VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[SaitoRyo]

11 hours ago, Merzbow said:

Eenie Meanie

I'd love to say I enjoyed this more than I did as there's a genuinely fun heist movie in there somewhere but so much of the run time is spent pilling on the schmaltz that just feels horribly forced and unorganic. Samara Weaving does a decent job with what she was given though, she deserves better. I will say the actual car driving segments are great though, better than I've  seen in some big budget films but I wish there were more of them.

Was on the fence about bothering with this. Still am after your review tbh. Have read mixed things, but looks like the sort of thing I'd like/would randomly stick on when I can't find anything better to watch. Anyway...

Edie & Pen

Look, if you're not interested in watching prime Jennifer Tilly run around Reno in cute, low-cut dresses then you're simply not straight (or gay) enough for me, I'm afraid.

Tilly and Stockard Channing play Edie and Pen (short for Penelope), two women who have just divorced their husbands and form an unlikely friendship after meeting at a bar. While drinking, they encounter wiry cowboy (actually a pharmacist) and noted womaniser Scott Glenn, after which the film becomes about what men and women want and need from each other. 

There's not much drama to any of it, but I can never hate on a mid-90s indie with western iconography and a Shawn Colvin soundtrack. Lots of familiar faces show up for cames or in supporting roles, including Martin Mull, Randy Travis, Chris Sarandon, Beverly D'Angelo and Joanna Gleason. I had a good time. 

[Onyx2]

The Thursday Murder Club

The Sunday afternoon humdrum club. An amusing way to pass an afternoon but nothing earth shattering. However like the old people, I appreciated how nice and bright everything was. Six battenburgs out of ten. 

The Roses

Like a 2 hour roast battle. If you like watching Olivia Colman alternate snarls and grins, you will love it. Thankfully I do! Nine crabs out of ten. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Watched Kpop Demon Hunters earlier in the week as my nieces were down and wanted to watch it again. I get the hype for it but I thought it was meh at best but that’s due to me being big on anime like Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen

Finally got to watch a film I’ve been trying to get a copy of for a good 10-15 years as I found it while looking on Amazon Prime Video, the Troma ‘classic’ Sgt Kabukiman LAPD which was absolutely joyful to watch, full of the usual tropes from that studio, tits, gore and gags

[LaGoosh]

*LONG POST WARNING*

So I just came off seven weeks PATL. I was up a lot in the night (still am) but put that time to good use watching a load of movies:

 

North by Northwest - much funnier than I had anticipated. Obviously this was great, held together by a wonderfully smarmy Cary Grant performance. The abrupt ending made me burst out laughing.

 

Bring Them Down - a grim film about feuding farming families in Ireland. Suitably grim, violent and depressing but ultimately pretty shallow and pointless in the end.

 

The Seed of the Sacred Fig - an Iranian family drama filmed in secret. The first two acts are brilliantly gripping, watching the younger generation clash against their rigid immovable parents. But the third act goes completely off the rails.

 

Y Tu Mama Tambien - perhaps my new favourite film? Brimming with colour, laughter and life. Looks incredible, cast are absolutely joyous and it's filled with perfect slices of life. Made me want to book a flight to Mexico immediately. Wonderfully horny. The ending scene completely broke me.

 

Bound - this film made me incredibly nostalgic for 90s thrillers. A lost art when done right. Ridiculous fun.

 

Witchfinder General - a really nasty film set in Medieval England about a notorious witch hunter. Incredibly bleak film that I'll never watch again.

 

The Worst Person In The World - pretty good but also left me a bit cold but I think that might have been the films intention. A character exploration piece where the main character is devoid of any real character.

 

Anatomy of A Fall - fantastic courtroom drama with an outstanding lead performance. Some of the evidence brought forward by the prosecution is absolutely fucking insane though but maybe that's what French courtrooms are like?!

 

Carol - Cate Blanchett is brilliant in this 1950s set drama about a lesbian affair. Unfortunately she's lezzing off with Rooney Mara who gives one of the most boring and lifeless performances I've seen in years. Not bad but not great.

 

Three Colours, Blue - I feel like there's a French movie cliche where you have the most beautiful woman imaginable having it off with an kinda gross and very dull older man. Well, Juliette Binoche looks mind blowing in this and shags the blandest and most uncharismatic bloke you could possibly comprehend. Film was ok.

 

All We Imagine As Light - spectacular film about the day to day lives of three nurses in India. Utterly perfect. Heartbreaking, funny, compelling and life affirming in equal measure. Beautifully shot too.

 

Tangerine - the "shot entirely in iphone" gimmick put me off this for awhile. It shouldn't have done. It looks great. Better than 99% of films that came out this past year or any Netflix sludge that cost $200 million. Well worth watching. A day in the life of two trans prostitutes. A wild, loud, intense but deeply human and empathetic film.

 

The Second Act - a French comedy that very much pats itself on the back for how clever it is except its not clever or funny at all.

 

Petite Maman - the directors previous film Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a masterpiece. This follow up definitely isn't on that level. In fact I wouldn't be surprised to find out this was filmed entirely in one weekend. However it's still a pretty sweet low key film. 

 

Paths of Glory - when I was 34 I made a short horror film. It was fun to make and played at a couple of small film festivals. However it's also pretty terrible and I hate watching it back. Well, Stanley Kubrick made this utter classic film when he was in only 26 years old. Motherfucker. 

 

Perfect Days - a truly lovely Japanese film that follows a toilet cleaner around as he enjoys the small things in life. Pretty much nothing happens in it but it's perfect for it.

 

Decision to Leave - this got loads of critical acclaim but unfortunately I absolutely hated everything about it.

 

12 Angry Men - quite possibly the perfect film. 12 jurors deliberate on a murder case and the breakdown of each bit of evidence feels like it's own individual thriller. Filled to the brim with top notch performances, dialogue and characters. I was buzzing for hours afterwards. 

 

The Girl With The Needle - not for the faint hearted. Loved the look of this, reminded me of Lynch's Elephant Man. A disturbing and rough film but very well made

 

God's Own Country - British drama about a young farmer who falls for a migrant worker. It's fine but pretty soft fluffy stuff overall, it doesn't really dive too deep into some of the potentially thornier stuff like it could (and should) have. Josh O'connor hangs dong.

 

The Battle of Algiers - I like it in old foreign films where they have loads of stunts and they all look incredibly dangerous for real. They must have killed about 20 extras in the making of this. Incredible and important film. Feels like a documentary at times.

 

The Promised Land - historical thriller with the always great Mads Mikkelson. It's fine, if predictable. You won't regret watching it but completely inessential.

 

A Special Day - a masterful Italian drama where Sophia Loren is a put upon housewife who meets an interesting new man in her building. However it takes place on the day that Hitler is visiting fascist Italy and the man is more complicated than he seems. Manages some issues with way more subtlety and complexity than I would have expected from a film in this era. It's great!

 

A Real Pain - not great. In fact I found the whole thing pretty shallow and annoying. No idea why Caulkin's performance got so much praise unless you find someone jumping between quirky, happy and irritating impressive, I guess.

 

The Florida Project - ok, maybe this is my new favourite film? Sean Baker is fast becoming one of my favourite film makers. A piece that is absolutely overflowing with life, colour, empathy and love towards humanity. Set in a hotel where basically poor people live just round the corner from Disney World. Maybe my favourite Willem Dafoe performance as the hotel manager. There's a scene where he fixes the hotels power outage that had me absolutely beaming from ear to ear.

 

Punch Drunk Love - another critically acclaimed film that I just didn't get along with at all. In fact I think I hated everything about it, maybe.

 

Cleo from 5 to 7 - great French character piece about a famous singer awaiting a medical diagnosis. I liked it a lot.

 

House of Intolerance - drama set in a historical French whorehouse about the women insides lives, their hopes and how they are exploited. A tough film to watch at times but very well done. Made me feel dirty and sad.

 

Lars and The Real Girl - this film is very nice but I mean that in a derogatory way. 

 

High and Low - kind of bonkers to watch this in 2025 and see how basically every police procedural since has been so inspired by it. A classic.

 

Naussica and the Valley of the Wind - watched this when I was maybe 10 years old on a dodgy VHS my neighbour had. This is my first rewatch. Visually it's absolutely spectacular but story wise it's overstuffed. There's just too much going on and not much of it fully fleshed out or explained properly.

 

Casablanca - you know when you hear so much about a film being "a classic" that you expect to be disappointed? Well, this wasn't that. It is definitely a classic. Loved it.

 

Maborosi - a Japanese drama about a mother who remarries after her husband inexplicably commits suicide. Maybe the most beautifully shot film in history. So many of the shots in this made me literally gasp at how beautiful they were. A slow and sombre film that really stayed with me. Full of long and engrossing silences.

 

The Assistant - Julia Garner puts in a tremendous effort as the assistant to a Weinstein esque movie producer (who is never seen on camera). A perfectly understated film. Matthew Macfayden turns up for one scene and steals the entire film.

 

Vampryos Lesbos - a psychedelic lesbian exploitation retelling of Dracula. It's mostly rubbish but has an absolutely banging soundtrack, some surprisingly impressive artistic shots and the attractive leads spend most the film in the nip.

 

All About Eve - never heard of this until hearing it mentioned as the inspiration for the Toni Storm/Mariah May feud. The comparisons between the two are incredibly minimal but it's a great film with the two main performances being all timers. The only thing I felt that perhaps held it back was the time it was made - I feel like if it was made a decade or two later it would have gone a much darker route in the third act that might have been more satisfying. 

[davertfnewman]

16 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Witchfinder General - a really nasty film set in Medieval England about a notorious witch hunter. Incredibly bleak film that I'll never watch again.

 

I agree that it is nasty and it is bleak, and it definitely doesn't have a happy ending, but I really like it. I like how it looks, I like the kind of grotty quality of it (I've watched versions of it stitched together from different takes, so a change in film/video quality), I like the actual sixties world it shows as well as the 1600s world it's trying to represent. Vincent Price lends himself to being a cartoon villain normally but is credibly unnerving and odd in this. He's akin to Father Pierre Barre in The Devils, who once he turns up there's an uneasiness even more than there already was. It's a film I don't have a copy of but I watch it any time it's on TV.

[LaGoosh]

8 minutes ago, davertfnewman said:

I agree that it is nasty and it is bleak, and it definitely doesn't have a happy ending, but I really like it.

I definitely didn't like it but I didn't like it because it is such a brutal and horrifying film that made me feel like shit for the entire run time. In terms of what the film is trying to achieve and make the audience feel it's a complete success and very well made. The ending is haunting.

Edited August 31, 2025 by LaGoosh

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Rewatched The Princess Bride yesterday. As far as films go its just perfect. 

[davertfnewman]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

I definitely didn't like it but I didn't like it because it is such a brutal and horrifying film that made me feel like shit for the entire run time. In terms of what the film is trying to achieve and make the audience feel it's a complete success and very well made. The ending is haunting.

Yeah, I'm getting that way with some things. I used to be a big Louis Theroux fan, but a lot of the stuff he's done that's so upsetting isn't something I can deal with as well any more, so I end up reverting back to some of his quirkier stuff. Your view changes sometimes.

[Chest Rockwell]

10 hours ago, RIDDUM_N_STYLE said:

Watched Kpop Demon Hunters earlier in the week as my nieces were down and wanted to watch it again. I get the hype for it but I thought it was meh at best but that’s due to me being big on anime like Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen

 

I watched this with the kids recently and really enjoyed it. Good tunes, fun film. There's no surprises with any of the story beats, but it tells a familiar story well.

[BomberPat]

Pretty much agreed on Witchfinder General - maybe Price's best serious role, and really horrifying, but it just does not let up at all.

 

Thursday Murder Club - it's just fine, isn't it? As three stars a movie as you'll get. The core cast are great, but there's not a lot of substance to it, and the big reveals are all either obvious or not particularly satisfying - the ending just crawls to a snail's pace while they explain who a murderer was, and I really struggled to give a shit, and it just keeps going. Still, Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan and Celia Imrie are great.

[SuperBacon]

Just watched Jaws (50 years!!!) with a cat and a dog. 

Dog ran off at one stage, and she was genuinely watching it, and the cat didn't move, proving once more cats are double hard bastards and could batter a shark.

Oh, obviously still 11/10 film.

[Devon Malcolm]

Sorry, Baby (cinema)

Absolutely in love with this. Almost impossible to believe this was a debut film, and Eva Victor doesn't even have any lead acting experience and yet was equally amazing in the lead role. Can't think of any other film that tackles its subject with as much humour, landing every single time, as this. The film of the year.

Nobody 2 (cinema)

A good time. Not as sharp as the first one but I enjoyed it. Sharon Stone is amusingly off her rocker in it.

Together (cinema)

Yeah, I think this is pretty good. The relationship drama stuff is a snooze but when it's being funny it's much better. It's a shame the effects weren't nastier - just imagine what Brian Yuzna could have done with this concept. Perfect ending, though.

The Pickup (Prime)

Fucking awful. The Eddie Murphy renaissance lasted, what, two films? What is Keke Palmer doing in this shit, what a waste.

Open Windows (Prime)

Elijah Wood has had such an odd career. Sasha Grey did dozens of porn films with better acting than this. Absolutely awful.

Barbarian (Netflix)

Rewatched this after seeing Weapons. It's still excellent.

Gunfight at the OK Corral (Great! Movies)

For some reason I remember this being funnier than it was, I must be thinking of something else. Quite obviously still a classic, though.

Bad Blood (1981) (Talking Pictures TV)

New Zealand crime drama based on the true story of a farmer who murdered 7 people in his village during WWII. A really tough watch at times but great to see this getting a TV airing as it's been rarely seen since the 1980s. Jack Thompson is superb in the lead. Highly recommended.

The Small Back Room (Talking Pictures TV)

One of Powell and Pressburger's less well known films, a psychological drama about an alcoholic bomb disposal expert with PTSD during WWII. Really well acted and tense, a real change from the visual flair of most of their films.

Death Rides a Horse (Great! Movies)

Cracking spaghetti western with Lee Van Cleef. Great! Movies shows a lot of these if you're looking for any more of them, and this is definitely one of the best I've seen from them.

The Strawberry Blonde 

Lovely old romcom with James Cagney pursuing Rita Hayworth and having to make do with Olivia de Havilland. Oh, the poor sod! Really funny though, especially the spaghetti scene.

A Letter to Three Wives

Excellent comedy-drama about three relationships which are nearly ruined by a letter written by an old friend. Balances its tone really well, and you can't really go wrong with Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The lad could make a film.

Sky Peals 

Fascinating low budget British drama about a grieving man who thinks his recently deceased dad might have been an alien. Touches on stuff such as social anxiety impressively, I'm really annoyed I didn't catch it at the cinema.

[SuperBacon]

1 minute ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Sorry, Baby (cinema)

Absolutely in love with this. Almost impossible to believe this was a debut film, and Eva Victor doesn't even have any lead acting experience and yet was equally amazing in the lead role. Can't think of any other film that tackles its subject with as much humour, landing every single time, as this. The film of the year.

I know I'll love this and can't wait to watch it.

[johnnyboy]

31 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Sorry, Baby (cinema)

Absolutely in love with this. Almost impossible to believe this was a debut film, and Eva Victor doesn't even have any lead acting experience and yet was equally amazing in the lead role. Can't think of any other film that tackles its subject with as much humour, landing every single time, as this. The film of the year.

+1000 on this.  It's a film that you literally cannot recommend enough as it's so good.  If I were them I'd be tempted to quit while I'm ahead and never make anything else ever again as how do you match, let alone top it?!  And that is why I don't make movies.

[TheBurningRed]

55 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Death Rides a Horse (Great! Movies)

Cracking spaghetti western with Lee Van Cleef. Great! Movies shows a lot of these if you're looking for any more of them, and this is definitely one of the best I've seen from them.

This is also on Prime for anyone else interested. It’s leaving soon though so I’m going to watch it tomorrow night at work as it’s on my list.