For many years now I’ve become a fan of A24 and have loved so much of their content. Have their titles all been winners? No, but their output of above level films that managed to mix mainstream sensibility with arthouse appeal as been amazing. For many years they’ve given us absolutely incredible films that have allowed filmmakers that normally wouldn’t be seen to final garner some respectable platforms. They’re not low budget or indie like Troma but they’ve allowed some unique artists to give us gems like “The Zone of Interest,” “The Whale,” “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” Ti West’s “X” movie series, “Midsommar,” “Skin” and so much more.
Category Archives: PC Thugs
On Depression and Westerns
Special guest Article by Leigh Evans Kreuz
They say you never forget your first love.
I’m thirty-eight now and I’ve forgotten a big chunk of my life up until this point. Sometimes, if I’m especially #blessed, the right stimuli and the right amount of THC knock a few things loose. Being born before the turn of the century, I was a kid who, like my parents before me, was raised largely by television. Our story begins during the little slice of my life in which I was often sat behind the arm of a floral patterned sofa, staring in rapt attention at the rabbit-eared television; relic from the time when sets were advertised as being (holy smokes, Batman!) IN COLOR. I happened to be born into a culty Assembly of God church run by a guy who wore Jim Jones sunglasses without a single wit of irony and utilized information control in the guise of “keeping the children safe”.
That meant we weren’t allowed to just watch whatever we wanted because the stuff on TV would send demons through the screen or something. (For further reading and cringing so hard your back cracks read “Turmoil in the Toybox” by Phil Phillips). The selection of “Jesus approved” material was pretty slim for the child of “God and country” 1980s Reaganites.
What If…? “X-Men: The Movie” Debuted in 1987?
Last week, Marvel unleashed the trailer for “X-Men ’97,” the sequel to the series from FOX Kids from the nineties that continues the saga of the 1990’s iteration of the X-Men.
It was a time when they were massively popular, one of the big moneymakers for Marvel, and were given a variety of excellent characters. The X-Men property has been around for decades, and around the nineties, Marvel began developing the ideal “X-Men” movie. It wasn’t until the year 2000 that we finally got the “X-Men” movie.
But I think “X-Men” would have also made a great eighties action film, so I went back and cast an “X-Men” movie if it were developed, and cast in 1987! What if…?
Living Hardcore: “School of Rock” at 20
One of the reasons I’ve been such a rabid fan of Richard Linklater over the years is that he’s able to jump back and forth between excellent indie films, to accessible mainstream films. It’s amazing that the same man that gave us the cerebral existential masterpiece “Waking Life” is the same guy that gave us the rock and roll classic “School of Rock.” Linklater’s family comedy is not just a musical gem, but also one that manages to appeal to the genius of classic rock.
Rest in Peace, Cartoon Network (1992-2023)
Back in the heyday of cable television, channels were all aimed toward a certain market and fan base. If you loved science fiction there was a channel for you. If you loved medical science, there was a channel or you. If you love romance movies, there was a channel. And surely enough there was the Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network offered up cartoons twenty four hours around the clock and in 1992 they guaranteed a complete line up of cartoons you couldn’t find anywhere. Their line up consisted mainly of Hanna Barbera since they were owned by Warner, so for pretty much anything non-Disney, Cartoon Network had.
“Airborne” at 30: Still The Fantastic 90’s Bonanza
In the 1990’s everything was “Extreme” or “Mega.” Everything had to be what with the introduction of things like X Games, which gave way to a huge tidal wave of things that were more adrenaline fueled, faster, and often times advertised “This isn’t your daddy’s:” Insert product here. Along with the sports being more extreme, the movies were more extreme, and the 1990’s carried over the skateboard generation from the 1980’s. Where the massive influx of skateboard movies permeated cult cinema, the 1990’s were where there were even more efforts to integrate it in to mainstream cinema. While it didn’t quite succeed (we did get “Brink!”, I guess), we did manage to get great films like my childhood favorite “Airborne.”
At 25 “Halloween: H20” is Still a Horror Milestone
I can still remember sitting in the theater among the crowds watching as the audience sat expecting Michael to get away. Then Laurie took the swipe with her axe lopping his head off clean. I can still remember hearing the audience offer an audible gasp in sheer shock. This was it. It was done. Michael was dead. Laurie had beaten her demons. But then there came “Resurrection,” and then “Halloween (2018).” Jamie Lee Curtis wanted nothing to do with Halloween for a long time, and then she took on the role of Laurie one last time, but then killed her off in “Resurrection.” One last time. But then she re-emerges years later for “Halloween” in 2018 to reprise Laurie Strode yet again.
I wish Jamie Lee Curtis would make up her mind already. I digress.