VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[LaGoosh]

4 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

It is, but then that’s the same argument with the source material. So in that regard it’s a faithful adaptation. I did enjoy the Netflix sequel series as well, for different reasons.

The source material is great because it actually goes into detail about how Scott is an dick and how it has affected people over the years and how he can redeem himself. In the film they didn't have time for any of that, so he's just a dick really who never atones for it.

[johnnyboy]

Opus

If you like John Malkovich turned all the way up, then this is for you.

 

Spoiler

The Menu meets Midsommar with Elton John instead of a chef.

 

[FLips]

Terminator Dark Fate
I’d not seen this or Genesys but having recently watched T2 figured I could just skip right to this one.
It’s bang average. Even for a Terminator film there’s a lot of inconsistencies, plot holes and bad decisions (why does he have a photo of just the front end of his van stuck up on his fridge?).
It also begs the question that if Skynet doesn’t happen and Legion happens instead, why even bother? If Legion doesn’t happen something else will instead.

By the end of it the amount of CGI was annoying us. At one point Arnie throws a punch and they CGI it. Is that really necessary?
Stuntmen and women must watch this film and weep. Coming off the back of T2 it’s just obnoxiously noticable how little of it is actually happening.

Yeah she has the benefit of a two-movie arc but Sarah Connor is still a fantastically strong woman and icon to the point she makes the other two women feel like cheap imitations. Grace especially spends the whole movie moaning and giving smart arse answers to the point her death was almost a relief. I could almost feel the writers patting themselves on the back for the “you are not the mother of some man who saves the future, you are the future” line. Dani was fine but really the film should have been more about Sarah and the T-800’s relationship as that’s by far the most interesting thing here.

It’s maybe the 3rd best film but honestly if given the choice I’d maybe sooner rewatch 3 than this. 

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, FLips said:

Grace especially spends the whole movie moaning and giving smart arse answers to the point her death was almost a relief

She is (as she is in all other films) insanely hot in this though.

I can't actually remember what I thought of this which means I'm going to have to watch the whole series now. Well done.

[Surf Digby]

I intended to avoid Alien: Romulus because I didn't enjoy Resurrection, was indifferent to Prometheus, and found Covenant instantly forgettable. Just like Indiana Jones, Alien(s) is a trilogy, and nothing more.

But then people started saying how good it was, how it was the best one since Aliens, and there it was on Disney, so needed to effort to watch it.

I wanted to like it. Really I did. From the start, it looked just right.  They got the aesthetic and feel of it perfect. However, from there it just seemed like a repeat of ideas and scenarios that already existed in the first two films. It was almost like someone did a fan-made remake, and did such a good job, that they re-edited the footage to try and make a new film.

Clinging onto ladder rungs while the ship decompresses.

The cocooned crew. 

Half a synthetic person connected to the ships computer. 

"How long have we got?"
"17 minutes"
"We're not leaving!"
"We're not???"

Tyler's sudden outburst of Hudson style dialogue when he gets pulled up into the ceiling.

When Andy was surfing with the alien down the lift shaft (just as Jason Bourne did), I was actually shouting to the screen "Don't say it!".

The way they brought the alien back was a bit shit too. Surely they could have had a different Alien and just invented any old backstory, instead of "well, actually it survived getting blasted by the Narcissus's thrusters, and created a cocoon to survive in space"?

[mim731]

9 hours ago, johnnyboy said:

Opus

If you like John Malkovich turned all the way up, then this is for you.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

The Menu meets Midsommar with Elton John instead of a chef.

 

I saw this last night. Loved it. Ayo Edebiri is fantastic and I spent the whole thing utterly transfixed, although mostly by John Malkovich. What a turn.

[LaGoosh]

4 hours ago, Surf Digby said:

I intended to avoid Alien: Romulus because I didn't enjoy Resurrection, was indifferent to Prometheus, and found Covenant instantly forgettable. Just like Indiana Jones, Alien(s) is a trilogy, and nothing more.

But then people started saying how good it was, how it was the best one since Aliens, and there it was on Disney, so needed to effort to watch it.

I wanted to like it. Really I did. From the start, it looked just right.  They got the aesthetic and feel of it perfect. However, from there it just seemed like a repeat of ideas and scenarios that already existed in the first two films. It was almost like someone did a fan-made remake, and did such a good job, that they re-edited the footage to try and make a new film.

Clinging onto ladder rungs while the ship decompresses.

The cocooned crew. 

Half a synthetic person connected to the ships computer. 

"How long have we got?"
"17 minutes"
"We're not leaving!"
"We're not???"

Tyler's sudden outburst of Hudson style dialogue when he gets pulled up into the ceiling.

When Andy was surfing with the alien down the lift shaft (just as Jason Bourne did), I was actually shouting to the screen "Don't say it!".

The way they brought the alien back was a bit shit too. Surely they could have had a different Alien and just invented any old backstory, instead of "well, actually it survived getting blasted by the Narcissus's thrusters, and created a cocoon to survive in space"?

Romulus was particularly heart breaking out of all the shit Alien sequels because the first ten minutes are really interesting and enjoyable and give you a glimmer of hope that "hold on, this one might actually be good!" but then the rest of the film happens and it's all just terrible, stupid and fucking shit in every possible way imaginable. I hate this movie so goddamn much.

I have a theory that modern Hollywood blockbusters are such low quality sludge these days that anything slightly above sludge people go overboard and think it's good which is the only explanation I can think of for this film receiving any praise at all. Standards are in the absolute gutter. 0/10.

Edited March 12, 2025 by LaGoosh

[Devon Malcolm]

I enjoyed it.

[Merzbow]

Alien: Resurrection is great and deserved an earth based sequel. Jeunet needed his own entire Alien timeline.

Romulus was just 'memberberries.

I finally got around to watching It Follows and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it, not quite on the level our Devon does but for a 2010's US horror it's great and stands far above the trash that was being pumped out in that decade. Maika is obviously great and deserves all the love she's now getting, the music is some of the best I've heard in a horror and really helped the film, great bits of lo-fi synth and drones.

Also gave Barbarian a chance after loving Companion and I'm glad I did, I'm surprised I didn't hear more incels complaining about it as it's portrayal of men is some of the most damning I've seen in a while, spot on cop hate too. But yeah, an effectively creepy horror on top of that and a really interesting way of moving between timelines that kept me on my toes.

Next up was The Passenger as I needed a Kyle Gallner fix and good god did I get it, he's at his most psychotic here, props to whoever decided on his wardrobe too. Not a perfect thriller as it can be a little too goofy but definitely a very inventive one. If you enjoyed Kyle in Dinner in America I'd recommend giving this a go for him alone.

Rewatched The Raid and yeah, what's to say except that it's still my favourite post 2000's martial arts flick and is still above it's pretenders like John Wick (I'd actually put Monkey Man above that series, too).

[LaGoosh]

29 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I enjoyed it.

[cobra_gordo]

I really liked Alien Romulus right up until 

Spoiler

Big Scary Monster Baby thing

Other than that I think it's really good. Some good set pieces, particularly the bit with the defrosting facehuggers.

[Mr_Danger]

Romulus is just enough of an impression of a good Alien film for me to not regret watching it. A perfectly acceptable 3 star film which is probably about as good as you can get from a modern day Alien film. Terminator, Alien, Robocop, all of these films are married to the time, era and age in which most of us watched them. It definitely helps that genuinely great directors made them.

[Carbomb]

I'd be interested in a RoboCop sequel (to the original series), where he's essentially breaking down and the human part of him is having to come to terms with mortality after decades of having had to get used to his distance from biological human life, and potential immortality. With the rise in AI, simultaneously having to deal with obsolescence might also be worth exploring. 

That said, I don't fancy modern Hollywood's odds of doing it well, if they did do it. 

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, Mr_Danger said:

A perfectly acceptable 3 star film which is probably about as good as you can get from a modern day Alien film.

Lower standards, exactly as I said! 

1 hour ago, Mr_Danger said:

It definitely helps that genuinely great directors made them.

And that's the other thing. These films are now "IP" to be exploited by their corporate owners for maximum profit with minimum effort. But the original films are unique, smart and perfectly crafted films made by real directors with vision and skill. Why can't we have that again instead of this reheated, unoriginal "content" sludge?

[Surf Digby]

4 hours ago, Mr_Danger said:

Romulus is just enough of an impression of a good Alien film for me to not regret watching it. A perfectly acceptable 3 star film which is probably about as good as you can get from a modern day Alien film. Terminator, Alien, Robocop, all of these films are married to the time, era and age in which most of us watched them. It definitely helps that genuinely great directors made them.

It's not that Romulus is a bad film. It's very well put together. It's just that I'd seen 90% of it already, but with the benefit of Bill Paxton.