April 2024

Robert De Niro Standing in front of a taxi, the words Taxi Driver along the bottom, Taxi Driver original movie poster from 1976

Taxi Driver (1976)

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Anthropologically speaking, I love this movie. Culture fascinates me and if I had 3 or 4 more lifetimes, I would deep dive into some of the odd, obscure, smaller ones that exist. For instance, outlaw biker clubs, hippie communes, Native Americans, and certainly night shift taxi drivers in NY city. Watching Taxi Driver is probably the closest I will come to getting to do this regarding this subculture. I imagine that there are close-knit groups of friends that meet at Diners on their breaks and swap stories of the weird people they’ve driven around the inner city. It seems like there’s a show that highlights this too. There is certainly a dark side to the life of a NY taxi driver.

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Pam Grier swinging chain and Margaret Markov choking a prison guard with a chain, words Black Mama White Mama across the bottom; Black Mama White Mama original movie poster from 1973

Black Mama, White Mama (1973)

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I should know this, but I don’t. Green, yellow, and blue are analogous colors, I think. If they are not, they are close. Why are we talking about color theory in a blog on a 1970s film? Well, first because I’m an artist and I pay attention to things like that. Second, they use this a lot in Black Mama, White Mama. A large portion of this movie is 2 chicks wearing yellow dresses on the run through bright green fields and jungles against a bright tropical blue sky. Thus, you have the yellow, blue, and green color scheme. It honestly is very beautiful, and intriguing, and it creates a great feel and mood for Black Mama, White Mama. This was among my favorite parts. Black Mama, White Mama was filmed in the Philippines so, there was plenty of great sky and greenery.

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Linda Carter Standing with a man, Linda is holding a pistol, the words Bobbie JO and the Outlaw are along the bottome; Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw Movie Poster

Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw ( 1976)

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Compare Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw to a child born from a love square of Cowboys and Indians, Dukes of Hazzard, Bonnie and Clyde Barrow, and Smokey and the Bandit. Overall, that’s the vibe I got from this awesome film. If you want to read a good plot summary, you can do so here. Now, wrap your dome piece around this – Linda Carter OG Wonder Woman herself is on the wrong side of the law in this one! Wow! I couldn’t believe that spin and it worked so well. You get to see Wonder Woman shoot people, rob, and even smoke weed. Honestly, this odd turn of character might have been my favorite thing about this movie. It’s always mind-bending to see characters who have some iconic role they stared in, or even coined the image, to play something completely different.

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Serpentine Walk & Queen of the Damned

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I don’t expect a lengthy review out of this one and nor should you. Let’s jump back on that Aaliyah ticket. She was the main reason, I think, that anyone watched this movie. Her story is an unfortunate one. Aaliyah was releasing great music that was topping the charts and was so popular that she was easily cast in this role (probably to sell tickets) because her strength was singing. A plane crash took her life at 22 years of age. Apparently, the plane was overloaded and crashed due to this killing her and 8 others. A second popular group of people involved with this movie was a popular band, Korn. Yes, Korn with a “K” and we’ll get to that later.

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The Thing Original Movie Poster 1982; Man wearing heavy coat but face is hidden by large burst of light walking with the words The Thing below him

The Thing – John Carpenter’s Shapeshifter Mindbender of a Tale

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Let’s talk first about terror. Monsters jumping out of that dark space on the screen or lighting flashes, and you notice the hockey mask-wearing killer in the corner is one kind of terror. Terror in The Thing is different. It’s a much more real and gripping fear than these shallow scare tactics. The terror here is psychological. Here’s what I find terrifying about John Carpenter’s The Thing. All of this takes place in Antarctica and the team is too far away from any source of help. Knowing that you are stranded, it’s all up to you, and NO ONE IS COMING TO HELP YOU is a gripping fear. This is a different terror – people don’t like to be alone.

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