Pain Is My Power

The Crow: City Of Angels
Miramax (1996)

The west-coast sequel to the 1994 Brandon Lee classic made its debut in theaters 25 years ago.  I saw this in theaters when I was 16 years old.  It's definitely not the instant classic that the first film was, but it's definitely a better movie than the critics give it credit for being.  The same can be said for the soundtrack - not the iconic work of art that its predecessor was, but a solid album on its own.  It includes covers of Gold Dust Woman, I'm Your Boogieman and In A Lonely Place by Hole, White Zombie and Bush respectively.

There's Something About Game Boy

Happy birthday to actress Cameron Diaz, shown here with her Game Boy in a few photos that I found on Twitter and Reddit.  I'm not sure if these were published in a magazine or done as a promotional spot for Nintendo because no source was included in any of the various places where these photos can be found online, but they all consistently report that they are from 1995.

Saying Goodbye To An Acting Legend

Ed Asner
1929 - 2021

The world has lost a truly good man today.

We saw Ed Asner perform his one-man show in Pittston last month.  He didn't have to keep working, but he came to a small town in NEPA and did what he does best - make people laugh and have a good time.  He has a body of work across eight decades that rivals anyone in the entertainment industry, and he was a source of strength for the people and causes that he stood up for throughout his career.

Thank you for everything, Mr. Asner.

Beware The Beast Man, For He Is The Devil's Pawn

Planet Of The Apes / Beneath The Planet Of The Apes
Mahoning Drive-In - Lehighton, PA

The original Planet Of The Apes is one of my favorite movies of all time.  It's also one of the reasons that I have grown to strongly dislike parodies and pop culture references as I've gotten older.  For every Mel Brooks or Weird Al Yankovic who create parodies that are true works of art in and of themselves, there are about a thousand hacks who make pop culture references that aren't funny or entertaining in the slightest.  I'll bet that you've seen at least a half dozen references of someone standing by the Statue of Liberty shouting "god damn you all to hell" in an anguished voice.  It's a powerful scene that reveals one of the greatest plot twists in the history of motion pictures, but it's been mocked so many times that it's impact is diluted by association.

Well, enough of that.  On to the films.

The original Planet Of The Apes movies from 1968-1973 haven't been screened at the Mahoning Drive-in Theater in six years, before many of the staff were here.  As usual, they took a fun idea and made it even more awesome, and it started before we even pulled onto the lot.  A dude (probably JT, but I'm terrible with faces even when they're not under a mask), was hanging out at the entrance in a full ape costume, complete with gun.  They also gave us a raffle ticket for an ape mask that was being given away by Exhumed Films as a door prize.  Looking at this photo made me realize that between the hair and the beard, I'm halfway to a Planet Of The Apes cosplay at all times.

 

Before the start of the first film, they showed an episode of the YouTube series Hanging With Dr. Z.  If you haven't seen it, it's basically Space Ghost: Coast To Coast if you replaced Space Ghost with Dr. Zaius.  Dr. Z plays a Paul Lynde type of name-dropping, d-list celebrity.  It's alright.  If I'm being completely honest, it's not my favorite type of humor, and I could have done without the lengthy sales pitch to donate to their Kickstarter ($100 bucks gets you a coffee mug), but I appreciate the effort.

Following that, the folks at Exhumed Films showed the original trailers for Escape From, Conquest Of, and Battle For The Planet Of The Apes.  The third, fourth and fifth films of the original series of movies will be screened later tonight, with the first two films being shown last night.

After the trailers, the first film of the Friday night double feature was shown in glorious 35mm, and it was incredible.  I first saw Planet Of The Apes when I was a teenager in the 90's.  I was living with my grandparents in West Hazleton and working at Blowout Video, a movie rental store that was inside of our local Wal-Mart.  We were allowed to rent as many movies as we wanted for free as long as they were still in the shop at the end of the night and that we bought them back early the next day, so I got to see a lot of movies that I hadn't seen before.  I was so blown away by the first movie that I rented the next four throughout the rest of the week.  It's one of my favorite film series of all time, and I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to see it on the big screen.

After the intermission reel, they screened another episode of Hanging With Dr. Z, which gave me an opportunity to check in and see how the Phillies were doing.  They're in the middle of a series with the Arizona Diamondbacks - the worst team in the National League this season, and a team that swept Philadelphia earlier this month and won the first game in their current series on Thursday.  Thankfully, the Fightins managed to win in extra innings, but not before giving up up a two run lead on two separate occasions.  It's pretty disheartening to go from a first place team to having to scratch and claw to beat a team with a .338 winning percentage.  But enough about the apocalypse at Citizens Bank Park.  Tonight is about the one that occurs in the year 3955 on the big screen.

Beneath The Planet Of The Apes is the 1970 sequel to the original film.  It's the story of Brent, an astronaut from the 1970's who has followed the same trajectory as Taylor's crew from the first film, and as a result has crash landed back onto the Earth 2,000 years in the future.  He discovers that he's on Earth and finds a cult of deformed telepathic humans living in the ruins of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City deep in the Forbidden Zone.  This group prays to an ancient nuclear weapon that has the power to destroy the world.

This movie has a lot of really cool ideas, but I find it to be one of the weakest of the original series.  The plot drags quite a bit in the first half, taking too long to bring the protagonist up to speed with what Taylor learned in the first film.  I don't mean to say that it's bad, but it's a big step down from its predecessor, and not quite as good as the third and fourth movie in the series in my opinion.  Still, I'm very happy to have had the chance to see it under the stars in Lehighton as the second half of an awesome double feature.

This Is Your Future On Toast

Ten
Pearl Jam (1991)

One of the best rock records of all time was released thirty years ago today.  I was 11 years old when my stepsister brought home Pearl Jam's debut album on cassette.  She used to make a lot of mix tapes for me of songs from her collection that I enjoyed or that she thought I would enjoy.  After we listened to Ten, she asked if I would like any of these songs on the next tape she was making for me.  I asked if she could just make a copy of this whole tape, and I listened to that thing until it wore out.  When I got my first CD player a couple of years later, Ten was one of the first albums that I bought.  I can't think of any other record that I played in its entirety back in the 90's more than this.

Seeing this album cover brings back a flood of memories.  It was a source of comfort during a very confusing time in my life.  As a teenager, I moved around a lot and lived in different homes and different states and went to different schools.  In a span of five years, I lived with my dad, stepmom and stepsister in Boynton Beach, then with my grandparents in West Hazleton, then back to Florida with my dad and his new girlfriend in Palm Beach Gardens, then to a group home and the Palm Beach County Juvenile Detention Center, then back to West Hazleton with my grandparents, then to Beaver Meadows with my other grandparents, and finally to a little apartment with my girlfriend at the time a few months before my 17th birthday.  This was one of the albums that helped me get through all of the stress and uncertainty of those years.  Wherever I was, I could always turn off the lights, put on this record and forget about all of the bullshit and sing a reminder to myself that I'm still alive.

One Legend's Tribute To Another

Vincent
Leonard Nimoy (1981)
On the drive to Philadelphia with my dad earlier this month, I mentioned to him that I had tickets to see Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience.  This got us talking about Vincent van Gogh, and he told me about a play that he had once seen.  It's a one-man show written and performed by Leonard Nimoy in which he plays Theo van Gogh eulogizing the death of his brother, Vincent.  Dad had a copy of it on VHS that he let me borrow.

Minneapolis Star Tribune - July 5th and 26th, 1981

The show took place at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis on August 2nd and 3rd, 1981.  From these newspaper clippings, it seems that the VHS was made up of footage from both performances.  It's an incredible show, and nothing I'm going to say here is going to do it justice.  It's a very emotional experience, and one that taught me far more about the life and works of Vincent van Gogh than I ever knew.  I couldn't take my eyes off of the screen.

If you would like to see it, someone has uploaded it to YouTube back in 2017.  However, I'm not sure if it's the full show.  The VHS tape is 88 minutes long, but this video is under 58 minutes.  It doesn't have the intro or the segment at the end in which Mr. Nimoy talks about the life of Theo van Gogh after his brother's death.  I can't say for sure if those missing segments account for the entire 30 minute difference, but I highly recommend that you check it out.  It's a wonderful show, and an incredible performance that you won't soon forget.

All Rentals Are Due For Return

Heights Terrace Video
South Poplar Street - Hazleton, PA

When I was a teenager and in my early 20's, I rented movies and wrestling tapes from Heights Terrace Video all the time.  It's a bit out of the way from my house, so it's been a long time since I've been back.  I pass by it every time I go to my dad's house, but those usually aren't times when I'm looking to bring home a movie, but I knew they were still in business.  Dinosaur Dracula visited them a few years ago, and I'd often see people going in and out.  Every time I drove past, I'd see that the lights were on and I'd think to myself "I've got to stop in one of these days".

I felt a twinge of guilt last time I drove to my dad's house and saw that the sign was gone.

When I got home, I did a little bit of searching and found that Heights Terrace Video closed for business as a video rental shop after 35 years at the end of June 2021.  They kept chugging along through the 2020 lockdown by offering curbside service, but a variety of factors finally led them to shut their doors.  You can probably guess most of the reasons, but from Bryan's post, it seems like this decision was mostly due to the fact that the landlord had put the building up for sale.

The store remained open to sell off their stock through August 1st.  By the time they took the sign off of the building, the place was empty, so I didn't get to visit my old neighborhood rental shop for one last time before it looked like this.

Man, another piece of the world I always knew is gone forever.  That's how it happens.  Bit by bit, the world you grew up in begins to fade away.. a store closure, a band's farewell tour, the cancellation of a favorite tv show, or the death of a celebrity.  Sometimes, it's a major loss, like the day that a loved one passes away.  Other times, it's less serious, like a restaurant where you used to always stop for lunch has gone dark.  The things we take for granted as always existing as a part of our world disappear piece by piece, and the world turns from the place where you grew up to the place where children who are 30 or 40 years younger than you will grow up.  My cherished memories become the "when I was your age, candy bars were a nickel" stories that my grandfather once told me about the world that he once knew.

Anyone reading this either knows what I'm talking about, or they will know one day.  Either way, do yourself a favor and take the time to enjoy the people, the places, and the things in your life that bring you happiness.  Don't assume that they will always be there later on.  They won't... because you don't own this world that you're living in.  You're only renting it for a little while.

Han Solo Cup

I found this little guy at Joe Bob's Jamboree last month.  You can get a pin or a sticker of him at Little Shop Of Pins.

Now You're Playing With Super Power

Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo (1991)
One of the most popular game consoles of all time was released in North America 30 years ago today.  Nintendo would go on to sell nearly 50 million SNES consoles worldwide and, in the process, introduce gamers to a library of 16-bit titles that are still enjoyed to this day.

Scan provided by VintageComputing.com

I was a Sega kid in the early 90's, so I didn't get an SNES when it first launched.  When I look at some of the conversation that younger gamers have today about the 16-bit era, I have to laugh.  One recent exchange that I saw on Twitter was from a gamer who couldn't understand why anyone would choose to support Nintendo or Sega instead of just being a fan of both consoles.  Yeah, ok, and when I finish taking turns with my Genesis and SNES, I'll just hop in the old Lamborghini with my dad and head to the airport to take a ride in our private jet.  The kids who were lucky enough to talk their parents into buying a new video game console despite the fact that they "already have a Nintendo" were pretty unlikely to talk them into buying two new consoles.  It took me over a year of saving up to get a Sega Genesis in 1992, so my priority at that point was getting games to play on my new system, not saving up for another year so that I could own two consoles with no games to play on either of them.

I eventually got a Super Nintendo in late 1994 from a middle school friend.  He didn't play it anymore, so he sold it to me for fifty bucks.  It was some of the best money I ever spent because it's the same SNES that I have hooked up to my television to this day.  It has been played for a countless number of hours over the past 27 years, and it still works like a charm every time.  It's also one of the only consoles that I've ever seen survive this long without the plastic turning yellow.

To this day, I don't think there has ever been a console with such a robust catalog of new platformers, shmups, RPGs and puzzle games.  It had a controller that was simple enough for anyone to pick up and play, but advanced enough to accommodate the advances made in video games throughout the 90's.  It was a console that was accessible to everyone in the family, and with the release of Virtual Console games on the Wii, Wii-U and 3DS, the Nintendo Switch Online games, and the SNES Classic plug-and-play mini console, it continues to be enjoyed three decades later by gamers all over the world.

Disney Witchcraft In The Rain

Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Mahoning Drive-In - Lehighton, PA

One of the things that the Mahoning is especially proud of is the fact that they're the only theater in the United States that is currently showing 35mm prints of Disney films from their vault.  That really is pretty impressive when you think about it.  They went from being on the verge of closing when Hollywood switched to an all-digital format to having a relationship with Disney that inspired them to open their vaults and send films (some of which hadn't been shown theatrically in decades) to be shown on their screen.

Hurricane Henri was making its way up the east coast.  We didn't get hit with any damaging weather in our part of Pennsylvania, but we did get a lot of rain.  In fact, it rained steadily from the time we left the house until we got home and went to sleep.

Given the choice, I would rather a clear day where we can set up the lawn chairs outside, but there's something nice about relaxing under a warm blanket with a bucket of popcorn in the car at a drive-in.  It's not unlike the feeling of sitting by a fireplace during a snowstorm.  It may be wet and chilly out there, but it's cozy and dry in the car, and the folks in the projection booth at the Mahoning are going to deliver an awesome show no matter what the circumstances.

I'm not generally the biggest fan of Disney's classic animated films - I don't love them, but I don't dislike them either.  However, I do enjoy their live action family films from the 60's, 70's and 80's quite a bit.  There's just something innocent and charming about them, and I haven't seen very many of them when I was growing up, so it's been like a little treasure trove that I've been unpacking for the past few years.  Bedknobs and Broomsticks is the most recent of these discoveries.  What I didn't realize until it was mentioned in the pre-show announcements is that this year is the 50th anniversary of the film.  

Bedknobs and Broomsticks stars Angela Lansbury, who I will always know best as Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote.  She was 46 years old when this movie was first released to theaters on December 13th, 1971.  If you want to see a stunning resume for a professional actor or actress, look no further than Ms. Lansbury.  She earned Oscar nominations for her first two films in the mid 40's (she is presently the earliest surviving Academy Award nominee) and has worked consistently through eight decades.  Her latest completed major film on IMDB is Mary Poppins Returns, in which she appeared at the age of 92, with an additional credit for a film that's still in pre-production called The Adventures Of Buddy Thunder.

Her co-stars in Bedknobs and Broomsticks are David Tomlinson, who plays the main antagonist in The Love Bug, and three child actors: Ian Weighill, Cindy O'Callaghan, and Roy Snart.

The story takes place in 1940 England during the Second World War.  The three children are siblings who have been evacuated from London and are being looked after by a woman (Lansbury) who is secretly taking a correspondence course through the mail to learn to become a witch.  When the school unexpectedly shuts down, she and the children set out in search of the school headmaster (Tomlinson) to obtain the final spell in the course.  To do so, they travel on a bed with a magically enchanted bedknob that allows it to both fly and teleport.

It's a very sweet story and a nice escape from the craziness going on in the world today, and I'm glad that I got to see it at the Mahoning Drive-in.

An 80's Cage Match

Valley Girl / Raising Arizona
Mahoning Drive-In - Lehighton, PA
Last night was the second episode of Rampage in Chicago.  Hometown legend CM Punk made his AEW debut in front of a crowd that went crazy to see one of the best pro wrestlers of his generation return to the business.  As much as I've been looking forward to it, I'm going to have to watch it on video over the weekend because I had tickets to a different kind of cage match on Friday.

The Cage Match at the Mahoning is a two night event with four movies starring the great Nicolas Cage.  Friday night is for the 80's, with a double feature of Valley Girl and Raising Arizona.  Saturday night is a 90's double feature of Face/Off and Con Air.

The poster for this show was created by artist Tom Bifulco.  There have been so many incredible posters for different shows and events at the Mahoning since they've started showing vintage movies.  I wonder if they ever thought about doing a set of Mahoning Trading Cards with poster artwork on the front of the card and facts about the movies, or the drive-in, or the event itself printed on the back?  They could even ask some of the special guests who have attended screenings to autograph a few of the cards that could be given away in the raffle.

 

The first movie of the night was one of my favorite movies from the decade of my childhood - the 1983 romantic comedy Valley Girl.  This may be the most accurate depiction of the 80's that I've ever seen in television or movies.  When you see modern movies about the 80's, you'll often find a group of friends that has a punk rock kid, a metal kid, a rich preppy kid, a jock, a skater/surfer kid, a nerdy A/V club kid, and a drama club kid all hanging out together.  I kinda wish the 80's and 90's were like that, but it wasn't in any part of the country where I ever lived back then.  If you love the 80's and you want to see a great movie with an amazing soundtrack and experience a view of the decade that's quite a bit more realistic than The Wedding Singer, check it out.

The second half of tonight's double feature was the 1987 film: Raising Arizona.  This was a first for me.  I really didn't know anything about this movie at all other than the fact that it stars Nicolas Cage, and the plot has something to do with a kidnapped baby.  I've seen it at the rental store many times over the years and always passed it up because I never really heard anything positive or negative about it.  Knowing me, I picked up the box, saw the word "baby", thought that it was one of those kid-heavy slapstick comedies, like Mr. Mom or Three Men And A Baby, and put it back on the shelf without a second thought.

Raising Arizona is a Coen Brothers film, which should have clued me in to the fact that this wasn't going to be a cookie-cutter family film.  However, for as much as I enjoy movies, I'm not a "movie guy".  I don't know the works of actors or directors, and I can't rattle off movie trivia the way that most of the other folks on the lot at the Mahoning can.  So, when you say "The Coen Brothers" to me, my honest reaction is going to be "Oh, I've heard of them!  I think I saw some of their movies".  If you were then patent enough with a dunce like me to explain that they're the writer/director team responsible for The Big Lebowski, my reaction would quickly change to "Holy shit, how did I not know that they did this film?!"

I'm very happy to say that Raising Arizona was nothing like what I had pictured from seeing the box at the video store.  It's an absolutely batshit crazy movie that's right up there with Lebowski as one of the most original and entertaining comedies that I have ever seen, and it's yet another thing I have to thank the Mahoning Drive-In for.  Unless I were to meet a Coen Brothers superfan who insisted that I give it a shot right then and there, I probably would have gone my whole life without ever seeing this film.  However, because it was a double feature at the Mahoning, I've seen it now, and I'm incredibly glad that I did!

Picking Up Undead Hookers

Frankenhooker

Poster Art: Tom BiFulco
Mahoning Drive-In - Lehighton, PA
I was pretty late to the party with this movie.  It was released in 1990, and while I wasn't raised in a very conservative household, there was no way on earth my parents or grandparents were going to allow a nine year old to rent a video called Frankenhooker.  Now that I think back, I'm not sure if I ever saw this in the video store when I was growing up.  That all changed in 2007 when I found this VHS tape baking in the hot sun at the Hometown Farmers Market.

The box originally had a button that you could press to hear a recorded message from the star, but the copy that I found had a cut up box inserted into a hard plastic sleeve, so I didn't get to hear the talking box.  However, it still had all of the stickers from the rental store that it came from, and the tape was in really good shape and played perfectly.  No one had violated the West Coast Video label on the side of the tape, so one would presume that no legal prosecution resulted from this video cassette.

We were in Philadelphia for an ROH show at the National Guard Armory a few days after we found this tape back in 2007, so we watched it from our room at the Candlewood Suites with some takeout from Boston Market.  It was every bit as crazy and fun as I expected it to be from the description on the box.

I could have sworn that Frankenhooker was featured on The Last Drive-In at some point, but I couldn't find a listing for it.  The movie itself is available to stream on Shudder, so I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before we can all experience the film with Joe Bob Briggs, Darcy and the rest of the MutantFam.  Joe Bob is one of the reviewers named on the back of the box.  Back when he was with The Movie Channel, he gave it four stars and said that it was the "best of '90" so I'm sure it's got to be on their radar for the upcoming season of The Last Drive In.

We got to experience this awesome cult classic on the big screen last night thanks to the folks at The Mahoning Drive-In and Troma, who acquired the rights to Frankenhooker when they purchased the James Glickenhaus catalog not long ago.

And, of course, it was a perfect night at the perfect place to enjoy a movie under the stars.  I don't know what I'm going to do all winter when this place closes for the season.  In the meantime, I'll be back as often as I can, including later tonight for the Cage Match double feature.

A Legend Has Left This World

Sonny Chiba
1939 - 2021
The greatest martial arts star in the history of kung fu movies passed away earlier today due to complications from Covid-19.  Rest in peace, Mr. Chiba.

It's A Pretty Amazing Planet We Live On Here

Big Trouble In Little China
Mahoning Drive-In - Lehighton, PA

It was pouring buckets when we got to the Mahoning, so I wasn't able to get a photo of the marquee.  This one was cribbed from their Instagram (sorry guys), and since I was poking around their social media pages anyway, I decided to go for broke and borrow this one from their Twitter feed too.

I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out why I love the Mahoning Drive-In so much.  A big part of it is the people (both in the crowd and on the staff), but that's not entirely it.  If I'm being completely honest, this isn't a crowd that I really fit in with.  Don't get me wrong, I get along great with everyone I've met, and I love movies.  However, a love of movies isn't really a defining characteristic of mine - it's just one of my interests.  I definitely wouldn't call myself a cinephile. I don't know anything about foreign films or direction or things like that, and I'd be willing to bet that just about everybody on the lot on any given night would whip me in a trivia contest.

When I describe this place to people who haven't been there, I find that I have a difficult time explaining what makes this place so special to me.  At first, I thought had the qualities of a museum, like the Baseball Hall Of Fame or The Museum at Bethel Woods.  Both of those places are truly extraordinary, but this place is something different.  A better comparison would be the Timeline Arcade in Hanover because they both do more than preserve history - they keep it alive in the present.

The reason I keep coming back to the Mahoning is because it's truly immersive, and a place where you don't just experience history through a glass case.  When I pull onto the lot, it feels like I'm stepping back in time and seeing movies the same way that I did when a kid.  Sitting in my camping chair under the stars with a bucket of popcorn in my lap and watching a classic movie on the big screen makes me forget that the outside world exists.  The night time drive back to Hazleton after a movie at the Mahoning is surreal because the feeling of being in the past don't disappear right away - they fade slowly with each passing mile.  I almost expect to see my grandfather's old Cadillac parked outside of their house on the way home.

 

Last night's feature was part of the Tunnel Vision Tuesday series that has been brought to the Mahoning by Exhumed Films.  They always do an incredible job and this was no exception.  Before the movie, they screened an original 35mm print of the 1943 Tex Avery animated short: Red Hot Riding Hood.  This originally aired in theaters before the MGM film Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case, and it's every bit as funny today as it was 78 years ago.  It's the perfect setup for the John Carpenter madness we were about to experience.

After the cartoon, they screened the 35mm prints of other classic John Carpenter films, including Dark Star, Elvis, The Thing, Christine, They Live, Starman, Memoirs Of An Invisible Man and In The Mouth Of Madness.

And then, the feature of the night - the 1986 John Carpenter classic: Big Trouble In Little China.  I was too young to see this during its original run in theaters, but I rented it as a teenager and couldn't stop smiling from the start of the film to the awesome cheesy title song that plays over the closing credits.  It feels like a love letter to both kung fu and trucker films, with some of the funniest lines and brilliant comedic performances I've ever seen.  If you haven't seen it, it's on Netflix UK, so fire up the VPN and stream it as soon as you can.

Pete Rose: Virtua Racer

Pete Rose Ballpark Cafe
Boca Raton, FL

Baseball's all-time hit king played in his final game 35 years ago today.  The game took place at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati with the Reds hosting the San Diego Padres.  Pete Rose came in to pinch hit for the pitcher in the bottom of 8th and was struck out by future Hall-of-Famer Goose Gossage.

This photo was taken a few years later shortly after the opening of the 16,000 square foot Pete Rose Ballpark Cafe in Boca Raton.  It opened in 1992 and could best be described as a hybrid of a sports-themed restaurant and a Dave & Busters.  It included over 60 video screens and dozens of displays of sports memorabilia, much of which was from Pete's career with the Reds, Phillies and Expos.  There was also a large arcade with a ton of games, including Sega's Virtua Racing, which Pete is sitting in.

There was a nice article about the restaurant in the Winter 1993 issue of Palm Beach County Sports magazine.  It was still going strong when I moved back to Pennsylvania, and they even opened a second location in Boynton Beach, but both locations have since closed.