Main Menu

Recent posts

#1
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 01:10:28 PM
I've seen SPACE MUTINY. I assure you, SPACE MUTINY is an infinitely more valuable contribution to the international community of cinema than the films being pooped out in Buffalo, NY by Fred Olen Ray et cetera right now!
#2
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by Trevor - Today at 01:08:38 PM
Quote from: M.10rda on Today at 12:56:41 PMI don't think I knew it was shot in South Africa. Well - congratulations!  :teddyr:  :smile:

☺️☺️

It was one of the many cut rate films made in South Africa during the controversial subsidy film scandal era. That almost killed our industry as many fly by night filmmakers took advantage of a loophole ridden film production assistance program and films like SPACE MUTINY and RETURN OF THE FAMILY MAN came out of it 😳😳
#3
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 12:56:41 PM
I don't think I knew it was shot in South Africa. Well - congratulations!  :teddyr:  :smile:
#4
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by Trevor - Today at 12:50:21 PM
Quote from: M.10rda on Today at 12:43:53 PMI haven't watched the first HOWLING in 35 years or more. I thought Robert Picardo and the scene in the middle where he transforms were great and terrifying - but I was a little underwhelmed by the humorous bits. I should revisit it.

Same goes for all the sequels (adolescent watches). The VHS copy of PART II that I watched was so dark I couldn't make out heads or tails of it. It was a pre-record/rental from a store - is the film really that poorly lit and underexposed?

PART III is ridiculous, though seemingly intentionally.

I am glad to see Trevor offer guarded praise of PART 4, which... I liked as a kid! I was a very serious and unironic/insecure kid who thought I had a sense of humor yet hated humor in many places it turned up (such as in HOWLING 3) so in retrospect PART 4 might've benefitted from some humor, but - I enjoyed how straight and serious they played it. It's a more literal adaptation of the novel than Dante's original film, which I guess I also liked. The novel is, BTW, way r@piery than Dante's movie w/ no humor whatsoever. I don't recall any graphic sex abuse in PART 4 but the plot is closer to the novel.

PART 5... is kind of an unofficial remake of Amicus' awesome 70s werewolf mystery THE BEAST MUST DIE. I think PART 5 is terrific for about 25 minutes, then gradually makes every bad decision it can make to spiral into crappiness.

PART 6... never bothered.

No idea why all of the above is italicized.
Quote from: M.10rda on Today at 12:43:53 PMI am glad to see Trevor offer guarded praise of PART 4, which... I liked as a kid! I was a very serious and unironic/insecure kid who thought I had a sense of humor yet hated humor in many places it turned up (such as in HOWLING 3) so in retrospect PART 4 might've benefitted from some humor, but - I enjoyed how straight and serious they played it. It's a more literal adaptation of the novel than Dante's original film, which I guess I also liked. The novel is, BTW, way r@piery than Dante's movie w/ no humor whatsoever. I don't recall any graphic sex abuse in PART 4 but the plot is closer to the novel.


I viewed it on YouTube again and was amazed to see the amount of people I know and knew personally who worked on the film, including the guy who directed AMERICAN NINJA 3 BLOOD HUNT and AMERICAN NINJA 4 THE ANNILHLATION. 😳😳🐢
#5
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 12:43:53 PM
I haven't watched the first HOWLING in 35 years or more. I thought Robert Picardo and the scene in the middle where he transforms were great and terrifying - but I was a little underwhelmed by the humorous bits. I should revisit it.

Same goes for all the sequels (adolescent watches). The VHS copy of PART II that I watched was so dark I couldn't make out heads or tails of it. It was a pre-record/rental from a store - is the film really that poorly lit and underexposed?

PART III is ridiculous, though seemingly intentionally.

I am glad to see Trevor offer guarded praise of PART 4, which... I liked as a kid! I was a very serious and unironic/insecure kid who thought I had a sense of humor yet hated humor in many places it turned up (such as in HOWLING 3) so in retrospect PART 4 might've benefitted from some humor, but - I enjoyed how straight and serious they played it. It's a more literal adaptation of the novel than Dante's original film, which I guess I also liked. The novel is, BTW, way r@piery than Dante's movie w/ no humor whatsoever. I don't recall any graphic sex abuse in PART 4 but the plot is closer to the novel.

PART 5... is kind of an unofficial remake of Amicus' awesome 70s werewolf mystery THE BEAST MUST DIE. I think PART 5 is terrific for about 25 minutes, then gradually makes every bad decision it can make to spiral into crappiness.

PART 6... never bothered.

No idea why all of the above is italicized.
#6
Good Movies / Re: Creepy houses in movies?
Last post by Dr. Whom - Today at 12:14:15 PM
Well, there is the Ennis House, famously on Haunted Hill
#7
Entertainment / Re: The Wachowski Sisters..Has...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 12:13:44 PM
I apologize if I was treading heavily. I don't know if this (more on-topic) comment will ameliorate or compound my treading, but at least it's about THE MATRIX.......

In 2016 I started teaching a required Freshman college course on critical thinking, which I then taught each semester through 2021. It was my responsibility to pick a focal lens for my version of the course, and one of the only syllabic requirements was that I had to incorporate Plato's Allegory of the Cave. The focus of the course, for the next five years, ended up being "Fake News and Propaganda" - and what an emergent time it was to teach that material! Phew!  :lookingup: But anyway, as I was teaching 18 year olds about Plato's Allegory of the Cave anyway, naturally I used images and scenes from THE MATRIX (which is, Reverend, just sci-fi Allegory of the Cave) to illustrate and reinforce the lesson. Here's what I noticed:

In 2016, most 18-year olds still seemed to recognize THE MATRIX/know what it was (whether they'd seen it or not) and recognized Keanu Reeves, if not from that 17-year old movie (released in their infancy), then at least from somewhere.

Already by Fall 2018 (within two years), it was clear almost no 18 year olds knew what THE MATRIX was, and very few of them knew Keanu.

Then, by 2020 into early 2021, awareness of Keanu had spiked again. JOHN WICK was popular and BILL AND TED III came out somewhere around then, yet iirc the 4th MATRIX movie hadn't been released yet - so - most of them knew Keanu but didn't know THE MATRIX - but - lots of them did recognize the Red Pill vs Blue Pill meme - because they'd been at home on a computer for 18 months being bombarded w/ internet slop  :lookingup: and thus knew the meme though had no idea about where it originated.

Taking that - and my teaching experiences since then - into account:

Do teenagers have any idea who the Wachowski Sisters even are? If their awareness of THE MATRIX and even Keanu Reeves is shaky?

Judging by the absolute smartest, most online, and best informed students I work with - my summer program students, who are also often the gayest students I work with - I would suggest: teenagers have almost no awareness of the Wachowskis.

The 2 or 3 smartest kids I've ever worked with in that program (who have their own Letterboxd accounts and review avidly, lol) likely know the Wachowskis - otherwise I suspect if I mentioned the Wachowskis the other students would have no idea (though they'd be interested) and I'd probably have to explain THE MATRIX to them, as well. By the way, those interested students would be delighted to learn of the Wachowskis - but, again, the Wachowskis wouldn't make my students gay or trans - they've got that covered, no help needed.

Thus,
To answer the question asked instead of the broader question I initially answered,
No - I don't think the Wachowskis will have any influence whatsoever on film school enrollment nor disenrollment.
#8
Television / Re: What TV Shows Are you Watc...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 11:01:26 AM
Quote from: HappyGilmore on August 23, 2026, 06:32:59 PMYellowjackets.

Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Elijah Wood. Final season is out soon.

And...... good for them for pulling the plug. S1, very good. S2, close to brilliant. S3, increasingly shaky and then straight off the cliff by the end.  :bluesad:  One more season and there would be no one left to root for anyway.  :lookingup:
#9
Television / Re: What TV Shows Are you Watc...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 10:59:40 AM
Quote from: Rev. Powell on August 04, 2026, 08:11:53 AMFinished "Cobra Kai" a while back. I enjoyed it, but I have to confess every season got a little worse until the final one was fairly ridiculous.

The "swing" (to appropriate a term from real estate) on this show was huuuge. Sometimes it was highly self-aware, smart, and funny - other times lowbrow as hell. I did enjoy almost the entire ensemble cast - particularly William Zabka, who made Johnny incredibly relatable as an adult in spite of him being such a turd as a teenager. The Magneto/Prof. X dynamic between him and Ralph Macchio as Daniel kept me coming back until the very end.
#10
Entertainment / Re: What have you been listeni...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 08:40:52 AM
Quote from: zombie no.one on September 09, 2026, 06:06:55 PMyeah just been listening to some tracks on youtube, good stuff..

turns out the other single I was thinking of was Brick... it's not on the 1st album

Good that we could bond over 90s alternative rock.  :thumbup: