Friday, January 24, 2025

Fan Expo New Orleans Warm Up for "Ninety For Chill: The Panel"

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Bonus: Fan Expo NOLA: Day 1 - Frustrations (& Valhalla Rising)

Mads Mikelson with the Back to the Future Crew

CatBusRuss⁠ made the 17-hour train ride to New Orleans to try and outshine the "40th Anniversary: Back To the Future" cast reunion panel. With the backing of TJ and Plaideau from the ⁠NOLA Film Scene⁠ podcast, surely there would be an audience despite the stiff 7 pm panel competition at ⁠Fan Expo New Orleans⁠. No one can deny the "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠" fighting spirit. But, most of our host's friends can recall what his role in the pro-wrestling ring was. Which won out? Lets just give a participation trophy for Russ's effort.

⁠That maybe overly melodramatic. CatBus had fun meeting and hanging out with his panel guests, and appreciates them forcing him to be a little more social. A lot of promotional buttons were given out, and no one told him to jog off, so it is a winning day for this podcast. It is definitely a winner when compared to the Danish English language viking film "⁠Valhalla Rising⁠", the feature Russ watched to unwind the night prior.

Fan Expo NOLA: Day 2 - Bootleggers, Arial Artistry, & Renounced Jedi

CatBusRuss with his a Hazbin Hotel plush cat

Not a perfect day in New Orleans for ⁠CatBusRuss⁠. He did not set his alarm early enough to catch the ⁠Anthony Daniels⁠panel and convention center food is not how he wanted to sample Cajun/Creole cuisine. But he was a little more social thus providing more potential for "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠" in the future. Thank ⁠Brian Plaideau⁠ for the shove there. He is still a little shy when it comes to approaching attractive arial artists, but he will always be a work in progress.

CatBus did make it to some fun panels. It was not C3-P0, but the humble ⁠Ashely Eckstein⁠ provided ⁠Fan Expo⁠ a fun "Star Wars" love fest. He was not there for a long time, but it was a good time checking out the "⁠Fave Five From Fans⁠" podcast. So far, you can never go wrong with a "⁠Bootleg Safari⁠" panel.

Perhaps his biggest score of the day was getting a ⁠Husk ⁠cat plushie and having the nerve to hit up some "⁠Hazbin Hotel⁠" cosplayers for a pic. It makes up for him not talking to the ⁠Arial Space Squad⁠ after their performance. Social baby steps.

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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