Join John Pavlich of Sofa Dogs as I join him and Jimmy B to talk about The Long Kiss Goodnight. It’s a Shane Black thriller about mommies and memories set at Christmas, so it’s perfect for April of 2018, AKA the Year With No Spring.
We’re watching it on various devices. Cue up the first frame of black after the studio logo.
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Join John Pavlich of Sofa Dogs as I join him to talk about The Truman Show. We love the film and praise nearly every aspect of it. I regard it as a nearly perfect film and try to rewrite it as a comedy. We muse about the different levels of meaning, whether or not Truman is crazy (John: it’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you; me: oh he’s nuts) and why a TV studio with its own ocean doesn’t have any working boats. We wax poetical about the art design, writing, and cast, if not the acting (me vs Laura Linney; John vs Jim Carey). It’s a great film that speaks to us personally. After all: all the world’s a stage and all the people merely players. You can tell people I said that. I don’t think anyone has made that observation before. We hardly say word one about director Peter Weir, so here it is: he’s great.
On a related note: please consider reaching out to John and helping him get thru some medical and personal difficulties.
We’re watching it on Netflix and DVD. Cue up the first frame of black after the studio logo.
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Join John Pavlich of Sofa Dogs as I join him to talk about Groundhog Day. We praise the acting, the plotting, and the locations. We compare it to Edge of Tomorrow, Goethe’s Faust, Scrooged, and falling in love. I explain my head canon that makes it all work for me. And we try to decide what would make it better in general.
We’re watching streaming versions . Cue up the first frame of black after the Columbia logo.
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Join John Pavlich of Sofa Dogs as I (and some spoooky devil dogs) join him and together we wax poetical about George Romero and his zombie film, the one that all zombie films afterward use as a template.
We discuss the enduring format of the siege picture, the race and gender issues, the acting, the direction, the difference between zombies and ghouls (ghouls rule, zombies drool), and of course whether Harry & Helen are Homer & Marge Simpson or Thurston Howell III & Lovey (me: both; John: neither).
We compare it to all the other zombie movies, disaster movies, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. We discuss the social commentary, the social impact, and social media. Bonus: I explain women’s suffrage, altho frankly everyone should know about it already from the rockin’est School House Rock song of all time.
We’re watching streaming versions (great HD one on YouTube). Cue up the first frame before the title-card-on-the-road opening.
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Join me as I join John Pavlich of Sofa Dogs for Paul Verhoeven’s shoot-em-up classic (no not that one, and no not that one–okay he made a LOT of shoot-em-ups) RoboCop. This is the 1987 one, not the remake that is definitely terrible even tho we didn’t see it.
It’s the heartwarming tale of a simple law enforcement officer caught in the strange machinations of a major corporation and finding love, laughter, and many, many bullets. We discuss its relevance to today (timely!), it’s similarity to traditional stories (Frankenstein, Pinocchio, and Showgirls), and how close this came to being a terrible movie.
We’re watching the Blu-ray. Cue up the first frame of black after the Orion Studios logo fades and start with the countdown.
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Join me as I join John Pavlich of Sofa Dogs for a dive into the second Avengers film. We compare it to other Marvel films, Frankenstein, and Barb Wire. We praise nearly every part of it but come out feeling like it largely missed the mark.
We’re watching the Blu-ray. Cue up the first frame of black after the Marvel Studios logo fades and start with the countdown.
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John Pavlich and I open up J J Abrams’ mystery box and like what we see, if only because it reminds us so much of all the films we loved from our childhood. We heap praise all over the place, repeated forgive it its sins and excesses, and try to nitpick anachronisms.
We compare it to other J J Abrams films, Steven Spielberg films, The Explorers, The Goonies, Aliens, and Alf.
Bonus: we manage to keep it clean.
We’re watching the Blu-ray. Start right after the Paramount logo on the countdown.
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