Join Us for the Seminal Films of My Youth: Buckaroo Banzai and Commando!

You are either with us or against us tomorrow evening at the double-bill screening of Them! and Godzilla (I recommend "with". We have mutant ants and a 30 story-high radiation-breathing lizard on our team.).

But if you can't make that:


The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension
July 17th at 7pm at The Alamo Ritz

If you've never seen Buckaroo Banzai, I pity you. Peter Weller plays the titular physicist/adventurer/rockstar, and the cast includes a very young (and attractive as always)Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and even Clancy "Lex Luthor" Brown.

To explain the movie is like trying to explain the 8th Dimension its very self.  But, its sort of a 1980's tongue-in-cheek take on old school Sci-Fi ideas like Doc Savage and his team of adventurers.  Also: trans-dimensional aliens, rockbands, and jet-propelled mini-vans.  Its...  an amazing bit of movie-making that utterly flopped at the box office (although I saw it in the theater, natch), and has become a cult favorite of nerds everywhere.

Commando
July 21st at 7pm at The Alamo Ritz

To me, this is the quintessential modern action film.  I don't love this movie because it is good, or even for nostalgic reasons.  I love this movie because it is absolutely pure and sincere in what it is (sincerely ridiculous), and you can pretty much demonstrably prove that every action movie that came before or after this movie somehow touches this movie as either leading to Commando or as a descendant of Commando (or, the era that produced Commando.  And, of course, this is the ultimate movie of that era). 

I literally talk about Commando at least once per week.  Partially because EVERYBODY HAS SEEN COMMANDO.  This is a rule.  Everyone has seriously seen this movie.  Want to talk about the dull characterization popular in action films?  Commando.  Want to talk heroes who do more damage than good by anybody's measure?  Commando.  Want to talk about stripping down to your skivvies for no reason other than that you've hired Mr. Universe for your action picture?  COMMANDO.

COMMANDO!

Plus, they're gonna set off fireworks in the theater.

"Power Lunch" coming from J.Torres and Dean Trippe!

I don't know if you went to Free Comic Book Day this year, or if you picked up the All-Ages offering from Oni Press, but you should have done both.

Oni Press has been killing it recently with books I've loved like Stumptown (modern detective noir) and Sixth Gun (western/ horror/ fantasy).  And, of course, they're the publishers of Scott Pilgrim.  They've also put out Frenemy of the State, which is co-created by Rashida Jones, who I will now pause to consider while Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" plays in my head.

Watching every motion in my foolish lover's game...

And we're back.

Right. POWER LUNCH.

So, the Oni Press FCBD offering gave a preview of what's to come in an upcoming 40 page book about a young boy who gains amazing super powers based upon whatever he last had to eat (except for white foods. Which is pretty clever.)

Written by J.Torres, who has done lots of stuff I've liked (but especially Days Like This),and drawn by the indomitable Dean Trippe, Power Lunch looks to be a promising book that those of us in the room who dig all-ages stuff, and for the parents out there, I think this one is going to be a lot of fun.

Now, I happen to know Dean Trippe and I share a love of old school Superman shenanigans, and just today I tweeted J. Torres to find out when the book is actually hitting the shelves.  He said:

Volume 1: First Course, full color, 40-page hardcover hits comic shops on October 12! Everywhere else October 25.

 And then followed later with:

By the way, the first volume of #PowerLunch has a Superman theme to it.

I think Mr. Torres may have seen my site.  Or my Krypto-themed Twitter icon.  But I thought I'd also share a preview image by Dean Trippe to give you a feel for how this thing is going to look, and my early clue that Trippe and Torres might be working in some Superman theming.

So, yes.

Anyway, look for it this October!

A 4th of July fantasy

Steanso's 2 Favorite People celebrate FREEDOM

• Full bar? Check?
• AmyD's Independence Day enthusiasm at 110%? Check.(note celebratory kitten shirt for full evidence)
• Pontificatin' Hat on backwards? Check.
• Wagner in a phenomenal topper of her own?  Check.
• Julia and I in matching shirts?  Check.
• PaulT and Jamie framing the picture?  Check.

That's Independence Day at League HQ.

New Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon - Silent But Deadly (Ninjas!)

A pretty good way to kill 2 and a half minutes.

So, that was the 4th of July

you're probably wondering about the picture.  I just thought it was awesome.

So, no real post today.

We had a lovely cookout in honor of Independence Day.  I basically spent the weekend watching old movies (you probably noticed a bunch of posts about old movies, maybe), running errands, tidying and then having ourselves a little cookout.

If you weren't here, well, you're invited for next time.  We tend to have an open door policy on these things.  If you've been here before for such a cookout, you were missed this go-round.

It was an interesting mix of very old friends, very new friends, work pals, work pals from former jobs, college pals, and my one sibling and his lady friend (who makes these killer brownies that deserve their own post at some point).

I had a great time, and I hope my guests did, too.

The dogs are pretty wiped out, all sacked out on the sofas, and I'm thinking that all I want to do tomorrow (since I took the day off) is clean up the remaining mess and then hit the gym to sweat out the bad humors three hamburgers, three cocktails an assortment of cookies and brownies surely did to me (AMERICA, people).

Austin had a burn ban in effect as its rained for about half an hour in the past 6 months here.  Heck, its so dry that we could see a wildfire break out from two twigs rubbing together in a breeze, at this point.  People are actually pretty aware of how bad it is, so I've been impressed that I have only heard about three fireworks all day.   They also canceled the usually fairly impressive fireworks show downtown for the first time since WWII, and the symphony didn't play.  While I wasn't planning to attend, its still a bummer, and I usually actually watch the televised replay.*

Wherever you are, I hope you had a good weekend.  If you're an American here or abroad, I hope you got to raise a toast to those crazy guys who met up in Philly to change the course of human history, and who dedicated themselves and risked their lives by signing the Declaration of Independence in order to engage in the greatest experiment mankind would ever know (aside from mixing Mentos and Diet Coke).

Happy Post-4th.  




*yes, my nerdity extends into directions you never suspected.

Once Upon a Time in America

An Italian conducting an orchestra (I believe in Poland) performing a song written for a movie about early 20th Century American Jews shot partially in Rome (for that vintage look). That's America, people.



I'm a big fan of the movie Once Upon a Time In America, but a very big fan of the score.

Happy 4th of July, cont'd (America at its finest, video #2)

Just in case the previous post didn't say enough about why I love America, I would remind you: we made James Brown AND Rocky.

Independence Day Quandry: Who do you root for? WHO?

Happy 4th of July, America! (America at its finest, Video #1)

boom! woosh! fireworks! freedom!

Noir Watch: The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

For years I thought this movie was a screwball comedy based solely on the title. Eventually I figured out I was in no way correct on that score, and when I came across it in Eddie Muller's Dark City I knew I had to give it a try.  And, I kind of fell in love with the name.  Its got a real ring to it.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

dig it.

This 1946 movie stars some pretty darn big guns including Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Kirk Douglas and Lizabeth Scott, so its got its noir bona fides.  Its written by The Hustler writer/director Robert Rossen and directed by Lewis Milestone, who handled movies as diverse as 1939's Of Mice and Men to the great war picture, Pork Chop Hill.