F This Movie!

FTM 834: MONKEYBONE

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Patrick and Doug get Boned.

Download this episode here.

Listen to F This Movie! on Apple Podcasts.

Also discussed this episode: The Super Mario Brothers Galaxy (2026), Becoming Led Zeppelin (2025), Big Baby (2026), Busboys (2026), Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)

Fifty Before '50: THE WIZARD OF OZ (1910)

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by JB
No, not the 1925 version of the tale directed by and starring funnyman Larry Semon, the EARLIER version from 1910! Gather your donkeys and cows and come along.

As readers of this column can attest, I love what can only be called “the archeology of the cinema,” digging past all known artifacts to find the real history of film... buried under the floorboards of some outhouse in the south of France. Today, we turn our attention to a film adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that was made only ten years after the book was first published, making this film 116 years old. (Funny, it doesn’t look a day over 95.) To put all of this “math” in perspective, In 1910, when the film was made, "116 years ago" was 1794.

THE PLOT IN FULL: We start at Uncle Henry and Aunt Em’s farm, though neither of them are identified. Seemingly wild donkeys and cows are allowed to roam around freely and kick people in the ass. Dorothy and her two domesticated furry friends meet the Scarecrow, who in this version starts his life in Kansas. (As in every other version of the story, the Scarecrow here is awkward and hapless.) A tornado kicks up, and Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the donkey, and the cow take refuge behind it. The animals are either cowering in fear or playing “Hump the Haystack,” which was a popular Kansas parlor game during this decade. The cyclone itself is presented as a moving backdrop; the life-size spinning haystack seen here is still an impressive special effect. Even 116 years ago, filmmakers innately knew that practical effects were superior.

Unique to this version, the farm animals actually accompany Dorothy to the Land of Oz. The Wicked Witch here is named “Momba” for some reason. Her throne room, with its painted backdrop and dozens of costumed extras, resembles similar scenes in the work of George Méliès. (The Witch’s attendants do a delightful little dance, which takes up almost 1/12 of the film’s 13-minute running time.) The Wizard of Oz appears in Momba’s chamber and expresses his desire to be out from under her thumb and to return to his home in Omaha. Momba is not happy with this news.

Glinda the Good Witch pops up, literally, to turn Toto, who the audience had not yet seen (Scene missing?) into an enormous feral cat to protect Dorothy in her travels. Dorothy and the Scarecrow also meet the Cowardly Lion in this scene. Between Toto the giant cat, the Cowardly Lion, and Dorothy’s two Kansas farm animals, the group begins to resemble a mobile petting zoo. (The Cowardly Lion “puts the moves” on Toto—that’s not in any other version!) Our heroes notice a proclamation from the Wizard of Oz tacked to a tree, stating that anyone who can do away with Momba can have his throne. This begs the question: where the hell is the Tin Man?

Our merry band meets the Tin Man next, oil him, and note that he has a huge nose resembling Pinocchio after a lying jag. The Tin Man plays a tune on his tin whistle; the Scarecrow and all of the animals dance. (There is an unusual amount of dancing in this, a silent film.) A flying lizard guards the house of Momba. Our heroes chance upon the house and are set-upon by the Witch and her minions, who are unidentified (but if you’ve read the books, you know them as the Winkies.) Dorothy ends up in the Witch’s house with a bucket of water... perhaps you can guess what happens next.

Dorothy and her pals travel to the Emerald City to claim the Wizard’s throne. It is decided that the Scarecrow shall serve as King. The Wizard is so happy to be free of all responsibility that he plays with his hat. He does some fair to middling magic tricks and takes off in a hot air balloon. He drops copious amounts of confetti on the cast from high in the sky. Camels parade through the Emerald City!

Dorothy never returns to Kansas.

FILM TRIVIA NOTE: Dorothy here is portrayed by a 9-year-old Bebe Daniels. During her 50-year Hollywood career, Daniels appeared in more than 250 films. She was Harold Lloyd’s leading lady in his popular “Lonesome Luke” shorts in the silent days. She was Ruth Wonderly in the 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon. She also appeared in 42nd Street, Rio Rita, Treachery on the High Seas, and dozens of dozens of other films.

Besides giving us a tantalizing glimpse into the stagecraft of this era, I love how the film never wastes our time and is a reasonable representation of its source novel. This charming little film reminds me, for all the world, of the Castle Films 8mm digest versions of movie classics that I enjoyed as a youth.

AN ANNOYING AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL PAUSE: When I was but a lad, Castle Films used to sell 50-foot reels and 200-foot reels of Super 8mm film featuring “highlights” from famous films. I could only afford the dinky little 50-foot reels sold in the camera department at K-Mart, so I would buy these with my allowance or check them out of the library. These bite-sized morsels of Hollywood contained only “the good parts” of the film in question, usually the climax of and little else. I would watch the reels in my basement on my prized possession: a real, honest-to-goodness Super 8mm projector. I owned the 50-foot version of Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, which condenses the 93-minute film down to a tidy three minutes.

A few boutique disc labels have started to include these Castle Films digests on their Special Edition Blu-ray discs. They are nostalgic fun. The 1910 version of The Wizard of Oz reminds me of a Castle Films abridgment—but if it were, it would be 32 seconds of a spinning haystack and little else.

Why should you watch this 116-year-old movie-or-remainder-of-a-movie? Because YOU CAN. You've got 13 minutes. This column can serve as your commentary track. So few early film artifacts remain that it is a miracle this version The Wizard of Oz even exists. Follow the yellow (grey, actually) brick road... into early film history.

2K Replay: MIAMI VICE

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Best Film Editing” at the Satellite Awards. It lost to X-Men: The Last Stand.

• Best Scene/Moment (tie): This is tough because almost every scene rules. I guess I’ll go with any dialogue stretch where there’s a lot of jargon like “Go-Fast boats” or “We guarantee loads.” I could listen to these guys talk shop all day. Also, any scene in a speedboat.

• Best Song: “Numb/Encore” by Jay-Z and Linkin Park.

• Best Merch: A “Miami Vice television crime drama poster Large 27” wide by 18” high” for $14.99. I like this poster because it looks like something you’d have on your bedroom wall circa 1986.

• Director Grade: Miami Vice was directed by Michael Mann.
Great Movies: Thief, Heat, The Insider, Miami Vice
Good Movies: Manhunter, Collateral
OK Movies: Blackhat
Bad Movies: Ali, Public Enemies
Unseen By Me: The Keep, The Last of the Mohicans, Ferrari
Overall Grade: A-

• Double It with This 2006 Movie: The Departed

• Year 2006 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Casino Royale, Dreamgirls, Inside Man
• Ella McCay or Miami Vice? Miami Vice

• Mall Movie? Not right away because of the Michael Mann of it all, but it might’ve made its way to the mall before the end of its run in theaters.

• Only in 2006: A movie shot on high-definition digital video that looks good.

• Scene Stealer: John Ortiz.

• I Miss: Michael Mann movies shot on film. I read Heat 2 will be shot on film, which I hope is the case.

• I Don’t Miss: The director’s cut of Miami Vice. Changing the opening to this movie is sacrilegious. After sitting through that change, what’s the point of sitting through the rest? At least it’s not as bad as the various versions of Ali that Mann has made over the years, which I’m always convinced will fix my issues with the movie but instead makes the movie even worse every time.

• 2006 Crush: Gong Li.

• 2026 Crush: Naomie Harris.

• What I Thought in 2006: I had never seen the television show when I saw Miami Vice in theaters, so I was sort of thrown off by it. I was expecting Bad Boys, and this was way moodier and more dramatic. I didn’t dislike Miami Vice, and I felt like I needed to see it again but, yeah, I wasn’t ready for it either.

• What I Think in 2026: Nowadays, I love this movie. It just took me a couple of tries to get on its wavelength. I especially love the performances by Colin Farrell (who’s like all passion underneath a surface of stoic) and John Ortiz in a “Who’s that guy?” performance that led to a career of several other performances I’ve also enjoyed. Miami Vice gets better with every viewing. I love that it gives the audience credit for being smart and asking you as a viewer to catch up to it instead of appealing to the lowest common denominator.

Weekend Open Thread

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 02:00:00 -0500

My 2026 Flashback Weekend Recap

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by Patrick Bromley

Another year at my favorite weekend of horror!

I love Flashback Weekend, Chicago's biggest and best horror convention held every summer in Rosemont, Illinois. Launched by married couple Mike and Mia Kerz 24 years ago, it hosts the biggest names in the genre as celebrity guests, plus panel discussions, live concerts, film screenings, after parties, and an annual costume contest (hosted by Svengoolie!) that's a highlight every year. It's three of my favorite days, surrounded by great people and great movies.

I've been attending Flashback for probably 15 years, first as a guest of my Horror BFF Heather Wixson, and then when she was no longer able to travel to come out and host around the time of COVID, I stepped in and have been acting as co-host for the last six years. Alongside my co-hosts and fellow Chicago critics Steve Prokopy (Third Coast Review) and Nick DiGilio (The Nick D Podcast), I've been hosting guest panels since 2021. This year's convention featured another banger lineup that included a massive Scream franchise reunion, plus roundups for Halloween II and Night of the Creeps, David Naughton, Megan Lawless, Dermot Mulroney, Spencer Charnas from Ice Nine Kills, Steven Weber, Henry Thomas, William Katt, Alan Howarth, and many more guests. Here's how the weekend went.

I had the very first panel on Friday, which was the first of many Scream reunions with Marley Shelton (Scream 4) and Roger L. Jackson, the voice of Ghostface. Both were super nice and forthcoming about their experiences on the franchise, with Marley Shelton (who, it should be said, touched my arm) telling a great story about being confused for an extra and Jackson bringing down the house doing multiple voices including Mojo Jojo from The Powerpuff Girls. I didn't get to ask as many questions about Planet Terror as I would have liked (which would have meant making the whole panel about Planet Terror), but things were off to a pretty good start. Nick D. hosted the Halloween II panel after that, featuring Dick Warlock and several of the actors who played the nurses in the sequel. Gloria Gifford got the best soundbite when she talked about her 48 Hrs. audition for Walter Hill.

After those two panels, Dann and Morgan Gire did the formal introduction ceremony and then Svengoolie took the stage for "Svengoolie Live," a late-night talk show-style interview show with guests David Naughton and David Arquette. No disrespect to the former, but Arquette was an amazing interview, telling wrestling stories (Sven is a big wrestling fan!) and killing with his reactions to getting bad reviews for Rocky Horror. Arquette comes off as exactly the person you think he is: silly, sweet, self-effacing. He got a big con bump for me.

I spent the rest of Friday buying too many movies in the dealer room (thanks to our friend Brian K. for the Vinegar Syndrome hookup!) and went to bed watching In the Mouth of Madness on my laptop so I'd be ready for the podcast with Adam. I did not dream about Sutter Cane. I dreamt about Marley Shelton touching my arm, a thing that happened.

Saturday was an early one, kicking off with Steve P. and author/filmmaker Jason Paul Collum talking about '80s horror and both the killer Santas from Silent Night, Deadly Night and Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 being interviewed by Nick. I got to speak with Scream 6's Tony Revolori and Scream 7's Celeste O'Connor next, and it was one of the most fun panels I did all weekend because they were both so friendly and funny. Neither one even knew that the other was in a Spider-Man movie until I pointed it out and their reactions to the realization was really great.

Next were panels with William Katt and Trick 'r Treat's Quinn Lord, followed by a live recording of The Nick D. Podcast with Nick DiGilio and Esmerelda Leon. This taping has become an annual tradition at Flashback, and Nick's guests this year were Night of the Creeps stars Jill Whitlow, Jason Lively, and Tom Atkins, who is almost 90 I think (?) and still a great interview and class act but who has become pretty hard of hearing, leading to the biggest laughs of the show when Lively was deliberately mis-translating all of the questions so Atkins could better hear them. Jason Lively is a trip. After the podcast, Nick made one of my lifelong dreams come true when he learned I had never met Svengoolie despite being a fan of him since watching him host monster movies in my bedroom as a little kid. Because he's a friend of Sven's (Svengoolie even wrote the forward to Nick's upcoming book 40 Years, 40 Horror Films), Nick brought me up to meet him and then made sure I was first in line to get a picture with the horror host. Truly one of the high points of my weekend. Thanks a million, Nick.

I got to host the final panel of the day with Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills, a band I didn't know much about when I was supposed to the panel last year before Charnas had to cancel due to illness. I brushed up on them this year and have fallen in love with their two Silver Scream albums, which I've listened to pretty much nonstop since Flashback. I got to talk to Spencer about our love of horror movies, about writing and recording songs for Scream 7 and Terrifier 3, about making the leap to feature films, and a bunch of other stuff. He was super chill and nice and I hope he comes back someday because I'd like to do his panel again. Another big con bump.

Erika and Rosie arrived just in time for the annual Sinister Visions costume contest, another annual highlight of Flashback. This year did not disappoint, from the woman who literally had to be ushered off stage because she wouldn't stop singing "The Phantom of the Opera" to the Cujo costume with the removable face to reveal the St. Bernard in his rabid form. The winner was a riff on Pennywise complete with impressive homemade (and expandable!) wings, but I really felt like the woman who dressed as the bathtub ghost -- complete with actual bathtub -- from the remake of Thir13en Ghosts should have taken top honors.

There were a couple of big events Saturday night, including the VIP reception for Ultimate Badge holders, a live concert featuring Alan Howard improvising new musical accompaniment to a screening of Halloween II, a premiere of Charles Band's new movie Robotica (which I did not see, Full Moon Fever be damned), and a Scream-themed Woodsboro dance party. Because we were beat, Erika, Rosie, and I Doordashed some Portillo's and ate in our hotel room before going to bed early. It was nice to be back with my family even if Charlie wasn't able to come this year.

The final day of Flashback kicked off with Steve P. interviewing Nick about his upcoming horror book, which was cool even if I wasn't invited (I am never invited). I got to do two back to back Scream panels, the first with Scream 7's Ghostface stuntman Jeremy Conner and one of that movie's red herrings, actor Kraig Dane, and the second with Scream star Joseph Whipp. I was nervous about the first panel seeing as neither guest speaks in the movie, but both were great conversationalists. I could have talked to Conner all day in particular because I'm fascinated by stunt people and the amazing work they do. Joseph Whipp hit the stage and started monologuing to the point that I wasn't sure I would even be able to ask a question, but I did finally get to ask him stuff about working with Wes Craven (on Wes's birthday!) in both Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street, his work on soaps, and, most importantly, his work in Death Spa. He was a great sport.

The rest of Sunday was all heavy hitters, too: Nick interviewed Dermot Mulroney and Steven Weber (naturally making time to fit in some Sour Grapes questions), Steve interviewed Henry Thomas, and then I got to end the day talking with Obsession star Megan Lawless. This was her first-ever convention appearance, thus making this her first-ever panel interview, which made me super nervous. She was, unsurprisingly, super nice and gracious and even hugged me afterwards (no big deal, Megan Lawless hugged me) before returning to her table where she had some of the longest lines of fans waiting to meet her of anyone at the convention all weekend. I went to thank her for the interview and she got to meet Rosie and even took a picture with her, which made my daughter's weekend (her goal was to meet Megan Lawless) because she's obsessed with Obsession these days.

After all of that, Flashback Weekend came to a close. There are so many people to thank for making it such a a special one! Thanks to the celebrity guests for being so generous with their time and talent and for all being so nice. Thanks to the amazing staff for being great and welcoming and pulling off an amazing show. Thanks to the Masters of Ceremonies Dann and Morgan Gire for all the cool videos you posted and for all the extra stuff you did all weekend long, even when some interview subjects were less hospitable. Thanks to Kat McGill for taking so many great pictures and for smiling in the front row of panels when I couldn't have been more nervous. Thanks to my Horror BFF Heather for first bringing me to Flashback all those years ago. Thanks to my co-hosts Nick and Steve for being so cool and keeping things running smoothly in the panel room. (Nick, thanks again for introducing me to Sven, and Steve, thanks for dinner!) Thanks to Shawn, a great sound man and super nice guy, plus all the AV folks for making sure everything looked and sounded good on stage. Thanks to all the wonderful people I got to meet over the weekend, whether it was because they had a nice word to say about an interview they saw me do or we just struck up a conversation about a t-shirt or a movie. Horror fans really are the best. Thanks to Mike and Adam Riske for hanging out. Thanks to Erika and Rosie (and Charlie in absentia) for the constant support and love.

Most of all, thanks to Mike and Mia Kerz for putting this weekend on every year and letting be a small part of their huge horror family. Every year, guest I speak with from the attendees to the celebrities comment on how much they loved the vibe of Flashback: how relaxed it is, how well run it is, how much it feels like a family. And it does! Mia and Mike have cultivated that feeling over two decades and it has trickled down to everyone else. I'm very fortunate to have been a tiny part of the best horror convention in Chicago.

To stay up to date on all things Flashback for next year, check out the con's official website www.flashbackweekend.com. Those of you who are still on Facebook should join the official Flashback Weekend Facebook group, which is a great horror community and where the Flashback attendees are posting photos with celebrities from the weekend.

Next year's Flashback has already been announced and it's in June instead of July. That means less waiting!

Thank you Danny Arroyo in the Flashback Facebook group for the use of some of your photos!

Reviews: TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA and THE END OF OAK STREET

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by Rob DiCristno

A pair of weird ones for ya!

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Dir. Jane Schoenbrun)

“This part is transphobic,” explains Kris (Hannah Einbinder) as a scene unfolds in Camp Miasma, the ‘80s slasher film she’s watching with its final girl, actress Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson). “Shut up,” Billy responds. Billy isn’t being culturally insensitive, or anything; she’s just trying to get Kris out of her head. You see, the Sundance darling indie filmmaker is about to begin work on a Camp Miasma reboot, and Billy’s worried that Kris might not have a real appreciation for the series’ “flesh-and-fluids” appeal. Kris typically takes a reflexive, intellectual approach to her art — critics described her breakout film as “Psycho told from the perspective of the shower curtain” — but however much internet scholarship insists on examining the cinema of yesteryear through a modern lens, there’s something about Camp Miasma that resists post-#MeToo classification. For Billy — who’s spent years in reclusion at the very disused summer camp where the first Camp Miasma was shot — its true legacy lies in our baser instincts: the primal, guttural urges that often lack academic definition.

The third entry in what must now be dubbed a Horny Media Studies course from writer/director Jane Schoenbrun (We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, I Saw the TV Glow), Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a sharp examination of our emotional, physical, and psychosexual relationship with the art we devour. Kris’ childhood obsession with the schlocky slasher — which spawned sequels, trading cards, action figures, and other ephemera lovingly displayed during the film’s opening credits — has made her the studio’s obvious choice to resurrect their zombie IP. But what begins as a meeting to secure a pity cameo for the aging Billy becomes an orgiastic interrogation of Kris’ repression as the boundaries between worlds — between performer and audience, film and reality — begin to blur. True to their Millennial roots and bold, unabashed sincerity, Schoenbrun has made another post-modern film that trades easy trope-spotting for messy emotional catharsis. This isn’t about how the movies are made; it’s about what the movies have made of us.

Easily Jane Schoenbrun’s most confident and accomplished work to date, Teenage Sex and Death is anchored by standout lead performances from Hacks’ Hannah Einbinder and genre legend Gillian Anderson. While Einbinder’s fearless turn will make her a formidable challenger to Inde Navarrette for 2026’s Scream Queen of the Year Award, it’s Anderson as the fabulous, Norma Desmond-esque Billy — “esque” doesn’t really cover it; Schoenbrun styles her as Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard and title-drops Wilder’s Hollywood noir masterpiece throughout — who helps Kris unpeel the deepest layers of this auto-referential onion. Schoenbrun brings their usual visual flair, populating a VHS world with candy-colored matte paintings and hyper-stylized, animated blood splatter, creating a paradoxical unreality that is as reassuring as it is unsettling. “If it gets too real, you can always turn it off,” reads Camp Miasma’s poster. Maybe that’s true. But if we’re already so far in, Schoenbrun seems to be asking, why in the hell would we ever want to leave?

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is in select U.S. theaters now.

The End of Oak Street (Dir. David Robert Mitchell)

Suburban Detroit, 1982: A solar flare has opened a rift in the space-time continuum and transported part of a peaceful neighborhood back to the Mesozoic Era (era). With their marriage already on the brink of collapse, Denise and Greg Platt (Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor) must now protect their teenage children (Maisy Stella and Christian Covery as Audrey and Brian) from terrifying prehistoric creatures and find a way back to their own time. Sounds great, right? “What if you woke up and there were dinosaurs in your backyard?” Sounds like a Joe Dante joint, or any one of a hundred other VHS classics from Amblin Entertainment! And it should. The fourth feature from writer/director David Robert Mitchell (It Follows, Under the Silver Lake), The End of Oak Street forgoes any convoluted explanations for its lofty premise — I can only hope that the One Night Only folks are taking notes opening weekend — and builds an exhilarating adventure out of the same family drama that made forebears like Gremlins and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial so timeless.

Or at least, that’s what I thought the film was doing at first. That’s what it seemed like it wanted to do. That’s what — according to most of the effusive early reaction blurbs from my esteemed colleagues in the critical community — it wants us all to think it is. And while there are certainly parts of the new Bad Robot actioner that feel like an earnest throwback to the Spielbergian cinema of the past, The End of Oak Street is such an awkward tonal disaster that it’s impossible to be entirely sure it isn’t actually taking the piss out of its audience. To wit: The first act of Mitchell’s screenplay is a milquetoast blend of expositional cliches and “aw-shucks” dialogue that set up a family dynamic straight out of the 1950s. Coupled with Michael Gioulakis’ ‘70s-style photography — widescreen composition, slow zooms, and the most comical overuse of split-diopters I’ve ever seen — we get the early impression that Oak Street has its tongue firmly in its cheek. Very well! I’m totally on board for a goofy send-up of B horror and sci-fi movies. I see what you’re doing, Mr. Mitchell!

But as Oak Street wore on, I began to wonder just how in on the joke it actually was. The characters’ actions are idiotic, sure, but that comes with the genre territory. Hathaway and McGregor play the histrionics straight — McGregor shouting “I read your book, Denise!” made me laugh harder than anything in Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie — but again, that’s how parody works. There are even bits of inappropriate humor, like when the Platts come across a pair of long-neck dinos fucking against their neighbor’s house. But then, hang on: A character is violently mauled to death in the next scene. That widescreen composition is creating moments of (supposedly) genuine tension. Wait. Why don’t the dinosaurs’ footsteps tremor like in Jurassic Park? Because this is a parody! But is it? Why is its climax so earnest? Is all the mean-spirited brutality part of the parody? Is the off-putting tone intentional? I don’t think so, and by the end of Oak Street, I still wasn’t sure if Mitchell was mocking Amblin or homaging it. Don’t let anyone fool you: I don’t think he knows, either.

The End of Oak Street hits U.S. theaters on Friday, August 14th.

FTM 833: TENET

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Patrick and Rob live in a twilight world.

Download this episode here.

Listen to F This Movie! on Apple Podcasts.

Also discussed this episode: Blue Heron (2026), Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (2003), Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026), Saccharine (2026), The Jar (1984), Blue Thunder (1983)

Fifty Before '50: Nightmare Fuel

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by JB
Have you been sleeping a little too soundly lately? I have a solution for THAT!

In my ever-widening search for antique film rarities and oddities, I sometimes chance upon strangeness that was completely unexpected, found lying by the side of the information superhighway when I was on my way to somewhere else.

Alice in Wonderland (1915) and Le Cochon Danseur (1907) are two such films. I discovered the silent Alice while researching my column on Disney’s Alice a few weeks ago, and I discovered the other in a Google search for “dancing pig.” Don’t judge me.
Alice in Wonderland is the longest of these nightmares. The restored print runs almost an hour! For those with very little free time, I will direct you to all the good parts. And by “good parts,” I mean “very, very bad parts.”

THE PLOT IN BRIEF: While Alice’s mother busies herself in the kitchen making tarts, Alice herself is bored. She goes for a walk with her sister, chases the White Rabbit, and winds up quite lost. She begins to cry and literally swims in her own tears. The Dormouse, the Dodo, and the Owl show up for fun. (Apparently, the four of them originally engaged in a race, but that footage has been lost to time, along with appearances by Tweedledum and Tweedledee). Alice meets the Caterpillar. She meets the Cheshire Cat. She meets the Beatles. (JUST KIDDING!) She chances upon a tea party in the woods attended by the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. Just when we are ready to abandon watching this film, Alice meets the Queen of Hearts, who chokes her soundly. Alice wakes up on the banks of a river. It was all a dream... and an hour of my life I will never get back... until the inevitable nightmares come calling tonight.

Particularly disturbing imagery can be found at the following time codes: 29:39, 32:19, 34:40, and 48:27
Le Cochon Danseur (The Dancing Pig) (1907) Apparently, images from this one-of-a-kind film have become an internet meme for “general strangeness.” I have never before encountered these, but rest assured that tonight while I sleep, I’m sure I will.

THE PLOT IN BRIEF: Before she will dance with it, an unidentified woman forces a giant anthropomorphic pig to strip naked. (Because OBVIOUSLY.) The pig begs to be released from this humiliation, but the woman simply grabs his tail and forces him back into the designated performance space. The pig is then dressed in drag and forced to dance in a pretty little dress and fancy bonnet until it is thoroughly embarrassed and exhausted. Although the woman is smiling all the time, one starts to wonder what kind of grudge she bears against the pig. As if all of this were not disturbing enough, the film ends with a closeup of the pig, licking his chops and making random faces.

Particularly disturbing imagery can be found at the following time codes: 1:02, 2:34, 3:57, and 4:17.
BONUS SHORT: La Maison Ensorcelée (The Haunted House) (1907) This atypical George Méliès short features surrealistic imagery, nightmare logic, and a giant bedroom demon.

THE PLOT IN BRIEF: Three travelers happen to chance upon a haunted house. (The witches flying by on their broomsticks should have tipped them off, but I don't know; maybe "times were different then" or whatever.) The house is so haunted that it’s hard to stay standing. Their luggage flies out the door. A bedroom demon appears briefly in a picture frame—Don’t worry, he’ll be back! Though the travelers are terrified, they remove their coats and decide to stay. Multiple sets of chairs disappear. (This IS still a Méliès film.) Empty coats become animated. Ghosts dance. The travelers decide to make dinner. (Because OBVIOUSLY.) The food and place settings become animated. Whose house is this? The travelers stare at these strange spectacles, mouths agape. They decide to call it a night. The room is full of flames. While preparing to sleep, guess who makes a return appearance?

Particularly disturbing imagery can be found at the following time codes: 0:25, 0:50, 3:59, 5:25, and 5:44.
You will dream about at least one or more of these films tonight. Oh yes, you will.

2K Replay: WAIST DEEP

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by Adam Riske
Nominated for “Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Tyrese Gibson) at the Black Movie Awards. He lost to Presley Chweneyagae in Tsotsi.

• Best Scene/Moment (tie) Any scene between Tyrese and his son, Junior (played by Henry Hunter Hall in what might be the most innocent performance ever put in a movie) and the scene where Tyrese excuses himself by telling another character “Where’s your bathroom? I gotta shit.”

• Best Song: “Reason” by Andre “Dre Boogie” Wilson.
• Best Merch: A “Waist Deep 2006 Movie Promo…Black Hat Cap…” for $19.95. Not a bad price for a hat and the hat is pretty cool from the front (although on the back it says “Bonnie and Clyde on the Flip Side," which I’m less of a fan of).

• Director Grade: Waist Deep was directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall.
Great Movies: N/A
Good Movies: N/A
OK Movies: Waist Deep
Bad Movies: N/A
Unseen By Me: Gridlock’d, Glitter
Overall Grade: B-

• Double It with This 2006 Movie: Running Scared (2006)

• Year 2006 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Annapolis, ATL, Miami Vice

• Ella McCay or Waist Deep? Ella McCay

• Mall Movie? Yeah. Rogue Pictures was the distributor, and all their movies feel like mall movies.
• Only in 2006: Having The Game playing the villain feeling like a big casting coup.

• Scene Stealer: Larenz Tate.

• I Miss: Larenz Tate regularly being in movies like he was in the ‘90s and early 2000s. I’ve always really liked him. It was nice to see him in Michael earlier this year. That was his first movie since 2019. It looks like he’s mostly just been on the Starz series Power and Power Book II: Ghost in between films.

• I Don’t Miss: The Game, I guess. He’s intimidating as the villain in Waist Deep, but I don’t think it’s a great loss that he didn't act much. Also, I only like one of his songs (“Hate It or Love It”). I know he’s still around, but he hasn’t been on my radar in a really long time.
• 2006 Crush: Meagan Good.

• 2026 Crush: Meagan Good.

• What I Thought in 2006: I saw Waist Deep on a lark in Downtown Disney at the AMC Pleasure Island 24 of all places, so I think the movie got a vacation bump because of that. I enjoyed it as a Tyrese vehicle/time-waster at the time. I remember one dude in the audience was really into the car chase at the end between Tyrese and the police and was pantomiming driving really fast along with the movie.

• What I Think in 2026: Waist Deep isn’t great, but there’s things to like about it. It’s a little more ambitious than it needs to be, it gets going right away, and the characters are interesting enough even if they’re lacking dimension. I also really liked the father-son dynamic between Tyrese and Henry Hunter Hall, which gives the movie that Taken juice where you’re really invested and want the guy to get his kid back.

Weekend Open Thread

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Sat, 8 Aug 2026 02:00:00 -0500

Review: ONE NIGHT ONLY

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Fri, 7 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by Rob DiCristino
Make it count!

Alright, everybody listen up. I want to talk to you about Will Gluck’s One Night Only, a charming romantic comedy featuring one of my favorite new stars (I’ll give you a hint: their name isn’t Callum Turner). If I’m going to do that, though — if I’m going to focus on what the movie is really about and not get distracted by details that it wants me to ignore — I’m going to have to air out a few stray complaints and grievances regarding its premise. Just bear with me for a second: Three years from now, in an effort to reduce teenage pregnancy, stop the spread of STIs, and generally mitigate society’s pervasive ills, the US government has outlawed premarital sex. To enforce this mandate, a big pharma conglomerate has outfitted everyone over eighteen with a small biosensor that tracks hormones, pheromones, and other sciency gobbledygook. If you’re unmarried and those levels hit Dangerously Sexy near someone else, you’re going to get arrested. One night a year, however, the restriction is lifted, and everyone is free to get down however they see fit. It’s the Purge, but for fucking.
On this year’s “One Night” — no, I didn’t have a stroke; that’s just what everyone calls the annual twelve hours when unmarried people are allowed to get it on — pizza shop owner Owen (Turner) is planning to propose to his girlfriend (Maya Hawke). During their romantic dinner, however, she confesses that she wants to sleep with someone else. She promises that their relationship will survive this test and encourages the set-in-his-ways Owen to “get out of his box” by getting into some other woman’s box. Now, whereas you and I might consider this a deal-breaking transgression — these people have lived together in a committed relationship for years — this sexually-repressed era (era) has apparently made extra-curricular experimentation more acceptable. But why? Regardless of legality, why is Owen okay with this? Also, why would he wait for the One Night to propose? It isn’t the same as Valentine’s Day, and the film takes extra pains to explain that celebrants always prioritize their horniness over any romantic impulses. Choose literally any other day, right?

I have half a dozen other questions on that score, but let’s jump over to Allie (Monica Barbaro), a quirky single who makes a living singing those pharmaceutical-themed covers of pop songs. You know, Sara Bareilles’ “Brave,” but the lyrics are about plaque psoriasis? You get it. It’s very funny. Anyway, Allie’s the romantic type: Dolled up and heading out for the One Night, she and her bestie (Julia Fox) promise each other that they won’t just settle for “Mandate Dick” this year. In other words, no casual hookups. No, this time, Allie wants to meet her Prince Charming, someone she can forge a real connection with. Of course, the bestie immediately fucks off with the first stud she finds, leaving Allie alone in her principles with nary a Mandate Dick for consolation. But hang on. If her whole goal is a real connection, then why is she doing the One Night thing at all? Can’t she just go out and meet people and have conversations any day of the year? How isn’t there an app for this? Hell, you’re Monica Barbaro! Just go to a Barnes & Noble and wait for a hot dude to talk to you!
But, look. I’m not an idiot. I understand that movies need plot mechanics and that those mechanics often stretch credulity. I’m not trying to be Cinema Sins about this. I understand that all this Mandate business is allegorical and that screenwriter Travis Braun is just asking “what if?” like a good sci-fi scribe should. After all, it’s been a while since we’ve had a high-concept romantic comedy like One Night Only, and I really do want to celebrate its ambition. There’s a treasure trove of great observational humor here, from the canny ways that corporations have monetized this holiday — a sign outside Equinox reads: “You’ve trained all year for this one night” — to the extreme lengths horny people will go to in order to secure the last condom in New York City. There are even political overtones at play, with characters like Owen’s mother and her boyfriend (Molly Ringwald and LeVar Burton) arguing over the fascism of the Mandate, itself (though no one explains the logistics of distributing biosensors in a country that couldn’t effectively manage a COVID vaccine).

So while it rarely strays from the narrative guardrails of traditional romantic comedy, One Night Only is nevertheless a refreshing crowd-pleaser that had me fondly recalling clever blockbusters like Josh Hartnett’s 40 Days and 40 Nights and one-crazy-night charmers like Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist. I still don’t really understand Callum Turner — though listening to him try to squeeze a New York accent over his English lilt like an ill-fitting Durex is comedy enough in itself — but Monica Barbaro is a movie star. The Top Gun: Maverick standout, singer, and Oscar nominee makes the most of her first major leading role, proving herself with comedy chops to match her powerful pipes. There’s a real x-factor to her whole affect, an innate empathy and emotional intelligence that helps her hold the screen in a film littered with familiar faces — including two funny cameos from Anyone But You stars Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney — and kept me invested in her character when I should have been poking more holes in the film’s bewildering central conceit.
Seriously, though. What about people under eighteen? Aren't teen pregnancy rates already down to historic lows? What happens if you get divorced? Do they withhold your certificate until you get your biomarker amended? Can married people sleep with other married people? We see police managing enforcement, but what about the other bureaucratic infrastructure? Sounds like socialized medicine to me! What if you start having sex before the buzzer, but you’re still at it when the buzzer goes off? Does everyone get to finish, or do they have to suffer a year of blue balls? Oh! There’s a reference to sex work at one point, and, like, what the hell’s going on there? How’s that a thing? And don’t even get me started on masturbation. Look, I know this is meant as a commentary on the banal idiocy of government and industry, and I’m with that, but I wish they’d offered more or less explanation to all this because now I can’t sleep. You know what? It’s a movie about hot people trying to have sex with each other. Maybe it’s best if we all just focus on that.

One Night Only hits U.S. theaters on Friday, August 7th.

Review: ICE CREAM MAN

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Thu, 6 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by Patrick Bromley
Eli Roth does it again.

Yes, Eli Roth does it again with Ice Cream Man. The "it" in that sentence is doing a lot of work, because if you're not a fan of the filmmaker's work there's nothing here that's going to turn you around. It is a non-stop assault of gore and juvenile anarchy, less a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end than it is a violent sketch played out to feature length. It's a 90-minute effects reel demonstrating every possible way to mutilate and eviscerate the human body as punchline after punchline. Some of you will read that and immediately know you want to stay as far away as you can. Others of you will read that and will want to see the movie as soon as possible. Just don't say you weren't warned.
If you were to combine The Stuff with Cooties and Troma's Beware: Children at Play and the last 15 minutes of Weapons, you would more or less get Ice Cream Man. The film stars Ari Millen in a wordless role as the titular Ice Cream Man, who enters into a picturesque suburb and feeds all of the children frozen treats. That night, all of the kids go crazy and become mindless, pint-sized murders, wreaking havoc on all of the adults in over-the-top and disgusting fashion. A few kids who haven't consumed the ice cream (including Charlie Zeltzer and Ginny & Georgia's Sarah Abbott) try to escape the outbreak. That's pretty much it: once the premise has been established, writer/director Eli Roth uses it as a clothesline on which to hang gore gag after gore gag, rinse, repeat, roll credits.

Eli Roth is a controversial figure in the genre for a whole bunch of reasons. His movies are divisive, his politics and past problematic for many. Independent of all that, I have pretty much liked every movie he's actually directed (yes, including Death Wish) even when it's taken me time or multiple viewings to come around on some. If I am able to separate the art from the artist, I have been a fan of the former going back to his first films. Cabin Fever and the Hostel films are among my favorite horror movies of the 2000s, and I thought Thanksgiving was a terrific slasher with a decidedly retro feel -- the kind of thing made for VHS even when it's not rolling out its old-school influences every couple of minutes like so much post-Grindhouse horror. Ice Cream Man seems to be going for that, too, though it's much accomplished in that arena. The film wants to present 90 minutes of little kids fucking people up. In that, I suppose it succeeds.
The irony of Ice Cream Man, sure to be savaged by both genre critics and non-genre critics alike, is that if it had been a 1990 release that was recently unearthed and restored to 4K by the likes of Vinegar Syndrome, horror fans would be going crazy for it. The movie has that kind of energy, feeling more like DIY regional horror than anything with a studio budget. That's probably because Roth has forgone big studios this time around, instead opting to release Ice Cream Man through his recently-founded label The Horror Section (the same company responsible for putting out Joe Begos' insane Jimmy & Stiggs last year). That gives Roth the freedom to do whatever he wants on screen, including making a movie that consists of 90 minutes of gore and edgelord humor, all involving children (12-year olds with eating disorders! Ha!). I'm happy to for any horror filmmaker to have that kind of creative license. I'm not sure Roth makes the best use of it.
I enjoyed parts of Ice Cream Man more than I probably should in spite of myself, laughing out loud at several of the gags -- in some cases because of the timing, in some of the effect, and in some rare cases out of disbelief at what the director was putting on screen. In the end, none of this matters because Roth recently confirmed the use of generative AI in making the movie. That means I can't really support the movie and can't recommend anyone else does either. I'll stop writing here because it's what we call a "dealbreaker." If you need to see Ice Cream Man at some point in your life, wait 40 years until AI has taken over and our insect overlords are putting it out on special edition Blu-ray. That's how it's meant to be seen.

FTM 832: IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Wed, 5 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Patrick and Adam Riske read Sutter Cane.

Download this episode here.

Listen to F This Movie! on Apple Podcasts.

Also discussed this episode: Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), Pinocchio Unstrung (2026), The Gentleman Thief (2026), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Rosewood (1997), Can't Hardly Wait (1998), The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026),

Fifty Before '50: NICKELODEON

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Tue, 4 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by JB
Gee, you would think that something like this would be right up my alley.

Peter Bogdanovich’s Nickelodeon hit American theater screens at a crazy time. The “Auteurist Seventies” were drawing to a close, about to be eclipsed by the “Blockbuster Eighties.” We can see this schism quite clearly in 1976’s Best Picture Oscar nominees: Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Nashville, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. All terrific films: four personal director’s visions and one blockbuster.

Nickelodeon is neither of these; it’s an inert object, not entertaining enough to be a roaring crowd-pleaser and not personal enough to be a singular director’s unique vision. It just sits there, wasting everyone’s time, neither fish nor fowl. This is the raw potato of film history.

Nickelodeon is the type of film for which the term “lame-brained” was coined.
THE PLOT IN BRIEF: In 1914, hapless, ambulance-chasing lawyer Leo Harrigan (Ryan O’Neal) stumbles into directing films via a chance encounter with bombastic producer H.H. Cobb (Brian Keith). Cobb sends Harrigan to California, the better to hide from Thomas Edison’s Motion Picture Patents Company, which sought to close down any film company not sanctioned by Edison himself. Harrigan quickly falls in with other fledgling filmmakers: cameraman Frank Frank (John Ritter), screenwriter and “Girl Friday” Alice Forsyte (Tatum O’Neal), actresses Kathleen Cooke and Marty Reeves (Jane Hitchcock and Stella Stevens), stuntmen Dobie and Jim (Harry Carey, Jr. and James Best), and actors Reginald Kingsley and Buck Greenway (George Gaynes and Burt Reynolds).

TANGENT: One measure of the film’s stupidity is that it clearly expects the audience to think John Ritter’s character name, Frank Frank, is hilarious. It is not.

Harrigan’s merry band has many adventures shooting pictures on the fly in the early days of Hollywood. All sorts of things happen that are supposed to be funny but are not. Nickelodeon suddenly gets strangely serious in its last half hour, when the entire cast attends the world premiere of D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, and they all suddenly realize that they are now working in a new American art form.

That’s... comedy!

Nothing in this film works. The performances are pitched too big, the dialogue contains no jokes, not one aspect of the plot is interesting or entertaining, the direction is aimless and lackluster, the editing is languid, the sets and costumes are bland and lack imagination, the score seems to be multiple variations of a single annoying piano melody, and every performer seems to be appearing in a different film. (To be fair, Burt Reynolds acquits himself nicely.) The audience watches the film in silence and wonders why we are supposed to care about these characters or invest two hours into their supposed antics.
This film has all the makings of an epic historical farce: a director steeped in Hollywood lore, a young cast that is more than up the job, and an award-winning cinematographer well-versed in both color and black and white photography. Okay, the composer might have left something to be desired. Richard Hazard was most famous for scoring Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla and episodes of TV’s Mannix.

The problem here is clear. Although Bogdanovich had written seven books of film criticism before becoming a director, he couldn’t write a screenplay to save his life. Bogdanovich’s breakthrough film was 1971’s The Last Picture Show, based on a novel by Larry McMurtry and co-written by McMurtry and Bogdanovich. His second smash was What’s Up, Doc? with a script by Buck Henry, David Newman, and Robert Benton. (Incidentally, Buck Henry wrote the screenplay for The Graduate; Newman and Benton wrote Bonnie & Clyde and Superman.)

Bogdanovich's third hit was Paper Moon, based on a novel by Joe David Brown, with a screenplay by Alvin Sargent. Sargent famously penned the screenplays of Julia, Straight Time, Ordinary People, Unfaithful, and Spiderman 2. Maybe these earlier Bogdanovich hits were hits because of their screenplays... rather than their direction.

Every source suggests that W.D. Richter’s original script for Nickelodeon was wonderful, but when Bogdanovich signed on, he completely rewrote that script into the mess that it ended up being. Bogdanovich added episodes based on true tales of the silent days that he had gleaned from interviews he'd done with elderly directors Alan Dwan, Raoul Walsh, and Leo McCarey. According to producer Irwin Winkler, “What he filmed had nothing to do with the original script. I know it meant a lot to Peter to have all of the authentic stories about the silent period in the film, but Rick's script, authentic or not, was terrific. It was just a great drama. By the time Peter was done with it, it was authentic, but it wasn't dramatic anymore.”
No one at the studio questioned Bogdanovich because he had directed three big hits in a row. (Epic stinker At Long Last Love, Bogdanovich’s paeon to classic musicals, had yet to be released.) Columbia studio head David Begelman thought Bogdanovich was a genius.

YOU'RE WELCOME, HOLLYWOOD: Here's how producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff and director Peter Bogdanovich could have fixed this picture. Instead of relying on anecdotes from the director’s own interviews, they should have paid for the film rights to Kevin Brownlow’s 1968 book The Parade’s Gone By, perhaps the best book I have ever read about the early days of the silent cinema.

In the words of a Goodreads critic Steven Paine, “[...] For many, this is understandably the bible for the lover of silent films. It's written with genuine love, enthusiasm, and knowledge... The book is full of stories from the days these films were made, told by the people who made them. In many cases Brownlow was lucky to capture the interviews just before it was too late.”

Sony/Columbia has released a new special edition Blu-ray of Nickelodeon, featuring two versions of the film: the 122-minute theatrical cut in color and the 125-minute director’s cut in black and white, which is how Bogdanovich originally wanted it released. I would say that both are unwatchable, but I only watched the black and white version!

For you, Dear Reader. For you.

Friday Night Double Features Vol. 69

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Mon, 3 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by Adam Riske and Patrick Bromley
Ten new double features for the dog days of summer!

Double Feature 1:

Adam: #1: An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Patrick: #2: Idle Hands (1999)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: The Mummy (2017), Nina Forever (2015), An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)
Patrick: Theme: Me & My Dead Friend

Patrick: One of my favorite things about American Werewolf is the presence of Griffin Dunne as David Naughton’s best friend, who (spoiler) is killed early in the movie and continues appearing as a ghost in progressing states of decomposition throughout the story, encouraging David to kill himself. I must not be the only person who loves that aspect, though, because a number of filmmakers have ripped it off throughout the years. The big invention of 1999’s Idle Hands is to have two dead friends instead of just one. Are you an Idle Hands guy? I think it’s pretty ok. I think it would be fun if everyone who comes out for this double could also bring the ghost of a friend with them. When we show the trailer for the Tom Cruise Mummy, we should show the version that leaked without any dialogue that just had sound effects. It’s way better than the movie.

Adam: I struggled with Idle Hands the one time I saw it but would totally give it another try for 35mm Jessica Alba. This is a really cool theme. Even though I love An American Werewolf in London I might be most excited about seeing The Mummy trailer again. How did that one get so far away from Tom Cruise? It doesn't even feel real.

Double Feature 2:

Patrick: #1: 3 From Hell (2019)
Adam: #2: Clerks III (2022)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: 31, The Family McMullen, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
Adam: Theme: Fathom Entertainment Releases

Adam: Not to reveal a movie kink but I kinda like when directors who’ve been chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood system go the Fathom route. There’s a certain amount of “oooh, looks like I’m the premiere” to seeing one of these movies as a special Fathom event in theaters. It started to become a tradition for a while with the latest from Rob Zombie and Kevin Smith. I’m almost always disappointed by these movies on the first viewing and then slowly warm up to them a little on subsequent watches. Except Clerks III. I will never watch that one again.

Patrick: We might be in opposite corners on this since it bums me out when directors we like go this route, but I’m realistic enough about the industry and shrinking cult fanbases to recognize that it’s a necessity. I’m glad they’re still playing theaters at all, even if it is for just one or two nights. I love this lineup even if I can’t stand Clerks III. Wait, does this mean you’re coming around on The 4:30 Movie too?

Double Feature 3:
Adam: #1: Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
Patrick: #2: Jekyll & Hyde: Together Again (1982)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Saved by the Bell “Rent a Pop” episode, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, The Under Achievers
Patrick: Theme: Mark Blankfield Tribute

Patrick: I first became aware of character actor Mark Blankfield on an episode of Saved by the Bell (which, don’t worry, I programmed) in which he played a waiter who pretended to be Zack Morris’ dad in an interview. Whenever I would see him in movies after that I’d be like “Oh, it’s that waiter from The Max who wants to be an actor!” He plays the blind guy in Men in Tights, a movie with like five good jokes but which is very easy to watch. A few years ago I finally saw 1982’s Jekyll & Hyde: Together Again for the first time (which has lived in my head since reading the description of it in the TV Guide when I was very young) and fell for just how stupid and silly it is. I can’t defend liking it or Mark Blankfield, so it seemed appropriate to devote a night to his memory.

Adam: I'm 100% on board partly because I wasn't familiar with Mark Blankfield before now. I've seen the Mel Brooks movies listed here but he never really registered. I'm glad to have a night where we can hyper-focus on a journeyman, working actor like Blankfield. Those are some of my favorite themes we do at the Cinemarink.

Double Feature 4:

Patrick: #1: Brain Donors (1992)
Adam: #2: Stay Tuned (1992)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Captain Ron, Encino Man, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Wayne’s World
Adam: Theme: Zany 1992 Movies

Adam: I’ve never seen Brain Donors but I’m starting to become a little bit interested with your recent enthusiasm for it, plus it has a cartoon poster and I’m a sucker for movies that do that. I thought it would be fun to make a time capsule of sorts to other zany 1992 comedies and give me an excuse to watch the underrated John Ritter movie Stay Tuned on film at the Cinemarink. I can’t believe Peter Hyams directed that. It seems even more like a Dennis Dugan joint than Brain Donors.

Patrick: Does it sweeten the pot at all to tell you that Brain Donors features Claymation credits? Another amazing night at the movies. We really used to have it all, didn’t we? These movies played theaters. I’m a Stay Tuned fan too, but as much as I love Peter Hyams I do think he might have been the wrong guy to direct it. This is one instance where I might have liked to see the Dennis Dugan version.

Double Feature 5:
Adam: #1: Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Patrick: #2: The Village (2004)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Hail, Caesar! (2016), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Sicario (2015)
Patrick: Theme: Shot by Roger Deakins

Patrick: I had a hard time picking which Roger Deakins to pair with Blade Runner 2049, a legacy sequel I actually liked in 2017 and have never once felt compelled to revisit. I kind of wish there was no Harrison Ford/Deckard stuff in BH2049. It’s handled as well as it could be but I’d rather have a standalone sequel about the Ryan Gosling character. Then I landed on The Village and a) liked the idea of seeing that again in a theater and b) thought it would pair well for some reason on vibes alone. I was mixed-positive on it opening night, but that’s been Shyamalan’s biggest grower for me over the years.

Adam: I haven’t seen Blade Runner 2049 since opening night but am in the mood to watch it again. I remember really liking the Gosling-De Armas stuff, probably because I'm so lonely jk. I keep trying on The Village but the second half hasn't clicked for me yet. I love the first half, though. I think my biggest Shyamalan grower is The Happening. I know it's bad but I like the vibe of it. It makes me feel melancholy in a way that a truly awful movie shouldn't have the power to do so.

Double Feature 6:

Patrick: #1: Center Stage (2000)
Adam: #2: The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: The Art of War, The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Rules of Engagement
Adam: Theme: My Still Unseen 2000 Movies

Adam: I checked off a lot of unseen 2000 movies in the lead up to F This Movie Fest this year but there’s only so many hours in the day so I missed these. I’ve heard things (maybe, good things) about Center Stage over the years -- mainly from you and Doug, so I’m curious to check that out. Plus, early Saldana! I’ve been hankering to see Viva Rock Vegas, too, since your discovery of it back in March. I mean, it has to be better than the 1994 The Flintstones, right? It’s so odd to me that I know that even though I don’t like The Flintstones I know that I will see it at least six more times in my lifetime. That and Godzilla (1998). It’s gonna happen. To pretend otherwise is to act like you won’t ever hear The Beatles “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” again.

Patrick: I’m right with you on The Flintstones, a movie I don’t like that I can never really be rid of. We might as well stop kidding ourselves and just switch out the Viva Rock Vegas reels for the OG. Center Stage is fine? I’m not a big fan, but I get why dancers and/or Doug would love it. I have definitely oversold Viva Rock Vegas so I’m excited to sit next to you at our screening and get your reaction in real time.

Double Feature 7:
Adam: #1: Evil Dead (2013)
Patrick: #2: The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: House of Wax, The Crazies, Let Me In
Patrick: Theme: Actually Good 2000s Horror Remakes

Patrick: Probably a stupid double but I figure if we’re going to commit to mean-spirited, humorless horror, let’s go all in. I like both of these movies a lot even though I didn’t love Evil Dead the night we saw it and immediately recorded a show on it. That’s one of my Podcast Regrets.

Adam: Yeah, I feel bad about that one too. Remember the scene in that movie where they ask her to get rid of her drugs and she has like A LOT of heroin? I really like Jane Levy in that movie. Too bad she had to cancel Flashback again. I only saw The Hills Have Eyes remake once and remember being upset by it because of what they do to Ted Levine and Vinessa Shaw. Can I bring them both with me to this double so I know they're ok?

Double Feature 8:

Patrick: #1: Tenet (2020)
Adam: #2: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Othello, Wild Wild West
Adam: Theme: Branagh Villains

Adam: I ironically like Kenneth Branagh in European villain mode. He gets all this press about being a great actor and then he shows up in Tenet or Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and picks a dialect that sounds like something I would have come up with. I probably should’ve followed Tenet with Frankenstein but that would be a long night and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a movie that doesn’t demand your attention like Tenet does so it would be a better come down.

Patrick: Shadow Recruit is the much better follow-up to Tenet, a movie I think I’ve programmed way too many times at the Cinemarink. We should re-do our Best of 2020 show because that would be like my #2 at this point. You know what else I would have on there? News of the World. You know what I wouldn’t have on there? Most of the rest of my list. Anyway, Kenneth Branagh convinced the world he was our new Olivier but really he’s kind of a ham sandwich.

Double Feature 9:
Adam: #1: Jaws 3-D (1983)
Patrick: #2: Dragonslayer (1981)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Masters of the Universe (1987), Pet Sematary (1989), Cabin Fever (2003)
Patrick: Theme: Fucked Up Leg Wounds

Patrick: I’m proud of this one because except for Cabin Fever, all of these movies messed me up as a kid specifically because of the leg wounds. We should get Cathy Moriarty to come out and dress as a nurse in the lobby. This double is going to give people ideas.

Adam: Omg this theme is amazing. Courtney Cox's pizza leg in MOTU was hard-core. There’s no going back from that. Can we all show off our leg wounds between the two movies? I'm honestly shocked you didn't plug Rosanna Arquette in Crash (1997) into here somewhere.

Patrick: Only because that one is hot.

Double Feature 10:

Patrick: #1: The Hunted (2003)
Adam: #2: U.S. Marshals (1998)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: The Fugitive, Men in Black, No Country for Old Men
Adam: Theme: Not Another Fugitive!

Adam: I program this theme with love because I really enjoy Tommy Lee Jones in this mode. I think The Hunted (2003) is crazy underrated and one of my favorite 2000s action movies. It’s so efficient and macho. It seemed right to program it with U.S. Marshals because it’s the most programmer of the bunch here. I just recently revisited it. It’s fine. It’s definitely not as good as The Fugitive but Jones is fun in a victory lap kind of performance. I always laugh at how many times they say “the Chinese consulate” in that movie. It must happen a dozen times over a 15-minute stretch.

Patrick: I only recently saw The Hunted for the first time and it does kind of rule. I’m not there yet on U.S. Marshals. I love Wesley Snipes but that movie has a Wesley Snipes problem because they couldn’t think of anything to do with him but make him Richard Kimball 2.0 and that’s not what Wesley does. I do love how easily this double feature will go down, though. It’s so much craggy. Two crags for the price of one.

Weekend Open Thread

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Sat, 1 Aug 2026 02:00:00 -0500

2K Replay: IDLEWILD

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by Adam Riske
Nominated for “Best Original Soundtrack” at the Black Reel Awards. It lost to Dreamgirls.

• Best Scene/Moment: The car chase/shootout scene set to the song “Church.”

• Best Song: “Morris Brown” by Big Boi featuring Scar and Sleepy Brown.
• Best Merch: A “2004 Idlewild Original Movie Call Sheet Plus 2 Location Maps…” for $5.88. This is a pretty unique piece of memorabilia for a really low price. I don’t know what you’d do with it, but I suppose it’s neat to see for someone who likes movies but doesn’t work on them.

• Director Grade: Idlewild was directed by Bryan Barber.
Great Movies: N/A
Good Movies: N/A
OK Movies: Idlewild
Bad Movies: N/A
Unseen By Me: Singleholic
Overall Grade: C+

• Double It with This 2006 Movie: Dave Chappelle’s Block Party

• Year 2006 Movies to Trailer Before Them: ATL, Charlotte’s Web, Dreamgirls

• Ella McCay or Idlewild? Ella McCay
• Mall Movie? Yeah, probably. It would make sense to leave the theater and go buy the soundtrack to Idlewild at the record store in the mall.

• Only in 2006: Big Boi and André 3000 made a movie together at Outkast.

• Scene Stealer: Terrence Howard.

• I Miss: Outkast. The group never officially broke up but they haven’t made music or toured together in many years.

• I Don’t Miss: Gangster musicals.

• 2006 Crush: Paula Patton.

• 2026 Crush (tie): Paula Patton and Malinda Williams.
• What I Thought in 2006: I remember thinking Idlewild was fine but a disappointment from what I expected out of the “Outkast movie.” The soundtrack was really good though. The film felt like not as good Harlem Nights.

• What I Think in 2026: I had pretty much the same reaction this time. For a group as innovative and electric as Outkast, it’s disappointing that Idlewild is so derivative. The best part about my recent viewing is it makes me want to dust off my Outkast albums and listen to them again. If I were making a top 5 list of bands/artists that I listened to all the time during my college days, Outkast would be on it.

Your 2026 Flashback Weekend Preview

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by Patrick Bromley
Chicago's biggest and best horror convention returns!

One of my favorite weekends of the year is Chicago's annual Flashback Weekend, the horror convention created and run by Mike and Mia Kerz that takes place in Rosemont, Illinois. It's three days of panels, parties, contests, vendors, celebrity guests, live music -- everything you could want as a horror fan. This will be my sixth year hosting panels at the convention, but I've been going to Flashback much longer than just these six years. I love it.
This year's Flashback features a salute to 30 years of the Scream franchise, celebrates Halloween II, a Night of the Creeps reunion, features first-time Flashback appearances from Henry Thomas, Steven Weber, and the Silent Night, Deadly Night Santas, and even has Obsession co-star Megan Lawless making her convention debut (I get to host her panel on Sunday! Come on out!). Plus, this year sees the world premiere of a brand new Full Moon movie (relevant to my interests!), in-costume photo opps, Alan Howarth playing the score to Halloween II LIVE along with the film, a tribute to Svengoolie (the greatest horror host of all time), and so much more.
One of my favorite things about Flashback -- besides all the cool guests and the chance to spend the weekend surrounded by horror stuff and horror fans -- is that it's a family-run convention and really feels that way. All of the proceeds from the con go into supporting the Midway Drive-In located in Dixon, IL -- the nicest and best drive-in in Illinois -- which they bought in 2007. I love that Flashback is dedicated to preserving the big-screen theatrical experience.
From this year's press release:
Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Convention
July 31 - Aug. 2, 2026
Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago, Rosemont, IL 60018
Tickets now on sale at www.flashbackweekend.com

Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Convention celebrates its 25th year with a MASSIVE Celebrity guest line-up, amazing evening events, luxurious after-parties, an enormous vendor room, and special Celebrity costume Celeb Photo-Ops.
All of this and more, taking place in one of the largest and most beautiful Convention hotels in the World!

FLASHBACK WEEKEND 2026 SALUTES;
-30 years of SCREAM!
Horror Icons! Tribute to the 1980's Golden Age of Horror!
"OBSESSION" (2026)!!! Megan Lawless - "Sarah Harper"!
JUST ANNOUNCED - Henry Thomas - "E.T.", "THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE", "DR. SLEEP"!

The Celeb Photo Ops schedule and the Q & A schedule is posted for Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Convention July 31-Aug. 2, 2026. The Celeb Photo-Op schedule is at https://celebphotoops.com/schedules/2026Flashback.pdf
The Flashback Weekend Q & A schedule is at http://www.flashbackweekend.com/schedule.html
Start your planning! Many amazing Celeb Photo-ops!

CELEBRITY GUEST LINE-UP

CELEBRATE 30 YEARS OF SCREAM!
"SCREAM" Series Reunion !!!
David Arquette - Deputy / Sheriff "Dewey Riley" - "SCREAM" 1-5
Marley Shelton - Deputy/ Sheriff "Judy Hicks" - "SCREAM" 4-5
Dermot Mulroney - Detective Wayne Bailey - "SCREAM 6"
Roger L. Jackson - The Voice of Ghostface
Tony Revolori - Jason Carvey "SCREAM 6"
Celeste O'Connor - "Chloe Parker" - "SCREAM 7"
Joseph Whipp - "Sheriff Burke"  "SCREAM" (1996)
Jeremy Conner - Ghostface - "SCREAM 7"
Kraig Dane - Karl Gibbs - Ghostface "SCREAM 7"

Spencer Charnas ICE NINE KILLS - Official "SCREAM 7" "Twisting the Knife" Hit Song & Music Video

HORROR ICONS
Megan Lawless "Sarah Harper" ("OBSESSION" 2026)
Steven Weber - "Jack Torrance"  "THE SHINING" mini-series (1997)
Henry Thomas - "Elliott" - "E.T.", "THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE", "Jack Torrance" - "DR. SLEEP"
William Katt ("CARRIE", "HOUSE")
Spencer Charnas - Lead singer "ICE NINE KILLS" - Special "SILVER SCREAM" Costume Celeb Photo-Op
Charles Band - Full Moon Founder
Richard Band - Full Moon Composer
Quinn Lord - "Sam" ("TRICK 'r TREAT" 2007)
Svengoolie (Rich Koz) - Horror Host Icon

HORROR LEGENDS
CELEBRATE THE 1980's GOLDEN AGE OF HORROR

  "AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON" 45th anniversary
David Naughton - "David Kessler"

"NIGHT OF THE CREEPS" 40th anniversary - Costume Celeb Photo-Op!
Tom Atkins - "Det. Ray Cameron"
Jason Lively - "Chris Romero"
Jill Whitlow - "Cynthia Cronenberg"

  "HALLOWEEN II" (1981) 45th anniversary reunion
Dick Warlock - "MICHAEL MYERS"
Pamala Susan Shoop - "Nurse Bailey"
Ana Alicia  - "Nurse Marshall"
Gloria Graham -  "Nurse Alves"
Alan Howarth - co-composer music score

"SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT" series Reunion - Costume Celeb Photo-Op!
Robert Brian Wilson "SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT" (1984) - "Billy Chapman"
Eric Freeman "SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2" (1987) - "Ricky Chapman"

Stay tuned for more updates!!!

Indie Horror Directors!
Jason Paul Collum - "SCREAMING IN HIGH HEELS", "OCTOBER MOON" series, "MARK OF THE DEVIL 777"
Tony Wash - Scothworthy Productions, "BETTER LUCK THAN CHUCK", Director of Programming SCREAMBOX.

CELEB PHOTO-OPS now on sale at https://celebphotoops.com/event/flashback
Celeb Photo-Ops for our Flashback Weekend Celebrity guests are now on sale including solo and group Reunion ops!
    “Special Edition” Flashback Weekend Celeb Photo-Ops including:
NIGHT OF THE CREEPS In costume Tom Atkins, Jason Lively, Jill Whitlow Sat. Aug. 1, 2026
"TRICK 'r TREAT" - Quinn Lord in Costume Sat-Sun Aug. 1-2, 2026
SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT In Costume - Robert Brian Wilson Santa costume-op Fri-Sat. July 31 - Sat. Aug. 1, 2026
SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2 In Costume - Eric Freeman Santa costume-op Fri-Sat. July 31 - Sat. Aug. 1, 2026
DUO SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT In Costume - Robert Brian Wilson &Eric Freeman Santa costume-op Fri-Sat. July 31 - Sat. Aug. 1
Spencer Charnas - IN COSTUME - Silver Scream Ghostface Saturday Aug. 1, 2026
Svengoolie (Rich Koz) In Costume Fri-Sat July 31 - Aug. 1, 2026

Celeb photo-ops now on sale at https://celebphotoops.com/event/flashback

  When the Vendor Room closes, the convention and party is just getting started!
Special evening events on Friday and Saturday night!
Elegant and Luxurious after-parties on Friday and Saturday evenings!

SPECIAL EVENTS!
Friday July 31, 2026
SVENGOOLIE LIVE! THE LIVE HORROR TALK SHOW HOSTED BY SVENGOOLIE!
The Legendary SVENGOOLIE (Rich Koz) will be taking the stage for “SVENGOOLIE LIVE”, the live Horror talk show on Friday July 31, 2026. Featuring Svengoolie live on stage with celebrity guests and surprises, all in the classic Svengoolie style that we love! Imagine your favorite late night talk show. Imagine Svengoolie hosting. Imagine yourself in the studio audience. You can stop imagining, because it is happening! This will be the Horror Event of the Year!
Separate ticket required. Purchase in advance or at the door (pending availability)
Saturday Aug. 1, 2026
ALAN HOWARTH IN CONCERT – ALAN HOWARTH PERFORMS THE SCORE OF “HALLOWEEN II” LIVE TO A SCREENING OF THE FILM!
Composer Alan Howarth will perform his classic score to “HALLOWEEN II" (1981) live to a screening of the film at Flashback Weekend on Sat. Aug. 1, 2026! This all-immersive audio and visual film screening experience is not to be missed!
Separate ticket required. Purchase in advance or at the door (pending availability)
FLASHBACK WEEKEND FILM FEST!
Friday July 31, 2026 - 9:15PM Chicago Premiere!

"THE FRIGHT STUFF" (2026) - The acclaimed new documentary on the Haunted Attraction Industry!
From director Mike Myer (the popular web series Days of the Living Dead) and haunted attraction legend John LaFlamboy, comes "THE FRIGHT STUFF" , the first documentary to cover the history and cultural impact of haunted attractions from the inside. From humble beginnings in the early 1900s to a multi-million dollar industry, haunted attractions remain one of the few linchpins that connect modern American folk traditions and regional commerce...a place where dreamers and misfits come together to entertain people at a scale that is simultaneously huge but personal to their community.

At the center of the story is the journey of seasoned "haunter" John LaFlamboy as he battles time and resources to build his dream attraction....HellsGate Haunted House.

Flashback Weekend ticket holders for Friday July 31, 2026 are welcome (Either Weekend pass or single day Friday passes). Attendance limited to capacity.
Saturday Aug. 1, 2026 10:00PM
WORLD PREMIERE - "ROBOTICA"(2026)
Full Moon Founder Charles Band's newest film "ROBOTICA" will have its World Premiere at Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Convention on Saturday August 1, 2026! Buckle-in and get ready for director Charles Band's latest film ROBOTICA, a hot and high-octane new sci-fi thriller that stars Lilly Bell (PROMPT) as the titular beautiful sex-bot with murder on her mind. After getting brutalized once-too-often by her despicable male overlords, Robotica snaps out of her pre-programmed stupor and enacts a wave of bloody, brutal revenge. A contemporary, blood-and-skin-soaked indie pulp classic that only could have come from Band and Full Moon!

Flashback Weekend ticket holders for Sat. Aug. 1, 2026 are welcome (Either Weekend pass or single day Sat. passes). Attendance limited to capacity.
  OFFICIAL AFTER PARTIES
Friday July 31, 2026 After Party 9:15PM - ???
UNDER THE DOME - Conference Center LOCATED ON THE HOTEL REGISTRATION DESK LEVEL
All Flashback Weekend ticket holders welcome.
One (1) drink purchase minimum from the bar upstairs.
*Attendance limited to capacity*
All Flashback Weekend ticket holders welcome.
One (1) drink purchase minimum from the bar upstairs.
*Attendance limited to capacity*
  Official After-Party Saturday August 1, 2026.
   WELCOME TO WOODSBORO DANCE PARTY.
Official After-Party Saturday August 1, 2026. In the Conference Center – UNDER THE DOME. Party and Dance to the Music of SCREAM! The music soundtracks of SCREAM 1-3 defined the decade in which the first SCREAM trilogy took place. Saturday night at Flashback Weekend you will relive the amazing era of the 1990's! All Flashback Weekend ticket holders welcome. (1) drink purchase minimum from the party bar. Attendance limited to capacity.
THE LEGENDARY SVENGOOLIE (RICH KOZ)!
Svengoolie (Rich Koz) joins Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Convention for his annual appearance!

SVENGOOLIE SCHEDULE (Times TBA)
Fri. July 31, 2026
Celeb Photo-Ops - (purchased separately)
"SVENGOOLIE LIVE! THE Live Horror Talk Show Hosted by Svengoolie! (separate ticket required)
Sat. Aug. 1, 2026
Celeb Photo-Ops (purchased separately)
Autographs and Selfies (based on availability)
Svengoolie hosts the Sinister Visions Costume Contest

You may also purchase a professional photo-op with Sven by Celeb Photo-Ops and receive a high quality 8 x 10 photo with Sven!

SINISTER VISIONS COSTUME CONTEST HOSTED BY SVENGOOLIE
Sat. Aug. 1, 2026 at 5:00PM
Join us on Saturday, Aug. 1 in your favorite ghoulish costume for our 19th Annual Sinister Visions Costume Contest and compete for fun and prizes! The contest will be hosted by the Legendary Svengoolie (Rich Koz)! All ages welcome! Prizes are awarded for First, Second and Third Place, and there's a Kids Category for ages 12 & under. Winners are determined by audience applause. This event is sponsored by Sinister Visions. All you need to enter is to pre-register, your Flashback Weekend convention tickets, and your costume! Seating limited to capacity.

You must PRE-REGISTER for the 18th Annual Sinister Visions Costume Contest at the Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Con.
The last couple of years have seen overwhelming attendance at this event, which is great, but we only have so much time and space! The first 20 adults and first 10 kids (12 & under) who submit their info via this registration form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfcgYPOJdZExNduftxKizeReGYzs5LyBWnYKWxon7-SxTj8VA/viewform?pli=1 will be this year's contestants; first-come, first-served. Please share this post and spread the word! More info about the SVCC at http://flashbackweekend.com/schedule.html.

Flashback Weekend Q & A's and Panel Discussions are moderated by Prominent Film critics, Journalists, and Podcast hosts;
Dann Gire - The Daily Herald
Nick Digilio - The Nick D Podcast
Steven Prokopy - Third Coast Review
Patrick Bromley - "F THIS MOVIE!"
Morgan Gire - "Fighting Gire With Gire," Podcaster

A FANGORIA Magazine Collector's Edition for FLASHBACK WEEKEND CHICAGO HORROR CONVENTION 2026!
This is a one-time printing. Custom editorial, articles, and photos based on the 2026 Celebrity guests, the legends, the events, and the moments that define Flashback Weekend. Signable front and back covers. A must have keepsake from a Flashback Weekend you won't forget.
You can pre-order this special edition collectible in advance at a discount price of $8.00 on the Flashback Weekend ticket sales page. Pick up your pre-purchased issue at the Flashback Weekend Convention registration desk when you check in. This will not be shipped. The price for the special Flashback Weekend FANGORIA edition at the convention will be $15.00 and may be purchased either at the Flashback Weekend Registration Desk or the Fangoria booth while supplies last.

JSA – JAMES SPENCE AUTHENTICATION will be at Flashback Weekend all three days!
HAVE YOUR CELEBRITY AUTOGRAPHS AUTHENTICATED!
Special $15.00 show special for autographs signed by the Celebrity guests at the convention weekend!
Other autographs authenticated at the JSA retail price.
JSA will be set-up in the foyer along the windows inside the main entrance.
Look for JSA in the Grand Foyer

Flashback Weekend 2026 Hours of Operation
Check out our schedule which features our 2026 convention hours at http://www.flashbackweekend.com/schedule.html. Detailed schedule to be posted closer to the event.
THE HYATT REGENCY O’HARE CHICAGO – THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE!
Our venue, the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago is one of the largest convention hotels in the world! The Hyatt is luxurious and elegant and will provide you with the extravagant and lavish weekend that you deserve!

TICKETS NOW ON SALE!
Buy your convention and Celeb Photo-Ops tickets now at www.flashbackweekend.com.

Flashback Weekend 2026 Hours of Operation
Check out our schedule which features our 2026 convention hours at http://www.flashbackweekend.com/schedule.html

THE HYATT REGENCY O’HARE CHICAGO – THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE!
Our venue, the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago is one of the largest convention hotels in the world! The Hyatt is luxurious and elegant and will provide you with the extravagant and lavish weekend that you deserve!

Buy your tickets now and visit www.flashbackweekend.com for updates!

THE HYATT REGENCY O’HARE CHICAGO IS A CASHLESS VENUE – BRING CREDIT CARDS FOR PAYMENTS TO THE HYATT
The HYATT REGENCY O'HARE CHICAGO is a cashless venue. Please bring your credit cards for all purchases and charges to the hotel for their restaurants, bars, gift shops, perks, hotel room charges, and parking fees.

FLASHBACK WEEKEND, VENDORS, and CELEBRITIES WILL ACCEPT CASH
Please note that while the Hyatt is a cashless venue, your cash is still accepted at the Flashback Weekend registration desk for your Flashback Weekend ticket and T-Shirt purchases. And cash is accepted at the Flashback Weekend vendors and at the Celebrity tables.

FLASHBACK WEEKEND PAYMENT AT THE DOOR POLICIES

FLASHBACK WEEKEND TICKET SALES AT THE DOOR – PAYMENTS ACCEPTED
Cash accepted with no additional fees.
CREDIT CARDS MASTERCARD OR VISA ACCEPTED WITH THE FOLLOWING FEES
SINGLE DAY & WEEKEND PASSES TICKETS CREDIT CARD FEE - Add a $2.00 fee per ticket at the door with a Mastercard or Visa credit card

TICKETS AND UPDATES!
For info and updates please visit us at www.flashbackweekend.com.

Review: SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:00:00 -0500

by Rob DiCristino
With waning franchise power comes unreasonable franchise responsibility.

When we last left our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, he was rescuing the multiverse from a reality-bending catastrophe — one which was admittedly his fault to begin with — and wiping his memory from the minds of everyone who ever knew and loved him. Four years later, Peter Parker (Tom Holland), now without the largesse of the late Tony Stark or the guidance of his beloved Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), has settled into a rickety studio apartment and doubled down on his solemn commitment to protecting the city of New York. Watching from afar as MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) live it up at M.I.T., Peter can at least take solace in Spider-Man’s successes: He’s popular with the citizens he serves, he’s trusted by the NYPD (led by The Bear’s Liza Colón-Zayas), and he’s even made a reliable frenemy in vigilante Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal). But when a mysterious body-hopping telepath threatens to undo all of that good work, Spidey must learn that no man is an island; we all — even super-heroic spider-humans — need a little help from our friends.
In other words, Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day presents at first as an old-fashioned Spider-Man story. No longer just a pawn in the galactic vagaries of the MCU — and, mercifully, no longer just Tony Stark’s overeager chihuahua — our wall-crawling pal is now his own man and free to navigate the trials of early adulthood as he sees fit. Written by series regulars Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, the film presents a more aloof and taciturn Peter Parker, a twenty-something at a crossroads between his old identity and his next one. Tom Holland, in the midst of his Big Odyssey Summer, brings new interiority and confidence to the role he’s refined over thirteen years, and much of what works here is owed to his ability to make punching villains like the Scorpion (Michael Mando) seem like a reasonable coping strategy against the heartsickness Peter’s tamping down. When Peter’s inner imbalance manifests as new arachnid traits — organic webs, increased sensitivity — Holland imbues his normally mild-mannered hero with a surprising jolt of fury and menace.

Charitable though it may seem to call Brand New Day “old-fashioned” and not simply “a rehash of other Spidey adventures” — most notably Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, still the best superhero film ever made — it’s earned with an encouraging focus on Peter’s journey toward existential realignment: He misses Aunt May, sure, but he’s proud to carry on her legacy of charity. He wants to be in college with his friends, of course, but he knows that the good times he’s missing would have inevitably been interrupted by battles with Tombstone (Marvin Jones III) or the ninjas of the Hand. He’s trading dates with neighborhood girls for meetings with Damage Control’s Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman) and playful squabbles with the Punisher. In short, he’s doing Spider-Man things. Coupled with street-level battles right out of Sony’s Playstation game series — veterans will recognize a few costume variants and combo moves — these stretches of Brand New Day feel the most like classic Spider-Man exploits, a welcome reprieve from the MCU bullshittery that poisons other installments.
Of course, that MCU bullshittery was always destined to rear its ugly head, especially after the decade of misfires, resets, do-overs, and Hail Marys that have plagued Marvel since Avengers: Endgame. Spider-Man has become the only reliable weapon in Kevin Feige’s once-invincible arsenal, and he now has corporate brand responsibilities that extend far beyond the boundaries of the Five Boroughs. Therefore, a thoughtful story about a young person’s reckoning with new maturity must necessarily become an exercise in franchise management: Spider-Man needs help developing a device that will inhibit his unwelcome mutation? He’ll go see Professor Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). He needs to unlock classified information on his elusive shape-shifting enemy? He’ll call Black Widow Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). That enemy’s identity, by the way, is another groan-worthy piece of the franchise puzzle; any more would spoil, but you’re free to compare the cast list with actors I haven’t mentioned yet and deduce which legendary Marvel character they might be playing.
To its credit, Brand New Day tries to temper all the IP dumb-fuckery by pivoting to a bonus final act — you will literally feel your movie clock restart around the 105-minute mark — that forges a stronger thematic connection between that villain and our web-headed hero. While this additional piece does give the unnamable actor a chance to show off some powerful performance chops, its clumsy placement and cynical undercurrent make it feel more like a prelude to someone else’s story than a resolution to Peter Parker’s. It takes up time that would have been better spent developing Frank Castle as a cautionary example of the perils of isolation — Holland and Bernthal share excellent chemistry, having first worked together in 2017’s Pilgrimage — or giving MJ more time to unpack her lost past with Peter — Holland and Zendaya share excellent chemistry in that, you know, they’re fucking married — and decide how best to move forward with her life. But no; lonely as he may feel, Spider-Man is still web-swinging at the pleasure of shareholders everywhere.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits U.S. theaters on Friday, July 31st.

FTM 831: FATAL ATTRACTION

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Never bring your pet bunny around Patrick or Sonia.

Download this episode here.

Listen to F This Movie! on Apple Podcasts.

Also discussed this episode: The Odyssey (2026), The Furious (2026), A Toxic Love Story (2026), Erupcja (2026), Brain Donors (1992), Perfect Stranger (2007)

Fifty Before '50: GERTIE THE DINOSAUR

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by JB
Before Mickey Mouse... Before Oswald the Lucky Rabbit... Before Krazy Kat... There was Gertie.

In 1913, Winsor McKay was one of the most famous cartoonists in the country, drawing the enormously successful Little Nemo in Slumberland for the Hearst newspaper syndicate. Looking to expand his fame and income, he embarked on a vaudeville tour wherein he did a “chalk talk,” drawing on a large blackboard while engaging the audience with jokes and banter. Soon, he expanded his act with an animated cartoon he drew himself; he would stand next to the screen and interact with a cartoon dinosaur projected there. He named the dinosaur “Gertie.”
McKay’s vaudeville turn became very popular very quickly. He would stand next to the screen, holding a whip like a lion tamer and command Gertie to perform various tasks: raise your right leg, dance, and bow. At the end of the act, McKay would sneak behind the screen and his animated image would appear onscreen, climb up Gertie’s neck, and Gertie would walk offstage with McKay atop her head. Sensational. No one had ever seen anything like this before.
But all of this vaudeville business took McKay away from his day job, and William Randolph Hearst demanded that McKay return to San Francisco and continue drawing his popular daily comic strip. McKay came up with the brilliant idea of filming additional bookend material, so that he would appear on film presenting Gertie, and the entire movie could be sent out “on tour” in his stead.

You can watch McKay’s film here:

NOTE: If you only wish to see Gertie, skip ahead to the seven-minute mark!

This is the film that survives today. Although the bookend material is a little tedious, the cartoon holds up quite well. In making his cartoon, McKay came up with many of the techniques of modern cell animation: using registration pegs to hold the drawings still while being photographed so there would be less jitter, starting with a series of “major poses” and then filling in the cells in between, and using assistants to draw the backgrounds. Because McKay used regular paper instead of clear vinyl acrylic, these assistants needed to tediously redraw the background on each and every cell.

The next year, because Gertie the Dinosaur was such a sensation, scalawag John Randolph Bray filmed and released a plagiarized rip-off. Looking at the two films, it’s really astounding what a bald-faced criminal Bray was. Unfortunately, in the 1970s, Blackhawk Films began selling copies of Bray’s nonsense as the real thing, and so film history got a little scuffed and scuttled for a short time. Eventually, the truth was sorted out. McKay was a trailblazer. Bray was a wannabe.

Here is Bray’s affront to McKay:

Notice that, although you can argue that Bray’s dinosaur drawing is “better,” the animation definitely is not, obviously trying to wring the maximum amount of movement from the minimum number of drawings. I think McKay’s Gertie has much more personality. YouTube commentator CosmicSponge2004 put it best when he dismissed Bray’s film as “unnerving and creepy.”
If Gertie looks somehow... familiar to you, you may be thinking of the life-sized Gertie statue that towers over “Dinosaur Gertie’s Ice Creams of Extinction” at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando. It just makes sense that Disney knows how to honor animation pioneers.
Before Gertie, "animation" consisted of flipbooks and early motion toys like the phenakistoscope and the zoetrope. Cartoons were more like James Stuart Blackton's "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces"—very short, chalk-talk style vignettes. Gertie was the first real animated character with a personality, and audiences loved her. Less than 25 years later, Walt Disney would mark the next great leap forward with Snow White, the first full-length, full color, animated feature—and though there were many steps in between, Snow White couldn't have happened without Gertie.

Thrill Seeker: BAD INFLUENCE

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by Sonia Mansfield
A year after Sex, Lies, and Videotape, James Spader starred in another movie about sex, lies, and videotape.

Welcome to Thrill Seeker, in which I watch thrillers from the 80s and 90s. This month, I watched 1990’s Bad Influence, starring James Spader, Rob Lowe, Christian Clemenson, and Lisa Zane.

So much of the discussion around this movie in 1990 was about Rob Lowe and a leaked sex tape. In case you don’t remember (or maybe you weren’t even born yet *sighs*), in 1988, there was a tape of Rob Lowe having sex with two people (including a 16-year-old girl) that was filmed the night before the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. At the time, Rob Lowe was was campaigning for Michael Dukakis. In other words, Illegally Yours wasn’t Lowe’s only bomb in 1988.

Eventually, Lowe settled out of court with the girl’s family, and no criminal charges were filed, because at the time the age of consent in Georgia was 14. I know, right?

Bad Influence was his first movie after that scandal, and it’s almost like it was created to capitalize on it by putting Lowe’s character into threesomes and filming a sex tape without consent.
A few other things of note: This is directed by Curtis Hanson, who y’all remember wrote and directed the Oscar-winning LA Confidential. But to me, he’s the guy who directed The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Don’t worry, Cradle, your time will come in Thrill Seeker.

Bad Influence is also one of the first screenplays by David Koepp, who has worked with some nobody named Steven Spielberg on Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, and Disclosure Day. No big deal.

OK, let’s run through the plot, no spoilers.

The plot: James Spader plays Michael, an analyst at some corporate job. He wants the big promotion to senior analyst, but there’s this jerk in the office named Patterson, who also wants the job. Patterson is trying to sabotage Michael by hiding his work from him. (No, really.) He’s also engaged to Ruth (Marica Cross), who comes from a wealthy family and styles her hair like Cameron Diaz in There’s Something About Mary.

You can immediately tell Michael just isn’t that into Ruth, but he doesn’t have the guts to say anything. Just like he doesn’t have the guts to stand up for himself to his shitty coworker. Instead of going to therapy, Michael goes to a bar to get a drink.

While at the bar, a woman comes in, our boy offers to buy her a drink. Then her boyfriend comes in and pushes Michael’s face into the bar. Dang, the dude can’t even buy a woman a drink without someone making him feel like a spineless turd. But then Rob Lowe’s Alex comes in, smashes a beer bottle on the bar, and threatens to stab the bully. But before Michael can thank him, Alex disappears faster than Dukakis’s political career.

Luckily, Michael runs into Alex the next day, so they decide to get a drink and chat. No one pushes Michael’s face in the bar or smashes a beer bottle, so the hang out is a success. The conversation mainly consists of Alex spouting out manosphere talking points. If this movie were made today, Alex would definitely have thoughts about high-value men. Then they go to another bar where Alex puts on a fake French accent and lies to everyone because his idea of a good time is lying to people for no reason at all. That’s when they meet Clarie (Lisa Zane - that’s right, Billy’s sister!).
They all go back to Michael’s super '90s apartment. It’s all windows and dark with hardly any furniture, but he does have a video camera and TV set up. Michael and Claire pass out on the couch, and Alex stares at them while they sleep like a psychopath. When Claire wakes up, she and Alex make out, but he tells her to go fuck Michael instead, and she’s like, “OK, cool.” The next morning, Michael wakes up to Alex watching a sex tape of Michael and Claire knocking boots, which is just super-cool normal bro stuff, right?

And here’s where my plot summary ends, thrill seekers. Just know that filming a sex tape without consent and watching it isn’t a red flag for our buddy, Michael. Instead, he’s all-in on Alex, and Alex is all-in on infiltrating Michael’s life and controlling him, including “helping” him with that annoying coworker and that whole engagement thing. Murder, insider trading, and questionable decisions ensue.

Is it a thrill? Yep, this one is good y’all. Rob Lowe plays a good creep. He’s played a few assholes throughout his career, but usually the movie still wants us to like him like in St. Elmo’s Fire or in comedies like Wayne’s World or Tommy Boy. Lowe is an impossibly good-looking man, and I love that Bad Influence weaponizes that, showing that he can just move through life with pretty boy privilege and get what he wants with no consequences (for a while anyway).

If this movie has been made two years earlier, James Spader and Rob Lowe probably would’ve swapped roles. Spader always has a darkness about him, which is why he’s so great at playing douchebags and assholes. It’s entertaining to watch him play such a broken tool for most of the movie, but because it’s Spader when he’s finally had enough, we believe it.

I do wish they’d given Lisa Zane a little more to do. The character is just there to do whatever the man in the scene tells her to do, and she does it no questions asked. She deserves better.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 bunnies in a boiling pot

Weekend Open Thread

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 02:00:00 -0500

Review: THE DINK

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0500

by Rob DiCristino
Or: Unhappy Gilmore

As he so often does, our very own Adam Riske dropped some wisdom on me today: I was sitting at home, watching my screener for Apple TV’s upcoming pickleball comedy, The Dink, and wondering why things haven’t quite come together for New Girl breakout Jake Johnson. He’s a famous guy getting plenty of work — he’s played supporting roles in blockbusters like Jurassic World and the Spider-Verse films and starred on underrated series like HBO’s Minx — but have any of those projects taken him to the next level? Remember when he was the sidekick in Tom Cruise’s The Mummy? No, you don’t! That movie’s not real. Hell, most of the questions he’s getting in the Dink junket interviews are about the potential for a New Girl reunion. That can’t feel great, you know? “Aside from TV and streaming, the industry doesn’t have a place for a guy like him,” Adam said. And he’s right! Johnson is too seasoned for a Zoey Deutch rom-com, and he’s already served his tour in the Marvel Universe. Still, he’s a talented comedian! He should be a movie star! This shouldn't be hard!
And perhaps it’s that dearth of forward momentum that prompted Johnson to reach back into film history for inspiration. To wit: The Dink, an endearing, old-school sports comedy harkening back to — and, in some cases, straight-up stealing from — IMDb favorites like Caddyshack, Happy Gilmore, and BASEketball. Johnson is Dusty “The Hammer” Boyd, a former tennis prodigy who, much to the chagrin of his hard-charging father/coach, Chuck (Ed Harris, more genial than usual but still absolutely terrifying), had his career cut short by a devastating wrist injury. Now in his schlubby mid-forties, Dusty has settled into the role of junior tennis instructor at Chuck’s swanky country club, regaling indifferent youngsters with stories of his late lamented glory days. One never knows when a hero will be called to battle, however, and trouble soon rears its head in the form of a tennis purist’s worst nightmare: Pickleball. The club's septuagenarian set (including Mary Steenburgen’s Candace) is obsessed, and it’ll be up to Dusty to stop its insidious spread before it’s too late.

Helmed by reliable comedy director Josh Greenbaum (Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Will & Harper, and 2027’s Spaceballs: The New One) and written by Hollywood Handbook podcast co-host Sean Clements, The Dink is a good-natured, low-stakes affair perfect for audiences looking to taper off from the 70mm majesty of last week’s The Odyssey. It’s a formula we’ve all seen before: Dusty’s a headstrong has-been who never mustered the courage to admit he needed a Plan B. For him, this push for more pickleball courts — led by the feisty Candace, her doubles partner, Judy (Lynne Marie Stewart), and the self-elected committee president, Skip (Patton Oswalt) — is more than just an existential threat to the sport of tennis; it’s a threat to the fantasy that he still has enough time to earn back his father’s love. But when he volunteers to represent the tennis pros in an all-or-nothing pickleball duel against former rival Andy Roddick — a flimsy story conceit handwaved so hard you’ll feel a gentle breeze — Dusty discovers an unexpected path to redemption.
That path is riddled with light-hearted, reflexive comedy irreverence as Dusty struggles to downshift to pickleball’s leisurely pace. Pickleballers are curious characters, he discovers, but the more he gets to know them — and the more he finds himself falling for Candace, a recent divorcee who makes him country music playlists and invites him over to watch The Graduate (!) — the more “The Hammer” sees the benefit of a softer approach to life in general. Sean Clements builds a genre scaffold sturdy enough to support all the silliness, though there are times when Greenbaum’s PG-13 sensibilities make stray gags like Dr. Stone’s (Ben Stiller) porn fixation and PJ’s (Aaron Chen) sexual attraction to a decommissioned battleship — it makes slightly more sense in context — feel a bit out of place. The Dink is charming enough that you’ll forgive most of those missteps, I think, though not even I could excuse the wholesale theft of BASEketball’s radio joke, especially since, perhaps realizing their indiscretion, they failed to take it as far as Zucker did in ‘98.
So while The Dink is unlikely to elevate Jake Johnson’s profile to any lofty new heights, it does give him another opportunity to play his game — so to speak — and reminds us why we all found New Girl’s Nick Miller so disarming in the first place. It’s always great to see Mary Steenburgen, and the two share some unexpected chemistry in a “will they/won’t they” scheme that doesn’t go in the direction a crasser, lazier movie would probably have taken it. Christine Taylor, Chloe Fineman, and Chris Parnell all show up to say hello, and even John McEnroe’s predictable cameo is put to good use as he has a little fun with the fourth wall. Will the cinemas ever start making room for inoffensive, midbudget sports comedies like The Longest Yard, Bring it On, Slap Shot, or The Dink again? Probably not. Will talents like Jake Johnson be limited to the confines of streaming services unless they want to play one of the green army men in Disney’s inevitable live-action Toy Story reboot? Most likely. For now, let’s just be glad we all have Apple TV. You do have Apple TV, don’t you?

The Dink hits Apple TV on Friday, July 24th.

24 Hours of Movies: Keanu

fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com (fthismovie.com) — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0500
by Patrick Bromley
A day and night with one of my all-time favorite actors.

I have loved Keanu Reeves since the first time I saw him in a movie at 11 years old. He was one of the first actors I can really remember responding to in such a way that made me want to track down and see all of his other work -- smaller, early movies like River's Edge and Permanent Record that I was probably way too young to be watching. He gets great press as a human and mostly bad press as an actor, with critics leaning on lazy, decades-old stereotypes of his performances to dismiss someone I truly feel is a singular and special screen presence. To prove me right, his career has survived for 40 years. He has been one of my favorite actors during all four decades and I can't wait to devote 24 hours to watching his movies.

10 am - Youngblood (1986, dir. Peter Markle)
We'll start things off with Keanu's first movie, a hockey drama meant to capitalize on Rob Lowe's handsome stardom as the titular Dean Youngblood but which winds up being stolen from him by co-stars Patrick Swayze, Cynthia Gibb, and Keanu Reeves in what is I believe a two-scene role as a young member of the team. He's doing a French Canadian accent and everything. There's barely a sports movie cliche this movie won't touch, but it will go down easily first thing.

Noon - Speed (1994, dir. Jan de Bont)
Like in the making of a good mixtape, it's important to ramp things up with our second feature. This is one of Keanu's very best -- the movie that bought him the back half of his 1990s until The Matrix was released. He's Jack Traven, the cop who boards a bus to stop it from slowing down and killing everyone on board after a mad bomber (Dennis Hopper) plants an explosive aboard. This is spectacular Hollywood filmmaking and maybe the best action movie this side of the original Die Hard, with Keanu functioning perfectly as a man of few words and a whole lot of action.

2:30 pm - The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988, dir. Ron Nyswaner)
An early Keanu sleeper featuring one of his very worst onscreen haircuts (the other is Parenthood). He plays the eccentric son of a frustrated miner (Fred Ward, perfectly weaponized) who also happens to be in love with an older woman (Amy Madigan). This is the kind of comedy-drama that rarely gets made anymore, one in which Not Much Happens but is instead entirely character-based. Keanu shines in an early starring role playing the sort of charming space cadet in which he specialized at the start of his career. The movie is just ok, but I like the idea of trying to play some lesser-known also-rans alongside the Big Guns for our marathon.

4 pm - The Gift (2000, dir. Sam Raimi)
After three movies, it's time for some Dark Keanu. He's surprisingly good as Donnie Barksdale, abusive redneck husband and chief murder suspect in director Sam Raimi's Southern Gothic supernatural thriller. This comes from that late '90s/early 2000s period in which Raimi was trying to stretch himself and make different kinds of movies. This one isn't as good as A Simple Plan despite coming from the same writers, but it is better than its reputation would suggest (Giovanni Ribisi performance aside). The cast is wall to wall heavy hitters (Giovanni Ribisi performance aside) and the atmosphere is great even when the story sometimes lays it on a little thick. Then again, Sam Raimi has never been a very subtle filmmaker.

6 pm - Street Kings (2008, dir. David Ayer)
Another Dark Keanu, but here he's playing a dark character who's at least trying to do the right thing. He's a dirty cop on a squad of dirty cops who uncovers that some cops are dirtier than him and tries to serve some justice. This is directed but not written by David Ayer, because dirty cops in Los Angeles. He didn't write it, though; the script is from James Ellroy and Kurt Wimmer (lobster and Skittles). This is a really underrated thriller that Keanu only could have made between the Matrix trilogy and the John Wick franchise because he could take weird chances and mid-budget cop movies like this still existed. It's Den of Thieves before Den of Thieves.

8 pm - Point Break (1991, dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
Primetime Pizza goes to one of Keanu's best and a reminder that he's starred in like four of the 10 best American action movies of all time. I love his performance as Johnny Utah, an FBI agent on the trail of some bank robbing surfers, and the relationship he develops with head surfer Bodhi (Patrick Swayze). Keanu was still a bit of a blank at this point and director Kathryn Bigelow perfectly understood that he was a vessel looking to be filled -- he thinks he'll find it through law enforcement but finds it through extreme sports and spirituality. Point Break is a movie pretending to be dumb but actually very smart, made by intelligent and skillful people. How I love it.

10:15 pm - Knock Knock (2015, dir. Eli Roth)
It's getting late and we're getting tired, so our movies need to start getting darker and weirder. Eli Roth's horny remake of the already-horny Death Game fits the bill. Keanu plays a rare family man who's tested when a pair of women (Ana de Armas and Lorenza Izzo) show up on his doorstep determined to totally fuck up his life. This is a weird one in that a lot of it does work -- Keanu is great and Izzo steals the movie -- but it's all made grosser by the Eli Roth of it all. For the record, Izzo over de Armas twice on Saturday.

Midnight - Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
It's horror time! Keanu hasn't made many horror movies outside of this insane and overcranked fever dream from Francis Ford Coppola. Reeves got the worst reviews of the movie and the worst reviews of his career for his portrayal of Jonathan Harker, but they were mean and kind of unwarranted. His English accent is shaky, I'll concede, but his innate innocence and decency shine through. The inconsistencies in his performance can be forgiven by the fact that everyone in the cast is acting in a different movie. Also, it's weird how much Gary Oldman's Dracula keeps talking about how much he loves standard def DVDs.

2:30 am - A Scanner Darkly (2006, dir. Richard Linklater)
There's no better time to watch Richard Linklater's adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly than 2:30 am. The wild rotoscope animation visuals and trippy narrative can just wash over us. One of my favorite movies of 2006 and arguably Linklater's most underrated effort features Keanu's second pairing with possible wife Winona Ryder; the cast also includes Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey Jr., and Rory Cochrane. As usual, Keanu is very good as a guy trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Spare me your punchlines.

4:30 am - The Night Before (1988, dir. Thom Eberhardt)
I love the idea of playing a One Crazy Night comedy as we survive One Crazy Night. A really funny pre-fame comedy features Keanu as a sweet dork who gets Lori Loughlin to go prom with him but then gets all messed up and loses her to a pimp; the rest of the movie (which, in true Eberhardt fashion, never actually shows us the prom) consists of his efforts to find her and get her back. It's basically The Odyssey. Yes, there is a good deal of 1980s grossness that hasn't dated well, but Keanu is so funny and director Eberhardt so insistent on upending every convention of the then-popular teen comedy that this winds up being something special.

6 am - John Wick Chapter 2 (2017, dir. Chad Stahelski)
I don't want to program a whole Keanu marathon without at least one John Wick movie, especially because at this point in the marathon it's becoming clear that there won't be any Matrix movies (gotta save something for the inevitable follow-up marathon). I haven't revisited the franchise in a couple of years, but my memory is that Chapter 2 is my favorite of a series with no bad entries. It's got the cool hall of mirrors finale and expands on the mythology just enough without becoming totally silly. Plus it will be cool to wake up watching all the people getting shot in the head.

8 am - Destination Wedding (2018, dir. Victor Levin)
One of the things I want to be able to do with this marathon is show different sides of Keanu, and he rarely gets to do this kind of dialogue-driven movie or play the lead of a romantic comedy. Plus it pairs him with Winona Ryder again and those two have the ability to bring out the best in one another. This one feels largely forgotten, which is a shame because it's incredibly charming while still maintaining its acid edge.

9:30 am - Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991, dir. Peter Hewitt)
I want to end with this one not just because it's the best of the Bill & Ted movies and because it represents Keanu's amazing 1991 summer (this and Point Break were released weeks apart) but because the only thing better than watching 24 straight hours of Keanu Reeves movies would be ending our Keanu marathon with the utopian montage and "God Gave Rock 'n Roll II You" by KISS.