VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Zebra Kid Mark]

5 hours ago, BomberPat said:

The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs

Been on my watchlist forever, as I'm a massive Tom Waits fan. Been in a Wild West frame of mind lately, as I've been playing Red Dead 2 and reading a biography of Buffalo Bill, so thought it was about time to watch it.

It's a mixed bag. The Tom Waits part is lovely, and he's fantastic as ever. The initial short (the actual Buster Scruggs bit) is brilliant and hilarious, but really it's largely downhill from there. "The Gal Who Got Rattled" is interminably long, despite being the least interesting story of the lot. 

Agreed with everything you said, after the Buster Scruggs bit I though to myself that this was going to be an awesome movie, then it kind of dropped off a cliff and I carried on watching just to see where the film was going. It turns out it was going no where.

[Devon Malcolm]

Yeah, Ava is one of the worst films of the year. Does the push for female-fronted action films absolutely no favours at all either.

[Jazzy G]

Had a day of action movies while my other half is out. Die Hard 2, Under Seige and Predator. 

Colm Meaney being in Die Hard 2 and Under Seige got me in the mood for Con Air to make it a triple bill, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere for free on demand and I couldnt be arsed seeing whether we have it on DVD. 

EDIT: Turns out it was Peter Cullen that did the voice of the Predator. 

Edited December 17, 2020 by jazzygeofferz

[Devon Malcolm]

Never Rarely Sometimes Always

The more depressing counterpart to Unpregnant, but also very good. A couple of great performances, and amusingly, Sharon van Etten playing the mum of a 17 year old.

Let Him Go

To the delight of the several big Kevin Costner fans on here, another superb late career performance in one of his quieter roles. Pretty good but familiar small town thriller that comes to a predictably violent climax, but Lesley Manville steals the show as a bit of a Ma Barker figure.

[King Coconut]

Why is this thread still a thing? Surely we should be starting a new thread for every film by now. Death to context! 

[Devon Malcolm]

14 minutes ago, King Coconut said:

Why is this thread still a thing? Surely we should be starting a new thread for every film by now. Death to context! 

Works for me, I just watched The Dirty Dozen again last night.

[SaitoRyo]

I've watched a lot of stuff recently, having not really had the time or inclination to watch many films in the last few months (toddler and a new born coupled with only having the energy to watch Seinfeld at night). 

Some of my favourites were Rancho Deluxe, Cisco Pike and Lucky, all of which feature the great Harry Dean Stanton, oddly enough. Melvin and Howard was fantastic and I quite liked Tex, too. Need to read the novel because I remember really liking The Outsider's when I was younger. 

I also liked Paul Schrader's Hardcore, even though I was expecting more considering it's reputation. 

The one that sticks out most (granted I just watched it last night) is Backtrack. I watched a Dennis Hopper documentary the other night and had this on my Prime watch list for ages but I didn't know a great deal about it. 

It's a bit mental. The cast is insane (Hopper, Jodie Foster, Vincent Price, Joe Pesci, Tony Sirico, Fred Hard, Dean Stockwell and Bob Dylan to name a few) and tonally it's absolutely all over the place. 

Originally it was re-edited by the distributors and disowned by Hopper, who was credited as Alan Smithee. This was, apparently, the director's cut, since Hopper is credited but it's not a great film by any means. There's interesting stuff in it and it's aesthetically pleasing and all that but it's so unfocused and quite poorly written and/or edited. 

Just a ridiculous film but one for fans of Hopper or outlandish early 90s thrillers. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Black Bear

Aubrey Plaza is innocent as always but this is dreadful, boring shit. Was hoping it might crack my top 10 of the year, but it's likely to hit my bottom 10.

[Bellenda Carlisle]

21 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Black Bear

Aubrey Plaza is innocent as always but this is dreadful, boring shit. Was hoping it might crack my top 10 of the year, but it's likely to hit my bottom 10.

I've never heard of it, why did you think it might be one of the best films of the year before watching it? 

[Devon Malcolm]

12 minutes ago, Bellenda Carlisle said:

I've never heard of it, why did you think it might be one of the best films of the year before watching it? 

I'd just heard really positive things about it, and I do wonder if it's been slightly mis-marketed because it wasn't anything like a psychological thriller as had been hinted at. Possibly my fault for not reading up more on it but I don't like to do that for fear of spoilers.

[wordsfromlee]

John Wick

Been meaning to watch this for years but just never got round to it until I saw it was on TV last night. There's not much to it in terms of storyline and that, but that's not what the movie is about. It's about the action sequences and they're brilliant. It's like if Tony Jaa made Taken.

I'm not sure if it was just Sky or if it's how the film normally is but I could barely hear a word the people were saying in it compared to the music and other stuff.

[Chris B]

Night of the Juggler (YouTube)

This opens with an absolutely storming lengthy car chase, and it doesn't let up. Set in the sleaziest New York of 1980, this film appears to be in rights hell, so it's not received much in the way of any real home release. Which is a shame - it's dated a bit awkwardly in places, but the sheer energy and atmosphere carry it a long way.

Basically, James Brolin's daughter is kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity, and he tries to track her down. It's like a slightly exploitational Die Hard meets The Warriors meets The Taking of Pelham 123. Enjoyed it so much more than I was expecting. James Brolin comes across as an absolute star, but the scene-stealer is a young Mandy Patinkin as the world's most awesome cab driver.

 

[Devon Malcolm]

Night of the Juggler is one of the most surprisingly excellent films I've seen in the last few years. Nobody talks about it but it's a brilliant meld of action film and NYC crime thriller. Great cast, too.

[WeeAl]

10 to Midnight (1983) - Netflix

Bronson is on good form here. He plays an experienced detective in search of a creepy serial killer. He talks a fair bit in this one as well, which he doesn't always do. It's not a whodunnit. You know the killer right away. It's about how do they/do they catch them, and they manage to build a lot of suspense into that. I hadn't seen this before but thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Violent City (1970) - Amazon Prime

Charlie boy and wife Jill Ireland have their kit off quite a bit here, and you can see why. She's stunning and he's cut to pieces. You get the feeling if his hitman character didn't have a gun at a dangerous point, he would probably manage quite well anyway. I particularly liked the opening, there's only one word spoken in the first 12 minutes or so, yet you can't take your eyes off the screen. It does get slower at points throughout, and in a small role I actually think Telly Savalas steals it as the mob boss. There's a particularly good scene in a jail cell as well that I won't spoil for anyone that hasn't watched it before. 

 

[Devon Malcolm]

I've been putting together my top 50 of the year and did rewatches of Parasite and The Invisible Man to see what's going to top my list and I'm still none the wiser. Might be a dead heat. Both brilliant and pertinent films that genuinely deserved their lavish praise. Not sure I could watch the latter again though, it's unbelievably stressful.