I Dig Crazy Flicks Presents: Ninety For Chill - The Podcast with CatBusRuss

2024 may have been CatBusRuss's most productive Fan Expo Chicago, but it came at a cost. He had a great time learning how to host a panel when he presented "Ninety For Chill: The Podcast with CatBusRuss" live. Too bad the obsolete Fender PA system failed to record it. Or, the blame may fall upon the flash drive he bought from a dodgy phone repair kiosk at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago. But it was all about education, so sweating out a six-hour hangover after Fan Expo's Cosmic Celebration was a battle worth fighting.

Should Russ have drank half-a-fifth of Deep Eddy's Cranberry Vodka? He thinks he earned it after successfully debuting his first masked cosplay, Cubpool. This allowed him to impress his fellow nerds with photo ops and, with the mask being so confining, left him quite blind. Which means, it is difficult to shop when you cannot see. Money was saved. The owner of I Dig Crazy Flicks, LLC. cannot write off every toy he wants to buy.

The Deadpool mask's eye holes were so small, it felt like his eyes would soon be dried out. Thankfully for CatBus, the stars were out for day two of the convention. Sitting in the darkened main hall to hear tales from Alan Tudyk, the voice actors of "Hazbin Hotel", and the shared casts of the first two "Terminator" films allowed him to remove the hood and properly hydrate.

It was a fun three-days, but it did leave Russ feeling like he had been dropped seven feet by Sid Vicious. This means it felt appropriate to splice in his review of the 2020, no-budget, Cleveland-based, indie-wrestling feature, "Powerbomb" into this podcast episode.

CatBusRuss was unable to secure a guest this week, but thankfully has some leads on some experts of spookiness. This left our host relying on his streaming services to warrant tax write offs for I DiG CRAZY FLiCKS. Here he discovered that after the "Twilight Saga", studios are making some wild choices when it comes to vampires on the big screen (43 inches and up).

Netflix had the official dawning of Universal's Dark Universe with "Dracula Untold". Russ's suspicions are soon met when it comes to PG-13 vampires as Luke Evans portrays Bram Stoker's titular character. This feature looks like it wants to show, "What if Sauron from Peter Jackson's Trilogy was on our side?" Laughingly, it is lots of bodies flying without viscera or proper lighting.

Paramount+ was only promoting two vampire movies, and the CatBus has already spoke of "From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money's" excellence. So he watched the weirdly titled "V for Vengeance". To the producers' credit, in the age of mock busters, the nomenclature will bring eyes to it. Hopefully, those pupils will not be too miffed about getting the lightweight "D.E.B.S." of vampiric action instead of a dystopian England with Guy Faux masks.

This double feature is for those who are into schlock since Stephenie Meyer took more time establishing vampiric lore. Too bad the only thing these creatives took from her franchise is that the sun is no longer a curse. It is a major flaw because darkness, can hide poor fight choreography and only implies the gore your effects cannot deliver.

The title of this episode is an extreme bit of hyperbole. Ally Higgins and CatBusRuss have been on great terms since their breakup five years ago. Our host cannot help but try to hit a Valentine's Day nerve. If you can endure some misfires by the stars of "Die Another Day", you have a great four movie marathon.

Ally's Accessories Shop on Etsy has provided CatBusRuss with plenty of films and inspiration. This week, "NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast" catches up with six of those features: "Gothika", "Hawk's Vengeance", "The Heist", "Invitation to a Suicide", "Juno", and "King of California".

It is only appropriate that for episode 187, the podcast will be about films from a gangster rap founding father, Ice Cube. He is a man so hard, that you never see him get killed on screen. CatBusRuss verified this on the Cinemorgue Wiki.

This all stems around our host finding "Trespass" from 1992 on iTunes for $4.99. It is a movie that has Cube as fourth billed behind Bill Paxton, Ice Tea, and William Sadler. Not a bad place to be when the film is written by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale and directed by the man who gave us "Streets of Fire" & "48 Hours", Walter Hill.

But O'Shea Jackson can lead a film, or at least share top billing with The Chick from "Species", Natasha Henstridge. With The Horror Master, John Carpenter, at the helm, surely you will be entertained by "Ghosts of Mars". If that is not enough this to sell this feature to you, "The Beekeeper" Jason Statham further stacks the cast.

The host of "Baking While Baked", Andrew "Couchman" Tiede, returns to the show to discuss the feature that put Kevin Smith on the map, "Clerks". CatBusRuss and his guest determine this is a feature about trying to find one's own identity. And, since these two make a living as customer agents, how this film serves to remind them not to take life too seriously, and always have a true hustle too focus on. Unless slacking is something you find comfort in. Thus, this podcast may have been better titled, "The Book of Randle".

The conversation the two have serves as a chance to share their own war stories about customers and expectations set on them. It is interesting because Smith's film only seems crazy to those who have not been employed in the retail space. Every scene triggers trauma our two podcasters have endured, and they love the story for that. Smith made a film that shows the clerk is not alone, despite what the customers want us to think. Damn, more people need to see this movie so they know what kind of douches they choose to be.

And since craziness was brought up, Couchman and CatBus review how "Ninety For Chill" has evolved into "I Dig Crazy Flicks". They look back on some of the films they have discussed, and which ones are truly bonkers. An argument can be made for all of them after they stopped and determined that Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday from "Tombstone" are parallels to Joliet Jake and Elwood from "The Blues Brothers".