THE DANMAN CAN

After loving  Excision  (my recent rewatch review here ) when I first saw it towards the end of 2012, I next saw  Richard Bates Jr. 's third film, Trash Fire (2016), at the Boston Underground Film Festival  the year it was released. At that point, somehow I had missed RBJ's second film from 2014,  Suburban Gothic   (my recent rewatch review here ), so I watched it the day after I saw TF , back in 2016. When I revisited RBJ's first two films recently, I decided to finally get around to seeing his 2019 film  Tone-Deaf  (my review here ), and his fifth film, King Knight   (2021), is set to be released on streaming in two weeks, so naturally I had to watch Trash Fire  again. I think I liked this one even a bit more on "Take 2". Excision is a fucked up film, but TF  is perhaps even more fucked up (albeit in a less gory and graphic way). It does a great job of taking very unsympathetic characters ( Adrien Grenier 's, in particular) ...

Eels have released a lot of great albums. Extreme Witchcraft  (2022), their fourteenth (!) studio LP in 26 years, is easily one of their Top 5. Mark Oliver Everett (or "E," as he's known) essentially is  Eels, and he's self-produced most of their albums. Extreme Witchcraft  is the second Eels album co-produced by John Parish , who co-produced another one of the band's best albums, Souljacker , 21 years earlier.  Right from the get-go, it's obvious that Parish put his stamp on this record—the heavily layered sound here is similar to Souljacker , but filtered through the life experiences that E has had since then. I'm a pretty big fan of Eels, and I do appreciate the more sad, slow aspects of a lot of E's music. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that I prefer this type of Eels album—namely fun and rockin'. 

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I've seen Dead Heat (1988) three or four times and it continues to be super entertaining—a total over the top ‘80s romp. How many other films can claim to be a buddy cop zombie comedy?  Mark Goldblatt 's (whose editing career includes some serious hits) directorial debut is fast and lean, the visual effects are a blast, and there's plenty of goofy but fun dialogue.  DH  is not concerned with deep character or story development—it deals in tropes and playfully pokes fun of them without being overly cutesy or meta about it. Treat Williams is, well, a treat,  Joe Piscopo is obnoxious but in a lovable way, and Vincent Price is wonderful, as always, in a small but memorable role (one of his last).

A film that I've loved since the first time I saw it as a child in its original theatrical run, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) holds up as an innovative, hilarious, and heartfelt classic. The blend of mystery/noir meets golden age animation humor is pitch perfect,  Bob Hoskins was never better, and  Christopher Lloyd is a delightful baddie. The visual effects hold up great, the production and costume design are wonderful, and Dean Cundey 's cinematography is striking. Pure entertainment. You can find my  Robert Zemeckis Feature Films Ranked  list  here .

I wouldn't say that Tone-Deaf  (2019) lives up to its title (thankfully), but I would say that its tone is muddled. There are flashes of the brilliance that  Richard Bates Jr.  showed in his feature debut,  Excision   (2012) (my review  here ), but Tone-Deaf  is neither as dark as that film or as whimsical as his follow-up, 2014's  Suburban Gothic   (my review here ). I don't love all the choices here, and this is easily my least favorite Bates Jr. film so far (I'm going to rewatch Trash Fire (2016) soon so we'll see if I still like that one more than this). Still, there is fun to be had in this boomer vs. millennial horror comedy and it's a well-made movie with some great sound design. The director's newest,  King Knight  (2021) is streaming soon and I am interested to see how it fares. You can find my  Richard Bates Jr. Feature Films Ranked  list  here .

When I saw  You're Next (2011) in its wide theatrical release back in 2013, I thought it was merely decent. I think I remember why now—all the incessant shaky cam. There are few things in cinema that perturb me as much. It's a shame because YN  is a solid little home invasion flick, and works better when it utilizes slow motion (or the few shots that actually use a dolly) instead. While it's fun to watch obnoxious people get offed in horrific ways, and the ending is pretty amusing, director  Adam Wingard  and writer Simon Barrett  greatly improved their filmmaking technique with their follow-up,  The Guest  (2014) [ review ]. I do have  YN  to thank for introducing me to this jam  though.

I'll start my review by stating that I'm not into cannibal films . They've never been my thing. Most of the time they are racist, silly, and/or purposely offensive. When it comes to excuses for throwing guts up on screen, I appreciate a little more creativity behind the effort.  I will say, within that genre,  Cannibal Holocaust (1980) is a well-made film with some level of social commentary to its gore, while  Zombie Holocaust (1980) is not. The latter film has a few decent splatter scenes but mostly it plays as a rip-off of  Zombie   (1979) (my review here ), down to sharing two of the same actors (but possessing none of the technical skill of  Fulci 's most well-known shocker). One of the more interesting aspects of Zombie Holocaust  (or Doctor Butcher M.D. ,   as it was retitled after it was re-edited and released in the States in 1982) is the apparent influence of H.P. Lovecraft  on its story (whether intentional or not). Five yea...

Richard Bates Jr. 's' Suburban Gothic (2014) is a breezy, funny, horror comedy—a much lighter follow-up to his 2012 film  Excision   (my review here ). I watched SG  for the first time about six years ago and I really liked it. It was just as enjoyable a second time.  I can't quite put my finger on why I like this film as much as I do—it's no masterpiece and there's not a lot of depth to it. It's just one of those slightly offbeat films that you can throw on and be easily entertained by without too much commitment. The world of SG  is hyperreal—brought to life by its vivid production design and lighting—but it has relatable characters and moments. Matthew Gray Gubler and Kat Dennings are quirky and spunky without being obnoxious. There are fun cameos from the likes of Jeffrey Combs ,  John Waters , and Jack Plotnick .  Ray Wise , as a cartoon caricature of a nuclear patriarch, has some choice dialogue. Recommended for fans of Kevin Sm...

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