Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Courtesy Sony Pictures)
It’s officially spring, but the weather is looking cool and breezy this weekend, so here’s what’s on tap in movie theaters around Memphis.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Following up on Ghostbusters: Afterlife, this one reunites the cast of Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, and Carrie Coon as the Spengler family who leaves Oklahoma to return to the old firehouse HQ in NYC. They arrive just in time to battle a new supernatural threat that will literally freeze the world with fear.
Kung Fu Panda 4
Jack Black is back as Po, the Dragon Warrior who is ready to ascend to a higher plane of existence, according to his master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman). He takes on a new sidekick Zhen the fox (Awkwafina) to help defeat Chameleon (Viola Davis), the shape-shifting sorceress, and her army of lizards. You can tell she’s bad because she says, “We are not so different, you and I,” to the hero.
Immaculate
Sydney Sweeney stars as Cecilia, a nun sent to a new convent where something is clearly amiss. When she becomes pregnant, although still a virgin, Father Sal Tedeschi (Alvaro Morte) reveals that the real purpose of this convent is to breed a new Jesus from cloned tissue recovered from one of the nails that pierced the savior’s flesh. What could possibly go wrong?
A lot. A lot of stuff could go wrong.
Dune: Part Two
But half a billion dollars worth of Frank Herbert fans can’t be wrong! Paul (Timothée Chalamet) fights against his fate alongside his lover Chani (Zendaya) as they battle the Harkonnens’ occupation of Dune, led by the psychotic Feyd (Austin Butler). Denis Villeneuve’s sand wormy sequel is the best sci fi film since Mad Max: Fury Road.
Paul Reubens passed away last summer, but Pee-wee Herman is immortal. Sunday morning at 11 a.m. you can have brunch with Pee-wee at Black Lodge. Breakfast, mimosas, and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure will get your day off to a rollicking start. To get you hyped, here’s one of the greatest scenes Tim Burton ever directed.
Ray Parker Jr. and Garry Goin (Photo courtesy Orpheum Theatre Group)
You might think the Halloran Centre’s show Saturday, featuring local hero Garry Goin talking and playing with Ray Parker Jr., was a carefully orchestrated tie-in with today’s theatrical release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. But you’d be wrong. Parker, of course, is the composer and performer of the theme song for the original Ghostbusters movie, but, as with so much that clicks in Memphis, the confluence of his live appearance here and the film’s release was sheer serendipity.
“I was telling my good friend and mentor, David Porter, who I’ve worked with for 20-some years, ‘I want to do these new shows, with storytelling and music,'” Goin recalls. “So we were kicking around a few names, and Ray’s name came up. This was in March of this year. But I wanted to wait and aim for November. When I called Ray, he didn’t hesitate. He said ‘Sure! I would love to do it.’ And Ray’s a big fan of David Porter and Memphis. And we just happened to pick November 20th. So the stars just seemed to line up, because it just so happens that the new Ghostbusters movie is being released on the 19th! I said, ‘Man, I couldn’t have planned this any better!’ Once he leaves here, he’s going out to L.A. I’m sure he’s doing promotional tours for the new movie. So this is perfect.”
Garry Goin (Credit: Craig Thompson)
Goin is a performer and A-list sideman and session guitarist in Memphis, often heard collaborating with Kirk Whalum, but he also specializes in producing music-themed shows for casinos and performing arts centers. In fact, that may rival his musicianship, in terms of raw talent.
“I’ve been doing this since the 1980s,” he says. “You do certain things and it’s like, ‘Man, I get that!’ I can see somebody else’s show and I can see what they’re doing, how they layered it — the staging, the lighting, the set design, the costumes. All that, I get. And I’m always thinking, ‘Where can I place that? Can I use some of that?'”
Yet with all this experience, Saturday’s show with his old Ghostbusting friend will be breaking new ground for Goin. For once, he won’t be the musical director. “I’ll be playing a little,” Goin says, “but I’m going to be doing more of the conversation with Ray, because this is something I haven’t done before. I want to get my feet wet in that area. So the musical director for the show is Chris Pat. We’ve got so many touring musicians who are based in Memphis. Chris Pat works with Christina Aguilera and the Jacksons. We have people from Stephanie Mills’ band. We have people from Stevie Wonder’s band. And they all live here in Memphis. And a lot of people don’t know! It’s a great band: great players, great personalities. And I have a few surprises for the audience, too. Some people that Ray Parker, Jr. has worked with, and some who are just fans of his music.”
The list of stellar artists with whom Parker has worked suggests that the surprise guests will be very impressive indeed. He’s been at the music game for a very long time, and quickly began working at a very high level. Perhaps you’re a fan of the Stevie Wonder track, “Maybe Your Baby”? That’s a teenaged Parker playing lead guitar. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
“Miles Davis said something like, ‘Genius is born, it’s not based on age,'” Goin reflects, “and Ray’s one of those chosen folks. He blew my mind, because when I was going through his work, I knew some of the stuff he’s been involved in, but I didn’t know everything. The first song that he wrote, he wrote with Marvin Gaye. It’s called ‘Funky Nation,’ and we’re going to play that song Saturday. As well as some other songs people may not have heard. And we’ll talk about the history of those songs.
“He goes all the way back to Motown. And he was a kid! He had his first number-one hit at 18 with ‘You Got the Love,’ that he co-wrote with Chaka Khan. And he just kept getting stronger and stronger from there. And he gives a lot of credit to Stevie Wonder, who encouraged and inspired him to write songs and to be better at what he was doing. He went from one thing to the next, from songwriting to producing to engineering. You know how some people just have this hunger and this appetite for knowledge and understanding? He’s one of those guys.”
Ray Parker Jr. (Photo courtesy Ray Parker Jr.)
Of course, there will be some exploration of “Ghostbusters,” the iconic song, the meme, the phenomenon. “I believe Ray Parker will go into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Goin predicts. “Still today, ‘Ghostbusters’ sounds great. And it’s unique. I don’t want to put down anyone’s music, but the industry forces people today to sound like what is already out there. Because then you know you’ll get X amount of sales. But when I grew up, everyone was wondering, Who’s the next Beatles? The next Earth, Wind & Fire? The next Michael Jackson? Artists at that level are not competing with anyone but themselves. They push themselves to a much higher level. Ray Parker Jr. is one such artist. I wish our industry would go back to that.”
There is no Dana. There is only Zuul. Sigourney Weaver slays in Ghostbusters.
October is horror movie month, and nobody does it better than the Time Warp Drive-In. The Warp got its start as a special Halloween program, and it proved so popular it expanded into a monthly event. This year they pulled out all the stops with a loaded program of comedy and musical horror from the glory days of the 1980s.
Leading the program is, naturally, Ghostbusters. The 1984 film was originally conceived by Dan Ackroyd as a vehicle for him, John Belushi, and Eddie Murphy as interdimensional “paranormal exterminators.” Ackroyd says he was actually writing dialog for Belushi when he found out his friend had died in March 1982. After Murphy turned down the opportunity, and an extensive re-write with Harold Ramis—conducted while the pair were locked in a fallout shelter—that has become the stuff of Hollywood legend, the film became the highest-grossing comedy of all time. Bill Murray’s performance as a would-be shyster who unexpectedly discovers ghosts are real cemented his status as a superstar, but it was the incredibly catchy, New Wave theme song by Ray Parker, Jr. that drove the masses to the theaters in the summer of ’84. Roll that tape!
SHOCKTOBER! Ghostbusters Leads Packed Time Warp Drive-In (3)
Next up is Little Shop of Horrors, which began life as a shlocky Roger Corman film from 1960, then revamped as an off-broadway musical in the early 80s. Muppet co-mastermind and Yoda himself, Frank Oz, directed Rick Moranis as a geeky flower shop worker who discovers a carnivorous plant from outer space, and makes an unlikely deal with it to woo his crush Audrey, played with squeaky precision by Broadway singer Ellen Greene.
The voice of the alien plant, dubbed Audrey II, is Four Tops frontman Levi Stubbs. Here he is absolutely killing it in the show-stopper “Mean Green Mother From Outer Space”:
SHOCKTOBER! Ghostbusters Leads Packed Time Warp Drive-In (2)
Universal Studios hasn’t had much luck with its classic monster properties in the 21st century. Just look at 2014’s Dracula Untold—or better yet, don’t. Maybe they need to switch directions and remake TheMonster Squad. The 1987 monsters vs. teenagers romp didn’t scare up much business back in the day, but it earned a huge following on home video, and it’s got a hell of a lot more life than Tom Cruise’s deeply awful Mummy remake.
SHOCKTOBER! Ghostbusters Leads Packed Time Warp Drive-In (4)
Speaking of bad ideas, remember that adaptation of the board game Battleship? What a fiasco. Well, the 1985 adaptation of the board game Clue is the polar opposite of that. It’s got a stacked cast of Tim Curry, Martin Mull, Susan Sarandon, Christopher Lloyd, and a timeless performance by Madeline Khan, who delivers one of the greatest ad-libs in the history of cinema:
SHOCKTOBER! Ghostbusters Leads Packed Time Warp Drive-In (6)
You’re gonna want to stay up late for this one.
SHOCKTOBER! Ghostbusters Leads Packed Time Warp Drive-In (5)
The Time Warp Drive-In starts at 6:30 at the Malco Summer Drive-In with a performance by The Conspiracy Theory. Movies start at sundown.
Talk about a business model with legs … and thighs … and wings. Last week’s Board of Adjustment meeting found board members reviewing a variance request by what appears to be a payday loan establishment that offers customers a little something extra. And by “a little something extra,” We mean, of course, chicken.
The aptly named Chicken & Checks is planned for Elvis Presley Boulevard. So you can cash your payday loan check and buy some chicken with it? Or do you get a wing plate and biscuit with every check cashed? No matter how you slice it, that’s Memphis to the bone. May God and Jack Pirtle have mercy on our souls.
Taxkreig
This tax preparation business leaflet caught your Pesky Fly’s eye because an unfortunately placed shadow makes the superhero mascot look like a cartoon Hitler in tights.
Just Ghostbusted
Memphis native and SNL cast member Leslie Jones has been tapped to star in the gender-flipped reboot of Ghostbusters. We can only hope her presence will bring shooting to Memphis, because no giant statue deserves to be brought to terrifying life half as much as the Statue of Liberation at World Overcomers Church, aka “Freedom Jesus.”
