VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[SuperBacon]

9 minutes ago, Jesse said:

Glenn Powell in just a towel

Sorry, slow day here. 

[LaGoosh]

Midnight Express 

For some unknown reason I always thought this was some classy artistic Oscars type. Turns out it's a ludicrous, fun, nasty and trashy thriller. Possibly one of the most racist mainstream films I've ever seen.

[HarmonicGenerator]

It's the end of the year so I'm going to do my annual look through the new films I watched this year, see if I can turn them into a list (I will turn them into a list).

I saw 50 new-release films in 2025, so it'll be a top 50. I already know from reading this thread that at least four of my top 10 should be nowhere near a top 10. There are films I really liked that nobody on here did, and probably ones I didn't get on with that I know I'm meant to have loved. So this list will be rubbish but it is mine and only my opinion.

I'll also put it in spoilers so you don't have to read it all.

Spoiler

Vampires!

Starting with vampires, because from Day 1 this was a good year for vampires. Nosferatu came out on New Year's Day over here and I loved the whole tone and style and vampirey weirdness of it.

(Similarly, I really appreciated the hammy, overwrought, melodramatic tone of Frankenstein and I get the various reasons people didn't get on with it, but I very much did. I also liked how much Netflix money del Toro was able to just take to make whatever he wanted. It's nice for him.)

Sinners is one I liked a lot when it came out, but there were a few elements that didn't quite work for me - for example, I thought it took slightly too long to set things up before it all kicked off. But it's grown on me more in the months since - quite often it'll pop into my mind - and I like it more now than I did at the time. Those elements aren't really issues anymore, because the more I think about it, the more they work. It's great on loads of different levels. A definite top 5 of the year, even if I'd still put Nosferatu just above it.

Superheroes!

I'll get the super stuff out of the way quick. Not Marvel's best year, but I'll go to bat for Thunderbolts* which was by far their best effort, and their best for a few years. I'm actually rewatching as I write this post. The David Harbour of it all is quite icky now - Mrs HG will not be watching this one again - but the film's got a great Florence Pugh performance in the lead, it's got a great Lewis Pullman performance in support, and the story/themes (especially the stuff around mental health and regrets and loneliness and support and connection) resonated in a way a lot of MCU stuff hasn't for a while. Case in point, Fantastic Four wasn't very fantastic (better on a second watch, but still didn't do a lot for me) and Captain America: Brave New World was okay at the time but has faded majorly in the memory apart from how obvious the reshoots were.

Rewatching Thunderbolts* right now reminded me it has Geraldine Viswanathan in it, which is absolutely another plus point. (She's the best thing in You're Cordially Invited which was not great, but is watchable due largely to her.)

Also there was Superman which was okay? Had some fun bits but is probably still the DC thing I've enjoyed least since James Gunn took over.

Awards-y films

Most of the first part of the year tends to be focused on us catching as many Nominees as possible, the better to know whether the various awards get it "right" or not (and to show how much it matters, I'm going to have to look up what won Best Picture at the Oscars this year.

Ah, it was Anora. A 2024 film, which we saw in 2025, but which won't be included here. The film I would have picked, Conclave, is the same.

However, Flow, which won all the animation categories, deservedly, I will mention, because I think this is actually my number 1 of the whole year. From the moment at the very beginning where we hear that little cat's first meow, it had my whole heart, which was in my mouth throughout for fear something would happen to that little cat. I was with them the whole way. Beautiful, affecting film.)

Okay, other ones from the 2025 awards season. A Real Pain was excellent, and has stayed with me for the rest of the year - often these films tend to drop way down the list as the year goes on. Sometimes that's because I just didn't like them all that much (hello to The Brutalist) or sometimes - though not this year - it's just because lots of other stuff comes out that I liked more and it drops down the list.

Another one that's hung around near the top was A Complete Unknown which I know is just your bog-standard music biopic, but James Mangold knows his way around a bog-standard music bipoic and makes them very watchable. Edward Norton is great in it, Monica Barbaro is fantastic in it, the music itself's top quality, it ticked a lot of my boxes. Nickel Boys, however, is a film I struggled with and kind of wish I hadn't watched in the cinema (as opposed to F1, which I didn't get to see until it was on streaming and wish I'd seen on the biggest screen possible, especially the races which looked incredible and made Formula 1 feel like the most exciting thing in the world). The POV style of Nickel Boys was a great idea for the story the film was telling, but made it hard to watch on a cinema screen without getting motion sickness. 

Then, looking ahead to movies that will / might / want to get nominations for 2026... One Battle After Another was great, but I didn't love it quite as much as all the rave reviews. Marty Supreme was also great, but again, I didn't love it as much as the rave reviews (if I had to pick a 'Timothee Chalamet plays an arrogant but talented arsehole' movie for 2025, I'd go for Bob Dylan over Marty Mauser). Jay Kelly was, yes, great, and this time I probably liked it slightly more than the reviews - particularly loved the ending.

 

The list, part 1

1. Flow 2. Nosferatu 3. Sinners 4. Thunderbolts* 5. A Real Pain 6. A Complete Unknown 7. Frankenstein 8. One Battle After Another 9. F1 10. Marty Supreme 11. Jay Kelly 12. Fantastic Four 13. Superman 14. Captain America: Brave New World 15. The Brutalist 16. You're Cordially Invited 17. Nickel Boys

 

Animation

I've already mentioned Flow, which is definitely my favourite animated film of the year, but I had a lot of fun with K-Pop Demon Hunters. I don't have kids and so haven't been forced to watch it dozens of times / listen to the soundtrack hundreds of times like other people I know, so approaching it as a one-time 'see what the fuss is about' viewer, it's really entertaining. I wish Elio had been more entertaining than it was - it was fine, but definitely bottom-half-of-the-league Pixar. 

I sadly didn't like Predator: Killer of Killers as much as a lot of people. Great idea, but the finished product just didn't click with me.

Straight to streaming!

Netflix: The Electric State was rubbish. Thursday Murder Club was also rubbish, but was at least better than The Electric State. Wake Up Dead Man was not rubbish, but I did not like it nearly as much as I hoped I would, and that means two out of the three Benoit Blanc films have been disappointments for me, so I suspect at this point it's my fault and not the films.

Apple: The Gorge was rubbish, but because I was looking forward to it beforehand, the disappointment means it'll end up even lower than The Electric State. Fountain Of Youth was also rubbish, but I always have time for a treasure-hunt-adventure film so it at least had a little something in its favour.

Prime Video: Deep Cover was not rubbish, but wasn't quite at the level of good... I liked the way they used improv in it. Here did get a brief cinema release, but it's been on Prime for way longer than it was in cinemas. Again, not rubbish, not exactly good but the 'camera never moves, one room through time' premise worked for me much more than I expected it would. The Order is one I'd have liked to see in a cinema - solid 80s set cop thriller, well directed by Justin Kurzel with several strong performances from Nicholas Hoult, Jude Law and others. That's the first of all these streaming films I'd actually recommend. Dig into the 'search' page of Prime to find it, but you might well like it. Heads Of State is lots of ridiculous, absurd fun, and I think that's what it was going for - a nice surprise. 

Sky: Mountainhead qualifies here, I think. Well-written, shows how shit the ultra-rich are, but we knew that already, and Succession was better written. Kind of depressing, actually.

Other: I never spotted it in cinemas here, so going to include Queen of the Ring in this category. Another for the 'bog-standard biopic' collection but it's about wrestling and you don't often get those so I enjoyed it. It was fun spotting bits and pieces I recognised and it made me want to read the book it was based on.

Sequels!

I had zero interest in Jurassic World Rebirth before it came out (Fallen Kingdom killed my love for the series, it took years for me to get around to Dominion and oof, not good). But after two months of intense working on a project that took every spare hour, I got the last element sent off about half an hour before a showing and decided to celebrate finishing the work project with some dinosaurs. And ... it's the fourth best Jurassic movie (I loved the first World when it came out but it feels so cynical ten years later). Decent human characters, some great dinos, good action sequences, plot holes are mostly forgivable. Gareth Edwards' 'AI will save filmmaking' stance is depressing (and wrong, I hope) and drops it down the list a bit, but I had a surprisingly good time.

I had some interest in Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning despite the letdown of Dead Reckoning. We were in holiday in France when it came out and we saw it in a cool Parisian cinema, which honestly, is mostly why I have any affection for it. I remember the cinema more than the actual film. Great action as you'd expect but sadly another letdown as a film.

28 Years Later was a weird one - I know people who liked the first half a lot, and not the second, and others who thought the second half was way better than the first, but I don't know if I personally know anyone who really liked both halves. I think I'm one of the former - thought it was a very strong start and my interest started to wane as Spike and his mum went trekking across the north east. I also had to have the ending explained to me ... not that I didn't understand it, I just couldn't get it in my head that they actually did what they did. Still not sure it works, but I will probably go and see The Bone Temple next month all the same.

I had a lot of interest in Avatar: Fire And Ash, to the extent I took half a day and rewatched Way Of Water just before the new one came out. Way Of Water has improved for me on each rewatch, and maybe this one will do the same? But on a single viewing, Fire And Ash didn't give me the same sense of wonder and spectacle that the previous Avatars have - for the first time, it was bit 'more of the same'. There were definite high points - Oona Chaplin is ace as Varang, there was plenty of Tulkun action, Jemaine Clement gets a good bit. James Cameron knows exactly what he's doing. But I might need to find another half a day and see it again before I can love it.

Edit: I saw it again. Liked it more second time around, worked a lot better for me this time and could appreciate it more. Moving it up a couple of spaces.

Wicked: For Good, weirdly, I liked more than the first one. The way it weaves in Wizard Of Oz barely works but I enjoyed how they try and do it, it kept my interest in a way the first half didn't. Spinal Tap II made me laugh out loud just once, at the very end, but it was the biggest laugh I got from any film this year.

(The snowman sequence in The Naked Gun is second place for biggest laughs, but it had a lot more overall than Tap).

Oh, and Mrs HG wanted to see Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale and I didn't think much of it at all, and that's as someone who watched all of Downton Abbey and the other two films (the second movie is way better than this one).

 

The list, part 2

1. Flow 2. Nosferatu 3. Sinners 4. Thunderbolts* 5. A Real Pain 6. K-Pop Demon Hunters 7. A Complete Unknown 8. Frankenstein 8. One Battle After Another 9. F1 10. Marty Supreme 11. Avatar: Fire And Ash 12. Jay Kelly 13. Jurassic World Rebirth 14. The Naked Gun 15. Heads of State 16. The Order 17. 28 Years Later 18. Wicked: For Good 19. Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning 20. Fantastic Four 21. Elio 22. Queen of the Ring 23. Wake Up Dead Man 24. Spinal Tap II 25. Superman 26. Mountainhead 27. Deep Cover 28. Here 29. Captain America: Brave New World 30. Downton Abbey: Grand Finale 31. Predator: Killer of Killers 32. The Brutalist 33. You're Cordially Invited 34. Nickel Boys 35. Fountain of Youth 36. Thursday Murder Club 37. The Electric State 38. The Gorge

 

Stephen King adaptations

Seeing the new Downton film was the second half of a double-feature we did that day, which began with The Long Walk. Mrs HG preferred Downton; I preferred this, by a long ... walk. Thought it was really well done, each death felt earned and shocking, I was willing on the main characters. It's good stuff. 

The Running Man was okay. Not as Edgar Wright-y as I maybe expected, but a perfectly decent action movie. I haven't read the book of this one, and haven't got masses of affection for the 80s film, both of which maybe helped going into it.

New films from acclaimed directors!

There are three films I'd put in this section that were real disappointments for me. After Past Lives, I think I definitely wanted something different from Materialists than Celine Song was offering. It was beautifully shot and I could appreciate it on that level, but the cynical, icky, depressing feeling I got from it ... no thank you (the reveal about Pedro Pascal's character made me feel quite ill, all the more so because I know it's based on a real thing that happens and that's horrifying and just thinking about it again is pushing the movie further down my list ... where it'll end up just above Mickey 17. I had high hopes for this one and ... just didn't like it very much at all. By a long way, the second-best Tim Key film this year - The Ballad of Wallis Island was a lovely film and he's very good in it, even if I didn't love it quite as much as a lot of film critics did.)

The Phoenician Scheme is a lower tier Wes Anderson for me. I can barely remember it, to be honest.

And the rest!

Five films to go.

The only new documentary I saw this year was Becoming Led Zeppelin. It's extremely one-sided, but as the band were involved that was to be expected, and I do like Led Zeppelin, so it landed the way they wanted it to for me.

Sticking on the classic rock theme, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is far from a perfect film, and even my massive Springsteen bias didn't prevent me seeing there are plenty of issues with it. But (a bit like Thunderbolts*) it was the way it explored mental health and loneliness and depression and connection that hit hard for me. That feeling where you should be happy with everything, but just feel the desperate need to get away and lock yourself away; the fixation on something small that you turn into something huge in your head; the importance of having a person who is just there for you, completely, completely supportive; the feeling when you have finally sought help and you're asked a question that makes all those walls you've built up around yourself just fall away ... the way Jeremy Allen White's eyes fill at that moment as the wall breaks and everything floods in... I have had that moment and I know exactly how that feels. These feelings - they captured them perfectly. it's a 7/10 film but I cried several times.

Warfare was good - if not as good as the rave reviews - but hasn't really stayed with me. Y2K was rubbish but if I'd seen it as a teenager I'd have had a great time with it.

And finally, Saturday Night did not get a lot of rave reviews, but I loved it! I always like a 'we're putting on a show' story, everything happening and going wrong all at once and desperately rushing around to make sure the show goes on. They got that feeling just right in this film. I've always liked how much American pop culture mythologises the beginning of 'SNL' and its original cast as these deified figures in comedy, which this film definitely does, and it kind of doesn't matter how accurate it is or not, it just portrays a vibe and a feeling I can really get on board with. This would land really high on my list - I watched it twice the weekend it came out and I'd watch it again right now if I wasn't still watching Thunderbolts*.

 

The final list!

1. Flow

2. Saturday Night

3. Nosferatu

4. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

5. Sinners

6. Thunderbolts*

7. A Real Pain

8. K-Pop Demon Hunters

9. A Complete Unknown

10. Frankenstein

11. The Long Walk

12. One Battle After Another

14. Avatar: Fire And Ash

14. F1

15. Marty Supreme

16. Jay Kelly

17. Jurassic World Rebirth

18. The Naked Gun

19. Heads of State

20. Becoming Led Zeppelin

21. The Ballad of Wallis Island

22. The Order

23. The Running Man

24. 28 Years Later

25. Wicked: For Good

26. Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning

27. Fantastic Four

28. Elio

29. Queen of the Ring

30. Wake Up Dead Man

31. Spinal Tap II

32. Warfare

33. Superman

34. Mountainhead

35. Deep Cover

36. Here

37. Captain America: Brave New World

38. Downton Abbey: Grand Finale

39. The Phoenician Scheme

40. Predator: Killer of Killers

41. The Brutalist

42. You're Cordially Invited

43. Nickel Boys

44. Materialists

45. Mickey 17

46. Y2K

47. Fountain of Youth

48. Thursday Murder Club

49. The Electric State

50. The Gorge

 

So there you have it! A top 50. Which took exactly one Thunderbolts* to assemble. 

Short version:

My favourite film of the year was Flow, my entire bottom four were movies that didn't get (or that barely got) a cinema release. It was a good year for vampires and late-20th-century American pop culture figures.

Edited January 2 by HarmonicGenerator

[DavidB6937]

Always a great read @HarmonicGenerator! I should probably do similar myself.

I've seen so many movies this year that I genuinely can't believe Thunderbolts* was this year..

[hallicks]

Zootropolis 2 (cinema). Eldest had wanted to go so finally got around to it before it disappeared. Just a really well done film, very engaging, funny and touching.

Star Trek: First Contact (4K blu ray). Christmas present to myself. Seen it a million times, really just wanted to watch the big space battle at the beginning in the highest definition possible. Fantastic. The rest of the film, I dunno. If the bad guys can just go back in time whenever they want, why do it just once, and at the only moment they can be followed back by the good guys? I know I know, because story. If you can get past that, it’s a decent enough yarn. Some of the VFX shots don’t come out great in 4K though, guessing they originally went out to tape and back to film and so no amount of remastering can bring back the quality.

Curious to hear people’s thoughts on The Housemaid. Read the book recently on a recommendation and it’s genuinely the worst thing I’ve ever read by an absolute mile. Predicted the outcome after about 50 pages (not usually a skill I have with books). I was desperate to give up but I have real problem with sunk costs so yeah. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

@hallicks I watched The Housemaid after Marty Supreme. Marty Supreme is really good, but I had more fun with the Housemaid. Just reminded me of those 90’s thrillers like The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. Thought it was a nice Sunday afternoon watch.

[DavidB6937]

Really enjoyed The Housemaid. Hadn't read the book so cant comment on that but once you embrace the vibe and how ridiculous it is it's a lot of fun.

[Mr_Danger]

Anaconda (2025)

Paul Rudd and Jack Black rebooting Anaconda with Steve Zahn and Thandie Newton in support. If that doesn’t sell you on the film nothing will. It’s a film that lives in that 2-3 star comedy space but is elevated by the cast. Jack Black dials it down a bit for what it’s worth. I suspect with a tighter script and better direction there’s an actually good film here but it’s still got enough hits to make it worth your time. 

[Gus Mears]

Ace Ventura: Call of Nature

Appalling. Definitely one of the Jim Carrey films where he isn't at all charming while playing a weirdo, and is instead someone you want to dob into the police so his computer can be forensicslly examined. Simon Callow absolutely phoning it in as a stereotypical British bad guy; apes bumming people; problematic African tribe setting. I laughed a couple of times and feel ashamed.

Edited January 3 by Gus Mears

[SuperBacon]

191 for 2025.

Spoiler

1.) North By Northwest (10)
2.) Speed (10)
3.) Youth In Revolt* (8)
4.) Little Miss Sunshine (10)
5.) Dazed and Confused (10)
6.) Clerks (10)
7.) The Wedding Singer (8)
8.) Management* (6)
9.) Goon (8)
10.) In The Loop* (9)
11.) Crazy, Stupid, Love (7)
12.) The Death Of Stalin (9)
13.) Challengers* (4)
14.) We Live In Time* (8)
15.) Y2K* (6)
16.) Bowling For Columbine (10)
17.) Fahrenheit 9/11 (10)
18.) The Goonies (10)
19.) When Harry Met Sally (10)
20.) A Real Pain* (9)
21.) The 4:30 Movie* (6)
22.) Lost In Translation (10)
23.) Parachute* (8)
24.) Empire Records (8)
25.) Sleepless In Seattle (10)
26.) Silver Linings Playbook (8)
27.) Canadian Bacon* (5)
28.) The Devil Wears Prada (9)
29.) Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (10)
30.) The Substance* (9)
31.) Queer* (8)
32.) Rushmore (10)
33.) I Saw The TV Glow* (10)
34.) The Royal Tenenbaums (10)
35.) The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (10)
36.) The Darjeeling Limited (8)
37.) Fantastic Mr. Fox (9)
38.) Moonrise Kingdom (10)
39.) The Grand Budapest Hotel (8)
40.) Blue Jean* (8)
41.) Starter for Ten (8)
42.) You've Got Mail (10)
43.) Isle of Dogs* (8)
44.) The French Dispatch (8)
45.) I Love You, Man (9)
46.) Reservoir Dogs (10)
47.) Liar Liar (8)
48.) Fighting With My Family (7)
49.) The Fugitive (10)
50.) Pulp Fiction (10)
51.) Wayne's World (10)
52.) Wayne's World 2 (8)
53.) Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (8)
54.) The 40 Year Old Virgin (6)
55.) Knocked Up (7)
56.) This Is 40 (6)
57.) Manhattan (10)
58.) Annie Hall (10)
59.) Goodfellas (10)
60.) The Breakfast Club (10)
61.) The Godfather (10)
62.) The Godfather Part II (10)
63.) The Godfather Part III (4)
64.) Twisters* (7)
65.) Conclave* (10)
66.) Saved (7)
67.) Welcome to the Dollhouse* (9)
68.) Clockwatchers* (8)
69.) Office Space (10)
70.) Goodbye Lenin! (9)
71.) Heat (10)
72.) Carlito's Way (8)
73.) As Good As It Gets (6)
74.) Good Will Hunting (9)
75.) A Complete Unknown* (9)
76.) Monsters Inc (10)
77.) Superbad (10)
78.) Falling Down (8)
79.) Bridget Jones's Diary (8)
80.) Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason (7)
81.) Bridget Jones's Baby (6)
82.) Jerry Maguire (9)
83.) Role Models (8)
84.) Babes* (7)
85.) Escape from Alcatraz* (8)
86.) Scum (10)
87.) Days Of the Bagnold Summer* (8)
88.) Delirious* (4)
89.) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (10)
90.) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (10)
91.) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (10)
92.) Midnight Cowboy* (10)
93.) The Truman Show (10)
94.) 28 Days Later* (8)
95.) White Men Can't Jump (10)
96.) Porco Rosso (10)
97.) Lady Bird (10)
98.) Charade* (9)
99.) Breakfast At Tiffany's* (10)
100.) Gladiator (10)
101.) Gladiator II* (1)
102.) Jurassic Park (10)
103.) Mean Girls (8)
104.) Happy Gilmore (7)
105.) Grease (9)
106.) The Damned United (8)
107.) Grease 2 (4)
108.) WALL-E (10)
109.) Enemy Of The State (10)
110.) Independence Day (8)
111.) Big Hero 6 (8)
112.) Happy Gilmore 2* (5)
113.) Jackie Brown (10)
114.) JFK (10)
115.) Rumor Has It* (6)
116.) The Edge Of Seventeen (10)
117.) War Of The Worlds(2025)* (2)
118.) Sacramento* (6)
119.) Spider-Man (9)
120.) Bowfinger (7)
121.) Spider-Man 2 (8)
122.) Spider-Man 3 (7)
123.) Jaws (10)
124.) Eighth Grade (10)
125.) Housesitter* (6)
126.) Almost Famous (9)
127.) When Harry Met Sally (10)
128.) Full Metal Jacket (10)
129.) Friday (7)
130.) sex, lies, and videotape* (8)
131.) The Running Man (8)
132.) Babygirl* (6)
133.) The Long Good Friday (10)
134.) Bring It On (7)
135.) Lucy* (8)
136.) Total Recall (9)
137.) Goodfellas (10)
138.) The Terminator (10)
139.) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (10)
140.) The Shawshank Redemption (10)
141.) Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy* (5)
142.) Psycho (10)
143.) Scream (8)
144.) Annie Hall (10)
145.) Manhattan (10)
146.) Election (10)
147.) The Cabin In The Woods* (4)
148.) Heretic* (7)
149.) Escape Room* (4)
150.) Urban Legend* (5)
151.) Carrie (10)
152.) The Blair Witch Project (7)
153.) The Babysitter* (8)
154.) The Babysitter: Killer Queen* (7)
155.) Thanksgiving* (4)
156.) Imaginary* (7)
157.) The Cable Guy (7)
158.) Sorry, Baby* (10)
159.) Get Out (9)
160.) Us* (7)
161.) Halloween (10)
162.) Bridesmaids (9)
163.) Uncle Buck (9)
164.) Cool Runnings (10)
165.) Freakier Friday* (6)
166.) Point Break (9)
167.) Jawbreaker* (6)
168.) Planes, Trains & Automobiles (10)
169.) A Very Jonas Christmas Movie* (5)
170.) A Newport Christmas* (3)
171.) About A Boy (9)
172.) The Alto Knights* (4)
173.) 21 Jump Street (9)
174.) Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story* (6)
175.) 22 Jump Street (7)
176.) Home Alone (10)
177.) It's A Wonderful Life (10)
178.) Home Alone 2 (10)
179.) Wake Up Dead Man* (8)
180.) Back To The Future (10)
181.) Back To The Future II (10)
182.) Back To The Future III (9)
183.) Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning* (8)
184.) The Seven Year Itch* (7)
185.) The Phoenician Scheme* (7)
186.) Sinners* (8)
187.) A Minecraft Movie* (5)
188.) Rear Window (10)
189.) Marching Powder* (5)
190.) Office Space (10)
191.) Superbad (10)

Best films, Sorry, Baby and Conclave.

Worst film, by a mile, Gladiator II, which might be the worst film I've ever seen. Makes me angry every time I think of it.

Finished off the year with the traditional watch of Superbad, which I introduced to my eldest this year as well. 

Here's to more variety this year!

[TheBurningRed]

Prisoners

Really great film. Don’t be put of by its 2 and a half hour run time. It’s gripping and you don’t notice the length. Hugh Jackmans best performance for me. Tension and dread throughout.

Wake Up Dead Man

Almost two and half hours and every bit of it. The worst of the Knives Out films. I was bored. Too much religion. I didn’t think the second was all that, but now I’m over the series with this one. Glenn Close was good. Josh O’Connor always looks stinky. I was holding off falling asleep. Wish I did.

The Naked Gun (2025)

Not a patch on the original of course. But tons of fun. Some great gags. The whole snowman bit was hilarious. 

[stumobir]

Nuremberg

A performance by Remi Malek that was so bad I had to stop myself from siding with Hermann Göring. 

[cobra_gordo]

I Swear. Basically spent nearly 2 hours trying to not cry my eyes out. Beautiful film, fantastically acted and both hilariously funny and gut-puchingly shocking at points. No desire to ever watch it again because it absolutely crushed me but at the same time it's so incredibly inspirational I probably will have to see it at least once more, now I can be a bit more prepared for what's to come. Fully recommend.

[davertfnewman]

Thanks for the review - it was a film I was tempted to go and see at the time it was in the cinema but real life got in the way. Saw it was on DVD in the supermarket the other day but imagine I'll wait for it to show up on the streaming platforms.

[Devon Malcolm]

2 hours ago, stumobir said:

A performance by Remi Malek that was so bad

Could be any of his films, really.