Wednesday, March 26, 2025

A 100% "Death Proof" Podcast and 1985 Research for Indiana Comic Con

I Dig Crazy Flicks with @CatBusRuss

Episode 209: A 100% "Death Proof" Podcast with Gregory Carl

CatBusRuss⁠ welcomes back comedian Gregory Carl to the podcast. Mr. Carl was intrigued by the recent focus on bonkers movies over the strict 70 to 100-parameters of "⁠Ninety For Chill⁠" and offered to chat about ⁠Quentin Tarantino⁠'s primary contribution to 2007's "⁠Grindhouse⁠", "⁠Death Proof⁠". The premise of a sadistic stuntman with a killer car may sound crazy, but when you realize it is the same universe as ⁠Robert Rodriguez⁠'s zombie homage "⁠Planet Terror⁠", this feature cannot occur in a sane world.

Our host does more than that to suggest this film qualifies for the podcast. What if ⁠Kurt Russell⁠'s Stuntman Mike is what happened to Jack Burton if Lo Pan cursed him with some Chinese black magic?

These two have not had a live conversation in over two years, so there was a lot of catching up to do on this episode. It may prove too tangent heavy for some, but they got to get it out of their systems before they head to Indianapolis for "I Dig Crazy Flicks Presents: Ninety For Chill - The Podcast" at the ⁠Indiana Comic Con⁠ on Sunday, March 16 at 4 pm.

Episode 210 - Preoccupied with 1985 & Indiana Comic Con

CatBusRuss⁠ has a busy weekend when it comes to ⁠Indiana Comic Con⁠. He will be hosting a live recording of "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks Presents: Ninety For Chill - The Podcast⁠" with friend of the show Gregory Carl on Sunday, March 16 at 4 pm (EDT), but he will also be a guest on panels about: bad sci-fi movies we love, "Tron", "Young Frankenstein", "The Last Jedi". Those are all cinema that he considers himself an expert in. But he grew up in a home that respected the MPA's ratings. Thus, he might not have strong enough knowledge about the films of 1985. He was only five at the time.

⁠Dr. Leah "Riwo" Leach⁠ has invited our host to participate in "Was 1985 the Greatest Year for Movies". Is it just a celebration of the 40 anniversary of the cinema or does she intend to try selling it as a better year than 1982? To prepare himself for any scenario, ⁠Russ⁠ has caught up with some of the essential cinema from the year, and has composed a marathon from these flicks. "⁠The Breakfast Club⁠", "⁠Death Wish 3⁠", "⁠Better of Dead⁠", and "⁠The Last Dragon⁠"

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.

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Three Weeks of B-Fest: CatBusRuss & ThePoeticCritic & "There's Nothing Out There"

I Dig Crazy Flicks with @CatBusRuss

Episode 205: B-Fest 2025: #Beepfest with ThePoeticCritic

CatBusRuss⁠ and ⁠ThePoeticCritic⁠ discuss ⁠B-Fest 2025⁠. This is perhaps the best B-Fest line up CatBus has seen, and from the sound of it, the best his big sister has attended. And ⁠A&O Productions ⁠earned these accolades because the line up did not make it out to the public until at least an hour and a half before this 24-hour movie marathon kicked off. ⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠ was able to be the last minute sponsor of B-Fest Traditions, "⁠Plan 9 from Outer Space⁠" and "⁠The Wizard of Speed and Time⁠", but with that being the case, our host had low expectations for the kids at Northwestern to high jump over. He did not know that they were going to bring a pole vault.

If a movie was bad like "⁠Truth or Dare? Critical Madness⁠", it was so bonkers that you could not help but enjoy it with the crowd. If a film was morally corrupt like the gory Christian-exploitation flick, "⁠If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?⁠", the audience bonded together with the insults and riffs that all fascists deserve. And B-Fest did not miss when it came to nostalgia movies to amuse the audience. We're talking about the animated, "⁠The Transformers: The Movie⁠", JCVD and Dennis Rodman teaming up to stop Mickey Rourke in "⁠Double Team⁠", and two movies featured devious characters portrayed by B-Movie royalty, ⁠Mary Woronov⁠.

It was a comedy of errors. A fire alarm went off as ⁠Pam Grier⁠ was smoldering. Sponsors were failing to show up when scheduled resulting in constant reshuffling of the line up. One of the DVDs refused to let the crew skip 20-minutes of no-budget movie trailers, resulting in them turning to YouTube to projecting it with pop-up ads. Honestly, when you are celebrating the best of the worst films ever made, this all seems quite appropriate.

Episode 207 - There's Nothing Out There...Except Nix Eclips

The primary audience for horror movies has been told to laugh at itself once ⁠Kevin Williamson⁠ penned "Scream" in 1996. But as ⁠L7⁠ wrote four years prior, "The Masses are Asses". Horror nerds were being treated to this message since the founding of ⁠Troma Films⁠, but never so directly as in the ⁠Rolfe Kanefsky⁠ horror comedy, "⁠There's Nothing Out There⁠".

Nix Eclips from the "Cinema Shitshow" podcast⁠ suggested that ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ give the 1991 film a watch. He felt it had that vibe of "Scream". Our host would disagree with that since the film's hero is essentially the Jamie Kennedy character from the Wes Craven feature. It is more along the lines of "Final Girls" or "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon". We have a lead who knows this is a horror movie, but will anyone else believe him. The boom mic "Gymkata" suggests they should, but the feature needs a body count.

Aside from splitting hairs in regards to what "There's Nothing Out There" is trying to be, this episode is a first time meeting of two podcasters. We find out about Nix's experience in entertainment and his surprise on how wrestling and podcasting has taken ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ on a tour as far west as Rolla, MO, as far north as Milwaukee, WI, as far east as Jacksonville, FL, and as far south as New Orleans, LA. Give it a listen if you want to hear about similar trauma caused by PG Eddie Murphy cinema. There will be tangents, so prepare yourself.

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.