CatBusRuss & Faydra Black were going to amuse an ATL Comic Convention audience by gushing over the film that features Brandon Lee's final and finest performance, "The Crow". It is safe to believe that neither of them expected a packed room, but as our podcast host arrived after just concluding his first "1985 Action Movie Triple-Threat Match", he was surprised by the turn out. And then a FanX representative told the two that they would be hosting a Q&A with the comic book's creator James O'Barr and stars Bail Ling, Rochelle Davis, and Laurence Mason.

No wonder Bai Ling was insisting to CatBusRuss to ask good questions when he met her the day before.

Ms. Black handled the questions from the audience as Russ tried to seem cool sitting by the guests. Hopefully, he does not embarrass himself too much when he wanted to speak about the soundtrack.

This panel was a love letter to the late Brandon Lee, and the cast and writer speak about how this is THE ONLY "CROW" MOVIE. So, yes. We get to hear about their unified disdain for the 2024 remake. It just does not have the heart of this masterpiece. When you hear everyone's tales of Brandon, be it Brandon insisting to Bai that his dad was a huge movie star in China or borrowing Rochelle's Game Boy, it is clear this property should never have been filmed again.

There is nothing but great stories from this panel, and it might be Russ's greatest honor of 2025 to share the stage with them. Hope you enjoy the episode.

CatBusRuss went to GalaxyCon Des Moines to once again preach the gospel of "Ninety For Chill". He is joined by Jess McCord from "Skies of Fortune" to further back his stance that modern movies are just too damn long, and to promote Jess's panel "A24: Horror Goes to the Art House."

It is a fun conversation that celebrates a shared love for cinema, so much so that there is not much space for audience participation. That may have been a bad thing as the Jess proposes that flicks with a runtime between 70 and 100 minutes are not respectable. Why else would there be a lack of Best Picture Oscars for cinematic offerings of the ideal runtime? Russ takes a literary approach to this concept.

Which films get the capital F and which films are spelled with a lowercase F? Perhaps, Russ should have let the audience decide. A note for next time.

If the argument that our host takes on tour has been overplayed, to keep up the spooky month vibes, CatBus watched the highly praised A24 feature "I Saw the TV Glow". This was a challenge for him. He was skeptical having watched Jane Schoenbrun "We're All Going to the World's Fair", and not being overly impressed. How does Schoenbrun's sophomore personal tribute to 90s Nickelodeon fair in comparison?

CatBusRuss was given the honor to be a panelist at the first GalaxyCon St. Louis. For the second day of the convention, our podcast host is joined by 'Cinema Shitshow's' Nix Eklips to have another go at "Ninety For Chill: The Panel". And this time, they come sporting punch and pie.

Nix dedicated the day to worship at the altar of Bruce Campbell, but the queue was so long that he tried to cut some deals with those stranded in the line to get him some merch. Russ on the other hand was able to finish much of his Christmas shopping, reconnecting with the associate producer of "Galaxy Warriors", and bugging "KPop Demon Hunter's" Danny Chung on behalf of his niece.

And of course, the two podcasters did check out some panels like another installment of the "None of this Matters" podcast and the psychological draw towards "The Boys". CatBus tells his tales of the day while trying to deal with the Cubs efforts in the final game of the NLDS.

Hopefully, the crowd was impressed enough to come to Day 3's "1985 Triple Threat Match". They will need it since it was scheduled in the "let's beat traffic time slot".

It was CatBusRuss's pleasure to be invited to be a panelist on Jess McCord's panel at GalaxyCon Des Moines. The topic of said panel, A24's rich horror movie history and influence. But, perhaps, more importantly, is calling it "elevated horror" a good thing?

One half of the "Skies of Fortune" tabletop, role-playing game team put on quite a presentation, and must have his finger on the pulse of what nerds wants to chat about. The crowd of 40 people is not something a CatBus panel is accustomed to. In other words, if you have issues with the audio from the panel, that and a powerful air conditioning system are to blame.

Jess offers up clips and Joe Bob Briggs commentary to try and do away with the term of elevated horror. Russ is there to defend those who think certain horror movies are high brow, like A24 offerings, when compared to the horror movies that Gen-Xers and Millennials group up with. Our podcast host also offers reasons why arthouse does not equal box office since A24 has yet to distribute a feature that has made over 100 million dollars when other studios are desperate for one billion dollar box offices.

Elevated. Emo. Neuro-Spicy. After this panel, hopefully we can all determine what kind of horror A24 truly offers.

Comic book writer and novelist Josh Nealis is on a virtual promotional tour for his latest book, "Cocaine-Stripper Stronghold: Issue 2", so a podcast called "I Dig Crazy Flicks" seems an obvious production to reach out to. His project's wild premise makes him seem like the ideal guest for CatBusRuss, but can these two demented minds talk about films that can reach the lofty expectations they carry with themselves?

Josh is obviously a passionate man, and that took priority when he offered the podcast's host one of his favorite films, 2002's "The Count of Monte Cristo", Alexandre Dumas's tale of long-gestating revenge in post Napoleonic France. The film has many supporters, but it is a half hour too long for "Ninety For Chill" and is pretty grounded in the historic environment. Director Kevin Reynolds may have given us "Waterworld", but this podcast needs some insane idea(s) like that Kevin Costner flick to work.

Russ still has his skills that will allow anyone to talk about any movie they want on the podcast, so he decided to offer up a movie with similar themes, but with monsters and a manageable runtime. Someday, he would love to discuss Timur Bekmambetov's Russian action-monster movie hybrids that got him to the Stateside attention, but "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" may be a great jumping off point to this director's filmography.

CatBusRuss met the founder of Cutthroat Comics & Publishing at Capital City Comic Con 2025 in Lansing, Michigan. Josh's table on artist alley featured comic books and novels with titles that will grab your attention like "Pedoman and Kid Friendly" and "Stuffed Squirrels & Porcelain Angels", so our host could not resist talking shop with this talent. Comics were bought and information was exchanged. And now its Russ's turn to make something from this new friendship.