VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[lanky316]

4 hours ago, BomberPat said:

It's harder to do prequels for Alien, because you risk contradicting timelines about when and where humans first encountered Xenomorphs, but I think there's more interesting stories to potentially tell in the world of Alien than there is in Predator (ignoring, of course, that they're technically the same "world")

While I'd be a long way from calling them good films in their own right, I did appreciate how they tried to bring the timeline back with Prometheus and Covenant and keep it making sense. It didn't work well but trying to alter the timeline wasn't their biggest flaws. Alien Vs Predator also, again for all its many, many flaws, at least made an effort to explain why the normal people weren't aware of the xenomorphs due to the success of the hunts, it still has massive holes but I kind of get an in universe logic. Requiem of course completely screwed that whole idea up by shoving it in the middle of a modern suburban town and was just a total shitfest from beginning to end without even having any "so bad it's good" or at least switch your brain off and enjoy the fight scenes type possibilities.

Predator meanwhile, doesn't really have those handicaps and it's a shame that they don't seem to really have pushed on from Prey because it's a really solid film and shows the opportunities. I wouldn't trust them not to have run it into the ground by churning out disposable variations across different countries and time periods but I am surprised that largely, it seems to have been one and done.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

I really enjoyed the Aliens book 'Alien: Phalanx', set on a world with a kind of ancient Greek level of tech.

[Chest Rockwell]

That is so on brand for you it's hard to know whether it is objectively any good or is just the classics nerd in you talking! ?

[ReturnOfTheMack]

I've had worse reputations than 'classics nerd'. And it's hard to take my opinion on anything Alien, Predator, Super Hero, or 3 Musketeers, with any objectivity. 

 

Edit: it's also amusing, surprising, and slightly gratifying that I have any kind of perceived brand better than 'random wrestling twat'. ? 

Edited August 23 by ReturnOfTheMack

[FLips]

Fargo

Ah jeez.

Excellent film, loved it start to finish. I thought William H Macy was delightfully pathetic and sleazy, and Peter Stormare was almost Terminator scary. I wish Frances McDormand had more time to shine because whenever she's on screen she shines so brightly. That being said, there's comedy to be found in the fact that despite being established as a brilliant detective early on, she barely has to use any skills at all as the bad guys are wreckless idiots that basically do all the work for her.
I didn't expect the film to have such a high body count, it eventually almost became comical.

For a film so dark we laughed all the way through, especially at the innocuous way all the locals talk about the triple (and more) homicide in their town and how they all describe Steve Buscemi as generally weird looking.

Speaking of Buscemi, this is the third thing recently we've watched where his character is essentially mouthy bad guy who gets in over his head and gets killed. Sopranos, Reservoir Dogs and this. He's really good at it.

Yeah, loved it. Will likely watch it again sooner rather than later.

[Lorne Malvo]

@FLips if you liked the film, the Fargo TV show is great fun too.

[FLips]

5 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

@FLips if you liked the film, the Fargo TV show is great fun too.

We saw that on there too (MGM) on Amazon so might check it out if we keep it after the free trial!

[Mr_Danger]

20 minutes ago, FLips said:

We saw that on there too (MGM) on Amazon so might check it out if we keep it after the free trial!

Definitely worth checking out the first series if you really liked the film. They’re all great and worth your time but that first series is really close to the feel of the film.

[TheBurningRed]

First series is perfection for me. I’ve rewatched it so many times. 

[SaitoRyo]

Incoming (Netflix)

Decent high school comedy centred around freshmen going to their first party. It's not as much fun as Superbad or American Pie or anything like that, but it's an easy 90 minute with a few big laughs. Solid Friday night fare.

Coast to Coast (Internet Archive)

Dyan Cannon escapes from the loony bin and hitches a ride with curmudgeonly cowboy trucker Robert Blake. The main characters are far from likeable and the plot points and set pieces are familiar if you've seen similar fare from the era (it was released in 1980). It has its moments, just not enough of them to really make it worth your while.

The Stone Boy (ok.ru)

An eleven-year-old boy accidentally shoots his seventeen-year-old brother, killing him. His midwestern farm family subsequently blame him for the death and ostracise him. Has the same sort of tone as something like Tender Mercies or Country. It's basically ninety minutes of decent folk grieving and making bad decisions, but they're trying their best. Great cast, with Robert Duvall and Glenn Close playing the boy's parents and Wilford Brimley playing his grandfather. There were bits of this I really liked, but it is pretty bleak and not something I'd watch to put me in a good mood. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Between the Temples (cinema)

Really funny and quite sweet comedy with a pair of awesome Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane performances. Bit of a modern day Harold & Maude, I wasn't keen on the stylistic flourishes but this was really good. You'll like this, @SuperBacon.

Cuckoo (cinema)

Pretty good and pleasingly weird horror film. Finally seen Hunter Schafer in something and I can see the fuss, she's so good in this. You can also add this to the stack of really enjoyable Dan Stevens performances, I love that guy.

Twisters (cinema)

Not bad at all. Could do with more destruction and less talking and the ending is weird, but it mostly does its job. About on a par with the original.

The Bikeriders 

I really like Jeff Nichols but this is his weakest so far. Not a big fan of biker films but this isn't helped by its fractured timeline narrative. Tom Hardy's slightly better than usual, not convinced by Austin Butler at all, Jodie Comer the obvious stand-out.

Dick Tracy

This was even better than I remembered. Can't believe this was a film that an actual movie studio commissioned and that they released. One of the most vivid and unusual films ever released by Hollywood, just a blast from start to finish with a cast you can't not love.

Red Rooms

This is getting a cinema release soon. Thriller about a model who becomes obsessed with a serial killer and his trial. Starts as a serious comment on the criminal justice system, becomes a daft dark web thriller before its end. Never really comes together as a whole but it is tense and worth seeing.

The Last Stop in Yuma County

Pretty good crime thriller about a hostage situation that develops at a desert diner. Still not convinced by Jim Cummings as an actor but he works well enough here. A couple of neat turns and a good ending.

Clockers

Not one of Spike's best, due in no small part to its weirdly intrusive soundtrack, but it's a good story well told and acted.

Jade

William Friedkin reckoned he did some of his best work with this. Not sure where it is but it's still a sleazy, watchable thriller that even David Caruso's alleged acting can't ruin. Linda Fiorentino deserves an apology from so many people.

[Hannibal Scorch]

I know I’m a resident Disney supporter but I’ve always been a Dick Tracy defender. Glad you enjoyed revisiting @Devon Malcolm. It is certainly one of the most unusual looking summer blockbusters that Disney thought was going to be as big as Batman the year before (the merchandise was everywhere, but it never hit as hard).
 

There is a fascinating (to me) backstory about it all as Warren Beaty owns Dick Tracy, so nothing can be done with it without his say so. And to retain the rights to the property he has to make something Dick Tracy related every 20 years or so. But he hasn’t?. Oh contraire. He has mad two 20 minute Dick Tracy documentary’s that had to air at least once with Warren Beatty playing Dick Tracy. You can read more about it here https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/warren-beatty-dick-tracy-tcm-special-1234809159/ or watch the latest one here 

 

 

Also, one of the gimmicks Disney came up with was for the first screenings the ticket would be a t-shirt. There are still loads of these deadstock and I bought one last year. 

Edited September 1 by Hannibal Scorch

[FLips]

American Psycho

Never seen it before but thought it was really good. It tails off towards the end but the first 2/3 of it are incredibly stupid. He's like a sadistic Napoleon Dynamite.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to return some videotapes.

[Bellenda Carlisle]

The Terminator Anime series on Netflix Terminator Zero 

I know it belongs in a different thread but it's part of the film series universe and there are lots of Terminator fans on here who might not check the anime thread, you should honestly give it a chance if you like the movie series.

I really liked it for the most part, it's comfortably the third best terminator "thing" after the first 2 films (not that that is saying a great deal).

My main question going in was does it "feel like" Terminator? It does, there are so many terminator locations and tropes that arent directly to do specifically with arnie, sarah connor etc and it hit the vibe really well; guns, trucks, highways, nuclear holocaust, self repair, being chased, fake cops, voice imitating, the list goes on and on. 

It's much bigger in scope than the movies, a lot of it is long philosophical discussions with AI. I liked the fact that it was much more expansive than the films and even made the films seem small and almost pointless, but my favourite parts were still where it felt most like the original film -with the protector Reece type character in action scenes trying to save the present from the menace of the future.

It wasn't perfect, could probably take out half an hour the chatting to AI and stuff with the kids and it would be a bit tighter and lose nothing that made it terminator-like. For the most part i found it really worthwhile though and lots of the colouring and animation look and design was really cool.

 

[LaGoosh]

21 hours ago, FLips said:

American Psycho

Never seen it before but thought it was really good. It tails off towards the end but the first 2/3 of it are incredibly stupid. He's like a sadistic Napoleon Dynamite.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to return some videotapes.

I love this movie. My favourite thing about is how much of a loser Patrick Bateman is. Yeah, he's rich, handsome and on the surface seems to have it made. But he's a pathetic person with no friends, no one in his life who genuinely cares about him other than his secretary and has a fake job where he sits alone in his office all day pretending to work.