Okay look, this column was always meant to be an experiment, and sometimes experiments lead to super-powered mice, and other times the mice… explode.
For those just joining us, this column represents an attempt to put the “Daily” back in the name Daily Grindhouse, and we’ve been… dormant for a while. At first, it was because I came in hot and burned off a lot of material early. (There are plenty of cool things to share, but not THAT many.) And then there were other reasons. Some weren’t happy. And some are because we are working behind the scenes to bring you a new and improved Daily Grindhouse. A whole lot more on that very soon. But just for a start, follow this link to subscribe to the all-new Daily Grindhouse newsletter and to immediately receive a free e-book!
Meanwhile, the fun stuff has begun to replenish. I’ve got more things to share. Nature is healing. The mouse’s head… sometimes it grows back. The experiment can go in all kinds of directions, after all.
Let’s start with some good music:
TUNDE ADEBIMPE!
Tunde Adebimpe is the frontman of the band TV On The Radio, one of my absolute favorite bands of the past twenty-plus years. He just put out a solo album, and it’s great.
Also, he did this video for Amoeba Records in LA that leads me to believe he and I might be best pals in real life. Come for the love for the sublime Calvin & Hobbes, stay for the delicious hatred for the monstrous Garfield.
JOHN WATERS!
Again, if you’re new to this column, it’s really just me sharing stuff that came my way that I love and cherish. The YouTube algorithm, recognizing that John Waters is something I love and cherish, sent me this video. I hereby relay it to you.
GODZILLA: THE RIDE!
Takashi Yamazaki is designing a ride around Godzilla to arrive this summer. He directed GODZILLA MINUS ONE, the Best Picture of 2023. To our readers in Japan, or our readers who may be taking a trip to Japan this summer, or our readers who are taking a trip because of this news, you know what to do.
Also:
SHIN GODZILLA is coming back to theaters in August!
CRONENBERG X JARMUSCH!
Interview Magazine published a conversation between David Cronenberg and Jim Jarmusch, which is nominally to mark the release of Cronenberg’s latest film THE SHROUDS, but turns out to be more of a meditation on film as a medium and a memorial to David Lynch, who both of them knew and admired. I miss him too, and I never even met him.
COPPOLA!
Francis Ford Coppola received the AFI Life Achievement Award, with colleagues George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and many more luminaries there to mark the occasion. It really is astounding how much influence Coppola and his best-known films have had on American film as we know it. You factor in Spielberg and Lucas and probably Scorsese, who I guess wasn’t there for this one, and it’s really something else. Movies today, for better and also for worse, are what they are as a direct result of what these filmmakers did in the 1970s and 1980s. According to the piles and piles of books I have read over the years, Coppola was both peer and mentor to the others. That’s the guy those guys look up to. I always think of my grandfather, who was my number-one hero, and how he always looked up to his older brother. It’s humbling to think how even your heroes had heroes.
BTW if we’re talking filmmaking heroes, my be-all-and-end-all will always be John Carpenter, who never gets mentioned alongside those guys in terms of the long shadow they cast over American film of the past fifty years and probably should, but maybe that’s the way he likes it.
CRUMB!
There’s a new book out about R. Crumb, which I’ve yet to read. Crumb is one of those people who is lucky to have come along when he did and not now, when most of his work would be attacked for content (not that it wasn’t then!), but no matter what you think of his subjects, you’ve got to recognize his talent. This feels like me arguing that Michael Bay is a filmmaker to watch for craft: You can call the stories stupid and you can hate whatever you think his politics are, but you’ve still got to look at the filmmaking. Anyway, Crumb is also a pretty fascinating subject himself, which you already know if you’ve seen 1994’s CRUMB (which you should).
Crumb appeared at the 92nd Street Y to talk about all kinds of things, so here you go:
MEL BLANC!
Here’s a point of view I hold that I hope will be not at all controversial: Mel Blanc is absolutely one of the most talented people who ever lived. It’s like Da Vinci, Beethoven, Hendrix, Prince, and him. Surely a few others, but Mel Blanc is gonna have to be on any list I get a hand in. Just an unbelievable vocal imagination.
I’m not sure what the occasion was — maybe just to bolster my opinion! — but The Today Show posted a 1988 interview with Mel Blanc, who died the year after it aired. If you have never heard Mel Blanc’s authentic speaking voice before, you’ll hear it here. Notice how he just sounds like Mel Blanc. He doesn’t sound like Bugs Bunny or the Tasmanian Devil, until he turns it on. Even insanely talented artists like Billy West or Mike Judge sound just a little like their characters when they talk normally, but not Mel Blanc. He’s just Mel Blanc! But of course, he’s so many more.
A few days before that, The Today Show posted one of Mel Blanc with Gene Shalit, and just in case you’ve never seen Gene Shalit before, prepare yourself before pressing play.
PFEIFFER!
Michelle Pfeiffer got her honors at the Chinese! For my money, as big of a star as she is, she is probably still under-acknowledged. Unscientific as it may be, I still feel pretty correct in suggesting that there’s been way more written about the majestic acting of Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino and Daniel Day-Lewis, to name a few, than about Michelle Pfeiffer, who held the screen with all those guys and many more cinematic big dogs. In my opinion, she’s pretty awesome. There should be more books about her work.
SINNERS!
Have you guys seen SINNERS yet? How many times?!? For real? Lucky! I’ve only seen it once, but I saw it huge, on IMAX. This is obviously the movie of the moment. Here are some videos that you may have seen already, but if you haven’t, here they are.
On that last one, I like how the nice lady said she “felt represented” to see herself on screen. I know what she meant, and I support it, but it’s also funny to say it, because she’s in the movie.
GARETH EVANS IS BACK!
Have you seen HAVOC yet? I have! But only once so far. I do not like this trend, by the way. I liked how things were when I had times to watch things more than once. But I am so excited to see this movie again. It’s on Netflix now. You can drop this column and go watch it now. I won’t mind. Come back if you can!
AND SO IS GARETH EDWARDS!
Lots of talented British guys named Gareth running around Hollywood. (Are there any guys named Gareth who aren’t British?) I’m not huge on the JURASSIC PARK movies, but I will see the new one because I like this guy’s work and he’s got great taste.
As far as JURASSIC WORLD promotions go, I’m obliged to include this in the round-up.
PEE-WEE!
Man, I’ve heard nothing but incredible things as this one. I hate that we live in a world without Pee-Wee. It’s a far darker world without him, and it appears we didn’t know Paul Reubens nearly as well as we might have, but those who did sure sound like the lucky ones.
By the way, move fast, but BIG TOP PEE-WEE is on YouTube now. I’m not sure what rhyme or reason there is to it, but YouTube has movies free to watch, although it’s hard to tell when they go up and when they come down, which can happen kinda suddenly.
Okay, it’s not BIG ADVENTURE, but it does feature maybe the most mind-blowing married couple in movie history: Kris Kristofferson and Susan Tyrrell as Mace and Midge Montana. There’s just no way for me to properly express how much joy either one of those actors sends me, and when you put them together… Joy.
P.S. This movie also features the debut of Benicio Del Toro!
MacGRUBER!
In tribute to the late Val Kilmer, Will Forte and other SNL types got together to talk about MacGRUBER, which is just great. It’s kind of poetic how Val Kilmer’s first movie, TOP SECRET!, was a ridiculous comedy, and how one of his last really good ones was in the same spirit, if only to remind people how insanely funny he could be. If you haven’t seen MacGRUBER, go do that. And if you’d like to read my tribute to the talent of Val Kilmer, which I weirdly chose WILLOW as the film through which to do that, then please sign up for Daily Grindhouse on Patreon! It’s up there now!
THE SALUTE OF THE JUGGER!
I’ve seen THE SALUTE OF THE JUGGER (aka THE BLOOD OF HEROES) before, but never with the care of presentation that it deserves, so I’m incredibly excited to get the new package from Umbrella Entertainment. This one stars Rutger Hauer, Joan Chen, Delroy Lindo, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Hugh Keays-Byrne, and it was written and directed by David Webb Peoples, who wrote BLADE RUNNER, 12 MONKEYS, and motherfucking UNFORGIVEN. Attention must be paid.
THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS!
I like the posters. I like the look of the movie. While I have reservations, I’m setting them aside. I love The Thing. Benjamin J. Grimm is my dude. Just one of the great characters. I’m willing to let myself be optimistic here.
SETH & EVAN IN THE CLOSET!
Filmmakers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg visited the Criterion Closet. You probably already know what that is, but if you don’t, this is a feature where various personalities get a chance to go into the Criterion Collection to pick out movies on Blu-Ray. The great Bilge Ebiri wrote about this for New York Magazine. It’s really fun, and a testament to the joys of physical media. It’s great if you’re a fan of whoever is in there at the time, and it’s also a great way to get to know more about those who you’re less familiar with. One’s choices say a lot about one, one might say.
I also liked the one with Rosamund Pike, the brilliant star of GONE GIRL and so much more. My one complaint with this is that it isn’t three hours long.
Did you know France also has their own “Criterion Closet?” Check it out. If you’re American, you don’t even need the subtitles!
KEITH DAVID!
You cool-kid Film Twitter types can make fun of Lights Camera Jackson all you want, but he talked to the legend Keith David this past month, and I’m guessing you didn’t.
This appears to be in promotion for a film called FROM THE SHADOWS, directed by critic and filmmaker Mike Sargent and available to watch right this minute on Tubi.
NICOLAS CAGE!
YouTube keeps coming through. I guess Dick Cavett was still on the air when Nicolas Cage came along. You learn something new every day! Here they are talking about acting.
BURT REYNOLDS!
Look, if you know one thing about me, you know how much I enjoy the antics of Burt Reynolds. He was a regular fixture on The Tonight Show, way back before it was a cultural wasteland, interrupted very briefly by the sunlight that is Conan O’Brien, only to plunge back into seemingly eternal darkness and torment and pain.
NEW COMIC BOOKS!
The next column, coming up presently, will focus on what I bought this week, but here are some comics from the last few weeks I liked.
I’ve written a little bit about Babs before. This is a collection of the entire six-issue series.
As a hopeless Spider-Man guy, I’ve been following the new series, which is mainly notable for the artwork by the Spanish artist Pepe Larraz, who worked on the recent X-Men Krakoa saga.
I also like the Black Cat covers for #1 and #2 by Nimit Malavia and Pablo Villalobos.
Hey, Godzilla, pick on someone your own size!
I’ve been picking up this Rogue limited series because I’ve always loved the character, another one that Chris Claremont developed into one of comics’ most affecting. I have those old issues (X-Men #274 and #275!) that this series takes inspiration from, so this is a big nostalgia trip.
I picked up this collection of Fantastic Four stories by legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and John Byrne. I am guessing these stories are being released this way now because they will be highly relevant to the new movie. And dig that Alex Ross cover!
I didn’t actually buy this next book, but I should. (It’s $35, but looks well worth it.) Fantagraphics has collected this vintage Marvel series, with art by Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, John Romita, and Bernie Wrightson (who I once met!), among many other legends. I love Marvel comics and in particular, Marvel horror comics, so this has to happen.
Adam Hughes
Taurin Clarke
Pablo Villalobos
Terry Dodson
Mark Brooks
For the record, the real Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is already out, with four covers. One of the cover models just happens to be one of the great modern movie stars!
HIM!
It’s about time we got a sequel! (Or would that joke be “a gender-swapped reboot?” So hard to tell anymore…) I do dad jokes now! Enjoy!
This movie looks intriguing, by the way.
Also: Isn’t that Scarlett Johansson ASMR from earlier in this post kind of a reboot of HER too?
M3GAN 2.0!
Speaking of artificial intelligence, here comes M3GAN again! As a writer, I am trying not to be a dick about them going the TERMINATOR 2 route, which is sort of the most obvious route for this story to take, but as a guy, I’m more inclined to just relax and have fun. Because this looks fun.
HIGHEST 2 LOWEST!
Denzel. Spike. Me, in the theater, opening weekend. Meanwhile, the teaser:
And that’s it for now, so let’s head to the outro with a little more music!
KILLER MIKE!
A freestyle from one of the greatest out there! Sorry if this isn’t your kind of music. It is mine!
All right, now that we’re back, you’ll be seeing us again very soon. Hope you had fun this time around. We’re just getting started. People say that kind of arbitrary shit all the time, but I don’t, so when I say it, I really mean it! Stay tuned.
- [THE BIG QUESTION] WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FEMALE ENSEMBLE IN MOVIES? - July 22, 2016
- [IN THEATERS NOW] THE BOY (2016) - January 24, 2016
- Cult Movie Mania Releases Lucio Fulci Limited Edition VHS Sets - January 5, 2016
Tags: Burt Reynolds, Columns, Comic Books, Comics, daily grindhouse, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, david webb peoples, Delroy Lindo, Dinosaurs, Forest Whitaker, Francis Ford Coppola, GARETH EDWARDS, Gareth Evans, GODZILLA, jim jarmusch, Joan Chen, john carpenter, john waters, Jon Abrams, kaiju, Killer Mike, Marvel Comics, Mel Blanc, Michael B. Jordan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Movies, music, paul reubens, Robert Crumb, Rutger Hauer, Ryan Coogler, Salma Hayek, Scarlett Johansson, Spider-Man, Superheroes, Takashi Yamazaki, Timothy Olyphant, Tom Hardy, Trailers, Tunde Adebimpe, Umbrella Entertainment, Val Kilmer
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