TED

<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sAErtktG1Ms/T--qaIKdYCI/AAAAAAAAISM/ZpLWkkwRQtE/s1600/ted-mark-wahlberg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="386" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sAErtktG1Ms/T--qaIKdYCI/AAAAAAAAISM/ZpLWkkwRQtE/s640/ted-mark-wahlberg.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>title:</b> TED <b>year:</b> 2012 <b>cast: </b>Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis<b> rating: </b>***</td></tr> </tbody></table> A sweet little kid makes a wish that his teddy bear come to life, and he does. Skip twenty years later and neither are very innocent, hanging around smoking pot and watching TV. And “Ted” is no secret. He made big news back in the day so humanity’s used to a walking/talking toy (the special effects are amazing). He loves to speak his mind and makes life difficult for Mark Wahlberg’s John Bennett, an easygoing yet put-upon fellow with a lousy job and beautiful girlfriend played by Mila Kunis, who wishes her man, and living situation, was a lot more normal.<br /> <br /> So Ted’s forced to get his own pad and the real problems begin: John prefers spending more time with his stuffed crony than his girlfriend. And who wouldn’t? Ted has endless pot and a raging party with John’s favorite cult celebrity... After which the duo calls it quits: John loses his girl and Ted his master, and the humor takes backseat to a creepy kidnapping much too convoluted for this kinda movie.<br /> <br /> Not like TED isn’t fun when it tries to be – but the good times could have rolled a lot longer, and not all Ted’s politically-incorrect rants are as funny as the fact <i>he’s </i>saying them. And since we’re quickly dealing with the consequences of living the simple life, this often feels more like a sequel whose predecessor had a much breezier ride.<br /> <br /> Because the scenes where Wahlberg and Ted (voiced by writer/director Seth McFarlane) sit around doing nothing are what makes this truly worthwhile. It’s too bad they had to grow up and actually care about something.

2012, comedy, mark wahlberg, mila kunis

TED

title: TED year: 2012 cast: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis rating: *** A sweet little kid makes a wish that his teddy bear come to life, a...

NINETIES REBOOT SMACKDOWN: MCHALE'S NAVY VS SGT. BILKO

<table align="center" 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="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hciffBBFSSs/T-q9CUie-II/AAAAAAAAIIk/wfY_PbD_1qE/s1600/halesNavy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hciffBBFSSs/T-q9CUie-II/AAAAAAAAIIk/wfY_PbD_1qE/s400/halesNavy.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> year: 1997 cast: Tom Arnold, Dean Stockwell rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>IN THIS CORNER</b>… MCHALE’S NAVY starring Tom Arnold, more of a breezy action film than a comedy... and the action’s pretty decent.<br /> <br /> Arnold, a horrible actor whilst married to Rosanne Barr, provided a miraculous turn in James Cameron’s TRUE LIES and, with feet firmly planted into Hollywood’s soil, became a passable "leading man." Not all his roles were very special (and his ride didn't last long) but he’s pretty natural as the deal-making ex-Navy officer who’s turned the tropical island barracks into his very own garage sale. He’s got McHale’s brand ice cream, beer, whiskey and just about everything while his buddies live a permanent vacation – sounds perfect, right? Well not when Dean Stockwell’s antagonistic Navy Admiral shows up and puts McHale’s business to rest. But the real bad guy’s none other than eyebrow-wielding Tim Curry – a second rate terrorist who takes over half the island where native kids play baseball. He’s got a really cool supersonic speedboat loaded with big guns, and McHale’s sloppy straw-roof yacht is no match. One scene has McHale’s men, including Bruce Campbell and David Allen Grier (unsuccessfully taking the Tim Conway role), party in Cuba leading to a bar fight and is a pretty good time. But there’s a downside to all the running around – we need a few laughs and one-liners from funnier characters. Ernest Borgnine, the original McHale, makes an appearance as the Pentagon General in charge of everything: and there's a twist...<br /> <br /> <table align="center" 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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u6u3ZfvfS4U/T-jLWT2iJ_I/AAAAAAAAIEE/Az_H7GdMCEQ/s1600/sgt-bilko-movie-still-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u6u3ZfvfS4U/T-jLWT2iJ_I/AAAAAAAAIEE/Az_H7GdMCEQ/s400/sgt-bilko-movie-still-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1996 cast: Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd, Phil Hartman  rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>AND IN THIS CORNER:</b> SGT. BILKO (also based on a classic TV series) runs the Army motor pool like his very own casino.<br /> <br /> Seen through the eyes of a new recruit mechanic with an annoying penchant for honesty, we see all the wily goings-on: from poker games to a wrestling match between a fat dude and a horse. Steve Martin throws all his rubbery physical hijinks into the same pot and comes across as a hyperactive game show host rather than a Navy con artist. And Phil Hartman’s commander provides the antagonists: a former rival of Bilko, he’s returned from Iceland with one goal: change the party-hardy unit into a well-oiled machine. Too soon we’re thrust into the lovable slobs having to deal with an adversary. The good times don’t roll long enough until the audience, like the characters herein, have to end the party. And despite stale jokes, boring side-characters (including a tubby Dan Aykroyd), a pointless subplot about a hovering tank, and Bilko's put-upon love interest, it’s not much of a party to begin with.<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> <b>THE DECISION:</b> Although Bilko scores a few points for coming out a year earlier, McHale knocks him out with ease!!!</div>

bruce campbell, comedy, dan aykroyd, ernest borgnine, military, nineties, steve martin, tim curry, tom arnold, TV adaptation

NINETIES REBOOT SMACKDOWN: MCHALE'S NAVY VS SGT. BILKO

 year: 1997 cast: Tom Arnold, Dean Stockwell rating: *** IN THIS CORNER … MCHALE’S NAVY starring Tom Arnold, more of a breezy action fil...

ROBERT DE NIRO AND EDDIE MURPHY TEAM IN 'SHOWTIME'

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table align="center" 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="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M7G7jRs23yE/T-listuPFZI/AAAAAAAAIFg/nxJT-Uv5FmM/s1600/320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M7G7jRs23yE/T-listuPFZI/AAAAAAAAIFg/nxJT-Uv5FmM/s400/320.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 2000 cast: Robert DeNiro, Eddie Murphy,William Shatner score: ***</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> It’s good cop, bad cop. The good cop takes his job serious. Robert De Niro’s Mitch Preston plays by the book and from the very beginning lets us know the difference between fictional fuzz and real ones. The bad cop isn’t crooked, he’s just not very… good as his job. And he’s a bad actor...<br /> <br /> Not Eddie Murphy – but his character Trey Sellers wants to be part of a popular reality series TUFF COPS and doesn’t have the acting chops to make the cut. Till he foils an important bust led by DeNiro's Preston, which is captured on the local news – and the reality show, headed by producer Rene Russo, sees a rising star in the gruff veteran cop.<br /> <br /> <table align="center" 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/-fePRnIgOVys/T-lj0ZUi-SI/AAAAAAAAIFo/fJUrkY6Ufd0/s1600/e.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fePRnIgOVys/T-lj0ZUi-SI/AAAAAAAAIFo/fJUrkY6Ufd0/s320/e.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>DeNiro and Sam Jackson in JACKIE BROWN </u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Long story short, the two opposites team up as part of the reality series and, like Murphy’s screen debut 48 HRS (or any buddy flick) they don’t get along at first. Till they move in on the main villain… a Spanish nightclub owner with a giant gun that can shoot through anything (including bulletproof vests)… and both eventually learn to trust each other...<br /> <br /> Which all sounds more cliché and banal than it actually is. Despite the déjà vu – we’ve seen this template a million times – SHOWTIME is surprisingly involving despite the fact it’s not drop on the floor funny like Murphy's older movies, and we all know De Niro deserves better. But the characters, if anything else, will keep you invested in the outcome <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OrotbyY5yY0/T-lj2a8f5BI/AAAAAAAAIFw/Fny3dvRA__M/s1600/48-hrs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OrotbyY5yY0/T-lj2a8f5BI/AAAAAAAAIFw/Fny3dvRA__M/s1600/48-hrs.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Eddie Murphy starts a career with Nick Nolte in 48 HRS</u></td></tr> </tbody></table>

action, comedy, cop, eddie murphy, rene russo, robert deniro, team-up, william shatner, zeroes

ROBERT DE NIRO AND EDDIE MURPHY TEAM IN 'SHOWTIME'

year: 2000 cast: Robert DeNiro, Eddie Murphy,William Shatner score: *** It’s good cop, bad cop. The good cop takes his job serious. Ro...

MOONRISE KINGDOM

<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/-jU20-qETXpw/T-ii6k0wZOI/AAAAAAAAIDw/aVR0O3uRD8g/s1600/wesandersonmoonrisekingdom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="386" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jU20-qETXpw/T-ii6k0wZOI/AAAAAAAAIDw/aVR0O3uRD8g/s640/wesandersonmoonrisekingdom.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>title:</b> MOONRISE KINGDOM <b>year:</b> 2012 <b>cast:</b> Bruce Willis, Bill Murray <b>rating:</b> *</td></tr> </tbody></table> There's an Orson Welles quote: "The enemy of art is the absence of limitations." Well you can overdose... or go overboard... on just about anything, including quirkiness. And Wes Anderson piles on his patented absurd creativity but only as far as the symmetrically flamboyant images go: from a neat looking lighthouse to a tree-house dangling high up on a thin trunk, it's all about the visuals.<br /> <br /> Set in the gorgeous New England outdoors, the story (using the word plot would be a stretch) centers on two young lovers. One, the boy, is a disassociated orphan in a camp troop and the girl lives across the water in a nice house with stone cold parents. The kids are probably the worst child actors ever – or could it be Anderson’s intention to make them so robotic? Perhaps their lack of energy brings out the gorgeous scenery around them. Either way it’s difficult to feel for their Romeo and Juliet plight, traversing the land with cop Bruce Willis, scout master Ed Norton and his troop on their trail. Both are supposedly discovering true love but we never really understand their attraction in the first place... Though it’d take real actors and a decent script for that sort of character arc.<br /> <br /> The pallid boy wears glasses and represents the hipster movement in rudimentary form, bent doing things his own way. And even after being captured and taken to the main camp run by Harvey Keitel, then helped to escape and being reunited during a formidable lightning storm, artsy director Wes Anderson provides the usual aesthetic pleasures his fans expect (and accept) yet there’s nothing more going on: style trumps story at every turn. Even Bill Murray lacks soul and purpose. Now that’s a feat in itself.

2012, bill murray, bruce willis, comedy, coming-of-age, edward norton, quirky, wes anderson

MOONRISE KINGDOM

title: MOONRISE KINGDOM year: 2012 cast: Bruce Willis, Bill Murray rating: * There's an Orson Welles quote: "The enemy of a...

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD

<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="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gq4D-i0DVhI/T-ezzmfSFII/AAAAAAAAIDQ/-B8NetzoXqY/s1600/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gq4D-i0DVhI/T-ezzmfSFII/AAAAAAAAIDQ/-B8NetzoXqY/s400/image.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>FINDING A DREAM FRIEND Year: 2012 SCORE: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> A dark comedy usually depends on how funny we humans remain during a serious situation. Well in that case here’s the mother of all dark comedies... Planet Earth's got twenty-one days until a giant asteroid wipes out the entire population.<br /> <br /> Beginning with Steve Carell’s mellow everyman Dodge listening to a radio report – the space shuttle attempting to blow up the asteroid has failed (perhaps a nod to DEEP IMPACT and ARMAGEDDEN) and now it’s just a matter of time. Oddly enough, Dodge’s workplace insurance company is still going – there’s a few glum people dressed casually while other workers leap from the building top. And Dodge’s girlfriend just left him so he’s got a little more to sulk about. Scenes with Dodge at a party, where kids drink booze and heroin’s treated like a shot of tequila, provide visual punchlines to how society just doesn’t care anymore. Especially Dodge, waiting for death till fate gives him a personal reprieve in the form of his beautiful apartment neighbor, Penny, played by elfin beauty Keira Knightley, adds an essential spice but her daffy quirkiness gets annoying – especially during the impending road trip where, after a suspenseful scene involving a rioting mob, Dodge and Penny seek his long lost girlfriend and a plane that can get her back home. Before that we're treated with character-actor cameos by Patton Oswalt as an optimistic party animal; William Peterson as a lonely truck driver with a secret up his sleeve; Melanie Lynskey as a possible hookup for Dodge; and his sarcastic best friend played by the always-hilarious Rob Corddry: There's a point (during the final act) where the energy fades and we’re left with Penny's overlong diatribes, halting the pace. And Carell’s one-note stunned deer in headlights expression doesn’t always help matters. But as a whole, these two characters successfully represent hope in a literally dying world, and by<i> the end</i> you’ll feel fitfully vacant in the outcome that, for better or worse, couldn’t have concluded any other way.

2012, dark comedy, keira knightley, martin sheen, road movie, steve carell

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD

FINDING A DREAM FRIEND Year: 2012 SCORE: ***1/2 A dark comedy usually depends on how funny we humans remain during a serious situation. ...

BRAVE

<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ANuIR8LoMdo/T-ZkE0r32bI/AAAAAAAAIDE/u14OBUDPrp4/s1600/brave.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="464" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ANuIR8LoMdo/T-ZkE0r32bI/AAAAAAAAIDE/u14OBUDPrp4/s640/brave.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">title: BRAVE year: 2012 voices: Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson rating: *1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> This is the epitome of burying the lead… But the trailer seemed a bit strange to begin with. Instead of the usual montage summing up the entire movie, or at least half of it, we get one scene: an assertive tomboy princess with neat looking fiery red hair shoots an arrow to choose her own fate instead of a bunch of losers vying to marry her: the one that hits the bulls eye wins her hand in marriage. (Let’s make it clear, all three young men are pathetic wrecks: if one resembled an Elfin Johnny Depp with half a brain, perhaps there’d be no story at all.)<br /> <br /> After our frustrated heroine, Princess Merida, hits all the marks by herself, the real tale begins – and not only is it strange, awkward and confusing, but even the target-audience children might shake their heads in disbelief.<br /> <br /> Merida, in order to change her destiny, seeks a forest witch who gives her a spell. Then, back at the castle, Merida offers her mom – the person really in charge of this arranged marriage thing – a spiked muffin that quickly changes her into a… giant bear! This was unplanned: Merida wanted to change her mother, not <i>change her mother</i>. The rest of the movie has the Princess keeping Mother Bear away from her huntsman father who, years earlier and as the film began, lost his leg battling a… you got it… bear. And then her three troublesome little brothers turn into bears and there’s the one big bad bear from the intro that’s part of a confusing backstory about a fallen prince.<br /> <br /> So with all the potential of setting a movie in the time where trolls and gnomes and dragons and fairies and kings and queens and knights could have roamed the mystical Celtic countryside, we get a bunch of common bears and a stretched-out story lacking a real plot, leaving only a memory of the "trailer" that would have made a fantastic short film to open a real movie with.

2012, comedy, computer animated, disney, emma thompson, fantasy

BRAVE

title: BRAVE year: 2012 voices: Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson rating: *1/2 This is the epitome of burying the lead… But the trailer see...

BAGFUL OF JOHN CUSACK W/ 'HOT PURSUT' & 'THE SURE THING'

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table align="center" 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/-74nNyb_P9wI/T-PBC53i0aI/AAAAAAAAIBA/pk7Yz-O5JAM/s1600/344385_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-74nNyb_P9wI/T-PBC53i0aI/AAAAAAAAIBA/pk7Yz-O5JAM/s1600/344385_large.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1987 cast: John Cusack, Robert Loggia, Keith David, Ben Stiller, Wendy Gazelle rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> The moral of this comic adventure could be: If you’re stuck with riff raff, stick with 'em. Twice the main character strays from helpful underdogs and winds up in deeper trouble. But none of the danger lasts very long... although there’s a whole lotta tension for John Cusack’s Dan Bartlett, a frazzled college student who’s supposed to travel to the Caribbean with his rich girlfriend’s family before failing an important chemistry test.<br /> <br /> <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="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0lJStuz9PBY/VGagFppURsI/AAAAAAAAkoI/XBrsvQ4HXVw/s1600/1053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0lJStuz9PBY/VGagFppURsI/AAAAAAAAkoI/XBrsvQ4HXVw/s1600/1053.jpg" width="144" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tasty Artwork</td></tr> </tbody></table> Cusack, fresh from feel-good classics like BETTER OFF DEAD, ONE CRAZY SUMMER and THE SURE THING, strays from his usual ever-likable persona as a jerk with a chip on his shoulder and has little patience for his girlfriend – or anyone else for that matter. But after getting a reprieve from his professor, he rushes to join his girl at the airport – and just misses her. He travels to the Caribbean and reluctantly teams up with a group of Rastafarians (including Keith David) and eventually boards the dilapidated vessel of endearing modern day pirate Robert Loggia (like tourist John Candy with modern pretentious pirate Rip Torn in SUMMER RENTAL).<br /> <br /> Dan’s always a step away from reaching his seemingly impossible goal and in one overlong scene, where he and Loggia weather a formidable storm, the film turns from brat pack to Jack London...<br /> <br /> Directed by TRON creator Steve Lisberger with music that sounds like a tropical version of the techo Tangerine Dream score from RISKY BUSINESS, this isn’t a very funny picture but will keep your interest: There’s something new around every turn and once the villains are revealed – a father/son teaming of Jerry and the not-yet-famous Ben Stiller who kidnapped Dan’s future in-laws aboard a yacht – our shaggy hero morphs into the Cusack we know and love, becoming someone to actually root for.<br /> <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/-jx0dY3VnP4s/T-PGx0Uj3VI/AAAAAAAAIBM/eKjfcTRvqwg/s1600/2hU4Cy65ucwSAsQC7Jc9NVBL9YE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jx0dY3VnP4s/T-PGx0Uj3VI/AAAAAAAAIBM/eKjfcTRvqwg/s1600/2hU4Cy65ucwSAsQC7Jc9NVBL9YE.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">title: THE SURE THING year: 1985 cast: John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga rating: ****</td></tr> </tbody></table> Side-characters played by Tim Robbins, Anthony Edwards, Boyd Gains, and Lisa Jane Persky are so overly one-dimensional, the two leads, John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga, seem even more real. <br /> <br /> Though it's a road film: polar opposites Cusack, as an endearing goof, and Zuniga, an uptight hidden beauty, journey cross country to Southern California... Cusack to meet a gorgeous blonde (the sure thing) and Zuniga to see her stuffy fiancee... the first half hour, taking place at the East Coast college, is where we really get to know their personalities before the trek begins: which, once underway, goes from one funny misadventure to the next, leading to a purposefully predictable turnout: boy and girl fall in love... till they reach their destination. <br /> <br /> Director Rob Reiner keeps things rolling in this comfortably adventurous "rom-com" with creatively lustful reverie sequences thrown in for good measure.<br /> <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/-2hpJtzbAvrg/T-PIz4-yXkI/AAAAAAAAIBU/96YKbHRn324/s1600/03987.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2hpJtzbAvrg/T-PIz4-yXkI/AAAAAAAAIBU/96YKbHRn324/s640/03987.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">title: BEING JOHN MALKOVICH year: 1999 cast: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, rating: **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> While this film remains creatively weird the whole way through, it's only the first half that works effectively. John Cusack, as an unsuccessful puppeteer hired to work on floor 7 1/2 of a mysterious building where the ceilings are very low, discovers a portal leading to the brain of John Malkovich, allowing anyone who enters a fifteen minute tour through the actor's eyes. <br /> <br /> It's when Cusack, in lust with his fellow employee and married to a sweet-natured scientist, becoming pawn of a love triangle in which Malkovich's body is a sexual vessel, that the intriguing mind-trip becomes a bit too convoluted.Yet it is all very unique... And the casting of Charlie Sheen as Malkovich's buddy/voice of reason would be become more ironic a decade later.

action, ben stiller, comedy, eighties, jerry stiller, john cusack, keith david, robert loggia

BAGFUL OF JOHN CUSACK W/ 'HOT PURSUT' & 'THE SURE THING'

year: 1987 cast: John Cusack, Robert Loggia, Keith David, Ben Stiller, Wendy Gazelle rating: *** The moral of this comic adventure c...

ALICE FRIEDLAND & TIMOTHY CAREY: A CHINESE BOOKIE VALENTINE

<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/-2G_nIa9Tj1w/T-LVboi1o8I/AAAAAAAAH-8/O8vL4okOaM4/s1600/Picture2-16-3-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="522" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2G_nIa9Tj1w/T-LVboi1o8I/AAAAAAAAH-8/O8vL4okOaM4/s640/Picture2-16-3-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ALICE FRIEDLAND ON TIMOTHY CAREY FROM THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><i>During our interview I could not remember much about Timothy Carey and then it all started to come back to me. Our scenes did not interact with each other. I was looking at him in a casino scene and then it hit me. I saw some of his old movies; I loved old movies from way back, and while I was watching him on the set I became totally enamored with him. He was so tall and that great sexy voice. He had a sublime sexiness that was so different and I just wanted him to ravage me. His dominate manner was turning me on big time. I wanted him bad. I wanted him to take me right there on the ground. My fantasy was to make love to him while listening to the Doors Light My Fire....OMG!  He was so sexually stimulating to me, due to the fact that he appeared to be a little nuts. I bet the sex would of been HOT!</i></span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><i>To quote Bob Dylan, "I Want You So Bad."</i></span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><i>Timothy Carey... SEXY…RIP</i></span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><i>Alice Friedland (Sherry, THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE)</i></span></div> <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/-G1vg8cC3YG8/T-LZCTDccAI/AAAAAAAAH_Q/b57lJNy0srk/s1600/Picture+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="344" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G1vg8cC3YG8/T-LZCTDccAI/AAAAAAAAH_Q/b57lJNy0srk/s640/Picture+2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Timothy Carey toasts</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NjOEEbbdhM4/T-LahqY5vsI/AAAAAAAAH_4/DtipWBqxAVM/s1600/Picture+10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NjOEEbbdhM4/T-LahqY5vsI/AAAAAAAAH_4/DtipWBqxAVM/s640/Picture+10.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ben Gazzara (Cosmo) and Alice Friendland (Sherry)</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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/-9kYnRh1S4ss/T-L8RxkgfSI/AAAAAAAAIA0/QDgxaooBVd8/s1600/Picture+11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="344" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9kYnRh1S4ss/T-L8RxkgfSI/AAAAAAAAIA0/QDgxaooBVd8/s640/Picture+11.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alice Friedland and Donna Gordon bicker in the bathroom</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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/-dKirkLyyFzQ/T-LmUU0BrZI/AAAAAAAAIAo/4EAQAGCmKmY/s1600/Picture5-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dKirkLyyFzQ/T-LmUU0BrZI/AAAAAAAAIAo/4EAQAGCmKmY/s640/Picture5-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LISTEN TO MY PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH ALICE TO THE BOTTOM LEFT</td></tr> </tbody></table> <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="105" id="125417" name="125417" width="210"><param name="movie" value="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf?file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogtalkradio.com%2Fcultfilmfreak%2F2012%2F06%2F19%2Falice-friedland%2Fplaylist.xml&autostart=false&bufferlength=5&volume=80&corner=rounded&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flashplayercallback.aspx" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <param name="wmode" value="transparent" /> <param name="menu" value="false" /> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /> <embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogtalkradio.com%2Fcultfilmfreak%2F2012%2F06%2F19%2Falice-friedland%2fplaylist.xml&autostart=false&shuffle=false&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx&width=210&height=105&volume=80&corner=rounded" width="210" height="105" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" menu="false" name="125417" id="125417" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object><br /> <div style="font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 220px;"> Listen to <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/">internet radio</a> with <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cultfilmfreak">cultfilmfreak</a> on Blog Talk Radio</div> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M6HB_wxJnCU/T_TemFH8dXI/AAAAAAAAIaI/SC8hvl3NTm8/s1600/alice+clean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M6HB_wxJnCU/T_TemFH8dXI/AAAAAAAAIaI/SC8hvl3NTm8/s640/alice+clean.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James Caan & Alice Friedland in Sam Peckinpah's THE KILLER ELITE</td></tr> </tbody></table> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O0s2u92B9V4/UAu9IGvCu2I/AAAAAAAAJMU/b6VD5WGWOXs/s1600/title01_193627670.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O0s2u92B9V4/UAu9IGvCu2I/AAAAAAAAJMU/b6VD5WGWOXs/s640/title01_193627670.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/07/cindy-and-donna.html">Alice Friedland phones in an important role in CINDY AND DONNA</a></td></tr> </tbody></table>

ALICE FRIEDLAND & TIMOTHY CAREY: A CHINESE BOOKIE VALENTINE

ALICE FRIEDLAND ON TIMOTHY CAREY FROM THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE During our interview I could not remember much about Timothy Care...

DONNA WILKES IN ANGEL & AVENGING ANGEL W/ BESTY RUSSELL

<table align="center" 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="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xn_mE9KscdI/T-Ao4ctfrZI/AAAAAAAAH28/i7XxPMY0Rbk/s1600/05826-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xn_mE9KscdI/T-Ao4ctfrZI/AAAAAAAAH28/i7XxPMY0Rbk/s400/05826-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: ANGEL Year: 1984 Cast: Donna Wilkes, Cliff Gorman Rating: ****</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <u>ANGEL</u>: High School honor student by day, hooker by night; both sides of Angel, played by cult starlet Donna Wilkes, has a heart of gold. But not John Diehl, a Jack the Ripper meets Travis Bickle psychopath making Hollywood Boulevard a place to avoid, but don't tell that to the locals...<br /> <br /> For street dwellers like Rory Calhoun (a Kit Carson impersonator), Dick Shawn (a female impersonator), and Susan Tyrrell (a lesbian landlord), this Hell is home, and like most New World Pictures, we're taken right into the action: feeling like a documentary mixed with seedy melodrama. Co-starring Cliff Gorman as the cop guarding Angel from herself <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> the killer... but like all exploitation foxes, she's out for her very own revenge! And like all great revenge flicks, you'll be drawn in from beginning to end (despite its use of the standard run and shoot and run finale). Yet through all the exploitation style action and ensemble of great veteran actors, the real focus is Donna Wilkes, who balances tough and vulnerable perfectly: making for one of the coolest vixens of drive-in exploitation cinema.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table align="center" 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/-9m-3xbWMJVw/T-AsuMf2jhI/AAAAAAAAH3Q/flIK4XxV7lg/s1600/avengeing-angel-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9m-3xbWMJVw/T-AsuMf2jhI/AAAAAAAAH3Q/flIK4XxV7lg/s1600/avengeing-angel-1.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1985 Cast: Betsy Russell, Susan Tyrrell, Rory Calhoun Rating: ***</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <u>AVENGING ANGEL</u>: Bombshell Betsy Russell, resembling a bionic Donna Wilkes, takes over as the hooker/honor student from the exploitation original; now in law school,  Angel returns to the streets to find those responsible for slaying her cop father-figure (a Cliff Gorman replacement).<br /> <br /> Instead of a lone madman, it's Angel and streetsavvy pals Kit Carson (Rory Calhoun) and Sully (Susan Tyrrell) versus gun-totting mobsters in bed with the vice squad. It feels less endearingly drive-in and more straight-to-video thriller/action. Some hijinks humor's thrown in along with the blood and guts, and since our gorgeous heroine does a capable enough job seeking revenge (from the beginning as opposed to the original's third-act vengeance), this flawed sequel holds its own.<br /> <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="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ipFdE8V6taE/Wy9nmbmdq8I/AAAAAAAA3Is/VwB4E01IepYt4yX2p9hgypv944XF-TdxACLcBGAs/s1600/36176346_500611640368017_176363984377610240_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="960" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ipFdE8V6taE/Wy9nmbmdq8I/AAAAAAAA3Is/VwB4E01IepYt4yX2p9hgypv944XF-TdxACLcBGAs/s1600/36176346_500611640368017_176363984377610240_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Two cult actors from different times converge with a dated painting: Dick Shawn and John Diehl</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LwK_TF03fDc/Wy9mVF2faBI/AAAAAAAA3IU/SvzLADetQ80Z99YcEQk_FM2Zd92Up5OsACLcBGAs/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="894" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LwK_TF03fDc/Wy9mVF2faBI/AAAAAAAA3IU/SvzLADetQ80Z99YcEQk_FM2Zd92Up5OsACLcBGAs/s1600/11.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Some of Donna and Cliff Gorman's scenes drag but as the good cop good hooker they have pretty good chemistry</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <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="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L97iGM-0nss/Wy9bNdWp5wI/AAAAAAAA3H8/Nzm4VYpZhSY2I7l2lXb5p-a399YDrEQbgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-06-24%2Bat%2B1.46.17%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1308" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L97iGM-0nss/Wy9bNdWp5wI/AAAAAAAA3H8/Nzm4VYpZhSY2I7l2lXb5p-a399YDrEQbgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-06-24%2Bat%2B1.46.17%2BAM.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Taking place on Hollywood Blvd, ANGEL has tons of 1983 movie marquees... here's RETURN OF THE JEDI... <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2014/09/movie-marquees-spotted-in-motion.html">click here </a>for more</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pqK8xNjNS_U/Wy9iH0bZUFI/AAAAAAAA3II/a801VLV1SCcKO4INBc6AEVPsBXUbSQHhwCLcBGAs/s1600/36041968_500600723702442_2193735940357226496_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="897" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pqK8xNjNS_U/Wy9iH0bZUFI/AAAAAAAA3II/a801VLV1SCcKO4INBc6AEVPsBXUbSQHhwCLcBGAs/s1600/36041968_500600723702442_2193735940357226496_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gun-firing screen caps usually capture even the coolest actors (former b-Western stud Rory Calhoun) closing their eyes</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <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="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5oxj8JOaJ6c/Wy9mVS4M39I/AAAAAAAA3IY/A0lEqABtlUYecYvTXIZDEB6aaOauMRElgCLcBGAs/s1600/3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="960" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5oxj8JOaJ6c/Wy9mVS4M39I/AAAAAAAA3IY/A0lEqABtlUYecYvTXIZDEB6aaOauMRElgCLcBGAs/s1600/3.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Three's Company guest-cutie Elaine Giftos confronts cult legend Susan Tyrrell Elaine Giftos Angel Elaine Giftos Susan Tyrrell</u></td></tr> </tbody></table>

action, crime, dick shawn, donna wilkes, eighties, john diehl, peter jason, rory calhoun, susan tyrrell

DONNA WILKES IN ANGEL & AVENGING ANGEL W/ BESTY RUSSELL

Title: ANGEL Year: 1984 Cast: Donna Wilkes, Cliff Gorman Rating: **** ANGEL : High School honor student by day, hooker by night; both si...

SUSAN TYRRELL AS OMA IN FAT CITY

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A84M7OAn-DI/Ur4sa8qRn4I/AAAAAAAAcEg/xTy6SQKoZU0/s1600/fat-city-tyrrell.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/-A84M7OAn-DI/Ur4sa8qRn4I/AAAAAAAAcEg/xTy6SQKoZU0/s200/fat-city-tyrrell.png" width="175" /></a></div> John Huston's FAT CITY<b> </b>centers on the lives of small-town boxers in Texas, and Stacy Keach as Tully is trying to cut the drinking habit and get back into the ring. He gets a job picking fruit, befriends a young hopeful Jeff Bridges, and things seem to be going alright until he enters a tavern for a drink or two, and mostly thanks to Susan Tyrrell, he sidesteps his comeback and becomes a full blown barfly.<br /> <br /> But he's nothing compared to Tyrrell's Oma who, sitting at the end of the counter with her soft-spoken black boyfriend, shouts at all the barflies and is downright frightening. Years ago, during my inexperienced youth... before knowing women like this actually existed in every corner dive in America... I had thought her performance a bit way over-the-top. The more I rewatch the more I realize how important her screeching drunken lush is, and how she brings the film to a level of cosmic awesomeness: doing what no other actress can pull off.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2uwqy4QBAVY/Ur4sgBvqwxI/AAAAAAAAcEo/Pyhn6RuYdMs/s1600/Fat-City-Susan-Tyrrell-Bar-3a+16-11-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2uwqy4QBAVY/Ur4sgBvqwxI/AAAAAAAAcEo/Pyhn6RuYdMs/s1600/Fat-City-Susan-Tyrrell-Bar-3a+16-11-11.jpg" /></a></div> Lending a completely satisfied lush-till-the-end persona to an ultra realistic nerve-wrenching level, Susan allows Keach to climb his way out of the bottle... It would take a very special person to show the light to a man who can drink anyone under the table, that is, he'd have to meet his match and that's where no other actress, without Susan's masculine strength and steely determination, could do.<br /> <br /> In other words, being a film about boxing the real challenge for the main character is out of the ring, into the barroom, and back out again. Whether Oma's character, for Keach, represents the end of a road or the beginning of a new one... He realizes it's a path he couldn't muster, no matter how tough and experienced he may be.

SUSAN TYRRELL AS OMA IN FAT CITY

John Huston's FAT CITY centers on the lives of small-town boxers in Texas, and Stacy Keach as Tully is trying to cut the drinking ha...

ROCK OF AGES

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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/-wCtn5ZSDOIE/T9xFjeo9yII/AAAAAAAAHzY/IdWw3av2xdE/s1600/rock-of-ages-1-1-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wCtn5ZSDOIE/T9xFjeo9yII/AAAAAAAAHzY/IdWw3av2xdE/s320/rock-of-ages-1-1-1.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's supposed to be bad? Right?</td></tr> </tbody></table> title: ROCK OF AGES<br /> year: 2012<br /> cast: Julianne Hough, Tom Cruise<br /> intentional camp value: *** <br /> <br /> There have been many really awful movies in the last couple years, so it’s about time one basks in outright cheesiness and winds up miraculously... entertaining.<br /> <br /> Right off the bat we realize every glossy 1980's tune is more or less a daydream as blond beauty Sherrie, played by Julianne Hough, is on the bus to L.A. and everyone aboard, including the driver, shares verses of Night Ranger’s ballad Sister Christian – if you can survive this you’ll do alright. Sherrie winds up working at a nightclub called THE BOURBON, meets the boy of her dreams, and both want to be famous singers. This is a world where several actual bands don’t exist since our fictional characters have written their songs (from Def Leppard’s POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME to GNR’s PARADISE CITY to Journey’s DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’).<br /> <br /> That includes primadonna rock star Stacee Jaxx… About to quit his longtime band he’s got one final gig at the club – but only if he sobers up. Tom Cruise portrays the eccentric rocker with a sincere yet ridiculously brooding machismo, walking with a slither and taking himself much too seriously. His scenes, including one in which Rolling Stone reporter Malin Akerman’s interview becomes a sexual romp, go on too long and it’s never quite clear what’s behind his erratic behavior. But when it's Tom Cruise giving his all, does anything else really matter?<br /> <br /> Catherine Zeta-Jones savors the antagonist role as a religious zealot trying to shut the place down at all costs and she, like everyone else including club owners Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand, take part in musical numbers that never cease. Yet with all the glitter and glamour it’s Hough’s dreamer Sherrie that brings this corny fable down to earth; what little story exists, she keeps going. Reminiscent of cult musicals like SGT PEPPERS LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND and XANADU, here's a project completely unashamed to be exactly what it is: a guilty pleasure.

2012, alec baldwin, catherine zeta-jones, comedy, julianne hough, musical, tom cruise

ROCK OF AGES

It's supposed to be bad? Right? title: ROCK OF AGES year: 2012 cast: Julianne Hough, Tom Cruise intentional camp value: *** ...

ADAM SANDLER IN THAT'S MY 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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tsHe0su-Cb4/T9vMdig8I1I/AAAAAAAAHyk/YVdwfCSWy30/s1600/boy__1339696156_0334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tsHe0su-Cb4/T9vMdig8I1I/AAAAAAAAHyk/YVdwfCSWy30/s400/boy__1339696156_0334.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2012 rating:*</td></tr> </tbody></table> Sounding a cross between Little Nicky and Billy Madison, Adam Sandler provides his worst performance in a comedy that makes JACK AND JILL seem like THE WEDDING SINGER. We begin with a pretty boy pre-teen (did Sandler ever look like this?) having an affair with his lustful teacher. She has a baby, goes to jail, and Sandler’s Donny becomes a media sensation seen through the opening credits.<br /> <br /> The real story begins thirty years later as Donny’s uptight son “Todd,” played by hipster era Sandler, Adam Samberg, is about to land a big promotion and marry his beautiful high-maintenance fiance. Meanwhile Donny, in his own seedy neck of the woods, owes a bundle for taxes and will go to jail if he doesn’t get fifty grand. With an offer to appear on a tabloid show, he has to maneuver his son, who he hasn’t seen in years, to visit mom (the teacher) in jail for a big payoff.<br /> <br /> Dad and his boy reunite in Todd’s boss’s summer home before the wedding, and most of the film has the duo tricking everyone – Donny’s supposedly his best friend and Todd, living a lie and having changed his name from “Han Solo,” just wants to be normal. With an abundance of “toilet jokes” that keeps pushing a ragged envelope – from masturbation to incest to everything you can possibly imagine – the plot is all but forgotten.<br /> <br /> Donny's a sloppy playboy but lacks the charm that'd make us believe any woman would fall for him while Todd remains a deer caught in headlights, never changing his "I can't believe this is happening" expression. And an all-night bachelor party, trying for the stuff THE HANGOVER characters would have forgotten, is full of bawdy situations completely lacking humor or purpose. Not even pop culture punchline Vanilla Ice (as Todd's surrogate uncle), a cameo by Todd Bridges or an abundance of Roth-Era Van Halen can save the day... or night. It’s in the 11th hour, when the wedding approaches and the truth of Samberg’s betrothed is in question, that we begin to wonder what'll happen next. But by then it’s too, too much, much too late.

2012, adam samberg, adam sandler, comedy, van halen

ADAM SANDLER IN THAT'S MY BOY

year: 2012 rating:* Sounding a cross between Little Nicky and Billy Madison, Adam Sandler provides his worst performance in a comedy tha...

COSBY & WELCH & KIETEL & HAGMAN IN MOTHER, JUGS & SPEED

<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/-FKzaaq2Gags/T9mcjgZLaBI/AAAAAAAAHww/PDOw_nazee0/s1600/mother.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FKzaaq2Gags/T9mcjgZLaBI/AAAAAAAAHww/PDOw_nazee0/s320/mother.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1976 rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> Director Peter Yates throws everything into the pot in this underdog tale of a low rent privately owned L.A. ambulance company (run by a barking Allen Garfield) whose drivers are, like the doctors in M*A*S*H, slackers and goof-offs...<br /> <br /> These include Bill Cosby as Mother, the seasoned driver who drinks on the job and scares nuns with the ambulance siren. His young partner Bruce Davison is along for the ride and wants a better job and life.<br /> <br /> Larry Hagman provides the jerky antagonist as a hick driver with an overcharged libido. In the grungy station, the men bet on the daily deaths and flirt with Jugs, played by bombshell Raquel Welch, the dispatcher who yearns to be a paramedic. And new employee Harvey Keitel is a quiet ex cop: having been busted for selling coke (mistaken as something else) he’s named Speed.<br /> <br /> It takes over an hour before the three title characters are teamed-up, at which point the most intriguing aspect has Mother giving Jugs on the job training: she used Women’s Rights to land the gig and now realizes how rough it is. The humor is sporadic and there are some intense scenes as well – but the problem has too many missed one-liners and performances seeming catered to opening night audiences.<br /> <br /> The eclectic situations are interesting but don’t provide the laughs like other workaday ensemble comedies such as CAR WASH. Acting-wise, Welch plays the part decently enough – with a chip on her shoulder, she’s got a lot to prove in her new job. Keitel, on the other hand, is completely misplaced, more befitting a crime potboiler and has no chemistry with Welch, his inevitable love interest. And when Cosby shows the pains of being a seasoned paramedic, not trying to be constantly witty, he really shines: thus lighting the characters around him.

allen garfield, bruce davison, comedy, ensemble, harvey keitel, larry hagman, raquel welsh, seventies

COSBY & WELCH & KIETEL & HAGMAN IN MOTHER, JUGS & SPEED

year: 1976 rating: *** Director Peter Yates throws everything into the pot in this underdog tale of a low rent privately owned L.A. ambu...

HERO AND THE TERROR

<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CufdX2S4FWI/SlQ74gSzDlI/AAAAAAAAAPA/89kehsSo9XE/s1600-h/Hero_and_the_terror_CDC1007.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355971698777853522" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CufdX2S4FWI/SlQ74gSzDlI/AAAAAAAAAPA/89kehsSo9XE/s200/Hero_and_the_terror_CDC1007.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a> <br /> <div> <b>title: </b>HERO AND THE TERROR</div> <div> <b>year:</b> 1988</div> <div> <b>cast:</b> Chuck Norris, Jack O'Halloran</div> <div> <b>rating:</b> ***1/2</div> <div> <br /></div> Another action-packed suspense flick where Chuck Norris plays a cop after a relentless seemingly unbeatable monster of a man, but unlike SILENT RAGE this one really works. Jack O'Halloran lurks somewhere within the newly restored Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles and is killing women by sneaking through a grate in the restroom and lurking in the city shadows. Known as the Terror, he had just escaped from a mental asylum where Chuck's character, the Hero, had put him a year before. Norris is haunted by nightmares of the formidable menace and now must find him somewhere within the mazy complicated structure of the historic L.A. venue. Intense action and body count horror are meshed perfectly with a little romance that never gets too corny. This is one of the better latter eighties Chuck Norris vehicles.

chuck norris, donna gordon, eighties, martial arts

HERO AND THE TERROR

title: HERO AND THE TERROR year: 1988 cast: Chuck Norris, Jack O'Halloran rating: ***1/2 Another action-packed suspense ...

MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED

<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PhBft0l8z68/T_ayKF7yf2I/AAAAAAAAIdE/yB6j9gyN3sc/s1600/Madagascar_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="472" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PhBft0l8z68/T_ayKF7yf2I/AAAAAAAAIdE/yB6j9gyN3sc/s640/Madagascar_3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <b>year:</b> 2012 <b>voices:</b> Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jessica Chastain <b>rating:</b> **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> Starts with our beloved zoo animals stuck in the purgatory that is Madagascar – but the penguins aren’t having it. They take off to gamble in Monte Carlo, leaving behind the Lion, Zebra, Hippo, Giraffe: all bored silly.<br /> <br /> Not even a handmade rendition of their hometown New York City will quench the tedious doldrums. They’re even more homesick, prompting the idea to somehow get back home!<br /> <br /> So they decide to travel to find the penguins, providing the best scenes. The animals don’t exactly fit within the civilized world, and a chase from Monte Carlo through the streets of France, tailed by the evil cop Chantel DuBois (a modern Cruella De Vil), is fast paced and suspenseful.<br /> <br /> So when our heroes find safe harbor in a train full of circus performers, including a bitter has-been daredevil Tiger and a sexy jaguar (Jessica Chastain with a French accent), things come together and fall part at the same time. <br /> <br /> Although it’s fun seeing the non-professionals trying their best in the circus – and then retraining for a second attempt – there’s too much brooding downtime. A sporadic love story between the Lemur and a giant bear is not only gross but just isn’t funny. And everyman Ben Stiller, in providing the underdog Lion’s voice, sounds too much like himself – remember when professional voice-actors became the characters instead of the other way around?<br /> <br /> Despite the flaws it’s a wonderful looking journey, but that’s only when things are moving. Most important, with all the vibrant colors surrounding the herd of familiar faces, your kids will be satisfied.

2012, ben stiller, children, chris rock, computer animated, jessica chastain, sacha baron cohen

MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED

  year: 2012 voices: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jessica Chastain rating: **1/2 Starts with our beloved zoo animals stuck in the purga...

THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN

<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/-FR6x32vv2Xw/T80RjPhXTYI/AAAAAAAAHg8/mKXPUQ-Xp-M/s1600/league.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="395" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FR6x32vv2Xw/T80RjPhXTYI/AAAAAAAAHg8/mKXPUQ-Xp-M/s640/league.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year:</b> 2003<b> cast:</b> Sean Connery<b> rating:</b> **</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /><br /> Sean Connery had such a difficult time that he never appeared in another movie again (if you don’t count voice-over work).<br /> <br /> Perhaps it's that his character, Allan Quatermain, the famous pulp journeyman who traipsed throughout Africa in search of fortune and adventure, is all but forgotten once the story’s underway.<br /> <br /> Like THE AVENGERS later on, we have a collection of “superbeings” but from various literary works: these include Oscar Wilde’s never-aging Dorian Grey; Jonathan Harker’s wife Nina from Bram Stoker’s Dracula; the Invisible Man; Dr. Jekyll /Mr. Hyde; and the only American on board, a teenage Tom Sawyer.<br /> <br /> Let’s not forget the bearded/brooding Captain Nemo, whose supercharged submarine provides a much too easy means of transportation from one place to the next. Unfortunately there are only a few locations and the fight scenes are rushed. A few times the camera moves ahead of the action to show what’s in store, deleting any suspense of what our heroes will face. That being the villainous Moriarity from the Sherlock Holmes strata whose goal is to – like any comic book tale – take over the whole damn world.<br /> <br /> The movie begins alright. As the league assembles after a giant war machine – far ahead of its time in 1899 – destroys a warehouse (with splendid special effects) we’re ready for action. Connery’s tough-aged Quartemain has had a life full of trouble and he’s up for more – but other than giving Tom Sawyer lessons on sharpshooting, his input is lost and he never seems in charge.<br /> <br /> Jekyll transformation into Hyde is reminiscent of The Hulk; the Marvel superhero is a duplicate of this double-edged beast. He’s a cool “ringer” and one of the best players; who doesn’t like seeing a monster destroy stuff with ranging ferocity?<br /> <br /> Dorian Grey has dark secrets as does Nina Harker and both have an interesting Gothic attraction to each other. But overall there are too many characters on board and without a real struggle, at least not an intriguing one to make each individual prove their worth.<br /> <br /> And the real question is: if Nemo’s submarine is so amazing, what’s the big deal about the antagonist's war machine? Perhaps these gentleman (and woman) had it a little too easy.

action, comic book, science-fiction, sean connery, zeroes

THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN

year: 2003 cast: Sean Connery rating: ** Sean Connery had such a difficult time that he never appeared in another movie again (if ...

CHARACTER STUDY: DEBORAH WINTERS AS ALICIA IN BLUE SUNSHINE

<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o3jP5AoQcPw/T87zLqBBhFI/AAAAAAAAHk0/ABufPr_B5D4/s1600/Picture7-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o3jP5AoQcPw/T87zLqBBhFI/AAAAAAAAHk0/ABufPr_B5D4/s1600/Picture7-1.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Winters with the late Zalman King in BLUE SUNSHINE</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>PROJECT: </b>BLUE SUNSHINE<b> PLOT:</b> A random series of murders involving psychotic bald maniacs who have one thing in common: they took a particular brand of LSD called Blue Sunshine ten years prior.<b> CHARACTER:</b> Alicia Sweeney<b> ACTRESS:</b> Deborah Winters<b> POSITION:</b> Alicia Sweeney is the girlfriend of Jerry Zipkin, played by Zalman King. Alicia has short blond hair, dresses exquisitely and embodies style and class. Even in a cowboy hat and large red-tinted sunglasses, she’s got it. Jerry, on the other hand, is a regular guy who wears a tacky brown sweater with two male reindeer literally rubbing elbows.<br /> <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/-ql_HWgeoTX8/T87boLiGRuI/AAAAAAAAHik/Bf_GZCKzkXE/s1600/Picture+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ql_HWgeoTX8/T87boLiGRuI/AAAAAAAAHik/Bf_GZCKzkXE/s1600/Picture+2.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zalman King with Deborah Winters at a party</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>TRAITS: </b>Alicia’s no stranger to booze. Perhaps a few belts makes Jerry’s awful sweaters seem like knightly robes. She’s also short-tempered.  In one scene, a frustrated Alicia kicks an escalator.<b> INTRO:</b> As the film begins (following an opening credit montage), Jerry’s at a cabin party with his close friends when the craziest of the bunch suddenly bursts into an imitation of Rodan. Not the artist, the monster.<br /> <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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xXjqo2d7TsM/T87fCEJMg5I/AAAAAAAAHjg/ONur5ziqtOo/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xXjqo2d7TsM/T87fCEJMg5I/AAAAAAAAHjg/ONur5ziqtOo/s1600/Picture+1.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brion James in an early role</td></tr> </tbody></table> Alicia’s expressions serve as an example to her importance within the storyline. Like anyone would be, Alicia’s shocked as Tony (Brion James from BLADE RUNNER in an early role) begins squawking like the monstrous bird, play-attacking the party guests, but she’s smiling too – because Jerry is with her. She’s safe. These are Jerry's friends. They can’t be that crazy. Well… Not yet.   <br /> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b1igy5zHA9s/T87bp7bLGKI/AAAAAAAAHis/esotjBG54IU/s1600/Picture+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b1igy5zHA9s/T87bp7bLGKI/AAAAAAAAHis/esotjBG54IU/s1600/Picture+3.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Winters enjoying the party</td></tr> </tbody></table> A few minutes later, Jerry’s closest friend, Frannie Scott (Richard Crystal, brother of Billy) begins singing a Frank Sinatra tune and, during a playful scuffle, we realize he’s losing his hair in a grotesque manner. The wild-eyed Frannie runs out of the party – here’s where Alicia’s really concerned… But is she worried about herself? About Frannie? About the guests? No… Alicia is <i>only </i>concerned about Jerry. <br /> <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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eb1Pe6C2zIE/T87br4693lI/AAAAAAAAHi0/YlCcPQFLtAk/s1600/Picture+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eb1Pe6C2zIE/T87br4693lI/AAAAAAAAHi0/YlCcPQFLtAk/s1600/Picture+4.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zalman King and Deborah Winters</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>GOAL: </b>Alicia Sweeney serves as much more than the main character's girlfriend. After Jerry is accused of murdering a handful of people that Tony actually killed, Alicia meets Jerry wherever he needs her. <br /> <br /> Writer/Director Jeff Lieberman points out on the DVD commentary how unrealistic it is that Alicia would know where Jerry would be, but in the age of payphones, he could have called her to meet him at these locations. And it’s not always easy…<br /> <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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W71FtvVZ4fI/T871wMzR88I/AAAAAAAAHlE/ShWflIcpcVA/s1600/Picture18-3-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W71FtvVZ4fI/T871wMzR88I/AAAAAAAAHlE/ShWflIcpcVA/s1600/Picture18-3-1.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Winters senses danger</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <b>URGENCY: </b>Detective Clay (Charles Siebert, who appeared in TARANTLAS: THE DEADLY CARGO with Winters a year later) realizes Alicia is the one to keep his eye on: where she goes, Jerry will soon wind up.<br /> <br /> And maybe he can trust her to do the “right” thing. To turn in her boyfriend before anyone else is murdered. But Alicia’s goal remains intact through their rushed and suspenseful hookups: protect her man from the man, and that’s that. <br /> <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/-YLNmewZduCo/T87b4LNCDJI/AAAAAAAAHjU/gipSUUrtXo8/s1600/Picture+9.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YLNmewZduCo/T87b4LNCDJI/AAAAAAAAHjU/gipSUUrtXo8/s1600/Picture+9.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray Young and Deborah Winters</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>CLOSURE:</b> Alicia Sweeney goes from girlfriend/connection to damsel-in-distress when a really large ex football player, who works for the politician who had years before sold LSD called BLUE SUNSHINE which is now, ten years later, causing people to lose their hair and their minds. Well that’s the plot, and now for the payoff: One that involves Alicia in an important scene and a staple to 1970's pop culture.  <br /> <br /> Alicia had set up a “date” with Big Wayne Mulligan (COFFY's Ray Young) to learn more about Blue Sunshine and to clear Jerry’s name. She meets Wayne at a discothèque where he, after going berserk, chases Alicia across the dance floor where she hides inside the DJ’s glass booth. <br /> <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/-rqtysDhUXY4/T87bgR8L_BI/AAAAAAAAHh4/L38RmIjqq_Y/s1600/Picture+15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rqtysDhUXY4/T87bgR8L_BI/AAAAAAAAHh4/L38RmIjqq_Y/s1600/Picture+15.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Winters at a disco</td></tr> </tbody></table> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_d6MoS4Jf8Y/T87bjnCfOTI/AAAAAAAAHiI/0Byyqjtmz50/s1600/Picture+17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_d6MoS4Jf8Y/T87bjnCfOTI/AAAAAAAAHiI/0Byyqjtmz50/s1600/Picture+17.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Winters escapes the villain's attack</td></tr> </tbody></table> Since loud noises are the only thing that slows down these revved-up lunatics, Alicia turns up a disco record to an extremely high level.<br /> <br /> This becomes a plot device for Alicia’s character to thwart the villain… and the director’s nod to, during the punk rock explosion of the mid seventies, the "disease" called Disco.    <br /> <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/-vC3WFbwMcCM/T87bh_vsxbI/AAAAAAAAHiA/FubPUXq7M6M/s1600/Picture+16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vC3WFbwMcCM/T87bh_vsxbI/AAAAAAAAHiA/FubPUXq7M6M/s1600/Picture+16.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where Disco Lives Forever</td></tr> </tbody></table> Deborah Winters previous work, from a troubled teenager opposite Eli Wallach in THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR to Gary Grime’s assertive girlfriend in CLASS OF ’44 to a pregnant teen helped by Walter Matthau in KOTCH, is an example of her incredible range and power on screen. And you may ask: What’s Deborah Winters doing in a low budget movie about bald lunatics? <br /> <br /> Classing up the joint, perhaps. Giving the movie the kind of safety net provided by an ingénue who’s smart, strong-willed, and last but not least, beautiful. <br /> <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/-fraEy9CT5ro/T87bWvYKSWI/AAAAAAAAHhQ/bmQdFVC3_u0/s1600/Picture+10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fraEy9CT5ro/T87bWvYKSWI/AAAAAAAAHhQ/bmQdFVC3_u0/s1600/Picture+10.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Winters wearing her own clothes in BLUE SUNSHINE</td></tr> </tbody></table> When the interview on the DVD commentary asked director Lieberman how Deborah Winters got involved in the project, Jeff replied: “Because she’s a good actress.” An understatement. <br /> <br /> <b>MORE TRIVIA:</b> Lieberman says one of Deborah’s stipulations was that she hired her own clothing stylist. Perhaps this is why Alicia’s clothing stands out from everyone else’s.<br /> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FXry6UnyCfo/T87bZEA0eOI/AAAAAAAAHhY/MXUh8Gz-9kc/s1600/Picture+11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FXry6UnyCfo/T87bZEA0eOI/AAAAAAAAHhY/MXUh8Gz-9kc/s1600/Picture+11.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Winters with beer</td></tr> </tbody></table> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6uc3rUytcKg/T87bbYPzs7I/AAAAAAAAHhg/JoXIuygOojQ/s1600/Picture+12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6uc3rUytcKg/T87bbYPzs7I/AAAAAAAAHhg/JoXIuygOojQ/s1600/Picture+12.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Winters talks to the police</td></tr> </tbody></table> <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/-UHTUZXECEGE/T87bdXYQRzI/AAAAAAAAHho/emTBt6OwBRg/s1600/Picture+13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UHTUZXECEGE/T87bdXYQRzI/AAAAAAAAHho/emTBt6OwBRg/s1600/Picture+13.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Winters as Alicia</td></tr> </tbody></table> <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/-bo4NNNCcfco/T87bewU37eI/AAAAAAAAHhw/eDNeAixFoJ4/s1600/Picture+14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bo4NNNCcfco/T87bewU37eI/AAAAAAAAHhw/eDNeAixFoJ4/s1600/Picture+14.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray Young and Deborah Winters</td></tr> </tbody></table> <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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TAM4PMkwvaE/T87bm1Nb-YI/AAAAAAAAHiY/R2UC66ChfjE/s1600/Picture+19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TAM4PMkwvaE/T87bm1Nb-YI/AAAAAAAAHiY/R2UC66ChfjE/s1600/Picture+19.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Winters chased at a disco</td></tr> </tbody></table> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mABx_t_rtPw/T87btXO9aFI/AAAAAAAAHi8/7iT1F0vSKsg/s1600/Picture+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mABx_t_rtPw/T87btXO9aFI/AAAAAAAAHi8/7iT1F0vSKsg/s1600/Picture+5.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Winters in BLUE SUNSHINE</td></tr> </tbody></table> <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/-K8kWkqG4iIs/T87b1xlfI2I/AAAAAAAAHjM/Jnh2kwxZaDo/s1600/Picture+8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K8kWkqG4iIs/T87b1xlfI2I/AAAAAAAAHjM/Jnh2kwxZaDo/s1600/Picture+8.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zalman King and Deborah Winters</td></tr> </tbody></table> <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/-hS07RAjJ-zc/UIMOf1h1K-I/AAAAAAAAO_k/g3KENToSvw4/s1600/people+next+door2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hS07RAjJ-zc/UIMOf1h1K-I/AAAAAAAAO_k/g3KENToSvw4/s1600/people+next+door2.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">archive review: THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR year: 1970 cast: Eli Wallach, Deborah Winters rating: ***1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white;">A psychedelic-era cult film about a suburban family with problems beneath the surface, headlined by rebellious teenager "Maxie," played by Deborah Winters who, when not freaking out on bad acid, scrutinizes her parent's shortcomings: like booze and hypocrisy. Eli Wallach is terrific as the drink-after-work patriarch, as are Stephen McHattie as the hippie son and wife Julie Harris, whose hard-nosed lecture to Maxie in a mental institution provides an explosive, and perhaps even effective, climax. </span><br /> <span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white;">But it's Deborah Winters alone, who, with a brooding reserve as intense as the drug-induced tirades, provides an underlying "vibe" throughout: where <i>anything </i>can happen... at <i>any</i> time.</span><br /> <div> <div> <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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iv7q4xkNzVY/T87iyBfTBLI/AAAAAAAAHjs/vNwh8K9Bqqw/s1600/165683_170361309674824_5311198_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="357" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iv7q4xkNzVY/T87iyBfTBLI/AAAAAAAAHjs/vNwh8K9Bqqw/s640/165683_170361309674824_5311198_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With the late Julie Harris</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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/--JdFpq-Nkt0/T87iy1vqagI/AAAAAAAAHj8/91g-WzoLzgc/s1600/167379_170361299674825_106638979380391_369231_6482436_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--JdFpq-Nkt0/T87iy1vqagI/AAAAAAAAHj8/91g-WzoLzgc/s640/167379_170361299674825_106638979380391_369231_6482436_n.jpg" width="552" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The People Next Door (poster)</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HVD-Dib7iR4/T87i0F7DjsI/AAAAAAAAHkM/1mHKk7_B7SA/s1600/307567_253416594702628_632100059_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HVD-Dib7iR4/T87i0F7DjsI/AAAAAAAAHkM/1mHKk7_B7SA/s640/307567_253416594702628_632100059_n.jpg" width="532" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FROM "CLASS OF '44" WITH GARY GRIMES AND LISTEN TO MY PODCAST</td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> </div> <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="105" id="125417" name="125417" width="210"><param name="movie" value="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf?file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogtalkradio.com%2Fcultfilmfreak%2F2011%2F01%2F20%2Fdeborah-winters-vol-2-the-people-next-door%2Fplaylist.xml&autostart=false&bufferlength=5&volume=80&corner=rounded&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flashplayercallback.aspx" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <param name="wmode" value="transparent" /> <param name="menu" value="false" /> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /> <embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogtalkradio.com%2Fcultfilmfreak%2F2011%2F01%2F20%2Fdeborah-winters-vol-2-the-people-next-door%2fplaylist.xml&autostart=false&shuffle=false&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx&width=210&height=105&volume=80&corner=rounded" width="210" height="105" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" menu="false" name="125417" id="125417" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object><br /> <div style="font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 220px;"> Listen to <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/">internet radio</a> with <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cultfilmfreak">cultfilmfreak</a> on Blog Talk Radio</div> <b>DEBORAH WINTERS CHANEY IS NOW A REAL ESTATE AGENT IN TEXAS FOR KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY. <a href="http://deborahwinterschaney.kwrealty.com/">CLICK HERE</a> FOR HER WEBSITE AND INFORMATION. </b>

cult, deborah winters, drug culture, horror, seventies

CHARACTER STUDY: DEBORAH WINTERS AS ALICIA IN BLUE SUNSHINE

Deborah Winters with the late Zalman King in BLUE SUNSHINE PROJECT: BLUE SUNSHINE PLOT: A random series of murders involving psychotic...