VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Devon Malcolm]

12 minutes ago, Jesse said:

Watched I Saw The TV Glow last night and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. Laser targeted at kids who grew up queer (especially trans) in the '90's, I love when what's on-screen feels like the director opening their own heart up to you and this one wormed it's way into me from the beginning - several times a character would do or say something and my wife & housemate would both point at me and say "That's you"

Justice Smith in particular is electric in this, delivers a really quiet, affecting performance. Will be a while before I stop thinking about this one.

Hugely recommend We're All Going to the World's Fair from the same director as it touches on similar themes. Very excited to see this at the cinema next month.

[Merzbow]

Last Night In Soho is a bit shit really, Wright's attempt at a thriller just comes off as a bit daft but it also doesn't help that I hate the whole sixties aesthetic. The lead not called Anya Taylor Joy was really not good..

Saint Maud is more like it, one of the best films that explores mental health and religion that I've seen in a long while and an amazing outing by Morfydd Clark. I can't wait to see what Rose Glass does next. Runs at under 90 minutes yet feels like the perfect length.

The Loved Ones.. oh I wanted to like this far more than I did, I'm a sucker for an edgy film and this was recommended as something similar to New French Extremity but it's just bad torture porn trying to be funny.

Dunkirk. It's now my second favourite Nolan film.

Made In Britain is still an almost perfect portrayal of young working class men getting lost within the institutions and swallowed up by hatred.

Edit: Yeah I also highly recommend We're All Going To The Worlds Fair, it's not for everyone but if it clicks with you it'll stick in your mind for a long while.

Edited June 16 by Merzbow

[Devon Malcolm]

2 hours ago, Merzbow said:

Saint Maud is more like it, one of the best films that explores mental health and religion that I've seen in a long while and an amazing outing by Morfydd Clark. I can't wait to see what Rose Glass does next.

I assume you mean after Love Lies Bleeding, which was also superb. But yeah, saw this at the cinema in-between the 2020 lockdowns and everyone shit themselves at the end shot. Amazing film.

[Merzbow]

41 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I assume you mean after Love Lies Bleeding, which was also superb. But yeah, saw this at the cinema in-between the 2020 lockdowns and everyone shit themselves at the end shot. Amazing film.

Yeah I do, I adored Love Lies Bleeding and might actually buy a Crater Gym shirt from A24..

She's one of many women coming through right now and owning that edgy space of queer cinema.

[wordsfromlee]

Godzilla Minus One

Great fun. Wouldn't never have guessed it had a budget of around $15m as it looked brilliant, especially the visual effects. My only gripe was the use of the original Godzilla theme as I kept expecting 'Simon Says' by Pharoahe Monch to drop.

[Devon Malcolm]

14 minutes ago, wordsfromlee said:

Godzilla Minus One

Great fun. Wouldn't never have guessed it had a budget of around $15m as it looked brilliant, especially the visual effects.

The director has gone on record and said that he reckons the final budget may have been a touch under $10 million. Either way, almost unbelievable.

[Hannibal Scorch]

Pixar sequels can be very hit or miss. Inside Out 2 is definitely on the hit side of things. They way they depicted Anxiety struck a cord with me and my daughter. I was very impressed.

[BomberPat]

Arcadian

Saw this last night - up until right before it started, it looked like we were going to be the only people in the cinema, so was slightly disappointed when another couple of people came in. 

It's a Nicolas Cage thing, "post-apocalyptic" - I hate the term because I think it's been overdone to death, but most of the tropes it conjures up weren't present here; fifteen years after a non-specified "end of the world", nobody's sure how many survivors there are. Nicolas Cage and his twin sons live in a little cottage, which they barricade up at night because that's when something comes out to try and get them.

It's all rolling hills, fields of sheep, and general countryside vibes, rather than any kind of irradiated wasteland you'd expect from an "apocalypse" movie, and whatever killed the rest of the world, it doesn't seem to have stopped all the main characters from being able to buy their clothes at Mountain Warehouse.

The creature design, when you eventually see them, is absolutely bonkers. In turns genuinely creepy and horrific, at others completely absurd and impossible to take seriously. I swear at one point a bunch of them try and Katamari there way towards the goodies. There's moments of really tense horror that drag on just long enough to put you really on edge, but they're balanced out with some pretty dismal and shallow characters, so it's difficult to really find yourself rooting for anyone.

Not one I'd recommend going out of my way for, but a bang average three stars that you probably won't regret watching.

Only thing is, so much of the film taking place in a little stone cottage in the country made me think that, back in the mid-00s when there was a real craze for comedy mash-ups with genre fiction, someone should have done Night Of The Living Dead meets Withnail & I.

[BomberPat]

The Tingler

1959 horror starring Vincent Price, directed by George Castle; mostly known for Castle's gimmicks - both he and Vincent Price directly address the audience, it's black and white film but there's one scene that makes really good use of colour, and, most famously, in its original release Castle hooked up select theatre seats with devices to make them vibrate and release jets of air (he later claimed that they gave the audience electric shocks, but they didn't).

First time I saw it, at a screening at the Regency Cinema. Watching it with an audience helped - everyone screaming when they're told to, and generally having a good time - as I think I'd have found it a slog watching from home; it's not as fun as the previous Castle/Price collaboration, House On Haunted Hill, which I absolutely love.

Vincent Price is obviously great, but the plot is ropey, with some really atrocious dialogue, really just a frame to hang the gimmicks off. Price plays a doctor researching fear, and discovers that there's an actual physical creature that feeds off human fear but is weakened by screaming. It's silly, but has its moments, and some really bizarre scenes. It's also probably the first film to feature LSD as a plot point. 

[LaGoosh]

I have a chaotic 2 year old so my free time is extremely limited at the moment, so when I do get a chance to watch something if it's not good I get pretty pissed off because I feel I've wasted the little free time I have. I somehow managed to watch 2 films this weekend. 

The First Omen - essentially the best bits of The Omen, Rosemary's Baby and Don't Look Now thrown into a blender. But I was pretty entertained by it, the cast was strong, it had plenty of atmosphere and I have a soft spot for religious horror. I'll never watch it again but it passed my "was that a good use of my limited spare time?" test.

The Fall Guy - this failed my test in every possible way. It deserved to fail at the box office. Boring, unfunny, stupid and completely lacking in any fun spark or character or chemistry that a film like this needs. Like many modern big Hollywood films these days this one seemed to be made by people with a complete lack of understanding of basic storytelling fundamentals. I love Gosling and he deserves so much better. They could have made 2 or 3 sequels of The Nice Guys with the money they wasted on this piece of shit.

[WeeAl]

The Bikeriders (2024) (Cinema)

It's fine. A bit different than I guess I was expecting, which was probably more 'Tom Hardy does Sons of Anarchy in the Easy Rider era' but it wasn't really that. Jodie Comer is  the main character, who is retelling her version of events to a reporter, about her time connected to the group via Austin Butler's character, who it's mainly about, but who does the least (or has the least to do) of the three leads. Grand, but wait for TV, or give it a miss and you'll have missed little. 

Eye of the Needle (1981) (Amazon Prime)

With Donald Sutherland passing on, thought I'd see what Amazon had to offer and I had this still in my watchlist. For a bit of a fan favourite auld Donald could be a delightful baddie. Here he plays a Nazi spy in the UK during the latter part of WWII. Sutherland is being hunted down by the authorities, but suffice to say he's a pretty ruthless character, who despite all that, finds himself in a bit of a love triangle in the back half of the movie. What's a nazi to do in such a situation? 

Good stuff. 

Romeo is Bleeding (1993) (Amazon Prime)

Lena Olin steals the show here, despite Gary Oldman's lead, Will Patton supporting and several long serving Sopranos characters popping up for small parts. She plays the crazy mob hit woman that crooked cop Oldman has been tasked with taking out by the mob and simultaneously protecting by the FBI. A bit slow and meandering despite some rough, tense and well acted scenes scattered throughout. My main problem was Oldman, really. He's a serial snagger of beautiful women in this movie. Which, honestly, I wouldn't have listed in the top five things I would have thought Gary Oldman would be good at. 

[TheBurningRed]

1 hour ago, WeeAl said:

The Bikeriders (2024) (Cinema)

How much is Tom Hardy in it? I do want to see it but that accent he’s doing is jarring and I can’t put up with it if it’s most of the film. 

[Devon Malcolm]

30 minutes ago, TheBurningRed said:

How much is Tom Hardy in it? I do want to see it but that accent he’s doing is jarring and I can’t put up with it if it’s most of the film. 

You could be describing any Tom Hardy film, really.

[TheBurningRed]

Good chance he’s forgotten what his actual accent is. 

[DJM]

Ready or Not
A really good survival horror-comedy, with a basic yet interesting plot and a stand-out lead performance from Samara Weaving. Just a lot of fun to watch and entertaining all the way through. 

Abigail
A good horror-comedy about a group of criminals who kidnap the daughter of a powerful underworld figure, but are unaware that they've kidnapped no ordinary girl. Lots of fun and entertaining throughout with a good cast.

I Saw the TV Glow
I hated We're All Going to the World's Fair, but the trailer for this (the directors second film) made it look quite interesting, so I gave the director another chance. It's slightly better than the directors first film but still an awful, lifeless, boring and tedious drama. The script and the story are poor, the film is full of uninteresting characters and there is really bad acting from the two lead actors Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine. 

Monkey Man
A very good, stylish action movie and a strong directorial debut from Dev Patel. 

The Night Clerk
Has a pretty good cast, but it's a really average crime drama about a hotel clerk who becomes the subject of a murder investigation.

Humane
A dull and uninteresting horror-thriller (from Caitlin Cronenberg) full of characters that you just don't care about. 

Saint Maud
A good psychological horror film about a nurse who becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient. It’s a very subtle thriller with Morfydd Clark good in the lead role, but quite uneventful until the end and slow paced. A breezy 75-minutes long though, quite well made and effective enough, but sadly nothing great. 

Love Lies Bleeding
A really good romantic revenge/crime thriller (from the director of Saint Maud). Katy O'Brian is great. Ed Harris is great. Kristen Stewart is in it as well.