VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Cousin Jim Bob]

5 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Even as a kid I thought Tron was pretty boring outside of the motorbike racing stuff. But I will argue that The Goonies is a genuinely good film that still works to this day.

 

Yeah I saw Tron in the late 80's and it was looking pretty creaky even by then. The Goonies on the other hand is pretty timeless, outside of the fashions. My 10 year old nephew and his friends watched it not long ago and really enjoyed it. Most of the practical special effects and sets stand up really well. 

[davertfnewman]

For the Threads fans in the thread, this BBC documentary from earlier in the week is like a pilot for it:

 

[Mr_Danger]

The Goonies hasn’t aged badly at all, people have aged though and if you are watching as an adult especially for the first time it just ain’t gonna hit the same. All my kids have loved The Goonies, even the ones who didn’t realise visual media could be longer than a 30 second reel.

[Devon Malcolm]

I genuinely couldn't even remember if I'd seen Tron and apparently I have according to my Letterboxd. The Goonies, on the other hand, I can remember line-for-line. The two are incomparable.

[WyattSheepMask]

The Long Walk (cinema)

Was really looking forward to this when I first saw the trailer for it.
The initial set up is pretty ropey. Dystopian society run by a totalitarian military regime, but it’s never really explained why that’s happened or what caused it, we’re straight into the guys starting ‘The Long Walk’, an annual event where 50 competitors have to keep walking at no less than 3mph, or else they get shot after receiving three warnings, last remaining competitor wins. 
It’s based on a Stephen King novel from 1979, and had been marked for an adaptation as far back as 1988. Maybe the book does a better job of setting things up, but the film doesn’t do a great job of setting things up. Within 10 minutes we’re already on with the competition. 
The rest of it plays out pretty well though and the tension is there throughout, it could’ve just done with some better groundwork early on. 
Alternatively, you could just watch Battle Royale and have a better time with that

The Thing (cinema)

What can be said that hasn’t been said about this a billion times before? 
Absolute perfection 

Edited October 15, 2025 by WyattSheepMask

[JLM]

The Long walk novella doesn’t spend any time setting that stuff up either. I don’t think it’s important or necessary though. “It’s about the journey” is often true of Stephen King novels, but a story  called The Long Walk about a Long Walk has to be the most on the nose example of it. It’s all used as a device to explore its themes, make its points and also deliver an extremely tense and gripping yarn. I don’t see how the details of the war or more details on the origins and workings of the autocratic regime would improve it. It could be post-war, post nuclear holocaust, post global pandemic, post massive meteor hitting the planet. Most people are dirt poor and fucked, big bad regime has boot on their necks, carrot is dangled in the form of horrible death game. 

I loved the movie and, quite rarely for an adaptation like this, I was happy with the majority of the changes they made.

Spoilers/ending/changes: 

Spoiler

I prefer the ending of the novella but I think it would have been difficult to convey on screen. It’s also reliant on the story being told from Garratty’s point of view. I liked the film’s ending too. I don’t think they ruined it or missed the point or anything like that, they just went for something slightly more movie-friendly and a touch less bleak.
 

The reimagining of the Garratty/Mcvries relationship was quite drastic but it added a ton of heart and David Jonsson was wonderful in the role. Thoroughly enjoyed Hamill as the major too. An almost cartoonish performance, but he is a sort of semi-mythical inhuman ghoul, especially to these boys on the walk, so it made total sense. 

The idea that everyone in the age range signs up is an interesting change. The whole “it’s optional but have you ever heard of anyone who DIDN’T sign up?” conversation. In the book that isn’t the case. Some of them signed up on a whim, some because they had nothing better to do. Garratty is doing it almost out of spite, as he resents his dad for his absence following his arrest by the secret police, so he partly signs up because his parents would hate that. Mcvries gets in because someone else dropped out last minute etc. 

In the original, given the time it came out, I think that was in response to young men who volunteered for the horror show that was the Vietnam war. Often similarly young men who signed up for all sorts of random reasons, many of them not fully understanding the gravity of that decision until they arrived. 
 

The movie’s version, to me, still makes the point about directionless young people being targeted by military recruiters, but also felt like a comment on wage slavery. People doing jobs they hate or resent, jobs that take tolls on their physical and mental health. Being sold the dream that may be one of the lucky ones who might escape that if they only grind hard enough or grasp the right opportunity. Then people will argue that if a job is that miserable they can simply leave or do something else, so they do have a choice, ignoring that the other choice may involve homelessness and starvation. 
 

A lot of the changes felt like that to me; not so much missing the point or changing the messages of the original, but rather putting different spins on it and adding a few of its own. They also sanitised bits of some characters, but again, it was in service of making the spirit of camaraderie and friendship in the hardest of times one of the more optimistic threads. Of course it still also says it’s largely moot because maybe 1% at best will “win” and even then the even bigger baddies are the actual “winners”. But still, people finding ways to be good when they know that’s the case is still meaningful.  The Garratty/McVries bromance/possible romance was a beautiful thing and I’m not mad about the direction they took with it. 

One of my favourite films of the year overall. Everyone in the cinema was gripped by it for the duration, people visibly reeling from some of the more heartbreaking deaths. A lot of the main themes were intact and I ended up chatting excitedly with my friend who saw it with me for ages afterwards. 

Edited October 16, 2025 by JLM

[FLips]

Nightmare on Elm Street

Goofy, gory and still a great idea for a film. Like when you go back and play the original Mortal Kombat or GTA you wonder how anyone ever took it seriously, but that’s how I like em. I don’t want to be disgusted or scared, I want over the top nonsense and dummies being pulled through door windows.

Caddyshack

Not for me this one. Too much focus on the cast that aren’t stars and the whole thing will live or die on how much Rodney Dangerfield you can take. I don’t mind him, but I turned this off about halfway with minimal laughs.

 

[Carbomb]

Don't get no respect.

[Bellenda Carlisle]

Night of the Zoopocalypse

Just saw this, at the last minute I decided I couldn't be arsed with that 3 hour dicaprio film about social tension so swerved to this. I only found out it wasn't a sequel to zootopia the other day. 

I was really surprised that I loved it, it was way too scary for little or sensitive kids as it is basically a fully fledged horror movie but i had loads of fun. Couldn't believe it when it said it was by Clive Barker at the end, although it makes sense because it's really scary. The colors and lighting were gorgeous as well, the character design is fine but not my fave look. I really recommend it if you think a horror movie in a typical cgi animal cartoon frame sounds tolerable. I also laughed out loud like 3 times, the baby hippo being particularly amusing.

[SaitoRyo]

Crimes of the Heart

Fancied watching a Diane Keaton film after reading all the tributes to her and wanted to stay clear of the well-worn Woody Allen ones. Thankfully, I picked a good one with Crimes of the Heart, a 1986 drama with elements of black comedy. 

It's about three very different sisters, southern belle types played excellently by Keaton, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek, who are brought back together after a shocking event and have to work through lingering issues and past traumas. It's not as heavy as it sounds. 

There's a lot to admire about this one, particularly the three central performances. I love Tess Harper and Sam Shephard, too, so was more than happy to see them show up in supporting roles. It's a bit like watching a play on screen at times (it was adapted from a Pulitzer Prize-winning one) but it gets better as it goes along and different layers of the story are revealed. 

Helmed by Bruce Beresford, who made the tremendous (and still underrated) Tender Mercies. 

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, SaitoRyo said:

Fancied watching a Diane Keaton film after reading all the tributes to her and wanted to stay clear of the well-worn Woody Allen ones

Same but I didn't stay clear and instead watched a film that has been a comfort to me since I was about 14, and watched Annie Hall again.

For me, its a perfect film, and if a woman stood in front of me looking like this and dressed like this, I'd fall in love instantly  and never be stupid enough to break up with her.

This might be my favourite scene in film.

Probably watch some more Diane this weekend.

[SaitoRyo]

Annie Hall is a masterpiece (I used to have the poster on my bedroom wall) and everyone is allowed one guilt-free viewing after Keaton's passing @SuperBacon.

[LaGoosh]

Eyes Wide Shut

This film has lots of incredibly interesting themes and points to make about marriage, sex, insecurity, fidelity and power structures in society. However despite the interesting stuff it explores I wouldn't say I actually enjoyed the experience of watching it very much. Found it pretty dull for the most part. 

[Carbomb]

One that I would recommend for a Diane Keaton tribute viewing is Reds. Based on John Reed's book about the Russian revolution, Warren Beatty plays Reed, and Keaton plays journalist Louise Bryant, and their involvement in the world of socialist/progressive politics at the time, which, obviously, was a fairly tumultuous period in history.

[SaitoRyo]

Goodbye Lover

It dawned on me towards the end of this that I'd probably seen it before about a decade or so ago. It probably wasn't very good then, either. 

Basically, it's a late-90s reworking of Double Indemnity with Patricia Arquette, Don Johnson, Dermot Mulroney and Mary-Louise Parker. They are all varying degrees of alright. Ellen DeGeneres, who plays the cynical, wise-cracking detective, on the other hand, is excrutiating and overall the film is a smug neo-noir black comedy that isn't anywhere near as clever as it thinks it is. 

2/5 if I had to give it a rating as there were a couple of fun moments.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

Didn't like this much, either. 

Sequel/reboot of a franchise that just doesn't have the same juice as something like Scream or A Nightmare on Elm Street or whatever other iconic horror franchise they try and breathe new life into every now and then. And like the newer Scream films it was populated by young actors who are utterly bland and have no charisma. 'Bland' pretty much sums up the film, which wasn't particularly well-made or entertaining. It was just there. Nowhere near as good as the original (which isn't a masterpiece or anything anyway). 

They set up a sequel with the lame post-credits sequence, but I don't think anyone really wants it after this.