Lee’s Top 8 Dvds You Can Put On After A Night Out

 
Commentary

It’s December again, and the world is just as fucked as ever. Possibly slightly more, possibly slightly less. I guess it’s easy to lose track of these things without an ordered list to tell you what to think.Having been precariously perched on the 2015 bar stool for quite some time now, we’ll soon be staring down the menacing barrel of 2016. So how best to celebrate yet another successful orbit around the Sun? 

We thought about publishing an objectively correct ranking of the year’s best records. But sadly we couldn’t get hold of any doof doof scientists to determine what the metrics should be. Instead, we’ve fallen back on our Top 8 Whatevers. You know the score – our trusted team of R$N scribes pitch in with lists of music they’ve enjoyed, petty grievances they want to air, obscure interests they want to highlight. Basically whatever’s on their mind. Let’s do this. Here's Lee's Top 8 of 2015:


I am sure there are some people that like me, cannot go to sleep straight away after getting in late from work, a Rum marathon (or whatever it may be) and get a sudden urge to watch something. The trick is picking a film that is good enough to keep you up for a little while, until you gradually start to close your eyes and then open them when something noisy happens for a few seconds. Suddenly you wake up to an annoying DVD menu on loop that has rudely entered your dream you were having about being several hours late for work or beating Kanye West in Rock, Paper, Scissors which makes him really upset. Here are the Top 8 DVDs for those nights.

1 – FRANCES HA

Simply because Greta Gerwig, the nostalgic use of black and white and smooth soundtrack make this the modern version of Woody Allen’s masterpiece ‘Manhattan’. The characters have that fitting charisma you need after a night out and it feels good to be in their company.

2 – HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE

Everything is right about this film mainly Virna Lisi, Jack Lemmon, Neal Hefti’s calming score, Virna Lisi, Terry-Thomas, great dialogue. Er, oh did I mention Virna Lisi?

3 – DROP DEAD FRED

Do I really need to explain? It’s Rik Mayall as a troublemaking imaginary friend of Phoebe Cates going around getting his head stuck in refrigerator doors, sinking house boats and generally causing some fun mayhem. The film is perfect for some comfortable shut eye.

4 – BAIT

Before his Oscar winning days of Ray, Jamie Foxx was attempting to be the next…well…Jamie Foxx and starring in second rate action thrillers. The whole thing feels wrong, but not wrong enough to turn off. One day somebody will know why.

5 – VICE VERSA

Father and son Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage accidentally swap bodies due to touching a magical skull. The eighties Freaky Friday. They just don’t make them like they used to.

6 – CHEF

No not the Jon Favreau released film this year. I am talking about the 90s comedy series where Lenny Henry plays Gareth Blackstock, a Gordon Ramsey-esque chef of the finest French kitchen in England. It also has one of the coolest theme songs ever made sung by Omar called ‘Serious Profession’.

7 – BEVERLY HILLS COP II

This is one of the most watchable films ever made, I say that as a HUGE compliment. So many hate this fun bloated sequel, usually blaming it’s star Eddie Murphy for letting the money go to his head as he was a huge star at the time, and seemed to go with any potential money-making franchise for the cheque…and why not. Everybody is having fun here and we go along with them. Just prepared that you will probably end up booking a flight to Beverly Hills the next day.

8 – REAL GENIUS

Probably the most underrated high-school film of the eighties. Mitch is a quiet, timid nerd that is accepted into Pacific Tech, a school of young geniuses. His roommate Chris Knight, a fresh faced Val Kilmer who can solve any difficult Math problem but would rather party instead. After a shaky start the two partner up to create a laser, but realise the government want to use it as a weapon. Think of it as the Sci-Fi version of Ferris Buller’s Day Off. Also it has one of the most memorable endings in a film consisting of slow-mo, an excessive amount of popcorn and Tears For Fears ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’.

 

Sidenote: Judge Reinhold makes two appearances in this list (Beverly Hills Cop II and Vice Versa). I do not know what that says about me.