Fool's Views (11/1 – 11/30)

Things we are thankful for....

Howdy, folks,

Well, after the whirlwind that was October, with its random trips to foreign countries and the glories of SCARE-A-THON 2016 (as well as the premiere of the Doc’s foray into reality television, the Shout! Factory-produced HORROR HUNTERS, available for viewing HERE), November presented itself as a semi-return to normalcy. Or at least what serves as the “new normal” these days – only managed to get in a total of 23 viewings for the month as opposed to the headier days of the past where double that was not uncommon. But, hey, we’ll take it and be happy that it wasn’t less, right?

We’re heading into the final lap of 2016, so we’ll keep these short and sweet in the interest of sneaking a few more flicks onto the plate before the clock tolls midnight. Happy to expand my thoughts further should any be so inclined for the conversation! In other words…

Please feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

SCARE-A-THON 2016 FINAL RESULTS!!!

Nobody goes hungry on my watch....

It is accomplished!!!

For those not in the know, The October Horror Movie Challenge, at least as I have come to know and honor it, was born on the IMDb Horror message boards over a decade ago. The original rules were relatively simple: Watch 31 horror films over the course of the month, 16 of which have to be first-time viewings. Of course, for those with a combination of spare time and an enthusiastic spirit of adventure, it also could be used as an excuse to bury oneself in the genre for 31 days, rediscovering old favorites and delving into the "why have I never watched that?" pile.

This year, due to a variety of distractions (including an unexpected trip to Brazil), I elected to return to the basics. 31 flickers were viddied from Oct 1 through 31, 16 of which had never passed before these wondering, wandering eyes before. As always, there were highs and lows (more of the former than the latter), and all in the service of our ultimate goal, to raise funds and awareness for a charitable organization. This year's recipient is the GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY, for whom we were able to raise a combined total of over $1400!

Thanks to everyone who participated, whether it be reading the reviews, pledging, watching alongside, or just stopping by to chat. Your support makes the long days and nights go by so much easier. I’ll be contacting donors directly via email, but if you are still interested in contributing, contact me at drach101@gmail.com and we’ll get you to the right place.

CHALLENGE STATS:

Total Movies Watched: 31
Total First Time Views: 16
Total Scare-A-Thon Donations: $1431.63


BONUS STATS:

OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE (10/28-10/31)

Challenge Totals to Date:
Movies Watched: 4
Total Movies Watched: 31
Total First Time Views: 16
Scare-A-Thon Pledges: $1045.63
Scare-A-Thon Donations: $355

Remember, if you would like to make a pledge toward Scare-A-Thon 2016 (benefiting THE GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY) at any time, drop me an email at drach101@gmail.com to say how much you would like to pledge. Your donation is tax deductible and, seriously, even a penny per film helps.

OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE (10/24-10/27)

Challenge Totals to Date:
Movies Watched: 5
Total Movies Watched: 27
Total First Time Views: 13
Scare-A-Thon Pledges: $910.71

Remember, if you would like to make a pledge toward Scare-A-Thon 2016 (benefiting THE GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY) at any time, drop me an email at drach101@gmail.com to say how much you would like to pledge. Your donation is tax deductible and, seriously, even a penny per film helps.

OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE (10/19-10/23)

Challenge Totals to Date:
Movies Watched: 4
Total Movies Watched: 22
Total First Time Views: 12
Scare-A-Thon Pledges: $698.06

Remember, if you would like to make a pledge toward Scare-A-Thon 2016 (benefiting THE GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY) at any time, drop me an email at drach101@gmail.com to say how much you would like to pledge. Your donation is tax deductible and, seriously, even a penny per film helps.

OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE (10/11-10/18)

Challenge Totals to Date:
Movies Watched: 8
Total Movies Watched: 18
Total First Time Views: 10
Scare-A-Thon Pledges: $553.14

Remember, if you would like to make a pledge toward Scare-A-Thon 2016 (benefiting THE GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY) at any time, drop me an email at drach101@gmail.com to say how much you would like to pledge. Your donation is tax deductible and, seriously, even a penny per film helps.

SHIN GODZILLA (2016) MOVIE REVIEW

Shin Godzilla (2016) d. Hideaki Anno (Japan)

As a longtime G-fan, this was a difficult one to clock. From the outset, there is much to admire, with echoes of the 1954 original reverberating loud and long throughout both in tone and plot. Then, following an electrifying mid-film attack sequence that leaves jaws agape and minds blown, the entire film deflates, descending into a boggy series of human contemplations and conversations. (Similar to the original, only with fewer engaging or empathetic characters.) Certainly, there are potent topics broached within the sci-fi monster-on-the-loose context, topics that deserve our time and attention (nukes, global warming, global politics, and legacies both personal and political). However, I argue, not at the expense of satisfying audience expectations and this audience came to see a Godzilla movie.

OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE (10/7 - 10/10)

Challenge Totals to Date:

Movies Watched: 4
Total Movies Watched: 10
Total First Time Views: 5
Scare-A-Thon Pledges: $304.80

Remember, if you would like to make a pledge toward Scare-A-Thon 2016 (benefiting THE GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY) at any time, drop me an email at drach101@gmail.com to say how much you would like to pledge. Your donation is tax deductible and, seriously, even a penny per film helps.

OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE (10/4 - 10/6)

Challenge Totals to Date:

Movies Watched: 3
Total Movies Watched: 6
Total First Time Views: 3
Scare-A-Thon Pledges: $179.88

Remember, if you would like to make a pledge toward Scare-A-Thon 2016 (benefiting THE GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY) at any time, drop me an email at drach101@gmail.com to say how much you would like to pledge. Your donation is tax deductible and, seriously, even a penny per film helps.

OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE (10/1 - 10/3)

Challenge Totals to Date:

Movies Watched: 3
Total Movies Watched: 3
Total First Time Views: 2
Scare-A-Thon Pledges: $86.94

Remember, if you would like to make a pledge toward Scare-A-Thon 2016 (benefiting THE GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY) at any time, drop me an email at drach101@gmail.com to say how much you would like to pledge. Your donation is tax deductible and, seriously, even a penny per film helps.

SCARE-A-THON 2016: FIGHT HUNGER WITH HORROR

Hello, friends and fellow fiends! It’s that time of year again, where nights come quicker, leaves rustle louder, and monsters and maniacs come out to play....

It’s time for SCARE-A-THON 2016.

Darn it, how do you open these things....?

Fool's Views (9/1 – 9/30)

Bam. Just in the nick of time! No time for chit-chat, as The October Challenge draws nigh.....

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!!!

Fool's Views (8/1 – 8/31)

Wow, where the hell did the time go? I turned around after the whirlwind that was August and suddenly I’m clearing my plate for the upcoming OCTOBER HORROR MOVIE CHALLENGE/Scare-A-Thon 2016. Which means that I should probably post the Views from the past couple months, right? Sheesh!

Time being the fleeting mistress that she is, I guess we’re going to keep these short and sweet. If you’d like to chat further about any of the flickers listed below, feel free to leave a comment or two, and we can blather on together until the shadows grow long….

(Translation: Leave your two cents worth and we’ll make sure you get some change back.)

Enjoy!

Fool's Views (7/1 - 7/31) (Part 2)

As promised, here is the rest of the bunch, comprised of one lovely day at the multiplex where all the schedules lined up like constellations in the sky and my Civilian proclivities for the month. Hope you dig.

TERROR IN THE AISLES: SUMMER 2016

Fool's Views (7/1 - 7/31) (Part 1)

Whew! What a loaded-to-the-gills summer we’re having. Trips from coast to coast for Enlightened Warrior Training Camps, quickie vacations to New England to see the in-laws and the outlaws (aka our friends), and nonstop fitness sessions for the brave and the misguided alike. And yet, somehow we still managed to sneak in a few flickers both on the big screen and in the occasionally sweltering confines of Chez AC.

Since my rambling this month took a turn for the gabtastic, I’ve broken up this month’s Views into two, count ’em TWO installments for your reading pleasure. Hope you can handle the suspense. Hey, is anyone still there? Hello? Hello? Echoooooooo….

As per usual, please feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974)

In conjunction with Cinema SuperCollider's upcoming podcast, we take a break from our usual programming to showcase Anna McKibben's essay, which originally appeared in the Rondo Award-winning compendium, HIDDEN HORROR. Hope you enjoy!

“It's all here. Read it carefully then sign at the bottom in blood. Messy, I know, but it's the only way to bind. Tradition.”

Fool's Views (6/1 – 6/30)

Hola, mis amigos!

Well, birthday month came and went, and I found myself spending even less time in front of the tube (or the computer) than before, resulting in one of the lowest June totals I’ve logged in years: A mere dozen flickers, only a handful of which could really be counted as horror. (A week into July, I think I’ve already hit that number, so fear not, true believers.) Additionally, the films themselves were a decidedly mixed lot, with no real breakout first-time Views in the mix. Still, you take the good, you take the bad, you take the so-bad-it’s-good, and there you have the Facts of Life.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

Fool's Views (5/1 – 5/31)

Howdy, pardners,

May was an interesting month, with the flickers coming in fits and starts, and none of them before the halfway point following my return from Barcelona. (Flying back on Air Canada, we were denied the anticipated glory of in-flight entertainment and had to settle for – sigh – READING. Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, in case anyone was wondering.) The Enlightened Warrior Training Camp experience kept me more-than-occupied while abroad, and once I had returned, there was little time to enjoy the recliner since I had a ton of personal training sessions to make up for having been gone for two glorious weeks in the Spanish countryside.

However, the joy that marked the second annual Turkey Day in May festival out in the Krypt du Kitley delivered the goods (and another seven titles) and the Memorial Day weekend allowed for sufficient chill time to enjoy a few civilian treats as well. (My Jason Bateman festival, by the way, is pretty nigh at its completion. Couple more on the list, but I think I’ve pretty much seen all I need to see for now. That said, it might be time to renew my Robert Aldrich exploration – still quite the unexplored bounty there.)

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

Fool's Views (4/1 – 4/30)

How do you, my friends?

Apologies for the delay in posting the April Views. My plan was to catch up on them during my overseas flight to Barcelona where I am currently serving on crew for the Enlightened Warrior Training Camp. However, as fate would have it, my international travels were equipped with a ton of in-flight flickers that I had more than a passing interest in, and so, instead of scribbling about the films I’d already seen that month, I decided to pack another quartet in. Such is the fate of the Obsessive/Compulsive Cinephile.

Speaking of the OCC, a goodly portion of the films consumed this month were spent in the company of Oshkosh blood brother John Pata who had come down to Chicago to catch Green Room on the big screen during its opening weekend… only to find out that “opening weekend” only included New York and L.A. I mean, come ON, what the hell???? Still, we made the most of it, tucking into five films on Saturday in the cinema and then another five at Chez AC for the monthly Share the Scare session. (Yep, four for four so far this year, with May’s date already penciled in.)

The impromptu Jason Bateman mini-festival was the result of my growing appreciation for the Arrested Development star, who knocked me out last year with his dramatic performance in the wildly underappreciated 2012 effort, Disconnect. Well, a random viewing of Bad Words – his directorial debut – during an out-of-town friend’s visit sparked my scouring of the public library shelves and Netflix offerings. I won’t say that JB has the most diverse of thespian skill sets, but when he’s in his zone, there’s no one who does what he does quite like he does. (Joel Edgerton somehow popped up in three movies as well, but that was unintentional, so he doesn’t get his own heading.)

As always, please feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

Fool's Views (3/1 - 3/31)

Greetings, my friends!

Well, March came in like a muthah and left like a muthah, with a wide array of flickers watched in her wake. Even managed to get out to the cinema on five separate occasions and – here’s the weird part – I only saw a single movie on each of those five occasions. Usually it’s the other way around, five movies in one movie trip. Ah well, the times, they are a changin’. (Don’t you believe it.)

But in addition to the rampant big screening, I was also sampling more of the Netflix wares, although I must admit that even at the deal of $10/month, I still feel like I could see a better, wider variety (for free) from Ye Olde Publicke Library. NF streaming definitely has a few hard-to-find gems, but for my consumption these days, I just have to wonder if I couldn’t go back to pocketing that ten-spot and buy a monthly foot-long burrito instead.

Especially since the horror screeners continued unabated, to the point where I openly admit I’m not even close to keeping up anymore. Thanks to Arrow, Shout! Factory, and Vinegar Syndrome for their continued excellent and output, and know that I’m doing my best to shovel ‘em into my eyes and pound out something coherent on the keyboard in a timely manner.

On that note, enough of the preamble and on with the ramble. As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

Fool's Views (2/1 – 2/29)

Hello there!

The shorter the month, the fewer the Views, if one were to believe the tale of the tape. And really, why wouldn’t you believe the tape? I mean, what has the tape ever done to you to deserve your mistrust? Then again, physical media is a dying form and it might just be trying to impress you by telling you what you want to hear. I mean, you’re reading this so-called tale of the tape on the INTERNET, for crying out loud.

But I digress.

February was actually a dynamite month for movies, with more hits than misses, and many of them viewed in the company of fellow fiends and friends – in fact, in looking at the titles below, I think I only watched one of them alone-ish (the femalien was popping in and out of Unfriended), while the rest were shared with one or more others. Perhaps this is the true meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown, when you don’t have to watch something like The Sinful Dwarf or Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood by your lonesome.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

Fool's Views (1/1 - 1/31)

Howdy, folks,

So, it’s been a slow-ish start to the new year, especially in terms of longer reviews, but I’m okay with this if you are. January’s Views consisted primarily of Share the Scares with my fellow Chicago blood brothers, working through the SAG Award nominee screeners, chill time with the femalien, and a couple trips to the local library; while nothing really blew my doors off, there were definitely some high points amidst the hype.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

Civilian 2015 Wrap-Up and Year-End Stats!

I've always been a firm believer in building up suspense, he said in response to the inevitable question, "What the hell took so long to post the second half of the year-end recap????"

Anyway, here's the rest of the goods from 2015. Didn't spend much time at the cineplex this year, so I can't say that this really reflects the state of The Year That Was, but then again, maybe it does, seeing as how I wasn't all that drawn to seek out the latest shiny new objects. Or maybe that just says more about me.

As before, all titles listed were encountered for the first time from January 1 to December 31, 2015 (i.e. no repeat viewings were eligible), with top picks denoted with an asterisk. (*)



TOP CIVILIAN RELEASES OF 2015

Dr. AC's 2015 Horror Wrap-up Extravaganza!

"Yuuu vill... keep vatching... de movies. Even venn dey suuuuuuuck."

Howdy folks,

Well, here we are again, 16 years into the 2000s, and still no apocalypse. The moving pictures keep moving, the grid is still intact, and people keep reading these silly slices of inanity, so I guess we gotta keep doing these year-end wrap-ups until the pitchforked mobs tell us otherwise.

HE MUST BE STOPPED, I TELL YOU!!!!!

AXE (aka LISA, LISA) (1974) Blu-ray Review

Axe (aka Lisa, Lisa) (1974) d. Frederick R. Friedel (USA)

After beating a former partner to death and sending his male lover out of a high rise window, three desperate criminals flee the city to lay low for a while until the heat blows over. Steele (Jack Canon), the leader of the bunch, Lomax (Ray Green), the ruthless muscle, and Billy (writer/director Friedel), the clearly conflicted newbie, finally decide to roost at an out-of-the-way farmhouse, inhabited by a young woman, Lisa (Leslie Lee), and her mute, invalid, unnamed grandfather (Douglas Powers). The thugs proceed to bully and boss their way into the house and make themselves part of the “family,” with Steele and Lomax clearly creating unsavory designs for their beautiful, unwilling hostess. But beneath a meek exterior, Lisa’s still waters run deep and dangerous, with a knack for utilizing sharp implements when the occasion calls for it.

Fool's Views (12/1 – 12/31)

"Can we invite some girls next year?"

And that is that is that.

The end of the year wrapped up with an array of Blu-ray reviews and a few trips to the civilian cineplexes for “must-see” viewing purposes (i.e. must see before someone spoils it for you because, well, the internet and holiday parties). Several of the last month’s views will be making an appearance on the year-end wrap-up, although perhaps not the ones you’d expect. See you with that hot mess in a day or two.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!