Twenty Nineteen in Film

Howdy. Every year (since way back in 2017) I've kept track of how many of that year's films I've watched within the year. For instance, in 2017 I watched 47 films released in 2017. Make sense? In 2018, I logged 68 which is a lot and I still managed to top it. In 2019 I saw 70 films of the year!

The list below is just all of them, ranked from my favorite to my least-favorite based entirely on my own internal, arcane criteria including things like rewatchability, originality, novelty, overall quality, creative voice and the possibility of bonus points for including things I personally enjoy. It is entirely subjective.

I encourage you to make your own list and drop me a link in the comments. I'll happily read it!

"MOTHER LEGS" by Ty Greenwood

MOTHER LEGS
Written by Ty Greenwood
Published by HellBound Books

Book review by Hunter Bush

I hate spiders, gang. I don't have any specific genesis moment for this aversion. I'm fairly sure it started before I ever saw Arachnophobia (1990) but that... didn't help. As I've grown I've gotten used to them somewhat - and as a taller person I'm frequently the one tasked to capture them - but I've also learned quite a lot about them. Perhaps it's the same impulse that draws me to horror as a genre, that innate desire to approach what scares me, or maybe it's as simple as a desire to know my enemy? Regardless, I've read a lot about spiders. For instance, did you know that Philadelphia, where I live, is the only place you can find the Pennsylvania purseweb spider? To be fair, this information also falls into the category of "Interesting Philadelphia Trivia" which is another big one for me, but my point remains: I know from spiders. And one thing I can tell you is - spiders do not blink.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN 12

Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 12 - November and December 2019

by Hunter Bush

Hello again good people and welcome to another installment of Everything Old is New Again, my bi-monthly column on Adaptations, Remakes and Legacy Sequels. If any of those terms are new to you, allow me to elucidate: an adaptation is a work based on any pre-existing work; a remake is when a film is made again as though it were the first time; a legacy sequel or long-gap sequel is the continuation of a franchise that has been lying dormant for some time; and while I'm at it, when I say bi-monthly, I mean "occurring every two months" not "occurring twice a month". So this EOINA will cover all the movies and such that fall into any of those categories coming to screens big & small in November & December.

"TERMINATOR: DARK FATE" (2019)

Terminator: Dark Fate
Directed by Tim Miller
Story by James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee & Josh Friedman and David S. Goyer & Justin Rhodes; Screenplay by Goyer & Rhodes and Billy Ray
Starring Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mackenzie Davis
Running time: 2 hours and 08 minutes
MPAA rating: R for violence throughout, language and brief nudity

by Hunter Bush

I'm a big fan of the trope I think of as "The Titular Line", when a character in a movie says the title of the movie they are in. Sometimes it's so synonymous with what the movie is that taking note of it is pointless, like someone saying "Ghostbusters" in Ghostbusters. What I enjoy is seeing if the writers and actors can make some of the clunkier subtitles sound natural. So, around an hour twenty into Terminator: Dark Fate when characters start really throwing the word "fate" around, I perked up. But it wasn't to be. The best you get is Natalia Reyes' Dani at one point saying "Fuck fate!", which is... pretty close.

""Riches to the Conjuror"

"Riches to the Conjuror" :

How a Viewpoint Sleight-of-Hand Yields a Wealth of New Perspective on the Destruction of a Model Family

An alternative POV on 2018's Hereditary.

Ari Aster's recent sophomore feature Midsommar has been a big deal in film talk circles recently, but his previous film, last year's Hereditary, is what put him on most people's radar. A film dealing with family and grief (Aster's topics of choice) through the supernatural chicanery of a witchy cult, Hereditary is most definitely when all's said and done, a Bad Moms Movie. What I posit today is that there is a way to view the events depicted in the film that makes it, somehow, an Even Worse Moms Movie.

Also, heads up, I will have to outright RUIN Hereditary for you if you haven't seen it.

Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival - PUFF Part 2: Postscript

The films that screen at the Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival, by and large, are difficult to pin down. Organizers prefer to think of it as an "Alternative" film festival, though a lot of the movies do tend to fall under the umbrella of "horror". But you may as well just classify them all as "movies" and call it a day for how unspecific that is. Hence the "Unnamed" part of the PUFF moniker; it's not just that they were too lazy to come up with a name.

Allison & Hunter were lucky enough to, between them, see all the films great and small shown at PUFF proper. As mentioned in PUFF Part 1 - Prologue, the short films on hand were largely broken up into blocks, though there were a few that played before the features like a film appetizer. Below we've got a round-up of what we saw and, in brief, what we dug about it:

Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival - PUFF Part 1: Prologue

PUFF 2019 Preview
“Allison & Hunter Write a PUFF Piece! Part 1 - Prologue”

For this, the fourth annual Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival (or PUFF), Moviejawn contributors Allison Yakulis and Hunter Bush are going to check out all the delicious independent genre films and shorts that are being screened in our own backyard. PUFF will be rocking and rolling from September 26th to September 29th at the 2223 Theater in Fishtown. There’s also a pre-PUFF event on September 25th that will include a screening of The Blair Witch Project with director Eduardo Sánchez in attendance (it’s the 20th anniversary of the film!) and a screening of Legacy Award to Exhumed Films winner Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural with its director Richard Blackburn there to introduce the film. Lemora is also going to be screened in 16mm, which is rad for all you format freaks out there.

PUFF is still growing, and this year will be screening 10 feature length films. There are also over 20 short films, broken up into blocks (you can catch Bizarre Shorts on Friday, International Shorts on Saturday, and Local Shorts on Sunday). Allison & Hunter couldn’t find a listing of the shorts that will be featured, but we did get to check out some synopses and trailers for the feature length films. Between the two of us we’re hoping to bring you full coverage of the festival proper after PUFF packs up.

So consider this a PUFF Prologue and if you’re in the area and want to check it out, tickets are available HERE. We’ll be back after the fest with some thoughts on the movies and the event itself. For now, read on to see what we’re looking forward to:

"THE INVISIBLE MOTHER" (2019)

If you read the Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival wrap-up I co-wrote with Allison, you may recall me saying that The Invisible Mother is my favorite film of the year. If not, there you go. I also explained that the “Unnamed” part of their moniker is a signifier of their preference for showcasing films that are difficult to pin down under one neat little label.

The Invisible Mother falls into that category of the not-easily-qualifiable. You could say it's a haunted house movie, but lumping it in with all those others would be like putting Beetlejuice next to The Taking of Deborah Logan because they’re both “possession movies" or putting Serial Mom alongside Zodiac as "true crime". While these descriptors are technically accurate, you get no sense of the tone or sheer style involved. PUFF 2019 co-host Father Evil referred to the film's vibe as an "Avant-garde Hell" and I'm inclined to agree (in general I feel it may be unwise to disagree with Father Evil but that's besides the point). In The Invisible Mother, filmmakers Matthew Diebler & Jacob Gillman have combined a variety of influences and made something altogether new out of them. Their Avant-garde Hell is built on the shoulders of filmmakers like Jodorowski & movements like Giallo as well as an affinity and flair for practical effects that, at times, reminded me of Jan Švankmajer but more polished.

Moviejawn Pizza Film Club Minutes, August 2019 - The Court Jester (1955)

Minutes from the Moviejawn Pizza Film Club meeting August 2019
By Hunter Bush

  

Welcome cinemaniacs and pizzatarians to the 2nd installment of The Last Slice, the newsletter devoted to unpacking our Pizza Film Club meetings every month in an effort to - A) encourage you to host Pizza Film Club meetings of your own and - B) expose you to some things - films, foods, drinks - that may be new to you but could end up becoming a favorite in no time!

This month's newsletter covers our Pizza Film Club meeting from August, which just so happened to fall exactly on the birthday of Pizza Film Club co-founder, author of the previous Last Slice installment & my co-host on the Hate Watch / Great Watch podcast, Allison Yakulis (!) so it was only fair that she choose the flick. Additionally, we were hosting so she actually programmed the whole day's film lineup, made the cocktail & the snacks, all with very little help from me; a birthday dynamo!

THE FLICK: The Court Jester (1955)

The picture's plot pertains to the proper heir, perceptible by the purple pimpernel port wine patch on their posterior, and the plan to place him in the palace, presumably to protect the propriety of the province and profit the people personally.

Sorry. THE COURT JESTER is known for its tongue twister dialogue and song lyrics and I thought I'd give it a shot, but that's just exhausting. Fun, but exhausting.

The most expensive comedy ever made at the time, THE COURT JESTER stars fleet-of-foot funnyman Danny Kaye as Hawkins, a former circus performer who abandoned the big top life to be of service to The Black Fox, a Robin Hood-type bandit living in the forest with his men. In an effort to place the rightful heir, a baby, on the throne and oust the current usurper King Roderick (Cecil Parker), Hawkins takes the identity of famous jester Giacomo ("King of Jesters and Jester of Kings") and attempts to steal a key to the secret tunnel beneath the palace through which the rightful baby-heir could be smuggled safely into the castle. Due to Hawkins' own ineptness and the intervention of the witch (!) Griselda (Mildred Natwick), Hawkins finds himself in the midst of several bits of palace intrigue including the King's plan to marry his off his lovely daughter Princess Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury) and Lord Ravenhurst's (Basil Rathbone's) attempts to kill his fellow Lords all the while attempting to take the key without alerting the King.

Wackiness ensues. As was pointed out during our viewing, with Danny Kaye in the lead role he had no one to bounce off of and thus has to use every trick in the Danny Kaye playbook here. The result is extremely enjoyable with a quick pace and the aforementioned wordplay to keep your attention even if you're not usually into this kind of flick. The performances are all incredibly charming; the kind of Saturday Matinee movie you'd watch from the living room floor, gleefully enraptured. The sets and costumes are all gorgeous even on an unrestored DVD edition. THE COURT JESTER is definitely worth a watch but may pair better with friends (and pizza).

THE COCKTAIL: The Brew That is True (Hard Arnold Palmer a.k.a. Half and Half)

Though the Black Fox's men would most likely have been downing mead or ale, those in the court may have been lucky enough to imbibe something as delicious and fragrant as The Brew That is True. Named after one The Court Jester's most quotable scenes, and one of cinema's most quotable attempted poisonings ("The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!"), Allison's Brew is designed not to be as oversweetened as concoctions like these tend to be. Seriously though, name another quotable cinematic poisoning that isn't from The Princess Bride. I'll wait.

Recipe Provided by Allison Yakulis

1 part sweet tea flavored vodka
1 part unsweetened iced tea
2 parts lemonade

Pour over ice and garnish with lemon. For the overachievers you can make your own lemonade syrup.


Lemonade Syrup

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
Rind of 2 lemons (cut into thin strips)
Juice of 6 lemons (about ¾ cup of juice)

Boil together sugar, water, and lemon rind for 5 minutes. Let cool and strain out rind. Stir in lemon juice. To prepare for drinking, add water to taste (somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 part syrup to 3 parts water)

THE MENU: Harlequin Deviled Eggs

Named for the famous dual-color diamond pattern commonly associated with clowns and jesters, these doubly delicious deviled eggs are customizable to the party's palette. Allison provided a slightly spicier take on the traditional deviled egg as well as a floral, pesto variation!

Recipe Provided by Allison Yakulis

12 eggs
About ⅓ cup pesto
About 2 tbsp mustard
About 3 tbsp mayonnaise
Hot Sauce
Paprika
Parsley

Hard boil eggs. Peel and cut in half. Remove yolks and divide evenly in 2 separate bowls. In one bowl add pesto and about 1 tbsp mayo and mix until yolks are pulverized and the mixture appears well-blended. Fill half of the eggs with this mixture and top with parsley. In the remaining bowl add about 2 tbsp mayo, 2 tbsp mustard, and a few dashes of hot sauce (to taste) and mix until yolks are pulverized and the mixture appears well-blended. Fill the remaining eggs with this mixture and top with paprika.

THE BIRTHDAY CAKE: Purple Pimpernel Funfetti Cake

Not all Pizza Film Club meetings include a cake but then again not all Pizza Film Club meetings fall on a birthday. Allison used a novelty cake pan to get the rough shape of the baby butt, then trimmed out the excess cake before icing in one color and piping on the purple pimpernel free-hand! Not too shabby!

Recipe Provided by Allison Yakulis

4 ½ tbsp unsalted softened butter
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup Canola oil (or vegetable oil)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
¾ cup milk
5 egg whites (room temp preferred)
½ cup sprinkles (although we used a full cup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease and flour your cake pans*. In a stand mixer beat butter on medium low until creamy. Add in sugar and oil and beat until well-combined, scraping down the sides as needed. Add in vanilla. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Measure out your milk. With mixer on medium alternate between flour mix and milk (starting and ending with flour), scraping down sides when needed and allowing each addition to become fully combined before adding more. In a separate bowl beat egg whites with a hand mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Using a spatula, fold egg whites and sprinkles into batter until just combined (do not over mix, but make sure sprinkles are evenly distributed throughout the batter). Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes, rotating pans halfway through bake time for even heat (depending on the size of your cake pans, the cakes may bake faster - keep an eye on them). When they’re done, you should be able to insert a toothpick and remove it mostly dry or with a few crumbs - if it comes out wet, bake for another 5-10 minutes and check again. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan, and allow cakes to cool completely before frosting.

*Note: Again, to get a butt shape we used a novelty boob cake pan like this one (link - https://www.amazon.com/Pipedream-Boobie-Cake-Pan-Silver/dp/B00163B6Y4 ), cut out about an inch of the center, and pushed the two remaining lobes together before icing. It used about half of the above recipe and we made cupcakes with the rest of the batter.

In addition to the above snacks, folks brought extra goodies like chocolate covered Nutter Butter cookies, trail mix & White Claw! We also had some more homemade hummus (the recipe for which can be found in the first Last Slice newsletter), with chopped veggies and pita wedges.

Here are some photos of the group including appearances from Party Cobra and The Lady Waldo!

Remember that you can join the Pizza Film Club no matter where you are via our slack channel and that we'd love to include your satellite parties in future newsletters, so send us some pictures of you & your crew enjoying our snack, drink & film pairings!

If you really love pizza & film, check out Moviejawn's Pizzaman tab for info on our first short film! As ever, thanks for reading and may your movies & pizzas always be just the right amount of cheesy!

You can read every Pizza 🍕 Film 📼 Club ♣ newsletter on Moviejawn, join us on Slack or take our advice and host your own!

You can always hear me on every episode of the Hate Watch / Great Watch podcast. Remember: Don't be a Danzig! Like & Subscribe!

Until next time:
Long Live the Movies!

"RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL" (2019)

"It's Cocaine's World, We're All Just Living in it..."

by Hunter Bush

Near the end of Jason Cabell's solo directorial debut RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL, a backpack full of drugs falls in a mountain stream and is swept away by the current, which is actually a pretty apt visual metaphor for the film as a whole. This movie is about drugs - cocaine specifically - and the ways in which it is a part of the lives of everyone it encounters, but the whole thing is fairly dispassionate. We meet all these players up and down the totem pole - distinguished by titles like The Cook or The Executioner or The Boss or whatever - but they're hard to care about because this is not really their story, it's cocaine's story. Everyone in this is a supporting player to Cocaine.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN 11

You know gang, I just cannot wait for August to end, which it will right around the time y'all are reading this very installment of Everything Old is New Again! My reasons why are personal, and of the type of personal that isn't even interesting, incendiary or uncommon, really. Regardless, I can't wait.

If you're new to EOINA, this is my bi-monthly column (every other month) that covers the Remakes, Adaptations and Long-Gap Sequels (also called Legacy Sequels) arriving for public consumption. I try to give a little history about where these new installments are coming from and speculate, based almost entirely on the trailers (when there ARE any) on what I think of the finished product. Yes, it's largely conjectural and yes it's heavily influenced by my personal biases, but it is also a jumping-off point for you. I hope you find something that interests you and I hope you enjoy it!

In this September & October round-up we've got entertainments based on movies, books, magazine articles and musicians! So let's get started:

"A SCORE TO SETTLE" (2019)

I've loved movies for what feels like my whole life but I've only been writing about them (for anyone other than myself) for a short time. In that time, I've had a few "high points": mother! - my first pre-release review; Boom For Real - my first screener link; being able to see things like the last two Avengers flicks or even Solo, that nerds like me were salivating for, a week in advance; and now A Score to Settle - my first time screening a Nicolas Cage film!

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN 10

Hello again and welcome back to Everything Old is New Again, the column where I write about the movies & series coming to screens of all sizes in the next two months, but specifically the ones based on some previously-existing work, intellectual property or franchise. I also included two movies coming to limited release based on true stories because, cynic that I am, I question the ethics of releasing these stories Right Now. But we'll get there.

"ANIARA (2019)"

The old axiom "There's just no winning the human race" reoccurred to me frequently throughout my viewing of Aniara, the pessimistically meditative new Swedish sci-fi feature from writer / directors Pella Kågerman & Hugo Lilja, based on the epic poem by Harry Martinson. Combining modest means with a truly grand scope, the filmmakers have managed to come away with a surprisingly multi-faceted work.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN 9

Welcome, welcome, to another installment of Everything Old is New Again, the column where I write, sometimes at length, about the Remakes, Adaptations and Legacy Sequels coming to screens great and small in the months ahead. I also occasionally throw in stuff that only tangentially fits just because I kinda wanna talk about it for whatever reason? I dunno, I just follow my gut.

This is a bi-monthly column (the kind that means every two months, as opposed to the kind that means twice a month; I'm not a machine) and hoo-boy! This latest installment is a doozy! Don't hold me to this, but I *think* this is the most flicks I've had to cover in a two-month period? Though to be fair, I do include a pair of direct-to-streaming mini-series, but they seemed definitely worth mentioning.

Warning: Get ready to read a LOT of titles so long it will seem like I'm joking but I assure you I am not. Mostly they're book titles, but still! It's like a Fall Out Boy track list down there sometimes!

Also: If you like dolls walking around, talking, maybe questioning their existence or killing some hapless nobodies, THIS is the EOINA for you.

So here we go, with all the applicable entertainments brought to you, for fun and profit, this coming MAY and JUNE.

"THE INTRUDER (2019)"

Deon Taylor's The Intruder is uneven, riddled with clichés, largely poorly directed, seems edited with a hacksaw and stuffed at the margins with useless ADR dialogue. In short, it's trash. But then why did I absolutely love it?

"AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019)"

It's fair to say I was suffering from a spell of Franchise Fatigue leading up to my viewing of Avengers: Endgame but...that may be the perfect headspace to go into it with?

Do you realize it hasn't even been a full year since Avengers: Infinity War came out (or Endgame: Part One if ya nasty) but in that time, two other Marvel movies have hit theaters? Wanna know where Ant-Man was when Thanos blew into town? You've gotta see Ant-Man and the Wasp. And then you've gotta go see Captain Marvel (who was teased in the Infinity War post-credit stinger) so you'll know...who the hell that even is. It's starting to feel like homework.

"FAST COLOR (2019)"

Fast Color is the kind of movie I've been waiting to see made for a while, and one we're likely to see more of in coming years. It uses the big money buzz of superhero movies, but bucks all the spandex and villain clichés to instead make a smaller, more intimate feeling movie in a genre generally unrepresented when superhuman abilities are in play. One about family and one focused specifically on the relationships between mothers and daughters, but yes, also there are superpowers.

"Disneynature: PENGUINS (2019)"

Disneynature: PENGUINS (2019)
By: Hunter Bush
For: Moviejawn

Disneynature's latest doc Penguins is 70 minutes of extremely beautiful nature footage strung together by a decently entertaining narrative about 5-year old Adélie penguin Steve (voiced by Ed Helms who also narrates) and his attempt to start his own penguin family and then to keep that family safe and well-fed. I mean, yeah, it's pretty basic animal doc stuff here, but for what it's worth the Disneynature crew do a pretty solid job all in about the run time of an average Doctor Who episode.

"THE CHANGELING (1980)"

THE CHANGELING (1980)
By: Hunter Bush
For: Moviejawn

It would be easy to compare The Changeling to more recent films; to imagine what it would be like were it made or remade in the now-times, but that would be doing The Changeling a huge disservice. I generally try to approach each film on its own terms and judge it for what it is, though I will admit this is easier with older films for some reason. Honestly the thought never crossed my mind with The Changeling because as it turns out, this movie is, as they say "extremely my shit". I was hooked from the opening scene.

"SALVADOR DALÍ: IN SEARCH OF IMMORTALITY (2018)"

SALVADOR DALÍ: IN SEARCH OF IMMORTALITY (2018)
By: Hunter Bush

Salvador Dalí is a painter most known for his surrealist works, (famously The Persistence of Memory perhaps better known as The Melting Clocks) and his eccentric personal style and demeanor (that 45 degree angle mustache and his quote "Dalí does not take drugs. Dalí is drugs."). But if that's all you know of the man, you're missing a much deeper story. David Pujol's 2018 documentary Dalí: In Search of Immortality sets out to show you what a cursory glance at the life of Dalí would miss.

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen in HELP!

I grew up loving (among other things) comic books and movies and thus I love it when the two cross over. Keep in mind that I am from an era when there wasn't a new multi-million-dollar flick based on a comic book coming to theaters every other month. I'm especially a fan of spotting real-world comic books that are in movies just incidentally. You can see my recent post of a photo from Cape Fear (1991) for example.

The other day I was watching Richard Lester's HELP! from 1965 which, if you didn't know, stars The Beatles. Within the film, they all share a giant house full of, shall we say, "eccentric amenities" catered to each Beatle (think Pee-wee's Playhouse meets any really swinging pad of that era's James Bond movies).
Paul McCartney's portion of the house features a door to a lower level from which an organ rises on a platform through the floor.

What I noticed this time was that instead of sheet music, Paul is reading comics! They mostly seem to be issues of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, with a Superman and maybe an Archie mixed in as well?

Nice choice, Paul! Were I ever able, I would have this exact setup in my home as well.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN 8

Howdy, all! Welcome to another installment of Everything Old is New Again, where I keep you abreast of movies (and in this instance also a few TV shows) coming down the Hollywoo pipeline that are either remakes of-, long-gap sequels to- or adapted from some pre-existing intellectual property.

For those who don't know, the way this column works is: I watch all the available trailers and preview footage of stuff coming up in March & April, then I do a little research into its source material. Just enough to give me an idea of what I'm supposed to be seeing, but I primarily go by what the trailers show me. Trailers can be misleading, of course, but having grown up loving movies, I like to think I have a decent instinct for these things.

Every other month, Moviejawn lets me do this column (thank you!) and every single time I'm surprised by how many films there are to cover. Some look good, some aren't for me and some...I just don't know. Check 'em out below, see what you think:

Tim Alien in CAPTAIN MARVEL

Watching the CAPTAIN MARVEL trailers for the upcoming installment of the column I write when I spotted this familiar-looking blue so-and-so:

It's not just me, right?

Jack Skellington in RUMBLE IN THE BRONX

I was rewatching the Jackie Chan-sterpiece RUMBLE IN THE BRONX (1995) and at one point there's a shot of the street featuring a very familiar face.

That's a Mylar balloon of Jack Skellington from THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)! I love little stuff like that.

"DONNYBROOK (2019)"

DONNYBROOK (2019)
By: Hunter Bush
For: Moviejawn



Donnybrook is like standing around a parking lot after the bar closes, watching everybody make bad decisions. Like listening to two blowhards talk about how they're gonna fight each other, but the logic only kind of makes sense and then when they do, finally, throw hands, it's over in ten seconds. And just as everyone is dispersing, you see that one of them had secretly been carrying a crowbar with the phrase "SOCIAL COMMENTARY" written on it.

"Hm..." you think to yourself, "I don't know if that would've been better if they'd utilized this secret weapon or not but it sure couldn't have hurt."

Blackbolt & Captain Marvel in CAPE FEAR

It's less of a capital T- Thing nowadays but I grew up in an era where comics didn't have the widespread pop-cultural appeal they do now. So whenever I see references to real comic books or comic characters in movies, but especially respected, not-for-kids movies, I pop (to use the wrestling terminology). Basically the forever-pre-teen version of myself that lives in my head sees a comic reference and yells "Aw, sweet!"

So that just happened again the other day, re-watching Cape Fear (1991) when I spotted these in Max Cady's (Robert De Niro's) prison cell collage:

Happy Birthday to Me (36)

Oh, hello. I didn't see you there. No it's fine, really, please stay. Y'see, I'm turning 36 today and while I'm not having a big, capital P "Party" I am gonna have breakfast for dinner, take it easy and hang out with a few good friends, family and roommates. But while I'm doing that, I've actually got some presents for you!

I know that might seem a little non-traditional, but hey, I'm a non-traditional guy. I mean, I'm eating breakfast... for dinner! Pretty unconventional, I'd say! Innovative, even!

I love, live and breathe movies; I even write about them for MOVIEJAWN, so I thought they'd be a fun thing to focus on. So, since I'm turning 36 and all, here they are, my gifts to you: 36 film-centric facts about yours truly.

Hidden Gacy

Do y'all know about "Hidden Mickeys"? Well I found a sort of "Hidden Gacy" in Terminator Salvation today.

I dunno if this is, like, a well-known thing or whatever, but I'd never heard of it and I noticed it and thought I'd post the pic I took of it:

"Glass (2019)"

M. Night Shyamalan's latest, Glass, is the culmination of somewhere between 2 and 19 years of collective work, depending on how cynical a viewpoint you take. Regardless of how you ultimately feel about Glass, this Glass-verse Trilogy (trademark pending) will go down as one of the most unusual and unique trilogies in film.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN 7

Happy new year! Welcome. Whether you're a regular reader or this is your first time, this is Everything Old Is New Again, my bi-monthly column covering remakes, adaptations and legacy sequels.