VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[mim731]

15 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Does Avengers Endgame have 79 minutes more to say than Casablanca did? No, then it probably doesn't need to be that sodding long, does it?

If only they'd not cut all the time travel sequences from Casablanca.

[cobra_gordo]

20 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Good to hear it’s an effective adaptation - the book has a similar effect despite having the least Scottish Scottish character in any book I’ve ever read! (Is there a Scottish character in the film?)

I've done a google and it's Colm Meaney's character, who I now cannot for the life of me remember if he was Scottish or just doing his regular voice.

[SaitoRyo]

The Bad News Bears (1976)

An alcoholic ex minor league baseball player agrees to coach the hopeless little league team that a lawyer's son plays for. 

I had a really good time with this. One of those cynical 'kids' movies that feels very genuine. Walter Matthau is fantastic as the coach and the kids who play for the Bears are all great, foul-mouthed little bastards. It never betrays itself by getting too sentimental. It is funny and genuinely quite sweet, too.

Anyone seen the Richard Linklater remake from 2005? Can't imagine it's as good as this, but I am a mark for Billy Bob Thornton, so...

[SaitoRyo]

Stroker Ace

Burt Reynolds plays the eponymous Stroker Ace, champion NASCAR racer who is sponsored by a meddling fried chicken company.

Look, this is not what you would call a 'good' film, but it is a certified Burt and the Boys Having a Laugh affair and, thus, I enjoyed it (a lot more than I thought I would considering its general reputation as a dud that killed Reynolds off as a box-office draw).

Critics shmitics, I say. This has Burt pushing people on luggage carts through windows, filling their cars up with wet cement and generally causing all kinds of hell while trying to bed virginous Sunday school teacher (and future IRL wife) Loni Anderson. 

[Mr_Danger]

Just don’t mention his divorce to said future wife.

[Devon Malcolm]

Exit 8 (cinema)

Didn't know whether to play the game first or what. And now this has spoiled the game, probably. Really good, though, from a dedicated timeloop film fan. Would make a great triple bill with other Japanese timeloopers River and Beyond the Inifinite Two Minutes.

Rose of Nevada (cinema)

I know people are questioning if Mark Jenkin is a one-trick pony now after his third film using much the same aesthetic. But I still really like the trick and thought this was really good. Bait is still Jenkin's best one but I can't wait for his next film already.

Normal (cinema)

Ben Wheatley could have been making Jason Statham shark films and films where Bob Odenkirk battles an entire town and the Yakuza all his career. Instead we got fucking Kill List and High-Rise. 82 minutes minus the credits, tons of bullets and fights, lovely.

On the Run (1988)

Excellent, nasty Hong Kong action thriller with Yuen Biao ditching the comedy and being even better for it. Took me way too long to watch this.

Rollercoaster (1977)

Really enjoyable disaster thriller with George Segal chasing a guy who's derailing rollercoasters. The crash scene is amazing but the rest of it is loads of fun, too. Should have watched this ages ago.

Noise (2007)

Largely unknown Australian crime drama about a cop looking after a mobile police unit in the aftermath of a shooting on a train. Thought this was excellent, a shame nobody involved has gone on to do much else.

Heat

I always enjoy thi loadss when I watch it but I'm still not buying that it's one of the all-time great crime movies or anything. There have been many better before and since. Not enough Ashley Judd as well.

Night of the Juggler

This has got a fair bit of attention recently after a remaster and rerelease and it deserves it. Batshit crime-actioner where James Brolin chases his wrongly kidnapped daughter and Dan Hedaya shoots up half of New York City while chasing him. Mad in all the best ways.

The Poseidon Adventure

I'm not a huge disaster movie fan, by and large, but I always enjoy putting this on. Doesn't do quite enough with the upside-down boat concept but still lots of death and destruction.

The Andromeda Strain

Still think this is the greatest pure science fiction film ever made. Relentlessly tense and well acted, just a brilliant film and a landmark in the genre.

Outland

My yearly watch. May actually be better than High Noon. Love dirty, industrial-looking sci-fi like this. What a film.

Running Scared

The Nice Guys of the 1980s. In that nobody went to see it even though it's so obviously good and that we should have had a string of sequels. We'll never learn.

The Parallax View

Great companion piece to All the President's Men from Alan J. Pakula. The opening scene is the best scene he ever directed. Beat that for an ending.

Point Blank

Also my yearly watch. Now fully subscribed to the idea this is a ghost story. Lee Marvin the best man ever?

[Hannibal Scorch]

@Devon Malcolm Re: Exit 8 

Spoiler

I don’t think the film spoils the game because you learn nothing about your character or why it’s even happening in the game. Although they capture the look really well.

 

[Nexus]

On 5/12/2026 at 6:17 AM, cobra_gordo said:

Remarkably Bright Creatures. On paper a film narrated by an octopus (voiced by Doc Ock himself, Alfred Molina) seems like a batshit concept. Before pressing play me and my wife had no clue what it was about, that it was based on a book, just that it was Sally Field + octopus. This is such a beautiful, heartwarming film that had turned us both in to crying wrecks by the end of it. Absolutely marvellous.

I loved it as well. My wife was like "Oh yeah, it's a book adaptation, apparently it's good" and I was a fucking mess at the end of it.

[DavidB6937]

The Christophers

Accidentally saw a movie with James Corden in it because I like Ian McKellen and Michaela Cole. It was alright. Slow to start with but hit the right emotional spots in the second half.

My favourite part was the fact it was mostly older people in the cinema and two left once the first c-bomb got dropped.

Top Gun/Top Gun Maverick (IMAX)

What else can be said that hasn't already been said. Tom Cruise's tongue on a massive screen. Kenny Loggins hopefully getting paid every time Danger Zone gets played. Just perfect cinema experiences and Maverick especially far better than a sequel that long after has any right to be.

[Jesse]

Did an odd double header today.

Memories of Murder
Great movie, a really dark (and at times comic) look at South Korean policing as they deal with a serial killer - based on a real life serial killer apparently. Bong Joon Ho has done better, but I still had a good time.

Hokum
Absolute dirt worst attempt at mashing together modern horror trends. Adam Scott is good, but they give him basically nothing to hook onto, and the film feels like a big tickbox of every current horror trend and trope. Upset my wife so bad, who was very excited for it based on the trailer and reviews, that I had to take her to the corner shop to buy odd American drinks to salvage the evening.

EDIT: Wish I'd done David's Top Gun double header instead now

Edited May 17 by Jesse
Tom Cruisin' USA

[thevestofdeanambrose]

13 minutes ago, Jesse said:

Did an odd double header today.

Memories of Murder
Great movie, a really dark (and at times comic) look at South Korean policing as they deal with a serial killer - based on a real life serial killer apparently. Bong Joon Ho has done better, but I still had a good time.

 

There is a new Kdrama out based around the same murders, it's called The Scarecrow and up there with the best I have watched this year. Highly Recommend.

[Devon Malcolm]

Memories of Murder randomly turned up at our local Vue between the first two lockdowns when nobody was releasing anything and they were mostly showing old stuff. Brilliant film.

[SaitoRyo]

Smokey and the Bandit II

The original, which I've seen several times, is pretty much the quintessential Burt and The Boys Having a Laugh film. It's a great, eminently watchable affair. 

Somehow, I'd never seen the sequel, so I put that right over the weekend. Burt and the Boys are still having a laugh, but the laughs seem a bit more forced and there's not as many of them. It's clearly a sequel where all the same elements are there, but they can't quite recapture the magic. Reading about it afterwards, everyone involved basically said their hearts weren't in it and they felt it was just done to make a shitload of money because the first one had been so successful. Which is fine (and this one did make a shitload of money as well), but the film otherwise doesn't really need to exist and is a disappointing experience. Some cool stunts in there, mind.

[LaGoosh]

My favourite thing in Memories For A Murder is every time the lead detective gets frustrated with someone his immediate reaction seems to be to dropkick them. Great film!

Send Help

Too long, a lot of shitty effects, characters were all over the place but I still had fun with it and was laughing a lot. 2 hours of B level Sam Raimi is still more fun than most stuff that comes out these days. I'll probably never watch it again.

Project Hail Mary

I don't think it's the masterpiece a lot of people have been saying it is but I enjoyed it. Brilliant visuals, Gosling puts in a great shift and it hooked me in. A tad too much Marvel type humour for my liking that you get in anything big budget these days. But we get so few competent original big budget Hollywood films that aren't some boring Superhero or reboot shite these days that I hope we get more films like this in the future.

[Statto]

5 hours ago, SaitoRyo said:

Smokey and the Bandit II

The original, which I've seen several times, is pretty much the quintessential Burt and The Boys Having a Laugh film. It's a great, eminently watchable affair. 

Somehow, I'd never seen the sequel, so I put that right over the weekend. Burt and the Boys are still having a laugh, but the laughs seem a bit more forced and there's not as many of them. It's clearly a sequel where all the same elements are there, but they can't quite recapture the magic. Reading about it afterwards, everyone involved basically said their hearts weren't in it and they felt it was just done to make a shitload of money because the first one had been so successful. Which is fine (and this one did make a shitload of money as well), but the film otherwise doesn't really need to exist and is a disappointing experience. Some cool stunts in there, mind.

Given you'd (surprisingly) not seen II before (and didn't really enjoy it), I feel compelled to give you the "Do yourself a favour... don't turn around" warning from The Simpsons about Part 3...