Noir (on Ice!) Watch: Suspense (1946)

Watched:  12/7/2020

Format:  Noir Alley on TCM

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1940's

Director:  Frank Tuttle

Jamie is not averse to noir, but I watch most of these by myself.  However, when I pitched her "it's a noir with figure skating as a key component", she was in.  She loves her some figure skating.

This is the third Belita-starring film shown on TCM's Noir Alley - and I'd guess the last.  She just didn't make many movies, let alone moody crime films.  I totally get why Eddie seems to have a soft spot for her - she's not exactly a powerhouse actress, but she does have a certain charm stemming from her own surprise at being in movies.

I'm mostly familiar with the King Brothers - producers on this one - from their movie Gun Crazy, part of my personal canon.   This was a follow up, and Monogram (who I mostly think of as having sets that look like high school play sets) upped the budget and talent.  Barry Sullivan stars as a hoodlum who lucks his way into a low level job at an ice-capades-type-show, and then parlays that into swiftly moving up the ranks as an ideas man - so they keep the ice show fresh and bring people back.

I mean - his big idea is a sort of oval full of swords that any film masters' student would have a field day figuring the Freudian messaging of, and doesn't seem like something any insurance company would okay - but whatevs.  Because Belita actually DOES the jump between the swords.  

Anyway, she's the wife of the older, mustachioed boss, and of course she feels an attraction to Barry Sullivan (because the script says to - he's not exactly Mitchum).  

Death, gunplay, avalanches, a cute dog and more figure skting figure in.  Plus, a scheming ex girlfriend and Eugene Pallette, the best Grumpy Gus in movies.  

It wasn't anything earth shattering, but I was pretty okay with it.  It can be hard to find a noir that Jamie wants to sit through, and I did it!  She was A-OK with this one.  But I don't think it will be easy finding more with ice skating.

Disney+ Watch: Godmothered (2020)

Watched:  12/6/2020

Format: Disney+

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Sharon Maguire

Definitely a "fun for the whole family" all-ages offering from Disney+, Godmothered (2020) has a semi-complicated set-up that melts into a fairly standard magical comedy, but which I think more or less works, even if it's not exactly ground-breaking.

Apparently Fairy Godmothers come from The Motherland, a mystical realm where fairies train for seemingly centuries before being sent out on assignment.  But the trick is - no one has asked for help from a Fairy Godmother in centuries, and there's only really been one new fairy to sign up for the gig in the past few decades. And so - they're maybe going to shut it all down (the Motherland is run by Jane Curtain, who appears to be having fun).

PODCAST: "Anna and the Apocalypse" (2017) - a Xmas Genre Xrossover 2020 episode w/ SimonUK and Ryan

Watched:  11/21/2020

Format:  Amazon Streaming

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2010's

Director:  John McPhail

For more ways to listen!

SimonUK and Ryan have a holly jolly time biting into the 2017 multi-genre cult fave that has them singing and dancing in the aisles. Join us for a yuletide discussion of a newer film that might just be the Christmas treat you're looking for - it's a real slay ride. 

The Signal Watch PodCast · 131: "Anna and the Apocalypse" (2017) an Xmas Genre Xrossover w/ SimonUK and Ryan

Music for the Anna and the Apocalypse soundtrack: 

Christmas Means Nothing Without You - Roddy Hart, Tommy Reilly 

Hollywood Ending - Roddy Hart, Tommy Reilly 

 
Xmas Genre Xrossover Playlist

The Signal Watch PodCast · XMas Genre Xrossover 2020

Noir Watch: Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Watched:  12/6/2020

Format:  TCM on Noir Alley

Viewing:  third?

Decade:  1950's

Director:  Robert Aldrich

Mickey Spillane is a weird sell in crime and noir circles.  I've never read any of his books (I'm fixing that ASAP), but the general idea is that his detective novels featuring Mike Hammer are (more) sexist (than other noir) and sadistic.  That's spilled over to the Mike Hammer films and other media, most of which I haven't seen or paid much attention to - but Kiss Me Deadly (1955) is a @#$%ing crazy movie, and you should check it out sometime.

Christmas Watch: Christmas Chronicles 2

Watched:  12/5/2020

Format: Netflix

Viewing:  First

Decade: 2020's

Director:  Christopher Columbus

Look, I polished off at least 3/4ths of a bottle of wine while watching this, but it seemed great at the time - both the wine and the movie.

Stuart had vouched for the first Christmas Chronicles back in 2018, and it was genuinely much better than I figured.  Kurt Russell as Santa is just a good idea.  The Christmas Chronicles 2  ups the budget, expands the concepts, and adds Goldie Hawn as Mrs. Claus.  And, again, it just works.  I'll refer you to the link above for what I think this series does that makes it a cut above 90% of the "Santa" genre of movies of the past 20 years or so.*  

This installment, of what I assume will be a once per two years thing for a while, sees Kate Pierce from the first movie in Cancun with her mom and brother from the first film.  Mom is now dating Tyrese Gibson, who flew everyone down - but Kate has understandable feelings about (a) not being home for Christmas and (b) fears of Mom forgetting Dad (who had passed before the first movie).  Now, the set-up on this one is... a bit wonky.  I don't see even the drunkest parents leaving their under-18 kids alone in Mexico for 24 hours, especially one as sensitive as Tyrese's son, Jack.  

But an elf-gone-bad has set the whole thing up, and he hi-jacks Kate and Jack to the North Pole so he can use them as a distraction to get into Santa's Village and EXACT ELF REVENGE.

The movie splits into Jack learning he can be courageous (he's a bit of a wiener at the film's outset), and works through Kate's far more complex situation with the power of Christmas multiplied by the power of time travel.

This film builds on the terrific design from the first film - giving us a wider view into Santa's village and the workshops contained therein.  I dig the scale and decision to roughly ground things - the elves (which look like Finnish Magwai) kind of scuttling around everywhere, but not living inside cupcakes or anything.  It looks weirdly practical, and I very much enjoyed the "let me check my biases" moment as the kids ask why the village isn't named after Mrs. Claus, credited with the design of the town.

Goldie Hawn as Mrs. Claus is, honestly, as much of a kick as Russell as Santa.  It does not hurt to have two people with decades of cohabitation together playing a couple of several hundred years, but Hawn's sunny disposition and capacity for indicating depths with a glance is well served here in telling the adult audience a lot that might be going over the kid audience's heads.  

The kid actors aren't threatening anyone to nab Oscar nomination slots, but Columbus is no slouch when handling kids, and between a good script and getting the most out of his kid actors, he manages to also let Kate have moments of growth and insight - non-verbally!  She, like, listens and processes and does not have to say out loud what she's learning at each step.  

But, yeah, this isn't a heavy drama or anything.  There's plenty of goofy good stuff.  You can't go wrong with Darlene Love showing up to join in the requisite Santa musical number (I think Jamie heard me gasp when she first appeared for what I assumed was a cameo).  

It's just weird how far we lower the bar for Christmas content that anything remotely competent (this *is* Chris Columbus, who brought us Harry Potter, Home Alone, etc...) and isn't just indicating what they would like to convey, but actually delivering those messages like a real movie comes off like Avengers: Endgame.  

PS:  I found the flying hyenas delightful

*I do like Fred Claus more than you'd figure

Christmas Watch Party Watch: Christmas Twister/ F6 Twister (2012)

watched:  12/4/2020

format:  Amazon Watch Party

viewing:  first

decade: 2010's

director:  Peter Sullivan

Woof.

This is the most insanely lazy movie I've seen in a while.  Like, it's one of those where you're watching and thinking "literally nothing in this movie is how that thing works".  Not how tornadoes work, meteorology, news reporting, children, school, architecture, accents, clouds, pregnancy, smoke, basements, emergency situations, college, glasses or Ft. Worth.  Or, in fact, Christmas.  

Like - why?  How did this script get written?  Was it by someone amazingly dumb?  Were they kidding and no jokes landed?  I just don't get it.  I am not an expert in ANY of the topics above, but I do live on earth, and I have a sense of memory of events and observations.

I really can't spend energy on this.  They didn't.  

But I did like Deb, the news producer.  

Watch Party Watch: Yellowbeard (1983)

Watched: 11/01/2020

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  First(ish)

Decade:  1980's

Director:  Mel Damski

I may have seen parts of this as a kid.  I vaguely remember it being on cable during one of the sporadic windows during which my parents would get HBO, see we were watching something very much like Yellowbeard (1983) and then pull the HBO subscription again for a year before they forgot and did it again.

Look, I appreciate that we all bring something to these Amazon Watch Parties, and Jenifer had fond memories of watching this as a kid - and I have a vague memory that told me I'd seen it - but I don't think I ever had.  Nothing looked familiar.  But this is not a much loved movie by critics, the 1983 audience or the folks in it.  If you want a hint - there are very famous, beloved people in this and yet no one talks about this movie.  So.  But they did get to hang out in Acapulco and make a movie - and this seems to have landed them a massive, all-star cast that should have been a hit just by default.

Graham Chapman.  Peter Boyle.  Cheech & Chong.  Marty Feldman. Madeline Kahn. James Mason.  Eric Idle. John Cleese.  Kenneth Mars.  Michael Hordern.  Susannah York. Nigel Planer. And a bunch I'm forgetting.  But, yeah, you have all these people sharing the screen, but the movie seems like they have no idea what is happening or how a movie works.

Anyhoo... I bet they had fun in Acapulco.  But, a weirdly not good movie.

Watch Party Watch: Day of the Triffids

Watched:  09/18/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1963
Director:  Steve Sekely, Freddie Francis

I forgot to write this up in September, and now it's too late.

PODCAST: "Shazam!" (2019) - Xmas Genre Xrossover 2020 w/ AmyC and Ryan

 

Watched:  11/13/2020
Format:  HBO

Viewing:  Second

Decade:  2010's

Director:  David F. Sandberg

For more ways to listen

AmyC and Ryan say the word and find themselves checking out the heroic adventures of one of comics longest-lasting heroes who finally found his way to the big screen. And, it's a Christmas movie! We discuss the comics, the movie and what makes for holiday cinematic magic! 

The Signal Watch PodCast · 130: "Shazam" (2019) XMas Genre Xrossover 2020 w/ AmyC & Ryan

Music: 

Shazam! Main Theme - Benjamin Wallfisch

XMas Genre Xrossover 2020  

The Signal Watch PodCast · XMas Genre Xrossover 2020

Noir Watch: Fear (1946)

Watched:  11/28/2020

Format:  Noir Alley on TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1940's

Director:  Alfred Zeisler

An adaptation of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, which I have never read (and I suspect few of you have, either) - and boiled down to a tight 65 minute crime thriller, Fear (1946) is a low-budget predecessor to a movie plot you've seen a dozen times over.  

Basically - upstanding guy commits crime, no one suspects him, and then a cop starts trailing him.  Meanwhile he meets a comely young lass.  

It's not actually that baaaaad.  It's just totally hamstrung by the cardboard sets and that they obviously had about 3 set-ups per scene per set.  If that.  Honestly, the acting is fine.  And the movie is short enough that you're in and out before you even get a chance to start pondering the movie's issues too much.

Anyway - not exactly something I'd recommend.  It feels more like a jot of an idea than an actual film.  But I've seen way worse, and the set-up kept me curious how they'd shake it out.

Watch Party Watch: Working Girl (1988)

Watched:  11/27/2020

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  Second, I think

Decade:  so, so 1980's

Director:  Mike Nichols (checks notes) huh.

When Working Girl hit theaters in 1989, I remember it was one of those movies everyone saw - both parents and kids.  A lot of kids with their parents.  It had the gloss on New York City business and the glamour that suggested in the late 1980's as being a part of the high stakes world of business at the heart of American capitalism after eight years of Reaganomics was the pinnacle of success - and a lot of pop culture flowed forth from that.  Right up to and including movies like this, Gremlins 2 and the novel of American Psycho.*

Dolly Watch: Christmas on the Square (2020)

Watched:  11/26/2020

Format:  Netflix

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Debbie Allen, y'all

I don't know if you guys know this, but the past few years Dolly Parton has been producing a variety of movies - including a few which appeared on Netflix last year.  My memory is that prior movies were basically using ideas from one of her more popular tunes (I actually watched a good chunk of Jolene, but think I forgot to write it up).  But I think Christmas on the Square (2020) is based on a new song from her recently released album (a solid Christmas record, if you're so inclined).  

This was very much a movie musical - relentlessly so - and intended to give everyone's mother something to watch this Christmas that they could casually mention that they had seen - and then recommend.  Directed and produced by the great Debbie Allen, it's not really a surprise the movie features singers and dancers trying their hearts out, and the film is packed with folks with plenty of talent madly dancing and singing around our leads.

Whodunnit Watch: Knives Out (2019)

Watched:  11/21/2020
Format:  Amazon Prime Streaming
Viewing:  Second
Decade:  2010's
Director:  Rian Johnson

Rian Johnson is one of those directors we need more of.  He's smarter than his audience (sorry, he is), and he's making stuff he'd want to see, and if we happen to come along and like it, too, great.  If not, it doesn't matter.  He made something *interesting*.  

On the heels of his stupidly controversial gigantic Star Wars movie that followed his usual way of doing things and managed to make maybe the only interesting Star Wars movie since Empire, he turned to the all-star murder mystery - a la Inspector Poirot films.  But not a murder mystery that relied on nostalgia, an exotic setting and romantic period in which the film occurs.  It's a family all brimming with motivations to take out the patriarch as they gather in the family a mansion in a wealthy Massachusetts suburb.  

HOLIDAY PODCAST: "3615 code Père Noël"/"Deadly Games"/"Game Over" or even "Dial Code: Santa Claus" (1989) - A Xmas Genre Xrossover 2020 episode w/ JAL & Ryan

 

Watched:  11/07/2020

Format:  Shudder Streaming

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1980's

Director:  Rene Manzor

For more ways to listen

It's French. It's Christmas. It's got a deranged Santa and a kid who has seen a lot of 80's action films. It's like "what if 'Home Alone' were infinitely @#$%ed up?" Justin and Ryan take a deep dive into a movie that feels like it's about to break as a cult classic, and features a very Bonnie Tyler Christmas song. You may know it as "3615 code Père Noël", "Deadly Games", "Game Over" or even "Dial Code: Santa Claus". But it's a frikkin' delight, this thing. 

The Signal Watch PodCast · 129: "Deadly Games" / "3615 code Père Noël" (1989) XMas Genre Xrossover 2020 w/ JAL & Ryan

Music: 

Merry Christmas - Bonnie Tyler

Xmas Genre Xrossover 2020:

The Signal Watch PodCast · XMas Genre Xrossover 2020

90's Watch: Dogfight (1991)

Watched:  11/22/2020

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  3rd or 4th

Decade:  1990's

Director:  Nancy Savoca

I rented this one in high school, but I have no idea why.  I'm pretty sure the first time I watched it, I watched it by myself.  But I know I watched it the next day before I had to return it, with someone.  Probably my brother or a friend.  And maybe I watched it once in college, but the movie doesn't get discussed much and I'm not sure what sort of footprint it had or has.

TCM has been on a tear promoting women in film - behind the lens, mostly.  I'm afraid I've done a very bad job of keeping up with their terrific efforts.  Dogfight (1991) was shown as part of an evening's programming some time ago, and I hadn't had a chance to watch it, but finally did.  I'm surprised how much of the movie I remembered (there are movies I'll watch, and look at the blog in the same year and have to piece together what it was as I have almost no memory of the film already), but also what an impact the movie had on me at the time as a young dude.  

PODCAST: "Robin and Marian" (1976) - a Connery Tribute PodCast w/ SimonUK and Ryan

Watched:  11/01/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming

Viewing:  Second

Decade:  1970's

Director:  Richard Lester

For more ways to listen

The Signal Watch is sad we've lost a film icon in Sean Connery, so SimonUK and yours truly check out one of Connery's less discussed but curiously interesting films - where he plays a middle-aged Robin Hood returning to Sherwood Forest after 20 years away. A meditation on legends, aging, love, what drives us and what we hang onto. 

The Signal Watch PodCast · 128: "Robin And Marian" (1976) - Connery Tribute Watch w. SimonUK and Ryan

Music

Robin and Marian Suite - John Barry

Watch Party Watch: Masters of the Universe (1987)

Watched: 11/20/2020

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  Unknown

Decade:  1980's

Director:  Gary Goddard

I should start by saying:  I didn't ever really like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe as toyline, cartoon, what-have-you.  Maybe because a lot of the material behind the franchise is simply bad.  The Filmation cartoon was goofily animated and the voice actors always sounded like they were recording out of context and in a well-tiled bathroom.  It featured a handful of wildly annoying characters and artists who really wanted to work in a few rotoscoped shots as often as possible.  (I will say - it DID blend American comic book style art very well, and should have shown Marvel how to do this instead of what they did in the 1990's.)  But mostly, He-Man was a lot of nonsense to sell toys, and that's great.  I support that idea.  I just wasn't into their particular gumbo of elements that made up their cartoon and toys (and found the original line of toys frankly grotesque, and not in a fun way).

Fake Doc Watch: Waiting for Guffman (1996)

Watched:  11/14/2020

Format:  DVD

Viewing:  Unknown

Decade:  1990's

Director:  Christopher Guest

For a run of about five movies, Christopher Guest managed to borrow the "mockumentary" format pioneered with Spinal Tap (in which he famously costars), and managed to create some Gen-X favorites.  The run began with Waiting for Guffman (1996), a "doc" following the production of a pageant/ play intended to celebrate the sesquicentennial of a small, Missouri town, Blaine, the participants of which believe will be seen by an agent of a Broadway producer - elevating their joy at just participating in a local stage show to the chance for something beyond their wildest dreams.

Guest's ensemble would continue on with him through all five films, into his HBO show Family Tree, and into the attempt to recapture the magic with Mascots in 2016.  This film includes talent that was breaking at the time, established talent, and helped to establish some of the cast.

Spooky Noir Watch: The Seventh Victim (1943)

Watched:  11/18/2020

Format:  Noir Alley on DVR

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1940's

Director:   Mark Robson

A Val Lewton horror film - that means a lot of atmosphere, mystery, wild plotting and not a lot of blood or outright frights - The Seventh Victim (1943) is a study in building a sense of dread and doom.  It's a strange, strange film, following one lead character for much of the film before putting her in a corner and finding other characters more interesting to watch.  

The film marks the movie debut of Kim Hunter*, who plays a private school girl who learns her bills aren't being paid by her sister - and her sister seems to have disappeared.  She hits the big city and learns her sister has sold the cosmetics company she owned, her shrink hasn't seen her in a bit, and she was romantically hooked up with Ward Cleaver (see a young Hugh Beaumont as a sort of romantic character!).  

Seems her sister fell in with a bunch of devil worshippers, and that's no gone great.  In fact, when paired with a private eye who decides to do the work pro bono, he gets bumped off.  At some point, we find the sister, and she's on a path that none of the men around her quite understand as they try to save her.  

But, I'm selling the film short.  Being a Lewton produced film, it's all about ideas and what you can't see in the shadows.  There's a Lynchian dream-like quality to portions, and the horror of what you realize must be happening (from people getting away with murder right in front of you) to rooms full of people trying to talk you into suicide that's far weirder than any makeup or jump scares.  Really, the closest thing I can think of in a "we're gonna watch someone end badly" closest to this film was Fire Walk With Me.  

Included as a Noir Alley entry - it works.  The film's aesthetics rely on expressionism, deep shadow, etc...  There's certainly a doomed quality and an underworld scratching at the edges of polite society.  In this case, an underworld that's what polite society does after 8:00 PM.  

*Kim Hunter is much beloved at The Signal Watch as the actor who (a) appeared as Zira in some Planet of the Apes films, and (b) as Stella Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.  

PODCAST: "Krampus" (2015) - a XMas Genre Xrossover 2020 Special w/ Marshall and Ryan

 

Watched:  11/04/2020

Format:  HBO, maybe?

Viewing:  Second or third

Decade:  2010's

Director:  Michael Dougherty

For more ways to listen

Tis the season for genre mashes! It's horror with Christmas joy! Join us as we peek in on a family that has lost its Christmas spirit - and is now facing a giant beastman-shaped reckoning. Marshall and Ryan talk the 2015 holiday horror hit that's become a bit of a perennial favorite (already!) - which reflects on how the holidays with family can really be a nightmare.

 

The Signal Watch PodCast · 127: "Krampus" (2015) - XMas 2020 w MRSHL and Ryan

Music:

Krampus Main Theme - Douglas Pipes

Xmas Genre Xrossover 2020 Playlist

The Signal Watch PodCast · XMas Genre Xrossover 2020