Amoeba hollywood Staff
Derich Heath
Amoeba Hollywood
www.dheath.bandcamp.com
Birdeater (BLU)
A young bride-to-be agrees to attend her fiancees bachelor party. She and a bunch of his asshole pals gather at a rural location for the typical festivities, but they all share a rocky past; a mixture of booze, ketamine, and buried emotions turns their weekend gathering into a genuinely excruciating experience. There's an awkward dinner scene that'll have you cringing hard. It's become a (kinda annoying) tendency of modern horror to use a supernatural villain as the stand-in for things like guilt, codependency, and gaslighting. Birdeater takes a different approach - it has the distinct feel of a scare flick but avoids horror tropes. It doesn't conjure up a hideous monster or supernatural entity to mask real-life traumas, choosing instead to confront such issues directly. To be clear - it is not a horror movie. Some critics have labeled it as such, which is stupid. But it is one of the most tense, suffocating movies I've seen in some time, which is more than I can say for a majority of films trying to scare me. Every performance is fantastic and the editing style is highly unique. This felt different from anything else I've seen recently. Bonus points for randomly incorporating sound effects from Banjo Kazooie and the Windows .exe noise at one point.
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Q: The Winged Serpent (BLU)
Q is Larry Cohen's masterpiece, with a wild concept that could only have come from him. He drops a low-level street hoodlum into a story about a flying prehistoric monster (or is it the other way around?) and centers the film on their crossing paths. It has the best screenplay he ever wrote, the most assured direction of his career, and the strongest lead performance he ever got. Michael Moriarty should have received an Academy Award nomination for this movie. The primitive creature effects, largely achieved through stop motion, are crude but effective. Cohen doesn't get enough recognition for his resourceful use of New York City in the 70's and 80's. He was possibly the best when it came to getting under the skin of that town. He fixed long lenses on crowded streets, his actors surrounded by real people unknowingly serving as extras. Moriarty, sweaty and disoriented, staggering up to a payphone and placing a frantic call while some random little boy stands at his feet, looking up at him in confusion - shit like that adds a certain character all the money in the world can't buy. The stuff shot inside the Chrysler Building is fuckin' far out, man. He got a camera into areas he was not supposed to enter, places never seen by the public. Places where it is not safe to shoot.
Cohen said he came up with the idea for Q when he was gazing at the top of the Chrysler Building one morning and thought to himself, "that would be a really good place to build a nest."
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13 Above the Night (CD)
My Life With the Thrill Kill
Sleazy death trip evil industrial disco masterpiece
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Blonde Death (BLU)
Without question the best shot-on-video movie ever made. No other S.O.V. has a script (or performances) anywhere near this good. Corrosive black comedy in the vein of Heathers and Freeway, shot in 1984 on a budget of $2,000. Sex, murder, Orange County suburban wasteland atmosphere, and an impromptu trip to Disneyland (here called Donkeyland)! This should have marked the beginning of a long, fruitful career for writer/director James Baker. It's genuine auteur shit that'll knock yer socks off.
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The Tubes (LP)
The Tubes
One of the best debut albums ever made, and they never even came close to equaling it. Mondo Bondage and White Punks on Dope are absolute classics.
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Strays (BLU)
Hilarious TV movie from 1991 attempts a pair of difficult tasks and fails at both: 1) making housecats scary, and 2) convincing viewers that two attractive women would fight for the affection of Timothy Busfield. Strays is a minor classic of unintentional comedy. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard throughout a film, in any genre. These people are besieged by an army of felines largely due to their own dumb, hysterical behavior. The six year old daughter is able to sleep through any situation, no matter how lour or perilous, much to the convenience of both the characters and the filmmakers. Written by Shaun Cassidy(!). Lots of the info related to cats is inaccurate. Funnier than most comedies.
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The Shining (1980) (BLU)
Watching this for the, like, 167th time in my life made me realize it's one of my favorite films. I love The Shining. It's perfect and, as a King fan, I'll be the first to admit it's better than the novel. Stay too long at the Overlook and the party lasts forever. Jack is the weak modern day descendant of deceased white men who built the hotel, and he's especially susceptible to its dangers. 'Delbert' Grady is initially referred to (during the interview) as 'Charles' Grady, something I only just noticed. It's as though the place selects mentally frail targets and traps them, assigning them new identities. There's definitely significance to the portrait at the end being dated July 4th. The Shining is a horror story about ghosts, insanity, and American imperialism. It's such a great movie.
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After the Astronaut (LP)
Butthole Surfers
The long-shelved Butthole Surfers album is a great (and even better) follow-up to Electriclarryland that explores similar territory (Gibby speak-singing over electronic beats) while venturing into unexpected places. Super fun.
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Total Recall (BLU)
Movie god Paul Verhoeven attempts to repeat the success of RoboCop and comes pretty damn close. He brought back tons of cast and crew members; Kurtwood Smith was even offered the role of Richter, but said the character was too similar to Boddicker and declined. Big budget action sci-fi films rarely get as intelligent, existential, or grotesque; it does justice to the memory of Phillip K. Dick and works as a Hollywood blockbuster.
The protagonist, in both the source material and all the script drafts, was an unimposing everyman. That changed once Schwarzenegger signed on, but Doug Quaid is an unusually vulnerable character for Arnie. He's rarely in control and often terrified. Verhoeven uses Schwarzenegger's superhuman presence (and limited acting ability) to his advantage by adhering to a hyper-violent, knowingly ridiculous comic book logic he would end up revisiting for Starship Troopers. He jacks the entire film up on steroids to match his star.
David Cronenberg came very close to directing this and wrote several drafts. He wanted to cast William Hurt as Quaid. All the mutants - namely Kuato, the hideous creature that emerges from Marshall Bell's stomach - were Cronenberg's invention. Jerry Goldsmith said that the main title theme, The Dream, was the best piece of music he ever wrote, and I agree.
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jon
Amoeba Hollywood
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Brad Schelden
Amoeba Hollywood
You Say I Romanticize (LP)
Sweeping Promises
Super fun post punk from Boston makes me think of the great days of the late 90s and early 00s. And I love that album cover art!
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Punch Card (LP)
Formal Sppeedwear
Another UK band that sounds like a band from the 00s making music that sounds like the 80s but from 2026! But these guys make it work and I am addicted to this album and can't stop.
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Autosmile (LP)
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Sounds like a 90s 4AD band like Throwing Muses or His Name is Alive playing music at a Ren Fair!
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Yanis
Amoeba Hollywood
I don't really care or believe to much in genres but I can say that as a means to end its useful. If you take anything from me its to not be closed minded with music.
Boy in Red (LP)
Isaiah Rashad
This is Isaiah Rashad's Fifth studio album and builds upon last years The House is Burning LP. Although the latter leaned much more into Rashad's dirty south style rapping, this project feels much more laid back, hazy, and melodic than Rashad's usually is. Even with the kaleidoscope of sounds he approaches familiar subject matter of drug addiction, loss, and finding ones purpose in life. Nonetheless this is one of my favorite rap albums to have dropped this year.
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