Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) - Soundtrack Collection

Long ago, during the Before Times, I was listening to a Torture Cinema episode of the Skiffy and Fanty Podcast wherein one of the hosts made a snarky comment about James Horner's score for the 1983 science-fiction/fantasy mash-up Krull. This person commented that significant portions of Horner's score for Krull were repurposed sections of his score for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

"Wait just a damn minute," I thought so hard that I stopped the podcast and had to start conversing with myself, "Horner's score for Wrath of Khan repurposed sections from his scores for both Battle Beyond the Stars and Wolfen! He repurposed his compositions all the time!"

But great music is great music, repurposed or not, and Horner's robust score for Battle Beyond the Stars is an entertaining blast to listen to.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #19

About Mr. Parr

Jaws by Peter Benchley - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 10, 1974

Before the movie there was the novel. Producer David Brown once said that if he and Richard Zanuck had stopped to think through the budgetary logistics of actually making a movie adaptation of Jaws, they might never have done so.

I tried and tried to read the novel, having seen and loved the movie, but just kept bouncing off it. It would not be until late 1980, or maybe even early 1981, that I would manage to get through the entire book, from start to finish. 

The movie was better. Much, much better.

M3GAN - A 500 piece puzzle from Aquarius

Companion (2025) - Movie Review

"Iris, wake up."

Although I saw Companion on opening day, I wanted to let my thoughts about the film settle and marinate in my mind for a bit. During this time I saw all manner of reactions and critiques of both the film and its marketing campaign. 

Regarding the latter, I think I favor an observation that argued the reveal of Iris (Sophie Thatcher) being a robot in the film's trailer was not all that different of a spoiler, storytelling wise, from the trailer for Terminator 2: Judgment Day revealing who was the 'good' terminator and who was the 'bad' one. Even though the "first act" of both films play out as if the audience does not know this information.

Which leads me to another comment, this one made by a longtime friend, lamenting how the film's opening narration spoiled its ending. A complaint so literal minded it left me baffled.

I hope I am not alone in thinking Companion is not about what happened between Iris and Josh (Jack Quaid). It is about how and why it happened. 

Knowing that Iris is a robot, that she is eventually going to kill Josh, is just a variation of Hitchcock's Bomb Theory. The difference between surprise and suspense.

Nothing in Companion's trailer made the film any less suspenseful or, in a truly shocking surprise, laugh out loud funny to me. There were surprises and shocks throughout the film's brisk runtime that both thrilled and delighted me. One moment I would be laughing, the next I would gasp in horrified shock. I loved every minute of it.

The Batman (2022) - Soundtrack Collection

Michael Giacchino's score for The Batman captures and embodies the film's brooding gothic-noir vibe perfectly. There are, at least, three separate themes at play in his score. First is the dark and brooding theme for Batman himself. Second is the creepy and almost lullaby like theme for the Riddler. Third is the slinking, slithering theme for Catwoman.

One might not have left the theater whistling or humming any of those themes, but hearing them on the soundtrack returns you to the dark and borderline spooky world of The Batman.

Then there's the action cue Highway to the Anger Zone, which underplays the almost monster movie style reveal of the batmobile, followed by an almost apocalyptic car chase with the Penguin. Great stuff.

Now I want to watch The Batman again, go figure.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #16

The Skull (1965) - Newspaper Ad

Despite my growing up on a semi-regular diet of assorted Hammer and Amicus films broadcast on television, coupled with my burning through all the Robert Bloch novels and short stories I could get my hands on in the late 80s and early 90s, a viewing of The Skull has eluded me.

The source material for the film was a short story by Bloch titled The Skull of the Marquis de Sade, which was first published in the September 1945 edition of Weird Tales. While I have read the story twice - first in Final Reckonings, the first volume of The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch, and again in the 1963 anthology Bogey Men - I have zero recall of it.

The Skull was first released on a double-bill with The Mad Executioners, a German 'Krimi' film from 1963. It appears to be one of a very few to receive wide distribution in the United States. If the IMDB is to be believed, that is.

Cats and Dogs - A 2-sided 1000 piece puzzle from Disney

Batman Forever (1995) - Soundtrack Collection

I have only seen snippets and sections of Batman Forever (1995), not the complete movie, from beginning to end.

According to the liner notes for this 'Expanded Archival Collection' release, the studio wanted to move away from the dark and grotesque stylings that saturated Batman Returns. The third Batman movie needed to be far lighter in tone and accessible to an all ages audience.

This mandate led to Burton exiting the director's chair and Joel Schumacher taking his place. Something that also led to the exodus of both star Michael Keaton and composer Danny Elfman.

"I was asked to 'reinvent, freshen the franchise,'" Schumacher, who passed away in 2020, is quoted in the liner notes. "And because we had a different Batman and a younger cast in general, I thought it would be insulting to Tim Burton, and especially Danny Elfman, if we used their music." 

Schumacher requested Elliot Goldenthal after hearing a recording of the composer's score for Demolition Man (1993). It was an excellent choice.

It was a combination of good timing and my completist nature that led to my adding this score to my collection. I have the soundtracks for the first two films, why not the toss in the third. Just for continuity's sake?

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #18

Recalling the Past

Welcome Home Brother Charles (1975) - Oakland Tribune - Tuesday, May 18, 1976

While I do remember seeing the ads for Jamaa Fanaka's Penitentiary, I did not learn of this earlier offering from the writer-director until much later in life. Welcome Home Brother Charles is about an angry black man that kills people with his ginormous and sentient penis.

Of course I would like to see it, one day. I might even try to watch it back-to-back with Frank Henenlotter's Bad Biology, which I also still need to see.

A is for Alien by Charles Gould - Book Review

Honest to mythical-god, I thought this book was an online gag. But it turns out that A is for Alien is a for real Little Golden Book.

I did not buy this for myself. A friend of ours gave it to me for Christmas. Because this friend has both a sense of humor about, as well as a heartfelt understanding and respect for, my monster-centric interests and hobbies.

This book was clearly written for parents or guardians that want some irony laden in-joke amusement for themselves when reading to their children. A is for Alien manages to follow the general storyline of Alien, albeit without all the gore and scares, and turns it into something safe and silly enough for an all ages bedtime reading session.

There are some words and phrases that will be a tad advanced for toddlers and beginning readers, though. No one in that age demographic is sure to understand, appreciate, or benefit from learning that X is for Xenomorph. But an attentive and caring parent or guardian can, and should, make it work.

While reading this I wondered how the late Gene Siskel, who once threw a memorable hissy fit over the Alien toys released by Kenner in 1979, would have reacted to learning that an R-rated monster movie would become fodder for a weird and whimsical "children's" book.

Imaging that is almost as chuckle inducing as reading A is for Alien was.

Batman Returns (1992) - Soundtrack Collection

For those potential visitors that might be wondering why there is a hole punched in the upper righthand corner of this CD booklet. This was a promotional copy of the soundtrack the store I was working at received and I was allowed to keep.

Like the soundtrack that precedes it in this catalogue sequence, there was a expanded re-issue released that I passed on getting. Again, I am satisfied with this album presentation and do not feel compelled to get an upgrade of it. That might change, but it also might not.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #15

Jones turned out to be the most contentious character in Alien. If my memory of all the behind-the-scenes and making-of articles, magazines, and books I have read, coupled with all the documentaries and bonus features that I have watched, is correct, it was Walter Hill that added Jones to the screenplay.

This was done so that Hill could snag a screenwriting credit for Alien. It was a gambit that failed, though, as Hill did not receive credit for the minor changes he made to Dan O'Bannon's script. Which was adding a cat and changing the names of the characters.

Changing characters names seems to have been a boilerplate maneuver when tasked with revising, polishing, or doctoring a script. A smoke and mirrors way of making minor or, in some cases, non-existent alterations appear major. 

So it goes, it seems.

Yog: Monster from Space [aka Space Amoeba, aka Gezora, Ganime, Kameba: Kessen! Nankai no daikaijû] (1970) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 3, 1971

I saw a portion of Yog: Monster from Space at the Southshore Cinema, but not all of it. For whatever reason I thought it would be cool to run home, tell my mom about the giant octopus scene, and then run back to watch the rest of the movie.

Yeah, that is not how reality works, obviously. I wasted a good hour and a half, minimum, running back and forth, when I should have just stayed in the theater and watched the entire movie. So it goes. 

I really need to catch up with this one.