My Patreon Post on MEGALOPOLIS (2024)

Like everyone else, I give my opinion about Coppola's new film. Full clip available at the Patreon Page.

 

The Bloody Pit #111 - Doctor Who: Inferno (1970)

I’ve been a fan of the classic version of Doctor Who since I was a teenager. Like many Americans I discovered the show on PBS and have been striving to catch up ever since. The standard debate amongst Whovians is about favorite Doctors but I think a more interesting discussion can be formed around favorite stories. So, when approaching our first podcast on the subject we picked a classic from early in the Third Doctor’s run that showcases the joys typical of the 1970’s version of the series.

Jon Pertwee’s five year run as Doctor Who is one of the periods of the original show that still holds some mysteries for me. There are a number of stories from these years that I have never seen, meaning that I get a bit excited to explore Pertwee’s version of the character because they are new Classic Who! Or, at least, new to me. This enthusiasm for the Third Doctor’s tales causes me to repeatedly watch beloved stories to soak up the pure fun of what they were doing. Even so, it took me a long time to realize that the entire time Pertwee’s Doctor is working with UNIT is supposed to be in the 1980’s! That just makes things even cooler!

Mark Maddox is a longtime Who fan and has had the pleasure of getting to create artwork for Doctor Who magazine. He has even gotten to interpret some unfilmed Who stories with brush and paint! He talks about that as we meander around this episode discussing ‘Inferno’, the final tale from Jon Pertwee’s first season. This is a seven-part tale so we dig into why those longer stories are so much fun. As to be expected, the inevitable talk about favorite Doctors comes up along with a sharp digression into the elements we feel are missing from the 21st century incarnation of the show. This leads to a verbal scrum involving the various actors who have played the character. When we work our way back to ‘Inferno’ we discuss the smart sound design of the story, the fascinating alternate Earth we get to see and Mark tries to convince me to call the hairy green creatures in the story Lava Monsters. He is only occasionally successful. Occasionally.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the show or if you’d just like to tell us who your favorite Who is/was/will be drop us a line at thebloodypit@gmail.com and we’ll respond. Right now we have no idea what Mark and I will cover next so get those ideas in and you might influence our choice. Maybe.

Apple Podcasts or iTunes or Whatever they're calling it now LINK

Direct MP3 Download LINK

Retro CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR!

Here's a fun fan compiled retro version of the latest trailer for Marvel's newest superhero film. The audio from the trailer is laid over fresh new/old footage to create a version that just might have existed in a more interesting world.

This work uses excerpts from:

- Adventures Of Captain Marvel (1941).
- Captain America (1944).
- Cat-Women Of The Moon (1953).
- King Of the Rocket Man (1949).
- Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940).
- Spy Smasher (1942).
- The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).
- The Green Archer (1940).
- The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938).
- The Avengers (1961).

Super-Team Family covers

If you're a comic book fan and are unaware of the great site Super-Team Family The Lost Issues you should check it out. Each day they post a new cover from a wished for but impossible team-up comic. If only some of these could come to pass they would make history! 

Fringe - A Great TV Series!

After putting it off for a long time, last week I finally finished watching the fifth and final season of the TV series Fringe. I didn't put it off because I had come to dislike the show - indeed, it had maintained its quality and my interest from the beginning -but because i didn't want to see it end. I started watching Fringe when it premiered back in 2008 and watched it religiously until i screwed up and miss a few episodes at the beginning of the fourth season. I waited until those episodes were issued on DVD and rented them through NetFlix to catch up. But I as still behind when season five came around so I waited still longer and now, through the joy of streaming, have completed seeing all 100 episodes.

From the start I called Fringe an alternate version of the X-Files - but would then say "But this one is done well". By that I didn't mean to insult the X-Files too much- I was a fan of the show in the 1990's myself- but Fringe seemed to have learned from that show's massive mistakes. Chris Carter's show teased us for years about some huge alien conspiracy, constantly adding elements that just confused and complicated matters until even the most hopeful fans had to conclude that there was no planned story that was ever going to be able to resolve the mess they had created. Fringe seems to have had an end point in mind from the start with built in stopping places just in case the show was cancelled. The very important Observers are glimpsed in the first season numerous times before we are even told that they are something to which we should be paying attention. By the start of season five the mystery behind these nearly emotionless bald men takes center stage - we are told who they are, what they are doing and that there is a chance that the Fringe team can defeat them. For thirteen final episodes the show plays out brilliantly bringing back elements of previous stories and folding them into things in inventive ways. It is wonderfully done! Somehow the creators managed to fulfilled nearly every promise they made to their audience over the course of five years. All the way to its triumphant endpoint they remained true to the series' core values - the importance of family, the necessity of trust in humanity, the joy of intellectual inquiry, the beauty of a bit of humor at the right time and the awesome power of love. Fringe wasn't just a great, exciting science fiction show- it was about the bonding of a ragtag group of people into a family that fought to make the world a better, safer place for everyone. I loved every minute and recommend that if you haven't watched Fringe before that you give it a try. It is a great one hundred episode ride!

The FANTASTIC FOUR TV Series (1963-64)

Sometimes you stumble over a spot on the old internet that stuns you. Sometimes this sense of being surprised is from shock value alone but infrequently there is a website that is so amazing - so brilliant - in its concept and execution that you simply stare in wonder at the accomplishment. Such is my reaction -even days later- to this incredible site dedicated to the FANTASTIC FOUR TV Series shot but never aired in the mid-1960's. Now, you and I know that there is no way this show was actually produced but the fact that it fooled as jaded an eye as my own for a few minutes is a testament to the craft and intelligence brought to bear on this bizarre idea. This site is genius and the creators of this piece of wish fulfillment should be praised for the intricate detail and sharp thought evident in this multilayered hoax. I wish this show DID exist and I feel sad that something so astonishing has to remain in our mind's eye forever.

Check out this perfect explanation for the casting of Namor the Sub-Mariner -- 

By the early 1960s, Fabian’s music career was virtually over.  He was concentrating on his Hollywood career when he landed the role of Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner.  Fabian’s makeup in this episode, consisting of slanted eyebrows and pointed ears, predates Leonard Nimoy’s as “Mr. Spock” by two years.  Fabian reportedly hated the little wings glued to his ankles and they are only seen twice in the episode, at his first appearance and again, very briefly, when he returns to the sea.

“Namor’s outfit caused us a lot of grief,” according to costume supervisor Ed Lossman.  “In the comic books, Namor wore skin-tight trunks made from fish skin with large scales.  This look was nearly impossible to replicate, and the material I ended up using didn’t have much give.  The trunks were much tighter than what men were used to back then, and Sargent kept shooting Fabian from the waist up because he feared what the censors might think.  Liz Montgomery blushed any time she and Fabian shared a scene, and Billy Demarest had to be banned from the set.” 

Amazing! Look over the site- there is much more stuff of the same type. So much good work went into this I almost want to pay for it. 

Retro BLADE RUNNER (1982) trailer!

We take a brief break from the Halloween tinged madness to watch this brilliant black & white trailer cut to make it look like a 1940's style noir. This is gorgeous!

Dream Movie - SUPERMAN VS. DRACULA!

I cannot be the only person that wishes this film actually existed. The pure awesomeness would jump right off the screen and chase you out of the theater. 

What I Watched in January

January brought three trips to the theater and all were fantastic experiences.

I had been a bit surprised- indeed, shocked isn't too strong a word - when my beloved girlfriend announced after seeing the trailer for DJANGO UNCHAINED that she wanted to see the film. I thought there was no way she would want to see a Western but,  as I've noted elsewhere she loved the film even more than I did. Tarantino's last two films have been among his best and show him moving into a truly fun area of crafted Alternative Histories with his stories. Everything is brutally nasty and slightly heightened above the norm of conventional reality which only serves to improve each movie's effectiveness. With this film he bores deeply into uncomfortable territory for any American aware of our country's past evils and forces the viewer to confront some stark facts- all while entertaining said viewer with a revenge/love story of epic feel and cinematic beauty. Its not a perfect film but as a major fan of the spaghetti westerns he is riffing on I felt thrilled that so much could still be done with the classic ideas from those great old movies. DJANGO UNCHAINED always seems fresh and, although long, it is never boring.

I had not originally intended to see LINCOLN theatrically but Yvette became interested in the film and I was glad to check it out. The story covers only the last few months of the Civil War and focuses on the battle to pass the Constitutional Amendment to do away with slavery in the United States. The knowledge that if the war ends before such a change is made this important thing might never happen hangs over the period and informs every political move made. What is more important? Is ending the hideous bloodshed as soon as possible first priority or is correcting the rotten moral compromise that twisted our nation from its inception a more vital need? Watching good and not-so-good men wrestle with this dilemma was fascinating and entertaining in ways I did not expect. Plus, I love listening to the way people spoke in the 19th century! So much more interesting and colorful than today's argot.

After purchasing a particular Blu-Ray I received a free ticket to see JACK REACHER so checking it out was a no-brainier - luckily the film was pretty smart. What attracted me to the film in the first place was the writer/director Christopher McQuarrie's involvement. I've been a fan of his style of storytelling since he scripted THE USUAL SUSPECTS and I loved his directorial debut with the stark modern day neo-noir/spaghetti western THE WAY OF THE GUN. Having heard good things about the novels being adapted for this film I had hopes for a mean little action tale and that is what I got. The film feels like a throwback to the more interesting action films of the 1970s in which character and tension were more important than explosions. I was impressed with the story, the pacing, the direction and the acting from pretty much everyone concerned. The violence was well staged and believable which is something I can always appreciate in these days of hyper-spastic silliness. I'd love to see a sequels from the same creative team but I doubt that will happen. 

DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012)- 9

THE LADY AND THE MONSTER (1944)- 6 (wild adaptation of Donovan's Brain)

RED RIDING HOOD (2011)- 3 (beautiful but dumb- terrible dialog)

BOSTON BLACKIE'S CHINESE VENTURE (1949)- 6

TARANTULA (1955)- 8  (rewatch)

THE SNIPER (1978)- 7

THE BLACK HAND (1950) - 7 (Gene Kelly & J. Carroll Naish battle New York Mafia in 1910)

GOD BLESS AMERICA (2011)- 7 (cynical, dark comedy)

FRANKENWEENIE (20120- 8 (rewatch)

CHRONICLE (2012)- 8 (very well done 'birth of a superhero tale)

LINCOLN (2012)- 9 (touching and fascinating portrait of democracy in extremis)

JACK REACHER (2012)- 7 (refreshing 70s style action film)

KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE (1953)- 6 (cartoonish but fun)

SHERLOCK HOLMES : GAME OF SHADOWS (2011)- 8 (rewatch)

DANGEROUS BLONDES (1943)- 5 (OK mystery with too much comedy)

BROTHER ORCHID (1940)- 8 (comedic gangster tale with heart)

THE DEVIL'S BROTHER (1933)- 6 (pre-code operetta with Laurel & Hardy wedged in)

THE NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF (1981)- 8 (rewatch)

CITY IN DARKNESS (1939)- 6 (rewatch) (Charlie Chan) 

IRON SKY is coming!

I really had my doubts that such a cool concept could ever be made but it seems the mad folks behind the 'Nazis On the Moon' film have actually gotten it completed. It looks very SKY CAPTAIN to me and that is a good thing. I can only hope that it will actually play theatrically near me so I can discover its glories on the big screen.