasher genre in the first one then this is absolutely not for you as a lot of the fun in this comes from them deconstructing the fictional Stab films that are based on the events of the Scream films. Sometimes it’s as eye rolling as that sounds but it’s mostly a good laugh and they mostly get it right. Pretty graphic with the stabbings too. Not particularly buzzed for the next one but it’s a fine effort.
 

Spoiler

Can’t believe they did my boy Dewey like that.

 

[air_raid]

I had £5 of Prime Video credit gifted me by Amazon and I'm loath to spend real money on top to buy/rent anything more expensive so I rented Needful Things (1993) for 48 hours. A film based on one of my favourite books by Stephen King, who I love, pitting Ed Harris (who I love) against Max Von Sydow (who I love) - results predictable. Von Sydow excels at the understated sinister presence the character required, and Harris rooting around the cellar for clues was far more chilling than a hundred jump scares from any modern horror. A great film for anyone that prefers the "something weirds going on, what is it?" type (mild) horror, as opposed to "OH MY GOD LOOK AT THIS MONSTER".

[Magnum Milano]

Some recent stuff I've seen:

And Soon the Darkness (1970) (Talking Pictures)

Two young women on a cycling holiday in the French countryside get separated after a row. When the one returns to find her friend, she is nowhere to be seen. What I liked most about this mystery was you didn’t know who to trust, everyone seemed shady. My pick was the old woman. Good film.

The Daytrippers (1996)

After discovering a love letter written by her husband to someone else, Eliza D’Amico speaks to her mother for advice, resulting in the whole family taking a trip to the City to confront him.  Wonderful character development with each person so distinctive from everyone else. Very funny movie.

Diamonds for Breakfast (1968)

The son of a Russian Grand Duke recruits a band of female thieves to help him steal back the family jewels that his father lost in a game of roulette and which are being exhibited in a London museum. Quite funny in a silly way, especially the Judo loving triplets

Fish Tank (2009)

Things change for fifteen-year old Mia when her Mum brings a new boyfriend into their lives. The abduction scene was very uncomfortable watching. Crazy to think Katie Jarvis was plucked off the streets for this role, even crazier to think all her future really had in store was Eastenders. Gritty.

Harlem Nights (1989)

The success of Sugar Ray’s after hour’s club is noted by Gangster Bugsy Calhoun who wants a significant slice of the profits. Set in the 1930s and has elements of The Sting about it. Could’ve done with being more focussed as tries to mix the seriousness with the comedy too much. Liked it though.

Blow Out (1981)

Out collecting sound effects for the film he’s working on, Jack Terry accidentally records what he later believes to be the assassination of a Governor, putting himself in danger. Excellent film with a nice false opening. John Lithgow was great as the cold, calculated assassin.

Honor Society (2022)

An ambitious High School Senior plots to sabotage her rivals’ chances of getting the Guidance Counsellor’s recommendation for Harvard, only to unexpectedly fall for one of them. Gaten Matarazzo, Angourie Rice and an unexpected twist in the final twenty minutes made this a decent enough watch.

Blue Steel (1990) (All 4)

A rookie Cop shoots dead a convenience store thief when he pulls a gun on her, but in doing so she becomes the object of one of the witness’ desires. Starts promising (although surely the other witnesses could back her up when no-one believes the thief was armed?) but becomes more preposterous and unrealistic the longer it goes on.