This month’s movie pick is probably in bad timing. But, “f*ck all that feelings sh*t”. This movie is probably not to some of yous taste or interest. You will probably be entertained or annoyed or you just might be like me and be on that timing. No, I’m not gonna give a whole Big Boss monologue. This is the Retro Movie of October 2025.

The Spook Who Sat by the Door is a 1973 action crime–drama film based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Sam Greenlee. It is both a satire of the civil rights struggle in the United States of the late 1960s and a serious attempt to focus on the issue of Black militancy. Dan Freeman, the titular protagonist, is enlisted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its elitist espionage program, becoming its token Black person. After mastering agency tactics, however, he becomes disillusioned and drops out to train young Black people in Chicago to become “Freedom Fighters”.

Directed by Ivan Dixon, co-produced by Dixon and Greenlee, from a screenplay written by Greenlee with Mel Clay, the film starred Lawrence Cook, Paula Kelly, Janet League, J. A. Preston, and David Lemieux.

Sometime in the 1970’s in Chicago. After the approval rating in the African American community takes a nose dive for a U.S. Senator, the Agency decides it would be good optics for the government as well for itself to go out and publicly recruit African American males to join the CIA. With no intention of passing any of them they begin scouting in the inner city. To their surprise one recruit actually makes it through the training. Dan Freeman who unbeknownst to the Agency (Nowadays this would be impossible with social media and digital footprints), Freeman happens to be a Black Nationalist.

The idea of the Agency recruiting from the population isn’t hard to believe. There have been numerous occasions of people being covertly recruited or claim to have been recruited since the beginning of the Cold War. Especially with all the projects such as MK ULTRA.

Back to the plot – Freeman is a Black Nationalist and the Feds don’t know it. After passing his training, Freeman impresses his handlers. However, he is placed in the basement as file clerk and routine tour guide for visitors to project the image of inclusivity. This doesn’t last long before Freeman comes to the reality that he is a Token. (To be honest he most likely was aware this would happen from the start). Freeman keeps a low profile as he completes the Guerilla Warfare training in weapons, subversion, communications and you get the point. When he learns what he needs to learn he quietly resigns and returns to social work in Chicago.

Freeman has the intention of using what the government has taught him and turning it back on them. This is called BLOWBACK. He starts training local youths the same techniques he learned from the government and begins his insurgency for Black Liberation.

After its release the film was pulled from theaters and banned for a time by the FBI for its political tones and themes. Especially since the Civil Rights movement was still fresh in the minds of the inner cities and there were a lot of African American veterans returning home to a country they fought for and  experience the same racism and poverty that existed before the war; a lot of veterans with military training in guerilla warfare and weapons. The idea that this film might spark the idea for revolt and self-determination was just too scary for the powers that be that happen to be Ofay. Shame because, I wish this flew below their radar and more people were able to watch it.

“Tim Reid, whose company helped to release Spook on DVD, said to the Los Angeles Times in 2004: “When you look back at the times…Martin Luther King was assassinated, Malcolm X, Bobby Kennedy. Black people were really angry and frustrated; we were tired of seeing our leaders killed. What do we do? Do we have a revolution? There is nothing that comes close to this movie in terms of black radicalism.””

I mean if you remember how the proto-dudebros were all charged up after watching 300 for the first time enough they adopted it’s imagery, themes and masculinity(?) like cosplay, tribal tattoos and fake muscles shirts. It would’ve been interesting if THIS film had a longer life in the theaters – Could’ve been interesting.

Regardless of their attempts, enough people did watch it and it gained Cult status over the years before the original film reels were found and restored for the public.  

“Nina Metz wrote in the Chicago Tribune: “For years it was only available on bootleg video. In 2004, the actor Tim Reid tracked down a remaining negative stored in a vault under a different name (‘When they want to lose something, they lose it,’ Reid told the Tribune at the time) and released it on DVD.”  In a 2004 feature for NPR, Karen Bates reported that the director of the film, Ivan Dixon, admitted that United Artists would not show the film in a way that would allow its political message to come through when clips were viewed prior to the film’s public release. “Dixon says when United Artists screened the finished product and saw a Panavision version of political Armageddon, they were stunned.””

So f**k all that interference and here is for your pleasure or discomfort is the controversial, thought provoking and inspiring – 1970’S The Spook Who Sat by the Door, directed by Ivan Dixon.

Stay free, Stay Strapped, Read more, Learn Real History, Build your bodies and Minds, Question authority, Buy physical media, practice your aim, sharpen your punches and conceal your knives, know the law and the law won’t trick you. Stay fresh, smart and always keep your finger on that damn REWIND button.

Movie link: https://youtu.be/HG-56GKbPtk?si=C53B1Pwf0122h5IU

• DECODER (1984) directed by Muscha & starring: FM Einhert a.k.a. Mufti (Einstürzende Neubauten), Bill Rice (The Offenders (1980), The Big Blue (1988), Manhattan Love Suicides 1985, Coffee&Cigarettes), Christiane F., Genesis P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle, Psychic-TV) and featuring William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch, Junkie, Queer, Drugstore Cowboy, Dead City Radio) whose writing was an inspiration for the film.
  * The film featured this month is very avant-garde, subversive and punk-af. It is not meant for children under the age of 18 years of age and contains images of nudity, drug use, chaos magick, surgical footage, sexual situations and ideas of delinquency and anti-authoritarian themes.
  Language: German with Spanish subtitles.
  
  

In 1970 the collection of essays by Beatnik and Underground art icon William Burrough was published. In it Burroughs meditates on the written word and its evolution into the spoken. That language is something unique to the Human experience as it can exist both in image and sound. That the written language can enable the writer to cheat time and space and project thoughts, ideas, emotions, through time and affect readers in the future. Language regardless if it’s written on a medium or spoken has power; it is magick; no different from the sigils in a magician’s grimoire or the crystal ball, energized and imbued with power. How with the write configuration of words, images, sounds and their meaning can influence, control, infect and gestate inside the psyche very much like a virus.  

Decoder is a 1984 West German cyberpunk film that you’ve probably never heard of. I was fortunate to find it one late night while in one of my insomnia periods.

The story follows FM as he works for a fast food chain to make ends meet but, spends his evenings making compositions of abrasive industrial music. When FM starts noticing how passive and docile the customers at his Burger joint are when the Muzak playlist is cycling over the speakers. He figures that perhaps there might be something in the Muzak that’s making people compliant. That it’s the muzak that’s lulling people into submission in a world where visceral reality is almost a cheap thrill (a kink), something you tuck under your mattress when the relatives come home; a world where we just accept subjugation into an authoritarian corpo system where fascism bridges the gap between military and corporate corruption. FM also spends his free time with his girlfriend (Christiane) a peep show girl that works in the red-light district.

One night while working on music, FM starts to manipulate one of Christiane’s frogs and records the screams. FM realizes that he can use abrasive sound to instigate destructive impulses in people that listen to his music and cancel out the corporate muzak. He strategically places tape recorders, like sonic I.E.D.’s, at different well-known fast food establishments armed with his music. These subversive recordings cause riots, destruction of property, violence and social upheaval. After sometime these terrorist incidents earn the attention of the corporate overlords who hire an assassin (Bill Rice) to find who is creating these tapes and execute him. Bill Rice’s character a weary hitman more preoccupied with haunting the red light district and infatuated with a peep show girl who just happens to be FM’s girlfriend.

DECODER is low-budget, analog, cyberpunk with a Cold War edge to it. Lush lighting and a noir dread drip heavily here. The soundtrack features SoftCell, Psychic-TV, THE THE and Einstürzende Neubauten. The basic plot of the film is summarized here in this review so all you have to do is follow the visuals and vibe. Not suitable viewing for anyone under-the-age of 18.

Stay dangerous, stay underground, stay out of sight, stay away from bootlickers, magahats, democrats and anyone that tows the company line, puts blinders on, shuts up and takes it right up in there deeply (and without even a kiss or dinner to eat), drinking the government kool-aid. Stay aware, stay armed and get angry and keep your G*ddamn finger on the REWIND button.

Movie:

https://youtu.be/vdCXssmZLdw?si=PDidB4yL53XRVpXv

Bonus: Soft Cell – Seedy Films (Official Video Release HD)

How’s everyone doing out there? Are you doing well or just getting by during yet another disastrous presidential term. Seems like the whole western world is dragging everyone else down in a flaming shopping cart full of fireworks down a thumbtack water slide of energy drink into oblivion and the third-world. It’s not even 2077 and life is just cyberpunk (af) or at least a Temu version of it. What does this have to do with this months movie- absoultely nothing. Nothing except the mood of dispair in the air.

Spoiler Alert: This is Violence Jack and the sequel to Devilman; both created by Go Nagai.

This the final OVA in the series. The other entries are unedited and thus I can’t share with you here. However, fortunately or not, this version is the VHS edited version.

The Plot:
Sleepy town in the wastelands of Japan where a village is determined to pick up and rebuild their way of lives in the afterbirth of the apocalypse. A young hopeful teacher is kidnapped by the Hell’s Wind biker gang. Strapped to a ticking time bomb her only hope is the mysterious and freakishly gigantic antihero known as Violence Jack and his superhuman strength and size.

More backstory:

The series takes place in the ruins of the Kantō region, after a massive earthquake (which in the OVAs was triggered by a Comet strike) dubbed ‘The Great Kanto Hellquake’. Cut off from the rest of the world, the survivors of the disaster are divided between the strong and the weak, and the land becomes a haven for criminals and renegades from around the world. Violence Jack is uncovered among the rubble and demolished granite by the inhabitants of a ruined city, asking him to help the weak people and helping them destroy what, in most cases, are the strong groups commanded by killers and rapists (this is the story line of “Violence Jack: Evil Town”). In the three OVAs, Jack is requested to help different groups, such as the Zone A (later he ends up helping Zone C women) or a small town, as shown in “Hell’s Wind”. As for the manga, the stories change drastically, the first being the story of Violence Jack helping a group of female models in a tropical forest in Kanto by possessing a boy living in said forest in order to fight off a roving tribe of bandits. Although Jack maintains a ruthless facade, he often helps the weak, and expects nothing in return. However, Jack’s unpredictable nature means that bystanders get injured or even killed on occasion as a consequence of his vicious fighting style.

It’s not the longest but it’ll do the trick. I know she said that but, I meant this movie. If you are interested in the further adventures of Violence Jack I recommend finding (if you can stomach it) the other unedited OVA’s in the trilogy as well the mangas. Or you can go and revisit the Devilman animes including the Devilman Crybaby anime that is still on NETFLIX.

sO in ThE meantIme, stay vigilante, stay angry, learn h0w the shoot, con, build networks, put money away, don’t be a dumb maga or dumb blue maga, be yourselves, persevere and keep your damn finger on that ReWind Button.

The film starts literally across the railroad tracks as we see the environment that protagonist Andie (Molly Ringwald) lives in. Despite the drab, lower-income neighborhood she lives in, she’s a bright spot on the screen. With a wide smile and quirky dress style, one might think at first, she’s a star of her school. However, she’s an outcast along with her long-time friend Duckie (Jon Cryer), who’s the embodiment of spirited eccentricity. He has a crush on Andie, which will come to a head, when Andie realizes that Blane (Andrew McCarthy), one of the wealthy, popular students, has an interest in her. And for the first time, she opens herself up to love with a person who wouldn’t normally pay her attention.

There’s nothing truly out of ordinary for this story. Like Romeo and Juliet, and the stories that preceded and came after, it’s a love-across-the-divide story. Friends from both of their cliques don’t think that they should belong together. Plus, they have to deal with their own insecurities. What differentiates it from some of the other stories about teens is the strong characterization. These people don’t feel like stereotypes but as individuals with their own motivations.

While Ringwald’s definitely the star and gives a more mature performance than in her previous John Hughes work (though those should be praised for their honesty in expressing teen emotions), a spotlight should be shone particularly on the actors who portray her supportive father Jack (Harry Dean Stanton) and her antagonistic, snobbish classmate Steff (James Spader).

Stanton shows a vulnerability as a depressed single father who is still hopeful for the return of the wife that left their family. Still, he rouses himself to offer simple wisdom to his daughter. He is also humble enough to eventually face the facts set before him by Andie after an initial breakdown at the reality of his non-reconciliation with his wife.

As Steff is the antagonist and the most accomplished actor besides Stanton, I find Spader’s performance the most interesting. Yes, he’s a bully, but he’s not as one-dimensional as seen on the surface. Spader is antagonistic more because she continually rejects his interest rather than just because he hates poor girls. The close-ups of their tense stare-downs are some of the top images.  Looking at his interaction with wealthy girlfriend, one can sense that he knows she’s vapid. He shows less respect for her than for Andie though he won’t admit it. The fact is that Andie can see through his materialism and see his lack of character. She still isn’t willing in the end to lump all the “richies” as the same by reaching out to Blane. This drives Steff crazy.

Where there might be some disagreement with popular opinion is on the character of Duckie. Sorry, I’m not part of the Duckie fan club. I don’t entirely fault the performance of Jon Cryer. He was likely following the script and the direction. However, I’ve come to find his behavior as less endearing than obnoxious. It’s obvious that Andie cares for him as friend. It seems though that Duckie is trying to be more pressing than wooing. If they got together in the end, it would seem like he broke her down. Not that she discovered some new charm that turned friendship into romance. It’s my opinion why the original ending should’ve been scuttled and Deutch shouldn’t feel bad about current ending. Though his unhappiness did give us another classic teen movie.

Blane acts bland compared to the other characters, but that’s not too harmful to the acting. He has more personality than Ringwald’s romantic interest in Sixteen Candles. He just serves as the mysterious, nice, but somewhat aloof-looking guy that many teen girls long for. It also doesn’t hurt that he has some bucks.

What most people consider as the true star of Pretty in Pink is the soundtrack. Instead of relying on safe Top 40 hits of 1985, it showcased then-less known new wave, synth-pop, and alternative artists. We get New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Smiths, and The Psychedelic Furs of the title song, among others. The music fits the scene and puts you in the minds and hearts of the teenager of the mid-80s. Though decades from that time, the music is still great. It’ll cause you to want to delve deeper into the 80s music scene beyond the more popularized artists.

Pretty in Pink is a wonderful snapshot of an era and a group of actors that were at their prime across a number of films for a brief window of time. I like the zany aspects of Hughes’s writing. However, it’s nice to view a story stripped back to earnest romantic drama, even if it’s just youthful crushes. Deutch molded the given material into a film that breathes the 80s but can exist without irony outside the decade.

Pretty in Pink (1986) Official Trailer

I’m back bitches. And here we are – together again. Forever.
Here this December 2020 the movie pick is the live action adaptation 20^TH CENTURY BOYS directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi and based on the classic manga written & illustrated by Naoki Urasawa(Monster, Pluto). This is the first film in the trilogy and was released in 2008 through TOHO.

20^th Century Boys main plot as it remains pretty damn close to the source material revolves around a middle aged store clerk who is drawn into a conspiracy somehow involving his childhood friends.
The story and characters can be a bit overwhelming if you’ve never read the manga however, the film does serve well to entertain its viewers. There is some good genuine moments between long lost friends. There is a flavor of Stephen King here with its flashbacks and the idea of a group of childhood friends coming together to solve a mystery from their past…. That mystery being the string of bizarre attacks and disappearances that may or may not have to do with a popular cult lead by a mysterious figure known as FRIEND.

The film quality is of its time. The acting is actually pretty good. The limited special effects are nice and not distracting. I really enjoyed this and will proceed to watch the next two films in the trilogy; all films are available on YOUTUBE for now. I recommend anyone interested to go find them and watch – before youtube decides it not acceptable.

20^th Century Boys the Beginning is well worth its duration and very fun. I also recommend picking up any of the printed volumes, omnibuses or special editions of the MANGA at your nearest comic book retailer or Barnes n Nobles.

Be SAFE this NEW YEARS, Covid isn’t gone yet and you’re government is not in your corner through this – no matter what they say. Stay cool and stay refined and keep your finger on that REWIND button.

What makes a film art? Is it subtext? The collage of mediums blanketed onto film with music and mood layering the textures, emotions and the suspension of disbelief? Well, the time has come. Yes, I did forget but, I remember now. 

This month’s Retro Movie is Panos Cosmatos’ debut psychedlic science fiction feature
– BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW (2010).

Spawned out of the grief of losing both his parents, Swedish sculptor Birgitta Ljungberg-Cosmatos and film director George P. Cosmatos (Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra), and funded from residuals from his fathers last film TOMBSTONE (1993). Beyond the Black Rainbow is a 35mm surreal mind-screw of colors, prolonged shots and transitions in lush panavision colors.

A young girl (Eva Allen) being studied and tested on by a mysterious scientific research corporation that is supervised by a mysterious and somewhat unhinged head of research scientist (Michael Rogers) for her untapped psychic potential. Yes, this was made before STRANGER THINGS. The runtime is 110 minutes and will feel longer due to the slow drip of tension and visuals. The shots are mostly long, giving the film a very claustrophobic and unnerving mood.

Jeremy Schmidt, keyboard player for Vancouver-based rockers Black Mountain, was invited by Cosmatos to compose the film’s soundtrack. “Evil Ball”, a track from Schmidt’s solo project, Sinoia Caves, was used by the movie’s director on a private screening held for Schmidt. A mutual appreciation for Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter soundtracks and Giorgio Moroder‘s music for Midnight Express (1978) and American Gigolo (1980) cemented their bond.^[25] Schmidt also pointed out the background music from The Shining (1980) and Risky Business (1983) as musical blueprints for the Beyond the Black Rainbow score.
– Wiki

There are themes of control woven into the drama. Control being presented here via Adults controlling the young or Masculine over the feminine. Barry Nyle at the start of the film seems like a scientist with an almost paternal affection towards his test subject but, as the film progresses that veil is removed to be nothing of the sort and his true and mutilated nature begins to bubble to the surface.

There is a very lovely film here with hints of all the films that were mentioned as musical influences to the score. The director being a fan of Michael Mann’s MANHUNTER and THE KEEP, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 and the rest. The story of a young girl discovering her past and her strength and finally her liberation is a haunting, uncomfortable, acid-trip of a journey into the subconscious and the dark side of the third eye. Conspiracy Theorists will find a lot to chew on here within, with references to MKULTRA and a lot of the experimentation of psychedelics on human test subjects and research into psychic potential that has long been declassified by the C.I.A.

This is recommended viewing for anyone looking for something left-of-center. And a perfect start to a film career that was continued with MANDY (2018)

Keep your fingers on that Rewind button and stay loose, and stay easy…. and wear your masks.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, known in Japan as just Innocence (イノセンス, Inosensu), is a 2004 anime/computer-animated cyberpunk film that serves as a sequel to 1995’s Ghost in the Shell. It was co-produced by Production I.G and Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Disney, Toho and the Mitsubishi Corporation, and distributed by Toho. It was released in Japan on March 6, 2004, and was later released in the US on September 17, 2004 by Go Fish Pictures, Innocence had a production budget of approximately $20 million (approximately 2 billion yen). To raise the sum, Production I.G studio’s president, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, asked Studio Ghibli‘s president, Toshio Suzuki, to co-produce.

With a story loosely connected to the manga by Masamune Shirow, the film was written and directed by Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii. The film was honored best sci-fi film at the 2004 Nihon SF Taisho Awards and was in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. The soundtrack for the film was released under the name Innocence O.S.T. and a related novel called Ghost in the Shell: Innocence – After the Long Goodbye was released on February 29, 2004. This film makes many allusions and references to other famous works, such as The Future Eve. The foreign DVD release of the film faced many issues ranging from licensing to audio.

Well 2020 has been a friggin’ interesting, exciting and terrifying year of pandemics, duplicitous mainstream media, a bubbling independent media, fractured racial relations, racists unmasking themselves, militarized police departments infiltrated by hate groups and corrupt globalists pulling the strings on the bird of democracy. A new cold war with China, child trafficking and child pedophile rings being swept under the rug by lobbyists, entertainers, bankers and world leaders. Natural resources being plundered at every turn and world maps being redefined and drawn; the food isn’t fit to eat and clean water is a luxury; everyone is suspect and corporations are taking control; reality has been replaced by social media and eventually A.I. will be a real life thing and not just something from the movies. Step by step we are entering a cyber-future – that may or may not work for you but, in all disclosure was never meant to work for you. Cyberpunk is here and the real hack is you mind.

Ghost in the Shell has become one of the quintessential cyberpunk anime of all time with equal parts – William Gibson, AKIRA and Blade Runner, extrapolating those ingredients and delivering on questions and ideas of personal identity, cyberspace, political espionage and yes – memes.

The sequel to the original anime that was based on the manga continues the storyline from the first and not from any of the alternate timelines from the series.

We follow Batou as he is assigned to investigate a crime that leads him down a digital rabbit hole of conspiracy.

The film once again merges the mediums of digital animation and 2d illustrations. Seamless and beautiful in majority of the scenes. The mood is darker and more noir than the original, leaning towards cyber-noir and hard boiled elements that go hand in hand with the existential themes that the franchise is known for. The music is amazing with a score written by Kenji Kawai.

If you love the slow cyberthriller pace of MR.ROBOT or Genocidal Organ then this is your treat to distract yourself during our current times in turmoil, kicking and screaming down a razorblade slope of cocaine and redbull into our cyberpunk present.

It’s the future now, Stay sweet, disconnect, decompress and do what you gotta do. But above all else – Keep your damn finger on that REWIND button.

This will probably be the most serious movie I’ve ever viewed and reviewed for your nostalgic pleasure.

Fort Apache the Bronx is a 1981 American crime drama film directed by Daniel Petrie. The film is about a hard-drinking, lonely veteran cop, Murphy (Paul Newman), and his young partner Corelli (Ken Wahl), who work in a crime-ridden precinct in The Bronx. Although Murphy’s life takes a good turn when he falls in love with Isabella (Rachel Ticotin), a young nurse, the arrival of a new, law-and-order-minded police captain commanding the precinct, Connoly (Ed Asner) threatens to tip the neighborhood’s delicate balance into anarchy. Danny Aiello, Kathleen Beller, and Pam Grier play supporting roles. It was written by Heywood Gould and produced by Martin Richards and Thomas Fiorello, with David Susskind as executive producer.
It was filmed on locations in the Bronx.
– Wikipedia

The nineteen-seventies and eighties were turbulent times for the people of New York City. Before the Covid problem and the restrictions on society that came with it, before the towers fell and the Patriot Act open the doors and windows into our private lives, New York City was a bankrupt, filthy, impoverished and crime infested city with bombed out buildings, lack of order and neighborhoods controlled by local gangs of children from the neighborhoods. And among one of the worst areas in the city outside of Brooklyn was the South Bronx.

Fort Apache the Bronx is a very straight forward gritty 70’s style film about being a police officer in those times. Our protagonists and antagonists are all fleshed out and given motivations and flaws with some very witty and poignant dialogue. No one is truly pure in this film, it is very pessimistic and bleak but, with pockets of joy and sadness, regret and grief in the marrow of the stories and perspectives within.

Paul Newman gives an amazing performance that carries the emotional weight of the piece.

All shot on location in the BX and features legendary Puerto Rican writer, poet and actor Miguel Pinero in a minor but scene stealing role.

I loved this movie. It’s another slice of life from a time I lost a long time ago. It’s my memory lane and my nostalgic fix.
Stay safe, stay distant but don’t forget to be human beings and keep your finger on that REWIND BUTTON.

Fort Apache the Bronx
https://youtu.be/VGDh69tzD1M

Well I’m here to give it you and break it down (lightly). The movie is mediocre. It’s bland. The effects leave a lot to be desired and the lighting is very, very, obnoxious.

First, if you’re looking for just a live version of the classic WICKED CITY then you’re going to be disappointed. Here in this version – there are no demons, they are reptoids (?) might as well give a credit to Zachariah Sitchin and the Anunnaki. The actors are basic two dimensional cut outs. The action is pretty entertaining; in fact the action is the one cool thing going on in this film if you can understand what the hell is going on. Now about that lighting- dear lord, geez luweez. Mood lighting gone wrong; there’s so much blue in this film that if I was any more intoxicated I’d probably mistake this for a Smurf film. The overdubbing is bad as well.

It’s so bad, it is almost charming. Split Second (1992) is sci-fi B movie starring Rutget Hauer and although completely unrelated to this film is a much better film in terms of aesthetics, story, mood, humor, editing and action. So, I didn’t like it. It is recommended to just go watch the original anime (tentacle scene included). I didn’t enjoy it. However that doesn’t all yous can’t get a good chuckle while watching this movie while under quarantine.

So, until next week – Keep your fingers on that REWIND BUTTON.

Gregg Araki can be at times a polarizing director. Some people just really don’t like his work. I remember browsing for videos at the former KIM’S Video down on ST. MARK’s Place and over hearing the clerks or film hipsters discussing how his films are nonsense and style over substance. And the former may have a bit of truth to it. His films are very colorful and very stylish. However, it’s the subversion that makes it worth it. His films and especially his trilogy are in a way a parody of youth culture in the late 90’s.

The vibrant color pallet acting as a veneer for the disconnected and apathetic teenager of the decade. The Doom Generation was a satire of the Hollywood road movie as Nowhere is a satire of the coming of age teen romantic comedy.

Nowhere starts off like most men start their day – masturbating in the shower. Our love hungry protagonist named simply ‘DARK’ is young, alone and desperate for someone to love him. His journey now seen in retrospect appears sad, depressing and often pathetic but, in 1997 was relatable to a younger me. He is hopelessly in love with a woman who would rather not be in a relationship and juggles between play partners like addicts interchange excuses. He wants all the cliche tropes of romance and she just wants a good time. This dynamic is an obvious role reversal of the classic teen romance. She’s the shallow jock and he’s the awkward teenage girl. More specifically he’s a ‘time hoe’ as Patrice O’Neal once put it in one of his podcast rants.

The world of Los Angeles as it is shown in this film is already past the ground zero of the apocalypse populated by teenagers roaming the streets, boardwalks and coffee houses of the former world looking for kicks and satisfaction. Some scenes are set up to look like Night of the Comet. The color pallet is here and in full bloom with set designs acting as enhancement to the psychological turmoil of these characters like the bedroom of one character on the verge of suicide. And some moments just being blatant obvious metaphors for character motivations like when Dark is literally holding onto a towel that says ‘HOPE’ at Jujyfruit’s house party – The poor bastard is holding onto hope.

Life seems like such a bummer until Dark meets Montgomery and feels somewhat of a connection and love at first sight chemistry with him. Should he stay in a one way relationship or test the waters with this handsome yet dumb blonde he’s just met early that afternoon.

Nowhere stars James Duval as Dark, and co-stars: Rachel True, Kathleen Robertson, Christina Applegate, Scott Caan and Guiermo Diaz with a who’s-who of B-list celebrities from the 90’s. Every scene with have at least two celebrities as minor characters including Shannen Doherty, Charlotte Rae, Debi Mazar, Jordan Ladd, Christina Applegate, Jeremy Jordan, Jaason Simmons, Beverly D’Angelo, Eve Plumb, Christopher Knight, Traci Lords, Rose McGowan, John Ritter, Mena Suvari, Staci Keanan, Devon Odessa, Chiara Mastroianni, the Brewer twins and Brian Buzzini. There’s more but I don’t have the time to list everybody. Favorite characters would have to be the twins played by Ryan Phillippe and Jordan Ladd. The really funny and the type of guy I grew up with people person/drug dealer ‘Handjob’. And of course ELVIS (Thyme Lewis) is the scene stealer every if he’s only in the film for less than ten minutes. The tomato can scene also being blatant metaphor for the action taking place in said scene.

The cinematography was handled by Arturo Smith. The soundtrack to the film featured songs from Slowdive, 311, Radiohead, Elastica, Hole, The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Curve, Lush, Ruby, Marilyn Manson, Chuck D, Suede, James, Portishead and more.

Watch it. Be merry. Be cool. Be swell. Be good. Keep that finger on the rewind button and I’ll see you on the flipside. Be seeing you.

iT’s the late eighties and you’re five years old up late. You’re watching cable television and this rolls across your screen on the cable-TV guide channel, “CreepShow 2”. Do you watch it?

Yes, you do.

Creepshow is the sequel to the original film from the minds of Stephen King and George Romero – obviously. Directed this time by Michael Gornick the cinematographer from the original anthology. Creepshow 2 although shorter than its predecessor is still based on stories from Stephen King and produced and written by George Romero. Still inspired by the Horror comic books of the fifties from such publishers as the legendary EC COMICS brand and in my opinion is the scarier of the two. There isn’t much dark humor found here. The emphasis leans more toward unsettling body horror and straight forward horror based on genuine mood, violence and atmosphere.

The progression of the film is narrated by the Creep blending both live action and animation in its prologue, interlude and epilogue. The body of the fill consists of three tales: Old Chief Wood’nhead, The Raft and The Hitchhiker. All very good stories, but the final tale is the creepiest one of them all. I still get weird chills every time i see the degradation of the Hitchhiker; completely uncomfortable macabre shit.

There was supposed to be five stories instead of three and although the Black Cat would’ve really made this movie better, I’m happy it didn’t make the cut and instead was included in the Tales from the Darkside movie in 1990.

Creepshow 2 stars: Tom Savini (Dusk til Dawn, Dawn of the Dead), George Kennedy, Dorothy Lamour, Will Sampson (Poltergeist 2, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Tom Wright, Stephen King, Lois Chiles. Distributed by New World Pictures. Released on May 7, 1987.

Watch this in the dark and I mean deep in the dark of your bedroom. Two thumbs up.

Stay Cool, Stay dry, Stay off the roads and keep your fingers on that REWIND button.

I was very recently pleased to find that one of my favorite films of all time was on youtube.

MOON OVER PARADOR was released on September 8, 1988 and stars Richard Dreyfus (JAWS, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), Sonia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Rookie) and TONY and Golden Globe winning actor Raul Julia.

A subtle political comedy from the late eighties that feels more Broadway production than Hollywood feature about a disenchanted actor that falls head first into a military coup of a South American nation when the dictator in power suddenly dies, our protagonist (Richard Dreyfus) is held hostage to fill in as a stand-in for the fallen Leader; albeit under the short strings of Raul Julia’s influence.

The cast is very small which is why I made the Broadway comparison. Richard Dreyfus gives a very whimsical and very humorous performance as an actor that rediscovers his craft as well his humanity with every step he fills wearing the shoes of the dictator when his new role is subverted into more improvisation than marionette and leader rather than oppressor. The beautiful Sonia Braga plays the role of the mistress to the former president and positive influence on Dreyfus’ character.

Raul Julia as always gives a scene devouring performance as a fascist in charge of the military body controlling the city of Parador. His evil intention and thirst for power is dignified and charismatic as well disarming as he delivers dialogue. His fanboy love of theater and acting serves as a delicious bait for the starved ego of Richard Dreyfus’ character.

The film opens and ends with a casting call at the New York Public Theater as Jack Noah reminisces about his time as a captive in power one memorable summer in Parador.

The film is a subdued delight and worth a viewing. The film score was written by Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia) however an actual soundtrack is almost nonexistent except for a Julio Iglesias single that bookends the film and a wonderful Sammy Davis Jr. performance.

This is one of my all-time favorite films and I’m happy I get to share it with the New Retro Wave community. So keep it tight and out of sight and always keep that finger on the rewind button.