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.