Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday May 5th, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo with DARK ANGEL (1990) starring Dolph Lundgren, Brian Benben, Betsy Brantley, Matthias Hues, and Michael J. Pollard.
I really enjoy Amazon Prime’s plot description for the film… “A renegade cop undercover on a drug sting discovers a murderous alien who feasts on the brains of heroin addicts.” Honestly, if that description doesn’t make you want to watch the film, there’s probably nothing I can say to bring you along. On a side note, I remember this movie going under the name I COME IN PEACE when I was in high school, which is kind of cool because the bad guy will say he comes in peace right before committing horrific murder. But now it’s called DARK ANGEL, so that’s that.
So join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch DARK ANGEL! It’s on Amazon Prime. The trailer is included below:
From Luis Bunuel’s 1965 short film, Simon of the Desert, the faithful Simon (Claudio Brook) finds himself transported from 6th Century Syria to the 1960s by the Devil (Silvia Pinal). The song playing at the club is called RadioactiveFlesh. Simon wants to go home. The Devil wants to dance.
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Happy Cinco De Mayo to all of our readers! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Great Mexican Films
Simon of the Desert (1965, dir by Luis Bunuel, DP: Gabriel Figueroa)
Like Water For Chocolate (1992, dir by Alfonso Arau, DP: Emmanuel Lubezki)
Cronos (1993, dir by Guillermo del Toro, DP: Guillermo Navarra)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, dir by Guillermo del Toro, DP: Guillermo Navarro)
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasion ally Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of Mastodon’s #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We snark our way through it.
Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be an encore presentation of Truth or Dare? A Critical Madness, from director Tim Ritter!
It should make for a night of fun viewing and I invite all of you to join in. If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto Mastodon, pull up Truth or Dare on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!
Time to continue our greatest guitar solos series with another from the glam rock legends that is Queen.
The latest “Song of the Day” is “Killer Queen” from their third album Sheer Heart Attack released in 1974. The song continues the band’s exceptional use of vocal harmonies which, by 1974, had become the band’s signature calling musical card.
Brian May’s guitar solo happens on the 1:32 minute mark of the song. It’s not a bombastic, shredding-inducing melodies, but instead a multitracked solo that makes great use of bell chords where the drums and bass joins in sequentially to finish the section.
“Killer Queen” has become one of the band’s most popular songs and continued to cement Queen as one of the preeminent rock bands of the 1970’s.
Killer Queen
She keeps Moët et Chandon In her pretty cabinet “Let them eat cake,” she says Just like Marie Antoinette A built-in remedy For Khrushchev and Kennedy (Ooh, ooh) At anytime an invitation You can’t decline (Ooh, ooh)
Caviar and cigarettes Well versed in etiquette Extraordinarily nice
She’s a killer queen Gunpowder, gelatin Dynamite with a laser beam Guaranteed to blow your mind (Pa-pa-pa-pa) Anytime Ooh Recommended at the price Insatiable an appetite Wanna try?
To avoid complications She never kept the same address In conversation She spoke just like a baroness Met a man from China Went down to Geisha Minah (Ooh, ooh) (Killer, killer, she’s a killer queen) Then again incidentally If you’re that way inclined
Perfume came naturally from Paris (Naturally) For cars, she couldn’t care less Fastidious and precise
She’s a killer queen Gunpowder, gelatin Dynamite with a laser beam Guaranteed to blow your mind (Pa-pa-pa-pa) Anytime
[guitar solo]
Drop of a hat she’s as willing as Playful as a pussycat (Ooh) Then momentarily out of action (Ooh) Temporarily out of gas (Ta-taaa) To absolutely drive you wild, wild She’s out to get you
She’s a killer queen Gunpowder, gelatin Dynamite with a laser beam (Pa-pa-pa-ra) Guaranteed to blow your mind Anytime Ooh Recommended at the price Insatiable an appetite Wanna try? You wanna try
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1989 to 1991! The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi
In yourself, you must believe….
Episode 2.3 “Loyalties”
(Dir by John Bertram, originally aired on November 19th, 1990)
Oh look, more Caitlin drama.
Seriously, if I was a student at Degrassi High, I would warn any new enrollees about becoming friends with Caitlin. Caitlin may be nice and she may be sincere in her desire to be friendly with the new students but, ultimately, everything with Caitlin is a drama and being her friend means being a part of the drama, whether you want to be or not. Last season, Caitlin had to go to court after he got caught vandalizing the nuclear plant and she immediately expected all of her friends to skip school and go with her. This episode, Caitlin spots her father having a romantic lunch with someone who is not Caitlin’s mother and, of course, Caitlin’s friends are expected to forget about the own problems so they can listen to her obsess about it. And while Caitlin did not tell her mom, she did suggest that her dad take her mom to the restaurant where she previously spotted him.
Caitlin wasn’t the only person with drama this week. Michelle is struggling to deal with having gotten dumped by BLT. When she discovers that Alexa and Simon are still hanging out with BLT and his new girlfriend, Cindy, she’s not happy. Alexa and Simon, meanwhile, are tired of Michelle being such a downer. And while I had sympathy for Michelle, I also had sympathy for Alexa. It’s not easy when your friends break up and you find yourself expected to pick a side. Snake has a crush on Michelle and they go out on a date but Michelle starts crying ten minutes in. Later, Michelle apologize to Snake and says she’s not ready to date. Snake, being the perfect guy despite (or maybe because of) his nickname, is totally understanding and says he’ll wait until she’s ready.
Awwwwww!
Compared to last week’s episode, Loyalties was not quite as memorable. No one discovered they were HIV+. Still, it was a nicely done episode and I appreciated the effort to try to realistically deal with Michelle’s feelings. I’m not looking forward to the inevitable episode in which Caitlin confronts her father but I know it’ll happen. That’s Degrassi!
Welcome to May. This year is just flying by. I might as well start watching all of my horror films now because October will be here before you know it.
Actually, this month, I’m watching and reviewing a Jimmy Stewart movie each day, much as I did for Eric Roberts last month. It should be fun!
Since every horse in this weekend’s Kentucky Derby is a descendant of legendary racehorse Secretariat, I thought I would share the scene from the 2010 movie where the super horse wins the first leg of the Triple Crown. It’s good stuff!
