Have you ever noticed the greatly relied on device used in the movies where a character will emotionally discharge a big gun of some type? I guess the reaction is supposed to characterize a last gasp burst of attack against a nearly undefeatable opponent (Independence Day: Resurgence). Terminator Salvation has multiple examples of actors unloading weapons’ magazine after magazine in an attempt to stop a non human juggernaut. To get an idea of what I am referring to, please go to the clip. You can probably get away with this type of behavior at the target range.
These days, I don’t think you will find an action movie that does not include the phrase, “GO, GO, GO!!!” screamed out by a character in full flight motion. And you’ll probably hear this shouted several times more throughout the stock chase, pursuit, frantic action sequences that clog up these crazed action vehicles. Is it an entitlement to the action film scripter to include this chestnut multiple times amidst all the sweat, smoke, fire and explosions? I guess it must be. Everyone else includes it. Why don’t I? It is most certainly a cliché lazily included because what else would someone say who [More]
Here’s some good background chatter to play during your groovy Halloween party or in your haunted playhouse. A veritable assemblage of white and pink noise layers and ambient pads build to a cacophony of dread induced drones. Lovely! Inspired by themes and nightmares explored by H.P. Lovecraft and his multifarious ghastly denizens of the very Deep and Dark.
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]
My favorite Stallone actioner, “First Blood” was the first and best screen appearance of Vietnam Green Beret John J. Rambo. Rambo strays in to the wrong town when its hard ass sheriff takes an immediate dislike to him and throws him in jail. Rambo’s treatment in incarceration brings on flashbacks of his torture at the hands of the enemy in a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam. All Hell breaks loose as Rambo busts out of jail and goes on the lam into the wilds of the Pacific Northwest. The sheriff then takes his personal vendetta against Rambo to extremes and enlists an [More]
Another bass playing giant has left us. John Wetton enters the ranks of those beloved bass players who have recently passed away. Chris Squire, Lemmy, and Greg Lake preceded Wetton into the afterlife and all were unique and irreplaceable. John Wetton always impressed me with his passionate, powerful vocals and his strong, at times, brutal bass chops. He ripped it up with King Crimson for years and had stints in Roxy Music, Family, UK and Asia. An utterly immense talent. I saw this tour of the three piece dynamo known as UK. They opened for Jethro Tull in Oakland, CA. Their [More]
I recommend this Top Ten List of Strange Space Noise recorded over the years by scientists and researchers. Marvel at the mutterings of an actual Black Hole! Hear the astonishing sonic wash of space telemetry (Brief Interruption Here. Here is an explanation of Space Telemetry: Data Transmission Space telemetry transmits information in the form of a radio signal. Sensors on the spacecraft collect analog data–a photograph of Mars for example–and send it back to Earth. Early space telemetry systems used Pulse Position Modulation (PPM) and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to transmit data.) in all its glory! You get the idea. [More]
This is a cool collection of videos which show an early Pink Floyd doing their numbers live and in the studio. The original creative spark of the band, Syd Barrett, was soon to depart. Drugs and possible mental issues led to his being replaced by David Gilmour. I love the promotional video with Syd playing acoustic guitar, “Jugband Blues”. Roger Waters and Rick Wright doubling on woodwinds for that section of the song pushes the boundaries of belief but very cool lighting is used in the video. Enjoy!!!
After spending a couple of days at Disneyland during the Christmas holiday season, I was reminded of this ecological disaster movie from the 1970’s. Witness people packed in to a space like sardines, witness the repeated equipment breakdowns and infrastructure collapse. And the air ain’t that great to breathe. I don’t think I ate anything remotely resembling the type of swill the people in “Soylent Green” are reduced to consuming though. Check it out. Another fine Charlton Heston performance is in store for you. 2024 UPDATE: What I should have commented on back in time, when this post was first [More]
We visit Forrest J. Ackerman, the creator of “Famous Monsters of Filmland” magazine, and take an abbreviated tour of the “Ackermansion” memorabilia collection Ackerman amassed in Southern California. Plenty of pad puns and dusty monster/horror/science fiction movie artifacts await. How did Ackerman remember where everything was stored?
Climate disaster strikes in this gritty, black and white science fiction picture from Britain. The US and Russia are independently testing nuclear weapons at opposing poles in the same time frame. The resultant detonations have calamitous effects on the rotation of our planet setting it on a course a bit too close to the Sun for our own good. London experiences drastic temperature rises. The Thames dries up, looting and riots break out and panic sets in. The authorities decide on a desperate course of action: fire off a couple more nuclear devices in an effort to get the Earth [More]
One of the swan song performances of the Monkees. This is from a TV special called “33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee” that no one really watched when it first came on. This is a great Mike Nesmith penned tune. The four Monkees converge on to the set after Peter Tork’s noodling electric piano play and kick in to the tune. There then commences a musical “freak out” of the assembled TV special guests. Peter Tork left the band shortly after this show.
Spend this Labor Day weekend absorbing this 7 plus hour combination of Frances Ford Coppola’s two finest “Godfather” entries. There is a lot of footage included that didn’t appear in “GF I or GF II” that fills in some of the storyline and weaves these two productions together. Beautiful cinematography, outstanding acting and eminently watchable storytelling all combine to make this a 7 hour viewing experience well worth the effort put in. Coppola’s directorial masterpiece, in my opinion, and magnificent acting from Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. You’ve got three days. Watch it more than once!
Legendary boundary pushing movie. What did it bend out of shape? This movie is bursting with plenty of acts of extreme cinematic violence and nastiness. Back in the early 1970’s, this Sam Peckinpah directed movie made censors’ heads swim. Dustin Hoffman portrays a brainiac who marries a local British girl and elects to live with her in the English countryside to quietly do his work and make her happy. The old house they live in requires a bit of upkeep so the couple decide to employ some local handymen to fix the place up. Seems that Hoffman’s wife, Susan [More]