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Holy crap you have all the episodes like ever? What are your favorites ones? I like the Ed Wood one about the Smut racket and the ones with the huge ants taking over the world

Not the KTMA episodes but all the ones that aired on cable. I bought every box set as it came out then broke down and got pirate copies of the handful that never got released. My favorites are Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, The Brain That Wouldn't Die, Gamera v. Guiron, Laserblast, Mitchell, The Magic Voyage of Sinbad, Manos, Santa Claus, I Accuse My Parents, and The Wild World of Batwoman (which is not a favorite among most fans but makes me laugh harder than any other). There are still 2 or 3 I've never seen, but I'll get to them by the end of the year.

THE EXOTIC ONES (1968): A New Orleans strip club decides a swamp monster (actually a tall shirtless guy with a bad haircut) would make a good attraction for raincoaters. A movie about strippers and monsters should not be this talky and boring, but at least there's a stripper who drinks a glass of water while doing a handstand, a catfight, and a serenade from a giant harmonica. 1.5/5.

Iron Man (2008)

WIZARD OF MARS is terrible but at least it's less odious than

THE BEAT GENERATION (1959):
Second viewing of an Albert Zugsmith AIP production co-written by Richard Matheson (!). I remember kinda' digging it and finding it interesting several years back but I was probably drinking when I first watched it. It's definitely very interesting but mostly for all the wrong reasons. It opens in the informal "beat" nightclub/hangout where much of the action takes place and where Louis Armstrong inexplicably performs w/ his entire orchestra and is on a first-name basis w/ the thuggish local white cops. Following ONE brief sub-scene of truly dank, remarkably hilarious "beat" dialogue, Matheson and his collaborator just give up on putting in the effort and everyone talks more or less normally for the rest of the movie. (Diablo Cody may have taken notes here...)

The main plot focuses on a hep-talking home invader/serial rapist who selects the innocent wife of the cop pursuing him as his next target, just for "kicks". That cop is an acknowledged misogynist who thinks all women are whores and suggests that every female victim in the film was in some way asking for sexual assault - including, ultimately, his own wife! When she reveals (post-attack) that she's pregnant and doesn't know if the baby is her husband's or the rapist's, Dirty Harry forbids her to get an abortion - not because he wants to raise the child regardless (he doesn't), but (as he insists repeatedly, pathologically) "it's illegal... it's against the law!". All of this is entirely stomach-churning and made me think I'd nodded off for long stretches of TBG the first time I watched it. There is a certain criticality to the first half of Matheson's screenplay, as he at least is raising some pertinent questions about toxic masculinity et al, and as the character of the wife is presented as extremely sympathetic and reasonable. Yet the film ultimately reaches all the wrong conclusions, most despicably in a scene where the wife's best friend escorts her to the neighborhood priest for advice, and the priest (played by uncredited ubiquitous white guy William Schallert) solemnly assures her that, regardless of the circumstances, she will be murdering her unborn child. I've wanted to punch a few priests IRL but I don't think I've ever wanted to beat up a movie priest as much as I wanted to slug the s**t out of Father Schallert in this scene.

Making matters worse, the film is essentially HEAT with Ray Danton's highly compelling yet detestable rapist in the DeNiro role and Steve Cochran's vacuous dullard fascist detective in the Pacino role. As they finally grapple mano a mano at the climax - underwater, no less! - it's impossible to root for one or the other. I tried to forget I'd already seen the ending years ago and hoped both's lungs would implode or they'd be devoured by sharks. No such luck. What's additionally worrisome and perplexing is that the beatniks who populate the film's background are incidental to the plot, thus presumably Zugsmith and Co. were either trying to repackage their crime potboiler w/ a topical facade or else they were really trying to put over the notion that the nihilist rapist was an accurate reflection of the characters of Kerouac, Ginsburg, and Burroughs. (Okay, maybe Burroughs was fair game.)

The least offensive "interesting" aspect of THE BEAT GENERATION remains its large ensemble cast of (seemingly) whoever was wandering by AIP's front doors that week. Jackie "Uncle Fester" Coogan plays a large and completely serious supporting role as the voice of reason, which in and of itself seems emblematic of TBG's compromised worldview. Coogan is also credited as "Dialogue Coach", which is nothing to brag about in light of the performances of James "Jim" Mitchum (son of Bob), who does a great job as Danton's accomplice when he's silent though blows it every time he opens his mouth; and Mamie Van Doren, who's competent at best as the bait that Cochran uses to try to snare Danton. Better value is delivered by a completely unrecognizable Vampira (!!!) who stops in for one scene where she reads some mediocre poetry and looks more like Mary Woronov in a butch haircut. But honestly the most amusing aspects of TBG are two bit players that hang out in the background for most of the film before figuring briefly in the final act: Norman Grabowski, who looks like a heavyweight boxer but moves and behaves like Marcel Marceau, and "Slapsy Maxie" Rosenbloom, who looks and acts like a drunk Curly Howard and steals the show when he decides to whup the tar out of loathsome fascist Cochran. Neither Grabowski nor Rosenbloom are remotely credible as young beatniks - both look like they're pushing 50 at least - but in this case Zugsmith's cluelessness about his milieu at least yielded some authentic entertainment.

Honestly TBG isn't badly made at all - it's just an ugly thing to endure in a post-Dobbs world and particularly in a week where one of Weinstein's convictions was overturned.
2/5
Will not watch again.

(If you've seen at least a couple AIP or Corman films you'll likely recognize the beachside bungalow where the beatniks hang out.)

^ That film is truly horrific, and not in a good way.

Call me stupid because I don't get that one.

I googled and it originated from Reddit. There's TMNT talk, but I don't see any resemblance at all?



One of those memes that go straight over my head 

The person having their hair done looks like The Shredder, the Ninja 🐢 enemy 😊

Call me stupid because I don't get that one.

I googled and it originated from Reddit. There's TMNT talk, but I don't see any resemblance at all?



One of those memes that go straight over my head 

Man on the Moon

What's that black & white pattern that some women like to get on their blouses & skirts....
It looks kinda like the PLO scarf...

Do you mean the houndstooth pattern?

Ambushed (1998) - I had never even heard of this HBO original movie, but it's a who's who of "hey it's that guy" type character actors of the 90s.  William Sadler, Virginia Madsen, Courtney Vance, William Forsythe, David Keith, Bill Nunn, and the T1000 himself, Robert Patrick.  Charles Hallahan's final film - he died before it came out and is given a memorial in the credits.  It's also directed by Ernest Dickerson, who before this did Surviving the Game and Demon Knight, both quite solid B movies.

Well, Ambushed is pretty solid too!  I don't know why it's so little known and hard to find anywhere - out of print and no legit copies available to stream as far as I can tell.  It's about a black cop forced to escort the child of a KKK leader who was murdered.  The kid is SUPER racist, as you might expect.  Good action, good tension, and pretty good characterization.  My biggest complain is I think Courtney Vance is kind of miscast in the lead and the final act just doesn't amount to enough.  But worth tracking down if you enjoy very 90s action-thrillers.