Quick Review Joan Jett Bad Reputation

Bad Reputation
2018 | R | 1Hr 33Min | Documentary | Magnolia Picutres

Director: Kevin Kerslake
Writer: Joel Marcus

Stars: 

Joan Jett

Eric Ambel

Billie Joe Armstrong

Synopsis

The life and career of rock ‘n’ roll icon Joan Jett from her early years ripping it up onstage as the founder and backbone of hard-rock legends The Runaways, to her longtime collaboration with Kenny Laguna as Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, and her enduring presence in pop culture as a rock pioneer and mentor. With her inimitable singles “I Love Rock N’ Roll,” and “Bad Reputation” Joan Jett inspired a generation of young women to rock.

Man, I was 11 years old when I first heard "I Love Rock and Roll" and was hooked forever! That sound, that badass image, and Joan it was love, at first sight, thanks to MTV! I still had money left over from the summer of mowing lawns so it was not hard for me to catch a ride to the mall and buy my second ever album. When the song "Nag" came on it was the first time I ever picked up the needle to listen to something again and again. So simply put I could not wait to watch this documentary. 

Bad Reputation opens with a story of 13-year-old Joan tell about her desire for a Sears electric guitar. And how her parents didn't understand why she would want such a thing, thankfully they got her one anyway. And she wailed away on that bad boy until she became as good as—if not better than—the teen boys also dreaming of rock-and-roll stardom in the SoCal suburbs of the 1970s. Director Kevin Kerslake proceeds to take us through the years as Jett struggles to remain commercially viable, a challenge for any legacy act. Then along came the riot grrrl movement, which brought Jett back to her punk roots. In addition to her production work for Bikini Kill, and co-writing credits with Kathleen Hanna, she joined forces with the surviving members of the Gits to promote women's self-defense and to search for Mia Zapata's killer. She has also played for the troops and spoken out on behalf of LGBTQ rights and the benefits of vegetarianism.

Joan defiantly lived a rollercoaster life always having to fight her way through a male-dominated sport. It's her fight and drive that really keeps you watching, even this guy almost broke down in tears watching the segment from the Seattle grunge era. If you love Joan you will love this Doc if your a casual fan or somebody looking for a great story of survival you may love this even more. 

This wild child can be seen on Hulu and is well worth your time.

4 out of 5 Stars

Happy Birthday Lou.

Sorry, Gang, it has been far too long! Sadly that dang Depression bug hits me every time when January and February roll around. I thought for sure I was beating its ass this year because it really did not hit until February itself.

But today is time to celebrate as my baby turns 11!! Good lord, where does time go?

It's crazy watching your kids grow up and yet so much fun. But with that said these kids are going to wear us out with Volleyball season coming to an end, we thought for sure things would slow down. Silly us Lainey joins Track, Ella is still doing Mamma Mia and thankfully my wife has found a job after 6 long months. We did find time though to sit at the dinner table and catch up with one another before somebody is out the door for a practice someplace. Call me crazy but I love it.

Mamma Mia (Arrow Pointing to Ella 

So when was the last time you went roller skating? If your anything like me you said well over 35 to 40 years! Sadly the roller rink seems to be a dying fad just like the drive-in! So when Lainey asked to have her party at the closest Rink my wife, of course, said let's do it! And we did, and it was a blast! So lace up those skates hit play on your ABBA tape and let's roll.

Happy Birthday, Lainey!

And finally, today marks five years since I lost my mom whoever said time heals all wounds is full of it, Miss You Mom.

Ok time to get back to movies and random chit chat.

A Pop-Cultural Staple 9 to 5

Nine To Five
1980 | PG | 1Hr 45Min | Comedy | 20th Century Fox

Director: Colin Higgins
Writer: Patricia Resnick

Stars:

Jane Fonda

Lily Tomlin

Dolly Parton

Synopsis:

Meet Franklin Hart (Dabney Coleman). The biggest "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss on the planet. He thrills in taking advantage of his head female office staff; humiliating, downplaying, and condescending against them whenever conveniently possible, particularly his top assistant Violet (Tomlin). Long-exhausted over his gruesome bullishness, Violet, alongside co-workers Doralee (Parton) and Judy (Fonda) comprise comical methods of "doing him in" when a freak incident occurs. They then manage to kidnap Hart and trap him in his own house, while assuming control of his department, and productivity leaps. But just how long can they keep him tied up?

How many of you grew up on HBO being that small little box that sat next to your tv? If so I'm willing to bet you watched Nine to Five or maybe even The Incredible Shrinking Women hundreds of times. What a great time to grow up and not to mention the movies of the eighties were always fun to watch. So the main question for me when choosing this movie for the Fonda Blogathon, does it hold up after all these years.

The answer is simple Hell Yeah! Even with today's #metoo movement, 9 to 5 is still a simple pleasure to watch almost 40 years later. Fonda plays Judy Bernly, a middle-aged divorcée entering the workforce for the first time in years.  Judy's first-day outfit was inspired from a conservative wardrobe with over-sized glasses, an elaborate hat, and an over-done hairstyle.  Fonda interviewed numerous women who had entered the workforce late in life due to divorce or being widowhood just to come up with her fashion in this movie. 9 to 5 was also the first female-dominated film to gross $100 million dollars and it's popularity lead itself to a spin-off tv series. 

Considering the recent sexual misconduct that has swept through Hollywood, a retooling of 9 to 5 seems like the perfect project for the modern era. As a refresher, the original film ends with (decades-old spoiler ahead!) Tomlin’s character getting a major promotion, Fonda’s character getting married, and Parton’s character zipping off to country stardom. Fonda announced that the trio will indeed reunite for a sequel. Both Fonda and Tomlin will executive produce the film, and will collaborate with its writers as well. The film will swing ahead to the present day, though it will still be set at the "Consolidated Companies" workplace. The plot will focus on oft-discussed issues like the wage gap and harassment in the workplace they hope to have it on the big screen later this year.

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In the end, this Pop Cultural staple is well worth a revisit! The humor still stands true today but sadly the workplace has not changed much!

This short look back on 9 to 5 is part of The Fondaton Blogathons hosted by Sat In Your Lap so make sure to head over to the site by clicking here for a full list of posts. 

As for Nine to Five, you still stand true with a score of,

4 out of 5 Stars

Only one man can stop the Yakuza.

Into The Sun
2005 | R | 1Hr 37 Min | Action | Columbia Tri Star

Director: mink
Writers: Steven Seagal (story), Joe Halpin (story)

Stars: 

Steven Seagal 

Takao Ohsawa

Juliette Marquis

Synopsis:

Ex-CIA agent Travis Hunter (Steven Seagal), is called to bring down the criminals who murdered the governor of Tokyo. Hunter uncovers a Yakuza plan to build an enormous drug-dealing network in conjunction with the Chinese Mafia. With time running out and the cold-blooded Yakuza determined to see their plan through, Hunter must thwart the operation, and then get out alive.

Well crap, this movie has left me with so many questions! Into the Sun is part of Box Office Jocks Blogathon hosted by Dubsism and Return to The '80s. The idea behind it simple it is all about movies featuring actors who used to be athletes at the college, Olympic, or professional level, OR movies in which a famous athlete appears. So I picked Into the Sun starring Steven Seagal and wanting to keep up with the Super Bowl-themed weekend this also star's Tennessee Titans Running Back Eddie George. 

Looking kick ass Seagal!

Who didn't enjoy those great action stars of the late '80s like Van Damme, Stallone, Schwarzenegger and of course Seagal? With a box office smash Above the Law in 1988, Seagal became a cinema legend. And here he is in 2005 keeping that action movie mojo alive well to him anyway. It is cool to see him still working but after watching Into the Sun I'm not convinced I need to watch any of his newer stuff. Being a Master in Japanese Kendo you should be in for a treat and as of 2006, his movies have earned $600 million worldwide. So why did I have a hard time getting into this flick? But first Eddie...

Eddie George the badass.

**Spoiler Alert** Eddie George looks badass in the opening minutes playing a CIA Agent going undercover. But sadly that is it! I have let this Blogathon down as he was only in this movie for maybe seven minutes! I was so excited to learn he was in this bad boy with Seagal but that quickly turned to let down. This movie needed more George! Sorry gang but the review must go on.

Sorry to see you go, Eddie.

I would also like to point out this was the directorial debut for mink, yeah I have never heard of him as well. In fact, he has only done 4 movies in his career. What I will say about him he took a crap script and made it look fantastic. He actually shot the film in Super 35 with the intention of framing the completed picture in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio for theatres, but sadly Sony decided to send the film straight to DVD, the studio re-framed the picture to 1.85:1. And one quick note about the soundtrack its horrible in fact it will spoil the moment at times and it is so frustrating.

The movie does look good!

What was more frustrating then the score is the story! It is all over the place and if you did not study Japanese culture you'll find your self on google a lot! And it really does not help that Seagal is talking in Japanese tongue so you find yourself reading the dialog way too much. Then out of the blue, they speak English again. This back and forth is a bunch of crap! So you would think the saving grace would be the action but sadly it lacks their as well. They set the movie up for what should be an epic sword battle that ends up being well MEH. 

The fighting is framed so tight that you can only imagine that it is from Seagal's age or maybe that damn leather jacket that kept him from moving around. Into the Sun seems to have signaled the end of his Action movie career and yet here we are in 2018 and he has been pumping them out year after year, 36 other flicks to be exact! So hopefully he has learned from this one.

I really like Seagal's early body of work and was excited to get reacquainted with him once again. Sadly Into the Sun is a dull action flick that looks good but falls way short on fun. I sure hope the other bloggers had more luck with there picks so make sure to check those out here and here.

2 out of 5 Stars

Polar Vortex 2019!

Dirty Pop

Oh, Tommy Lee, you son of a gun! Back in 1984 on this day, Backstage after a Motley Crue show in Buffalo, New York, Tommy Lee found out that his girlfriend has posed for the current issue of Penthouse magazine without his knowledge after a fan passed comment on the pictures. Tommy punched the fan unconscious with one hit, Motley's manager Doug Thaler later convinced the fan not to press any charges.

And one year later we were treated to this...

The recording took place for We Are The World the US equivalent of Band Aid at A&M Studios in Hollywood in 1985. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie the all-star cast included Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Daryl Hall, John Oates, Cyndi Lauper, Steve Perry, and Bob Geldof.

And born on this day in 1977, Joseph Fatone, the singer from American boy band *NSYNC. Among the group's singles, 'Bye Bye Bye', 'This I Promise You', 'Girlfriend' and 'It's Gonna Be Me' reached the top 10 in several international charts. The group's second album, No Strings Attached, sold over one million copies in one day. And of course, everybody thinks he is the rabbit on the Masked Signer.

Tonight on Svengoolie: The Werewolf

The Werewolf

1956 | B&W | 1HR 19Min | NR | Horror | Columbia

Director: Fred F. Sears

Writers: Robert E. Kent

Stars: 

Don Megowan

Joyce Holden

Eleanore Tanin

Two scientists come across an auto accident and find an unconscious man in the wreck. They take him back to their lab and inject him with a serum they have been working with. Unfortunately, the serum has the effect of turning the man into a murderous werewolf.

Watch 'The Werewolf' at 8PM | 7C, Saturday, January 26, on MeTV. Ugh, I just want something new to get excited about Sven!

The end of Earth will not be the end of us.

Interstellar
2014 | PG-13 | 2hr 49min | Sci-Fi | Paramount Pictures

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writers: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan

Stars:

Matthew McConaughey

Anne Hathaway

Jessica Chastain

Synopsis:

Earth's future has been riddled by disasters, famines, and droughts. There is only one way to ensure mankind's survival: Interstellar travel. A newly discovered wormhole in the far reaches of our solar system allows a team of astronauts to go where no man has gone before, a planet that may have the right environment to sustain human life.

If this is your first visit to the Cave welcome! Interstellar is part of the Robots In Film Blogathon Hosted by Quiggy over at The Midnite Drive-In and Hamlette's Soliloquy please make sure to check out the other 18 bloggers taking part in this event. 

From his humble low budget independent cinema roots to some of today's biggest blockbusters Christopher Nolan has become one of Hollywood best storytelling and acclaimed writer-director. Here is a quick recap in case you have forgotten, Nolan's first break came from his own independent movie Memento that landed him Batman Begins trilogy to Oscar Nominations for Memento, Inception, and of course his latest hit Dunkirk the man does amazing work. And Interstellar was an Oscar winner for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and maybe Han's Zimmer deserved a little more Oscar love with an amazing soundtrack! Although we are not here to talk about Nolan so let's talk robots and the true heart of this movie his daughter. 

You can not take away just how beautiful this movie is without a great cast and story to go along with it. Hidden underneath all the Sci-Fi jargon and amazing special effects lays a wonderful story about a Father and Daughter. Mackenzie Foy may have started her movie career with Twilight but in Interstellar she turned on her acting prowess pulling hard at your heart strings! The father-daughter storyline really had me close to tears along with a clear punch to the stomach making sure the audience felt her pain! Such an amazing job for this young star. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in several award groups that year and winning four of them. Honestly, Interstellar would not have been as good without this young one. Ok, the Robots...

TARS and CASE are the two robots which are part of the Endurance crew. TARS is a former marine robot with angular limbs and a sarcastic attitude. TARS' personality can be characterized as witty, sarcastic, and humorous, and with those traits programmed into him, they make him a better-suited companion. TARS also appears to be somewhat more versatile than CASE, being suited for tasks ranging from piloting to data collection. Voiced and puppeteered by American actor Bill Irwin who also operated and controlled the heavy machinery which weighed almost 200 pounds. Later the actor was digitally removed during post-production as he was a few inches taller than TARS.

Despite being a robot who follows the order of his crew, TARS is quite intelligent and is capable of acting on his own. I really love the idea that TARS is not your atypical R2-D2 type robots, in fact, he is pretty basic, he is a block. I suppose here on earth if we can't save our planet how are we going to build fun looking robots right?

Even tho he is a block he is pretty amazing and holds the space story together like most robots do. With that said not only where Foy and TARS amazing Nolan had a job to do bring us a space odyssey that we have not seen since Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.  But fear, not Nolan contrives a great scene:**Light Spoiler** When Cooper comes out of the hole to find that time has slipped forward decades while he’s been away he has 20 years’ worth of video messages that show his little kids have turned, in the blink of an eye, into two middle-aged adults.  And all of this is underscored by Zimmer who playfully toys with the audience with Straussian themes relying on heavy, wheezingly religiose, organ-type chords moving you to tears!

As a light-year-spanning quest to save the human race, this is the director’s broadest canvas by far, but also his most intimate. And against the alien backdrop of black holes, wormholes, and strange new worlds, Interstellar stands as Nolan’s most human film to date. The visuals will keep you in the movie, the heartfelt story of a father and daughter will move you, and the soundtrack emerges you completely into a new world. Interstellar is well worth the three hours of couch time!

4 out of 5 stars

Eighth Grade

Eighth Grade
2018 | R | 1Hr 33 Min | Drama | A24

Director: Bo Burnham

Writer: Bo Burnham

Stars: 

Elsie Fisher

Josh Hamilton

Emily Robinson

Synopsis:

An introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth-grade year before leaving to start high school.

I'm such a huge fan of independent cinema and A24 has knocked it out of the park lately. And with all that summer hype about Eight grade, it was one that we wanted to check out. Sadly this one fell short for us as we watched it as a family with our Eight-grader who even though it was just meh.

Having a teen that has struggled with school and friends for a few years now I was looking for this movie to be a real and eye-opening experience. Instead, I watched a movie that made my kid look normal clearing away our fears of what it is really like in the eighth grade. Elsie Fisher is fantastic as the teen going through an awkward stage in her life completely nailing every situation she faces. Eighth Grade is definitely a  cringe-inducing look at a teen’s awkward and anxious search for identity in a world dominated by social media but it does not invoke enough conversation that I had hoped.  

One of the big points of the movie that had many parents walking out (and keeping in place the R rating) was the talk about SEX. Gasp and shame on you as parents of a teen and thinking that this is not discussed amongst them. Come on wake up and take advantage of this opportunity to talk to your child. Yes, young boys are asking young girls to send Nudes! Thanks to social media the pressure is real so take the time to talk to them and let them know what is right and what is wrong. Even talk to the boys as mothers asking them the hard question, should they really be asking a girl to send a naked photo? And yes it was very uncomfortable as they talked about Oral Sex but that is the point of a movie like this.

Sadly tho throughout all of the awkward moments and a great cast Eight Grade falls a little short of great. It's well worth your time and does help move a conversation along with your kids, but again if you're shocked by any of this then your not listing to them, get involved! Do I put this on my top of 2018 list sadly no I liked it but I did not Love it. 

3 out of 5 Stars

Purple Rain, Night Fever and Baby Spice! Now that's a Music Monday!

On this day in 1978, The soundtrack album 'Saturday Night Fever' started a 24 week run at No.1 on the US album charts, it went on to sell over 30 million copies worldwide, making it the best selling soundtrack album of all time. Well until this one came around...

But for me, I will take this 1984 soundtrack any day!



And one more for you on January 17,1976, English singer, songwriter, actress, and radio and television personality Emma Bunton, (Baby Spice in The Spice Girls) was born. Bunton scored the 1996/97 hit in the US with 'Wannabe'. But did you know she had a number 1 hit in 2001 with her solo single 'What Took You So Long".



Honestly, the song is really not to bad.

Party Like a Mother

Bad Moms
2016 | R | 1Hr. 40Mins | Comedy | Universal

Directors: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Writers: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Stars: 

Mila Kunis

Kathryn Hahn

Kristen Bell

Amy has a seemingly perfect life - a great marriage, over-achieving kids, a beautiful home and a career. However, she's overworked, over-committed and exhausted to the point that she's about to snap. Fed up, she joins forces with two other over-stressed moms on a quest to liberate themselves from conventional responsibilities - going on a wild, un-mom-like binge of long overdue freedom, fun, and self-indulgence - putting them on a collision course with PTA Queen Bee Gwendolyn and her clique of devoted perfect moms.

Kristen Bell is still my kind of girl.

Oh man, where do I start? So my poor wife has been looking forward to watching Bad Moms for years now. When we get that rare time alone to watch an R rated movie she would ask is it on Netflix or HBO yet and sadly it was not. So this Christmas I picked this one up for her knowing it was something we could do together. So here we are today during a fizzled out Snowmageden grabbed some extra blankets warmed a frozen pizza and fired up Bad Moms. Hmm, a few minutes into the movie we both found ourselves checking on the weather and road conditions so on and so on. Not even an hour into the movie she said Bad Moms is BAD!

The mother-daughter storyline is the only thing worthwhile.

This movie is bad as it continually struggled with what it wants to be, is this a comedy, a drama, maybe a romantic love story? I'm still not sure how to answer. The unfortunate fact that early on, in the movie we are stuck with lame sight gags like a dog wearing a bike helmet with jokes about anal sex and webcam masturbation. Bad Moms wants you to except that two impulses assuming its audience will be delighted and scandalized by any use of the word “*uck” or “vagina,” and proceeds to let them fly. A lot! Like is this the only joke these male writers could come up with?

Yeah, that's how we felt watching you guys!

Mila Kunis is a doll and drives this vehicle rather well but her role was so underwritten and confusing all the time. I would rather have seen this as a mother-daughter storyline rather than a buddy movie. Kunis, who is too often tasked with offering a generic “I suck at this” sentiment and laughing at the others’ craziness. Bell is especially funny as a cheery, lonely mom whose litany of childcare responsibilities has cut her off from the rest of the world. Bell is also given one of the better jokes in the movie by telling her new friends "Sometimes when I'm driving all by myself, I have this fantasy that I get into a car crash. Not a big one with fire and explosions, but just like a little one, but I do get injured and I get to go to the hospital for two weeks and I sleep all day and I eat Jell-O and I watch so much TV and it's all covered by my insurance. My kids bring me balloons, and the nurses rub cream on my feet, and oh, my God, it's so amazing. Is that like something you guys fantasize about, too?"

Bad Moms had a great cast and a fun idea but in the end, it feels like a missed opportunity that just did not go anywhere.

2 out of 5 stars

She gives you that weird feeling!

Dracula's Daughter
1936 | PG | 1 Hr 11 Min. | Horror | Universal

Director: Lambert Hillyer
Writers: Garrett Fort

Stars: Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill

Professor Von Helsing has done the world a favor by driving a stake through the heart of Count Dracula and thus destroying him. For his trouble, Scotland Yard charges him with murder. Dr. Jeffrey Garth, a psychiatrist, may be able to act as an attorney and defend him in court. But Garth finds he has his own troubles when the Countess Marya Zaleska seeks his help. She wants to be released from her desire to drink the blood of the living. She steals the corpse of her father, Count Dracula, and burns it ritually; but she still wants blood. She'll do anything to free herself of this curse, including kidnapping the baron's daughter who is Dr. Garth's assistant and thwarting the hopes of her sinister manservant, Sandor.

Though forgotten by many, Bela Lugosi's Dracula had a sequel of that took place immediately after the events of Dracula, it was not only quite romantic but romantically progressive in that it used vampirism as a conceit to explore homosexuality in the 30s. "Dracula's Daughter" contains a scene which was deemed rather suggestive for the times. When the homeless young lady is invited back to the rooms of the undead Countess, there is a hint of *Gasp*lesbianism. Sadly in the '30s, lesbian undertones were used to increase the repulsive experienced by the audience.

Watch 'Dracula's Daughter' at 8PM | 7C, Saturday, January 19, on MeTV.  I promise you this one is really good.