B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - DEAD END (2003)

Made for less than a million dollars, the slightly obscure Dead End is a chilling little indie you don't want to miss. It might just be the best Christmas horror movie no one ever heard of and every dollar is up there on the screen. It's quirky, weird, funny, bizarre, and scary all at once. Black comedy for sure but much more, this would make a nice double feature with The Perfect Host, another movie we're big on around here. So, grab some eggnog and a snack or two and check out the inimitable Ray Wise with legendary Lin Shaye as they take their family down a wrong turn, what's up with this road? Why doesn't it end? After all, they're just trying to make it to Christmas Eve dessert at Frank's mother's house. Tubi, Plex, Freevee, enjoy! 2.75 stars/2.75

Monday, July 11, 2022

CREATING WOODSTOCK (2019) - A COMPREHENSIVE ACCOUNT OF THREE DAYS OF PEACE AND MUSIC THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN

I learned a lot of cool things about Woodstock that I never knew watching this but something more profound dawned on me - half a million people coming together like this for three days and coexisting in peace and music will never happen again. Sorry, to quote Easy Rider, "we blew it." The announcement made on the first evening that "the man next to you is your brother and you damn well better treat it that way" just seems to be part of some ancient world that doesn't exist anymore. 

Creating Woodstock uses a nice simple linear style to tell the whole story from conception and planning to all the performances to Jimi closing the festival (upon his insistence.) We hear of Ritchie Havens opening the festival and having to play six encores, literally exhausting his entire repertoire because no other acts could make it in. Rock music fans will love the plethora of trivial information on all the acts and what they experienced while performing, etc. A truthful, factual documentary that was way better than I expected it to be. Streams free on Tubi.  3.5 stars/5

Janis Joplin

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