VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Hannibal Scorch]

15 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

According to my Letterboxd, this was my highest rated film of the year. I haven’t seen many new films this year but even so, this was joyous. Absolutely lovely. 

Obviously it’s got a target audience, but the fact it’s hitting so many different audiences is a testament to the story telling and what Pixar were known for. More of this and less of that Lightyear shite please. It was this years Mitchell’s vs The Machines but with less hype. Best mainstream animated film this year for me.

[Keith Houchen]

23 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Obviously it’s got a target audience, but the fact it’s hitting so many different audiences is a testament to the story telling and what Pixar were known for. More of this and less of that Lightyear shite please. It was this years Mitchell’s vs The Machines but with less hype. Best mainstream animated film this year for me.

It also frightened religious conservatives for daring to suggest young girls might actually menstruate and one of the people offering advice might have been non binary!!!the absolute satanists!!!

[Nick James]

You have a few hours away from the forum and log back in like..

[SuperBacon]

Here's the watch list we've all been waiting for. Stewart Lee.

Spoiler

NEW FILMS (2021/22)

The best new film I saw this year was Philip Barantin’s Boiling Point.

Free Guy (Shawn Levy) *
Red Notice (Rawson Marshall Thurber) *
Munich The Edge Of War (Christian Schwochow)
Boiling Point (Philip Barantin) *****
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness (Sam Raimi) *
Thor Love & Thunder (Taika Waititi) *
Blacklight (Travis Block) *
Memory (Alex Lewis)
Everything Everywhere All At Once (Kwan & Scheinert)*****
Candyman (Jordan Peele)
Bullet Train (David Leitch)
Glass Onion (Rian Johnson)
 

OLD FILMS

The Wicker Man (Robert Hardy, 1973) *****
The Amazing Spider-Man (Marc Webb, 2012)
Have A Good Funeral My Friend, Sartana Will Pay (Guiliano Carnimeo, 1970)
The Edge (Lee Tamahori, 1997) *****
Battle of Britain (Guy Hamilton, 1969)
The Big Gundown (Sergio Solima, 1967) *****
Little Joe (Jessica Hausner, 2019) *****
Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson, 2000)*****
Villain (Michael Tuchner, 1971)
A Simple Plan (Sam Raimi, 1998)
Jean de Florette (Claude Berri, 1986) *****
Manon des Sources (Claude Berri, 1986) *****
Satanic Rites of Dracula (Alan Gibson, 1973)
The Tough Ones (Umberto Lenzi, 1976)
The Talented Mr Ripley (Anthony Minghella, 1999)
Iron Man 3 (Shane Black, 2013)
Enter The Dragon (Robert Clouse, 1973)
Free Hand For A Tough Cop (Umberto Lenzi, 1976) *
The Damned (Joseph Losey, 1963)
The Courier (Dominic Cooke, 2020)
Red Hill (Patrick Hughes, 2010)
Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers (Philip Kaufman, 1978)
Sweet Country (Warwick Thornton, 2017)
Ballad of Shirley Collins (Tim Plester/Rob Collins, 2017)
The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill ... (Christopher Monger, 1995) *
The Kid (Vincent D’onofrio, 2019)
Brimstone (Martin Koolhoven, 2016) *
Westworld (Michael Crichton, 1973)
Alan Partridge - Alpha Papa (Declan Lowney, 2013)
Round Midnight (Bertrand Tavernier, 1986) *****
It’s Complicated (Nancy Meyers, 2009)
Death Wish (Michael Winner, 1974)
The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976)
Colette (Wash Westmoreland, 2018) *
Darkest Hour (Joe Wright, 2017) *
Rollerball (Norman Jewison, 1975) *****
Bande A Parte (Jean Luc-Goddard, 1964)*****
Simple Men (Hal Hartley, 1992)*****
Dirty Harry (Don Siegal, 1971) *****
Jeremiah Johnson (Sydney Pollack, 1972)
Magnum Force (Ted Post, 1873)
The Enforcer (James Fargo, 1978)
The Gauntlet (Clint Eastwood, 1977)
100 Rifles (Tom Gries, 1969)
Comes A Horseman (Alan J Paluka, 1978)
Bone Tomahawk (S Craig Zahler, 2015) *****
The Ballad of Tam Lin (Roddy McDowell, 1971) *****
Starter For Ten (Tom Vaughan, 2006)
Bury Them Deep (Paolo Moffa, 1968)*
The Appointment (Lindsey C Vickers, 1981)
Lair of The White Worm (Ken Russell, 1988)
The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodrowsky, 1973) *****
The Wicker Man (Robert Hardy, 1973) ***** (again)
The Stendhal Syndrome (Dario Argento, 1996)
The Men Who Stare At Goats (Grant Heslov, 2009)
Shaft (Gordon Parks, 1971)
Ondine (Neil Jordan, 2009)
The Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953) *****
And Frankenstein Created Woman (Terrence Fisher, 1967)
High Crime (Enzo G Castellari, 1973) This seemed like it was an above average philosophical Italian Crime movie and then the end just fell apart. So I asked the Internet. The new Studio Canal DVD inexplicably cuts a final ten minute scene that would have made explicit how Fernando Rey’s crime boss had been playing on cop Franco Nero’s weaknesses. Doesn’t someone check these things before they get mass-produced? It’s not like this film isn’t full of famous talent. No. They don’t. What an insult to the people involved. My dvd went in the bin. Pointless.
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (Arthur Hiller, 1989)
Green Room (Jeremy Saulnier, 2016)
The Blood On Satan’s Claw (Piers Haggard, 1971)
Once Upon A Time In The West (Sergio Leone, 1968) *****

 

[Devon Malcolm]

Yep, Boiling Point was awesome. Good to see someone else appreciates The Edge, too.

[BomberPat]

Glass Onion

I enjoyed it. Definitely not as good as Knives Out, but sometimes more of a fun romp than that movie was. Carried by a couple of strong performances and, in Daniel Craig's case, an absolutely absurd one. Once it gets into the final act, it takes way too long to actually lay out the resolution, but just about manages it.

I saw someone on Twitter say something to the effect that Knives Out dealt with all the small crimes and cruelties that underpin wealth and privilege, while Glass Onion is just "fuck Elon Musk specifically", and it definitely suffers a little in the lack of depth because of that.

It has a bit of a Stewart Lee thing going on, though, where the script preempts some of that criticism (spoilers below):

Spoiler

The characters are all very shallow and one-dimensional, but that's not really a valid criticism because they're supposed to be shallow and one-dimensional.

The mystery is, on the surface, needlessly complicated, but again, that's the central metaphor of the whole movie - the Glass Onion looks complex, but it's simple. People expect Miles Bron to be a genius, but he's an idiot. There's a suggestion that there's deeper motives beneath the characters' exterior, but really they're all exactly what they appear. Bringing it back to the original puzzle box, the idea seems to be that you could play along with the wealthy and powerful's intricate games and follow all their rules, but you'll do just as well smashing everything with a hammer. 

It uses so many tired old mystery story clichés - he switched the glasses! The bullet was stopped by a book! Secret twins! - but more or less openly admits that's what it's doing; whether it's Blanc talking about how simple and stupid the whole thing is, or recurring references to Cluedo. It's the sort of self-referential "have your cake and eat it too" thing that usually doesn't work - I'm thinking of Jurassic World, how characters make fun of the amount of product placement and the stupid name of the new dinosaur, yet they're within the film that suffers for those things so it feels like trying to play both sides - but they really pull it off here. It does make me wonder how much mileage this has as a series, though, as there's a very clear risk of disappearing into a self-referential pit full of "oh, it's him" celebrity cameos.

Other than it being too long (which is a standing criticism of practically every film made in the last ten years), my only real disappointment was with Batista's character. He turns out to be a literal cuck living in his mum's basement, which is just the shallowest, most obvious way of undermining that kind of men's rights YouTuber, but doesn't have any substance - I know the point is that he's a pathetic hypocrite, but it's playing by their rules; he's a bad person by the terms that men like him set, which is a tacit admission that their world-view is valid. And it's not.

 

[Magnum Milano]

I watched 274 films last year, which was down on the 311 from 2021.  A month of horror in October did me in and I didn't watch much for the final two months of the year

Spoiler

We Summon the Darkness (2019)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
Rocketman (2019)
The Lost Daughter (2021)
Passing (2021)
Absolute Fabulous: The Movie (2016)
Whisky Galore! (2016)
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013)
The Running Man (1987)
I Give It a Year (2013)
The Day of the Jackal (1973)
Mean Machine (2001)
The Pick-Up Artist (1987)
On the Buses (1971)
Private School (1983)
Concrete Plans (2020)
Mutiny on the Buses (1972)
Deep End (1970)
Carry on Columbus (1992)
Doctor in Clover (1966)
The Kid (1921)
The Vagabond (1916)
The Immigrant (1917)
Caught in the Rain (1914)
Holiday on the Buses (1973)
His Musical Career (1914)
Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914)
Laughing Gas (1914)
The Dirty Dolls (1973)
Mabel's Married Life (1914)
Carry on at Your Convenience (1971)
20 Minutes of Love (1914)
Carry on Dick (1974)
A Woman (1915)
The Bank (1915)
Boardinghouse (1982)
An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2018)
The Untouchables (1987)
Freedom (1981)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Parasite (2019)
Scream (2022)
A Night in the Show (1915)
The Outsiders (1983)
The Rink (1916)
In Fear (2013)
Green Street (2005)
Mr Mean (1977)
A Night Out (1915)
Jackass Forever (2022)
Freaky (2020)
Wasp (2003)
Bucktown (1975)
Wild at Heart (1990)
Easy Street (1917)
One A.M. (1916)
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Licorice Pizza (2021)
Life is Sweet (1990)
Polaroid (2019)
Cobb (1994)
Shanghaied (1915)
The Naughty Stewardesses (1973)
Nuts in May (1976)
Knives Out (2019)
The Wee Man (2013)
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead    (2018)
American Me (1992)
Election (1999)
The Trial of the Chicago Seven (2020)
Things Change (1988)
The Go-Go's (2020)
BMX Bandits (1983)
Vinyl (2000)
Something Wild (1986)
License to Drive (1988)
D.C. Cab (1983)
Mid90s (2018)
Class of 1984 (1982)
Savage Streets (1984)
Dragnet (1987)
Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much (2017)
Repo Man (1984)
A Fantastic Woman (2017) 
Woodstock '99: Peace, Love and Rage (2021)
Fletch (1985)
Cop (1988)
Foul Play (1978)
Eden Lake (2008)
Adventures of a Taxi Drivers (1976)
Adventures of a Private Eye (1977)
Adventures of a Plumber's Mate (1978)
Billy Liar (1963)
The Last Blockbuster (2020)
Hunger (2008)
The Thin Blue Line (1988)
I Believe in Miracles (2015)
Polyester (1981)
A Married Couple (1969)
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (2019)
The Stunt Man (1980)
Jackass 4.5 (2022)
Three Identical Strangers (2018)
Hoosiers (1986)
Girls Nite Out (1982)
The King of Arcades (2014)
All the President's Men (1976)
The Crush (1993)
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Everybody Wants Some (2016)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
Almost Summer (1978)
Batrman: The Movie (1966)
Batman (1989)
Hanky Panky (1982)
The Woman in Red (1984)
Love, Gilda (2018)
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)
Rushmore (1998)
Smithereens (1982)
Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
Straight Time (1978)
Batman Returns (1992)
Batman Forever (1995)
Batman and Robin (1997)
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
Christine (2016)
The Diamond Trap (1988)
L7: Pretend We're Dead (2016)
The Getaway (1972)
Old Enough (1984)
Special When Lit (2009)
Riot on Sunset Strip (1967)
The Assassination Bureau (1969)
Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché (2021)
Dial M For Murder (1954)
Rope (1948)
Eternal Beauty (2019)
Secrets & Lies (1996)
Yesterday (2019)
First Blood (1982)
Rambo First Blood: Part II (1985)
Rambo III (1988)
Cobra (1986)
Smashing Time (1967)
Tango & Cash (1989)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Avenging Angel (1985)
Angel III: The Final Chapter (1988)
Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)
Hustle (2022)
Girlfriends (1978)
Slacker (1990)
Mum & Dad (2008)
Triple Dog (2010)
Caged Heat (1974)
Get Back (2021)
Sid and Nancy (1986)
The Toy (1982)
The Lady Vanishes (2013)
And Soon the Darkness (1970)
Enola Holmes (2020)
The Daytrippers (1996)
Diamonds for Breakfast (1968)
Robocop (1987)
Fish Tank (2009)
Harlem Nights (1989)
Blow Out (1981)
Honor Society (2022)
Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 (2022)
Blue Steel (1990)
I Start Counting (1970)
One Hour Photo (2002)
Gone Girl (2014)
Spree (2020)
Ghost World (2001)
I Care A Lot (2020)
Commando (1985)
Cruising (1980)
Here to be Heard: The Story of the Slits (2017)
Vertigo (1958)
Saw (2004)
Saw II (2005)
Saw III (2006)
Saw IV (2007)
Saw V (2008)
Saw VI (2009)
Saw 3-D (2010)
Jigsaw (2017)
Kalifornia (1993)
Before the Devil Know's You're Dead (2007)
1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982)
Jagged (2021)
Voyeur (2017)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Clueless (1995)
Event Horizon (1997)
The Six Million Dollar Man (1973)
Edge of Seventeen (2016)
The Town (2010)
Drowning Mona (2000)
The Return of the Six Million Dollar and the Bionic Woman (1987)
Resurrection (2022)
Hunted (1972)
Deep Cover (1992)
Tomboy (1985)
Straw Dogs (1971)
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Mischief (1985)
Eyewitness (1981)
Frances Ha (2012)
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Magic (1978)
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
Hot Connections (1972)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
In Search of Darkness (2019)
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Student Bodies (1981)
The Funhouse (1981)
Cujo (1983)
The Day After Halloween (1979)
Eat and Run (1986)
The Mutilator (1984)
Don't Answer the Phone! (1980)
The Monster Squad (1987)
Basket Case (1982)
Sissy (2022)
Body Bags (1993)
Glorious (2022)
Slaughter High (1986)
Elvira Mistress of the Dark (1988)
[Rec] (2007)
Slugs (1988)
Prevenge (2016)
Bloody Birthday (1981)
Death Game (1977)
Yoga Hosers (2016)
Memories of Murder (2003)
Ants! (1977)
The Fog (1980)
the Lost Boys (1987)
V/H/S/99 (2022)
Matriarch (2022)
Child's Play (1988)
Child's Play 2 (1990)
Child's Play 3 (1991)
Get Duked! (2019)
Natalie (2017)
Bride of Chucky (1998)
Barbarian (2022)
Seed of Chucky (2004)
Curse of Chucky (2013)
Host (2020)
Halloween Kills (2021)
Halloween Ends (2022)
Operator (2015)
The Black Panther (1977)
The Owners (2020)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Who's Harry Crumb? (1989)
Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022)
Breaking (2022)
Alley Cat (1984)
Warning Shot (1967)
WarGames (1983)
Melvin and Howard (1980)
Back to the Future (1985)
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
The Money Pit (1986)
Runaway Train (1985)

I watched Glass Onion last night and overall enjoyed it, although was probably too long and there a couple of moments where you just have to go with it.  My main take though was what a good actress Janelle Monae is. 

[Chest Rockwell]

 

(Not you, just agreeing on Monae. She was hilarious).

[Devon Malcolm]

I haven't done a list of 2022 films yet because there are still a few I want to see, but this was my top 50 of stuff I watched from pre-2022 last year.

https://letterboxd.com/settingsun/list/top-50-first-time-viewings-in-2022-non-2022/

The Trial isn't a film but it could be the greatest thing I've ever watched so it stays.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Watched Fist Fight the other day. It was better than it had any right to be, very much a case of a poor script saves by charismatic actors

Just watched Enola Holmes 2. Not as good as the first, but Cavill and Brown are both great. I'm a little in love (in a non sexual way) with both (OK, a little sexual with Cavill).

[Chest Rockwell]

I watched Enola Holmes 2 this week as well. Strays a bit too far into Bridgerton territory for me compared to the first, but still enjoyable enough. Would be better without Helena Bonham-Carter, too.

Edited January 6, 2023 by Chest Rockwell

[Keith Houchen]

1 minute ago, Chest Rockwell said:

Would be better without Helena Bonham-Carter, too.

Applies to pretty much everything in life. 

[Devon Malcolm]

The Pale Blue Eye (Netflix)

Solid 3 star 'put it on in the background' fare, nothing more. Spending $70 million on a middling effort like this seems nuts though. Great cast except for Gillian Anderson who for some reason was taking the absolute piss.

Three Thousand Years of Longing

George Miller knocking out weirdo genie fantasy romances in his 80s when he deserved to retire after Fury Road. Enjoyable and looks amazing, but probably not to all tastes.

The Eternal Daughter

Tilda Swinton (also in the above film) in dual roles in this odd little gothic drama. It's a Joanna Hogg film so hardly anything happens but it's atmospheric and obviously well acted by Tilda. 

[Keith Houchen]

Finally got round to watching Glass Onion. It was wonderful and without meaning to sound like Supremo or Paul Ross, Big Dave is the best!

[Factotum]

On 1/7/2023 at 12:43 AM, Devon Malcolm said:

The Pale Blue Eye (Netflix)

Solid 3 star 'put it on in the background' fare, nothing more. Spending $70 million on a middling effort like this seems nuts though. Great cast except for Gillian Anderson who for some reason was taking the absolute piss.

Ha yeah what the hell was her performance in that? The accent was...quite something. I think Bale was about the laugh every time she spoke.

Harry Melling steals the whole thing though. What a fine actor he is