VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[TheBurningRed]

I watched The Usual Suspects the other night. I first watched it over ten years ago or more and found it boring but gave it another shot. As you say, great cast but average film. I wasn’t as bored this time round. Could be knowing the twist. But it’s not a good film imo. 

[SaitoRyo]

Nigh of the Running Man

So apparently I just watch mid-90s crime thrillers about people on the run from the mob. Which I'm OK with. 

This one stars Andrew McCarthy as a luckless Las Vegas cabbie who happens across a suitcase full of a million dollars. The delightfully evil Scott Glenn is tasked with getting the cash back and thus a game of cross-country cat-and-mouse ensues. 

I really liked the first half of this but felt as though it lost its way a bit in the second. It was first shown on HBO and then got a direct-to-video release, so you know what sort of thing you're getting, but there's a lot to like here. It was directed by Mark Lester, who made (among other things) Commando, Showdown in Little Tokyo and the underrated Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw. 

[FLips]

Spaceballs

Pleasantly surprised by this and laughed a lot more than I thought I would. Not every joke is a winner but there's so many of them you don't dwell on it. Bust out laughing at the sole use of "fuck" and the Alien bit in the diner at the end. John Candy and Rick Moranis were both giving it 100% for the whole thing and it was a joy to watch. 
The bit with the VHS of the movie within the movie really is special, and there's fun to be had spotting all of the Spaceballs merchandise throughout as well. Just a really comforting, funny and easy to watch film.

[Bus Surfer]

On 9/4/2025 at 9:39 PM, FLips said:

12 Angry Men

LaGoosh’s post finally kicked me up the arse to watch it. 

Thank you @FLipsand @LaGoosh

I'm one of those weirdos that haven't seen half of the films that are considered 'must watch' by the masses. This was absolutely that. What an incredible film! My morning will be spent deep diving into it and maybe watching the remake. 

UKFF pays out again. Cheers! 

Edited September 13, 2025 by Bus Surfer

[Jesse]

All my plane movies on flights to and from San Jose for work. All movies I was seeing for the first time

The Equalizer
I like Denzel, but this wasn't much of anything. I liked the conceit, but the action stuff felt cheap and dated. He's at his best in the dramatic moments.

John Wick 4
Every one of these is worse than the last. There are still good moments, but it's a series with huge dminishing returns for me

Ballerina: From the world of John Wick
Absolutely awful, cliche-ridden mess. Directly uses the line "You have to fight like a girl" in the opening act. Couldn't finish it.

Conclave
Here we go! I was falling asleep but this one woke me up. Gripping drama and Ralph Fiennes is fantastic. Finally some good fucking food.

Fall Guy
Terrible script, but I still managed to like it. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are just very charming and it made me want to like it regardless. Hannah Waddingham chewing the scenery was also a real joy. If this had a good script it'd be a great action comedy.

Top Gun Maverick
Incredible. Loved the story, loved the new crew, cried at Val Kilmer's part, and Cruise is unbelievable. I was hooked into this the entire time even on the small screen. I think I could watch this on a phone and it would have me.

[SuperBacon]

I watched When Harry Met Sally with my eldest for the first time. I always forget just how much of the script revolves around the subject of sex ?

She loved it of course, and concurs with me (and everyone else) that it is a perfect film.

I also watched Babygirl, and I got incredibly bored with. Kidman is great, and looks amazing, but the lad had zero charisma, so I didn't buy into it at all. 

[FLips]

Death Rides a Horse
Devon's post kicked me up the arse to watch it. Thought it was a really good, straight to the point vengeance flick. The dubbing is some of the most egrigious I've seen in a Spaghetti Western but it doesn't detract too much. Van Cleef has as big a presence as ever, and the run time is palatable at just under 2 hours.
@TheBurningRed did you get round to it?
 

[TheBurningRed]

15 minutes ago, FLips said:

TheBurningRed did you get round to it?

I did. Thoroughly enjoyable. And a good ending too. As you say, straight to the point. No fucking around.

[Devon Malcolm]

@FLips @TheBurningRed If you're looking for more spaghetti westerns, Great! Movies usually has a few on every week and they're often pretty good. Worth keeping an eye on their schedule.

[Jesse]

Watched The Long Walk last night and can't stop thinking about it. Heartbreaking and tense, the cinema was packed and everyone was locked into it the entire time. Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson give incredible performances. Immediacy bias but it was my movie of the year by the time the end credits rolled. I could easily have stayed in my seat and watched it again.

[SaitoRyo]

Dazed and Confused

It was long overdue for a rewatch. Just a classic coming-of-age film. Endlessly watchable. Tremendous cast, killer soundtrack and plenty of memorable moments. 

Freeway

A real nasty modern-day take on Little Red Riding Hood. Reese Witherspoon is a runaway delinquent teen who hits the road to her grandmother's house but encounters Keifer Sutherland's serial killer along the way. Takes everything to the extreme with violence, language etc. and I didn't really get how it was supposed to be 'camp' (as some reviewers claimed), but it's certainly never dull. Less is often more, however, and I never quite got on with the OTT nature of this, though there were things that I liked and Witherspoon's performance is pretty great. 

[cobra_gordo]

On 9/13/2025 at 7:53 AM, FLips said:

Spaceballs

Pleasantly surprised by this and laughed a lot more than I thought I would. Not every joke is a winner but there's so many of them you don't dwell on it. Bust out laughing at the sole use of "fuck" and the Alien bit in the diner at the end. John Candy and Rick Moranis were both giving it 100% for the whole thing and it was a joy to watch. 
The bit with the VHS of the movie within the movie really is special, and there's fun to be had spotting all of the Spaceballs merchandise throughout as well. Just a really comforting, funny and easy to watch film.

Spaceballs is a real comfort watch for me despite the fact my wife hates it. Watched it one year at a festival that was a complete washout, just pissing down with rain, packed in to a little tent for somewhere dry to sit, eating pizza (unironically) with the family and just laughing my arse off. It's one of my favourite memories.

Almost Famous. Speaking of comfort watches, this is probably the third time this year I've watched Almost Famous. A movie I watch as much for the soundtrack as for the film itself. It really does make me feel so many different things. It's funny and heartbreaking at the same time, the cast are all fantastic in particular Frances McDormand and Billy Cruddup but I'd argue it's the best Kate Hudson performance ever. I don't even hate Zooey Deschanel in this. Everyone just seems perfect. And I always have to stick on Neil Young and Tangerine by Led Zeppelin after I've watched it.

Bride Wars. The second best Kate Hudson performance.

27 Dresses. I unashamedly like a rom-com and somehow I've see this one half a dozen times. A solid 7/10 but it's no Failure To Launch which I couldn't be arsed to find to watch instead.

You Again. Never seen this before but it's an easy, family friendly comedy about a woman who finds out her high school bully is going to be her sister in law. Also features Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver (who are brilliant together) as former friends who also had high school beef and Betty White's horniest performance. Easy to watch Sunday afternoon bobbins, wouldn't object if it got stuck on again.

Vacation Friends/ Vacation Friends 2. Seen both of these before, first one is probably better than the second but it's much of a muchness. Big Match John is great in both and plays off brilliantly against Lil Rel Howery. Still laugh out loud funny in places even after repeat viewings.

[FLips]

Hang Em High
Didn't enjoy this one as much as I was expecting to. It has a strong start and when the focus is on revenge it's really good, but there's a really boring middle part that's just Clint being overly pushy with a widow and they lose track of the point when the focus becomes more about the town Judge hanging people and less about Clint hunting the gang that lynched him. The actual hanging scene is tremendously done though.
Not bad but with a strong beginning and end it was let down by the middle.

[SaitoRyo]

The Chase (1966)

Had to watch something with Redford in it tonight and this was one I hadn't seen and was on Tubi, so hey. 

Unfortunately, this has to go down as a pretty big disappointment, considering the talent involved. Not only Redford, but Brando, Fonda, Duvall, Dickinson and more. It contains themes that the director, Arthur Penn, and others, would explore so brilliantly during the New Hollywood/American New Wave that was soon to come, but this was just a couple of years too early. It felt more like a play that had been filmed, concerned mostly with rich white people and all the affairs they're having in a town that's too small to sustain them. 

It's not terrible and there were things in it that I liked, but it just never quite came together and Redford wasn't in it enough, for me. Felt longer than its 2hr15min runtime, too. Worth a curiosity watch, perhaps, but don't get your hopes up too high based on the director, cast etc.

[Jesse]

Carrie (1976)

After we watched The Long Walk, my wife asked me to show her more King adaptations so we've gone back to the source. The movie is excellent, Sissy Spacek's physical acting really sells the entire thing and the prom is so wonderfully done that until they cut to the bucket of pig's blood my wife forgot what movie we were watching and was just enjoying the lovely coming of age romance.