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. Piper plays a drifter who stumbles into a well concealed alien scheme of mass manipulation and brain washing of the public at large. Piper then attempts to eradicated the problem. Much machine gun fire, explosions, mayhem and even some wrestling action ensues. One of Carpenter’s better post – Halloween, The Thing, efforts. Piper’s best role. BTW – I made up for an earlier fail and have actually attached the trailer now. DOH!!!
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?
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.
I came home wiped out after a lousy day at work and wanted nothing more than to dissolve into bed with a little TV action to numb me. After checking the programming guide, there was nothing on! Figures. One last check and I stumbled upon “Frogs” being shown on Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network. Saved! El Rey has been showing some cool movies recently. Call them grindhouse features or exploitation or fantastic cinema films, whatever, you will find a wide range of cinema treats to keep you entertained. So, “Frogs” is a Seventies flick that touches on the theme of ecological disasters. What calamity may result if we unwittingly tamper with Mother Nature? And by tampering I mean, what effects will pollution, auto emissions, deforestation, ozone depletion, etc. have on the environment and the creatures living within that environment? It seems pollution is the likely culprit responsible for turning swamp dwelling creatures into aggressive human killers in this one. Plenty of creepy crawlies scamper through this film including snakes, birds, alligators and, of course, frogs. Humorous acting turns by Ray Milland, a very young Sam Elliott, and Adam Rourke. My favorite human offing method: death by snapping turtle!
An attempt to bring to the silver screen a work by author Ray Bradbury. Three futuristic stories are “illustrated” through the conduit of a mysterious wanderer whose body is covered in tattoos. Rod Steiger plays the tattooed man who explains the story behind various of his body art. Steiger and Claire Bloom appear in the three episodes playing different characters. Very brooding, dark film that wears it’s ’60’s era influences on its sleeve sometimes not so well. I must say that this is not one of my favorite films and not one I would readily return to. Trippy at times and trying at others. Maybe a film best viewed loaded. The ’60’s are calling!
We visit Forrest J. Ackerman, the creator of “Famous Monsters of Filmland” magazine, and take an abbreviated tour of the “Ackermansion” memorabilia collection Ackerman amassed in Southern California. Plenty of pad puns and dusty monster/horror/science fiction movie artifacts await. How did Ackerman remember where everything was stored?
Very influential, big budget science fiction film from the 1950’s. In the future, a starship from earth ventures to a remote planet to check on the well being of a colony established by earlier explorers. Only two survivors are found from the previous expedition but they flourish in their compound with the assistance of their super workhorse robot, Robby. It seems that survivor Dr. Morbius has learned a few tricks from the previous inhabitants of the planet, the uber advanced Krell. But not all knowledge is necessarily good to have. Morbius harbors some dark secrets of his own that have a bad habit of manifesting themselves in solid form thanks to tapping into Krell technology.
Among the movie’s strengths are very cool special effects, an otherworldly electronic music score from Louis and Bebe Barron, impressive movie sets and dioramas and, of course, the introduction of the amazing creation, Robby The Robot. The functioning of the earth ship and its captain and crew seem to have been an influence on Gene Roddenberry who created the TV series “Star Trek”. Leslie Nielsen played the captain of the second Earth starship.
Great Sixties science fiction/horror film from master fantasy director Mario Bava. Two ships in outer space end up setting down on an alien planet. After losing communications with one of the ships, the crew of the other vessel goes to investigate. Many of the occupants are found dead, having seemingly lost their minds and killed each other. Many crew members cannot be found. It appears that there is an alien presence on the planet that has taken over the bodies of one of the space crews. A struggle to survive the alien vampires and escape the evil planet and get back into space ensues. Among this film’s strengths are a very atmospheric, dark, planetary setting, a film shot with deeply saturated color, the intense buildup of paranoia. Barry Sullivan stars. This movie has been cited as a major influence on Dan O’Bannon who wrote the screenplay for “Alien” (1979). There are many similarities including the discovery of an ancient alien ship and it’s fossilized crew members. A nice melding of science fiction and horror elements.
Classic science fiction film starring Charlton Heston as an astronaut stranded on a planet where apes rule and humans are slaves/brutes hunted for sport and used for medical experimentation. The proceedings move along at a fairly steady pace thanks to Franklin Schaffner’s able direction. Ground breaking makeup work by John Chambers and a pun-filled, satiric script by Rod Serling. This movie caught the public’s imagination and four sequels, each weaker than the last, were spawned as a result. Very striking beginning to this film as Heston is the last astronaut to enter hyper sleep and the space ship passes through star fields and time before entering the Planet’s atmosphere. The scenes with the three astronauts traversing an arid landscape in search of water and any signs of life are marked by visuals of spectacular vistas of vast emptiness. Very haunting. My favorite film of the “Apes” series.
I love this flick. Atmospheric, indeed! An otherworldly craft touches down in the British countryside. Three aliens are variously seen in the shadows. A military unit picks up the craft on radar and begins to search for whatever appeared on the scope. One of the aliens is struck by a car when the fellow tries to dash across a fog enshrouded road at night. He is taken to a hospital where he is looked after. The other two aliens track his whereabouts and put an invisible barrier in place around the hospital. What are the aliens’ intentions? A lot of engaging night time photography and mysterious goings on.
Earth versus The Space Bugs in this intense action film. We have a new enemy that is trying to wipe out our species so Earth fights back and sends some of its military finest to engage the threat. Four young recruits are followed from their basic training days up until they become battle hardened soldiers. The scenes of war between the gigantic, alien insects and the Roughneck ground forces are amazing special effects sequences! Lots of body parts flying, gore splattering everywhere and gun play. Directed by Paul Verhoven of Robocop fame, this is a semi satirical, gut busting science fiction/action flick. Truly enjoyable!
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 get worse after that. Lead actor Eric Braeden’s performance as Forbin runs from the gamut from proud, “paternal” figure overseeing Colossus’ early achievements to a grief stricken, broken man unable to control his creation which no longer listens to him or his pleadings to stop the enslavement of humanity by thinking machines. A precursor to the Terminator series, Colossus originated as a speculative fiction book written by DF Jones.
A varied collection of unusual movie and music video clips.
