Detective or Pervert: David Lynch's Blue Velvet This week Mr. Chavez & I dive into The World of David Lynch. Amazingly, Lynch has been able to survive and thrive in the Hollywood System for over four decades. From his beginnings with a labor of love called Eraserhead (1977) thru critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination for 1980s The Elephant Man, and a colossal failure attempting an adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune (1984), which could have easily ended his filmmaking career, Lynch bounced ...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 14 min
Dracula Done to Death - Robert Egger's Nosferatu This week Mr. Chavez & I run to our local movie theaters to watch, contemplate, and bring to you Robert Egger's end of the year re-imagining of the F.W. Murnau Classic, Nosferatu . Re-makes are notoriously difficult to pull of and Egger's has his hands full with one of the greatest films in the History of Cinema. There is a great deal to admire in this new rendering of the Horror Classic. Where does it succeed? Where does it fail? There is so ...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 23 min
Time Destroys Everything - Gaspar Noé's Irreversible We're closing in on our two final films in our "Dark Cinema" showcase. This week we look at Gaspar Noé's 2002 controversial and troubling film, Irreversible . Arguably one of the most difficult viewing experiences ever unleashed on movie-watching audiences, Noé's exploration on storytelling (a backwards playing narrative) could have easily been a gimmick with little to say in the way of exploring themes, however Noé deftly handles the obvious ...
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 21 min
Perv with a Pen - Terry Zwigoff's Crumb This week we race back to 1994 with one of the great documentaries of the modern era, Terry Zwigoff's portrait of underground comic artist, Robert Crumb. A simple profile of the artist and the polarizing reaction to his work alone would have made for an interesting and enjoyable film; Zwigoff's decision to focus on Crumb's extended family (two brothers and mother) forms a more powerful and disturbing work. With an abusive childhood to expand on and two exa...
Dec 24, 2024•1 hr 17 min
Blood, Metal, C*m - David Cronenberg's CRASH For Darkness in Popular Cinema it's difficult to find a director that reaches deeper and more disturbing images than Canadian auteur, David Cronenberg. 1997s Crash is - arguably - his most divisive, polarizing, and controversial film. Winner of a special Cannes Jury Award (which jury president, Francis Ford Coppola refused to hand to Cronenberg), Crash examines symphorophiliacs (A paraphilia involving sexual arousal from staging and watching disasters...
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr 31 min
To Neither Have Nor Hold - Tod Browning's The Unknown On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I look back to 1927 for one of the great Actor/Director collaborations - Lon Chaney & Tod Browning. With The Unknown , Chaney & Browning would create one of the most disturbing and beautifully realized films of The Silent Era. Browning's years spent as a youth in circuses and carnivals would inform two of his most famous films ( The Unknown and Freaks [1932]). Chaney's ...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 17 min
Wall Street Chainsaw Massacre - Mary Harron's American Psycho On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I take a look at director Mary Harron's 2000 adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho . A controversial and polarizing film that has gained cultural and critical praise in the nearly quarter century since the film's release (and the 1991 publication of the novel), we are thrilled to discuss the pros (Christian Bales's performance as Patrick Bateman) and cons (a...
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 28 min
Rage for Ratings: Paddy Chayefsky & Sidney Lumet Present NETWORK What was once considered a satire by all (save the two men who made it - they considered it a reflection of what was happening), Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet's 1976 masterpiece exists as a fifty year harbinger of a media, social, and political reality that has reached its culmination with the current state of American culture. Once considered a blistering social comedy Network has lost a great deal of of its humor in the ab...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 48 min
Sun-Soaked Rape-sploitation: Coralie Fargeat's Revenge Sometimes a film fails, but the conversation it inspires is worth the viewing; That appears to be the case with this week's discussion of Coralie Fargeat's 2017 beautifully shot, thinly plotted, obvious and disappointing exploitation film, Revenge. Fargeat (director of last week's episode, The Substance ) proves a capable, but limited story-teller. Mr. Chavez and I use Fargeat's film as a jumping off point to understand the rape and revenge ...
Nov 19, 2024•1 hr 29 min
Young, Hot, Horrible - Coralie Fargeat's The Substance November brings with it a return to the theaters as I venture into the multiplex (and Mr. Chavez grabs up a streaming subscription) for Coralie Fargeat's critically acclaimed attack on Womens' Aging in Tinsel Town, the Male Gaze, Vanity, with a Twilight Zone -like look at an industry that both makes stars and disposes of them in the most cruel and emotionless of ways. There's a whole lot to admire in Coralie Fargeat's sophomore effort, howev...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 39 min
Blood - Old & New, Tragedy on the Set, Author & Director, and an Unholy Alliance Back to the Memories. This week Mr. Chavez & I return to reminiscing on the past decade with a look at episodes ranging from the History of Vampires in Cinema, the loss of Brandon Lee on the set of The Crow , the first imagining of Stephen King in Brian De Palma's Carrie , and - finally - our introduction to a cabin in the woods, the Necronomicon, Ash Williams, and the warped mind of Sam Raimi. Take a li...
Nov 07, 2024•1 hr 17 min
A$$Holes Learn a Lesson - Michael Gornick's Creepshow 2 This week Mr. Chavez & I close out our Annual Halloween episodes with a look at 1987s Creepshow follow-up Creepshow 2 - already creatively innovative. Although not a great film - and lacking the charm, inventiveness, and professionalism of the original - Michael Gornick's (taking over directorial duties from George A. Romero) sequel is fun - but also forgettable. The film is enjoyable if you let go of your expectations, dive into the no...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Ribbon of Darkness: Daphné Baiwir's King on Screen The Halloween Season is coming to a close. Mr. Chavez & I are concluding with a look at the prolific and celebrated novelist, Stephen King. First we begin with a look at Daphné Baiwir's 2022 - French/Belgian financed - Documentary, King on Screen . More a talking head celebration of Stephen King's film adaptations than any kind of serious examination of the novelists work; the subtle difference here is that the majority of the talking heads ...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 13 min
Old Fangs for a New Monster: Terrence Fisher's Dracula aka Horror of Dracula October continues to roll along. This week Mr. Chavez & I dive into the world of English Horror with 1958's Dracula aka Horror of Dracula . Although a flawed film that feels lazily directed, Terrence Fisher's film is our introduction to one of the great Dracula's of the Silver Screen - The Brilliant and Mesmerizing Christopher Lee. Lee would appear as Dracula nine times and is probably the most recognized Dracula af...
Oct 15, 2024•52 min
Phantoms of the Field: Kaneto Shindō's Onibaba From time to time, Mr. Chavez & I stumble on what can lovingly be referred to as "hidden cinematic gems". A few weeks ago we discovered (for ourselves, at least) a rarely seen "cult classic" - Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls . As we continue our look into the Horror genre we discover another film that deserves much greater attention. In 1964 Japanese director, Kaneto Shindō directed a disturbing and rather compelling look into relationships stra...
Oct 10, 2024•45 min
Seven Bloody Schoolgirls: Nobuhiko Obayashi's House There are times when reputation precedes a viewing yet nothing can really prepare you for what you are about to see. Recently Mr. Chavez & I continued our dive into the Halloween Holiday Season with a search for new, frightening, strange, and acclaimed films. This week we stumbled on Nobuhiko Obayashi's 1977 Japanese Cult Classic House . As is often the case, your two favorite movie talkers are at odds with what we take from this film. Mr. ...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Ghost Dance for the Organ Girl: Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls This week Mr. Chavez & I continue our celebration of the Halloween season with a little-seen and incredibly influential cult film from 1962, Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls . This is truly discovering diamonds in the landfill. Herk Harvey - a director and producer of industrial and educational films based in Lawrence, Kansas - would create one of the most influential films in cinema that would, somehow, remain almost completely ...
Sep 25, 2024•1 hr 4 min
The Beggar, The Blonde, and The Button: Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell Take a listen as Mr. Chavez & I continue our annual exploration of Horror for this Halloween Season. This week my podcast partner & I take a look at Sam Raimi's 2009 return to the Horror/Comedy genre. A modest hit when initially released, Raimi's film has developed somewhat of a cult following. Herein lies part of the problem . . . on this week's episode Mr. Chavez & I discuss the importance of the audience experienc...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Gen Z Xenomorph: Fede Alvarez's Alien: Romulus No Worries . . . Mr. Chavez & I will be returning to our Never-Ending 500 Episode Retrospective. However, this week we continue our look into the Horror genre taking us into the Halloween Season, with Fede Alvarez's newest entry into the Alien Series, Alien: Romulus . This 7th film in the series - We Don't Count Those AlienVSPredator Embarassments - takes place between Ridley Scott's original 1979 Alien and James Cameron's 1986 sequel, Aliens . ...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 11 min
The TV Took My Blonde Daughter - Spielberg & Hooper's Poltergeist This week we take a break from our 500 Episode Retrospectives - I really didn't think it would take this long to get through 500 episodes - to bring the cinematic hammer down and dive into The Season of All-Saints. We have an entirely new slew of Cinematic Horror for the next two months with looks at Horror Comedy, Horror Cult, Horror Classics, Foreign Horror, and Literary Horror. It's going to be a fun month as we dive into a...
Sep 05, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Found Treasure, Excess, Hilarity, and New Authors in Horror We have no idea when this will end, but we're having a hell of a time remembering. Take a listen as Mr. Chavez & I remember The Video Store, New Voices in Horror (Peele/Aster/Eggers), Ultimate Excess (Tarantino's The Hateful 8 ), Legends (Dylan & McCartney), and a Heartfelt Farewell to a Comedy Legend . . . Mr. Paul Mooney. This was a good time. Let us know what you think. As always we can be reached at gondoramos@yahoo.com - Ma...
Sep 03, 2024•1 hr 32 min
Music Televison, Bad Taste, Toxic Masculinity & So Much More It's proving to be a hell of a good time reminiscing on these past ten years. Part 9 is coming at ya. Break open a bottle, take a listen, and enjoy the memories we share. We'd love to hear your thoughts - gondoramos@yahoo.com - Many Thanks. For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated...
Aug 26, 2024•1 hr 9 min
Memories Are Made of This Part 8 of a never-ending ride back through a decade of WatchThis W/RickRamos . Discussing all manners of cinema, music, television, the culture, and culminating with my leaving Los Angeles after twenty years. It's a good time between two good friends. Take a listen and let us know what you think . . . . gondoramos@yahoo.com . For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchri...
Aug 21, 2024•1 hr 23 min
Conspiracies & Things to Come Take a listen as we continue our deep dive into a decade of WatchThis W/RickRamos . We're having a great time . . . We hope you're feeling the same. Best Wishes. As always, we can be reached at gondoramos@yahoo.com . Many Thanks. For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards....
Aug 12, 2024•1 hr 47 min
Old, New, and Everything In-Between Neither Mr. Chavez nor I are sure how long this will take, but we are having a great time remembering these last ten years. We hope that we are stirring memories and giving you an idea of the enjoyment we have in recording these shows and the importance that each episode means to us. Take a listen . . . we think you'll enjoy yourselves. As always, we can be reached at gondoramos@yahoo.com - Many Thanks! For those of you who would like to donate to this undying...
Aug 06, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Down a Darker Path The memories continue to flow. Take a listen as we remember, argue, laugh, and double-down. This is proving to be a great time for the two of us . . . We can only hope you're enjoying it in the same manner. As always, we can be reached at gondoramos@yahoo.com . Many Thanks. For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap ...
Aug 01, 2024•1 hr 57 min
A Never-Ending Talk . . . We're just having too much fun remembering the last decade and the 500 episodes that have come with it. Take a listen as we amuse ourselves and - hopefully - you. No End in Sight. Just enjoy the ride. As always we can be reached at gondoramos@yahoo.com - Many Thanks. For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap ...
Jul 23, 2024•1 hr 36 min
And the Band Plays On . . . What can I say . . . ? This week Mr. Chavez & I continue our leap into the past with a look at 500 episodes and a decade of memories. It's a fun time and we'd love to share our memories, thoughts, thanks, and promises for the future. Take a listen . . . we think you'll enjoy it. As always, we can be reached at gondoramos@yahoo.com . Many Thanks! For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://ww...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 30 min
More to Say: A Continuing Reminiscence on 500 Episodes Take a listen as Ibrahim & I continue to look back on the decade of episodes we have done. This continues to be a great time for two old friends and our look back at the show, why we do it, how it still excites us, and what it has meant to us as a whole. Take a listen . . . We don't think you'll be dissapointed. As always, we can be reached at gondoramos@yahoo.com - Many Continued Thanks. For those of you who would like to donate to this...
Jul 08, 2024•1 hr 49 min
Because It's In 'Em And It's Got To Come Out: Reminiscing on 500 Episodes A whole lot of what we do is the thrill of (hopefully, thoughtful/intelligent) conversation. WatchThis W/RickRamos has afforded your two hosts the opportunity to maintain, grow, and strengthen our friendship. The fact that there exists an audience interested in where these ideas, thoughts, and opinions are platformed only emboldens our belief that criticism and conversation can be a welcomed and fascinating artform. We tha...
Jul 02, 2024•1 hr 54 min
