The Stacks

This week, Shana and j. discuss the classic revenge western, Backlash (1956, directed by John Sturges, discussion going to 1:16:46) and the loopy creature feature Sting of Death (1966, directed by William Grefe, discussion going to 2:30:52), followed as always by our also watched this week, and picks for next week.

The live list of The Stacks can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

For the 50th episode / 1 year anniversary extravaganza, Shana and j. discuss Andy Sidaris' best-known and best-loved picture, 1987's Hard Ticket to Hawaii (discussion running to 1:35:48) and the classic 1972 Barry Shear action/crime drama Across 110th Street (running to 2:37:05). In part 3 after choosing next week's films, we present our various awards for the 101 movies we've watched in our first year.

The live list of The Stacks can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

On this week's episode, Shana and j. discuss a couple fun 80s pop-horror films, Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys (1987) and Mark Lester's Firestarter (1984), followed as always by discussion of other films watched and our picks for next week.

Discussion of Lost Boys runs to 1:19:53 and Firestarter to 2:26:00.

The live list of The Stacks can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week, Shana and j. discuss the iconic Harold Lloyd silent era classic Safety Last! (1923, dirs. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor) as well as the definitive summer blockbuster, 1975's Jaws (directed of course by Steven Spielberg). Discussion of the first film runs to 1:16:16 and the next to 2:26:41, followed by the usual discussion of additional films watched and deciding on what to watch next week (corrections regarding Bigelow vs Schumacher to open next week's discussion of course).

As always, the live Stacks list can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week in The Stacks, Shana and j. discuss the 1969-shot, 1971-released Al Adamson exploitation picture The Female Bunch, featuring a very menacing Russ Tamblyn and a much less menacing Lon Chaney Jr. For our second feature, we talk about the intensely visual psychedelic medieval film The Green Knight (2021, directed by David Lowery).

Discussion of The Female Bunch goes to 1:22:33, and The Green Knight until 2:25:23.

The live list of The Stacks can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

It's western week on The Stacks, as we talk about the classic Clint Eastwood revisionist western High Plains Drifter (1973) and the hyper-kinetic, star-studded (and thoroughly underappreciated) Sam Raimi splatter-western The Quick and the Dead (1995).

Discussion of High Plains Drifter runs to 1:22:35 and The Quick and the Dead to 2:27:03, followed as always by discussion of additional movies watched from The Stacks and the decisions on what we're covering next.

As always, the live list of The Stacks can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week in The Stacks, it's Cher vs an Army of Darkness! Shana and j. discuss the classic 1987 Norman Jewison romantic comedy Moonstruck (running to ~1:22:05), featuring a formative Nicolas Cage performance, and the 1992 Sam Raimi action-horror-comedy Army of Darkness (running to 2:07:05). Stay tuned for the third section, where j. goes over a unified Crystal Lake series theory and we have some extra discussion of Friday the 13th pt VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan while deciding on next week's picks.

As always, the live list of The Stacks can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week, Shana and j. discuss the next entry in the Gamera series, 1968's Gamera vs Viras, directed by series originator Noriaki Yuasa (0:00:00-1:17:30), and get raw and contemplative with the 2012 Don Hertzfeldt animated masterpiece It's Such a Beautiful Day (1:17:30-2:13:45).

As always, the live Stacks list can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

For this week's episode, j. and Shana talk about the landmark kung fu epic 5 Fingers of Death (aka King Boxer, 1972, directed by Jeong Chang-hwa) and the classic, definitive horror-comedy Evil Dead II (1987, director Sam Raimi).

Discussion of 5 Fingers of Death runs to 1:40:57 and Evil Dead II until 2:27:38

The live list of The Stacks can as always be found at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

On this week's episode, j. and Shana are delving into some 80s crime/action cinema, with the first film in Andy Sidaris' Malibu Bay Films cinematic universe, Malibu Express (1985), then the 1983 Paul Aaron film Deadly Force, starring our beloved Wings Hauser.

Discussion of Malibu Express runs to 1:04:44, and Deadly Force concludes at 1:40:31, with additional mini-capsule reviews as always in the third part.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/