VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Hannibal Scorch]

Predator Badlands was a perfect streaming movie. Had fun with it once it got going. Found the first 20 minutes or so a bit of slog, but ended up really enjoying it. Not sure if I preferred it over Prey, but certainly another decent entry into the franchise. Pretty incredible after The Predator I thought was going to kill it off for decades.

[Lorne Malvo]

I've not seen Badlands (or Predator: Killer of Killers yet) but I've always found it somewhat of an underrated franchise, which seems a mad thing to say when the first movie is so beloved. 

But for me you've got a classic original, Predator 2 is excellent (and on some days I'd rather watch it than the first), Predators is fine, The Predator has a massively rushed final third but I quite enjoyed it, and Prey is a really strong entry.

Whisper it, but I don't even hate AvP. And while I do hate AvP2, I do kind of admire the fact that the franchise has the kind of film you'd find in Poundlands DVD bin in 2005.

[Merzbow]

Did they Romulus it? I felt like Prey could have easily gone down that route but luckily it didn't, was just a very solid film that stands on it's own plus has an incredible lead.

[Devon Malcolm]

11 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

Did they Romulus it? I felt like Prey could have easily gone down that route but luckily it didn't, was just a very solid film that stands on it's own plus has an incredible lead.

No, there was very little fan service, if any. They Disneyed it, which is worse.

[FLips]

The Hobbit Trilogy (Not Extended)

Enjoyed these more the second time round, I remember being let down on my first watch but this time didn’t have the expectations. Martin Freeman is perfect casting of Bilbo and despite being 90% CGI the trilogy still has some great looking stuff, though it doesn’t compare to the practical effects of LOTR.

They throw enough stuff in to link them to the LOTR trilogy, which while easy enough to do with these coming later, is still nice. 

None of them are as good as the LOTR trilogy hut honestly I couldn’t say any of them are bad. The last one despite being all action and the shortest somehow still drags in places but you’d be hard pressed to find a better 6 film series of this length and quality. 

Worst to best for me - Five Armies, Smaug, Unexpected Journey, Two Towers, Return of The King, Fellowship.

[HarmonicGenerator]

I’ve watched Five Armies multiple times and my brain refuses to remember anything about it. I enjoyed the first two Hobbit films as well (aside from the CG orc monstrosities) but that third one just does not stay with me.

[SaitoRyo]

Nevada (1997)

A beautiful woman walks through the Nevada desert and lands in the isolated small town of Silver Springs, which is barely a town. The kicker? It is solely populated by women and children during the week, as all the men go off to work on building a dam and return at the weekend. The stranger's arrival throws everything into flux.

As a random Tubi watch, this was OK, but it went on for too long. If you want to see a 90s feminist drama about beautiful ladies living in a dusty western town, watch Gas, Food, Lodging instead (in fact just watch it anyway because it's class).

[Devon Malcolm]

Predator: Badlands (cinema)

The disappointment of the year. It makes no sense to me that having decided to go the anthology route with this franchise and having done so in such an enjoyable way with Prey and Killer of Killers that they decided to do this. It's not the 12A rating that bothers me, it's that it's such obvious Disney slop that I've seen a million times before. Elle Fanning is really good and some of the action's decent but just make a Prey sequel, you know?

They Live (cinema)

Caught a cinema screening. It's better and more pessimistic every time I see it. Perfect when double-billed with Predator: Badlands because of its themes of commercialisation and homogenisation.

The Mastermind (cinema)

Briliiant crime drama that turns into a superb character study after a small town art gallery heist. Kelly Reichardt's films haven't worked for me but this really, really did. Josh O'Connor with an all-time great portrayal of one of cinema's most pathetic men. Very slow but some will really love this.

Relay (cinema)

Really fun, paranoid thriller that shoots along at a good pace and gets some cracking performances out of Riz Ahmed, Lily James and even Sam Worthington. Then the last 15 minutes happened. A classic example of trying something when you don't need to. Awful idea. Nice to see Willa Fitzgerald getting loads of work after Strange Darling though.

Steve (Netflix)

I wasn't sure about watching this because I hate inspirational teacher films - but this really isn't that. An anxiety inducing drama set at a reform school as the headteacher struggles to keep his mental health together. A couple of clichés here and there but intense and well acted. Cillian Murphy excellent, as ever. I highly recommend the director Tim Mielants' previous film, Small Things Like These, as well.

A Desert

Face-melter of a low budget indie thriller. Shades of David Lynch and John Dahl, a couple of great plot movements and excellent performances from an unheralded cast. One of the biggest surprises of the year. Go in blind.

Hunting Daze

French-Canadian thriller about a stripper who ends up in a bad situation with a group of hunters. Unpredictable and weird but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. Not for everyone's tastes but it's only 75 minutes.

Kill Me Again (2025)

Not often that a timeloop film doesn't impress me but this came close. It's a good idea making the central character a villain but it's too long and drawn out and the tone's all over the place. A good effort though and at least they tried something different.

Fear Below

Another half-decent shark film! They're taking pity on poor @Frankie Crisp. Actually more of a crime thriller than a shark film but works quite well. Hermione Corfield is absolutely always welcome on my screen.

Compulsion (2025)

For those of you who don't know what Neil Marshall has been up to recently, I strongly urge you to Google him and Charlotte Kirk. Honestly mad shit. I'm obsessed by the absolutely awful films they're making together, this being by far the worst. Funny thing is the murders are really great - the rest of it couldn't be shitter. Can't wait to see what they do next.

Ghostlight

Really nice, emotional drama about a grieving family who find solace in an am-dram adaptation of Hamlet. The performances are really good and it's never mawkish. A treat.

American Sweatshop

There's a half-decent 'the internet is bad' thriller in here somewhere but it tries to be a preachy drama as well and it doesn't work. Lili Reinhart deserves better than this.

Neighbourhood Watch (2025)

Jack Quaid is in everything right now and he's pretty good, again, in a decent little thriller. A bit quaint with its mental health stuff but at times it's a buddy comedy (with Jeffrey Dean Morgan) so it obviously gets a pass from me.

My Dead Friend Zoe

Military recruitment porn wrapped in a ridiculous PTSD drama. You get a great Ed Harris performance (don't you always?) but nah, fuck off with this shit. See also - Warfare.

Big Boys

Nice little coming-of-age / coming out comedy-drama. Nothing too demanding or that you haven't seen before but quite funny and sweet. Sounding the @SuperBacon klaxon for this one.

Sunlight

Nina Conti directed a film about a woman in a monkey costume on a cross-country adventure with a suicidal DJ. Didn't laugh once, absolutely not my thing at all, but I think some on here will really like it.

The Assessment (2024)

Sci-fi drama about a couple who undergo a bizarre assessment to see if they're suitable to have a child. Liked this more as it went on and it sticks the landing, too. Alicia Vikander with one of the performances of the year. Really good.

Splitsville

Yeah I really liked this. There's some front on these two guys writing themselves into relationships with Adria Arjona and Dakota Johnson, two of the most beautiful women in the world. But it is very funny, especially the fight scene, and it's far from the usual romcom. Surprised me in a few ways.

Edited November 11, 2025 by Devon Malcolm
all out of bubblegum

[WyattSheepMask]

Frankenstein (Netflix)

Visually stunning, as you would expect from Guillermo Del Toro, but the pacing is all over the place.

It split into two parts, or “tales” as it put it, the first being Victor’s side of the story and the second being the Creature’s. As a result it takes ages to get going (my wife tapped out around 50 minutes into the 2.5hr runtime) but it does have a decent tense middle section when Victor’s tale culminates, but then everything grinds to a halt when we then get the Creature’s side of things, which sees him

Spoiler

working on a farm and people calling him a ‘Forest Spirit’, which just made me want to watch My Neighbor Totoro instead

Charles Dance, playing Daddy Frankenstein, gets an easy payday just going through his Tywin Lannister routine, and even Mia Goth seemed to be phoning it in.

 Visually very impressive (the ship and Victor’s laboratory are fully constructed sets rather than CGI/green screen) but overall unenjoyable 

Edited November 12, 2025 by WyattSheepMask

[Mr_Danger]

I was pretty disappointed in Frankenstein. I quite liked the Victor segment when it got going but Oscar Isaac is comically bad in it and he does not pass the Nic Cage test of living up to whatever terrible wig they’ve got him in. Mia Goth does what she can with a terribly underwritten part and Jacob Elordi does a good job as the sexy freak. What disappointed me most was how it was bigged up as this dream project over 20 years in the making and he just doesn’t do anything interesting with it at all.
 

Should have let Lee Whannell or Eggers have a crack at it.

[LaGoosh]

26 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Visually very impressive but overall unenjoyable 

That's Del Toro for you. For the reputation he has I'd say he's only made 1 genuinely great movie, 2 dumb fun ones then mostly rubbish. One of the most overrated film makers around.

[gmoney]

Cronos, Devil's Backbone, Blade II are superb in different ways. Everything else I've seen by him has left me cold. 

[Devon Malcolm]

3 hours ago, gmoney said:

Cronos, Devil's Backbone, Blade II are superb in different ways. Everything else I've seen by him has left me cold. 

I've not seen Blade 2 but I loved Pan's Labyrinth as well as Cronos and The Devil's Backbone. Apart from that he's not very good.

[Chest Rockwell]

I thought The Orphanage was decent, and the first Pacific Rim film. 

[DEF]

2 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said:

I thought The Orphanage was decent, and the first Pacific Rim film. 

The Orphanage was J. A. Bayona. But I concur it's a great film.