VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Chris B]

46 minutes ago, Magnum Milano said:

Microwave Massacre (1979) (YouTube)

A browbeaten husband kills his wife in a drunken fit of rage. After chopping her up and storing her in the fridge, he accidentally eats her hand, getting a taste for human flesh! Awful acting, lousy looking prosthetics and corny one liners. Laughed plenty though! So bad it’s good?

I found this the weirdest, most unpleasant little film. It seemed to be a star vehicle for a comedian who used to be a reasonably big TV name in the 50s, and was basically trying to pull a Bernard Manning to stay relevant. It had one weirdly racist bit that I still genuinely don't understand - it's a gag that asian people have really dense bones, so are difficult to dismember? That one utterly baffled me.

[BomberPat]

I watched Ed Wood last night, as my partner had never seen it. I'm not a big Tim Burton or Johnny Depp guy these days, but tend to find Depp at his best when he's playing real people, and Burton when he's not doing the "it's a story you know, but imagine if Tim Burton did it" stuff where it's more about the Burton brand than anything else, so this falls in the right area, though Depp is pretty frustrating throughout. It'd been a long time since I watched it, and in my memory a lot more time had been spent on Plan 9 than this movie allots to it, and actually the pacing of the whole thing feels really off, it just kind of meanders along. The supporting cast absolutely make it - Martin Landau in particular is superb as Bela Lugosi. I still like it, but not as much as I used to - it has heart, but not much else, it feels like it lacks any real weight, and Wood's struggles never really amount to anything, as he just consistently solves them almost immediately, there's no sense of him ever actually struggling to achieve anything, so the few scenes of him despondent don't feel significant at all. The fact that he's missed three rent payments is introduced and dismissed within one scene. 

[Scott Malbranque]

Hunter Hunter :  I really enjoyed this (for want of a term) and was happy to see Devon Sawa and Nick Stahl in something half decent. It's quite a bonkers film in that you think it's going to be a certain type of movie, then it isn't, and then it isn't again, and then it ends, and you're left needing a dose of whatever's on Comedy Central or UK Gold for levity. It's exceptionally fucking grim, but I'd recommend it, I think. Aye, actually, I would, aye.

Nobody : Well, this is really the movie of the year thus far for me. In fairness, I love these type of movie, and in a miserable world, full of gik and people jumping out of your way and jazz handing if you walk past them in the shops, this movie has given me hope that there's still fun and humour left in someone, somewhere out there.
Never would I ever have had Odenkirk as a bollock out Chev Chelios-esque action hero, but here we are, and there he was. A fantastically enjoyable movie that took me away from a shite world for a couple of hours.

 

[Devon Malcolm]

1 hour ago, Magnum Milano said:

Gregory’s Girl (1981) (BBC iPlayer)

Coming of age Scottish comedy. Gregory (John Gordon Sinclair) is smitten with Dorothy (Dee Hepburn), however unbeknown to him, Susan (Clare Grogan) is quite taken with Gregory. Wonderful film where every character brings something to the plate. Very funny. Takes you back to simpler more innocent times. Why Gregory had to think about going out with Susan I'll never know. 

Bill Forsyth had a run, from That Sinking Feeling to Comfort and Joy, which is one of the best four film streaks of any director in history. All wonderful films, Comfort and Joy and Local Hero especially are brilliant.

10 minutes ago, Scott Malbranque said:

Nobody : Well, this is really the movie of the year thus far for me. In fairness, I love these type of movie, and in a miserable world, full of gik and people jumping out of your way and jazz handing if you walk past them in the shops, this movie has given me hope that there's still fun and humour left in someone, somewhere out there.
Never would I ever have had Odenkirk as a bollock out Chev Chelios-esque action hero, but here we are, and there he was. A fantastically enjoyable movie that took me away from a shite world for a couple of hours.

I'm trying to resist watching this because I'm hoping it will be at the cinemas when they reopen but this isn't helping!

[Scott Malbranque]

 

18 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I'm trying to resist watching this because I'm hoping it will be at the cinemas when they reopen but this isn't helping!

When I saw it pop up, I just had to watch it because fuck knows when the cinema's will open here in Ireland.
We're - as always - ten steps behind you guys here in Ireland (and pretty much the rest of the developed world), so I reckon it could be August/September when the cinemas open again.
But, I'll be fucking stewing if I don't get to to see The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard in the cinema. Truly will.

[Devon Malcolm]

17 minutes ago, Scott Malbranque said:

But, I'll be fucking stewing if I don't get to to see The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard in the cinema. Truly will.

You know, I nearly didn't go and see the original at the cinema until I came to my senses. Needless to say I've watched it plenty since.

[Factotum]

43 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

and Wood's struggles never really amount to anything, as he just consistently solves them almost immediately, there's no sense of him ever actually struggling to achieve anything, so the few scenes of him despondent don't feel significant at all. The fact that he's missed three rent payments is introduced and dismissed within one scene. 

See, that's what I love about it. It absolutely loves these characters. For me its the perfect moment of Depp and Burton. Everything is played up in that 'movie' fashion. Its heightened.

Depp is a charming cartoon character and everyone else is incredibly specific. The real world issues creep in but it lets move on it doesn't matter. SJP is basically the audience coming in saying whats wrong with everyone in this and its almost like the rational people are the villains.

The ending is incredibly hopeful and Hollywood and then it comes up with Ed Wood died of alcoholism. The realism just seeps in at the edges. Its a perfect celebration of delusion and its superb.

[Devon Malcolm]

Ed Wood is also one of the two good Tim Burton films.

[Keith Houchen]

9 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Ed Wood is also one of the two good Tim Burton films.

Whilst not brilliant, I did enjoy his Dumbo. Probably because in my mind it happened in the Big Fish universe. 

[Factotum]

The last Tim Burton film I liked was BIG FISH. Though I have never watched it again  so could have just been in a decent mood that day.

BEETLEJUICE and PEE WEES BIG ADVENTURE were two films I constantly watched as a kid so still love them.

[cobra_gordo]

2 hours ago, Scott Malbranque said:

Nobody : Well, this is really the movie of the year thus far for me. In fairness, I love these type of movie, and in a miserable world, full of gik and people jumping out of your way and jazz handing if you walk past them in the shops, this movie has given me hope that there's still fun and humour left in someone, somewhere out there.
Never would I ever have had Odenkirk as a bollock out Chev Chelios-esque action hero, but here we are, and there he was. A fantastically enjoyable movie that took me away from a shite world for a couple of hours.

 

Watched it this afternoon. Just a fantasticly fun film, batshit crazy in the best possible way. There were so many points I shouted HOLY FUCK out loud and I had to rewind a few seconds to watch it again I was starting to annoy the wife. Can't wait to watch it again.

[Chest Rockwell]

Where can I watch Nobody in decent quality?

[Guy Bifkin]

I've probably not even seen half of his output but Ed Wood was the only Tim Burton film I could tolerate. 

[Scott Malbranque]

2 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said:

Where can I watch Nobody in decent quality?

I got it off a t*rrent site, Chest. One of the lads in work watched it on some bogey app on his Smart TV though.
But the usual nefarious suspects will all have it up now, I'd imagine.

 

[King Coconut]

4 hours ago, Scott Malbranque said:

We're - as always - ten steps behind you guys here in Ireland (and pretty much the rest of the developed world)

I'm seeing this opinion more and more of late but it's only looking up in the UK because all the vulnerable are already dead.