2018

Cinema Spooktacular 2018: The Spookquel! – Vol. 1

Welcome to Cecily and A.Ron’s second annual Cinema Spooktacular! During the month of October, we like to watch scary movies, and then talk about them on a podcast. Perhaps you’d care to join? Stay awhile… stay FOREVER! Muahahahahaha!  This year we’re going to do multiple Spooktaculars in a (mostly failed) effort to get these out quicker. On this podcast, we discuss… 00:25:30 – Are We Not Cats?, 00:39:28 – The Endless, 00:53:42 – Mom and Dad, 00:57:54 – Hereditary 

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Empire Business – Studio Tour 2018

As we move out of the studio we’ve been in for the past 2 years, we thought we’d give a quick tour of our technical setup as well as all of the decorations and other stuff you don’t get to see in our usual videos. This space has served us well but the next studio will be bigger, better, and hopefully more professional.

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Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

Jim and A.Ron went to see Bad Times at the El Royale and give it mixed reviews. Writer/Director Drew Goddard throws a lot of slow, character and dialog driven set pieces at the audience, mixed up and out of order, until finishing the movie with a spasm of violence and action. Jim enjoyed the performances and the movie held his interest throughout, whereas I thought the ending didn’t do enough to justify the other two hours, and thought a lot of the characters were pretty thin for a dialog and character driven movie. But the film is stylish and slick enough that perhaps you’ll be able to forgive it’s flaws?

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Empire Business – State of the Empire 2018

It’s that time of the year again, the time just before our tax deadline where we open all the books (mostly because our accountant demands it). Join us for an in-depth look at the past, present, and future of the Bald Move as it stands in 2018.

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Mandy (2018)

Mandy is a film by Panos Cosmatos starring Nick Cage. It is both a slow burn, 70’s style horror film dipped in acid, and a gonzo Nick Cage action film. It continually suffers from being torn in these two very different directions. A.Ron dug it, Jim wants nothing to do with it. This film boasts near universal acclaim on Rotten Tomatoes and yet is a tough one  to wholeheartedly recommend. Please enjoy our spoiler free review and discussion of new trailers and upcoming films, but if you want to hear Jim and I argue about Mandy’s merits, you’ll have to be a Club Member!

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The Nun (2018)

Jim and A.Ron put on their brown pants tonight to go out and see The Nun, the latest installment in The Conjuring universe, but only one of us needed to. The film’s getting mixed reviews; and Jim worries that co-writer James Wan’s bag of tricks are getting played out and the movie suffers from inconsistent internal logic. Perhaps I’m the biggest wuss alive, but the movie got my hair standing up on the back of my neck fairly consistently. Your mileage may vary!

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The Little Stranger (2018)

Jim and I had high hopes for the Gothic horror film, The Little Stranger, thinking it would be an ultra atmospheric mash up of The Witch with Downton Abbey. Instead, we got a commentary on upper class angst during the 1940’s as their fortunes crumbled alongside their estates masquerading as a dull, drab little ghost story. At no point does the film ever manage to generate anything but mild disquiet and malaise. Which is a shame, because all the pieces were there for genuine horror. An interesting core idea, excellent cast, excellent location, and fantastic atmosphere that were all unfortunately squandered with disinterested filmmaking.

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BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Spike Lee has thrown a very well made, very funny, and very devastating bomb into American movie theaters with his latest joint, BlacKkKlansman. To mark the occasion, we’re not keeping our full review and discussion as a Club Member. Anyone who wants to hear this can. Will White America listen to the message we so desperately need to hear, or hit “snooze” and go back to sleep. What are we going to do about the resurfacing of explicit racism in our country, that has until recent years been hiding beneath the still waters of institutional racism? What will you do with friends and family who bemoan Black Lives Matter, or offer the limp rebuttal that “both sides are bad?”  As the movie asks, if not now, when, and if not you, who?

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Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Jim and A.Ron have seen the latest “how old is Tom Cruise again?!” installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise, “Fallout”, and it’s crazy. The plot around the absolutely bonkers stunt work is a bit thin, but the stunts themselves fully justify the movie. You can see ever dollar spent and bone broken literally up there on the screen, but it also must be said that these stunts are clinging desperately to the line from believable to unbelievable. And half the time they are careening over that line and land into Fast & Furious territory. Unless they can find an emotional core to build future episodes, this might be as good as a retro-futuristic spy thriller can get.

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Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again (2018)

Cecily and A.Ron have seen the sequel to one of their favorite movies, Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again, and we think if you’re a fan of the original, there is a lot for you to like here. It’s too damn bad the trailers spoiled a reveal that would have otherwise brought the house down, and the first half of the movie might have you worried a little bit. But by the time you hit the half way mark you’re going to laugh and cry so much who even cares what happened in the first act! There are tons of surprises and twists and crowd pleasing moment, the cast is having way too much fun, the big musical numbers are bright and colorful and kinetic… I could go on and on, but the bottom line is we left the movie with a big smile on our faces and red rims around our eyes content. Can’t wait for the Blu-Ray to come out so I can watch it a dozen more times.

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