Every Bugs Bunny Ever: The Windblown Hare (1949)

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The Windblown Hare (1949)
Directed by Bob McKimson
Written by Warren Foster
Animation by John Carey
Music by Carl Stalling

I am one that was never much of a fan of cartoons like “Rocky and Bullwinkle” or “George of the Jungle.” I always found those series to feel cheap and kind of dull so I was never a fan of their fractured fairy tales. Besides, Warner bros. always set the bar high when it came to taking fairy tales and distorting them for their own twisted purposes. “The Windblown Hare” is a hilarious take on the Three Pigs and Red Riding Hood, the first confrontation with the three pigs for Bugs and his second confrontation of Red Riding Hood’s universe. While not as funny as “Red Riding Rabbit,” this visitation to the latter’s world is small but hysterical as the writers take this whole dynamic and twist it up for some prime comedic material.

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BAD MOVIE MONDAY: SHOCKING DARK (1989)

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With the whole world of art on the very brink of an Armageddon caused by the glorified plagiarism software that is A.I. I thought I’d lighten the mood a bit and write a review of a thirty-five year old Italian exploitation movie that didn’t need a complicated algorithm to plagiarize a James Cameron movie. It did it manually. Tubi calls it Shocking Dark, which is also the name of the film’s 2018 North American Blu-ray release, but its official and original title in Italy was Terminator II. It was called that because, in typical confusing Italian movie fashion, it was ripping off Aliens. I guess the producers were trying to pull the old switcheroo on us by pretending to have made a crappy pseudo-sequel to one James Cameron film so we wouldn’t notice that they were actually stealing from a completely different James Cameron film. Didn’t work. Anyway, let’s review this particularly nutty turd directed by the legendary Bruno Mattei.

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Slay (2024)

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Now Streaming Exclusively on Tubi.

If you’ve seen the trailer or read about “Slay,” then yes, it is exactly the movie that you think it is. If you took “Priscilla Queen of the Dessert” and mixed it with “From Dusk Til Dawn” then you have what is essentially “Slay.” No more, no less. The thing about “Slay” though is that it is a siege horror comedy with vampires and drag queens it at least takes time to make up some of its own rules for vampire. This is a creative move despite the fact it’s also a trick use to cover up the movie’s obviously low budget. And I can’t complain, because the movie makes lemonade out of lemons.

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The Importance of Christian in “Clueless”

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It was 1995 and I’d seen “Clueless” five times by now. My dad had rented it from the video store for us and I’d seen it a lot over the course of a weekend, even though I didn’t care much for it. It’s a fine movie, but it never managed to click with me like “Heathers” or “Mean Girls” ever did. From these viewings, though, I did pick up a few things.

Number One: I definitely was going to be a good husband to Alicia Silverstone. I’d be supportive of her career, and even not be a geek around other celebrities.

Number Two: Christian is definitely not in to women.

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Gaga Chromatica Ball (2024)

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Now Streaming Exclusively on MAX. “Chromatica” is now Available.

After the successful push of the Eras tour with Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga followed in kind with her own pretty raucous concert film. Titled “Chromatica Ball,” Gaga, the jack of many trades, wows with two hours of some of her biggest hits, while also delivering on a very entertaining visual show filled with excellent set design and some fun costumes (including custom pieces from Gareth Pugh, Alexander McQueen, and Vex Latex). While I wouldn’t consider myself a hardcore fan of Lady Gaga per se, I do admire her talents, and think she’s a very entertaining singer and artist altogether.

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The Bootleg Files: Innocently Guilty

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BOOTLEG FILES 868: “Innocently Guilty” (1950 comedy short starring Bert Wheeler).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely, unless it is part of an anthology of miscellaneous Columbia Pictures shorts.

Bert Wheeler is remembered today as one-half of the Wheeler and Woolsey comedy team that starred in a series of comedy films beginning in 1929 with “Rio Rita” and ending with “High Flyers” in 1937. After the death of his on-screen partner Robert Woolsey in 1938, Wheeler struggled to maintain a solo career – he starred in the forgettable films “The Cowboy Quarterback” (1938) and “Las Vegas Nights” (1941) and then disappeared from the big screen to find work in nightclubs, on radio and on stage. Wheeler found a larger audience in 1950 when Jackie Gleason invited him to appear on his “Cavalcade of Stars” television show on the Dumont Television Network.
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Not Him (2023)

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Director/Writer Sarah Young commits to what is a great horror thriller that many fans will likely connect with big time. “Not Him” is a tense and anxiety ridden horror thriller that works very well in mixing in horror with what too many have experienced in their lifetime. I was very much enamored with how many themes and the sense of ambiguity that Writer/Director Sarah Young is able to integrate through to the very end.

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