Today is Joan Crawford's birthday! Get out there and drink a Pepsi.
Film. Comics. Sci-Fi. Superheroes. Pulp. Noir. History. Superman. 20th Century Archaeology.
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Sunday, March 20, 2022
Parker Watch: Parker (2013)
Format: BluRay
Viewing: Second
Decade: 2010's
Director: Taylor Hackford
By now, I assume y'all know I'm a bit of a completionist, and I'm slowly buying the BluRays of all the movies based upon the Parker novels by Richard Stark. Most famous of these movies include Point Blank with Lee Marvin and Payback starring Mel Gibson (which I don't own because Gibson, but probably will buy used to take him out of the money chain).
If you're newer to the blog, when I traveled a lot for work, I read all 24 Parker novels and the Grofeld offshoots. The movies never match the books - writer Richard Stark (real name: Donald Westlake) was not willing to let them use the name "Parker" as he was aware that the movies would differ too much from the books, and movie people tend to miss the point of Parker. Which is 100% true. So the movies are all oddball mutations of Parker as a character and the plots of the novels - which, if done straight, would be fascinating stuff and probably spur a 1000 think pieces about following a character who is in no way a hero. He is not a badguy, but he is a bad guy.
Thursday, March 17, 2022
PodCast 189: "The Evil Dead" (1981) - a Horror Canon episode w/ JAL and Ryan
Format: HBOMax+
Viewing: Unknown
Decade: 1980's
Director: Sam Raimi
JAL returns to the PodCast to talk about a movie series that helped cement a friendship! Join us as we ponder the crazy early vision of a master of movie making, getting good results out of annoying everyone around you, and what you can do on a shoestring budget that can still provide genuine scares and have a bloody good time.
SoundCloud
YouTube
Music:
Introduction - Joseph LoDuca, The Evil Dead OST
Dawn of the Evil Dead - Joseph LoDuca, The Evil Dead OST
Horror Podcasts!
It's my Brother's Birthday!
Everyone wish my brother, the amazing Steanso, a terrific birthday.
I started blogging way, way back in 2003, and back then, he was but a simple attorney who played a lot of GTA and the bass in a band. Now, he's a respectable attorney, a family man, and drives a crossover SUV to keep the kiddies safe. But he does still play the bass!
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Pixar Watch: Turning Red (2022)
Format: Disney+
Viewing: First
Director: Domee Shi
I'm going to try to secure Michero to come in and talk about Turning Red (2022), so no lengthy write-up.
Uh... so. How to do this if there will be a podcast?
I liked it! You should watch it. Definitely a great one for the kids hitting late elementary school and up. It's gonna feel familiar. For the younger ones, a foretaste of what's coming.
I have a few theories about why it took place in 2002, but will try to verify.
Sunday, March 13, 2022
William Hurt Merges With The Infinite
Damn.
William Hurt, one of my favorite actors, has passed.
I don't have much to say on it. I'm surprised and saddened. We all knew he could turn in the best performances even when he signed up for some genre stuff that didn't deserve what he'd bring to the characters he'd inhabit. And given a chance to get into something good - ex: The Big Chill or Smoke- he was astounding.
Saturday, March 12, 2022
St. Patrick's Day Watch: Leprechaun (1993)
Watched: 03/11/2022
Format: Amazon Watch Party
Viewing: Second
Director: Who knows and who cares
I watched Leprechaun the first time at a party during what I think was Christmas break 1993. I don't really remember much about it except for that the Leprechaun was a vicious dick and it featured Jennifer Aniston before I knew who she was.
It follows the same pattern as a lot of horror from that era, and this era. People are in a country house of some kind, and a dangerous force attacks. The house actually looks quite a bit like the house from Critters or five dozen other movies of the era. In this case, an Irish immigrant has returned home from a funeral and brought with him a bag of gold he stole from a leprechaun (Warwick Davis). Now in the Western United States, he rightfully assumes he's safe from a magical being an ocean away.
He's not, but he traps the leprechaun in a box for a decade until Jennifer Aniston and her dad show up to rent the house. The movie also features a "hunky guy" house painter for Aniston to latch onto, his kid brother and the guy who stole Pee-Wee Herman's bike playing a moron.
A bit about the thing with Mark Holton's moron...
PodCast 188: "Fantastic Four" (2015) - FF Part 2 - a Kryptonian Thought Beast Episode w/ Danny Horn and Ryan
Format: Disney+
Viewing: First
Director: Josh Trank
Danny Horn and Ryan continue on their Marvelous adventure, picking up with Fox's fabulous alternative attempt at bringing the Fantastic Four to the silver screen. And what's more fun for the kids showing up for a superhero romp than turning Marvel's first family into a body horror spectacular? Why, you can also double-down with dead-eyed stars, a grim-as-hell plot and an ending that is dumb as hell. But you WILL reconsider the 2005 film and bump it up a few notches in your personal rankings.
SoundCloud
YouTube
Music:
Fantastic Four Prelude - Marco Beltram and... Philip Glass? WTF?
The mentioned article about how Miles Teller sucks
Marvel Madness Playlist!
Friday, March 11, 2022
Friday Watch Party: Leprechaun! Let's Get In the St. Paddy's Day Spirit!
Let's get ready for St. Patrick's Day with a modern classic that launched a franchise and a frankly surprising number of imitators! See Warwick Davis in his, like, third of fifth most famous role! A just before Friends Jennifer Aniston! Be surprised at what a vicious POS a leprechaun can be!
Yes, I saw this, I think Christmas in 1993 after renting it from a gas-station.
So, get ready for getting ready for the, like, third drunkest holiday of the year!
Day: Friday 03/11/2022
Time: 8:30 Central
Service: Amazon Streaming
Cost: $4
Western Watch: My Darling Clementine (1946)
Watched: 03/09/2022
Format: Amazon
Viewing: First
Director: John Ford
Yet another deeply factually inaccurate take on the events including Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the Clantons at the OK Corral, but a solid one that throws out all attempts to stay true to the story and instead does its own myth-making. That's alright. We have how many years of TV and movies that have used Earp and Holliday as fictional characters with fictional motivations to the point where my usual rules about biopics can't possibly apply.
I was spurred to check this one out based on a single photo of Victor Mature in a cowboy hat, a still from this movie, and I'm a bit of a Victor Mature fan, and I had never seen him in a western. When I checked to see what the story was with My Darling Clementine (1946), it was directed by Ford and co-starred Henry Fonda as Earp and Linda Darnell as "Chihuahua", a Mexican songstress. And, look, I'm only human. I'll watch a Linda Darnell movie for all the wrong reasons. The titular Clementine is played by Cathy Downs, who would go on to sci-fi fame in some B pictures like The Amazing Colossal Man, but who also performed in some noir pictures around the 1940's and 50's.
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| he's so cool |
The movie fictionalizes a full background as a surgeon for "Doc" Holliday (he was a dentist), and makes up a love triangle between himself and Chihuahua, his local saloon lady, and Clementine - a nurse he once loved when he was still practicing. While the Clantons are trying to remain outlaw lords of Tombstone, they make the mistake of killing Wyatt Earp's (Fonda's) brother, which leads to Earp becoming Marshall of Tombstone - already famed for his work in Dodge City and Deadwood. Earp falls hard for the virtuous Clementine, and she has some conflicted feelings (and Doc seems kinda screwed up anyway, plus, you know, he's dating Linda Darnell).
I can genuinely recommend the movie. I think it's got a lot going for it, and Ford gets great stuff out of his four leads. The real life story will continue to exist, but I like the arc for Mature's Holliday, and I think he nails it. But you've also got Ford's Monument valley backdrops, beautifully shot, thoughtful execution of scene after scene, and a kind of humanity to the characters that grounds everything.
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| I mean... Linda Darnell |
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