With “John Wick: Chapter 4” further dominating the box office and garnering much acclaim, it’s managed to stir a lot of ballyhoo from fans. In particular its use of great movie references that it utilizes to advance the narrative is a huge highly. In the climax as John Wick is on the run, a radio DJ (Marie Pierra Kakoma) pops up to inform everyone over the air waves on where he is, this leads to a big turn of events in Wick’s fight for survival. The obvious “The Warriors” nod is a brilliant callback, and one that inspired me to recollect some of my favorite movie Radio DJ’s.
Tag Archives: Radio
The Bootleg Files: The Great Radio Comedians
BOOTLEG FILES 719: “The Great Radio Comedians” (1972 documentary featuring George Burns, Jack Benny and Edgar Bergen).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It seems to have fallen through the proverbial cracks.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.
From the late 1920s into the late 1940s, Americans relied on radio for their home entertainment. There was a wide variety of original programming to choose from, but many listeners gravitated to the weekly comedy series. Considering the heyday of the medium coincided with the grim years of the Great Depression and World War II, the comedy shows offered much-needed happy distraction from the problems and crises taking place across the country and around the world.
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Dead Air (2009)
It’s hard to believe that a film I had considerable trouble sitting through without covering my eyes was directed by Corbin Bernsen of all people. This is the man who takes pride in starring in some of the worst horror movies ever made, and here he’s directed a film that has outweighed its double “Pontypool” in every aspect. While many were out celebrating the existence of the indie horror film about a radio DJ experiencing the end of the world through the radio, I sat waiting for something better from this concept and wouldn’t you know it? Here comes “Dead Air,” a movie that possesses basically the same concept and story and pulls off much more suspense and tension than “Pontypool” actually does.