Sadly, multi instrumentalist Peter Tork of The Monkees fame has passed at 77. Pete contributed bass, guitar, banjo, keyboards and vocals to The Monkees’ recordings and live shows. Depicted in the show as the simple minded one, in actuality Tork was quite the opinionated “thinker”. Pete passed an audition to become one of the four members of a prefabricated band to appear in a weekly television show copying the Beatles massive cultural appeal in the late 1960’s. Tork did have the ability to play an actual musical instrument which is more then can be said of half of the other [More]
On the eve of the grandest viewer spectacle there is, namely, Super Bowl LIII, I would like to share this collection of dubious player performances in football that lead to the player being ejected from the game. I know these athletes are very highly paid and are thought to be role models to youthful fans, and all, but these are very competitive games and in football there is a lot of contact. Let’s face it. Tempers flare, bad manners surface and sportsmanship can go out the window. There is always next week to show people what you’ve got. Anyway, enjoy [More]
Sadness at the passing of great character actor Dick Miller. A wise cracking, world weary, dependable presence in many horror and science fiction pictures including “The Terminator”, “The Howling”, “Gremlins” and an early starring role in the Roger Corman directed “A Bucket of Blood” which is linked to here. Macabre in the extreme, “Blood” is the tale of a destitute artist who turns his fortunes around and becomes the darling of the local Art crowd after he adopts a shocking new change to his sculpting style. Can you guess how? A twisted, enjoyable romp made back when Miller was younger [More]
Here is a disaster flick with an unhappy New Year’s theme. A luxury cruiser on its final voyage has the misfortune of confronting and ending up on the losing end of an earthquake generated massive tidal wave. The net effect is that the USS Poseiden is flipped upside down by the wave and as a result everything down is now up and vise versa. A group of survivors of the initial disaster then mount an effort to find a way to be saved by the eventual rescue crews. What proceeds from this point is a potboiler of clashing ideologies and [More]
You may be a big fan of Christmas themed movie at this time of the year and that is fine. But there is a wide variety of viewing experiences available to you and a good action movie may be what you are looking for. I will recommend a few thoroughly enjoyable action/adventure flicks. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) – Clint Eastwood as a bank robber on the run who winds up getting drawn back into a repeat heist attempt on a bank where everything eventually went bad the first time out. The second attempt ends up no better. This is a [More]
When you get right down to it, there are a ton of potential choices for Halloween movie viewing marathons. For the sake of brevity, I am choosing just five selections which will still take you a good day to get through so plan ahead to take the day off from your work or school grind! Wolfen (1981) – a cop is assigned to investigate a series of animal attacks. Is there a pack of werewolves on the loose in modern day New York? Some creepy situations and a suspenseful story should keep you entertained throughout. Albert Finney and Gregory Hines [More]
I have given a minute or two of thought to what I would enjoy most viewing on Halloween. I would most definitely need to take the day off of work because this lineup would probably consume a good 10 hours. Sacrifices must be made! Granted this is the first of what may be a series of some of my most adored movies piled together in one marathon viewing. These movies are what came off the top of my head at the time and can definitely be mixed and matched and replaced with other selections. I think that makes sense. 5 [More]
Back when Hammer Films were all the rage and knocking horror fans dead at the box office, “Dracula: Prince of Darkness” marked the return of Christopher Lee to the title roll of the infamous undead vampire king. He had gone away from the role after his turn as the blood sucker in the remarkable “Horror of Dracula” (1958), one of Hammer Films’ first stabs at rebooting the Universal monster cycle from films decades before. Lee appeared in Hammer Films such as “The Gorgon” (1964) and “She” (1965). He just wasn’t interested in playing Dracula. But through whatever form of alchemy [More]
African prince is “converted” to blood thirsty, undead vampire by Dracula. The Prince becomes a vampire and progresses through the centuries turning others in to vampires in his passing. Very entertaining vampire flick from the 1970’s that follows Blacula’s modern day wake of death and destruction as he feeds his hunger for blood. Naturally, a lot of the film takes place at night which lends a creepy air and some of the surprise vampire attacks are startling. Some of the action is clumsy and dumb but William Marshall as Blacula lends a sinister, menacing presence. Fantasy movie veteran Elisha [More]
Wunderkind drummer for The Who, Keith Moon, left this mortal coil 40 years ago. What a loss. The legendary madman lead an alcohol and drug fueled existence that bolstered his outgoing personality and flashy, unorthodox, drum style. Alas, this very fast lifestyle also accelerated an early end to his explosive drumming style and life. As the years wore on and the intoxicants flowed, so to did his strength and lifeforce get tapped. Moon died at the age of 32 on September 7, 1978. Please examine YouTube videos of his earlier days when he was in his prime. You will be [More]
A documentary detailing the history of the vampire character Dracula, assembled using various movie clips and the narration of horror icon, Vincent Price. You’ll see clips from the silent “Nosferatu” and other cinematic appearances featuring the ancient blood sucker such as Lugosi in “Mark of the Vampire”, and the 1950’s alternative vampire film, “The Vampire” . “VPD” is a good flick to curl up by the fire to watch as we come upon the Autumn season and move closer to Halloween. Heavy on the garlic fries. Hehe.
The premise of this queasy little tale is that climate change, aka global warming, has caused the partial thawing of a wooly mammoth up in Northern climes that is infested with an ancient parasite that emerges ready and willing to infest a New Age. The roughly cockroach sized bugs burrow under your skin and lay eggs that basically feed on their host and then emerge ready to find a new home. This movie is definitely not for the squeamish! Yes. I felt my skin crawl on more than one occasion. There are numerous grotesque set pieces throughout this flick. All [More]
A mildly amusing Saturday afternoon diversion, “Graveyard Shift” was based on a Stephen King short story. Here it is fleshed out into movie length and a large part of that filling is loaded with oozing, despicable caricatures. A bunch of people you could care less about are tasked with cleaning up the lower level area of a mill located somewhere on the east coast. Maybe the extraction of all the crap which has accumulated down there over the years will alleviate some of the rat problem that infests the place. What is not known is that the mother of all [More]
A real creepy premise in this flick: giant, mutated ants are on the loose and stalking victims in isolated areas of the God forsaken desert! I bring you this cinematic, sci-fi gem because of a recent summer time invasion of the small variety of ants in our house in pursuit of the cat’s food. These little beasts are annoying enough in their present miniature state as they scamper in all directions as you try to eradicate their presence inside your home. In addition to the trouble of getting them picked up and removed, you get the sinister feeling that the [More]