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Friday, April 22, 2022

Friday Watch Party Watch: American Cyborg - Steel Warrior




During summers and over Christmas while in college, I used to go see every single movie that came to the local AMC.  I'm pretty sure the ticket girl thought I was stalking her because there I was, like 4 nights per week.  And, as is my wont, I began addressing her by name.  

But it wasn't just me lurking around the AMC at Richey Road.  Back in those days, The Bros. Steans were very much a package deal (ask Jamie about a pre-Amy Jason), and so there we'd be, standing at the window, asking for two tickets to Man's Best Friend or whatever.  And, one Christmas, we got down to the dregs of the holiday-time offerings.  

With no Oscar bait on the table (this is just before they learned to dump all those movies in December, which would happen maybe the next Christmas), we chose American Cyborg: Steel Warrior.  

The movie was absolutely terrible.  To add to the experience, either the projector or film itself kept breaking.  So every twenty minutes or so, the movie would stop, the lights would come up and a half-full very small auditorium of people would have to look at each other, acknowledging "yes, I also chose to watch something called American Cyborg: Steel Warrior".  And, every time it broke, it was adding a few minutes onto the duration of how long any of us planned to be there, and we'd all shown up for a 10:00 PM show.

As it crept to about 11:15 and the movie broke yet again, I heard some real grumbling this time.  And so, I stood, faced the crowd and said to people I had never seen before:

Oh, no.  I know you're all thinking this movie is terrible, and, it is.  But no one leaves.  We started this together, and we're finishing this together.  We can do this!  Let's finish this awful movie!  

People, I got applause.

Not a soul left that theater.

In retrospect, that may have been a terrible mistake.

And, Friday night, I share that mistake with you.

Starring people you don't know, one of the final films put out by Cannon while in its death throes, we're watching people run around an abandoned factory.


Day:  04/22/2022
Time:  8:30 PM
Service:  Amazon Streaming
Price:  $2





PodCast 195: "The Wild Geese" (1978) - A SimonUK Cinema Episode w/ Ryan




Watched:  04/08/2022
Format:  Amazon Prime
Viewing: Second
Decade:  1970's
Director:  Andrew V. McLaglen




Aging soldiers of fortune go back in for one last mission - and this time we're talking about the movie and not SimonUK and Ryan! It's a SimonUK Cinema Classic, a canon film, and a chance to watch Richard Burton play essentially himself if he was a mercenary. Behold post-colonialism relationships with the African continent, high adventure and the folly of canceling your Christmas travel plans.


SoundCloud 


YouTube


Music:
Overture - Roy Budd, The Wild Geese OST 
Flight of the Wild Geese - Joan Armatrading, The Wild Geese OST



SimonUK Cinema Series

Monday, April 18, 2022

Holiday Watch: Easter Parade (1948)




Watched:  04/17/2022
Format:  TCM
Viewing:  Second?
Decade:  1940's
Director:  Charles Waters

I put this on at the start as we were cooking, and then realized I was watching the end.

This movie isn't my favorite.  But it does have Ann Miller in some parts of it.  And that's not all bad.








Sunday, April 17, 2022

PodCast 194: "Turning Red" (2022) - Pixar Talk w/ Ryan Michero, Maxwell, Nathan C and me




Watched:  04/09/2022
Format:  Disney+
Viewing:  Second
Decade:  2020's
Director:  Domee Shi




With a new Pixar film, Ryan Michero returns to the podcast to fill us in on what he was up to on the film. We get a behind-the-scenes peek at the film, and talk a lot about what makes art, technology and story all work, Pixar-style! And, Ryan S gets mad about ginned up controversies.


SoundCloud 


YouTube


Music:
Nobody Like U - by Billie Eilish and Finneas and performed by 4*Town
U Know What's Up - by Billie Eilish and Finneas and performed by 4*Town


Pixar Talk Playlist