This movie has been playing a lot on cable TV. It is, in fact, a very fine film. Paul Newman is a man who was brought up among Native Americans in the Old West. His attempt to enter into “civilized society” meets with many harrowing encounters with man’s inhumanity to man. There are quite a few characters appearing in this film for whom enough just isn’t good enough. They want more than the what they’ve already got, no matter how sizable, and do not care who or what is forced out of the way on their quest to get the [More]
Enjoyable fantasy flick about an amusement park for adults where life like robots make up the populace and, if you’re lucky, you might even be able to sleep with or kill one of them! Vegas has got nothing on this place! But, it isn’t a perfect world, even in Westworld. Computers there, as in our present society, seem to have mind’s of their own. The robots begin to act on impulse, out of control of their creators, and all Hell breaks loose. A good rainy day flick to curl up with for 90 minutes. Nice electronic soundtrack, too!
With all the recording devices out there capable of capturing video and digital pictures, it may be but a short time before some substantial evidence of something truly weird will be available. Have evidence of Bigfoot, aliens, sea monsters and the like already been obtained? Check out this creepy little compilation of freaky, pixelated pixies of all stripes. So many monsters, so little time.
It gets to be a drag commenting on the great personalities who are no longer with us. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper just passed at too young an age. Roddy Piper made his name in the wrestling ring and established himself as one of the most memorable heels ever. You were never quite sure what stunt Piper would resort to as he became increasingly wound up and then exploded in some violent act of lunacy. Sports Entertainment never looked so good when this maniac was present. Piper branched out into action flicks and turned up in this John Carpenter directed paranoid fantasy. [More]
Christopher Lee commented that he welcomed this take as Dracula because it was a role that followed the novel source material closer than the Hammer Film’s series which brought Lee to international stardom. Lee also had a chance to emote beyond the various snarls, grunts and invectives that the Hammer Dracula required. I look back fondly on this film, admittedly. a low budget affair. Yes. The interior sets look a bit prefabricated and cheap and spray on spider webs adorn Dracula’s castle to an uncomfortable degree but there are many charming exterior sequences that sustain my interest. There is [More]
More 1980’s music video hilarity, intentional or otherwise, from this big blues/rock band. The sentiment of the song is universal as well as we have all had our hearts ripped out at one time or another by the focus of our affections. Beautiful guitar break about 80% in to the song. My old friend once described it as “5,000 overdubbed guitars” crunching out some power chords. What’s not to love????!!!!!
Sickening 1960’s precursor to the “Saws” and “Hostels” of today’s sadomasochistic cinema. An invalid gets trapped in her elevator after an electrical mishap shuts off the power in her house. It’s not long after this that a collection of cruds break in to her place and indulge in unpleasant behavior. A wino, a floozy, and a trio of psychotic hipsters make the place their own and spread the mayhem. James Caan in an early, evil role. Shot in very bland, claustrophobic black and white. You’ll feel damaged by the time this thing is done.
With a lot of attention being placed on the upcoming theatrical release of “Jurassic World”, it might interest you to take a look at this lovely little lost world ditty. A plan crashes on an isolated island that is rife with primordial life forms. But the really beautiful beastie present is the “King” of this place. Look familiar? A man in a terrible ape suit runs wild at times through this thing. This movie is a great diversion. Seek it out and have a few cheap thrills!
Alien 3 is not my favorite entry in the Alien film franchise. After the kinetic pace and firepower of “Aliens” before it, this tale of the Ripley character marooned on a planet serving as a prison for male only inmates who have no access to guns, explosives, etc. was, to say the least, a letdown. It was also in this David Fincher directed piece that people started fucking with the alien character itself. We started to see the alien hybrid creature emerge which is meant to add to its character development as it can’t speak and deliver lines of a [More]
Until Ken Burns comes around to create the definitive UFO documentary, whet your appetite for extraterrestrial visitation speculation with this 1970’s compendium of still photos, film footage and witness interviews. A lot of zooming and panning across still images of alien abductions and weird encounters taking place are in full representation in this film. Very serious narration bolsters the claims of pilots, military personnel and civilians that they have been in the presence of other worldly beings and craft. Nice, electronic music flourishes, combined with canned orchestral passages provide the musical bed for this piece. It all has a very ’70’s [More]
Night Ranger was a band that made it big in the formative days of MTV. Apparently, a film school friend recorded their music video and it was given heavy air play on the fledgling music video network. With a limited amount of content to air, Night Ranger’s “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” received heavy play on the network. The public took note and music video stars were born. A succession of pop metal hits was the spawn. “When You Close Your Eyes” follows the Night Ranger formula and features the band members exhibiting their thespian skills. The net results [More]
Two of Hollywood’s most beautiful stars at the time, Kevin Costner and Madeline Stowe, engage in an illicit affair in this Tony Scott directed film. The scorned husband of Stowe, Anthony Quinn, uncovers the truth and orchestrates an unremittingly grim beat down upon the two lovers. Shockingly violent and ugly, this is a movie plot conjured out of nightmares and grim fantasies. There are no hero saves the day moments in store, just a final, sickening realization within the main characters that maybe it would have been better to have just stayed the course and avoided the ruination of their lives that [More]
I have never really liked this movie. On recent viewing, I can see why. The entire production is revolting. It starts with the fact that this is a big budgeted movie based on a best selling book, “Relic”. Don’t expect to watch this and think it reliably follows the novel. There have been many editorial liberties taken. (So what else is new, you ask?) This movie is awash in guts and gore being spewed in all directions. There are generous helpings of entrail ripping, blood splatterings and heads being severed. Ugh. I don’t think I found one likeable character in the entire story. Maybe [More]
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]