Cast a Deadly Spell With Bootleg Friday

I found a snack I hadn't seen in a while, Fox's Rocky Caramel. Fox's make really nice chocolate biscuits I normally only see as Christmas presents but here is that same high quality biscuit only presented as an ordinary teatime biscuit for busy people in a multipack. the shortcake and chocolate are so good I feel like I'm getting away with something luxurious and the caramel is just the right amount. Not too much or too little, just right.

There is a chocolate variation but it has dissected coconut for some strange reason. It's awful and I'm surprised it isn't highlighted as an allergen.

With my caramel Rocky's, I was ready for the film. It's styled like a film noir detective story but it's main twist is that it involves magic powers as weapons. It sounds very strange and novel, a bit too strange to be mainstream. It was made by HBO, which is known for making its own stuff without the same restriction policies that others follow. My guess is that they wanted to make something with a taboo theme like the occult, but that's just a guess.

The font of the opening credits I recognised immediately as the exact same font from the credits of Fish Police, a fish themed detective noir cartoon made for older audiences in the early 90s. I was ready to spend the whole watch party making comparisons between that cartoon and this movie. In the opening scenes, there was a guy calling a lady "Angel", but that was about it. In any case, lovely font.

Despite having the magic theme, the detective story stuff is played super straight and doesn't feel like a parody or spoof at all. All the actors did a really good job of it.

One death happens from a paper tornado, but it looks sinister and fantastic rather than something too ridiculous and stupid like a shark tornado.

The weird monstrous gremlins and gargoyles make me imagine cartoon haters would decide the movie is for kids and then turn it off. They were cool though.

Then there's the femme fatale club singer and I'm thinking about Jessica Rabbit and Angel from Fish Police again. I love indulging in memories of those two, but the scene in this movie is well made and played straight, again not feeling like a parody.

The breakfast time in the diner looks absolutely lovely with its sun drenched lighting and booth seating. We Bootleggers and Beyonders find ourselves looking at the lighting in these old movies we watch with a lot of envy. We just don't get good lighting in movies these days. The monster in the kitchen was really cool too.

The blonde girl is delightful and has lovely lines like "lurking behind my mulberry bush".

One of my favourite things I said was when the gargoyle got kicked in the crotch and I said it got a "kick in the gargoyles". It was an amusing creature and at one point it was dancing around like a baseball mascot.

The ending was a satisfying conclusion when the bad guy got eaten up by the very thing he was summoning. Turns out his daughter saved the day by not being a virgin anymore. Woo! Serves him right.

So yeah this was a very interesting movie to check out and it's a lot less goofy than its premise suggests. Hardened detective noir fans get a bit of a treat with the fantastical aspects and special effects too.