I Dig Crazy Flicks with CatBusRuss

Cat Bus Russ
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I Dig Crazy Flicks is the home of "Ninety For Chill". We do not always have the time for a two-hour movie. No one ever wants to sit down and watch a one-hour TV drama knowing that they might end up sticking around for a second (or a third...even a fourth) episode. With this said, 70 to 100 minutes is the ideal runtime. This concise timeframe has given us some of the most rewatchable movies that may not win any Oscars, but are properly fun-sized for the audience. Fun-sized sweets that may be experimental terror, outlandish horror, over-the-top action, or the most radical comedies and dramas.

  1. CatBusRuss & B3 Podcast Present: James Whale's Monsters & Tubi's Nanoshark

    21H AGO · BONUS

    CatBusRuss & B3 Podcast Present: James Whale's Monsters & Tubi's Nanoshark

    With B-Fest occurring this weekend (March 6 & 7, 2026), CatBusRuss feels there can never be too many monsters to chat about around Northwestern's annual event. So he reached back in the original "Ninety For Chill dot Com: The Podcast" feed for his first conversation with the crew of the B3 Podcast. Rae and Ween join the then Cool Movies Darth to discuss James Whale's most famous monster features, "Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Man". Since ThePoeticCritic was on the most recent episode of "I Dig Crazy Flicks", and CatBusRuss will be chatting with her about B-Fest 2026 for the next canonic episode, our podcast host decided that there needs to be a little more variety when it came to the voices on the feed. Russ and the duo of dames from Cleveland have a conversation where nothing is off limits, so this will be a longer episode, and perhaps a bit raunchy. It is from a time where the three "B's" stood for something, so you may want to brace yourself for the next two and half hours. To honor his friends from the Buckeye state, our host decides to try "Tubi or Not Tubi". He may have cheated since he always meant to get around to this Z-budget "Fantastic Voyage" X "Jaws" feature, but "Nanoshark" may serve as further evidence that cheaters never prosper.

    2h 19m
  2. Criterion's "Kpop Demon Hunters" v. Chris Benoit for the Hall of Fame

    3D AGO

    Criterion's "Kpop Demon Hunters" v. Chris Benoit for the Hall of Fame

    CatBusRuss and ThePoeticCritic get ready for B-Fest 2026 by having a conversation about an overblown b-movie premise, "Kpop Demon Hunters". The feature is about to get a blu-ray release. Our host does not have an issue with that. What he takes issue with is that it gets to hold a spot in the Criterion Collection. Russ would refer you to Screen Junkie's Honest Trailer for this feature to support his argument. His big sister thinks its okay to let Netflix have its fun. And then she suggest that it will get the Oscar for best animated feature, which that leads to CatBus on a it would be better for Chris Benoit to be in the WWE Hall of Fame rant. This conversation also serves as a birthday gift for TPC's little brother, so she seems a little more patient with his controversial takes. She provides a means of reason, but how can she deny the damage this fad of a flick will cause. Kids will just throw around copies of "Kagemusha", "Killers", and "Koko: A Talking Gorila" to fight over the tale of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey". At least the other animated features in the Collection are further away in the alphabet. Films like "Fantastic Planet". This may have been one of the first Criterion blu-rays he had purchased, but he thinks there is a particular mood one may need to be in to watch a French film that has a trailer with gives off "Mad God" vibes. To be done, done, done with the Huntrx, the mood has been found.

    47 min
  3. "Subway" to GalaxyCon's St. Louis's 1985 Action Movie Triple Threat with Nix Eclips

    FEB 25

    "Subway" to GalaxyCon's St. Louis's 1985 Action Movie Triple Threat with Nix Eclips

    Like the "Great American Bash" in the late eighties, "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠'s" 1985 Action Movie Triple-Threat Match: Stallone v. Arnie v. The Cannon Group (⁠Dudikoff⁠, ⁠Bronson⁠, Norris) continues its tour. It had arrived at GalaxyCon St. Louis on October 12, 2025. ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ was joined by ⁠Nix Eclips⁠ of ⁠Cinema Shitshow⁠ to determine who was the TRUE action hero of the last year where an action film could be violent just for the sake of it. Arnold "John Matrix" Schwarzenegger left GalaxyCon Des Moines winning his first "1985 Action Movie Triple-Threat Match". No one left ATL Comic Convention's Triple Threat with their hand raised, but it was determined that two of the Cannon Group's heroes fell to Sylvester Stallone and The Governator. (It was also determined that Chuck Norris left unscathed as per the rules of the Internet.) Saint Louis was a fun environment. They had their own candidates of who was the baddest, the meanest, and the master. CatBus left the city that he has an unspoken rivalry with (Go Cubs Go!) knowing that perhaps "The Last Dragon" Taimak's Converse's should be kissed. Russ will be heading back to Show-Me State for another edition of this cinematic brawl. To be prepared for the Missouri Comic Con in Springfield, he is looking for other action flicks from 1985 that he may have missed. This led him to continue filling his Letterboxd with Christopher Lambert movies. "Subway" was sold as such. It was Luc Besson's sophomore feature effort. He would be the director of "Lucy", "The Fifth Element", and "The Professional", so that would lead one to believe that this would be action-packed cinema. What is certain, it fits his Cinema du Look aesthetic.

    58 min
  4. Christoper Lambert: The Podcast 1.2 - The Quickening

    FEB 18

    Christoper Lambert: The Podcast 1.2 - The Quickening

    CatBusRuss returns to the "Ninety For Chill Dot Com: The Podcast" archives to discuss five films from the original "Scottish" hero, Christopher Lambert. He hopes Henry Cavill and Chad Stahelski will provide genre fans with a great reboot of the "Highlander" franchise, but when are we going to get an actual Scotsman to portray the title role? When are we going to get a Latin actor to play a man named Juan Ramirez? Russell Crowe should be great as a Sean Connery stand in, but Pedro Pascal does plenty of dying on screen. Russ was trying to decide which actor he was going to pull up for this #RewindWednesday when he was going through Plex's action movie line up. To add something fresh to this 2022 episode, he saw the promotional material for "Highlander II: The Quickening". This was his first "Highlander" movie since 2nd Cinema Home Video in Morton did not have a copy of the original 1986 feature. Even then he could not call it a good movie, but it was just so silly, he could not help but revel is the absurdity. As it turns out, they were streaming the 1997 "Renegade Version" (Director's Cut) of the Russell Mulcahy film. It is a better constructed film, but CatBus has been arguing whether or not the changed story beats were better than the original "Immortals are Aliens" angle. With the Internet Archive, he may get to figure that out at some point. In the end, there can be only four other movies that will be discussed on this episode. CatBus ended up enjoying all three parts of the Connor MacLeod trilogy. How can anyone hate "⁠Fortress⁠", his collaboration with legends Stewart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs, Kurtwood Smith, Vernon Wells, and Clifton Collins Jr.? And until the sequel to the 2021 reboot is released, Lambert was the biggest name from Paul W.S. Anderson's "Mortal Kombat", the best adaptation of the franchise thus far (per our host & Beau from "Collateral Cinema". There is a lot of action that will be discussed. What better way to lead into another edition of the "1985 Action Movie Triple-Threat Match" on February 25?

    42 min
  5. ThePoeticCritic & Her Ironic WISH That Magnifico Won't Grant

    FEB 11

    ThePoeticCritic & Her Ironic WISH That Magnifico Won't Grant

    CatBusRuss returned to Morton, IL to visit his family which includes his big sister, ThePoeticCritic. If it is not a comic convention or film festival, the two rarely have schedules that allow them to record a podcast together in person. Thus, our podcast host was happy to rap with her about the poor state of the box office. It is hard to nail down when the older sibling got jaded against Disney. Russ thinks it may be every time an animated feature under performed. With all the live-action remakes of animated classics, a piece of her seems to die. We have heard rant a plenty about the House of Mouse being responsible for superhero cinema once dominating the box office. But in the end, she just wants them to return to creating great animated features, be it the Walt Disney Animation Company or Pixar. She just is not optimistic about "Hoppers" and is fed up with sequels to the billion dollar franchises. As always, her primary worry is a lack of personal stories being told on the big screen. CatBus pities for her not appreciating Star Wars' tale of fatherhood, "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu". Russ also focuses on the fact that if a story is good, it should impress all, even if it is not the target demographic. We need more musicals for the lasses. Exploitation is not a bad thing (just come to a B-Fest). Our host actually thinks Disney is not as bad off as ThePoeticCritic thinks it is. Inspired by this conversation, he finally sat down and watched the feature that the supposed fans of the oldest animation studio were determined to despise "Wish". It may just have been released at the wrong time. Perhaps the film should not have sold itself so blatantly as 100 Years of Disney. Russ left thinking this is the appropriate feature for children at this time. You will have to check out catbus316.bsky.social to see the two Stevens argue about the revolution CatBus thinks Asha, Valentino, and Star are calling for.

    1h 9m
  6. UI-Con 2026: 1986 - RAD Movies or BAD Movies

    FEB 5

    UI-Con 2026: 1986 - RAD Movies or BAD Movies

    For CatBusRuss⁠ and ⁠"Couchman" Andrew Tiede, UI-Con truly kicked of for them at 8 pm on Friday night. The convention had taken a break from panels to let the visitors kick it to Otter Chaos and to prepare for the anime-themed rave. In other words, if you were there to be nerdy, the evening panels were where you wanted to be. Even if some may have lacked that Japanimation flair. This was "I Dig Crazy Flicks" debut for a new panel, "1986: RAD Movies or BAD Movies". CatBus had listed the similar movies and Andrew brought the box office stats to see what audiences thought at the time. It was a time where the important thing was to be first to a new film premise. Some would say one flick would be a blockbuster while the other a mockbuster. This panel takes you back to when there was no direct-to-video market for studios to spend little on a VHS tape to capitalize on a major motion picture. It was a time to go big or go home. Some match ups included in the panel are: "Iron Eagle" vs. "Top Gun", "An American Tail" vs. "The Great Mouse Detective", and a Robot Triple-Threat Match. Was it the audiences who won or was it just Steve Guttenberg? The two panelists/podcasters' first panel was 4 pm's "Ninety for Chill: The Panel". With its poor attendance (At least the staff found it cool.), the two got to talk shop about their remaining two panels. Here is where they realized that "Big Trouble in Little China" may have had a similar battle in 1986 with "The Golden Child". To be ready for the next time Russ runs this panel, he gave Eddie Murphy's Chinese dark magic adventure a watch.

    1h 3m
  7. UI-Con: Eighties Movie Podcaster in an Anime World

    FEB 2 · BONUS

    UI-Con: Eighties Movie Podcaster in an Anime World

    CatBusRuss and "Couchman" Andrew Tiede may have felt like Frank Dux and Ray Jackson walking into Kowloon for the Kumite when they arrived at the UI-Con. There was too much anime cosplay to feel like they belonged. Would they need to demonstrate the Dim Mak to show they were the right kind of nerds? For those who feel this description is not appropriate since anime is not from Hong Kong, when CatBus was collecting tapes, the plot of "Bloodsport" was used for Episode 3 of "Street Fighter II V", an anime inspired by the video game. They both visited the UI-Con's website. The top photo is an image of the exterior of the Illinois Conference Center above a header of, "Champaign-Urbana's Anime and Comic Convention". Anime is first on the call sheet, but comic con led them to both think that you need not be an otaku to feel welcomed. Thankfully, it ended up being true, but there was an initial culture shock for two 40-somethings in Midwestern nerdy garb. When it came to panels not centered around Japanese animation, I Dig Crazy Flicks may have been the only representatives at the convention. Russ and Andrew were there to pitch the concept of "Ninety For Chill", determine which movies from 1986 were RAD and which ones were BAD, and to further determine who was the greatest action star from a time where we watched violence for the sake of violence, 1985. Without a focus on Japanimation, would anyone come to these panels? With Ally Higgins coming to be a cheerleader, they were at least going to put on a good show. And maybe buy some fan art to expand to their culture. Aside from cool trinkets on the floor, CatBus was introduced to "Off the Balcony Podcast". They offered up a great panel about lost media that anyone can connect with (anime being featured on every other slide), but they also brought out the anime-themed conversations to demand attention. Attention that also attracted legendary anime translator David Fleming and his awesome laser disc collection. Our two podcasters left having a great time. Russ even thinks it was a successful effort. You will be able to listen to these panels in the upcoming weeks to be the judge. But to further focus on CRAZY FLICKS, CatBusRuss has attached a review for another Lamberto Bava (Director of "Demons" and "Demons 2") film, Blastfighter. It is essentially "First Blood" exploitation but with box art that suggest its an Italian apocalypse film. Chekhov's gun has nothing on what Jake "Tiger" Sharp is packing.

    1h 2m
  8. Caught Up (1998) with Jason Parker (@formelynicdestro.bsky.social)

    JAN 28

    Caught Up (1998) with Jason Parker (@formelynicdestro.bsky.social)

    Jason Parker offered up a lot of options when he petitioned to be the first guest on "I Dig Crazy Flicks with CatBusRuss" in 2026, but the first one he offered was "Caught Up" starring Bokeem Woodbine. It fit the standards of "Ninety For Chill". After watching "The Breed", CatBusRuss determined that this under-appreciated actor is good in anything, so if Jason was a fan, our host was intrigued. And then Russ saw that Tony Todd and Jeffrey Combs were in the cast. This near guarantee of cinematic insanity demanded his attention. "Caught Up" was written and directed by Darin Scott, the producer of the critically acclaimed Menace II Society. This is not of the quality of the MTV Movie Award's Best Picture of 1993. It is not a gritty tale from the streets. It is a story of an ambitious ex-con getting seduced by a "psychic" portrayed by Cynda Williams which leads him into a world of diamond smuggling, noir-inspired gunmen, effeminate hoodlums, crooked cups, and Jamaicans mobsters led by Basil "Screwface" Wallace. Some may say this is Agatha Christie in the Hood. CatBus thinks it is a Keith David away from absolute perfection. The ending alone makes this feature a must watch. To avoid the spoiler, you may need to check out another episode of "I Dig Crazy Flicks" after an hour of the conversation.

    1h 23m
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About

I Dig Crazy Flicks is the home of "Ninety For Chill". We do not always have the time for a two-hour movie. No one ever wants to sit down and watch a one-hour TV drama knowing that they might end up sticking around for a second (or a third...even a fourth) episode. With this said, 70 to 100 minutes is the ideal runtime. This concise timeframe has given us some of the most rewatchable movies that may not win any Oscars, but are properly fun-sized for the audience. Fun-sized sweets that may be experimental terror, outlandish horror, over-the-top action, or the most radical comedies and dramas.

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