Monday, April 18, 2022

NinetyForChill: The #Podcast - Ally Presents: Gothika, Juno, Invitations to a Suicide...

NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast

Episode 64: Ally Presents: Gothika, Juno, Invitations to a Suicide... (plus Hawk's Vengeance & King of California).

Ally Presents: Gothika, Juno, Invitation to a Suicide…

April 19, 2022
Well, life happens, and this week's scheduled interview fell through. Fortunately, Ally's Accessories Shop on Etsy has provided Cool Movies Darth with plenty of films and inspiration. This week, "NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast" catches up with five of those features: "Gothika", "Hawk's Vengeance", "Invitation to a Suicide", "Juno", and "King of California".

Allow me to get out of third-person. Happy Prof. Shurtleff of Illinois Central College? I (CM Darth) will try not to make so much light of violent death in this summation. This is my declaration of changing perspective.

It has kind of been a tough end to the week, and that was before I watched "Gothika". How can you end a ghost story with Fred Durst pissing on the memories of Keith Moon and John Entwistle? How the hell is that music video considered a bonus feature for that DVD? I have to say, I am second guessing my $1 purchase of "Die Another Day". If Mom and Dad can pick and choose the Bond movies they see, why cannot I?

As I stated, the binge was due to my guest having a family issue requiring him to cancel our scheduled interview. Oh how I envy people who have lives that demand sacrifice. It is tough to sell people that I will need the whole of the bereavement time if Eva or Skim passes.

Pinterest @andymovieman

Hopefully, Tim Loss and I will be able to address "Kayfabe", a film about Western Canadian, low-level indie wrestling. The only downside is that I will need to rewatch it for a second time. It was way to accurate when it came to portraying the under trained and phony heroes that Downstate Illinois wrestling is based around. This feature serves as a great cautionary tale about what to do and not do when it comes to promoting wrestling.

Before the cancellation, I was inspired to unknowingly revisit a Gary Daniels movie from the mid-90's. A Canadian action movie seemed like a great film to attach to the wrestling podcast, so "Hawk's Vengeance" was going to be featured this week anyhow.

With that said, this maybe the most coverage that feature has received in 25 years. The only trailer I could find for the film is in French. Pardon me for not scrolling forever on Pinterest for a poster.

It ended up being quite the challenge to find cool media for my "Letter I" feature, "Invitation to a Suicide". This feature is about a young, less buff Pablo Schrieber ("Den of Thieves") who, to pay off a debt to a Russian mobster, decides to be the star of his own snuff film. The film says on the box "A Dark Comedy", but for someone who is passive suicidal, its impact was far greater than I expected. I was almost inspired in the wrong ways, but oh the laughs that could be had.

The binge may have got tougher on me from that point forward. I finally got around to "Juno", a DVD that I had owned for close to 14 years. It was a feature I wanted to watch along side someone, but baby crazy women kept me hanging it up. And now at 42, this film lead me to feel like life had passed me by. Thankfully, the script and direction makes me glad to have Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman. They will fill the void the Coen Brothers have left.

And finally the binge concluded with "King of California". This is one I should have watched before my return to therapy. It captures everything about my life after dealing with heroin addicts. The story is about a bipolar Michael Douglas being baby sat by his 16 year-old daughter portrayed by Evan Rachel Wood. Trying to love a crazy man eventually leads her to surrender to his belief that their is a cache of 17th century Spanish doubloons buried under a Costco. I need that kind of crazy in my life.

"King of California" is a feature I might suggest to Gregory Carl. It is what would happen if the father from "The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane" had returned. Another plus is the lack of pedophiles and sexual exploitation of a minor.

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

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The Undrafted and Wrongfully Drafted

"Bull Durham" was not drafted on the Baseball Draft (A film that can only be drafted at #1)
"No Fear of a Black Hat" on the Fictional Band Mini-Mega Draft
The entire George Lucas Draft
"The Birdcage" instead of "La Cage Aux Folles" on the Drag Draft
"Road Trip" was not even mentioned during the Road Trip Draft
"Major League" instead of "Drop Zone" on the Wesley Snipes Draft
"Black Swan" instead of "Mermaids" on the Wynona Ryder Draft
"Akira" instead of "Ghost World" on the Comic Book Movie (Non-Super Hero) Draft. Tetsuo is a Supe.
"Now You See Me" instead of "Diggstown" on the Con Artist Movie Draft
"The Onion Movie" instead of "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask" on the Sketch Comedy Anthologies Draft
"The Big Lebowski" not being marked eight on the Coen Bros. Draft
"Labrynth" or "Dark Crystal" not receiving the number 1 or 2 spot in the Jim Henson Draft
"Stage Fright" on the Giallo Draft. It is a slasher despite the presentation.
"Assault of Precinct 13" and "Prince of Darkness" Instead of "Escape from New York" and "The Thing" on the John Carpenter Draft
"Con Air" instead of "US Marshalls" and "Universal Soldier" instead of "Time Cop " on the 90's Action Draft
"WarGames" instead of "Spies Like Us" on the Cold War Draft
"Traffic" instead of "Side Effects" on the Steven Soderbergh Draft
"Fight Club" instead of "The Virgin Suicides" on the 1999 Draft ("Suicides" made the Actor Directorial Debut Draft)
Any Kirk Douglass instead of "The Shining" being on the Kubrick Draft
"Return of the Jedi" instead of "Tokyo Drift" on the Threequels Draft (there's only one "Return," okay, and it ain't "of the King," it's "of the Jedi.")

Deserves a Second Chance

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).

I find the DC movies, or at least Zack Snyder, was trying to bring comic books to the big screen as opposed to adapting comic books for the big screen. If you read, (or watch the excellent animated adaptation of) "The Dark Knight Returns", it is a very slow build to the battle between the Bat and Supe. This is regarded as one of the best threads in comics.

As a guy who fell in love with wrestling in the 1980's, the very methodical showdown is what I loved. It's a love letter to comic book fans who read and note every detail and want to try figuring out the plot before the character do. Come at the flick this way, and I think you will get something out of it.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

This is a feature that dares you to be offended. When director Ben Stiller is that forthcoming like Robert Downey Sr. was with 1969's "Putney Swope", an audience saying that something is in poor taste, hence not funny, means they are afraid to make a mockery of a concept.

My own experience with junkies bankrupting me allows me to thoroughly enjoy Jack Black's making addiction seem ridiculous. Robert Downey Jr. nails his taboo performance and I would say helps the call for actors from a demographic to be the first people called on for the roles representing them. As for the "Forest Gump" knock off jokes, they serve as a way to ridicule us for what we accepted (and encouraged) as fine a decade prior. The narrative that controls the pace in the second act can drag, but the content that is delivered cannot be cut.

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