VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[SaitoRyo]

Black Oak Conspiracy

A struggling Hollywood stuntman returns to his small town when his mother is taken ill and he soon uncovers a shady splot to acquire land involving the sheriff and the local mining company. He's simply not going to stand for that shit now, is he?

This was half-decent hicksploitation! It still had some bar brawls, car chases and tit shots, yes, but it's not as gauche as a lot of other simlar stuff from the era and they actually let the plot unfold as opposed to shoehorning in some arbitrary action every five minutes. Give this one a watch if you fancy a 70s souther-fried thriller.

[FLips]

Leon: The Professional
Thought this was great. Jean Reno as the sulky loner hitman is a top job but it's Gary Oldman in this as the absolute lunatic corrupt DEA agent that steals the show. Always happy to see Danny Aiello turn up in anything. Don't think I've seen him put in a bad shift in anything.
Apparently the film got some negative press because they sexualise Natalie Portman but I didn't feel like that at all, the relationship came across entirely platonic and innocent. Excellent film.

Carlito's Way
A bit of a slow starter and one of those films where the ending is spoiled at the start, but Al Pacino does a great job keeping this one moving. Pacino plays the bad guy with a good heart really well and this one's no exception. Sean Penn as his nutcase lawyer is the standout in this though, he's absolutely bonkers and the scene with the gun in the hospital is top drawer. Another great movie.

Donnie Brasco
Pacino knocks it out the park in this one too as the oblivious mob man buddying up with an undercover agent. Depp is solid in it too as he falls too deep undercover. There was a brilliant episode of Miami Vice where Ed O'Neill does the same thing. The ending is somehow heartbreaking despite both leads being baddies. Pacino is two for two.

Righteous Kill
Well you can't win them all. Pacino and De Niro get given a shocking script and I wouldn't say really put any effort in to save it. The only worthwhile moment of the film is when 50 Cent gets shot through a window and made be burst out laughing at the bump he takes.

Under Seige
Steven Seagal on a boat with a stripper chucking knives at Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones. Had every chance to be dogshit but somehow ends up being a near perfect action film. I have a lot of time for the sequel too.

The Warriors
Whole lotta magic.

The Running Man (2025)
A lot better than I expected this to be. I don't buy into Glen Powell, he's pretty bland and has a stupid face. That being said I thought he did a really good job here as the comically angry everyman just trying to win money for his family. Colman Domingo and Josh Brolin are top shelf as they split Richard Dawson's Killian role into two parts for this. I prefer the original but there are some parts of this done a lot better than the Arnie one and it stands alone thanks to leading more from the book than the previous film. The product placement is a little contradictory, as they use it in the context of the show but then also genuinely use it outside of the context of the show. It's a parody of a parody and can be a bit jarring.
Very watcheable action film that hit all the right notes for me but post 9-11 you can't do the book's ending so they still have to divert a little into an ending that doesn't quite land.

[Devon Malcolm]

Just now, FLips said:

Leon: The Professional
Apparently the film got some negative press because they sexualise Natalie Portman but I didn't feel like that at all, the relationship came across entirely platonic and innocent.

Don't watch the Director's Cut.

[FLips]

Just now, Devon Malcolm said:

Don't watch the Director's Cut.

Ooh. I don't know which version I have. The only thing in my version that could have been slightly sexualised was when she's doing celebrity impressions and does a Marilyn Monroe impression singing happy birthday and Madonna one singing Like a Virgin, which I suppose could easily be interpreted as sexual, but she immediately follows it with a Charlie Chaplin one so I never really put 2 and 2 together.

[TheBurningRed]

15 minutes ago, FLips said:

Donnie Brasco

Highly recommend the book. I have one that came with the wiretap recordings on a disc. 

[gmoney]

2 hours ago, FLips said:

Carlito's Way
A bit of a slow starter and one of those films where the ending is spoiled at the start, but Al Pacino does a great job keeping this one moving. Pacino plays the bad guy with a good heart really well and this one's no exception. Sean Penn as his nutcase lawyer is the standout in this though, he's absolutely bonkers and the scene with the gun in the hospital is top drawer. Another great movie.

Donnie Brasco
Pacino knocks it out the park in this one too as the oblivious mob man buddying up with an undercover agent. Depp is solid in it too as he falls too deep undercover. There was a brilliant episode of Miami Vice where Ed O'Neill does the same thing. The ending is somehow heartbreaking despite both leads being baddies. Pacino is two for two.
 

Saw one of those "controversial takes" type post on bluesky recently saying along the lines of "Al Pacino is a really bad actor, he just plays Al Pacino as a mobster, Al Pacino as a cop, Al Pacino as The Devil" etc. I didn't give it the attention it craved, even though I was raging at it, obviously. If you only look at all times he's prominently played a gangster; The Godfather, Scarface, Carlito's Way, Donnie Brasco, Dick Tracy - all of those are completely different, easily distinguishable characters. Fucks sake. 

That's before you start tearing apart the idea that to be a good actor you need to be a chameleon, which is also complete bollocks. 

Edited April 30 by gmoney

[SuperBacon]

26 minutes ago, TheBurningRed said:

Highly recommend the book. I have one that came with the wiretap recordings on a disc. 

Absolutely superb that book. I bloody love Donnie Brasco, and even though he's a piece of shit, you really feel for Lefty.

IIRC up until Pistone walked in the court room he was convinced it was a work (brother) and there was no way 'Donnie' would testify against him. Brilliant film, and one of Pacinos best performances. 

Carlitos Way I like less and less each time I see it, but that won't stop me watching it again. 

[TheBurningRed]

I bought Carlito’s Way years ago on dvd and it came with the prequel, Rise To Power. Absolute shite film. 

[cobra_gordo]

11 hours ago, FLips said:

Ooh. I don't know which version I have. The only thing in my version that could have been slightly sexualised was when she's doing celebrity impressions and does a Marilyn Monroe impression singing happy birthday and Madonna one singing Like a Virgin, which I suppose could easily be interpreted as sexual, but she immediately follows it with a Charlie Chaplin one so I never really put 2 and 2 together.

The theatrical cut of Leon is probably my favourite film of all time. The directors cut though, despite having some cool additional training sequences, yeah, not so much. 

[SaitoRyo]

Arizona

The Danny McBride one. I watched it because I really like Danny McBride and it had some other people I like in it, like Kaitlin Olson. There are a few funny bits from McBride, but it's really not very good, sadly. Clocks in at about 78 minutes or something, so it wasn't so bad but, yeah, I thought this would be a lot better (and funnier).

Fear City

Abel Ferrara's scuzzy 80s New York crime thriller about strippers being randomly attacked and maimed after their shifts. I'd seen this about fifteen years ago and didn't remember much about it (besides the fact Melanie Griffith gets her kit off a bunch). It's alright, but not great or anything. Always fun to see this type of unvarnished NY on screen. Tom Berenger is good, too. I like Tom Berenger. Also, the version I watched was nice and HD but had some really weird, low-quality inserts, which was jarring. 

[BomberPat]

Enys Men

Loved it, lots of people won't. Very atmospheric and odd film - it's described as folk horror, and I can see why, but I'm not sure that really sets you up to understand what you're getting into.

A volunteer on a Cornish island meticulously studies something about flowers growing there. Large parts of the film are her repetitively noting her observations in silence. As it goes on, time seems to be out of joint - there's a memory of a shipwreck, long dead miners, a mysterious girl. Time starts getting wonky. Nothing is ever really explained. 

Very abstract, largely vibes over story, and you probably have to be in the right frame of mind. Visually gorgeous, though, and I loved the general mood even if I still have no clue what was going on, or if I'm supposed to know.

[DavidB6937]

Had a nice eclectic cinema day today.

Magic Faraway Tree

Not got any particular association with the story before so not sure how good the adaptation is from a book perspective. But it was a lovely wholesome family film with a great cast. Andrew Garfield. Claire Foy. Each scene another familiar face. Loved it in a sickly sweet way.

Michael

My first true pop music love. Until the Thriller video freaked me out and meant I didnt sleep for weeks. Anyway I digress. I would've been disappointed if I hadn't read the reviews beforehand as there was so much of his career (and yes personal stuff too) that wasnt covered. But going into it knowing the limitations meant I genuinely enjoyed what we did get. The quality of the performances and recreations etc was incredible really. Good for what it was.

Devil Wears Prada 2

Needed something to kill the time. Only watched the first one last night and it was alright. I do have an Anne Hathaway weakness, Emily Blunt is always good value, and Streep and Tucci are legends. Obviously a sequel wasnt needed but it was alright actually and if you loved the first this didn't destroy its legacy or whatever.

Close Encounters

Never seen it at the cinema so couldn't pass up the opportunity. Jaws last year and now this and my early Spielberg fanboy heart is so happy. Just something magical about his work around that time and the perfect cinematic experience.

[LaGoosh]

On 4/30/2026 at 6:22 PM, FLips said:

Ooh. I don't know which version I have. The only thing in my version that could have been slightly sexualised was when she's doing celebrity impressions and does a Marilyn Monroe impression singing happy birthday and Madonna one singing Like a Virgin, which I suppose could easily be interpreted as sexual, but she immediately follows it with a Charlie Chaplin one so I never really put 2 and 2 together.

 

The directors cut makes the relationship a lot less ambiguous, let's just say that.

Leon is a film I used to love but after finding out it was inspired by the directors real life sexual relationship with a 15 year old when he was in his mid 30s the thought of watching it again now makes me feel a bit dirty.

Edited May 3 by LaGoosh

[DavidB6937]

The Sheep Detectives

Part comedy. Part mystery. A bunch of talking sheep try to solve the mystery of their owner's murder.

Honestly? Better than it has any right to be. It knows it's ridiculous. Obviously Hugh Jackman isn't in it much because he's mostly dead but the voice line up for the sheep is stellar:

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O'Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Brett Goldstein and Rhys Darby

Just the right amount of heart too. Definitely got my feelings going in a sweet familial way.

And no, it's not just good because Molly Gordon is in it, but that always helps.

[gmoney]

The Punisher (1989)

I've never been a fan of the comic book character, and have seen at least two other film/TV adaptations that I thought were shit. Combined with the rep this has of not being very good, I was expecting nothing from this. Honestly, it can't be described as good with any level of credibility, but fuck me if I didn't end up having a good time. Dolph doing his best Sly (his best is not good) tickled me every time he was on screen, surprisingly fun villain in Lady Tanaka, strong level of violence, and weird direction choices all add up to a film that is never boring. Lou Gossett Jr is wasted though. 

Edited May 4 by gmoney