VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[TheHighlightReel]

10 hours ago, gmoney said:

The Devil's Advocate

I'd amazing never seen this, despite being a huge crazy Pacino mark. It way too fucking long, and one of the bottom tier Keanu Reeves performances, but the highs are very high indeed.

 

I’m sure there was a thread for the best anyone has ever looked once upon a time and Charlize Theron in this film is up there for me.

[TheHighlightReel]

10 hours ago, gmoney said:

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Edited May 28 by TheHighlightReel
Double

[Devon Malcolm]

15 hours ago, gmoney said:

Night of the Juggler

Holy shit. This a visceral, gritty, grind of a film. Came out in 1980, but was filmed in 1978 and it's got all the grime and sweat of 70s New York all over it. No 80s glamour here, but it does feature a cop firing a shotgun wildly at man in middle of packed city streets. Hell of a movie. 

 

Ace, innit? Nothing quite like it. Really pleased it's been rediscovered the last couple of years.

[SaitoRyo]

Night of the Juggler is one of those I've been curious about for ages but have yet to see, despite it being very much my sort of thing. Will have to bump it up towards the top of the 'to watch' list, I reckon.

[gmoney]

I think you would very much enjoy it. 

[Mr_Danger]

Wuthering Heights. Very drab, not very horny. Probably better than those Catherine Cooksons me Nana used to put on.

[JLM]

Backrooms 

Pretty good movie. All of the stuff outside of the rooms didn’t interest me much and wasn’t particularly clever or engaging. The rooms are a metaphor for memories or being stuck in cycles of repeating behaviour due to trauma etc etc. I don’t think it needs to hint at what it means or spoon feed suggested interpretations and it’s more effective when it lets you sit with it instead.
 

However! All of the time spent in the rooms made up for it for me. My friend described it as “a pretty vibes based movie” and it is that, but for me said vibes/tone were perfectly unsettling and it was frequently fascinating to look at. I was so on board for any of the yellow scenes, and thankfully the vast majority of the film is those. The visual design and score for all of the scenes set in the rooms are spot on, uncanny and trippy and uneasy. A few jump scares but mostly a steady feeling of discomfort. I love sitting in that feeling and it’s why Audition is still one of the movies I’ve found to be the most affecting. The pay off is certainly there but the ever growing sense of dread it creates is what stays with me. 
 

Both lead performances are strong, the plot for me is fairly inconsequential and is given more time than I’d have bothered with, but the movie is the Backrooms and I thought they were fantastic. 
 

Another thing that will stick me is the amazing little topper we got from the universe. My friend brought a family member along who has to use the lift to get from the screen bad to the lobby. So when we see a film with her we leave through a different exit and have to wander down corridors to find the lift. At my local these corridors are dimly lit and painted in red and black squares.
 

Wandering right out of Backrooms into this weird liminal space was perfect, but what made it was this guy stood at the end of the first corridor. He was about 40 feet away from us, was clearly very very excited about Backrooms and started sharing as soon as he saw us. He was so far away that it took us quite some time to realise he was talking to us. He repeated “You see Backrooms I know the lore I go 4chan and that” about four times in the same tone of voice, way before we got to him and while we were still chatting to each other about it. Then when we finally got to him we got collectively jump scared as he did it louder right at us. If you’ve seen the film it was so reminiscent of when our protagonist first goes in there that he could have been a plant from the studio making it an immersive experience. 
 

Anyway after that we went in the lift with him and then let him talk our collective ear off about the director and the YouTube shorts and the online lore and how many times he was going to see it etc etc. He was perfectly pleasant and was obviously thrilled that his special interest has gone mainstream, but man his location, the environment, the way he approached and the movie we had just watched made it one of the most trippy experiences I’ve had in ages. So I’d recommend seeing it at Cineworld White Rose in Leeds if you want the full experience.

Edited May 30 by JLM

[Nexus]

Watched Weapons for the first time last night. 

 

I think I enjoyed it - it's the sort of horror I enjoy where it's creepy and not all that jump-scarey, and I liked the multiple perspectives (it did take me longer than it should've to realise the timelines overlapped).

 

One thing I will say is I don't think Amy Madigan did a better 'Supporting Actress' job than either Teyana Taylor in One Battle or Wunmi Mosaku in Sinners, so I was a little confused by that decision...

[SaitoRyo]

Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins

Underrated Alan Arkin alert!

Our man is an ex-marine and alcoholic who works at the DMV and basically just exists. He gets 'kidnapped' by a woman and a streetwise fifteen-year-old girl, then gets away, but then allows himself to be 'kidnapped' again because he really has nothing going on in his life and enjoys the excitement and the company. 

A fun, aimless mid-70s road movie about loners and losers coming together. I by no means use 'aimless' in a derogatory sense, by the way. That's part of the charm of this sort of New Hollywood fare. Arkin is fantastic in this, too. I'd been been trying to watch it for years but only ever found really low-quality rips, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover it had received a recent blu-ray release. It deserves it.

Striking Distance

Passable early-90s action thriller with Bruce Willis. It's like watching an explosion in a cliche factory, but it's good enough fun, though I had more fun afterwards reading about Bruce's exploits during production and how he basically re-wrote the film and belittled the director in front of everyone. 

Shakedown (AKA Blue Jean Cop)

A lawyer teams up with a renegade cop to take down corrupt police in late-80s New York. I really fucking liked this, what a gem. Sam Elliott is class. Peter Weller is really good. It felt a bit like two films in one, with Elliott's cop doing the macho shit on the street and Weller handling the crooks in the courtroom. Tremendous use of a NY locations and some fantastic action sequences. A hilarious ending, too. Loved it. 

Night of the Juggler

Should have watched this ages ago, but better late than never, I suppose. I thought this was excellent. Proper tense, deceptively simple film. I really like James Brolin and was very much invested in him trying to find his kidnapped daughter while the city of New York and everyone in it does their best to work against him. Real stakes, real tension. A detestable villain. Another great, scuzzy eighties NY film that sort of reminded me of The Warriors, even though it's very different. I had a blast. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

On 5/15/2026 at 8:07 PM, Nexus said:

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.

Had today off work and gave Remarkably Bright Creatures a watch. Better than the book, I’d say - Sally Field and Lewis Pullman bring much more life to the characters than they had on the page, and obviously octopuses are excellent. Really lovely emotional ending too. Glad I watched it.

[SaitoRyo]

Days of Thunder

Can't believe I didn't watch the Tony Scott NASCAR sports drama starring Tom Cruise and Robert Duvall sooner. What the hell is the matter with me? It has all the elements, and is a rip-roaring ride if you don't take it too seriously. The film looks fantastic and Duvall is ace as the mentor/father figure. The Cruiser is, naturally, operating on an entirely different level.

[Chris B]

One of my favourite bits of Night of the Juggler was Mandy Patinkin making the absolute most of a small role as the taxi driver who gets really into the chase. He's fantastic in it.

Backrooms

In terms of plot and writing, it's pretty thin. But in terms of vibes and having Chiwitel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve being awesome, it holds up pretty well. I didn't even know Renate was in it, and The Worst Person In The World is still one of my favourite films of the decade. At first, I thought she was being poorly served, but she gets enough to do that it felt like a good intro to the US for her.

Obsession

It was good, but I liked it rather than loved it and was a bit surprised at the reception it's had. I found it a bit immature in places - everyone had the kind of jobs you'd have at high school or college and exclusively knew and hung out with the people they worked with, in the kind of way I think some teenagers expect being an adult to be. But... there were definitely moments. The use of sound was fantastic (the phone call is one of my favourite movies in a horror film for a while), the leads were good, and the use of light was really well done. I'd expect better from Curry Barker as time goes on.

Two such young filmmakers making really promising films... it's a good sign.

[mim731]

On 5/31/2026 at 9:13 PM, SaitoRyo said:

Night of the Juggler

Should have watched this ages ago, but better late than never, I suppose. I thought this was excellent. Proper tense, deceptively simple film. I really like James Brolin and was very much invested in him trying to find his kidnapped daughter while the city of New York and everyone in it does their best to work against him. Real stakes, real tension. A detestable villain. Another great, scuzzy eighties NY film that sort of reminded me of The Warriors, even though it's very different. I had a blast. 

The book it's based on is also namechecked, oddly, in a Sid Justice promo on the WWF European Rampage 1992 show. Which feels strange even now. Great film though. 

[Merzbow]

Yeah, Obsession is good but I'm not quite sure where the hype is coming from, it falls for a couple of the corny traps of modern US horror that I can never get on board with.

Brilliantly done for it's budget though and proof that sound design can make a full film just that much better. Apparently Ethel Cain had watched it like five times in the cinema just for the soundtrack and audio, i don't blame her.

[SaitoRyo]

D.O.A. (1988)

Remake of the 1949 noir about a man who needs to find out who poisoned him and murdered some of those close to him before he himself dies. 

I enjoyed this! I love a good neo-noir and this one has all the elements. It's a very sweaty film, and very stylish, too. Dennis Quaid is really good as the central protagonist. He portrays desperation really well. And who doesn't love Meg Ryan? 

Six Pack

Kenny Rogers is a washed-up race car driver on his way to a race when he stops in a small Texas town and has his car stripped of its parts. He ends up leaving the two with the six orphans who are part of the scam masterminded by a corrupt sheriff. 

Just a nice early 80s family film where you know everything is going to turn alright in the end. You will find yourself inadvertently saying 'aw shucks!' on at least one occasion. The kids (including Anthony Michael Hall and a young Diane Lane) are loveable and funny. Good country music soundtrack helps.