- (22) Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024, Adam Wingard)-91, Theater Viewing
- (23) The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946, Tay Garnett), Tubi
- (24) Red Headed Stranger (1986, William D. Wittliff)-74, Grit TV
- (25) The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970, Sam Peckinpah)-100, Public Library
- (26) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934, Alfred Hitchcock)-100, Criterion Blu-ray
- (27) リング2, Ringu 2 (1999, Hideo Nakata)-75, Shudder
- (28) The Loreley’s Grasp (1973, Amando de Ossorio)-80, Tubi
- (29) They Live By Night (1948, Nicholas Ray)-93, Criterion Blu-ray
- (30) Deathstalker (1983, John Watson)-84, Shudder
- (31) The Killers (1946, Robert Siodmak)-95, Criterion Blu-ray
- (32) The Killers (1964, Don Siegel)-84, Criterion Blu-ray
- (33) Freeway (1996, Matthew Bright), Shudder/Tubi
Music Log 2024
Should I finally go for 200 albums? Eh…um…no. Hmm? Still no.
Top Albums So Far:
- Red Sails in the Sunset (1984, Public Library), Midnight Oil
- Diamonds and Pearls (1992, Public Library), Prince & The New Power Generation’
- Primitive Love (1985, Public Library), Miami Sound Machine
- Billy Idol (1982, Public Library), Billy Idol
- Bella Donna (1981, Public Library), Stevie Nicks
January:
- Rhythm Nation (1989, Public Library), Janet Jackson-8.5
- American Woman (1970, Public Library), The Guess Who-9.5
- Wildflowers (1994, Half-Price Books), Tom Petty-9.0
- Honky Château (1972, Public Library), Elton John-9.5
- All Four One (1982, Public Library), The Motels-9.0
- Once Twice Melody (2022, Public Library), Beach House-8.5
- Billy Idol (1982, Public Library), Billy Idol-10.0
February:
- (8) Undead (1968, Public Library), Ten Years After-9.5
- (9) The Future’s Void (2014, Public Library), Ema-9.5
- (10) Primitive Love (1985, Public Library), Miami Sound Machine-10.0
- (11) Diamonds and Pearls (1992, Public Library), Prince & The New Power Generation-10.0
- (12) Bella Donna (1981, Public Library), Stevie Nicks-10.0
- (13) Red Sails in the Sunset (1984, Public Library), Midnight Oil-10.0
- (14) First and Last and Always (1985, YouTube), The Sisters of Mercy-9.5
- (15) If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power (2021, Public Library/YouTube), Halsey-10.0
- (16) Groovin’ High (1956, Public Library), Dizzy Gillespie Big Band-8.5
- (17) Cornell 1964 (1964, Public Library), Charles Mingus and Eric Dolphy-9.5
March:
- (18) On and On (2003, Public Library), Jack Johnson-8.5
- (19) Bad (1987, Public Library), Michael Jackson-9.5
- (20) Marshall Tucker Band (1973, Public Library), Marshall Tucker Band-8.0
- (21) Back Home Again (1973, Public Library), John Denver-9.5
- (22) Desperado (1973, Barnes & Noble), Eagles-9.5
- (23) On Every Street (1991, Half-Price Books), Dire Straits-8.0
- (24) Punk & New Wave The Ultimate Collection (2018, Half-Price Books), Various-9.0
April:
- (25) This is Why (2023, Public Library), Paramore-9.0
- (26) Only God Was Above Us (2024, Public Library), Vampire Weekend-9.5
- (27) I Love You (2013, Public Library), The Neighborhood-9.0
Let’s Get Criterion
Recently I decided to go through my collection of Criterion films, a total number of which I can’t remember as I have lost track due to buying so many. It’s probably over a 150 at least. I haven’t viewed all of them yet either, and some of them have already been reviewed so a fresh perspective would be nice. I’ve also decided to do this after viewing several ones I purchased during Barnes & Noble’s 50% Criterion Sale. I hope they keep holding those sales again and again, and I am registered as a member of the Criterion website and follow them on Twitter. Here’s the list so far:
- Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970, horror/fantasy)
- Repo Man (1984, satire)
- I Married a Witch (1942, comedy/fantasy)
- Häxan (1922, horror movie/documentary)
- Onibaba (1964, Demon Hag)
- The Cremator (1969, Evil Incarnate)
- The Devil’s Backbone (2001, Spanish Ghosts)
- Design For Living (1933, Artists!)
- Rules Of The Game (1939, Rich People! The Help! Satire!)
- Foreign Correspondent (1940, Pre-War Spy Games)
- Detour (1945, Never Pick Up Strangers)
- Black Narcissus (1947, Nuns Go Crazy!)
- A Matter of Life and Death (1946, Trial For Your Life)
Horrorfest 2023 Presents: Little Shop of Horrors (1986, Frank Oz)
Don’t get me wrong, I adore the original Little Shop of Horrors, yet the musical remake/adaptation of the already existing musical take on the material is way more fun. This had one of the best casts for a 1980s movie, and it’s hilarious, offers up some great tunes, and has some nasty, gnarly moments too! Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve Martin, and Vincent Gardenia headline an all star cast that even has Bill Murray popping up in a cameo role. Not to mention Tichina Arnold, Michelle Weeks, and Tisha Campbell as the trio of singers who often sing out what is about to happen in-between parts of the movie. I loved all of the songs in this movie, however Steve Martin’s Dentist song is my personal favorite. It’s so utterly deranged!
Since I own the SE Blu-ray that came out with plenty of bonus features I’ve seen the director’s preferred ending, and that conclusion is outrageous, sad, and very 1950s monster movie. The theatrical ending hints at a sequel, which never happened, probably due to underwhelming box office. Since then it has become a cult classic, and I’m glad that I found my copy at Barnes & Noble. I plan to hold on to it and watch it again soon. Especially to marvel at the special effects again, as Audrey II is one of a kind! I’ll always hear it demanding to be fed in my nightmares. Thus I finally conclude Horrorfest 2023, on to Horrorfest 2024. Keep on watching horror movies and look out for any suspicious plants. Cheers!
Let’s Get Criterion/Horrorfest 2023 Presents: Targets (1968, Peter Bogdanovich)
Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets is at times hard to watch, particularly since we know that violence in America really hasn’t changed at all since film’s release. Whether or not the movie is anti-gun is left up to the viewer to decide, yet I feel this works best as a meta commentary on cinema and if the movies contribute to violence as much as easy access to firearms do. Some feel it’s the guns, yet other countries have just as much gun access as America does and far less public shootings. Perhaps it’s the people, and Bogdanovich’s classic doesn’t offer up any easy answers to the trouble questions it presents. Just a satisfying conclusion that felt straight out of a western, or even a horror movie. Very fitting that the star of this movie is Boris Karloff, who literally plays himself or a movie version of him at least. How theatrical, the actor wistfully remarking on his past while also quitting the business because he’s sick and tired of the movies he’s been making.
Tim O’Kelly though is the real star of the movie, and his lone gunman character is terrifying since we don’t know his motives or why he begins killing people. The lone fanatic who starts a mass killing spree is far scarier to me than any terrorist, particularly since with a terrorist you know their motivations, or can guess at them. I’m reminded of when a man put bombs in mail boxes years back, and when caught he didn’t offer up any particular reasons for doing such a horrible thing. Very odd that Bogdanvoich’s first movie wasn’t received critically at least, and it bombed too at the box office. Too bad, as it’s one of the best movies from 1968, and it left a stark impression upon me after I watched it back in November. Some may argue this isn’t a horror movie, yet I disagree, and I look forward to exploring more of Peter Bogdanvoich’s movies. Shot out to Criterion for the Blu-ray release, which looks great.
Days of the Week
Day rankings:
Thursday
Friday
Sunday
Saturday
Wednesday
Monday
Tuesday
I have spoken. Thursdays are Friday’s only more chill, also you usually have sports and movies coming out on that day. Friday you get paid, yey weekend, Sunday funday forever hurray! Saturday is still good, same with Wednesday, middle of the week finally. Monday gets all the hate but at least MNF is a thing, Tuesday has no feel. Seinfeld was right, also you can eat tacos any day of the week.
Let’s Get Criterion/Horrorfest 2023 Presents: キュア, Kyua aka Cure (1997, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
I’ll admit there much to admire about キュア, Kyua aka Cure, and a lot of the movie was very creepy, with the rest of the movie retaining an eerie quality that causes events to not let your brain. On the other hand I’m not sure I understood the last act of the movie, and that’s my fault. Still I’ll have to ask people what it was about, and that results in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 1997 effort getting lower marks from me than it should. Blame the viewer, not the artist, yet on the other hand shouldn’t the artist not confuse the viewer so much at times? I doubt I’ll revisit this one anytime soon, but I will offer up praise for Koji Yakusho’s world wary, always exhausted detective who is confronted with pure evil. I suppose we don’t really believe in evil until we encounter it in different forms, and also in people. The concept seems very much the subject of books and well, movies, yet in real life most of the time things aren’t so clear and obvious. Then you see something like murder, or mass genocide, or people being cruel to their fellow persons, and you realize evil does exist. Sometimes things are rather cut and dried.
On the other hand, the main villain of the movie seems to have this charismatic mind Jedi power grip on people that he refuses to let go of, because it makes him into a bigger man when he’s in fact a little one. Masato Hagiwarais great in that role, offering up this casual indifference to the crimes he may or may not be committing. Thanks to this movie I’ll never hear a lighter going off the same way again, and I do remember vividly the ending despite not being sure if I was seeing what the Wikipedia page for this movie tells me I was viewing. Maybe I’ll re-watch this movie down the road, perhaps not, and for now I prefer Kurosawa’s 回路, Kairo; Circuit aka Pulse more, and find that one a bit more satisfying.
Horrorfest 2023 Presents: The Return of Count Yorga (1971, Bob Kelljan)
Not wanting to be outdone by Hammer Studios and others, Bob Kelljan and company felt compelled to bring about the return of the legendary Count Yorga. He’s still a vampire, he’s still hungry, and he’s still causing trouble because folks refuse to believe he’s a vampire! Also still played by Robert Quarry, a part I think he was born to play. Mariette Hartley, Yvonne Wilder and Roger Perry round out the main group of victims I mean cast members, Philip Frame is super creepy as Tommy, and even Craig T. Nelson makes an appearance as a cop in a very early film role. Even though I think the first one is better I still enjoyed this sequel, and I dug how they attempted to make certain elements different, which is something all sequels must attempt to be successful in my very humble opinion.
Although I guess the finale remained a bit too close to the first one, I did love the final shot and found it surprisingly eerie. I’m guessing these movies have a high re-watch factor, and I’ll probably see both movies again when I’m in the mood for 1970s vampire camp goodness. Too bad they never made a third one, I read what the concept was supposed to be and it would have been marvelous. Oh well.
Horrorfest 2023 Presents: Count Yorga, Vampire (1970, Bob Kelljan)
About a year or two ago I bought the Arrow Films Video boxset of both Count Yorga movies, and being me I finally watched them last Horrorfest around Halloween. Or maybe the day of Halloween, I can’t remember exactly. Robert Quarry is fantastic in the title role, pretending to be your average rich guy when in fact he’s an old vampire preying upon the people of Los Angeles. Even though Hammer Studios was doing vampire movies at the same time, I think I enjoy the Count Yorga movies as much as some of those. The first one is a well paced, fun and thrilling horror adventure movie that doesn’t bother with vampire lore or rules. You just have the heroes against ancient evil, and that’s all you need here.
Even though Count Yorga, Vampire doesn’t offer up much beyond those visceral thrills, it does help bring the vampire movie into the modern day, something that Hammer Studios gave into and did also. I bet I would have loved seeing this in a drive in movie theater, and being a 1970s horror movie it received cuts to get a more favorable rating. Imagine what cinema would be like if the MPAA didn’t exist, we would all be better off. Oh and the ending has considerable bite, ha ha! I’ll show myself out.
Horrorfest 2023 Presents: Ghostbusters (1984, Ivan Reitman)
While I don’t love Ghostbusters as much as others do I still bought the steel book Blu-ray copy that Best Buy had back when they used to sell movies. Which only ended this year, but it feels like it happened years ago, and it’s sad but oh well. So I own the movie, and I don’t have to care if it’s on streaming or if anyone airs it and cuts out all the funny jokes that aren’t appropriate or whatever. The 1980s had no filters, and Ghostbusters reflects that in so many hilarious ways. I’m not easily offended so I don’t mind, but hey I was born in the 1980s. Ivan Reitman is no longer with us, yet he gave the world one of the funniest comedies of the 1980s. Some argue of all time, but I’m not one of those people. I find the last act to be too effects heavy even if it has some great one liners and jokes. Half the movie is just the Ghostbusters wandering around New York City capturing spirits, hence why I feel the animated TV show that was made later on fits this concept much better. Yes I’ve seen the second movie and the all female 2016 one, and I’ll probably watch the last two at some point.
Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson are the four members of a group of guys who decide to fight ghosts and make as much money off it as possible. Sigourney Weaver is the love interest who catches Murray’s eye, and Annie Potts and Rick Moranis are the secondary cast members. That’s a pretty great group right there, along with the snappy memorable lines, Slimmer popping up, and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, who I would love to see fight Godzilla or King Kong. As I noted, I prefer the first half of the movie to the second, and honestly when it comes to 80s Murray comedies I prefer Stripes a bit more anyways. Still Ghostbusters is fun, it’s funny, and so far none of the sequels quite managed to capture the lightening in a bottle aspects of the original.
I believe this was one of my viewings for Halloween, or at least around Halloween, as I had to work. I don’t take it off every year like I used to, which is too bad. Maybe I’m getting old, or the holiday doesn’t hold as much relevance for me as it used to. Nah I was just tired from moving in September, I can’t wait for next year! Also the song from this movie is a gas even if it is overplayed a lot every Halloween season at bars.
Horrorfest 2023 Presents: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978, Philip Kaufman)
Even though I’ve seen it twice and will probably view it again, I’ve never reviewed Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). I wrote a review of the original that has since been lost due to the site I posted it on going down years ago, so I’ll have to do a write up for that one as well. I have not seen the other remakes, still I love the first two versions of a classic story that has since been used in everything from comedy to horror and sci-fi. When I was younger and foolish my friends and I would always try to see who could stay awake the longest, yet in Philip Kaufman’s creepy sci-fi horror classic going to sleep is deadly. Very deadly. Who needs Freddy when you have pod people trying to replace you as you sleep? Creepy doesn’t quite cover such events.
Our hero is played by Donald Sutherland, and he’s a health inspector in San Francisco. Slowly but surely him, his friends (Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright) and a psychiatrist (Leonard Nimoy) all realize that their friends, neighbors, and countless others are being systematically replaced. Where as the original 1956 masterpiece reflected fears of communism and the other, this 1970s one is about contamination and disease, plus 1970s fear of government which after Vietnam and Watergate was well founded, or at least that’s what I got out of the movie. One of my favorite parts is when Sutherland and Adams encounter a still frenzied Kevin McCarthy in what is a clear nod to the original. This is how you do a remake: tweak the original formula, offer up your own twist, and make sure you have a great cast, the last part which helps.
I’m still not sure this is better than the original, existing more as an equal or peer. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one of the best horror movies ever made, as is the original, and the ending is beyond famous at this point. “Don’t go to sleep! Pod people will replace me!” That’s a variation on an old Simpsons joke, but hey Simpsons always do it first.
Rant of the Day: We Like Winners
Sorry folks, but we love winners. We like em. Fuck the lovable losers, it’s more fun to root for a winner. Always. It’s just the way it is, if a team you like flames out in the playoffs or doesn’t even go each year, folks lose interest. I salute the die hard fans, yet sometimes the horrible truth is that cutting bait and checking out when things hit rock bottom is often the right call. Those in charge won’t make necessary moves to right the ship if the fans keep showing up to games and buying gear.
Cowboys fans if you want to see another Super Bowl appearance in your life time, stop going to games and stop buying merchandise. Cubs fans actually staged a mini revolt for a while and it resulted in a 2016 World Series win, same goes for the Chiefs and it laid the foundation for a long overdue championship as well. You’re not being a fair weather fan, you’re demanding that the team you give your time, money and attention to produce results.
Vince Lombardi said it best, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” Sorry but it’s true, although I have enjoyed team seasons where they didn’t win it all, yet produced memories I’ll never forget. After all, I keep rooting for the Sharks and the Suns and those bums never win anything that matters.
Down The Rabbit Hole 
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