Cereal At Midnight

The poster and marketing materials for  The Jesus Music , an essential new documentary about the history of Contemporary Christian Music, touts that it's "the soundtrack to a movement," and that lofty description is surprisingly accurate. The filmmakers, who have previously brought faith-based films such as I Still Believe  and I Can Only Imagine, have left no stone unturned and have spoken to seemingly every mover and shaker in the 50-year-old Christian music scene. The all-stars and heavy hitters are here: Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, all three members of D.C. Talk, Steven Curtis Chapman, Kirk Franklin, and members of bands as diverse as Stryper, Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline, Third Day, and Jars of Clay, plus loads more.  Full disclosure, I grew up in an extremely fundamentalist and evangelical home during the 1980s and 1990s, and these bands and artists really are the face of Christian music. They account for dozens Grammys, many millions of albums sold, and billions of ...

2021 is almost history and we're looking back at the year that was! In this episode, Heath lists some of his favorite discs of the entire year! CerealAtMidnight.com Shop: CerealAtMidnight.Threadless.com Ebay.com/usr/cerealatmidnight Patreon.com/CerealAtMidnight Facebook.com/CerealMidnight Twitter: CerealMidnight Instagram: CerealMidnight Letterboxd: CerealAtMidnite

In our latest Patreon exclusive, Heath talks about the biggest comic book event of the entire year and what he's been reading over the holidays! We are viewer supported! To unlock this video and over a hundred other exclusive videos, plus live streams, behind the scenes content, and more, visit Patreon.com/CerealAtMidnight !

Following immediately on the heels of 1931's Rich and Strange , Hitchcock's  Number Seventeen (1932) is an altogether different beast than its predecessor. Based on a play (which was based on a book), the story is mostly a comedic mystery that takes place in an empty house. The first half of the movie brings together a group of unidentified characters, who have converged upon the central location of the story for reasons that reveal themselves as the story unfolds. We have an inspector, a jewel thief, a hobo, a deaf mute, a corpse and the corpse's daughter, with performances by John Stuart, Ann Grey, Leon M. Lion, and several other British character actors of the early 1930s. Putting together the who, what, when, where, and why is most of the fun of the film.  The rest of the fun comes during the latter half of the movie, which is essentially one massive chase sequence set on and around a train. Using a series of elaborate miniatures, Hitchcock stages a huge action scene ...

Years before he made box office smashes with A-list talent and became a household name as "the master of suspense," Alfred Hitchcock was a young English director cutting his creative teeth and finding his way in silent film and early talkies.  1931's  Rich and Strange , alternately known in the U.S. as East of Shanghai,  starts as a quirky romantic comedy: Fred (Henry Kendall) and Emily (Joan Berry) are a young married couple who are struggling to make ends meet. Fred is restless and self-pitying, while Emily is practical, optimistic, and madly in love with her husband. When they inherit a large amount of money from a wealthy relative, Fred quits his job and they set sail to see the world on an ocean liner, where their relationship is tested when they both fall for other people. Not content for this to simply be a relationship story, it also becomes a travelogue and a  Titanic- level disaster movie. It's as if Hitchcock had to fill the movie with everything people wa...

With 2021 almost in the books, we're looking back at the year that was! In this episode, Heath discusses his five favorite movies of this past year! Did your favorite make the list? CerealAtMidnight.com Shop: CerealAtMidnight.Threadless.com Ebay.com/usr/cerealatmidnight Patreon.com/CerealAtMidnight Facebook.com/CerealMidnight Twitter: CerealMidnight Instagram: CerealMidnight Letterboxd: CerealAtMidnite

"You think you can take me? Go ahead on. It's your move." Final Justice is a 1984 crime/action movie from low budget director Greydon Clark, the man behind such video-era delights as 1982's  Wacko  and 1983's  Joysticks ("totally awesome video games!") . It stars Joe Don Baker as Thomas Jefferson Geronimo (great name), a Texas sheriff who chases a murderer all the way to the Mediterranean island Malta, where our villain has holed up in a massive compound that would make Tony Montana jealous. Using the fish-out-of-water storytelling device, our small town sheriff--almost always in a cowboy hat--feels like a holdover from a western as he takes on an entire criminal organization all by himself. Chuck Norris, eat your heart out. Joe Don Baker is at the very end of his leading man career here. In fact, I believe this is his final lead actor credit in a feature film. He'd still have some top-billed parts on television, but he would slip further and further...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Cereal At Midnight!

Martial arts superstar Jimmy Wang Yu makes a splash in 1970's The Chinese Boxer for The Shaw Brothers! This spectacle of flying fists is a showcase for Wang Yu, who wrote the film, stars in it, and helmed it in his directorial debut. Wang Yu had been known for a series of sword-based action movies throughout the latter half of the 1960s, but this is the beginning of the hand-to-hand combat kung fu movie as we know it, predating even Bruce Lee, who would add elaborate kicking techniques to his big screen battle repertoire.  The plot isn't all that different from many other Shaw Brothers action spectacles: a Chinese martial arts school is invaded by a loud-mouthed bad guy. He's beaten by Master Li and his students, but vows to return in one month for revenge. And return he does, with three Japanese karate masters who lay waste to the school, kill Master Li, and leave most of the students either dead or severely injured. One survivor (Lei Ming, played by Jimmy Wang Yu) must tr...

1988's My Stepmother is an Alien  is a very strange movie that could only have been made in the 1980s. Part lusty sex comedy, part sincere family tale, it never really figures out what it wants to be. Its greatest success, and the reason to view the movie all these years later, is for the powerhouse performance from Kim Basinger. Coming just two years after her steamy, career-making turn in 9 1/2 Weeks , this movie takes a pretty big risk on Basinger, who must not only look stunning, but also be funny. Her comedic skills were not a known quantity in 1988, but lucky for us, she's hilarious. Playing up the fish-out-of-water (or alien-out-of-space) theme perfectly, Basinger soars as an intergalactic being who must convince a physicist to share his research with her so she can save her cosmic home. As she mingles at parties and tries to fit in with customs that are totally new to her, she's discovering everything for the first time with wonder and confusion. The 1990s sitcom  3...

Ballyhoo's Daniel Griffith stops by to discuss the weirdest Santa Claus movie ever made, the mysterious and elusive K. Gordon Murray, and what's coming from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures in 2022! Follow Ballyhoo Motion Pictures! ballyhoomotionpictures.com facebook.com/ballyhoomotionpictures @ballyhoofilms on Twitter CerealAtMidnight.com Shop: CerealAtMidnight.Threadless.com Ebay.com/usr/cerealatmidnight Patreon.com/CerealAtMidnight Facebook.com/CerealMidnight Twitter: CerealMidnight Instagram: CerealMidnight Letterboxd: CerealAtMidnite

Heath is joined by LISA DOWNS from LifeAfterMovies.com for a Top 5 list of underplayed Christmas songs! Youtube.com/LifeAfterMoviesWebShow Twitter: LifeAfterMovie3 Facebook.com/LifeAfterMovies Instagram: LifeAfterMovies We are viewer supported! To unlock this video and over a hundred other exclusive videos, plus live streams, behind the scenes content, and more, visit Patreon.com/CerealAtMidnight !

China  is an outstanding 1943 adventure film from Paramount set against the backdrop of America's impending involvement in the second world war. Loretta Young (1946's  The Stranger ) takes the top billing as a compassionate schoolteacher working in China, determined to save as many lives as possible when Japan invades. Alan Ladd (come back,  Shane ) plays a tough guy profiteer who cares doesn't have time to get attached or involved. Frequent Ladd co-star William Bendix ( The Glass Key, The Blue Dahlia ) provides comic relief, but he's also part of the moral foundation of this film, pining for the safety of home, but recognizing the sacrifices necessary to do the right thing. Both Young and Bendix bring a spirit of dogged determination in the face of the powerful darkness that pervades this film.  None of this is a coincidence. Director John Farrow is one of many Hollywood professionals who laid down their cameras and took up military service when the fate of the...

In our latest collecting-focused episode, we're talking about how (and just as important, how NOT) to build a movie collection! CerealAtMidnight.com Shop: CerealAtMidnight.Threadless.com Ebay.com/usr/cerealatmidnight Patreon.com/CerealAtMidnight Facebook.com/CerealMidnight Twitter: CerealMidnight Instagram: CerealMidnight Letterboxd: CerealAtMidnite

This noir-ish crime thriller stars Lawrence Tierney ( Reservoir Dogs ) as an ex-marine who accidentally ends up in possession of a list of names that a trio of Nazi spies will do anything to intercept. Also caught in the confusion is Anne Jeffreys ( Riffraff ) as a resourceful blonde who has stumbled into the hornet's nest completely by accident. Wrongfully accused of murder, the two find themselves pursued at every turn as the body count rises and the dragnet between both the cops and the Nazis closes in. With the aid of a local motel owner (George Cleveland from The Inner Sanctum Mystery film Pillow of Death ), can they evade death long enough to bring the truth to light? Step by Step  is notable for reuniting the two leads of 1945's Dillinger. The two have obvious chemistry, and Tierney's tough guy routine plays well against Jeffreys' no-nonsense performance. Both characters feel wise to the world; Tierney's character has only been out of the service for a day, ...

Our latest new release spotlight has Beatles, cowboys, cold-blooded killers, comedy legends, and the most iconic sleuth in history! Review of The Fabulous Dorseys Ebay.com/usr/cerealatmidnight Patreon.com/CerealAtMidnight CerealAtMidnight.com Facebook/CerealMidnight Twitter: CerealMidnight Instagram: CerealMidnight Letterboxd: CerealAtMidnite Shop: CerealAtMidnight.Threadless.com

A fun outing from exploitation master Jack Hill, Switchblade Sisters follows a gang of tough girls and the boys in their lives. I say girls and boys because the movie places all of these characters in high school, though they're all played by people in their twenties. It's an odd tone that Hill strikes, but it works: high school backstabbing and drama, played out with switchblade battles, machine guns and molotov cocktails. The female gang, The Dagger Debs and The Jezebels are fun to watch, and the actresses that portray these tough girls from the wrong side of the street do a great job at conveying strength, vulnerability, fear, and malice when the script calls for it. TV fans will enjoy seeing a young Don Stark, who played Bob Pinciotti on That '70s Show , as a tough guy punk who can't quite handle the heat when things get really wild. While not rising to the same heights as Spider Baby or Foxy Brown , this Jack Hill jam feels like a mid-seventies after school speci...

A remarkable western from an era filled with remarkable westerns, Quantez is like a fine meal that reveals itself over the course of 81 minutes. Deceptively simple in premise, the film opens with a gang of robbers fleeing across the desert and headed for Mexico. We do not see the robbery, only the aftermath as our characters seek a refuge where their exhausted horses can recover and the riders can regroup. This haven presents itself in the form of a town called Quantez, but all is not well, and the settlement is completely abandoned. What threat lies in Quantez? For that matter, what threat lies within the group themselves? I wouldn't be surprised if Quentin Tarantino is a fan of this film, as his own Reservoir Dogs feels very similar in tone, structure, and character. Like Reservoir Dogs , Quantez is a film populated by characters with their own motivations and goals, and as the story unfolds over the course of one night, the group begins to disintegrate from within. Also like ...

Life After The Navigator is a powerful and truly-inspiring documentary that manages to deftly weave two separate biographical narratives into one cohesive and compelling story. Simultaneously tasked with recounting the making of the cult classic film Flight of the Navigator AND depicting the rise, fall, and rebirth of former-child-star Joey Cramer, the film is brimming with real pathos, human drama, tragedy, and ultimately triumph.  This is a deeply-personal affair. Written, produced, and directed by filmmaker Lisa Downs , there's empathy in every frame. In the hands of another documentarian, the details of Cramer's career and private struggles could (and would) be easily exploited for quick drama and sensationalism. The thing that makes this film (and Downs' previous documentary, Life After Flash ) stand head-and-shoulders among other pop culture retrospectives is the care that is taken to humanize people, situations, and deeds. The camera casts no judgement, and the vul...

A truly astonishing film that satirizes the excesses of consumerism, Giants and Toys is one part A Face in the Crowd , one part Sweet Smell of Success , one part Japanese pop art. The result is something altogether powerful, surprising, and unsettling. This movie follows three rival candy companies and their struggle to be the dominant consumer brand. With characters dedicated to winning at all costs (this results in ulcers that cause them to cough up blood), we're rocketed into a world that doesn't feel dissimilar to Mad Men , and which includes dark satire, sardonic humor, and even a huge song-and-dance number near the end of the film. The standout star of Giants and Toys is Hitomi Nozoe, who, throughout the story, transforms from a wacky, rotten-mouthed (her teeth are ruined by caramels) corporate marketing tool into a stunning diva at the height of stardom. Equal parts scathing critique of mindless consumerism (there's a speech given by one of the characters about how...

This John Hughes story about a rich girl and a geek who get locked in a Target store overnight feels like fantasy on many levels, and the movie is in service of fulfilling as many of these fantasies as possible. What would YOU do if you were placed in a similar situation? The film ticks every box: eating food from the shelves, using the department store as the world's coolest skating rink, and capitalizing on the near-endless library of music that can be found in the stereo section. Dance party! As with most characters from the pen of John Hughes, we have archetypes that bleed outside of the boundaries. Frank Whaley is a geek and a liar, but he's also sweet, and his loneliness is apparent. Jennifer Connelly has perhaps NEVER been more loved by the camera than she is here, and her bombshell qualities are on full display, yet she's also not just one thing. She's a rich kid, yes, but she's also vulnerable, and in her own way, just as lonely as the boy she never really ...