Big Trouble in Little China. John Carpenter’s Action-Comedy-Horror hybrid that combines low fantasy, tales of Taoist Magic immortals, and Kurt Russel’s John Wayne impression (as Jack Burton) to create a singular masterpiece that maybe shouldn’t work, but entertains front to back. The Rock. Perhaps Michael Bay’s best work, I revisited this along with Face/Off and Con Air recently. This held up for me due to its stellar cast and sound story. It’s 90s action at its best that puts Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, and Ed Harris to excellent use. The bio-weapon scene at the top is an especially savvy and effective character introduction for Cage that helps raise the stakes for the entire movie. Sonny & Jed. Sunny! ☀️ Sunny! Sergio Corbucci ended his Spaghetti western career with one of his best, a two hander between my favorite actor, Tomas Milian, and the great Susan George, who’s also remembered as the young wife in Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs. There’s a really great meta-scene of Milian digging in to a plate of spaghetti for Corbucci to make a meta statement about the spaghetti westerns he helped define, second only to Leone (albeit many prefer Corbucci). Telly Savalas plays an antagonist whom nonetheless rides the western hero horse (being lawful evil if not lawful good) and pursues our outlaw couple as a blind bounty hunter; their showdown scene in a corn silo is one of the best in all of Westerns. Sonny and Jed’s relationship exemplifies the Hegelian master-slave dialectic, if that’s not too obtuse—point being it’s a satisfying arc that could inspire many a term paper or critical essay. But more than that, it’s fun. Blood of the Werewolf’s Claw. One of the worst movies I’ve seen. I watched three werewolf movies on full moon night (March 3rd). This was the worst of the three. And the lunar eclipse hid behind rain clouds so I didn’t even seen the worm moon turn red. Doggie dung.

I needed to cleanse the palate after I ate something rancid on the night of the full worm 🪱 moon. 🌕

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1. The Northman. One of the most cinematic movies ever made, which plays like a compressed GOT season. Nicole Kidman plays a 10th C 20. 2. Pulp Fiction. Check out the big brain on Brett, but it’s Phil LaMarr best known for his voice work, who really loses his head. It’s so weird in the credits Kathy Griffin plays herself. 3. Boogie Nights. I remember the change over to the 80s being a bigger tonal shift, the movie going from fun to sad. The effect remains but it’s less pronounced somehow now that I’m middle aged and have seen more of the world. 4. Grimsby. Donald Trump getting AIDS raised the star rating a 1/2 star right at the end. Some jokes I noticed Cohen had recycled from SNL “Celebrity Jeopardy” misreading “therapist as “the rapist” or the Ace Ventura Rhino scene that gets one-upped by a line-up of ejaculating elephants. SBC still takes comedy further in the shock factor than anyone besides maybe Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

During one of these movies, I treated myself to a Martin & Lewis shake (which likely cost more than $5 even without labor).

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1. Caught Stealing. Raised by Baseball obsessive, I developed an allergy to the game; yet it plays such a minor role in this excellent thriller that balances Aronofsky’s humor, style, and love of the disgusting to make one of his most popcorn friendly, crowd pleasing movies. It’s somewhere between his style and Paul Thomas Anderson’s aesthetic. 2. I love Sorcerer. This under-appreciated Friedkin thriller has a more taut plot, but plenty of great Friedkin shots; it’s short, fast, never bores, and plays out as the best cat and mouse story (often a drag) I’ve seen. Benicio Del Toro may win an Oscar this year, but performances like this show how under-appreciated he is. Tommy Lee Jones has played this kind of character before, which may hurt the film, but never as convincingly. The Hunted has outstanding verisimilitude. 3. My Bloody Valentine. A classic 1981 slasher from their heyday made in Canada that manages an intriguing mystery and plenty of slasher kills. The police work and town’s need to put on a Valentine’s Day dance (not a thing) after years of not being a thing due to a tragedy, strain credulity; yet it’s an entertaining movie of its kind with plenty of fun for those with an antenna tuned to this fuzz-prone frequency. 4. Friday the 13: Part II. A quirky 81 slasher watched on a Friday the 13th in February which would freeze over crystal lake; this film takes place in 1984, set 5 years after the first, as that’s another Friday the 13th with a July. From Alice to Ginny, it’s got a quirky charm and 2 of the best kills—wheelchair and window—that makes it my favorite of the series, especially with Jason’s “the Town that Feared Sundown” Bag-head design. I watched the Fear Fest Joe Bob presentation.

Happy Ki-Ki-Ki…Ma-Ma-Ma… Day.

Now watching: Heart ❤️ 👀 Eyes

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The power goes off and the alligator gates release.

I joke desire the conditions there being a real life horror movie that needs to stop yesterday. This will go down as a dark chapter in American history.

1. Klaus Kinski portrays a Brazilian gangster turned Cracker Cobra Verde who ruins the life of his plantation owner employer who didn’t know he’d invited an outlaw home; dispatched on a suicide mission to restart the slave trade the British ended (and enforced the prohibition of), Cobra succeeds in enslavement, and sets himself up as a bush king; it’s a complicated critique of colonial ills. 2. Fitzcarraldo. While I prefer Aguirre that has a shorter runtime without a wasted frame, only a filmmaker of Herzog’s ingenuity would match the determination of his character and actually move a massive boat over an Amazonian mountain to jump rivers. The real tribes people make the film too. I find the Opera stuff a little hard to take as it’s hard to believe headhunters would be slotted by the sound of a victrola record over the loud river. Still, it’s another masterpiece with a fraught shoot due to intense naturalism; yet I believe Herzog could have even moved the mountains. 3. Kinski as a soldier driven mad by the establishment; it’s Herzog and Kinski’s shortest collaboration, yet also a long time for what’s a cinematic murder ballad. I found the dialogue confusing but it ends strong. 4. Nosferatu the Vampire. Herzog pays homage and improves upon FW to make the best vampire movie ever made. The timing of Kinski’s movements and exhausted anger driven madness make the most believably sociopathic Count Dracula rendition of them all. The man was a monster, but a genius at capturing a captivatingly evil presence. I admire Herzog but find Kinski talented albeit loathsome. Luckily, he’s dead so I watch these in good conscience knowing Klaus reaps no reward.

4 Werner Herzog Produktions with his best Fiend (who’s thankfully now the evil dead).

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You should publish the name and email. The racist deserves public exposure.

Glitches, man. Glitches.

I wanted to love this movie, especially since Matheson adapted his novel, but the book has too many great ideas the movie didn’t adapt I had a hard time appreciating what remained. I should revisit the movie with adjusted expectations. A remake could do the book justice.

Isn’t her origin story whining that the NYTs pushed back on her ridiculous BS so she quit then lied that the paper fired her because she wasn’t “woke enough.” How embarrassing to kiss her butt after that!

My last 4 watched on Letterboxd. 1. Johnny Mnemonic. Set 3 years ago, in a cyberpunk future steeped in Orientalism, Keanu first honed his Clint Eastwood impression. It’s an interesting mix of floppy discs and prescient futurism concerning the “data wars” and other good guesses. Henry Rollins plays the other Spider not in Avatars and Ice T, the Ice killa as heavenly resistance. 2. the Magic Sword. A lose retelling of St George and the Dragon by Mr Big. Basil Rathbone as the evil sorcerer opposition, and Dr Frank from 2001: a Space Odyssey (Gary Lockwood) as Sir George; he’s playing 20, was 23 and looks like he’s going on 47. Estelle Winwood as George’s witchy adopted mom steals the show; it has a low budget charm for 1962 albeit it was behind the times even then, low-budget. 3. The Last Drive In edition of The Spider also directed by the Magic Sword’s Mr Big. It’s an entertaining Tarantula/Them rip off, a nature strikes back eco horror pic that even has a Rocksploitation reanimation, a sub-genre by the 80s, or more recently “Dead Ant.” 4. Train Dreams. See Letterboxd for my thoughts. It’s a great neo-western steeped in naturalism that takes full advantage of the dreamlike nature of cinema. I now how 2 best picture nominees to see, Hamnet and Sentimental Value.

My last 4 watched, with a middle 2 from Mr BIG.

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WTF with Marc Maron - Catherine O'Hara Interview YouTube video by theflyby

Catherine O’Hara was the funniest comedian alive, a genius. I loved her WTF interview. Her “uh-oh” when being asked about college made me laugh so hard, as did Beetlejuice I&II, the Guest movies, A Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone, After Hours, Wild Robot, Wyatt Earp…
youtu.be/6eMyUyOgSHw?...

I love that picture. I’ve seen her and heard her in so many projects, but that’s cool to see her in her early years.

They grew up helicopter alpha kids.

Did you write Superman history or superhero history?

Kitty Pride looking for her parade.

Where’s Waldo loin cloth and leopard print.

The R doesn’t stand for Robin.

Bat nipples

Discowing, run to the bathroom and comb your hair. Discowing, Pucker your lip, and check your shoulders 'Cause some dandruff might be hiding there

Boy oh boy that’s bad.

Some history to reconsider.

I love Peter Cushing as the Nazis island keeper. The script could be tighter; the pacing’s languid, but the images of the watery Nazis zombies makes it rewarding anyway for horror hounds. I wish I could have seen a 4k restoration instead of what I’ve seen on TV or available on streamers.

You’re being great in the Blackening on my Netflix right now.

Is it too late to petition his parents again?

My last 4 watched on Letterboxd: 1. One Battle After Another. Thomas Pynchon inspired hippie conspiracy theory satire that offers action, suspense, and a lot of laughs. Both sides get shown in all their goofy glory, but only one side has something worth fighting for. 2. 28 Years Later. I may bump this one up to 5 stars as everything that I still had questions about gets resolved by… 3. 28YL: the Bone Temple. I’m a big fan of Nia DaCosta’s and Jordan Peele’s collaboration on rebooting Candyman. She makes another horror masterpiece in this follow up to Danny Boyle’s film. Both share a screenplay by the best screenwriter working today, Alex Garland. Garland delivers and while it’s easy to pit which movie ranks above the other, this seems akin to the original Star Wars trilogy, that without New Hope, you couldn’t have an Empire Strikes Back. In a way, the original trilogy is like 3 acts in one long film, and this film reminds me a lot of Empire in how it’s a brilliant continuation that raises the artistic stakes while leaving us wanting more. 4. The Secret Agent. It’s an interesting story which all made sense by the end, but while it adds up, the sum isn’t much; the deliberate pacing takes 4-5 more minutes for each scene to play out than it needs. This could easily be compressed and improved into a 2 hour movie. The ending seemed to optimize anti-climax. For a best picture nominee, I expected more, yet at its best, there’s some memorable scenes, story ideas. A lot of parallelism gets drawn which makes it feel like a rhyming poem that seems to hold a cryptic mystery but one could also summarize it and fairly hear in reply, “that’s it?” The performances sold a lot of the movie, but there’s a lot of fat. The Brutalist compares except that film thematically matched the subject matter of building a grand structure that seems overwrought but has meaning, whereas this had less claim to the length.

My last 4 watched—best picture nominee bun, zombie meat filling; it’s a newish movie sandwich. 🥪

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She had the ability to ask for an audit of the election and should have ordered a recount. That’s where she lost me. Others say it wouldn’t have changed anything, but there’s plenty of shady election problems like burning ballot boxes in democratic areas the republicans would have used as a pretext.

The right really hate Numbers 5:11-31 too, where their infallible book gives a recipe for an abortion, and then administers it with a magic spell. It’s another factoid (doesn’t work), but it’s clear the Bible contains a, “how-to abort if your wife cuckolds you and gets preggers” pamphlet.

I bought a suit like that from Dillards once.

Marty S. is a supreme filmmaker; I appreciate Raging Bull’s craftsmanship. Safdie has a unique, signature style, another talented auteur. Liking one doesn’t preclude disliking the other. But I had no love for Jake let alone 💔; Jake had less humanity to invest in, less redemption, a longer RAP sheet…

Well, (spoiler alert, if I can spoil what you hate) the dog and the friend live, so it’s kind of a hollow complaint if you’ve watched the movie.

I know a white Christian nationalist magat who largely grew up here but comes from the Czech Republic. I’ve always wondered what would happen if I offered ICE a tip. Would he find out his papers weren’t quite perfect? Then I don’t as I don’t want to live with the hypocrisy of helping 🧊.

LaMotta is a psychopathic rapist wife beating racist. I 😂 at his jail freak out.

Paul F Tompkins said of Saving Mr Banks’ PL Travers “what a horrible person to spend any amount of time with.” That applies to all 3. But between Marty and Jake, if I had to meet either for real, Marty seems easier.

Wait, so you didn’t finish the movie? I get not throwing good time after bad, but that also clarifies why we had different reads. How a film ends is what it says; Marty crying for his baby offers hope. I saw MS in a theater paying full attention where I couldn’t pause it. That changes the exp.

I find Marty compelling like I find Jake LaMotta from Raging Bull unlikeable but interesting. Villains steal many shows, and anti-heroes offer compelling character studies of what shapes them; they’re too human albeit less humane. I have more hope for Marty than Jake; it’s a shorter time-narrated.

Marty Supreme reminds me of Raging Bull; anti-heroes can be compelling like villains, like Vader steals SW. Jake LaMotta’s also too human but not too humane. Both leads show too much humanity, their company isn’t rewarding, the character study is. I’d sooner hang with Marty than Jake though.