TV Watch: Ride or Die

Ride or Die was advertised as a light romp with the wacky idea that a housewife discovers her best friend is actually an assassin.  Twenty years ago, this has Sandra Bullock in it, and is a 100 minute movie with non-stop jokes that makes its money back with re-runs on TBS.  And, I'd argue, in the ads Amazon put out that was more or less what was sold.  And, fair.  The premise seems a bit of dark comedy.  Enjoy.

But the show pretty swiftly makes it clear - forget the ads.  This show has more in common with action-dramas of the past fifteen years than it does with late 00's-era comedies.  Sure, it has great comedic bits, but imagine my surprise as the comedy was pushed further and further to the edges, the inescapable result of 9 hour-long episodes based in a world of assassins, mob money and betrayals.  

It's not exactly The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, but it isn't trying to be.  Nor is it trying to be The Bourne Identity, John Wick or "a ballet of violence" for violence's sake.  When violence does break out, it's not just goofy fun.  People get very hurt and/or killed.

Neo-Noir Watch: Tequila Sunrise (1988)

Watched:  07/27/2026

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First

Director:  Robert Towne

Tequila Sunrise (1988) was, to me, the sort of movie parents would go see whilst leaving the kids at home in those heady days of "they have fishsticks and can work the oven."  The film was advertised to adults, rated-R, and didn't look like a cop movie where our hero shot the place up and made jokes.  So my interest was muted.  Also, I don't remember having HBO when this likely aired and so I missed that window as well.

As a neo-noir, Tequila Sunrise feels positively old-school, like it should star Victor Mature and Richard Conte as opposite sides of the law who were boyhood pals and now find themselves at odds.  

Wait, that's Cry of the City.  Terrific film.

Happy Birthday, Hannah Waddingham

Today, July 28, marks the birthday of star of stage and screen, Hannah Waddingham.  

This year has been pretty good for Ms. Waddingham.  

She has starred in what appears to be a successful series for Amazon Prime, Ride or Die (our post on it will arrive after we've finished the series).  Threads tells me many people did not know of her before, and... welcome to where I've been living since, like, 2021.  

She's got a new season of Ted Lasso set to drop in August and a fanbase primed and ready.  Her Fox show, Krapopolis continues on (I catch it once in a blue moon).  And she's been announced as starring in one movie with Guy Pearce and a separate movie, promisingly titled Jason Statham Stole My Bike, with the eponymous action star.  

And, she's lent her voice to an animated project by Sir Paul McCartney - coming soon.  

Not bad.

Social media tells me she keeps popping up places like Wimbledon and at F1, and that seems like a pretty good way to live one's downtime.  I believe she's also found a suitor who she can stand next to in heels, and that's got to be a bonus.

Happy Birthday, Hannah Waddingham!

Island Watch: Eden (2025) / The Galapagos Affair - Satan Came to Eden (2013)

Eden (2025)

Watched:  07/25/2026

Format:  Library Disc

Viewing:  First

Director:   Ron Howard

This is a movie about living in a place that's pretty good, but the place suddenly gets overrun by people who read an article saying the place was cool.  Because the people who moved there, wrongly believing themselves cool (and therefore heirs to the cool place), bring their suckiness to the place - the transitive powers of their suckiness, large numbers and insistence on changing the nature of what made the place cool to begin with, make that place which was once cool now suck.  

Eventually the place sucks so much, helped along with the participation of government stooges hoping for money and glamour, things in the place become straight up bleak.  

In short, this is the story of Austin, Texas.

When Eden (2025) was released, reviews were kind of all over the place, but I was curious.  I don't tend to think of Howard as a director who does grittier movies about sordid topics like sex and violence.  The movie had a fascinating cast - Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Ana de Armas, Daniel Bruhl, Sydney Sweeney...  A movie requiring minimal FX, and where shit gets very real as people scrape for survival in what is now an infamously inhospitable living.  And turn on each other.

Neo-Noir Watch: Sea of Love (1989)

Watched:  07/24/2026

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First

Director:  Harold Becker

Sea of Love (1989) is very much what I think of when it comes to the notion of Neo-Noir.  Well, this and grittier stuff like To Live and Die in L.A.  

This movie is just before we moved into the 90's and neo-noir = erotic thriller for a lot of movies.  And I'd argue this movie probably put the notion of the erotic thriller into the skulls of some creators.  

This is a cop-finding-a-killer movie, and that initially had me not terribly excited.  But I'd always heard good things, and this movie has tons of talent in it that I dig, not least of which is Ellen Barkin.   And I'll be honest - as big as Barkin is, I'm shocked she wasn't everywhere after this movie.  

But, yeah, the movie stars Al Pacino as the cop hunting down our killer, John Goodman playing probably a full 15 years older than he was at the time (his adult daughter is getting married, and I think Goodman is 37 if he's a day in this movie).  Michael Rooker is in a bit part.  William Hickey shows up for a scene.  Richard Jenkins plays a detective who is now married to Pacino's ex-wife.  Christine Estabrook, one of those "that lady!" actors, appears.  And a pre-fame Samuel L. Jackson appears in an opening sequence.

Happy Birthday, Lynda Carter

Today is the 75th birthday of Signal Watch patron saint Lynda Carter.  Big milestone!

I'm not sure what Carter has been up to this year.  Hopefully she's off having a grand time somewhere.

Ms. Carter isn't just an actor, advocate and sometimes-superhero.  She's also a singer and performer.

Here she is a few decades back with our friends, The Muppets:

He-Watch: Masters of the Universe (2026)

Watched:  07/23/2026

Format:  Amazon Prime

Viewing:  First

Director:  Travis Knight

Well.  

That was sure a He-Man movie.  

I'm not particularly a fan of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, the cartoon nor the toy line.  In fact, when this movie was pitched, I wrote a whole long post about how weird I thought it was that a movie studio went all in on what I thought was probably a far niche-ier market for this movie than they were probably aware, and I wasn't particularly looking to spend my paycheck on watching the movie in theaters.

But as the movie approached, I thought "well, maybe I'll take the niece and nephew", but neither of them showed the slightest interest - and they'd seen the trailer.  Something came up around the release date, and I thought "well, I'll go in like two weeks".  But the reviews hit and were unkind, the audience stayed away in droves, and the movie was gone.  And I was back to Plan A, which was to watch it streaming.

Meanwhile, my social media was ablaze with the "it's actually really good" assurances, and "all of you will say 'why didn't anyone tell me to see it in the theater?'"  

Modern Western Watch: The Lusty Men (1952)

Watched:  07/21/2026

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First

Director:  Nicholas Ray

The term "lusty" has not always meant "horned up".  The dictionary definition just means "healthy" and "vigorous".  Or, "Hearty", or, even "enthusiastic, rousing".  

So, while Susan Hayward paired with Robert Mitchum may lead one to believe we're heading for "lust-ful" men, and we are, I think they just meant "these cowboys are hale and hearty".

After all, this is a movie about a young, married man (Arthur Kennedy) deciding to join the rodeo circuit in order to make money enough to buy a ranch and settle down.  As it turns out, he wants to buy the boyhood home of veteran rodeo rider Jeff McCloud (Robert Mitchum).  The new rodeo-man's wife, Susan Hayward, is reasonably concerned about this decision.  After all, rodeo riders tend to get mauled by bulls, thrown from horses to grave injury, and more...  It's not what she signed up for.  

Kaylee Hottle Merges With the Infinite

Hottle at the Godzilla x Kong premiere in 2024

This is a tough one.

Actor Kaylee Hottle, who I knew from two of the Legendary Godzilla/ Kong movies, has passed.  She was only 18.  Because she was so young, I know readers will be curious - she sustained injuries in a car accident.

Hottle played Jia, who was a main character in both Godzilla/ Kong movies,  and Kong's connection to the human world.  As a young actor, she was terrific.  I have no doubt she would have gone on to do great things.

This is deeply sad and unfair to her family.  Our deepest sympathies.

Late Edit:  I didn't know Hottle was from a town just south of Austin and a student at Austin's Texas School for the Deaf.  This just keeps getting sadder.

Arthouse Watch: The World to Come (2020)

Watched:  07/19/2026

Format:  Library disc

Viewing:  First

Director:  Mona Fastvold

I really liked Vanessa Kirby in last summer's Fantastic Four, and was aware she had a career a bit like Rebecca Hall.  Be foxy in things  After getting noticed in smaller stuff, do a mix of some big, silly crowd pleasers (Hall is in two King Kong movies and an Iron Man) while still doing smaller art films and some prestige pictures.  Do all the things.    

I happened to find two Kirby movies right off the bat via Austin Public Library, and so I've borrowed this movie, The World to Come (2020) and the Ron Howard flick, Eden.  

The World to Come was not exactly a critical darling, but pretty close!  It clocked in at a 73 on Metacritic.  And I'm not surprised that, especially in the political climate of 2020 - the year of the movie's release - it did well.  It got a lot of international attention.  It's a period piece about forbidden same-sex love, and it is very sad, and that is absolute critic bait.