VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[DavidB6937]

The jump scares were perfect. Really well done. And I'm fine with the humour. I thought it all worked well for the average guy at the middle of all of it. Same with the ending really. It felt the right way to go. A little repetitive in the last third but not enough to fuck it up for me. Really enjoyable cinema experience.

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

The jump scares were perfect. Really well done. And I'm fine with the humour. I thought it all worked well for the average guy at the middle of all of it. Same with the ending really. It felt the right way to go. A little repetitive in the last third but not enough to fuck it up for me. Really enjoyable cinema experience.

Apparently Zach Cregger cut out a load of jokes after the first test screenings. That’s a director’s cut I’d love to see.

[SaitoRyo]

Have been poorly (flu? covid?) since Wednesday evening, so I have done the normal thing and decided to watch a bunch of erotic thrillers and stuff. 

Hey, if I don't have the energy to shag I might as well watch other people do it in films!

Am I right, lads?!?

...lads?

The Bedroom Window

Steve Guttenberg is having an affair with his boss's wife (Isabelle Huppert) when she sees an attempted assault take place by looking outside his bedroom window. They think nothing of it, until women start getting murdered in the area. He can't reveal the affair, so he reports that he saw the attempted assault himself. And then his life begins to completely unravel. 

I liked this. Good performances (Guttenberg is adept at playing a goofy guy who smiles while he's on the stand and not realising how serious the situation is). It is well-directed. A bit like one of De Palma's various Hitchcock homages, but not quite as stylish. Veers into farce, as these things tend to do, but it's a good ride.

Body of Evidence

Speaking of good rides, how about that Madonna? She's terrible in this, a pretty fucking bad movie full of woeful direction and ridiculous dialogue. I think Willem Dafoe comes out of it with his credibility intact, because he's usually good even in shite, but he's pretty much the only one. The courtroom scenes are sinfully dull, while the sex scenes are nowhere near as sexy as they think they are. Probably only acceptable to watch post-11PM on Channel of a Friday night.

Dream Lover

Really entertaining yuppie nightmare film, with James Spader getting a divorce and then bouncing back by finding and falling in love with the beautiful Madchen Amick. His seemingly perfect life (and perfect wife) isn't perfect, however, and it turns out he might have gotten married again without really knowing who the bride is. Solid thriller with an excellent performance by The Spade, who was so good in this era. I thought he'd fallen off the face of the earth since I don't watch superhero stuff or The Blacklist, so I'm glad to see he's been working all this time.

Never Talk to Strangers

Rebecca De Mornay is a successful criminal psychologist whose life begins to fall apart soon after meeting the mysterious Antonio Banderas. It's another early-90s Hitchcock riff with a daft twist ending, but I thought it was alright as something to have on for 80-or-so minutes, considering De Mornay gets her kit off for several of those minutes. Dumb fun.

Ready to Rumble

Saving the sexiest for last with a re-watch about twenty years in-the-making. I couldn't fully hate it because it was a VHS classic as a kid, but it's pretty fucking bad, isn't it? I mean, it's absolutely class, obviously, but it's a film that seems to hate wrestling and wrestling fans and wants to (justifiably) take the piss out of WCW for its duration. It's a complete mess, but it's the WCW wrestling movie and you simply cannot take that away from it.

[tiger_rick]

15 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

Body of Evidence

Speaking of good rides, how about that Madonna? She's terrible in this, a pretty fucking bad movie full of woeful direction and ridiculous dialogue. I think Willem Dafoe comes out of it with his credibility intact, because he's usually good even in shite, but he's pretty much the only one. The courtroom scenes are sinfully dull, while the sex scenes are nowhere near as sexy as they think they are. Probably only acceptable to watch post-11PM on Channel of a Friday night.

We taped this off the telly years ago. One Sunday afternoon, the in-laws were over and I wanted to show them something we'd recorded of the baby. Pressed play on the video, completely forgetting we'd been watching this the night before and instead of granddaughter in a ball pool, they got Madonna riding Willem Dafoe.

[BarryOVega]

Lake Mungo 

Never heard of it til the other day, really enjoyed it, gets the creepy atmosphere perfect but I was most impressed with the documentary interviews with the Dad, Mum and brother, most natural acting I've ever seen in a fake documentary 

Most famous bit (which is why I heard of the film in the first place, thankfully it didn't spoil anything) was suitably horrific, ending was a bit different to what you'd normally get but made more sense than anything else and was really sad

4 stars on Letterboxd

[SaitoRyo]

Night Game

Detective/slasher film with Roy Scheider as a burnt-out cop investigating a serial killer targetting young, pretty women. Which is bad news for him, as he's engaged to a pretty, young woman (too young for him to be honest). 

I'd seen this once before absolutely ages ago and just wanted something that was 90 minutes and available on Tubi (the best streaming service). It's alright. Nothing really new here, but it has its moments and the plot revolving around some baseball playoffs is a little bit different. It's nowhere near as bad as reviews at the time made out, anyway. The main issue is the shifts in tone, as it goes from police procedural, to slasher, to romance and back again.

Besides that, it's a perfectly serviceable late-80s thriller and I feel like Scheider is always worth watching, even when he's not giving it 100%.

Edited Tuesday at 10:57 AM by SaitoRyo

[Devon Malcolm]

23 hours ago, SaitoRyo said:

The Bedroom Window

Steve Guttenberg is having an affair with his boss's wife (Isabelle Huppert) when she sees an attempted assault take place by looking outside his bedroom window. They think nothing of it, until women start getting murdered in the area. He can't reveal the affair, so he reports that he saw the attempted assault himself. And then his life begins to completely unravel. 

I liked this. Good performances (Guttenberg is adept at playing a goofy guy who smiles while he's on the stand and not realising how serious the situation is). It is well-directed. A bit like one of De Palma's various Hitchcock homages, but not quite as stylish. Veers into farce, as these things tend to do, but it's a good ride.

Good little thriller, this. Used to get a lot of showings on BBC when I was younger, I think the hook with it when it came out was "Look, Mahoney in a serious film!" but Guttenberg's really good in it.

[DavidB6937]

Wasteman is on Netflix now. Definitely worth giving a go if you didn't see it in cinemas.

[SaitoRyo]

The Wraith

File this one under 'things I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would'. 

I'm really not big on sci-fi and stuck this one on not expecting to get much out of it. But it's not really a sci-fi. Well, it is. But it's a million other things, too, including a car chase film, a neo-western and a high school romance drama. Don't worry about the plot and just appreciate the aesthetic and the iconography and the vibes of it all.

It's so incredibly 80s, has a belting soundtrack (and score) and features Sherilyn Fenn wearing cowgirl clothes. Lots to love, basically.

[BigJag]

Dhurandhar

Hindi-Netflix has it dubbed in many languages and subtitled

Netflix

Has received high praise. I'm about a quarter way through and it's a very well produced Bollywood film. Political drama with ALL the Bollywood theatrics. Semi-biographical. Stars Ranveer Singh, who I can't take seriously in anything. Some of you may remember him from one of Martin Brundles grid walks.

Film is definitely watchable so far. Although my "this is shit" radar is starting to beep. The story revolves around a RAW (Indian MI5) agent. Infiltrating the Pakistani mafia and the adventures that ensue. There's a second part also, that has a pretty impressive soundtrack. Part two is nearly 4hrs long!

Edited 13 hours ago by BigJag

[SaitoRyo]

Honey Don't

Yeah, not great, this. I remember somewhat enjoying Drive-Away Dolls that one time I saw it in the cinema and held out hope that I would similarly enjoy this, the second of a supoosed (loose) trilogy from Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke. But for a small-town noir with dark comedy elements and a modern western vibe, this should have been much better.

There's obvious talent there both on screen and behind the camera, but the film just never adds up. Not much happens, which I don't actually mind in films as I'm rarely watching for the plot, and it just kind of meanders, never really going anywhere. It felt like something that the filmmakers enjoyed writing and directing and the actors enjoyed acting in, but there's not much there for an audience to latch onto.

It's not very funny, even if there are a couple of cute exchanges of dialogue here and there. Margarey Qualley is good, mind, and she does have it off with Aubrey Plaza, so that's a bonus. And it was a touch under 90 minutes, which always helps.

[Hannibal Scorch]

Off work so have been catching up on some films.

The Invite is a much better movie than Olivia Wilde’s previous movie, Don’t Worry Darling. A captivating 4 hander which really resonated with me. Maybe not the right time to watch it emotionally, but really recommend it as it’s a type of film we see so really. Penelope Cruz is the standout for me, but everyone is good.

I Love Boosters is even more insane than Sorry to Bother You. I think Boots Riley is a great fantastical director. Taking a relatively simple idea for a film (A gang of people who steal clothes) and turning it into a wacky and wild 2 hour adventure comedy. I hadn’t seen anything of this, and I recommend you do the same. Could have done with more Will Poulter though.

Very late on Backrooms, but it was what I expected it to be for the most part. But really enjoyed it and it kept me firmly interested from the start. I wonder what they will do with the concept going forward. 

[deathrey]

@BigJag I'm not big in to Bollywood but always assumed Ranveer was a handsome nepobaby as he is a little out there and plays himself in most films. Suprised to find he isn't a nepobaby. He can settle for being Mr Deepika Padukone instead 

[Chris B]

1 hour ago, SaitoRyo said:

Honey Don't

Margarey Qualley is good, mind, and she does have it off with Aubrey Plaza, so that's a bonus. 

Considering how hot I find both Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza, it really shows how bad Drive Away Dolls was that I haven't got round to this one yet.

Drive Away Dolls also wasn't helped by Love Lies Bleeding coming out at a similar time, which did the queer noir thing SO much better on every conceivable level.

[BigJag]

3 hours ago, deathrey said:

@BigJag I'm not big in to Bollywood but always assumed Ranveer was a handsome nepobaby as he is a little out there and plays himself in most films. Suprised to find he isn't a nepobaby. He can settle for being Mr Deepika Padukone instead 

The jammy so and so.

If anyone is wondering. Bollywood is full of nepobaby actresses and actors. The Kapoor family is pretty proficent at this. I think they're on their fourth generation.

Edited 6 hours ago by BigJag