Cats and pandas come to the rescue this week on NinetyForChill.com. They are the perfect companions to CatBusRuss's announcement that "I Dig Crazy Flicks" will be hosting a panel at the Indiana Comic Con.

Back in May of 2022, "Turning Red" was released to physical media, so Russ found that we have a Pixar movie with the ideal runtime. That amused him for one night, but the greatest amusement may have been discovering "Red Dwarf XIII" was a TV movie. Enjoy this homage to the commonwealth and forgive his fandom that he may mistake for cultural knowledge.

CatBusRuss ventures to Fan Expo New Orleans 2025 to host his first podcast panel of the new year, and he could not have asked for better guests than local podcasters TJ & Plaideau from NOLA Film Scene. This was the first panel these hometown actors have starred in and this was the first in person roundtable discussion Russ has been able to post on this podcast. It was a learning experience for all, but more importantly, a fun conversation about why 100 minutes is the ideal maximum movie runtime. But the NOLA boys do help our host figure out how you can grab for a few extra minutes.

TJ and Brian were gracious in providing their Southern Hospitality to a shy Yankee. And fortunately both their wives approved their efforts (despite birthdays) or attended (and helped produce). It shows that there were witnesses to that this moment in history happened. The cast of "Back to the Future" cannot take that away from them.

Not a perfect day in New Orleans for CatBusRuss. He did not set his alarm early enough to catch the Anthony Daniels panel and convention center food is not how he wanted to sample Cajun/Creole cuisine. But he was a little more social thus providing more potential for "I Dig Crazy Flicks" in the future. Thank Brian Plaideau for the shove there. He is still a little shy when it comes to approaching attractive arial artists, but he will always be a work in progress.

CatBus did make it to some fun panels. It was not C3-P0, but the humble Ashely Eckstein provided Fan Expo a fun "Star Wars" love fest. He was not there for a long time, but it was a good time checking out the "Fave Five From Fans" podcast. So far, you can never go wrong with a "Bootleg Safari" panel.

Perhaps his biggest score of the day was getting a Husk cat plushie and having the nerve to hit up some "Hazbin Hotel" cosplayers for a pic. It makes up for him not talking to the Arial Space Squad after their performance. Social baby steps.

CatBusRuss made the 17-hour train ride to New Orleans to try and outshine the "40th Anniversary: Back To the Future" cast reunion panel. With the backing of TJ and Plaideau from the NOLA Film Scene podcast, surely there would be an audience despite the stiff 7 pm panel competition at Fan Expo New Orleans. No one can deny the "I Dig Crazy Flicks" fighting spirit. But, most of our host's friends can recall what his role in the pro-wrestling ring was. Which won out? Lets just give a participation trophy for Russ's effort.

That maybe overly melodramatic. CatBus had fun meeting and hanging out with his panel guests, and appreciates them forcing him to be a little more social. A lot of promotional buttons were given out, and no one told him to jog off, so it is a winning day for this podcast. It is definitely a winner when compared to the Danish English language viking film "Valhalla Rising", the feature Russ watched to unwind the night prior.

It is a new era for "Ninety For Chill: The Podcast". CatBusRuss insists that 70 to 100 minutes is the ideal runtime for most movies, but when something topical comes along, it may capture his or potential guests' curiosity. If it is crazy enough, the film may grab hold of the collective attention, at the very least Russ's.

Welcome to the "I Dig Crazy Flicks" era of the podcast. It allows for a greater range in cinema to discuss and is definitely more marketable. And the craziness kicks off this year after Russ saw his father's reaction to a television ad for "Captain America: Brave New World".

His dad has never been to the theater to catch a Marvel movie, and with his reaction to Harrison Ford transform from POTUS to Hulk, it is unlikely he will despite CatBus explaining why it makes perfect sense.

Let it be stated, Russ is not the most logically sound of his family. He probably should not have left that conversation so pumped to skip pass "Wakanda Forever", "Quantumania", and "Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3". Our host might just be quick to excite, so he decided to consult with his older sister, ThePoeticCritic, to perhaps talk him down...or trigger his argumentative nature as the two breakdown the flaws of franchise factories and post-pandemic cinema.

Last week (12/23), CatBusRuss talked about movies that he would like to see take on "Coraline" as his best sub 100-minute film discovery of 2024. One of these films was "Shredder Orpheus" which, after he chatted with ThePoeticCritic and consulted HappyBeebsMeowMeow, determined that the skater-punk, shot-on-VHS take on Greek mythology was not going to top the Henry Selick classic.

Our host purchased the Brandon Lee starring "Rapid Fire" on DVD 15 years ago, and despite not giving it the proper attention when viewed on cable TV, he has seen Walter Hill's "Last Man Standing" in its entirety. Thus, it is up to Russ's favorite comedic screenwriter, Kevin Smith's, most recent film to end the streak of animated features from ending up as "Ninety For Chill's" top movie of the year.

"The 4:30 Movie" is Smith's version of Steven Spielberg's "The Fabelmans". It is an "autobiographical" take on how he became a filmmaker. If anything, this film has inspired CatBus to put the Spielberg flick on his queue just to see if he makes all the tongue-in-cheek jokes that Smith does about how movies have changed since then. Thank the gods Smith has only been doing this for 30 years, and his love for cinema was an inspiration to all of Russ's entertainment projects.

It might be an overstatement to suggest that ThePoeticCritic is miraculous, but she allows for this year (and this incarnation) of "Ninety For Chill: The Podcast" to conclude the only way CatBusRuss would allow it. That is with a guest. This was a near last minute arrangement, so the two siblings will not be chatting about a movie. They will be reviewing their experiences from this year in cinema, but with our host's work situation, his big sister wanted to bring in a little Christmas right now.

The two do investigate what makes a holiday picture. Does it need to be released (or intended to be released) around the season? How Christmassy does it have to be? Has Shane Black actually wrote a genuine Xmas movie? Are all Oscar-bait features representative of the holiday spirit as "Mystery Science Theater 3000" suggests?

As for the best experiences this year, ThePoeticCritic does not offer too many opinions, but helps guide Russ in coming to a decision in the three feature race of "Coraline (09)", "A Boy and His Dog (1975)", and "Shredder Orpheus (1990)". Maybe CatBus will get caught up on 2024's actual movies once he can step away from the retail hell that might have driven his cynicism. Buy batteries before the kids open the damn gifts.

Ninety for Chill 200 will drop on Monday, December 23, 2024. Thanks for all the support.

ThePoeticCritic is back and focused to start spreading that Christmas cheer. She fondly looks back on the holiday offerings that bring joy to the world indiscriminately while CatBusRuss focuses on the cynical side of the season with films like Dennis Leary in "The Ref" and Bill Goldberg in "Santa's Slay". What they can agree on is that their should be no seasonal restrictions on when we can watch "Ernest Saves Christmas".