Watched: I mean.. kind of since March 13 - April 5
Viewing: Firstish
Format: Netflix, HBO, etc...
Decade: 2020
Things have gotten really strange as we've sheltered in place in our homes. Life is upside down, and we're all worried for the state of the world. But in a time of existential crisis, it doesn't mean we aren't watching some TV. Maxwell joins us to talk "Tiger King", "Love is Blind", "McMillions" and whatever else we're watching as part of our self-care regimen. Or what our kids are putting on, at least.
Watched: 04/06 and 04/07/2020
Format: Amazon Streaming
Viewing: Third? Second?
Decade: 1990's
Director: David Carson/ Jonathan Frakes
I still remember walking out of Star Trek: Generations (1994) and roughly saying "what the @#$% was that?"
A cheap looking movie with a singularly ridiculous end for one of my childhood fictional heroes, and a ludicrous A plot that went nowhere, meshed with a B plot that only Data got to experience. It genuinely just felt like a very expensive episode or three of the series that spawned it - but not even a particularly brilliant episode or arc.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow! He's perfectly aware that the weed of crime bears bitter fruit, and he's here to clean up New York City! Alongside his network of trusted assistants, The Shadow lives a dual life as Lamont Cranston, millionaire playboy - but at night, hunts the wicked men of the city!
It's 1994! Marvel was still making straight-to-TV and video movies in the mid-90's, DC was pumping out increasingly iffy Batmans, and studio heads were greenlighting the costumed heroes of their youths. In an era before X-Men, Spider-Man and Iron Man reset what we thought of as superhero entertainment, we got some pretty interesting stuff!
Starring Alec Baldwin, Penelope Ann Miller, John Lone, Ian McKellan, Jonathan Winters, Tim Curry, Peter Boyle - and more!
It's a Post-Batman splurge into the pulp world that spawned the very idea of comic book superheroes! Delve into the 1990's grappling with early 20th century takes on Eastern Mysticism! Watch Alec Baldwin try not to be handsome! Behold: Penelope Ann Miller!
I had forgotten Taylor Dayne had a single supporting the film! Here's the video - which contains scenes from the film and Ms. Dayne herself.
I'm not writing these posts so much for all of us going through this *now*. When this is over, I'd like to remember what... happened. Because, like any trauma, we're going to collectively want to block this out. And what there is to remember will be so vague and weird, and our timelines will be skewed.
We all kind of laugh about how days lose all meaning in that period between Christmas and New Year. At least once a day, someone will ask "what day is it?" and sometimes you may have to think about it. With nowhere to be, no one looking for you and the weekends looking like a weekday, it takes no time at all. And while we have weekends, when you're looking at the same walls and people, days do sort of lose their meaning. Last week on Friday, I had to be told at least once it wasn't Thursday.
Watched: 04/04/2020
Viewing: First
Format: Disney+
Decade: 2020's
Director: Tom McCarthy
My guess is that you're sleeping on Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made (2020). This would be a mistake. This will be one of the finest movies you could watch this year.
For me, Blackman sets the bar for all "Bond Girls", up to and including Diana Rigg and Eva Green, and remains my favorite (she literally saves thousands of lives in Goldfinger while Bond is in jail). Look, Blackman was a stone cold fox who could make a white pantsuit sing, but she also plays the role of Pussy Galore to perfection. She's among the few female costars who ever gave a Bond a run of their money, and there's a reason (beyond the colorful name) that she's remembered so well 50-odd years later.
It was always great to know she was out there, and she'll be missed.
I mean, purple works, too
You can hear me wax rhapsodic about Pussy Galore on our Goldfinger podcast.
Watched: 04/05/2020
Format: Noir Alley on TCM on BluRay
Viewing: 3rd or 4th
Decade: 1940's
Director: H. Bruce Humberstone
I'd already seen this, so I wasn't going to watch it, but I've been on a Victor Mature kick lately, and Laird Cregar is so damn good in this movie I wanted to at least watch his scenes. I also hadn't really contextualized I Wake Up Screaming (1941) in the timeline of the noir movement, and it's crazy to see a movie that so thoroughly *already* has down the noir style visually when the form was just getting started.
Watched: 04/01/2020 and 04/03/2020
Format: BluRay
Viewing: Second? First as an adult
Decade: 1970's
Frankly, on top of and due to Coronavirus happenings, work has been a bear, and - thus - in the evenings I've mostly just been looking for something *fun* when I peel myself out of my office chair and mosey down to the living room. For some time, my Criterion Godzilla set has been calling to me from the bookshelf, so we finally broke into it a while back and started watching some Kaiju Kraziness.
Watched: 03/14/2020
Format: BluRay
Viewing: Unknown
Decade: 1980's
Jamie and Ryan revisit one of Ryan's inexplicably favorite movies, 1984's "Streets of Fire" (which he is well aware is probably not a good movie, but it's somehow a movie he'll always stop to watch). Another time! Another place! It's sorta the retro 1980-50's, a sprawling urban landscape where rock rules and so do dudes in leather gear on motorbikes! But a steely-eyed dude with a high powered rifle and Amy Madigan at his side can save the day AND the cute girl (Diane Lane!)! Adventure! Excitement! Cool cars! Bad bad guys! Rock AND Roll!
Watched: 03/30/2020
Format: Amazon streaming
Viewing: First
Decade: 1980's
I remember being confused that, in 1981, I was not allowed to see either Legend of the Lone Ranger or Zorro the Gay Blade. I'd catch Zorro in the summer of 1993 on TV - summer I graduated high school, and it confirmed what I'd heard from friends at the elementary school lunch table about why I'd not been taken to see a movie about the original superhero. Legend of the Lone Ranger held a lot more mystery - partially because it was just harder to find and partially because of what little I'd heard. "It's really violent" I was told.
