CatBusRuss headed to GalaxyCon Des Moines to see if the capital of Iowa could help determine who was the baddest action hero(es) from forty years prior. 1985 was the last year where action movies were celebrated solely for being violent. One liners are fun, but chaos reigned supreme.

Sylvester Stallone may have had the box office with "Rocky IV" and "Rambo: First Blood - Part II", but this may have been the dawning of Arnold Schwarzenegger taking over the action hero crown from Sly. But is there a dark horse?

The Cannon Group may have only survived as long as it did because of their low-budget action flicks. Michael Dudikoff and Chuck Norris bring the martial arts while Charles Bronson returns to the Death Wish franchise.

And to make sure CatBus is not looking over any of the action legends, he reviews Sho Kosugi's fourth ninja film of the eighties, "Pray for Death". After the Golan-Globus replace his with the girl from "Breakin'", he started making hooded assassin flicks just to spite them.

Russ provides a TED Talk energy to this panel. Without having a cohost for the panel, our podcast host talks a lot and goes on some very pertinent tangents. These were the movies that Ronald Reagan loved. Are these movies truly more than right-wing escapism? Is this the machismo that modern male influencers trying to capture?

In the end, was it a good thing that PG-13 action movies would dominate the next 35 years? Are we mature enough as a society to know that these ultra-violent affairs should not be taken seriously?

There is a charm to these films. They are mindless crazy flicks. Please leave your brain at the door.

CatBusRuss originally thought that this week would be a simple #RewindWednesday release, but as he was going through the "NinetyForChill dot Com - The Podcast" archives, he noticed that he had crammed a couple of classics from John Carpenter into the summer of 2022. So every other week this November will be dedicated to "The Horror Master", and this podcast will kick the theme off with what his friends would call his masterpiece, "Big Trouble in Little China".

It is may be safe to say that Russ and his guests Andrew "Baking While Baked" Tiede & "Not a Strong Start's" Jorge Marrero would agree. If not Carpenter's masterpiece, perhaps Kurt Russell's.

Like most Carpenter films, it was under seen upon release. Thankfully, VHS and HBO has made this a must own feature. The film proves the West is fascinated by Eastern culture, so it only seems appropriate for CatBus to attach his review for the children's version of "Big Trouble", "KPop Demon Hunters".

Next week, "I Dig Crazy Flicks" will return to GalaxyCon Des Moines for the second "1985 Action Movie Triple Threat Match". Then the week of November 16 will have two episodes dedicated to the first great starring performance from a pro-wrestler with Roddy Piper in "John Carpenter's They Live".

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.