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 this thing lands.   

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.

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). 

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.  

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?

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.

  

Disney Watch: Zootopia 2 (2025)

Watched:  04/16/2026

Format:  Disney+

Viewing:  First

Director:  Jared Bush/ Byron Howard

I'm on record as a Zootopia stan.  I watched it initially on a plane to Helsinki and lost my mind when we landed and it cut off the last ten minutes and I couldn't watch the end til I got back home a week later.  I loved the ideas and characters, the world they built and the imagination and thinking that went into the jokes.  And, I liked the character arcs for Judy and Nick and how they played off of each other.  Good stuff.

Do I want to see the Zootopia-land in Shanghai? Yes.  Yes, I do.

Godzilla Minus Zero Teaser Trailer

 

Godzilla Minus Zero - First Look Teaser Trailer is GO!!!

that's muh boi

No idea what the story is, but so glad to see our heroes from Godzilla Minus One return.  I very much like these characters and am happy to spend more time with them.

Coming out in November.  Plan accordingly.

Noir Watch: Down Three Dark Streets (1954)

Watched:  04/12/2026

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  First

Director:  Arnold Laven

We're just going to slowly make our way through the Ruth Roman filmography, I guess.  

I had no idea what this was about, but it's a bit of 1950's pro-FBI propaganda.  It makes sure we, the citizens and tax-payers, understand how the FBI is working tirelessly on crimes big and small.  

When an FBI agent, a family man, is killed, Broderick Crawford is asked to pick up all three of his open cases to figure out which case was the one that got his pal murdered.  And, much as in real life, things move a lot faster now that one of their own was the victim.

The three cases are:

Canon Watch: Conan The Barbarian (1982)

Watched:  04/12/2026

Format:  BluRay

Viewing:  I have no idea

Director:  John Milius 

Conan the Barbarian (1982) is not for everyone.  And were it released now, it would have social media film people absolutely up in arms.  

I confess I've never read any Robert E. Howard, and maybe I need to fix that.  He is a Texas boy, after all.  But since the last time I watched the movie, I did read both the Prose and Poetic Eddas.  And what Howard was up to, and what this movie was up to - and what a lot of heroic fiction of the past was doing - all feels much more part of a lineage.  

The movie exists in a world far removed from a 2020's concept of "heroes act thusly" - something I am obviously behind as someone who felt like 2025's Superman and the TV show Superman and Lois finally got the character right on screen.  But that doesn't make me naive as a reader or person - that's just one type of character in one type of story.  

Canon Watch: RoboCop (1987)

buy this poster here

Watched:  04/10/2026

Viewing:  ha ha ha ha ha

Format:  BluRay (Arrow Deluxe)

Director:  Paul Verhoeven

For some reason my Threads.com algorithm kept showing me people discussing RoboCop (1987), and I realized that it had been some time since I'd actually watched the movie.  Not that I have to.  It's one of the movies I've seen so many times I have recall of every scene in the movie - if not the exact dialog, I have the imagery of each scene locked in my brain.  

Why RoboCop?  I know I've mentioned this, but when I was 12, we were visiting my grandparents and my mom wanted us out of the house to talk about something with my grandparents, so we were taken to a one-screen theater in Ishpeming, Michigan where my brother and I watched the movie. 

Comedy Watch: The Naked Gun (2025)

Watched:  04/09/2026

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  Second

Director:  Akiva Shaffer

This is the second time I'd seen this.  Holds up.  I laughed.

New Chabert for the Holidays? (I'm predicting July)

what the hell are they looking at?

 

I have a suspicion that Hallmark is going to release this Christmas movie during Christmas in July.

I don't know, obviously.  But it's still early April and today Lacey Chabert released the poster for this movie that Hallmark very loudly announced they were producing back in December.  And it *is* exciting.  A Disney/ Hallmark collab?  Like peanut butter and Nutella.  

So, it struck me...  Disney is likely making this movie to convince people to come to the parks/ resorts for Christmas.  And if you tell people to book a vacation for December in October, it's way too late.  But during the summer?  Still time to book that trip.  And sell your house so you can afford it.

Now, maaaaaybe Disney is all in on Christmas and wants to release this during the holiday season, but... ha ha ha... no.  This is probably going to be 3 parts Hallmark movie, 2 parts travel brochure.  And that's fine!  

So let's have a watch party

When they announce the release date, whenever it is, I'll organize something.  We'll have cocktails, toast Chabert, Mickey and Hallmark.  Just be ready to use Google Chat.