Cult Film Freak: 2017

Presented by James M. Tate / 7/21/2017 / No comments / action , christopher nolan , war , world war II

WEEKEND REVIEW OF CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S DUNKIRK

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Main/First Viewpoint of Three YEAR RELEASED: 2017</u></td></tr>
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Will hope to keep this short, and to the point. Not to avoid spoilers since DUNKIRK is part of history. But for all the immensity, it's still a tight character-driven film, from beginning... as a young soldier dodges German bullets on the edge of the invaded French town... to the middle... as the same kid winds up on several aerial-bombarded boats... to the end when...<br>
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So, alright, it <i>is</i> possible to spoil. What's important to note is exactly what kind of World World II movie it is. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, for instance, narrowed down, was a Body Count adventure: a handful of soldiers that we get to know from the start, on their way to a particular destination, being picked off, one by one, with very few survivors. DUNKIRK, on the other hand, is a bareknuckle Disaster Epic but with a relatively short runtime, and surprisingly enough, coming from Christopher Nolan, there isn't much dialogue at all...<br>

action, christopher nolan, war, world war II

WEEKEND REVIEW OF CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S DUNKIRK

The Main/First Viewpoint of Three YEAR RELEASED: 2017 Will hope to keep this short, and to the point. Not to avoid spoilers since DUNKIR...

BELATED REVIEW OF WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Have These Apes Reached Their Long Goodbye? YEAR: 2017</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The good old days of the original PLANET OF THE APES, as that franchise ended with a BATTLE instead of WAR at the head of its title, things weren't so good <span style="font-family: "times";">—</span> the budget got lower with each installment so the climax was... well... very anticlimactic... </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And now, as far as money goes, skies the limit, and WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, while looking terrific with tons of special effects, has hardly anything to do with the title wherein BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES simply lacked the necessary ingredients for it to matter...</span><br>

2017, action, franchise, planet of the apes, sequel, woody harrelson

BELATED REVIEW OF WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

Have These Apes Reached Their Long Goodbye? YEAR: 2017 The good old days of the original PLANET OF THE APES, as that franchise ended wit...

MICHAEL KEATON DEVELOPS MCDONALD'S AS THE FOUNDER

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>What 1970's Movie Is This From? Hint, a Boston tune plays YEAR: 2017</u></td></tr>
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The problem with Hollywood-moralizing is it makes a theme or agenda override the characters, especially when based on real folks like, for instance, young Facebook phenom Mark Zuckerberg,  torn apart in THE SOCIAL NETWORK and now it's McDonald's mogul Ray Croc's turn under the hatchet — so this review will have to fight preachy with preachy....<br>
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Michael Keaton, an actor who can make anyone if not likable then completely realistic, is a blank slate here as THE FOUNDER, with its title bathed in irony (although Croc <i>did </i>find the restaurant, and its potential, as opposed to creating it). Keaton sleepwalks through the role, in slow motion... despite displaying a ghost of his usual wired b.s. artist, starting out as a lowly milkshake salesman traveling a nowhere road from greasy spoon to spoon — rejection after rejection. This is where his persona should have been grounded — when he had nothing and was hungry, anything would be possible... Instead it's just a flash of benign conversations and doors closing, which leads to the inevitable partnership with the McDonald brothers, whose small town burger joint invented the word Fast-Food as the movie drags from one scene to the next. Ray Croc is mostly shown from other people's reaction: Dumbfounded stares from his so-called business partners and wife (a witchy Laura Dern) <i>lets us know </i>how to feel about the guy who's climbing to the top...<br>

2017, bio, drama, michael keaton

MICHAEL KEATON DEVELOPS MCDONALD'S AS THE FOUNDER

What 1970's Movie Is This From? Hint, a Boston tune plays YEAR: 2017 The problem with Hollywood-moralizing is it makes a theme or ag...

BELATED REVIEW OF EDGAR WRIGHT'S BABY DRIVER

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Retro Sparse poster for Baby Driver sans the title YEAR: 2017</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">BABY DRIVER is part RESERVOIR DOGS in storyline and characters, and nearly <i>all</i> Quentin Tarantino in style, substance and the super-hip hybrid of classic rock R&B, fast-paced humor and tons of bloodshed...</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Of course Edgar Wright isn't without his own zingy style seen in cult favorites SHAWN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ, THE WORLD'S END: And here he's one-upped Tarantino's recent string of dull historical revenge sagas with an edgy urban precision combining music with the tribal beat of frantic self defense: with either pool sticks or in this case, gunfire. Making BABY DRIVER a metronomic, multi-heist action flick that also borrows from Walter Hill's THE DRIVER since the main character is quiet, brooding and much different than the brash thugs he provides an apt getaway for; each heist viewed by only his perspective...</span><br>

2017, action, jon hamm

BELATED REVIEW OF EDGAR WRIGHT'S BABY DRIVER

Retro Sparse poster for Baby Driver sans the title YEAR: 2017 BABY DRIVER is part RESERVOIR DOGS in storyline and characters, and nearly...

SUNDAY NIGHT REVIEW OF SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Spider-Man back for a third time but a first for Marvel YEAR: 2017</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's a scene when Peter Parker uses one of his main gadgets as a voice box. Although it's intended to be funny through satire, SPIDER-MAN having a deep, formidable, robotic tone actually fits the costume, which is arguably the coolest, meanest and leanest superhero get-up of all time...</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Not that Tom Holland is a weak SPIDER-MAN. He's a good one. And a good actor. Sympathetic. Energetic. And while it's difficult if impossible making any high school student seem like a geek nowadays when everyone carries a personal computer/phone in their pocket, he fits the mold of an underdog who's hiding a secret while getting no credit for his accomplishments...</span><br>

2017, marvel, superhero

SUNDAY NIGHT REVIEW OF SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

Spider-Man back for a third time but a first for Marvel YEAR: 2017 There's a scene when Peter Parker uses one of his main gadgets as...

OLD WITH NEW: DOUBLE BEGUILED & THE HOUSE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Clint Eastwood BEGUILED has an archive review below</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Covering two new theatrical releases, quickly, as there really isn't much out there, yet. Then again, one of them is surprisingly decent while the other is neither good, bad, or... </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Well Sofia Coppola's THE BEGUILED definitely isn't ugly. Although, unlike the original </span><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2011/02/beguiled.html" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Don Siegel Civil War-Era Thriller</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, starring Clint Eastwood as a wounded Yankee soldier holed-up in a spooky manor run by beautiful vixens (think Castle Anthrax from MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, without the singing), the two starlets aren't mischievous and daring enough to turn the darkly-lit Gothic location into a hybrid of male fantasy and claustrophobic nightmare...</span><br>

2017, comedy, mob, remake

OLD WITH NEW: DOUBLE BEGUILED & THE HOUSE

The Clint Eastwood BEGUILED has an archive review below Covering two new theatrical releases, quickly, as there really isn't much ou...

NEO-NOIR GANGSTER HYBRID OF THE DON IS DEAD

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Don is Dead pink poster YEAR: 1973</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How could a movie starring Anthony Quinn, Robert Forster, Frederic Forrest, Al Lettieri, directed by Richard Fleischer and centering on cutthroat mobsters slightly miss the mark, or, not be an incredible masterpiece? </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Probably because there's not much of a target to begin with, and yet, that's not such a bad thing since the breezy undertone provides a cushion of what feels like actor improvisation under the edgy, multi-plotted schemes going on... And on and on...</span><br>

anthony quinn, fredric forrest, gangster, neo noir, robert forster

NEO-NOIR GANGSTER HYBRID OF THE DON IS DEAD

The Don is Dead pink poster YEAR: 1973 How could a movie starring Anthony Quinn, Robert Forster, Frederic Forrest, Al Lettieri, directed...

EDGE OF GREATNESS ABOUT JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT REVIEWED

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>From VIGILANTE FORCE, one of many so-called forgotten films</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"This is not a life," David Grove writes in the final page of his book, EDGE OF GREATNESS, about the eclectic acting career of Jan-Michael Vincent. "It's obvious now that he was not born; he was invented. I thought there would be more, but this is it. He got what he deserved."</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ouch! Especially coming from a talented author and film historian, bringing the reader back in time, through an endless ringer. It's lovely writing, but where's the love? There was obviously a lot "more" that Jan-Michael Vincent felt, and lived, and discovered, than could be conjured up "in your philosophy," as Shakespeare wrote of his narrow-minded Horatio. </span><br>

book review, jan-michael vincent

EDGE OF GREATNESS ABOUT JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT REVIEWED

From VIGILANTE FORCE, one of many so-called forgotten films "This is not a life," David Grove writes in the final page of his ...

CHARLIE CHAPLIN ENDS WITH A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sophia Loren & Marlon Brando runing in circles YEAR: 1966</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Polar opposites Charlie Chaplin and Marlon Brando have something in common other than being legendary performers known for their topnotch skills: The first is a physical comic and the other can be extremely dramatic... </span><br>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So when Brando tries for comedy in Chaplin's final directorial film, A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG, it's one of the most awkward performances ever... by anyone. But it's mostly Chaplin's fault. Once having told director Orson Welles that he didn't need to move the camera using creative angles because his antics made up for it, he should have realized that's not the case with Brando and Sophia Loren; the latter as the title character, a stowaway on a boat holding the multi-millionaire oilman "captive" in his room while he's on the verge of gaining an important position in Washington DC...</span><br>

charlie chaplin, marlon brando, romantic comedy, sixties, sophia loren

CHARLIE CHAPLIN ENDS WITH <span style="color: #783f04;">A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG </span>

CHARLIE CHAPLIN ENDS WITH A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG

Sophia Loren & Marlon Brando runing in circles YEAR: 1966 Polar opposites Charlie Chaplin and Marlon Brando have something in common...

YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS REVIEW OF POWER RANGERS

2016, action, based on TV, bryan cranston, kids, science-fiction

YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS REVIEW OF <span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="color: #073763;">POWER RANGERS</span></b> </span>

YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS REVIEW OF POWER RANGERS

The Rangers hanging at David Letterman's old Late Nite set YEAR: 2017 Not long ago, once-successful director John Landis's curre...

TOM CRUISE ONCE AGAIN AS JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hKhVYLZGuK4/WVQbiUuKbUI/AAAAAAAAyGk/ti8fouOzR5YBInL32tHkEaVbvs9rPpYsACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-28%2Bat%2B2.07.44%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="525" height="231" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hKhVYLZGuK4/WVQbiUuKbUI/AAAAAAAAyGk/ti8fouOzR5YBInL32tHkEaVbvs9rPpYsACLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-28%2Bat%2B2.07.44%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>It's a family affair this time for JACK REACHER Year: 2016</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's a sequel titled SON OF KONG so why not DAUGHTER OF REACHER? Well for the most part, it's not a foregone conclusion he's really the father. Either way, a tagalong kid (or teen) doesn't usually belong in an espionage/action flick...</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Although in the original there was a troubled girl but this time it's closer, and personal. The first thing the icy asskicker has <i>really</i> cared about. He's the kind of (ex-Army) rogue hero bordering on anti-hero who knows the score before each maneuver. So there was a touch of slowburn Neo-Noir in the first picture, and now, one of that genre's major plot-lines is the core: Jack's a "Wrong Man," accused of, as the story goes on, several deaths along the path where he's already been...</span><br>

2016, action, cobie smulders, espionage, military, sequel, suspense, tom cruise, wrong man

TOM CRUISE ONCE AGAIN AS JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK

It's a family affair this time for JACK REACHER Year: 2016 There's a sequel titled SON OF KONG so why not DAUGHTER OF REACHER? W...

KEANU REEVES BACK BLASTING IN JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2

2016, keanu reeves

KEANU REEVES BACK BLASTING IN JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2

Keanu finds himself in a brand new franchise YEAR: 2016 I'm not that guy anymore... A line uttered by JOHN WICK, again played by K...

ROB ZOMBIE WRITES & DIRECTS THE BLOODFEST OF 31

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>1970's Homage Style Poster Art for 31 Year: 2016</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Rob Zombie's "31" is one of those horror movies that's terrifying for the fictional characters and not one bit scary to the audience... </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Seeming like a twisted version of THE RUNNING MAN (originally derived from THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME), five people have to survive a tortuous hunting underground hosted by Malcolm McDowell and two old ladies, dressed in wigged European aristocrat costumes, letting the would-be victims know how much time is left, and which antagonist is next up to bat: All bearing names with Head at the end, such as Sick-Head and Doom-Head, they resemble Heath Ledger's Joker combined with Rob's usual Killer Clown motif with a dash of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE demented redneck.</span><br>

2016, body count, horror, lawrence hilton-jacobs, malcolm mcdowell, rob zombie

ROB ZOMBIE WRITES & DIRECTS THE BLOODFEST OF 31

1970's Homage Style Poster Art for 31 Year: 2016 Rob Zombie's "31" is one of those horror movies that's terrifying...

PRODIGAL WARREN BEATTY RETURNS IN RULES DON'T APPLY

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Belated Review of 2016's Rules Don't Apply</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">RULES DON'T APPLY stars and is directed by Warren Beatty, who left Hollywood over ten years ago after his comedy disaster TOWN & COUNTRY was chopped on the editing block, not by the studio but the man himself: guilty for his own massive failure... </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So this is a return for not only Beatty the filmmaker but the actor, whose subtle touch is usually effective yet rarely extraordinary, although he doesn't sell himself as the lead herein: </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Upon first glance, it seems like the film's starlet, Lily Collins as Maria, is a very, very young small town girl up for a part in a Howard Hughes picture... Beatty's Hughes speaks in a purposeful monotone since the real life billionaire's well-known insanity gives any actor a sky's-the-limit opportunity to chew the scenery. In that, he plays it strange yet extremely grounded, and by the time it's realized that Collins is slightly older than she initially appeared, a creepy scene occurs, ruining what had been building up in an effectively mysterious fashion: simply put, it seems that Warren, the famous womanizer, now married and old, gave himself a chance for a love scene with a schoolgirl that a dirty old man could conjure up in his fantasies: liken to an aging action star who'd cast a younger badass to fight, and defeat, so goes the short-lived March/December romance for the aging, mummified Playboy...</span><br>

2016, alden ehrenreich, bio, lily collins, warren beatty

PRODIGAL WARREN BEATTY RETURNS IN RULES DON'T APPLY

Belated Review of 2016's Rules Don't Apply RULES DON'T APPLY stars and is directed by Warren Beatty, who left Hollywood over...

CAGNEY WINDS DOWN WITH NEVER STEAL ANYTHING SMALL

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h-67u0cpIWY/WEj2LEvx-DI/AAAAAAAAvb4/0wqMTmJHMlAG6iCWK-lCnlCH61j7ihYywCLcB/s1600/15284144_237247110037806_7619244260823720972_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h-67u0cpIWY/WEj2LEvx-DI/AAAAAAAAvb4/0wqMTmJHMlAG6iCWK-lCnlCH61j7ihYywCLcB/s400/15284144_237247110037806_7619244260823720972_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Cagney behind blinds in a semi Musical from 1959</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">During his last decade of acting before what was really his retirement from show business (despite popping his head out twenty years later), James Cagney never did have that necessary pinnacle or comeback like, say, a fledgling Marlon Brando when director Francis Ford Coppola insisted that he try out for... you know...</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In this case, Orson Welles and Stanley Kubrick's favorite actor's filmography during the Fifties is eclectic and, for the most part, at times, pretty mediocre... That's compared to the likes of PUBLIC ENEMY, THE ROARING TWENTIES or WHITE HEAT: And here's one of several breezy breaks for the man who once reigned with vengeance: </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">NEVER STEAL ANYTHING SMALL is a semi-musical about Union corruption, and if that sounds strange, only the little man could pull it off with an edgy vibe, somewhat: Like in one of his other (and far superior) 1950's vehicles, LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME, he's in love with a young blonde girl who loves someone else </span>—<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> all while trying to steal an election...</span><br>

comedy, fifties, james cagney, mob, musical, shirley jones

CAGNEY WINDS DOWN WITH NEVER STEAL ANYTHING SMALL

James Cagney behind blinds in a semi Musical from 1959 During his last decade of acting before what was really his retirement from show ...

JOHN HURT & RICHARD BURTON IN GEORGE ORWELL'S 1984

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-asTOXqw80xg/WUdjL2ikJaI/AAAAAAAAyCE/i3XS-DgLP3cRXfNGpytHaayVUOZrpGeJwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-18%2Bat%2B10.36.50%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="590" height="292" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-asTOXqw80xg/WUdjL2ikJaI/AAAAAAAAyCE/i3XS-DgLP3cRXfNGpytHaayVUOZrpGeJwCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-18%2Bat%2B10.36.50%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Hurt very belated Memorial from 1984 YEAR: 1984</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Having grown up part of the original STAR WARS generation, it's impossible to <i>not</i> connect that story with even the most popular of classic futuristic novels that, in this case, proceeded the science-fiction phenom by decades. The question is: Would The Dark Side consider themselves The Dark Side? In their minds, they're right, not wrong... Right? Pure Light, not the absence of light...</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the 1984 version of the George Orwell adaptation of 1984, despite being purposefully overboard to capture the essence of symbolism, it's difficult to find anything lucrative about this particular totalitarian government in which most of the people are forcefully, methodically content: The dilapidated streets resemble bombarded post-War Germany, and on giant movie screens is the image of a man that looks like Adolf Hitler, somewhat, and there's no turning off the repetitious propaganda ranging from battle front updates to how much chocolate will cost "next week." Meanwhile, the people confess their "sins" to the leader and to "Big Brother," especially those who have read a book by a man named Goldstein (no, he doesn't play basketball at Carver High): his philosophy attempts to delete this horrendous future with no value whatsoever. Hell, there's not even a cool red lightsaber.</span><br>

adaptation, eighties, john hurt, richard burton, science-fiction

JOHN HURT & RICHARD BURTON IN GEORGE ORWELL'S 1984

John Hurt very belated Memorial from 1984 YEAR: 1984 Having grown up part of the original STAR WARS generation, it's impossible to n...

UNWRAPPING THE TOM CRUISE MUMMY REBOOT REMAKE

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l-K2wV3g3yk/WUHDBpJzi9I/AAAAAAAAyA0/Yz9z8I1tLjMtKVBcVjrVHrsSc4z51AFzgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5345-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="899" height="242" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l-K2wV3g3yk/WUHDBpJzi9I/AAAAAAAAyA0/Yz9z8I1tLjMtKVBcVjrVHrsSc4z51AFzgCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_5345-1.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Tom Cruise Mummy has hardly a bandage at all YEAR: 2017</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Failing to point out similarities that new movies share with old ones is like ignoring a familiar face who says hello... After bumping right into you...</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So it's important to mention that <i>The Tom Cruise MUMMY</i> is, in its core, almost exactly like AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, arguably the greatest werewolf picture ever and, directed by John Landis, centers on two doomed vacationing hikers: one gets killed by an initial attack, the other injured: The latter has ominous, foreboding dreams while his not-very-pleasant-looking dead friend appears randomly, offering </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">spooky yet cordial reminders that he, the living, must <i>also</i> die to lift The Curse... </span><br>

2017, action, fantasy, reboot, science-fiction, tom cruise

UNWRAPPING THE TOM CRUISE MUMMY REBOOT REMAKE

The Tom Cruise Mummy has hardly a bandage at all YEAR: 2017 Failing to point out similarities that new movies share with old ones is lik...

MARVEL GROUNDS THE TRULY BIZARRE OF DOCTOR STRANGE

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QQkHzKQ0ia4/WT7gB_NITBI/AAAAAAAAyAM/bWBaI3fUkVAqtYROZquIsqOJyILA_znzgCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-12%2Bat%2B11.35.26%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="253" data-original-width="461" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QQkHzKQ0ia4/WT7gB_NITBI/AAAAAAAAyAM/bWBaI3fUkVAqtYROZquIsqOJyILA_znzgCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-12%2Bat%2B11.35.26%2BAM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dragon image in one of many Strange posters YEAR: 2016</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How a comic book adaption like this could be so... well... <i>strange</i> and still make enough sense... at least while you're watching.... is nothing short of miraculous. Or maybe we want it to be clear enough to remain on track this multi-level, cerebral rollercoaster...</span><br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nuther Filler Pic</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Benedict Cumberbatch plays the title character with a dash of Robert Downey Jr. style sarcasm. Perhaps any superhero, before taking on a Marvel lead, crams for the <i>Tony Stark 101</i> test since wry, glib humor helps ground a bizarre, otherworldly situation...</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Before Downey, Bill Murray did it in GHOSTBUSTERS. Jeff Goldblum in JURASSIC PARK. And many films beforehand allowing the audience to not only laugh during intense moments, but to take random breaks from the pandemonium (basically, the main star becomes his own sidekick). </span></span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And in the case of DOCTOR STRANGE, Cumberbatch <i>does</i> have a style all his own. An intellectual countenance makes for a realistically brilliant surgeon who thinks too highly of himself </span>—<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> with a reason, sort of. The only doctor who can pull off nearly inconceivable  operations, his life is as perfect as his sleek, expensive car. That's until listening Pink Floyd's INTERSTELLAR OVERDRIVE (early Syd Barrett era instrumental) and crashing down a mountainside, which is too quick and seems forced to get our man to the point where the origin story needs boundless desperation to ignite...</span></span><br>

2016, action, benedict cumberbatch, comic book, fantasy, marvel, science-fiction

MARVEL GROUNDS THE TRULY BIZARRE OF DOCTOR STRANGE

Dragon image in one of many Strange posters YEAR: 2016 How a comic book adaption like this could be so... well... strange and still mak...

FINAL HUGH JACKMAN WOLVERINE GOES BY JUST PLAIN LOGAN

2017, action, comic, franchise, hugh jackman, marvel, patrick stewart, road movie

FINAL HUGH JACKMAN WOLVERINE GOES BY JUST PLAIN <i>LOGAN</i>

FINAL HUGH JACKMAN WOLVERINE GOES BY JUST PLAIN LOGAN

Neat Walking Dead Style LOGAN poster YEAR: 2017 Somewhere online, the third and final WOLVERINE is said to have been influenced by films...

END OF THE WEEKEND REVIEW OF WONDER WOMAN

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Wonder Woman Gal Gadot posing in front of a Weezer logo YEAR: 2017</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">First things first, and not to be shallow... although both male and female will readily admit that Gal Gadot is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful women ever filmed... </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Which makes perfect sense in the WONDER WOMAN origin story because — she's no ordinary dame. Even living on an island with a race of Amazon beauties, who spend their long days practice-fighting in a slow-motion MATRIX style fashion, she stands out <i>and</i> alone — the only vixen with powers far beyond her kind. <i>Superpowers</i>, indeed...</span><br>

2017, chris pine, comic book, gal gadot

END OF THE WEEKEND REVIEW OF WONDER WOMAN

Wonder Woman Gal Gadot posing in front of a Weezer logo YEAR: 2017 First things first, and not to be shallow... although both male and f...

RIDLEY SCOTT SUSTAINS PROMETHEUS WITH ALIEN: COVENANT

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I6cw6xH_a-k/WTIlMG9G1dI/AAAAAAAAx58/agovpYEH_AQnMxara2_qtu93nIoRDm89ACLcB/s1600/alien--covenant-japanese-poster-432576.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="488" height="343" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I6cw6xH_a-k/WTIlMG9G1dI/AAAAAAAAx58/agovpYEH_AQnMxara2_qtu93nIoRDm89ACLcB/s400/alien--covenant-japanese-poster-432576.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>More Spoilers Than Usual Since it's Been Out A While YEAR: 2017</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">While Ash, the humanoid robot from the original ALIEN, was so obsessed with the "perfect" species, i.e. The Alien, he let it inside the ship, director Ridley Scott has the same adoration for Michael Fassbender, as the new Synthetic, that it's a wonder anyone else is even around...</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We <i>do</i> learn in COVENANT that Fassbender's David had spent a decade on the planet he and the last sole surviving heroine blasted off to at the end of PROMETHEUS... And what began in 1979 as a body-count horror flick in outer space ("Where no one can hear you scream") has basically turned into a science-fiction version of Frankenstein — and boy, does he have a Monster: But first it takes a spaceship with a crew stupid enough to land there. Enter the new cast of human targets in this rushed sequel of an initially surreptitious prequel that makes the flawed PROMETHEUS seem like the original ALIEN (or James Cameron's action-packed sequel, ALIENS) by comparison.</span><br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DU2S4LD_-1M/WTIlfiUbitI/AAAAAAAAx6A/H7P9I0851ZYozwcFtoYjEUr2OEmlX5LggCLcB/s1600/51S20FeAcML.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="389" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DU2S4LD_-1M/WTIlfiUbitI/AAAAAAAAx6A/H7P9I0851ZYozwcFtoYjEUr2OEmlX5LggCLcB/s400/51S20FeAcML.jpg" width="343"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>CovenantScore: *1/2</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Taking over the Sigourney Weaver "Ripley" mantle is a whiny, weepy Katherine Waterston as Daniels, who's more like Veronica Cartwright's frantic Lambert: the uptight lady who never stopped screeching... And how director Ridley Scott managed to make the otherwise beautiful Waterston look plain and homely is one of many problems here... </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Other than a cocky cowboy played by Danny McBride (the new Yaphet Kotto blue collar type), the entire crew is downright forgettable and, during sporadic, violent action scenes, aren't worthy enough to care about. While the original ALIEN chief in Tom Skerritt's Dallas provided the PSCYHO Janet Leigh role — seeming like the main character before his surprisingly quick death leaves the crew in an unplanned disarray — Billy Crudup's second-man turned captain, replacing an unlucky guy we never meet but through an archived video, is so inept, pathetic and cowardly he should have a lion suit on. Although, for the record, his banality <i>is </i>needed to explain why they'd wind up on that uncertain, unfamiliar planet in the first place.</span><br>

action, danny mcbride, horror, katherine waterston, michael fassbender, ridley scott, science-fiction, suspense

RIDLEY SCOTT SUSTAINS PROMETHEUS WITH ALIEN: COVENANT

More Spoilers Than Usual Since it's Been Out A While YEAR: 2017 While Ash, the humanoid robot from the original ALIEN, was so obsess...

MEMORIAL DAY REVIEW OF BREAKTHROUGH W/ JOHN AGAR

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6i-78cdOQyc/WSvK-un7G1I/AAAAAAAAx5M/GTYh5v1FGtcNGKN3UeCGjCa-GpN_fRE_QCLcB/s1600/F-31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="636" height="270" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6i-78cdOQyc/WSvK-un7G1I/AAAAAAAAx5M/GTYh5v1FGtcNGKN3UeCGjCa-GpN_fRE_QCLcB/s400/F-31.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warner Archives front and back of DVD Year: 1950</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">An unplanned writeup for Memorial Day since, as a collector of the Warner Archive DVDs, it's refreshing to find an old B&W World War II flick that's more an intriguing, suspenseful journey than cliché melodrama... </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Despite the fact the nicest guy on board shows-off a picture of his wife and kids, and winds up predictably dead: </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's also the token jester i.e. comic relief; a kindhearted simpleton; a muscle-bound dolt; a nervous, really young small town kid; a wise, head-strong Sergeant; an educated Lieutenant who lacks actual fighting experience; and his jaded, too-experienced Captain, trying to get him ready to, in this particular story, lead men onto the beaches of Normandy...</span><br>

action, dick wesson, fifties, frank lovejoy, john agar, war, warner archives

MEMORIAL DAY REVIEW OF BREAKTHROUGH W/ JOHN AGAR

Warner Archives front and back of DVD Year: 1950 An unplanned writeup for Memorial Day since, as a collector of the Warner Archive DVDs,...

COCHRAN HOLDS THE MAYO (AGAIN) IN SHE'S BACK ON BROADWAY

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XxNnkbrJ620/WSlOkXaM2EI/AAAAAAAAx4c/wd6AzeDn3f4nlW3kufWVGFqXGiF7e0kJACLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-27%2Bat%2B2.55.25%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1105" data-original-width="1547" height="285" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XxNnkbrJ620/WSlOkXaM2EI/AAAAAAAAx4c/wd6AzeDn3f4nlW3kufWVGFqXGiF7e0kJACLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-27%2Bat%2B2.55.25%2BAM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lobby Card Image with Virginia Mayo and legs YEAR: 1953</u></td></tr>
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This is more than a review of the 1952 feel-good comedy loaded with as many hardships and frowns as smiles, taking place mostly indoors without much sunshine: Except for the opening scene as a poolside Virginia Mayo, playing a has-been actress, is taking business with her faithful but weary producer friend, trying to find her a leading role and suggesting she go back on... Refer to the title...<br>
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In the first two of three films, Virginia Mayo was snatched from Cult Film Freak's two all-time favorite actors by tall, dark and viciously handsome b-actor Steve Cochran: First in THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, finishing Dana Andrews (not so happy) marriage so the perky dame can enjoy the nightlife, and her most famous turn as a reluctant gun-moll for ultra-violent James Cagney: he can only trust his tough old mom since his wife is, once again, cheating with Cochran — now it's <i>his</i> turn to sweat and stress over the pretty gal as bitter stage director Rick Sommers. While looking more like a famous director's chain-smoking, cool and smooth bodyguard, it's the heated chemistry... or perhaps, in this case, anti-chemistry... between Cochran and Mayo that makes SHE'S BACK ON BROADWAY a better picture than an idyllic and breezy title begging for second placement on a marquee...
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fifties, steve cochran, virginia mayo

COCHRAN HOLDS THE MAYO (AGAIN) IN SHE'S BACK ON BROADWAY

Lobby Card Image with Virginia Mayo and legs YEAR: 1953 This is more than a review of the 1952 feel-good comedy loaded with as many hard...

ORIGINAL CORMAN CULT CLASSIC OF DANTE'S PIRANHA

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MHL9d_vOMgo/WR6zyIiUcQI/AAAAAAAAx3Q/vfVMA6pLRMg7WEdZYfL7qox1Cm1OvfLjwCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-19%2Bat%2B1.45.27%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MHL9d_vOMgo/WR6zyIiUcQI/AAAAAAAAx3Q/vfVMA6pLRMg7WEdZYfL7qox1Cm1OvfLjwCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-19%2Bat%2B1.45.27%2BAM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Great Foreign Poster with the P of Piranha with Razor teeth YEAR: 1978</u></td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Joe Dante trusted me enough to listen and allow the freedom to write scenes in every show I ever did with him...</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R2I0rOPA6tQ/WR5jCfZvtZI/AAAAAAAAx1w/s2vaXudHkn884FID9Z-4p_A1tNKJyHRhwCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-18%2Bat%2B8.12.39%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R2I0rOPA6tQ/WR5jCfZvtZI/AAAAAAAAx1w/s2vaXudHkn884FID9Z-4p_A1tNKJyHRhwCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-18%2Bat%2B8.12.39%2BPM.jpg" width="120"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>JAWS-like image</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That from the director's regular troupe member, Belinda Balaski, who we'll continue with later as now, from the origin is, at that time, a future arthouse/indie director, John Sayles, starting out a scriptwriter with terrific pulpy creature-features. Two for Joe Dante: PIRANHA, which you're reading about now, and years later THE HOWLING, very loosely based on a sparse, uncomplicated novel, and the screenplay's far more creative and edgy. And for director Lewis Teague, Sayles wrote ALLIGATOR, one of those "title says it all" flicks but with some depth and, best yet, an actor like Robert Forster who can legitimize anything...
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<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IDFguKVu3B8/WR4kYJDB_mI/AAAAAAAAxz0/IHVyGlu8hwk2XSQ3Q9ajg29-A34QhvBtgCLcB/s1600/18519827_316957655400084_7360665445922273565_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IDFguKVu3B8/WR4kYJDB_mI/AAAAAAAAxz0/IHVyGlu8hwk2XSQ3Q9ajg29-A34QhvBtgCLcB/s400/18519827_316957655400084_7360665445922273565_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><u>Bradford Dillman and Heather Menzies</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And anyone familiar with COMPULSION knows that Bradford Dillman, who had won the Cannes Festival Best Actor award back in 1959, was no slouch either... </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As a bearded alcoholic divorced-dad living in a rural cabin, he makes an otherwise limited character interesting and humorous. Which, of course, has a lot to do with the script... </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But Dillman's chemistry with 70's scream queen Heather Menzies, who shrieked brilliantly at the end of SSSSSSS a few years earlier, makes a really good movie great: And there's no mystery as to homage since </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Joe Dante says, right up front on the DVD commentary, that PIRANHA is an intentional JAWS clone. But it's no carbon copy of the Steven Spielberg shark classic, taking place on a rural river instead of the ocean... the latter where the deadly Gov't-Created-for-Vietnam fanged-fish are ultimately headed. Plus there's a car chase/race against time: popular back then. But it's no shock that in PIRANHA, the real action takes place in the water...</span><br>

belinda balaski, bradford dillman, creature, heather menzies, horror, interview, joe dante, roger corman, seventies, suspense

ORIGINAL CORMAN CULT CLASSIC OF DANTE'S PIRANHA

Great Foreign Poster with the P of Piranha with Razor teeth YEAR: 1978 Joe Dante trusted me enough to listen and allow the freedom to w...

AN INTREPID JOHN MILIUS DUTIFULLY DIRECTS RED DAWN

c. thomas howell, charlie sheen, eighties, jennifer grey, john milius, kevin reynolds, lea thompson, patrick swayze, powers boothe, war, william smith

AN INTREPID JOHN MILIUS DUTIFULLY DIRECTS RED DAWN

On an Optimistic Note, He was Failing History YEAR: 1984 Two toughest kids on the block... I guess, sooner or later, they're gonna ...

YEAWORTH & HARRIS: THE BLOB WITH 4D MAN & DINOSAURUS

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kgvEnVvb3e4/WRPGXTLm1EI/AAAAAAAAxt8/f__rBUYjS_0dMULmp2jxN9OObj19HzuVACLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-10%2Bat%2B6.40.33%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kgvEnVvb3e4/WRPGXTLm1EI/AAAAAAAAxt8/f__rBUYjS_0dMULmp2jxN9OObj19HzuVACLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-10%2Bat%2B6.40.33%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Busy Years Making The Blob: 1958 4 DMan: 1959 Dinosaurus:: 1960</u></td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Make them listen to me. There <i>is</i> a monster! We saw it again at dad's store, and it's bigger now!</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>THE BLOB</u>: During the prelude of his career, Steve McQueen, billed as Steven McQueen as a dude named Steve, has never played a character so untrusted or unappreciated: He knows what everyone, including his best girl, has strong doubts about (for a little while). And we're not only supposed to believe that McQueen, already looking rugged and world-weary, is a teenager but that he'd actually get bullied around the small town, which is as far-fetched as, twenty-years later, a shirtless surfer type (Kim Milford) being picked on by, of all people, the most famous geek in motion picture history, Eddie Deezen...</span><br>

action, cult, dinosaur, fifties, horror, sixties, suspense, thriller

YEAWORTH & HARRIS: THE BLOB WITH 4D MAN & DINOSAURUS

Busy Years Making The Blob: 1958 4 DMan: 1959 Dinosaurus:: 1960 Make them listen to me. There is a monster! We saw it again at dad'...

DENNIS CHRISTOPHER'S TOUR DE FORCE IN FADE TO BLACK

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cH97zg-QiGg/WR6I38CGpkI/AAAAAAAAx2g/p51LkJiBS3s5kkjE8Mq7hkRS1Q3YufYxQCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-18%2Bat%2B10.52.13%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cH97zg-QiGg/WR6I38CGpkI/AAAAAAAAx2g/p51LkJiBS3s5kkjE8Mq7hkRS1Q3YufYxQCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-18%2Bat%2B10.52.13%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster for FADE TO BLACK starring Dennis Christopher YEAR: 1980</u></td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
That was a lot of fun and I got burnt by squibs, they’re called: The things that go off to make it look like I’ve been shot.</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That's <i>not</i> a quote from Dennis Christopher, who does the shooting, but character-actor Morgan Paull in our interview six months before an untimely death... Centering on his own particular curtain call in a movie that lives up to its name: If PSYCHO Norman Bates was heavily into cinema, you'd have FADE TO BLACK; but not really since it took until the 1980's (and/or late 70's) where the immense wave of pop culture began to recede, and film buffs and even intellectuals were human movie quiz books, and Dennis Christopher's Eric Binford epitomizes what's called a Cinefile to the point that he makes sure he lives on 99 RIVER STREET...</span><br>

body count, dark comedy, dennis christopher, horror, mickey rourke, morgan paull, tim thomerson

DENNIS CHRISTOPHER'S TOUR DE FORCE IN FADE TO BLACK

Poster for FADE TO BLACK starring Dennis Christopher YEAR: 1980 That was a lot of fun and I got burnt by squibs, they’re called: The th...

PAUL SCHRADER DIRECTS WILLEM DAFOE IN LIGHT SLEEPER

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SPGfyHAw9tY/WRD02jwxo4I/AAAAAAAAxqQ/EvQq5DsXD1UnxeTisuAbzEAjU6AAT-qIgCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-08%2Bat%2B3.39.13%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SPGfyHAw9tY/WRD02jwxo4I/AAAAAAAAxqQ/EvQq5DsXD1UnxeTisuAbzEAjU6AAT-qIgCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-08%2Bat%2B3.39.13%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Susan Sarrandon and William Defore YEAR: 1992</u></td></tr>
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I feel my life turning... All it needed was a direction</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Well Paul Schrader gave Willem Dafoe plenty of direction, having worked with him a handful of times, and he preferred the otherwise intense actor, who other directors would use as an angry, vicious or intense type of fella, to be desperate, laidback, vulnerable and sympathetic: In AUTO FOCUS, the true crime story of HOGAN'S HERO actor Bob Crane's sexual journey into out-of-control oblivion with the help of his go-to guy, was played by Dafoe, who might as well have been a controlled, even-keeled drug dealer like he is, literally, in LIGHT SLEEPER, since Crane, played by Greg Kinnear, got high on videotaping his sexcapades using, at that time, high-end recording equipment, thus depending on real life best friend and future number one murder suspect John Carpenter (not the HALLOWEEN director): both films couldn't be more different, sharing only Schrader and Defoe in common: two kings of edgy cinema made for each other...</span><br>

biopic, greg kinnear, nineties, paul schrader, willem defoe, zeroes

PAUL SCHRADER DIRECTS WILLEM DAFOE IN <b>LIGHT SLEEPER</b>

PAUL SCHRADER DIRECTS WILLEM DAFOE IN LIGHT SLEEPER

Susan Sarrandon and William Defore YEAR: 1992 I feel my life turning... All it needed was a direction Well Paul Schrader gave Willem D...

RUMMAGING THROUGH THE LOST CULT HORROR FLICK PIN

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NIJUtEOpaTo/WQ89pvczpEI/AAAAAAAAxps/kfSQmbrEVmMV6Yv8Z4Bn2QPC3i_atGbqACLcB/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NIJUtEOpaTo/WQ89pvczpEI/AAAAAAAAxps/kfSQmbrEVmMV6Yv8Z4Bn2QPC3i_atGbqACLcB/s400/11.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hereby one of our favorite horror starlets Cynthia Preston YEAR: 1988</u></td></tr>
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Adding a layer to the otherwise cliché twisted persona so he's not just another young tortured soul...</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Canadian horror flick PIN came out a year after THE STEPFATHER; that movie starring and this one featuring Terry O'Quinn — here he's a strict father who, a doctor by trade, uses a medical dummy... wherein all veins and innards are visible... to speak to his children. Although very different, and only having Canada in common, both THE STEPFATHER and PIN share the same visual aesthetic and budget, but PIN is more of a PSYCHO clone, albeit a unique and extremely original one, borrowing from the iconic Hitchcock thriller right down to the image of a static and spooky human figure/silhouette staring out the upstairs window (or a SENTINEL, perhaps). There's one scary house in every neighborhood and this is it... Peaking the curiosity of the same neighborhood kids that double as hardcore bullies at school, targeting the doc's passive son, Leon, played by David Hewlett once he's of age, in high school, after what seems like a backstory but is really Act One of the standard Three...</span><br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wTphgpRUanQ/WQ7cLlg9O2I/AAAAAAAAxoc/7mQFCNvAwts2hT5NpWZy10vnH3ooJgKFgCEw/s1600/18268529_311989192563597_6477607676544455706_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wTphgpRUanQ/WQ7cLlg9O2I/AAAAAAAAxoc/7mQFCNvAwts2hT5NpWZy10vnH3ooJgKFgCEw/s320/18268529_311989192563597_6477607676544455706_n.jpg" width="160"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>PINScore: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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As for the plot, PIN is the only solace in the poor kid's life, and the title, on the poster, DVD, VHS and even the opening credit itself ends with a three-period ellipsis as the rest of the word is covered up — that being the medical dummy's full name, based on the legendary children's story puppet who turns into a jackass when he parties and can't tell a lie without it showing. So Pin's first master, controlled by father doing his best Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy imitation, throws his voice while teaching both shy son and curious, confident daughter about everything ranging from the the birds and the bees to your basic household chores...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3PNPJNiwRO8/WQ88RkbH0bI/AAAAAAAAxpg/T-w7ZM5NDSczocYjEuXHSyGyjI6FdxpeACLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-07%2Bat%2B8.23.00%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3PNPJNiwRO8/WQ88RkbH0bI/AAAAAAAAxpg/T-w7ZM5NDSczocYjEuXHSyGyjI6FdxpeACLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-07%2Bat%2B8.23.00%2BAM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>PIN the dummy before & after: Going from Peter Weller-esque to Preppy</u></td></tr>
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What seems like a short story in itself when as the kids are young has a beginning, middle and.. Skip to high school, and Leon needs the doll to continue his education — terrified and annoyed by the opposite sex, he begs that PIN be allowed to be moved from dad's office to their home. The most important death of this body count horror allows for Leon to be free. So PIN, his sister, and for a little while, a bickering aunt live at the house...<br>

cynthia preston, david hewlett, eighties, horror, jonathan banks, suspense, terry o'quinn

RUMMAGING THROUGH THE LOST CULT HORROR FLICK <b>PIN</b>

RUMMAGING THROUGH THE LOST CULT HORROR FLICK PIN

Hereby one of our favorite horror starlets Cynthia Preston YEAR: 1988 Adding a layer to the otherwise cliché twisted persona so he'...

BRONSON & DUVALL STAR TOGETHER YET APART IN BREAKOUT

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ihJ_rpqI37w/WQ8KcZ5e6-I/AAAAAAAAxo4/5oTiJu3qv8YCeHTSTZcmcpMy9AE3NH2JgCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-07%2Bat%2B4.50.11%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ihJ_rpqI37w/WQ8KcZ5e6-I/AAAAAAAAxo4/5oTiJu3qv8YCeHTSTZcmcpMy9AE3NH2JgCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-05-07%2Bat%2B4.50.11%2BAM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles Bronson as Nick Colton in Breakout YEAR: 1975</u></td></tr>
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The quick, violent, to-the-point prologue to the 1975 Tom Gries jailbreak flick is extremely Sam Peckinpah... You could even call the intro: BRING ME THE HEAD OF ROBERT DUVALL...<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3iq7S6lnN9o/WHlx6cCULJI/AAAAAAAAvsU/C_9JYFUDN0coz2gOYdZ0Aj0s-fVM1KJOwCLcB/s1600/BOUT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3iq7S6lnN9o/WHlx6cCULJI/AAAAAAAAvsU/C_9JYFUDN0coz2gOYdZ0Aj0s-fVM1KJOwCLcB/s200/BOUT.jpg" width="170"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Grainy Retro DVD Cover</u></td></tr>
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Bloody Sam similarities include: Echoed gunshots under the hot Mexico sun; a white shirt soaked with gory, bright red blood; a body falling to the ground in <i>slow motion</i> as the opening credits appear across paused images; and Jerry Goldsmith's score beginning soft and subtle with skeletal vibes leading into a Spanish groove. Yet beyond the Sam homage, it's a Spaghetti Western style <i>modern</i> action drama wherein action hero Charles Bronson, after decades of co-starring roles and the year after finding himself a bonafide movie star following the ultra-violent and wonderfully exploitive blockbuster, DEATH WISH (the last of the Michael Winner trilogy including THE MECHANIC and THE STONE KILLER). His personality is somewhat similar to his colorful MR. MAJESTYK character but even more playfully cocky and wisecracking: a small-plane pilot who doesn't just narrow his eyes to get what he's after — more of a human being than a big screen teflon demigod, giving this otherwise sparse and gritty crime melodrama more than a dash of genuine personality throughout.<br>

charles bronson, prison, robert duvall, seventies

BRONSON & DUVALL STAR TOGETHER YET APART IN <b>BREAKOUT</b><br/>

BRONSON & DUVALL STAR TOGETHER YET APART IN BREAKOUT

Charles Bronson as Nick Colton in Breakout YEAR: 1975 The quick, violent, to-the-point prologue to the 1975 Tom Gries jailbreak flick is...

JMT

Presented by James M. Tate / 7/21/2017 / No comments / action , christopher nolan , war , world war II

Presented by James M. Tate / 7/18/2017 / No comments / 2017 , action , franchise , planet of the apes , sequel , woody harrelson

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Presented by James M. Tate / 6/18/2017 / No comments / adaptation , eighties , john hurt , richard burton , science-fiction

Presented by James M. Tate / 6/14/2017 / No comments / 2017 , action , fantasy , reboot , science-fiction , tom cruise

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Presented by James M. Tate / 6/02/2017 / No comments / action , danny mcbride , horror , katherine waterston , michael fassbender , ridley scott , science-fiction , suspense

Presented by James M. Tate / 5/29/2017 / No comments / action , dick wesson , fifties , frank lovejoy , john agar , war , warner archives

Presented by James M. Tate / 5/27/2017 / No comments / fifties , steve cochran , virginia mayo

Presented by James M. Tate / 5/19/2017 / No comments / belinda balaski , bradford dillman , creature , heather menzies , horror , interview , joe dante , roger corman , seventies , suspense

Presented by James M. Tate / 5/17/2017 / No comments / c. thomas howell , charlie sheen , eighties , jennifer grey , john milius , kevin reynolds , lea thompson , patrick swayze , powers boothe , war , william smith

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Presented by James M. Tate / 5/07/2017 / No comments / charles bronson , prison , robert duvall , seventies