Blu-Ray Review: Jack’s Back

By Less Lee Moore

In 1986, I fell in love with James Spader. Sure, I was 15 and he was 25; and he was an actor and I didn’t actually know him; but it was real to me, damn it. I’d seen him on the big screen in Pretty In Pink, but he reminded me too much of the rich, preppy jackasses I knew in real life for me to develop anything but antagonism for him in reel life. (And what was up with his feathered, John Taylor-in-“The Wild Boys”-video hair, anyway?)

Serendipity intervened shortly thereafter: Tuff Turf was on HBO one night when I was at a friend’s house and that’s when it hit me: this James Spader guy was all right. Better than all right, in fact. As Morgan in Tuff Turf, he was perfect (and woe unto all the guys who didn’t measure up). Thus began my lifelong quest of watching every James Spader movie ever. That’s how I found out about Jack’s Back, released in 1988.

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Music Review: Field Music, Commontime

By Less Lee Moore

At this point, we can safely state that the 1980s musical revival is in full flower. New Romantic, Goth, New Wave, Industrial, Shoegaze, Dance Pop… some version of all of these can be found in nearly everyone’s Spotify playlist. What of those other subgenres from the ‘80s, those bands who didn’t really fit into any category? That’s where Field Music comes in.

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Music Review: Ty Segall, Emotional Mugger

By Less Lee Moore

American nightmare, guilty generation / fingers on the pulse of their parents’ alienation / from the history, histories of Western civilization
–Ty Segall, “California Hills”

There was a 1987 SPIN magazine cover story on David Bowie called “What Next, Put Together Man?” and while I can’t recall the article’s content exactly, that question has lingered in my brain ever since. At the time I was only just beginning to grasp the depth and breadth of Bowie’s shape-shifting abilities, and it took me years to fully understand the significance of that particular query.

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The Official Popshifter Podcast, Episode #08–We Don’t Understand People

Welcome to Episode #08 of The Official Popshifter Podcast.

Less Lee Moore and Jeffery X Martin have a hard time dealing with the state of the Hivemind, and discuss the Popshifter Manifesto, which is the driving force behind the pop culture coverage at the site. Also: The Oscars, the Royal Rumble, The X-Files and other stuff requiring the article, “The.” Please enjoy this podcast responsibly.

Blu-Ray Review: Gilda

By Less Lee Moore

Toronto residents can watch a special theatrical screening of Gilda at The Royal tonight at 7:30 p.m., presented by the Ladies of Burlesque.

Without Gilda, my life would have been very different. As a naïve young English major at UC Santa Barbara, I registered for a Film Noir class to fulfill a requirement for my degree. I wasn’t new to old cinema; the giant poster of James Dean on my bedroom door and my stash of Gary Cooper movies recorded onto VHS were a testament to that. I didn’t know, however, about German Expressionism, Jim Thompson novels, the word “chiaroscuro,” or how important Citizen Kane was to the development of the noir style. I would soon learn.

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Today In Pop Culture: Better To Kurgan Out, Than To Fade Away

By Less Lee Moore

Today is actor Clancy Brown’s birthday. Some readers might wonder, “Who the heck is Clancy Brown?” Some folks might actually be insulted, for example, the Clancy Brown uberfan I met at Toronto’s Suspect Video a few years back (the same lady who referred to Mr. Brown as a “tall drink of water”). How could someone not know about the existence of Clancy Brown! Fear not, gentle reader. We’re here to help.

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Today In Pop Culture: The First Snuff Film

By Less Lee Moore

There have been many alleged snuff films over the years. The term, defined as movies during which an actor is either murdered or commits suicide, was coined by Ed Sanders in The Family, his 1969 book about Charles Manson. However, there has never been any verifiable evidence of a snuff film existing. When you expand the scope outside of human mammals, things change drastically.

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Best Of 2015: Less Lee Moore

For more discussion about the items on my list, check out the Popshifter Best Of 2015 Podcast!

Many thanks to the following: All the writers at Popshifter but especially Melissa Bratcher, Brad Henderson, Tyler Hodg, Jeffery X Martin, and Tim Murr for being so generous with their time and talent; all the fantastic PR folks that help make everything possible (too many to list!); Kier-La Janisse and Paul Corupe at Spectacular Optical for graciously publishing my essay on Ricky Kasso in their Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s anthology; the kind people of Rue Morgue for publishing my music reviews in the magazine as well as my Frightful Flashback column on the blog; the good folks at all of the websites who invited me to write for them this year: Everything Is Scary, Nerdy Stuff, Modern Horrors, Dirge Magazine, and Biff Bam Pop; Colin Geddes and Carol Borden for being terrific and for letting me write for the TIFF Vanguard and Midnight Madness blogs again; and last but certainly NOT least, Shaun Hatton for being a generally awesome person.

And now, for the lists!
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The Official Popshifter Podcast, Episode #07, Best Of 2015 Edition

Welcome to Episode #07 of The Official Popshifter Podcast, Best Of 2015 Edition.

Let’s send 2015 out with a bang, not a whimper! Your hosts, Managing Editor Less Lee Moore and Featured Contributor Jeffery X Martin, welcome special guest, Featured Contributor Tim Murr, as we round up the favorite things of the entire Popshifter staff. Happy New Year from all of us in the penthouse corner office of the Popshifter International Headquarters!

Retro Review: Ghost World

By Less Lee Moore

I first saw Ghost World when it hit theaters in 2001. I had just turned 30 and going through a particularly tumultuous period, questioning my choices in pretty much every aspect of my life… like you do when you are about to turn 30.

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