VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[gmoney]

I mention this almost every time "...In The West" comes up, but there's a scene where someone gets shot and falls off a roof that can only have near killed the poor stuntman. He lands on his neck basically. I think someone might have posted some extra info about it last time I brought it up, but my brain is like dry erase board so I can't actually remember. 

[davertfnewman]

I think you associate the Harmonica theme, through the first major play of it during the McBain family massacre, as quite an evil theme, but it's definitely intended to be tragic because of how it first came about. There's a definite subversion of expectations. When you see young Frank, with the bad wig, walking in silhouette out of the sunlight you expect it would be Harmonica's brother, but instead it's the villain. The brother ambiguously either kicking his younger brother away or succumbing to his younger brother's fatigue is great too. He says something and it's not entirely clear but it's like a reversal of Eli Wallach's "YOU SON OF A - !" at the end of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Even if it was the same words, it's more noble because of the circumstances.

The stuntman - is it the one that's on Frank's side and should get him, but Harmonica alerts Frank to in order to get him on his own terms?

 

Edited April 15, 2025 by davertfnewman

[gmoney]

Yeah, from about 5.04 in that clip. Before I watched it I thought "ah, maybe it's not as bad as I remember", but fuck me it's brutal. 

Edited April 15, 2025 by gmoney

[FLips]

Oh yeah that stuntman bump had me thinking twice about CGI.

[Merzbow]

Mickey 17, there's a really fun film here with a fair few genuine laughs but there's also an overriding limpness to the politics with too much of it nothing but a "haha look it Elon Trump" joke.. which is also a little strange as there's almost a Chris Morris absurdity there, too. Maybe I'm thinking too much about what's really a just a dafter film from Bong for a change.

[davertfnewman]

Funnily enough, I'm watching an old William Friedkin interview about The French Connection and he says the most someone gets hurt in one of his films is a twisted ankle because they do everything piece by piece, but that sniper coming off the roof is coming down in a clear drop where you hope they have a cushion under the facade of the boards.

[SuperBacon]

4 hours ago, FLips said:

Keen to watch Godfather II but maybe not so much III which nobody has anything good to say about.

I'm not as down on it as most other people, and it's worth watching to finish the story (Francis Cody Coppola) but it's nowhere near the level of the other two. 

Sofia Coppola is absolutely dreadful.

[davertfnewman]

I was on holiday about twenty years ago and my dad was working at the time as a book man (dropping off samples and an order form, going back a week later to fulfil orders). He had given me, without any real knowledge of my reading or film interests, copies of The Godfather, The Sicilian and The Last Don. The Godfather pretty much forms the basis for the first two Godfather movies. I've only read it and not the latter two.

I began reading The Godfather on holiday and then completed it while working at a series of temp jobs on my break and lunch. It is the epitome of a page turner and gives you everything you need and more, filling in the back story of characters like Luca Brasi (identifying why despite his fearfulness around Don Corleone he is an absolute monster) and Sonny's mistress who you see briefly at the beginning of the film (it's revealed that Sonny has such a big dick that his wife is happy for him to fuck around because it hurts her so much, so his mistress has her vagina so stretched out that she has to have it restored by a plastic surgeon lover in Las Vegas later).

[LaGoosh]

17 hours ago, davertfnewman said:

it's revealed that Sonny has such a big dick that his wife is happy for him to fuck around because it hurts her so much, so his mistress has her vagina so stretched out that she has to have it restored by a plastic surgeon lover in Las Vegas later

Really glad they cut that bit out of the film.

So I have a rare opportunity to go to the cinema next week. I'm torn between seeing Sinners or Warfare (I only have the time to see one of them) so if any of you lads happen to see both of them when they come out this weekend and can recommend which one of the two I should see by Wednesday morning that'd be extremely helpful.

[Devon Malcolm]

I'm probably seeing Sinners on Saturday night. I've heard mixed things about Warfare so I'll probably not get round to that at the cinema but a couple of trusted people on Letterboxd are absolutely raving about Sinners.

[Jesse]

I watched the ten minute video of Ryan Coogler talking about film formats with my wife and now we're going to see it in IMAX (though we're not trekking down to London for the 70mm)

[johnnyboy]

Snow White

Maybe I was in a good mood, maybe it was because I had zero expectations about it, but I loved this.  I might even have to stick the soundtrack on later.

Spoiler

Grumpy looks like he was modelled on Tommy Lee Jones.

 

[FLips]

Another post-work CEX trip, another small horde bought.

First off I returned my wierd double sided letterboxed Goodfellas. As I was explaining it to the bloke in CEX I could see him being nowhere near as intrigued by it as I was, but he refunded me it anyway. I also returned/rebought my Magnificent Seven as I'd been charged the £4 for the MS Collection when it should have been £1.50 for the standalone so got that refunded and sorted.

Picked up the following:

Field of Dreams - £1.50
The Great Escape - £1.50
Jackie Chan's Who Am I? - £5
True Romance - £2
Blues Brothers (already had this one but my copy kept freezing just before the big concert) - £1
Casablanca - £1.50
Rumble in The Bronx - £4
Desperado - £1.50
Casino - £2
Falling Down - £3.50

A few "pricy" ones in there with the two Jackie Chans costing £9 for the pair, and Falling Down oddly being £3.50. I almost had Enter The Dragon as well but it was also a double sided Goodfellas deal so I gave it a wide berth.

Altogether though £23.50 for the lot which I'm happy with. As you've probably noticed I'm burning through these films at an alarming rate lately. Godfather Part II tonight though!

[johnnyboy]

On 3/31/2025 at 5:34 PM, davertfnewman said:

The War of the Roses...

Mrs JB asked me to stick a trailer of a new Colman/Cumberbatch film called "The Roses" on the big telly and about halfway through I'm thinking "isn't this a remake/reimagining of The War of the Roses?"  Turns out 1) it is and 2) Mrs JB had never seen the DeVito/Douglas/Turner film, so we're now watching that this very second.

On 4/7/2025 at 9:23 AM, Lorne Malvo said:

Death Of A Unicorn - Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega are a father and daughter who hit a unicorn with their car...

My thought from this was that Will Poulter plays a terrific chickenshit.

3 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I'm probably seeing Sinners on Saturday night.

I should be going to this on Friday as I feel like I've been bombarded with trailers since before Christmas and I love MBJ (Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose).

23 minutes ago, FLips said:

First off I returned my wierd double sided letterboxed Goodfellas.

I had some early ones like that back in the day around the turn of the century.  The first pressing of Armageddon (Bruce Willis, not the PPV) definitely had a flip in the middle.

Edited April 16, 2025 by johnnyboy

[Dr. Alan Grant]

Another cracking bunch there. I loved Desperado when I was younger. I thought it was the coolest film I’d ever seen. I watched it again a year or so ago and…time has not been kind.