Countdown To Christmas 2015: Day 5: A Very Murray Christmas (2015)

There is only five days until Christmas (including today) and that means we have another countdown to Christmas post for all of you. For today’s post, I turned to one of the most legendary figures of comedy of the last 30 plus years in Bill Murray (Stripes, Ghostbusters, etc.) and his Netflix original special A Very Murray Christmas. Int he special, Bill Murray finds himself having the Christmas blues as he is to perform live for an audience. The thing he is worried about is that no one will show up to help him on his special. With the help of some new friends and some great Christmas music, they’ll pass the time and worries. The special features appearances from Paul Shaffer, Maya Rudolf, Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman, Jenny Lewis, Rashida Jones, David Johansen, Chris Rock, Amy Poehler, and so many more.

This is definitely a must see special for any fans of Bill Murray and/or Christmas because it’s unique and different than what we usually get around this time. You’ll see in the special that Bill isn’t really that bad of a singer as he can handle his own with someone like Maya Rudolf who has some pipes to her. Maya really impressed me a lot with her rendition of Christmas Baby Please Come Home. I never really was a huge fan of David Johansen and his singing ability, but I get why he is there (the guy is legendary after all). He does change my mind a little during a huge rendition of Fairytale Of New York. Bill Murray is a master at what he does and you guys need to check this out and Miley Cyrus even makes an appearance in the special. She does a pretty good rendition of Silent Night that let’s you remember why we thought she had talent in the first place. The special is available as we speak on Netflix right now, but to entice you a little more I am providing a trailer for all of you to check out. I am giving the special an A for a final grade.

Eddie’s 31 Days Of Halloween 2015: Day 16: Tales From The Darkside: The Movie (1990)

There are television shows that are so iconic that they were eventually turned into movies at one point like Tales From The Crypt (which we covered last year). There was another iconic horror TV series that was turned into a film and we have it for this year’s Eddie’s 31 Days Of Halloween in Tales From The Darkside: The Movie. The film starts out with the legendary Deborah Harry (Videodrone) as Betty, a woman who is about to cook a child (played by Matthew Lawrence) in her oven for her dinner party that night. In order to buy himself some time before he goes into the oven, the little boy tells Betty three stories from a large book he has called Lot 249, Cat From Hell, and Lover’s Vow. Lot 249 deals with a mummy while Cat From Hell deals with a rich man trying to hire an assassin to kill a cat, and Lover’s Vow is about a man who swears to never tell of what happened one faithful night. The film stars Christian Slater (Kuffs) as Andy (Lot 249), Robert Sedgwick (Die Hard: With A Vengeance) as Lee (Lot 249), Steve Buscemi (Fargo) as Bellingham (Lot 249), Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights) as Susan (Lot 249), David Johansen (Scrooged) as Halston (Cat From Hell), William Hickey (One Life To Live) as Drogan (Cat From Hell), James Remar (The Warriors) as Preston (Lover’s Vow), Rae Dawn Chong (Commando) as Carola (Lover’s Vow), Robert Klein (Two Weeks Notice) as Wyatt, and the film was directed by John Harrison (Book Of Blood). The film also features stories/screenplays written by Michael McDowell (Beetlejuice), George A. Romero (Night Of The Living Dead), Stephen King (Christine), Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes).

As you can see in that last sentence of the first paragraph, some of the biggest names in horror worked on the screenplay and stories for this film and hence the reason this film was amazing. Some of the biggest names in film history of the last 20 plus years also worked on this film like Buscemi, Remar, and Moore just to name a few. I do have to say that out of all three stories, Lover’s Vow is definitely my favorite one from the film as it has that darker edge and feel to it than the rest of the stories in the film. It has a very Gothic love story feel to it and it has a cool twist at the end of it that you’ll have to check out. Michael McDowell who wrote one of the best films from the late 80’s in Beetlejuice as well as the adaptation to A Nightmare Before Christmas wrote Lover’s Vow. Johansen, who I believe at times would occasionally go by the name of Buster Pointdexter and I have to say he does a good job in this film especially after what he has to swallow. The film occasionally airs on Epix Drive-In and is also available to view on Netflix on occasion as well so check it out. I miss the days of horror anthologies and or horror themed television shows like these ones because it gave horror fans something to watch. I am going to give the film an A for a final grade.

Soundtrack Saturdays: Hit The Road Jack by Buster Poindexter

The other day I turned on my television and decided to watch an early Michael Keaton film that also starred Christopher Lloyd, Peter Boyle, and Stephen Furst all as mental patients in the film The Dream Team. The patients doctor convinces the hospital to allow him to take the patients to a Yankees game as a field trip. While the bus is stopped, the doctor ends up getting shot leaving the patients on their own in the city to fend for themselves a they try to save the doc from the guys who shot him. Well, during the end credits there is a different version of Hit The Road Jack which was originally done by Percy Mayfield. The new version is sung by Buster Poindexter which is basically the alter ego of New York Dolls frontman David Johansen. Johansen basically adds his own flavor to the song making it more of a lounge music track. Now I am not sure which came first as it pertains to the song, the film, and the album that it appears on which is Buster Goes Berserk. Nevertheless, I have the song for you right here so check it out below and check out the film too cause it’s funny.