VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[pitseleh]

I made a list of 50 critically acclaimed films that I haven't gotten around to seeing yet on Letterboxd (add me lads) in an attempt to knock off a large chunk of my watchlist by the end of the year. The first film I watched from this list was High Noon. I went into this feeling wary that I might of been spoilt by the more gritty and bloody spaghetti westerns that came after this. The worry that this would feel tame in comparison would be put to bed as soon as I hit play. William Kane has only an hour (which takes place in real-time) to get ready for a  bandit to return to town, looking for revenge. This was tense and as suspenseful as a Hitchcock picture, with some excellent performances from it's all-star cast. 

I rewatched Modern Times and it's still one of my all-time favourite movies. Charlie Chaplin becomes Comrade Charlie and takes on capitalism. The feeding machine gag is funny on so many different levels. It's funny as it highlights how companies will exploit it's workers in any way possible if it could save a couple of quid, but it's also funny to just watch a man get a bowl of soup chucked down his face. 

If Carey Mulligan doesn't get an Oscar for her performance in Promising Young Woman, I'm going to eat my hat. This was a thrilling rape revenge film, with Mulligan looking like a total badass ruining the lives of predatory men as she tries to make sense of what happened on the night that her best friend was raped. It is by no means an easy watch, but it's sensationally made film. 

I checked out Little Caesar and I was very disappointed. I've enjoyed other pre-code gangster movies, but this one felt cheesy and cliché. Edward G. Robison stars and he feels like every gangster trope rolled into one. Looking like Del Boy and sounding like Chief Wiggum, I struggled to take him seriously. Being released over 90 years ago and being one of the first ever gangster talkies, it's hard to be too harsh on this. It's just one of those influential films that hasn't stood the test of time.

Edited March 28, 2021 by pitseleh

[SuperBacon]

Major League

Still fantastic. Wesley Snipes. 10/10

Major League II 

No Wesley Snipes, Omar Epps instead. 6/10

Major League: Back To The Minors 

Not even Omar Epps, but Scott Bakula turns up. 2/10 (and that's solely for Bob Uecker)

No, everything is not alright.

 

[CAREBEAR LUVVA]

Godzilla vs Kong wasn't very good. On the plus side, there's no attempt at adding any sort of "emotional" human story, which has been the worst part of the last couple of films, so at least that's something. But apart from one or two cool moments, most of the fights were all boring as fuck. You wouldn't think it'd be possible to cock up a massive event like Godzilla and King Kong smashing the shit out of each other, but here we are. I'll barely remember any of it after I've had a sleep. 

[Thunderplex]

I felt the exact opposite.  Enjoyed every minute of it.  Just a big, silly film and it didn’t try to be anything but.  So sorry it wasn’t on the big screen, it would have looked awesome.

[The King Of Swing]

Reminded me that I couldn't even finish King of Monsters.

[HarmonicGenerator]

Godzilla vs. Kong has terrible dialogue, a nonsense plot and unimaginable amounts of meaningless CG destruction. However, for some reason all these things are why I really enjoyed it. I wish I'd seen it in a cinema. If they release it when they finally reopen, I think I'd go.

[DEF]

Godzilla VS Kong was exactly what it should be. Loads of fun, daffy sci-fi and lots of bad ass monster smackdown. You are a tory if you don't like it.

[Hannibal Scorch]

On 4/2/2021 at 8:27 PM, DEF said:

Godzilla VS Kong was exactly what it should be. Loads of fun, daffy sci-fi and lots of bad ass monster smackdown. You are a tory if you don't like it.

Never could I agree more with a comment about this film. I went into it fearing the worst because I’d heard from a couple of friends they didn’t rate it. It’s EXACTLY what a film called Godzilla vs Kong should be. I’m gutted I didn’t get to see it in IMAX 3D frankly.

[Abe_Knuckleball_Schwartz]

I liked it, but I definitely think it is one film that would have been a lot better watching it at cinema.

[Lorne Malvo]

Wrong Turn is really quite poor, which is a shame as there are the bones of a good film in there somewhere (mostly involving Matthew Modine). Changing the nature of the villains and adding some political overtones just isn't necessary in a franchise that is built on people getting killed in the woods by mutants. It feels like two different films got mashed together in the edit at times, and the last 10 minutes is dreadful. Yes Day got shat on a lot but it's a perfectly decent family movie. I do have a soft spot for those types of films though as it's the kind of thing I used to watch with my mam on Channel 5 on a Sunday evening. Judas And The Black Messiah is worth watching for the performances of LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya but it never quite gripped me in the way I hoped it would and it loses focus a little towards the end. 

The Little Things has all the ingredients of a decent crime thriller so its a surprise it didn't work at all. Denzel Washington sleepwalks through the film and his chemistry with Rami Malek is non-existent. The ending would be more interesting if it came at the back of a better film. 76 Days is a documentary about the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in Wuhan. Maybe I'm just desensitised after seeing some of the really good frontline reports on BBC News over the last year but this didn't do anything for me. 

Cherry is one of those films where I can recognise it's got a hundred flaws yet I still really liked it. Considering it's 2 hours 20, it zips along and never stops in one place for too long and was more idiosyncratic than I'd expected. Tom Holland is great but there's a few really good supporting roles in this too, and it was nice to see Jack Reynor pop up in something again. One of my favourites of the year so far. Zack Snyder's Justice League is a huge improvement on the original and still a baffling, stupid waste of time which is terribly paced. 

Infinitum: Subject Unknown is a time loop film that is nowhere near as interesting as it thinks it is, and by the time it started to make sense I'd stopped paying attention. Just watch Source Code instead. Ian McKellan gets the easiest payday of his career here too, he's in it for about 20 seconds filmed over Skype but he's plastered over all the posters! Retaliation is a really grim, tough watch about a victim of sexual abuse coming face to face with the priest who abused him. Orlando Bloom is probably at his career best here as a man consumed with rage, and Charlie Creed-Miles is always great, but it's so bleak and nasty it's honestly hard to recommend. Made In Italy was a lovely watch to follow it up with, just a warm nice film which immediately made me want to go on holiday. Liam Neeson's lad isn't very good, mind.

Lastly, Ammonite was terrific. I wasn't a big fan of God's Own Country so probably went in with low expectations, but I loved it. It would make an obvious but fantastic double-bill with Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.

[air_raid]

I eschewed my usual, rather narrow taste in films over the weekend and watched the “critically acclaimed” Pieces Of A Woman. There was some very good acting but it wasn’t for me, although if you like a film which is all about tragedy, heartbreak, loss, conflict etc from essentially start to finish... I would say “this is a film for you” but my truest reaction would be “there’s something wrong with you.” Maybe I’m childish in this regard but I really need something to cheer for, something to laugh at, some moments of triumph, happiness or levity in my films or TV. Wall to wall suffering isn’t entertainment to me, it’s depressing.

[Keith Houchen]

Rewatched Sideways last night, it’s still immaculate. Miles and Jack are dicks but they really produce moments of warmth for each other. Possibly Giamattis finest performance and the three supporting players are superb.  

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, Keith Houchen said:

Rewatched Sideways last night, it’s still immaculate. Miles and Jack are dicks but they really produce moments of warmth for each other. Possibly Giamattis finest performance and the three supporting players are superb.  

I genuinely love all of Alexander Payne's films. 3 of them would comfortably sit inside a top 20 of all time for me.

The scene where Miles gets progressively more drunk in the restaurant is top tier acting. 

[Keith Houchen]

3 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

The scene where Miles gets progressively more drunk in the restaurant is top tier acting.

I still haven’t drank any Merlot since first seeing it. 

[Thunderplex]

Spoiler

Kong scratching his arse after waking up made my day.

Godzilla vs Kong spoiler.