Last week we lost world-famous musician and performer Tina Turner.
Turner didn't appear in that many films, but she was in a starring role in the least likely of films, the third Mad Max installment, Beyond Thunderdome. She plays the mayor-figure and matriarch of a town in post-apocalyptic Australia, and she has magnificent earrings.
Opinions vary on Turner in the film, but we've been team-Aunty Entity since we literally jumped into a van full of kids being taken to the movie at the local cinema. But this is also, simply, a pro-Tina Turner household.
Day: June 2, 2023
Time: 8:30 Central, 6:30 Pacific
Runtime: 107 minutes
Cost: $4.29 HD / $3.79 SD
I'm realizing I saw this when I was 10, and, hoo-boy. My parents were paying zero attention to what I was watching as a kid.
Earlier this week we saw the 85th anniversary of the first appearance of Superman and Lois Lane in print in the famed Action Comics #1. It's a great comic, and Superman has had many great stories to tell over the years.
This is probably not one of them.
Starting from a promising set-up, the movie is plagued with budgetary issues that impact everything along the way. It has its highlights, but... yeah.
Join us as we leap a good decision in a single bound, and behold: Superman's apartment and its curious decor! Lenny Luthor! Lex's goofy scheme to infinite wealth! A literal Chippendale's dancer as our super-powered meanie/ horn-dog!
It's the movie that killed a franchise and set Superman back 20 years at the cinema!
Special Help Instructions: After clicking the link, you will see a "watch with ads" button and "More Purchase Options" button. Click " More Purchase Options". On that screen, select "Rent HD $1.99"
My favorite Jamie's favorite movie stars one of my other favorite Jamies. And that's how we'll be watching A Fish Called Wanda for Jamie's birthday. No, not that Jamie, this Jamie.
Anyway, I like this movie quite a bit, so it's not a tough sell. I no longer yell "asshoooooole" at people on the road, but there was a time.
It is like an hour and 45, so we'll need to get going pretty quick.
So, here's to Jamies with oval faces and good cheekbones, Oscar winners and birthday girls alike.
This one is a straight up banger. The Killers (1946) brought the world Ava Gardner (we're celebrating her centennial) and Burt Lancaster. It's based loosely on a short story from Ernest Hemingway, directed by Robert Siodmak and is the noiriest noir that ever noired.
Also features Edmond O'Brien, Albert Dekker, Charles McGraw, William Conrad, Sam Levene, and a dozen other "hey, THAT GUY" type actors.
I say "this is one of my favorite movies" a lot, but this one IS one of my faves and genuinely solid.
You've all suffered enough. I mean, the past few weeks of watch parties have been a real gauntlet and test of intestinal fortitude. And while "strangers on a train" sounds like something incredibly dirty, it's actually the title of a phenomenal movie directed by no one less than Alfred Hitchcock. This is how we pivot at the Signal Watch.
I haven't seen this flick in decades, but I remember loving it at the time circa 1997. It's a popular Hitch favorite, so let's get on that train and see who wants to swap murders.
I've dreamed of this one becoming available for our Friday-viewing pleasure. I've never seen it, but it stars Oscar-contender Michelle Yeoh* and American Martial Arts phenom Cynthia Rothrock dubbed for some reason by a lady with a British accent.
It's a chance for us to bear witness to acrobatics, flying kicks, slow-motion-bodies-falling-through-glass and all the best bits of mid-80's HK non-prestige cinema!
Let's remember this singular movie star with a movie that shows her acting, her toughness and let's Welch look terrific while elbowing jerks off a banked track.
Look, we all know what this means. But we're doing it anyway.
I can promise you nothing but confusion, tears, rage, and some low-grade long-term trauma. But I think it's important we do this. Everything up to this point has been a training for this moment, really. Now is when we prove our mettle.
Friends, this may be the most exciting title for a movie I've ever seen in my whole g-d life.
I was pretty thrilled with just the name, but then I saw it stars Anne Bancroft, Raymond Burr, Lee J Cobb and Cameron (Space Mutiny) Mitchell, and, y'all, I done lost my mind when I noted an appearance by none other than Lee @#$%ing Marvin.
Do I know anything about this movie? I do not. But how can we go wrong with a gorilla, a circus, and Lee J Cobb?
housekeeping note! HEY. We've added a "Watch Party" tab to the main menu. If you ever wonder what's up with the next Watch Party and can't immediately find a link, click on the "Watch Party" option.
So, I'm told The Amazing Mr. X is being shown at this year's Noir City in Oakland. By K, who works in Oakland. I guess she knows.
Anyway, I ain't against anything with THIS poster, and it has Cathy O'Donnell, who is great.
We don't want to fall too far off pace, so on Friday we'll watch a Sherlock Holmes movie. Because I like Sherlock and you can't stop me. There are three women listed, I don't know who they are, and which will look swell in green (in black and white).
I assume there's a mystery. This is Sherlock Holmes. But we're really here for Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. And mysteries. And the *idea* of "green".
we're going to be studying the composition of this poster for decades to come
What could be more merry than watching 90 minutes of Unlawful Restraint charges pile up? Not to mention assault, etc...
Join us as I get in a trifecta of Saved by the Bell alumni in Christmas movies in this Mario Lopez/ Melissa Joan Hart pair-up. (See: Lucky Christmas and Northpole).
Is it good? Probably not. Is it free? It depends on how you categorize your Amazon Prime membership and viewings.
Anyway, you'd hope something with handcuffs this much at the center of the film that isn't The Defiant Ones would be kind of fun. I don't know how any of this set-up will play out in a way that doesn't work a bit like the Saw franchise, but that doesn't seem very Christmassy. And it's not, like, *fun* handcuffs. It's an ABC Family original film.
It's also got Markie Post! Who doesn't love Markie Post? No one. She was great.
I was not of a mind in 2000 to go see the Ron Howard-directed adaptation of Dr. Seuss's perennial holiday classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. But I've mellowed, and in careful consultation with Jenifer, we've chosen this movie to extend the Holiday Watch Party festivities.
Jim Carrey is a fine actor, I find him very funny. I find this suit unnerving. What I've seen of Jeffrey Tambor in the movie also makes me want to burn Whoville with fire. I do not tolerate uncanny valley stuff in CGI very well. Do it in real life, and my blood runs cold with the Lovecraftian implications.
I don't know what else is in this 105 minute movie that wasn't covered in the children's book or 30 minute TV show, but it does seem the filmmakers were like "we should unnerve Ryan by putting the lovely Christine Baranski in this and make her a sexy Who. That should @#$% him up but good."
my grinchy heart will grow three sizes that day
I don't know what the context is of this whole scenario, but let's find out. Here's to Opie Cunningham.
When it comes to people who have tried to make a career out of Christmas media, it's hard to top Ms. Mariah Carey and/or Ms. Lacey Chabert. Way, way back in 2015, this power duo teamed up for a single Hallmark movie. Hold onto your hats, because this one was also directed by Mariah Carey. I'm pretty sure its about a kids' singing competition or concert or some nonsense.
Anyway, this combo is like loading your 5 lb. bag of Christmas with like 100 lbs. of Christmas, and we're gonna do it, and we're gonna like it. No, I have not seen the full movie, just parts of it, which seems impossible.
Noirvember is underway! We'll have our first Noirvember screening by pairing it with a celebration of Veronica Lake, who would have turned 100 on November 14th of this year.
This is sort of proto-noir, but plays with a lot of the ideas that would inform characters and movies after the war. It also has so many great talents, from Lake to Ladd to Cregar. Also, a cat. You'll be glad, I tell you. GLAD!
So join us for some WWII-era moralizing, bare witness to the first pairing of Lake and Ladd, and see what the fuss was about Lake.* And what a hundred movies and pulp novels would borrow when it comes to loner hit-man types in the years to come.
