Friday Amazon Watch Party: Elvira - Mistress of the Dark! (1988)

Where:  Amazon Watch Party
Day:  Friday, 08/21/2020
Time:  8:30 PM Central time

This Friday, we're doing something unthinkable and watching a movie I genuinely really like!  Normally, I watch this film annually around Halloween, but I'm not taking the risk they're pulling it from Prime between now and October 1.  So we're doing it now, friendos!

It's 1988's Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, a goofy supernatural comedy featuring a lead with two terrific things going for her:  acting chops and a terrific sense of comedy.

In the 1980's, Elvira started with a local show in LA hosting creature feature movies, made some appearances on Carson, and went national.  I am 90% sure we never got Movie Macabre in the Austin market, but by 1987 or so, she was in beer commercials, guest starring on TV shows and generally everywhere.  By 1988, she released a movie, and maybe it didn't do so great at the box office?  But over the years, folks have found the movie and watching it now, in a way, it was just ahead of its time.

It's a classic fish-out-of-water story, a journey of self-discovery and has some truly quotable lines (and visuals).  If ever you doubted the power of Elvira, this may be your game changer.  And you're really gonna want to hang in there for the final sequence.  You are not prepared.

 

PODCAST: "Le Samourai" (1967) and "The Conformist" (1970) - a European Neonoir Watch w/ JAL and RYan

Watched:  Le Samourai 07/28, The Conformist 07/31
Format:  HBOmax/ BluRay
Viewing:  third for both, I believe
Decade:  1960's/ 1970's
Director:  Jean-Pierre Melville  & Bernardo Bertolucci

For more ways to listen


Justin and Ryan head to Europe for some neo-noir! We swing through France for a hitman film and over to Italy for... well, he's not much of a hitman, really. One of these is absolutely noir and the other, we're kind of calling a noir - and we're pretty excited about both of them. Join us as for a double-bill, continental style!

The Signal Watch PodCast · 115: "Le Samourai" (1967) & "The Conformist" (1970) - Noir Watch w/ JAL and Ryan

Music:

Le Samourai Title Theme - François De Roubaix
The Conformist Title Theme - Georges Delerue


Playlist - Noir Watch:

The Signal Watch PodCast · Noir Watch

A Century of Maureen O'Hara

Today marks the 100th birthday of Maureen O'Hara.

God bless her.  She probably has an equal or greater part in the early development of my interest in non-modern movies as anything else. You watch Miracle on 34th Street for your reasons, I'll watch it for mine.

Born in Dublin, O'Hara had a career that spanned decades, weathered controversy and made her an icon.

Cyborg Watch: Running Delilah (1993)

Watched:  08/16/2020
Format:  DVD
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1990's
Director:  Richard Franklin

So, I was scanning the sale items on the Kino Lorber page and was like "Kim Cattrall in a spy movie?" so I read the description and was like "Kim Cattrall as a CYBORG in a spy movie?"  And promptly hit "buy".*

I think this was intended to be a pilot for a very 1990's TV show, probably in syndication.  What's weird about it is that all the pieces are there for what could have been a serviceable stand-alone movie.  In 1993, stars Kim Cattrall and Billy Zane weren't huge stars, but I knew who they were.  The director, Richard Franklin, had handled a couple of mid to low-cost films I'd similarly seen - FX/2 and Cloak and Dagger.   This came out in the wake of La Femme Nikita and low-budget sci-fi films.  Instead, it's a reminder of what telefilm and a lot of television looked at during a certain window, and that sci-fi was not always well-served by this sort of production.

Cattrall plays Delilah, an undercover agent for a US law-enforcement agency (I never caught who), , collecting evidence against a Greek arms dealer (who seems to really want to see her eat Greek food for some reason).  Her handler, who is "running" her, is played by Billy Zane.  And the two spend about 7x more time talking about the fact they aren't going to bonetown than they do the case at hand.

Delilah is found out and the baddies take a flying attempt at killing her with lots of bullets.  Zane retrieves the almost-dead agent, and because he loves her (but phrases it as wanting to go to bonetown, because 90's), does as you do and brings her to a French cybernetics guy who happens to work in his building.  

There's a bit where she, of course, believes she's a monster.  Remarkably, she gets over it really fast when she finds out she's now the Bionic Woman and can do all kinds of things within budget.  This is one chipper cyborg!

Comedy Watch: Stir Crazy (1980)

Watched:  08/15/2020
Format:  Amazon
Viewing:  I'm calling it a first
Decade:  1980
Director:   Sidney Poitier

I think I saw this in part on HBO when I was a kid, but I don't remember anything but a few glimpses.  It's a Richard Pryor/ Gene Wilder comedy, and for whatever reason these were just never much on my radar.

I think what really struck me was not just how well Wilder and Pryor's sensibilities mesh, but that with Poitier as director, this movie has a certain POV that I'm not sure another, whiter director would have given it.

Crazy casting in this movie.  JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Barry Corbin, Joel Brooks, Jonathan Banks...

Anyway, it was a lot of fun! Glad to catch it at long last.

Amazon Watch Party Watch: Grease 2 (1982)

Watched:  08/14/2020
Format:  Amazon Watch Party
Viewing:  Unknown
Decade:  1980's
Director:  Patricia Birch

Well.  I didn't pick this movie because I thought it was good.  Lately Grease 2 has had a resurgence with people of a certain age thinking because they watched it as kids and liked it, it is a good movie.  That is the Space Jam Fallacy talking.  Grease 2 is not good.  And unnecessary.

Highlights:

• Michelle Pfeiffer exists/ "dances"
• Tab Hunter having a good time
• Connie Stevens
• the *other* movie I've seen featuring Maureen Teefy
• Gave young me some very wrong ideas about how high school was going to work
• Pool water disintegrates tuffs and their motorcycles

Anyway, we watched this thing.  A good time was had.

Ann Miller Watch: The Opposite Sex (1956)

Watched:  08/15/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing: First
Decade:  so very 1950's
Director:  David Miller


This is essentially a remake of The Women (1939), still rightfully hailed as a Hollywood classic. 

I dunno.  The Opposite Sex (1956) is somehow more dated than its 1939 counterpart, although both take place in Manhattan's society page sort of environment.  The real reason to watch this one is probably to see a movie so chock full of "oh, wow, she's in this" actresses of the era.

Ann Miller
Joan Collins
Dolores Gray
Ann Sheridan
Agnes Moorehead
Joan Blondell
Alice Pearce
June Allyson

and two of the main dudes in the movie are Leslie Nielsen (back when he was straight leading man material) and a favorite around here: Sam Levene.

I don't think *any* men appear in The Women, they're just discussed.  And it's arguable both films fail the Bechdel Test, despite the female centric casts- but they do give a curious bit of insight into the topsy turvy world of wealthy women dependent on men, alimony, and bouncing back over and over - in both good and mercenary ways.

Frankly, it doesn't make anyone look *great*, but it is silly and dishy, and goes by fast.

I didn't particularly like this movie, but Ann Miller looked stellar.  But she wasn't in it enough for my dollar, so.

Friday - Amazon Watch Party: GREASE 2

Day:  08/14/2020
Time:  8:30 PM Central
Amazon Watch Party Link is here

No movie with Michelle Pfeiffer is all that bad.  But Grease 2 isn't all that good, either.

If you were looking for the further adventures of Danny and Sandy and how things worked out for them - well, tough nuts.  Laura says they died.  So, instead, we get a different group of kids a year or so later at dear old Rydell High!  Want to see Rizzo and Kanicki?  TOUGH.  We have... Goose and... I dunno.

But the movie has Christopher McDonald and Adrian Zmed!

It's all of the rough plot of Grease with none of the music you liked, a lot you won't, and a lot of returning teachers and principals.

Forewarning: we will cut you if you say anything negative about Eve Arden.

Doc Watch: Howard (2018)

Watched:  08/10/2020
Format:  Disney+
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's
Director:  Don Hahn

Let me start by saying: in a lot of ways Disney+ is much better than I ever expected.  I've enjoyed the Disney "from the vaults" content, catching new material, behind the scenes at parks, movies, etc... with One Day at Disney and two series - one on the making of The Mandalorian and an exceptional doc series on the making of Frozen 2. 

And, of course, then the release of Hamilton.  I haven't watched Black is King yet, but that's a pretty big line in the sand for the Disney brand to put out on their flagship, no-doubt-this-is-Disney streaming service when Disney has usually just avoided anything that invites cultural critique.*

But Disney+ putting a doc about Howard Ashman, a gay man who died of complications from AIDs at the height of the epidemic, and being honest and open about his sexuality and struggle with the disease, is... kind of mind-blowing.  There's something about the platform of their own streaming service and that you've already paid your money to have it that seems to have freed up the Disney Corp to tell some stories well worth telling I don't know we'd see if they didn't have this avenue.

The doc, itself, is the life story of Howard Ashman who - paired with Alan Menken - wrote the musical numbers for Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.  He also wrote and originally produced Little Shop of Horrors - which was his big breakout hit off-Broadway. 

It's really a pretty great story, well told, and has the heart-breaking knowledge of what happened to Ashman in the back of your head.  And, sadly, the fact he was the musical partner of Menken and that he died of AIDS was all I'd known about him until watching the doc. 

I don't want to get into details too much, but as loving as it is, it isn't shy about who Howard Ashman was and doesn't make him into a saint - while illustrating pretty clearly what sort of mind he had that helped push the Disney cartoon back into prestige territory (and why Disney was flailing at the time he showed up).

For fans of animation, musical theater, or Disney-history - well worth the viewing. 




*Disney tends to get lambasted no matter what they do, and I've stood there and listened to lines of people parrot back the criticisms of Aladdin, Lion King and Little Mermaid during 3 summers at The Disney Store.  I would invariably listen and then say "well, I make $4.50 an hour working here and while I'll tell my manager...  really, your best bet is writing the studio in California."

Musical Watch: Guys and Dolls (1955)

Watched:  08/09/2020
Format:  Amazon Prime
Viewing:  Third?
Decade:  1950's
Director:  Joseph L. Mankiewicz

This movie is so kooky.  Dancing hoods and a singing Marlon Brando.  Big, expensive sets, extravagant costuming, and a cast out of central casting who all seem game. 

It's got maybe one of the dopiest stories in a genre that includes @#$%ing Brigadoon, but the off-kilter dialog, the surreal scene-design and catchy numbers (half of which you already know even if you never saw the play or movie) are all very winning. 

I like some parts of it more and some parts of it less - I think Sinatra is genuinely funny in the movie.  I am not in love with the ear-piercing voice Blaine effects, but find her character endearing.  I am deeply jealous of how good Brando looks in a suit.  Jean Simmons is, as always, lovely and can act!

But if you're looking for some fluff, it's some quality fluff.  And get ready for some dynamic dance sequences there in the sewer sequence.