Showing posts with label Movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movie. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Monday, September 19, 2016
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Future Schlock (1984)
- In a future time when middle-class, Stepford-type suburbanites have triumphed over individualists and non-conformists and made them prisoner, two vanquished but not defeated non-conformists carry on the fight as best they can.- Written by frankfob2@yahoo.com
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Monday, August 17, 2015
LIGHT YEARS (aka Gandahar or Metal Men, 1988)
Back in the 1980’s a wonderful animated film came out by the name of Light Years. It didn’t get that much attention but is revered by many today animation experts and sci-fi geeks to this day. It combined the great minds of French animator, Rene Laloux and Isaac Asimov into a visually stunning peace of art that is more relevant today than it was 2o+ years ago.
The movie is wrapped around a riddle that the main character, Sylvain, must answer, “In a thousand years, Gandahar was destroyed, and and all its people massacred. A thousand years ago, Gandahar will be saved, and what can’t be avoided will be.”
The plot is very intense and deals with relevant topics such as war vs. pacifism, the dangers of unchecked scientific experiments and the theory of time travel in relevance to the human mind and soul. It’s stunningly beautiful in artistic expression and just as well written.
The original version was directed by René Laloux, and was based on Jean-Pierre Andrevon‘s novel Les Hommes-machines contre Gandahar (The Machine-Men versus Gandahar). An English version of the epic science fiction film was produced by Harvey Weinstein, and renowned science-fiction legend Isaac Asimov made the revision of the translation from French to English.
It boasts a very impressive cast of voice actors in the American version. Among the actors were, Glenn Close, Jennifer Grey, Terrence Mann, Penn and Teller, John Shea, Bridget Fonda, David Johansen, Earle Hyman, Earl Hammond and Christopher Plummer. Plummer plays the villain in the film with cunning excellence.
It has has beautifully drawn women with a slight tint of blue/purple skin color that are naked for most of the film. It’s a masterpeice that will live on for years. It is well known for it’s strange landscapes yet vaguely familiar creatures as well as menacing “men of metal”. The art is well done and if you like science fiction, you’re going to love this film.
Now if we could only get them to release it on DVD!
But until then, we have Youtube, please see below, the 8 part movie of LIGHT YEARS…
Thursday, August 6, 2015
The Truth According To Satan (1972)
The Truth According to Satan (1972)
A woman, Diana (Rita Calderoni, whose beautiful eyes still shine through in the fuzzy looking, low quality version I watched), seems to be at the core of a man’s, Roibert’s (Isarco Ravaioli), depressions. Sick of himself and going through what is no doubt an existential crises, he deeply contemplates and, in a melodramatic bout of playing Russian roulette with himself, fails at committing suicide, an insult which only seems to further his unease.
Calling up the lady of his sorrows, Diana, in the midst of a love affair with her female companion/slave, Yanita (Marie-Paule Bastin), Roibert informs her of his failed attempt at killing himself, threatening to try again. She hastily comes over to his place, looking nice and sexy, and Roibert eventually does stab and kill himself while leaning over her, smearing his blood over her. The neighbor, a strange jester of a man, Totoletto (Sergio Ammirata, chewing the scenery like none have ever done before), seems to have witnessed enough of the incident from the window to decide to have a fun time with the situation, turning the film into a deranged comedy from here on out.
Totoletto is a total clown, with a hefty amount of black humor that hits the spot at times. Unfortunately, his chicken sounds are a little too frequent and a little irritating. Though, it's still not enough to ruin the added dose of weird entertainment he brings to this already far-out, head trip of a, dare I say it, giallo.
The train of ideas that make up the story, of which Totoletto becomes in total control of, is frequently diverted by his highly eccentric diet of consuming two eggs every hour. His commitment to this diet is borderline insane, exclaiming it to be “a catastropheeee!!!!” to miss out on his egg break. To give you an idea of what kind of humor is taking place, when Diana attempts to turn the tables, threatening to frame Totoletto for the killing and kidnapping her, he freaks out, screams, and runs to the next room, worried about his eggs overcooking. I’m giggling just writing this; I love that guy!
As evidenced here and in some other works with Polselli, The Reincarnation of Isabel and Delirium, Calderoni has a talent for communicating a mental breakdown in front of the camera. The way she does it is excessive, which I like, and all the while the emotion seems genuine.
As evidenced here and in some other works with Polselli, The Reincarnation of Isabel and Delirium, Calderoni has a talent for communicating a mental breakdown in front of the camera. The way she does it is excessive, which I like, and all the while the emotion seems genuine.
In addition, I’m a bit drawn to a peculiar yet subtle recurring motif to the, obligatory to the sexploitation, tortures that Diana is put through, where a transition, going from discomfort to pleasure, is depicted in Calderoni’sexpressions. Segments including her mad boyfriend teasing her with the sharp tip of a blade over her body, or her being tied down while a dog eats raw meat off her body, or being sprayed over with a showerhead after being covered in blood, all end up with, somewhere in there, the actress going from a panic, or extreme distress, to what for sure appears to be approval and pleasure.
Giving a deep backstory to Diana and Roibert, dream-like flashbacks are used to suggest the emotions felt during their meeting for the first time and their time spent together. It's a love of very beautiful origins, giving a bittersweet reminder of the love’s gloomy end.
Battle stock footage is used to odd, disorienting effect, edited in to depict Roibert’s psych and the extent of the conflicting nature of his obsession with Diana, a woman who takes control of her relationships, including her female lover, Yanita, of whom she orders and whips like a slave. The two main male characters obsessively endeavor to turn this role of control around, taking pleasure in leading the game she usually takes charge of. In one instance, Totoletto has Yanita whip Diana instead, reversing the roles of master and slave. Diana seems to seduce Yanita back to her side with a soft kiss to the leg, much to Totoletto’s hilarious dismay.
After trying to make up its mind as to whether or not Diana’s plight is something supernatural, her going mad, or the result of someone keen on her torture, the movie finally wraps things up with a twist that isn’t really all that twisty. It even seems like Polselli thought it best to interrupt the climax a few times by cutting to a fabulous shot of dancing, naked hippies, with Yanita included, of which I always have a hard time resisting dancing to. I thought this might have been edited in from a different movie, like some kind of patchwork, but Totoletto’s interaction with these transcendental partiers at the end confirms that it is meant for this movie, and I’m glad for that.
Given all that I’ve discussed, I still can’t help saying that the only way to know what this movie is about is to see it. It starts out like a tame little suicide drama and eventually escalates into a party of the grandest, mind expanding, erratic surrealism. It’s what I was looking for with a Polsellifilm, yet it still ended up not being what I was expecting. And the scenes with the dancers are so damn brilliant! That’s what I want to see more of.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Powell Peralta - Propaganda (1990)
The Propaganda video featured Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Lance Mountain, Mike McGill, Ray Barbee, Ray Underhill, Paulo Diaz, Frankie Hill, Steve Saiz, Chet Thomas, Lori Rigsby, Salman Agah, Lance Conklin, Colin McKay, Bucky Lasek, Frank Hirata, Eric Sanderson, Sean Mortimer, Mike Manzoori and more.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
World on a Wire (1973)
World on a Wire (German: Welt am Draht), is a 1973 science fiction film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Shot in 16 mm, it was made for German television and originally aired in 1973, as a two-part miniseries. Starring Klaus Löwitsch, it was based on the novel Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye. An adaptation of the film was presented as the playWorld of Wires, directed by Jay Scheib, in 2012.[1]
Plot[edit]
At the Institute for Cybernetics and Future Science ("Institut für Kybernetik und Zukunftsforschung, IKZ"), a new supercomputer hosts a simulation program that includes an artificial world with over 9,000 "identity units" who live as human beings, unaware that their world is just a simulacron. Professor Vollmer (Adrian Hoven), who is technical director of the program, is apparently on the verge of an incredible secret discovery. He becomes increasingly agitated and anti-social before dying in a mysterious accident. His successor, Dr. Fred Stiller, has a discussion with Günther Lause, the security adviser of the institute, when the latter suddenly disappears without trace, before passing on Vollmer's secret to Stiller. More mysterious still is the fact that none of the other IKZ employees seem to have any memory of Lause.
Meanwhile, one of the identity units in the simulation attempts suicide. This unit is deleted by Stiller's colleague Walfang, to keep the simulation stable. To investigate the reasons for the suicide, Stiller contacts the contact unit of the simulated world. The unit, called Einstein, is the only identity unit who knows about the simulation, and this is necessary to run the program. In an attempt to become a real person, Einstein switches his mind into Walfang's body while the latter is in contact with the simulated world. Einstein gives Stiller an explanation for the mysteries, vanishing memories, and vanishing persons. He tells him that the real world is nothing else but a simulation of a real world one level above.
This knowledge causes Stiller to slip into insanity. The other "real" people interrogate Stiller, and he is threatened with death, incarceration, and involuntary commitment. Stiller is finally able to convince Hahn, the IKZ psychologist, of his theory. The latter soon dies in an accident that is pinned on Stiller, marking him as the suspected murderer of both Hahn and Vollmer.
Stiller flees and searches for the necessary contact unit who can connect the "real" world with the real world a level above. He survives several assassination attempts and discovers the contact is Eva, Vollmer's daughter, with whom he had once had a romance. Eva tells him he was modeled on the real Fred Stiller, a person whom Eva loved, but became mad with power from directing the simulation in the world above. While Stiller is programmed to die in an ambush, Eva switches the minds of the two Stillers and brings the simulated Stiller into the real world.
Commander (1988)
Commander (1988)
AKA: The Last American Soldier
Directed by: Ignazio Dolce
Starring: Craig Alan, Max Laurel, David Light, Mike Monty and Tanya Gomez
Wow! Now here’s a hidden gem if there ever was one. Commander (AKA Last American Soldier), we can safely say, is one of the best - if not the best - Exploding Hut movie of all time. Probably more huts explode (along with just about everything else within a 100-mile radius) in this movie than in any other Exploding-Hutter...COMBINED. The plot, if there even is one, is nothing more than a simple excuse to perhaps win a Guinness World Record for the most jam-packed kaleidoscopic cornucopia of blow-ups, explosions, detonations, fireballs, firebursts, fireblasts, combustions, ignitions, flare-ups, and, yes, cannonades ever committed to film. And if you think there isn’t a difference between all these things, Commander will show you the subtle nuances, and the whole outing gives new meaning to the band name “Porno for Pyros”!
Sure, you may have seen some Italian-made, jungle-set “Rambo knockoffs” before such as Tornado (1983), Rolf(1984), Strike Commando (1987), Strike Commando 2 (1988), etc. (or non-Italian outings such as Mannigan’s Force(1988) or anything on the Mercs box set), but here we have something special. For starters, we have true American hero Craig Alan in the lead as Commander. He’s a one-man army of epic proportions, an unshaven, beer-swilling killing machine who’s so macho he makes Arnold Schwarzenegger look like Richard Simmons. His voice sounds like a narcoleptic Elvis. At the end of every line he utters, you’re just waiting for a “thank yuh, thankyuhverymuch.” But he cares very much about freedom, and if he has to slaughter entire regions to make his dream of freedom happen, then, so be it. Evil Russians and commies have to get what’s coming to them. And speaking of Arnie, don’t get confused - the title Commander isn’t meant to recall any other movie titles, surely. Actually, if this movie brings anything similar to mind, it’s high body count-classics like No Dead Heroes (1986).
It should also be highlighted that his name is Commander, which leads to actual dialogue such as “Commander seems very efficient.” Evidently his rank is Sergeant, which would mean his name is “Sgt. Commander”. That alone makes this movie worth seeing. God bless losses in translation. Of course, the director, Ignazio Dolce, also directedLast Flight to Hell (1990), which, as we all know, had a great sceenplay.
Mike Monty has very minimal screen time as a Major, but that doesn’t stop Commander from getting into a conflict with him. Apparently all this is happening some time after the Vietnam war, and Commander is helping the people of Southeast Asia to be free, before the commies can take over their villages. He has a girlfriend of sorts named Cho Lin (Gomez), but a lot more time is spent on the Prerequisite Torture than on any time with her. In between blow-ups, there’s some shooting. Then some more shooting. And maybe a few knifings. For extra added spice, there’s some neck snaps. But it’s all about the explosions (helicopters certainly included), and this movie delivers, and then some. It makes Hollywood pap like Blown Away (1994) look like Larry Crowne (2011). And it’s all set to a quality Simon Boswell score. How can you lose?
Criminally, Commander was never released on VHS in the U.S. Evidently it only came out in Greece, Brazil, and, of course, Japan (they get everything). Based on that kind of poor decision-making, is this even a country Commander would want to serve? We didn’t even release COMMANDER for God’s sake. Well, what the world needs now - RIGHT now - is this movie. In our wimpy, wussy, overly-PC, “Gun Free Zone”, wet-noodle, touchy-feely culture, Commander stands as a raging, double-middle-finger “F-you” to all the liberal sludge polluting our lives. Craig Alan is our new hero, and he will be yours too when you see this utter classic of the action genre. This movie just rules. See it ASAP.
Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty
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Anyway I'm not one to sit on the margins and criticise without pointing out a few redeeming qualities, so here they are.
A violent off-shoot of the women's lib movement is portrayed in a wilderness setting (central park, of course), and all of the masochistic young men out there will be very impressed. Furthermore, some of the scenes in which certain characters lose consciousness are amusingly dramatic (you'll note that I write dramatic, rather than convincing).
All I can say is that some people like B movies and I'm one of them. If you're one of them too, then give it a go. Cheers, Mr Kincaid. This is one for the ages.