Monday, July 29, 2024

"The Beekeeper" or "John Wick" If It Was Produced by Roger Corman

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 166: The Beekeeper (2024)

Eva the Queen Kitty will protect the hive

No laptop, no #rewindwednesday.

CatBusRuss is coming at you with a new movie review for another
movie that was released in the last year.

This week, he watched Jason Statham in “The Beekeeper”.

It is essentially a solo action hero flick for the Brit
which yells at you about what they did wrong with “Expend4bles”
and how capitalist are awful once they inevitably sell out.

Both messages we can all get behind thanks to British actors
heading to Boston for a paycheck.

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 169: Hail to the #Bmovie King: #RogerCorman with ThePoeticCritic

Eva the Queen Kitty enthused as a Corman actor

CatBusRuss thought about calling the episode “Celebrating Roger Corman-I-May”,
but then ThePoeticCritic corrected him by explaining he had left his studio, New World Pictures,
by the time they first translated “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”.

But if Roger Corman was not the producing legend who founded that distributor and AIP,
would we even have anime in the States?

Those cheap Streamline Pictures dubs had to find inspiration somewhere.

Our host and his big sister talk about the influence that Corman had on independent cinema
and how that led to the careers of at least two auteurs with Best Director Oscars
(Ron Howard and James Cameron). With his recent passing,
the two also discuss how cinema will now fair without the continuation of the opportunities
he was providing to young filmmakers.

Is “Resist the Disney machine” is all they can offer?

The Sweet, The Sour, and the Phantasm Review

Today was one of those sweet and sour ones. It was sweet that my supervising team figured out how to help the employees who guilt tripped me into working overtime, despite I had to stay long enough to determine if the work load would be too grand for three people to handle. I should be ecstatic about a victory over protocol, but there is the sour. That being the fact I spent more on cat treats than I did on my own groceries. Honestly, pleasing that little furball makes me happy on its own, provided she does not wake me whining for them.

Expenditures for 9/9/11 just remind me that I'm broke, without credit (I got to show some discipline, by not activating the fresh plastic) until my next paycheck. I should be fine after that minus the Cubs tickets I want to pick up. So I should be thinking of the last nights at Wrigley, but that's the problem. They are the last games until March 2012. What is there to do in Peoria to have fun with the spare coin that comes with the change of the season? Rivermen season tickets is impractical working second shift. Oh the price of being a cynic. Can never appreciate the little things.

Or maybe I just think the sweet and sour is bull shit. Never cared for most Asian foods when I come to think of it. I prefer spicy.

Slow news day, and watching the Saints game and a movie would have kept me up too late. If I wouldn't have fried (technically steamed my DVR), I'd at least have wrestling to go on about. To make this blog worthwhile, I guess I better dig up a bad movie review I wrote on some scratch paper at work.

Maybe, not a bad movie. My bitching about "Surf Nazis Must Die" will not accomplish anything. It is the garbage that the mainstream that you must be warned about, and I don't have any of those lying about. How about "Phantasm?" That seems an essay which will be more fun to type than another socialist blog. At least at this hour.

Perhaps the most under appreciated horror franchise is "Phantasm." It had as many sequels as most from the late 70s-early 80s boom, but this critic was only aware of the films through "USA Up All Night." Being associated with the censored soft core made it so I had no interest in the series history until the notoriety of it director's Bruce Campbell classic, "Bubba Ho-Tep." This Campbell connection and there being no little dolls or undersized monsters (at least that I was aware of), this is the kind of spooky that I should not skip.

http://shitmoviefest.blogspot.ca/2012/09/best-tall-man-phantasm-art-from-around.html
Shit Movie Fest
Weird things have been happening at the local funeral home since Tommy's apparent suicide, or at least young Michael thinks so. The lonely teenager who virtually clings to his older brother Jody swears that he is being stalked by the giant funeral director and his zombie dwarfs. Obviously, he is telling the truth about this evil Tall Man, and after successfully convincing his brother and their best friend, Reggie The Ice Cream Man, they set out to solve the mystery that may even involve their parents, and all of the recently deceased.

"Phantasm" is a brilliant translation of a bad dream. That is David Lynch's goal, but auteur and "Beast Master" helmer Don Coscarelli makes the chaotic nature of a dream make sense. Honestly, without additional sequels, this film make no sense, but it comes to a clear conclusion, something we always hope for when we wake up.

There are some brilliant moments presented by Coscarelli, most notably the the scenes in the crypt and that his presentation of mayhem is as restrained as "John Carpenter's Halloween." Again, what makes the film unique is that it successfully throws creepy concepts together and gives our protagonist a chance to survive. This could have been the first and only horror movie that could have had a successful NES translation.

"Phantasm" is a simple horror film that delivers shocks, and can be appreciated by anyone with and overly active imagination. With its nightmarish environment and relative lack of gore, it could make a great double feature with "Inception." This is a rare mind bender in an American genre and era that kept horror way to simple.

Three Days of @C2E2 2024: Alien Day, Hannibal Reunion, James 'Lightning' Pax

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Season 4 - Bonus 1: C2E2 2024: Alien Day

I still think that I am the only Captain N: The Gamemaster Cosplayer

CatBusRuss has arrived at C2E2, and he is surviving. He is doing his best to vacation, but like anything you plan out, it is more hustle than relaxation. It was a fun day because 4.26 is “Alien Day”. Tom Skerritt and Veronica Cartwright provided a great panel about the 45 year-old film. Celebration was the theme of the day as Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes showed their respect to their audience that owes their sense of humor to “Clerks” a movie that is celebrating its 30th Anniversary.

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Season 4 - Bonus 2: @C2E2 2024: ThePoeticCritic, Hannibal, Rick and Morty

And I have been to six of the 16 C2E2s

CatBusRuss had a fascinating day at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo.

He got the slap in the face about how far behind he was on the Adult Swim classic, “Rick and Morty”.

And the gut punch of how great “Hannibal” sounds when he went to the Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy panel.

Then it got serious after hours with Nerdlesque and Cosplay Karaoke.

It becomes more intense when ThePoeticCritic interjects herself on the pod.

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 167: @C2E2 2024 Conclusion

Eva the Queen Kitty with her spoils

CatBusRuss is still exhausted from the trip to Chicago, but day three was worth the physical toll. He got to argue for one of his favorite “Alien” movies with Channel Awesome. The acting insights of Maya Hawke were quite impressive. But the biggest thrill may have been meeting James Pax. Lighting from “Big Trouble in Little China” had podcast advise. How can you top that?

90-Minute Netflix: Once Upon a Time in Venice...Bruno Was Way More Chilled


It is a rare night. I am actually considering calling for delivery. Sadly, all my favorite take out is wrestler hair greasy. Being a hotel front desk agent frowns on my clothes looking like I had just headlocked Bret Hart.

Roman ruined everything. His apparent admiration of Hart lead me to question Bret's style in the 90's. If anything, that should be taken as a good prognosis in his current cancer bout. If televised wrestling could not thrive with him, neither shall leukemia.

Hair and hunger do not mix. That seems like a great way to transition to a Bruce Willis straight-to-DVD feature, "Once Upon a Time in Venice" (beach).


Steve Ford (Willis) is a disgraced cop turned private investigator who is trying to make ends meet taking on any ridiculous job. His range of work spans from making his protege John (Thomas Middleditch) survey an ashamed sex addict to tracking down an aspiring, obscene Banksy enthusiast that has been tagging a crooked real estate agent's property. He seems to also lack maturity since he is considers nude skateboarding an acceptable escape method, but makes up for that by taking care of the down and out Dave (John Goodman) and his sister's family as her husband is off somewhere trying to find himself. As long as he can watch his niece's dog during the day, everything is fine.

Needless to say, when his sister's place is ransacked by a couple of addicts who fence the gains and dog to their dealer Spider (Jason Mamoa), Steve's life will go out of control. Spider seems cool, perhaps too cool because his girlfriend had the nerve to decide to run off with the dog and a case of his cocaine. It appears everybody needs to get their lives in order and it is up to Steve to do it. This is the only way to get the pooch back and leave Venice a place with some sensibility.

"Once Upon a Time in Venice" is amusing until you stop and think about it. The story ends up working out, but is a mess until the third act. You are impressed that all the loose events resolve rather smoothly, but aside from some fun performances, you spend the first two acts getting fed up with the wacky scenarios that are constantly introduced and yearn for a cohesive story.

The movie starts with misdirecting you into thinking that Middleditch will be your lead. Having been given nothing to do, he is virtually replaced by Goodman. Willis is fun, but it is John McClane as the cocky hero the entire film who is unaffected by any situation's levity. As for the rest of the performances, you may get a good scene from an actor, but the ridiculous set up for what are primarily cameos is migraine inducing.

Mark Cullen's directing ability is not any more adequate than his and his brothers writing. He seems to think that Kevin Smith's method of filming comedy can apply to action, hence there is none. You are surprised that they even took the time to allow for gun play because it cannot be framed by this talent.

I could not find out the budget of this film, but I am thinking that it all went to get Bruce Willis since these are also the writers of "Cop Out." That film left us with a Willis and Kevin Smith Feud. "Cop Out" only has one subplot. You are telling me that Willis wanted his character to be drawn and quartered across that film, and that is the he hated filming that was because Smith said no.

"Once Upon a Time in Venice" is funny but it is not a movie. It is a series of "Saturday Night Live" sketches at best. The problem with that is the Cullen Brothers fail to realize that show requires all new characters for each sketch. Venice Beach is not "Dante's Inferno," and if Willis is not required to show more emotion than he offered in "The Expendables" you have dog poo without any poo jokes.




teaser-trailer.com

AnimeRuss.blogspot.com


Sunday, July 28, 2024

"The Princess Bride (with HappyBeebsMeowMeow)" and "The Kill Room", "Hobbs & Shaw", and "Fast 1"

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 163: The Princess Bride vs. HappyBeebsMeowMeow

Eva the Queen Kitty > The Princess Bride

HappyBeebsMeowMeow (or just Beebs) returns to the podcast to discuss another one of her favorite movies, "The Princess Bride". A movie with Christopher Guest and Andre the Giant, how could CatBusRuss resist?

Ninety For Chill's guest said this was a feature that she knew so well, that she did not require a rewatch. To make sure everyone was in the right headspace, CatBusRuss had the feature running as the two discussed this classic comedy. After the two gush over the brilliance of Rob Reiner's second classic (Russ has not seen "Stand By Me" or "The Sure Thing", but both fit the runtime parameters of the podcast.) they essentially enjoy a virtual viewing of the film. Please do not judge our host too harshly for his attempts to do the dialogue justice.

Russ and Beebs do their best to really understand the genius of this family classic. As Joel Siegel stated, "This is Walt Disney meets Monty Python". That is short changing the efforts of the son of Mel Brooks's original comedy partner, Carl Reiner. "The Princess Bride" is Mel Brooks's humor meets William Goldman's understanding of what makes a perfect screenplay. If Rob Reiner had more features under his belt when he directed this, he may have had the skill to make the best film of all time. The more Russ has seen it, the better it gets. Does Beebs agree?

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 165: “The Kill Room” + The Best & Worst of “Fast & Furious”

Eva wants to eats popcorn, quit taking notes Russ

CatBusRuss was left to explore what might entice an audience to his podcast.

This led him to the recent Uma Thurman/Samuel L Jackson movie “The Kill Room”.

It's a comedy of errors about art dealing and money laundering.

That maybe too indie a genre to investigate.

To find out whether or not the “Fast & Furious” franchise met the podcast parameters.

That is a concept for the masses.

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...