I Didn't Expect To See You Here

A favorite in the broad spectrum of album cover art: Paul McCartney’s BAND ON THE RUN, featuring Paul and Linda, Denny Laine, and six special guests: boxer John Conteh (far right), broadcast journalist Michael Parkinson (far left), singer/songwriter Kenny Lynch (behind Paul), Clement Freud (behind Linda), and in the back, James Coburn and Christopher Lee. (Photographed by Clive Arrowsmith.)

For me, it’s playful, surprising, and very memorable. I especially like the contrast between Parkinson’s finger gun and Lee’s absolutely deadly trapped-animal glare.

Yikes!

When that fire alarm test you read about 30 seconds earlier coincides with you finishing the line from an old song you like. Heart attack c-c-c-city, baby.

Vaya Con Dios, DFW Alamos

It has been deeply frustrating and disconcerting today, having learned this morning that every DFW-area Alamo Drafthouse (and one in Minnesota) were shuttered due to the franchisee company filing for bankruptcy. If you’re not a frequent filmgoer, the Alamo Drafthouse chain is a very comfortable and technically-sound theater company that leans into a combination of new and retro programming, with incredibly satisfying “pre-show” content, food service, and in many cases, a bar. They are everything you can imagine if you said, “hey, what would make a movie theater cool?”

I haven’t been much since COVID but at the end of last December went to see POOR THINGS and GODZILLA MINUS ONE, and more recently FURIOSA. My local theater, the Richardson location, was also home to some really special monthly programs hosted by people I know and admire.

They, and the many local filmgoers who care about how they watch movies on a big screen, were left saddened by this sudden news. My understanding is that even the Alamo Drafthouse company wasn’t aware this change was coming.

I was there when it opened a dozen years ago, and I wish I could have been there more frequently of late. There are few places in my lifetime that I have felt legit comfortable in a theater. And even fewer joints that approached cinema with an unbridled joy and good-natured vibe every time.

My hope is that - if not the Alamo company itself - some enterprising businessman with a deep love of film (and very deep pockets) will come in and re-start these locations anew. For now, I’m just going to reminisce about past Secret Screenings and Dismember The Alamo presentations. There’s a lot of love out there for these folks. I hope everyone affected lands on their feet in a good Next Thing.

Frank McCarthy Saves The Day...Again

Starting YOU CAN’T WIN ‘EM ALL on Tubi, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the film cannot possibly be as good as the artwork used in its poster.

And By The Way...

It is very possible - though something that may take months or years to properly assess - that I found more to appreciate in SOLO than FURIOSA. And got more enjoyment out of THE KING’S MAN than SOLO. And was happier to have seen PEARL than THE KING’S MAN.

But don’t hold me to that. Yet.

Ah, Marketing!

I can assure you this does not happen in this film.

If I Could Walk That Way I Wouldn't Need After Shave

It’s 2024, and I am 60 years old, and tonight I wheeze-laughed myself to tears watching clips of The Masturbating Bear, which, prior to today, I had no knowledge of.

Wheeze-laughing is something I feel I inherited. I fondly remember my family watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus when it was new to the Dallas area in the 70s; we watched it when visiting my great-grandparents home in Ennis, Texas. And it was, I believe, during the Bicycle Repair Man sketch that my father had a prolonged bout of that same wheezing laugh. It was the first time I saw my father responding to humor in a very outward manner. I’m sure I had seen him laugh before but this was different. It was a giddy fit of uncontrolled laughter, and I think even my mother hadn’t seen him respond to something that way. It rarely happened again for the rest of his life.

Tonight, after the bear videos, I stumbled upon a string of YouTube videos from the Flying Circus show (Cheese Shop, Dead Parrot, Communist Quiz, my beloved Fish Slapping Dance, and more), and for about two hours I wheezed and gut-laughed my way through the night’s nostalgia. It was glorious.

R.I.P. Roger Corman

End of an era. Arguably, more careers were started by this man than any other single person in the history of cinema. An amazing history.

Tarsem & Dreading Unavailability

An article went up today about some janky connections between Tarsem’s THE FALL and the current mainstream joyride THE FALL GUY. And while I get their angle, it frustrates me to be reminded that I cannot get a copy of THE FALL without paying gouge prices on eBay. I won’t pay $147 for THE FALL. I would, given the opportunity, pay decent money for a Tarsem box-set of THE CELL, THE FALL, and IMMORTALS. I’d be thrusting dollars at you like there was a meme.

Tarsem’s work, if you’re unfamiliar, began in music video and commercials, but with the aforementioned projects, he established himself as one of the best modern visual artists on film (and one of the most under-used and under-appreciated). And yet his finest work, THE FALL, is not even listed on Just Watch as not available, it’s so unavailable (outside of the aforementioned gouging).

So yes, to all the boutique houses, I say: get THE CELL, THE FALL, and IMMORTALS in a solid box-set and you will make money while we enjoy the wonder and artistry of the man’s work.

Easy, right?

Vincent D’Onofrio in THE CELL.

Lee Pace and company in THE FALL.

Henry Cavill being tossed about in IMMORTALS.