Happy Lazy Saturday

The LA Marathon has come and gone, which means Saturday mornings are made for relaxing — for a little while anyway. We had a blast running through the streets of Los Angeles with 25,000 other crazy people last weekend. More on that in a bit. First, let’s look at the latest movies.

If you haven’t visited our Breakfast All Day YouTube channel lately, we’d love to have you check it out and subscribe. This week, it was the ‘80s all over again — but then again, we probably never left the ‘80s. Here’s what we reviewed:

• IMMACULATE. Sydney Sweeney finds out that becoming a nun in Italy can be super dangerous in this increasingly insane horror movie. Our brilliant friend Tim Grierson joins me for a review of the film, which is sufficiently moody before going gonzo in the last 10 minutes or so. This one’s going to piss people off. In theaters.

• GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE. Not that we needed yet another one of these movies, but “Frozen Empire” does a better job of blending the old and the new than its predecessor, 2021’s nostalgia fest “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” did. Still, there’s way too much going on and not nearly enough for the great Carrie Coon to do. In theaters. (And if you’re interested in my RogerEbert.com review of the movie, you can read it here.)

• ROAD HOUSE (2024). Jake Gyllenhaal takes over the Patrick Swayze role in this remake of the 1989 cult favorite. The spine of the story is the same: Legendary badass takes a job as a dive bar bouncer and gets tangled up with the locals. But Doug Liman’s film, despite being overlong, is surprisingly hilarious and features a great supporting cast. Streaming on Prime Video.

• ROAD HOUSE (1989). Once we learned there was a remake, we knew we had to revisit the original. Alonso and I differ as to whether “Road House” realizes how stupid it is, but we agree that the late Swayze is perpetually watchable, and Ben Gazzara brings gravitas to his role as the town tyrant. Streaming on Max.

• LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL. Whenever there’s a cool, buzzed-about horror movie, we’ll always make a point to review it, and that’s exactly what this is. Think “The Blair Witch Project” meets “Network,” with a chilling lead performance from longtime, versatile “that guy” David Dastmalchian. In theaters, and streaming soon on Shudder.

• MOVIE NEWS LIVE! Alonso was off recording his audiobook for part of the week, so I did our weekly movie news segment solo. Among the topics I had the pleasure of discussing with our wonderful viewers: trailers for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “Furiosa,” the upcoming "“Star Wars” prequel series “The Acolyte” and even a little Shohei Otani talk for my fellow baseball fans. Join us every Friday at Noon Pacific time.

For our latest Off the Menu review over at our Breakfast All Day Patreon, we took our inspiration from the Criterion Channel, which has been paying “tribute” throughout March to the Razzie Awards. Of the many so-bad-they’re-good movies we offered in our monthly poll, our patrons chose “Showgirls,” because they’re a classy bunch. The title alone became a self-contained punchline when this lurid drama came out in 1995, but since then, there’s been a collective reassessment of its cultural significance. Elizabeth Berkley herself introduced the film at a sold-out screening at the Academy Museum this past week. What do you think about “Showgirls”: Is it campy trash, secretly brilliant, or both?

Now, a bit about the LA Marathon: It went great! I felt better physically and mentally this time, and knowing what to expect from the course really helped. Chris told me the second time around would be “easier,” and he was right. The crowd was energetic and the weather was beautiful. But what made the race so fun was the fact that Chris decided to wear a Boston Celtics jersey — it was St. Patrick’s Day, after all, and he’s a lifelong fan. I figured: “Ohhh, this is going to be an adventure. You are going to make friends.” But he proved me totally wrong when, mile after mile, we heard calls of “Go Boston!” and “Go Celtics!” from runners and spectators alike. I lost count after a while, it was just too many. Every time it happened, he looked over and smiled at me, and that enthusiasm buoyed us until the end. I finished in 4:29:21, which is 22 minutes faster than last year. So thanks to everyone who asked how it went and offered encouragement. I’m really proud. Maybe I’ll even do another one.

And thanks so much to all of you for reading my Saturday Matinee newsletter! I’m so honored to have you share some of your time with me. If you’ve found this useful, I hope you’ll pass it along to a friend. Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you back here next Saturday.