Author: Stephen Quirk

John Mulaney SNL Musicals

Starting in 2018, every John Mulaney appearance on SNL has included a musical sketch—Diner Lobster was the first. For that one, most of the songs and “plot” are lifted from Les Misérables. As someone who was in musicals in high school and is not afraid to catch one here and there, I appreciate these very much. In fact, some of the shows I was in are covered here—namely Fiddler on the Roof and South Pacific. Anyway, these do a great job of showing a very meta and surreal take on life in New York, current events, and a bunch of musical numbers. Keep an eye out for Pete Davidson and other cast members laughing.

2018: Diner Lobster

2019: Bodega Bathroom

2020: New York Musical

2020: Airport Sushi

2022: Subway Churro

2024: Port Authority Duane Reade

Diner Lobster: Behind the Scenes

Bonus: John Mulaney starred and wrote (with others) in a parody of Original Cast Album: Company, a documentary about the recording of the music from the Sondheim play. I get the impression he may have been a theater kid.

Nosferatu

There are two, count them, TWO versions of Nosferatu being released this year. One is a slightly new take by Robert Eggers and the other is meant as a direct remake of the 1922 version using modern technology.

It’s an interesting story. Nosferatu was an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula. So unofficial that Stoker’s widow sued the makers of the new version. There were minor changes to the story and names (for example, Count Dracula became Count Orlok), but many elements made it from page to screen.

  • Werner Herzog’s 1979 version retains much of the plot from the novel and Murnau’s film. While it follows the original closely, it lacks much of the dramatic lighting and scares that made the 1922 version what it is. There are some minor changes that helped make it a fresh adaptation.
  • You can see a very heavy influence the look of Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, mostly through the heavy use of the vampire’s shadow.
  • Shadow of the Vampire is yet another take – it portrays the actor playing Orlok in Murnau’s movie as an actual vampire.
  • Both the 1979 and 2024 versions of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot use Orlok’s look as inspiration for their main vampire (Kurt Barlow).

1922 by F.W. Murnau (full film on Vimeo)

1979 by Werner Herzog

2024 by Robert Eggers

2024 by David Lee Fisher

1992 Francis Ford Coppola

2000 by E. Elias Merhige

Twinning Peaks

This post was mostly inspired by watching an interview with Rashida Jones on Conan O’Brien’s podcast and forgetting who her mother was (and that said mother was on Twin Peaks).

Mary Jo and Emily and Zooey Claire

Russ and Amber Tamblyn

Peggy Lipton and Rashida Jones

Child’s Play

I’d never seen the Child’s Play / Chucky movies but I’ve been working on it lately! The first movie was very different from what I’d pictured – it’s a bit more grounded with the origin (if that makes sense). I never knew why Chucky was the way he was until I randonly watched the opening scene. I’m a big Brad Dourif fan (I mean Dune, Excocist III, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, etc.). These movies are a real mixed bag, but I’m enjoying the ridiculosness and am looking forward to watching the show once I’m done with the movies.

So far I’ve watched:

  • Child’s Play
  • Child’s Play 2
  • Child’s Play 3
  • Bride of Chucky
  • Seed of Chucky

Talk to They/Them, Fresh and Freaky Abigail and Lisa

In my last post, I somehow missed the best of the horror movies I’d recently watched, Talk to Me.

I’ve had a bit of a light-horror Catherine Newtonfest with Lisa Frankenstein, Freaky, and Abigail. Lisa Frankenstein was probably the weakest of the bunch, but all are fun and new takes on the horror genre. Avoid the Abigail trailer if you don’t want spoilers.

Fresh is another movie where I would avoid knowing too much, though skip it if you’re at all squeamish. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan are great. Like a lot of the other movies on this list, it’s a mix of genres… it starts out as a rom-com and moves away from that quickly.

The less said about They/Them, the better. It had potential, but it was mostly a jumbled mess.

Omenbarmaladook Follows

I recently watched The First Omen which kicked off a run of watching other horror films. While many were just the other films in The Omen series, the rest were horror movies from the last 10 years that had been on my list since they were released. I’d probably call out The First Omen, The Omen, and Barbarian as the highlights. I realized that Sam Neil was in The Omen III and Possession in the same year, 1981. While The Omen III is flawed, I was impressed to learn those intense performances were the same year. It Follows and The Babadook were close to being great, but both left too many questions. Malignant has some great WTF moments, but it’s incredibly poorly acted. I was glad to see others calling it the horror equivalent of The Room. The Omen IV would be skippable, but are you not going to watch the whole series?

Late Night with the Devil

Last night I watched Late Night with the Devil, a horror film set in the world of ’70s late-night television. Overall I thought it was a great concept, but I had minor squabbles with the execution. Low budget or not, some of the effects, makeup, and technical aspects took me out of the film. Performances, set design, and (again) the concept, were great. Interestingly, there are several other films in a similar vein that I need to check out.

Star Trek: The Cheers (and Frasier) Generation III

This is my last one of these, I swear! I finished Frasier and my TNG rewatch, but I had to include these. Stephen Root is a favorite actor and Penny Johnson Jerald is a biggie. She managed to appear on TNG and in major roles in DS9 and The Orville. And Daniel Davis as Moriarty is obviously a TNG favorite.

Stephen Root

Penny Johnson Jerald

Daniel Davis