Sesame Street's "Ladybug's Picnic"

For 30 years, I have been unable to count to 12 without singing the rest of "The Ladybug's Picnic".




I was interested to discover Sesame Street updated this classic with a shot-for-shot re-make, using claymation and a new version of the song.




Unsurprisingly, I found the newer version a terrible disappointment. Perhaps I'm blinded by nostalgia, but as shot-for-shot remakes go, this is a bigger mess than Gus Van Sant's Psycho.

For starters, the new cover of the song is too aggressive! I hate how the singer roars random words, breaking the infectious rhythm that made the original so memorable. Why a new version? Is this the result of a royalty squabble?

The new version of the ladybugs look weird. The original aren't overtly feminine, they're just wearing bonnets. The newer ones look like Mad Men era housewives; fresh from the hair parlour, always preening themselves, obsessively consulting mirrors and reapplying lipstick. They're at a picnic for Christ's sake! 

Another change I can't wrap my head around is switching the firefighter from a mouse to a dog. Did they think a dog with his tongue hanging out was cuter than a hard working, blue collar field mouse? Scale-wise, the mouse makes more sense as a mouse is closer in size to ladybugs than a big dog would be.

I dread to think of what horrors they're planning to turn the 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 Pinball cartoon into.

John Carpenter's "Halloween" vs Chuck Norris' "Silent Rage"

A look at the number of (obviously intentional) similarities between John Carpenter/Debra Hill's HALLOWEEN and early Chuck Norris movie SILENT RAGE.

Other videos of interest:

Detailed audio review of 1979 sexually explicit HALLOWEEN novelization.

Interview with Jamie Lee Curtis circa 1980 to promote PROM NIGHT




Donald Pleasence discusses working with Woody Allen




Audio of 1979 reacting to ending of HALLOWEEN

John Candy in Armed and Dangerous (1986)

John Candy and SCTV co-star Eugene Levy headline forgotten 1986 action-comedy Armed and Dangerous.

The supporting cast is made up of familiar 80's faces ("Hey, it's the bad guy from Beverly Hills Cop! And the replicant from Blade Runner!").

The worse acting belongs to a young Meg Ryan. Aware she's in a comedy, she appears to be channeling the spirit of Lucille Ball, injecting her performance with ditzy line readings and mannerisms. Trouble is, her dialogue is a straight, dull exposition, so her comedic persona just comes off as awkward.  

Maximum Overdrive Topps Sticker Mock-Ups

I'm disappointed Topps didn't license Maximum Overdrive for a trading card series. While they didn't do a lot of R-rated movies, such a license wasn't unprecedented (Alien for example).

Kids missed out getting to adorn their school note books with all kinds of awesome Maximum Overdrive imagery. Shame.

Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Released only two weeks before Stand By Me, 1986's Maximum Overdrive is unfairly criticized for being the worst Stephen King movie of all time. Though by no means perfect, Red Coat and Black Coat find much to admire in King's drive-in classic.

Fun fact: Cast includes both Frankie Faison and Giancarlo Esposito, who would appear three years later in Spike Lee's masterpiece Do The Right Thing.

Bad Sound FX: When the kid shoots up the drive-through menu, you still see bullet holes being blasted into the sign after the sound of gunshots have ended.

Flowers In The Attic Review

Red Coat and Black Coat take a look at the 1986 and 2014 versions of V.C. Andrew's incest laden Flowers In The Attic.

Psycho Porn Parody Review

Red Coat and Black Coat watched Psycho: An XXX Parody. Is it worse than the Gus Van Sant re-make?