Author: Steve

I, like just about everybody else in the world it seems, loved Spider-Man: No Way Home, a truly impressive feat of event moviemaking. And the opportunity to see every Spider-Man actor on screen at the same time, saving the world – really, the universe – together will no doubt go down as one of the best moments ever in a superhero film. But with No Way Home opening up the multiverse and a limitless number of Spider-Men, I couldn’t help but feel taken out of the film anytime the character Gary Parker, the fourth Spider-Man in the movie and third…

I consider myself something of a cinephile, so I hope I don’t shock you with this take, but I have found that 1994’s Speed, starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper, and Jeff Daniels, is FAR AND AWAY the best film to ever feature a bus that will explode if it goes below fifty miles per hour. And before you say anything else, I am certainly well-versed in this particular area. In fact, I have devoted much of my pandemic time diving into the history of bomb-strapped runaway bus filmmaking, dating back to Dario La Matteo’s tremendous Autobus in Corsa…

When it comes to movies about infinite time loops taking place over Groundhog Day, you can’t find anything better than Bill Murray’s 1993 classic Groundhog Day. An essential rewatch this time of year, I was struck in my two-hundredth or so viewing here that nothing is ever really explained in this scenario. Why is Phil Connors in an infinite time loop? Who put him there? How exactly did he get out of it? It never really appears that Connors learns too much of a lesson either because, ultimately, it can be argued that he does still just use his time…

We know when you think of holiday cheer, Metallica is the first thing that comes to mind, so we’re doing a Metallica-themed Advent calendar to help put a little metal up your ass as we make our way to Christmas. Sometimes a song just completely alters a band’s perception and trajectory. For Metallica, that song is “Enter Sandman.” Simply put, this took Metallica from being thrash gods to just being gods. With this first track off their self-titled fifth album in 1991, Metallica became a true cultural force, now opening themselves up to a more mainstream audience – hell, you…

We know when you think of holiday cheer, Metallica is the first thing that comes to mind, so we’re doing a Metallica-themed Advent calendar to help put a little metal up your ass as we make our way to Christmas. There is a lot going on with …And Justice for All, Metallica’s fourth studio album. Most notably, it was the first album with new bassist Jason Newsted, who came on after original bassist Cliff Burton tragically died in a bus crash in 1986. Speaking of the bass, this album has also been occasionally panned for having what is essentially a…

We know when you think of holiday cheer, Metallica is the first thing that comes to mind, so we’re doing a Metallica-themed Advent calendar to help put a little metal up your ass as we make our way to Christmas. Lars Ulrich has always been a controversial figure in the metal community for a lot of reasons. But it took me a long time to learn that Metallica fandom has a real beef with him over his actual drumming talent. Though Ulrich would be the first to admit he isn’t the most talented drummer in the world and doesn’t really…

We know when you think of holiday cheer, Metallica is the first thing that comes to mind, so we’re doing a Metallica-themed Advent calendar to help put a little metal up your ass as we make our way to Christmas. Here it is: the greatest metal album of all time. Now, just a couple days ago I did profess my love and personal preference for Ride the Lightning, but I can recognize that Metallica’s third studio album Master of Puppets is widely known as the pinnacle of the genre, which came at the height of the band’s “Alcoholica” party days.…

We know when you think of holiday cheer, Metallica is the first thing that comes to mind, so we’re doing a Metallica-themed Advent calendar to help put a little metal up your ass as we make our way to Christmas. In one of the best post-Golden Era Simpsons cameos, Metallica had a guest spot in season 18, opening the episode “The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer.” At the beginning of the episode, Otto is driving the school bus and comes across Metallica, whose own tour bus has broken down on the side of the road. There are…

We know when you think of holiday cheer, Metallica is the first thing that comes to mind, so we’re doing a Metallica-themed Advent calendar to help put a little metal up your ass as we make our way to Christmas. For me, this is the good shit, the pinnacle of Metallica’s early days of thrash. Obviously all of their four thrash albums – Kill ’em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and …And Justice for All – are incredible, but Ride the Lightning is where I find most of my enduring classics. Between “Ride the Lightning” and “For Whom…

We know when you think of holiday cheer, Metallica is the first thing that comes to mind, so we’re doing a Metallica-themed Advent calendar to help put a little metal up your ass as we make our way to Christmas. “Blackened” isn’t a song that I’d consider one of my favorites; really, for whatever reason, …And Justice for All as a whole just hasn’t resonated with me as much as Metallica’s other stuff. So while it’s a good album opener – and of course a kickass song live – it’s sort of gotten lost in the fray for me. Until…