VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[johnnyboy]

I did the Late Night with Conan O'Brien double-bill of Toy Story 5 and Obsession.  On reflection, maybe should have saved Toy Story 5 as the finisher.

[johnnyboy]

Masters of the Universe

Quite touching the amount of people having their Father's Day treat with Skeletor and Co.  I think it could safely lose 20-30 minutes which would improve it, but I had a fantastic time overall.  Some lovely nods to the history of the franchise, both toy and on-screen.

Spoiler

Big Jim toys all over the comic shop!

One Marvel/Whedon-esque undercutting comic moment really did not land for me, not every moment of drama or action needs to be undercut:

Spoiler

First attack with Skeletor doing the I've finished my speech schtick.

Jared Leto was overdubbed with a Tom Baker-Matt Berry combo impersonator?  (Not a complaint)

100% up for another.

The Lundgren He-Man film will always have my heart, but this is worthy of sitting next to it.

[LaGoosh]

Backrooms 

I really dug it. Such a brilliantly unique and creepy premise. The first half of the film just exploring it had me fully gripped and on the edge of my seat.

Renate Reinsve's American accent was absolutely shocking. I think she gave up trying by the end. The character stuff was mostly unnecessary, didn't add much and there's a twist/scene in the third act where the film nearly goes completely off the rails but luckily manages to sort itself out.

Feels like there's loads of good stuff at the cinema this year and people are getting back into films. It feels like the dark cloud of cinema being endless Marvel/super hero shite is starting to lift.

[cobra_gordo]

Toy Story 5. Enjoyable if unnecessary. Definitely better than 4 and I'd probably put it above 2. I'd normally say folk my age aren't the target audience but with Toy Story I think we're exactly who they're aiming these films at now. Heart strings were pulled, my wife cried three times, everybody left feeling good about themselves.

I will say though, it's one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. We saw it in Imax and I was blown away with how the animation techniques have advanced in 30 years. The lighting is hyper-realistic and there's camera tricks such as things they do with focus and depth of field that you'd take for granted in a live-action film. It's a brilliant showcase of how far these films have come from a technical standpoint.

[Hannibal Scorch]

I saw Nirvanna The Band, The Show, The Movie. With no idea what or who they were we were subjected to a great mockumentry time travel comedy that I highly recommend. It was too silly for my daughter, but the wife and I thought it was great. Definitely recommend it if it plays locally to you.

[Merzbow]

I rewatched Red Rooms and it kind of fits the previous talk of weird comfort films, it's a truly horrible and disturbing thriller but it does it all without showing you a single bit of the bloody horror you'd expect and instead is a study of those that obsess with the worst people in humanity, both those that think they're innocent and those that know they're not. Juliette Gariépy is outstanding, especially as it's her first lead role and *that* scene still gives me goosebumps that rival Inde in Obsession. Bonus points for actually getting a portrayal of the "dark web" that isn't all corny cyber-hackers and stupidly farfetched nonsense.

[JLM]

It really is excellent, definitely made me think about and cut down my true crime consumption. Also: 

Spoiler

I think the audio they use when she watches the footage is more horrifying than anything they could have shown on screen. Found that extremely difficult to sit through and I’ve watched a lot of very gory horror. Eli Roth wishes he could make something that disturbing but he never will. 

 

[Merzbow]

There's a lot of excellent use of sound and music throughout, playing Uboa during that scene just added to it plus I'm always going to mark out when a noise artist I love is used in film.

[cobra_gordo]

Jaws. Again. Got the Lego Orca and Bruce set for Father's Day from my kids so built it up whilst watching the greatest film of all time. I've fawned over Jaws previously on here and it remains a masterpiece.

My current favourite line is right at the beginning, when the mayor and the coroner are telling Brody that Chrissie's death was actually caused by a boat propeller, and the mayor's assistant says "It was just an accident, they happen all the time". It's an easy enough line to miss but has given me chills the last few times I've watched it because, as subtle as the delivery is, residents have been getting devoured for years and nobody has cottoned on until then.

Quint gets more and more likeable with every viewing. He's gruff and standoffish but warm with Brody, almost showing a softness when he's helping him with the knots. Yes, he's a dick to Hooper at first but him slowly warming to him whilst bonding over scars, his little looks off camera at Brody, is such a masterful performance by Robert Shaw. Him strapping in to the chair is incredibly tense. Not a word spoken but so much about that character comes through from his face alone. He's funny as fuck too, him answering the call from Brody's wife always cracks me up. 

So, yeah, it's alright I guess. Three stars.

[Devon Malcolm]

I love the fact Quint just happens to have a machete. On a boat. You never know when you might need one at sea!

[Mr_Danger]

Jaws would be on my list of perfect films. In fact I think Raiders and Jurassic Park would be on it as well, maybe even E.T. I don’t even have a deep affection for Jurassic Park like I do the others but it’s undeniably perfect and I think Jaws is the precursor to that.

Went to see Obsession last week at 5pm on a Thursday and the cinema was pretty full considering. A proper phenomenon of a film in how it’s just staying the pace whilst not really being bandied about by mainstream media outlets. It’s obviously a very good film and your main girl is brilliant in it. The main lad can fuck off though the wet selfish bastard. 

Spoiler

The way it goes from him being creeped the fuck out by her on a date to him still having sex with her in the next shot then him asking the real her what’s so bad about being with him whilst she begs for death has him as the true bad guy of the piece as far as I’m concerned.

 

[JLM]

Spoiler

Oh he is definitely the villain, I didn’t think there was any ambiguity about that. When he calls up the hotline and doesn’t immediately ask for it to be undone, but rather asks for it to be made more palatable for him. I still want her to be uncontrollably beholden to me but in a less unsettling way. He even bottles the suicide attempt at the end, and even when he IS dead he leaves her with the mess and the trauma. It’s pretty clear throughout that she’s a victim and he’s a complete turd, at best a coward and for most of the movie much much worse than that. 

Edited June 23 by JLM

[DavidB6937]

It's a brilliant film because it causes the exact "who's in the wrong?" conversations that happen in life. And there's obviously only one right answer.

[Fog Dude]

Went to catch Effi o Blaenau this afternoon, so it was a second week in a row marvelling at landscapes and buildings I recognise from around here that you don't usually see in a feature-length film. Strangely, the book it's based on seems to be about a woman from Cardiff but the big screen adaptation transposes it to the small North Walian town of Blaenau Ffestiniog. The Wednesday matinées are always subtitled, so I assumed the subs would be in God's own iaith but they were disappointingly in the coloniser language instead.

Then again, for most people here I couldn't exactly recommended watching it purely in the original Welsh in case you lose track. Speaking of tracks, there's a decent selection of tunes near the start but it doesn't overwhelm you with non-diegetic music as it goes on, so as not to break the tone. Strong breakout performance from the lead actress, the supporting cast are also good and it's shot in a way that's very affecting. 

Just a bit unsatisfying that the "villain" of sorts from Act 1 never gets any comeuppance (or if he does, it's off screen) and that the emotional shift for the final third required one too many slices of unlikely dramatic coincidence to get there.

The screening wasn't as full as last week, but still way more packed than for Mando & Baby Yoda earlier this month. It started half an hour earlier than Madfabulous which caught a few people off guard. Oh, and it's not a complaint about either movie but a single ceiling light came on for a while during the showing for no clear reason, which took me out of the story for a minute. I want to support my local indie cinema but it really needs to sort its shit out in that regard.

[cobra_gordo]

The Birdcage. Just out of the cinema seeing this for the 30th Anniversary re-release. Seen it a million times but still belly laugh at what is essentially Nathan Lane screaming for an hour and a half. It's a joyously chaotic farse, still very funny and one of my favourite Gene Hackman performances.