VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Devon Malcolm]

51 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I agree, but to me there’s a distinction between what you’ve described and people filming themselves and acting like a European WWE crowd. 

I just think some films lend themselves to a communal experience. I don't personally care for that level of interaction and racket so I would avoid going to any screenings that are especially busy, which is easily done.

[Hannibal Scorch]

8 hours ago, Mr_Danger said:

I’ll enjoy some absolute shite if I’m watching it with my kids. The amount of crap I’ve grown to like just because they’ve loved them so much. I honestly couldn’t tell you if the Sonic trilogy is genuinely good or good bad.

Good, bad, Very Good.

[Lorne Malvo]

Companion - A ton of fun. I'm very much in my 'Sophie Thatcher can do no wrong' era, she's just fantastic.  Very tense but also very funny at times too, I loved it.

Holland - Nicole Kidman plays a housewife who starts to suspect her husband is cheating on her. The first half hour of this is very weird, but it soon settles down into a fairly standard by the numbers domestic thriller. It's a shame really as it definitely seems like there was a more interesting film in there that got butchered in the edit. A missed opportunity.

Death Of A Unicorn - Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega are a father and daughter who hit a unicorn with their car on their way to a wellness retreat. I thought this was pretty disappointing. A few good moments but for the most part they've taken a game cast and a fun premise and churned out something utterly devoid of creativity or originality. One of those films where from ten minutes in you know every single beat it's going to hit.

The Order - Bloody hell, Justin Kurzel made a film I didn't hate! A film very much of two halves I thought, I really liked everything to do with Jude Laws character and the investigation side of things whereas I found the whole Nicholas Hoult side of the story quite boring and unconvincing. Hopefully Kurzel has got more like this in him.

Edited April 7, 2025 by Lorne Malvo

[Devon Malcolm]

1 hour ago, Lorne Malvo said:

The Order - Bloody hell, Justin Kurzel made a film I didn't hate! A film very much of two halves I thought, I really liked everything to do with Jude Laws character and the investigation side of things whereas I found the whole Nicholas Hoult side of the story quite boring and unconvincing. Hopefully Kurzel has got more like this in him.

Yeah, as I think has been discussed before in this thread, Hoult just seems miscast here. He does what he can with the role but it needed someone a lot edgier to play that guy and he just doesn't have it in him. Jude Law's superb though, such a consistent actor.

[FLips]

Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood

Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio piss about doing films for 2 hours and then save Sharon Tate from the Manson Family.

It's not a bad film by any means but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it again the way I would Reservoir Dogs, or Pulp Fiction, or Django Unchained, or Kill Bill, or Inglorious Basterds, and well you get my point. Doesn't truly feel like a Tarantino film until halfway in when the women start needlessly getting their feet out for close ups, then hits a Tarantino peak during the last 20 minutes of violent revenge fantasy.

The best part in it is when the Tammy Craps girl makes Leo cry by saying he's really good at acting. Second best part is when Brad Pitt unironically says Poontang. Feels less like a Tarantino film for fans and more like a film for himself, which is fine. Not as good as I was hoping.

[Hannibal Scorch]

Perfect 

 

[Dr. Alan Grant]

Alien: Romulus. I’d heard that it treads very similar ground to other Alien films, but I wasn’t quite prepared for how much it copies.

Spoiler

The main character climbing into a spacesuit before the final battle. A Resurrection-esque Newborn thrown in for good measure. “Get away from her, you bitch” was one “homage” too far. The worst crime though has to be CGI Ian Holm. Just why?

I liked Andy the Android and the zero gravity scene, but the rest can happily be blown out of an airlock and never seen again.

[Hannibal Scorch]

18 minutes ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

Alien: Romulus. I’d heard that it treads very similar ground to other Alien films, but I wasn’t quite prepared for how much it copies.

  Reveal hidden contents

The main character climbing into a spacesuit before the final battle. A Resurrection-esque Newborn thrown in for good measure. “Get away from her, you bitch” was one “homage” too far. The worst crime though has to be CGI Ian Holm. Just why?

I liked Andy the Android and the zero gravity scene, but the rest can happily be blown out of an airlock and never seen again.

I liked Romulus more than most, but I would liken it to Jurassic World or The Force Awakens by giving you callbacks and easter eggs of things you loved in earlier entries. Andy was awesome though I agree with you there. And if you think that CG character was bad, they fixed him from the cinema release to the home release so it looks better now, but still not great.

[Dr. Alan Grant]

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I liked Romulus more than most, but I would liken it to Jurassic World or The Force Awakens by giving you callbacks and easter eggs of things you loved in earlier entries. Andy was awesome though I agree with you there. And if you think that CG character was bad, they fixed him from the cinema release to the home release so it looks better now, but still not great.

That’s an interesting comparison, cause I love The Force Awakens and one of the reasons why is the similarity to A New Hope. The cyclical nature of the trilogies  works in its favour for me. But with Romulus, they were a bit too in your face with all the references. Still, it’s better than Covenant, a film I’ve seen twice and remember nothing about. 

[gmoney]

I watched Runaway Jury tonight. A lesser John Grisham adaptation. One of those films where you've seen everyone in it somewhere else, even people who barely have lines. Luis Guzman is in at says about 4 sentences. Very daft plot, but it was fine. Gene Hackman was great obviously as, get this, a bit of a cunt. Sadly John Cusack was badly miscast as someone I'm supposed to like so that took me out of it. 

[FLips]

Kill Bill Vol 1
Stylish and gruesome martial arts revenge flick. Uma Thurman returns from the dead to hunt down her assassin ex colleagues that butchered her wedding.
There's a lot of creative freedom here with a lot of unique shots, inspiration from multiple genres and a small anime in the middle of it. It doesn't all land, such as obnoxiously bleeping the protagonists name to keep it a mystery for no reason, but it's fun, it's fast and the fight scenes are excellent.
All the praise in the world for doing practical fight scenes and effects and not butchering it with shit CGI. Give me people on wires every day of the week.

Kill Bill Vol 2
A little less action than the first one but a lot more character development. Watching it as a double bill means this isn't an issue, but there would be no reason to watch this one standalone over the first.
Doesn't have the wow factor that the fight against the Crazy 88 in the first one has, but there's still a lot of great moments here including Daryl Hannah getting her eye snatched.
David Carradine is excellent in both of them, especially Vol 2. Thurman gets an uncharacteristically happy ending for a Tarantino film too.

If you have time watch them both together. May be Tarantino's best.

Beverly Hills Cop
One I keep going back to. I only watched them all a few months ago but the first one remains the best for me. Funny, great action, swift pace 80s action comedy. One of the best of the genre and one of Eddie Murphy's best. Ronny Cox is always a treat.

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Guess which of the films I watched today my wife chose.

Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams are a weird pair of friends/maybe brother and sister but definitely not, that gain entry into the Eurovision Song Contest after the party boat with every other Iceland entry on it gets blown up.
It's way too long and most of the songs are forgettable even by Eurovision standards but it has a weird charm and even as a Eurovision casual I recognised a few past entrants in cameos. Definitely one for the Eurovision fans I think as there's a lot of fan service, even Graham Norton turns up!
I know Ferrell is dividing but this is one of his less obnoxious performances, that being said he stands out like a sore thumb through the whole thing and feels completely miscast. Not sure if Pierce Brosnan went through an ABBA phase but he turns up in this too.

There's some fun to be had but it didn't need to be 2 hours long.

 

[HarmonicGenerator]

It's not just @Dr. Alan Grant having trouble with Minecraft audiences...

Cinemas threaten Minecraft Movie audiences over ‘chicken jockey’ TikTok trend

 

[WyattSheepMask]

23 hours ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

That’s an interesting comparison, cause I love The Force Awakens and one of the reasons why is the similarity to A New Hope. The cyclical nature of the trilogies  works in its favour for me. But with Romulus, they were a bit too in your face with all the references. Still, it’s better than Covenant, a film I’ve seen twice and remember nothing about. 

The only thing I remember from Covenant was Fassbender telling his other self “watch me, I’ll do the fingering”, getting the biggest laugh I’ve ever heard in a cinema

[Dr. Alan Grant]

The Cineworld special screenings that Scorchers linked to is the right idea. If you want to shout and film it and have this communal experience, go to those. Throwing popcorn though? Put on a register and instant cinema ban for life. Goddamn TikTok. 

All this frustration coursing through me for a film I really have no intention of ever seeing. It boggles my mind. 

Anyway, I rewatched The Truman Show yesterday for the millionth time. Firmly in my top 10 films and each time I notice something that I previously didn’t. Case in point, when Meryl comes down to the basement to find Truman on his hands and needs messing around with a lawnmower, she stops on the stairs and turns on the light before plugging the Elk Rotary. It never occurred to me before that she presumably switched it on to give herself better lighting for the ad. Top film, great music, faultless.

 

[Onyx2]

1 hour ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

Anyway, I rewatched The Truman Show yesterday for the millionth time. Firmly in my top 10 films and each time I notice something that I previously didn’t. Case in point, when Meryl comes down to the basement to find Truman on his hands and needs messing around with a lawnmower, she stops on the stairs and turns on the light before plugging the Elk Rotary. It never occurred to me before that she presumably switched it on to give herself better lighting for the ad. Top film, great music, faultless.

I recently found Christopher Bingham's videos on Truman Show. They're really insightful and a good listen (I wish he would ditch that irritating vtuber avatar but that's a small detail that irritates me)