Nate & Hayes and Marshal & Rish

I like to watch Indiana Jones knock-offs with Marshal over at the Outfield Excursions podcast.  And when it was my turn to pick, I remembered that John Hughes's first produced screenplay was NATE & HAYES, a pirate adventure from 1983 starring Tommy Lee Jones. .  But *is* it an Indiana Jones knock-off?

Check it out HERE to find out!

Rish Outcast 336: I Hate What You Like

Rish talks about seeing opposition to things people love (brought on by backlash to OBSESSION and TOY STORY 5) and wonders why that is. Is it human nature? Is he guilty of it himself? Will he talk about Olivia Rodrigo again?  And of course, recent American politics comes into it as well. Can we still be friends?

Note: So, this episode turned out much longer than it was supposed to (*especially* the Patreon version), because I mislabeled one of the recordings and thought it was lost, then tried to replace it with some (now-redundant) additions, only to find the lost recording after I was nearly finished editing. Sorry, but not super sorry.

You can download the file by Right-Clicking HERE.

You can support me on Patreon by clicking HERE. 

Logo by Gino "I Ate What You Like" Moretto.

Rish Outcast 332: You're My Obsession

Rish is head over heels for this 2026 Horror movie OBSESSION, directed by Curry Barker, which has made a ton of money and garnered a bunch of praise. And while Rish tries to skirt spoilers, here's one: he never quite manages to properly explain why the movie was so scary to him.

While we're at it, why not talk about John Collier's "The Chaser," adapted in the first season of The Twilight Zone?

Warning: TMI and thematic spoilers.

Download the file directly by Right-Clicking HERE.

Why don't you support me on Patreon HERE?  You afraid or something?

Logo by Gino "You're My Depression" Moretto.

Marshal and I Fly Through AIRPORT 1975 (1974)

Last year, Marshal and I watched AIRPORT (was it ever called ALEX HALEY'S AIRPORT?), and thought it was pretty good.  Now we're on to the second film in the series, the oddly-named AIRPORT 1975.*  It stars Chuck Heston, Karen Black, Efram Zimbalist Jr., Gloria Swanson, Susan Clark, Large Marge, Linda Blair, Erik Estrada, and of course, George Kennedy.  But is it any good?

Well, this happens:

I really enjoy doing these episodes with Marshal, so go check this one out HERE.  But first, for the love of Pete, fasten your safety belt.

*It came out in 1974. WTH?

Podcast That Dares 68: The Number Thirteen

Rish presents M.R. James's 1904 spooky story, "The Number Thirteen." A historian in Denmark stays in Room 12 of the local inn . . . but who is in Room 13? And is there even a Room 13?

Rish then talks and talks about the ending of the story (and so should you).

If you wish to download the episode, Right-Click HERE.

If you wish to support me on Patreon, click HERE.

Logo by Gino "Thirteen Ain't Nothin But A Number" Moretto.

Marshal & Rish Bury . . . The Living??

I remember watching I BURY THE LIVING! at the family cabin alone on a Sunday afternoon last fall.  It's a 1958 horror film about a man (Richard Boone) hired to work at a cemetery with a big map of all the burial plots who discovers that, when he puts a pin in a space, the person who owns that plot dies.  Or do they?

Okay, I'll be honest: until today, I had completely forgotten we had watched this movie, and had it confused with the Daisy Ridley zombie flick that came out a month back.  But not too long ago, Marshal Latham and I did an episode talking about it, and I even did a whole separate podcast episode inspired by it, talking about Stephen King's "Obits," which was also inspired by it.

Maybe you'll be inspired too.  Check it out HERE.

Rish & Josey Wales Review THE OUTLAW MARSHAL LATHAM

From A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS to UNFORGIVEN, Clint Eastwood made a lot of Westerns.  This one, from 1976, lies somewhere in the middle.  A war veteran seeks vengeance on the soldiers that murdered his family, but gains allies along the way.*  It was a movie both of us liked a lot, even though I've already forgotten why.

Let's find out together . . . right HERE.

*In many ways, Marshal Latham can relate, except for he actually sought vengeance on his family, for what they did to soldiers . . . and now he's telling me they were toy soldiers.  Holy cow, he may not be nearly as good a guy as I've been giving him credit for.

Rish Outcast 319: New Year's 2026 Show

Rish talks about his family Christmas party and whether his table or his sister's table won the Best Table vote.

Also, how did he do with his 2025 goals . . . and would he be foolish enough to make some in 2026?

If you want to download the episode, Right-Click HERE.

If you want to support me on Patreon, click HERE.

Logo by Gino "Spew Year 2026" Moretto.

Marshal & I Visit A Planet of Vampires

Years ago, I tried to watch Mario Bava's 1965 film PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, but only made it a few minutes in before losing consciousness.  Years later, while visiting my friend in Germany, I tried it again, and maybe it was jetlag, but I fell asleep once again.

Here we are today (well, last year, actually), and I am attempting to watch it a third time, this time for Marshal Latham's "Outfield Excursions" podcast.  Can I stay awake?  Is the movie good?  And was there any influence on Ridley Scott's ALIEN, the way the folks say?  Find out HERE.

Poster Boy

(I struggled--as I often do--for a clever pun or play on words for the title of this post . . . but there's only so much blood you can get from a turnip)

So, Drew Struzan died recently (October 13th), and it was nice to see so many filmmakers and film fans mark his passing.  After all, he was the greatest artist of movie posters to ever live, which is saying something, considering movies are a hundred and thirty years old.  

I guess I first noticed Struzan's work when I first became a Star Wars fan, back in 1983, though most of the JEDI posters were done by other artists.  He did the INDY 2 posters the next year, though, and BACK TO THE FUTURE in '85.  His work was all over the Eighties, from GOONIES to BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, from BLADE RUNNER to POLICE ACADEMY 1-5.  If you wanted your movie to look exciting or magical or deeply appealing or just cinematic, you'd hire Drew to do the art.*

Took me an hour to make this collage--no lie.

I was lucky enough to meet the man one time, back in April of '99.  I had him sign my INDY 3 poster, and since it was about to come out, the PHANTOM MENACE one as well.  Back in those days, these folks would sign what you had for free, which is pretty much a thing of the past.

Believe it or not, this was NOT that long ago.

Struzan was sick for a long time.  One of his friends told me, gee, five years ago now, that he was too ill to do the poster for INDIANA JONES 5, and as far as I could see, INDY 4 was his last one.  He was seventy-eight, and should I live to be that old, I doubt I'll ever see somebody else as talented, or with the gift to capture the soul of the movies, as Drew.

*An anecdote I've never shared with anyone is first seeing the Struzan HARRY POTTER & THE SORCERER'S STONE poster at the AMC theater in LA, and marveling to my friend, "Huh.  That little girl with the unpronounceable first name . . . no way could she be that beautiful.  Well, we'll see when the movie comes out."

Marshal & I Face A Terror From Beyond Space

Once again, Marshal Latham and I have reviewed an old movie, this one 1958's IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE on the Outfield Excursions show over at Journey Into...

This was not a great movie, but it did influence Ridley Scott's ALIEN (along with Mario Bava's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES), and tells the story of the first manned expedition to Mars, which encounters a deadly alien life form, which naturally stows away on the rescue ship.

Check out our review HERE.

Marshal and Rish Stop By The AIRPORT

Though it seems like a long time ago, Marshal sent me a DVD with the 1970 disaster movie AIRPORT on it. He figured we needed more Disaster movies under our belts, and this particular film was the daddy of a bunch of them.

There are a couple of tropes we recognize in that Disaster subgenre, and you can find them here . . . along with the part that people most remember George Kennedy for.  Check out our review/conversation HERE.

An Excursions Diversion

I was going on a run (unfortunately, I still do that*) and it occurred to me, "Jeez, I never have any content for my blog, so it would be fun to make a post where I list all the movies Marshal Latham and I have watched for our opposite-of-renowned podcast, The Outfield Excursions. I could even make a post citing the Genre we've done the most movies in, the Director we've covered the most, and the Decade we've hit most." But dang, I knew it would be soooooo much work, and I barely make time to write, podcast, or properly wipe myself as it is.

But when I got home, I remembered that Marshal had once created a shared spreadsheet for the show and I thought, if I could grab that and fill in everything since he last updated it, it would only take me an hour or so to find the answers. And to my delight, Marshal has continued to update it, even including the next episode not yet released.

So, in answer to the question only I gave a crap about . . .

Total number of episodes (counting our try-out episode [DUEL]):

44

Year most covered:

TIE (4) 1983/2014 (1983: SPACEHUNTER, SWORD OF THE VALIANT, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, KRULL) (2014: DRACULA UNTOLD, HERCULES, THE LEGEND OF HERCULES, THE GIVER)

Oldest film reviewed:

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1934)

Newest film reviewed:

LISA FRANKENSTEIN (2024)

Most-reviewed director:

Alfred Hitchcock (6), which isn't surprising, since we try and do a Hitchcock film every year or so. Roger Corman is coming up quickly behind, though.

Number of movies by decade:

1930s: 1

1940s: 4

1950s: 4

1960s: 7

1970s: 6 (this includes the forthcoming OUTLAW JOSEY WALES)

1980s: 9

1990s: 0

2000s: 1

2010s: 8

2020s: 3

I suppose that means we'll have to seek out a Nineties film soon (perhaps 2014's POMPEII)(**).

Number of Video Game Adaptations:

1 (WARCRAFT)

Number of Horror movies:

15 (though it does include Sci-Fi Horror like PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES and THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES)

Number of Disaster movies:

2 (METEOR, AIRPORT)

Most-featured actor:

James Stewart (because of Hitchcock)

Worst Movie Marshal Would Like Us To Review:

GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE

Number of Sean Connery films:

3 (METEOR, SWORD OF THE VALIANT, MARNIE)

Number of Black & White films:

7 (THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH '34, THE INNOCENTS, THE THIRD MAN, CAT PEOPLE '42, NOTORIOUS, THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS, IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE)

Number of times we've watched WASP WOMAN:

Zero

Well, now that my blog post is finished, I'm not exactly sure what my point was. I suppose it was to mention that Marshal does good work over there on his Patreon and regular website, and that I appreciate his willingness to sit down with me and talk movies every month or so.

*It bugs the crap out of my mother that I refuse to go running until it's dark (though I probably run 10 or 12 times a year in daylight, not counting up at the cabin, when I'm all alone anyway), but I just seem to have a mental block/phobia about running while the sun is still out. Maybe it's that I'm afraid I'll be seen or mocked (which still happens a couple of times a year, the bastards), or that I just prefer darkness (matches my soul, I guess). Regardless, she's sure I'll be hit by a car and no one will see my crushed body as it twitches its last there on the road. Probably not the best way to go, but still . . .

**That was a joke.

Marshal and Rish Talk THE FANTASTIC FOUR

Were you one of the millions of potential viewers that skipped seeing FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS in the theater?  Well, it's still playing in a handful of theaters, and if you want to hear Marshal Latham and I talk about how good it was*, then you might want to hear our review of it, over at his Comics Cave sub-podcast.

Feel free to check it out HERE.  And, if you ever wonder why we're so behind on these kind of reviews, well, go support Marshal at his Patreon, and you can hear them a wee bit closer to release.

*Complete with spoilers, unfortunately.

Warning: if you wait for the streaming release, Galactus won't be nearly as impressive.

Marshal And I Talk About KRULL (1983)

A while back, Marshal and I watched KRULL, an ambitious 1983 Sci-Fi/Fantasy movie hoping to be the next STAR WARS.  But did STAR WARS have The Glaive?

Seems like a long time ago, but you can check out our review HERE.

Firewalk With Me (and Marshal)

One of the subgenres we like to visit on our Outfield Excursions podcast is the Indiana Jones knockoff, and strangely, I seem to enjoy these more than Marshal does.  So I was happy to sit down with him and watch FIREWALKER, a Cannon Films adventure starring Chuck Norris, Louise Gossett Junior, and the girl from FLASH AhAhhhhhh GORDON.

But if he ever finds an Indy Jones KO with Jean Claude Van Damme in it . . . that's a bridge too far.

Marshal and I Experience THE TERROR

Unca Marshal and Cousin Rish over at the Outfield Excursions have reviewed the Roger Corman, er, "classic," THE TERROR, starring a pre-fame Jack Nicholson and a post-fame (sorry) Boris Karloff.  A lost French soldier encounters a spectral babe, a witch, a bird of prey, an old and paranoid Baron, a dude who becomes a dummy, and a Dick Miller on his way from a lonely stretch of beach to a castle and back again.  I'd tell you the name of the director, but I only have so much space on my blog.

Even if you don't care to hear us talk about THE TERROR, surely you want to hear my Karloff impression, no?

Check it out HERE.

Marshal & I Review a Notorious Film

For our recent Outfield Excursions, Marshal and I sat down to watch Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 film, NOTORIOUS, starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.  Oh, and Claude Raines.*

Check it out HERE.

*Dunno how I missed him in the cast; it was like he was invisible or something.

Marshal and I Talk LISA FRANKENSTEIN

Over at the Outfield Excursions podcast, Marshal Latham and I talk LISA FRANKENSTEIN, the 2024 teen Eighties reimagining of the Mary Shelley tale, starring Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse.

One of my favorite horror movies of the new century was JENNIFER'S BODY, written by Diablo Cody.  Yeah, I know that everybody hates it, but a lot of folks love the Star Wars Prequels, so there.  Anyway, Marshal suggested we review the newest Diablo Cody-written Horror-adjacent film, LISA FRANKENSTEIN.  And now, the shoe's on the other hoof.

Check out our discussion HERE.

Re-Evaluation /Third Time's The Charm

Recently, I spoke to a real Horror aficionado, a die hard fan, one who makes my admiration of the genre seem quite pedestrian.  He told me his favorite movie is THE THING (1982), but that PHANTASM from 1979 is high up on his list.  Now, I have never had a love for Carpenter's THE THING, though I can certainly appreciate its technical achievements and cool musical score.  But jeez, my memories of watching PHANTASM in the late Nineties have never faded, where Jeff and I watched it and disliked it so much that we never went on to its many sequels.  I have always remembered it as being both idiotic and confusing, both when I saw it as a child on television, and as a young adult.

But this guy absolutely *loves* Horror, so I asked the guy, "Can you help me to appreciate PHANTASM?  Because I never have been able to."  And he said, "Well, it's not for everybody.  But hey, why don't you try PHANTASM 2, which was made a couple of years later.  Maybe that will be more your style."

I mentioned it to Jeff, who has been watching a couple of movies each week with me, several of them in our favorite genre, and when we went to the library together, he produced a copy of the 1979 original and said, "What do you think?"  Well, I told him how I remembered thinking it was a dogturd the last time I saw it, but he reminded me that we watched SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT last month and that it pretty much kicked ass.  So, I shrugged and said I supposed I'd watch it with him if I had to.  I suggested we play a drinking game where every time Angus Scrimm said "Boooooooy," we'd take a gulp, hoping that would make it more enjoyable.*

Well, he also got a couple other movies, and I much preferred watching those to PHANTASM, but eventually, he proclaimed the time had come.  And I gotta say, I tried to find good things in the movie, such as the framing of a couple shots, a couple of angles of Scrimm staring or smiling, and the lovely--if repetitive--score by Fred Myrow . . . but it was few and far between.  There is the scene where the shiny ball kills the Tall Man's employee rather than its intended victim, and the gore and excessive amount of blood are pretty great.  

But that's a single moment, in a ninety minute borefest.  

It may be that, twenty-five years later than the last time I saw it, I liked PHANTASM even less than before.  And I have become far more tolerant of mediocrity lately than I used to be since, a lot of times, simply making a movie during the Golden Age of Slashers will be enough for me to give it at least two stars out of nostalgia.

Huh.

I recalled, both previous viewings, being horrified (in completely the wrong way) by how train-derailingly not scary the fuggin' jawas were, and in that respect, I was not disappointed.  But man, everything else . . .

. . . everything else ranged from mediocre to festering garbage.  It's all so slapdash and meandering, like when I was a kid and I'd get my friends together and start the camcorder up and we'd just make up whatever scene we were going to shoot on the fly, with no thought of where it might be going in later scenes.

The story is nonsensical, from beginning to wow, that ending, where is it all a dream?  Was it a boy's imagination coping with tragedy, which would almost be an effective ending if it were handled well, but then the Tall Man shows up and grabs the booooooooy and we roll the credits.

Hey, maybe something that I love you think is total dogshit (Big Anklevich tells me this at least once a month), but I pretty much had my evening ruined by watching PHANTASM again.  But Jeff helped out by saying, "Look on the bright side: you don't have to watch it again for another twenty-five years . . . and by then, you'll probably be dead."

Thanks for that.

*It didn't.  I believe the first use of "Booooooy" came at an hour and ten minutes in, and by then, Jeff's drink had gone flat, and was now room temperature--which, in Jeff's defense/condemnation, is approximately forty degrees Fahrenheit.