GHOST WORLD (2001)

"I just - I can't relate to 99% of humanity."

I loved GHOST WORLD. I loved it the very first time I saw it back in 2001 and I think I love it even more now.

After a smile inducing opening credits (that perfectly sets the tone for movie), we are introduced to best friends, Enid and Rebecca, at their high school graduation. Both hate school and all the brain dead conformists that go there. Rebecca is excited about getting an apartment with Enid, but Enid (depressed about life and that she still has to go to summer school for art class to get her diploma) is still clinging (maybe subconsciously) to her childhood and keeps coming up with excuses to not get (or keep) a job. At the same time, Enid and Rebecca jokingly respond to a "missed connection" ad in the newspaper.  The ad was placed by the sad and lonely Steve Buscemi, who is absolutely fantastic in this role.

For the longest time I thought that the first half of GHOST WORLD was one of the best things I'd ever seen and the last act kinda fizzled out, but now, after many viewings and me getting older (and hopefully wiser) I've come to the conclusion that the ending is great also.  It's purposefully vague and open to interpretation (I'm not going to ruin it for anybody who hasn't seen it), but I think that the story takes a very dark turn at the end.

Perfect acting by all of the leads, some of the best supporting acting of all time, amazing set design and wardrobe, a cynical script that still cracks me up, Brad Renfro, masterful direction by Terry Zwigoff, six beef jerkys, many quotable lines, excellent use of "found footage", mirror, father, mirror, a Federico Fellini joke, The Mutilator, great music, nunchucks vs. mop fu, Satanists and quite possibly the single greatest post-end credit scene of all-time.

GHOST WORLD is one of the better things in my life.

THE ROCK-AFIRE EXPLOSION (2008)

For those who don't know, ShowBiz Pizza Place was a pizza/arcade restaurant back in the 1980's that was geared towards children and advertised as a place "Where a Kid Can Be a Kid."  It had all kinds of stuff like a ball pit, coin-operated rides, arcade games and...The Rock-afire Explosion.  The Rock-afire Explosion was an animatronic band that featured a singing mouse cheerleader, a guitar-playing polar bear, a piano-playing gorilla and others.  It was interesting and I remember seeing them many times as a kid back in the 1980's.  Finally, due to financial difficulties, ShowBiz went under and the Rock-afire Explosion was replaced with the lame Chuck E. Cheese band during the early 1990's.

I've never put any thought into The Rock-afire Explosion band ever...until I came across this documentary and I was thoroughly entertained from beginning to end.  It was a fun trip down memory lane, plus an intriguing look at some unique individuals.

The film starts out with a brief history of Showbiz/The Rock-afire Explosion and some of its modern-day (mid-2000's) fans.  There's more than one introduced, but honestly, the only one they needed was Chris Thrash.  He's an unassuming-looking little dude with a horrible diet (he drinks over 2 liters of Mountain Dew a day!!!), but his dedication and love for The Rock-afire Explosion is truly touching.  I really liked him a lot.  The other main attraction was Aaron Fechter, the guy who actually created The Rock-afire Explosion back in the 1970's.  He's a fascinating individual and a great storyteller.  I'd love to see a full-length documentary on him alone!

THE ROCK-AFIRE EXPLOSION might not be the greatest documentary ever made, but it's pretty cool and it sent me down a YouTube rabbit hole that lasted for hours!  I'd like to see another doc simply about ShowBiz Pizza and why it had so many financial difficulties.

This is waaaay off subject, but seeing people set up private Rock-afire Explosion shows in their houses gave me a ton of ideas for horror movies.  My current favorite being: dude sets up an Rock-afire Explosion show in his house and then due to whatever (spilt blood, Satanists, demon-possessed lightening, etc.), the characters come to life and start fucking shit up like the Woodland Critters in South Park.  That would be awesome!!!