cult film freak: June 2011

Written by James M. Tate / 6/29/2011 / No comments / children , dan aykroyd , justin timberlake , tens

YOGI BEAR

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nmOM6H6h1RA/Tg1M7oOSgPI/AAAAAAAACB8/lgWpMTmr4p0/s1600/yogi_bear42.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624236096948961522" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nmOM6H6h1RA/Tg1M7oOSgPI/AAAAAAAACB8/lgWpMTmr4p0/s200/yogi_bear42.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" /></a>title: YOGI BEAR year: 2011 cast: Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cavanagh, Anna Faris rating: * A reboot usually refers to when a computer goes bad, and in order to get things back in place, you restart it and hopefully, it'll work like before. But with movies, rebooting often does the opposite, messing up what worked just fine. Here we have a classic children's television show centering on Yogi, a walking/talking bear and his counterpart, Boo-Boo. At every turn, Yogi, native to Jellystone Park, steals picnic baskets and is hassled by Ranger Smith, an uptight grownup who, in the cartoon, made for a terrific foil. But here he's a broodingly sarcastic young-looking fellow who should be hanging out at a yuppie pool hall, and our furry stars, who only yearn for those baskets during the first ten minutes, are merely backdrop to a lame story involving the ranger shyly romancing a blond documentary filmmaker, and a duo of corporate goons wanting to shut down the park.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SnaDTxMHqH0/Tg1Mzh5ZK9I/AAAAAAAACB0/QlnUKeyRc38/s1600/DF.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624235957811751890" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SnaDTxMHqH0/Tg1Mzh5ZK9I/AAAAAAAACB0/QlnUKeyRc38/s200/DF.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 113px; height: 200px;" /></a> So this reboot, like several others out there, are taking something cornily nostalgic and playing them tongue and cheek, with one foot off the proverbial bed, to avoid being silly like the original, but in that, are missing everything that was endearing and entertaining enough to, three decades later, base a film on. Dan Aykroyd, voicing Yogi, seems to be doing an imitation, but Justin Timberlake does a good enough job you forget it's him. Sad thing, neither creature adds much here, and look so computer-animated they don't seem real at all. Then again, either does anything, or anyone, else. And there's a new brand of sarcasm out there, difficult to explain... it's kind of deadpan, providing a muted punchline born from a dull sense of missed expectation. It occurs in droves here, and many other contemporary comedies; and please, for the love of God, enough already!

children, dan aykroyd, justin timberlake, tens

YOGI BEAR

title: YOGI BEAR year: 2011 cast: Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cavanagh, Anna Faris rating: * A reboot usually refers to when a co...

THE HOT SPOT

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ftRDhzkYtBE/TguMikwhbKI/AAAAAAAACBs/XCcooQ6jMeQ/s1600/209988.1020.A.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5623743085312830626" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ftRDhzkYtBE/TguMikwhbKI/AAAAAAAACBs/XCcooQ6jMeQ/s200/209988.1020.A.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 155px; height: 200px;" /></a>title: THE HOT SPOT year: 1990 cast: Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, Jennifer Connelly, Jack Nance rating: ***1/2 Night and shadows, the staple of Film Noir, is replaced with sun and sweat. And there's a whole lot of both here, and some fire for good measure. Don Johnson does a nice job in the quiet handsome stranger in a strange land role. He plays a subtle criminal, ultimately the pawn, who goes to a small town to stake out a bank. To remain inconspicuous, he gets a job in a car lot, meets his boss's snaky wife, played by Virginia Madsen, and reluctantly falls into her web.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UV4OQAqc9qc/TguMaeOf8QI/AAAAAAAACBk/IDa0x5ichsI/s1600/hot%252Bspot1.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5623742946120560898" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UV4OQAqc9qc/TguMaeOf8QI/AAAAAAAACBk/IDa0x5ichsI/s200/hot%252Bspot1.JPG" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 157px;" /></a> He'd rather be with the young, seemingly-innocent secretary played by Jennifer Connelly, enveloped in a rapturously chaste sexuality. But Madsen wants Don for herself... and will do anything to keep him. The deliberately slow pace is involving, although the final twist, as some people aren’t as innocent as they seem, isn’t very satisfying. But director Dennis Hopper keeps the melodrama sizzling throughout, and of all the players, Madsen stands out as the bored moll with a one-track mind for trouble.

crime, dennis hopper, neo noir, nineties

THE HOT SPOT

title: THE HOT SPOT year: 1990 cast: Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, Jennifer Connelly, Jack Nance rating: ***1/2 Night and shadows, the st...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/27/2011 / No comments / courtroom drama , exploitation , george c. scott , paul schrader , reb brown , season hubley , seventies , team-up

GEORGE C. SCOTT IN HARDCORE BY PAUL SCHRADER

courtroom drama, exploitation, george c. scott, paul schrader, reb brown, season hubley, seventies, team-up

GEORGE C. SCOTT IN HARDCORE BY PAUL SCHRADER

SORRY CHARLIE THE HARDCORE REVIEW MOVED SO CLICK HERE George C. Scott getting bounced by Reb Brown in HARDCORE

Written by James M. Tate / 6/26/2011 / No comments / cameron diaz , comedy , tens

BAD TEACHER

<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u5LIra4SXvE/TgdoxYCWI0I/AAAAAAAACAU/LYpjTFg1zO4/s1600/Bad%252BTeacher%252BMovie%252BPicture.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622577857270522690" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u5LIra4SXvE/TgdoxYCWI0I/AAAAAAAACAU/LYpjTFg1zO4/w237-h320/Bad%252BTeacher%252BMovie%252BPicture.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 148px;" width="237" /></a>title: BAD TEACHER year: 2011 cast: Cameron Diaz, Jason Segal, Lucy Punch, Justin Timberlake rating: * While most “dark comedies” center on goofy characters within a gritty, unpredictable setting, this is the opposite. Cameron Diaz is a crude, brutally honest teacher in a squeaky clean school full of banal kids, geeky teachers, and a geeky principle right out of a bizarro world Norman Rockwell painting. This is the first of many problems as the campus and characters, with the exception of the usually dependable Jason Segal as a sarcastic P.E. teacher, are too “good” to be realistic: making Diaz’s badness seem forced, bitter and unlikable (who wouldn't hate this school?). Lucy Punch, as the arch enemy teacher, so perfect she’s on the verge of a mental breakdown, and Justin Timberlake, an ueber sensitive sub, are too cartoonish to be worthy targets of antihero Diaz, too pissed off at everything, and everyone, to be funny: we never feel her frustration, an essential element in any comedy film. The plot has Diaz wanting to marry rich, and trust-fund Timberlake fits the bill. But he's so overboard as a dweeb, the means to an end seems like a waste of time… which is most of the film: Diaz figuring out how to illegally earn enough money for a boob job (while we know who she'll fall for in the end). And the jokes, mostly aimed at everyone not as open and crude as Diaz, just aren’t funny. But she tries her best – it’s the writing and direction, with pockets of embarrassingly awkward moments for the characters and the audience, that earns this one a deserving F minus.

cameron diaz, comedy, tens

BAD TEACHER

title: BAD TEACHER year: 2011 cast: Cameron Diaz, Jason Segal, Lucy Punch, Justin Timberlake rating: * While most “dark comedies” center on...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/23/2011 / No comments / comedy , danny devito , eighties , jessica walter , stacey nelkin , tony danza

GOING APE!

<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PJcNoiiexW8/TgOOgQJLdaI/AAAAAAAAB-U/WQbmCMc6mSI/s1600/110329.1020.A.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621493444628936098" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PJcNoiiexW8/TgOOgQJLdaI/AAAAAAAAB-U/WQbmCMc6mSI/s200/110329.1020.A.jpg" style="float: right; height: 230px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 194px;" /></a>title: GOING APE! 
year: 1981 
cast: Tony Danza, Danny DeVito 
rating: * 
 
Not only is this an awful movie, it's sluggish and uncomfortable... 
Attempting to ride the Simian coattails of the popular Clint Eastwood ANY WHICH WAY flicks, we have pointless bachelor Tony Danza inheriting three orangutans from his deceased father, a once great, highly successful circus performer. 
 
If Tony keeps the frolicking, troublesome trio in his apartment for over a year, he gets a million dollars. Meanwhile, thugs want him to fail, and attempt killing the apes. 
 
Too much running around takes away from the orangutans, providing a few basic tricks and facial expressions but are merely background to the lame thug antics and a plethora of uninteresting and unfunny side-characters including fellow TAXI star Danny DeVito as "Lazlo," helping Danza maintain along with Stacey Nelkin as Danza's flustered girlfriend and her uptight mother, Jessica Walter, who, along with everyone else, must have lost a bet to appear in this turkey.

comedy, danny devito, eighties, jessica walter, stacey nelkin, tony danza

GOING APE!

title: GOING APE! year: 1981 cast: Tony Danza, Danny DeVito rating: * Not only is this an awful movie, it's sluggish and uncomf...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/21/2011 / No comments / adam roarke , biker , exploitation , jack nicholson , jack starrett , richard rush , sixties

HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eQ9EYmMjwU0/TgFwLf4P_XI/AAAAAAAAB90/7RU3i01Nf4M/s1600/235826.1020.A.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620897152773389682" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eQ9EYmMjwU0/TgFwLf4P_XI/AAAAAAAAB90/7RU3i01Nf4M/s200/235826.1020.A.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 144px; height: 210px;" /></a>title: HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS year: 1967 cast: Adam Roarke, Jack Nicholson, Sabrina Scharf, Jack Starrett, Jana Taylor rating: ***1/2 A young pre-EASY RIDER Jack Nicholson delivers a terrifically subtle performance as a passive gas station attendant joining ranks with the Hell's Angels, but the real credit goes to Adam Roarke, a cult actor who appeared in other underdog classics such as FROGS and DIRTY LARRY CRAZY MARY, and how natural he is on screen. While he's not big and burly, his slowburn, devil-may-care attitude is just right here: a wily cockiness making him the perfect centerpiece of a biker movie that delivers much more (thanks to director Richard Rush and cinematographer Laslo Kovacs) than you'd expect from the usually vapid genre.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SlFcekZIN0g/TgFwChiZzEI/AAAAAAAAB9s/wYm7e-d3fjs/s1600/Tsiklid-wheels.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620896998599806018" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SlFcekZIN0g/TgFwChiZzEI/AAAAAAAAB9s/wYm7e-d3fjs/s200/Tsiklid-wheels.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 155px;" /></a> After a beautifully shot opening credit sequence involving the hogs cruising down the open highway, and then barraging into a small town, the real story develops through Nicholson's character getting more involved with the nefarious rollers. A developing romance between Jack and free-loving Sabrina Scharf adds a legitimate love story that doesn't slow down the pace. And the fact she still digs Roarke, no matter how many other chicks he enjoys on the side, makes our vulnerable protagonist realize how the biker life might not be for him. This is the epitome of a low-budget drive-in flick with everything: including some pretty risque scenes (and situations) for the time which, although was quite normal in the biker culture, still had a few years to catch up on screen.

adam roarke, biker, exploitation, jack nicholson, jack starrett, richard rush, sixties

HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS

title: HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS year: 1967 cast: Adam Roarke, Jack Nicholson, Sabrina Scharf, Jack Starrett, Jana Taylor rating: ***1/2 A y...

JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT IS 'THE WORLD'S GREATEST ATHLETE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlNO2AVKH-SLaufMEgrAXaNt8zlyBEel2Q2plGuIzeV4O_R5TGSE3YVtTk6oda4PVjTUrzCF-pag2Ou1ai7EQVwXAVth3W-Jc49kqcQ5s1kRI5hlb_E276Hrw3AMBpOSLs3qZYrUbYiYitsZxdbyaHvC2ml5Ms9DA7pcsSjGVeIpkbh3apKTfvRPWCQ/s1932/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="888" data-original-width="1932" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlNO2AVKH-SLaufMEgrAXaNt8zlyBEel2Q2plGuIzeV4O_R5TGSE3YVtTk6oda4PVjTUrzCF-pag2Ou1ai7EQVwXAVth3W-Jc49kqcQ5s1kRI5hlb_E276Hrw3AMBpOSLs3qZYrUbYiYitsZxdbyaHvC2ml5Ms9DA7pcsSjGVeIpkbh3apKTfvRPWCQ/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1973 cast: Jan-Michael Vincent, John Amos, Tim Conway rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>John Amos and Tim Conway, the most strangely cast comedic duo in history, are coaches at a loser junior college full of extremely inept athletes: making the team from GUS seem like professionals. The duo take a trip to Africa and find the greatest athlete in the world... and get this, he's white! 
 
A young ripped Jan-Michael Vincent plays Nanu, a monotone-speaking Tarzan who Amos and Conway trick into returning to the States to monopolize the school's teams... and gain them a reputation as awesome coaches...

adventure, comedy, disney, jan-michael vincent, john amos, seventies, sports, tim conway

JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT IS 'THE WORLD'S GREATEST ATHLETE'

year: 1973 cast: Jan-Michael Vincent, John Amos, Tim Conway rating: ***1/2 John Amos and Tim Conway, the most strangely cast comedic duo in...

HIGH ANXIETY

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ALHQeAbRN7w/URS51ldy3GI/AAAAAAAAWNw/DFuwD-OOvYU/s1600/High+Anxiety+LP+Front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ALHQeAbRN7w/URS51ldy3GI/AAAAAAAAWNw/DFuwD-OOvYU/s640/High+Anxiety+LP+Front.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1977 cast: Mel Brooks, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman rating: ***</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mel Brooks sends-up all things Hitchcock in a film that's more entertaining than funny. You can't help but to get involved in the story of a new head shrink (Brooks) of a crooked insane asylum who has an extreme fear of heights: From one situation to the next, this parody encompasses "Vertigo", "Psycho", "The Birds", "Frenzy", and all the (other) Hitch-flicks that has the main character being falsely accused of murder. Homage-driven jabs at Alfred H's signature camera shots and dramatic musical scores are the funniest. Somewhere between "Blazing Saddles" (as the high-point) and "History of the World" (as a semi low-point), this movie has a cozy place within the Mel Brooks canon. 
 
Nothing gained, nothing lost. But you'll enjoy the ride, especially with Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman going over-the-top, on purpose, like only they can.

cloris leachman, comedy, harvey korman, mel brooks, satire, seventies

HIGH ANXIETY

year: 1977 cast: Mel Brooks, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman rating: *** Mel Brooks sends-up all things Hitchcock in a film that's ...

AGAINST ALL ODDS

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MawbVtkex6I/Tf_h5uqGQcI/AAAAAAAAB88/_Gq4KIsw5Mo/s1600/Against-All-Odds.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620459241875063234" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MawbVtkex6I/Tf_h5uqGQcI/AAAAAAAAB88/_Gq4KIsw5Mo/s200/Against-All-Odds.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 144px; height: 200px;" /></a>title: AGAINST ALL ODDS year: 1984 cast: Jeff Bridges, Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges, Richard Widmark rating: *** A glossy, somewhat involving 1984 remake of the Film Noir classic OUT OF THE PAST is, other than the main plot, entirely different than its predecessor. And in three acts… like three movies in one… only two work successfully. Jeff Bridges is an injured pro football player who wants his job back, and, without a worthy gig and living a pointless, loveless existence, he takes shifty gambler James Wood’s job to find his missing girlfriend. This is the second act: Bridges seeking the mysterious, extremely gorgeous Rachel Ward in Mexico – and when he finds her, they quickly fall in love; after all, both are attractive, so why not? This is what the movie’s known for: the steamy jungle love scenes between the two stars.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I6VEs8UABDc/Tf_hqlbLwHI/AAAAAAAAB80/k5HTF_JcvSI/s1600/000520_26.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620458981698551922" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I6VEs8UABDc/Tf_hqlbLwHI/AAAAAAAAB80/k5HTF_JcvSI/s200/000520_26.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 198px;" /></a> And while the audience, and both characters, know they’re in danger, James Wood’s presence, and any underlying threat, isn’t there to add intrigue to the forbidden romance: except one fight against hefty football coach Alex Karras. But when Ward disappears, and Bridges returns home, the pace picks up – the Noir origins playing out in a neatly constructed, fitfully confusing maze of a pawn caught between something neither he, or the audience, understands till the end: which is a satisfying, and surprisingly optimistic, conclusion. And the famous Phil Collins title track, a much bigger hit than the movie itself, plays during the end credits, although variations of the chorus glide in sporadically during love scenes.

james woods, jeff bridges, neo noir, rachel ward, richard widmark, romance, suspense

AGAINST ALL ODDS

title: AGAINST ALL ODDS year: 1984 cast: Jeff Bridges, Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges, Richard Widmark rating: *** A glossy, somewhat involving ...

MR. POPPER'S PENQUINS

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VV1_k4QOYmY/Tf_fm4TTGsI/AAAAAAAAB8s/v7MxCXQu3nk/s1600/mr-poppers-penguins-movie-image-jim-carrey-05.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620456719023020738" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VV1_k4QOYmY/Tf_fm4TTGsI/AAAAAAAAB8s/v7MxCXQu3nk/s200/mr-poppers-penguins-movie-image-jim-carrey-05.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 130px; height: 230px;" /></a>title: MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS year: 2011 cast: Jim Carrey rating: *** As the weekend’s market is cornered by GREEN LANTERN and residual viewings of SUPER 8 and X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, this one slips under the radar, looking like an awful Jim Carrey vehicle about a corporate buyer named Popper who inherits penguins, keeping them in his New York City apartment. But it’s actually pretty good. Carrey, who's slowed down in the physical comedy department, is quick enough with put-upon reactions, delivered in droves since the penguins, left by his world-travelling father, are a lots of trouble. Computer-animated, they look quite real, although their humanized mannerisms are completely unbelievable. So to survive this mild-mannered romp both kids and adults can enjoy, you have to suspend disbelief from the start.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kUTYaw-IDHE/Tf_fX0o1swI/AAAAAAAAB8c/Q92F5pnh6sg/s1600/Mr%252BPopper%252527s%252BPenguins%252BMovie.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620456460341588738" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kUTYaw-IDHE/Tf_fX0o1swI/AAAAAAAAB8c/Q92F5pnh6sg/s200/Mr%252BPopper%252527s%252BPenguins%252BMovie.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 169px; height: 200px;" /></a> The antagonist, a zoo keeper with shady intentions, is a reminder that something will go wrong. But it’s the penguins, and their turning Carrey’s apartment into a chilly shambles, that’s the most fun. And side characters including his quirky British secretary who uses the word “P” at least three times per sentence, a pretty ex-wife, and his two children (a happy young boy and a depressed teen girl)… the latter Popper’s reason to keep the penguins in the first place… are reminiscent of an old-school happy-go-lucky kid’s flick And a short featuring ICE AGE’s Scrat (the squirrel), and his unrelenting quest for an acorn causing global alterations, is a nice plus.

comedy, jim carrey, tens

MR. POPPER'S PENQUINS

title: MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS year: 2011 cast: Jim Carrey rating: *** As the weekend’s market is cornered by GREEN LANTERN and residu...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/19/2011 / No comments / christopher lloyd , creature , elizabeth shue , horror , remake , tens

PIRANHA (2010)

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2iqzLmmVGY4/Tf5Xo-1N8VI/AAAAAAAAB8E/sOJvlisSZlQ/s1600/piranha-2010-movie-poster31%2B13-09-04.jpeg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620025746577551698" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2iqzLmmVGY4/Tf5Xo-1N8VI/AAAAAAAAB8E/sOJvlisSZlQ/s200/piranha-2010-movie-poster31%2B13-09-04.jpeg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 158px; height: 200px;" /></a>title: PIRANHA year: 2010 cast: Elizabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, Steven R. McQueen, Ving Rhames rating: *** This, a remake in creature name only, more properly described a revision, does what any purposely campy horror movie needs doing: serves up a bevy of characters deserving to (and that the audience anticipates seeing) die horribly: in this case being torn to shreds by killer fish that, because of an earthquake opening a rock shelf beneath a popular party lake, set the fanged fiends free to munch on anyone in the water. Their main course consists of investigating scientists and best of all, a boatload of GIRLS GONE WILD cast and crew.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FVf9qN9jFxM/Tf5X669L4EI/AAAAAAAAB8M/r-7nskngr_E/s1600/Piranha%252B2010%252Bfish%252Band%252Bgirl%2B13-09-04.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620026054774874178" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FVf9qN9jFxM/Tf5X669L4EI/AAAAAAAAB8M/r-7nskngr_E/s200/Piranha%252B2010%252Bfish%252Band%252Bgirl%2B13-09-04.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 160px;" /></a> The lead protagonist, a teenage son of the local Sheriff (Elizabeth Shue), happens on board with his would-be love interest. The boat, docked in an isolated spot away from the fish-laden area, is safe for a while, letting us know the characters before the piranha hone in. On the peripheral (and soon on board) are his little brother and sister, who he’s supposed to be babysitting – adding the same children-in-distress element Joe Dante’s original had with the camp kids at the river. While not coming close to the Dante (Roger Corman produced) classic, it succeeds in doing its own thing its own way. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L7zov9O3rBA/Tf5XiRSVejI/AAAAAAAAB78/bRgEhNVHBCA/s1600/piranha-3d-movie-7.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620025631272434226" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L7zov9O3rBA/Tf5XiRSVejI/AAAAAAAAB78/bRgEhNVHBCA/s200/piranha-3d-movie-7.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 197px; height: 200px;" /></a>And as that film’s basis was a parody of JAWS, this begins with Richard Dreyfuss as “Matt” (singing “Show Me The Way To Go Home”), not so lucky this time around. And while the original, because of the low budget, succeeded with character-development and implied suspense (like JAWS), this has skies the limit C.G.I. that, an hour in, when the buildup’s replaced by bloody pandemonium i.e. the big feast, becomes a standard gore fest but with at least a few characters worth saving.

christopher lloyd, creature, elizabeth shue, horror, remake, tens

PIRANHA (2010)

title: PIRANHA year: 2010 cast: Elizabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, Steven R. McQueen, Ving Rhames rating: *** This, a remake in creature ...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/18/2011 / No comments / action , blaxploitation , jack carter , john saxon , neo noir , rosey grier , seventies

THE GLOVE

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lm7E8ULAULM/VMXSj4s_sEI/AAAAAAAAmXs/rXcvHWoCYfE/s1600/Picture%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lm7E8ULAULM/VMXSj4s_sEI/AAAAAAAAmXs/rXcvHWoCYfE/s1600/Picture%2B1.png" width="114" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1979</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
title: THE GLOVE 
cast: John Saxon, Rosey Grier 
rating: ***1/2 
 
They don't make them any cooler than this. An ex-con (Rosey Grier) wears a riot glove and kills a distinct group of men in various locations. But the main character isn't Grier, it's John Saxon as a narrating gumshoe/bounty hunter who's given the task to hunt him down. Most of the film consists of Saxon's adventures: going after various criminals... which then leads to the climax verses Grier, who really isn't a bad guy and might just have a legitimate reason for his violent actions. Resembling Steve McQueen's THE HUNTER but with more grit, all in all there's never a dull moment: a neo-noir mixed with blaxploitation style violence, and in a nutshell, everything fits like a...

action, blaxploitation, jack carter, john saxon, neo noir, rosey grier, seventies

THE GLOVE

year: 1979 title: THE GLOVE cast: John Saxon, Rosey Grier rating: ***1/2 They don't make them any cooler than this. An ex-con...

GREEN LANTERN

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hCK0NwBOh6k/TfxziB2m7hI/AAAAAAAAB68/uNH3bO3613Y/s1600/GL.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619493463501762066" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hCK0NwBOh6k/TfxziB2m7hI/AAAAAAAAB68/uNH3bO3613Y/s200/GL.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 160px;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2011 rating: *</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are a few things a Superhero movie needs, that is, besides the superhero. The origin of power and how they acquire it, and a villain. This has neither. Well, not really...  
 
The tale begins in outer space, introducing another world and a big nasty alien destroying it, making one of the good aliens… a superhero in his own right… escape with an important ring. He makes for the closest planet to pass on the power, and crash lands on Earth. Meanwhile, a cocky test pilot played by Ryan Reynolds who, like Tom Cruise in TOP GUN, is a handsome hotdogger with a dead dad to live up to and can’t be trusted because of his inevitable method of screwing things up. 
 
Now for the origin of his superpowers: how does he become the Green Lantern? Much too easy. And what happens next? He’s transported to that other world (imagine if the Hulk owned a "Brite-Lite" discotheque) where he gets a quick history lesson, learns to use his powers, and then quits: all within the course of (what seems like) ten minutes. Then, upon returning to Earth as if he’d gone to a pizza parlor, he learns the Military has found the alien’s space ship, and a senator’s frustrated son, Peter Saarsgard lazily channeling John Malkovich, gains his own power – but on accident – from the same alien: turning him into a humanoid version of an overcooked pizza crust instead of a green-clad supermodel. 
 
This is a difficult, if impossible, film to review. And yet, there’s really nothing to give away or spoil, since nothing really happens. While Reynolds isn't as awful as the script, his continuous disbelief about the situation at hand gives the impression we're watching, and he's experiencing, a parody instead of the real thing. And the only plus is his method of creating various objects, from race cars to machine guns to fighter planes, to battle and/or thwart impending forces: but who he’s fighting, and why’s he’s fighting, and what he’s fighting for, remains a complete mystery. 
 
And as for the love interest: there's been deeper romances on Nickelodeon sitcoms. Better character-development too. (And now, some Ryan Reynolds for nostalgia fans, from the classic soap FIFTEEN.) 
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JKpVfqDClDI" width="480"></iframe>

ryan reynolds, superhero, tens

GREEN LANTERN

year: 2011 rating: * There are a few things a Superhero movie needs, that is, besides the superhero. The origin of power and how they ac...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/17/2011 / No comments / exploitation , gary kent , ray dennis steckler , sixties

THE THRILL KILLERS

<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-58d0zQm6zNA/Tfv4HHpAtxI/AAAAAAAAB58/lDFRPgDXgqs/s1600/30078_107875632590059_106638979380391_58572_3720683_n.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619357761268659986" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-58d0zQm6zNA/Tfv4HHpAtxI/AAAAAAAAB58/lDFRPgDXgqs/s200/30078_107875632590059_106638979380391_58572_3720683_n.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 200px;" /></a>title: THE THRILL KILLERS year: 1964 cast: Ray Dennis Steckler, Gary Kent, Liz Renay, Joe Bardo, Carolyn Brandt rating: **** The best thing about this glorious drive-in exploitation is a precise combination of two kinds of psychopaths, both acting completely on their own but for the same results. First: the lone killer and second: the band of killers. The solo nutjob's played by director Ray Dennis Steckler i.e. Cash Flagg as "Mag Dog Click," a snaky bald wanderer who travels around in a stolen car (after killing the driver who accepted his hitch... some thanks). Then there are the three escaped loonies from the mental ward, the biggest, toughest and most dangerous played by Gary Kent, using wide crazy eyes to full effect... and then some. A happy but ultimately unlucky couple are nightmarishly badgered by the trio; whilst another couple, sort of the main characters, deal with the same gang and eventually with Steckler, resulting in two separate climactic fights. From the frying pan into the fire back into the pan with flames all around it, this addictive celebration of enthralling violence never lets up.

exploitation, gary kent, ray dennis steckler, sixties

THE THRILL KILLERS

title: THE THRILL KILLERS year: 1964 cast: Ray Dennis Steckler, Gary Kent, Liz Renay, Joe Bardo, Carolyn Brandt rating: **** The best thi...

KUNG FU PANDA 2

<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-smuE64I_b3o/TfvgmTScVUI/AAAAAAAAB5E/ADozY6Gv8cs/s1600/kung-fu-panda-2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619331908692104514" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-smuE64I_b3o/TfvgmTScVUI/AAAAAAAAB5E/ADozY6Gv8cs/s200/kung-fu-panda-2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 195px;" /></a>title: KUNG FU PANDA 2 
year: 2011 
cast: Jack Black 
rating: *1/2 
 
<div>
While it looks terrific in 3D… the flashbacks of Kung Fu Master Panda Po’s childhood, shown in old-school animation and weaving in and out of the computerized continuation of the successful, and entertaining, original… the sequel is pretty boring, mainly because the backstory envelopes everything here: centering on where Po (Jack Black) came from, how he fit in a basket and was found by his adopted fowl father, still running his bistro with an iron cha-ching. Dustin Hoffman’s once important teacher, Shifu, makes a quick, pointless cameo in the beginning as Po and his pals, barely making a difference to the proceedings (especially Jackie Chan, who hardly utters a syllable), travel to fight the new villain, Shen, an evil peacock with nefarious pointy-faced wolf minions. Knowing a thing or two about Po’s origins first hand, Shen holds a personal grip on our hero, who's so bogged-down by frustrated melancholy that when fight scenes occur they seem rushed – our cumbersome hero destined to return to that mushy personal quest of what happened to his parents: a yearning only “inner-peace” can quench… zzzzzz. But does it really matter from whence he came? We already know the true beginning is the first film, which this is a pale, lackluster, unfunny shadow of. So next time around… if there is a next time… progression is essential. </div>

computer animated, dustin hoffman, jack black, james hong, sequel, tens

KUNG FU PANDA 2

title: KUNG FU PANDA 2 year: 2011 cast: Jack Black rating: *1/2 While it looks terrific in 3D… the flashbacks of Kung Fu Master Pand...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/16/2011 / No comments / action , ben gazzara , eighties , kelly lynch , patrick swayze , sam elliott

ROAD HOUSE (1989)

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6bEsjRHzDS4/TfraEz8mx1I/AAAAAAAAB40/gKqYmRnNbq4/s1600/01patrick-swayze-roadhouse1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619043261296854866" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6bEsjRHzDS4/TfraEz8mx1I/AAAAAAAAB40/gKqYmRnNbq4/s200/01patrick-swayze-roadhouse1.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 194px;" /></a>title: ROAD HOUSE year: 1989 cast: Patrick Swayze, Ben Gazzara, Sam Elliott, Kelly Lynch rating: ***1/2 This late-80's Patrick Swayze action vehicle has become a sort of pop culture punchline; but as bloody-knuckle entertainment goes, this is topnotch stuff. A sought-after bouncer... Swayze with cool, brooding gusto... is imported to a small town to "clean up" a seedy road house dive. And that he does, first by getting rid of the crooked employees and then beating up the particularly seedy customers who turned the place into something worse than the STAR WARS Cantina. The transition of old bar to new one hold the best scenes, but the work's only half done. For the town is owned by a Hugh Hefner gone bad millionaire played by Ben Gazzara, who not only imports all the town's booze, but has the vicious hots for Swayze's love interest. Sam Elliott, as Swayze's bouncer mentor, adds world-weary charm and classic vitality to an already kickass film. <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7Ikfz-S6Tjo" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="530"></iframe>

action, ben gazzara, eighties, kelly lynch, patrick swayze, sam elliott

ROAD HOUSE (1989)

title: ROAD HOUSE year: 1989 cast: Patrick Swayze, Ben Gazzara, Sam Elliott, Kelly Lynch rating: ***1/2 This late-80's Patrick Swayze...

MARTIN BREST''S DARK QUIRKY ARTHOUSE HOT TOMORROWS

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2R5mjlwWSPw/TfqkLVvfchI/AAAAAAAAB4U/sNdZDiCWW2g/s1600/hot.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618983999819969042" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2R5mjlwWSPw/TfqkLVvfchI/AAAAAAAAB4U/sNdZDiCWW2g/s320/hot.jpg" style="float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 106px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1977 **</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A Gothic WHO'S THAT KNOCKIN' AT MY DOOR has two men in their twenties: Ken Lerner, writing a cathartic novel about his dead aunt, and Ray Sharkey, who's more spontaneous than deep, hanging out and doing close to nothing... 
 
They go to a bar where Danny Elfman is singing cabaret, meet Victor Argo and Herve Velechez, then visit a funeral home, have coffee, take a tour, return to the bar, then to a diner, drive around and talk some more... mostly about death, a topic brooding Lerner's obsessed with and that Sharkey ignores. 
 
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jj8MJkbBCVE/TfqiBkZpJjI/AAAAAAAAB4E/jQlYiuaXxPc/s1600/2391913354_5e214c3d05.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618981632932914738" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jj8MJkbBCVE/TfqiBkZpJjI/AAAAAAAAB4E/jQlYiuaXxPc/s200/2391913354_5e214c3d05.jpg" style="float: right; height: 163px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>Much of the film’s dark charm is the differences between these two misplaced friends and their bickering conversations... 
 
And then, because of a sudden situation that occurs midway, Lerner's left with only cold memories and depression, and the film peters out much too soon. Martin Brest wrote and directed this B&W super-low-budget indie right before hitting mainstream with GOING MY WAY, BEVERLY HILLS COP, MIDNIGHT RUN, and eventually his Waterloo disaster, GIGLI. And Orson Welles provides the radio announcer's voice for the cemetery, so don't expect to see him anywhere around.

courtroom drama, indie, ken lerner, martin brest, orson welles, ray sharkey, seventies, victor argo

MARTIN BREST''S DARK QUIRKY ARTHOUSE HOT TOMORROWS

1977 ** A Gothic WHO'S THAT KNOCKIN' AT MY DOOR has two men in their twenties: Ken Lerner, writing a cathartic novel about his d...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/15/2011 / No comments / action , bernie casey , cornel wilde , creature , exploitation , horror , jennifer salt , mystery , scott glenn , seventies , suspense , thriller , tv movie

CORNEL WILDE & JENNIFER SALT IN THE TV HORROR 'GARGOYLES'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a5XbOZh3En4/XaPlWQrie8I/AAAAAAABJQs/cKepFRA2da41ivfg0AV4hNaIJkAsQOmqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-10-13%2Bat%2B7.39.54%2BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="998" height="253" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a5XbOZh3En4/XaPlWQrie8I/AAAAAAABJQs/cKepFRA2da41ivfg0AV4hNaIJkAsQOmqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-10-13%2Bat%2B7.39.54%2BPM.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1972 cast: Cornel Wilde, Jennifer Salt, Bernie Casey </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Beginning with Cornel Wilde and daughter Jennifer Salt investigating an old codger who runs a roadside-attraction, claiming to have a real find that turns out to be the skeletal remains of some kind of flying monster... 
 
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zQcmVMuExV8/XaPnOYmpnbI/AAAAAAABJQ4/3R-zXZT-CR87knqVTMs9FLSpR96BTtwBgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-10-13%2Bat%2B7.41.33%2BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="734" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zQcmVMuExV8/XaPnOYmpnbI/AAAAAAABJQ4/3R-zXZT-CR87knqVTMs9FLSpR96BTtwBgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-10-13%2Bat%2B7.41.33%2BPM.jpeg" width="198" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GARGOYLES Score: ****</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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Soon a horde attack. Wilde, who's an myth debunk author who must now rethink his previous theories that he accounted as fictional, and Salt escape to a motel, but that night she's kidnapped by flying green goons… with Bernie Casey as the lead Gargoyle that, thanks to Stan Winston and Rick Baker, look authentic and creepy. So it’s up to Wilde; a local Sheriff; and a dirt bike riding Scott Glenn to save the day. 
 
This is a dusty gem for B-movie fanatics to cherish: a nifty-paced homage of old fashion monster movies and an inspiration for latter 70’s creature features including JAWS... since we don’t see the actual menace till the last half, the implied setup builds suspense, mystery, and character-development. And while it’s dated and downright silly at times, the end pays off nicely: with a premonition about who currently rules the earth, and who, and/or what, could one day inherit it. 
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action, bernie casey, cornel wilde, creature, exploitation, horror, jennifer salt, mystery, scott glenn, seventies, suspense, thriller, tv movie

CORNEL WILDE & JENNIFER SALT IN THE TV HORROR 'GARGOYLES'

year: 1972 cast: Cornel Wilde, Jennifer Salt, Bernie Casey Beginning with Cornel Wilde and daughter Jennifer Salt investigating an old c...

TERMINATOR: SALVATION

<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bkuFSJpa_Vo/TfkDIHQQDsI/AAAAAAAAB3k/SctYDrY8JBU/s1600/Terminator_Salvation_new_poster.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618525448042450626" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bkuFSJpa_Vo/TfkDIHQQDsI/AAAAAAAAB3k/SctYDrY8JBU/s200/Terminator_Salvation_new_poster.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 194px;" /></a>title: TERMINATOR: SALVATION 
year: 2010 
cast: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin 
rating: ** 
 
<div>
</div>
At one point, about thirty minutes in, as human survivors are being chased by a giant Terminator resembling something out of THE TRANSFORMERS franchise… thus giving birth to a lot of smaller machines, some riding motorcycles… it seems this movie isn’t so terrible. A lot of banal action within a barren, post-apocalyptic landscape which, in most movies look cheap but the computer effects give it a punch, or two. Then something happens. Actually, a lot of things: those being completely convoluted plot-points… But let’s start from the beginning: diving right in with John Conner, played by Christian Bale, who’s basically Rambo of The Resistance, fighting Skynet machines that brought the Earth to nuclear ruin. He’s out to save the world but first his father, Kyle Reese… who, played by Michael Beihn in the first film, impregnated mom while protecting her from that Arnold Schwarzenegger guy (making a computer generated cameo). If Reese dies, so does Connor. And Reese himself, a teenager played by Anton Yelchin… channeling Beihn’s over-the-top acting style perfectly… is on the run with a mute child and a muscular mystery man: Sam Worthington as Marcus, an intriguing character at first but as we learn more about him the movie hits a wall, the action taking a backseat to Marcus’s origin (is he human or robot?); and Conner, at this point residing in the peripheral, is melodramatically torn on what to do next. Meanwhile, the audience just wants some kickass rage against the machines, or a more involving, and less complicated, basis on which it occurs.

action, arnold schwarzenegger, christian bale, franchise, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, sequel, tens

TERMINATOR: SALVATION

title: TERMINATOR: SALVATION year: 2010 cast: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin rating: ** At one point, about thirt...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/14/2011 / No comments / drama , jan-michael vincent , robert mitchum , sally kirkland , seventies

MITCHUM & VINCENT IN GOING HOME

<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C9pgEE4esOs/TfhZ5a51ryI/AAAAAAAAB3M/pWJ-rsajqRE/s1600/232578.1020.A.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618339378154024738" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C9pgEE4esOs/TfhZ5a51ryI/AAAAAAAAB3M/pWJ-rsajqRE/s200/232578.1020.A.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 250px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 140px;" /></a>title: GOING HOME 
year: 1971 
cast: Robert Mitchum, Jan-Michael Vincent, Sally Kirkland 
rating: *** 
 
This obscure drama, centering on a war hero, Robert Mitchum, who violently murders his wife (Sally Kirkland) witnessed by his four-year-old son, now grown-up in the form of brooding rebel Jan-Michael Vincent, is passably entertaining fare. Mitchum lives with young trailer-trash girlfriend Brenda Vaccaro, while Jan-Michael, having just returned home, seems either bent on revenge or forgiveness for his aged, yet still tough as nails, pop as they hang out bowling and drinking: making up for lost time. The best moments involve jarring situations that seem vividly real but aren't really happening (seen in Vincent's mind)... one has Mitchum destroying a pick-up-truck with a tire iron... or flashbacks viewed in present-time locations ala IN COLD BLOOD. It's a breezy character-study but without much character-development, neither Mitchum or Vincent becoming fully realized, nor their past fitfully resolved, but it's nice seeing the two steely mavericks together either way.

drama, jan-michael vincent, robert mitchum, sally kirkland, seventies

MITCHUM & VINCENT IN GOING HOME

title: GOING HOME year: 1971 cast: Robert Mitchum, Jan-Michael Vincent, Sally Kirkland rating: *** This obscure drama, centering on ...

THE REAL EASY ANDY IN AMERICAN BOY

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_akh1GLTA1A/VlvQEK8WSoI/AAAAAAAApv0/Lifa9BNIzaw/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-11-29%2Bat%2B8.26.59%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_akh1GLTA1A/VlvQEK8WSoI/AAAAAAAApv0/Lifa9BNIzaw/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-11-29%2Bat%2B8.26.59%2BPM.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1978 rating: ***1/2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Steven Prince, who played the gun-dealing blabbermouth "Easy Andy" in the Martin Scorsese classic TAXI DRIVER, has his hour to shine. This, a documentary involving Prince, Scorsese, and actor George Memmoli (the fat guy in MEAN STREETS and the ice-rink counter in ROCKY) sitting around a living room, is really a glorified home movie, inserting images of the subject as a child as the nasal-voiced journeyman banters about drugs, bagels, family members, working for Neil Diamond, and a lice-seeking gorilla. Few of the diatribes are interesting while others seem like bullshit overheard in a bar. But it's during the last fifteen minutes, as Steven shares about a fatal incident involving a gun in Arizona, where things pick-up. And the standout tale of extraordinary madness involves Prince saving an overdosing girl's life by injecting her in the chest with an adrenaline shot while reading instructions on how to do so. Sound familiar, Tarantino fans? Prince does seem like Scorsese's own Steve Buscemi, though not used enough. And Neil Young's obscure track "Time Fades Away" envelopes the pieces nicely.

documentary, george memmoli, martin scorsese, seventies, steven prince

THE REAL EASY ANDY IN AMERICAN BOY

year: 1978 rating: ***1/2 Steven Prince, who played the gun-dealing blabbermouth "Easy Andy" in the Martin Scorsese classic TA...

DEVIL

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tQEJlvTxSsE/TfgTVIb08pI/AAAAAAAAB2M/xJGKuA-4hFM/s1600/Devil-Movie-12-550x366.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618261788907074194" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tQEJlvTxSsE/TfgTVIb08pI/AAAAAAAAB2M/xJGKuA-4hFM/s200/Devil-Movie-12-550x366.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 191px;" /></a>title: DEVIL year: 2010 cast: Chris Messina, Bokeen Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green rating: **1/2 <div>M. Night Shyamalan, whose last few directed films have steered away from the patented twist endings, wrote (directed by someone else) a film where the conclusion is hinged upon an inevitable answer to the plot-built question: of the five people stuck inside a high rise elevator, which one is the Devil? Not just a devil, but the real thing. This quirky notion’s set up (i.e. explained) through narration by a Catholic side-character sharing his mother’s bedtime story: centering on the Devil infiltrating a small group of people without making himself known, causing each to turn against each other in violence. Well, well, if this isn’t exactly what happens in the elevator between an eclectic group of characters including:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PebhJPxO74k/TfgTGC6HBdI/AAAAAAAAB18/7-sxbybn-jM/s1600/devil_shyamalan.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618261529725437394" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PebhJPxO74k/TfgTGC6HBdI/AAAAAAAAB18/7-sxbybn-jM/s200/devil_shyamalan.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 177px; height: 200px;" /></a> a claustrophobic temp security guard; a roguish drifter with a questionable past; a pretty divorcee; an old tough lady; and an overly-opinionated salesman, the latter obviously written as the snarky comic relief, but winding up the weakest, and most annoying, of the group. Random slayings occur within the elevator during power failures, so no one knows who the killer is. And on the outside, a world-weary cop, whose wife and child recently died in a car accident, is trying to figure the culprit and,<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O4roHY3IjVc/TfgTL-rLv8I/AAAAAAAAB2E/JW2V0BZaMLE/s1600/dfadfa.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618261631668305858" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O4roHY3IjVc/TfgTL-rLv8I/AAAAAAAAB2E/JW2V0BZaMLE/s200/dfadfa.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 96px; height: 200px;" /></a> after being convinced by our narrator, to find out if he, or she, is truly the Devil. And there is a twist within, probably the most creative aspect of a film that meanders at a somewhat clunky pace inside and outside the enclosed setting. And while some of the dialog seems contrived, and sporadic moments of bombastic C.G.I. bloodshed intrude upon the Hitchcock inspired character-driven suspense, there are pockets of reliable moments within a unique modern fable of right, wrong, and whatever, or whoever, gets caught in-between. </div>

ensemble, horror, m. night, mystery, suspense, tens

DEVIL

title: DEVIL year: 2010 cast: Chris Messina, Bokeen Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green rating: **1/2 M. Night Shyamalan, whose last few direct...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/13/2011 / No comments / cartoon , disney , sixties

THE SWORD IN THE STONE

cartoon, disney, sixties

THE SWORD IN THE STONE

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW HOME AND REVIEW OF SWORD IN THE STONE

PLANET TERROR

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DLaF2QUdcsE/Tfb8vTa-z8I/AAAAAAAAB1Q/I0PR04cTgvc/s1600/936full-planet-terror-poster.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617955474788765634" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DLaF2QUdcsE/Tfb8vTa-z8I/AAAAAAAAB1Q/I0PR04cTgvc/s200/936full-planet-terror-poster.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 119px; height: 200px;" /></a>title: PLANET TERROR
year: 2007
cast: Rose McGowan, Josh Brolin, Jeff Fahey, Freddy Rodriguez, Bruce Willis
rating: ***1/2

The first (and best) segment of GRINDHOUSE, teaming Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino doing their own "cheap" horror films. Plot centers on a group of survivors during an outbreak brought back from Iraq. The military is at fault as it's a send-up of the zombie genre... yet it also stands on its own merits. The characters are fantastic; standouts being Josh Brolin as an evil doctor turned "sicko" and his beautiful, beaten, closet-lesbian doctor wife. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kn3RNi8i3c8/Tfb8zFkLTQI/AAAAAAAAB1Y/tUymWwTSlp0/s1600/planet-terror-01.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617955539788713218" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kn3RNi8i3c8/Tfb8zFkLTQI/AAAAAAAAB1Y/tUymWwTSlp0/s200/planet-terror-01.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" /></a>You'll see a lot in the promotion with Rose McGowan as a stripper with a machine gun leg, but this happens in the last five minutes. Freddy Rodriguez makes a decent Clint Eastwood-type. Jeff Fahey is also quite good as a sloppy, tough cafe owner as is Michael Biehn as his sheriff brother and a darkly hilarious cameo by Nicky Katt (who's brilliant in THE LIMEY).<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-79z7sdamv4w/Tfb85wmX8sI/AAAAAAAAB1g/y999YfY2nwM/s1600/planet%252Bterror.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617955654419870402" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-79z7sdamv4w/Tfb85wmX8sI/AAAAAAAAB1g/y999YfY2nwM/s200/planet%252Bterror.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 156px; height: 200px;" /></a> Not to forget Bruce Willis, Naveen Andrews and Quentin Tarantino making effective cameos. Robert Rodriguez never lets up with action but still finds time for story, and the character-development is placed perfectly within the running around, gun-fights, car chases, and mega-slayings. Bad sound, screen blotches, and missing reels are purposely added to cement the GRINDHOUSE experience (theaters that'd play several B movies in a row using cheap projectors). This makes little-to-no sense since it's a big budget CGI film, but the flaws, contrived or otherwise, don't hinder this rollercoaster ride: they only enhance it.

bruce willis, ensemble, horror anthology, josh brolin, quentin tarantino, robert rodriguez, stripper, zeroes

PLANET TERROR

title: PLANET TERROR year: 2007 cast: Rose McGowan, Josh Brolin, Jeff Fahey, Freddy Rodriguez, Bruce Willis rating: ***1/2 The first (and ...

GATOR BAIT

<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8MDncYvgE3g/Tfb53-W1MwI/AAAAAAAAB1A/DV12a8M4jM8/s1600/dd.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617952325218153218" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8MDncYvgE3g/Tfb53-W1MwI/AAAAAAAAB1A/DV12a8M4jM8/s200/dd.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 147px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>title: GATOR BAIT 
year: 1974 
cast: Claudia Jennings 
rating: *** 
 
There are revenge flicks where the protagonist seeks revenge on the villain or villains. These are the most common. Then there are those reverse-revenge flicks where the villain seeks revenge on the protagonist. This film serves up both, hot not cold, as a Cajun Fox played by b-movie vixen Claudia Jennings gets falsely accused for murdering a man attempting to rape her, and his family, and the local cops, take to the swamp to find and kill her.<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-If6X-l_p59I/Tfb6UAp4j9I/AAAAAAAAB1I/WFNnTlwBXa8/s1600/GatorBait6.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617952806871273426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-If6X-l_p59I/Tfb6UAp4j9I/AAAAAAAAB1I/WFNnTlwBXa8/s200/GatorBait6.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 144px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a> Along the way they kill her younger sister, cult starlet Janit Baldiwn, and now it's Claudia's turn for vengeance. She leads them further into the swamps, where she has the upper hand, and hunts 'em one by one. It's that basic, folks. And believe it or not, some of the acting isn't horrible. The camera moves around nicely and gets you involved with the action. And there's Claudia Jennings wearing close to nothing. Need I write more?

action, claudia jennings, exploitation, janit baldwin, revenge, seventies

GATOR BAIT

title: GATOR BAIT year: 1974 cast: Claudia Jennings rating: *** There are revenge flicks where the protagonist seeks revenge on the v...

HERCULES IN NEW YORK

<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cjX0Kx4RcMo/TfbrKJiTGZI/AAAAAAAAB0w/wWiaMR-efdk/s1600/5129676_std.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617936144782268818" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cjX0Kx4RcMo/TfbrKJiTGZI/AAAAAAAAB0w/wWiaMR-efdk/s200/5129676_std.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 157px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>title: HERCULES IN NEW YORK 
year: 1970 
cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arnold Stang, James Karen 
rating: *** 
 
The original dubbed version, with Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice replaced by a guy who sounds like he should be doing FM radio voice-overs, is now sadly gone: we now have Arnold's voice that we all know... Arnold is Arnold no matter what film he's in... so the fact he's actually speaking kind of takes away from the cheesiness of the original. But it's still quite fun seeing him playing Hercules who, bored of Mount Olympus and his father Zeus throwing metallic lightning arrows, ventures to New York City where he takes up with nerdy Arnold Stang, his manager in the wrestling circuit, all the while befriending James Karen and his lovely daughter Deborah Loomis, punching-out burly sailors, battling a horribly-costumed bear in Central Park, and fighting not only the mob but the evil god Pluto. Like in all great/bad cult flicks, things flow wonderfully from one situation to the next. And then, before you know it, the movie's done: and you're a much better person for having survived it. 
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mvhfdZz9AuU" width="480"></iframe>

arnold schwarzenegger, arnold stang, comedy, seventies

HERCULES IN NEW YORK

title: HERCULES IN NEW YORK year: 1970 cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arnold Stang, James Karen rating: *** The original dubbed version...

THE JACKSONS: AN AMERICAN DREAM

<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IFo1nwB5Zxc/TfbpFtvY-UI/AAAAAAAAB0g/5GEiUmLvccg/s1600/the-jacksons-an-american-dream-the-mini-series-2adb9.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617933869578254658" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IFo1nwB5Zxc/TfbpFtvY-UI/AAAAAAAAB0g/5GEiUmLvccg/s200/the-jacksons-an-american-dream-the-mini-series-2adb9.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 176px;" /></a>title: THE JACKSONS: AN AMERICAN DREAM 
year: 1992 
cast: Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Angela Basset, Billy Dee Williams 
rating: *** 
 
A decent biopic miniseries that could have been great had they put as much into the stardom of the Jacksons (and Michael in particular) then they did the struggle to get there. 
 
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, best known as “Washington” from WELCOME BACK KOTTER, plays the dominating patriarch, Joe Jackson, and while his performance is decent enough, there's not enough reasons explained behind his sometimes overly temperamental methods of making (and/or forcing) his five kids to practice their singing and dancing in order to "make it big.” After all, since they did make it big, one can say... Joe did all right… right? 
 
But since he made them call him "Joseph" instead of father, cheated on his wife, didn't want them to have girlfriends, and wasn't very friendly... perhaps fame wasn't worth the price of having a very controlling dad. And it's not exactly clear whether we, the audience, should love him, hate him, or just put up with him... like the family. 
 
The first half of the miniseries, beginning with Joe and his wife (played by Angela Bassett) meeting, having many children, living in poverty, practicing to become a band and then being signed by Barry Gordy's Motown label, is quite entertaining. All the kids, especially the younger Michael (Jason Weaver), do a fantastic job acting, dancing and singing. 
 
But then when they get famous, the show shifts to fast-forward, eventually cutting from 1976, after the Jacksons drop out of Motown records and go on their own, to 1983... a year after Michael's mega grossing album THRILLER had already been released (yet he's working on Thriller-tracks in the studio, which is confusing). 
 
We never see the leap Michael goes through with Thriller – still the biggest album of all time… thus catapulting him into an icon… and what this instant titanic stardom did to his brothers (were they at all jealous?). The actor playing the adult Michael, unlike the younger actor, is merely doing an imitation. 
 
And then, showing the Jacksons during their 1985 VICTORY TOUR, it all wraps up too quickly, leaving out a lot of important things having to do with success and it's ramifications. 
 
The first half, as the family works to make it big, is good enough. At the very least, you get to hear some awesome Motown music and a slice of music history: even though it is, for the most part, Jackson propaganda. 
 
But, being that Michael had enough bad things centered on them, why not? After all, despite the plethora of quirky (and bizarre and allegedly perverted) habits, he did have lots of talent.

billy dee williams, biopic, lawrence hilton-jacobs, music, nineties

THE JACKSONS: AN AMERICAN DREAM

title: THE JACKSONS: AN AMERICAN DREAM year: 1992 cast: Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Angela Basset, Billy Dee Williams rating: *** A decen...

JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT IN HARD COUNTRY

bar fight, drama, eighties, jan-michael vincent, kim basinger

JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT IN HARD COUNTRY

year: 1981 rating: *** One of those blue collar beer guzzlin' factory worker films where if you're not one of the endearingly-f...

KAREN BLACK IN TRILOGY OF TERROR

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6qryyvwRBpU/URW20Cp3MdI/AAAAAAAAWSk/8srqSkZjZbM/s1600/Trilogy7_zps50a6a897.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="486" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6qryyvwRBpU/URW20Cp3MdI/AAAAAAAAWSk/8srqSkZjZbM/s640/Trilogy7_zps50a6a897.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1975 cast: Karen Black, Karen Black, Karen Black rating: ***1/2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Seeing the wonderfully versatile Karen Black play four roles (or rather, three roles and four characters) in a TV-movie showcasing three Night Gallery style stories is a great thing. The first involves an uptight spectacle-wearing college professor who's seduced by her handsome, nefarious honor student. Without giving away the twist, it's a great episode because Karen's playing someone she's not, and you'll have to watch it a second time to truly catch all her quirks and mannerisms. 
 
The next deals with two sisters: one a crotchety sourpuss, the other a sexy blond. The twist is way too obvious. Blame the writer for this, not Karen, for she plays both roles well. 
 
The third, and most entertaining, is what the movie's known for, dealing with a woman (Black again) who purchased a foot-high spear-donning Zuni Fetish Doll. If the waist-sash falls off the doll, it comes to life. And guess what falls off the doll? The little bugger chases Karen around the apartment sounding like the Tasmanian Devil on PCP – imagine Animal from the Muppets on a killing spree and there you have it. So while this final outing is the scariest tale of the bunch – dealing with a thing too small and quick to kill but that can kill you… the first story's where Black's acting (as opposed to reacting) really shines. 
 
<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/08/karen-black-trilogy-of-terror.html">KAREN BLACK TRILOGY OF TERROR INTERVIEW</a> 
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aLFqtrm2R1s" width="480"></iframe>

dan curtis, horror anthology, karen black, richard matheson, seventies

KAREN BLACK IN TRILOGY OF TERROR

year: 1975 cast: Karen Black, Karen Black, Karen Black rating: ***1/2 Seeing the wonderfully versatile Karen Black play four roles ...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/10/2011 / No comments / blockbuster , j.j. abrams , science-fiction , steven spielberg , tens

SUPER 8

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8spXo5y0ik0/TfKKQVO9CVI/AAAAAAAABzY/9ZZLsJj7pUg/s1600/Super8NotTagged1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616703698466834770" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8spXo5y0ik0/TfKKQVO9CVI/AAAAAAAABzY/9ZZLsJj7pUg/s200/Super8NotTagged1.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 198px;" /></a>title: SUPER 8 year: 2011 cast: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Riley Griffiths rating: **1/2 Writer/director J.J. Abrams pays homage to late-seventies, early-to-mid eighties Steven Spielberg science-fiction films, with the living legend himself as producer. Set in 1979, when people had Walk-Mans instead of iPods, and listened to the kind of music today’s parents sing karaoke to on weekends, the story begins with a group of youngsters making a cheesy zombie flick with a Super 8 camera. This is the best part, bringing back memories of the endearingly curious kiddos in Spielberg outings E.T. THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL and THE GOONIES... this film-within-a-film is a fun and involving baseline. Unfortunately, this titular device doesn’t last long. For as the kids are shooting at the platform of a train station, a train derails causing a big budget wreck liken to the plane crash on Abram’s television series LOST. The group scatters for their lives and never quite recover. And either does the story at hand, replacing character development with a horror-driven suspense: Following the disaster, something (an Alien, perhaps?) is causing strange and violent things to happen in the small town. Thus Joel Courtney, as the young, vulnerable main protagonist, his dream girl Elle Fanning (cast as the ingénue of the zombie film), and Joel’s father (Kyle Chandler), a local cop, investigate separately: becoming the only three characters we really get to know. While Cop-Dad deals with the nefarious military, Joel and Elle (their friends subjected to filler roles) are trying to figure out the source of these happenings: imagine "Elliot” from E.T. morphing into Richard Dreyfuss from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. And while those Spielberg classics, which this film borrows from in not only plot-structure and characters but camera and lighting, took their time to reach a conclusion, this one too quickly turns an initially creative coming-of-age suspense yarn into a high-octane monster movie rushing to an inevitable, and somewhat predictable, conclusion. And while Riley Griffiths’ character (think THE GOONIES “Chunk” with bossy bravado), who directs the zombie film, has his moments, he never becomes the capable scene-stealer as obviously intended. Although his completed short (shown during the end credits) is entertaining, serving as a reminder that J.J. Abrams, while making the town itself and the situation at hand seem real, didn't center enough on those kids and the Super 8 camera.

blockbuster, j.j. abrams, science-fiction, steven spielberg, tens

SUPER 8

title: SUPER 8 year: 2011 cast: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Riley Griffiths rating: **1/2 Writer/director J.J. Abrams pays...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/08/2011 / No comments / courtroom drama , ensemble , fifties , henry fonda , jack klugman , lee j. cobb , martin balsam

12 ANGRY MEN

<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FqIZfu0HDhM/Te_bRDKTbvI/AAAAAAAAByw/T7PKa06AUFQ/s1600/460059.1020.A.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615948346307079922" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FqIZfu0HDhM/Te_bRDKTbvI/AAAAAAAAByw/T7PKa06AUFQ/s200/460059.1020.A.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 123px;" /></a>title: 12 ANGRY MEN 
year: 1957 
cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman 
rating: ***1/2 
 
Set in a hot, stuffy deliberations room full of not only angry but stubborn and impatient jurors, Henry Fonda alone makes up for what had to be the worst defense in the history of murder cases. This honored film, a courtroom drama taking place outside the courtroom, has Fonda as a mild-mannered architect acting as if a defense attorney, proving that a young man accused of fatally stabbing his father, in a supposedly open-shut case, is not guilty by means of reasonable doubt. The fellow jurors he must convince, including a barking, bitter Lee J. Cobb, a stiff and determined E.G. Marshall, and Jack Warden as a salesman who'd rather see a ball game, aren’t backing down…but more open-minded jurors like Jack Klugman help him gain more and more support. While the writing can be manipulative, intentionally swaying the audience right along with the jury, the direction, within the confined setting, gives each member a chance to shine. Yet the acting, performed by a stellar cast with some terrific moments, often feels stagy: especially Lee J. Cobb’s over-the-top breakdown. But it’s Fonda’s show here, remaining the constant barometer in an ever-changing tide.

courtroom drama, ensemble, fifties, henry fonda, jack klugman, lee j. cobb, martin balsam

12 ANGRY MEN

title: 12 ANGRY MEN year: 1957 cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman rating: ***1/2 Set in a hot,...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/05/2011 / No comments / action , dominique sanda , george peppard , jackie earle haley , jan-michael vincent , post-apocalyptic , science-fiction , seventies

DAMNATION ALLEY

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-unECt1KvdWE/URXANYLTg8I/AAAAAAAAWXc/kOUNretzYZk/s1600/damnationalley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-unECt1KvdWE/URXANYLTg8I/AAAAAAAAWXc/kOUNretzYZk/s1600/damnationalley.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1977 cast: Jan-Michael Vincent, George Peppard, Jackie Earle Haley rating: ****</td></tr>
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DAMNATION ALLEY has regarded by some critics as a horrible science-fiction post-nuclear film... it isn't: An adventurous and creative plot centers on a group of military survivors in and outside of a large all-terrain desert vehicle called "The Landmaster" battling killer cockroaches, giant crabs, and mutated hillbillies: a terrific ride that keeps you interested in the fate of the military men played by Jan-Michael Vincent (the dirt bike riding rogue), George Peppard (the leader), Paul Winfield (the artist), and the civilians they pick up on the way: Dominique Sanda (the babe) and Jackie Earle Haley (a rock throwing kid). 
 
Scenes involving the shark-shaped vehicle plundering across the barren desert avoiding lighting storms, tornadoes and floods are riveting and intense, as are the frequent stops at seemingly deserted gas stations and towns where various antagonists, man and beast alike, try killing them. 
 
It's a post-nuke RAT PATROL that kicks ass from beginning to end. But on the other side of the coin, and why the film’s quality is often maligned, are the dated special effects: but that's okay. It's a character-driven piece so the visual flaws don't matter.

action, dominique sanda, george peppard, jackie earle haley, jan-michael vincent, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, seventies

DAMNATION ALLEY

year: 1977 cast: Jan-Michael Vincent, George Peppard, Jackie Earle Haley rating: **** DAMNATION ALLEY has regarded by some critics as ...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/04/2011 / 1 Comment / blockbuster , marvel comics , prequel , superhero , tens

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mv4GgC39IEE/TenyBtMPdDI/AAAAAAAABuY/RtmdNKo-RE0/s1600/dddd.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5614284521618764850" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mv4GgC39IEE/TenyBtMPdDI/AAAAAAAABuY/RtmdNKo-RE0/s200/dddd.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 187px; height: 200px;" /></a>title: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS year: 2011 cast: Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Kevin Bacon rating: ***1/2 A prequel that gets it right. While we know these characters will grow to be the X-MEN from the first three films (sans Wolverine, providing a humorous cameo), these younger versions excel within a completely involving tale. Michael Fassbender is a revenge-stricken Magneto (although his nickname comes later), wanting to kill the World War II era Nazi, played with menacing bravado by Kevin Bacon who, in the 1940s, helped his powers grow – by, in lesson number one, killing his mother. And a young Xaviar, played with maverick charm by James McAvoy, helps Magneto control his anger (kind of like a Jedi, but George Lucas could have learned about back-stories here).<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l6Vds54QdcE/Tenx6cuxdTI/AAAAAAAABuQ/7uCPiAoVD0M/s1600/X-Men-First-Class-The-Gangs-All-Here-19-1-11-kc.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5614284396941112626" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l6Vds54QdcE/Tenx6cuxdTI/AAAAAAAABuQ/7uCPiAoVD0M/s200/X-Men-First-Class-The-Gangs-All-Here-19-1-11-kc.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 137px; height: 200px;" /></a>Together they seek out a group of eclectically-skilled mutant teens: including a flame-thrower, a sonic-screamer, and a young scientist with hands on his feet (and the subtle angst of a future Beast). Not to forget a teenage Raven, having problems adapting to her true blue colors. Two montages work nicely: first seeking the students for “enrollment” and the other as they all train to counter the impending Cuban Missile Crisis – making these superheroes not only save the globe, but keeping both world powers intact on their Cold War platform: setting a stage for possible follow-ups with this fresh new cast. And while some of the youngsters seem out of a Twilight film acting-wise, their powers are cool – except for one girl who, with wings on her back, resembles a bionic Tinkerbell. But it’s Fassbender and McAvoy that own this film: both embodying the cerebral and physical traits of the two powerful mutant leaders destined to become enemies – but needing each other just the same.

blockbuster, marvel comics, prequel, superhero, tens

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

title: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS year: 2011 cast: Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Kevin Bacon rating: ***1/2 A prequel that gets it right. Whi...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/02/2011 / 1 Comment / action , comedy , mark walhberg , ray liotta , steve carell , tens , tina fey

DATE NIGHT

<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L-vgbtkcwfs/TehrXuwy5LI/AAAAAAAABuE/68RicqY3r-g/s1600/dd.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613854990951179442" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L-vgbtkcwfs/TehrXuwy5LI/AAAAAAAABuE/68RicqY3r-g/s200/dd.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 183px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>title: DATE NIGHT 
year: 2010 
cast: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Ray Liotta 
rating: ** 
 
The tale of a husband and wife who’ve been married too long. They have kids, a scheduled routine, and no sex life. So they go out on a "date" to a fancy restaurant, but there are no tables… Until the waiter calls out the name of a party with a table for two, and when no one shows up, Steve and Tina pretend be the couple. Thus the adventure begins as two thugs, thinking they're someone else, escort them into an alley and, at gunpoint, want a flash drive containing… Well that’s the plot, or what Hitchcock calls the “McGuffin”: an essential element the audience needs but doesn't really care about. With Steve Carell and Tina Fey, they’re most likely hoping for a lotta laughs. Well there aren’t too many. The look of the film is grainy, the colors blown-out like a modern thriller, and with car chases and gun-toting, nasty (though not very formidable) villains, you’ll forget it’s a comedy for more reasons than not being very funny. Although Carell and Fey have a few chucklesome moments, it’s an uneven ride. And Mark Walhberg contributes a glorified cameo as a shirtless secret agent providing imperative information much too easily. But thankfully his shortcuts bring the screen-time to a minimum, because the running-around gets tiresome, quick.

action, comedy, mark walhberg, ray liotta, steve carell, tens, tina fey

DATE NIGHT

title: DATE NIGHT year: 2010 cast: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Ray Liotta rating: ** The tale of a husband and wife who’ve ...

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