Cam Bert

Can somebody help explain the company Michael Douglas works for to me. So we know that the company is large enough to have multiple branches. So is the Seattle office the main office or just another branch? Demi Moore, Doanld Sutherland, and Dylan Baker all are said to come up from the South. They are all higher ups, so it makes it seem that they are at the main office which is down south. However, they are picking a VP from the Seattle office and the VP position seems to be based out of the Seattle office. At first I thought Donald Sutherland was up in Seattle because the company they were merging with was based out of Seattle as well. They aren't because they're staying at a hotel and the president of the merging company isn't going to be there until the day of the merger. It just all much no sense and has no flow. I don't work in the corporate world so is it normal to have the VP and President to be based out of separate branches? Also is there not a branch manager? Do presidents have offices in all branches that sit there unused until the president shows up for short periods?

Needed more keytar, my only complaint.

And I liked it! There we go horrible joke saved.

Dang it quoted the wrong thing. Ignore this!

Okay so at the start this movie Michael Douglas's character puts a tie on because he assumes he's getting a promotion. His young son has no idea what a tie is and has to have it explained to him. What? Look I get that Michael Douglas is a hip and cool guy and therefore he doesn't do ties. Nah, we're talking Mikey Dougs. He's business casual to the max. Heck, he probably sits backwards in chairs at meeting to show how cool and with it he is on top of lack of tie. However, how come his child doesn't know what a tie is? He's going to school with his sister so that puts him at at least 5 or 6. So Michael Douglas doesn't wear a tie to work, but has this kid not seen a tie anywhere else? Has he never had a work colleague stop by with one on in years? Has his son never been to a wedding, funeral or other formal event? Has he never seen his parents watching the news or seen a kids show with a character wearing a tie? Is there no wedding photo in the house? I know it's just a stupid line to set up how lax and cool Mikey Dougs is, but realistically how can a child get to the age of 5 or 6 and never seen a tie before? On top of that Michael Douglas wears two more completely different ties later in the movie when he goes to arbitration. He owns at least three ties, so why can't he change into one of those ties instead of wearing the tooth paste covered one?

My apologies to Graham S. I did my best to try to get ahold of this movie but after much searching it was not released in Japan. I tried Vuduu or whatever that site is called but it's region locked. I was looking for to this as I was wondering how it would stack up against CB4.

If they truly wanted to make this more Seattle they should have done it at a trot or a gallop and done the Puyallup and ran into John Keister at the fundraising event. As someone who grew up in Victoria, making local Seattle references gives me great pleasure.

I get what you're saying about it. I can see that. It also makes me wonder why there wasn't a scene of somebody being attacked or killed mid song. Too forth wall breaking perhaps. To further your point about not having enough hybrid moments and the songs lacking forward movement in the story, you'd think upon their initial discovery of a zombie would be a great time for a song in which they freak out seeing a real zombie and killing it. It might step on the toes of "Soldier at War" but that should be major scene and a perfect chance to meld the two genres.

Wham! is really, really good. Like almost all their songs are bangers or hits. They only have one horrible terrible no good song that should never be played. Not ever. Especially between the dates of November 20 to January 5.

I agree with Duckie dying. I just think Duckie's death was just kinda lazy in terms of execution. Take for example Chris and Lisa's death. They are being safe an cautious then a low battery notification kicks in which allows the zombies to notice them. On one hand yes the timing is a bit convenient but that's what horror movies do. They were following the rules, playing it safe and it went wrong. They fought it went south, and it is tragic. I think from a horror stand point it is satisfying. Duckie however seemingly forgets that he's in a horror movie. They enter a new room and he just has to stop to tell Anna about the reindeer and ends it with a pointless gesture that leaves his hand sticking out in the open for a zombie to get. To me that's just pushing it. There was no guarantee they were safe but he's acting like they were, the odd gesturing to create an opening, it just all reads forced to me. So it seems like it was clear they were going to kill him and it just doesn't feel satisfying. Whether it be one coming from a corner they didn't check to walking past a door and it surprisingly popping out or one hiding under a car, there are ways they could have done it that doesn't telegraph it so hard and feels more earned.

Yes. Compare it to other children's fantasy films of the time it is slow compared to them. I wonder if that is just a story thing or because of the puppetry.

If I were in Wham! I would want to be the guy at 39 seconds in the Club Tropicana video.

I know you said this movie could use a view rewrites and I completely agree and I feel a bulk of that should be put into the first act on this movie. It would further the relationship between Anna and Zabka and actual establish him as a character rather than "hot guy who made lewd gesture." It would also establish more of a relationship between the headmaster and Anna's father. I think the reason that Chris and Lisa works so well is they are the most defined at the start. Duckie also works because he's focused on too.

1. Repo the Genetic Opera not Repo Man the Emilio Estevez movie and not Repo Man the Jude movie. 2. As a person who was so-so on the movie personally I would say no. The film doesn't really do anything overly creative, new or interesting with the zombies. They just kill off characters to raise the stakes and that's about it. Much like the Christmas element the zombies are just kinda there. They are used to move some character growth but that's about it. If you are a fan of zombie films I think you'll also find some of the zombie attacks hamfisted (Ducky just randomly sticks his hand up and out into the open for no reason just so he can get bit at the most dramatic time).

While this is the biggest homage scene to Shaun of the Dead with Shaun going to the shop, I agree. This and Zabka's being good at killing zombies are probably the most on point songs for a "zombie musical"

Yes. I was glad she put Duckie in the corner and he was basically accepting on this. However the fact that she is interested in this Zabka that is constantly belittling her so called best friend seems like a guy that read The Secret one too many times. I agree that it isn't 100% they are a couple but the fact that he survives at all feels a bit... disappointing considering on freely the movie was killing off the other characters. Also, how is killing your father who's turned into a zombie doing something selfless? She told him that he only thinks of himself and his counter point was he killed his zombie turning dad because that's what his dad wanted. That just seems like common sense in a zombie apocalypse scenario.

Also her relationship with the non-ducky love interest. He's presented as some sort of jerk, is that way until she confronts him in the school and something we didn't know happened, he makes a heroic self sacrificial move to prove her wrong and some how they end up together at the end. I just found that whole character and story line to be disappointing. Like either he's an asshole until his second to last scene and then we're suppose to be happy they're together at the end? Meh. That said I really enjoyed the story of Chris and Lisa and thought that was done well. That's what I mean about this movie, for me for every bad their is a good.

Also congrats Polly!

Yes. Granted I only watched the first episode but I wasn't feeling it. I did love the puppetry and playing guess that voice but the story and pacing off it all were just not compelling me.

I really get where Max is coming from. Like he said he couldn't decide if he liked the movie or hated it and I'm pretty much in the same camp. Like I said in my letterboxd review I think the movie tries to do too many things and instead of being really good at one or two it just kinda middles at them all. The biggest thing I loved were the songs. I did find them catchy and for the most part well done. However, the script really needed another pass or I missed some stuff at the start because there were things like why the headmaster hated Anna and her father so much that just seemed arbitrary rather than established. Like he wanted to fire her father when he became the headmaster because... reasons?

Yello Dyno is definitely taking those kids to a secondary location.

Speaking of The Greg Wilson, let's do another deep dive on the actors in this movies and what they did before this movie. So in the late 90s I assume The Greg Wilson was just starting out his career and willing to take any part. That's the only reason I think he starred the Yello Dyno movies. What are the Yello Dyno movies? They were a series of movies designed to teach children about safety and dangers via song and a man in a giant yellow dinosaur costume. Doesn't sound so bad right? Wrong! The story they chose to go with is that of a record producer who takes advantage of little girls by photographing them naked and then blackmailing them with it. Did I mention it is full of slap stick gags so children will watch it and stick through it? So what does this have to do with The Greg Wilson? Well he plays the lackey to the record producer who's job is to scout and acquire the kids for him. He's also chief slap stick character too. Yes it is horrible.

So I was confused by the character of the albino stalker. I mean if you're going to have a whole movie set outside at the beach making a character an albino seems like an odd choice. On top of that to play him as if he has some sort of disability is another weird choice. I was curious what else that actor, Scott Prendergast, had done because he looked kinda familiar. So I pulled up his IMDB and guess what? There is a The Hottie and The Nottie extended universe! Turns out years before The Hottie and The Nottie Scott Prendergast made a short filmed call Anna is Being Stalked. That short film is up on YouTube and here it is: He's playing the exact same character! Everything is the same. The name on the shirt, the albinism, the weird ticks, everything! This short came out years before The Hottie and The Nottie so more likely The Hottie and The Nottie is part of the Anna is Being Stalked cinematic universe. I still want to know why this guy is playing the same part. Did the director know him and threw him in as joke? Did he audition because of his past experience playing a stalker? Blake Harris get on it!

This week on Unspooled: the ultimate Sophie's Choice, mimes or clowns!