VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Factotum]

THE GRIFTERS Anjelica Huston just fucking steals the entire movie. She's utterly superb and weirdly sexy as hell. Cusack is as good as ever as the nice guy but not a nice guy shtick that he perfected in that 90s run. It's a really dark movie, and you can see it as one of the bridge films from the 80s to what was to happen with the 90s indie film explosion. As a Jim Thompson fan I was really happy they kept the ending and actually built up some of the weirder/uncomfortable elements. It's up on Youtube, so no reason not to check it out (bar maybe having a life or something)

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Watched Mission Impossible for the first time last night as it was on Film4, don’t know how I’ve managed to never see any of the series before as I proper enjoyed it, just a fun popcorn flick with Cruise doing some incredible stunts

Think I may have to look into getting all the films on BluRay now, if that’s the standard

[Weezenal]

Back from a screening of the new Mission Impossible. The 2hr40 run time flies by. Definitely recommend seeing it at the cinema. 

Watch Fallout, then this one if you haven't seen any. They're probably the best ones, although I'd make time for the first one. 

[air_raid]

edit - delete

 

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

We watched A Wrinkle In Time the other day. Enjoyed it, would have been really tempting to accuse it of lifting some pretty major plot points from The Neverending Story except for the small fact that the novel it was based on was written before "Die unendliche Geschichte" was. However, it was a bit jarring hearing Oprah recite nearly word for word Yoda's speech about fear being the path to the Dark Side (fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering). Still, fun popcorn and they made a beautiful looking universe. If anything it could have been longer (and I rarely say that about modern films) as Act 3 could have been further fleshed out - in video game terms there could have been more "levels" for the protagonists before the big bad.

22 hours ago, Factotum said:

(Anjelica Huston) She's utterly superb and weirdly sexy as hell.

A career in a nutshell.

Edited July 5, 2023 by air_raid

[Factotum]

4 hours ago, air_raid said:

A career in a nutshell.

Absolutely!

[Surf Digby]

Today we followed up last week's Raiders of The Lost Ark with Temple of Doom. Two things were notable.

1. Willie Scott is basically Jar Jar Binks.

2. When watching the film with a six year old, having a character called "Willy" leads to them missing vital plot points, and then subjecting you to an endless onslaught of questions, like "Why does everything have skulls on it?", and "Why does the magic stone look like it's made of crusty bread?"

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

Wrong thread

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Big'Olympic_Hero'Pete

[SuperBacon]

Mate, just what the fuck are you doing? Pack it in.

[Hannibal Scorch]

Meltzer should give all the stars to Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning part 1. Fucking great stuff. I think the only thing that may top it is the double bill of Oppenheimer and Barbie.

[Bellenda Carlisle]

I went to a thing at my Odeon called screen unseen or something. The gimmick was pretty cool, it's a pre release preview of a film but you don't lnow what the film will be til it starts (although they specify it won't be horror). I go to the cinema all the time and often barely know anything about the film, so it was my bag and I enjoyed the suspense of not knowing what it would be. 

It turned out to be a chick flick buddy road comedy about asian american women called joy ride. I'd seen the trailer for it with other films so had a vague awareness of it. Good choice of film for a mystery packed audience cos it was a comedy with constant raunchy and edgy jokes and everyone was laughing and got into it. It was funnier than I expected and I'm glad I saw it cos I might not have otherwise and the circumstances made it more enjoyable.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Bellenda Carlisle

[Dr. Alan Grant]

Creed II (first watch) - not as good as the first. Yet another terrible opponent. It should have been Drago Senior. 3/5

The Hobbit Trilogy - haven’t seen them since they were at the cinema. Not a patch on LotR. The over-reliance on CGI rather than miniatures and prosthetics pains me. As does the shoehorning in of Legolas. Most of the dwarves are personality vacuums. Bard, Smaug, Bilbo and Thorin are the highpoints. 3.5/5

The Florida Project (first watch) - 2 impressive performances from the mother and daughter. Plus a rare non-terrifying appearance from Willem Dafoe. 4/5

Seven Samurai - To my eternal shame, this is the only Kurosawa film I’ve seen. But I’ve got Throne Of Blood, Yojimbo, Ran, Sanjuro and The Hidden Fortress on Blu-Ray to work through. Hopefully Toshiro Mifune is in them all as he was incredible in this. 4/5

Vertigo - Top 3 Hitchcock for me. 5/5

[Chris B]

8 hours ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

Seven Samurai - To my eternal shame, this is the only Kurosawa film I’ve seen. But I’ve got Throne Of Blood, Yojimbo, Ran, Sanjuro and The Hidden Fortress on Blu-Ray to work through. Hopefully Toshiro Mifune is in them all as he was incredible in this. 4/5

He's in all of them except Ran. In Yojimbo, he causally inspires Clint Eastwood's entire shtick. Astonishing actor. 

[wordsfromlee]

Terrifier 2 - Better than the first one. The bigger budget helped a lot but some some of the dialog - especially towards the start - felt like it had been written by someone who had never had a conversation with an actual person before. Some of the practical effects were good and Art was great fun again but the movie did seem like an incels wet dream with about 80% of the death scenes just being women getting brutally tortured for about 5 straight minutes. But I guess thats just a bit of a slasher movie trope.

[air_raid]

Watched a bunch of films with Mrs raid lately. My taste is terrible apparently but here’s what we had, mostly chosen by her, and what I thought ;

Le Divorce (2003) - great cast, well acted, but it was a real slog for me as none of the characters I particularly liked or wanted to see get their happy ending. Also one event in particular was so at odds with the relative whimsy of the rest of the film it was jarring.

When In Rome (2010) - never dreamed I’d watch a film featuring the aforementioned Anjelica Huston, Danny DeVito AND absolutely so crammed full of my favourite “small comic role” actors and find it so terrible. I can’t just blame the leads, though Josh “Transformers” Duhamel proved there’s a reason I couldn’t name any of his other films and I’ve never enjoyed Kristen Bell in anything because she comes off so unlikable, it also was terribly written involving numerous scenes written to be “funny” regardless of if they rang true. Example - Duhamels character rings Bell in the midst of a “beers and poker” night with his mates and runs around his kitchen forgetting what he’s meant to be doing (getting beers) and trying to hide that he’s on the phone to some girl. I mean, it works fine if SHE called him and caught him unawares, but Jesus wept, in real life if you don’t want your friends to know you’re on the phone, you don’t call. You call the day after. Just dumb. Also the setup making you believe it was a normal “set in real life” romcom went on way too long before they went to the point which requires you to believe in actual magic. Bollocks.

The Out-Laws (2023) I’m ashamed to admit made me laugh more times that it should have and again had some great supporting cast performances but despite a fun premise ultimately annoyed more often, potentially because I can’t stand Adam DeVine, but mostly because there seems to be an epidemic of films coming out where the dialogue is crammed with lines written to make you laugh but that just make me think “That’s not how real people talk in real life situations, especially not to strangers.” Maybe it’s an American thing. Maybe I’m just getting old. It was also fairly ridiculous having Pierce Brosnan lay into DeVine about a terrible accent while he was delivering the least convincing Scottish accent since Roddy Piper. Also, annoying use of “Parker” as a woman’s first name. Probably Sandlers fault, he’s got priors. Why give an attractive character a surname for a first name? Palmer, Devlin, Parker… these are footballers, not girls. Probably my fault for watching all his films.

Marry Me (2022) Within 30 seconds of the film starting you’ll think “Gee, how exactly will the superstar Jennifer Lopez end up with the humble Maths teacher Owen Wilson once she finds out her fella is inevitability cheating on her” but I was surprised how enjoyable it was, once I got past the feeling of “borrowed” from Notting Hill vibes. Plus points ; Sarah Silverman, and the surreality of Jennifer Lopez chit chatting with Samwell Tarly. Negative point and weird coincidence ; Silvermans character is called Parker.

Look Both Ways (2022) Ignore that it feels quite derivative of Sliding Doors ; it’s pretty good. I particularly liked the part where they shun a seemingly obvious route of “and the guy turns out to be an arsehole, you should have seen it coming” in favour of a more grounded and realistic reason a relationship was not going to work out. Nia Long from Bad Boys/Lisa from Fresh Prince is in it.

You People (2023) By another weird coincidence, Nia Long is in this too, married to Eddie Murphy, and there’s a “blink and you’ll miss it” reference to Zamunda in the first couple of minutes which is fitting since this was probably the most I’ve enjoyed Eddie since Coming To America. Far more my speed, I was just recovering from from Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Duchovy and Rhea Perlman all sat in a row when Elliot Gould appeared and immediately stole the show. I’m guessing Jonah Hill makes it an immediate “no” for some people but I thought it was funny, enjoyable and handled a sensitive topic with balance yet realism. Although I’m not ashamed to say, there were still some questions about racism not addressed that I struggle with, but would need someone more eloquent than me to ask.

Win A Date With Tad Hamilton (2004) Technically we didn’t finish because Mrs raid was falling asleep and we’ll need to finish it tonight but I can definitely review it based on what I’ve seen. I can’t believe I’m watching Duhamel again, and I’d forgotten Kate Bosworth existed at all. Incredibly “of its time” I nevertheless found plenty to appreciate - an Amy Smart cameo (possibly playing herself, movie within a movie), Nathan Lane of course is brilliant, slumming it in a movie beneath him like Stanley Tucci in Transformers 4, I always enjoy Ginnifer Goodwin, there’s Liz Phair on the soundtrack and Kathryn Hahn steals the show in her scenes, as always. But it’s annoying how, to the point I’m at, they can’t commit to Kates male friend being a good guy lovelorn or a sociopathic saboteur. Assume all crimes will be forgiven by the end, can’t promise I’ll approve. Though the biggest crime obviously is Chris Grace going by “Topher” which as you’ll all agree, isn’t a name.

We also rewatched Top Gun : Maverick and finally watched Spider-Man : No Way Home but my opinions of those would be too obvious to post. Like reading what Meltzer thought of the last Kenny Omega match - I’m not going to tell you anything you don’t already know.