I am a life long fan of popular culture. This web site is filled with links to clips of musical, movie, and media video clips of things I have found of interest over the years. I hope you find some of this stuff to your liking. Drop me a line and let me know.
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 long, he is completely following his own agenda and his fellow researchers become mere fodder for his evil acts. The last quarter of the movie becomes ludicrous as the above averaged brained scientists commit the most stupid acts imaginable and completely play into the hands of the unseen menace. In other words, a lot of these characters are there only to contribute to the body count. This movie truly sinks into a formulaic chase/action picture and I can honestly say that I didn’t care if any of these saps made it out alive. Check out the remake of “The Fly” for a memorable “mad scientist” flick.
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 motion, cross cut edited carnage. Looking past all the extreme violence, this is an incredibly well made film full of fine performances and set pieces. William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and Robert Ryan are very good.
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 the big and little screens but pray that all the talk about an impending zombie apocalypse is just that. Hehe.
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 a beautiful showcase for the actor. I find his character to be one of my favorite parts of this movie. Seek out more of Leonard Nimoy’s artistic contributions. It is fine work indeed.
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. The tide turns on the husband as the recently deceased refuse to stay settled in their watery grave and reappear in a rather grotesque, bloated state to return the favor. Nice acting turns by Leslie Nielsen and Ted Danson. Nielsen losing his mind when confronted with the undead is rather affecting.
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.
Great song from a great band. This number appeared on their concept album, “Schoolboys In Disgrace”. Haunting “lost love” song. From the fertile imagination of their prolific songwriter/genius Ray Davies.
There has been a lot of discussion lately involving Clint Eastwood’s new film, “American Sniper”. But Eastwood has had a couple brushes in the past with sniper related elements in his movies. “Dirty Harry” featured a psycho killer who dispatches a lovely swimming in a pool from long range with a sniper rifle. “Joe Kidd” contained a character who uses a high powered rifle with a scope in the Old West to pick off victims. “The Enforcer” was the third picture in the “Dirty Harry” series. It ends up that Eastwood’s unorthodox cop, Harry Callahan, resorts to utilizing a laz rocket to annihilate another psycho villain who has kidnapped the mayor of San Francisco. The dilapidated prison setting of Alcatraz is where the “hit” goes down. We get the sniper’s point of view as Callahan sights in his prey and blows him to smithereens. For what it’s worth.
Mid 1970’s “music video” featuring the great original lineup of the Canadian prog rock power trio, F.M. “Phasors on Stun” to me is their masterwork. One of my favorite songs of this and probably any lifetime, it highlights mandolin genius Jeff Plewman AKA Nash The Slash. The group manages to pull off a faithful rendition of the uplifting tune with the instruments at hand but I would highly recommend you seek out the original studio recording or song collection, “Black Noise”, and absorb its multi layered synth textures. If you enjoy that sort of thing. To me, the song is energizing and uniquely positive. The primitive video effects of this video are also to be cherished. Don’t make ’em like that anymore!
OK. I am a sucker for this type of flick. Soldiers outgunned, outnumbered and trying to hold off a technologically advanced invading alien army. Plenty of firepower and pyrotechnic displays on hand to liven things up. What could be better? Anyway, the trailer looks promising. Of course, so did the one for “Battle: Los Angeles” and it ended up being only alright in my book. Here’s hoping for the best!
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 written, is the notion of coverup. The greatest coverup of all time!!!! Humans are being sustained through Government provided food that is derived from dead bodies! You may be partaking in your deceased neighbors’ remains or even munching on a dearly departed relative. HOW SICK A CONCEPT IS THIS?!!! As resources disappear and food sources vanish, why not recycle fellow, recently deceased humans? Wow. A revolting and shocking solution. Don’t worry. Your government would never participate in a coverup of this scale or lie outright to your face. Right?
Brief interview with the late Dennis Hopper discussing his troubled time on the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now”. Listening to Hopper in this interview, it is amazing how much more lucid he was at the time as compared with his binging days of the Late Seventies/Early Eighties when “Apocalypse” was made. I highly recommend seeking out “Hearts of Darkness”, a documentary on the making of “Apocalypse Now”. “Hearts” includes a longer take of the snippet of Coppola trying to communicate with a seemingly deranged Hopper on the set of “Now” shown at the end of this interview. Coppola took years off of his life laboring to complete the film but what a fascinating film it is. Surely, the Vietnam experience on psychedelics.
This immortal classic has been making the cable TV rounds this holiday season and “Alien”, for me, still holds up as my favorite science fiction/horror film EVER! I have always been partial to the first part of the film where the crew find out about the strange “distress” signal they are sent to investigate, up until Kane (John Hurt) is brought back to the ship from the surface of the planetoid with a “guest” attached to his face. There is nice cast interaction and an effective depiction of a trek across a rather hostile planet. The rollercoaster ride of horror aboard ship which follows the delightful chest bursting sequence is a masterfully concocted spiral of dread. Who is going to confront the gigantic alien next and how will they die? The accompanying video clip showcases scenes which were shot by director Ridley Scott but were ultimately left out of the finished film. These scenes have been incorporated into an “Alien: Director’s Cut” edition of the film which appeared some years back. I think the acoustical beacon scene and the discovery of the cocooned Dallas and Brett are very effectively done. Certainly the inclusion of this material would have fleshed out the characters performed by Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, and Harry Dean Stanton. “Alien”, for me, is, simply, a stunning film.
Charles Dickens’ classic literary work is converted to silent cinema form by inventor Thomas Edison’s film studios. Rather “stagey” in appearance but that is to be expected from early cinematic works. The language of film had yet to be developed and filmmakers relied on the conventions of the stage (all action taking place in a static location such as a stage set, minimal usage of close up or shot variation , etc.). By today’s standards, the film may seem a bit plodding and “stationary” but the multiple exposure materialization of the ghosts Scrooge encounters are generally effective. Get out the popcorn and a warm cup of rum!
A varied collection of unusual movie and music video clips.
