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#2
Entertainment / Re: What have you been listeni...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 10:03:46 AM
#4
Bad Movies / Re: RECENT VIEWINGS (Bad Movie...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 09:58:36 AMQuote from: M.10rda on February 15, 2026, 09:35:32 PMThe more kids movies Rev. Powell reviews the more curious I grow about that boxed set...
It's worth a purchase IMO, but it's not technically a box set. Everything is crammed on a single disk and there are no special features to speak of, not even an explanatory booklet.
#5
Bad Movies / Re: RECENT VIEWINGS (Bad Movie...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 09:23:53 AMMIDNIGHT MENACE (1946):
I've been increasingly curious about all-black productions of the 30s and 40s, since I very much admire the work that performers like Mantan Moreland did while laboring within the white-dominated studio system. This 30-minute "horror"/"comedy" could've certainly benefitted from the talents of a Moreland or a Best or a Fetchit.
Instead it stars "Lollypop Jones"
, who moves into a tiny studio apartment in some sort of commune for cabaret performers and quickly finds himself "haunted" by what he thinks is a "ghost" of a woman that unrelated radio broadcasts lead him to believe has been "murdered". Sorry for all the scare quotes in this review, but I figure something needs to be scary about MIDNIGHT MENACE! Of course, the "ghost" isn't really a "ghost", it's an abandoned waifu hypnotized by her two-timing escapee hubby to never leave the apartment again, which of course is much more plausible than a "ghost", right? Thus Lollipop (sensibly averse to calling the police and reporting a "dead body" in his new home, #acab) keeps moving/disposing of the woman's unconscious body, ad infinitum as she continuously sleepwalks/hides back in the apartment. 
Hey, Lester, it's proto-WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S!
Lollipop is an okay comedian as long as he isn't required to look scared in close-up about seeing a ghost, which of course he consistently is required to do. (Granted few actors ever really look convincing in "seeing a ghost CU", as "seeing a ghost" is one of those things for which very few or no actors have any sense memory to draw upon, though #substitution I guess.) Director Josh Binney also seems pretty inept behind the camera - for instance the "dead" wife isn't visible in wide-shots of the small apartment when Lollipop moves in, then suddenly her body is right there in the middle of the floor, hence either there's footage missing from the YT copy or Binney was just hopeless at establishing "film grammar", to borrow a term from Rev. Powell. I wanted to cut Binney some slack on the presumption that this kind of niche indie film was maybe underfunded and Binney was literally an amateur filmmaker, but he seems to have made at least a dozen similar flicks so I hope he figured out how to do his job competently at some point.
You do get to see other black performers doing bits of their cabaret acts, including one very good spastic tap-dancer. The actress playing the "ghost" wife also seems like an amateur but I liked her nevertheless.
2/5 The film's final punchline depends however on the premise that having a nice looking woman declare her undying love for you is a fate scarier than supernatural phenomenon or self-inflicted death, so comedic mileage may be limited.
I've been increasingly curious about all-black productions of the 30s and 40s, since I very much admire the work that performers like Mantan Moreland did while laboring within the white-dominated studio system. This 30-minute "horror"/"comedy" could've certainly benefitted from the talents of a Moreland or a Best or a Fetchit.
Instead it stars "Lollypop Jones"
, who moves into a tiny studio apartment in some sort of commune for cabaret performers and quickly finds himself "haunted" by what he thinks is a "ghost" of a woman that unrelated radio broadcasts lead him to believe has been "murdered". Sorry for all the scare quotes in this review, but I figure something needs to be scary about MIDNIGHT MENACE! Of course, the "ghost" isn't really a "ghost", it's an abandoned waifu hypnotized by her two-timing escapee hubby to never leave the apartment again, which of course is much more plausible than a "ghost", right? Thus Lollipop (sensibly averse to calling the police and reporting a "dead body" in his new home, #acab) keeps moving/disposing of the woman's unconscious body, ad infinitum as she continuously sleepwalks/hides back in the apartment. Hey, Lester, it's proto-WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S!Lollipop is an okay comedian as long as he isn't required to look scared in close-up about seeing a ghost, which of course he consistently is required to do. (Granted few actors ever really look convincing in "seeing a ghost CU", as "seeing a ghost" is one of those things for which very few or no actors have any sense memory to draw upon, though #substitution I guess.) Director Josh Binney also seems pretty inept behind the camera - for instance the "dead" wife isn't visible in wide-shots of the small apartment when Lollipop moves in, then suddenly her body is right there in the middle of the floor, hence either there's footage missing from the YT copy or Binney was just hopeless at establishing "film grammar", to borrow a term from Rev. Powell. I wanted to cut Binney some slack on the presumption that this kind of niche indie film was maybe underfunded and Binney was literally an amateur filmmaker, but he seems to have made at least a dozen similar flicks so I hope he figured out how to do his job competently at some point.
You do get to see other black performers doing bits of their cabaret acts, including one very good spastic tap-dancer. The actress playing the "ghost" wife also seems like an amateur but I liked her nevertheless.
2/5 The film's final punchline depends however on the premise that having a nice looking woman declare her undying love for you is a fate scarier than supernatural phenomenon or self-inflicted death, so comedic mileage may be limited.
#6
Off Topic Discussion / Re: Random Statements About So...
Last post by Trevor - Today at 09:22:30 AMQuote from: lester1/2jr on February 15, 2026, 03:46:24 PMThe Epstein Files is a "They Live" sequel.
😎😀
#7
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by FatFreddysCat - Today at 05:46:16 AM"Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" (2024)
The "new" team of Busters (introduced in "GB: Afterlife") battle an evil entity with the power to turn New York -- and the world - into a wintry wasteland. Fortunately the three surviving OG Busters (Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and yes, even Bill Murray) are there to lend a hand.
I liked this spooky adventure comedy better than "Afterlife." At times it feels like a deliberate passing-of-the-torch from the old crew to the new team. If there are further sequels, I wouldn't be surprised if Aykroyd and the old gang are absent.
The "new" team of Busters (introduced in "GB: Afterlife") battle an evil entity with the power to turn New York -- and the world - into a wintry wasteland. Fortunately the three surviving OG Busters (Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and yes, even Bill Murray) are there to lend a hand.
I liked this spooky adventure comedy better than "Afterlife." At times it feels like a deliberate passing-of-the-torch from the old crew to the new team. If there are further sequels, I wouldn't be surprised if Aykroyd and the old gang are absent.
#8
Bad Movies / Re: Generate Movie Poster with...
Last post by claws - Today at 02:53:38 AMWondering how close I could get making a movie about the Trump-Epstein Files.
#9
Off Topic Discussion / Re: Random Statements About So...
Last post by claws - Today at 12:41:11 AMQuote from: lester1/2jr on February 15, 2026, 03:46:24 PMThe Epstein Files is a "They Live" sequel.
It's a bold creative choice for the Trump admin to keep the 'OBEY' and 'SLEEP' subtitles running while they redact every name that matters. Bondi is doing a great job as the lead gaslighter, it takes a special kind of 'talent' to look at a room full of monsters and say, 'Nothing to see here, let's go ahead and harass the victims some more for the plot development.'
#10
Off Topic Discussion / Re: Random Statements About So...
Last post by lester1/2jr - February 15, 2026, 11:01:50 PMMinus the triumphant ending