Author: Ga2so

  • Retro Movie Adventures: Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)

    Michelle Pfeiffer looking shocked as she realizes she's in Amazon Women on the Moon.
    Alpha Beta (yeah, that's the moon girl's name) and Butch in Amazon Women on the Moon.

    1987 was a huge year for movies. Full Metal Jacket, The Princess Bride, The Untouchables, Predator, Lethal Weapon, Robocop, Three Men and a Baby, Good Morning Vietnam, and The Last Emperor all came out that year. So many great films came out that a lot of smaller films got buried- films like Hollywood Shuffle, Swimming to Cambodia, and River’s Edge.

    There also was this turd. It’s like someone said “Let’s make a new Kentucky Fried Movie, but lose a lot of the racism and sexism (but we’ll still keep a healthy serving of both). But let’s make sure we stick to the real spirit of Kentucky Fried Movie by avoiding humor as much as possible.”

    Here’s the best sketch from the movie. You can skip the rest.

    Kind of an obvious parody poster today.

    A poster for Amazon Women on the Moon mimicking the poster for Moon.
    I should rewatch Moon, and pretend I don’t recognize the robot’s voice.

  • Movie Pass Adventures: Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie

    Cheech & Chong smiling and looking at the camera.
    Early Cheech & Chong, shirtless and making bodybuilder poses & silly faces.

    The story of how a Chinese Canadian soul musician and a Mexican American with a love of pot(tery) became comedy superstars. Very watchable. A little too forced at times, but that’s about right for these guys.

    I went with a different last movie for the parody poster.

    A poster for Cheech and Chong's Last Movie mimicking the poster for The Last Picture Show.

  • Retro Movie Pass Adventures: Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

    Natalie Portman as Padme in Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
    A collage of R2-D2 and the Emperor with Vader in the background in Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

    Today’s poster is based on a revenge movie that’s problematic in a completely different way from this one!

    A poster for Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith mimicking the poster for Revenge of the Nerds
    My favorite thing about this one is how it makes it look like the three leads include some random wookie.

    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie Pass Adventures: The Legend of Ochi

    The baby ochi peeks out of Yuri's backpack.
    The baby ochi riding on Yuri's back. Stylized image- Yuri and the ochi are primarily shades of yellow and gold, but some parts (the ochi's face and claws, and Yuri's eyes) are cyan. The background is shades of green.

    If you ask A24 to make a kids’ movie, you can’t be surprised if it has some blood and swearing and Willem Dafoe. The baby ochi puppetry (and CGI probably) is great. Amazing facial expressions.

    I originally thought I’d do a parody poster based on the one for The Hateful Eight (because “ochi” sounds like “ocho”), but that poster isn’t very memorable. I went with a different “kids’ movie with a bit more adult content than you might expect” poster instead.

    A poster for The Legend of Ochi mimicking the posters for Dick Tracy.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie Pass Adventures: Sinners

    movie bar for Sinners
    Michael B. Jordan in Sinners.

    I wish I’d seen this with no idea what kind of movie it was. Nearly half the movie is not what you’d expect from the marketing. One thing I did have going for me: I missed some really obvious things in the trailer.

    There’s a musical number in the middle that easily could have slid off the rails (and for about a half second I thought it was going to) but it ends up being fantastic.

    I started today’s poster thinking I’d have to just recreate the title, so I did that. The I realized that doing it right would mean hand drawing nearly every letter on the poster. So I did it wrong. Enjoy!

    A poster for Sinners that's a half-assed parody of the poster for City Slickers.
    Roughly 40 percent of this works.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie Pass Adventures: The Wedding Banquet

    Han Gi-Chan and Bowen Yang in The Wedding Banquet.
    Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran in The Wedding Banquet

    There should be more movies like this. Not because this movie is brilliant (it’s good but not great), but because it’s a (mostly) lighthearted romp full of (mostly) strong performances. Lily Gladstone once again shows that they can tell whole stories with just their face. Totally follows the formula you’d expect it to follow, but movies follow formulas because they work.

    Today’s fake poster is based on an abandoned teaser campaign for a movie that came out three times. If you recognize it, you might be as big of a nerd as me.

    A poster for The Wedding Banquet based on the teaser poster for Justice League
    Bonus: Confusing “Not Quite Warner Bros” logo!
    Fediverse reactions

  • Streaming Movie Adventures: How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies

    M & Grandma in How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
    M & Grandma in How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies

    Really lovely. I’m glad I finally watched it.

    Netflix tried to trick me into watching the dubbed version instead of the subtitled one. And after I watched it, I noticed the subtitles in the trailer were different (and better!) than the ones on Netflix. Boo! Still glad I saw it.

    Also: the English title really makes it sound like this is some sort of wacky “where did granny hide the loot?” story, and it’s not that at all. The original Thai title is much shorter and more accurate: Lahn Mah, which apparently is specifically about the connection between grandmothers and grandsons.

    This poster is dumb, and reminded me how terrible I am at using Adobe Illustrator. I doubt anyone will get the reference without peeking at the alt text.

    A poster for How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies poorly based on the poster for How To Train Your Dragon.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie Pass Adventures: Secret Mall Apartment and A Minecraft Movie.

    Secret Mall Apartment

    Two people in the secret mall apartment
    Two people sit on a couch in the Secret Mall Apartment

    Secret Mall Apartment starts out looking like it’s documenting an art prank, but it builds into discussions of gentrification, creativity, relationships, and why people make art. They definitely gloss over some rough patches; all the participants are still alive and get interviewed, but they never get any of them in the same space at the same time (or even on the phone), which makes it feel like there was some tension that split them apart. No surprise there- Some of them have the big energy you’d expect from a group of artistic folks, and big energies cause disruptions of relationships.

    I tried a few different ideas for fake posters, but finally gave in to the inevitable Blartiness.

    A poster for Secret Mall Apartment based on the poster for Paul Blart Mall Cop.

    A Minecraft Movie

    Partial images of four members of the cast of A Minecraft Movie.
    Jack Black as Steve in A Minecraft Movie.

    This was a “I don’t really care about this but my students want me to see it” movie. How bored was I? Well, I went in the late morning after a full night’s sleep, and still ended up dozing for a bit in the middle. I didn’t feel like I missed anything, even though they were talking about a character dying during my nap. I just thought “That guy’s not really dead; he’ll pop up at a crucial moment and save someone.” Maybe I would have been more amused if I played the game, but a movie that only works if you know the references is a movie that doesn’t work. My favorite scenes:Jennifer Coolidge’s romance b-plot.

    This poster is really just me slapping images on top of the original, but it works for me!

    A poster for A Minecraft Movie that's a lazy reworking of the poster for The Craft
    I should have given them feet. Oh, well.

    Fediverse reactions

  • Retro Movie Adventures: Dick Tracy (1990)

    Glenne Headly and Warren Beatty in Dick Tracy
    Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy

    I saw two reviews for Dick Tracy in one day. One loved it, and one said “this movie and Batman & Robin should have to fight, and the loser disappears forever.”

    So I watched it.

    Visually, it’s a masterpiece. The rest of it is kind of a mess, but it looks like everyone’s having fun. And who would have thought that the weakest part of a Madonna performance would be her singing?

    Today’s parody poster is brought to you by K-Billy’s Super Sounds of the 70s.

    A poster for Dick Tracy parodying the poster for Reservoir Dogs.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie (no) Pass Adventures: Freaky Tales

    Pedro Pascal in Freaky Tales

    This movie made me wish I’d grown up in Oakland.

    I actually happened to see it in Oakland at the Grand Lake Theatre, which was funny because I didn’t know the first scene actually takes place at that very theater.

    It’s a little rough around the edges, but in a good, semi-magic, sort-of Pulp Fiction way. This pictures I chose make it look like it’s mainly about Pedro Pascal’s character and Sleepy Floyd, but there are four interconnected stories, and most of them aren’t represented here.

    This isn’t a terrible idea for a poster, and it would work better with a little more focus, but I flew home two hours ago and I’m too tired to give it a proper polish.

    A poster for Freaky Tales roughly parodying the teaser poster for Freaky Friday. Really needs more work.
    Fediverse reactions
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