Family Movie Night PLUS - GHOSTBUSTERS

 I'm not old enough to remember the days of a cartoon & news reel before the motion pictures in the theater, but I do remember some theaters still running a cartoon before a Disney movie here and there, when I was a kid.

With today's technology and the availability of so much on DVD/Blu-Ray/Youtube we can really enjoy things better than ever before.

Instead of just a plain old movie night, why not pair the movie up with some other bits of the past to make it even better?

Pick a cartoon short that goes with the general theme of the movie your watching and a half-hour episode of a television show that does the same.

For an easy one, I went with this set that, to me, is a great mix....

"Ghostbusters", released June 8th 1984, the comedy/adventure classic as the main showing, it's a really fun family film that almost everyone still enjoys, it's got a great history and we just had the new sequel, "After Life", just came out.

Before Ghostbusters, go all the way back to Christmas Eve, 1937 when Disney released "The Lonesome Ghosts", starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck & Goofy as the Ajax Ghost Exterminators Agency, who are called to a house to rid it of ghosts, trouble is, it's the four trouble-making ghosts who called them in.  You can find the short version of this short, with about 2+ minutes cut from the original, on Youtube.

Then after Ghostbusters, an episode of "The Real Ghostbusters" animated show, "Citizen Ghost", where Peter tells the story of how Slimer came to live with the gang at the firehouse and follows directly up after the original film.  The suits the Ghostbusters wore to battle Gozer were supposed to be disposed of (oops Venkman) and take on a life of their own, with doubles of the team that try to take out the originals and take their place.  It's available on the DVD Series collection.

Watched together, it all just flows and makes for a really fun night for the family along with your favorite pizza (New York style, of course).  And it should all take less than 2.5 hours but it's something that the family should remember. 

What combinations can you think of that go together?

Just a quick historical note of irony, as "Lonesome Ghosts" debuted on Christmas Eve 1937 in theaters,  With no mention in the schedule at all, HBO gave its subscribers a major surprise Christmas present on Christmas Eve 1984 with a single airing of, "Ghostbusters", which didn't make it's official HBO debut until March 1985.  It's a Christmas Eve tradition of a surprise showing that they would continue for several years.

Super Sunday : The Angel

 Among the MANY classic mutant characters that Bryan Singer completely screwed up, The Angel stands as one of the worst.  It started off great, one of the few bright points of the third X-Men film, a good backstory of problems with his bigoted father and him finally breaking free to seek shelter in the Mansion but it quickly ended there.  

Warren Worthington III is one of the original X-Men and should have been treated far better… but then again, Singer pretty much screwed up everything X he touched, although Quick Silver and First Class were good, but that was probably more the writers than him.  

The Angel is worthy of a beautiful and uplifting film, if not a two

film arch that ends with him joining the X-Men.  No need for Archangel at all, at least not for a while, no need to rush into anything, he also needs some time with, The Defenders.  This could also be the chance to introduce Mutants into the MCU, Strange forms the Defenders in the teaser at the end of Angel 2, then later joins the X-Men.

The main problem with getting any super hero movie done right are directors like Singer (clueless) and studio execs who don’t care about story telling and only think about toy lines and $$$, often with no clue about the characters or how films are even made.

For Angel, a love story, not some teeny-bopper nonsense that Disney or Singer would do, a good one, with actual heart and, INSPIRATION, that should be a big part of it.  

Billionaire heir apparent and his bigoted father war over a woman that Warren has fallen for, maybe another mutant, and in a final outburst of defiance he shows his father who he really is, saving his girl and others.

This all came to me one day driving around and Faith Hills, If My Heart Had Wings, came on the radio, it’s perfect for a story with Angel.  Keep the original by Hill, if not add some more power to the background music, don’t let some hip-hop fool revamp and pervert it.

This is one of those great opportunities that Marvel has, but is probably overlooking and not seeing the potential of the character, it could be an incredible movie.

https://youtu.be/sFeD1sHuA-Q

Aliens, 35 years later, still ACTION PACKED!

Even though today is #MovieMonday, I did the big review for Dick Tracy this past weekend, but wanted to pop a quickie for this sci-fi/action classic that just had it's 35th Anniversary less than a week ago.

Hands down, my favorite of the Alien franchise, Aliens is (as I said) far more sci-fi/action than the horror/sci-fi film in the original installment, which felt more industrial than space ship to me.  The original film literally scared the hell out of people in the theater, and did so with such impact, most of us who saw it originally in theaters still can't help but jump at certain scenes, it left the lasting impression that a horror film is supposed to leave, this time in space as Jaws once did for the water.  With Titanic, Terminator, The Abyss, True Lies, and Avatar director, James Cameron at the helm. 

Here Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has been found after 57 years in stasis, she's accused of destroying the Nostromo for "untold reasons" in a kangaroo board room court, only to find out that LV426 now has a colony of teraformers on it, but in 20 years, haven't encountered anything...

Of course the colony suddenly goes quiet and Ripley is recruited to accompany a group of Galactic Marines to investigate why they lost contact.  Here we encounter the only predictably down side of the plot, a "commanding officer" who obviously got promoted by kissing @$$ rather than battlefield experience and Ripley has to rev-up the tank to save the Marines.  

During all this, they find a survivor, a young girl nicknamed Newt, who's got quite the confidence/attitude and, as kids sometimes do, kinda steals the show, but the script keeps Ripley and Hicks (Michael Biehn) at the forefront of the story.

In one battle Newt is taken by the Aliens and Ripley must rescue her, but not only from a station full of deadly aliens but from a queen mother of the hive, who eventually comes after Ripley herself. 

This film isn't the scarefest that the original was, and is much more a straight up action film, lots of gun fire, explosives, acid dripping and spraying, but still lots of humans getting bumped off.

As a pair, this one and the first are great together, they seem the films together nicely and this one goes along with most of the first, but I can't recommend the 3rd installment as part of movie night, just stick with the Double Feature. 🎥🎬

This one gets 🌟🌟🌟 stars out of five, it's fun and exciting but can be a bit predicable ... and Weaver's wardrobe isn't as good as the first 😉... okay, it gets Four Stars...

 

Moon Knight, Marvel's missed opportunity

MOON KNIGHT

This is a missed opportunity by Marvel Comics and a potential smash hit for Marvel Studios in the MCU.

I'll be one of the first to admit that Moon Knight is a ripoff of, The Batman.  Millionaire playboy by day and vigilante at night, there I've said it, but he's still around after all these years, time to use the character right ....

With the craze over supernatural films about vampires, werewolves and other such things that go bump in the night, have Moon Knight be strictly a hunter of those things that, go bump in the night. Stop mixing him up with drug lords, cartels and terrorists, and go another route but use the classic look.

The character is due for a more specific reboot!  The "mental illness" bit just does not seem right, at all, but having one voice in his head he can't shake, one that takes him years to figure out, and turns out to be the voice of Khonshu trying to guide him.

One franchise from outside the Marvel Universe they should pick up, Carl Kolchak : The Night Stalker, it would be a great tie-in with this hero’s adventures and any of them who had run ins with monsters.

Marc Spectre is one of Carl’s two nephews, the other is Dr Cyle Kolchak a mutant with a computer like memory, the ability to “read between the lines” of historical texts to see what really happened in that era and has a sensory perception to historical artifacts.  

Cyle’s partner in adventures is the incredible, Gorilla Man, both are part of the, Agents of Atlas, a group of world adventurers whose organization was founded by Allen Quartermane himself.

Cyle is also been used as a consultant by Dr Strange, Professor Xavier, Tony Stark and many others on historical matters and aid in identifying historical artifacts and their meaning.

They need to stick with him as, The Fist Of Khonshu but tweak it so that he hunts down the creatures of the night.  His powers rise and fall with the lunar calendar, like most of what he hunts, his powers would be at their peak when the moon is fullest.  He's got some good allies and I like the idea of the aliases, perhaps a history with some secret spy agency could be developed, to explain all of his back alley connections around the world.  Unlike Bruce Wayne, who mostly trained himself, Marc Specter could have had formal training, but only hint to it, leave the overall a mystery.

A team up with Dr Strange is a given, but also team up with Spider Man, believing that The Man Wolf was one of his prey only to find that it's something else, this also allows The Man Wolf to be introduced to the MCU for later use, he's another missed opportunity character.  A team of Moon Knight, Man Wolf & Blade could make for an awesome film, he's really got a ton of potential and possibilities.

This also opens the potential for, The Midnight Sons, led by Dr. Strange and teams him up with, Ghost Rider, Blade, Manwolf, Whistlers Daughter (3rd Blade movie, one of the very few good things about it), among other darker heroes of the MCU.

Movie Monday - Donovan's Reef

Movie Monday

Donovan's Reef

My personal favorite in the John Wayne library.

I chose this movie first for several reasons, mainly because it was made back when movies were made for the right reason, to make great movies.  Almost all movies in the last 30+ years have been made for other reasons, be it ego or action figures or cut to certain times so that it would be picked up in syndication, those aren't reasons to make films.

Like Cecil B DeMille, John Ford was a truly great filmmaker and this one is a load of fun.  It's got fights, a very lovely leading lady, excellent comedy, penguins ... I mean Nuns, and three adorable & talented kids, not to mention it takes place at Christmas time.

Set in the beautiful Hawaiian islands, John Wayne (Mike Donovan) & Lee Marvin (Gilhooley) lead a great cast in a story about a Navy doctor (Jack Warden as Dr William Dedham) who gets a visit from his estranged daughter (Elizabeth Allen as Amelia Dedham) from Boston, about 15 years after the end of WWII.

Wayne portrays a saloon & marine shipping owner with Marvin, his old Navy mate, who just happens to share a birthday.  Each year they get together but always end up in a brawl and Marvin has come to the island to celebrate again.

Legendary sex symbol, Dorothy Lamour (Miss Lefleur) adds some spice while legendary wrestler, Mike Muzurki (Monk) helps Marcel Dalio (Father Chuzeot) toss in some humor, as well as Cesar Romero (sans the Joker makeup) as the slippery, Marquis Andre de Lage.

The story revolves around the three children, Lelani, Luke & Sarah that Dr Dedham has had since living on the island, their mother lost in childbirth.  Dr Dedham's Boston dotter (Gilhooley's spelling, not mine) comes to the island to confront her father over a family will, and doesn't know about her three siblings.  Donovan & Gilhooley try to pass the three kids off as Donovan's until their former commander returns from the low islands where he is treating his patients.

The basic here is, it's just a great movie, one that the whole family can watch, and enjoy, made for the sake of making a good movie, and this one delivers a, one-two punch of fun!