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]
Legendary, ultra violent western from director Sam Peckinpah.  A group of aging outlaws plan just one more big heist before “peacefully” riding off into the sunset.  OK.  That was really lame!  But it’s a familiar tale of thieves taking down one more score before disappearing with the loot and presumably staying out of any more trouble.  The really electrifying action takes place at the end of the film when the four man bunch takes on a Mexican stronghold of soldiers numbering in the hundreds.  You will witness tons of graphic blood splattering, grenade tossing, and Peckinpah’s patented usage of slow [More]
Very cool compilation of different zombie types that are found in movies and TV.  We find that there may be multiple ways to be turned into a zombie including plagues, solar flares, voodoo, etc.  The general consensus is, though, that in order to end a zombie’s miserable existence is to your advantage to severely wound or damage the head area of said zombie.  If your aim is steady and accurate enough, use a gun or rifle to shoot the zombie in the head.  Seems to do the trick in most cases.  Always nice to watch these cats shamble around on [More]
It is with a heavy heart that I comment on the passing of our very dear friend, Leonard Nimoy.  Nimoy proved to be a man of many talents.  Among his accomplishments were successful turns as actor, director, writer, singer, and photographer.  We all best remember him for his iconic portrayal of the Vulcan First Officer aboard the starship Enterprise, Mr. Spock.  The “Star Trek” role endeared him to fans and established his place as one of the most beloved fictional characters in the history of, well, the world!  Nimoy’s work as psychologist Dr. David Kibner in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is to me [More]
My favorite episode from the cinematic horror comic, “Creepshow”.  This movie captured the flavor of horror comics infamously represented by the line put out by EC Comics in the 1940’s and 1950’s.  There are flourishes of garish, saturated colors which permeate several chapters of this episodic anthology and some transitions from live action to cartoon graphics.  Genre heavyweights George Romero of “Night of the Living Dead” fame and writer Stephen King lent their talents to the weird goings on here.  This clip details a murderous act of revenge enacted by a jealous husband upon his unfaithful wife and her lover.  [More]
Cheap Trick giving a rousing performance of their classic, “Surrender”, live at the Houston Astrodome.  Lovely 5-neck guitar action and a grand tour of the grounds in a flatbed truck.  Featuring the late, great Bun E Carlos on drums.  He is definitely missed.