We do not always have the time for a two-hour movie. No one ever wants to sit down and watch a one-hour TV drama knowing that they might not be able to stick around for an entire second episode. With this said, 90-minutes (perhaps 75, maybe 99) is the ideal runtime. This concise time has given us some of the most rewatchable movies that may not win any Academy Awards, but are properly fun-sized for the audience. That is what NinetyForChill.com is all about, the fun-sized sweets be it experimental terror, outlandish horror, over-the-top action, or the most radical comedies and dramas. Your host Russ Stevens and his friends chat about the movies that require few cuts to put on basic cable when it comes to fitting into a two-hour time slot and embrace all the craziness that the censors will need to bleep or blur.
Episodes
Wednesday Nov 08, 2023
Wednesday Nov 08, 2023
It took longer than expected, but perhaps it is for the best since Veteran's Day is coming up. Sam Marsh is a fan of spectacle, so he returns to the podcast to discuss Christopher Nolan's war epic from 2017, "Dunkirk". CatBusRuss is not as high on the auteur as most seem to be, but since this feature is one that Quentin Tarantino deemed to be a rewatchable, our host had to give it a chance. Fortunately, this is not "The Night of a Thousand Cats", the inspiration for the Til Schweiger character's name from "Inglourious Basterds".
Being a fan of movies that have runtimes which tend to restrict spectacle, Russ has kind of found Christopher Nolan's recent attitude to be pretentious. With his protest over "Tenet" being released on streaming, our host thought that the idea of something being too cinematic was insulting to audiences' intelligence. If your narrative is strong enough, spectacle is secondary. Of course, that is the opinion of someone who aspires to be a screenwriter of small scale comedies. It has been suggested that direction is a skill that intimidates him.
Sam seems to carry far less cynicism than our host. Russ enjoyed "Dunkirk", but we know he is far more likely to knit pick this feature. His guest does a great job of just telling him to appreciate the experience despite what he deemed as a lack of plot. This is why the best episodes of this podcast has someone to keep our host on track and off of tangents.
But we all think that the American education system needs to place more of an emphasis and funding on the arts...right?
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
Andrew "Couchman Bakes" Tiede returns to the podcast to discuss a third feature about THE actor of every kid who was babysat by a VHS tape deck, Kurt Russell. The challenge being, Kurt's movies tend to be too long to be discussed on this show. But never to disappoint the audience, CatBusRuss will allow "John Carpenter's The Thing" to be the primary topic. All the Couchman needs to do is come up with a horror movie marathon.
These "quadruple" features are based on two themes that can be taken from what maybe Carpenter's most influential feature: Who can you trust? What is the killer?
CatBus's Six-Raven Cinema House offers up 1956's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and 2011's prequel to 1982's classic to address the first theme. As for the second, he revisited the so rad its good flick, "The Wraith" starring Charlie Sheen.
At Andrew's Sasquatch Cinema House, the "Who" is addressed with a nerdier Elijah Woods versus aliens in "The Faculty". As for the what, how about the origins of Charles Lee Ray's after death adventures with 1988's "Child's Play"
There is obviously a film missing from the Tiede showcase. Can he make up for it with the theater's new massaging chairs? Russ thinks that maybe too distracting. Perhaps you need to be the judge.
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
It would not be #SpookyMonth for "Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast" if ThePoeticCritic did not make her annual villainy felt. She has never been big for slasher movies, so it is Kaiju season. CatBusRuss explores her opinions on the late '70s "Godzilla" movies and admits to light Letterboxd stalking. He just needed to know why she watched "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula". If only Ed Wood could have kept Bela Lugosi clean...
As always when it comes to the CatBus's big sister, the conversation does devolve into a discussion about the current state of cinema. The two butt heads about "Wonka" and "Wish" again. How can she not respect the mere suggestion of an orange Hugh Grant and Alan Tudyk's hooved potential means box office success?
Before all of that, Russ attempts to get the annual trip through Ally's Accessories Shop on Etsy's Trash Feature Revue back on track with Danny Trejo versus an electrified ghost. "Reaper" also features Jake Busey and English treasure Vinnie Jones. It is a bad movie gamble our host cannot resist.
Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
CatBusRuss may be too old to be hip. He does not get the allure of Creepy Pasta. For our host, these ideas seem to be lazy attempts for older millennials to appear creative. They are just odd/disturbing images without any lore, a product of the ADHD era. To make up for the lack of depth, fans of the concept make themselves believe in it to hope to will these monsters into the zeitgeist. These efforts may have been better spent appreciating the tales of Stoker, Shelley, Wells, Lovecraft...
But, these efforts may bare fruit. There is now a generation born into a world that has always had the Internet. Attention spans be damned. Generation Z can open up Chrome and find these creatures and phenomenon and declare them as the demons of their time. "We're All Going to the World's Fair" is a film that explores the effects that creepy pasta may have on the most impressionable among us, teenagers. Even the most cynical (CatBus) cannot deny this is an intriguing concept.
Austin of "Take 'Em To The Movies, Austin!" brought this feature to Russ's attention. Jane Schoenbrun's film seems to really have connected with this week's guest who does his best to sell the movie to the jaded host. The two debate whether it is a deeply flawed feature, or the groundwork of the next great A24 career.
In the case of the prior, CatBusRuss took the time to see what fun Shudder had to offer (and find a feature starting with "Q" for "Ally's Accessories Shop on Etsy's Trash Feature Revue". The Shudder Exclusive "Quicksand" appeared to have the potential for chaotic fun.
If Russ failed to deliver a great flick, maybe it is best to refer to Austin's opinion(s). https://takeemtothemoviesaustin.substack.com/
https://mastodon.world/@auzzy
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Thanks to Jonathan Romeo, #SpookyMonth for "Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast" is officially in full swing. He suggested that if you want to talk about a feature that instills fear into the hearts of all, regardless of faith, "The Exorcist" is the film to chat about. This is a flick that CatBusRuss needed to see, but at 2 hours 2 minutes, how can this podcast be the place to discuss it? Fortunately both Jonathan and Russ are patient cinema fanatics, so devising marathons to build up to a main event is a task they are both up for.
At the previously established Six-Raven Movie House, Russ offers up three films with different means of exploring possession. His triple-feature opens with John Carpenter's tale of space Jesus vs. gooey devil "Prince of Darkness". The second bout of the card is Ash Williams vs. The Necronomicon with Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead 2". And for a co-main event, our host serves up a Cronenbergian feature, from the son Brandon Cronenberg with 2020's "Possessor". Is there anything more chilling than letting an assassin claim you body and determine it expendable? Enjoy the snacks and popcorn while figuring this out.
As for what is showing at Jonathan's Palladium, he gets straight to the Italian-sourced gore with Lamberto Bava's "Demons". This is followed up by tackling the faith he was raised on with Rose Glass's "Saint Maud". And his 10 o'clock show is a Ninety For Chill favorite, Paul W.S. Anderson's "Event Horizon". With a grill and fully stocked bar at his cinema, you should be ready to handle anything "A Mind on Fire" throws at you.
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Over the past year, there have been a few movies that CatBusRuss has recorded his thoughts about, but did not have the right episode to place them on. With films that peak his interests starting to roll out, will there be a place for these forgotten segments?
"Saw X" was a film that our host would not miss opening weekend for, but from speaking to potential guests for the show, he might be one of the few that are excited for this sequel. So a little variety in gory features might be needed to make this episode interesting for everyone. This week, the man who flunked logic, calculus, and data structures in the same semester decides to take a swing at cinema math.
"Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth" and "The Expendables 2" were two flicks he skipped publishing the prior week. They were meant for that weeks "Expend4bles" podcast. Russ's plan was to find a fifth entry to a franchise to round out that episode, but he just now got his hands on a copy of "Hellraiser: Inferno". So, to get to the number 10 this week, the sum of the sequels mentioned get multiplied by a part of Ally's Accessories Shop on Etsy's Trash Feature Revue, "Puppet Master II".
X=(III+II)II or 10=(3+2)2. At least he did not try to tie these movies to "The Number 23".
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Monday Sep 18, 2023
Monday Sep 18, 2023
"Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss" offers the world the ultimate questionable quadruple feature. If it was between 70 and 100 minutes in length and directed by Ken Russell during the '80s, it is here. CatBusRuss's weekend binge features the body horror classic "Altered States", Russell's reimaginings of 19th century British literature in "Gothic" and "Salome's Last Dance", and Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi battle with a snake vampiress in "The Lair of the White Worm".
Weird things happen when our host gets ghosted. Aside from watching Ken Russell's "Altered States" to clear up his Netflix DVD queue before the service ends, CatBusRuss did not have much of a plan for what this week's episode would be about. Presuming that he would have a date on his day off, the best he thought he could do was watch "Lisztomania" to provide the audience with the entire range of craziness the director of "Tommy" had to offer.
And then, no response from the lass he had been chatting up through her bout with Covid. Add into the equation that the phallic ode to an early 20th century German composer was not streaming anywhere for free. Russ's response to these difficulties, lets watch all of the '80s Russell that meet the criteria of the podcast.
Monday Sep 11, 2023
Monday Sep 11, 2023
Monday Sep 04, 2023
Monday Sep 04, 2023
With the Labor Day holiday, CatBusRuss decided not to hassle anyone about recording a podcast with him. But because he went it alone last week, our host decided that classic conversations was what this week needed. When it comes to classic conversations on this podcast, you can usually count on ThePoeticCritic to come through.
Until B-Fest 2024, this episode effectively completes the preservation of the back catalog from the original Podbean for "Ninety For Chill". ThePoeticCritic helped her little brother out a lot with the first year of the show. Was it being nice, or was it to have a platform about why #FilmTwitter is the pits and how we need to listen to Martin Scorsese and prevent Hollywood's overlords from trapping Wes Anderson into fueling their IP machines. For two weeks in the summer of 2021, this was her platform.