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#rob lowe with the saxophone is killing me
geffenrecords · 1 year
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oh what the fuck did they like drag everyone from the breakfast club to the st elmos fire set. why are all you guys here
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lu-undy · 3 years
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Chapter 83 - SBT
Here it is!
"The tea's the same…" 
Mundy's fingers were still shaking on the tea cup. Caroline gave a short chuckle. 
"Of course it is. Your father likes it as much as he hates to change his habits, eh, Mike?" 
"Guess so." Mike answered. 
"So tell me…" Mundy frowned. "Were you just… here, all these years?"
"Yeah, we were." Mike answered. 
"How did you survive?" Mundy put the tea cup back on the coffee table. "Why didn't you say anythin'? How did you find me?"
Mike sighed. 
"Tell him, Mike." Caroline pushed him. 
"Right…" Mike scratched his almost bald head. "All the answers to your questions are the same, it's thanks to Maurice. Remember Maurice, the beggar?"
"Yeah…?" Mundy raised a surprised eyebrow. 
"Well, he got us out of trouble, your mum and I, before it was too late and just in time." 
"How? And hold on, I've been working with him last year, he didn't say anything!" Mundy burst out. 
"Calm down, Micky, listen to your dad." 
Mundy calmed his voice but didn't manage to calm his racing heart and breath. So Maurice knew in all that time and he said nothing?!
"Well, here's what happened. That day, when those thugs set everything on fire, your mum and I quickly realised there wasn't much we could do or save. We tried to make it out and we did but not without a fight. I grabbed the rifle that we had and shot in the air, trying to scare whoever was burning everythin' up. It did the trick for a few seconds that were barely enough for us to run and hide reasonably out of sight, in the bush." 
Mundy drank his father's words like gospel while his mother held his hand to calm his trembling fingers.
"We watched everything we had just burn and fall. Your mother here cried every tear in her body. We felt terrible for the chickens and geese, and we hoped they managed to run away even though we knew there wasn't much room for an escape for them." Mike paused to catch his breath. "Your mum and I stayed low in the bush, waiting for it to pass and to finally come out of hiding but before we did, a young man found us. God forgive me, I almost shot him. He was one of Maurice's."
"How did he end up there?" Mundy asked.
"Turns out Maurice was watchin' over us."
"Why?" 
"Cause we were good people to him. He was just keepin' an eye on us and we never knew but God, did it save our lives. The young guy stayed with us and dragged us away to safety, in an old 4x4. He apparently had a shed in the bush. He drove us to town and hid us away for a while, in an old, abandoned house. Your mum and I stayed there for a while, bein’ fed with other poor souls. Your mum helped the kids, I repaired the odd broken thing. We only survived thanks to Maurice.”
“How did you end up in this house?” Mundy asked.
“The problem was the money. See, cause we were officially declared… dead, I stopped receivin’ my pension. Couldn’t get access to any money and whatever little amount of savings we had. But again, somehow Maurice sorted it out and put us again to safety in this house. We changed names and hid here.”
"Hold on," Mundy frowned. "You knew I was alive, right?"
"Yeah, I mean, you were off for a contract and not with us. Unless the thugs had somethin' against us personally, they wouldn't go after you." Mike answered. 
"And we asked Maurice, he said you were fine." Caroline added. 
"Why didn't you or him tell me?!" Mundy exclaimed. "D'you know what it's been like after you died? D'you have any idea what I've gone through without you?!" He roared.
"Micky, sweetie…" Caroline put his cup of tea away and lowered her head. 
"After a few days with Maurice, he discovered that the reason why the house and farm were burnt was because the blokes sending us letters relentlessly to get us out and drill for oil had gone impatient. I wanted to report everything but Maurice said that if that bloke was able to burn property and decent folks for it without fear, chances are regular police couldn't do anything against him. Apparently, he'd heard of the guy, he'd robbed a chain of banks in France a few months before and no one managed to catch him!" 
Mundy remembered Lucien telling him that Marie and Jeremy got killed because some robbers were being chased by the police. Yeah, Duchemin was in France, robbed a few banks and flew to Oz where he started digging for oil. 
"But why not tell me?!" 
"Because that would give us away!" Mike answered. "If we're alive, chances are, we'd try and claim our property back and they'd never stop chasing us!"
"But… But… I'd have hidden with you! I'd have helped you out! I'd have…!"
"Micky, we feared too much for our lives." Caroline added. "We dressed and lived like beggars to be able to survive, and it worked, while Maurice tried to sort out our money. God only knows how he did it but bless his soul."
"Enough about Maurice! I could have done that if you had just told me!" Mundy stood off of the sofa and started pacing the room to calm the rage boiling in him. "I could have helped! I'm your bloody son, a grown up and able man, aren't I?!" 
Caroline shook her head while still lowered. 
"Son," Mike stood up. "Your mum and I wanted to protect ourselves and protect you! We didn't want any shady criminal to run after us or after you! Cause he could, eh! He could just track us down, your mum, you and I until he puts us in the ground himself! Is that what you'd have preferred?!" 
"No!" Mundy shouted back. "But just tell me! What would it have cost to send me a word, a letter, anything?!" 
"Mundy, your mother couldn't eat and sleep for days! We were close to getting her to a hospital, her nerves were so thin! But we couldn't afford it! Not as long as our names hadn't been changed! We went through hell and back, son! Don't you dare think that we did what we did because it was easy!" 
"Yeah well in the end, it bloody was, wasn't it?! Hiding here for more than ten years!" 
"And how hard would it have been for you to leave your bloody rifles home and do honest work, hm? Earn decent money and watch after your old folks?! But no! Mister Mundy wanted to save the animals more than he wanted to actually live a normal life!" 
Caroline put a hand in front of her mouth and another one on her cheek. Not even an hour spent together and Mike and Mundy were already arguing… 
"That was my job, Dad, a job that no one else could do or did do!" 
"Well, wasn't there a reason for that?! You were sticking your neck out and asking to be shot down like those beasts you were protectin' better than your own parents!"
"No! I was doin' the only thing I could do! Back then, I didn't know anythin' else but shoot a rifle!" 
"O'course you did! What about the saxophone? What about the farm? You knew how to deal with them and you were good at it! Besides, you sayin' that in the past? You don't hunt anymore? Finally came around to learnin' some proper job and droppin' the guns?"
Mundy's jaw clenched harder. 
"Course I ditched the bloody things! What did you think? That I'd go on huntin'? Ya said it yourself, I was miles away when you needed me, felt awful!" 
"Shame it didn't feel awful sooner." Mike concluded coldly, his voice down to its normal volume. 
Mundy stared at him for a while, overwhelmed by what just happened and starting to process it against his own will. Gosh, his father still couldn't understand, could he? 
The Aussie's eyes went to his mother and it broke him. She was giving him the same eyes that she always had, the same eyes that pleaded for them both to stop arguing for the billionth time. Mundy sighed and exited the house. He walked in the street, fuming. 
He didn't want to go back home and face Lucien and his million questions. He didn't want to have to tell the story and feel all of it again. No. So Mundy put his hands in his pockets and walked back in the direction of the city. 
Gosh… What a day… 
If someone had told him his parents were alive and he would see them again, Mundy would certainly expect tears and hugs, not an argument. Well, both happened in the end. He should have left before asking any questions, he shouldn't have gone that way. Yeah, alright, that's plain stupid! Of course he had to ask! People don't go and die only to come back to life! 
Oh. 
Yes, yes, they did. 
Lucien first, and now his parents. Yes, they did. What the hell…? 
Mundy's feet soon led him into the city. He walked with his head low, not seeing the passer-bys, the shops, the cars and traffic. For him, there were only his brown boots and the grey pavement. 
Hold on. His father had said that his mother was nearly taken to the hospital after the events…? Gosh. Mundy screwed his eyes shut as he imagined the pain and distress his mother had to endure. Fuck! It was always the same, wasn't it? Mundy and his father argue while Caroline sits on the side with enough sadness in her eyes to fill the ocean twice!
Mundy felt it in him. If he could, he would at least pretend to get along well with his father, just for his mother's sake. But Mike always found the words, he always found the way to rub salt into the wound. It was ridiculous… More than ten years apart and they still couldn't have a decent conversation. And what ten years, eh? Mundy didn't even have the chance to tell them that he too had died for ten years, that it had taken him that amount of time to heal and manage to turn the page. That, and Lucien. 
Mundy stopped walking sharp and blinked a few times to finally look around him and make his brain accept external stimuli, wake up his ears and all his senses. 
Lucien. 
When Mundy's parents died, the Aussie's heart was left empty until he saw that stunning Frenchman sing at the Queen Victoria. And Mundy had gone there because of a blue and golden cufflink, where Johnson's alligators had been stolen. Gosh it seemed all so far now, almost as if it was a dream, and it hadn't really happened. 
Mundy sighed. Lucien had taken all the space in his heart and his mind now. Mundy was far from unhappy with it, he loved him with all his heart, so to speak. Hm. He wondered what he was up to, without dwelling on it too much. The Aussie didn't want to go back home yet, so he went on walking in the streets. 
Unbeknownst to him, Lucien had driven back to Mundy's parents. He waited there but Mundy wasn't exiting the place. Hm. He decided to have a look inside. Carefully, the ex-spy approached the house and made sure that no one would see even just his shadow passing by, through the windows. He got closer to one of the living-room ones and discreetly took a peek. 
"Oh…" 
Caroline was on the sofa and Mike was facing the fireplace. Both held their heads lowered. Lucien could see they were talking but it was low enough for the window to muffle the content of their conversation almost completely. The Frenchman squinted to read on their lips. 
"I know, Caroline. But it's the truth." 
"Mike… Come on." 
Lucien had seen enough. The disappointment on Mundy's parents’ faces was clear enough, the reunion hadn't been a success. He needed to find Mundy.
He hopped on his motorcycle and headed back home and unlocked the door. 
"Mundy?" 
"Meow…" Perle and Soot came trotting to Lucien and brushed themselves on his legs. 
"Mundy?" Lucien looked in the living-room, the kitchen, the bedroom and even the bathroom.
"Mundy n'est pas rentré?" 
[Hasn't Mundy come back home yet?]
"Meow." Perle answered and he sighed. 
"Où est-il alors?"
[Where is he then?]
Lucien looked through a window and saw the orange sky of the setting sun, turning the street in warm colours, while in his heart he wondered about his lover. 
Much further away from their home, Mundy was wandering in the streets. He let his feet decide where he needed to go while his head ground on his conversation with his parents and played it on loop, like a broken disc. 
He didn't notice the streets turning orange under the setting sun and his shadow flowing longer on the pavement. His eyes were glued to the ground and he carefully avoided a beggar sitting there - oh!
He turned back and looked down at the man in rags. 
"You with Maurice?" 
The beggar ignored him. 
"Look up, mate. I'm M, work with Maurice. I probably served you soup over the past few months." 
The beggar looked up. 
"Oh, sorry mate…" He stood up and pulled his trousers up, adjusting them. "Wanted to see Maurice?" 
"Yeah." 
"Last I knew he was home, go ahead." 
"Thanks." 
Mundy headed for the dirty neighbourhood and walked straight to a house. A beggar let him through underground and by the time he arrived at the door behind which Maurice was, his mind was set. 
"Maurice's is busy, mate." 
The well-built man at the door said. 
"Listen, you either let me in now or I swear you won't wake up to see the light of the day tomorrow."
"I'm sorry but-"
"Did I bloody stutter?" Mundy asked with his jaw clenched and every vein in his body pumping blood fast. 
The muscular bodyguard remembered that the last time someone had insisted on entering the room like that, the man was even smaller than the one he was facing, and maybe even slimmer. But he somehow ended up unable to use his voice for days and a bad throat for equally longer. 
"Right…" He took a step aside and Mundy stormed in the room. 
"Maurice!" 
"Mundy, I am already meeting someone, pray take a seat and - argh?!"
Mundy had walked straight to the tall beggar who was indeed meeting someone else. He shoved whoever that was aside and took Maurice by his collar, he pushed him on the wall and went to the tip of his toes, his canines shining fiercely under the low light of the room with the oval table. 
"What…? What's wrong with you…?" Maurice tried to speak while his throat was crushed by Mundy's knuckles.
"Me?! What's wrong with me?! That's rich comin' the one bloke who's been lying to me for more than ten years!"
"Gnh-! Y-you saw them - argh?!"
"Yeah! Lu' took me to them! You knew for ten years and I saw my parents, yeah! Give me one good reason to not pop your teeth out right here and now, just one!"
"Have you… Ever asked L… when… he knew…?"
Mundy released his grip on Maurice and the tall beggar fell to the floor, a hand to his throat. 
"No." Mundy answered. "But I don't need to!" He pulled Maurice back up to his feet from his collar and pushed him hard against the wall again. His back hit the wall with a muffled thud. "Why didn't you tell me? Why?!" 
"Because you would have blown their cover! I was trying to keep them safe, Mundy!" 
"You could have told me! What harm would it have done to them! None!" Mundy roared back. 
"You are wrong, mon loup." 
[My wolf.]
Hearing the voice with the French accent made Mundy spin on his heels. Lucien was at the door. He crossed the room and undid the button of his jacket with one hand, fluidly. 
"What would have happened if Maurice had told you that your parents were still alive?"
"I…" Mundy's whole attention was on Lucien, and his hands let go of Maurice again, who flopped to the floor. "I'd have tried to get who did this…"
"And what if you had found him, how would you have dealt with him? By reporting him to the authorities?" Lucien went on as he now stood only a metre away from Mundy. 
"Guess so, yeah." 
"I would have told you to not do it." Maurice's voice was thin and he could barely speak. He gathered what little strength Mundy had spared in him and pushed himself to stand on his two feet. "I'd have told you… No police could deal with him… And if you had found him, we would have before you. From there, we can assume that L would have dealt with him before you could." 
"But both of us were mourning." Lucien looked up at his lover and put a hand on his cheek, brushing it gently with his thumb. "Mourning and healing. So what would have happened to the young and wild Mundy, hm? At best, he would have gone on a wild duck chase and ended up empty-handed because someone else would have dealt with Duchemin. At worst, you would have ended up killed before you could even catch a glimpse of him. After that, your parents' days would have been numbered. Duchemin would have enquired about you and found that you are the son of those poor farmers he thought he had killed." Lucien paused to catch his breath. "By lying to you, Maurice saved you and your parents." 
"But… Hold on…" Mundy turned to Maurice who had sat on his wooden throne. "Why did you help me get Duchemin if that could have killed me and my family?"
"Because he knew that I would get him before you do." Lucien answered and Mundy's head swooshed back to his lover. "I would get him before you do, and the difference is that this was my mission, I signed for it and was paid for it. If I died because of it, so be it, that was a risk that I gladly took. But you? You were asking for nothing but justice for your parents." 
The Frenchman adjusted the collar of Mundy's polo shirt and splayed his hand on his chest. He raised his doe eyes to him and Mundy's mind imploded. He didn't know what to think anymore. 
"Follow me." 
The next thing he knew, Mundy was back home, lying on the sofa with his head on Lucien's lap. The Frenchman played with his lover's soft, brown locks of hair between his slim fingers. 
"Tell me, mon amour." 
[My love]
"I… I don't know what to think… I just wanna sleep and forget it all." 
"Why?" 
Mundy frowned. 
"Because… It was horrible…" Mundy turned and laced his arms around Lucien's waist, burying his head in Lucien's lower abdomen. He held him dearly and curled his long legs on himself as he closed his eyes. 
"What happened?" 
"Don't wanna talk about it…" 
"As you wish." Lucien kept brushing his lover's hair and put his other hand on his back. Perle and Soot jumped on Mundy and laid on him, to warm him up. They brushed themselves against him and purred. "Je suis là pour toi, mon amour. Tu peux tout me dire…"
[I am here for you, my love. You can tell me anything…]
"I know…" Mundy mumbled. "Thanks, luv'..." 
And Lucien heard the sound of a kiss that he felt on his shirt, on his abdomen. He smiled.
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kevintor · 5 years
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I Watch a Movie I Should Have Seen: “The Lost Boys”
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I don’t really like horror movies but this doesn’t really qualify as a typical horror movie. I knew going in that Kiefer and his buddies were vampires. I knew the Coreys would be Corey-ey. 
Some thoughts:
You know it’s going to be a scary movie when there’s a song with children harmonizing some creepy statement over and over that I couldn’t make out. 
Carousels: “Where vampires go to start trouble”
Good to see that any of these vampires could tour with Def Leppard if the band is in a pinch.
Two things I know about vampires: Never invite them into your house and never ask them to leave a boardwalk.
Young Dianne Wiest looks like Michelle Williams.
I know Jason Patric was only 21 when he played this 18 year old but he looks 30.
Corey Haim starts the movie wearing a shirt made of all the fabric.
I can overlook the fact that the mom is dragging her kids to a place that’s the “Murder Capital of the World” but, for it also to be a home with no television, is borderline child abuse.
Gotta love the buffest saxophone player I’ve ever seen doing a huge concert for a packed beach.
Grandpa Gilmore?
Corey Haim did a great job of proving he belonged with the comic book enthusiasts by talking about the obscure superhero, Batman.
OH NO, the girl Jason Patric likes is dating the lead vampire.
Why do the vampires have to destroy the cars of the people they are eating too? Those poor people have to lose a relative and then when the will gets read, they find out they are the recipient of a car with no roof or door.
I don’t like the beach and I don’t like motorcycles. This movie put them together in one horrifying scene.
Corey and Jason’s grandpa does taxidermy of every animal in a 500 mile radius in a room that he tells them to never go in. Those are probably words he could have saved.
Corey Haim is real scared of things being in his closet. But he keeps a real sexy picture of Rob Lowe on the outside of it as a guardian angel, maybe?
Kiefer offers Jason Patric the ultimate peer pressure, a blood beverage. I don’t know how you can turn down a mystery beverage in an old dusty wine bottle from a leather-clad, mullet man in an abandoned hotel. We’d all cave.
Creepy kid music is back for the Jason Patric transformation into a half-vampire.
The vampires decided Jason Patric was worthy so quickly. Santa Clara is just like prison. You punch the biggest, most important person right away and you’re in.
Michael’s reflection is see-through in the mirror to show he’s becoming a vampire OR someone from the future went back in time to stop Dianne Wiest from conceiving. It’s probably the vampire thing.
Michael just wants answers about what’s happening to him and Jamie Gertz sexes him up? What’s that going to tell him? That he’s turning into an attractive man? Men want answers, not sex. Oh and the creepy kids are back again as the soundtrack to sexy time.
Normally comic book nerds are all bark and no bite but these guys go right for it. They killed a vampire without hesitation. Impressive.
So if you melt a vampire in a bath of holy water, it will explode your whole plumbing system?
Kiefer is killed by stuffed antelope. Real embarrassing way for a vampire to go. He will not be treated well in vampire heaven. 
It was the Grandpa Gilmore the whole time?
So hippie taxidermist grandpa saves the day by driving a car full of stakes into his own house? How did he know where the head vampire was standing? How did he get the stakes to be projectiles? Where are they going to live next? Camden?
This movie was fine. Not as good as “Stand by Me” or “Rudy” but so much better than “Neverending Story.” I’d recommend it to anyone who feels like falling asleep on a couch but wants the satisfaction of knowing they started a movie.
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heartlandrock · 7 years
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List of my thoughts while watching St. Elmo’s Fire
“I’m Rob Lowe. And I’m saxophone playing Rob Lowe…”
They literally bailed him out for drunk driving and took him to a bar. No good can come from this.
SPOILER ALERT: No good came from this movie
I always liked the title song
Everyone’s somehow fine with Billy almost killing Wendy. EVEN WENDY.
This is what happens when you make Judd Nelson the leader of your friend group.
Every other scene he’s in: “Welp, I’m back to hating Rob Lowe again.”
Emilio Estevez went from 0-100 real quick
I like Kevin even though he didn’t tell Leslie about Alec’s affair.
I hope he dumps his cigarette ash into the skillet.
He does.
Why does Billy care so much about Wendy’s virginity?
Also, why does Wendy like him? You can do so much better girl.
Is that a mural of Billy Idol on Jules’s wall?
So Demi Moore is basically a crack whore in this movie
Jules comes to the conclusion Kevin’s gay because he never hit on her. LOL, ok, you conceited bitch.
That prostitute sure does like Kevin now. I know she thought he was gay before, but she was still laying it on pretty thick.
I’m confused by how time flows in this movie
Dale freaking took Kirby back to her apartment after he barged in on her party looking like a serial killer. I’m not even sorry if you get murdered.
HAHA, Alec just exposed his cheating habit. GET WRECKED JUDD
Why is Ally Sheedy still wearing her necklace during sex?
You don’t get to be mad at Kevin for stealing your girl, Alec, on the account of, I don’t know, you SLEPT WITH OTHER WOMEN! Also, why did he think his unfaithfulness would clear up after marriage???
Rob Lowe just tried to sexually assault Jules in front of his WIFE AND CHILD
Billy: “I can change.” *does cocaine at party and fools around with a girl in a hot tub/bath*
I’d be a lot madder if somebody trashed my mansion if I were that Kim guy
Kirby just stalked Dale all the way out to a ski cabin. Out of the kindness of his heart, her boyfriend decides to not let him freeze to death.
Dale just said she wondered if she really missed out on dating Emilio. Um, no, sweetie, you got out of a murder-suicide situation.
Why did her boyfriend take a picture of them?
Leslie should take all the albums and beat the shit out of Alec.
She actually answered his phone call and blamed Kevin for interrupting them.
Ok, Ally kinda sucks now
Most of them knew Jules had a drug problem and was sleeping with her boss. They could’ve helped her before she got to financial crisis/mental breakdown stage.
She apparently has stereotypical daddy issues
Once again, Judd, how the hell are you gonna try to kill Kevin because he’s a better person to Leslie than you?!
Why did they give Kirby a blowtorch?
Billy comes to the rescue and Jules is actually comforted by him despite the attempted sexual assault
Wendy really just gave her virginity to Rob Lowe. I get it, he’s attractive, but his character is a deadbeat dad and overall asshole. You are not smart with your choice in men.
Guess that means Wendy sucks now too
Well, Billy got the hell out of dodge
Ally Sheedy thinks they can all remain friends after the shit they’ve done to each other. THEY ALL AGREE.
THAT’S NOT HOW THIS WORKS! THAT’S NOT HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS!
I had hope for you, Kevin, but you suck now too
I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU! WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!
I’m all for dysfunctional characters, but at least give them one ounce of likability
They put Kirby’s name in the credits as Kirbo, so there’s that…
This movie aggravated the shit out of me
Everyone is terrible to some degree and have very little redeeming qualities if any: The Movie
WORST DIRECT TV COMMERCIAL EVER
This wouldn’t have happened if John Hughes directed this
The Breakfast Club is a far superior film.
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jackblankhsh · 5 years
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A Blood Red Reindeer Knows part 8: Message in the Pigpen
Spotting a dark dive I duck inside.  Being on the street is a bad idea.  There's no telling who may've followed me from the Krampus building. ​The place is called Persiflage 130.  Candles are the only light inside save for a few low lamps on a tiny stage.  Sitting in a corner where I can watch the door, I wait to see if anyone seems to follow me inside. Though the place is on the verge of vacant the band on stage is giving it their all.  The donkey on an upright bass thumps a steady rhythm.  My heart slows.  The rooster on a keyboard plays a mellow neo-soul tune.  Crackling nerves cease spitting sparks.  The cat on a saxophone grooves to the beat.  The tension melts out of my muscles.  An old dog on a trumpet fuses some urban jazz into the mix.  I'm not at peace, but fear isn't in control. A clockwork doll tick-tocks her way over.  She asks what I want to drink. I tell her, "Three fingers of something strong." "Coming r-r-r-ight up."  Her eye clicks shut in a slow wink.  Even in the dark I can spot the rust on her body.  She's an old doll.  Odds are she's older than this building. When she returns I'm delivered a glass brimming with red liquid.  It tastes sweet, but the kick soon threatens to punt my brain out of my head. She twitches into a palsied sexy pose, "How's that sh-sh-sh-sugar?" I nod, "Just what I needed." On stage the old dog howls, "Anywhere we can find something better than death... together you see, you and me got no fear of our last breath." He blows the trumpet.  The saxophone orbits the melody, while the bass bumps in the background.  It's a bittersweet tune.  Hearing it I can't help thinking about being resigned to fate.  Now that Elfonso's dead perhaps I'm destined to take his seat in that chair.  The ghost-odor of blood and sweat conjures a vivid scene of me getting sliced up in that grim basement. There's a dark tide rising at the North Pole.  The only way to keep from going under is to get ahead of it.  Rummaging in my pocket I pull out the pages I swiped from the Krampus building.  The writing, something about it strikes me as familiar. I've never been one for codes.  Vixen tried to teach me ciphers when we were kids.  That way we could communicate in secret.  Thick fool that I am I never could do anything complicated.  So Vixen kept it simple.  Unfortunately, it's been too many years for me to recall.  Looking at the pages, it feels like the message is at the edge of my mind; the tip of my tongue.  I should know this. We used to pass each other notes all the time.  Little bits arranging rendezvous where the other reindeer wouldn't find us; sweet words her parents couldn't realize were mine.  Granted, it didn't work forever.  Her parents didn't care about the words only their origin, and the other reindeer, well, they learned the hard way Vixen wasn't soft.  When they got mean they got cut. Part of me thinks it was always only a matter of time.  Two people on parallel roads can only walk together until a fork arrives.  We went our separate ways, but we left a mark on one another. Signaling the clockwork waitress I watch her clitter over. "An-nuh-nuh-nother?" she asks. I shake my head, "Nope." A fat tip goes her way, courtesy of the late Black Jack.  At this rate the cash'll be gone soon.  I don't mind.  He doesn't need it anymore, and I'm pretty sure I can't buy my way out of what's coming. I ask the doll, "Is there a backdoor?" Pocketing the tip she points the way.  I thank her.  The band flourishes.  She tick-tocks away.  I finish my drink, and dive back into the night.  Maybe it's just the drink, however, though I'm still in over my head, I'm ready to go down swinging. # The upside to having one lead is that there's only one place to go.  After sneaking back to my bike I ride to a westside borough.  There's a pool hall there called Jamaica Greene's. Tobacco smoke fogs the joint.  Pool balls clatter constantly.  Occasionally low claps and intense murmurs tell of miraculous shots. It's a mixed bag inside.  Some folks here are just looking for a game.  Others are killing time between running numbers, or robbing the next liquor store.  That said, everyone here is a hustler. Those aspiring to be pool sharks cut their teeth at Jamaica Greene's.  The only rule, besides pay what you owe, is no falsehood.  There's no attempt to down play one's ability, though more than a few folks have overestimated their skills. I can feel eyes clocking me the minute I enter.  Whispers kick up all over.  It's a safe bet some here recognize me from news reports, and no doubt somebody is thinking about grabbing me.  Civic duty isn't the motivation.  Cops are on the hunt.  If they show up here, Jamaica Greene's doesn't want them thinking I'm the kind of person frequenting this place.  Tossing me out is the safe play, though calling the cops might also pay off.  Grateful police are never a bad thing.  The point being, I'm on borrowed time every second I'm in here. Over in one shadowy corner I spot a pool table surrounded by a tiny catwalk.  Scurrying along it is a mouse.  He lines up a shot, and sends the cue ball bouncing off three rails, ricocheting its way between obstacles until it softly kisses the nine into a corner pocket.  There's no whispered exclamations.  For him, the shot is almost guaranteed. Clapping as I approach I say, "Not bad Mortimer.  Looks like you're still good for one thing." Glancing my way the mouse, Mortimer Read, shakes his head.  Hurrying down the catwalk he heads towards me.  Along the way he pulls out a flick knife. Brandishing the blade Mortimer says, "You owe me some money motherfucker with years of interest." Backing away I say, "Chill Morty.  I sent you that cash."  Pointing to a nearby sparrow I add, "I gave it to Andy to give to you." Mortimer pauses.  He glares in Andy's direction. Mortimer says, "Rudy's a lot of things, but one thing he ain't never been is a liar." The sparrow starts to stammer out a response then bolts for the nearest window.  An otter slams it shut.  Mortimer nods, and Andy the sparrow gets dragged into the alley out back.  He'll be seen again.  Mortimer is severe, but no monster.  However, Andy won't ever be pretty again.  Twenty grand buys a lot of wreckage. Putting the knife away Mortimer says, "Now that that's out of the way, it's good to see you." "Good to see you too.  Look, I need some help." "Then here's some free advice."  Mortimer goes back up onto the catwalk, "Why ever you're killing those reindeer -- I don't care -- but it's time for you to get out of town." Part of me doesn't disagree.  There's only one problem.  I don't mind going down for something I did.  However, I'm not about to be the fall guy in this situation, and though Big Red tends to leave the Outskirts alone, I get the feeling killing his fliers is exactly the kind of thing he'll chase someone to the ends of the Earth over.  I need to clear my name if I want to be left alone. So I pull out the pages saying, "My hoof's out the door.  There's just one, or two things I need to know before I go." Mortimer hops the cue over a line of balls.  It clips a stripe into the side pocket.  He orbits the table, walking slowly to his next shot. He says, "It's been a while Rudy.  I'm not as well connected as I used to be.  The Shortage."  He shakes his head, "Things got desperate.  That strained a lot of relationships, ya follow?" Everything down to the bare minimum.  People starving in the streets.  No amount of money able to buy a crust of bread.  I can imagine everyone going at each other's throats.  On the Outskirts we did okay, though not much better.  Even good friends ate one another, some literally. Flashing the pages at him I say, "I'm not here for your connections.  I'm here for you." I toss the pages on the table.  Mortimer glances at them.  He gestures, and a cat clears the pages off the table.  After his shot Mortimer motions.  The cat holds the pages closer to him. He nods, "It's a pigpen cipher." Hearing it out loud connects all the dots.  Suddenly I remember the code.  Vixen loved to use it because the pigpen felt like alien writing -- "Something from another world," she used to say. I ask if Mortimer can read it.  He snorts.  He knows all the codes, invented a few of his own. So he says, "That's almost insulting." I smirk, "Then what's it say?" He reads, "'King Crimson is on the menu.  Three days.  Be ready to devour.'" A coded phrase in a coded message.  It makes sense.  Using a simple cipher made it easy to encrypt any messages, but also left it likely those letters, if intercepted, might get decoded.  An extra layer made the details a bit harder to figure. The rest of the pages are pretty much the same.  The only consistent bit is they all mention King Crimson.  It's a safe bet those three days are up, or damn close to being.  Something is about to happen if it hasn't already. Mortimer nudges the cue ball into the eight.  The black ball rolls along a rail until it stops just short of a pocket.  Sighing, Mortimer shakes his head. He says, "What've you gotten into Rudy?" I tell him, "Honestly, I don't know." A gesture from Mortimer, and the cat hands me back the pages. Mortimer comes around on the catwalk.  Looking over at me he seems to be considering something. He says, "You were never really a bad guy Rudy.  Trouble, yeah, but not bad.  Do yourself a favor, okay?  Just disappear." I say, "Would if I could, but you know the old saying.  'He sees you if you're sleeping,' and such."  A dim bulb brightens, "Of course." "What is it?" Mortimer asks. "I gotta go.  Thanks Morty."  Running out I shout back, "I owe you one." He hollers, "Where're you going?" "To see King Crimson." I'm on my way to Big Red's.
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tube-thoughts-blog · 7 years
Text
tube thoughts vol. 7
zero stars - terrible, 1/2 a star - dull, 1 star - folly, 1 1/2 stars - lacking, 2 stars - fair, 2 1/2 stars - decent, 3 stars - terrific
Rifftrax presents "Cool As Ice" --1991-- *Snow aka Justin Bieber gives Bella Swan goosebumps and crotch-rocket road rash.* 3 stars with riffing or running from zero to 1 star without
"Dumb and Dumber To" ---2014--- *Sloppy seconds.* 2 stars
VH1 --sneak peak-- "Suave Says" --2014-- *A "thrilling" inside look into the post music career, current evangelical motivational speaking venture, and wealthy domestic drama of a one hit wonder pop star from wayback in 1991. Gerardo aka Rico Suave.* 1/2 a star
"That's My Boy" (2012) *Topics like underage student and teacher sexual relationships and incest are dealt with maturely by Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, and Vanilla Ice. Of course not, but this isn't even creatively controversial or riotously raunchy in any remarkable way. It's just another formulaic Adam Sandler movie that hits all the same notes as usual.* either zero stars or 1 star
The Tom Green Show -Rogers Community Tv- -The Comedy Network- (1998) *Bemused, pertubed, fumed. These are just a few of the reactions Tom illicits from anyone not in on the joke.* 2 stars
Are You Afraid of the Dark: The Tale of Laughing in the Dark *"Pick the right door, and you'll go free. Pick the wrong door, and there he'll be." He being a cigar puffing, nightmarish, funhouse clown.* 3 stars
"Housebound" ---2014--- *"An active mind in an inactive environment." The Brits make a superbly spooky mystery with dry and subtle humor.* 3 stars
"Chonda Pierce On Her Soapbox" (1999) *Folksy entertainment variety and jubilee from a real life Peggy Hill.* 1 star
Buckmasters -Young Bucks- "The Misadventures of Bubba" (1992) *Near fatal hunting accidents hilarity with a Jim Varney caricature.* between 1 1/2 and 2 stars
"Dancing Outlaw, Jesco White" (1991) & Jesco Goes to Hollywood (1994) *''Sorrow, hatred, and madness. '' "If you wanna get to heaven, you got to raise a little hell."* Heaven for Jesco is dancing at Elvis' star on the Hollywood walk of fame and guest starring on Roseanne or huffing fumes.*        3 stars
Fargo: The Crocodile's Dilemma *"What's the policy? See, I'm sort of a student of institutions." Billy Bob Thornton can play indifferent malice like no other.* 3 stars
15 Storeys High: The Sofa *Lord Snooty's couch, club card, co-opting of other people's conundrums, and crisis 'cause he can't stand to be cuddled.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
12:01 Beyond-- Christmas Special 2014 -------------------------------
*World Friendship Society - Please Just Go (music video)* close to 2 1/2 stars
*Le Passage (movie trailer): More badass than Home Alone and Rambo.*          3 stars
*Lobo for the charity "Socks for Tots" gently used socks for children at Christmas at the North Pole. Lonely odd socks for lonely odd kids.* 2 1/2 stars
*Ninja, the Mission Force: "Clam chowder can only mean a ninja challenge."*     2 1/2 stars
*Lobo argues the Holiday Blues with his potted plant, Ms. Mittens.*         between 2 & 2 1/2 *
*Fleischer Studios - Superman - The Arctic Giant: A kaiju nearly destroys Metropolis and swallows Lois whole.* 3 stars
*Treevenge: sentient x-mas trees turn the tables on crass Christmas celebrations and begin tearing the merry folk to shreds.* 3 stars
*Lobo fills holiday stockings full of leftover Halloween Candy.* 2 1/2 stars
*Lobo meets Ro-Man the Robot Monster from the 1950s B sci fi movie, at the north pole, and suggests he kidnap Santa Claus.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
*Reverse Pharmacology: Incredibly hilarious imagined symptoms of a placebo taken by medical test subjects under lab conditions.* close to 3 stars
*Pueblo Sleep Solutions presents 'The Bedtime Bruiser' (commercial)*               2 1/2 stars
*Don't Open Till Christmas (movie): Scotland Yard is on the case of serial slayings of Santas.* between 2 and 2 1/2 stars
*Lobo gets an 8 track player for X Mas* 2 stars
*The Lobo (DC Comics character, not the guy from the 12:01 skits) Paramilitary Christmas Special: The Easter Bunny hires the meanest bounty hunter in the galaxy to hunt down and take out the fat man and his elves.* 3 stars
*Sleigh Runner: The Communist tradition of Christmas is put to an end by a Eastern European Rob Zombie lookalike cowboy killer.* 2 1/2 stars
*Happy Holidays to all the fans of the New Mission Impossible (tv series).*          3 stars
*"This Christmas forget milk and cookies. He wants blood." TWo Front Teeth (low budget movie trailer). The elves in this flick look pretty nightmarish and the characters, especially the black cowboy, look interesting. Interest peaked.* 3 stars
*Republic Pictures Serial -The Crimson Ghost- Chapter 3- The Fatal Sacrifice:  The Crimson Ghost's hideous high wire act.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
*The metal band HEMI perform the song Dust to Dust live in a club.*           close to 3 stars
*Neon Harbor presents Space Ninja the animated movie: A cyber dystopia mixed with feudal Japan. technology and swordplay eyecandy-gorgeous must see for me.* 3 stars
*Ro-Man mistakenly beheads Santa for Lobo who claims no responsibility for the death of the mythical character.* 2 1/2 stars
*Action International Home Pictures presents the "Gruesome Holiday shocker." "Elves" starring Grizzly Adams (retro movie trailer)* 3 stars
*Vinegar Syndrome presents on Blu Ray "You Better Watch Out" aka "Christmas Evil": And they've added a beautifully twisted painted portrait of the movie's tragic hero on the box art.* 3 stars
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Tales from the Crypt: The Ventriloquist's Dummy *Pathetic weirdo and hack ventriloquist comedian Bobcat Goldthwait's idol Don Rickles isn't really a retired, bitter legend of ventriloquism. He's actually a prisoner of his own responsibility to keep his beautiful-woman-hating, conjoined twin freak brother from ever killing again.* 3 stars
Freddy's Nightmares: Deadline ----------
*Writing obituaries does seem like the typically morbid Summer job that a Springwood teenager would have.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
*Springwood, where suicidal teenagers wish they were dead so that they can be reunited with their ghost bff(s) and douchebag, ponytailed dreamlovers.*      2 stars
---------------------------------------------
Red Shoe Diaries: Safe Sex *A smooth talker brings a sad, vulnerable business professional lady in out of the rain, and she still makes him wear a raincoat in bed. So, so, softcore stories sent in to a personal ad's post office box and then picked up and retold by shadowy anywhere North America David Duchovny character, which is nice trimming for the show, but damn is the sensitive lite soul torch singing background music awful. I prefer a cheesy, solo saxophone over this -Lifetime For Women lyrics- boner killing tripe.* close to 2 1/2 stars
Brian De Palma's "The Black Dahlia" (2006) *I'm a sucker for Los Angeles noir settings, slaughtered pretty girls like Laura Palmer, and conspiracy art like Alan Moore's From Hell.* 2 1/2 stars
Transparent: season 1 -episode 1 *Three self absorbed siblings can't see past themeselves enough to be aware of their father for what he truly is and themselves for what they might actually be. The conservative side of me wants to say that this is more of liberal Hollywood's agenda to undermine traditional America by saying everyone secretly wants and would be happier with an alternative lifestyle. Also, I can't remember the last time I saw so many aesthetically interesting (not exploitive or trying too hard to be sexy) glimpses of comfortable nudity.* 3 stars
Weird Science: Cyrano DeBraniac *"The savage game of sexual attraction" requires all of one's synapses to be firing and it doesn't hurt to have a time and space manipulating genie, who's also sexy, to unzip Einstein's undead brain out of the fourth dimension.*             2 1/2 stars
Thundarr the Barbarian: Den of the Sleeping Demon *A pair of clumsy junior adventurers, and their huge bird friend, help rebury a genetic research monstrosity that was given a high voltage reawakening.*      3 stars
--- Swamp Thing: The Dark Side of the Mirror
*Everyone in this town is so stupid and easily manipulated that Arcane could have probably just walked up to the new determined district attorney, at dinner in a fancy restaurant, and shot him in the head, instead of genetically mutating the musclebound moronic deputy into a Swamp Thing double assassin.
The town formed an extremely enraged mob, in a matter of minutes, and even the longest running protagonist human characteron the show (Jim's mom) is willing to throw her morals aside for blind vengeance.
Thank goodness Jim's brother Will, the new female lead Kari Wuhrer, and Swamp Thing are decent characters.
I'm glad for the upgrade from Jim to Will. Will is a better character and it gives the show more of an adult cast and less of a Timmy fell down the well and needs to be saved, each week, routine.
Still, some of the acting is low quality from the extras.
Feels like they used the stunt man from the fight scenes to do the lines, to save money, when it would have been better to switch him out for a real actor.*
between 1 1/2 and 2 stars
--------------------------------------------------
Paranormal State: season 1 -episode 17 *A wild goose chase for the legendary Mothman. The leader of PRS probably doesn't realize how much he comes off like X Files' Fox Mulder as he keeps repeating the phrase "I want to believe."* between 2 and 2 1/2 stars
Kolchak, the Night Stalker: The Sentry *"Don't linger in the shadows." It will "rile the bile" about lizard-men living deep within the earth where corporations and shadowy government organizations are storing their darkest secrets. The most daring reporter,ever, of tabloid monster mysteries makes his last (documented) stand down there.* 3 stars
"Room 237" (2012) *"The past doesn't exist." But film historians, and fans, are still dissecting the ghost of Stanley Kubrick and the symbolic filmic events surrounding the almost mythical Overlook Hotel.* 3 stars
Lucio Fulci's "Conquest" (1983) *Cro-Magnon man was ruled by a cruel dominatrix / naked lady performance artist / new-age goddess, along with her band of fanatical furries. That is until Ronnie James Dio & Luke Skywalker changed things. Conquest establishes itself apart from other low budget and dumb sword & sorcery flicks, of the early 1980s, with its dreamlike aesthetic and gore-crazy practical special fx.*   between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
"Begotten" (1990) *Imagine a super 8mm National Geographic hallucination of twitching, early 20th century mental patients being tortured and abused in the ruins of a 19th century pastoral southern gothic wasteland lurked over by pre-modern-civilization tribal sacrificial rites that are even more hellish and nightmarish than actual pagan practices predating contemporary times. Black mold on the walls of farmhouses with sun peeled paint and holes in the tin roof where the sound of dripping rain and viscus is constant on rusting metal surfaces that lie just beyond open rock quarries crawled over by lepers, in rags, dragging shaved and mutilated Christ-like figures who spew black stigmata from their weeping eyes and mouths.* 3 stars
Squidbillies: Taint Misbehavin' *A dying Dan Halen requires the citizens of Dougal County to join him in the paradise of the afterlife. Granny and Early get giddy because they mistakenly believe they're going to a resort town in Tennessee, when they're actually heading for the ancient Egyptian land of the dead.* 2 1/2 stars
Workaholics -2015 Season- --preview trailer-- *Some Comedy Central money went into a 2 minute parody of the new Mad Max movie, popular crime tv shows like Sons of Anarchy, strippers, bullet porn fx, and "cool" explosions.* close to 2 1/2 stars (for the misguided effort)
Hannibal: Apéritif *The mongoose meets the cobra.* 3 stars
Jonny Quest: The House of the Seven Gargoyles *An icy fate for an acrobatic dwarf creeping around a castle posing as a gothic statue and trying to choke his unsuspecting victims.* 3 stars
Dr. Who (4th Doctor - Tom Baker): The Android Invasion *A Benedict Arnold astronaut returns from being lost in space, now brainwashed by aliens carrying a shipment of human replicants and a deadly virus.* 3 stars
Farscape: Jeremiah Crichton *Crichton becomes a castaway on green planet inhabited by a tribal, and somewhat peaceful people, although there is some jealousy when the daughter of the chief becomes smitten with Crichton. After spending part of a cycle looking for Crichton, Rigel and Dargo find him all scruffy and weather beaten. In a Return of the Jedi C3PO twist, Rigel is the tribe's prophesized messiah and the three must save these exiled, forced by forcefield to be primitive people, or else be sacrificed themselves due to stupid politics and a conspiracy of priestly hierarchy.* 3 stars
Bob & Margaret: For Pete's Sake *Bob's brother is a pretentious tv chef, and when he gets a gig in India, Bob and Margaret have to look after his two annoying brats.* 3 stars
Are You Afraid of the Dark: The Tale of the Dark Music *The power to control demonic forces, living in the root cellar, lies in the sounds on the radio. A tired of being picked on paperboy uses this knowledge to payback the scummy metal-head bully next door and his mean, little sister.*       3 stars
"The Initiation of Sarah" (1978) *This feels like a hazy 70s tv movie version of Carrie the college years. Two sisters pledge and go through the occult like Greek sorrority ceremonies. The good looking one gets picked by Morgan Fairchild's meangirl sisters and has to be cruel to the other. The timid one has her telepathic powers exploited by a witch wannabe Shelly Winters in the rival plain Jane house complete with a maze backyard.* between 2 1/2 & 3 stars
---Thrashin'--- (1987) *Square jawed Josh Brolin is too straight laced to be taken seriously by skatepunks in the 80s L.A. skatescene. The leader of a gang of Lost Boys also wants Brolin to stay away from his out of town and just visiting, Idaho pretty tomato younger sister. It hits all the right notes for an 80s extreme sports fun adventure flick.* 2 1/2 stars
Tales from the Crypt: Fitting Punishment *A cheapskate ghetto mortician is willing to cut corners no matter the cost to human decency. He embalms using dirty tap water. He buys cheap coffins from China. He clips out the gold and silver teeth of the deceased. He even blames his orphaned nephew for being a financial burden and cripples him, then sells his Air Jordans to pay medical expenses. When that's not enough, he murders him and saws him a foot shorter above the ankles so that he can stuff the boy into a cheap coffin for Chinamen.* 3 stars
Hill Street Blues: Film At Eleven *Llama stolen from the zoo and almost used in a slumland apartment voodoo ceremony. Cops style film crew documenting the precinct. Herman Dracula, alledged wannabe vampire. It's funny until he commits suicide in his private cell. Ballistics confirms that they've found the handgun used in the near fatal shooting of officers Renko & Hill. Relief comes with uncertainty. It's raining in the police station, the roof is leaking and everyone is getting the flu because of it. This show can't help but end on a melancholy note due to all the lingering emotions. Rollercoaster, as usual.* 3 stars
Tru Tv- --South Beach Tow-- --Bernice's Top 20-- *"Best of" countdown of fake reality show beatdowns by an angry black woman?* 1 star
Botched: Vagina Bomb! *The same network (E!) that encourages viewers to idolize trainwreck celebrities and their fake bodies, also exploits sick individuals who've butchered their own bodies in order to achieve that phony Hollywood dream. Of course this show is under the guise of "fixing" plastic surgery mistakes, but the client/patient usually receives even more body enhancements and still looks like a nightmare.* either zero stars or 2 stars
True Detective: The Long Bright Dark *Heathen homicide in a hick shit-haven where if one doesn't parrot the standard beliefs of others, and oddly speaks in a stream of consciousness like Cormac McCarthy, then one's peers tilt their heads and cock their ears like a confused dog in misunderstanding and disbelief.* 3 stars
---- New Year's Movie Marathon ---------------------------------
Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs: Time Runner (1992) *Spoilers, for The Force Awakens, ahead. Be Warned. Years after Return of the Jedi, Luke is having a midlife crisis and skynet is using star destroyers to blow up Los Angeles. So he travels back in time to the Washington Canadian border getting in ugly rental car chases with human looking alien Rae Dawn Chong and gunning down well armed baddies, along side the goofy deputy from Twin Peaks, & watching  their hilarious death throes. All while making sure Senator Palpatine can't prevent Seth Rogen and James Franco from nuking North Korea thirty years in the future. Make sense?* between 1 1/2 and 2 stars
Mystery Science Theater 3000: 12 To The Moon                      ---plus---                       "Dream to Design" -short- *The woman of the future visits the satellite of love and turns the robots crow and tom servo into kitschy househould appliances. meanwhile, the united nations of nasa proves earth's worthiness to the lunar neighbors.*                     2 1/2 stars with riffing and between 1 1/2 and 2 stars without
Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" *A depressed Da Vinci with his wings clipped by the dulled scissors that society can no longer cut all the red tape with.* 3 stars
Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" *In my life of relative ease, I watch this movie on my cheap consumer electronics provided for me by workers in horrible third world conditions.*           3 stars
"Starry Eyes" (2014) *Ambition. Attrition. Ascension. All the way from Hooters Girl who can't get taken seriously at low-grade movie auditions to transforming into a Hollywood harlot comes at the price of one's soul taken by the Satanists who run the movie industry and helped sanctified with blood and betraying those closest also climbing the ladder.* close to 3 stars
"Messiah of Evil" (1973) *What if, after Thanksgiving, America honored the Donner Party Massacre by having Black Friday be masses of mad people tearing into raw red meat at supermarkets? This flick is like the eerie calm before an apocalypse. Too weird, almost, to describe, and if one tried to, a bug would appear on their tongue and they would cough up insects and lizards.* 3 stars
"Strange Days" (1995) *"Memories were meant to be forgotten. They were designed that way." Let old acquaintance as well. 20 year old predictions about the new century, by James Cameron, are still pretty relevant. Questions about the abuse of police force. Urban upheaval and riots. Voyeurism being a social media (though it's not as seedy as it's imagined in this movie).Things James Cameron got a little off are plenty too. Musicians stopped being, for the most part, political messengers. Trainwreck skank rock queens like Courtney Love aren't nearly as talented as James thinks or as worth going through hell over, but they're still a huge part of the media's obsession. Found footage and virtual reality may just be entertainment fantasy, but the themes in this movie are played out daily on actual viral videos.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Max Headroom: Academy *What if corporations had their own legal systems? What if a death penalty trial was turned into a tv game show? Viewers of the HLN network sort of get to experience this. What if criminal profiles were assigned to innocent people who fit a certain stereotype? Wait a minute....* 3 stars
Joe R. Lansdale's "Cold In July" (2014) *A considerate and well adjusted family man has to stand his ground, on shaky legs, but isn't in the overzealous camp of his hometown neighbors who wanna pat him on the back for it. He never feels right about the incident and his remorse pulls him into a world of Dixie mafia killings, Texas Mexico border crime, and a friendship with a flamboyant and dogged private detective and the deeply burdened man who mistakenly stalked the family man's family when he was wrongly convinced the family man slayed his son in the stand your ground incident. In a bizarre twist, the three men come together to help the deeply burdened man solve his burden of putting down his wayward son who's making snuff films with hookers. It reminds me a lot of William Devane's "Rolling Thunder," another revenge flick with a lot of bitter sorrow and dark themes.*      3 stars
The Tom Green Show -Rogers Community Tv- --The Comedy Network-- (1998) *Tom is an absurdist comedian who can sometimes be traditionally clever in his humor. He drinks purple koolaid with a cult who worship an alien version of Jesus Christ's brother, he ruins an Elvis impersonator street performance and almost gets his ass kicked for it, and he continues to try to prove he's the biggest idiot in the room.* close to 2 1/2 stars
The Prisoner: The Schizoid Man *The Village have number 6 convinced he's twice the man he was using an uncanny double.* 3 stars
Game of Thrones: season 3 episode 7 *"People work together when it suits them, they're loyal when it suits 'em, they love when it suits 'em, and they kill when it suits them."* 3 stars
"Under the Skin" (2013) *Scarlet Joe Handsome is an enticing alien, in a black wig and brightly painted lips, driving around Scotland, in a pedo van, indifferently observing all the quiet, everyday human suffering and luring horny, confused men back to her abandoned building / nest / spaceship(?) --where they step sinking into a surreal black pool of liquid.* either 1/2 a star or 2 stars
American Horror Story- -Coven -The Replacements *Sober Santeria. What other show is going to have a pothead, white trash mom molest her patchwork monster, back from the morgue, college boy son? or let a juicy and morbidly obese black virgin finger herself in front of a minotaur? not many spring to mind.* 3 stars
Gargoyles: The Edge *Zanatos uses the steel clan and a Tony Stark type tech gargoyle suit to frame the real gargoyles for the museum heist of 'the eye of Odin,' in order to have the cops chasing them all around town and scare them into coming back under the wings of his 'protection,' which would have the gargoyles inprisoned in a research lab.* 3 stars
Rifftrax - Total Riff Off - Man vs. Monster *"Meeting the channel's factual quota, we now return to the bullshit." Rifftrax skewers another one of those pretentious explorer douchebags, from National Geographic Wild,  that are always trying to turn a simple creature of nature into a tall tale monster.* 3 stars with riffing 1 star without
Son of the Beach: With Sex You Get Eggroll *satire of sex slaves and sex jokes, both smartly done.* 3 stars
Carman -Yo Kidz! -The Vidz *Gnarly Jesus dudes, hip musical kids, and cumbersome cat costumes.* 1 star
Morton Downey Jr.: Cults *A man who once had a cult-like tv audience examines mind control organizations and self-help pseudo-religions.* close to 3 stars
Mel Brooks in "High Anxiety" *Side-splitting neuroses.* 3 stars
Tales from the Crypt: Korman's Kalamity *A cartoonist's monstrous creations come to life after years of nagging from an abusive spouse and his recent forced use of an experiment male potency medication.*  2 1/2 stars
"Al-TV" -April Fools Day 1984 *"I could just watch videos all day until my brain turned to mush. Couldn't you?" Weird Al takes over MTV from its bland video disc jockeys and turns the channel into the absurdity it should be.* 3 stars
"Traxx" (1998) *"Be good, be gone, or be dead." Shadoe Stevens is one tough cookie as he parodies every 80s action hero vigilante and western cowboy cliche come to clean up a Troma version of a Texas town in one of the weirdest, left field comedies ever.* 3 stars
Hippies: Protesting Hippies *Simon Pegg tries to spark a Y2K revival of the comedic rebelliousness of The Young Ones with a Britcom That 60s Show.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
Northern Exposure: Pilot Episode *A "Jew, New York doctor" finds unspoiled land, wildlife, hell... even people (patients) "just waiting to be fondled" in middle-of-nowhere, Alaska.* 3 stars
X Files: Space *Otherworldy phantom sabotaging shuttle missions. A study on how stifled and subdued the space program has become.* 2 1/2 stars
"Freaks, Nerds, and Weirdos" -MTV (1994) *MTV NEWS looks at Generation X's social outcasts like nerdy hipster college kids, quirky celebrities, and alternative musicians and they talk about their struggles with being different from "the norm." Ironically, the show is framed with commercials featuring beautiful skin care and fashion model young people bragging about how great it is to be one of the in group of the beautiful ones.* 2 1/2 stars
"The Myth of the American Sleepover" (2010) *The last bittersweet days of Summer and the pre-conceived notion of sublimity for a group of suburban teenagers. Indie movies about the adolescent rite of passage to adulthood aren't as fun as exploitation flicks about the same thing, but the delicate and thoughtful manner in which the subject matter is approached allows for more personal reflection for the viewer.* close to 3 stars
Turner Classic Movies: Beneath the Planet of the Apes *Twice as bleak of an ending as the first.* 3 stars
--- "Bates Motel" (1987)
*After spending his youth in the looney bin with Norman Bates as his father figure, Bud Court (Harold & Maude), and a great casting choice, inherits the Bates Motel from the deceased Norman whom he carries around in an urn afterwards.
With the help of a spunky squatter (Lori Petty) and a Morgan Freeman esque handyman, he reopens the falling apart eyesore and deals with the rumors of the place being haunted and the fast moving yuppies of the 80s who wanna exploit the property to keep with the changing and advancing landscape of the times.
Tonally a weird mixture of maudlin and mockingly humorous. Whoda thunk they could take a legacy of a Hitchcock suspense thriller and throw in one those feel good fixing up the place montages, a Happy Days 1950s teen ghosts dance party with a dreamlover angel Jason Bateman, and Scooby Doo villain plot twist?*
either 1 star or close to 2 1/2 stars
---------------------------------------------------------------
"An Evening With Bobcat Goldthwait, Share The Warmth" (1987) *Bobcat chugs two six-packs of TAB and then proceeds to frighten uncomfortable laughter out of a group of yuppies in a nightclub.* 2 1/2 stars
"Beyond Vaudeville" (1986-90s) *Best of a weird NYC public access variety show with guests and acts like Grandpa Munster, Tiny Tim, "the Edith Bunker of massage," climbing Harpo's ladder with Wavy Gravy, Burt Reynold's fantasy Turkish woman (possible delusional stalker), Greg Brady, the arm and the giant from Twin Peaks, the theme from the Flying Nun on spoons, Rock Around the Clock in Yiddish, an Underdog / Dracula enthusiast / interpretive dancer, and many other pathetic bizarre folk. Sammy Davis who?* 3 stars
Morton Downey Jr.: Central Park Squatters *A heated shouting match between freaks and fascists over the issue of gentrification.* 3 stars
"Scoundrels" (1982) a Cecil Howard adult film *"Life's too fucking short." Ron Jeremy is the long dick, long suffering dad, just like Kevin Spacey, in a sexually frustrated slice of American Pie.* 3 stars
American Horror Story -Murder House- "Rubber Man" *"What is it about being dead that makes me so horny?" Hysterical lady troubles.* close to 3 stars
"The Guest" (2014) *A psychotic super-soldier gone awol and come to roost with the troubled family of a fallen comrade. Pulses like an homage to 80s action movies in the vein of John Carpenter.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
Justified: season 1 episode 1 *Bluegrass Helter Skelter.* 3 stars
Chrisley Knows Best: The Great Outdoors *Chrisley reluctantly takes his sons camping at the lake, while wishing he were more like his hero Oprah and scaring his 8 year old with the legend of Jason Vorhees.* 2 stars
Comic Book Men: Ghostbusting at the Stash *Sitting around ye ole podcast table and sharing spooky stories about things like the Jersey Devil.* 1 star
"The White Buffalo" (1977) *Charging out of Hell and into Heaven were men like Wild Bill, Crazy Horse, and Charles Bronson.* 3 stars
Kung Fu, the series: Dark Angel *Words lost, eyes blinded, and riches not found, but, at the same time, roots replanted, senses regained, and faith restored.* 3 stars
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Invasion U.S.A. (feature) & A Date with the Family (short) *Rigid dinners with loved ones, or heavy drinking with a group of barflies, is a great opportunity to discuss how every American should do more in their part to combat the Red Menace.* 3 stars with riffing 1 star without
"My Mom's A Werewolf" (1988) *An underappreciated housewife goes to the pet store to get a flea collar for the family dog, and winds up having the mom jeans charmed off of her, and replaced with fur, by a hair-piece wearing lycanthrope (John Saxon).*                2 1/2 stars
Freddy's Nightmares: Black Tickets ------------------
*A young Brad Pitt runs over himself running into himself running away from his problems.* 2 stars
*Having a baby is hellish, even if Brad Pitt is the daddy.*                           between 1 1/2 and 2 stars
---------------------------------------------------
USA Up All Night -with host Rhonda Shear -Valentine's Special -----------------
*Lovers Lovers (feature movie): Neurotic & horny 30 something year old professionals in the city of Angels. It's like a softcore version of Seinfeld.*          2 stars
*Starburst California Raisins style commercial where the Starburst candies get taken to the bad side of town called Twisted Town.* 2 1/2 stars
*The Girls of Paradise (phone sex commercial): 3 stars
*Rhonda hangs out in the honeymoon suite with a amorous bell boy who has chest hairs a plenty.* 3 stars
*Twix commercial parodies the plane crash movie "Alive" in a funny scenario where one guy tricks the other into thinking they're being rescued so that he can have both Twix candy bars to himself.* 3 stars
*Rhonda tries to get a honeymooning and arguing couple's bride out of her hotel room bathroom.* 2 1/2 stars
*Free brochure for TV Parental Ratings guidelines* 3 stars
*"Mel" (taking his name from a PayDay caramel candy bar wrapper) calls up a phone sex hotline to talk to the horny chick about covering her in peanuts and creamy caramel in a funny PayDay commercial.* 3 stars
*"Every day people like me and you are proving why the 'Psychic Solution' is so popular." Obvious payed employees of this phone scam network give false testimonials about their amazing experiences talking to phone psychics.*    either zero or 3 stars
*"Imagine being forced to make love. Now, imagine thousands will die if you dont. Will she? Won't she? Or will she just kick some ass?!" La Femme Nikita preview for an upcoming 1997 episode. Haha.* 3 stars
*Rhonda coaches sweet talk to a dumb husband who gets all her amorous advice lines all wrong.* 3 stars
------------------------------------------------------------------
Weird Science: Magnifico Dad *Mom gets her birthday wish for dad to turn into male supermodel hunk Fabio.* 3 stars
Son of the Beach: Silence of the Clams *"The beach is meant for solitude, not senseless orgying. Cancel Spring Break or else."* 3 stars
Thundarr, the Barbarian: Fortress of Fear *A many eyed wizard wants Ariel as his bride.* 3 stars
Swamp Thing: Silent Screams *"Eye of the hurricane, listen to yourself turn. World serves its own needs, Dummy, serve your own needs." Arcane is selling eco-terrorism to the highest bidder. First in line to be served, shadowy agents of the U.S. government, and they're willing to sacrifice a small, swamp town to test the effectiveness.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
Jonny Quest: The Invisible Monster *Turn off the life light, don't let it shine or else be taken in by the hungering Pac-Man esque ghost of an animated mass of energy. Look out, because it's a one-eyed, giant, purple, people-eater.* 3 stars
Are You Afraid of the Dark: The Tale of the Super Specs *Do "They Live" or is it just an April Fool's Day trick of the mind thanks to a phony trick gifts shop's surprisingly effective super specs glasses?*             close to 3 stars
Friday the 13th, the series: Shadow Boxer *A bum fighter uses cursed gloves to separate his dark side from his body and sends the shadow out to stick it to his opponents.* 3 stars
Paranormal State: season 1 episode 18 *Penn State freshman lions turn themselves into fraidy cats with the passing around of campus legends and the playing of an ancient Japanese ghost story game called '100 Candles.'* 2 stars
Penny Dreadful: season 1 episode 1 *For a moment, I thought Frankenstein and his monster were going to passionately kiss on the mouth. It was weird.* close to 2 1/2 stars
Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital: season 1 episode 6 *"He eats disease. He likes to be scratched behind the ears. He's horrible, beautiful." 3 stars
The Outer Limits: If These Walls Could Talk *CGI Ryan Reynolds. He's not Green Lantern. He's possibly a 'Casper' or at the very least a molecular anomaly. His mom can't let go of the mystery around his disappearance and his frequenting of a so-called haunted house. She's a paranormal believer. She swears she hears him crying out in the haunted house. She befriends a pyschic phenomena debunker. They get drunk, share their hearbreak over the afterlife or lack thereof. They stir up spirits or at least a cold case crime scene. They  learn about the mystery behind a previous owner who was a reclusive scientist and find his hidden room complete with strange meteor. It ends with them covered in ectoplasmic goo.* 2 1/2 stars
"Father Guido Sarducci Goes to College" (1985) *Vatican City versus Disneyland.* 2 1/2 stars
Tales from the Crypt: Mute Witness to Murder *Some enchanted evening, you may meet a stranger. And some enchanted evening, you may witness a brutal murder. That enchanted evening may damage the psyche.* 3 stars
Red Shoe Diaries: Double Dare *Necessity is the mother of virtue. A business professional lady needs the thrill of an erotic game of show and tell via fax machine dirty messages and flashes of bare flesh across facing office building windows with a sexy stranger, but she can't take it to the next step and cheat on her husband in person.* 2 1/2 stars
"Computer Beach Party" *Weirdly played, and ridiculously overdubbed, dorky sex comedy that maybe comes close to deserving cult status.* between 1 1/2 and 2 stars
Total Riff Off: Animals Behaving Badly *Horny deer. Smoking ape. Rascally raccoon. Pooping cheetah. Shoe humping tortoise. Horny dolphin. Indian woman breastfeeding a calf. Chicago city coyote. rat infanticide, and the classic panda attacking jacket guy.* 3 stars with riffing between 2 and 2 1/2 stars without
"RoadRacers" (1994) a Robert Rodriguez film *David Arquette as a scumbag greaser, James Dean wannabe with Salma Hayek as his main squeeze. Sounds unconvincing, but somehow they pull it off. Also, great tunes from the era of rockabilly, decent villains like the town asshole cop William Sadler, and Deadwood's Saul Starr as the sci fi and sinful thrills obsessed sidekick.*  2 1/2 stars
Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" (2014) *Maybe the best ever use of scripted reality in dramatic entertainment. Following two siblings for over a decade as we watch them grow and deal with their movie parents a psychology student-into-teacher mother (Patricia Arquette) and their sometimes deadbeat other times often extremely caring and liberal-slacker poet papa (Ethan Hawke), along with step siblings, abusive drunk stepfathers, plus all the growing pains and life steps that happen along the way to young adulthood.* 3 stars (for achievement in the portayal of life) or zero stars (for every character being so unlikeable)
--Starz-- --The Missing: episode 1 *A wrenching, quiet, and moody look at the frantic hours around parents dealing with the disappearance of a child and how the effects of that trauma are still haunting them, and others involved with the memory, years later.*         3 stars
American Gothic: Damned If You Don't *Dang ole' tornado of the soul.* 3 stars
"Din of Celestial Birds" (2006) *inherent iniquities* 2 1/2 stars
True Detective: Seeing Things *Pussy, fantasy, illusion, delusion, hallucination, justification, nightmare, and revelation.* 3 stars
X Files: Fallen Angel *Toxic cover up and lies with an official seal.* 2 1/2 stars
"Night Dreams" (1981) xxx *Bound by wild desire, Dorothy LeMay fell into a ring of fire.* 3 stars
--- MTV's True Life: I'm Preparing for the End of the World
*An obese, and (from how he's presented on this docu show) low i.q. suffering, young  father moves his pregnant wife, two young boys, and yummy pet rabbits & chickens to an isolated farm in the mountains.
There he rambles about doomsday scenarios and his family assists in setting up booby traps that are more dangerous to themselves than anyone else.
My advice is to lay off the extra bunny, at dinner, and to not homeschool the kids about the proper way to filter goat piss into a drinkable water alternative, but instead to exercise as a family and to get out in society and work towards not ending up with an apocalypse.
Next, we have two priviledged college twins who are so quirky and idiotic that they jokingly form a two person cult where they bother college campus students and the city's homeless population with their pretend rhetoric.
Low point being when they claim to be getting prepared to raise their consciousness beyond the normal soulless zombie, just before tossing a twenty dollar bill into the air for a group of hungry homeless and junkies to wrestle over.*
1 star
-----------------------------------------------------------
Morton Downey Jr.: Feminism *Mort and feminist lawyer Gloria Allred go toe to toe and almost mouth to mouth with the sexual tension between them (just kidding).* close to 3 stars
Tales from the Crypt: Television Terror *A t.v. station scores big ratings, when Morton Downey Jr. is murdered, live on the air, while investigating a haunted house.* 3 stars
"Too Young To Die?" (1990) *A trailer trash teen runaway (Juliette Lewis) gets the death penalty for the murder of her soldier guy former lover, thanks to her hick pimp/pusher (Brad Pitt).*  2 1/2 stars
American Horror Story -Asylum- "The Coat Hanger" *Forgiving trespasses. Ian McShane almost seems too good for any show after his iconic role in Deadwood, but he finds one here as a blackly humorous and blasphemous sinner/killer in a setting that keeps getting more depraved and strange. Bucket of KFC chicken and skinning victims alive killer mixed piece joke. Priest drowning at a baptism. Priest crucifiction. The dirty history of pre legalized abortions. Cruel head nun gets on the other end of looney torture. A Nazi butcher / mad scientist seeking aliens because he appreciates their eugenic techniques and getting sent his own Mary with a possible alien seed in her belly.* 3 stars
Hannibal: Amuse-Bouche *"It takes one to know one." A human fungus wants understanding.* 3 stars
Bob and Margaret: Friends for Dinner *"Another domestic dilemma." Bob and Margaret continue to define themselves different from their rude peers, while still retaining a flawed quality that makes them so relatable to the average person.* close to 3 stars
15 Storeys High: The Model *"If she learns to swim, next thing she'll want to learn to drive." A nutter doesn't want his nude centerfold wife to take swimming lessons. Olives on pizza distaste, and a compulsion to pull any wallpaper off the wall -weirdness. Also, the swimming lessons oath includes everyone but practioners of karate and the pop star Sting.* 3 stars
Hippies: Hairy Hippies *The animals of Aquarius are gonna tear your prick off.* 3 stars
Farscape: Durka Returns *"The difference between a knife attack and life saving surgery." The outer space adjustment bureau can turn anyone they want into an attitude corrected slave.* 3 stars
Max Headroom: Deities *When it comes to matters of the spirit, people often forget what it means being human.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
Are You Afraid of the Dark?: The Tale of the Captured Souls *Sometime in the early 90s, the Obamas and their daughter nearly had the life sucked out of them by a mirror-spy-tech mad-science-geezer posing as an ole timey tween boy with a ridiculous hairstyle that was almost as bad as Obama's soul glow mullet of the time.* between 1 1/2 and 2 stars
American Horror Story --Coven-- "Fearful Pranks Ensue" *supreme sacrifice* close to 3 stars
Red Shoe Diaries: You Have The Right To Remain Silent *A lady cop kidnaps and forces herself on a strong willed guy who won't show her any attention at the gym. I would have laughed if it were a case of her not having any gay-dar.* close to 2 1/2 stars and 1 1/2 a stars for the safe sex sales pitch
Hill Street Blues: Choice Cut *supermarket standoff with a side of beef.* 2 1/2 stars
Fargo: The Rooster Prince *"Savagery, pure and simple."* 3 stars
American Horror Story: Freakshow "Orphans" *The most sympathetic character on the show, Pepper, has a continuation of maybe the most tragic character arc of any character in all of American Horror Story, with a cameo from a character from Asylum.* close to 3 stars
MTV's "Eye Candy" extended peak *Disney channel(?) teen pop idol and now hacker (rolls eyes) in a serial killer stalker show with MTV style "edgy" (crap) aesthetics. The psycho stuffing smartphones in the mouths of victims is unintentionally ludicrous and laughable.* 1 1/2 stars
"Living With Michael Jackson" *"We would wake at dawn and go up in the hot air balloon. I have the footage. It's all very charming and innocent. That's ignorant. Who's the Jack the Ripper in the Room?" Was it exploitive journalist Martin Bashir or delusional Peter Pan wannabe Jacko?* either 3 stars or zero stars
Prime Time Thursday -ABC- Martin Bashir on his Michael Jackson documentary (2003?) *ABC gets a few more nasty kicks in to the wounded weirdo.* 2 stars
The Michael Jackson Interview, The Footage You Were Never Meant To See *--FOX--* (2003)
*"Becareful what you do, because the lie becomes the truth."
Maury Povich pauses from hosting & revealing ghetto / white trash paternity tests to take an investigative behind the scenes footage look at the Martin Bashir documentary on MJ.
An almost propaganda piece trying to repair Jackson's image and justify his strange behavior, but it does shine a light on the deceitful approach of Bashir's manipulative tactics in getting close to Jackson via gaining his trust with comments approving of Michael's generosity and attitudes towards children and Michael's personal life in other ways, and then turning  around and only showing the most sensational things in his "Living With Michael Jackson" documentary.*
2 1/2 stars
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The Greatest American Hero: pilot episode "UFO Encounter" *The teachers of troubled teens, those are the real heroes. This show has great music, and I don't just mean the cheesy wonderful theme song.* 3 stars
Mystery Science Theater 3000: I Accuse My Parents (feature) & The Truck Farmer (short) *Cultivate, refrigerate, exaggerate, denigrate.* 2 1/2 stars with riffing 2 stars without
Son of the Beach: In The G-Hetto *"Read my lips, I'm going down there and I'm going to lick your posse, and I'm going to enjoy it."* 2 1/2 stars
Black Sails: season 1 episode 1 *Blackbeard's snatch. Captain Flint's fluoride smile. Long John Silver's sexy good looks. I doubt these third world bandits were really this stylized.*               2 1/2 stars
Fred Olen Ray's "Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers" (1988) *Heaven for guys who like big tits and Hell for guys who don't like to be chopped into little bits.* 3 stars
Hollywood Hillbillies: Headin' For Hollywood *Another internet infamous sensation extends he and his grandmother's 15 minutes of fame by acting as crass and crazy as possible for the reality tv cameras.* 1 star
TLC presents My Husband's Not Gay *These Latter Day Saint women believe that they have it made, because, with another woman, their husband would never stray. I wonder if the LGBT community would stand up for the rights of the "same sex attracted" who don't act on it for religious reasons, or if... ha... of coure not.* either zero                   or 2 1/2 stars
"Monster" (2003) *A look at someone, on the fringes of life, whose feral impulses sadly couldn't be justified even though she endured a life of inhuman treatment.* 3 stars
Viper: Pilot Movie *Not just a tv show promoting a crime fighting futuristic Dodge motor company concept car, maybe also a question of whether giving career criminals a clean slate of memory is violating their civil rights or not.* between 2 and 2 1/2 stars
"Midnight Plowboy" xxx (1971) *Welcome To The Jungle as performed by Going To The Country's Canned Heat.* 2 stars
Woops!: pilot episode (1992) *99.999999% of the world's population has died in a fiery hot flash, but a few quirky yuppies survive to yuck it up on a small farm. Cue the laugh track.*        2 stars
X Files: Eve *bloodthirsty replicas* 3 stars
"Nomads" (1986) *Searching too deep beneath the surface of reality, a cultural archaeologist starts being stalked by a skid row spirit-tribe.* close to 3 stars
Manimal: Manimal *Transmutation is not for the faint or feint of heart.* 2 1/2 stars
---- "Tusk" a Kevin Smith film (2014)
*20th century man spent his time doing amazing things, and had tales to tell later.
21st century man spends most of his time talking about ridiculous things.
This time 21st century man accomplishes one of those ridiculous things.
How to go about summing up something like this...
3 stars for the crazy screenplay.
3 stars for the incredible walrus special fx by Robert Kurtzman.
3 stars for Michael Parks' truly demented serial killer / world's most interesting man character.
2 stars for Haley Joel Osment's nerdy twenty something podcast comedy partner.
almost 2 1/2 stars for Justin Long's obnoxious and self absorbed hipster mustached podcast comedian.
3 stars for Justin Long's suffering through hell tortured and experimented on in the most gruesome way possible walrus-man.
1 1/2 stars for all the podcast nonsense.
either zero stars or 3 stars for Johnny Depp's Mike Myers esque eccentric inspector character.
and to finish out the whole whacked out affair, either 1 star or 3 stars for the absurd ending.*
===================================================================
Wizards and Warriors: The Unicorn of Death *Mind over matter. Also, lightning hawks, hawks that shoot lightning.* 3 stars
"Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood" *"One fish two fish red fish blue fish, knick knack paddywhack give a dog a bone, Two thousand zero zero party over oops out of time, my bacon's smelling fine." The Wayans, just off of In Living Color and a handful of blackspoitation movies, take on Boyz in the Hood & Friday with their brand of satire that hadn't quite soured just yet like it would with the Scary Movie series. Somewhat not bad, nowhere as good as say an episode of Chapelle Show, but almost on the level of something like Comedy Central's Key & Peele.* 2 stars                      plus 3 stars for Bernie Mac's cameo speech
Freddy's Nightmares: School Daze ----------
*No more homework, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks. Just robotic students.* close to 2 1/2 stars
*Standard Achievement Torture.* 2 1/2 stars
-------------------------------------
"Ben and Arthur" (2002) *I'm sure that everyone involved with this shot-on-video "movie" had their big, gay hearts in the right place, but the results are so oddly misguided that it cursed the gay rights movement and set queer equality back at least a decade.* 1 star
Tales From The Crypt: My Brother's Keeper *Two guys attached at the ass-cheek, now that's freaks. And it's definitely a wild half of the siamese situation if Timothy Stack is the straight laced one.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
Cannon Video: Fifty Fifty (1993) *A couple of "in it for the money" mercenaries find a change of heart and purpose, when they're sold out by the U.S. government after initially being hired to train a  ragtag group of villagers to overthrow a cruel dictator.*                 close to 3 stars
Jonny Quest: Double Danger *monkeying around with hallucinagens* 3 stars
Mystery Science Theater 3000:  Operation Double 007 *"Terrorists were a lot more fun back then." Thankfully, Sean Connery's brother, Neil, also didn't try to rip off Highlander 2 or Zardoz.* 3 stars with riffing 2 1/2 stars without
The Prisoner: The General *Blind memorization is a learn-ed way for a slave to show its appreciation to its masters.* 3 stars
Paranormal State: season 1 episode 19 *"Balancing faith and science" as the lead investigator questions whether or not he should debunk a crazy lady's haunting experiences.*                           between 2 and 2 1/2 stars
Swamp Thing: Walk A Mile In My Shoots *Arcane and Swamp Thing trade places.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
American Horror Story: Coven "Burn, Witch, Burn" *Ask me no questions and I'll tell thee no lie. Mama's little baby love shortenin'. Fry fry fry. Febreeze will get the odors out of any room where dead things lie.*   3 stars
American Gothic: Dead to the World *Denial ain't just a river in Bum-Fuck, Egypt.* close to 3 stars
Justified: season 1 episode 2 *Rhythm, romancin', runnin', and rippin' up the floorboards.* 3 stars
"The Census Taker" (1984) *"An outrageous invasion of privacy."* 3 stars
Hannibal: Potage *Manipulation in Maryland, Minnesota, and the media.* 3 stars
X Files: Fire *amorous arsonist* 2 1/2 stars
12 Monkeys: Pilot episode *Hourglasses of the hydra.* 2 1/2 stars
"The Thirteenth Floor" (1999) *"Hate to see that evening sun go down." Digital virtual deja-vu.* 3 stars
The Outer Limits: Birthright *Senator Al Gore is all about shooting up with supplements and saving the environment by saturating it with methane for his alien race to take over and inhabit.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
Northern Exposure: Brains, Know How and Native Intelligence *singing the body electric and fixing the plumbing.* 3 stars
Son of the Beach: Love, Native American Style *firebush and big hose* 2 1/2 stars
Thundarr, the Barbarian: Island of the Body Snatchers *Ariel almost loses her mind and her body in the mystery zone.* 3 stars
Are You Afraid of the Dark?: The Tale of the Twisted Claw *Wish in one hand, let a vulture shit in the other.* between 2 and 2 1/2 stars
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Eegah! *RRRR! Richard Kiel is really big and really lonely and he wants to rape a gal named Roxy. It's like King Kong set in a resort desert town where a Ricky Nelson reject is constantly rocking out.* 3 stars with riffing 2 without
Weird Science: The Feminine Mistake *The guys get turned into chicks and experience what the other sex has to go through with horny guys like themselves.* 3 stars
Jack London's "Call of the Wild" starring Charlton Heston & featuring "Buck" the dog *Buck worth more than all the gold in the Klondike.* 3 stars
"Ax Giant" *"All strut and no gut." Paul Bunyan puts a cgi sawblade through Grizzly Adams' bear-sized head for eating his blue ox named Babe.* 2 stars
MLK Day Tribute ---------------
Morton Downey Jr.: Racism with Dr. Charles King (2 appearances on the show) *One of the last ballsy, crazy, and passionately confused conversations about race conducted by the media before political correctness closed the door.* either zero or 3 stars
---------------------------------------------
Abel Ferarra's "King of New York" (1990) *Max Shreck, magnanimous and soulful.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
X Files: Beyond the Sea *Serial killer -Brad Dourif- claims to channel the beyond and a grieving Scully's recently deceased dad. but is he just a coward staying execution?* 3 stars
Lucio Fulci's "The New York Ripper" *quacking misogyny* 3 stars
Red Shoe Diaries: Talk To Me Baby *"You gonna believe your eyes or are you gonna believe me?" Shared feelings and Samson-haired Bud "tries" to be less of a horndog for other women, but he's only a man afterall and after a night at the bar watching a wet t-shirt contest. If his hot foreign accent nympho girlfriend don't forgive him and talk, he's gonna flip his muscle car and go out Romeo style with her in the passenger seat.* 3 stars
William Friedkin's "Cruising" (1980) *assault, alarm, assuage, acclimate, assplay, and arrest* 3 stars
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Girl In Lovers Lane *Drifters and the females who foolishly fawn over them. A Route 66 romantic tragedy.* 3 stars with riffing 2 1/2 without
American Horror Story: Murder House "Spooky Little Girl" *The apparition of the Black Dahlia is misdiagnosed with acute anxiety.* 3 stars
Nic Cage is "Left Behind" (2014) *Bono raptured. U2 concert postponed.* either 1 star or 2 1/2 stars
Freddy's Nightmares: Cabin Fever -----------
*Fly the Freddy skies.* between 1 1/2 and 2 stars
*Freddy finds his Laura Palmer.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
-----------------------------------------
True Detective: The Locked Room *Scarred snowflakes* 3 stars
"Night Warning" (1983) *"Fuckin' deviants, the world is full of 'em." Hoop dreams, ''homophobia'', and a hilariously insane Susan Tyrrell.* 3 stars
Svengoolie: House of Horrors *Creepin' on art critics.* close to 3 stars
Tales from the Crypt: The Secret *Blue hued and sweet toothed tale of a wolf boy adopted by vampires.* 3 stars
Charles Bronson in "Cold Sweat" *A History of Violence in a French fishing village with American muscle car action.* close to 3 stars
Viper: Once A Thief *Viper-Man takes a suped-up stroll down memory lane with his delinquent former protege, Robin.* 2 1/2 stars
Son of the Beach: Two Thongs Don't Make A Right *The Devil's butt floss and daddy's B.J.* close to 2 1/2 stars
Betsy Russell is a "Tomboy" *Battle of the sexes in a light-hearted, cheesy reality that's not afraid to get raunchy.* 3 stars
American Horror Story: Freakshow "Magical Thinking" *Weak men and strong women.* close to 3 stars
Paranormal Witness: The Visitors *It's either one of two scenarios for this episode: A) A door to door salesman is duped into believing he's cursed with demons and uses his scientific background, and connections, to explain it. or B) A bored, middle-aged former scientist, and his tech buddies, try to establish a hoax with alledged proof of the paranormal.* 2 stars
The Greatest American Hero: The Hit Car *Heavier than air, heavy like Shakespeare.* 3 stars
"Killdozer" (1974) *Grizzled workmen in an isolated setting sci-fi horror that's similar to and yet almost a decade ahead of John Carpenter's "The Thing."*                          between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
Black Sails: Season 1 Episode 2 *Cooking up a kingdom, of reprieve, through barter and betrayal.*            between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
Dolph Lundgren in "Dark Angel" aka "I Come In Peace" (1990) *Phantasm's The Tall Man the cyberpunk / heavymetal years, now available on projectile compact-disc, just in time for a White-boy's Christmas.* 2 1/2 stars
Tim & Eric -Bedtime Stories: The Endorsement *Subversive swipe at Sunset BLVD* 3 stars
Puppy-Bowl: Unnecessary Roughness *Puppies wrestling at the "50 yard line" and hamsters overhead in a tiny blimp. This is okay with PETA, yet I can no longer go to my cockfights on Friday nights.* either 1 star or 2 1/2 stars
Kung Fu: Blood Brother *Dignity should not remain surrendered or buried in the mire.* 3 stars
Shaw Brothers: Roar of the Lion *(Traditional Chinese costumes) Lion versus dragon in a kung-fu dance off ceremony that's also comedy gold in a stunt filled comedy filled flick.* 3 stars
Manimal: Illusion *Manimal predicted the Siegfried & Roy tragedy, and Richard Lynch plays a diplomatic immunity villain before Lethal Weapon does the same.*           between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
King of the Hill: It Ain't Over Till The Fat Neighbor Sings *"What a glorious feeling, I'm happy again." In Hank's reality, he loses it when he can't micro-manage any poor decision making that's always hilariously exaggerated.* 3 stars
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Gang Group Dates *Dennis comes unhinged when women rate him, online, as a zero. Frank can't keep Mac & Charlie from offending their blind dates, and he can't keep his cockring from slipping off. Dee's plan to stick it to men by giving them one night stands winds up backfiring.* 3 stars
Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital: Season 1 Episode 7 *Black noises, thirsting voices striking, impeaching.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars
15 Storeys High: Blue Rat *All of the energy, none of the fuss, plus a pony.* 3 stars
Paranormal State: Season 1 Finale *A is for anxiety and or African American spirit girl humming to a sensitive, young medium girl.* between 2 and 2 1/2 stars
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