"Labyrinth" a.k.a. "Bowie: The Movie" & "Hard Target" or "JCVD vs. The Mummy"

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 193: "Labyrinth" or What My Niece Called "Bowie: The Movie" with HappyBeebsMeowMeow

It was not a very scary "spooky month" for "⁠Ninety For Chill: The Podcast⁠", but ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ can deliver on finding guests who can provide monsters to enjoy. ⁠Brandy "HappyBeebsMeowMeow" Stonum⁠ returns to the podcast to discuss her favorite movie of all time, "⁠Labyrinth⁠" from ⁠Jim Henson⁠.

Brandy remembers this film fondly. She was only two when the film came out in 1986, but it had such an impact on her family that her little brother was named Jareth, the character portrayed by the father of modern alternative rock, ⁠David Bowie⁠. As for the lasting impact on ⁠Russ⁠ and his older sister, ⁠ThePoeticCritic⁠, this was the two's first real exposure to this musical god, but more importantly, The Muppets (more accurately, Jim Henson's Creature Shop) as a source of drama. It also may have prepped them for Mom's love of anything English as ⁠Terry Jones⁠'s script left them in a good place to appreciate "⁠Monty Python's Flying Circus⁠".

And of course, as many suggest, all parties involved with this episode consider the children's feature to be a catalyst of sexual awakening. Those wardrobe choices will be discussed.

Episode 197: Pik'n Away at "Hard Target" with CouchManBakes

Andrew "CouchManBakes" Tiede⁠⁠ must have been sure that ⁠⁠CatBusRuss⁠⁠ was going to get his panel approved for ⁠Fan Expo New Orleans 2025⁠⁠. Why else would he have requested to cover perhaps the best narrative ⁠⁠Jean-Claude Van Damme⁠⁠ had ever starred in, ⁠⁠John Woo⁠⁠'s "⁠⁠Hard Target⁠⁠"?

That is presumptuous statement, but would it not be great for "⁠Ninety For Chill: The Podcast⁠" to have provided a friendship for our host where a guest can be on the same wave length? ⁠CatBus obviously had posted a fan art image of this nineties gem on his Instagram⁠ when he was making a call out for guests. It is a surprise that it took so long for this show to cover this feature because it is essentially, "What if "⁠Commando⁠" had known assets to face off/support our uber hero".

We do not mean that as shots against the talents of William Duke, David Patrick Kelly, Bill Paxton, and Rae Dawn Chong, but ⁠Wilford Brimley⁠ Cajun accent is a lot more fun than Dan Hedaya's Central American. Sorry Vernon Wells, you were not a known commodity in 1985. ⁠Lance Henriksen⁠ was very mush that in 1993.

This is a charming take on "The Most Dangerous Game" set in New Orleans. At least ⁠Sam Raimi⁠ decided to give the rundown Detroit tropes a rest for this feature. It is a silly tale of a Louisianan merchant sailor from the Marines being hunted for sport, but it delivers great action and asks the question, how could we ignore "The Mummy" giving us a virtually mute ⁠Arnold Vosloo⁠?

After this film, not letting him deliver English dialogue is awful. Surely Stephen Sommers did not want to hurt our feelings.

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.

A Trilogy for Twin Cities Con 2024

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 195: Live From Twin Cities Con 2024 - Ninety For Chill: The Panel

CatBusRuss⁠'s ⁠Blue Snowball⁠ was enough to capture the vibe of 2024's ⁠Twin Cities Con⁠. Our host and his big sister, ⁠ThePoeticCritic⁠ introduced Minneapolis to "⁠Ninety For Chill: The Podcast⁠" and after a little time, they got a pretty good crowd who were more than willing to give the two some "Wahoos".

Of course, ⁠Russ⁠ did not have his resources to recall that ⁠Crowley⁠ quote correctly, so it may have just been some woohoos. As the ⁠worm in "Labyrinth"⁠ would say "But that's close enough".

It turned out to be an opposing conversation between the two siblings. CatBus wanted to play up his LLC "I Dig Crazy Flicks" and talk about sub 100-minute movies that are bonkers. His elder wanted to focus on why movies are just too long. The audience seemed to agree with her thesis, and the Gen Z kids were behind it with commentary like "how hard is it to kill one shark?"

Hopefully, the kids will be inspired to check out the Stevens siblings discussing ⁠why movies that were released before 1975 are still artistically relevant⁠. The audience did not appear to think that they were too harsh on the MCU.

All in all, these two Peorians were able to come out victorious. Their panel's supervisor stated that they were given the worst time slot being booked up against Hayden Christensen. With a score of people at the end, the two kicked the Dark Side in the balls.

Bonus 6: Twin Cities Con 2024 - Day 1: Vampire in Brooklyn (Park, MN)

CatBusRuss⁠ and ⁠ThePoeticCritic⁠ have settled into Minneapolis to prepare for "⁠Ninety For Chill: The Podcast⁠" at ⁠Twin Cities Con⁠. Of course they are taking advantage of the weekend passes they were provided in exchange for the fried gold they are to deliver on Saturday, November 9.

ThePoeticCritic was content with the floor, a "What If...Doctor Who" panel, and karaoke. ⁠CatBus⁠ was scouting out other podcaster panels to prepare for his own. Be it a discussion of what makes a truly evil yet lovable villain, a Christian-themed nerd podcast being hijacked by the amateur Pokemon casters, our host thinks he has everything needed to be prepared for his time on stage.

But speaking of evil, Emperor Palpatine himself had a panel. ⁠Ian McDiarmid⁠ had a lot of fun talking about the joys of the stage and working with George Lucas. If anything was off limits, it was dealing with the current state of politics. It kind of makes you wish that Trump actually watched movies. We would have gotten to this hellscape a lot sooner and have the rebellion prepared.

If there was anything more sinister than Darth Sidious, it was the layout of Twin Cities Con. To not think about that, Russ has included his review of ⁠Wes Craven⁠'s "⁠Vampire in Brooklyn⁠" starring ⁠Eddie Murphy⁠. Lets hope that Saturday will be all sunshine and rainbows. Russ was once pro-wrestling's Sith Lord. The audience best be kind.

Bonus 7: Twin Cities Con 2024: Booze, Brian, "Blood and Bone"

CatBusRuss⁠ wraps up the last two days of ⁠Twin Cities Con⁠ and does his best to provide drunken affirmations to his guest for "⁠Ninety For Chill: The Panel⁠", ⁠ThePoeticCritic⁠. This may have been the most patience his big sister ever displayed to him.

Our host decided to open this bonus episode of the podcast with tales of day three of the con, which was not much more than the⁠ Brian Posehn ⁠and some shopping. This decision was made after he listened to his drunken audio to make sure it was usable. As it turns out, ⁠Russ⁠ failed to talk about the day two "⁠Hazbin Hotel⁠" panel during that recording, so at least day three chatter is more than asking Brian about not getting to curse in his "⁠Deadpool⁠" comic book run.

As for day two, the two siblings talk about how well they thought the panel went and a panel that our host attended about what makes "Junk Food Cinema". This at least kept his mind off of the lousy karaoke and security set up.

So we have the Brian and the Booze, where's the blood and bone? Well, to justify the Netflix write off, CatBus went and reviewed the 2009 ⁠Michael Jai White⁠ action flick "⁠Blood and Bone⁠". It is like "Lionheart" but without JCVD's tears.

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.

Streaming Daylight Vampires & "The Return of Godzilla" (Godzilla 1985)

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 189: Streaming Daylight Vampires: Dracula Untold & V for Vengeance

CatBusRuss⁠ was unable to secure a guest this week, but thankfully has some leads on some experts of spookiness. This left our host relying on his streaming services to warrant tax write offs for ⁠I DiG CRAZY FLiCKS⁠. Here he discovered that after the "Twilight Saga", studios are making some wild choices when it comes to vampires on the big screen (43 inches and up).

Netflix had the official dawning of Universal's Dark Universe with "⁠Dracula Untold⁠". ⁠Russ⁠'s suspicions are soon met when it comes to PG-13 vampires as Luke Evans portrays Bram Stoker's titular character. This feature looks like it wants to show, "What if Sauron from Peter Jackson's Trilogy was on our side?" Laughingly, it is lots of bodies flying without viscera or proper lighting.

Paramount+ was only promoting two vampire movies, and the CatBus has already spoke of "⁠From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money⁠'s" excellence. So he watched the weirdly titled "⁠V for Vengeance⁠". To the producers' credit, in the age of mock busters, the nomenclature will bring eyes to it. Hopefully, those pupils will not be too miffed about getting the lightweight "⁠D.E.B.S.⁠" of vampiric action instead of a dystopian England with Guy Faux masks.

This double feature is for those who are into schlock since Stephenie Meyer took more time establishing vampiric lore. Too bad the only thing these creatives took from her franchise is that the sun is no longer a curse. It is a major flaw because darkness, can hide poor fight choreography and only implies the gore your effects cannot deliver.

Episode 191: "The Return of Godzilla (aka 1985) with Eva & ThePoeticCritic

The King of Monsters demands his spot in spooky month. ⁠ThePoeticCritic⁠ returns to ⁠Ninety For Chill⁠ to discuss what is truly scary about kaiju. International politics and Western adaptations.

⁠CatBusRuss⁠⁠ gets to learn the history of "The Return of Godzilla⁠", a legacy sequel/reboot of the Toho franchise. The two discuss whether or not the giant monsters are only scary to kids, the under appreciated influence the big guy had on America filmmaking, the necessity of practical effects, and where the hell the money that Yankee producers are throwing at movies is going. 

"Godzilla Minus One" only cost $15 million to make and featured Oscar-winning special effects. Why did "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" cost 10 times that? We suppose the "X" does represent multiplication (Thanks Jessica Ritchey⁠.).

 

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.

Action Movies, Tax Write offs, and Ice Cube

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 185: Write Off Marathon: Axel Foley v. Darkman v. The Rock v. Sons of Steel

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)⁠, ⁠Darkman⁠, ⁠The Rundown⁠, and ⁠Sons of Steel (1989)⁠. Aside from action and outrageous spectacle, what do these films have in common?

⁠CatBusRuss⁠ is tempted to do some research to determine if he has ever had a guest for a Labor Day Weekend episode of "⁠Ninety For Chill: The Podcast⁠", but why dwell on the past? Let's experience some flicks that are new to him, and help warrant writing them off when I Dig Crazy Flicks, LLC. files their taxes.

Our host believes that he came up with a fun four film marathon based on films from the subscription services that he pays for (Netflix & Paramount+), his recent iTunes purchases, and a film that he was tempted to purchase during ⁠Vinegar Syndrome⁠'s Labor Day Sale, but thanks to ⁠JustWatch⁠, found that it was free on Tubi. We are sure that we will address the Blu-Rays that he did buy on a later episode.

Episode 187: At the Late-Night, Double-Feature, Ice Cube Show

It is only appropriate that for episode 187, the podcast will be about films from a gangster rap founding father, ⁠Ice Cube⁠. He is a man so hard, that you never see him get killed on screen. ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ verified this on the ⁠Cinemorgue Wiki⁠.

This all stems around our host finding "⁠Trespass⁠" from 1992 on iTunes for $4.99. It is a movie that has Cube as fourth billed behind Bill Paxton, Ice Tea, and William Sadler. Not a bad place to be when the film is written by ⁠Robert Zemeckis⁠ & ⁠Bob Gale⁠ and directed by the man who gave us "Streets of Fire" & "48 Hours", ⁠Walter Hill ⁠.

But O'Shea Jackson can lead a film, or at least share top billing with The Chick from "⁠Species⁠", ⁠Natasha Henstridge⁠. With The Horror Master, ⁠John Carpenter⁠, at the helm, surely you will be entertained by "Ghosts of Mars". If that is not enough this to sell this feature to you, "The Beekeeper" Jason Statham further stacks the cast.

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.