Monthly Archives: August 2022

The Bad Guys (dir by Pierre Perifel)

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

I’ve always loved movies about heists, and The Bad Guys hits the mark on so many levels. Based on the Scholastic books by Aaron Blabey, The Bad Guys focuses on a group of thieves known for their dastardly deeds. They also happen to be some of the scariest animals around. We have Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell, Moon), the charismatic leader of the group. Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson, This is the End) is a master of disguise. Mr. Snake (Marc Maron, Netflix’s Glow) can slither through any vent and doubles as rope when necessary. Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos, In the Heights) is the brute force / muscle of the team. And finally, my favorite is Ms. Tarantula, a.k.a. “Webs” (Awkwafina, Jumanji: The Next Level), who can hack into any computer system. They are the 2nd most wanted thieves in the city (the top spot going to the elusive jewel thief , The Crimson Paw) and Officer Misty Luggins (Alex Bornstein, Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) is doing her best to apprehend them.

After a cool opening that introduces us to the team, they’re challenged by Mayor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz, Deadpool 2) as being off their game. This turns the crew’s attention to Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade, The Watch) and his Golden Dolphin as a possible trophy. When their plot fails and they are arrested, Professor Marmalade strikes a deal with the Mayor to help turn The Bad Guys into The Good Guys. Will the team put their thieving ways behind them or are they incapable of change?

Pierre Perifel previously worked on Kung Fu Panda 2 and directed the animated short film Bilby, the latter of which is closer in style to The Bad Guys. It’s almost a comic book style that reminds me of Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, mostly. I liked it overall, but there are some moments where it seems like the anthropomorphic characters have better designs to them than their human counterparts. It’s not terrible (It’s not even truly noticeable unless you’re really paying attention), but just a nitpick.

Where The Bad Guys shines is the cast. Each main character has a good match with the voice actor behind it. Robinson’s Shark is a huggable bear at heart. The only one who threw me off in the cast was Ayoade’s Marmalade, who reminded me a lot of Rhys Darby (Jumanji). He’s still great, though, trying to help the group turn over a new leaf. It’s Rockwell and Maron’s performances that are the strongest here, even from the start of the film. Rockwell’s Wolf is charismatic and smooth (and is a great dancer). Maron’s gruff and grumbly, unless the moment brings a guinea pig in view. I couldn’t imagine anyone else for these roles.

Ms. Tarantula (Akwafina) is an expert hacker and a member of The Bad Guys.

The pacing for the film is pretty quick, for a movie that runs an hour and 40 minutes. I would have preferred a few more heists in the film, but the story we are given works. Although the last 3rd of the film is a little over the top and I would have liked to have seen more with the ending, The Bad Guys comes with a number of twists and surprises that had me laughing and cheering on the team. Much of the dialog and style seems like it could have come from films like Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Mann’s Thief or Soderbergh’s Out of Sight, but set in such a way that it’s tailored to younger audiences. While the story does have some morals to it, the film never really reaches early Pixar levels of emotion. Only the youngest of fans may want to reach for a tissue or two at some point, if that. I wouldn’t mind seeing this get a sequel at some point.

Daniel Pemberton (Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse) brings a blues/jazzy tone to the score of The Bad Guys. It almost channels David Holmes’ Ocean’s 11 in some ways, but again, that just the genre. Additionally, tracks like “Brand New Day” by The Heavy, “Good Tonight” by Anthony Ramos, and “Stop Drop Roll” by Can’t Stop Won’t Stop help are great touches to the movie. One nitpick I did have was that the trailer used Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” to promote the film, but it wasn’t actually used in the movie. I thought it would have made a perfect fit.

Overall, The Bad Guys is a great little heist film for kids (and adults alike), with a great set of characters. The redemption arc isn’t a heavy hitting one, but it does offer the notion that even the scariest of characters aren’t as bad as they appear.

Music Video of the Day: Hold Me Now by Thompson Twins (1983, directed by Rupert James)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Today’s music video of the day is for a song that epitomizes the 80s for a lot of people.  I don’t know how many John Hughes’s film featured Hold Me Now but it seems like everyone one of them should have.  This was not only the group’s first big hit but the video was a popular one in the early years of MTV.  This was one of those videos that proved that even a performance clip could be more than just a video of the band on stage.

Enjoy!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 8/14/22 — 8/20/22

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I came home on Monday and I ended up spending most of the week making plans for our annual October horrorthon.  So, I have not watched much.  (Well, I have watched a lot of the Big Brother Live Feeds, I will admit to that.)  Here’s a few thoughts on what little I did watch this week:

The Bachelorette (ABC, Monday Night)

Eh.  Everyone went to Amsterdam and learned about sadomasochism.  Considering that they’re voluntarily on a reality show, it would seem that should be something that they all should already know about.  Logan was kicked off the show because he failed his COVID test.  Gabby not only has better men than Rachel but she also gets to go on more interesting group dates.  It’s just not the same without Meatball.

Better Call Saul (AMC, Monday Night)

Better Call Saul came to a close last night with one of the best finales that I’ve ever seen.  As someone who spent this entire final season convinced that there was no way that Jimmy/Saul/Gene was going to still be alive at the end of the show, I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when it turned out that everyone in prison knew who he was and loved him.  It was a great wrap-up and here’s hoping that Bob Odernkirk finally gets his Saul Emmy.

Big Brother (CBS and Paramount+, All The Time)

Well, so much for the Leftovers!  They were a fun alliance while it lasted but Kyle would rather get laid than actually win the game.  What’s funny is that there’s no way Alyssa is going to be as interested in Kyle once they’re no longer locked in the House together and she actually has other options.  This relationship is going to be almost as short as their sex sessions.  (“I’m not very good at sex,” Kyle told her, after lasting 45 seconds.  KYLE, YOU’RE ON THE LIVE FEEDS, SWEETHEART!  YOUR MOM IS PROBABLY WATCHING!)

Thursday’s episode was two hours long and it turned out to be a disaster.  I’m assuming that they were originally planning on doing a double eviction on Thursday but, for whatever reasons, they changed their minds at the last minute and basically had use every piece of filler they could find to fill out the time slot.  Either way, most Big Brother viewers felt a bit betrayed by production this week.

I’m still writing about the show over at the Big Brother Blog.

The Challenge (CBS, Wednesday Night)

Well, so much for Kyland.  With Kyland’s elimination, that means that all of the former members of the Cookout are not out of the Challenge and Alyssa is the last member standing of the Big Brother 23 cast.  Myself, I’m hoping that Tyson wins.  Why not?  He represents an entertaining era of Survivor that I fear may be over now that the show seems to be determined to be “the nice reality show.”  Go Tyson!

Inspector Lewis (YouTube)

On Tuesday, I watched another episode of Inspector Lewis.  YouTube warned me that this episode was “age-restricted,” which was not a warning that I had ever seen on this show before.  Anyway, it turned out that the age-restriction was because Lewis and Hathaway found themselves investigating a series of BSDM-style murders.  It was a bit of a sad episode, to be honest.  Oxford is a dangerous place.

Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head (Paramount+)

Oh, poor Beavis!  He really does deserve a better best friend.  This week’s episode found Beavis actually making a new friend but, unfortunately, the guy turned out to be even more obnoxious (if a bit more articulate) than Butt-Head.  Beavis’s frantic efforts to get away from his new friend were hilarious.  For that matter, I also laughed when Beavis and Butt-Head ended up getting stuck in a giant glue trap that they had set up to try to catch the racoons that were breaking into their kitchen.  How are those two still alive?

Live Tweet Alert: Watch Shaun of the Dead with #ScarySocial

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter.  I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, for #ScarySocial, @TimBuntley will be hosting 2004’s Shaun of the Dead!

That’s right!  It’s Edgar Wright’s classic zombie comedy, starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and a zombiefied London!  It’ll make you laugh.  It’ll make you scream.  And the ending …. well, the ending always make me cry.

If you want to join us on Saturday night, just hop onto twitter, start the film at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag!  The film is available on Prime and a few other streaming sites.  I’ll be there co-hosting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

Music Video of the Day: Rock ‘N’ Roll Star by Oasis (1995, directed by Nigel Dick)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This song is the epitome of Oasis.  They set out to be rock ‘n’ roll stars and they succeeded.

The video was filmed at the band’s Live By The Sea gig at Southend-on-Sea.  The clips of the band offstage were filmed at Southend Pier.  The bowling alley that the band visits later burned down.  It’s a fairly simple video from veteran director Nigel Dick.  Anyone who has ever been a rock ‘n’ roll star has been directed at least once by Nigel Dick.

Enjoy!

A Blast From The Past: Name Unknown (dir by Sid Davis)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this 1964 short film from Sid Davis, a teenage girl has been arrested.  It turns out that her boyfriend was a bank robber.  Even though she didn’t know that he was a criminal when she got together with him, the theme of this film appears to be that she should have known and, as a result of being foolish, she is now the worst person who ever lived.

In other words, this is a typical Sid Davis production.  Sid Davis films were always the most judgmental of all the old educational films.  Sid Davis specialized in using holier-than-thou narrators, who would often say things like, “And now, you’ve ruined your life.”  In this film, the narrator is a judge who is fond of saying that juveniles are “delinquent in good sense.”  As proof, he tells the story of two lovers who were robbed, a babysitter who was murdered, and another girl who was assaulted by a man who asked her out on a date.  In each case, the judge seems angrier with the victims than with the actual criminals.  As for the case of the unknowing girlfriend of the bank robber, the judge has no choice but to sentence the girl to 3 months of hard time at a juvenile detention center.  It’s for her own good because she was delinquent in good sense.

Sid Davis’s film are still popular today, precisely because they are so bizarrely angry and judgmental.  If Sid thought 1964 was a dark time for society, one can only imagine what he would think of 2022!  Watch Name Unknown below and ask yourself, “In this crazy world of ours, is there room for forgiveness?”

Music Video of the Day: Headed for a Heartbreak by Winger (1989, directed by Mark Rezyka)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

As Butt-Head once put it, while watching this very video, “His teeth are whiter than white.”

As far as commercial success goes, Winger had a brief but good run in the late 80s.  Then grunge came along and the musical landscape changed for the better.  Winger later found fame as the favorite band of Stewart Stevenson on Beavis and Butt-Head.  It was rumored that Winger became Stewart’s favorite band after Kip Winger complained about his videos being criticized by Beavis and Butt-Head.  It’s always better to laugh at yourself than to complain because being associated with Stewart is what really robbed Winger of whatever credibility they had.  Of course, it didn’t help that Lars Ulrich was seen throwing darts at Kip Winger’s face in the video for Nothing Else Matters.

This video is typical Winger stuff.  Kip sings that he’s headed for a heartbreak and you don’t believe him for a minute.

Enjoy!