The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 481: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Kang the Conqueror, and Baskin-Robbins
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Mo Lightning (@molightning on Twitter) discuss the 2023 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Directed by Peyton Reed, and starring Paul Rudd, Jonathan Majors, Evangeline Lilly, Kathryn Newton and some ants, the movie kicks off the fifth phase of the MCU and also features Ant-Man throwing a nice front kick. In this episode, they also talk about Michael Pena, terrible ideas, and the excellence of Jonathan Majors.
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Share this post:
The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Our Favorite Moments From the John Wick Trilogy
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and DJ Valentine (@TryingToBeDJV on Twitter) talk about their favorite moments from the John Wick Trilogy and ponder why C-level assassins would attempt to kill John Wick (AKA a death machine). In this episode, they discuss club fights, Mark Dacascos, rolling down stairs, and iconic Wick lines. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: Boogeyman (2005), horror-LITE about childhood trauma and a fear of closets.
MY CALL: A very PG-13 horror about a young man who is haunted by his childhood trauma of the Boogeyman and his broken family. No gore, no nudity, no profanity, dumb-looking CGI monster, very little horror. MORE MOVIES LIKE Boogeyman: Move on to Jeepers Creepers 1-2 (2001, 2003), Darkness Falls (2003), The Babadook (2014), The Bye Bye Man (2017), Candyman (1992), which I find to be yet more fun and/or better and/or intense with much better horror backing their Boogeymen.
After witnessing his father getting dragged into the void of his closet by the storied Boogeyman, Tim (Barry Watson;Teaching Mrs. Tingle, 7th Heaven) has spent the last twenty years fearful of closets and the dark. But Tim’s issues don’t stop there. He suffers from nightmares of his childhood trauma including his mentally unwell mother (Lucy Lawless; Ash vs Evil Dead, Salem). Upon her nightmare-prophesied passing, Tim returns home to face his fears where he reconnects with his childhood acquaintance Kate (Emily Deschanel; Rose Red, Bones), who will now also suffer his perhaps supernatural trauma.
Tim is losing his grip on reality. When things don’t make sense, we’re left to wonder if he is having a nervous breakdown or if supernatural things are actually happening. And was his father really taken by the Boogeyman, or was that his coping mechanism for his father abandoning him and his mother?
Our horror comes in the form of jump scares, faulty lights, creepy kids, and cultivated dread when gazing into the darkness. I think it’s executed well enough for a young teen viewership. But the methods may seem overly formulaic to more seasoned viewers. The jump scares are fine, but not really earned. Still, overall this is a very proficiently made horror with decent production value. It’s just not scary.
Director Stephen Kay (Sons of Anarchy, Get Carter) has made a horror-LITE for fans of 7th Heaven (1996-2006), as this movie stars the show’s heartthrob and hardly ever utters a bad word, sneaks a boob, or lets a drop of blood. The CGI Boogeyman looks awful, by the way. Awful!
In the end, Tim faces Boogeyman under the guidance of the ghost of a missing girl. Yes, it’s about as lame as it sounds. The way Tim defeats the monster is…. dumb. But really, this movie isn’t dumb. It’s quite well-made. I just didn’t like it. And what’s funny is I recall enjoying it when it was new. Maybe that’s just because I was a younger, less mature, less-seasoned horror viewer. Or maybe now I’m just old, grumpy, and tougher to please. No clue. But I hope my ranting helps you estimate if this movie is for you.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003), giving the franchise a supercharged upgrade in budget, horror action, and just plain cheeky “Florida demon” fun.
MY CALL: This is like comparing Fast Five (2011) to The Fast and the Furious (2001). It’s bigger and better and more fun and more exciting and the story builds… but we’ll never forget the solid foundation and the magic of its more humble progenitor. MORE MOVIES LIKE Jeepers Creepers 2: Not 100% necessary, but I’d recommend seeing Jeepers Creepers (2001) before seeing this sequel. Then you might move on to Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017), which actually takes place between the events of parts 1 and 2. But I’d recommend a hard pass on Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022). And this may sound way out of left field, but “normal people vs. The Creeper” in these movies feels a lot like Dutch and his boys versus the Predator (1987).
In part 1, we learned that The Creeper is a creature of unknown origin that emerges every 23rd Spring to eat people for 23 days… and once it finds a scent it fancies, it will stop at nothing to devour it! This sequel transpires on days 22 and 23 of the infernal feast, just days after the events of Jeepers Creepers (2001).
When a traveling basketball team’s bus blows a flat, they find themselves stranded like a buffet on The Creeper’s final binge nights. The same day a farmer (Ray Wise; Digging Up the Marrow, Chillerama, The Rift) loses his son to The Creeper and dedicates his time on fabricating weapons to hunt the monster that took his youngest son. While presented with a completely straight face, this gets conceptually bonkers since this farmer manages to mount a fully operational harpoon gun (fashioned from his posthole puncher!) to the bed of his truck in a matter of hours before hitting the road to hunt The Creeper like Captain Ahab seeking the White Whale.
The Creeper’s game is upped in this sequel. The action is much more dynamic, with more striking visual execution. I love when the coach (Thom Gossom Jr.) gets snatched into the air while laying road flares. Then the assistant coach (Tom Tarantini; Prom Night, Jeepers Creepers) and the bus driver (Diane Delano; The Wicker Man) get snatched. The shots are all meant to be like abruptly funny jumpscares, and this just works. It’s fun and feisty. And now the team of kids are left to their own devices.
Meanwhile the writing is surprisingly decent for a horror sequel. The teen drama might make it more entertaining. For whatever reason, part 1 and this sequel each have a different psychic character (Nicki Aycox; Joy Ride 2, Perfect Stranger) who inherently understands the creature’s motive and its basic rules. Frankly, I’d like more answers about this Florida demon. Did a demon possess a Florida man, maybe when he was on a bath salts bender? Or do demons just fancy rural Florida for their holiday escapes? And why did a random high schooler on a bus suddenly start experiencing psychic premonitions? Is she somehow connected with the monster? Did The Creeper eat one of her ancestors? Is God trying to protect her from this infernal beast? So many questions!
Having taken in a scent that it must have, The Creeper terrorizes the teenagers on the bus. The horror action is pretty solid, with the Creeper taking a pole through the eye socket and skull. That said, the gore is maybe better in this sequel. But like part 1, the film relies less on gore and more on its monstrous villain and action. I love how much high-speed flying and swooping and diving The Creeper does in this movie. I’m reminded a bit the flying/chase scene from Underworld: Evolution (2006). The creature effects in flight are great! The whole “Farmer versus Creeper” thing is also a blast! They’re harpooning back and forth… it’s a great battle actually. The effects and stunts when things get hot are excellent.
The budget is definitely better, and so are most aspects of this sequel. The Creeper’s wings look great. He eats a kid’s head, rips off its own heavily damaged head, and then the kid’s head is sort of regurgitated and used to replace its own head. The CGI is definitely wonky by today’s standards, but it’s a neat scene nonetheless. And now we have some inkling into the purpose behind its “skull claw facehugger batwing” thing on its head. Still we never learn what the heck that is, or why that is, or how that came to be.
This franchise treats its monster like a big bad Marvel villain. He is presented out in the open, well-lit and in full form, brandishing his claws and wings. He leaps impossibly high into the air in but a blink and flies away fast into the sun with his victim screaming in tow. And like a good villain in the spotlight, The Creeper enjoys attention and showing his cheeky personality.
Building the mythology of The Creeper—which is steeped in mystery even by the end of part 1—we learn that some of the 300 bodies in its subterranean “mannequinized corpse lair” (which Darry saw in part 1) had wooden false teeth, meaning that some victims were killed upwards of 200 years ago. He also wields a magical knife with Biblical illustrations carved into the ivory hilt (not in part 1). I feel like we’re meant to assume he is a fallen angel or actual ‘named’ demon. But if we were to learn anything, this movie makes it abundantly clear that The Creeper is pretty much unkillable. This movie ends 23 years later, with the farmer waiting for the next awakening—and no, sadly neither Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017) nor Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022) will pick up from this point.
I really enjoyed Jeepers Creepers (2001) and it holds up rather well for me. But this sequel is probably even more fun and definitely more readily rewatchable than part 1. This movie amps up the horror action and does it really well. This was a blast.
Share this post:
The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 480: The Hunt (2020), Crystal May Creasey, and Kitchen Fights
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Lisa L. (@FoolishMinion20 on Twitter) discuss the 2020 action film The Hunt. Directed by Craig Zobel, and starring Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ethan Suplee and a fancy fireplace, the movie focuses on what happens when a group of morons decide to hunt a group of idiots. In this episode, they also talk about the greatness of Betty Gilpin, and why her character Crystal May Creasey is an action icon. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: Jeepers Creepers (2001), basically a “Florida Man” cautionary tale about a very mysterious road-raging cannibal Boogeyman.
MY CALL: This Boogeyman movie is somehow both mean and fun at the same time, and this movie plays like a “bad movie” script was made by a solid cast and crew. You’ll have a lot of unanswered questions—in a kind of funny way. Very entertaining and not the typical kind of horror movie. MORE MOVIES LIKE Jeepers Creepers: Move on to Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003), which I find to be yet more fun with yet more exciting horror action.
Siblings Trish (Gina Philips; Jeepers Creepers 3, The Sickhouse) and Darry (Justin Long; Barbarian, Drag Me to Hell, After.Life, Tusk) are taking the rural countryside route heading home from college. They are typical siblings. They argue and nag each other to no end, but they are frenemy-besties when the going gets tough. They encounter a little road rage when a rusty vintage truck needlessly honks and bullies them into a stressed panic until it finally pulls past them. Filmed in Ocala, Florida, the opening scenes depict how many transplants react to erratic Florida drivers who—as my NJ girlfriend quotes—are apparently literally trying to cause multi-car pileups.
Farther down the road, when they witness the driver of the old jalopy dumping what appear to be dead bodies behind an old abandoned church at the side of the road, the trenchcoated driver spots them, pursues them, and violently runs them off the road. Again, my girlfriend would call this a “normal Florida driver.”
Now, rather than continuing to head home, these two decide to press their luck with this psychotic Florida Man and investigate his body dumping chute behind this creepy old church. Deep underground in a subterranean torture lair with the walls and ceiling lined with mannequinized dead bodies, Darry finds a dying victim with his abdomen crudely stitched up as if he had been autopsied. Yeah, Florida people. I know, right!
When these two get the local cops involved, we wander deep into bonkerstown with “The Creeper” wholesale murdering these sheriffs while on top of their speeding cruiser. This is where we learn this demon has something of a mullet (which is somehow never explained or explored or commented on even in the sequels), carries a very custom-job axe (again, no explanations about the Renaissance Fair armorer who likely commissioned that), and truly delights in his killing (still no good explanations). Oh, and it has even more surprises in store.
But I still have to wonder how no one ever questioned where this mulleted, trench-coated, road ragey, Florida-country cannibal-murderer got that custom axe. How about that batwing-facehugger thing attached to the back of its head!? I really dig this flick. But if you’re looking for answers, you won’t get any. Is this thing a demon? What was it doing to those people to make them like mannequin corpses? Why were those bodies plastering the walls and ceiling of his lair? Why was that kid’s stomach stitched up and how the heck was he still alive? Did the Creeper actually stroll into the local DMV to get his BEATNGU custom license plate? Does that mean he has a registered car, a driver’s license and auto insurance? Did the sheriff (Brandon Smith; Jeepers Creepers 3) never try to run the license plate through the system? No answers across the board except for a local psychic (Patricia Belcher; The Number 23) telling us he comes out every 23rd Spring for 23 days to “eat.”
This is more a cheeky yet mean monster movie and a cat-and-mouse chase than a movie that thrives on gore, blood and guts. There is some gore, but the effects are definitely biased towards our Creeper’s monster make-up and the horror action.
Written and directed by Victor Salva (Clownhouse, Powder, Jeepers Creepers 2-3), this was overall a very fun and energized horror movie. There are few scares as this plays out more like a hunt than a boogeyman flick. It just finds its thrills outside of jump scares. I enjoy the over-the-top antics of this Floridian demon who seems to enjoy his human-eating profession.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008), the teen horrors of high school in another Horror-LITE for beginners.
MY CALL: All the teen angst and horrors of adolescence, but none of the movie horror… at least, not for seasoned horror-goers. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Haunting of Molly Hartley: If you enjoy this style of young adult horror, then you might consider Séance (2021). For a more wild coming-of-age high school story, try Excision (2012). I haven’t seen the “sequel” to this movie (i.e., The Exorcism of Molly Hartley (2015)), but I’m inclined to pass.
Having suffered a horrible, near-death trauma at the hands of her disturbed mother (Marin Hinkle; Quarantine), Molly Hartley (Haley Bennett; Swallow, The Hole) lives with PTSD as she attempts to start fresh at a new prep school. She is plagued by nightmares she keeps to herself and social distractions abound both at home and at school. Meanwhile her father (Jake Weber; The Beach House, Dawn of the Dead, The Cell) just wants her to be happy and to consider forgiving her mother, her school counselor (Nina Siemaszko; The Hatred) is watching for signs of inherited schizophrenia, a classmate (Chace Crawford; The Boys, The Covenant) is turning on his charm, and the top ‘mean girl’ Suzie (AnnaLynne McCord; Tone-Deaf, Trash Fire, Day of the Dead, Excision) is trying to get in her way at every opportunity. So, yeah—drama!
As the story develops, so too does the high school drama. Molly lies to her father to sneak away to a party, she gets in a fight and injures her bully, she gets peer pressured to be “saved” by her Christian classmate, and she keeps having nightmares about her mother. Oh but wait, that last nightmare wasn’t a nightmare. Aaaaaand now her crazy mother is dead in a toothless scene lacking the horror it deserved.
Being Mickey Liddell’s only director credit, this film is well-made, well-written, well-produced and well-acted. What the film lacks is any sense of earned horror, intensity, creepiness or urgency. All the teen angst and horrors of adolescence (done well), but not enough of the movie horror. Atmosphere is not cultivated into tension—things just “happen.” We keep getting “told” that Molly’s situation is bad, but I hardly feel nervous for her even when her Baptism turns into attempted murder in the name of God. Even the “big finale reveal” felt completely unearned; just dropped in our lap with way too much bland exposition. I’d prefer something more vague, with more mystique, especially considering the cold open when a paranoid father killed his own daughter (Jessica Lowndes;Abattoir, Altitude, The Devil’s Carnival) who was hearing things.
This film closes tongue-in-cheek with the kind of ending you’d expect from a high school RomCom like 10 Things I Hate About You(1999), with a graduation ceremony, a triumphant speech from the Valedictorian, and the will-they-won’t-they couple finally together. It ends like a happy ending and a young adult horror twist.
Share this post:
The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 479: Hard Rain, Jet Skis, and Bank Robberies
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Erik discuss the 1998 action thriller Hard Rain. Directed by Mikael Salomon, and starring Christian Slater, Minnie Driver, Morgan Freeman and several other waterlogged actors, the movie focuses on the slippery shenanigans that follow an armored truck heist. In this episode, they also talk about high concept movies, non-violent villains, and water tanks. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: Saloum (2021), a truly wonderfully executed crime thriller about trauma and revenge, followed by some ill-fitting supernatural horror.
MY CALL: This is an elite production of a crime thriller executed perfectly for 60 minutes, followed by something of a not-so-elite horror ending. But the good (in fact, the great) here tremendously outweighs what I considered the lesser aspects. So watch this and be dazzled. If our tastes differ, perhaps you’ll enjoy being dazzled for the full 90 minutes. But make no mistake. Despite my strong criticism, this is a strong recommendation for all film fans. MORE MOVIES LIKE Saloum: I struggle to conjure similar fare without simply saying the best of Guy Ritchie.
Wow. The almost addictive atmosphere of the opening scenes is… it’s energizing. A paramilitary hit squad navigates the casualty-littered streets on their way to “decommission” the local drug trade in a power coup. But as they position themselves before engaging, they step in tune to the soundtrack like an unintentional music video while the presentation of very hard violence is delivered with a tongue-in-cheek editing style smacking of a Guy Ritchie crime film. You see the intensity of this land and these militants, but you bob your head to the music during this almost “fun” introduction to a very rough people in a very rough part of the world.
Then the scene changes with the scoring, another riveting musical choice that almost feels like the scene change cued the start of a new level of some stylish new FPS game. If you watched this already, I’ll bet you remember thinking to yourself “I need to look up these songs!” Meanwhile, we are treated to beautiful shots of African landscapes. Good Lord, the music, camerawork and editing in this film! Chef’s kisses. Director Jean Luc Herbulot is on to something, and you’ll notice he loves using shoes during his visual storytelling.
Our gang escapes a conflict in Guinea Bissau and are forced to land their plane unexpectedly, but thankfully, in Saloum, where there is a preserve; a sanctuary previously visited by Cheike (YannGael; 1899). It is a place not of financial transactions between guest and owner, but of shared care and maintenance of the retreat. They plan to stay three nights. But the composition of the other guests at this sanctuary poses threats and challenges to the secrecy of our criminals. And that threat tears at the trust within our trio.
Eventually, the Guy Ritchieness tones down, along with the fast paced action and scoring and editing. Now we are immersed in more of a mystery/crime thriller in the Saloum retreat among the guests. We find past trauma, revenge, mystery, plotting… too many people seem to know their secrets at this preserve. The urgency is to get out of there as soon as they can, before their cover is blown.
When things wander into the supernatural, I was much less engaged. I preferred the crime thriller to the eventual horror spin. We encounter shaky CGI-blurred dust devils of spiritual pestilence, like miniature locust swarms. The spirits are… really weak in my opinion. I’m going out of my way to be really polite about this since the first hour was top-tier excellent as a crime thriller. But I did not care for the last 30 minutes (i.e., the supernatural portion) at all. Their rules, their purpose, their appearance, their special effects… this blew a flat. Worse, I didn’t care for any more for the actions or words of any of the characters—all of which I found flawlessly engaging in the previous 60 minutes.
But look, if you think I didn’t like this film because of that, then you need to re-read the first four paragraphs. I’ll not let, what in my opinion was 30 ill-fitting minutes of a totally different movie jammed into this elite production of a crime thriller, ruin or smear the cinema perfection of the beginning and middle. I really want to track back to that. When was the last time you thought a film was “perfect” for 60 straight minutes? Even if only because “most” things were done so seamlessly well, so engagingly, that the critical portion of your mind shut off and you were simply wowed…? THAT is how I felt, and now I want to see whatever Jean Luc Herbulot does next.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: Endangered Species (1982), a very strange crime/medical thriller with a serious cast.
MY CALL: I feel I have stumbled unexpectedly across a gem! This movie is really way better than the premise or movie posters would ever suggest. Fans of 80s (sort of) science thrillers, government conspiracies and obscure cinema ought to love this.
After resigning from the police force and becoming sober, ex-New York cop Ruben (Robert Urich; The Ice Pirates) heads to Colorado for a fresh start. Investigating a series of bizarre cattle mutilations, the local sheriff (JoBeth Williams; Poltergeist) reluctantly accepts Ruben’s help… and his romantic advances.
The mutilated cattle are somehow missing all of their organs as if they just evaporated, and their heads are “bisected” perfectly revealing a cross-section of skin, muscle and bone layers. Cattle tradesman Ben (Hoyt Axton; Gremlins) suspects devil worshippers, and doesn’t like it when the local news and sheriff keep digging deeper into this case.
So I’m watching this movie and I’m totally expecting a cheap gorefest of a creature feature, and then later I’m expecting an alien Sci-Horror type movie. Halfway into this film I no longer have any idea what genre I’m watching. I thought it was horror originally—literally, this was an accident as it was suggested to me as a Horror movie by Amazon. But now I’m thinking it’s more like a medical-crime thriller. Still, I’m liking it!
But what’s most interesting about this forgotten flick—that I’ve somehow never heard of—is that it has a pretty serious cast and a much more serious story than I expected. The additions of Peter Coyote (The 4400, Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis), Dan Hedaya (The Hunger, Alien: Resurrection) and Harry Carey Jr. (Gremlins, The Exorcist III) bring gravity to this unraveling mystery in which the monsters are as human as you and me. Cliché, I know. But this movie does it well.
Director Alan Rudolph (Premonition, Terror Circus) made an interesting film that has nearly been lost in the ether. I suspect genre-confusion may have been part of the reason it’s so poorly known. The poster, premise, and even the vibe of the movie scream for horror, and a man’s guts spill out of his body in one scene (along with some other gory moments). Yet, as I’ve said, horror this most certainly is not.
Decent movie, though!
Movies, Films & Flix 