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]
Alan Vega was the vocal half of the synth duo, Suicide. Vega is no longer with us. Rev’s scary, repetitively sequenced synthesizer drives their songs accompanied by Vega’s frenzied, reverb-drenched rockabilly delivery. A very influential band whose work would impact many future musicians. Their early stuff is rawer and more intense.
Madman, comedian, writer, director, actor, humanitarian Jerry Lewis, a show business legend, passed away this year. My best advice to see the man in action is to seek out his movies on cable and video on YouTube to get an appreciation for his zany style. Check out the live stage act vids of him with his partner Dean Martin, too. The included clip demonstrates the chaos inducing style he brought to talk show appearances.
I used to listen to the CBS Mystery Theater radio program late at night as a kid and, then, in later years tried to relive those happy moments by collecting old cassette recorded copies of similar radio drama programs. I stumbled upon this gem, the 1950’s era Escape show and its feature, “The Abominable Snowman”. The story is presented in an economic style with a handful of characters, emotive music and gobs of sound effects. All the better that there are no visuals involved so that your mind’s eye can more effectively play tricks on you. The imagination can be [More]
Influential bassist, rocker, writer and musician Pete Way has passed. I am most familiar with his work with UFO, a popular British hard rock act from the “70’s to the ’90’s. Way wrote some of their most beloved songs and was a relentless stalker of the stage and theatrical performer. Way went on to found Fastway and Waysted and his Pete Way Band. Ways’ boisterous antics are the stuff of rock legend, and there are many tales, but his playing and writing have inspired a lot of people. We will all miss yet another larger than life character of Rock [More]
Produced and directed by genre icon Roger Corman, this is an interesting premise of a group of survivors of a nuclear holocaust randomly seeking shelter from the toxic elements in a mountainside residence. The home is populated by a father and his daughter. He is ex-military and foresaw this day of calamity coming and stocked his place with weapons, food and water – for three people. The uninvited guests will prove to be a burden on the limited supplies. Along with the wandering humanity, the hills are populated with mutated monsters that were once men. None of the survivors is [More]
Director William Friedkin cemented his legacy with two filmic masterpieces, The French Connection and The Exorcist. The French Connection excites with the kinetic pacing of this violent crime drama. It doesn’t hurt that this movie also features an iconic car chase scene that was repeatedly imitated. Also, features an Academy Award winning performance by Gene Hackman as hardboiled detective Popeye Doyle. The Exorcist stills ranks, in my book, as one of the scariest movies ever made. The hackles will rise on the back of your neck as you witness a young girl being taken over by an evil presence and [More]