VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Devon Malcolm]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

Was it an industry regulation back in the 90s that all softcore female leads had to be called Shannon? There seemed to be a fair few.

In reality, there were probably only two of them (Tweed and Whirry) but they were in so many of those films between them that it felt like there were dozens of Shannons.

12 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

My Old Ass

Lovely little coming of age film with a bit of daftness thrown in. Girl takes mushrooms, Aubrey Plaza as the girls older self shows up and gives her advice including to stay away from a boy who shows up the next day and is completely lovable. Felt really authentic in its depiction of a modern day 18 year old girl about to enter real life  to the point that even a boring old middle aged bloke like me could empathise with her. The main girl and lad are really good as is Aubrey Plaza in her small part, obv. 

Glad you liked this, one of my favourites of the year.

Edited November 8, 2024 by Devon Malcolm

[Carbomb]

38 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

In reality, there were probably only two of them (Tweed and Whirry) but they were in so many of those films between them that it felt like there were dozens of Shannons.

I think there was one more, because I remember a specific moment when I was about 15, during summer holidays when I would just stay up till 3-4am watching anything that came up on The Movie Channel or Sky Movies+, seeing a listing in What's On TV that was for a softcore and thinking "Yet another Shannon? Just how many are there?" Something like Shannon Young or Long?

But yeh, there weren't really that many. Think "Shannon" was just a popular name back then, with Shannon Doherty and later Shannon Elizabeth showing up.

EDIT: Hmmmm, not quite right. Seems there was a Shannon Long who did grumble mags, but there's no listing of actual films.

Edited November 8, 2024 by Carbomb

[Devon Malcolm]

1 minute ago, Carbomb said:

I think there was one more, because I remember a specific moment when I was about 15, during summer holidays when I would just stay up till 3-4am watching anything that came up on The Movie Channel or Sky Movies+, seeing a listing in What's On TV that was for a softcore and thinking "Yet another Shannon? Just how many are there?" Something like Shannon Young or Long?

There was a Playboy Playmate around that time called Shannon Long so she may have popped up in one of them.

[FLips]

Space Jam

Haven't seen it since I used to have it on VHS as a kid and watch it nearly every night for a couple of months. That being said, I forgot most of it. Michael Jordan can't act, not even as well as some of the other NBA stars they get to cameo, so thankfully Bill Murray and Wayne Knight carry large portions of the film and they're both great any time they're on screen.
I've never really been massively into Looney Tunes and this film doesn't change that, though I will concede Daffy Duck is far and beyond the best one.

A lot of it has aged really badly, from the R Kelly soundtrack to the (bad at the time to begin with) CGI, though the latter did get some big laughs out of me, particularly Michael Jordan's long gross stretchy arm, Wayne Knight being flatted and then inflated into a balloon, and Jordan being Elm Street'd through a golf hole. There's more body horror in this than any of the horror films I watched through October.

It's short and sweet and while it's not an amazing film by many standards it's still watchable if you have any interest in Michael Jordan or Looney Tunes, and still has a few good laughs in it.

Again though, this cracks me up.

 

[Weezenal]

If you think this one is bad, don’t watch the sequel.

[Devon Malcolm]

Blitz (cinema)

More or less a TV series packed into 2 hours. Just way too much going on here for it to work as a film and while all its many parts are well made, it's too rushed and under-developed. Saoirse Ronan amazing as ever.

Sasquatch Summer

Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg play a pair of sasquatches. No, honestly. A funny idea but it should have been a short film, it doesn't work that well stretched to 90 minutes. 

Canary Black (Prime)

Absolutely terrible Kate Beckinsale action flick, from the guy who directed Taken, which is increasingly looking like a massive fluke. They hint at a sequel at the end. Best of fucking luck with that.

Robot Dreams

The best animated film of the year, although I haven't admittedly seen The Wild Robot yet. A simple idea that's both funny and sad and has a beautiful bittersweet ending. The sort of film only a UKFFer wouldn't like.

Hunt Her, Kill Her

Pretty decent low-budget thriller about a woman being stalked round a warehouse by a gang of masked killers. Starts quite badly but picks up tension and becomes really dark near the end. Much better than I expected.

If You Were the Last 

Sweet sci-fi romcom with Anthony Mackie (love that guy) and Zoe Chao stranded in space and falling in love. Funny and silly, if entirely predictable. Nice and disposable.

Falling in Love Like in Movies (Netflix)

Indonesian romcom about a film director who makes a film based on his missed relationship with a school sweetheart. Never hilariously funny or anything but well acted and cute with some smart, wrong-footing ideas.

12.12: The Day 

Korean political thriller based on the events of the 1979 military coup. Like most Korean films it's too long but it's packed with tension and excellent performances and is accessible even to those who don't have much knowledge of this coup.

The Promised Land (BBC iPlayer)

Mads Mikkelsen battles a deranged baron over some land. Excellent historical drama, Sexy Mads is awesome as ever, as is Kristine Kujath Thorp, who was also brilliant in Sick of Myself, which everyone should watch and is currently on whatever Channel 4's streaming service is called this week.

[FLips]

Blazing Saddles

Could be one of the least funny films I’ve seen and I’ve been watching Adam Sandler films lately. 
A couple of minor laughs here and there but I don’t think I’ve seen so many jokes not land in succession. It’s like the worst bits of Monty Python but they keep saying slurs.

Robocop

Watching ED-209 mulch a man got more laughs than Blazing Saddles.

[Hannibal Scorch]

I saw a very strange double bill today. Paddington in Peru and Anora. One was a thrilling, hilarious and emotional film set in a land far away and the other was Paddington in Peru.

Anora is in with a shout of film of the year for me with a lead performance that’s going to be staying with me for a long time.
 

P3 is fine. It definitely feels like a tribute to Paul King’s efforts but without the sweetness and fun of them. Emily Mortimer is definitely no Sally Hawkins, though Olivia Coleman does some great work here. The best bit of the film being in the mid credits says a lot really. Not awful, but just not funny and definitely not as entertaining as the others. 

[WyattSheepMask]

We saw Paddington in Peru last night. It’s fine, but definitely the weakest of the three, but it would’ve taken a special effort to have even come close to being on the level of Paddington 2. 
It’s not bad by any stretch and it looked great in places (but also quite cheap in places too) but I doubt I’d watch it again

Edited November 11, 2024 by WyattSheepMask

[Lorne Malvo]

Finally resubscribed to Odeon Limitless after having a ridiculously busy summer and not being able to get in the cinema at all. We're back baby!

Paddington In Peru - I really liked it. Doesn't hit the heights of Paddington 2 but it's on a par with the first for me. Olivia Colman is superb and really funny as usual. Who was it on here who used to have a thing for Olivia Colman? Because I'm starting to see it too. 

Red One - It's pretty bad, but still a lot better than the utter disaster I expected it to be. For a run of the mill blockbuster there are parts of this that are far more deranged than it has any right to be. It's a shame really, with a tighter script this could've been this years Dungeons & Dragons but the majority of it is as phoned in as you'd expect a 2024 Rock production to be.

For the regular cinema-goers on here, are audiences getting increasingly worse behaved or did I just have bad luck? Both screenings just full of absolute fucking knobheads.

[Chest Rockwell]

I don't find her attractive but I watched the video of her receiving her Blue Peter badge multiple times; she's delightful! 

I think probably the movies you went to see didn't help bring out the best behaved audiences tbh; it's always worse for a big blockbuster flick 

[Hannibal Scorch]

48 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

 

For the regular cinema-goers on here, are audiences getting increasingly worse behaved or did I just have bad luck? Both screenings just full of absolute fucking knobheads.

If I go on a Sunday before 6pm, lots of nobheads. Friday night can also be touch and go. 

[FLips]

After finding it a nightmare to watch series of films over Halloween because of rights issues on streaming services, and issues with things like price hikes and just the sheer amount of services and add-on services like MGM or Shudder, we’ve taken the turn back to physical media.

It wasn’t so much a big issue when it was just Netflix with no competitors because at one stage they seemed to have pretty much everything, but then Amazon got involved, then Disney, then Paramount, and so on. Now the convenience of streaming isn’t really a convenience as much as it is an expensive struggle to find something worth watching.

You spend 10 minutes looking for a popular film, bouncing between four or five streaming services only to end up on Amazon where you have to pay for it, and with the recent issues with “buy to own” movies vanishing from people’s libraries because they never truly owned it, it felt like the best thing to do.

So over the past week we’ve cancelled some of our services and scoured some local CEXs and we’re in a brilliant sweet spot where most DVDs are in the £1-1.50 range, even 3, 4, 5 film collections are £3 or £4 tops.

For roughly £100 we’ve amassed 110 films and we’re looking month by month to slowly start filling the collection out. TV boxsets are dirt cheap too so will grab some of those over time. Not that i’m after it right now but the entire Friends box set is £6 which is insane. The Office is £12, Frasier, The Wire, The West Wing are £15. 

It’s definitely a mentality thing too but we’ve found it easier this last week to pick something to watch from a physical collection because of there being less choice and also us having paid for it. Some days we’d skim through a hundred thumbnails and not be able to decide and not even watch something.

I imagine we’re not the first to do this and certainly won’t be the last. I can’t see DVDs staying this cheap for the long run once more people turn back to them either.

The Wedding Singer

Morally ambiguous comedy where Adam Sandler plays a kind, mild mannered wedding singer that falls in love with one of his co-workers after his bride leaves him at the altar. The feelings are reciprocated but she’s due to be married to a jock idiot she’s settling for. 
It’s a nice film with a very good soundtrack, and while you cheer for the two leads to be together it’s a bit Jim and Pam in that they emotionally and physically cheat before she decides to leave her partner to be with Sandler. Cute film though.

Groundhog Day

If you thought Drew Barrymore cheating on her fiancè was morally ambiguous then wait until you see Bill Murray manipulate a woman way out of his league into falling for him by taking advantage of a time loop.

Still it’s a great film with Murray doing some of his best work. You can see what they’re going for with him trying to become a better person but the reason for the time loop is never explained and you feel Murray doesn’t actually become a better person he just figured out how to get what he wanted.

 

 

[Lorne Malvo]

@FLips

You should've posted this a few months back! I had to get rid of my entire DVD collection (over 1000) over the summer due to downsizing. Ended up giving the lot to charity shops as selling them was just too much hassle. Would've been happy to send you a bunch.

Then again, everytime I pass a CEX/marketplace/HMV I end up spending half hour looking through the DVDs anyway so I imagine I'll be restarting the collection before long.

[JLM]

A combination of Letterboxd and Justwatch has mitigated streaming service paralysis for me a little. Having centralised watch lists that aren’t tied to any specific service and guidance on where to find the stuff I want to see has made my viewing time a lot more focused. I totally share the frustration with it though and I still do quite a lot of pirating despite multiple streaming subscriptions and a cineworld unlimited card. A lot of the time it’s  because I’ve tried my best to watch something legally and hit a dead end. 
 

Similar to @Lorne Malvo I’ve also just gone the other way and had to downsize the physical media. I’m too much of a hoarder to get rid though. Compromise was keeping the discs and transferring them to binders, logging the entire collection on Letterbox’d as I go so I still have them in a browseable format. Not nearly as big a collection, more like 400-500. It’s still taking flipping ages though, about half way through it at the moment and trying to muster the motivation to do another sitting.