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5740

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Belial But Were Afraid to Ask

Basket Case (Frank Henenlotter 1982)

Duane Bradley (Kevin Van Hentenryck) and his formerly conjoined twin Belial seek bloody vengeance on the doctors who separated them.

One of the last of the great classic era midnight movies, Basket Case is dedicated to Godfather of Gore Herschell Gordon Lewis, but Lewis never displayed as much skill at (intentionally) combining horror and comedy as Henenlotter does here in his debut feature. Besides the engaging, and surprisingly well acted and shot, narrative, the film functions as a tribute to New York City at its decadent height, with numerous looks at the grindhouses and street life of 42nd Street and even a glimpse of the Sonny Chiba actioner The Bodyguard. Highly recommended, but perhaps not for the squeamish.

Frank Henenlotter went on to direct Brain Damage, Frankenhooker and two Basket Case sequels among other films, fiction and non-fiction. He also worked with Something Weird Video, the Criterion of exploitation, curating a collection dubbed Frank Henenlotterā€™s Sexy Shockers.

Kevin Van Hentenryck appeared in the Basket Case sequels, has fronted numerous rock bands, and works as a sculptor.

Belial remains at large, whereabouts unknown. If encountered, he should not be approached.

Whatā€™s in the Basket? (David Gregory 2012)

A documentary about the complete Basket Case trilogy, and the people who worked on them. Full of spoilers. (While they do decline in quality as the series progresses, all are worthwhile, despite Henenlotterā€™s deprecations.)

Belialā€™s Dream (Robert Morgan 2017)

Award-winning British stop motion animator gives us a look into Belialā€™s twisted psyche.

Hype and Ballyhoo:

Basket Case Radio Spots

Basket Case 1-3 trailers:

And finally, a musical number.

ā€Personality!ā€ featuring Annie Ross and company

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5741

I think not being in capitalism would help. Itā€™s culture of endless growth and wealth accumulation makes all this possible. It would be nice if we could have some thoughtful discussions on how to move forward, and that ā€œprogressā€ is not just measured in technology, but in human well-being.

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5742

I just watched the first episode of season 7. Iā€™m really, really ready for some positive things, because my gods that was bleak, not for the technology but for how it was used.

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5743

I amā€¦ cautiously optimistic about this; Iā€™m late to the party with this series, but when I found it, I devoured it over the span of three days (excluding lag time for ordering the rest of the series), and itā€™s in my ā€˜re-readā€™ pile. I am more curious about the treatment for The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, though. :smiley:

Thatā€™s one of my misgivings as well, but Iā€™ll try to keep a somewhat open mind about it.

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5744

I enjoyed that episode and it did have an uncharacteristically and refreshingly upbeat ending. But thatā€™s the thing - it actually ended. If you start thinking too long on the implications of that ending where people live forever in a digital heaven, eventually becoming so numb and wanting so badly to feel something that they often descend into sadomasochistic behavior then the episode is perhaps a bit darker than it seems at first.

Some overlap with the final season of The Good Place, and also Upload, maybe.

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5745

One of these days Iā€™ll get around to seeing that. I did see Brain Damage, which, over a decade later, remains one of the more memorable and bizarre horror films Iā€™ve ever watched.

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5746

I havenā€™t seen this one in ages. Revisiting this little clip, I must say that itā€™s a little distracting that Zacherley (voice of Aylmer) performs his role exactly like his horror host work. I donā€™t think I knew his other gig when I originally saw this.

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5747

Or, not, actually, but a few folks will get to see the original cut of Star Wars this summer (in London)ā€¦

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5748

I would prefer a movie to have some flaws but at least it would have personality as well. Thereā€™s plenty of flawed movies that are more memorable and have more charm than super polished ones.

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5749

That story is a nothing burger. Anyone whoā€™s seen the ā€˜77 reconstruction can tell you itā€™s fine and WAY better than the cgi crap redux. The only thing ā€œwrongā€ with the original version was that stormtrooper bonking his head on the doorway and George didnā€™t even bother to fix that in his ā€œcorrectedā€ version.

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5750

Yeah, i see what youā€™re saying. There are endless puff pieces i see, particularly on BBC News, about tech with hardly anyone asking the question - who it does it to and who it does it for, to paraphrase Cory. Although they have recently started a feature called AI Decoded which pleasantly surprised me by how critical they have been of it.

Yup. Iā€™m not gonna lambaste people for not wanting to watch it when we already seem to be living in a grim, meathook future. It was so bleak by even Black Mirrorā€™s standards.

I donā€™t quite recall since itā€™s been a while but didnā€™t they touch on that in the episode? In any case, and much like USS Callister, it could probably do with a follow-up episode to see if the permanent inhabitants of San Junipero have gone insane.

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5751
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5753

Glad to see Brazil in the top 10! Donā€™t think it was necessary to include both versions of The Thing or Solaris. Surprised there were two films on the list I havenā€™t seen.

ETA - I would have left off Independence Day and Ghostbusters, and included Upstream Color, Time Crimes, Predestination, and A Scanner Darkly.

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5754

Whew, this is going to be a doozie. Here we go: TLDR; Meta Commentary + Giant Robot Anime. I like it, maybe you might too.

I got around to watching the Gridman Universe movie. It is in the genre of Tokusatsu Kyodai Hero (think Ultraman and Kamen Rider), itā€™s lots of kaiju and giant robots. The Gridman Universe is the culmination of the story, there are two preceding shows called SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon. Itā€™ll take some explaining but the director of the anime really wanted to do an Ultraman movie/show and was passed over because the IP had been given to someone else already and as a consolation they asked if they could do a show about a lesser known but still beloved IP called Denkou Choujin Gridman. The shows + movie are animated by Studio Trigger who are one of the best of the best in the industry, its interesting to see them work on something that isnā€™t going to have mass appeal but i can only describe it as a work of love.

The director took the opportunity to do something different. SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon serve as meta commentaries on fandom, including toxic fandom (and yes it is even self aware that Gridman itself is a show and the characters realize that perhaps they are fictional), mental health, consumerism (and its pitfalls), childhood (and having to confront needing to grow up and what growing up even means), etc. Thereā€™s a lot of subtext to the shows and both shows play out as a strange mix of heady ideas, slice of life, with a sprinkling of giant robot battles. Itā€™s weird but the shows are ultimately an indulgent love letter to the Tokusatsu genre, warts and all.

I canā€™t expect people to be interested in watching the shows and the Gridman Universe movie. Itā€™s an odd duck, especially if youā€™re not familiar with the genre. I wasnā€™t at all but i did some reading after watching each series to fill in the gaps, which i would normally consider a demerit but in this case it all worked for me. The shows are surprisingly slow paced, thereā€™s a huge level of restraint despite the insane premise. Itā€™s emotional in its exploration of how childhood is painful and how we lose ourselves to the very media we consume looking for an escape. And even how the things we love can be twisted and used against us, and that a balance must be struck between the worlds we create and our consumption of those worlds.

The movie Gridman Universe is more action that the shows since thereā€™s less time to explore character dynamics, so overall its my least favorite of the bunch but it is really just meant to give a proper send off to Gridman and the characters from the shows. And there is still some subtext/lessons hidden in the movie, so while somewhat of a flawed execution i really enjoyed that it had something to say. It doesnā€™t want to be a cash grab, it wants to tell fans to have fun the worlds they create but also not to waste their opportunities in things that are past their time. Thereā€™s a joke/dialogue in the movie where a character says that there are three things to abide by: Promises, love, and best-by dates. The best-by dates is a weird one but the lesson is to look to the future but still enjoy the good things in the moment.

Should you watch the anime series (SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon)? Hm, maybeā€¦ maybe not. It depends on what youā€™re looking for, if you want something that is a slow burn and is character driven then yes. And I donā€™t think that being knowledgeable in Japanese TV shows and tropes is necessary but youā€™ll miss out on some subtle things so reading up on other peopleā€™s analyses of the shows and movie will help. Of the two i thought SSSS.Dynazenon was exceptional, and the movie being the weakest of the bunch but as i mentioned before, it does give a good conclusion to the overall arc.

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5755

Iā€™m surprised that they donā€™t put out a high def version of the original cut. Theyā€™d sell a ton of them.

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5756

Iā€™ve wondered if one of the conditions of the sale of the IP was that they couldnā€™t for a certain amount of time. Of course, Disney is already accustomed to stowing things away in the proverbial vault.

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5757

They totally wouldā€¦ Disney does not like putting stuff on physical media (though they have in a few cases)ā€¦ they want everyone to sign up for their streamer, soā€¦

Artificial scarcity means they can charge a premium when they put it out.

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5758

Watched an Errol Flynn movie that I hadnā€™t seen before: Footsteps in the Dark. His charisma really shines through. Kind of a Thin Man type movie with a bit more screwball comedy angle.

One of the scenes toward the end of the movie makes it all worthwhile when a dentist gives Flynnā€™s character some novocaine and they both light up a cigarette while waiting for the numbing to take effect. :rofl:

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5759

Season 1 of the Pitt is finished, and it finished just as strong as it started. Another thing to like: early in the season, it was revealed that Dr. King was the caregiver for her autistic sister. In the finale, we get to meet her sister, played by Tal Anderson who is herself autistic.

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5760

It was a really cool show. At first I thought Dr. King was also autistic, but I liked the way the show presented her as a person with love and compassion, despite being overwhelmed with the task of caring for her sister and her responsibilities in that hospital chaos.

The show has no villains and I donā€™t think there are even any antagonists, perhaps except the hospital, or rather, the system that keeps that hospital in that state. There is also no room for fan theories, mysteries or too many explanations. Regarding the shooting at the festival, for example, no one knows who was responsible, why they decided to do that and nothing else is said. Only the horror of the consequences is shown.

One thing that struck me was the showā€™s politically incorrect tone. I mean, politically incorrect in these days of Trump, Musk, and other less famous people. There are episodes celebrating initiatives from the black community, chic and happy trans characters, strong women, immigrants, and even Muslims. I bet a lot of people must have been horrified by all that woke culture. If those kinds of people are upset, I laugh.

Itā€™s not a show for those looking for something along the lines of Greyā€™s Anatomy or even the old E.R. The tense and sometimes even hyperrealistic atmosphere can scare off the casual viewer. But it was so nice to see something so well done and It seemed the actors and people behind the cameras had a good time crafting The Pitt.

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