The Lost (2006)

First of all, what a pathetic title. Whatever happened to titles that make it easy for us to google them?!? Titles like Soylent Green, or Frankenhooker, or Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence? There's no way in hell you can find The Lost by googling it, without more information. OK, so, just so you have that information if you want it, it starred Michael Bowen, Marc Senter as the main character, Dee Wallace, Shay Astar, Megan Henning, Robin Sydney, Ed Lauter, Richard Riehle (Tom the co-worker, from Office Space) and Erin Brown, whom some of you may recall working unter the name Misty Mundae... hubba hubba hubba.

More info: The Lost was directed by Chris Sivertson, and was based on a... sort of a book between true crime and a novel, by Jack Ketchum, which was based on an actual psycho killer named Charles Howard Schmid Jr. Also, it was produced by (among other people) Lucky McKee! OK, if you remember just a few of those details, you should be able to remember enough to find it someday in the future, if you ever want to. I will stick a link to it in here somewhere, too.

Anyway, I started out with a negative comment, but it isn't really a bad movie. It's about a somewhat charismatic bad boy psycho killer guy, who draws people into his orbit, and who kills a couple of women early in the movie.

After the murder (it was actually only one of the women who died right away, the other lived on as a vegatable for four years, until the day the action of the movie resumes)... after all that, a couple of local detectives feel sure that they know the psycho killer guy (named Ray) was the one who did it, but they need more proof, or for his friends to step forward and tell the truth.

The two detectives are each sort of funny, in different ways. The Michael Bowen detective character is funny because he farts, and because he goes out of his way to make it very clear to Ray that he knows he is the killer. This is probably a difficult temptation for him to resist, but it is also pretty damned stupid of him, as we will see. The other detective, played by Ed Lauter, is supposed to be about sixty years old, and is dating a girl who is supposed to be about twenty. They seem to really like each other, but it just looks disgusting to see them together. I kind of wanted to slap my TV when he was shown with her. They actors really did have a forty year age difference when they filmed the movie, although Ed was sixty seven and the girl was twenty seven. Yikes.

The psycho killer guy Ray can be kind of entertaining and even amusing to watch, but you see evidence over the course of the film that he did not learn any kind of lesson from getting away with killing the two women at the beginning. You can tell, he could do it again, or something comparably evil, at any moment. He has one relationship with a female old friend, and another with a girl he met who seems to be kind of a bad girl. He wants to have ANOTHER relationship with Ed the detective's young girlfriend, although she makes it clear she is not interested. Also, he would basically hump anything that moves... hey, can't fault a single (-ish) guy for that.

One interesting thing about this movie is that they keep it sort of difficult to tell what decde the action takes place in. The true story that it is based on happened in the 60s, but most scenes could take place in the 70s, 80s, 90s, or early 2000s. You hardly see any references to pop culture to help place the film in any particular decade. The ways they entertain themselves usually could fit in in any decade.... you'll see what I mean, if you watch it.

Another interesting thing is that I suspect Ray might have been the model for the evil leader of the band in Jennifer's Body.

Anyway, the movie is mostly sort of a slow burn, as you gradually get a sense of what Ray is like, and what his friends and associates are like. I don't want to wreck anything, but it has a DOOZY of an ending, so it is probably worth watching just for that.

Anyway, yah. Had to share.

The Mick, 2017-2018 series

I'm a big fan of It's Always Sunny, if you didn't already know. It was around 2017 to 2020 that the cast decided they wanted to do other things. Other tv shows. Rob McEllenhey did Mythic Quest in 2020. Glenn Howerton did AP Bio in 2018. But before those, there was... The Mick.

Sunny is filled with great characters, but Dee is obviously the worst. Suffice to say, I wasn't anxious to tune into a show about bird-watching, so this show went under my radar for years. With a sudden curiosity and a dash of extreme boredom, it finally appeared on my screen and I what do you know... this show was fucking funny.



Kaitlin Olson plays a more redeemable character in this show, but she is still playing a greedy trashy person. When her sister goes to jail, aunt Mick takes this as an opportunity to mooch hard off the wealthy lifestyle while taking guardianship of the sister's three kids: possibly 7 year old Ben, 12 year old Chip, and 17 year old Sabrina. Then a bunch of dumb funny antics go on for 2 seasons (or 37 episodes), until it all ends on a cliffhanger and gets canceled. The show didn't have a chance, being on Fox network. They'll cancel anything, regardless of quality.



Normally, I hate kids in basically anything, but the Ben actor was adorable. Chip was that asshole bully in Wet Hot American Summer: First Day at Camp, and he's still an asshole here. Sabrina is the preppy high school girl, and the actress playing her is about 25, therefore I can say she is hot. There's also a fat hispanic maid, for good measure. But my favorite of the characters is Jimmy, Mick's "guy".

I quickly recognized Jimmy from something else. The actor Scott MacArthur played Big John from Halloween Kills! And much like his HK counterpart, Jimmy gets beaten to a pulp a lot. And so does the Mick. And even Chip and sometimes even Sabrina. Everyone takes a fair amount of abuse in this show, and physical comedy is always hilarious. I love watching people get hurt.

A few times, I was a bit surprised at how violent this was for regular tv. Mick gets hit by a car (multiple times), face beaten (multiple times), stabbed in the neck with a humongous shard of glass, shot, and more. That's when comedy tv rules set in, and everything is fine in the next episode.

Of all the Sunny actors' side-project shows, this one is easily the trashiest and funniest. That's what makes it comparable to Sunny, and yet it seems to be the least successful in terms of fewest number of seasons. I blame misogyny or some bullshit woke rhetoric, because I'm too lazy to think of anything more to say about this show except that I enjoyed it. She's not like a bird at all in this.

#Review

Scream VI - No Spoilers

Obviously, I can't say much. The Manhattan setting is great. The movie is set on the cusp of Halloween, meaning Ghostface Takes Manhattan isn't a stretch. Everybody is throwing parties and there's an element of hiding in plain sight going on that's really wonderful. They certainly take full advantage of the NYC locale and try to exploit that in various ways. Notably convenient stores, subways, apartment buildings, and Central Park.

Our characters still got it, the violence is heavy, and there is literally a museum of references and callbacks to the previous movies while trying new things (but still emulating previous tropes). I liked most everything about it, but I'm not entirely thrilled at the killer(s) reveal/motivations. It does make sense in ways, and while the climax is quite fun, I'm still on the fence.

There are great moments in the film, and it's definitely not the worst entry. I didn't miss Sidney at all because the two leads are great. So hot. 🔥

What's next for the series? There's a lot of commentary on legacy characters, nostalgia, and subverting expectations. As things continue to distance themselves from the initial killing spree, the franchise admits that nothing is sacred and the series can (and probably will) move on beyond its roots. It is a franchise after all, and the only constant in this series is a killer in the ghostface mask. Will that be enough for future installments? Probably.

#Review

Throwbacks

I was wondering what everyone's opinion of a throwback movie is?

Advice for taking a baby to the movies?

Hey everyone, I have been away for a long times, and currently do not watch movies anymore. I cannot even remember the last movie I watched. I had a question for the parents on here. Or a couple.

So I had a son this past October, he is a very chill baby, but I still haven't taken him to a theater. Im super nervous about taking him the first time. He loves watching the tv when its on.

He is 4 months old, 5 months on the 11th. Im taking my grandma to watch the new scream movie when it comes out, and I will he taking my son. We will be going to an earlier movie on a weekday as I dont know how he will react. Do the parents on here have any tips? My dad apparently took me all the time, but cant seem to give me any helpful tips.

Also, as a first time mom, would the sound system be too loud? Should I look for baby ear muffs? Any help appreciated. Because I really miss going to the movies.

Creed III 2023

When I went to see Michael B. Jordan's Creed III in theaters, I saw a trailer for some crap Damon/Affleck movie about original Michael Jordan...'s shoes. A movie about a shoe doesn't seem interesting to me. Especially with those guys in it. I hope those two actually have sex with each other in their next movie, because the sexual tension is unbearable.

Creed 3 is okay. At least they didn't kill Rocky off or some stupid shit. They simply ignore mention of him almost entirely. It's LA set instead of Philly and I guess I can't fault them for wanting to let go of the old characters, but Stallone was sorely missed. Jonathan Majors has been on a role though. I don't hate him. Yet.

#Review

Tammy and the T-Rex 1994

Aka "Tanny and the Teenage T-Rex", even though everybody still calls her Tammy. Featuring George 'Buck' Flower as a sheriff trying to stop the mad scientist's murderous robot T-Rex that has Paul Walker's brain inside of it.

Denise Richards and Paul Walker only ever wanted to fuck each other, but he just had to go comatose after brawling with mountain lions, didn't he?! The computers aren't good enough to run that animatronic. We need a human brain in there, and Paul Walker was born for this role.

I watched the uncut version, because I needed a gore point. The effects are almost good. It's a stupid movie. A true clusterfuck of a screenplay with a moderate success rate. I've certainly seen worse. Terry Kiser always played a great asshole. I hope he's an asshole in real life. That would be cool.

#Review

M3GAN 2023

The plot is reminiscent of Child's Play 2019. Megan is a prototype designed to bond with a child, and it's always expected that the robots will go haywire and ignore morality. Does that make this movie a derivative waste of time? No, it's actually pretty legit. Don't let kids spend too much time with their devices, or those devices will remove you from the equation.

Obviously, there will be some dickhead businessman trying to rush an unfinished project onto the market, but shouldn't we do some more tests? You know, to prevent some Skynet type of shit?

The doll itself is pretty cool. There is a human acting under there, so it isn't some green-screen cgi garbage. Played by some child dancer, the movements are pretty interesting, and I guess some people are weirded out by seeing that "thing" dance, but by then, I think M3GAN actually won me over. I wish I had a psycho humanoid robot toy when I was growing up.

#Review

SubUrbia 1996

From the director of Dazed and Confused is another coming-of-age story about young adults who loiter outside of a convenience store as they try to figure out what to do with their post high school lives.

I liked it. It was thoughtful, albeit aimless, and the setting was relatable. Small town in Texas, pretty boring, but real. You got your conflicted cynic (Giovanni Ribisi), his activist punky artist girlfriend, the immature annoying sidekick (Steve Zahn), the jaded drunk nihilist (Nicky Katt), the timid girl with drug and domestic issues, the newfound rockstar who made it big because he left this shitty town, and the rock star's handler (Parker Posey). All these characters hang out in the lot of a convenience store, much to the dismay of the Indian store owner.

It's a surprisingly engaging story about nothing that takes a dark turn. Then there's another twist that will blow your mind on account of it being so unrealistic: the annoying dumbass gets the girl?!

@tromafreak is absolutely right about Steve Zahn in this. I understand why a group would want to include a character like him. He makes everyone look better by contrast. What an obnoxious fucking twat. Why didn't Samir^Nazeer blast him into oblivion? Or at least shoot him in the nuts RoboCop style to prevent him from procreating? Then we wouldn't have that unbelievable ending, and I would give this movie 5 stars instead of 4.

Richard Linklater is pretty good.

#Review

Discussion on Q. Tarantino films?

The past couple of weeks I've been rewatching his films which started by bumping into Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I thought it was good the 1st time I viewed it but appreciated it much more this 2nd time around. So I started digging out old DVDS and searching out what I didn't own, I even watched films he doesn't consider his but either co-wrote, co-directred or produced like Killing Zoe, Four Rooms and Dusk til Dawn. I didn't bother rewatching Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction cause I can practically recite them while watching, I've seen them so many times. After viewing just about his whole filmography I've come to this...The Hateful Eight is his most underrated film. We will never again see a film like this, not only for it's content but the way it's filmed. Not only was it not shot digitally but he filmed it in 70mm, something at the time not done for over a decade or 2. The panoramic widescreen is just unbelievable when and if noticed. Jennifer Jason Leigh was nominated for an Oscar even though those awards have been irrelevant since 2000 imo. You will never again see a performance like the one she gives simply cause it's not allowed anymore. Anyways, so if I think The Hateful Eight is his most underrated which of his films do I think is his most overrated?... IMO it's a coin toss between Death Proof and Inglorious Bastards. Debate me, leave your thoughts or ignore me...it's fine.