Watch This With Rick Ramos

Whitey Saves the Day, Jake Won't Go Down, The Beatles Break Up, & More This week Mr. Chavez & I return to a project that began in the middle of last year, releasing an episode recorded many months ago, and exploring the first 500 shows of WatchThis W/RickRamos . It's taken some time to get back to this, but we find ourselves returning to Memory Lane and plan on spending the next few months pepperi...

David Lynch: The Art of Dark Dreams  This week Mr. Chavez & I remember and say farewell to one of the greats of Cinema - David Lynch (01/20/46 - 01/15/25). Goodbye, Mr. Lynch; we were fortunate to have you.  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 appreciat...

When Evil Men Remember: Joshua Oppenheimer, Christina Cynn, & an Anonymous Indonesian Director's The Act of Killing This week Mr. Chavez & I go up river for one of the most powerful, depressing, and meaningful documentaries ever made,  The Act of Killing . This 2012 documentary explores the Indonesian mass killings, rapes, and tortures that occurred between 1965 and 1966 of alleged Communist Chine...

Angry White Male: Joel Schumacher's  Falling Down Looking at the world - past, present, and future - this week Mr. Chavez & I sit down to watch and discuss Joel Schumacher's 1993 look at American male angst, disgust, and disspointment, Falling Down . As we "welcome" a return of the Republicans to political power, Schumacher's film is a brutal look at the disspointment of the American Dream. Michae...

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...

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 t...

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...

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 m...

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),  Cr...

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 carniva...

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...

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. On...

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-t...

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...

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...

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 -...

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 examin...

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 Ch...

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...

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 o...

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...

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 . ....

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...

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, H...

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 go...