"Sexy" Halloween Costumes - 2020 Edition

Well, we haven't done this in a few years, but let's do it again.  Let's look at "weird sexy costumes for Halloween 2020". 

For 2011, go here.  For 2017, go here.

Honestly, I've gotten so used to, like, "sexy cop" going by, I don't really think about it anymore.  But there's still always a few costumes that pop out at me as "but why?".  

The first thing that popped out at me on this go-round was:  

Would the target audience even know what this is?  

I'm assuming to have Halloween plans and the body confidence to wear a hastily-stitched Halloween costume that's not work appropriate, these costumes are aimed at women aged, oh, 18-28.  And even that may be pushing it. 

But that would mean the target audience was born between 1992 and 2002.  So...  do they even know who these characters are?

Pretty sure this is supposed to be Julia Roberts in the first reel of 1990's Pretty Woman.    It was called something like "Beautiful Lady"/

 

TONIGHT- WATCH PARTY: Day of the Triffids (1962)

 

Time to cross off another movie mentioned in "Science Fiction Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  

We're doing Day of the Triffids from 1962.  All I know about it is that it's weirdly popular, it has space plants, maybe, and I heard once the lead female was a dish.  YMMV.  So.

Join us 

Friday night 09/18/2020 at 8:30 PM, Central time.

AMAZON WATCH PARTY LINK

Fosse Watch: All That Jazz (1979)

Watched:  09/15/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First (all the way through)

Decade:  1970's

Director:  Bob Fosse

Not that long ago I watched the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon, an FX television production following the later careers of Broadway and Hollywood director Bob Fosse and his ex-wife - famed performer, Gwen Verdon.  If you've not seen it, I can't recommend it enough.  It stars two of the greats of this era, Michelle Williams and Sam Rockwell, and features some amazingly nuanced performances by both, in a co-dependent relationship/ partnership that's bigger than a failed marriage.  

I'm not a musical theatre follower - and certainly no historian of the second half of the 20th Century when it comes to musical theater or movie musicals, but it's not hard to see the impact Bob Fosse left on the form, and why everyone is still scrambling to keep up.  His stage show of Chicago (2002) managed to win Academy Awards when turned into a hit movie decades after his passing (1987).  And during his lifetime he was a huge part of the movement that made musicals relevant, updated dance on Broadway, and turned sexiness from something blushing and suggested to something overt.  And - he made the films Sweet Charity, Cabaret, Lenny, Star80 and All That Jazz (1979).

I'd seen parts of All That Jazz years ago, but on a channel that cut it for TV and for commercials, and given the flow, I threw in the towel with an intention to watch it all in one shot - which I never did.  But i did see enough of it to gather some basic facts - I figured it was a confessional auto-biopic from when "directed by Bob Fosse" came up, and saw what the film was about.  So I didn't go into Fosse/Verdon totally unprepared.

Happy Birthday, Cassandra Peterson

 

Happy birthday to Cassandra Peterson, who you may know better as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

She's a bit of a thing around here at The Signal Watch, and we're hoping she's having a good birthday!

If you're not following her on social media, do so!  She's active and has been doing sketches and updates in-character during lockdown.  And, of course, no one gets fired up for Halloween like The Queen of Halloween.  

Facebook

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PODCAST: "Fantasia" (1940) and "Fantasia 2000" (1999) - a Disney History PodCast w/ NathanC and Ryan

 

Watched:  Fantasia 09/08 and Fantasia 2000 09/10/20

Format:  Disney +

Viewing:  Unknown/ Fourth

Decade:  1940's and 1990's

Director:  multiple on each

More places to listen 

When does animation become become more than popular entertainment? What are the boundaries of art that separate Beethoven and cartoon alligators? What is high-brow entertainment and funny business for the whole family? Walt Disney had a vision to elevate the form of animation and create an entirely new experience. Today, we know the result as "Fantasia", which returned in 1999 with a sequel of sorts in "Fantasia 2000". NathanC and Ryan return to talk all about a pair of Disney classics! 

The Signal Watch PodCast · 119: "Fantasia" (1940) & "Fantasia 2000" (1999) - Disney History w/ NathanC and Ryan

Music:

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor - J.S. Bach

Ave Maria - Franz Schubert

Nathan's Fantasia buddies:

Ryan's Fantasia (and assorted Disney) pals:

Disney History Playlist:

The Signal Watch PodCast · Disney History with NathanC

FRIDAY WATCH PARTY - Detour - a film noir classic!

PROGRAMMING CHANGE - We are unable to watch DETOUR on Friday 09/18 as the restored version of the film is no longer on Prime and I am not sitting through the unrestored version. 

 

 

Day:  09/18/2020
Time:  8:30 Central

Amazon Watch Party link coming Friday

It's another Ryan/ Jenifer co-presentation!  Make sure you've got Amazon Prime and something stiff to drink.

This Friday we watch a movie about... well, it is not a love story.  It's Detour from 1945!  A bona fide noir classic, it's also going to dovetail weirdly with our run of movies with Strong Female Stars, but if you've never seen it, I don't want to say too much.  

I think this movie is just plain bonkers, and I love it.  But it is not going to make you feel warm and fuzzy by the end.  

Crawford Watch: Johnny Guitar (1954)

 

Watched:  09/11/2020
Format: Watch Party

Viewing:  Third

Decade:  1950's

Director:  Nicholas Ray

I don't know how successful Johnny Guitar (1954) was upon its release.  As a Western, it plays with a lot of the tropes of expansion, cattlemen versus progress and settlement, gunslingers, robbing stage coaches and more.  But at the end of the day it's about two iron-willed women who really, really do not like each other, and how one self-righteous person can lead everyone down a path that ends in murder.

1954 was part of the second act of Joan Crawford's bumpy ride of a career that solidified nine years prior with Mildred Pierce.  The glamour days of Grand Hotel were 20 years in the past.  She still had the weirdo horror movie career ahead of her, and was just about to set out as America's foremost proponent of Pepsi Cola.

Muppet Watch: Great Muppet Caper (1981)

 

Watched:  09/12/2020

Format:  Disney+

Viewing:  Unknown

Decade:  1980's

Director:  Jim Henson

The Muppet Movie is a beautifully constructed film on many levels, is gorgeous, has an amazing message, and we should all own at least one copy.  The Great Muppet Caper is just @#$%ing funny.

Leaning on the tropes of movies, movie-making, and doing occasional spoofs (Piggy's Esther Williams tribute), The Great Muppet Caper sings about what it's going to be, and is that - a pretty thin mystery plot as an excuse for Muppet mayhem.  And, along the way, makes it fun for them and for all of us, with terrific sight gags, 4th wall-breaking jokes, improvised moments (there's a scene with Kermit and Piggy in the park that cannot possibly have been in the script), and the patented Muppet formula of running jokes that just get funnier as they go along.

The cast includes the recently departed Diana Rigg (we didn't set out to watch a Diana Rigg film, but she's hilarious in this) and Charles Grodin in a star turn as Nicky, Rigg's ne'er-do-well brother.  But there's also UK-friendly cameos as well as those for an American audience.   John Cleese and Joan Sanderson's bit feels imported from another movie entirely, and I remember thinking it was very funny when I was 6, but now I find it hysterical.  

Anyway, this is an ideal one to watch with the kids.  Listen to everything the Muppets are saying, especially in throw-away lines.  It's like two separate movies for kids and adults, but I think everyone will still like it.

Forgot to Write It Up Watch: "The Bigamist" (1953) and "A Crime Against Joe" (1956)

 

Watched:  The Bigamist 09/02 and ACAJ 09/09/2020

Format:  Watch Party w/ Jenifer

Viewing:  First for both

Decade:  1950's

Director:  Ida Lupino and  Lee Sholem

Jenifer's been hosting Amazon Watch Parties on Wednesdays, and she's picked some good ones.  And A Crime Against Joe (1956).  

I was delighted to finally see The Bigamist, starring and directed by the great Ida Lupino.  And I watched A Crime Against Joe.  It was certainly a movie.

Not doing a write up of either, but suffice it to say, anything with Lupino is a pretty good idea, and seeing her get to direct is always a treat.

Lupino ponders how Edmond O'Brien of all guys landed two women at once

Diana Rigg Merges With the Infinite

Diana Rigg, actor and icon, has passed at the age of 82.  

Rigg was a cult favorite in the U.S. and a bonafide star in the U.K., and would have been well remembered just from her work on the UK whack-a-doodle adventure show The Avengers as Emma Peel - which laid the foundation for about 10,000 imitators and arguably indirectly to the most popular iterations of Black Widow in the Marvel Universe.  She also has the most solid of Bond-girl credits as Traci, the woman who Bond would marry in On her Majesty's Secret Service (and a favorite of the PodCast).  Most recently she'd been on Game of Thrones (which I didn't watch, but I know she's a fan favorite).  

She, of course, did so much more and was just one of those actors it seems everyone could agree upon.