Optimism Vaccine

THIS WEEK: Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness (1986), Killing Spree (1987), and Creep (1995)

Shawn Glinis is back for another OpBOOism VacSCREAM October. We're kicking things off this year with a look…

THIS WEEK: Dark of the Sun (1968), The Wilby Conspiracy (1975), Raid on Entebbe (1977)

Optimism Vaccine sets sail for the mother continent to talk sweat soaked colonizers, blood diamonds, Sidney Poiti…

THIS WEEK: Undeclared War (1990), Burning Paradise (1994), Full ALert (1997)

When people speak glowingly of the Hong Kong New Wave or the great Hong Kong action directors, Ringo Lam is usually the fir…

THIS WEEK: Bad Cat (2016), First Person Shooter (2022), Cinnamon (2023)

Brought to you by our patron poll, it's original films from the best damn streaming platform in the world. Will Tubi offer us th…

THIS WEEK: Cube (1997), Triangle (2009), Sphere (1998)

We're not naming names, but someone with a toddler's brain took too many edibles and thought it would be a great idea to talk about movies about …

THIS WEEK: Pompeii (2014), Hercules (2014), and Gods of Egypt (2016)

We've looked at genre classics and Italian knockoffs, but where does the sword and sandals genre stand today? We're not sure, but l…

THIS WEEK: Ator The Fighting Eagle (1982), Ator 2: The Blade Master (1984), Alfonso Brescia's Iron Warrior (1987), Quest For The Mighty Sword (1990)

When you're looking for greatness (or maybe just a …

THIS WEEK: Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), and Clash of the Titans (1981)

Ray Harryhausen was the king of stop-motion animation, the inventor of countless special e…

THIS WEEK: Hercules in the Haunted World (1961), Hercules, Prisoner of Evil (1964), Hercules (1983)

Hercules is the buffest hunk in classical Roman mythology so it makes sense that the Italians made r…

THIS WEEK: Conan the Barbarian (1982), Conan the Destroyer (1984), Red Sonja (1985)

Like Christ before us, Optimism Vaccine is wandering the desert this month. Will we succumb to the temptations of th…

THIS WEEK: Who Wants to Kill Jessie (1966), Happy End (1967), Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (1977)

One film runs in reverse, one has a man who brings superheroes to life with his hor…

THIS WEEK: The Witches of Eastwick (1987), The Witches of Breastwick (2005), Popatopolis (2009)

Jim Wynorski and George Miller have a lot in common when you really stop to think about it. Just a coupl…

THIS WEEK: Violent Cop (1989), Boiling Point (1990), A Scene at the Sea (1991)

We take a look at Takeshi Kitano's transition from TV funnyman to impromptu director to one of the greatest filmmakers of…

THIS WEEK: Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Cobra (1986) and Tombstone (1993)

Depending on who you ask, George P. Cosmatos is either a master of blockbuster action and horror cinema or just a yes ma…

THIS WEEK: Sonatine (1993), Kids Return (1996) and Hana-bi (1997)

The third time is the charm in our exploration of Takeshi Kitano. We've finally ventured beyond his odd late career dalliances and int…

THIS WEEK: Hellzapoppin' (1941) and Date Movie (2006)

When a Patreon subscriber requests one of the best slapstick meta-comedy musicals of all time we are contractually obliged to pair it with one of …

THIS WEEK: Outrage (2010), Beyond Outrage (2012), Outrage Coda (2017)

Takeshi Kitano does an about-face from his self destructive introspection and returns to the world of stone-faced Yakuza violence …

THIS WEEK: Gone With The Pope (2010), Grizzly II: Revenge (2020), and New York Ninja (2021)

We have plenty of stories of dusty 35mm film reels rescued from obscurity and finally given the reverence an…

THIS WEEK: Takeshis' (2005), Glory to the Filmmaker (2007), Achilles and the Tortoise (2008)

What do you do when you’re Takeshi Kitano, Japan’s ubiquitous, wildly successful TV and film star, and you …

THIS WEEK: The Hand (1981), Body Parts (1991), Idle Hands (1999)

What do Oliver Stone, the guy who wrote The Hitcher and Timothée Chalamet’s uncle have in common? They’ve all made films about killer l…