VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[cobra_gordo]

For me my picks were Predator, The Running Man and Last Action Hero.

Predator because, of course, Running Man for reasons I mentioned earlier and Last Action Hero because I think it's ridiculously underrated.

The only reason I left T2 off is because it's two and a half hours long so not ideal for a boozy movie marathon. T1 would be great though.

I only missed off Commando because we used to watch it every year on my birthday and play a drinking game that would always descend in to chaos. Rules included drink every time cheesy music plays, drink every time somebody gets killed, drink every time Arnie says CHENNEEEEEHHHHHH, drink every time Matrix looks at his watch etc. We were always blindo before he'd even got to the island. I honestly don't think we ever made it to the end of the film. It started off being just me, my wife and half a dozen of our closest mates and ran for five or six years. The last time we did it was years ago, ended up with half the street in our living room being lairy, shot glasses lined up everywhere, one of the neighbours being dragged home by his wife for calling somebody a cunt repeatedly and my best friend being sick everywhere. 

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, cobra_gordo said:

The last time we did it was years ago, ended up with half the street in our living room being lairy, shot glasses lined up everywhere, one of the neighbours being dragged home by his wife for calling somebody a cunt repeatedly and my best friend being sick everywhere. 

? We fight for loooooooove ?

[FLips]

Devo (Documentary, Netflix)

Had no idea this was out. There’s been attempts at doing a documentary on Devo for seemingly years that’s never took off, so imagine my delight when I saw this in my recommendations today. Thought it was brilliant, with a lot of footage I’d either never seen or only heard about anecdotally. My only gripe is it narratively ends around the time their Warner Bros run dies, so doesn’t touch on anything post 1984 or so other than a brief  catchup to what they’re doing now.

If you want a very interesting look at their beginnings, and the main run of their career though it’s brilliantly done. Just wish the documentary gave them a little bit of credit for their recent revival and touched more on some of the failures between then and now. Highly recommended to fans especially but there’s plenty to enjoy even if you’re not.

[SaitoRyo]

Pumpkinhead

I had this on DVD (I even had a Pumpkinead figure) and have defintiely seen bits of it, but I don't think I ever actually watched it all the way through. Well, that changed last night. And you know what? It's a pretty decent creature feature and a good example of effective, low budget filmmaking. There's a decent turn by Lance Henriksen and some very good FX work, which you'd expect given it was directed by Stan Winston and his company provided the effects.

[FLips]

Waterworld

It can’t decide if it wants to be a fun high-seas adventure or a grimy, miserable post-apocalyptic hell so it tries to be both and fails at both. Not without merit, and it’s only just over 2 hours but it feels it. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

5 hours ago, FLips said:

Waterworld

It can’t decide if it wants to be a fun high-seas adventure or a grimy, miserable post-apocalyptic hell so it tries to be both and fails at both. Not without merit, and it’s only just over 2 hours but it feels it. 

I just watched the extended cut a few months back. It adds almost another 30 minutes. I have a real soft spot for it even if I know it’s not a masterpiece in either version.

[Carbomb]

I know it's not a good film, but it's one of my favourites. I love the soundtrack - sounds like something Enigma would have come up with on their Cross of Changes album - and it was the first film I ever went to see at the cinema by myself.

Edited September 25, 2025 by Carbomb
Hakan Sukur

[Magnum Milano]

Marching Powder (2025)
Arrested for fighting at the latest organised ruckus, the Judge gives middle-aged football hooligan Jack Jones six weeks to turn his life around before he’s back in court for sentencing. As I was watching this I was thinking that surely Danny Dyer is far too old to be playing the cocaine taking, lager drinking, brawling Cockney hooligan. But then that is the basis of the character. Stephanie Leonidas does an excellent job as his other half and I’m surprised I’ve not seen her in more (I remember her from the Night and Day soap opera, but that’s it).

Honey Don't (2025)
Called to the scene of a fatal car crash, Private Investigator Honey O’Donahue recognizes the driver as a prospective client who had asked to meet with her later that day. There are so many strands with the story going off in all these different directions, then we get the abrupt twist regarding the killer who is nothing to do with the person we had been lead to believe was behind the kills. Really disappointing. But hey, we get to see Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza in sex scenes so not all bad, even if a lot of it is.

Skyscraper (2018)
When his family is trapped inside a burning skyscraper, Will Sawyer, a former FBI agent who now works as a safety assessor, will stop at nothing to rescue them. The reviews I saw weren’t too favourable, although I had a good time with this, bar when we see the Rock atop crane, almost falling out of high rise windows and then traversing the outside of the building. In all honesty, I probably shouldn’t put myself through films like this with my aversity to heights.

Stealing Pulp Fiction (2024)
On learning that Quentin Tarantino’s personal 35mm print of Pulp Fiction is being played at the New Beverly Theatre, three friends plan to steal it. Three later becomes four as their therapist, played by Jason Alexander, wants in on the action when he learns what they’re up to. Just pitiful. While it was nice to see Jason Alexander, he deserves better than this. The supposed lookalike of Tarantino who looks nothing like him, even with prosthetics, is just a joke. Avoid.

Threads (1984)
A docudrama on the potential impact a nuclear war could have on the UK. I'd watched Special Bulletin earlier in the year and thought I had to give Threads a viewing after. Set in Sheffield, the central characters are Jimmy and Ruth, a young couple who decide to move in together and get married after Ruth becomes pregnant. At the same time, tensions are escalating in the Middle East between the Soviet Union and the United States. Limited exchanges turns into full blown conflict and with Britain preparing for the possibility of nuclear war, there is an attack on a nearby military airbase which practically wipes out the city. Further attacks on other NATO targets around the country continue to cause mass destruction and devastation. Over a period of thirteen years, we then see the impact this has on the United Kingdom. Without question, one of the bleakest, most harrowing and even distressing films I have ever seen. Nothing is spared. I have no doubt that people watching this in 1984 must have been absolutely terrified.

[Thunderplex]

Fantastic Four.  Shit.  Would have been better if Galactus had have thrown a copper kettle over the Baxter Building.

[davertfnewman]

I liked it, but did feel like Galactus needed a "While you're down there!" moment.

[SaitoRyo]

Tightrope

The horniest Clint Eastwood film you're ever likely to see. 

Clint is a homicide detective investigating a serial killer targeting women who begins to target people he personally knows. And by 'knows' I mean 'has shagged them himself' because he is really, really horny. 

It's a very good crime thriller, mind, with Eastwood supposedly directing a large chunk of it himself (Richard Tuggle is credited). I presume it was Clint's call to have a close-up lingering shot of his oiled-up ass. 

Thief

Have seen this a couple of times, but not for a long while. Spoiler: it's still fucking class. 

James Caan is excellent as the safe-cracking thief who can't seem to escape his life of crime. He's pissed off at absolutely everything, despite having a tonne of money and Tuesday Weld (also excellent) on his arm. Just an angry man that you don't want to fuck with, but then some idiots decide to fuck with him and it all kicks off. Idiots. 

I've always loved this one. Just a great eighties action neo-noir expertly directed by Michael Mann, who knows what he's doing in this world with these sort of characters. It is visually stunning and has a great Tangerine Dream soundtrack. Seriously, what's not to love here? They even give you Willie Nelson, for crying out loud.

Oh, and that cafe scene between Caan and Weld is still as thrilling as any of the heist scenes or the very violent ending. 

[cobra_gordo]

The Iron Claw. I desperately wanted to watch this from the moment it was announced but knowing the subject matter and that the film would probably send me on a complete downward spiral I'd avoided watching it til yesterday. First things first, it's beautifully filmed. There's a graininess to it, loads of contrast, that makes the halls the wrestling happens in look dingy and horrible. It really captures the time period. The wrestling itself is really well filmed too, again it looks gritty and hard hitting. Top work by Chavo Guerrero with the choreography too because all the brothers look fantastic in the ring and if any of the bigger moves were done by stunt doubles, you sure as shit can't tell.

That's the nice stuff out of the way. The content is as bleak as I was expecting and yep, it ruined my afternoon because I was just incredibly sad afterwards. The fact that they remove Chris Von Eric from the story completely because even the director thought it was one tragedy too many speaks volumes about how sad this film is. My wife, who knew I'd been intentionally avoiding it, was dumbfounded by what happened to that family. The main performances are all fantastic, in particular Zac Effron as Kevin and Jeremy Allen White as Kerry but Harris Dickinson as David and Maura Tierny as their mother are all fantastic. Holt McCallany as Fritz is a revelation, just really puts across what a piece of shit that man apparently was. Seriously, the only performance that lets this down is the guy playing Ric Flair and the face MJF pulls in his match. 5 stars for the lad playing Michael Hayes.

It's an incredible film and it feels odd to say I enjoyed it because it doesn't feel appropriate. I'm genuinely glad I've seen it but I've got no urge to watch it again any time soon.

[DavidB6937]

The Long Walk

One of those books that I never got around to reading, so I was going into it quite blind apart from the rough premise. To be honest, there's not a lot more to it overall than what you see in the trailer. It's not a story that goes many unexpected places but I quite liked that. There's a few surprises along the way but I think the focus on the walk and the main characters makes the general idea more impactful, especially when it's quite a vague story idea that isn't fleshed out massively.

It feels like you're spectators much like many people would be, only you get more emotional depth from following the characters. And I thought the cast were excellent. David Jonsson has been one of my favourite actors over the past 5 years so it's great to see him in roles like this, and the rest of the cast is full of familiar faces from other strong projects. They're the ones that really pull this through.

Anyway for a random Sunday evening cinema trip, not bad at all really. Surprising it took them so long to make it really. I've already seen comparisons made between this and Hunger Games or Squid Game which is annoying.

[BomberPat]

Threads

Girlfriend had never seen it. Wanted to watch it last night. Doesn't get any easier. 

[DavidB6937]

Just now, BomberPat said:

Threads

Girlfriend had never seen it. Wanted to watch it last night. Doesn't get any easier. 

What did she think of it? It's always interesting when someone watches something so long after and seeing how they react to it. As you say, I don't think it gets any easier with time and it still hits hard so I do think it has stood the test of time for sure.