Pump Up the Volume 1

Pump Up the Volume, Pump Up the Jam

A Gen X introvert's Baby Boomer dad uproots their family from New York and moves them across the country to a prefab Arizona suburb. Gifted a short-wave radio to keep in touch with his friends back east, the isolated and disoriented Mark finds an outlet for his existential angst as…
April 26, 202416 Comments
Sanderson Mistborn Movie 1

Not Even King Brandon Can Get a Movie Made

Getting a movie adaptation of their books isn't just a perennial dream of writers. Spend any length of time in online reader circles, and you'll soon hear multiple fans asking when they can expect to see their favorite books by their top authors on the silver screen. As most of…
April 7, 20249 Comments
Generation Video Banner

Generation Video Grand Opening

OG readers will know that I have a soft spot for retro film review podcasts. Whether it's author JD Cowan's Cannon Cruisers or, to go all the way back, the late, great Drunken Zombie Podcast, listening in while a couple of guys talk 80s and 90s movies is a guilty…
April 5, 2024
Behind the Mask

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

From time to time, I open the curtain and give this blog's readers a sample of my premium material. Today’s review originally appeared as a Patreon and SubscribeStar exclusive. If you like it, please consider subscribing. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a unique and entrancing exploration of…
March 20, 202411 Comments
Fist of the North Star

Fist of the North Star (1986)

Let me take you back to a time before rent-seeking cargo cultists prowled the animation industry shaking down studios. When anime was drawn on cells with rich, hand-mixed paint. Before the dead-eyed, pastel times; before Ground Zero. In those bad old analog days, if you wanted to watch anime, you…
March 11, 202412 Comments
Nintendo vs Sony

The Riddle of the Pop Cult

Author JD Cowan wrote a post yesterday that shed new light on elements of Cultural Ground Zero and the Pop Cult and showed how they're interrelated. So it was of course fitting that he prominently featured this now-ubiquitous image by retro artist Rachid Lotf. We've been plumbing the riddle of…
February 23, 202419 Comments
Snatch 2000

Movie Review: Snatch (2000)

Every once in a while, I lower the velvet rope and give regular readers a sample of my premium material. Today’s post previously appeared as a Patreon and SubscribeStar exclusive. If you like it, please consider subscribing. Directed by British maverick Guy Ritchie, Snatch is a frenetic and stylish crime comedy…
February 21, 20241 Comment
Uncle Buck

Comedy Classics: Uncle Buck

Since we're in the Christmas season, I thought it fitting to give my regular readers a peek behind the VIP curtain. Please enjoy my previously Neopatron exclusive review of the John Hughes classic Uncle Buck. More than 30 years on, Uncle Buck retains its status as a John Hughes comedy classic. Besides…
December 28, 20233 Comments
Best Evenings

Blockbuster Bellwether

  Glance around online, and you see more and more people discussing the besetting vices of Generation Y. Oh, a lot of them are swallowing the revisionist psyop that's dialed back the start of the Millennial generation to 1979 or earlier, so they use the term "Millennial." But when you're…
November 24, 202327 Comments
Tales From the Darkside

Tales From the Darkside: The Movie

In honor of the Spooky Season, and to give my regular readers a sample of the fun they're missing out on, I here repost a patron exclusive from last month: my review of Tales From the Darkside: The Movie. Don't let the title fool you. Tales From the Darkside: The…
October 17, 2023