Still pretty happy with everything I've seen so far in the trailers and ads for this.
Hey, we're getting a full DC Super-Pets movie! That's excellent!
Film. Comics. Sci-Fi. Superheroes. Pulp. Noir. History. Superman. 20th Century Archaeology.
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
PodCast 197: "The Medusa Touch" (1978) - A SimonUK Cinema Classic w/ Ryan
Format: Amazon Prime
Viewing: First
Decade: 1970's
Director: Jack Gold
It wouldn't be the first time we used our minds around here and it led to disaster. SimonUK and Ryan get excited about Richard Burton and Lee Remick, respectively, and get on the case of the victim of an attempted murder, who maybe - just maybe - is the source of all sorts of trouble. Join us as we talk an entry in ESP horror paired with police procedural.
SoundCloud
YouTube
Music:
The Medusa Touch - Michael J. Lewis
Simon movies!
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
80's TV Movie Watch: The Spirit (1987)
Watched: 05/02/2022
Format: DVD from Warner Archive
Viewing: First
Decade: 1980's
Director: Michael Schultz
Way back in the 1980's, I ordered a Bud Plant catalog so I could get an idea of what all was out there in the world of comics. I remember two things that really stuck out - a Mike Kaluta image of The Shadow (the first time I'd heard of the character) - and an image for a collection of The Spirit strips with P'gell prominently featured. You know the one.
I didn't know what the hell The Spirit was, but to my 11 year old brain, this seemed very sexy indeed, and I assumed The Spirit was some sort of soft-core comic.
Flash forward probably only a matter of months, and I read in Comics Scene that someone was making a TV movie of The Spirit, learned more about it (not a softcore book!) and back in the days when we weren't having superhero media rained down upon us, I was very interested.
Finally the movie was slated to air, and of course there was some scheduling conflict (we just missed TV in those days), but I could probably catch the last hour or so. I don't remember where we were or what was up, but I do remember my mom ran into a friend and started talking. And I just had to stand there while the clock spun and my 1980's chances with no DVR faded away of seeing any of the movie.
I walked in the door, watched the last five minutes, and then went to do homework.
Western Noir Watch: Lust for Gold (1949)
Watched: 05/02/2022
Format: Criterion Channel
Viewing: First
Decade: 1940's
Director: S. Sylvan Simon and George Marshall
Well, Criterion Channel is currently highlighting a collection of films starring Ida Lupino, and that's good news for me, anyway. Always on the hunt for more Lupino, I wanted to check out something I hadn't seen, and we mostly randomly landed on Lust for Gold (1949), what appeared to be a Western, but which really turned out to be Western Noir, which is absolutely a thing.
This is a supremely weird movie, and they needed to make one movie or the other movie in their movie, but instead they give you two partial movies, and I cannot begin to conceive of the "why". A full 2/3rds of the film is flashback to events from the 1880's, and the rest takes place, which a much-less-talented team of actors, in the present day of 1949. And I'm not sure the whole section in 1949 needs to exist at all, and I'm not sure that the events of 1880 shouldn't have been mentioned in about three sentences in a very different version of how the 1949 stuff spins out.
The end result is that you don't get any Ida Lupino until something like 35 minutes into a 90 minute movie, and... come on. What are we even doing here?
Friday, April 29, 2022
PodCast 196: "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (2021) - A Marvel Madness PodCast w/ Jamie & Ryan
Format: BluRay
Viewing: First
Decade: 2020's
Director: Jon Watts
Jamie and Ryan finally catch up with the gigantic Spider-Man movie from 2021, ponder multiverses, wish fulfillment, and doing something that maybe shouldn't have worked, but did. It's a post-game chat after watching a deeply complicated movie that was either a celebration of Marvel's most beloved hero on film, or it was a very, very weird thing to do/ cash-grab.
SoundCloud
YouTube
Music:
Arachnoverture - Michael Giacchino
Marvel Madness Playlist
Comics Great Neal Adams Merges With The Infinite
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| Meeting Adams in November, 2013 |
I am shocked and saddened to hear that Neal Adams passed on Thursday.
From The Hollywood Reporter.
Adams' work looms large for all comics fans, and for us Superman and Batman fans, it's seminal work. Of course he's covered all sorts of other things. Jamie has an Adams' Wonder Woman print on her office wall. But to me he's the guy who brought Muhammad Ali to the DCU and advocated for Siegel and Shuster to be recognized financially and as creators when Superman: The Movie was in production.
He brought an illustrative realism and humanity to his characters that pushed all of comics to a new level when he arrived, and he never quit pushing boundaries as an active creator right up to his passing.
Do yourself a favor and look for some Neal Adams comics.
Thursday, April 28, 2022
Happy Anniversary, Jamie
Today marks 22 years since Jamie and I tied the knot. Not bad!
I don't know what to tell you people. She's the best. She's my best pal, the person I can't wait to talk to, and who knows me better than I know myself.
I am so remarkably, ridiculously lucky.
Love you, Jamie
Sunday, April 24, 2022
Watch Party Watch: American Cyborg - Steel Warrior (1993)
Watched: 04/22/2022
Format: Amazon Watch Party
Viewing: Second
Decade: 1990's
Director: Boaz Davidson
A movie that actively resists how movies are supposed to work, American Cyborg: Steel Warrior (1993) eschews character, story, pacing, and more to tell the plot outline of a cute blonde carrying a jar-of-baby to a port to give it to Frenchmen whilst being stalked by a robotic gym coach. Luckily, she's saved by Unfrozen Caveman Hero Joe Lara.
The movie has exactly two modes: (1) uninspired fighting - 90% (2) awkward romantic moments - 10%.
It's a movie that is only 90 minutes, but somehow feels 4 hours long, because it has no story and thinks it should make up for that with the exact same fight sequence happening over and over and occurring in 10 minute spurts. It's insane.
Anyway, I hate it and want to eject it from my brain as soon as possible. So this write-up is over.
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
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
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