R.I.P. Family Video

Oh, 2021. We had such high hopes that somehow you'd turn out better than your bastard predecessor. Amazingly, even though you're barely two weeks old you've found a way to be even worse.

This week Family Video announced it was permanently closing its remaining 250 stores.

According to CEO Keith Hoogland, the decision to close was due to Covid (natch), as the nationwide lockdown caused an understandable lack of foot traffic in the company's various stores. The absence of any new movie releases was the final nail in the coffin, as even when the quarantine was lifted, there was nothing for customers to rent.

The death of Family Video definitely marks the sad end of an era. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but where I live they were the last video store in town!

I used to go to Family Video quite a bit— often once a week in fact. Unlike most of their clientele, I never actually rented any movies there, I bought them instead. Once a DVD or blu ray release was no longer considered "new," they'd sell it at a much reduced price. They usually started out at $10 or $12, but if one was patient they'd eventually get down to $3 bucks!

Most of their titles were big budget mainstream films, but they carried a ton of obscure B movies and direct-to-video fare as well. I built up quite an impressive library of movies thanks to Family Video. 

Then in 2016 I finally joined the 21st Century and bought a router and a Roku. This opened the vast new world of streaming to me, and I was able to access thousands and thousands of hours of movies and TV shows— far more than I'd ever be able to watch. And much of it for free!

As I began streaming more and more content, my visits to Family Video became more infrequent. There wasn't much point in buying a movie I'd only watch one time and have it take up room in my house when I could simply stream it. Eventually I stopped going to the store altogether. I haven't stepped foot inside one in at least three years. 

So even though I feel bad for the employees and hate to see the company go away, Family Video's demise won't affect my life much. 

Chalk them up as another casualty of our rapidly changing technology.

R.I.P. Jeremy Bulloch

God damn this fucking year...

This one hurts. Actor Jeremy Bulloch, aka Boba Fett, died today at age seventy five. 

 

Bulloch had a surprisingly long and busy career (mostly in England), but is most famously remembered for starring at Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi.

I've been a big fan of Boba since he first appeared in 1980. I'm not exactly sure why though, as he never did much onscreen and said even less. I think it may have been the costume I liked. And probably Bulloch's presence inside it.

I met Jeremy Bulloch at a convention in Cincinnati back in 1997. He was part of the Men Behind The Masks Tour, which featured various Star Wars actors whose faces were obscured by helmets or makeup in the films. 

 

In addition to Bulloch, the tour featured David Prowse (aka Darth Vader), Peter Mayhew (aka Chewbacca), Warwick Davis (aka Wicket The Ewok), Kenny Baker (aka R2-D2) and Michael Carter (aka Bib Fortuna). 

I remember getting an autographed photo of Bulloch and speaking with him for quite a while. He was very polite and soft spoken, patiently answering my questions that he'd no doubt heard a thousand times before. Glad I got to meet him now.

 

RIP!

R.I.P. Wilford Brimley

R.I.P. to Wilford Brimley, who died earlier this week. Brimley was a beloved character actor, hawker of oatmeal and spokesman for "diabeetus" medication.

To me the most shocking thing about Brimley's death was that he was only 85! That... that can't be right, can it? I though he was that age back in the 1980s!

Case in point: Here he is in the 1985 sci-fi movie Coccon. Although Brimley played a retiree in his 60s or 70s, he was only 50 when he starred in the film! Holy crap!

Brimley played Blair in 1982's The Thing. Believe it or not, he was only 47 here. Jesus Christ, that is a HARD looking 47. No wonder I was surprised he was only 85 when he died. Did the guy EVER look young?

No. No he didn't. Here he is from a 1975 episode of Kung Fu. Brimley was a youthful 40 years old here, but looks at least twenty years older.

This was the earliest photo I could find of Brimley, from a 1974 episode of The Waltons. Believe it or not, he's only 39 here!

Most actors make a career out of playing characters much younger than they really are. Brimley's one of the few who spent his life playing old men well before his time! He's one of those people who take a long time to "grow into" their bodies!

R.I.P. Ian Holm

R.I.P. to actor Sir Ian Holm, who died June 19 at age eighty eight. Sad, but that's a pretty good run.

Holm was a world-class actor and a member of the Royal Shakespeare company. He won numerous award during his long career, including the Laurence Olivier Award, a Tony and a BAFTA. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Chariots Of Fire.

Although Holm was in over a hundred movies, I was unfamiliar with his work until his role as the twitchy, villainous Ash in 1979's ALIEN. 

He then starred in a whole slew of sci-fi and fantasy films, including Time Bandits, Brazil, The Fifth Element, Naked Lunch, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and eXistenZ.

Holm's probably best known though for playing Bilbo Baggins in The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.

As most fans know, Peter Jackson shot both Tolkien trilogies in the far off land of New Zealand, which is about as far away as you can get from anywhere. When he agreed to film The Hobbit movies, he desperately wanted Ian Holm to return as Old Bilbo in a flashback sequence.

Unfortunately Holm had to tell Jackson he couldn't appear in the movies, as his health prevented him from making the grueling flight from the UK to New Zealand.

Determined to cast him no matter what, Jackson packed up his crew, built a Bag End set in London and filmed all of Holm's scenes there in the UK! Cool!

Fun Fact: At one point Holm was married to actress Penelope Wilton, aka Shaun's mom in Shaun Of The Dead!

R.I.P. Beverley Owen

Darn, another piece of my childhood is gone.

Actress Beverley Owen died February 21st at the age of 81. She was the original Marilyn on the 1960s sitcom The Munsters. Owen left the show after just thirteen episodes, and was replaced by Pat Priest.

Owen's brief acting career began in 1956, when she appeared on As The World Turns. She made a few more guest shots, on shows such as Wagon Train, The Virginian and Another World. Her role on The Munsters was the one that brought her the most fame though.

Owen decided to leave the series— and Hollywood—  to marry producer Jon Stone. They were together for seven years, and had two daughters.

For you non-Munsters fans, Marilyn's the "homely" one there in the lower middle. That was the joke, see— they were a family of monsters, and thought their beautiful-looking niece was a hideous troll.

R.I.P. Beverley Owen.

R.I.P. Dark Universe

To absolutely no one's surprise, Universal Studio's "Dark Universe" Cinematic Universe is dead.

Back in July I reviewed The Mummy, which was the first film in Universal's desperate attempt to jump start their own little shared movie world, ala the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I predicted it wouldn't work, as Universal was putting the cart before the horse, trying to START with a fleshed-out universe instead of slowly building one the way Marvel did. I also said it was a mistake to take their Classic Monsters and try to turn them into superheroes. And when Universal pinned The Mummy's failure on actor Tom Cruise instead of taking the blame themselves, I said the Dark Universe was dead on arrival.

Sadly, it looks like I was right on all counts.

The next entry in the Dark Universe was supposed to be the Bride Of Frankenstein. Why they'd make a movie about the Bride before introducing the Frankenstein monster first, I have no idea, but there you go. Anyway, the film was to be directed by Bill Condon, who recently helmed the incredibly successful live action Beauty And The Beast. But in an interview a couple weeks ago, Condon said he was looking forward to filming Bride Of Frankenstein, but claimed it wouldn't be connected to the Dark Universe in any way. Said Condon:

"I will tell you this— what I’m doing is 100% making a really good monster movie. It has nothing to do with anything else. Nothing. Zero."

Wha...? So much for that shared universe, I guess!

Then a few days later, Universal announced that Bride Of Frankenstein has been quietly removed from their schedule, in order to "rework the script." Universal made an official statement, saying:

“None of us want to move too quickly to meet a release date when we know this special movie needs more time to come together. Bill is a director whose enormous talent has been proven time and again, and we all look forward to continuing to work on this film together.”

All that's MovieSpeak® for, "We don't wanna risk throwing any more money at this cinematic turd, so we're yanking it from the schedule to try and save what little face we have left." 

I will be greatly surprised if the Bride Of Frankenstein remake ever sees the light of day at all. I tried to tell Universal they were going about it all backwards, but no one ever listens to me.

R.I.P. Dark Universe

2017 -2017

R.I.P. Florence Henderson

Actress Florence Henderson died yesterday Thanksgiving Day!) at the age of eighty two.

That does it, 2016. Enough is enough. I've had more than enough of your antics, and you are now officially the Worst Year Ever. Don't let the door hit you in you in the ass on the way out.

Naturally we all remember Henderson as America's Mom Carol Brady. But did you know she was also the first female guest host on The Tonight Show in 1962? It's true! She hosted the show right after Jack Paar's infamous meltdown, and right before Johnny Carson started his decades long stint. Pretty cool!