Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on February 18th, 2023
“We deal in lead, friend.”
In the fall of 1956, Anthony Quinn watched a special screening of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai and had an epiphany: this Japanese masterpiece, inspired by the great American westerns of John Ford, would, itself, make a great American western. Quinn acquired the rights and contacted his then close friend Yul Brynner and pitched the idea of him playing the bad guy and Brynner the good guy. Brynner screened Kurosawa’s film and called in producer Walter Mirisch, who in turn contacted director John Sturges (Bad Day at Black Rock, Gunfight at the OK Corral, The Great Escape). Sturges loved the concept and immediately set about acquiring the rights, ultimately forcing Quinn out of the picture. Quinn sued, but lost.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 17th, 2023
"Life is not like the movies."
Maybe sometimes life is exactly like the movies. You know the old phrase of art imitating life and that kind of thing. That's exactly the territory that's covered in Steven Spielberg's latest film The Fabelmans. It's an autobiographical film where the names are changed to protect both the guilty and the innocent. It's also the first time that Spielberg has directed his own writing in over 20 years. In those 20 years Spielberg has become something of a moviemaking machine, and I think he felt it was time that the machine walked away from the spotlight for a minute and allowed the man behind the machine to show his face again. It used to be about heart; lately it's been about box office, and more recently it's been about surviving after the hit the industry took with COVID. I think Spielberg had a lot of things to get off his chest, and it looks like he might have found the time and place to do just that.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 10th, 2023
This may come to a surprise for some, but there was a time that comic book movies just weren’t taken seriously. We had Richard Donner and his Superman The Movie film, and then there was Tim Burton’s take on Batman. Every other movie that was based on a comic book property was treated as cheesy camp fodder that no one took seriously. Wes Craven’s attempt at adapting Swamp Thing was slightly impressive for the time, but in retrospect I’m just not really a fan of the film despite how much I like the DC character. As for the sequel, The Return of Swamp Thing, I know I’m in the minority when I say how much I enjoy this camp classic. The first Swamp Thing I felt took itself too seriously and was lacking in the fun practical FX department, but to be fair, it also had a low budget and felt the need to be an origin story. Helming the sequel is one of the B-movie workhorses of the industry, Jim Wynorski, who is responsible for the 80s kill-bot classic Chopping Mall. It’s time to return to the bog and deep dive into the camp classic from 1989, The Return of Swamp Thing.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 3rd, 2023
"On the day America remembers its dead, a special salute today for the war dead in Vietnam. An American serviceman who died there took his place today in a place of honor, The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier. Almost 10 years after the last American left Saigon, the men who fought in Vietnam got their parade. Muffled drums and dirges. A coffin and a flag wrapped in plastic to protect it from the rain. Families of the men still missing in Vietnam waited for the coffin and remembered. They wonder if their sons are still alive and why the world sits back and allows the Vietnamese government to flagrantly violate the Geneva Convention. Rumors of physical and mental torture have made the wait more agonizing."
If the story sounds somewhat familiar, there are two reasons for that.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 3rd, 2023
I get it. At first glance Ghost Warrior seems like a movie that is easy to disregard, but if you are looking to step outside the mainstream and dip your toe into the murky waters that is B cinema, Ghost Warrior is a heck of a fun place to start. The film is produced by Charles Band. He’s pretty much royalty when it comes to B cinema. His biggest claim to fame is the creation of Full Moon Features, and if you were around in the mom and pop video store days, you more than likely passed plenty of his work on the video store shelves. Movies like Puppet Master and little gems like Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama were Band’s bread and butter, and he’s been successful enough to produce well over 350 films. When it comes to Ghost Warrior, this is before Full Moon became notorious for low-budget horror, but this film does show that he could produce a quality film on a thin budget and have a running time of only 81 minutes.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on February 3rd, 2023
A possibly innocent military man facing treason and war crime charges, a devoted wife who finds herself drawn to a man who is not her husband, and a prosecutor who is beginning to doubt the conviction of a lifetime. I can honestly say that Sergeant Ryker piqued my interest with this dynamic. And for me what was the key component to my successful viewing of the film, Lee Marvin of The Dirty Dozen fame embodies Sergeant Paul Ryker, an American solder charged with treason for allegedly aiding the enemy following a failed raid during the Korean War. Bradford Dillman plays Captain Young, the JAG officer who prosecutes Ryker for treason, who comes to doubt the conviction that could launch his career. Then there is Vera Miles of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho fame as Sgt. Ryker’s neglected wife, who begins to have eyes for the young captain. What can I say, I dig the drama.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on January 27th, 2023
One the worst things that can happen to a cop is to be forced to do a shooting in the line of duty. All the training in the word does not make living with action any easier, especially if it results in a fatality. It is among the most traumatic events that can occur for a police officer. No matter what, that officer is likely to second guess every decision that led to that point. Could they have found another way to resolve? Did they have to shoot? Could they have talked the person down? Did the person have to die? Those are just a few of the question that are likely to arise. What makes that situation even worse is if person is found to have been at fault. And herein lies the premise for Warning Shot. David Janssen of TV’s The Fugitive fame plays LAPD Sergeant Tom Valens in this crime drama where he finds himself in that exact situation. During a routine stakeout, Valens fatally shoots what he perceives to be an armed suspect. However, upon a comprehensive investigation, the purported weapon is nowhere to be found. This premise alone was enough to intrigue me, but while watching the film, I became more engrossed in the crime drama with every passing detail. Rounding out the cast are Ed Begley and Joan Collins, as well as the “First Lady of American Cinema,” herself, Lillian Gish.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 26th, 2023
"We've come here to pay our respects to Great Aunt Nellie. She brought us up properly and taught us loyalty. Now I want you to remember that during these next few days. I also want you to remember that if you don't come back with the goods, Nellie here will turn in her grave, and, likely as not, jump right out of it and kick your teeth in."
Ian Kennedy-Martin was a television writer for the BBC in the late 1950's and early 1960's. When London adopted one of the world's first computerized traffic light systems, it gave him an idea for a series or television movie. The idea was pretty simple. A group of crooks would hack into that system and use a traffic snarl to get away with a big bank job. The problem was that the idea was too large a production for the BBC staff to pull off. So he sold the idea to his brother, Troy Kennedy-Martin
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 26th, 2023
Coming off the success of James Cameron’s The Terminator, just about every studio was looking to piggyback off that gold mine, and what followed was a parade of knockoff films that for the most part failed to match The Terminator in quality and in box office draw. One of those bottom-of-the-barrel knockoffs is the 1987 film Programmed To Kill, also known as The Retaliator. While in the 80’s this was a film that could be appreciated in drive-ins and later on late-night cable, nowadays the unexpected draw for this film is that it has the late Paul Walker in one of his earliest roles playing Jason, the son of the film’s lead character, Eric Mathews (Robert Ginty). Former CIA agent Eric Matthews is hired to lead a group of mercenaries to rescue a pair of kidnapped kids from a group of terrorists. In the process of performing the extraction, Samira (Sandahl Bergman), one of the terrorists, is critically wounded. For some reason, the mercenaries bring Samira with them. Samira is then brought to a group of government scientists who do experimental brain surgery and in the process turn her into a cyborg
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 24th, 2023
"What about the old American social custom of self-defense? If the police don't defend us, maybe we should do it ourselves."
Vigilante justice has always been a popular subject in our movies, television shows, literature, and even comic books. Batman is nothing more than Bruce Wayne out to get back at criminals like the ones who murdered his parents when he was a kid. Batman is the ultimate vigilante. And let's be honest. Haven't you ever once fantasized that you could cross that line and punish some injustice or another that crossed your path? The subject has been around since stories have been told. There are those landmark tales, however, that for some reason or another reach the soul of the masses.
