I don’t know why I never got around to seeing the THE CROW sequel from the director of SIX-STRING SAMURAI. Always was curious. Still took me 19 years. Lance Mungia’s THE CROW: WICKED PRAYER, just like the previous one, was meant for theaters, but I think it only played somewhere around here? Wiki(dprayer)pedia says its theatrical run was only in Seattle and only for one week, and I do remember seeing an ad for it and being confused, but I was thinking it was in Eastern Washington. Anyway, I didn’t go.
URBAN LEGEND (1998) is, to my mind, one of the most “obviously we’re making this because of the success of SCREAM” horror movies that exists. It’s another young-people-whodunit-slasher, with a similarly constituted cast of pretty young movie and TV stars, but instead of killings inspired by horror movie tropes, these ones are based on popular urban myths. At the time I think I took it as dumb but pretty enjoyable, which is also how I feel about it now, and about many non-classic slasher movies. Like most of them it benefits from age – it’s a time capsule now rather than the latest the genre has to offer, so we have different expectations for it. (read the rest of this shit…)
A RETURN TO SALEM’S LOT is Larry Cohen’s weirdo theatrically-released sort-of-sequel to Tobe Hooper’s TV mini-series of the Stephen King book. But really it just takes the location – the tiny town of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine – and the idea of doing a vampire story there. It’s not the same vampire or the same type of vampire. It doesn’t connect, from what I remember. But I like that.
Joe Weber (Cohen’s muse Michael Moriarty) is an anthropologist working on a CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST type documentary when he finds he has to come home to look after his troublemaking teenage son Jeremy (one-time actor Ricky Addison Reed, who IMDb claims was cast to play Robin in Tim Burton’s BATMAN in scenes that were never filmed). Joe brings his son to the old, recently-inherited fixer-upper in his birth-town of Salem’s Lot (as some but not all abbreviate it). (read the rest of this shit…)
Before Riverdale, before the Marvel Cinematic Universe, before Christopher Nolan Batman, before 9-11 even, there was a different type of comic book movie: JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS. Inspired by the Archie comic book and Hanna-Barbera cartoon, writer/directors Harry Elfont & Deborah Kaplan told a goofy version of the little-rock-‘n-roll-band-tested-by-overnight-superstardom story.
Actually maybe we should forget about comics and consider this timeline: it was a year before American Idol started. The Spice Girls had packed it up the year before. NSYNC and Backstreet Boys were still popular. The movie seems to offer the Pussycats as a refreshing alternative for teenage girls to obsess over instead of boy bands, but it should be noted that Destiny’s Child, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Brandy, Madonna, Mary J. Blige, Pink, and Aaliyah (plus Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson) all had hits that year. But I guess the Pussycats do stand out by playing instruments. Their songs are kind of sassy pop punk, not good in my opinion but not as intolerable as some in-movie music. (read the rest of this shit…)
From the director of PUNISHER #2 and the star of PUNISHER #3 comes a solid, entertaining period gangster movie. It’s a biopic of Danny Greene, an Irish American union president, gang enforcer and dodger of car bombs in Cleveland, Ohio circa early ’60s through late ’70s. If it had been done as two separate movies maybe it would’ve got an arthouse release and some critical respect, but they did it as one so it was barely released by Anchor Bay and nobody ever heard of it. (read the rest of this shit…)
What this movie is about is pie fucking. There is a kid who fucks a pie in it. There is also a guy who fucks a grapefruit apparently but you don’t see that. But this guy fucks a pie.
The version I saw is the unrated DVD, which I guess has extra pie fucking footage. in the original apparently it was a standing up with the pie position, wheras here it is a missionary position with the kid mounting the pie. The cover of the unrated DVD shows all the young gals on the cover but don’t be fooled, none of them do any pie fucking in the movie, it is only this one guy. (read the rest of this shit…)
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Recent commentary and jibber-jabber
Muh on Courage Under Fire: “I don’t miss em, they were sometimes good but often just felt like watching tv. We have shows doing the…” Jul 22, 16:08
Tim Bobo on Courage Under Fire: “Yep. The middlebrow,, mid budget star vehicle, adult drama/potboiler has all but disappeared from cinemas.” Jul 22, 15:16
Mr. Subtlety on Courage Under Fire: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen COURAGE UNDER FIRE but I did watch 1999’s similarly-coded THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER recently, and…” Jul 22, 06:33
Hostile 18 on Striptease: “The new TV series R. J. DECKER is inspired by Hiaasen’s “Double Whammy.” Pretty good. Season 1 is available and…” Jul 22, 05:05
pegsman on Courage Under Fire: “I admit I haven’t seen this one. Much for the same reasons Vern mentions. And after seeing A FEW GOOD…” Jul 21, 22:08
Tim Bobo on Courage Under Fire: “Both Damon and Affleck had wild skyrockets in the 90s. Damon from School Ties and Geronimo to Oscar winning Star…” Jul 21, 18:06
grimgrinningchris on American Beauty: “I’m sure Vern would say “You’re welcome.”” Jul 21, 17:07
Franchise Fred on Courage Under Fire: “She directed What Happens Later too, her second directorial film! And it’s pretty good. She also did Diane English’s remake…” Jul 21, 14:08
grimgrinningchris on Courage Under Fire: “Ha! GLORY DAZE… His whole part in that consisting entirely of being a guy at a party wearing a “I…” Jul 21, 13:46
CJ Holden on Courage Under Fire: “Meg Ryan’s last actual hit was KATE & LEOPOLD*, which was also her last “Meg Ryan movie”. I feel like…” Jul 21, 10:35
Fergus mac Róich on Death Wish II: ““Death Wish” is such a fun vigilantism series, but a recent watch once again reminded me how cartoonish this “genre”…” Jul 21, 09:40
Bob Vila on Courage Under Fire: “Tim Bobo – seems like it was a combination of the fairly insane plastic surgery she got (as referenced by…” Jul 21, 09:30
Rabarbar on Source Code: “This film felt like a (slightly) more thoughtful rewrite of “Déjà vu” (not Machulski’s classic ’89 comedy, but a 2006…” Jul 21, 06:58
KayKay on Courage Under Fire: “Meg Ryan was in a fairly decent rom com called What Happens Later in 2023 with David Duchovny. Wish she…” Jul 21, 05:44
Ben Railton on Courage Under Fire: “I hear you on the complete lack of the Iraqi perspective or community or stories, and I do think Zwick…” Jul 21, 05:43
URBAN LEGEND (1998) is, to my mind, one of the most “obviously we’re making this because of the success of 
A RETURN TO SALEM’S LOT is Larry Cohen’s weirdo theatrically-released sort-of-sequel to Tobe Hooper’s TV mini-series of the Stephen King book. But really it just takes the location – the tiny town of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine – and the idea of doing a vampire story there. It’s not the same vampire or the same type of vampire. It doesn’t connect, from what I remember. But I like that.
Before 
From the director of 
What this movie is about is pie fucking. There is a kid who fucks a pie in it. There is also a guy who fucks a grapefruit apparently but you don’t see that. But this guy fucks a pie.
