DAVID CARRADINE WITH CLAUDIA JENNINGS IN 'DEATHSPORT'

<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/AVvXsEgn6sxwfw2CTTnfaMoY9LVfgrKYVLxU5tgO0nBJCQBTCAHqTQYisGN7F33-1BJ2ng7AaGBm49m3VTpxIZdjvO_Q9IuW918Bo-g8fgxvpW99OF4JZcAwOs-xboLBtkC-vIWaBoz-h11CgEL1znWaE5UNsTSg4XmD4Y0Qul4cVvOmQf7GfGEVL1IA2GjfKYp3/s1486/Screen%20Shot%202025-08-26%20at%203.30.37%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1006" data-original-width="1486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6sxwfw2CTTnfaMoY9LVfgrKYVLxU5tgO0nBJCQBTCAHqTQYisGN7F33-1BJ2ng7AaGBm49m3VTpxIZdjvO_Q9IuW918Bo-g8fgxvpW99OF4JZcAwOs-xboLBtkC-vIWaBoz-h11CgEL1znWaE5UNsTSg4XmD4Y0Qul4cVvOmQf7GfGEVL1IA2GjfKYp3/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-08-26%20at%203.30.37%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DEATHSPORT Year: 1978 Rating: **1/2  Grade: C—</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the Roger Corman production DEATHSPORT, featuring a matte-painting used in the Corman-produced hit <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2025/08/DR2000.html">DEATH RACE 2000</a> now representing a Roman Colosseum facing the titular dirt-bike battle straight from the gladiator sub-genre... but that only happens for a relatively short time...<br><br>What this super-low-budget post-apocalyptic science-fiction adventure really entails... beyond caveman-clad David Carradine and sporadically-naked Claudia Jennings as primitively-enlightened heroes battling both Fascist upstart Richard Lynch and various desert-dwelling cannibals... are sound effects seeming straight out of the previous years' blockbuster STAR WARS...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, allan arkush, claudia jennings, david carradine, david mclean, exploitation, post-apocalyptic, richard lynch, roger corman, seventies, will walker, william smithers

DAVID CARRADINE WITH CLAUDIA JENNINGS IN 'DEATHSPORT'

Title: DEATHSPORT Year: 1978 Rating: **1/2  Grade: C— In the Roger Corman production DEATHSPORT, featuring a matte-painting used in the Corm...

LYNNE FREDERICK, NIGEL DAVENPORT & MICHAEL MURPHY 'PHASE IV'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></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/AVvXsEj3n7BgTEXQW_CZi-jLcI-MRuHbekF660eBpc1jdUqD0JnoAXzBlEKwNwOqyor4tBR7Zm0e35Uazq38yOjBfo2oegThuIXj7cfGiaIFuzCiED4r_p0o93Vnv9optCTn4ApETuIL4R68xn6yb39qzTiakcBWFUGH0bzd_rzO2ZUp2ujB9i7JbdM_QhAaipEn/s2330/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-29%20at%208.45.37%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1258" data-original-width="2330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3n7BgTEXQW_CZi-jLcI-MRuHbekF660eBpc1jdUqD0JnoAXzBlEKwNwOqyor4tBR7Zm0e35Uazq38yOjBfo2oegThuIXj7cfGiaIFuzCiED4r_p0o93Vnv9optCTn4ApETuIL4R68xn6yb39qzTiakcBWFUGH0bzd_rzO2ZUp2ujB9i7JbdM_QhAaipEn/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-29%20at%208.45.37%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lynne Frederick in PHASE IV Year: 1974 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The science-fiction cult curio PHASE IV stands out above all other ant-driven horror films in that director Saul Bass, famous for his opening credit sequences... takes us extremely close and tightly cerebral to the subjects at hand, providing a sort of Einstein at the Drive-In...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And PHASE has Bass all alone, with animation replaced by what seems, aesthetically, a post-apocalyptic, rural location where ants are taking (or have already taken) over. Here's where Nigel Davenport's scientist Dr. Ernest D. Hubbs is teamed with a younger, less informed but just as essential Michael Murphy as James R. Lesko: holed-up in a domed structure receiving various codes on that-era's giant computers... </p>

ants, body count, creature, horror, lynne frederick, michael murphy, post-apocalyptic, saul bass, science-fiction, seventies

LYNNE FREDERICK, NIGEL DAVENPORT & MICHAEL MURPHY 'PHASE IV'

Lynne Frederick in PHASE IV Year: 1974 Rating: **** The science-fiction cult curio PHASE IV stands out above all other ant-driven horror fi...

RODDY MCDOWALL WAGES 'BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></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/AVvXsEgMS6H8hqt8hcQ9T0TrAzXDoITFP2zn2ofQ_aaOygv79SQqkq38r6QNrTnMup5sZ29FAf9IG7P5vWsuGX-S6A7wi0irFeHm31-kKoHc1Jtfk6_YGJmdaj4sur-OFSEK0EJVwO2LPdcCX_KcgiXVDz_rZ_2dCjsrfdL0KuoxziRLU-Qb3NkGT0o0dK0A-hFG/s1776/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-30%20at%204.54.34%20AM%203.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1776" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMS6H8hqt8hcQ9T0TrAzXDoITFP2zn2ofQ_aaOygv79SQqkq38r6QNrTnMup5sZ29FAf9IG7P5vWsuGX-S6A7wi0irFeHm31-kKoHc1Jtfk6_YGJmdaj4sur-OFSEK0EJVwO2LPdcCX_KcgiXVDz_rZ_2dCjsrfdL0KuoxziRLU-Qb3NkGT0o0dK0A-hFG/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-04-30%20at%204.54.34%20AM%203.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Roddy McDowall in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Year: 1972 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Like RETURN OF THE JEDI would a decade later, ending the original STAR WARS franchise with a more accessible forest location along with big-budget science-fiction style lighted-corridors throughout dark steely fortresses, so the original ape series concluded with BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES costing the least amount of money... only you wouldn't know since the new exterior locale (where both apes and humans can speak) takes place in what seems like something from a sparsely affordable Robinson Caruso production...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet not entirely since at the end of the previous film, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/04/conquest.html">CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES</a>, there was an unseen and, herein, narrated-about (by John Huston) nuclear war after Roddy McDowall's Caesar took over... so the wilderness setting has a built-in explanation of the world going back to scratch... but there's also an underground compound of the previous formidable city after the holocaust: where the slain governor's main interrogator Severn Darden, with eerie post-nuke fallout garb, is now the main baddie...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, austin stoker, bobby porter, claude akins, france nuyen, john huston, natalie trundy, paul williams, planet apes, post-apocalyptic, roddy mcdowall, science-fiction, severn darden

RODDY MCDOWALL WAGES 'BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES'

Roddy McDowall in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Year: 1972 Rating: ****1/2 Like RETURN OF THE JEDI would a decade later, ending the ori...

ANIMATED POTBOILER OF 'RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></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/AVvXsEhFChmkTk5j7XJdQWOE1KhM-lPyCr9TQdQBTADOldr0ZocQFc-NBWYvdEQqkpwRkoETBoVLJCmNBtlERr36EFMFxUx9qsVLhaZRkJoEsgCuHU7vyJzVzsvjwkM2OahllOlzCuw5qXneO5Qskrj8xJUce-NWD-FD8tDxRHazGgFRRpcgeXejXVKXOV4lgERJ/s926/Screen%20Shot%202024-05-01%20at%203.16.21%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="926" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFChmkTk5j7XJdQWOE1KhM-lPyCr9TQdQBTADOldr0ZocQFc-NBWYvdEQqkpwRkoETBoVLJCmNBtlERr36EFMFxUx9qsVLhaZRkJoEsgCuHU7vyJzVzsvjwkM2OahllOlzCuw5qXneO5Qskrj8xJUce-NWD-FD8tDxRHazGgFRRpcgeXejXVKXOV4lgERJ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-05-01%20at%203.16.21%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Harry Corden in RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES Year: 1975 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>With RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES, they finally faithfully covered the titular planet created by source novel author Pierre Boulle, whose evolved apes had everything modern-day humans enjoy (that couldn't be afforded on the big screen): from airplanes to full-fledged military weapons/transports to cities that don't look out of the stone age... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The animation is of the 1970'x cost-cutting low-budget Hanna-Barbara-type, but is also coolly stylized and visually intriguing, including establishing still-shots of the sun or lightning or various character expressions, seeming more like frequently moving matte-paintings than an animated cartoon catered to Saturday morning children... </p><span></span>

action, adventure, animation, austin stoker, cartoon, harry corden, planet apes, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, seventies, TV

ANIMATED POTBOILER OF 'RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES'

Harry Corden in RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES Year: 1975 Rates: **** With RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES, they finally faithfully cover...

FORGOTTEN RIBBITING CULT OF 'HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN'

<p> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></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/AVvXsEjbu8lwcmyRIKt4M_VmCj-2nW8TS-28yF9zIyGNzF3zblMZ2htgt38yY0-V252O484M2UYzze4LRCURsauJ7_xJxuprN4gn-4qgTPV15zona8FfF4Rrm58zixmThPq7crIh4dstD-YFCciftPrq-uXFThF2B83M3Ad_23GWyEFU-Yk3sjFaiYUQnOSUjQ/s900/69270725_773217419774103_7288319700402962432_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbu8lwcmyRIKt4M_VmCj-2nW8TS-28yF9zIyGNzF3zblMZ2htgt38yY0-V252O484M2UYzze4LRCURsauJ7_xJxuprN4gn-4qgTPV15zona8FfF4Rrm58zixmThPq7crIh4dstD-YFCciftPrq-uXFThF2B83M3Ad_23GWyEFU-Yk3sjFaiYUQnOSUjQ/s16000/69270725_773217419774103_7288319700402962432_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Cec Verrell in HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN Year: 1988 Rating: ***</u><u>*</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Insanely gorgeous Cec Verrell doing a RAT PATROL imitation with a mounted gun on a desert-roaming vehicle in a picture obviously made to be a cult film, which in itself goes against the term of something that gains a following later: But HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN has all the right elements taking its own post-apocalyptic future very seriously, including the titular town filmed in a giant steel mill where most of the story takes place...<br> <br> By that time Verrell's gunner-moll Centinella is off-screen and it's all up to Roddy Piper, who made THEY LIVE under John Carpenter the very same year, and CONAN THE BARBARIAN starlet Sandahl Bergman, ultimately forced to do "the dance of the three snakes," perfectly befitting an actress who started out a dancer...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, cec verrell, cult, danelle hand, eighties, post-apocalyptic, roddy piper, rory calhoun, sandahl bergman, science-fiction, william smith

FORGOTTEN RIBBITING CULT OF 'HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN'

Cec Verrell in HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN Year: 1988 Rating: *** * Insanely gorgeous Cec Verrell doing a RAT PATROL imitation with a mounted gu...

DON JOHNSON WITH SUSANNE BENTON IN 'A BOY AND HIS DOG'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></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/AVvXsEjfjg_i1pAtNZKJeXEawtkGZVOvpgjITb7ETS61uGLkjh8usSipcX7Pbt_ZDNcDPr0Esq6O5KaKDmyVKQDcaPcUBLuIpLviAinwyTmJm-nbdfOEIssE2VJ69fG71oYDvaWsV7ojatAwp_kGuTbEtyLtJoVJWVh6t06EI92HEiF4BkI7IPjIU2Q8NQfP-g/s1803/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-11%20at%202.51.25%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="1803" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfjg_i1pAtNZKJeXEawtkGZVOvpgjITb7ETS61uGLkjh8usSipcX7Pbt_ZDNcDPr0Esq6O5KaKDmyVKQDcaPcUBLuIpLviAinwyTmJm-nbdfOEIssE2VJ69fG71oYDvaWsV7ojatAwp_kGuTbEtyLtJoVJWVh6t06EI92HEiF4BkI7IPjIU2Q8NQfP-g/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-11%20at%202.51.25%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: A BOY AND HIS DOG Pictured: Susanne Benton and Don Johnson Director: L.Q. Jones Year: 1975 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Actor L.Q. Jones adapted and directed Harlan Ellison's A DOG AND HIS BOY, creating a post-apocalyptic wasteland that influenced the entire MAD MAX template that would inspire countless other scorched earth films, all from Jones's bottom-dollar production company that'd already made two rural super-low-budget horror flicks THE WITCHMAKER and THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN... so BOY would finalize and legitimize an unconnected drive-in trilogy... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which wasn't easy, taking him five-years to adapt a script that Ellison basically gave up on, and although it takes most of the dialogue from the source novella, the telepathically-speaking dog, Blood, sounds more like Jones's kind of timeworn Texan than Ellison's snotty New York intellectual, helping the titular BOY in Don Johnson's Vic find women while he helps the dog (handicapped from having the ability to speak) find food...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, cult, don johnson, hal baylor, harlan ellison, horror, jason robards, l.q. jones, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, seventies, susanne benton

DON JOHNSON WITH SUSANNE BENTON IN 'A BOY AND HIS DOG'

Title: A BOY AND HIS DOG Pictured: Susanne Benton and Don Johnson Director: L.Q. Jones Year: 1975 Rating: **** Actor L.Q. Jones adapted and ...

SERIOUS MEL BROOKS PRESENTS 'SOLARBABIES' WITH JAMI GERTZ

<p></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/a/AVvXsEjcXCkYrVbRsME4HXpndDAOtwKIAXjgxPUEqHbeV1APKqniW9Lmf-C5cJ6-CDC7cKLxVatWtrR5areskWDCpFvnHDLLFSm15_cYulsP9Shh6HcITqKRrgxNSN-e5dZiXXVIe7SZKo0CRyxWA7YU62PDUI1pPMLgG9xrk2UF1_iMBXl2cn7sJyz9p5CSkA=s1433" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcXCkYrVbRsME4HXpndDAOtwKIAXjgxPUEqHbeV1APKqniW9Lmf-C5cJ6-CDC7cKLxVatWtrR5areskWDCpFvnHDLLFSm15_cYulsP9Shh6HcITqKRrgxNSN-e5dZiXXVIe7SZKo0CRyxWA7YU62PDUI1pPMLgG9xrk2UF1_iMBXl2cn7sJyz9p5CSkA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: SOLARBABIES Cast: Jami Gertz, Jason Patric Year: 1986 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The 1980's post-apocalyptic SOLARBABIES seems inspired by MAD MAX (especially BEYOND THUNDERDOME) by the scorched-earth setting and ROLLERBALL for a skating game the titular kids play to relieve tension...</p><p></p><p>But it's actually an unspecified remake of Hammer Films' 1962 nuclear-cautionary thriller <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/12/jami-gertz-as-one-of-damned-from.html">THESE ARE THE DAMNED </a>as a group of futuristic orphans are politely held captive (where captivity is commonplace) while, <i>completely</i> monitored by grim adult superiors, they only THINK they're breaking the roles by going slightly outside allowed perimeters...</p><p></p><p></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/a/AVvXsEjBjapgOGAWvto5yUN9EJMFd4E0ygqsk7BosDftDklcUt15F8RErhzGQ_1bqSeTKMYuMBkkoiU4oJoWwa8tbZU0Ma-nPus6YTuvawK-CGKOu2f8fK87ZENQONX7nyPA8W-a2j1o7WDWTLt8mOgaXKMfIltAxwxmCzvFduhaQSBNtBFBGeUEitvnpTnW1g=s1891" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="1891" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBjapgOGAWvto5yUN9EJMFd4E0ygqsk7BosDftDklcUt15F8RErhzGQ_1bqSeTKMYuMBkkoiU4oJoWwa8tbZU0Ma-nPus6YTuvawK-CGKOu2f8fK87ZENQONX7nyPA8W-a2j1o7WDWTLt8mOgaXKMfIltAxwxmCzvFduhaQSBNtBFBGeUEitvnpTnW1g=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Claude Brooks and Peter Deluise in SOLARBABIES with Jami Gertz and Lucas Haas</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>For warden Charles Durning (like Alexander Knox in THE DAMNED), the minor rebellions are to boost morale while evil henchman Richard Jordan's Grock (ala Walter Gotell) wants all freedom gone, contrived or otherwise...</p><p></p><p></p><p>So when the kids <i>do</i> escape, rollerskating off into the desert/canyon terrain of unlimited limitations within various sand-dilapidated villages, Grock (with the aid of nefarious SUPERMAN villain Sarah Douglas) hires a pair of grungy assassins to rid the <i>youth problem,</i> once and for all...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, charles durning, eighties, jami gertz, jason patric, mel brooks, peter deluise, post-apocalyptic, richard jordan, sarah douglas, science-fiction

SERIOUS MEL BROOKS PRESENTS 'SOLARBABIES' WITH JAMI GERTZ

Title: SOLARBABIES Cast: Jami Gertz, Jason Patric Year: 1986 Rating: **1/2 The 1980's post-apocalyptic SOLARBABIES seems inspired by MAD...

CULT MOVIE STARLET MERRY ANDERS IN 'THE TIME TRAVELERS'

<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/AVvXsEgvQVb6PnyRWor-iz3VohNrMVrgikxrWB8yWHlZ1DU2UGBgdNVzqPNy9G-C6b02tmsszxbxVeIjooQSvvKtkd13O6sDLI08BOBEFmOv7t4W2NRErgxA8zRi8o-kKYwojERylBMCdFgBCLMbOtJmFmEuTh5HXSFCHx1-JdAM79oeJd2qyFDdtlAxIYDWUw/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202019-11-06%20at%207.33.47%20PM%202.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvQVb6PnyRWor-iz3VohNrMVrgikxrWB8yWHlZ1DU2UGBgdNVzqPNy9G-C6b02tmsszxbxVeIjooQSvvKtkd13O6sDLI08BOBEFmOv7t4W2NRErgxA8zRi8o-kKYwojERylBMCdFgBCLMbOtJmFmEuTh5HXSFCHx1-JdAM79oeJd2qyFDdtlAxIYDWUw/w400-h268/Screen%20Shot%202019-11-06%20at%207.33.47%20PM%202.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> The Time Travelers Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table>Takes place mainly within a technically-streamlined underground cavern where a relatively sparse number of survivors keep a horde of radiated mutants from gaining entry, and then playing host to our four time-trapped heroes, who had opened a portal in their university lab a hundred years ago but only ten minutes earlier... <br> <br> Initially set in 2001 and led by "modern day" scientist Preston Foster; his younger, handsome sidekick Philip Carey; Carey's beautiful girlfriend Merry Anders; and scene-stealing comic relief (and everybody's sidekick) Steve Franken, THE TIME TRAVELERS is unfairly deemed bad campy schlock, and yet writer/director Ib Melchior created a <i>true</i> science-fiction story in which the viewer and visitors are continuously <i>presented</i> the inner-workings of this self-contained new world, from a wide range of monitors to a wondrously creative android factory: elaborate and highly impressive, labor-of-love sets that would simply be computer-generated today... <br>

delores wells, dennis patrick, forrest j. ackerman, ib melchior, john hoyt, merry anders, philip carey, post-apocalyptic, preston foster, race against time, science-fiction, steve franken, thriller, time travel

CULT MOVIE STARLET MERRY ANDERS IN 'THE TIME TRAVELERS'

The Time Travelers Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2 Takes place mainly within a technically-streamlined underground cavern where a relatively spar...

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER RETURNS IN 'TERMINATOR: DARK FATE'

<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/AVvXsEhrvQH_EkN2vD93vz5fgKJZn8HMzWLDDdoKJLc04Zl-jtHpEl0sriueCBVdDrVaBUuUfwy4sLX34CiwhDOqaMeWJyOjE54MHj0H0F4JvYWf7dyB04Rr7d7nAc4k9VKgklJm8d__aY-pA5Yd/s1600/darkfateimax.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="1053" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvQH_EkN2vD93vz5fgKJZn8HMzWLDDdoKJLc04Zl-jtHpEl0sriueCBVdDrVaBUuUfwy4sLX34CiwhDOqaMeWJyOjE54MHj0H0F4JvYWf7dyB04Rr7d7nAc4k9VKgklJm8d__aY-pA5Yd/s400/darkfateimax.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton in the YEAR: 2019</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> TERMINATOR: DARK FATE not only brings back beloved originals Linda Hamilton (who hasn't been around a while) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (part of two maligned followups), there's the liquid-morphing metallic CGI from the second movie, and now we know: despite all the technical innovations, special effects have not improved since the days of T2 and/or JURASSIC PARK... <br> <br> During one scene, as the new Terminator leaps into the air, he looks almost made of rubber. And the overall atmosphere and aesthetic fits the DARK title as many of the fight scenes happen either at night or inside someplace without much light, making it extremely difficult to see the action panning out or to keep score about what exactly's going on...<br>

2019, action, arnold schwarzenegger, franchise, linda hamilton, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, sequel, time travel

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER RETURNS IN 'TERMINATOR: DARK FATE'

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton in the YEAR: 2019 TERMINATOR: DARK FATE not only brings back beloved originals Linda Hamilton (...

MEMORIAL BAGFUL OF JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT ARCHIVE REVIEWS

<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/AVvXsEgf2rH-7LJjjGY984IkodDkmmGjpArZCgrPfys4vBNpM9QfBOtWELI27i66qr87E9SZLEnxO90CdKOTbg34_WL3i2tx2PM27i1qXPWWwsxl-A0Ooucw-ywJl6r33FxG1urG3XSkTJK8i3ot/s1600/000b.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="413" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf2rH-7LJjjGY984IkodDkmmGjpArZCgrPfys4vBNpM9QfBOtWELI27i66qr87E9SZLEnxO90CdKOTbg34_WL3i2tx2PM27i1qXPWWwsxl-A0Ooucw-ywJl6r33FxG1urG3XSkTJK8i3ot/s1600/000b.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jan-Michael Vincent and Robert Mitchum Year: 1971 Rates: ***</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <u>GOING HOME:</u> This obscure drama, bordering on intentional page-turning melodrama and centering on a war hero, Robert Mitchum, who violently murders his wife (Sally Kirkland) witnessed by his four-year-old son, now grown-up in the form of brooding rebel Jan-Michael Vincent, is passably entertaining fare... <br> <br> Robert Mitchum (who'd star with Vincent in THE WINDS OF WAR a decade later) resides with miscast trailer-trash girlfriend (she seems too upper-middle suburbia for lowlife) Brenda Vaccaro, while Jan-Michael, having just returned home, seems either bent on revenge or forgiveness for his aged, yet still tough as nails, pop as they hang out bowling and drinking: making up for lost time. The best moments involve jarring situations that seem vividly real but aren't really happening (seen in Vincent's mind)... one has Mitchum destroying a pick-up-truck with a tire iron... or flashbacks viewed in present-time locations ala IN COLD BLOOD. It's a breezy character-study but without much character-development, neither Mitchum or Vincent becoming fully realized, nor their past fitfully resolved, but it's nice seeing the two steely mavericks together either way.<br> <br> <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/AVvXsEipn3Gbg0O2yN_eQ0x1jbBBr5OX-ENfiwqmpRPp8em6gErgZBTOVLZHPY5zn4W4U7CltcUXAMY3PErljaebw6UKVU-2AXdU3FASucqtHTHGqCkeS-EDx-4oygAYJ01gkhEhLW-cE3N1IL4u/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-03-08+at+10.04.39+PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1225" data-original-width="1366" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipn3Gbg0O2yN_eQ0x1jbBBr5OX-ENfiwqmpRPp8em6gErgZBTOVLZHPY5zn4W4U7CltcUXAMY3PErljaebw6UKVU-2AXdU3FASucqtHTHGqCkeS-EDx-4oygAYJ01gkhEhLW-cE3N1IL4u/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-03-08+at+10.04.39+PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jan-Michael Vincent in Hard Country YEAR: 1981 Rates: ***</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <u>HARD COUNTRY:</u> One of those blue collar beer guzzlin' factory worker films where if you're not one of the endearingly-flawed good guys, you're a shady, sinister rich jerk... with no in-betweens: Plot centers on a disgruntled factory worker, played by Jan-Michael Vincent, who loves drinkin' and lovin' his girlfriend – in that order – and his better half, a young Kim Basinger, who wants to move to California for a better life: one that doesn't include drunken cowboys and bar fights.<br> <br> This movie can't get any more predictable but the two leads carry things decently enough till the end, which you'll see coming for miles. Michael Parks is Vincent's real estate mogul brother who, once he spouts a racial epitaph out loud, you know he'll eventually fall by the wayside. Tanya Tucker is Kim Basinger's famous country singin' older sis who plants the seed that Texas is a place to get out of while the gettin' out is good. Daryl Hannah is Kim's younger sister who digs Texas fine enough – just as long as there's another car to fix. And character-actor Gailard Sartain, usually cast as an uptight stuffed-shirt (the fat cop in HOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS), plays Vincent's comic relief buddy. Meanwhile, up front, Jan-Michael provides his usual slow-burn cool, and, donning a Bronson-tough mustache, is as great to watch as ever – as long as you don't mind the simplistic and forced classy envy undertone.  <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="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpWrg3PxaBuG4Hi-DIcgVWgFtwceHEG6uyGVexnENAQyrHGY5CGlJXRiBbVRn69bKtzHVtEFqWWm_025WeSV3E55Ng52H_KlJekg7Iek68uYOGQYvImUVLSgjFpVD-cPTOhkydnMRbIPZ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-03-08+at+7.16.05+PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1082" data-original-width="1356" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpWrg3PxaBuG4Hi-DIcgVWgFtwceHEG6uyGVexnENAQyrHGY5CGlJXRiBbVRn69bKtzHVtEFqWWm_025WeSV3E55Ng52H_KlJekg7Iek68uYOGQYvImUVLSgjFpVD-cPTOhkydnMRbIPZ/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-03-08+at+7.16.05+PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jan-Michael Vincent w/ Joan Goodfellow 1974 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <u>BUSTER AND BILLIE:</u> Even in the good times, a touch of melancholy permeates the idyllic existence of Buster, played by Jan-Michael Vincent: Good looking and friendly, he's different than most cinematic popular high schoolers, hanging with town outcast Whitey (Robert Englund), he dates the lovely and uptight Margie (Pamela Sue Martin) and shoots pool, hustling young locals more envious than loyal...<br> <br> When Buster meets a quiet backwoods girl named Billie, who’s been around the block with all of Buster’s friends, the shift changes into a melodic, strange love story. Their scenes together, spending time in the plush woodsy exterior, feel like two people with nothing left on earth but each other; while the romance, with few words spoken, is never corny or melodramatic: This is one of Jan-Michael Vincent’s best performances: he’s intense, caring and tough at the same time. But it’s Joan Goodfellow’s Billie that mesmerizes not only our smitten hero, but with her subtle beauty and sad eyes, provides a gentle substance – like she's caught in a daydream. All leading to an explosive doubled-edge climax both shocking and tragic, albeit you’ll<i> </i>see it coming for miles.<br>

action, bagful, eighties, exploitation, jan-michael vincent, joan goodfellow, melodrama, post-apocalyptic, robert englund, robert mitchum, sally kirkland, science-fiction, seventies, tribute

MEMORIAL BAGFUL OF JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT ARCHIVE REVIEWS

Jan-Michael Vincent and Robert Mitchum Year: 1971 Rates: *** GOING HOME: This obscure drama, bordering on intentional page-turning melo...

MICK GARRIS DIRECTS STEPHEN KING'S SICK SAGA 'THE STAND'

<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/AVvXsEgJxreh_a19_jjWiCU2q-bxRWT9dWZSG2coOwmCp7_wc2NKoW6Vt7nUsmMCaFq42MHz67uA2IE1MByYlhxPdlIZ6GVPHW4fBV7bC7VA35je5lTkbU-ooSBl4nNxEnj2aI845mWiDcuwXE-x/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-02-18+at+2.38.44+PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1091" data-original-width="1383" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJxreh_a19_jjWiCU2q-bxRWT9dWZSG2coOwmCp7_wc2NKoW6Vt7nUsmMCaFq42MHz67uA2IE1MByYlhxPdlIZ6GVPHW4fBV7bC7VA35je5lTkbU-ooSBl4nNxEnj2aI845mWiDcuwXE-x/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-02-18+at+2.38.44+PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Adam Storke sits out a song in THE STAND Year: 1994</u></td></tr> </tbody></table><p> Miniseries for Stephen King's THE STAND directed by King's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/02/SWalkers.html">SLEEPWALKERS</a> collaborator Mick Garris is an epic's epic centering on an eclectic band of survivors from a deadly plague known as "Captain Tripps," eventually uniting around shared dreams of an old black Christian lady on a farm, playing an out-of-tune guitar, sharing a divine vision to lead the Chosen Ones; except for a few chosen rotten apples including a jealous teenage virgin, a sexy pill popper and a spastic psychopath: two are female, and both.... especially a fiendishly sympathetic Laura San Giacomo as this baby's targeted Rosemary... act better and far more realistic than Molly Ringwald's too-subdued and rather dull (yet genuinely sweet) performance as an old-fashion yet unwed, knocked-up ingenue...<i> </i></p><p>Despite her eventual significant-other Gary Sinise's fantastic role as a wise "country don't mean dumb" strong-silent East Texan, one of the coolest, most relaxing, subtly bad-ass heroes in television history. When some (not many) story-lines exceed their limit, it's always Sinise's anchoring Stu Redman who puts the puzzle back together... but in the cool dude department, he's got some beyond-capable assistance/competition...<br> </p>

adam storke, adaptation, brittney lewis, gary sinise, miguel ferrer, miniseries, molly ringwald, nineties, post-apocalyptic, road movie, rob lowe, shawnee smith, stephen king, thriller, TV, virus

MICK GARRIS DIRECTS STEPHEN KING'S SICK SAGA 'THE STAND'

Adam Storke sits out a song in THE STAND Year: 1994 Miniseries for Stephen King's THE STAND directed by King's SLEEPWALKERS col...

DIRECTOR RAY MILLAND AVOIDS A BOMB IN 'PANIC IN YEAR ZERO'

<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/AVvXsEg028VFPrz73pT1Lk6rXqcnM9kArNCmwWXWlEG1MxGR167N2lRiykXmNO9uYK4Q5RpqFgpCAMuFRtcz-V-xmyq3xuaZAWrbpSd8NEaijynxwk47Wv8KBrovldyBrBr0BE_6j2TW8f1hZn7q/s1600/MV5BOTlhZGNhM2UtZTMzOC00MmE3LWI1NWYtYTJkZmUwZTVmMzY1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTc4Njg5MjA%2540._V1_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="970" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg028VFPrz73pT1Lk6rXqcnM9kArNCmwWXWlEG1MxGR167N2lRiykXmNO9uYK4Q5RpqFgpCAMuFRtcz-V-xmyq3xuaZAWrbpSd8NEaijynxwk47Wv8KBrovldyBrBr0BE_6j2TW8f1hZn7q/s400/MV5BOTlhZGNhM2UtZTMzOC00MmE3LWI1NWYtYTJkZmUwZTVmMzY1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTc4Njg5MjA%2540._V1_.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Panic in Year Zero YEAR: 1962</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> I don't need your helping hand...<br> I can't be no savage...<br> I can't be no highwayman</blockquote> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> Lyrics from <i>King of the World </i>by Steely Dan, a band with a handful of great musicians and only two songwriters, the latter reportedly influenced by a particular b-movie for their song about, basically, the end of the road, and yet the lyrics seem influenced against the dire, desperate situation on screen: An American International mid-sixties' B&W super low budget thriller with a consistently jazzy soundtrack befitting Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's own musical tastes. And anyone knows, bad movies can be the greatest time-filler, except when they are, surprisingly, quite good, solid and entertaining despite having been made for what feels like a straight-to-drive-in crowd: who usually watches everything but the movie itself... Enter PANIC IN YEAR ZERO starring a great actor who could pull off bad movies with ease, Ray Milland...<br>

action, adventure, cult, indie, jazz-score, mary mitchel, post-apocalyptic, ray milland, rex holman, richard bakalyan, richard garland, road movie, russ bender, shary marshall, sixties

DIRECTOR RAY MILLAND AVOIDS A BOMB IN 'PANIC IN YEAR ZERO'

Panic in Year Zero YEAR: 1962 I don't need your helping hand... I can't be no savage... I can't be no highwayman L...

GUY PEARCE STARRING IN THE ROVER

<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/AVvXsEjU25Q41VqK73mP3uafslSeo0Wn48mP5QQ-yjBP52qajY48e980BZt-TjgcNTFMuYFuqt2zRCs8eCFGyNi4GTPm_y04k0rbkR5OTI3pJwkofbxLTSD6KCbVjk79CuHsaPNdnZ9qodTvepI/s1600/The-Rover-International-Poster-slice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU25Q41VqK73mP3uafslSeo0Wn48mP5QQ-yjBP52qajY48e980BZt-TjgcNTFMuYFuqt2zRCs8eCFGyNi4GTPm_y04k0rbkR5OTI3pJwkofbxLTSD6KCbVjk79CuHsaPNdnZ9qodTvepI/s320/The-Rover-International-Poster-slice.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2014 rating: *1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> It’s been ten years since “The Collapse,” turning the Outback into something resembling the MAD MAX post apocalyptic future, only there's no nuclear fallout and the vehicles are mundane cars you'd see in any public parking lot… And in this desperate purgatory, there's only one long and tedious road where we first see Guy Pearce's slowburn, Spaghetti Western style loner, Eric, till he stops at a dilapidated joint where we get a glimpse of a future where gas, food, animals and women are scarce.<br /> <br /> The setup is melancholy and hypnotic, and the gears begin grinding as we cut to a group of eclectic convicts who, long story short, steals Eric’s ride: from here on, THE ROVER has Eric on a metronomic odyssey to, quite simply, get his car back.<br /> <br /> He meets up with the abandoned little brother of the main thief. Enter Robert Pattison’s Rey, a somewhat mysterious character until Eric points out his mental instability... then it becomes clear Rey's not playing with a full deck. The young TWILIGHT actor tries too hard and doesn’t try hard enough. During bouts of overlong diatribes, his muddled accent, reaching for white trash, sounds like a hybrid of SLINGBLADE and FORREST GUMP. Worse yet, he’s simply not an interesting human being, and hardly evokes the needed vulnerability to make the older Eric a legitimate world-weary mentor: On his own, Pearce creates a pretty decent anti-hero, always on the verge of either breaking down or busting heads, and the mysterious element of his stolen car’s importance is the peripheral hook to follow through a brooding mainline. But the ominous futureworld he’s stuck in gets extremely bland, despite sporadic extra-loud gunfights and a twist ending that, while summing up Eric’s morose motivation throughout, leaves a story that relied on mellow suspense to end with a banal whimper.

2014, guy pearce, post-apocalyptic, robert pattison, thriller

GUY PEARCE STARRING IN THE ROVER

2014 rating: *1/2 It’s been ten years since “The Collapse,” turning the Outback into something resembling the MAD MAX post apocalyptic f...

DEFENDING KEVIN COSTNER FOR WATERWORLD & THE POSTMAN

<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/AVvXsEjxDuQLaZPmIYAiAzkCjJyTuHcqZWEiRDLKTzPV-7m_1A6VFHggCYXhoMunJaBpGu45aDs6zes4NAiNHczjOTRKNURgIeA5t5p6y6i5EQisQUHxHo9oIQC4WMtWd_dqqsuE7EJuhi0s1ww/s1600/1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxDuQLaZPmIYAiAzkCjJyTuHcqZWEiRDLKTzPV-7m_1A6VFHggCYXhoMunJaBpGu45aDs6zes4NAiNHczjOTRKNURgIeA5t5p6y6i5EQisQUHxHo9oIQC4WMtWd_dqqsuE7EJuhi0s1ww/w133-h200/1.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1995 rating: ***1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white;"><b>WATERWORLD:</b></span> When Dennis Hopper, playing a snarky villain named Deacon, the head of a rogue band of villains called Smokers, who, in a world where there is no land, only ocean, thanks to global warming’s effects having melted the polar ice caps…<br /> <br /> When Deacon pulls down his eye patch to show us one eye missing, it's followed by an evil cackle… which is as corny as this mega-budget Kevin Costner vehicle, originally deemed a box office flop, gets.  <br /> <br /> The best scenes have Costner’s Mariner, partly fish with gills behind his ear and an ability to swim with skillful resilience, on a sleek, primitive catamaran surviving through various drifters and those Smokers that appear out of nowhere, riding gas-grumbling jet skis. But there<i> is</i> a plot: A little girl named Enola exists on a floating city along with her caretaker Helen, played by Jeanne Tripplehorn. Enola has a map on her back which will supposedly lead to dry land, and the bad guys really want it.<br /> <br /> Mariner winds up reluctantly protecting Enola and Helen, and we have a good twenty minutes as our hero survives in the deep blue sea, with company. His boat is a character it itself... With everything from a gun to sails that extend from hidden contraptions, we experience this neat skeleton-like vessel through the eyes of not only its captain but two strangers learning, the hard way, how and how not to keep it running.  <br /> <br /> Sure it's a lot like Mad Max… this is, after all, THE ROAD WARRIOR on water… but Mariner can be even more selfish and independent, and potentially cutthroat and cold-blooded, taking a while to warm up to the only people who can help him find land: not a transition that comes quickly or easily.<br /> <br /> Bookended by two raging battles, WATERWORLD really works when we have fewer characters. Dennis Hopper goes overboard, spouting the kind of dialogue you wouldn't expect from someone stuck in a landless post-apoc future, although he can be ghoulishly charming. And thankfully, Costner plays the part of a loner so well, he and FANDANGO director Kevin Reynolds make this isolated <i>world</i> a place that seems very real and, for the most part, genuine and unique.  <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="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_TJCXqNo7a4Yfdr40irckd9nN9ZeLtgIme_o0MBLb-bf0ySHV_dvNfN-fzCVGshxxrmFNFxJR9KRVU6idLB3WTJXSRqSYhdm1Oua043cSArvxai4zNIs169PMtt77CiPxAl-dItyszg/s1600/2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_TJCXqNo7a4Yfdr40irckd9nN9ZeLtgIme_o0MBLb-bf0ySHV_dvNfN-fzCVGshxxrmFNFxJR9KRVU6idLB3WTJXSRqSYhdm1Oua043cSArvxai4zNIs169PMtt77CiPxAl-dItyszg/s1600/2.jpg" width="209" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1997 rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE POSTMAN:</b> </span>Kevin Costner took a huge gamble with the Western epic DANCES WITH WOLVES... one that paid off considerably... And another on WATERWORLD, directed by Kevin Reynolds, which basically got him all wet...<br /> <br /> So it was time for Kevin to try another epic, this time set on land in a post-apocalyptic future, which Costner, like he did with WOLVES, directed himself.  <br /> <br /> Beginning with the most involving scenes, the first fifteen minutes has Costner’s unnamed character traveling the barren landscape with his pet mule, grabbing cigarettes from a broken machine and wiling away the hours of a dead world. They wind up in a ragtag conclave of survivors, performing Shakespeare, when the lead villain and his henchman appear... way too soon. Will Patton’s General Bethlehem is a nomadic Napoleon crossed with Hitler crossed with... you name the dictator and Will plays him to the hilt, and beyond. <br /> <br /> THE POSTMAN keeps an intriguing, action-packed pace when Costner’s desperate rogue is taken prisoner and, through the next twenty minutes, has to escape. Then, seeking shelter in a cave, No Name becomes The Postman when he finds a mailbag with letters strapped to a skeleton.<br /> <br /> In order to exist in a “small town” of survivors, complete with a hard nosed sheriff and a wispy love-interest, reminiscent of any old school Western, Costner’s scruffy hero pretends to be a Postman in a world that’s “getting better.” But the problem with Costner’s third epic are the long, dragged-out moments between the action, and the melodramatic score when Postman realizes his importance in rescuing mankind: He was much more intriguing as a reluctant maverick fighting to save his own skin than when he's out to save everyone else’s.

action, adventure, dennis hopper, epic, kevin costner, kevin reynolds, nineties, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, tom petty

DEFENDING KEVIN COSTNER FOR WATERWORLD & THE POSTMAN

year: 1995 rating: ***1/2 WATERWORLD: When Dennis Hopper, playing a snarky villain named Deacon, the head of a rogue band of villains c...

TERMINATOR: SALVATION

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAllEjzg3_lMNGaxyFPCFahZ8d7kqIC-yTcK20cog6n2tfFaXiz6pT1rqeF7_hymwXxhTkYjpKRVbaVeKo4MP467eA1-BdW3VOwdpkSAIQdC8LeWf6L-KrVvBS_P-xZQ1Qps4VfFZZsk-/s1600/Terminator_Salvation_new_poster.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618525448042450626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAllEjzg3_lMNGaxyFPCFahZ8d7kqIC-yTcK20cog6n2tfFaXiz6pT1rqeF7_hymwXxhTkYjpKRVbaVeKo4MP467eA1-BdW3VOwdpkSAIQdC8LeWf6L-KrVvBS_P-xZQ1Qps4VfFZZsk-/s200/Terminator_Salvation_new_poster.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 194px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title:</span> TERMINATOR: SALVATION<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">year:</span> 2010<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">cast:</span> Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> **<br /> <br /> <div> </div> At one point, about thirty minutes in, as human survivors are being chased by a giant Terminator resembling something out of THE TRANSFORMERS franchise… thus giving birth to a lot of smaller machines, some riding motorcycles… it seems this movie isn’t so terrible. A lot of banal action within a barren, post-apocalyptic landscape which, in most movies look cheap but the computer effects give it a punch, or two. Then something happens. Actually, a lot of things: those being completely convoluted plot-points… But let’s start from the beginning: diving right in with John Conner, played by Christian Bale, who’s basically Rambo of The Resistance, fighting Skynet machines that brought the Earth to nuclear ruin. He’s out to save the world but first his father, Kyle Reese… who, played by Michael Beihn in the first film, impregnated mom while protecting her from that Arnold Schwarzenegger guy (making a computer generated cameo). If Reese dies, so does Connor. And Reese himself, a teenager played by Anton Yelchin… channeling Beihn’s over-the-top acting style perfectly… is on the run with a mute child and a muscular mystery man: Sam Worthington as Marcus, an intriguing character at first but as we learn more about him the movie hits a wall, the action taking a backseat to Marcus’s origin (is he human or robot?); and Conner, at this point residing in the peripheral, is melodramatically torn on what to do next. Meanwhile, the audience just wants some kickass rage against the machines, or a more involving, and less complicated, basis on which it occurs.

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

TERMINATOR: SALVATION

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

DAMNATION ALLEY

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3MDUSezEwYi2kJRJ7Q61RhI7xxMy5mUL8qE5bbYMh_A8Lct7OD6do8L2XFYRJ1ZB3NlnLHxWXN1Fb53P4fJrCSmdm9nA-HkYgS6xLsSUe0jhPEOx-JJVRho_aYjUfRTFojV5KiTUxZrg/s1600/damnationalley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3MDUSezEwYi2kJRJ7Q61RhI7xxMy5mUL8qE5bbYMh_A8Lct7OD6do8L2XFYRJ1ZB3NlnLHxWXN1Fb53P4fJrCSmdm9nA-HkYgS6xLsSUe0jhPEOx-JJVRho_aYjUfRTFojV5KiTUxZrg/s1600/damnationalley.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year: </b>1977 <b>cast:</b> Jan-Michael Vincent, George Peppard, Jackie Earle Haley<b> rating: </b>****</td></tr> </tbody></table> DAMNATION ALLEY has regarded by some critics as a horrible science-fiction post-nuclear film... it isn't: An adventurous and creative plot centers on a group of military survivors in and outside of a large all-terrain desert vehicle called "The Landmaster" battling killer cockroaches, giant crabs, and mutated hillbillies: a terrific ride that keeps you interested in the fate of the military men played by Jan-Michael Vincent (the dirt bike riding rogue), George Peppard (the leader), Paul Winfield (the artist), and the civilians they pick up on the way: Dominique Sanda (the babe) and Jackie Earle Haley (a rock throwing kid).<br /> <br /> Scenes involving the shark-shaped vehicle plundering across the barren desert avoiding lighting storms, tornadoes and floods are riveting and intense, as are the frequent stops at seemingly deserted gas stations and towns where various antagonists, man and beast alike, try killing them.<br /> <br /> It's a post-nuke RAT PATROL that kicks ass from beginning to end. But on the other side of the coin, and why the film’s quality is often maligned, are the dated special effects: but that's okay. It's a character-driven piece so the visual flaws don't matter.

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

DAMNATION ALLEY

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

PRIEST

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigSPQupLTr57BvaV8AR5XN85DDTESwZUmOY3OlV1s6y67_Loji9LzpyL1z0UzlL5qJ60Gvt1le5ZxvnrXhrQFm6NHOTQyZvEn9F9PRizJraUubfhwpReTHs2bA8su75ZuGWi0Fb3RHER8/s1600/Priest%252BMovie.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606827830500180306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigSPQupLTr57BvaV8AR5XN85DDTESwZUmOY3OlV1s6y67_Loji9LzpyL1z0UzlL5qJ60Gvt1le5ZxvnrXhrQFm6NHOTQyZvEn9F9PRizJraUubfhwpReTHs2bA8su75ZuGWi0Fb3RHER8/s200/Priest%252BMovie.jpg" style="float: right; height: 149px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 200px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title: </span>PRIEST<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">year: </span>2011<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">cast: </span>Paul Bettany, Karl Urban<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> **<br /> <br /> It usually takes five or six comic books to equal one film. This seems like a stretched-out single issue of a story hardly setting up characters within a two minute trailer-like intro. Then plunging us straight into a cold world where icy religion reigns, and priests, trained to slay, are forced into denial.<br /> <br /> Gone are the films when vamps were dark-haired men with capes. Although there is one human neck-biter; Karl Urban’s “Black Hat” is the Lee Van Cleef to priest vamp slayer Paul Betanny’s Clint Eastwood… the latter a man (with a permanent cross tattoo on his forehead) in search of the bloodsuckers who killed his brother and sister-in-law, and kidnapped his niece. Tagging along is Cam Gigandant, the niece’s boyfriend, part punk, park gunslinger, all attitude. And they have to kill many vampires, each resembling Gollum born with a hyperactive frog's DNA.<br /> <br /> The Western theme, with the good guys going from town-to-town in an apocalyptic wasteland, is marred by cheesy, monotone-delivered dialog and rushed action scenes. But the finale involving our heroes out to blow up a fast moving train makes this, at best, a semi-enjoyable bite from the neck of a numbskull.

action, brad dourif, horror, karl urban, paul bettany, post-apocalyptic, tens, vampire

PRIEST

title: PRIEST year: 2011 cast: Paul Bettany, Karl Urban rating: ** It usually takes five or six comic books to equal one film. This s...