Off to Texas!

Updated on April 19, 2023 By Ken Begg 37 Comments

Consider this your hangout space for a week. See some of you in Dallas this weekend, for the rest, take care and watch something stupid. Ta!

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  • Gamera977

    Have a fun and safe trip everyone and see ya’ll on the flip side….

  • Have a good trip!

  • So what mischief should the rest of us get up to while the proprietor’s out?

  • Eric Hinkle

    Enjoy the trip and the movies in Dallas!

  • There is an author who is suing Amazon and the Tolkien estate saying they plagiarized his novel, stealing from it to make The Rings of Power. The kick, though, isn’t that someone is trying to coat ride on one of modern times’ biggest flops. It’s that his book is called The Fellowship of the King, and is an unauthorized sequel to The Lord of the Rings. On sale at Amazon for almost $12.

    The mind boggles.

  • KeithB

    Svenghoolie on MTV this week is showing The Mole People.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    I watched “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” and “independence Day,” both in 4K. They’re both great examples of the format.

  • Just got back from seeing Renfield which is hilarious and gory and hilariously gory. It’s no high art, but it sure doesn’t deserve to have tanked the way it has and it kept me laughing out loud for most of the (brisk) running time. It’s a sequel to the ’31 film, not the novel and there are some nice little bits in there for those of us who are fans. Nicholas Hoult nails Dwight Frye’s giggle and mannerisms.

  • Eric Hinkle

    $12 Kindle and $27 for a hardcopy. That guy is optimistic.

    I’m amused how he’s suing the people and company he trusts to sell his book.

  • Eric Hinkle

    This must be the first praise I’ve seen for that movie that didn’t boil down to calling all the non-fans names. Maybe I’ll give it a shot. I saw Cocaine Bear at the local cheap theater and it was a little better than I thought it’d be.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    Watched “Alien” in 4K. I saw the film in its theatrical run, and I don’t think it looked (and sounded) this good.

  • Well, name-calling is the best way to convince someone to see your POV. I should have thought of that. Eldest brought over a copy of Cocaine Bear for Jamie, so we are watching tomorrow after the weekly Columbo date.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I hope you enjoy Cocaine Bear. Just a warning, there are one or two scenes that may be a little much for the younger children.

  • Watched Evil Dead Rise this afternoon. Best new Horror flick I’ve seen in a while. While I won’t say it scared me, I was nicely tense through the film and an hour or so afterwards. Worthy of the name Evil Dead.

  • Since the two that were home when we watched it are 17 and 21 and I just took to the wildly more gory Renfield, no worries.

    Gonna be honest, Jamie and the boys thought it was hilarious, I was fairly indifferent. Just didn’t hit the sweet spot for combined horror/humor for me. Either needed a bit more real horror/suspense amid the sillyness, or buckets more blood to play up the absurdity. But degustibus non est disputandum.

    I also can’t really figure out how they spent $35 million on shitty CGI and a generally cheap cast. Then again Marvel can spend $350 million for shitty CI, so…

    I do like Henry.

  • kgb_san_diego

    Except for one or two effects shots, Alien holds up as well or better in 4K than any other movie from the 70’s It is AMAZING how good it looks, even blown up…

  • Beckoning Chasm

    I did notice that when Sigourney Weaver has her space helmet on at the end, it looked an awful lot like painted styrofoam….still, the 4K really looks incredible.

  • Okay, It hasn’t been mentioned here yet, but the new American Godzilla flick is going to be called Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire and it has the boys fighting what looks like a mammoth orangutan. No scenes yet, but I’m excited. I love this series almost as much as the real Godzilla series.

  • Gamera977

    Ohhhh, that sounds insane! Looking forward to it!

  • Gamera977

    Sorry, haven’t watched anything stupid yet. Which is odd for me. Mostly just so-so stuff.

    Did watch the Korean movie ‘The Villainess’ which is an insane hell for leather action movie that starts with and ends with a bang. It’s on FreeVee if anyone wants to see it.

    That and listening to a lot of the ‘Monsters Among Us Podcast’ on Youtube. A Coast to Coast AM series of weird, strange , and bizarre stuff that people call in with. Some of it’s goofy and some callers turn a two minute story into fifteen minutes of aimless rambling but it’s spooky fun.

  • Goldurn it man, how could you! You let the whole team down by not watching something stupid!

    Joking aside, I’ve been watching a nice dose of high quality Horror flicks. I’ve also been on a theme, with people going into the wilderness and being killed. Not sure why I’ve done it, but I’ve done it.

    At least one of those was stupid. In case you cared.

  • Gamera977

    Any you’d like to recommend?

    After reading about it on Grey Wizard’s site I did look for the Herschel Gordon Lewis kid’s movie ‘Jimmy, The Boy Wonder’ which is supposed to be absolutely painfully awful but couldn’t find it anywhere. Not sure if that’s good or bad.

  • KeithB

    Is the orangutan voiced by Christopher Waulken?

  • I hear they’re trying to work something out with the Louis Prima estate.

  • Sure thing! I’m just going to talk a little about all of them, in order of worth. These are on Prime, by the by, so you can easily find out how bad my judgment is.

    —

    The Prey: I’m not actually recommending this, just mentioning it in passing. I watched because I’d had such good luck in this type pictures I thought it worth the risk. It wasn’t. Packed with pointless scenes, characters you can hardly tell apart, and the sense it was only made to capitalize on Slasher flicks, it fits the stupid label all too well. I found the ending particularly irritating.

    The Final Terror: It has some real unlikable characters in it, and the occasional implausibility, but I thought enough of the story worked. It’s closer to Deliverance than Friday the 13th and has a trio of future stars in it, including Cypher from Matrix. It’s what started my kick of Stalked-in-the-Woods kick.

    Bachelor Games: Far better than the previous two, it also suffers from unlikable characters. However I think its better shot, better directed, and has a better story. I will say that this is the rare film where I thought it would have been better served without the Supernatural angle. Or at least if the Supernatural was better handed. The ending is also kind of a dud.

    Friday the 13th: This is on the cusp, as the previous three have the characters out camping/hiking when disaster strikes and this one is focused on a camp ground. Still, watching the others I got in the mood. My opinion of this has risen a great deal over the years, especially after seeing it in theaters. Of the four, I give this one the nod if you haven’t seen it before.

    —

    If you don’t mind a little indulgence, let me point out a couple more that I’ve seen, but didn’t watch recently:

    Rituals: There’s a ton of movies with this title. The one I’m talking about stars the always great Hal Holbrook. It’s the one I kept comparing the others to, and they always came up lacking. I’d recommend this one over the other Stalked-in-the-Woods flicks. It also has its share of unlikeable characters, but Holbrook grounds things a decent sort protagonist.

    She Came From the Woods: This one isn’t on Prime, and, like Friday the 13th, on the cusp of the same subject matter. Worth checking out in any case if you get a chance. A homage to 80’s Horror, it’s less Slasher and more Supernatural Horror, though the Supernatural angle isn’t as well thought out as I’d have like it. That said, it’s unlikable characters is down to one and it has several really well done moments in it.

  • Ugh, Jimmy the Boy Wonder remains the only movie that ever truly broke me. Sandy showed it at one of the early T-Fests and I literally finally just broke down in honest to G_d hysterics when my brain just melted about halfway in at the sheer inanity of it all. Took ten minutes to get me off the floor and breathing.

    Twisted Pair came close, but in that case it was actual laughter at the goofy sincerity and worst effects I’ve ever seen.

  • Eric Hinkle

    If you’re interested in paranormal weirdness, there are a pair of YouTube accounts by the names ‘Bedtime Stories’ and ‘Wartime Stories’ that have some good creepy stuff that’s rather professionally made.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Odd question time, but am I wrong or did this site once have the monster from the movie ‘The Crater Lake Monster’ as a MoTD? I searched on the site and I can’t find it!

    I vaguely recall something to the effect of how the film’s poster was better than the actual movie.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    They have outstanding artwork.

  • KeithB

    On NPR today they were talking about Michael Jackson. It turns out that right before all the child abuse stories came out, he had completed a film with Stephen King called “Is this Scary?” It was never released, but they said it was on YouTube.

  • KeithB

    Well, given how cheap weiland-yutani is, maybe the future space suits *will* be made out of cardboard!

  • 🐻 bgbear_rnh

    3D printed

  • Beckoning Chasm

    I watched Robert Altman’s “The Long Goodbye,” which is not stupid or bad, but is actually a really great film. Highly recommended. Early role for Ahnold, too. Mark Rydell is a much better actor than director.

  • Gamera977

    Thanks!!! I gave ‘Rituals’ a shot and enjoyed it! I’m going to try to check out some of the others over the coming weeks.

    Guess it’s best that I didn’t find ‘Jimmy, The Boy Wonder. I’m not sure I have enough spare brain cells to burn at this point. Though I visited Coral Castle about fifteen years ago and was interested in how it looked in the movie.

  • Gamera977

    Yeah, I’ve following ‘Bedtime Stories’ and ‘Wartime Stories’ for years. And the artwork is excellent!

  • Gamera977

    I am thinking Ken used the poster.

  • Eric Hinkle

    That’s what I was talking about. I was looking for it here on Jabootu but just couldn’t find it.