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]
I have had time to catch up on some reading while sheltering at home with the coronavirus pandemic raging on. I came across an interesting observation made by Kim Newman in his “Apocalypse Movies” book. He observed that in several 1950’s era science fiction movies, the military and scientists combined their efforts to rid the world of alien menaces with some new sonic based weapons. Newman imagined that the sonic weapons could have either been introduced as a safer, more progressive form of warfare, especially when having to secure the safety of the civilian population, as opposed to nuclear weapons [More]
Fine actor, Donald Sutherland, has passed. Sutherland appeared in a number of quirky movies but had a very relaxed, personable, acting style that ingratiated the viewer to the performance. Take a look at “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1978), to see a fully fleshed-out performance by Sutherland as a character trapped in an impossible scenario who slowly realizes the inevitability of the apocalyptic situation he faces as it begins to make itself apparent. Great work! Equally memorable are his strong performances in “Klute” (1971) and “M.A.S.H.” (1970). Donald Sutherland will be missed!
Cool little assemblage of familiar characters facing off in the dark streets of Gotham. Creepy Joker, as well! NICE!!!
This is a riveting tale of a brilliant scientist’s creation of a super computer that can assist with the automation and running of America’s military defense systems. Things go horribly awry when the computer, Colossus, combines “minds” with a Russian super computer equivalent, Guardian. The two machines decide that their superior intellect and control of their respective nations’ defense systems make them perfectly suited to usurp their inferior human creators. The emotionless computer trust then begins to tighten its grip of control over humanity with some indelicate displays of might, namely dropping nukes on some US and Russian sites. Things [More]
I mounted a Contour Action Cam to a Pinewood Derby car for laughs. The race goes by in a hurry but it’s kind of cool. The name of the car was Cyclops, of course.
This updated retelling of “The Invisible Man” saga starts out promising enough. A scientist donates his living body to his experiment and ends up turning invisible. The trick is in finding a way to get him back to the plainly visible. As the experiment goes awry, there is a momentary feeling of desperation for the scientist’s plight. No solution seems to be forthcoming. But that is where the dread ends. Sanity fades and the scientist ends up going a little batty and begins to luxuriate in the mischief and misdeeds available to him if no one can see him. Before [More]
Your skin will crawl. You’ll feel things scampering over you….But, worst of all, these things will be nesting inside of you. That is the unfortunate aftermath that goes down after a wooly mammoth fossil is unearthed and an ages old parasite is exposed to the light of day once more and unleashed on a unsuspecting group of scientists in “The Thaw”. The parasite seeks new hosts and exhibits a very nasty habit of multiplying at an alarming rate. The group soon becomes infected and becomes the latest host for the hoards of creepy crawlies. Very unpleasant portrayal of hosts with festering [More]
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]
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]
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]
This alien on the loose in a small community film caper has the great advantage of having two acting legends as part of the cast: Jack Palance and Martin Landau. Add in their over the top characterizations, manic is a kind word, and this makes for a moderately memorable viewing experience. There are some nasty attack sequences by some flying nasties that clamp on and zombify their victims. The main alien actor is a towering apparition that appears closer to the end of the film to maintain some dread and mystery as to his purpose and appearance. Landau’s bug eyed [More]
I want to like “Rose Red” but it is just not a very scary or suspenseful movie. I don’t really like any of the characters so that impacts my interest toward this two-night Stephen King television movie. It used to be a regular event for network television to buy one of King’s properties and then create a TV movie. Some were good, others not so good. I think this is one lesser quality King works. A team of ghost hunters head off to a notorious haunted property to see if they can find any evidence of activity. Their search will [More]
Fairly lively horror whodunit which follows a familiar refrain: a talented artist is victimized by his shady business partner who sets their waxwork museum on fire. The artist miraculously survives albeit horribly scarred and then plots his murderous revenge in the shadows of society. “Phantom of the Opera” used a similar story line but had a musical composer who covertly got even with his enemies. Vincent Price is fine as the unfortunate sculptor who opens a new waxworks emporium that now concentrates on sensationalism and horror to draw in the crowds. To get the enterprise up and running in a [More]