VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Chest Rockwell]

That film was so forgettable that I watched it a second time and only realised halfway through that I had already seen it. Also Tom Holland's natural likeability is offset by Wahlberg's natural unlikeability. 

[Statto]

Really wanted to share this somewhere as it's bloody lovely proper hand drawn animation, but wasn't sure where - it's  not exactly cheery enough for the cheer you up thread, the YouTube thread suggests funny videos (it's  funny in places), it's not anime, if we've got a short films thread it must be accident etc. etc.

So thought here might be the place it'd find some appreciators:

 

[davertfnewman]

On Tom Holland, Bob Mills tells a story of having Dominic Holland on his radio show and Tom tagged along. Conversation moved towards referring to Tom and Bob asked whether Tom was allowed to say anything.

"Well, I've had a look at the contract and I didn't see anything about not being able to talk to my dad and his mate."

[TheBurningRed]

The Departed

One of my favourite Scorsese films. Long run time but flies by for me. A gangster undercover as a detective and a detective undercover as gangster and both trying to find out who the other is. Great film. Except Mark Whalberg. Who is bordering on parody in this.

The Royal Hotel

Jessica Henwick and Julia Garner are two American backpackers in Australia who get work in a pub in the outback when they run out of money. A decent film, but I kept waiting for the bad something to happen and expected more tension.

Carry-On

Taron Egerton is a security officer at an airport who receives an earbud is instructed by Jason Bateman to allow a carry-on case with a nerve agent through or he’ll kill his pregnant wife. Good to see Bateman as a baddie. But this film is shit. It got rave reviews but I was bored.

The Usual Suspects

Second watch. I didn’t enjoy when I watched it about 15 years ago, so wanted to try again. I shouldn’t have bothered. It really is a terrible film. Spacey is great, but the film is a chore for me.

Weapons

Seventeen children from the same classroom all run away on the same night at 2:17am, with only one student remaining. Fun, horror movie. Amy Madigan plays one of the creepiest looking women I’ve seen in film. And you can’t go wrong with Julia Garner and Josh Brolin. 

The Long Walk

A Stephen King adaption. 50 teenage boys have to walk in a televised event until one is the last one standing. Really enjoyed this. Got straight to the game. Good tension. I wasn’t enamoured with Cooper Hoffman as others were. David Jonsson was really good though.

Ballerina

My favourite film of the year. Set between John Wick 3 and 4, Ana de Armas is a ballerina and assassin out to avenge her dad. Some fantastic action. Duelling flamethrowers, the scene with the plates. All brilliant stuff. I would very much welcome a sequel.

Frankenstein

Enjoyed this. Not a fan of Oscar Issac, but he was perfectly fine in this. Jacob Elordi has his pretty face hidden by makeup, but has enough charm to make you feel for The Creature (my wife wanted to look after him and give him a hug). Not great, but a decent watch for a Saturday night in. 

Disturbia

Shia LeBeouf spends his summer vacation on house arrest and suspects his neighbour is a serial killer. Inspired by (but not as good) as Rear Window, this is fun film that doesn’t overstay its welcome. David Morse brings a good presence to the film as the baddie. LeBeouf even pulls the girl next door by admitting to stalking her and knowing everything about her from watching her.

The Negotiator

Samuel L Jackson is a hostage negotiator who is set up for murder. So, naturally he takes some hostages and requests the other top negotiator, Kevin Spacey, as the only person to speak to. Excellent performances from the leads, David Morse is also in this, suberbly playing a dick. A bit overly long, but the performances carry it through.

A Time To Kill

Legal drama about a little girl who is raped and her father getting revenge. What do we do with this one? Samuel L Jackson’s performance is really strong, Matthew McConaughey and his closing argument is also really strong, but the film is a bit mad. So much shit happens to the town during the trial, with no consequence or heartbreak to anyone. It has a really, really good cast. Spacey, Donald and Keither Sutherland, Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Kurtwood Smith and Patrick McGoohan as the judge, called Judge Noose. Noose is his last name. Overly long movie, at one point I was willing McConaughey and Bullock to fuck, just for something to happen. I think it’s fair to say, acting good film bad. Judge Noose. Judge fucking Noose. 

[DavidB6937]

Christy

The tale of the best known female American boxer Christy Martin who I'd never heard of before. Another sports biopic that managed to bomb at the box office this year. A combination of lack of wide appeal and whatever shit went down with Sydney Sweeney. I wasn't really paying attention to be honest but it'll be interesting to see how The Housemaid does and if she's absolutely fucked her career or if this failed for other reasons.

Anyway this was better than The Smashing Machine. Knowing nothing about Christy I can't really say how accurate the performance was but Sweeney definitely gave a strong, multi layered and believable performance that I was really invested in. And the coach/hubby role played by Ben Foster was the perfect foil. He was such a cunt.

Some of it seemed fucking mental but it's all pretty accurate from what I've read after. I definitely found it to be a lot more engrossing than The Smashing Machine but I doubt it'll get anywhere near the attention.

Zootropolis 2

Considering the original is one of my favourite "modern" Disney movies I had concerns considering their track record on sequels. But this was really fun. Some good character depth, a lot of enjoyable references and a great cast. Definitely exceeded expectations.

[Devon Malcolm]

3 hours ago, TheBurningRed said:

Disturbia

Shia LeBeouf spends his summer vacation on house arrest and suspects his neighbour is a serial killer. Inspired by (but not as good) as Rear Window, this is fun film that doesn’t overstay its welcome. David Morse brings a good presence to the film as the baddie. LeBeouf even pulls the girl next door by admitting to stalking her and knowing everything about her from watching her.

Always nice to see someone talking this up. One of the better Hitchcock homages, a really good time.

[LaGoosh]

Train Dreams (Netflix) is a wonderful little film worth going out your way to see. William H. Macy is fantastic in a supporting role that deserves an Oscar nod. The ending had me in floods of tears.

[Merzbow]

Frankenstein may be the worst thing I've watched all year. What a tepid, Disney feeling piece of bad CGI filled shite, one of the biggest misunderstandings of the source material I've watched but it's probably to be expected from some nerd like Del Toro. 

I don't really want to stop people of a certain gender from adapting things but can men just fuck off and leave Mary alone? Never once have they "got" it.

[The Gaffer]

22 hours ago, Statto said:

Really wanted to share this somewhere as it's bloody lovely proper hand drawn animation, but wasn't sure where - it's  not exactly cheery enough for the cheer you up thread, the YouTube thread suggests funny videos (it's  funny in places), it's not anime, if we've got a short films thread it must be accident etc. etc.

So thought here might be the place it'd find some appreciators:

 

Cheers, shared this around. Been awhile since I cried for 10 minutes straight. Was probably needed. 

[Lorne Malvo]

Last nights offering was Howard The Duck.

It's nowhere near one of the 'worst films of all time' as it's reputation suggests. Tonally it's a mess and completely all over the place, but it's pretty creative in places and something like this coming along today would be a great antidote to the blockbuster fatigue we're in at the moment (although it would still absolutely bomb, obviously).

The performances got panned at the time but I think Lea Thompson is actually really good in it, and Jeffrey Jones is having a lot of fun (...whatever happened to that guy?)

You get to see a duck nude scene two minutes in. Five stars.

[SuperBacon]

Just now, Lorne Malvo said:

Lea Thompson

She's so beautiful isn't she?

And still to this day.

[LaGoosh]

34 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

Jeffrey Jones is having a lot of fun (...whatever happened to that guy?)

He's a nonce.

[Mr_Danger]

On 12/2/2025 at 2:36 PM, Chest Rockwell said:

That film was so forgettable that I watched it a second time and only realised halfway through that I had already seen it. Also Tom Holland's natural likeability is offset by Wahlberg's natural unlikeability. 

It’s about as watchable a two star film as you’ll ever see but I will never forgive them for not casting Bryan Cranston as Sully. 
 

Freaky Tales. Really surprised me this one. An anthology film set in 80’s California with a rough through line connecting the four different stories. Zaddy Pedro has a decent role, Tom Hanks has a cameo and Ben Mendelsohn is a creepy creep. I was a big fan of these kinds of films in the 90’s that all came in the wake of Pulp Fiction and they were all mostly pap but I’d watch any and all of them. This is a decent homage to them and although the stories don’t really come together that well it’s a pretty fun film. The last story in particular goes full schlock and it’s all the better for it. 

Edited December 3, 2025 by Mr_Danger

[Devon Malcolm]

It Was Just an Accident (cinema)

Iranian director Jafar Panahi made another film more or less against Iranian law and another great film it is, too. Surprisingly funny in places but with a gut punch of an ending. A brilliant filmmaker....

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

....as is Mohammad Rasoulof, who also made his film under similar restrictions and had to flee Iran after making it. This is even better - starts off as a drama about anti-government protests, the becomes an intense thriller about a father losing his mind. One of the best of the year.

Eddington

Possibly holds the record for the most times I've said "Oh fuck off" to a film, ever. I hate this film and Ari Aster really needs to fuck right off right now. Hereditary seems like a million years ago.

The Bad Guys 2

Good little pair of films, these. Not quite as funny as they think they are but still with plenty of laughs. They somehow make Sam Rockwell tolerable as well.

Roofman

Ehh, it's alright. Clearly it doesn't work as well as it should because it wants to be a knockabout comedy and a serious character drama and the two never mix together convincingly. Really good performances though and Channing Tatum is always excellent.

Prisoner of War

Scott Adkins' latest sees him put a lot of face kicking into Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. It's about 15 minutes too long but actually a very competent film technically as well as having some good fights. Adkins has really grown on me the last couple of years, I like how he takes action films seriously.

Afterburn

Big Dave travels to a post-apocalyptic France to pinch the Mona Lisa for Samuel L. Jackson. Quite good fun even though Dave's clearly slumming it here. He also gets off with Olga Kurylenko so I can see why he took it.

In the Lost Lands

Somebody let Paul WS Anderson make another film. This one's not about a video game for a change but instead a George RR Martin adaptation. Not as bad as his usual shit but still not very good. Another one Big Dave is slumming it in, and Milla Jovovich still refuses to age.

Icefall

Decent enough action adventure. I can never settle on whether I like Joel Kinnaman or whether he's really rubbish but he's alright in this and I had quite a good time with it.

Strange Harvest

It's always a small victory when you find a found footage horror film that's actually good but it only happens once every 2 years or so. This is that film - enjoyably brutal and sparse with some excellent footage inserts.

The Astronaut

Mediocre sci-fi horror film about an astronaut who thinks she's brought something nasty back to Earth with her. A couple of good scenes but nothing new or original. But I got to look at Kate Mara's face for an hour and a half so it did its job.

Shadow Force

No wonder this was disappeared from the cinema schedule. It's absolutely terrible in every conceivable way. Reminder that Joe Carnahan made Narc and The Grey.

[WyattSheepMask]

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair 

Previously only possible to be seen by being invited round to Tarantino’s house or at a specially curated event, he’s clearly finally been offered enough money to allow it to be given a wider theatrical release.

Clocking in at 4hrs37mins (which included a much appreciated 15 minute intermission after Vol.1), this is the version that Tarantino wanted to release originally before the studio told him no way. 
Vol.1 is by far and away the better film of the two. Great fight scenes, Sonny Chiba being awesome, and the whole final act in The House of Blue Leaves is still brilliant.

Vol.2 I’d only ever seen once before about 15 years ago, and while it starts off OK it’s never as engaging as Vol.1 and the last 45 minutes of the film (The Bride’s final confrontation with Bill) is so fucking boring to the point that some people actually left. It wasn’t a packed cinema by any stretch, probably about 40 at most but at least 20 left before the end.

Edited December 7, 2025 by WyattSheepMask