Movies

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 

Read More

The Rock (1996) – Sequel Pitch

It’s fair to say that The Rock is a great action movie.  That’s why we decided that our first rewrite should be a sequel rather than a true remake of the original film.  Trust us, it’s better this way.  Though maybe don’t trust us too much because the sequel we came up with is called The Clock… and that’s probably the smartest thing about it.

Read More

The Rock (1996)

Welcome to The Rock, and welcome to the first review of Super Serious Film Fest’s “Season of the Cage”.  Released in 1996, this modern classic stands as one of Nic Cage’s, as well as Michael Bay’s, finest action movies.  It’s not quite the level of Caginess you’re probably looking for but the Season of the Cage is just warming up.  Join us next week for The Weather Man.

Read More

JFK (1991)

Special thanks to returning commissioner Sean Ray for having us devote a few hours to Oliver Stone’s 1991 political thriller, JFK. The film is a weird duck. In our opinion, the movie is a work of pure flim-flam. However, it’s also one of my favorite movies to watch, because it’s a really well done, and interesting piece of flim-flam that belies it’s crazy long run time and features Oliver Stone using every last ounce of his considerable film-making skill to confuse, beguile and bedazzle his audience. This movie is so star studded that few films are capable of approaching it on acting wattage alone. The sound track by John Williams hits all the right notes, from sweaty, cigarette-hazed and mentally crazed late night conspiracy theories to soaring patriotic hymns. Aside from it being, you know, mostly fiction, we’re also uncomfortable with the Grand Gay Conspiracy angle that’s being pushed. But it also sparks a lot of conversation about conspiracies in general, America’s uncomfortable relationship with Vietnam and the truth, and just why the hell is material related to the JFK assassination still classified, anyway?

Read More

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?

Read More

Unforgiven (1992)

Thanks to Sean Ray for commissioning the classic 1992 western, “Unforgiven”.  Directed by and starring a perfectly-aged Clint Eastwood, the story has him reconciling the man he was in his drunken youth with the man he wants to be, and more importantly, the man his dead wife would have him be.  Where does he come down on it?  It’s a classic so you probably already know but one of us didn’t and the discussion is interesting.

Read More

Laura (1944)

Special thanks to Sarah Sugas for commissioning 1944’s Laura, a film-noir set around a hard boiled detective attempting to solve the mystery other murder of a remarkable young woman. 

Read More

The Thing (1982)

Special thanks once again to Sean Ray for commissioning thus podcast for the 1982 John Carpenter sci-fi/horror classic, The Thing. The location, sense of isolation and paranoia, and atmosphere of dread this film is able to generate is incredible. Kurt Russel is iconic in his role as everyman bad*ss. And the gruesome, disturbing practical effects work still effectively sells the horrific alien action.

Read More

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!

Read More

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!

Read More