Beating A Dead Horse

     This week- a pair of films about men driven to extremes.

     Two Vietnam Vets begin having similar ultrarealistic dreams about a member of their fireteam who died in a POW camp. Soon they start waking up with actual injuries they received in their dreams. In a desperate effort to save their buddy and stop a sadistic traitor they gear up for one final nocturnal confrontation. A high concept action thrillers from VHS pioneer David A. Prior, Night Wars.
     Recently released from prison career criminal, Johnny Clay, has a plan to rob a racetrack with a potential take of $2 million. His heist plan is more than able to work with a small crew, assuming there are no leaks or unlucky breaks... The  third feature from legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, an expertly crafted and stylish late classic period Noir, The Killing.
     All that and Craig is unrepentant, Tyler fears the future, Dave goes unrestricted, and Kevin makes moves that would make Machiavelli blush. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 446- Beating A Dead Horse

Secret Satan 3

     This week- we spread peace on Earth and good will towards all humanity through painful cinematic suppositories specially chosen to mentally and emotionally break each other.

     Jack is an aging football hooligan. After a fight, Jack is arrested for possession of cocaine and gets sentenced to six weeks of couples' therapy. Jack's wife, Dani, is emotionally isolated, spending all her time just caring for Jack's son and home, long ago forced to give up on her artistic dreams so Jack wouldn't feel lesser. If you think that sounds like an interesting set up to a solid kitchen sink drama... it isn't. How far can Danny Dyer's charisma and attitude carry a feature? Why doesn't Stephanie Leonidas not have a good enough career to turn this down? Marching Powder.
     A dissection leads to an unsettling physiological anomaly. A young male narrator is obsessed with his sister. When she is revealed to be pregnant, the young man begins to farther detached, eventually choosing to commit the most vicious act he can imagine. An orgy with the planet. A man suffering from religious psychosis is a compulsively masturbating pornography addict. His guilt drives horrific sexual  nightmares. An experimental art horror anthology, filmed over a period of nearly 6 years, Subconscious Cruelty.
     In 2045, the population of the world take refuge from reality in a huge virtual reality sandbox created by the late James Halliday. When Halliday died, an Easter Egg hunt for three keys was kicked off with the ultimate prize being total control of the game. When Wade Watts finds the first key, he and his friends find themselves in the crosshairs of Nolan Sorrento, who will stop at nothing to win. Based on a once wildly popular novel and directed by a living legend who should be perfect for it, Ready Player One.
     A fantasy though an inflatable land of wonder and the 1964 Philadelphia Gimbles Thanksgiving Day Parade. Fun in Balloon Land.

     All that and Dave Yippie Ki-Yays, Kevin can't keep track of it all, and Tyler plots to throw a spanner in the works. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 445- Secret Satan 3

Corpus Delectus

     This week we learn a lessons on loneliness and self-improvement. 

     Sonya runs her family funeral parlor. She lives an isolated and routine life, above the parlor, with her distant father. The business is slowly going under and she is under a crushing amount of debt owed to a psychotic landlord. Sonya finds an unlikely companion in the unclaimed cadaver of an elderly woman. The third film by Dwein Baltazar and produced by Black Sheep Productions, the Philippine answer to A24, Oda sa Wala (English: Ode to Nothing).
     Susan finds no satisfaction with her working class life and yearns for an escape. When her husband and father start to really push her to have a baby, her fear of forever being shackled to the daily monotony drive her to start attending Open University courses on Literature. Her tutor, Dr. Frank Bryant, is jaded by the pretensions of university culture and drowns his misery in public alcoholism. Susan's verve rekindles Frank's passion for literature and Frank's teaching opens  doors to a bohemian life and newly discovered self-confidence for Susan. Lewis Gilbert's reverse Pygmalion with a pair of fantastic lead performances and based on screenwriter Willy Russell's play of the same title, Educating Rita.
     All that and Dave drops out, Kevin has a strange interlude, and Tyler stands alone in a neon fog. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 444- Corpus Delectus

Lets Do the Time Hop(per) Again

     This week we sneak through a military check point for the penultimate trip to a small Indiana town.

     A year after the ground split open life had found a new rhythm in Hawkins, Indiana. The military, being the fine upstanding and not at all suspicious or questionable industrial-complex it is, has slapped metal adhesive medical strips on the gaping pandimensional cracks and spends the rest of its time hunting a certain numerically named psychic. Kids go to school and read classic sci-fi/fantasy novels. Free roaming imaginary friends impart wisdom their playmates shouldn't know. And a confrontation is drawing close. Stranger Things Season 5 part 1.
     All that and we dust off Anna, Dave has feelings, Kevin embraces his nurturing instinct, and Tyler is only lightly drugged while tied to a chair. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 443- Lets Do the Time Hop(per) Again

No Stunts in the Champagne Room

     This week a pair of films about people forced by circumstances to face the harshness of reality with flights of fancy.

     Lera is a sociology student who has been tasked with doing a door to door survey. She spends her nights caring for her sick and sleepwalking mother, supporting them both by dancing at a seedy gentleman's club, and trying to avoid her estranged emotionally abusive alcoholic father. The second feature written and directed by Natalya Kudryashova delicately balances grim realism with lyrical fantasies- Gerda.

     After witnessing the murder of her jewel stealing boyfriend, Carmen is escorted across Texas by a pair of unorthodox FBI agents with three professional killers hot on their heels. One of the many once forgotten indie films brought to cult prominence by Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, the first feature by long time stunt man John Stewart- Action U.S.A.
     All that and Craig contemplates the joys of staying home the others take their penultimate trip to a small town in Indiana. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 442- No Stunts in the Champagne Room

B ALL YOU CAN B

     This week we celebrate the warriors of post classic Hollywood B films who celebrated and reveled in their chosen field just in time for Americans to glut themselves on turkey and gravy.

     Park Plaza Mall has just installed the newest high tech in security, a trio of security robots designed to subdue and apprehend thieves and trespassers, and impenetrable steel doors across all exits. The same night they are implemented, Allison, a pizzeria waitress, and nerdy Ferdy are both talked into attending an after hours party in the mall's furniture store. Tragically, something goes terribly wrong before the last frolicking retail employees can lock up for the night. A cult favorite that might be about excesses of consumerism and the extreme paranoia of security focused capitalist societies OR might just be another excuse for Jim Wynorski to hang out with young blondes- Chopping Mall.
     One night some workers discover a tasty creamy substance bubbling out of the ground at a Georgia quarry. Soon it is on every store shelf in America and there are multiple tubs in every home. A zero calorie addictive treat that is so good you won't even care you've turned into an alien zombie. Independent maverick auteur Larry Cohen's directly confrontational satire of consumerism, mass media, and the health food industry, with a great performance from his one true muse, Michael Moriarty. Enough is never enough of... The Stuff.
     Former sweethearts Wendy, whose one semester at college has let her explore her inner radical antiestablishment lesbian, and Arbie, who stayed behind to take care of his parents, find themselves in opposition when a fast food chicken restaurant paves over Tromaville's Native American burial ground. In a fit of jealousy, after seeing Wendy protesting with her girlfriend Micki, Arbie takes a job working the greasy fried register. Before long both the misfit employees and the protesters outside begin dying and undead feathers start flying. Lloyd Kaufman's black comedy horror musical, made entirely by volunteers from all over the world and using donated props from just as many far flung studios and TOTALLY NOT another satire of consumerism, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.
     Australian super stunt man, Grant Page, takes a job working for an American television series and moves to LA. Once there he reunites with his cousin, a member of the band Sorcery, a rock band with fantasy theatrical stage shows. Refusing to rest after Grant is injured on his very first stunt, his dedication to his craft draws the attention of both the show's lead actress, Monique van de Ven, but also journalist Lois. Together the threesome attend a lot of Sorcery concerts, attend lavish Hollywood parties with the band, and occasionally meditate on the joys of extreme living. Brian Trenchard-Smith's attempt to make Page a world class action star and Sorcery something more than an 8th rate Alice Cooper clone, Stunt Rock.
     All that and Dave questions all his life choices up to this moment, Tyler begins to spontaneously cry at the sight of Eggos, Kevin finishes his naughty and naughtier list, and Craig finally opens a stack of blu-rays he was keeping to use as currency once the global AI bubble bursts and drowns us all. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 441- B ALL YOU CAN B

Interpretive Rants

     This week- two films about damaged psychologically manipulative men and the women entangled with them.
     In 1996 a virus wiped out the majority of humanity and forced the survivors underground. Now in a desperate attempt to salvage some future, volunteers are sent back in time in the hopes to trace the virus origin and obtain a sample of it in its purist form. James Cole, a prisoner traumatized from seeing a man murdered in a airport in his youth, is accidentally sent 6 years too early and sets off a chain of events with devastating consequences. Terry Gilliam's feature adaption of Chris Marker's 1967 short film, 12 Monkeys.
     The police investigate the murder of Laura Hunt, killed with a shot to her face in the doorway of her apartment. We the  a young, beautiful, and highly successful advertising executive killed by her sardonic newspaper columnist friend, her parasitic playboy fiancé, her jealous wealthy socialite aunt, or her well intentioned maid? Is there a twist in this knot of boiling jealousies? Directed by one of the most influential directors of the Noir Era and 1999 inductee to the Library of Congress National Film Registry, Laura.
     All that and Kevin has trouble reintegrating into society, Tyler tries new baked goods, Dave is invited out, and Craig fails to rise above it all. Join us, won't you?

   Episode 440- Interpretive Rants