James Mangold's Cop Land

Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, and Sylvester Stallone in one of the most highly-anticipated films of the 1990s . . . Springing from the headlines of the 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, and today, James Mangold's 1997 police corruption drama was released to critical acclaim and tepid box-office. In an era of 90s Independent filmmaking, focusing on newspaper/magazine headlines and evening newscasts, Mangold would write and pitch a story (ostensibly a Western) set in modern day life. The reluctant hero, Sheriff Freddy Heflin (an overweight, tired, and sad Stallone), who is neither the Rocky or Rambo hero Stallone is known for, fighting the corruption of an all-star cast of big-city police living outside of the city in a mob financed town. Stallone versus Keitel, Robert Patrick, Peter Berg and John Spencer, with a cocaine-addled Ray Liotta as back-up, and a disheveled, angry, and calculating Internal Affairs officer played by DeNiro manipulating the scene, Mangold's second film - with obvious comparisons to Scorsese - stands out as an brutal and honest look at police corruption and those wiling to stand up against it. As always, we can be reached at [email protected] - Our Continued Thanks and Appreciation.

For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards.

Richard Linklater's Dazed & Confused (70s Soundtrack)

This week Mr. Chavez & I return to Richard Linklater's 1993 "Hang-Out" Masterpiece, Dazed & Confused, focusing on the importance and use of its soundtrack. Featuring Aerosmith, KISS, Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, WAR, ZZ Top, Edgar Winter Group, and Deep Purple, among others, Linklater's "Cinematic Soundtrack" would establish nostalgia, youth, freedom, aimless wandering, and a musical foundation inspired by previous films and inspiring others to come. Take a listen as we retrun to a great film and unwrap the music that would ground it in its time and establish a mood rarely equaled. As always, we can be reached at [email protected] - Many, Many Thanks.

For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards.

Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly

It's becoming increasingly difficult to find straight-forward, honest, and personal stories at the movie theater. The low to medium budget films that populated the 1970s have cast a shadow that continues to excite and inspire modern audiences. In the wasteland of re-vamps, sequels, action and comic book dreg, a handful of pictures crawl out of the monotony. In 2012, one of these films was released and quickly disappeared from theaters. With the star power of Ray Liotta and James Gandolfini, supporting players Richard Jenkins, Scoot McNairy, and Ben Mendelsohn, and executive producer and star, Bradd Pitt, Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly should have been a box office hit and a critical darling. However, a film as bleak as this one - profiling the economic problems leading to the 2008 financial crisis, a difficult and racially contested presidential election, and a bleak social atmosphere focusing on blue collar criminals and hitmen versus corporate criminal bosses - Dominik's third film would be dismissed and buried by a public and studio system that would prefer leaving the pasat as it was. This week we look back at it with a decades perspective. Take a listen and let us know what you think. As always, we can be reached at [email protected] - Many, Many Thanks.

For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards.

Kevin Smith's Clerks

The 1990s were a strange, wondrous, and hopeful decade for Cinema. Three decades later we look back on those mid 90s attitudes, trends, screams, and shouts. With the emergence of Sundance, The Weinsteins, and voices such as Tarantino, Fincher, Rodriguez, and others, Independent Cinema was flexing in a way that threatened the studios in much the same way the 70s thrilled, excited, and - most importantly - challenged that audience. This week we look at one of the loudest and unlikliest voices to emerge from this decade; A Coming of Age, Adulthood focused story following the lives of convenience store workers, Kevin Smith's 1994 classic Clerks. Thirty-two years later the anger, frustration, and hopelessness of our collective futures remain. Smith (working as a convenience store clerk while supporting his passion for writing and filmmaking) would give purpose to that anger with a foul-mouthed, pessimistic, and hopeless look at blue-collar jobs and the people who are swallowed by them. Through the lives of two best friends, Dante & Randall (with a couple of pot-dealing morons names Jay & Silent Bob singing the chorus), Smith gave voice to the fears, inhibitions, and cynicism of the 90s and the working mans' struggle. Most importantly, how does all of this relate to us? Well, we are all mired in the aimlessness and calcification of the 40 hour work week. Clerks spoke volumes to a generation unsure of itself. Thirty-two years later that volume has not dimmed. Take a listen and let us know what you think. As always we can be reached at [email protected] - Many, Many Thanks.

For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards.

Richard Linklater's Dazed & Confused

On this week's episode we explore 1976 through the eyes of 1993, with Richard Linklater's slacker/high-school masterpiece, Dazed & Confused. Linklater's love letter to high school coming-of-age films is one of the stand-out productions of early 90s independent cinema; a film that blends aimless storytelling with a pounding and nostalgic 70s soundtrack, to reminisce on the good, bad, boring, and character forming experiences of growing up. Juniors becoming Seniors, Middle-Schoolers transitioning to High School, Dazed & Confused is much more than a re-creation of Texas in 1976. Linklater's film is a funny, touching, and - surprisingly - heart-warming story of finding ones' way, selling out, peaking in high school, and imagining the future and ones' place in it. It's about the friendships we make and how so much of that plays a part in building our individual characters. Dazed & Confused is a cult classic which began the careers of Jason London, Adam Goldberg, Joey Lauren Adams, Cole Hauser, Nicky Katt, Parker Posey, and Matthew McConaughey. It's a thrill for Mr. Chavez & I to return to this classic and examine how so much of it mirrors our own lives. Take a listen and let us know what you think. As always, we can be reached at [email protected] - Many, Many Thanks.

For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards.

Michael Mann's Heat

On this week's episode we celebrate our 600th episode with a look at one of the most important films of our generation, Michael Mann's Crime-Thriller, Heist Film, Masterpiece . . . the coming together of two of the greatest and most important actors of their generation, Al Pacino as Lieutenant Vincent Hannah and Robert DeNiro as Professional Criminal Neil McCauley in 1995s Heat. This week we talk the film, but as always the film is simply a jumping off point for a greater undestanding, in the case an understanding of 1990s culture, the crime genre, brilliant acting and direction, and our own personal growth and attachment to the ideas, warnings, and lessons of this exceptional film. A modern day criminal tragedy which re-invents a story that has been told thousands of times and somehow manages to make all things fresh and unique. With a brilliant cast including the aforementioned DeNiro and Pacino, but also Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Mykelti Williamson, Diane Verona, Tom Sizemore, Danny Trejo, Amy Brenneman, William Fichtner, Ashley Judd, Hank Azaria, Natalie Portman, Henry Rollins, John Voight, Kevin Gage, Bud Cort, a heartbreaking Dennis Haysbert, and a brilliant Val Kilmer, Michael Mann's Heat is a beautifully rendered, heartbreaking crime tragedy that feels real, lived in, and timeless.

And yeah . . . we spend a good amount of time on that scene - one of the greatest ever filmed. Take a listen and let us know what you think. As always we can be reached at [email protected]. Many, Many Thanks.

For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards.

Doug Liman's Go (1999)

This week, we revisit an underseen/little-discussed comedy from 1999, Doug Liman's Go. In the 1990s cinema was overwhelmed by the influence, financial, and critical success of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction; any number of copycats and knock-offs would flood theaters. Probably, the very best, would be Liman's three-story, intersecting narrative of young adults, struggling with financial problems, bad choices, casual drug use and sales, and (comid) violence. As always, your WatchThis hosts springboard from Liman's film into a dialogue regarding our memories of the 1990s, the evolution of narrative style, the power and influence of pop-art, and the slow move into the 2000s. It's a fun talk regarding a film that deserves more attention. Take a listen as we reflect on this exciting, inventive, and fun postcard from 1999. With an early 90s "who's who" cast, including: Katie Holmes, Timothy Olyphant, Scott Wolf, Jay Mohr, William Fichtner, Melissa McCarthy (very early), Desmond Askew, Taye Diggs, and (a wonderful ) Sarah Polley. Take a listen and let us know what you think - [email protected] - Many, Many Thanks.

For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards.

Greg Araki's The Doom Generation

This week Mr. Chavez & I explore the 1990s with a cult film that is remembered as an early classic of New Queer Cinema. Greg Araki's The Doom Generation is remembered as a violent and trashy exploration of 1990s alternative cinmea. A Gen X Bisexual Bonnie & Clyde/Badlands profile of alienation and stylized camp, Araki's film is the second edition of his "Teen Apocalypse Trilogy". For Mr. Chavez the episode is a nostalgic look at a film that left an impression; for me, the film is an attempt to understand a genre that was somehow missed. We both dive into a discussion sliding through our memories of the decade and our attitudes on what the genre and respective films would mean to a voice that had only been hinted at and often censored. Take a listen and let us know what you think. As always, we can be reached at [email protected] - Many, Many Thanks.

For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards.

Eddie Martin's We Were Once Kids

In a continuation of last week's episode on Larry Clark and Harmony Korine's 1995 Kids, Mr. Chavez & I discovered a documentary peeling back the layers of that problematic and controversial film. Although we continue to believe that the earlier film is - in many ways - exceptional, Eddie Martin's 2021 expose (produced with Kids actor, Hamilton Harris), titled We Were Once Kids, reveals much of the troubling nature behind the making of the 1995 film. Alleged exploitation, real-life drug use, alcoholism, manipulation, and the age-old story of Hollywood's predatory nature are all explored in a film that focuses on the misunderstandings, naiveté, and sadness of a group of teenage non-actors that many would argue were taken advantage of in the creation of Kids. Questionable casting methods, alleged real-life drug use in the film, financial exploitation, betrayal and abandonment, and - finally - the death of two of the stars of the film - Justin Pierce (Casper) and Harold Hunter (Harold). A sad story, but also (another) cautionary tale on the dangers of Hollywood and the exploitation of children. The conversation includes our opinions on the events in front of and behind the camera, as well as our own impressions based on our own experiences in LA over twenty + years. An interesting conversation that we hope you find compelling. Take a listen and let us know what you think. As always, we can be reached at [email protected] - Many, Many Thanks.

For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards.

Larry Clark's Kids

This week Mr. Chavez & I travel back to the mid-1990s to look at a difficult, troubling, and polarizing film that raises questions concerning good taste, artistic license and victimization, as well as exploitation. Few films have caused the uproar that Larry Clark's Kids did in 1995. A quasi-documentary examination of aimlessness in an alcohol, drug, and sex driven New York of the 1990s, Kids is troubling for its frankness and sexually explicit narrative depicting high school kids discussing and engaging in sex and drug taking in a manner ignorant of their dangers. With a storyline driven by alcohol and drug use, unprotected sex, violence, HIV, and utter hopelessness, the film is a snapshot of a time that feels frighteningly real. We discuss our memories of both the film and our experiences with our own versions of youth culture. Directed by Larry Clark, written by Harmony Korine, and introducing both Chloe Sevigny and Rosario Dawson, Kids is a cinematic time jump that forces an uncomfortable discussion. Take a listen and let us know what you think. As always we can be reached at [email protected] - Our Continued Heartfelt Thanks.

For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards.