Jun 6, 2025

Frustrated Incorporated


Let Your Dim Light Shine
Soul Asylum (1995)
The seventh studio album from the Minneapolis alternative rock band Soul Asylum was released thirty years ago today.  The biggest hit on the album was Misery, which always makes me think of Clerks II since it was used for the closing credits.  However, my favorite song from of theirs from this album didn't make the album at all and was released as a track on the maxi-cd single for Misery that was released in the United States and Canada.
Jesus was a hippie
Peace and love was all he was about
That's why they killed him
Cause that shit's something people can't figure out

Now some folks who worship him are the ones
Who would have cheered at the crucifixion
They got no conviction
It doesn't matter if the man was fact or fiction

Nixon was a liar
It's the one thing believed to be true
But Tricky Dick was not a crook
Whatever that means, whatever presidents do

Money can't buy you children
And nothing can bring them back to you
We all make mistakes
We all need someone to look up to

But who're you gonna call your fearless leader?
Who's gonna put your fears to bed?
Cause heroes will never let you down
Just as long as they're dead

Satan is a feeling, deviance it lurks in everyone
Guilty pleasures, mischievous behavior can be fun
No one made you do it, nobody but yourself to blame
It's always at your door and trouble is its name

But who're you gonna call your fearless leader?
Who's gonna put your fears to bed?

Sometimes you gotta pick and choose
Sometimes, no matter what, you lose

Divine was a woman
His private parts said she was a man
Those were his private parts
The parts that he could never understand

But she was an actress
She could be anything that she wanted
Her reality was the very
Thing that she flaunted

But who're you gonna call your fearless leader?
Who's gonna put your fears to bed?
Heroes will never let you down
Just as long as they're dead

But who're you gonna call your fearless leader?
When you run from fear you leave yourself behind
You can't dump your fears on someone else
Cause it's all in your mind

Jun 5, 2025

A Moment Of Realization Is Worth A Thousand Prayers


Natural Born Killers
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
This week's Thursday Thread-Up was one of my favorite movies from when I was a teenager, the 1994 Oliver Stone film based on a screenplay written by Quentin Tarantino, Natural Born Killers.

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

Ben and I spent most of the pre-show playing chess and Ms. Pac Man.  We're pretty evenly matched at chess with each of us winning two games, but my new goal is to get this Gen-Z dude up to speed on the 80's arcade classics.

While we were playing chess, Jimmy introduced Gene, Ben, and I to his very cool friend Kandiss.  She has a tattoo of a blank easel on her arm, and when Gene asked her about it, she told him that the reason for the blank canvas on the easel is to give her friends and family a place to draw something.  That's one of the coolest ideas for a tattoo that I've heard in a long time.  Gene is an award-winning children's book author and illustrator, so he was happy to contribute this dancing hot dog inspired by the intermission reels at the Mahoning.


Speaking of Gene, the pre-show featured an animated short about a monster at a drive-in theater that he created back in 1990.  He has recently updated it to include the Mahoning Drive-In theater marquee.  It was pretty cool, and I hope to show the entire cartoon on here in the near future.


I didn't catch Natural Born Killers when it premiered in theaters back in 1994, but I rented it shortly after it was released on VHS in 1995.  The movie brilliantly captures who we are as a violent species.  Sometimes that violence is goal-orientated and sometimes it's done just for the sake of violence, but it's been a constant throughout human history.  Even those of us who don't directly commit acts of violence glorify those who do, as long as that violence doesn't directly affect us or anyone that we care about.  It's the reason why serial killers and other criminals nearly always get more attention than their victims or the people who bring them to justice.

Some critics and fans understand this movie.  However, it seems like there are a lot of fans who can't see past the violence, or think that all that the movie has to offer is a criticism of the media.  These people don't get it, and that's fine.  I still don't understand Eraserhead, though I'm hopeful that it starts making sense to me one of these days.  Bottom line is that not every movie is for every person, so I'd be fairly selective in who I'd recommend Natural Born Killers to, but if you're somebody who doesn't see your fellow human beings through a lens of unjustified optimism, this movie is probably going to appeal to you.

Jun 4, 2025

That's Not The Right Way To Eat Cantalope


Bring Her Back
A24 (2025)
I've seen a lot of horror movies in my life and think that I have a pretty high threshold for getting creeped out, but... damn!

Jun 3, 2025

The Storm Is Breaking, Or So It Seems


Boys And Girls
Bryan Ferry (1985)
The first studio album released by Bryan Ferry after the members of Roxy Music went their separate ways was released forty years ago today.  It remains his most successful solo album to this day, and it includes Slave To Love, which is one of the highest charting singles of his career.  I love that song, but my favorite is the next song on the album.  It features Nile Rodgers of Chic on guitar, and it's one of those tracks that's best played while driving through the rain on a city street at night.  It's called Don't Stop The Dance.
Mama says truth is all that matters
Lying and deceiving is sin
Drifting through a world that's torn and tattered
Every thought I have don't mean a thing

Don't stop, don't stop the dance
No more music, don't stop the dance

Mama says love is all that matters
Beauty should be deeper than your skin
Living for the moment, lips and lashes
Will I ever find my way again?

Don't stop, don't stop the dance
No more music, don't stop the dance

Mama says only stormy weather
Don't know why there's no sun in the sky
Footsteps in the dark come together
Got to keep on moving or I'll die

Don't stop, don't stop the dance
No more music, don't stop the dance

Jun 2, 2025

You're Waiting For A Bus That You Hope Never Comes


One of the best things about going to the Mahoning Drive-In Theater is the fact that it has introduced me to classic films that I have never heard of before, and probably would have never gotten to see at all (let alone on the big screen) if they hadn't included it in their lineup.  The 1981 Michael Mann neo-noir heist crime drama Thief is a perfect example of this.


The lot chickens are getting pretty comfortable around people.  Colonel posed for this picture at the front gate, and both he and Sanders ate edamame out of my hand.  I looked it up before I fed it to them, and it's perfect safe for them to eat.  I'm going to have to pick up a small bag of chicken feed to keep in the car.


This film has to go into my top five movies that the Mahoning Drive-In Theater has introduced me to because it's a classic in every sense of the word.  Thief stars James Caan as Frank, an ex-con who spent over a decade in prison since he was 18, but has since been released and become a safecracker and a jewel thief who operates a car dealership and a bar as a front for his main source of income.  Circumstances put him in a position to meet a crime lord named Leo who wants to hire him to do jobs directly for him.  Frank agrees, but only for one particularly large score, the earnings of which he plans to use to set up his ideal life with his wife and retire from his life as a professional thief.

Thief is a brilliant film.  The scenes of Frank driving at night through the streets of 1981 Chicago to the score of Tangerine Dream are incredible.  James Caan gives one of the best performances of a criminal that I've ever seen.  The supporting cast are also fantastic.  Jim Belushi plays Frank's partner Barry to perfection.  Tuesday Weld, who I know best from her role as Thalia Menninger from Dobie Gillis, is outstanding as Frank's love interest.  Robert Prosky, who I remember for his role as Grandpa Fred in Gremlins 2 and as the owner of the garage where Arnie fixes his haunted '58 Plymouth Fury in Christine, is excellent as the mob boss with a face that you're just aching to punch.

This movie is a masterpiece, and I'm thrilled that I got to see it for the first time on the big screen at the drive-in.  I can't say that I went into this screening completely cold because they played the trailer quite a few times in the weeks leading up to this show, but it thankfully didn't give away enough to spoil too much of the story.  Thief is available to stream for free on Tubi.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it for the next time that you're in the mood for a crime drama, because it doesn't get any better than this.

Jun 1, 2025

Without Further Ado, Here's Keanu


Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
This weekend at the drive-in was two nights of double features starring one of my favorite actors, Keanu Reeves.  Friday night was dedicated to his sci-fi flicks while Saturday highlighted two of his most popular action films.


The first movie of the weekend was my favorite Keanu Reeves film, the 1999 sci-fi classic The Matrix.  I was obsessed with this movie after I saw it for the first time on home video, and although I missed it during its first run in theaters, I managed to catch it on the big screen last April for its 25th anniversary.

I've written about this movie a few times before so I don't have too much to say about it, but it's still one of my favorite science fiction movies ever made.  I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it before, but I strongly suggest skipping over the sequels.  There's a few decent ideas in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, but it's a huge drop off from the first film, and while The Matrix Resurrections started off strong, it devolved into an absolute mess after about the first twenty minutes.  The Animatrix is very good, but aside from that, I'd suggest sticking with the original and letting your imagination take over from there.


The second half of the double feature on Friday night was the 1995 sci-fi flick Johnny Mnemonic.  This has been on my watchlist for many years, and unfortunately, it still is.  It can be difficult for me to stay awake on Friday nights at the drive-in because I wake up at 5:00 am for work.  I can usually make it through the second movie with no problem as long as I'm sitting outside, but it started raining during The Matrix and it started coming down even heavier for Johnny Mnemonic.  The kiss of death was the fact that it was about 45 degrees and I had to turn the heat on in the car.  I don't think I could have stayed awake if I had an intravenous drip of Red Bull.

It looks like a pretty interesting movie from what I saw in the first 15-20 minutes.  I'm pretty bummed out that I ended up sleeping through it because I can't imagine it'll come back to the drive-in any time soon.




Our friend Wayne (left) promised Kate that he was going to show up on Saturday in "full fish" after she commented on his fish flip flops.  Unfortunately, Kate wasn't feeling well so she didn't get to see this outfit in person, but we did send her a photo.

Tom and Jen (right) may have the record for the most raffle wins at the Mahoning, so I had to snap a picture of the two of them performing the ritual of using the light on their cell phone to see if they had the winning ticket.  They didn't win this time.


Saturday night kicked off with an action film that was released in the summer of 1991, Point Break.  I've never watched this movie before, and didn't even know what it was about or who else was it it besides Keanu Reeves, so I was going into this screening with a totally blank slate, which is my favorite way to see a movie for the first time.

The action movie genre falls into kind of a weird place with me.  When I hear that a new action movie is being released, or when somebody recommends one to me, I'm usually not all that interested in it.  However, when I do manage to sit down and watch an action movie with no distractions, I usually end up loving it.  You would think after this happening numerous times that I'd realize that I really enjoy a good action flick and that I'd make more of an effort to check them out, but I don't seem to be able to clear this mental roadblock.  The new Mission Impossible movie is in theaters right now and I have no interest in going to see it (nor have I ever watched any of the other movies in the franchise) despite the fact that I'd probably like it.

Point Break was no exception to this pattern.  I loved every minute of it!  The concept of the Ex Presidents gang who rob banks in 90 seconds without ever touching the safe was brilliant.  Keanu Reeves was excellent as always, as was Gary Busey, Patrick Swayze, and Lori Petty, all of whom I had no idea were even in this movie if that tells you how little knowledge I had about it going into this screening.  On a brief side note, Lori Petty is one of my favorite actresses of all time.  She's incredible in everything I've ever seen her in.


The final movie of the King Keanu weekend was the 1994 action blockbuster Speed.  I saw this movie for the first time when it was still on the new release wall at Blockbuster Video, and I don't think I've ever seen it since.  It didn't really make too much of an impression on me.  I thought it was pretty good when I first saw it, but the countless pop culture references and parodies that it inspired, and the ridiculous sequel on a cruise ship that was released three years later have tainted my memories of this film a bit.

Seeing Speed on the big screen at the Mahoning served as a reminder of why this film was such a hit.  It's a damn good action flick that keeps the audience engaged from start to finish.  The only thing that I found schlocky was the last scene where the subway track is unfinished.  I mean, come on!  He's in another vehicle with a road that's incomplete?!  Still, this is a very enjoyable movie, but if I'm being honest, Point Break was my favorite of the two films by a wide margin.
 

And that's a wrap on King Keanu.  The folks at the Mahoning suggested that this may come back as an annual or semi-annual event.  There's enough content in the Keanu Reeves filmography to keep this going for years without showing the same movie twice, so I hope they do bring it back next year.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)