Monday, August 26, 2024

Stallone 6-Pack & Feels & Unspooling $200 Million Art/Gambles

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 179: Stallone 6-Pack: The 90-Minute Traumas & Feels

Eva is ready to spar with an awful director's cut

The king of action movies that run between 70-100 minutes is ⁠Sylvester Stallone⁠. If the feature was focused on action over drama in the 80s, they were brief affairs. Some were good, some were bad, but they all benefit from their sleek runtimes.

⁠CatBusRuss⁠ has tackled four* of Sly's features before, but did not have any representation from the current decade. So, he decided to bring back his reviews of "beloved" features like "⁠Nighthawks⁠", "⁠Cobra⁠", "⁠Over the Top⁠" and "⁠Judge Dredd⁠", and sandwich them between a two-picture binge. Our host takes 2022's superhero feature "⁠Samaritan⁠" and the 2021 re-edit of his favorite "Rocky" feature, "⁠Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago - The Ultimate Director's Cut⁠".

Russ goes through the entire range of emotions though out this episode. He pities the fans of Stallone's attempts to connect with kids, tears up for the relatable heroes, loves all of the outrageous moments, and experiences PTSD with the director's latest decisions. This podcast may be the emotional roller coaster that the icon has tried to deliver since the original "Rocky".

Episode 180: Unspooling $200 Million Art/Gambles with ThePoeticCritic

After “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’s” failure to succeed financially at the box office, CatBusRuss wonders “Why did it get made?” ThePoeticCritc states that it is IP and is happy that the funds were not put towards a super hero movie. Amy Nicholson from the “Unspooled” surprised Paul Scheer with how George Miller’s previous installment in his series lost $40 million for Warner Bros. The two still admired Miller’s 2015 film (as did the Academy and our host) and emphasized how great an artist he is. BUT, how can anyone justify spending nine figures on something that DaVinci only needed a literal canvas and paint for? ThePoeticCritic tries to explain the math.

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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