“Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” (2023). Included in Amazon Prime, available to rent almost anywhere.

A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.

This movie sadly bombed at the box office, but is in my opinion a near-perfect fantasy adventure flick that strikes a really good balance of narrative and comedy, and respects the source material without making it a prerequisite for enjoyment. I’d put it up there with “The Princess Bride” and I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets a similar cult appreciation in the future.

Please make sure it’s more than a year old so that it will (hopefully) be available somewhere.

Yes. We should definitely try to make it accessible without needing to pirate it. Speaking of, check out FMHY if you want to know what sites to avoid so you don’t accidentally pirate anything.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Just because I realised my partner has never seen it, and it’s a banger, and about AI, and has a strong female character, it seemed interesting to revisit some 30 odd years later

The Andromeda Strain (1971)

Based on the novel by Jurasic Park’s and Westworld’s author Michael Crichton. Scientists were called to inspect and contain a deadly virus of an unknown origin. Movie is very slow (130 mins) and it goes out of it’s way to show how characters stick to the code of entering the facility and working in labs. Somewhere in here, behind sealed doors, elevators and a system of self-destruction in case there’s a risk it gets away, there’s a sence of dread and stress that shows in the team in spite of their strict procedures and proffesionalism when their fate is decided by their analyzis and the blinking of these cold war-era computers carrying the results.

I enjoyed it all a couple of times. It’s slow but it also feel very tight. Sure, many folks would have a better time watching it on 2x speed nowadays, although it may hurt the suspense of the movie.

CW: lab animals, cut wounds, strobing lights

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/andromeda_strain

Soylent Green. Extremely 70s dystopia film that still holds up

“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” (2020) Surreal road trip exploring relationships and how they end, or don’t.

Wacko (1982}

Comedy slasher horror parody. It was one of the few horror films I was allows to record and watch on VHS and it has a special place in my heart but I haven’t watched it recently as I fear it will disappoint but it’s time and I wonder what everyone else would think of it in this post-Scream era.

Underwater (2020)

A crew of oceanic researchers working for a deep sea drilling company try to get to safety after a mysterious earthquake devastates their deepwater research and drilling facility located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

The Peanut Butter Falcon
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4364194/

This movie is carried by the performances of Zack Gottsagen and Shia LaBeouf.

The Apartment

I know it often gets billed as a zany comedy but I have always found it incredibly dark and it hits like a ton of bricks.