cult film freak: August 2019

Written by James M. Tate / 8/29/2019 / No comments / action , amber heard , bagful , body count , horror , john carpenter , kurt russell , nineties , peter fonda , peter jason , sam neill , sequel , tens , zeroes

BLOODY BAGFUL OF MOSTLY UNNECESSARY JOHN CARPENTER FILMS

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kurt Russell surfing L.A. vs a shifty Steve Buscemi Year: 1996</u></td></tr>
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<u>ESCAPE FROM L.A</u>: "I was a Muslim in South Dakota," a beautiful Los 
Angeles prisoner tells Snake Plissken. And that's why she's considered a
 criminal in the new United States, which makes the famously infamous, 
horrendously awful ESCAPE FROM L.A. not altogether dated: released in 1996 
while taking place in a "futuristic" 2013, Hollywood would proudly write
 a line like this today.<br>
  <br>
The set-up has our ESCAPE 
FROM NEW YORK anti-hero Plissken, played by Kurt Russell returning as 
Carpenter's very own Sergio Leone era Clint Eastwood, now delivered in 
chains to the former City of Angels, which has become an island to 
itself after an immense earthquake predicted by a Commander-in-Chief so 
Right Wing he's more of an underline villain... Even compared to prison 
ruler Cuervo Jones, a Playboy Che Guevara type about to... take over the
 world, somehow, with the help of the President's daughter, caught 
awestruck under his revolutionary spell and, once again, Snake has a 
certain amount of digitally run-down time to 
find a particular gadget that, whether in the hands of the equally evil 
Far Left or Far Right leader, wouldn't be a good thing.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>ESCAPE FROM LA Score: *1/2</u></td></tr>
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Stacy Keach is the narrow-eyed Lee Van Cleef, and 
wields an expository cool edge over Cliff Robertson's eventually 
weak-kneed, zealot stooge. And Carpenter brings Plissken through the 
same basic roaming journey template only with horrible results this time
 around...<br>
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First blasting off in a mini submarine underwater to 
reach the island; overall, while the embarrassing special effects and 
forced political undertones hinder what the original's beautifully basic
 Spaghetti Western Science Fiction romp had going for it, there<i> is</i>
 actually enough banal action to keep the viewer, well, kind of 
entertained.<br>
<br>
In place of Ernest Borgnine's resilient guide Cabbie is 
Steve Buscemi, fitting within the retro 
styling during the crest of the Tarantino craze. One scene in 
particular, using some of that revitalized PULP FICTION guitar vibrato 
groove, Snake and hippie-dude Peter Fonda (doing a rambling druggie impersonation of his EASY RIDER co-star Dennis Hopper) actually surf a tsunami, 
which, faker looking than a Frankie and Annette picture, is unbelievable
 to witness, trumping even a scene involving Bruce Campbell as a mutant 
plastic surgeon.  <br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kurt Russell and Peter Fonda in Escape from LA</u></td></tr>
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In
 the form of Harry Dean Stanton's Brain is another ex-partner of Snake: 
Pam Grier plays a former man (with a horrendously dubbed voice), 
resulting in a high-flying finale with more bullets than logic. But the 
worst sequence mirrors in desperation what could be the best part of the
 original: when Snake fought the muscular gladiator in the pivotal cage 
match surrounded by cheering hordes... <br>
<br>
Well this time around, Snake has 
to... get this... shoot hoops in an outdoor basketball court to save his skin... Making him not only an
 iconic criminal but both a champion NBA star and surfer in 
what has to be John Carpenter's worst venture; one that he never 
recovered from. Hell, compared to this, the maligned GHOST OF MARS and VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED is 
THE THING, or... ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. <br>

action, amber heard, bagful, body count, horror, john carpenter, kurt russell, nineties, peter fonda, peter jason, sam neill, sequel, tens, zeroes

BLOODY BAGFUL OF MOSTLY UNNECESSARY JOHN CARPENTER FILMS

Kurt Russell surfing L.A. vs a shifty Steve Buscemi Year: 1996 ESCAPE FROM L.A : "I was a Muslim in South Dakota," a beautiful...

HOW 'HELL RIVER' CONNECTS 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD'

action, adam west, adventure, brioni farrell, drama, exploitation, rod taylor, seventies, war, world war II

HOW 'HELL RIVER' CONNECTS 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD'

Brioni Farrell with Rod Taylor in HELL RIVER Year: 1974 In Quentin Tarantino's ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, Leonardo DiCaprio pla...

CONNIE STEVENS IN 'SCORCHY' AKA 'NARKOBANDEN SPRENGES'

action, caesar danova, connie stevens, cop, crime, cult, exploitation, greg evigan, seventies, william smith

CONNIE STEVENS IN 'SCORCHY' AKA 'NARKOBANDEN SPRENGES'

Scorchy with Connie Stevens YEAR: 1976 Score: ***1/2 Here we have a woman with layers: Connie Stevens plays an undercover cop out to th...

SUSAN FLANNERY IN THE TV-MOVIE 'ANATOMY OF A SEDUCTION'

alan miller, ed nelson, jameson parker, melodrama, midlife crisis, rita moreno, romance, susan flannery, tv movie

SUSAN FLANNERY IN THE TV-MOVIE 'ANATOMY OF A SEDUCTION'

Susan Flannery in Anatomy of a Seduction YEAR: 1979 Susan Flannery is natural and lovely in a midlife crisis while Jameson Parker, as c...

GLANCE AT MARTIN SCORSESE'S PIVOTAL CLASSIC 'MEAN STREETS'

crime, david proval, harvey keitel, interview, kevin corrigan, martin scorsese, mob, robert deniro, robert romanus, seventies

GLANCE AT MARTIN SCORSESE'S PIVOTAL CLASSIC 'MEAN STREETS'

The tail-end of MEAN STREETS w/ the Warner worm logo YEAR: 1973 Fans of the more bloody and gory, deathly and formidable in-your-face ma...

KAREN BLACK REFELECTS ORIGINS & 'EASY' COUNTER-CULTURE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Karen Black on her career beginnings and sporadic cinema in this first of three parts of our transcribed Interview</u></td></tr>
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The lovely and talented KAREN BLACK has played 
both leading ladies and character roles: the bigger parts with lots of 
character and the smaller ones standing out, quite often stealing the 
show...<br>
<br>
And to honor this incredible actress, who died Wednesday, at 74, 
we'll go back to the beginning as Karen discusses how she got into the 
business of acting...<br>

dennis hopper, donald sutherland, henry jaglom, interview, jack nicholson, karen black, karen black interviews, seventies, sixties

KAREN BLACK REFELECTS ORIGINS & 'EASY' COUNTER-CULTURE

Karen Black on her career beginnings and sporadic cinema in this first of three parts of our transcribed Interview The lovely and talent...

KAREN BLACK REFLECTS 'TRILOGY OF TERROR' AND 'NASHVILLE'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Interview with KAREN BLACK on Trilogy of Terror and Nashville</u></td></tr>
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KAREN BLACK was an amazing actress... Known for 
her work on the big screen in groundbreaking indie films like EASY RIDER
 and especially her Oscar nominated role in FIVE EASY PIECES, she 
followed up with low and big budget movies alike, and television... 
Perhaps her most popular performance, or rather, in the case of the Dan 
Curtis made-for-TV anthology TRILOGY OF TERROR, <u>performances</u> was playing three (or depending how you look at it, four) characters in three chilling vignettes...<br>
<br>
The
 most memorable has Karen battling a killer doll... Although the first 
story really shows her range as an actress, playing a shy college 
professor with hidden layers...<br>

cult, dan curtis, horror, horror anthology, interview, karen black, karen black interviews, music, robert altman, seventies, thriller

KAREN BLACK REFLECTS 'TRILOGY OF TERROR' AND 'NASHVILLE'

Interview with KAREN BLACK on Trilogy of Terror and Nashville KAREN BLACK was an amazing actress... Known for her work on the big scree...

KAREN BLACK RELECTS ALFRED HITCHCOCK & THE GREAT GATSBY

alfred hitchcock, bruce dern, interview, karen black, karen black interviews, quentin tarantino, seventies, thriller

KAREN BLACK RELECTS ALFRED HITCHCOCK & THE GREAT GATSBY

Karen Black on Alfred Hitchcock during the filming of Family Plot You starred in FAMILY PLOT with Bruce Dern... This was the last film ...

ACTION REVIEWS OF 'SUPERMAN RETURNS' AND 'MINORITY REPORT'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 2006 Rating: *1/2</u></td></tr>
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<u>SUPERMAN RETURNS</u>: You've got to give credit to X-MEN director Bryan Singer for, in 2006, trying to make his SUPERMAN RETURNS literally that: returning from the 
1978 original with the same opening credit look and starting after
 the events of SUPERMAN II with Brandon Routh as,
literally, the Christopher Reeve Superman...<br />
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But if there's any one thing Reeve did best in the title role, it was playing 
Clark Kent in an endearing underdog manner: something Routh just can't pull 
off. Instead of being clumsy for the part he seems awkward in the role, and 
while on paper Kevin Spacey's the dream Lex Luther, he seems like he 
doesn't want to be there, and with the same exact world-damning 
land-deal goal as Gene Hackman's Luthor, it makes the arch villain feel 
even more bland, unoriginal, overly familiar and basically a frustrating 
afterthought...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Brandon Routh has CGI strength and nothing more</u></td></tr>
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Meanwhile, an otherwise witty (in Christopher Guest movies) Parker Posey
 is perhaps the weakest moll in film history...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Marsden in Returns</u></td></tr>
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But worse yet is Lois 
Lane... Played by a much too young Kate Bosworth, her character lacks Margot Kidder's edge and experienced charm, 
intrepid screen presence and, in having been in her thirties, and while looking 
older than Reeve, Kidder's Lane really did seem like what she played: a solid
reporter who's been in the game and knows more in the arena of reporting 
and taking risks...<br />
<br />
The latter giving Kent-turned-Superman a reason to 
protect her, constantly, as the audience wants her around too: But the biggest shame here is James Marsden's throwaway role as Lois's 
seemingly too-perfect boyfriend, trying too hard to be "dad" to a 
horrible child actor who's really Kent's Superboy. And come to think of 
it, Marsden, under Singer's direction as Cyclops in X-MEN, would have 
made a much better Superman: Being the right age he seemed more in tune 
with the natural fit Reeve had in the part, and he's great looking, has a
 properly muscular build, and to play the clumsy Kent, he's a good 
actor... How could Singer not know what/who was staring him in the face?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4xSLXDBr5OamFuPqaaGyHfTtVmulvVun2CXBRcGiAGiwx6aIlpiXdHQAWXej6GYZVPabCoyaKwRUUoZlxajfMcq-scSjS6vKtgUNClystybHZHNBu7GzgSvzyj81-31h-gxXydsdMnI4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-08-09+at+11.41.13+PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="1384" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4xSLXDBr5OamFuPqaaGyHfTtVmulvVun2CXBRcGiAGiwx6aIlpiXdHQAWXej6GYZVPabCoyaKwRUUoZlxajfMcq-scSjS6vKtgUNClystybHZHNBu7GzgSvzyj81-31h-gxXydsdMnI4/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-08-09+at+11.41.13+PM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 2002 Rating: *1/2</u></td></tr>
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<u>MINORITY REPORT</u>: Looking as if filmed with a lens splattered with icky green goo, 
MINORITY REPORT takes us into yet another Philip K. Dick futureworld 
where the government is doing what seems is the best for society 
(preventing murder) but is actually... no good at all...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jessica Capshaw</u></td></tr>
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The entire set-up is preposterous: Like MACBETH had three foreseeing witches 
igniting the plot, here there's a trio of half-naked bald "precogs" (one is Samantha Morton) in a large tub of liquid within the bowels of a formidable police station, 
projecting images of murders that haven't yet happened...<br />
<br />
And Tom Cruise 
arrests these poor semi-guiltys and is, soon enough, like the Film Noir/Wrong 
Man movies that inspired Steven Spielberg to try replicating (pun 
intended) the Neo Noir magic of BLADE RUNNER, is framed for 
almost-murder and chased down like the criminals he used to... chase 
down: But the over abundance of now dated-looking CGI, and the fact no 
characters have any chemistry with each other or the altered-reality 
world in which they reluctantly and awkwardly exist, makes MINORITY 
REPORT a tedious, tiresome waste of noisy bedlam.

action, brandon routh, cop, dc comics, james marsden, neo noir, sequel, steven spielberg, superhero, thriller, tom cruise, zeroes

ACTION REVIEWS OF 'SUPERMAN RETURNS' AND 'MINORITY REPORT'

Year: 2006 Rating: *1/2 SUPERMAN RETURNS : You've got to give credit to X-MEN director Bryan Singer for, in 2006, trying to make his...

Written by James M. Tate / 8/02/2019 / No comments / andrew stevens , body count , cannon , charles bronson , cop , crime , eighties , exploitation , gene davis , horror , kelly preston , Lisa Eilbacher , serial killer , thriller , twilight time

CHARLES BRONSON CANNON CONTINUES WITH '10 TO MIDNIGHT'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ZA3lpMjJS1oT8DmxECnrRY_bumTrVNTuzGOSfCwt83eAYxsYt3u5HbSzWIvkoyM8u1EnimWFn_be6rkirWfEWyOdKVVXMHiGc-QoOMt226nhqThO5GQZE8DZ9VoqPUm3fgrSBcSNIDPc/s1246/Screen+Shot+2021-07-17+at+2.50.43+AM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1246" data-original-width="1048" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ZA3lpMjJS1oT8DmxECnrRY_bumTrVNTuzGOSfCwt83eAYxsYt3u5HbSzWIvkoyM8u1EnimWFn_be6rkirWfEWyOdKVVXMHiGc-QoOMt226nhqThO5GQZE8DZ9VoqPUm3fgrSBcSNIDPc/w336-h400/Screen+Shot+2021-07-17+at+2.50.43+AM.png" width="336"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: 10 to Midnight Year: 1983 Rates: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Charles Bronson's Cannon Films were a total nightmare for those politically-correct critics who graded on their own flat curves, and 10 TO MIDNIGHT is surely no different... In fact it's probably the most hated of all... <br></p><p></p><p>That being a pure exploitation-driven nightmarish body count horror (during the Slasher genre craze) masquerading as a cop thriller about a young, mostly naked serial killer who, a hybrid of Ted Bundy and Richard Speck, kills sexy young girls and eventually sexy young nurses... </p><p>Making Bronson's Detective Leo Kessler, fitfully morphed from a cop to some kind of DEATH WISH style lawman-vigilante, not only do his usual trope-laden questioning of the liberal court system ("giving more rights to the criminals than their victims") but taking matters into his own hands in order to, you guessed it, "save the taxpayers money."  </p><p>And as they say/so the cliche saying/excuse goes... that cops can't be everywhere at once... </p><p>But that's not true for the second half of 10 TO MIDNIGHT, infamously bearing a title that supposedly has nothing to do with the plot: Then again, while there's never an actual clock beginning at 11:50 pm and striking at 12 sharp, Bronson winds up in a short-spanned race-against-time urgency (midnight representing time running out) since his daughter, played by super-cute near-future BEVERLY HILLS COP starlet Lisa Eilbacher, is one of several nurses... including the late gorgeous Kelly Preston... who Brad Davis's younger brother Gene eventually sets his lusts on...<br>
</p><p></p><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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi83ylv_PRqni0VuwUGILKLzC5f7D1M2e23KdZZh_Hwk3ulX-zKYDv1CdE_--aJcQtzfUGk-GlJaFG2dHUFkGalUY9ZTRV3rESLFeEN6JzAfiUv7AprQQjo-qWx8lrN6O_-hakOddiYPrXjHTbxEBtEm4rCUNGJzEnbbs1ZWTnJngfHfixXxoukoFRZ7Q/s400/Screen%20Shot%202021-07-17%20at%202.53.26%20AM.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="400" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi83ylv_PRqni0VuwUGILKLzC5f7D1M2e23KdZZh_Hwk3ulX-zKYDv1CdE_--aJcQtzfUGk-GlJaFG2dHUFkGalUY9ZTRV3rESLFeEN6JzAfiUv7AprQQjo-qWx8lrN6O_-hakOddiYPrXjHTbxEBtEm4rCUNGJzEnbbs1ZWTnJngfHfixXxoukoFRZ7Q/w400-h231/Screen%20Shot%202021-07-17%20at%202.53.26%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The late Kelly Preston in 10 to Midnight</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The best scenes occur before the cops... with by-the-book rookie played by Bronson's DEATH HUNT co-star Andrew Stevens... moving in...<br></p><p></p><p>And in that it's purely Gene Davis's trashy ride as he goes from one doomed beauty to the next in an ultra-violent, anything-goes fashion (one scene taking place in the woods like a slasher flick) far more suited to the lower-budgeted 1970's exploitation drive-in circuit. </p><p></p><p>And given Cannon Films miraculous achievement of making their own low budget features look as crisp and glossy as almost any mainstream programmer, the stalking and slaying of nude, doomed, screaming starlets feels that much more crass, crude, dated and inappropriate. <i>Or</i> you can call it <i>daring</i>. Either way, 10 TO MIDNIGHT, with a tables-turned last act involving Bronson stalking the stalker in a DEATH WISH fashion, has always been a cult favorite among the hit-or-miss lot of Bronson/Cannon features despite Roger Ebert giving it zero stars i.e. an amputated thumb's down.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGKCvcH5Th-7ISxo4w0JkkKkd2smrbONYbWIrqpKJgROrR1s9V9olQMxIgRY_HQ8NGdhbO6G0IEzxpKwRPeD4qh4WgOVnTP0SPOLUckSsPJ9yEXmEWfQNwAf52EhcGAnGSkQyY8bOIB9mpFaiUx1KJFWx-MWBBv62fORLGk7Gl1GQqEcLwjczQW-IHFw/s1600/33.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1101" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGKCvcH5Th-7ISxo4w0JkkKkd2smrbONYbWIrqpKJgROrR1s9V9olQMxIgRY_HQ8NGdhbO6G0IEzxpKwRPeD4qh4WgOVnTP0SPOLUckSsPJ9yEXmEWfQNwAf52EhcGAnGSkQyY8bOIB9mpFaiUx1KJFWx-MWBBv62fORLGk7Gl1GQqEcLwjczQW-IHFw/s16000/33.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kelly Preston in 10 to MIDNIGHT</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><span></span>