Stranger Things, S2 Ep6- The Spy; Steve’s Redemption, Nancy is just terrible…again

Posted on November 20, 2017 by casewright

ST2

Cold Open: E-Will is in agony, Hop is getting a rough shower, and Steve becomes a hero (that can totally do better than Nancy- seriously Mullet-Guy)!

Steve enters the storm cellar and finds …. nothing but Dart’s skin. It’s big now!

The Government shows up at Joyce’s Casa De Crazy and takes a bunch of polaroids.

Nancy and Creeper are prepping tapes of Reiser incriminating himself and they end up having sex. Yep, they do it with the prodding of a creepy alcoholic in a bunker…. really.

Reiser shows Hop that the upside down has grown.

If you feel like this review is frenetic, it really reflects the story. It was really terrible this episode. It bounced around like a cocaine addicted superball, but with a ton of corny heart to heart moments that made me seriously root for the Demagorgon and the Upside Down to win.

E-Will has difficulty recognizing people or acting. It really seems like both to me. In any case, he emotes that burning the vines hurt “It” and made the Shadowmonster angry. No one thinks that means Will has been compromised because like every episode this season the characters took stupid pills off camera.

Steve and Dustin have a long heart to heart on railroad tracks with meat to lure Dart to his death. It’s like “Stand By Me”, but boring. I’m being a little cruel here, but they deserve it. Steve is showing some pretty good acting these scenes and his character moves to pure hero, which is great, but the entire flow of the episode needs a page 1 re-write.

Hop gets outside and tries to talk to El, but his voice is to any empty prison- I mean cabin.

Steve and Dustin prepare to set a trap for the Demagorgon and Lucas and Max show up to help. When the night comes, the Demagorgon approaches, but isn’t enticed by the ground chuck. Therefore, Steve uses himself as bait. He’s officially a hero! I really thought they might kill him off here because he’d been humanized for so long. Just as Steve is about to do battle, there are now THREE demagorgons!!! THREE!!! One last season was suspenseful and awesome, but this one we have a shadowboxer, I mean monster, I mean whatever. Steve and the gang is about to be eaten, but the creatures are called off, why?

E-Will convinced the government to go after the “heart” of the vines in the evil caves, but IT’S A TRAP!!! Just as they get close, the demagorgons close in and we here the motion sensor sounds from Aliens….It’s kinda awesome and all the soldiers die.

Will tells Joyce that he’s sorry for laying a trap and that they should leave. There are three demagorgons about to attack the government facility. FADE TO BLACK.

See Below for a Hero:

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Finally, you may rest in peace

Posted on November 20, 2017 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

Abigail Folger (1943-1969)

Wojciech Frykowski (1936-1969)

Gary Hinman (1934-1969)

Leno (1925-1969) and Rosemary (1930-1969) LaBianca

Steven Parent (1951-1969)

Jay Sebring (1933-1969)

Donald “Shorty” Shea (1933-1969)

Sharon Tate (1943-1969)

Paul Richard Polanski (unborn)

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A Movie A Day #315: That Championship Season (1982, directed by Jason Miller)

Posted on November 20, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

Four former high school basketball players and their coach gather for a reunion in Pennsylvania. Twenty-five years ago, they were state champions. Now, they are all still struggling with the legacy of that championship season. George (Bruce Dern) is the mayor of Scranton and is in a fierce race for reelection. Phil (Paul Sorvino) is a wealthy and corrupt businessman who is having an affair with George’s wife. James (Stacy Keach) is a high school principal who is still struggling to come to terms with his abusive father. James’s younger brother, Tom (Martin Sheen), is an alcoholic who can not hold down a steady job. The Coach (Robert Mitchum) remains the Coach. All four of the men still want his approval, even though they know that he is actually an old bigot who pushed them to cut too many corners on their way to the championship.

Though Cannon film may have been best known for producing action films with actors like Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris, and Michael Dudikoff, they occasionally tried to improve their image with a prestige picture like That Championship Season. Not only is this film based on Jason Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play but Cannon also hired Miller himself to direct. (Before Miller was brought in, That Championship Season was nearly directed by William Friedkin, who directed Miller in The Exorcist.) While no one knew the text better than Miller, this was also his directorial debut and sometimes, his inexperience shows. The first half of the movie does a good job of opening up the play but the second half takes place almost entirely in the Coach’s house and is very stagey, never escaping its theatrical origins.

One thing That Championship Season has going for it is an excellent cast. Dern, Sorvino, Keach, and even Sheen rarely got roles with as much depth as the ones that they got here and four of them make the best of the opportunity. As for Robert Mitchum, he was known for being a mercurial actor but here, he gives one of the better performances of the latter half of his career. Because of the efforts of the ensemble, That Championship Season is one of the better Cannon prestige pictures, though Chuck Norris is still missed.

Artwork of the Day: Pay or Die

Posted on November 20, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(Hi everyone! Usually, my sister — the Dazzling Erin Nicole — tracks down and selects the images that we feature in our Artwork of the Day feature. However, Erin is taking the week off — and November 24th is not only the day after Thanksgiving but her birthday as well!, so be sure to wish her a happy one! — so, for the next few days, I’ll be selecting our artwork of the day! — Lisa Marie)

Look at those bricks fly!

Listen, I really can’t tell you a thing about whether or not Pay or Die is a good movie or not. All I know is that the film was released in 1979, it was rated R, and this was the poster. It’s a tremendously effective poster, though. I don’t know if it’s a fair representation of what happens in the movie, of course. But I hope it is. I hope there’s at least one scene featuring two men and a woman kicking the Hell out of a brick wall.

Posters like this are actually a huge reason why I enjoy researching grindhouse films. Just looking at it is enough to inspire you to create your own movie in your head. Why are they kicking through the wall? Why are they even working together? Why is the movie called Pay or Die? Do they own someone money? Does someone owe them money? Maybe they’re kicking through the wall of a bank. The possibilities are endless!

I will say this, though. If I ever did use my bare hands to smash through a brick wall, I’d probably try to make sure that my boobs were a little better protected when I did it. Seriously, I imagine breaking through a wall, especially one made of bricks, is not as safe as they make it look in the movies. Considering all of the kicking that appears to be involved, I would also probably not wear open-toed sandals while doing it either. That just seems like common sense to me.

Music Video Of The Day: Porcelain by Moby (2000, dir by Jonas Åkerlund]

Posted on November 20, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi everyone! Lisa here, with today’s music video of the day!

Ironically, when Moby first recorded Porcelain, he felt that it was such a weak song that he didn’t even want to release it. According to an interview that he gave to Billboard, the song was inspired by a real-life relationship, one that did not end well. Perhaps the subject matter was too personal for him to hear the song objectively but Moby had to literally be talked into including Porcelain on Play.

Of course, it went on to become one of his signature songs, perhaps the song for which he will always be remembered.

How many movies and advertisements have featured Porcelain? I’ve lost track. Danny Boyle made good use of it in The Beach. I remember I once even heard it playing in the background of a commercial for a local jewelry store.

As for the video, it’s simple but effective. It was directed by Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund, who directed his first video in 1988 and is still directing them today.

Enjoy!