The Chris DeLuca Newsletter

Showed a double feature of Godzilla Minus One and Godzilla: Final Wars on the roof the other day. We had 25 people up there! Roofzilla lives. 🍿

2024-09-02

Media Diet: August 2024

🎵 Music

Tango Mango—Can

Look, I’m leading off with this because I did listen to classic high brow 70s German experimental rock band Can‘s classic experimental rock album Tango Mango, because it makes me seem like I’ve been broadening my horizons this month. Am I really? Highly debatable. I listened to this once. I did enjoy it, but I wasn’t compelled to dip back in. I’ll give it another go, but how could I when you see the other gems I’ve been listening to?

Danzig and Danzig II: Lucifuge—Danzig

Grainy black and purple photo of Glen Danzig in the early 90s, shirt off, hair blowing, devil belt buckle.

I’m back on the Danzig wagon. Giddy up for Satan.

A pile of Moody Blues singles—The Moody Blues

Grainy black and purple photo of the Moody Blues from the late 60s. Justin Haywood holds a guitar, as does John Lodge.

I love the Moody Blues. I’m going to write a big piece on them at some point, but they’re great. If you doubt me, you’re wrong.

Balls to the Wall—Accept

Grainy black and purple photo of the members of German metal band Accept all posed like it's 1984. It is 1984. They're all white and have big hair.

Okay, first of all? Shut up. It’s real fun. German non-experimental melodic 80s metal. Classic hard rock bop, and I don’t understand the singer’s accent well enough to hear if the lyrics are gross or not. Hooray! Nightmare leather boys all together!

The second half of Van Halen Vol. 1—Van Hagar

Grainy black and white photo of members of Van Halen with Sammy Hagar in the mid 80s. They're all laughing on a couch.

I don’t remember what got me onto this, but man, I’ve been digging the Sammy Hagar era Van Halen singles. Just fun, frothy, 80s pop with a bit of a hard rock edge. Never connected with me before, but for whatever reason, in the year of our lord 2024, I’m in.

📺 TV

Taskmaster

So. Much. Taskmaster. I’m watching in reverse series order, and laugh myself silly.

Scavenger’s Reign

Grainy black and purple photo of an animated panel. An alien landscape stretches out in front of a black woman, small in the frame.

This one flew completely under my radar, but it’s been nominated for awards. Or maybe won. I can’t be bothered to look it up. But I was bothered to watch this entire show. Why? It’s really, really good. Award worthy, even.

It’s a lushly animated, touching, tightly scripted, bloody mess. Without giving anything away, it’s about a bunch of crash survivors stranded on an alien world trying to get home. Every few frames there’s a new richly imagined creature of this strange world, some deadly, some friendly if approached correctly, some incidental, yet hinting at a larger universe. The ecology of the planet is foregrounded, where everything is either symbiotic or parasitic. The humans trying to survive must recon with the place or die.

Truly remarkable storytelling.

🍿 Movies

Longlegs

Grainy black and purple photo of Nick Cage in Longlengs makeup, eyes cut off by the top of the shot.

Nick Cage being a weirdo and doing spooky Satan stuff? Sure, let’s do it. I like the aesthetics, there’s beautiful cinematography, and there’s some creepy moments, but I do think it mostly rests in the shadow of The Exorcist and Silence of the Lambs. But you know what? Trashy Devil Hannibal is sometimes just what the evil doctor ordered.

Drag Me To Hell

I hadn’t seen this since it came out, and man is this a fun re-watch. Sam Rami directs live-action cartoons, and this one gets so far under your skin with hardly any blood or violence. It’s PG-13, but you’d only realize it after being told. Insane what this movie pulls off.

The People’s Joker

You may know this movie from Warner Bros. trying to sue the production out of existence on copyright grounds. Thankfully, the movie prevailed, as satire is extremely legal. It’s a trans coming out story, as told through the use of Batman villains. The movie is really great, but you know what’s even better? No joke, the DVD menu. The writer/lead actor, in full drag joker make up, asks you to make a choice, tells anecdotes, berates you to make a choice, reads emails from Warner Bros, pleads with you to make a choice, does some yo-yo, yells at you to make a choice, and finally, asks you to make a choice. It’s an incredible piece of performance art, anti-comedy, and insanity. Find it.

Blade

Remember Blade? I had remembered after seeing him pop up in Deadpool and Wolverine, and while the Guillermo del Toro sequel I recall liking better, the first outing is a blast. That blood rave scene? The quips? The vamp-fu? Come on. This was supposed to be a roof movie night, but we got rained out, so watched it inside. This movie can’t be stopped.

Alien Resurrection

Grainy black and purple photo of Ripley, a white woman, holding the alien's head lovingly.

I had never seen this much maligned fourth part. I expected something entirely silly. What I got was a lot more serious than I expected in a good way. The movie doesn’t know what it is, and it’s got silly parts, and you know what, hell yeah. It’s part four, let it loose. Nothing will ever top the original for me, and who cares? I’m out to see Ripley literally dunk on some space nerds.

The Shout

Grainy black and purple photo of a white man screaming, eyes squeezed close, arms raised, running on a beach.

Saw this weird 70s chamber piece at the Alamo with some friends. Describing the plot won’t really give you any indication on what it’s like to watch. The movie hinges on its sound design. Not everything makes sense, narratively, but it does sonically. There’s strange juxtapositions between small town English life, and grandiose ideas, and music, and selfhood, and control.

Lifeforce

Grainy black and purple photo of a young white woman with dark hair wearing a white robe staring into camera, arms outstretched in an ambiguous gesture. A glowing orb of energy is above her.

Alright, it’s vampires in space, but that doesn’t matter. There’s a lot of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien and Invasion of the Body Snatchers aping, and that also doesn’t matter. The plot makes hardly any sense, the emotional beats ritually don’t work, and that doesn’t matter. Patrick Stewart has a star turn cameo, and that does matter. This may be the horniest movie ever, and that matters. Directed by Tobe Hooper, of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame, and that both does and doesn’t matter. It doesn’t work so hard it works.

Event Horizon

Grainy black and white photo of an astronaught in a bulky suit standing in a intricately detailed room. In the middle is an mechanical orb with light all around it.

I was not expecting this movie to look this good. Lawrence Fishburne and Sam Neil tackling existential space questions amidst space horror? Practical effects that look incredible? Early CGI that looks like a Playstation FMV? Sign me up.

2024-09-03

Discovered that I am more blue than 65% of the population with the help of Is My Blue Your Blue?.