Prince of Space (1959)

Prince of Space (1959)
I'm going to follow up my last post on RiffTrax Live with an episode of the show that started it all, Mystery Science Theater 3000!
Prince of Space is from season 8, which means it's a Mike episode from the Sci-Fi Channel era. I watched Prince of Space back in the fall so it's been a while since I've seen or written about a MST3K episode.
This MST3K fodder is a 1950s Japanese kids show that has been poorly edited together and given a bad English dub. Prince of Space reminded me of another Tokusatsu (a Japanese term for a speculative fiction movie with a lot of special effects) superhero movie featured on MST3K, Invasion of the Neptune Men. Prince of Space is a little better than that movie, which isn't saying much of course!

The silly villain Krankor (pictured above) is pretty memorable. Krankor makes an "appearance" in a host segment and is even featured in this episode's stinger!
Prince of Space is not that far off in tone from American serials of the time though with even cheaper production values. While this movie is pretty bad, it's still watchable for how ridiculous it is.
This episode has some fun host segments, my favorite being the one where Mike gets turned into a robot which looks like a ventriloquist's dummy.
2/10

Fugitive Alien (1987)

Fugitive Alien (1987)

My last couple of posts have been related to MST3K and RiffTrax. Before I move on to other stuff here is another MST3K episode!
Fugitive Alien is a movie made from episodes of a late 70s Japanese TV show called Star Wolf. The show seemed to be the Japanese version of Star Trek combined with Star Wars. For example, the Arabic area the crew visits reminded me of how original Star Trek series often went to planets that modeled themselves on different time periods, usually a result of the shows small budget and the need to re-use sets and props. Considering the low budget perhaps one could even say that Fugitive Alien is the Japanese Space Mutiny!
The episodes of Star Wolf are poorly stitched together with bad dubbing. If I was probably just watching the show itself (and with subtitles instead of the bad dub) it would probably just be cheesy fun but as is its hard to figure out what is even going on. Despite its major flaws, at least Fugitive Alien is never boring, which I consider to be the worst flaw of bad movies.
Fugitive Alien is from the third season MST3K so it has Joel as the host. MST3K would feature the sequel Star Force: Fugitive Alien II on the show later that same year. The host segments are fun with the first appearance of the Jack Perkins character (based on the real Jack Perkins, host of the TV show Biography) who would later host MST3K in syndication as The Mystery Science Theater Hour. Although the movie is a big mess, Joel and the bots have a blast with the material and make it very enjoyable.
There were a bunch of great riffs in this episode but some of the best were the recurring jokes about everybody being named Ken and the catchy "He tried to kill me with a forklift!" song.
2/10

The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)

The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)
I, like most people, first discovered Coleman Francis thanks for the TV Show Mystery Science Theater 3000. MST3K riffed all three films that Coleman Francis wrote and directed. The Beast of Yucca Flats is the second Coleman Francis movie I have seen after Red Zone Cuba. I still need to see The Skydivers so I can say I survived all the Coleman Francis films!
The Beast of Yucca Flats stars Swedish professional wrestler Tor Johnson who is probably best known for his role as a police officer in Ed Wood's infamous Plan 9 from Outer Space. But even Plan 9 is better than this movie!
Coleman Francis takes most of the blame for this awful movie (along with Tony Cardoza who acted in and co-produced all of the Coleman Francis films) as he directed, produced, wrote the screenplay, acted, and edited the film. The Beast of Yucca Flats was Francis' debut film but that is no excuse for the fact that it is incompetently made with an incomprehensible plot. For example, there is a murder at beginning of the film that had nothing to do with the rest of the movie and is never followed up on. The story, or lack thereof, is about man (Tor Johnson) who survives a nuclear explosion that turns him into a monster. Although the movie is pretty short, there are still a bunch of filler scenes like random shots of nature and a scene at a gas station in which the attendant is played by none other than Coleman Francis! I can't say I'm surprised that The Beast of Yucca Flats is currently 20th on the IMDB users all-time bottom 100 movies list.

The movie clocks in at only 54 minutes (even though it feels three hours long!) so two shorts were including in the MST3K episode. The first is called Money Talks! in which a 1950s boy gets advice on how to save cash from the ghost of Benjamin Franklin, while the second is titled Progress Island, U.S.A. and is essentially a 1970s infomercial for Puerto Rico. Both stunk but are good riffing material and certainly more watchable than The Beast of Yucca Flats!
This MST3K episode is from the sixth season of the show's Comedy Central era with Michael J. Nelson as the host. The episode aired about a month after the Red Zone Cuba episode which is referenced a few times with lines like "I'm Cherokee Jack!" Although The Beast of Yucca Flats is a terrible film, the riffing and host segments are great so I gotta give Mike, the 'bots, and the Mads credit for actually making this movie fun to watch!
Here's one of my favorite riffs from this memorable episode: "Abbot and Costello meet the Beast of Yucca Flats!"
1/10

RiffTrax Live - Manos: The Hands of Fate

RiffTrax Live - Manos: The Hands of Fate
I'm a big fan of the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000. Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett, three of the main riffers from that show, now do RiffTrax. RiffTrax is basically the same sort of riffing style from MST3K, but the material is a mix of new films along with the older low budget movies. While RiffTrax are usually bought and downloaded online, the guys also do RiffTrax Live in which they perform live and have the event simulcast across the nation. I've enjoyed MST3K since I was a kid and love the recent RiffTrax stuff, so when I heard Mike, "Servo," and the second Crow T. Robot were going to riff Manos: The Hands of Fate live and in theaters I couldn't resist!

It is common for movie theaters to play trivia before a film starts. This was parodying by RiffTrax Live with humorous trivia and jokes. Once we got started there was a brief introduction of our heroes who performed live from a theater in Nashville, Tennessee. The guys then told us that we would be getting a couple of shorts before the movie! There was a short seven minute film from the late 70s titled Welcome Back, Norman and another short from the 70s about kids making toys of out cylinders, both of which were great riffing material. Besides the two shorts we were also greeted with a prune juice commercial!
The main attraction was Manos: The Hands of Fate, a film that languished in obscurity until it was re-discovered by the MST3K crew. I've seen the Manos episode of MST3K more times than I thought humanly possible and practically know the jokes by heart. Mike, Kevin, and Bill brought their A-game to RiffTrax Live and scripted all new riffs to put on a show completely different than the classic MST3K version. The MST3K episode featured two different riffers: Trace Beaulieu as Crow and Joel. The MST3K version of Manos originally aired in 1993, so the RiffTrax Live version allowed for some updated references for 2012 to stuff like Twilight, Toddlers & Tiaras, and Michael Vick.
Obviously there were no silhouettes this time but instead we actually got to see the guys riffing which was pretty cool. The movie would cut back and forth from a full screen of the movie to a split screen showing the guys alongside Manos.
Mike, Kevin, and Bill still have it and are perhaps even better than ever! This was a fantastic experience and I would highly recommend it especially to any MST3K/RiffTrax fan or bad movie lover. The next movie the guys are doing for RiffTrax Live is Birdemic this October.

Just in case you were wondering my thoughts on Manos: The Hands of Fate, it is a truly terrible film created by people (mainly writer/director/producer/actor Harold P. Warren) who had no idea how to actually make a movie. But is it the worst movie ever made? I'd actually say no. It has a bizarre charm that enables it stand out and even though it can be boring at times, I have seen films that are even more boring (Red Zone Cuba, Creeping Terror, Snowbeast). Torgo is a memorable character, and there are plenty of movies that don't have one of those. Maybe I have just seen it too many times, but Manos does has a strange charm since that as bad as it is, I can't hate it. Right now my pick for "worst movie ever" would be Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, which I discovered thanks to the RiffTrax. The worst Hollywood movie I've ever seen would probably be Cool as Ice, which I reviewed on this blog, or perhaps Mac and Me.
RiffTrax Live Manos: 11/10
Manos: 2/10

Three Bad Movies

Jersey Shore Shark Attack (2012)
This is the second movie released in 2012 that I saw! I'll get to the other 2012 films I've seen in my next few posts. Of course while I saw those in theaters, this movie made its premiere on the SyFy Channel!
Jersey Shore Shark Attack is both a Jaws rip-off and parody of MTV reality show Jersey Shore at the same time. I don't think it will surprise anybody that this movie has poor acting and terrible special effects. However, I didn't expect that Jersey Shore Shark Attack would feature two actors from Goodfellas: Tony Sirico and Paul Sorvino! Both actually do a good job in their roles here considering the material. I would hope that they are getting better offers than this, but maybe these guys just have a good sense of humor.
I must mention that Joey Fatone, formerly of boy band 'N Sync, has a great cameo appearance!
Jersey Shore Shark Attack was produced by Fred Olen Ray who has directed and produced tons of low budget B-movies and exploitation flicks. I've never seen an Olen Ray movie before but keep in mind this is the guy who brought us Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers and Reptisaurus!  
Jersey Shore Shark Attack is not really a horror movie but more of a comedy with jokes that are hit or miss. Some scenes like the one with Joey Fatone or the line "Is that spaghetti sauce?" (referring to blood) are hilarious. However, others attempts at humor fall flat or too padded with boring scenes.
The writing was actually better than I expected in terms of the parodies and jokes. We even have some character development and a use of Chekov's Gun, or harpoon in this case. Unfortunately the basic rule of "show, don't tell" us violated in a major way once. I guess the reason for that is that the budget didn't call for a flashback so a character just tells a long story about what happened instead!
Our main characters are Jersey Shore knock-offs who are almost as unlikeable as their real life counter-parts. Despite this face it seems that the movie thinks we should actually root for them. The attempt at solving this problem of main characters who are easy to hate is that the villains are annoying snooty, rich, yuppies but I just wanted to see everybody eaten by the albino sharks!
While this is not a good movie, I must give it some credit for being entertaining enough. Too many bad movies are just plain boring so when a dumb fun one comes around I can't hate it too much. I could even see Jersey Shore Shark Attack getting a cult following someday, though I think this movie will be forgotten about once the popularity of Jersey Shore fades away.
Oh, and I love the tagline on the above poster: "Forget The Avengers, we have a new contender for best film of the summer." That must be a joke, taken out of context, a fake quote, or the critic just got really drunk!
I'll finish this review the same way the movie ends:
Fin
3/10

No Holds Barred (1989)
I'm not a wrestling fan but have always found it interesting. Professional wrestling features good guys, heels, larger than life personalities, a mixing of reality with fantasy, has always had a large dedicated fan base. If you think about it like that it is no different from the world of film!
Although Hulk Hogan made his film debut in Rocky III as Thunderlips, No Holds Barred is the first movie to feature Hogan in a leading role. Not surprisingly Hogan plays a professional wrestler (named Rip) who is not much different from Hulk Hogan himself. A rival TV network tries to get Rip to wrestle for them but Rip refuses to break his existing contract at any price. This leads Brell, the sleazy head of the World Television Network (played by Kurt Fuller who was in Wayne's World and many other movies), to start his own wrestling competition called "Battle of the Tough Guys." This wrestlers are extremely violent and play by no rules. For some reason they even have a midget in a cage over their ring! Eventually a mysterious huge guy named Zeus wins the tournament and demands to fight Rip. Fuller's performance as Brell reminded me of Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation but as without the god powers and more of a scumbag. Brell likes to call Hulk Hogan a "Jock Ass" which is pretty funny though it gets irritating after a while. Besides Hogan and Fuller, Jesse Ventura has a cameo (as himself of course!) and I also recognized David Paymer who has been in tons of films and TV shows.
The most outrageously hilarious scene of the movie features the now infamous line, "Dookie?!"
Check it out here!
As you can tell from that clip, a lot of dialogue is grunting and yelling. I guess it makes sense in a movie about wrestling. I wasn't expecting Shakespeare, but its still pretty funny.
This is the 3rd Hulk Hogan movie I've seen after Santa with Muscles and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain. I have reviewed all on this blog and as you could probably guess, this is my favorite Hulk Hogan movie so far!
The weekend No Holds Barred came out in theaters in 1989 it debuted second in the box office behind Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!
The first act is hilarious and engaging but the movie looses steam purely from an entertainment standpoint after that. These are still some amusing parts but after that the pacing slows down and the fighting gets repetitive. Although No Holds Barred is a bad movie its still a lot of fun. I watched it with a friend who is a wrestling fan and we have a blast. This is Hulk Hogan's Bloodsport though I still prefer that Van Damme flick to this one!
4/10

Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996)
Ernest Borgnine died last week at the age of 95. He is one of my favorite actors as I love his roles in The Wild Bunch, Escape from New York, and many more films and TV shows. In honor of the late, great Oscar winner I watched the MST3K episode Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders with a friend.
The framing story of this movie features Borgnine as a grandfather telling stories to his grandson. The first story involves a couple with fertility problems who meet Merlin at his store. The husband doesn't believe he is really a wizard so Merlin gives him a book of spells to prove it. The man messes up the spell, fights a cat, then turns into a baby which his wife decides to raise. Then the grandfather tells another story about a toy monkey that can kill people when it clangs its cymbals which was stolen from Merlin's shop. Merlin tries to find the toy monkey before too much damage is done!
This movie is a stinking mess but at least there is an explanation. Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders was made out of the per-existing films The Devil's Gift (1984) with new footage stitched in. The monkey story obviously looks older than the other footage. The segments with the monkey is also said to rips off a Stephen King short story and I can't say I'm surprised.
Both stories are surprisingly violent, especially for what appears on the cover to be a family fantasy film.
Although this movie is terrible, its a great MST3K episode. This one is from Season 10 so its a Sci-fi Channel Mike episode. I loved the re-curring riffs on the infertility subplot and the geriatric grandfather.
2/10

Even though all these movies sucked, at least I enjoyed watching them for different reasons!
Next Up: Summer TV shows

Four More Bad Movies

The Day the Earth Froze (1959)
I saw this movie via the show Mystery Science Theater 3000 which featured it along with the short Here Comes the Circus (1946). This episode was from the fourth season so it was a Joel episode.
The movie itself is a poorly dubbed Finnish/Soviet Fantasy adventure based on Finnish mythology.
Although this is a bad movie it is unintentionally amusing and the riffs were very good. I never heard of this MST3K before so I'd say its an underrated episode. If you're are a fan of MST3K but haven't seen this one yet give it a watch.
2/10

Gigli (2003)
Although I do remember Gigli bombing when it came out and hearing how bad it is, I never saw it. While at the time I wondered if it was really that bad, I'm kinda glad I saw it now because I can say yes, this movie does indeed suck!
From a technical standpoint Gigli not as bad as say Battlefield Earth, but at least that was more fun to watch in all its glorious stupidity. Even though Gigli features both Al Pacino and Christopher Walken, the two are not used properly and could have replaced them with anyone. The movie is incredibly dull as not much happens. Scenes are very long and usually take place in the same areas. I remember one scene in particular where the camera went back and forth to the same two shots so many times in a row I lost count. I know this movie had a beleaguered production, but that is no excuse to get lazy and the end result looks amateurish.
Clocking in at a full two hours this movie is about 30 minutes too long for the plot. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if it was shorter but the story really drags on with tons of scenes where nothing really happens and the conversations just drone on and on.
Despite having an estimated $74 million budget (production and marketing costs), Gigli only made back about $7 million worldwide. Not quite Pluto Nash territory but still a gigantic box office bomb.
Deep down I actually feel there was some potential here. I think if someone re-wrote the script for director Martin Brest, the movie was shorter, and did not star Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez (and therefore didn't try to cash in on their relationship) it actually could have been good. Over $24 million went to Bennifer which is over three times what the movie made in theaters. I have seen Affleck in other movies and while he's not a bad actor, he is awful here. I'm not too familiar with JLo so maybe she has performed better in other movies but she is just as bad as Affleck here.
To be fair, the mentally challenged kid was well acted by Justin Bartha (National Treasure, The Hangover) but not tactfully written. The kid's obsession with "Baywatch" was funny though. Gigli was Bartha's first movie so I am impressed that his career was able to survive being in this flop.

Gigli feels like its trying to copy Tarantino's style but falls flat on its face. For example, the movie uses the word "fuck" 124 times and for the most part the use of the word is completely unnecessary and just thrown in there it make it seem gritty. I've only seen Tarantino's first two movies but he broke a lot of screenwriting rules. However, he still did such a good job with stuff like dialogue that his touch worked. But Brest is not Tarantino and this movie fails miserably. Now to be fair Brest was around before Tarantino so who knows, maybe they both influenced each other.
In what should be no surprise, Gigli won six razzie awards including a grand slam of worst picture, worst actor, worst actress, worst director worst screenplay. It easily won worst on-screen couple.
As I alluded to earlier, director Martin Brest also wrote the script. Brest has directed some good movies but never wrote the script for those and that seems to be the problem here. To be fair this movie did have a difficult production with Brest battling the studio for control. Brest lost and and it was re-cut by the studio before being released. For example, a bunch of scenes in the trailer are not in the movie. Apparently Brest originally intended for the movie to be much longer (160 minutes!) but also darker and violent. However, the producers wanted to cash in on the tabloid craze of "Bennifer" and therefore turn the movie into more of a romantic comedy. A director's cut has never been released and I doubt I would watch it, but its probably better than the theatrical version. Still, you can only polish a turd so much.
The only other movie I've seen by Martin Brest is Beverly Hills Cop which I did like. I'll have to watch some of his good movies as I've been recommended Midnight Run and Scent of a Woman.
Looking at Brest's filmography it is clear he has talent and has made good movies. Brest hasn't made a movie since and even though Gigli is terrible I think that is a shame. Unfortunately pretty much everything that could go wrong did, which is a recipe for disaster. And if you look up Gigli in a thesaurus you will find the word disaster!
There are many movies worse than this from a technical standpoint that are still much more watchable. Gigli is not the worst movie ever but its certainly down there. As for Hollywood movies this is one of the worst I've seen but its still better than Cool as Ice.
2/10

The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends (2007)
Not many movie franchises get to 13 movies. Of course all the sequels after the original (a classic animated children's movie) were to direct to video, but I must still give them credit for making so many as I imagine this means the sequels sold well. As a kid I loved the first one and stuck around until about the sixth movie. What can I say, like most children I loved dinosaurs!
I watched this movie with a bunch of friends as a joke, and even though its a kid's movie, its still a bad kid's movie. Some people give bad kids movies a pass by saying they are simply meant for children, but that is just a slap in the face to the good kids movies out there.
There isn't much of a plot here, basically Littlefoot and his dino buddies have to help some dumb dinosaurs go back to their home, Berry Valley. The story is essentially a dumb-downed version of the original with far less tension and aimed at an even younger audience. The animation is mediocre at best and while the songs are annoying, they are completely forgettable which I guess is a good in a way because I'm glad I don't remember them!
Cuba Gooding Jr. and Sandra Oh voice two of the stupid dinosaurs. I know they are talented, but they have absolutely nothing to work with here.
I can't really recommend The Land Before Time XIII to anyone. If you liked these movies as a child, just re-watch the original. If your kids want to see this it can't hurt, but start them out with the first and perhaps the some of the early sequels as they are all much better that this thoughtless franchise cash-in.
2/10

Girl Happy (1965)
I had never seen an Elvis movie before so I didn't really know what to expect coming into this.
Elvis made over thirty movies between 1956 and 1969. By 1965 the Beatles just started to hit and Beach Party movie fad was in full swing. As a result of these new developments Elvis is given a band (one member is played by Bing Crosby's son, Gary Crosby) and we have the spring break beach setting of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Shelley Fabares, Harold J. Stone (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes), John Fiedler (Piglet from Winnie the Pooh) were actors I recognized in this movie. All were also in different episodes of my favorite TV show, the Twilight Zone.
Besides those other actors, Girl Happy features Jackie Coogan as a police officer. Is he the only actor to be in movies with both Charlie Chaplin and Elvis Presley?!
Although this movie is technically a musical, I found none of the songs memorable.
For some reason this movie was not filmed on location and it is obvious they filmed Girl Happy on sets.
Despite these drawbacks and the dated 60s lingo this is watchable if you're in the mood for a silly little movie. Elvis steals a boat and puts it in a swimming pool!
4/10

After all these bad movies its time to switch gears. My next post will be on three great movies!

Weekly Wrap-Up (10/9) - Robot Monster

I was pretty busy this past week and only had the chance to see one movie. Sadly it was a real stinker! Luckily I had loads of fun watching it with my friends and it is always amusing to watch an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Robot Monster (1953)
The "robot monster" is a guy in a gorilla suit wearing a diving helmet that is supposed to be an alien. And the monster has a cool bubble making machine! The movie only runs for 66 minutes but still uses tons of stock footage as padding, including a scene of dinosaurs fighting from Lost Continent which I saw a few weeks ago! Although this movie is pretty boring, at least it is short. The character of "Ro-Man" was weird enough to keep me mildly interested. Even though the movie's low budget ($16,000) really shows, it was somehow a financial success at the time as it made $1 million at the box office. Today it is considered one of the worst movies ever made.
I saw the MST3K version which also features two episodes of Radar Men from the Moon featuring the character Commando Cody.  The riffs and host segments were pretty good considering this was a first season episode. Still, this is not one of the better episodes and if you are new to MST3K don't start here. I had only seen one other first season episode, Robot Holocaust, which I thought was a better MST3K. The early episodes don't have stingers, which is too bad as I love guessing what the stinger will be when watching a MST3K. The episode is an interesting watch for fans of the show to see what the show was like early on and Robot Monster is required viewing for bad movie lovers!
Trivia: Famous film composer Elmer Bernstein actually composed the music for this movie! This was one of his first projects and he would go on to bigger and better things.
Joel: "That, ladies and gentlemen, is the destroyer of the universe. I rest my case."
1/10

Weekly Wrap-Up (9/18)

Note: This week I also watched The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Hands of Orlac. See my last post (blogathon entry) for an in-depth review of those two films.

Jerry Maguire (1996)

This movie had some false advertising. While I liked how the film depicted the business aspect of sports, I didn't care for it when the movie shifted its focus to Jerry's relationship with his secretary. I admit that this is a matter of taste. I enjoyed the behind the scenes look at sports agents and the discussions about morals and integrity. These parts were pretty funny and gave us the film's most famous line: "Show me the money!" However, about a third of the way in the film it turned into a romantic comedy. Eventually the movie shifted its focus back to Jerry's relationship with his last remaining client, the football player Rod Tidwell. But by this point it was too little, too late despite a satisfying ending. To be fair, the romantic aspects were probably why the movie did so well financially. Those scenes were well written and acted, just not my cup of tea and not what I was expecting. I wanted to see more of Jerry working with sports stars and trying to change how agents operate. I knew from the beginning that Jerry would start a relationship with his secretary, I just thought it would be a sub-plot and not the focus of the movie. Tom Cruise created a fascinating character who is fun to watch and received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading role. The movie also got Oscar nominations for best editing, best writing, and best picture.

Cruise wasn't the only bright spot when it came to acting as all the leads were good. Jerry Maguire helped launch the career of Renee Zellweger who played Dorothy Boyd, a struggling single mother who is Jerry's secretary and love interest. Cuba Gooding Jr. was Rod Tidwell and stole every scene he was in. Gooding even won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Tidwell's wife was played by Regina King who also put in a solid performance. Jay Mohr did well in a small role as the sleazy sports agent who betrays Jerry.

Jerry Maguire is now 15 years old and the film is kinda dated since the contracts players get in 2011 are much more ridiculous than what we see here. Agents like Scott Boras ignore reality and make unreasonable contract demands, but somehow get teams to pay up anyway. If Jerry worked with guys like Boras he wouldn't just leave his company, he would leave the business!

There were tons of cameos by sports players and announcers. The movie even used archive footage from Monday Night Football which also added a sense of authenticity to the film.

Jerry Cantrell from the band Alice in Chains had a cameo as a copy store clerk, although I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because they couldn't fit Alice in Chains on an already great soundtrack. Or the simplest explanation: It was the 90s!

This is the first movie I have seen directed by Cameron Crowe. However, I have watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High and its pseudo-sequel The Wild Life which were both written by Crowe. Crowe is certainly a good writer and his directing for this film was fine as well.

Overall I would recommend Jerry Maguire, just be aware that this is a chick flick disguised as sports-comedy movie.

6/10

Time Chasers aka Tangents (1994)

This Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode has good riffs and host segments. Time Chasers is perfect for MST3K as it is bad, but still watchable. Although the movie has poor acting, editing, and directing, the time travel story wasn't as bad as I expected. The ending even reminded me of the Denzel Washington movie Deja Vu (2006). There were some good ideas here which were ruined by poor execution. Time Chasers is one of those "so bad, its good movies" that are fun to watch with a group of friends. It is also one of the better movies featured on MST3K, which isn't saying much I guess!

Time Chasers was filmed in 1990 but not released until 1994. The movie finally broke even financially when MST3K featured the movie as an episode! The cast and crew of the movie had a reunion party to watch the first airing of the MST3K episode. While some people involved with making the movie took it with stride, others were not amused. What were they expecting?! I'm guessing some of them had not seen MST3K before. The Time Chasers MST3K can be seen on YouTube.

There were a ton of great riffs but I'll pick just one: "I'll WALK back to the past!" - Tom Servo

3/10

Weekly Wrap-Up (9/11)

The Thing from Another World (1951)
Although this movie was re-made in 1982 by John Carpenter, that film is not really a re-make as it simply goes back to the source material and follows the 1938 John W. Campbell, Jr. short story much closer than the 1951 version. Now that I have seen both films I prefer Carpenter's vision, but did enjoy both. The two films start from a similar premise but go in different directions. The 1951 movie puts more of an emphasis on a monster stalking the crew, while the 1982 version is about the replication of those at the station. Both movies have a claustrophobic feel plenty of paranoia. The main title screen of this movie was later re-used in Carpenter's version.
You can read the original short story here
Here is a good comparison of Campbell's novella, this movie, and the 1982 version: The Thing
Now that I am done comparing the Thing films, let's get to my thoughts on The Thing from Another World. The movies starts without any opening actor credits which is unusual for a film from this time period. The pacing is slow at first as it takes awhile for the military crew and scientists to find the spaceship trapped inside the ice. However after the creature entombed in ice is taken back to the station the pace picks up considerably and doesn't let up until the end. Although the love story was not necessary, it gave us some funny situations and the couple did have chemistry. Viewers never get a good look at the alien, and don't see the monster at all for most of the film, which is always a good idea. The concept of the alien being a sentient creature with a different biological make-up (plant based life form) was interesting. It was kinda silly when the crew referred to it as a carrot or vegetable, but the point is that this is a totally different type of life.
The scientist who want to keep the alien alive in order to study it, even if the alien kills people, reminds me of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation from Alien and Aliens. I am sure both Ridley Scott and James Cameron saw this film, as well as other 50s science fiction/monster movies. The journalist, Scott, was good comic relief but also put in a different type of character from the military and scientists. This kept things fresh as his concerns, other than surviving, were different than the other characters he was surrounded by. The scene with the monster on fire was fantastic and is thought to be the first "full body burn accomplished by a stunt man." The music was good and helped sell the atmosphere. The movie was made during the Red Scare and the film incorporates a similar sense of paranoia with the scientists and military having different objectives. The use of the Geiger counter as a sensor to detect the creature was suspenseful and added the paranoia. There is a director controversy surrounding this film. Christian Nyby was credited as the director, but producer Howard Hawks is generally considered to have done extensive directing and writing for the film.
The Thing from Another World is one of the better 50s Sci-Fi/monster movies, but there are some much better ones (Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, etc.) The film still holds up pretty well today, especially considering how many bad monster movies there were from this era.
6/10

Them! (1954)
This movie starts out with a bang as we have a nice fast-paced opening chase scene. At first the story begins as a crime/mystery tale before delving into science-fiction and horror. Them! was a big influence on James Cameron's Aliens. The similarities include a young girl survivor similar to Newt, a strong female character who knows more about the monsters than the military men, Queen monsters, saving children from a monster nest near the end, and flamethrowers destroying big eggs. Cameron's take on the Xenomorphs posits them as more insect like than Ridley Scott envisioned in Alien and he clearly borrowed some ideas from this film.
Like any good monster movie, we don't see the giant ants at first, only the havoc they have caused. Them! is the first big bug movie. While this was a trend that mostly stayed in the 1950s, we have seen a few in recent years such as Tremors (1990), Arachnophobia (1990), Mimic (1997) Starship Troopers (1997) and Eight Legged Freaks (2002). I am also guessing there are some crappy Sci-Fi Channel original movies hailing from this sub-genre!
Them! was nominated for an Oscar for best special effects. The ants might seem a little hokey to modern audiences but still hold up better than a lot of 50s monsters. The movie was both a critical and commercial success as it was Warner Bros. top grossing film of 1954. The acting is solid, not by not only the leads, but even minor characters such as the girl who survived the ants. However, the story runs out of steam about two-thirds of the way through and like The Thing from Another World has some pacing issues.
The opening title is in color with B/W background. While this adds to the great beginning of the film, it was a hold over from when the movie was originally supposed to be made in color and 3-D but scrapped at the last minute.
The movie has several uses of the Wilhelm Scream. The famous sound effect was first used in a 1951 film so this is one of the earlier examples of the Wilhelm Scream before it became a fun cliche.
Leonard Nimoy has an uncredited one line cameo as an Air Force Sergeant in one of his earliest roles, but blink and you'll miss it.
Them! deals with the nuclear fears of the time as that is how the ants grow to such an enormous size. This movie even came out same year as first Godzilla film which deals with a similar subject matter. The great final lines and closing shot hammer home this theme.
Them! is one of the better science fiction/monster movies from the 1950s and probably the best of the big bug sub-genre.
7/10

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)
This movie was one of those really boring bad movies. The MST3K riffs were good, but the movie itself was god awful. This MST3K episode is from the 8th season, the first season on the Sci-Fi channel. I'm not even sure what this movie was about. There was a fortune teller, an amusement park, strippers, and a Torgo wanna-be named Ortega.
The more I think about this movie the more it hurts so I'll just jump to one of my favorite riffs: (as Jerry, Harold and Angie have fun) "Outtakes from the Manson family Christmas!" - Crow T. Robot
1/10

Weird Science (1985)
Weird Science doesn't have much of a plot. Two sex-starved teenage nerds somehow use a computer to create a woman who turns out to have magic powers and wants to help the boys lead normal lives. However, this doesn't really matter as it is essentially a version of Mary Poppins for 16 yr old boys. There is even a direct reference to Mary Poppins at the end when the house goes back to normal. The age gap between the boys and Lisa might bother some viewers, but since I saw it as Mary Poppins type thing with as she was trying to help them straighten out there lives it didn't really bother me. The title "Weird Science" comes from the name of the EC Comics Science Fiction comic and the movie is apparently loosely based on a story from those comics.
Weird Science is zany, wacky, over the top fun. It never takes itself too seriously (after a joke one of the main characters looks directly into the camera like Ferris Bueller). However, it doesn't become so silly that we don't care about the characters or don't wonder if Lisa will be successful in her mission to help the boys improve themselves.
I guess because of the use of the computer (and the references to Frankenstein) this movie has been labeled a sci-fi/comedy. However, fantasy/comedy would be more appropriate as Lisa is just as magical, if not more so, than Mary Poppins. This is a departure for John Hughes as the movies he directed (and wrote) were usually grounded in the real world such as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Uncle Buck and others. I must admit that this was better made (directing, camera work, special effects) than I would have expected, probably because John Hughes was at the helm. Kelly LeBrock was great as Lisa. Even though she probably got the role mostly for her body, she brings a confidence to the character that along with her powers and looks makes her quite memorable
Anthony Michael Hall had a ton of roles as nerds in the 80s. He eventually broke this typecasting in recent years (The Dead Zone TV show) but was still a precursor of sorts to current actors such as Michael Cera, Jesse Eisenberg, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse who are the movie teenage nerds of today.
Vernon Wells has a cameo where he plays "Lord General" who is basically his character from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. Bill Paxton and Robert Downey Jr. have supporting roles and its fun to see them here after watching their other work. We even have a quick clip featuring Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth! As fans of these actors it made this movie even more enjoyable to me. I also loved the eclectic 80s music (Oingo Boingo who performed the title track, Ratt, Killing Joke, etc.)
6/10

Weekly Wrap-Up (9/4)

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
This is first Woody Allen film I've ever seen. I had heard of this movie awhile ago and thought the plot was interesting so I put it on my "to see" list without even knowing it was written and directed by Woody Allen. Since I love the concept of fantasy vs. reality I thought that The Purple Rose of Cairo would be a good introduction for me to Allen's movies. To be fair I have seen two shorts plays written by Woody Allen and did see clips from Annie Hall in a film class, but until now hadn't actually seen a full film made by the man.
The story is about a movie character who walks off the silver screen and falls in love with a woman of the 1930s. The acting from the two leads (Jeff Daniels in a dual role and Mia Farrow) is great and even the secondary actors all put in solid performances. Of course they have great material to work with as the writing is top-notch and filled with witty dialogue
This film feels like a stage play at times and certainly reminded me of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Exit. Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. is said to be a major influence on this film, although I actually haven't seen that classic yet. Pleasantville (1998) is sort of reverse of this film as those characters spend most of the movie in the "TV world." Oddly enough Jeff Daniels is in both films. And while I'm at it, Last Action Hero (1993) has a similar sort of premise although it obviously takes the concept in a different direction.
The Purple Rose of Cairo did a good job recreating the time period of the Great Depression from the acting to costumes to the music. However, the use of the word "douche bag" as an insult does not sound like 1930s slang to me!
The concept of a character meeting the actor who plays him is a great idea and it is executed perfectly. It might have been cool if Tom showed up in Black and White while in the real world and Cecilla appeared in color in the movie world, but maybe that would have been too expensive/difficult to pull off at the time. This is just a thought as I felt it worked fine as is since the film was trying to contrast Black and White with Color.
Allen received an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay Written for Directly for the Screen which was certainly deserved. It did not win, but was in some damn good company with Brazil and Back to the Future who were also nominated, but also lost out to Witness. I liked Witness but how the Academy didn't give the award to one of these other three films that year boggles my mind.
Getting back on track, I thought that the ending was great and fit perfectly with the themes of the film, although I can see why some people wouldn't like it. 
The Purple Rose of Cairo is short for a feature film (82 minutes) and there is some filler. While the film could have used a little more meat, I'm just glad it wasn't padded with fluff by the studio to be 90 minutes.
I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record by this point, but the film looks great in HD! Sure its not a special effects blockbuster that needs to look amazing, but its a lot of fun to see little films like this with excellent visual (and audio) quality.
8/10

                                

Lost Continent (1951)
Lost Continent was featured on a second season episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 which is how I saw this movie. Although MST3K was still coming into its own by this point, what I have seen of the second season is surprisingly good and this episode is not an exception. To sum it up, the riffs are good but this is a boring bad movie. The plot is that a crew on a rescue mission land on a mysterious island and get into "adventures" with natives and dinosaurs while trying to find the lost rocket ship. The endless rock climbing sequences are what everyone remembers about this movie and they are mind numbingly boring. It was interesting to see actors Caesar Romero (Joker on the 60s Batman TV Show), Hugh Beaumont (Dad on Leave it to Beaver), and John Hoyt (prolific character actor in TV shows like The Twilight Zone and Outer Limits as well as movies such as X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes and much more) work together although they mostly climbed rocks, took breaks from rock climbing, and watched dinosaurs fight. I watched this with a group of friends so maybe I missed some plot elements but not much happened. While I have seen movies that are even more boring (Red Zone Cuba, Snowbeast), this one is up there. Sometimes I can enjoy the movie along with the riffs like Overdrawn at the Memory Bank or Space Mutiny but I couldn't get into this as a film at all and just kept waiting for the next funny riff. The host segments on MST3K are often hit or miss, but all the ones in this episode are pretty funny, particularly the one with Mike Nelson as Hugh Beaumont/Ward Cleaver.
Here is my favorite riff, although there were plenty of good ones:
"Hey we landed on a witch! Maybe the film will be in color from this point!"
1/10

Summer Movie Round-Up Part 3 of 3

This will be the final post covering the movies I have seen so far this summer. Like the previous posts, this one includes 8 brief reviews.

I love Bill Murray, and he is at the top of his game in Stripes. Murray stole the show in Caddyshack (1980) but this time his is the leading man. Murray's character, John, loses his job and his girlfriend so he convinces his best friend Russell (Harold Ramis) to join the army with him. Ivan Reitman directed three films in a row with Bill Murray: Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), and Ghost Busters (1984), which also starred Harold Ramis. Although Stripes is a Bill Murray vehicle, we are also treated to early roles  from John Candy, John Larroquette, Judge Reinhold, and Sean Young who all add to the hilarity. The first two thirds of the movie takes place at boot camp where hi jinx ensue. However, it is the last act where the movie really shines. Murray and Ramis steal a secret government vehicle in order to meet up with their girlfriends only to have things get out of hand... and "That's the fact, Jack!"
Stripes joins a 7/10!

One of my new favorite directors is David Cronenberg. I absolutely love Videodrome (1983) and Dead Ringers (1988) and have been seeking out more of his films. They Came from Within (1975), also known as Shivers, was Cronenberg's first full-length film. Not surprisingly it is pretty raw, although since the movie is about parasites that infect the residents of a high-rise and turn them into sex-crazed zombies, it works in the film's favor. The special effects and gore are pretty good considering the low budget. Probably the best example is the horrifying bath tub scene which is depicted on the poster. It is interesting to see Cronenberg's body horror at an early stage and how the themes of flesh and technology would be further developed upon in his later films. Like most of Cronenberg's movies, this was filmed in Canada, specifically in the city of Montreal. Almost the entire movie takes place in an apartment complex. Even though it is a huge building, it leads to a claustrophobic setting since all the rooms and hallways are small to accommodate so many people, which helps add to the suspense. So far this is the weakest film I have seen by him, but I still enjoyed it. Cronenberg's next film, A Dangerous Method, will be released later this year and is about Freud and Jung.
They Come From Within infects a 6/10!

The last two round-ups have featured many movies from the last year or two, so now I get to change things up a bit with (so far) the oldest movie I have reviewed on this blog. The Mummy (1932) stars Boris Karloff as Imhotep and also features African-American actor Noble Johnson as "The Nubian." The film starts out with a fantastic scene in which the mummy is discovered in 1922. The screams are haunting and this creepy opening still holds up today. After this great beginning, the story jumps ahead ten years and unfortunately the story slows down. Imhotep pretends to be a modern Egyptian, and finds a woman who was his lover has been reincarnated. While the final scene is just as good as the first, most of the movie is dialogue heavy with not much happening. I am not asking for non-stop action, but it felt a repetitive at times. I did enjoy the flashback scene, although it was heavily cut for its theatrical release and that footage is sadly lost. Critics have never put The Mummy on the same level as Frankenstein (1931) or Dracula (1931) and although I haven't seen those films yet, I think I can see why. Simply put, not enough happens, although I think the explanation is that unlike those two films, this one was not based on a novel. I have a feeling that audiences in 1932 would have had a greater appreciation for the characters simply talking than we do today. But all things considered The Mummy is still a classic early horror film with great cinematography and atmosphere. Karloff manages to make his character an intimidating force to be reckoned with, yet one the audience feels bad for as he literally waited thousands of years to get back the woman he loves. Although Karloff had already hit the big time as Frankenstein's monster a year earlier, it was films like The Mummy that helped cement his status as a star. "Karloff the Uncanny," indeed.
The Mummy wraps up a 7/10!

I got to admit I was pleasantly surprised by Devil (2010). Although directed by John Erick Dowdle, M. Night Shyamalan is credited as a writer and producer. While I haven't seen Shyamalan's more recent films, I have not heard good things about them. However, Devil is a solid contained thriller about group of people trapped in an elevator who apparently have Satan himself in their midst. Like many of Shyamalan's films, this one takes place in the Philadelphia area, specifically center city. While I would have made the devil stuff more ambiguous, I did like it. The characters stuck in the elevator were well written and it was interesting to them interact with each other as the situation got increasingly worse. The detective investigating the situation is not played by the best actor, but I did like how his storyline coincided with one of the people in the elevator. Even if Shyamalan did direct this, I still wouldn't call it a comeback, but it is a step in the right direction.
Devil doesn't go to hell with a 6/10!

Time to take a break from horror movies and thrillers. I always thought that St. Elmo's Fire (1985) was a John Hughes film, I guess because it features so many members of the "Brat Pack" who were in movies like The Breakfast Club (1985). In fact we have almost half the cast from that movie here! St. Elmo's Fire is actually a Joel Schumacher film. Having recently watched The Lost Boys I was curious to see another of his pre-Batman Forever and Batman and Robin movies. St. Elmo's Fire is about the trials and tribulations of recent college graduates. As a recent college grad myself I felt it was the right time to see this one! Overall this wasn't really my cup of tea, although the characters were interesting and the directing was fine. What I want to know is how these seven guys and girls all became friends in the first place since they were all pretty different and it therefore felt like an unrealistic group. Also I don't understand how Rob Lowe's character got into Georgetown, but whatever. Anyway I'm glad I saw this since I had heard the quote "You cannot have the Pretenders' first album!" and now know its from this movie. Also featuring Andie McDowell and Jenny Wright (Near Dark).
St. Elmo's Fire burns up a 5/10!
   

Finally I get to write about a truly awful movie, Robot Holocaust (1986)! I first heard about this one through Mystery Science Theater 3000, so when I saw it was in available for free in HD via Comcast On Demand, I had to see it. Once or twice I had seen a MST3K movie in its original form, but never has one looked so good when it comes to picture quality. The plot (or lack thereof) is about a rebel named Neo who teams up with a robot that makes Jar Jar Binks seem like John Wayne in comparison. Together they meet up with a woman warrior, a Beastmaster wanna-be, and a rebel girl in order to defeat an evil computer ("The Dark One" although it is a glowing orange ball and not dark at all!) that has taken over the world. This movie rips off everything from The Terminator to Star Wars to Mad Max to Alien. When a movie borrows music from Laserblast, you know its going to be bad. If you took a drink every time a character uttered "the Dark One" you would be in a coma in 10 minutes. As bad as this movie was, I got through it without too much permanent brain damage so it was still watchable. I was laughing at it and cracking jokes, but I've seen some movies so boring and bad that I couldn't even do that. Robot Holocaust is still in so bad its good territory, although barely.
After watching the movie I decided to see the MST3K episode. This is a first season episode and I noticed that Joel and the bots use more sight gags in the theater than in the later seasons. Also it was interesting to see Josh "J. Elvis" Weinstein who played Dr. Forrester's original sidekick Dr. Laurence Erhardt as well as Tom Servo. Dr. Erhardt would be replaced with TV's Frank (played by Frank Conniff) and Kevin Murphy took over as Servo. I thought he was fine (he was a little annoying as Dr. Erdhart though that was the point) but that the other two were simply better fits for the show. For an early episode I was surprised about how good it was. I loved the recurring jokes about Valaria's "accent" and the Ted Nugent references. One of my favorite riffs was "In the future, all robots will act like Don Knotts!"
Robot Holocaust craps out a 2/10. Stick with the MST3K episode.

I have now seen two movies directed by Wes Craven, but still haven't gotten around to seeing A Nightmare on Elm Street. Funny how that works out. I liked Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow (a cool zombie flick) as well as his work on the 80s Twilight Zone (the show is nowhere near as good as the original but still a decent sci-fi/fantasy/horror anthology show and better than the 2002 version). However, Shocker (1989) was a bit of a mess. Shocker is about a serial killer who comes back from the dead after being killed on the electric chair. The main problem with Shocker is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. At first the main character, Jonathan Parker, can interact with the killer in reality through his dreams. This part is kinda like The Dead Zone meets Nightmare on Elm Street. Then after the serial killer, Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi) comes back from the dead, he can inhabit the bodies of other people and the dream aspect is mostly dropped. The first two acts are played pretty seriously but the movie turns into a horror-comedy for the last act when the serial killer uses a satellite dish to go inside television programs! While this was a huge tone shift that felt out of place, I must admit, it was funny. Horace sucks Jonathan into the TV in an attempt to kill him and they run through everything from war films to Leave it to Beaver! One of the things I did like was the revelation which established a strong connection between Jonathan to Horace. Mitch Pileggi was great as a serial killer and Ted Raimi had a fun but small role. I enjoyed the 80s metal soundtrack. Although the directing was fine, the writing could have been a lot better. When Horace's supernatural powers like taking over bodies and traveling through television signals are revealed to others, they buy into it way too quickly, even newscasters! I wouldn't mind this if the story was taking place in the world of Harry Potter or something, but this is clearly grounded in the real world and these are unrealistic reactions. Also the actor who played Jonathan, Peter Berg, wasn't very good and often whispered his lines for no reason. I think I'll stay away from Craven until I get to see Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream.
Shocker shocks its way a 4/10!

I loved the first Fright Night (1985) so I had been meaning to see Fright Night Part 2 (1988) for a long time. Although this is a fantasy-horror movie, unlike Shocker it clearly takes place in the our world as the movie starts out with Charley (William Ragsdale) seeing a psychologist who tries to convince him that vampires aren't real. The first one came out in 1985 so the sequel takes place in real time, three years later. This sequel has the two main characters (Charley and Peter Vincent, host of the fictional late night horror movie show, Fright Night) return and this time they have to deal with a vengeful vampire who wants revenge for her brother in the first film. Unlike many sequels, this movie is not a rehash but instead a good continuation with some nice twists to keep the viewer guessing. Roddy McDowell was fantastic as Peter Vincent in the first Fright Night and he is just as entertaining (as always!) this time around. I only wish that his character got a bit more closure. Like the original, this one does a good job of balancing humor with creepy horror. Overall Fright Night Part 2 is not as good as the first, but still a solid sequel that will please fans of the first movie, though its not as memorable as the original. Now I just hope that the Fright Night remake is good!
Fright Night Part 2 sinks its fangs into a 5/10!

I am now caught up with the movies I have seen this summer! I therefore probably won't have a post tomorrow, but should have one up for Wednesday 6/29. See you then!