Wednesday, October 30, 2024

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

Eva the Queen Kitty Cosplaying Bloodsucker

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

Eva the Queen Kitty fears no King of the Monsters

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.

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.