Thursday, November 23, 2023

Mother of Tears, Redheaded Stepchild

  

jposter.net
jposter.net

 

A common complaint about legendary Italian horror director Dario Argento is that his directorial style being based around his visuals, instead of his story. With La terza Madre, Dimension Extreme’s "Mother of Tears", may have been his attempt to dispel this and surprisingly does not span beyond the gore that is associated with the genre, thus may have taken away the chance for its American distributor to claim some of their films as art.

Witches from all over the world are flocking to Italy’s capitol. Crime is rampant, mothers are murdering their children, and the only person who might be able to stop the rise of the Mother of Tears is Sarah (Asia Argento from XXXLand of the Dead). She is the daughter of the white witch whose life ended during her battle with the Mother of Sighs (from Argento’s Suspiria). With latent powers inherited from her mother, no other person may be able to prevent the “Second Fall of Rome.”

Being filmed in English and not having the opportunities for the large scale shots Argento is known for, fans of the director might be disappointed in the conclusion to the "Three Mothers" trilogy. It does not seem as prolific as his other films, and the story is very linear. There is little mystery in the story, so the viewer does not have to think.

Not being forced to think may or may not be a bad thing. On one hand, the images might be considered more disturbing because there does not seem to be a motive for them. On the other, if there is no motivation, do they have to be so frequent? Does the audience have to bare witness to vivid deaths of more than one child? Without reasoning behind them, it can be declared tasteless, and even a waste of characters.


https://alchetron.com/The-Mother-of-Tears
Alchetron.com - The Mother of Tears
 
Asia Argento delivers a great performance as the European-raised American lead, but with the accent, some might thing that it is what a Winona Ryder performance would be like if delivered immediately after the shoplifting incident. Otherwise, all of the other characters have nothing behind them. The first male lead is set up to have the story be based around Sarah’s experiences with him and his tragedy, but he is dropped from the film to introduce three more characters that take on the mentoring role.

One of these mentors is portrayed by classic horror actor Udo Kier (Blade, Shadow of the Vampire, Andy Warhol’s Dracula). It was a horrible decision to cast him in this role because the final mentor is an elderly gentleman. In the end, the final male lead becomes a police detective who probably has less than ten lines in the film. No story should have so many disposable characters.

If one gets past the overly populated story, Mother of Tears may be the best filmed Gothic horror picture of the decade. No one can question Argento’s ability as a director, but the audience has to put up with a lot to witness it. Some might think it is to over the top and offensive, but if those who stick with it may leave happy. Not for the casual horror fan, or the Italian horror fan, Mother of Tears, may just be a picture that missed its mark.

The Marathon: Child's Play, Wraiths, and Other THING(s) & Nolan's "Dunkirk" Experience

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 144: The Marathon: Child's Play, Wraiths, and Other THING(s)

Eva personality when you disrespect her queendom

The Marathon: Child's Play, Wraiths, and Other THING(s)

Tuesday Oct 31, 2023

Help NinetyForChill: The #Podcast get away from paywalls by subscribing to "Ninety For Chill: The Podcast with CatBusRuss".

Andrew "Couchman Bakes" Tiede returns to the podcast to discuss a third feature about THE actor of every kid who was babysat by a VHS tape deck, Kurt Russell. The challenge being, Kurt's movies tend to be too long to be discussed on this show. But never to disappoint the audience, CatBusRuss will allow "John Carpenter's The Thing" to be the primary topic. All the Couchman needs to do is come up with a horror movie marathon.

These "quadruple" features are based on two themes that can be taken from what maybe Carpenter's most influential feature: Who can you trust? What is the killer?

CatBus's Six-Raven Cinema House offers up 1956's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and 2011's prequel to 1982's classic to address the first theme. As for the second, he revisited the so rad its good flick, "The Wraith" starring Charlie Sheen.

At Andrew's Sasquatch Cinema House, the "Who" is addressed with a nerdier Elijah Woods versus aliens in "The Faculty". As for the what, how about the origins of Charles Lee Ray's after death adventures with 1988's "Child's Play"

There is obviously a film missing from the Tiede showcase. Can he make up for it with the theater's new massaging chairs? Russ thinks that maybe too distracting. Perhaps you need to be the judge.

 

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 145: Nolan's "Dunkirk" Experience

Eva doing her best to honour the UK

Nolan's "Dunkirk" Experience

Wednesday Nov. 8, 2023

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It took longer than expected, but perhaps it is for the best since Veteran's Day is coming up. 

Sam Marsh is a fan of spectacle, so he returns to the podcast to discuss Christopher Nolan's war epic from 2017, "Dunkirk". CatBusRuss is not as high on the auteur as most seem to be, but since this feature is one that Quentin Tarantino deemed to be a rewatchable, our host had to give it a chance. Fortunately, this is not "The Night of a Thousand Cats", the inspiration for the Til Schweiger character's name from "Inglourious Basterds".

Being a fan of movies that have runtimes which tend to restrict spectacle, Russ has kind of found Christopher Nolan's recent attitude to be pretentious. With his protest over "Tenet" being released on streaming, our host thought that the idea of something being too cinematic was insulting to audiences' intelligence. If your narrative is strong enough, spectacle is secondary. Of course, that is the opinion of someone who aspires to be a screenwriter of small scale comedies. It has been suggested that direction is a skill that intimidates him.

Sam seems to carry far less cynicism than our host. Russ enjoyed "Dunkirk", but we know he is far more likely to knit pick this feature. His guest does a great job of just telling him to appreciate the experience despite what he deemed as a lack of plot. This is why the best episodes of this podcast has someone to keep our host on track and off of tangents.

But we all think that the American education system needs to place more of an emphasis and funding on the arts...right?

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.


Pinterest - The Thing (1982) [1000 x 1532]

Monday, November 6, 2023

ThePoeticCritic #Halloween Special: #Kaiju, #Vampires, Fear for the Winter Box Office & Swingers (1996)

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 143: ThePoeticCritic #Halloween Special: #Kaiju, #Vampires, Fear for the Winter Box Office

Eva expresses ThePoeticCritic's feelings about modern cinema

ThePoeticCritic #Halloween Special: #Kaiju, #Vampires, Fear for the Winter Box Office

Tuesday Oct 24, 2023

Help NinetyForChill: The #Podcast get away from paywalls by subscribing to "Ninety For Chill: The Podcast with CatBusRuss".

It would not be #SpookyMonth for "Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast" if ThePoeticCritic did not make her annual villainy felt. She has never been big for slasher movies, so it is Kaiju season. CatBusRuss explores her opinions on the late '70s "Godzilla" movies and admits to light Letterboxd stalking. He just needed to know why she watched "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula". If only Ed Wood could have kept Bela Lugosi clean...

As always when it comes to the CatBus's big sister, the conversation does devolve into a discussion about the current state of cinema. The two butt heads about "Wonka" and "Wish" again. How can she not respect the mere suggestion of an orange Hugh Grant and Alan Tudyk's hooved potential means box office success?

Before all of that, Russ attempts to get the annual trip through Ally's Accessories Shop on Etsy's Trash Feature Revue back on track with Danny Trejo versus an electrified ghost. "Reaper" also features Jake Busey and English treasure Vinnie Jones. It is a bad movie gamble our host cannot resist.

 

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Bonus 4: Swingers (1996) and a Scheduling Reminder

Eva is Money

Swingers (1996) and a Scheduling Reminder

Tuesday Nov 7, 2023

Help NinetyForChill: The #Podcast get away from paywalls by subscribing to "Ninety For Chill: The Podcast with CatBusRuss".

CatBusRussCatBusRuss wants to remind you that this podcast’s drop day is moving from every Tuesday to every Wednesday. But, he is not a fan of doing two minutes episodes to tell you to tune in next time.


So, our host returns to “Ally’s Accesories Shop on Etsy’s” Trash Feather Revue” and watched Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn’s break out film, “Swingers”. It is well regarded critically, but Russ saw the poster in every other men’s dorm room in the early noughties. Something must have been misinterpreted by the audience.

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.


Pinterest - Swingers 1996

Streaming Daylight Vampires & "The Return of Godzilla" (Godzilla 1985)

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss Episode 189: Streaming Daylight Vampires: Dracula Untold & V for Vengeance CatBusRuss...