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Dante's Peak. A vulcanologist arrives in the small town of Dante's Peak, an idyllic community nestled at the foot of a long dormant volcano, and soon becomes convinced that the volcano is about to wake up in spectacular fashion. Pierce Brosnan and Terminator icon Linda Hamilton star in this late 90s disaster flick that was one of a variety of a mini-revivals of that genre in that period to take advantage of the then new CGI effects, though there's enough old fashioned movie craftsmanship in here that it now ironically feels very old school. I haven't seen this in nigh on 20 years and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Adventures in Babysitting. Teenager Elisabeth Shue agrees to babysitting duties, only to be called out for help on a mission of mercy by her best friend. Reluctantly taking her young charges with her into the city, disaster strikes when the car suffers a blowout with no spare tyre, and events then rapidly spiral out of control... This late 80s comedy is as funny and charming as ever, the kind of comedy that just doesn't seem to get made anymore these days. Looks very nice on Blu ray too, with that 80s "look" that just makes me go all nostalgic and melty inside...

Ian wrote:Adventures in Babysitting...

Yeah, that was a pretty good one.

Indeed.

LA Story. A professionally successful but personally dissatisfied LA weatherman finds himself getting advice on his muddled love life from a rather unexpected source - an apparently sentient and benevolent electronic freeway road sign. Steve Martin stars in this witty and engaging early 90s romantic comedy with a touch of fantasy. This used to be a regular watch during the 90s but I only picked it up on DVD a year or two ago and have only just got around to seeing it again, at least 16 years since my last viewing, and I'm pleased to find it still stands up. One of Martin's last great comedies, LA Story is as charming and funny as ever.

Saw Mission Impossible: Fallout at the cinema today. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back getting in over his head trying to stop some very bad guys getting their hands on plutonium with the intent to detonate nuclear missiles, and finds the plot leading back to his nemesis Lane (Sean Harris), who he captured at the close of the previous film. The newest instalment in the Mission Impossible franchise is entertaining enough, and does have a pretty epic and thrilling last act, but overall I didn't think this was on the same level as Rogue Nation, which is one of the best action films of the decade and to me had a much stronger story too. 

Marathon Man. A postgrad student (Dustin Hoffman), who is oblivious to the activities of his older brother (Roy Scheider), who he believes to be an ordinary businessman, finds himself dragged into a terrifying conspiracy involving millions in stolen diamonds and an ageing Nazi war criminal (Laurence Olivier) in this cracking mid-70s thriller. I've seen this once before like 20 years ago, but I couldn't really remember it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Great film. Looks fantastic on Blu ray as well.

Death Hunt. A trapper (Charles Bronson) intervenes to save a dog from a brutal dogfight, enraging the hicks behind it so much that they track him and attempt to ambush him in his cabin. This results in one of them getting his head blown off, so they then go running to the local Mounties, painting themselves as the victims of course, to try and bring him down. But Bronson isn't going down without one hell of a fight... Never seen this early 80s action thriller co-starring Lee Marvin and Carl Weathers and set against some spectacular scenery before, but it had me hooked from the start and thoroughly entertained throughout. Great stuff. There's even a small role for Len Lesser, better known as Seinfeld's Uncle Leo!

The Children. A teenage girl is not looking forward to a weekend stuck with her parents and much younger siblings at her aunt and uncle's house with them and her equally young cousins. But boredom and social isolation become the least of her concerns when a strange illness appears to sweep through the children - and then leaves them possessed of a cunning and gleeful malevolent intent... This late 2000s entry in the "evil kids" horror subgenre turned out to be a rather delightfully unexpected hidden gem, taking a potentially silly premise and treating it with absolute fidelity and becoming genuinely scary and disturbing as a result, with some scenes that even shocked a jaded horror fan like myself. I'd go so far as to say this is one of the best horror flicks of the 2000s, and I'm staggered that I'd never even heard of it till the other day!

Ian wrote:...genuinely scary and disturbing...

So how is this different to kids on any other day of the week?

I think that's why it works!

THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST Unclassified 18+

It’s 1993 and after teenager Cameron (Grace Moretz) is caught in the back of a car with the prom queen, she is sent away to a rural Christian centre for gay conversion therapy. There she bonds with fellow residents – all pretending to go along with the process while waiting to be released.

Although they find sanctuary in each other’s company the teenagers face personal and emotional tragedies, the likes of which will stay with them forever. Acclaimed director Akhavan’s (Appropriate Behaviour) deeply affecting drama packs a heavy emotional punch.

Dir: Desiree Akhavan
Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz¸ Sasha

Trailer on this link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEdngvMGjg0

I saw a trailer subtitled into French a little while ago and it caught my attention.
I mean, I only hope these bloody god-botherer "conversion" camps are a thing of the past, but who knows.

"The Miseducation of Cameron Post" sounds very good, and Chloe is a very capable young actress.

I hope it lives up to our expectations.

The previous film by director Desiree Akhavan, "Appropriate Behaviour" also sound like it could be worth finding.

Hard to believe that Moretz made "Miseducation" way back in 2018, and has made a further 5 (that's five) films since.

The Dirty Dozen. Lee Marvin is a Major in WWII rather reluctantly tasked with assembling a team of convicted criminal soldiers - all of whom are facing either the death penalty or life in prison - for a near-suicidal mission to assassinate scores of high-ranking Nazi officials at a French chateau. An excellent cast including Charles Bronson, Donald Sutherland, Ernest Borgnine and Telly Savalas co-star in this late 60s action-thriller that is probably the best 60s film I've seen thus far. It's long (2 and a half hours, give or take) but never drags and kept my attention throughout. Great cast, great story, great climax. Great movie!

Haven't seen it in yonks.
Not a great fan of war movies but Dirty Dozen was, as I recall, one of the best.

I'll have to catch it again one of these days.

The Nun. A priest and a soon-to-be nun head to an abbey in Romania to investigate strange happenings in another instalment in the Conjuring franchise. And, sadly, not a good one. We're back in original Annabelle territory (I.e rubbish) rather than the two Conjuring films or even last year's Annabelle Creation quality, and it's all very tedious, overblown and unscary. Tessa Farmaiga looks so much like her older sister that it's actually distracting, to the point you're half-expecting them to reveal her character to be related to the Warrens, and if you're looking for any intelligence, character or real tension, sorry, but there's nun in this film.