The Maltese Falcon When the pandemic started, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to go through the AFI 100 list. Get some takeout, queue up a movie rental from the library, and get educated. I made it through all of them except Sophie’s Choice (I don’t know if it’s the feel-good movie for a new parent) and Intolerance (my endurance for silent movies is low, especially a 3+ hour one). Through it all, I laughed (both WITH...
Rebel Without A Cause Wanna talk about the influence Rebel Without a Cause has had on pop culture? Phillip J Fry’s outfit in Futurama is a direct reference to James Dean in this movie. Tommy Wiseau’s “You’re tearing me apart, Lisa!” is fully copied from Dean’s delivery here, and much more. And, of course this movie is going to be in the spotlight after James Dean’s tragic death. This movie is in the American conscience and sometimes as a...
Cool Hand Luke We’re excited here at Ground Control Magazine to get a chance to highlight the WB100 series where Warner Brothers are celebrating 100 years of entertainment by giving a much-needed re-release to some of the titans in their movie catalog. Paul Newman deserves celebrating and especially Cool Hand Luke: a movie infinitely quoted and referenced. The odd thing on this second watch of Cool Hand Luke is just how difficult it is to get a handle on...
Black Adam Look, I like the Rock, OK? I have for a long time. I know he acted like a total jabroni through the entire making of Black Adam, trying to become the universe runner of the DCU while peddling his brand of wrestler-turned-legitimate-actor and his weird liquors, but maybe having the Rock be the new face of DC wasn’t such a farfetched idea. And of course it didn’t work out. This was all too little too late. And...
Casablanca80th Anniversary Edition Look, I’m not going to sit here and try to convince on why you should watch Casablanca. Everyone should watch this movie. Everyone. Even if you don’t like it, you’re supposed to have the reference in your brain. This movie has been copied, recopied, stolen from, and referenced over and over and it’s because it’s damn near timeless. Everyone in this movie is mostly known for being in this movie as well, so that shows the...
Universal Classic MonstersIcons of Horror CollectionVolume 2 Welcome, dear readers, to a very special and very spooky edition of TV Party Tonight! Sometimes, the stars just align into a collective beautiful moment, and this time, it did just that with our special coverage of the Universal Classics Monsters collection 4K box set. I’m not exactly a movie guy, but I’ve been trying to become one. And one way to do that is to indiscriminately watch anything on the Criterion...
The Lost Boys This is one of those movies that brings a smile to my face. Not just because it’s a recent discovery that has delighted me, but because it was somewhat of a slow burn. The Lost Boys is popular in the punk/goth crowd, so it’s always been on my radar, and it just so happens that the 35th anniversary edition was the right time for me. On a first watch, I though it was decent, but it...
Elvis Give it up for Elvis, the original pop star. He’s popular on a global scale and was one of the fines performers the world has ever seen. Especially compared with pop stars these days, Elvis at least kept it real. What you saw was what you got. He didn’t pretend he wrote any of those songs he performed, because maybe, he was more interested in what you did with that song in front of an audience. Was he...
The Batman Batman is treading some dangerous waters. I’m saying this because the franchise is coming close to being a punch line. How many times has it been “rebooted”? The better question is probably, “why does it keep getting rebooted?” It’s hard to say, but it probably has something to do with audiences only getting excited about superhero movies, and only wanting to see things they’re familiar with. I’m old enough where the original quartet of Tim Burton/Joel Schumaker...
Singin’ in the Rain70th Anniversary Edition Boy this is a tough one, mostly because I’m not much of a musical guy. I’m a film aficionado for sure, and my Criterion movie collection can attest to that. But musicals? That’s a toughy, because musicals are objectively contrived, embarrassing, and just plain bad. It’s pretty much a fact. Anytime someone breaks into song, it sends chills up my spine. Add choreographed tap dancing and you’ve got a death sentence. Sure, there...