TCM Host Confessions - what the hosts haven't seen!

This is fun!

TCM hosts are admitting what movies they've never seen in a series called "Host Confessions".  It started last night!

More from TCM here.  They'll watch the film and discuss.  

Movies include:

• Bridge on the River Kwai - Alicia Malone
• Blazing Saddles - Dave Karger
• It Happened One Night - Eddie Muller
• From Here to Eternity - Jacqueline Stewart
• Rebel Without a Cause - Ben Mankiewicz

That's a good time.

Also, this gives me a chance to get Jamie to watch Rebel Without a Cause.  

For the record, I've seen all of these.  Call me, TCM.  I'll host my own show, Monsters and Mayhem, on Saturdays. There's plenty I haven't seen so you can shame me regularly.

Crime Noir Watch: Vice Raid (1959)

Watched:  05/21/2026

Format:  Amazon Prime

Viewing:  First

Director:  Edward L. Cahn

I had never seen a Mamie Van Doren movie, and didn't know this was one.  I was getting on the elliptical and literally just threw on a movie and "Vice Raid (1959)" sounded like something I didn't need to focus on super hard.  And up came her name.

And boy howdy, was Mamie Van Doren's mere existence the feature attraction.  The movie essentially is doing the Tex Avery wolf for the first 2/3rds of the movie.  I have never seen a movie that literally puts up a picture of the female star and then gives her measurements.  This is a thing that happened.

The other interesting bit about this movie is that it's a 1950's movie about a prostitution ring that acknowledges what it's about using the word "prostitution".  Pretty crazy for the era.

Catch-Up Watch: Badlands (1973)

Watched:  05/20/2026

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First

Director:  Terrence Malick

I'd put this movie off for about the past 20 years for absolutely no reason.  I loved Days of Heaven.  But somehow I just never hit play on Badlands (1973).  

The movie, in its way, feels quintessentially American.  A clashing of naiveté with cruelty and violence, embodied by our two leads in different ways - a baby-faced Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek (here playing 15 at age 23 or so).  

The movie feels timeless and oddly universal, while de-romanticizing everything about the couple-on-a-crime-spree noir and neo-noir plotting.  Almost like a response to 1967's Bonnie and Clyde.  

I've written 3000 posts tagged "movies"

I just noticed I have a very large, round number in my blog stats.  

I have tagged 3000 posts "movies".  

Oh, yeah, by the way, if you look at this blog:

1. every post has some metadata associated with it, enabling me to tag the post to categorize it.  One of these tags is "movies".  You can find the "topics" at the foot of all posts.  I also do things like "Movies 2026" or "Superman" to make it easier to find those posts.  It's how I know what were my "First Viewing" movies when I do end of the year tallies.
2. you can also view the cloud in the left menu bar visible on desktop, and it will give you an idea what topics we're covering.

But, yeah!  3000 movie posts.  

Not all are reviews - some are just general movie discussions or movie news or whatever.  I am unsure how many times I've written up a movie, but can sort of guess.  I started labeling movies by "year seen" in 2012, and aside from a year or so when I didn't do that, you can see the numbers.  

Suffice to say, it is a lot.

Still waiting for my sweet paycheck.

I am, of course, nowhere as cool as Bernie Mac

I'm mostly excited because I normally miss those big milestones and only notice them when I'm at like 3017, and would feel "well, the moment has passed".  

If you're wondering about percentages, I have something like 5,570 total posts, give or take a few.  So it's not all telling stories in the dark around here.  

Ovis Aries Watch: The Sheep Detectives (2026)

Watched:  05/16/2026

Format:  Regal Westgate

Viewing:  First

Director:  Kyle Balda

The Sheep Detectives (2026) was not at all what I expected.  And that is, as it turns out, a pretty good thing.

Now, don't get me wrong - I was looking forward to what I thought the movie would be:  a goofy play on detective fiction but with, you know, a lot of sheep puns and some wacky celebrity voices.  That seemed plenty for a matinee Saturday movie.  

Instead, I got an oddly moving movie that I suspect speaks more to some realities of being a living thing - and which illuminates the ways we (people, not sheep - you may need to stretch here, concrete-thinking reviewers) deal with pain and death. And, yes, from the mouths of CGI sheep.

Regret Watch: Bio-Dome (1996)

if seeing this make you feel white hot rage, that instinct is correct

Watched:  05/16/2026

Format:  YouTube

Viewing:  First - as it turns out

Director:  Jason Bloom

Fuck this movie.

No, seriously.  Fuck it right in the ear.  

I only kept watching to see how much more I could hate a movie as it went along, and as it turned out, I found -  lurking within myself - one of those mines that catch on fire and burn for a hundred years.  My mine fire is fueled solely by my white hot rage for Bio-Dome (1996) and everything it stands for.  

I was positive I'd seen this piece of shit back in the 1990's as the young lady I dated before Jamie was an unapologetic fan of Pauly Shore (she did have positive qualities lest you think otherwise, but it was probably a sign).  However, the date of release was in the Jamie-Common-Era, so we cannot blame Anna, wherever she is now.  

About twenty minutes in I realized - no, I'd seen the opening on cable or something and must have turned it off, realizing that this movie sucks donkey balls - and I then ejected it from my mind.

Golden Sci-Fi Horror Watch: Dr. X (1932)

Watched:  05/15/2026

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First

Director:  Michael Curtiz!

I have felt that at some point I should watch every movie mentioned in Science Fiction / Double Feature, the opening tune from Rocky Horror Picture Show.  And I've done pretty well.

This viewing of Dr. X (1932) checks off "Dr. X will build a creature", I believe, leaving only Tarantula.  That said, the line doesn't at all describe the actual plot of Dr. X, but okay.  

Maybe best described as a sci-fi-horror-comedy-heavy-on-the-horror, Dr. X sees a series of killings occur in the streets of New York, the link being they all occur on a full moon and with the same surgical instrument.  The police investigate and determine the instrument used is very rare, and only purchased by a specific medical school run by a Dr. Xavier.  

Shadowed by a determined reporter (Lee Tracy) the police meet each of the kooky scientists working on their research.  

Rex Reed Merges With the Infinite

Film critic Rex Reed has passed.

Reed was one of the stable of popular film critics of my youth, occupying his own niche as what struck me as the New York branch of film criticism, where Siskel and Ebert were our reviewers in Chicago.  I was unfamiliar with Pauline Kael until college, just for the record.

Reed appeared on television and in print as a movie reviewer.  I confess, I'd read him occasionally, but as one of many voices.  Still, he had a reputation as someone you should consider.  

That said - Reed had plenty of well-documented gaffes - including an apparent psychotic break when Marisa Tomei won the Oscar.  Like, I get his surprise, but doubling down and then tripling down?  

Rex, my guy.  Take the L.

In Superman: The Movie, he's working with The Daily Planet enough that he's chummy with Lois Lane.  Really, the highest goal any of us could achieve.  It's a fun moment in the movie, and adds to the Big City Paper-vibe of the first movies.

70's Watch: Corvette Summer (1978)

Watched:  05/12/2026

Format:  TCM

Viewing:  First

Director:  Matthew Robins

I will extrapolate from just my own experience and say I think a generation of kids grew up a little confused seeing actors from Star Wars in things that were not Star Wars.  While Harrison Ford shook off that problem and became one of the most important/ lucrative actors in Hollywood history, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill got hit with type-casting and mostly did other things like Broadway or writing.  It's not like Anthony Daniels became big in the US without a robot suit.

But we all knew that between Star Wars and Empire, Mark Hamill starred in something called Corvette Summer (1978).    

My first memory of this movie was seeing it playing on TV when I was a very small kid, and for reasons I didn't get at the time, my mom turned it off, which - years later - I would come to gather meant the characters said something over my head and she saw this movie was straying into grown-up territory.

Comic Doc Watch: Selling Superman (2024)

Watched: 05/12/2026

Format:  Amazon Prime

Viewing:  First

Director:  Adam Schomer

I imagine this doc will land one way with non-comics folk, and a completely different way with comics folk - or other serious collectors (and their immediate loved ones). 

For the record, I own a *lot* of comic books, and a *lot* of Superman stuff.  So, yes, I am in the camp of "collectors".*

I do *not* own any of those mythical comics you hear about.  This "blogging non-stop for free" gig does not pay what you'd think.  I have never even seen most of the epically priced comics you're think of in person, except in museums or behind thick glass.

This doc is about a guy somewhere near my age who recently lost his father, and inherited that father's absolutely massive comic collection.  

The father clearly was brilliant, neurodivergent, and an absolutely obsessive collector, filling his multi-bedroom home with comics, covering the windows so people couldn't see in, and forbidding his wife and kids from telling anyone what was in the house - not that they knew what he really owned.  And what he had was - from a collection standpoint - probably unlike anything else on the planet that isn't part of a major business like Mile High Comics.  

Waddingham on SNL UK

Sketch comedy is hard.

Sure, anyone can do it - but not well.  Further, week in and week out, putting on a sketch show that actually lands most of the bits is a challenge.  It may be one of the oldest forms of television, but how many of these shows are well remembered?  How many jokes last the length of a sketch?

While Saturday Night Live has lasted 51 seasons, innumerable other shows have come and gone. 

I've aged out of watching the US version of SNL.  And that's fine.  I had a very good run of watching the show off and on.  And I'm glad the humor is pointing to a younger audience than me.  I am old.  I do not even know what SNL is talking about a good 1/5th of the time.  Thank god.

It never occurred to me that SNL was a franchisable concept, but I suppose so.  Why not?  American humor may not always translate, but the way the show works is a well-developed machine which you could plug in anywhere.  

Neo-Noir Watch: Bound (1996)

Watched:  05/09/2026

Format:  Criterion Disc

Viewing:  Third

Director:  The Wachowskis

I know I saw Bound (1996) once in the theater and once on VHS.  But it's been at least since last century since I've given it a whirl.  

The movie is mostly famous for the not-exactly-subtle eroticism between stars Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon.  I am not going to undersell the Wachowskis clearly seeing the erotic thrillers of the 1990's and saying "hold my beer".  

And while I enjoy a bit of post-9:00 PM cable in any movie, I think this is a great example of a neo-noir thriller that understands genre conventions and doesn't think sexy sex in a noir somehow elevates the concept so much it excuses abysmal writing.  Maybe not every line in this movie lands, but from a plotting standpoint and from a character standpoint- it just works.   

Western Watch: Montana Belle (1952)

Watched:  05/07/2026

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First

Director:  Allan Dwan

This movie opens strong by being both racist and deeply misogynistic in just the first three lines and, in this regard, refuses to take its foot off the gas til the end. Truly breathtaking.  It is also a movie from 1952 out of RKO, so it's a release from right in the meaty part of Howard Hughes' control of the studio.

How can you tell it's a Howard Hughes joint?  

Austen Watch: Emma (2020)

Watched:  05/07/2026

Format:  Disc from Library

Viewing:  First

Director:  Autumn de Wilde

The funny thing about Jane Austen adaptations is that I guess, because I've never read any Jane Austen, is that Austen is the spring from which rom-com tropes flow.  So, even when you're watching a faithful or semi-faithful adaptation of Austen, you may feel the beats or arcs once the many, many moving pieces of an Austen story settle in.  

But that's okay.  It's not like people can't pick out the beats in a Spider-Man movie.

I do recall this one being advertised, but seeing it came out in 2020 means it may have played to empty movie theaters, but I'm also seeing it is not embraced and beloved as other Austen adaptations.  And Jamie's reaction was pretty muted when the movie wrapped up.  That said, while I was goofing off with CB and JAL on Sunday, she watched Clueless,* which is loosely based on the book of Emma, so maybe too soon?

The challenges of these movies are manifold.  You need to adhere largely to the book or the Austen-heads will make sure that if you don't, they can drag you.  Of course, the books do not follow the "wisdom" of modern screenwriting rules, which are intended to serve audiences who can only handle knowing who is good and bad, and when will the final boss show up.There are far more characters than modern screen-writing guidelines usually will say are a good idea.  And that can include characters who are discussed and not seen for quite a while - we're not meeting everyone important in the first five minutes as Modern Screenwriting Law would insist.   And we're certainly not clear on everyone's specific deal.  Communicating the social rules of Regency Era England to modern audiences - especially Americans who bristle at these things - can be hard.  

And yet - we keep making these movies and people tend to like them, because Austen knew how to write/ created a very specific kind of fantasy that's as satisfying in its way as any "male" fantasy story.  And they've already stood the test of time - which means they just already work for a wide audience.

The cast is punctuated with actors who would soon be more familiar.  The eponymous Emma is played by Anya Taylor-Joy - I think very well.  Her pal Harriet is Mia Goth.  Josh O'Connor plays Mr. Elton (and is hysterical, imho).  But there's also Bill Nighy as Emma's father and Miranda Hart as Miss Bates.

This is my first exposure to the story of Emma other than seeing Clueless one time in the theater.   I don't know.  It was a thumbs-up from me.  Anya Taylor-Joy and Mia Goth were solid.  Bill Nighy was terrific (and I guess Emma laid the groundwork for the oft-repeated solo-girl and her daddy sad-house).  It was a good mix of silly and semi-serious - including characters both rich and cartoonish.  The life-lessons imparted were non-bullshit and I didn't roll my eyes, which is not nothing.  It's well shot, and I thought it got honestly better as it went along, versus what too many movies do.  

I have no idea if any of it was historically accurate, but it was pretty to look at.

Weirdly, this was the last IMDB movie credit for director Autumn De Wilde who I *do* know, but only from her many Florence + The Machine videos.  She's super good at those.  Three thumbs-up.  

Anyway, the best uncommented upon gag in the movie is the casting of the 6'1" Miranda Hart with the 5'1" Myra McFadyen as her mother.   

*I am unapologetic in my loathing of Clueless, so it's best I was gone.  If I never have to watch it again, I'm good.  And walking in on the last ten or fifteen minutes did nothing to make m rethink my case.

Ted Turner Merges With The Infinite

let's see how he likes it

Broadcasting pioneer Ted Turner has passed at age 87.

Is anyone more American than Ted Turner?  A Paul Bunyan of the 20th Century, launching ideas like CNN and Headline News.  TBS.  TNT.  Making us all watch the Atlanta Braves when the Cubs were right there if we had WGN.  

I don't even know if what he did was good or bad - he made the 24 hour news cycle, but he also didn't make it into the mess it is now.  All he did was give us Lynne Russell* in the early evening, and maybe we can blame him for Wolf Blitzer.  

Two things I'll be grateful for forever - he gave us Turner Classic Movies, which has been a lifeline for me year in and year out.  And he also had a steakhouse in Bozeman, Montana - Ted's - where I had some excellent meals.  

He lived large and publicly - one does not just marry Jane Fonda and expect it to be a minor deal.  In an era where being a corporate figure meant you could be made fun of as a Bond Villain (see: Tomorrow Never Dies) he simply loomed larger than life, and not in the dumb-ass way of today's weirdo oligarchs.

Ted, you lived large.  Heck, you once got mad and decided to manage the Braves yourself.  Hilarious.  

Here's to a media baron who actually did change the world.

*I had a real thing for Lynne Russell and became shockingly well informed due to my endless viewing of Headline News

Thriller Watch: Arabesque (1966)

Watched:  05/02/2026

Format:  TCM

Viewing:  First

Director:  Stanley Donen 

As a fan of artist Robert McGinnis, I had seen the poster art for Arabesque (1966) for years, but it's also a movie nobody ever really mentions, which I found odd given the star power, director Stanley Donen and a score by Henry Mancini.  

But I did record the film off TCM and so gave it a whirl.  

It becomes immediately clear that in the wake of Charade, Donen and Universal wanted to try to do that again.  But on the second attempt, it just doesn't quite work the same way.  

You can't blame the leads - Gregory Peck is Gregory Peck, and Sophia Loren is Sophia Loren (and maybe even more so.  Good golly.).  Peck is trying on being Cary Grant and for reasons, Loren is playing an Arabian woman.  I mean, it's an entire movie full of Arab characters played by non-Arabs, which isn't entirely a shock when you consider this is five years after West Side Story having some interesting ideas about who Puerto Ricans are.

LA Movie Watch: Under the Silver Lake (2018)

Watched:  05/01/2026

Format:  DVD - library

Viewing:  First

Director:  David Robert Mitchell

Under the Silver Lake (2018) is an interesting movie.  For what it sets out to do, I think it succeeds.  I am not, however, particularly a fan of movies that basically say "you'll get it when you watch it again and everything at the beginning will mean something different now that you know the end".  I mean, it's fun in a way, but I ain't got time for that.

SPOILERS

It's a movie that is having great fun encoding the hidden jokes and meaning in the movie while being about someone who is falling down the well of conspiracy theory and seeing hidden messages in everything.  From an academic exercise - it's no doubt an interesting magic trick, what writer/ director David Robert Mitchell is doing.

I guess I'm kind of caught on the "...and so what?" of it all by the end.  Like, it's a neat trick.  But...  to what end? 

Deciphering what was actually happening and why could absolutely be something one could try.  And maybe the movie even could have spoken to the moment as, in 2018, QAnon was still a force, and America was fully descending into seeing hidden meaning in everything (we just live there now). 

Friday Superhero Watch: Superman (2025)

Watched:  05/01/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  Sixth

Director:  James Gunn

With zero prompting from me, on Friday night Jamie put on Superman (2025) as our evening's viewing.

I married well.

This is my sixth viewing in a year, which is too many, to be honest.  One starts to look at the seams rather than the quilt, seeing how the thing is put together, and that's not all bad if you want to start really dissecting a movie, but for staying in the intended flow, it can give you time to think about things other than the story presented.  

After this viewing, I still think Superman does so many things very well that were necessary for reframing the character in the public consciousness.  But it is an odd movie because the metatext of the reframing becomes what the story is *about*.  We're reframing Superman after Superman Returns and the Snyder universe films.  While also setting up the fundamental argument of Luthor versus the argument for Superman.*

Eschewing the direct origin story, Superman has to do the heavy lifting and table-setting for what's to come with the DC Studios Universe.  

Horror Coppola Watch: Dementia 13 (1963)

Watched: 04/29/2026

Format:  TCM

Viewing:  First

Director:  Francis Ford Coppola

The story Ben Mankiewicz and producer Roger Corman shared about why this movie exists sounds like a movie in itself.  

Basically, while filming a motorsports movie in Europe, Corman was running severely *under* budget.  With $20K left in in the bank, a crew and equipment available, and some time before they had to go home - he set  his second unit director loose to go make something for $20K.  That director?  Francis Coppola.

This is Coppola's first movie, and it feels like something between a Gothic mystery - one of those books with women running away from a castle, or Turn of the Screw or some such, and a modern thriller (for 1963).  For a first movie made on the cheap (the final total budget was $40K after selling the rights to the UK to bolster the budget) and written in a rush, and produced on-the-fly.  

David Allan Coe Merges With The Infinite

I had believed David Allan Coe died five years ago, but apparently he just passed.  

I do not know what the youths do now, but if you didn't know all the words to "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" - were you even really Texas'ing in the late 20th Century?

I don't know how much Coe and I would have agreed on in this life, maybe not much.  But that song is one of the greatest ever performed.

And one night at the VFW in Bozeman, Montana, I surprised several digital library colleagues by singing all the words to this most important song.  I may have had a few cocktails beforehand.

Gerry Conway Merges With The Infinite

It's hard to measure what any one creator gives to comics, but since the original wave of creators in the 30's and 40's, and since Stan, Jack and Ditko did their thing - there have been some major players.  And top among these is Gerry Conway.

Conway is responsible for some of the most important storylines and characters in comics.  The man was wildly prolific - having started at age 19 writing at Marvel and just going wild.  

Here's a list of characters he co-created:  From Wikipedia

Here's some of my favorites:

• Power Girl
• Firestorm
• Punisher
• Jason Todd
• Vixen
• Atomic Skull
• Star Sapphire

Can you imagine?

And, among his many important contributions, he wrote "The Night Gwen Stacy Died", one of the most important stories in Marvel Comics history.  The guy had chops.

I assumed Conway was in his mid-80's, having no idea he was a teenager when he started his career.  Gone way too soon.  

Nedra Talley Ross Merges With The Infinite

Nedra, Ronnie and Estelle

The final Ronette, Nedra Talley Ross, has passed.

A part of the Phil Spector music empire, The Ronette's place in American music of the 20th Century can't really be overestimated.  You may only know a few of their songs, but they qualify among your favorite musician's favorite musicians.  And this certainly helped carry them in the years after Spector and his wife, the eponymous Ronnie Spector, split less than amicably.

Nedra was a cousin of Ronnie Spector and Estelle Bennett, and the trio broke at a very young age, and never looked back.  Ronnie passed in 2022, and Estelle passed in 2009.

Here's a performance video from back in the day with the group at their peak.

Super Watch: Superman Returns (2006)

Watched:  04/26/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Bryan Singer

I was maybe ten minutes into this rewatch of Superman Returns (2006) when I messaged Stuart that we needed to bring back the podcast just to do a ten-part series on this movie.  The pre-history of the movie is worth discussing, as is the production, months up to the release, the lackluster response to the movie, what came after with a reboot in the form of the Snyder movies, and that both the director and Spacey were canceled.  

It's also a movie from the wild west, exciting days of the superhero explosion that came after two great Spider-Man and X-Men movies, Batman Begins and a terrible Catwoman film.*  But no real rules had been written yet for how superhero films should work.  We're two years prior to Iron Man here.

The DVD releases of the Superman quadrilogy had really brought the Donner film (and its sequels) back to the public consciousness, and looking for a safe bet, with Batman done and Wonder Woman the only other DC IP that seemed possible - but that was a girl and Catwoman had failed -Warner Bros went back to DC's original moneymaker.  

Here, I'm just really going to cover the movie - but really what I thought at the time versus where I am in 2026.

60's Indie Watch: The World's Greatest Sinner (1962)

Watched:  04/25/2026

Format:  Criterion

Viewing:   First

Director:  Timothy Carey

I am unclear on the release history of The World's Greatest Sinner (1962).  I'm not even sure it ever did more than a screening or two in Los Angeles and then disappeared.  I don't know how it hit streaming, winding up (til the end of the month) of the Criterion Channel.  

Your mom has probably never heard of Timothy Carey.  And maybe you haven't, but if you're the right kind of film nerd, you may have.  Carey was a bit of a wild card hanging around the movie scene and getting cast as usually an oddball, and I saw him first in The Killing where he plays a gunman who shoots a horse and still botches the job (it's a phenomenal movie and I highly recommend it).

Well, I guess in the 1960's he got his hands on some money and wrote, directed and produced this movie.  And, man, making true low-budget indie movies back in the day was not easy.  You had to coast on vibes and ideas.  And this has both in spades.

Sci-Fi Watch: Predator - Badlands (2025)

Watched:  04/24/2026

Format:  Hulu

Viewing:  First

Director:  Dan Trachtenberg

Well, this was kind of a perfect Friday night movie.  And kind of why they invented PG-13.  

I kind of love that somehow the legacy of Alien has somehow turned into "yes, but limited-autonomy for superhuman AI beings".  I like squicky xenomorphs, too.  But they don't exactly carry a story.  And whatever merging we now have between Blade Runner, Alien and Predator is not the worst thing in the world.  It's allowed for all kinds of paths for exploration.  

I'll just say: if you can give me a movie with a humanoid lead, a robot pal and their murderous space-dog - all against alien landscapes and skies?  Shit, man.  I don't really feel like I need to explore deep themes or what it says about the human condition at that point.  This is raw popcorn entertainment.  And, somehow along the way, this movie is not incredibly stupid, all while admittedly being more than a bit unironically goofy.  Way to thread the needle, movie!

Lawyer Watch: Michael Clayton (2007)

Watched:  04/21/2026

Format:  Criterion

Viewing:  First

Director:  Tony Gilroy

Well, MBell will be happy not just that I finally watched this movie, but that I agree:  great movie.

It stars George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson and muh gurl Tilda Swinton.*  And that's good, because this is a movie that requires that level of performance so it doesn't just melt into cheap melodrama.

Michael Clayton (2007) is the kind of thriller-for-adults I really need to engage in more.  It borders on neo-noir, but doesn't descend enough into the tropes for that, and the movie's focus is elsewhere, even if the lead - the eponymous Michael Clayton (Clooney) sure feels like a noir lead.  

This is a legal thriller, which is not something I dislike, but not something I seek out.  And part of the wave of socially-minded, evils-of-corporations media that was once a big staple of movies.  I'm thinking everything from Erin Brockovich to Thank You For Smoking.  

Do they make those anymore?

DC's K.O. Event was, in fact, very dumb

illustration by Aaron Humby

DC line-wide events are very, very seldom any good.  And even if the main titles are worth reading, the ancillary pile-on is almost never worth the effort or cost.  At best the events have a decent starting point, but usually by the time you hit the end it's a confused mess of abstractions yelling at each other and forcing some new editorial mandate, and this was the long way around to get to, say, "now Superman *doesn't* wear shorts over his tights".  

The last big event I recall feeling particularly worth it or well written and which had a spectacular ending that DC absolutely flubbed, was probably Infinite Crisis or maybe, just maybe, just the Morrison issues of Final Crisis.  And I attribute my enthusiasm for those projects now to my general enthusiasm for comics writ-large at the time.  I don't know how they'd actually hold up.

Hey! Someone wrote a companion piece to my "Alamo Sucks Now" tirade

I very rarely remember which social media interactions wind up in following someone, or how conversations get started that lead to what would have - in the golden age of blogging - led to blog rings.  (Remember those?  They were neat.)

Anyway, in the past few months I came upon Library DVD Love, and it's been a Substack I get in my email box, and I give it a read.  

I'm at the age where I'm mostly just *curious* about what people are saying if they're a reasonable person talking on a topic I care about, be it movies, comics or baseball.  And that's because most conversation about any topic on the internet feels like it starts at an 11 and goes up from there.  Or, if the writer is going for a drier approach it's so in pedantic or in the weeds, it becomes homework to get through.  

Library DVD Love is that nice hit up the third baseline, just on the right side of the chalk.  Neither foul nor a pop fly.  A straight shot just past the baseman.  Maybe I don't always know what the hell this blogger is always talking about (I do not see *that* many movies), or maybe I don't agree, but in der clerb, we all fam.  

Anyhoo, I guess he's been reading this site, because he did post about my rant on the change in priorities at Alamo Drafthouse under new CEO/ shit-weasal Michael Kustermann.  

Always wild to realized actual humans are reading your writing.

Sunday post: Alamo Drafthouse and phones in theaters by twinsbrewer

Annoying phones in theaters, and a chain that used to care about it.

Read on Substack

By the way, no, I haven't been back.   It also seems that the Alamo is now basically selling frozen food?  

It sounds like Alamo is actively working to dismantle the culture and make it a place for casuals while still charging premium prices for an "Alamo experience".  Which, thanks, no.

Neo-Noir Watch: Gloria (1980)

Watched:  04/19/2026

Format:  Video on Demand/ YouTube

Viewing:  First

Director:  John Cassavetes

For some reason the algorithm has been asking me to watch this movie for years.  

I'm not really sure why the algo does this, but my YouTube TV will find a movie that it decides it wants to recommend, and then the movie will follow me around.  First among these has been Gloria (1980), and because I don't think I've ever seen Gena Rowlands be anything less than great and because Cassavetes' movies are, at minimum, interesting, I wanted to check it out eventually.  So, I guess, thanks, data?

On paper, the movie is deceptively simple.  An accountant for the mob (Buck Henry) has been skimming (and maybe doing other things) and is found out.   Knowing the enforcers are coming, he's trying to leave, but everyone in his family of five is scared and doesn't know what to do - his wife, their two kids and his mother-in-law.  All are resorting to their comfort and security measures instead of just getting the f out.

When neighbor Gloria (Gena Rowlands) comes by to return the sugar she borrowed in the middle of all this, they make her take the boy - aged 6 or 7 - back to her apartment.  Almost immediately, the mob shows up and kills the rest of the family.  Gloria tries to flee the scene with the kid, but the press is outside and snaps her picture with the son.  

Con Watch: The Sting (1973)

Watched:  04/18/2026

Format:  DVD from the Library

Viewing:  Second

Director:  George Roy Hill

The Sting (1973) reunites the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid team of Robert Redford, Paul Newman and director George Roy Hill for a 1930's period piece film about a small-time grifter who - when a grift leads to seeing the mob kill a friend - teams up with Paul Newman's veteran conman in order to pull one over on a mob boss played by Robert Shaw.

It's a clockwork script that has a steel-trap ending that's tough to beat.  The closest I can point to in structure from movies I was around for is probably the 2001 remake of Ocean's 11.  

There's not a ton of character building in the movie, the runtime spent on the execution of the long con - we don't even see the planning, just the Rube Goldberg plan in motion.  And that's plenty.  Redford gets the most screentime and characterization, but even that isn't exactly a script that makes you wonder how his character grew and changed.  What we see of who he really is feels a little thin, but that's not really the point of the film.  But Redford's charm and Newman's charisma can pretty much carry anything.

Disney Watch: The Journey of Natty Gann (1985)

Watched:  04/17/2026

Format:  Disney+

Viewing:  First (that I can remember)

Director:  Jeremy Kagan

The other day I watched a bit from Colbert where he and Patton Oswalt discussed a dog actor named "Jed".  The connection was that Jed was the dog from the start of John Carpenter's The Thing, and he was a major character in The Journey of Natty Gann (1985) which stars Oswalt's wife, Meredith Salenger, who was in the movie at age 15.  

I've seen The Thing plenty, but had vague memories of seeing The Journey of Natty Gann once, when teachers wheeled in TV's as we prepared for our fifth-grade graduation at Spicewood Elementary in 1986.  My memory of *that* is everyone talking while I wanted them to shut up so I could watch the movie.  But it was not to be - and I don't think we ever finished it.

Anyway, I *did* remember the movie was not exactly a Pollyanna-type story, but it was well produced and Salenger was good.  Plus it had John Cusack, who I knew from comedies at the time.

Superman Day is April 18th

Saturday April 18th is Superman Day!

I'll be honest and say "I do not really think this is for me".  Because at League HQ, every day is Superman Day.  Something Jamie just has to live with.  

Superman Day is a promotion for people with an interest in Superman where DC and Warner Bros make available some neat things like comics, t-shirts and more.  

You can find those things at your Local Comic Shoppe.  Or hit up the DC Shop.  

With Supergirl coming to theaters this summer, of course it's a promotion not just for Super comics - the day is also a promo for the forthcoming movie.  

Look, I love me some Superman - and I hope you figure out how to enjoy the day.  But I also am kind of aware it's not exactly a holiday.  It would be nice if DC figured out how to do something aside from just sell some things with an extra stamp on the cover.  

Mostly it feels like they're saying "buy a thing" while they alert 99% of the world nothing special is happening for them locally.  Amazing this is the best WB can do.  Even a plastic Superman ring for the kids would be something.

Spaceballs Sequel En Route

 

Spaceballs is getting a sequel - 40 years later.

In late June 1987, I went to the Showplace 6 with a pal or two for a weekday matinee of Spaceballs.  And by the time Spaceball 1 finished passing by the camera, I was laughing so hard I was crying.  And I think it let up sometime about a week later when I quit saying "Lonestaaaaar...!" to myself.  And "because 'good' is dumb."

Since, it's probably my most-watched Mel Brooks movie alongside Blazing Saddles.  I mean, I was twelve.  I loved Star Wars and silliness.  

Everyone in the cast was on fire during that movie.  It made me a fan of Bill Pullman and Daphne Zuniga, I already thought John Candy and Rick Moranis were two of the funniest people on Earth, and it gave me respect for Joan Rivers, George Wyner and Mel Brooks.  Heck, it's the first time I ever saw generally-all-around-good-idea Brenda Strong.

In college, I got a Sharpie and wrote "Mr. Radar" on my "Mr. Coffee" individual coffee pot.  And, for my birthday Freshman year, we rented Spaceballs and watched it in the dorms.

It's just one of the greats in my book, and quotes from it fill my head as much as any other Mel Brooks movie.  "They've gone to plaid...!" is something I'll still say in my head when someone whips past me on the freeway.  When waiting for things to finish, I still whisper "come on, Schwartz...!"

Mel Brooks is 99 and has retained everything.  How involved he is with this new version, I don't know. He's involved, though.  Imagine having a career so long a movie you made in the 1980's is getting a sequel with the very grown child of  one of the original stars.  Yeah, Lewis Pullman is in this.

Will it be good?  I am sure.  Is it a little sad we've lost John Candy and Joan Rivers in the interim?  Absolutely.  But I think we can still have a great movie with new characters.  And, hey, we have so many more Star Wars movies and TV shows to spoof. Plus 40 more years of other sci-fi.

how *you* doin', Princess Vespa?

It's for the best Spaceballs didn't suffer the fate of so many 80's comedies that tried for sequels at the time - it was always diminishing returns.  But I'm glad we can take a new swing.  

And, hey, if I can have Zuniga *and* Rick Moranis back?  That's a very good thing.