The Bootleg Files: Up in the Air

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 668: “Up in the Air” (1940 Monogram feature starring Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On public domain labels.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A lapsed copyright.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It would be great if this little film was digitally restored.

The 1940 Monogram Pictures feature “Up in the Air” may not be the best film of its era, but its surplus amount of ideas crammed into a compact 62-minute running time certainly makes it the busiest. Part-mystery and part-comedy, with musical numbers and a strange mix of egregious and progressive attitudes on race, this little B-level production has more pep than most A-grade flicks.
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Holmes & Watson (2018)

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Felix Vasquez

The movie so bad that not even Netflix wanted it, “Holmes & Watson” looks like one of those movies where the only reason why its stars signed on was because studio promised a potential blockbuster. What we get instead is two very talented men reduced to delivering one of the most atrocious movies of 2018 that contributes to the death of the comedy genre in film. “Holmes & Watson” is laughless, pointless and actually poorly reflects the capability of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly both of whom can turn in comedy gold with the right material.

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Shemp Howard Forever!

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Phil Hall

Shemp Howard was one of the funniest men in movies, whether as a solo performer or part of the Three Stooges. In this episode of “The Online Movie Show,” writer Geoff Dale, who is creating the first biography on Shemp, will discuss the life and career of this comic genius.

The episode can be heard here.

The Bootleg Files: Confederate Honey

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 667: “Confederate Honey” (1940 Warner Bros. animated short).

LAST SEEN: On DailyMotion.com

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On LaserDisc and in an edited DVD release.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Politically incorrect content.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not in its original uncut form.

During the past few years, there has been an uncommon degree of attention paid to the Confederate States of America, which died in 1865 at the end of the Civil War. On one side, a new wave of white racists is flying the Confederate flag at rallies where they spout their idiotic hatred. On the other side, left-wing revisionists are spending their time demanding the removal of statues of Confederate generals and the renaming of schools and streets named for the military leaders of that long-deceased secessionist nation.

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The 10 Best Films of 2018

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Felix Vasquez

2018 was a big year for movies, it was a great year for animation, it was a stellar year for horror movies in general, and it was such a busy time for anyone that loved and appreciated film. Thankfully it was tough stacking a top ten that was definitive and that sit well with me because I had so many favorites. With so much new avenues to view film I didn’t get everything I wanted in 2018, but I saw enough to compile a top twenty or top twenty five.

This is my top ten films of 2018, these are films I loved, these are films that I hope you seek out if you haven’t, by now.

Honorable Mentions: Paddington 2, The Domestics, Black Panther, Ready Player One, Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, Revenge, Tully, The Night Eats the World, Bird Box, A Star is Born

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Empire Records (1995)

Posted on December 31, 2018 by Felix Vasquez

Even for a nineties kid like me, I can fully acknowledge that “Empire Records” is a clumsy, tonally uneven, and terrible coming of age dramedy. It works hard to be as relevant and generation defining as “Dazed and Confused” or “Clerks,” but it comes up short as artificial and hollow, despite its great soundtrack. “Empire Records” even for 1995 is a pretty insufferable film that never quite finds humanity in its archetypes and cast of nineties youngsters. It’s hard to enjoy a film that features a fun sing along to AC/DC one moment, and a tear soaked nervous breakdown by one of the characters who pops pills forty five minutes later.

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I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)

Posted on December 31, 2018 by Felix Vasquez

I was never really sure what Robert Zemeckis intended with “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.” Was he showing us the sheer mania that erupted with the arrival of the Beatles, or is he purposely exaggerating the mania of the arrival of the Beatles? That sense of confused tone tends to keep “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” from turning in to a great nostalgia time capsule comedy (Ironically the great nostalgia time capsule comedy would eventually become Zemeckis’ film “Back to the Future”). Instead it’s merely an okay nostalgia time capsule comedy that reaches for the heights of “American Graffiti,” but never quite touches that high bar.

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