Short Cuts: The Sweetest Hippopotamus!

A Bravo!FACT short film


Before the Camera:


Haley Shannon as Suzette and Granddaughter
Ron Basch as Big Jack Montag
Suitcase Sam as Himself
Alex Appel as Eunice Montag
Luke Vitale as Ricky Raketti
Amanda Smith as Grandma Suzette
Shawn Goldberg as Clyde the Bartender
Robin Hatch as Cajun Belle




Behind the Camera:


Directed by Marc Roussel

Produced by Ron Basch, Angela Argento, Greg Machula, and Christina Carvalho

Written by Marc Roussel and Mark Thibodeau
Story by Ron Basch and Marc Roussel




Director of Photography: Robert Scarborough
Editors: John Nicholls and Mark Sanders
Production and Costume Design: Ashley Corley
Original Score: Christopher Guglick
Songs by Suitcase Sam
Additional Music by Robin Hatch




As her granddaughter tends to her in her final days, Suzette thinks back to her youth, when she was in an awful jam. She was born deaf and poor in the rough and tumble mill town of Big Pine. At night she struggles to pay off her daddy's gambling debts by working as a cigarette girl at Big Jack Montag's swinging club, The Sweet Hippo. Problem is, she has to give Big Jack more than just her time and half her tips. Then, Suitcase Sam walks in the door to play some music. He's vibrant and touches her heart. But Big Jack isn't going to let them walk off into the sunset. What's a girl to do?

Suitcase Sam serenades Suzette.

This is a very well mounted, though brief little period romantic drama. It runs just six minutes and change, but it tells a complete story of a very important turn of events in Suzette's life. I'm not sure if there are plans in the works to tell more of Suzette's stories, but the filmmakers hint that there might be. The short opens in color, but switches to crisp black and white for the flashback, which takes up the bulk of the running time. One suggestion I would make to the filmmakers right here - why not switch them? Have the opening with Suzette and her granddaughter in black and white, then let the picture bloom to glorious over-saturated color - making the memory even more vivid than real life.

The acting is fine, with Haley Shannon an appealing lead in both of her dual roles. Suitcase Sam has a couple of nice moments, and Ron Basch is well cast as the big-fish-in-a-little-pond Big Jack. The rest of the cast doesn't do much, but everybody does a nice job. Director Roussel brings a nice feel to the period section, and the crew manages some solid production value suggesting the time on a limited budget. The music is a big help here as well.

Having access to this car helps sell the period a lot, too!

All in all, while a little slight, this is a worthwhile watch, and I hope the short brings the cast and crew great success and opportunity!




Here's the short linked from YouTube:

My thanks to Maynard Morrissey of the always entertaining Horror Movie Diary for bringing this short to my attention!




Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

The Video Vault of Mora Tau 11/28/12!

Continuing a look back at fun movie hosts - here are three more that were - in the last ten or fifteen years - appearing nationally thanks to cable TV...respectively TBS, Speedvision, and Syuh Fyuh...

Dinner and a Movie with Annabel Gerwich and Paul Gilmartin

On this show, the hosts prepared a meal in their segments going to and coming from commercials - with the recipe displayed and offered up for your own kitchen. They joked around and talked about the movie - and they were pretty fun.

Lost Drive-In with Bruce Dern

This was a cool way to see car-centric drive-in style flicks, with Bruce Dern offering some stream-of-consciousness hosting segments. Groovy, daddio!

William Shatner's Fright Night

After the original cast Star Trek movies had petered out, but before Boston Legal brought William Shatner back into the public eye - and scored him some Emmy awards - he was taking whatever came his way, like hosting this prepackaged set of a baker's dozen Full Moon movies. Give this to him - even if he was mostly showing up for the paycheck - he fully committed and wasn't afraid to appear goofy - which is one of the many, many reasons I love William Shatner.













Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Maniacal Movie Poster Monday #96!

The Brain from the Planet Arous  (Howco International Pictures, 1957)

This is a goofy and fun sci-fi flick from the heyday of the 1950's (and that planet is pronounced "air'-us", not "arouse"). John Agar is a scientist whose brain is taken over by a malevolent alien. Then his eyes go silver (a really cool effect) and he has powers far beyond those of mortal men.






Return to Horror High  (New World Pictures, 1985)

Here's a strange case - a very silly horror comedy at times very much in the vein of Airplane! or Return of the Killer Tomatoes - and it's fairly obscure, but also somehow believed to be in the public domain and found on scads of cheapie DVDs. It also has a pretty wild cast, including a young "gimme the money" George Clooney - also coincidentally in the Killer Tomatoes sequel!









The Gumball Rally   (Warner Bros, 1976)

Before the actual Cannonball Coast to Coast Race people teamed up with director Hal Needham for the Cannonball Run movies, the basic idea was used for this comedy, with a cool cast. It's barely remembered these days, but my one viewing from back in the day was entertaining, and I'd like to see the movie again to see how it has held up.










Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

100 Followers!

I am so thrilled to announce that Let's Get Out of Here! has been discovered by ONE HUNDRED awesomely cool people who went on to make my day by hitting the "Follow this blog" button.


A gentleman named Steve Dustcircle takes the coveted 100th Follower spot - my thanks to him for signing on - and to the other 99 people of taste and distinction - you all rock and you're all my heroes!



To give this post a bit of heft let's throw in two video clips - a couple of happy songs to celebrate this happy event!

Thanks again to each and every one of you - now let's see what mischief we can get up to!




Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Saturday Night at the Movies 11/24/12!

Who cares what picture we see?


Checking back, I would have to say Roy Kinnear definitely would have - so let's open our chocolate bar and look for our golden ticket to this one:

When I was a kid, this was a staple yearly viewing - every Thanksgiving night NBC would show it - and I would watch it - whether back home from our big family meal; still home because the big family meal was at my house that year; or still over at some family member's house we had eaten at. It was often interrupted, and sometimes not finished, but I always loved the movie - and the original book by Roald Dahl, of course.


This was a movie I wanted to own on DVD due to the fact that it had a commentary from the kids in the film - reunited decades later - which is just a great idea - whether the commentary itself is or not - but the high price point kept me away from it for the longest time. I finally got it on sale this year - and no, I haven't listened to the commentary yet - I wouldn't be me without a healthy dose of delayed gratification.



So it resides in the video vault - and Oompa Loompa Doompity Dee - If you are of the mind you could come watch it with me!


Even tonight - if you're not too tired from Thanksgiving and Black Friday!




Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Crazy Movie Weekend: Halloween Horrorfest 2!

After a date kerfluffle we managed to gear up another Crazy Movie Weekend - this one the second (annual?) Halloween Horrorfest.

It was another great weekend, it seemed to go well for everyone - across another golden chain of  thirteen movies there was much laughter; a lot of salty talk; some eyes averted; scads of salty snacks; not surprisingly only a little sleep each night; and a S'mores dessert pizza. What more could anyone ask?


The shindig kicked off Friday night with my movie pals Sandra and Ray as the first attendees. I wanted to start the weekend off with a trip to Haddonfield - as a Halloween movie is the right way to get his kind of film fest going. I was thinking of starting with Halloween III: Season of the Witch (I know - it doesn't take place in Haddonfield) but Ray and I had taken in the 34th anniversary showing of John Carpenter's Halloween the night before on The Big Screen - and with the brand new Blu-Ray edition of Halloween II newly arrived in the video vault - it got an encore screening - it was also featured in 2011's CMW:HH! - but for this year's show it was the first feature.

Our second annual Papa Murphy's Take-n-Bake Jack o'Lantern Pizza was our main munchie Friday night.

Halloween II (1981)

Michael Myers himself and Ray's good friend Jack herald in the start of the 2012 Horrorfest Body Count - with that Myers lad hitting double digits in his sophomore effort. This one went over well, especially in the pristine new Blu-Ray edition.

Waxwork

Next up was 1988's Waxwork - and we were joined by my nephew and movie pal James near the end of this one. This one racked up a HUGE body count - and was well received by the crowd with its practical makeup effects and sense of humor.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

My wondrous wife Suze joined us for some classic horror comedy - and Mr. Lawrence Talbot himself showed off the movie's amazing Body Count of one - the new lowest record, by the way, which I hope it holds onto for a long time...(of course, I could always show Poltergeist III next year, which will take the record with its groundbreaking Body Count of ZERO.)

 

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

We wrapped up Friday night with the always polarizing third entry in the Halloween series - would my crew go for its one-off story of mad mask maker or would the lack of Michael Myers mar the massacre? Well, I'm happy to report that it got pretty positive reviews all around!

Intermission

I was really nervous about this whole thing - because in the days leading up to it that nasty Hurricane Sandy was making her way right towards us. I was hoping the forecasts were correct and that the storm would skirt around us - because trying to watch movies with the power out due to a big storm is really a bummer.

Thankfully, the storm did completely miss us - we got a little wind and a little rain - but nothing big at all - how I wish it could have missed the Northeast as well - and I'm very sorry for all they had to go through (and are still going through). I've been through a few serious hurricanes here, they are scary.


We had the windows open in the late morning as the winds picked up a bit and the rain was picking up a bit - and we suffered our only storm related damage:

Michael Myers was taken out. Look at his little knife laying off to his side...

On with the show!

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Saturday morning we kicked off bright and early with James and Sandra as the view crew for feature one - George Romero's classic zombie apocalypse sequel. Sadly, this one did not go over all that well, scoring a little better with James. It tanked with Sandra.

Amusement

This was went over exceptionally well. We were joined by new movie buds Andy and Melissa near the end of this one. Mmmm...Fritos....

Dead and Buried

Sandra becomes the first human Body Count Model after 1981's Dead and Buried, which was a hit with the crowd. Ray came back by in the middle of this one.

Bikini Bloodbath

I had picked up a movie called Bikini Bloodbath Christmas for cheap earlier in 2012 - and the box art made the movie look like a lot of fun. I consequently tracked down the other two movies in the series - the original Bikini Bloodbath and Bikini Bloodbath Carwash and added them to the video vault. This one was meant to be our big Boobs-n-Blood feature - much like Zombie Strippers had been the previous year. Sadly, the movie was not as much fun, and rated poorly around the room - with Sandra being its harshest critic and calling it the single worst movie in Crazy Movie Weekend history. Body Count Model Ray didn't mind the movie - but then as you can see by this point he was feeling no pain.

When this picture made the rounds - someone commented on it - "you're watching movies and drinking with Oliver Reed? Wow!" which I thought was hilarious. I'm not sure I even mentioned it to Ray!

Hatchet II

A much better experience came with Adam Green's sequel to his horror hit - which had been well received in 2011's CMW: HH. Hatchet II was a crowd pleaser - and afterwards Body Count Model Melissa made fun of star Danielle Harris's constantly raised eyebrow which had annoyed her and Sandra. Strangely, none of the guys in attendance even knew Danielle Harris HAD eyebrows.

Blood Cult

Our VHS entry was the legendary first movie released direct to video - the incredible shot-on-camcorder Blood Cult. And by incredible I mean crappy as hell. Still, this is a good crowd flick - as it allows much bonding over the non-stop insults directed at the movie. Body Count Model James does his usual "dead guy" shtick - which when posted around prompted famed author (and co-writer of Scalps) T.L. Lankford to comment: "Looks like 142..."

From a Whisper to a Scream

We closed out Saturday night with the anthology flick also known as The Offspring. In addition to its gory thrills, this got us another classic horror icon with the appearance of Vincent Price in the framing story. I was thrilled that everyone still awake liked this flick. And although he didn't appear in the Horrorfest (THIS year), my Marx company Creature from the Black Lagoon waves a jaunty hello as the model for this shot.

2000 Maniacs!

We kicked off Sunday with a couple of Elvira movie trailers - to allow her to appear somewhere in the weekend. I had hoped to show Elvira: Mistress of the Dark - but time was running at a premium with people having to gear up to head home and James jonesing for his weekly football fix. So we got her in with a couple of previews, then moved on to some Herschell Gordon Lewis gore. Ray came back in the middle of this one, and gave us our largest group - me, James, Sandra, Andy, Melissa, Ray, and my wife were all taking this one in. Blood Feast had been a crowd pleaser the previous year - this one was only a modest success with the viewers this year. Body Count Model Andy gives a cheeky grin in Melissa's hat. At least, they said it was Melissa's hat...

Feast

We ended on a high note with John Gulager's smartass creature feature - I knew the movie's attitude would go over well with this bunch, and it did. It also topped us off on bodies to 175 - beating last year's 137 by a considerable margin in the same number of movies. I jumped in as the last Body Count Model even as Feast's credits were rolling up the screen.







And there you have it - good old fashioned horror bumping up against the splatter of recent times - and a good time was had by all - until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Maniacal Movie Poster Monday #95!

Jail Bait  (Howco Productions, 1954)

I think I've seen all of the ever incredible Ed Wood Jr ouevre, but I can't say I remember this one all that well - which means I'd be up for seeing it again - wonder if it's in my Ed Wood collection boxset? Also, that tagline - I think they mean the girls are scorching with trouble with the law - because otherwise, calling girls hot on a poster for a movie called Jail Bait might get you a visit from Chris Hansen...










Rolling Thunder  (American International, 1977)

Fairly unsung 70's revenge drama - with William Devane and a very young Tommy Lee Jones as returned Vietnam prisoners of war who are forced on the Road to Vengeance when bad guys (led by James "Rosco P. Coltrane" Best himself!) do bad things to Devane and his family for some silver coins he had stashed away. Quentin Tarantino named his production company after this movie, if that tells you anything.












Fists of Bruce Lee  (Cinema Shares International Distribution, 1978)

Wow. The always amazing world of Brucesploitation. I haven't seen this one - but if you have it bring it by and let's check it out!

I dream of creating a "making of" docudrama about this flick - and get a guy we'll call Bruce Lea to star - so that poster would read "Bruce Lea IS Bruce Li AS Bruce Lee IN Fists of Bruce Li's Bruce Lee Fists." Tell me you wouldn't watch that one.







That's all for now - until next we meet, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Saturday Night at the Movies 11/17/12!

Who cares what picture we see?


Tisa Farrow would, I would have to say, so let's take a look at this one:

I really like this Italian zombie movie, and for so many reasons - it's got some cool atmosphere, and some rocking effects - like the fellow on the poster - but I also love that  because George Romero's Dawn of the Dead was called Zombi in Italy this movie was released as Zombi 2 over there to cash in as an ersatz sequel!


I first saw this on VHS during that incredible 60 days that I lived in Florida and watched 125 movies. I quite enjoyed it then, especially that one scene that had me literally squirming from one end of the couch to the other. If you've seen it, you know exactly what scene I'm referring to.


And if you haven't seen it - it just got added to the video vault in a new Blu-Ray edition - and we could be squirming all over my couch watching it as soon as...tonight! If you felt like coming over, that is!


Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Some of Shelly's Blues...and His Hockey Mask!

Friday the 13th Part 3 (Paramount, 1982)

Before the Camera:


Dana Kimmell  (Lone Wolf McQuade)
Paul Kratka  (The Day They Came Back)
Tracie Savage  (The Legend of Lizzie Borden)
Jeffrey Rogers  (Surf II)
Catherine Parks  (Weekend at Bernie's)
Larry Zerner  (Hadley's Rebellion)
Rachel Howard  (Deep Space)
David Katims  (The Invisible Kid)
Nick Savage  (Fright Night)
Gloria Charles  (Brewster's Millions)
Kevin O'Brian  (Warlock)
Cheri Maughans  (only feature!)
Steve Susskind  (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
David Wiley  (Society)
and
Richard Brooker  (Deathstalker)
as
Jason Voorhees


Look fast for:

Steve Miner  (director!)



Behind the Camera:


Directed by Steve Miner

Produced by Lisa Barsamian, Tony Bishop, Frank Mancuso, Jr, and Peter Schindler

Written by Martin Kitrosser, Carol Watson, and Petru Popescu (uncredited)




Yes - I'm about to word vomit another lengthy treatise on my favorite horror franchise from the 80's. Amid all the theorizing, I will review the movie too. See you on the other side!



For the third year in a row in the early 80’s Paramount grabbed a teat on that cash cow called the Friday the 13th franchise and milked a new series entry out onto theater screens. They brought back director Steve Miner – a production manager on the first film, director of the second – to sit in the center seat again. However, despite a lot of the movie being business as usual – there were definite changes for this third go-round. Firstly, they moved the shoot to California this time – instead of New Jersey – and shot this one at a “movie ranch” on the West Coast. They also hopped on the bandwagon of a returning cinematic fad that was back on theater screens for the first time in thirty years: 3-D! Past these two details, though, most everything else was business as usual.

In the 3-D version I saw in the theater in 1982, the flick opened with a printed screen with some instructions that although the opening minutes of the film are not in 3-D (being a chopped down recap from the end of the last movie) viewers should go ahead and wear the glasses. This leads to the first place where this movie doesn’t meld with the previous movie seamlessly. In the end of Part 2, Ginny and Paul seemingly escape Jason after whacking him in the shoulder with a machete and unmasking him off camera. However, shortly after they make it back to a cabin of safety – said safety goes out the window – the same window Jason leaps through, showing off his hairy malformed face in all its shocking glory – and leading to a final scene of Ginny being loaded in an ambulance asking “Where’s Paul?” plaintively. If you stopped watching the entire series with Part 2 – then that ending might be exactly what you see. But there are problems with it even then. However, in Part 3, Ginny and Paul leave Jason in his tidy little home, and suddenly the film is in 3-D as Jason has pulled the machete from his shoulder (which was present when he jumped through the window in Part 2) and crawls off, obviously not feeling up to another stalk back to that other cabin, let alone leaping through the window to kill Paul off camera and leave Ginny alive. So, with this new look at the overall story – it is obvious that a big portion of the end of Part 2 is a dream sequence. Where that dream stops and starts is open to a wide variety of interpretation, with Paul’s reappearance after battling Jason back in the counselor training camp and subsequent disappearance a big factor not easily worked out. I will leave that for another post, I guess, because this is supposed to be about Part 3 and I’m digressing big time. However, no matter what else you believe about the end of Part 2 being a dream, said dream definitely encompasses Jason’s leap through the window, because here it simply doesn’t happen.

After all that – Jason heals quickly enough that the next day he’s not only back to his old lethal self, but he’s also expanded his murderous worldview to include not just sex-crazed teens, but basically anyone who gets in the view of his eyes. This leads to the sad end for Harold and Edna – shopkeepers with a weird train themed convenience store on the shore of Crystal Lake. After they have been dispatched, we head off to meet our Final Girl and her crew. Chris Higgins (Kimmell) is a serious minded Girl with a Secret – and she’s headed with a van full of friends to Higgins Haven – a lakeside vacation home owned by her parents. Coming along for a few days of rest and relaxation are her best friend Debbie (Savage), Debbies’s boyfriend Andy (Rogers), Andy’s obnoxious college roommate Shelly (Zerner), Hispanic friend Vera (Parks); and for some reason, the much older Chuck and Chili (Katims -n- Howard), two stoners in their 30’s that I’m betting were picked up hitchhiking in an earlier draft of the script as there is never a mention of how this Cheech and Chong knockoff duo are friend connected to the others, easily ten years their junior.

Anyway, they arrive at Higgins Haven, and because they don’t represent enough of a body count challenge for Jason, Chris’s former boyfriend Rick (Kratka) crashes the party. Across the next several minutes, we discover several things – Rick is more than a bit of a douche (Chris is having intimacy issues due to her Secret, but Rick pushes for sex like Steve Martin in The Man with Two Brains); Traci Savage looks marvelous in a bikini; and Shelly is even more of a loser than he initially appeared to be. They also manage to hook in a subplot with three bikers who come to Higgins Haven looking for revenge on Shelly, who ran over their motorcycles in an amusing though extraneous subplot shoehorned in moments before. Jason takes on the extra work with aplomb, and soon the ranch is quiet again. Across the rest of that evening, Jason proceeds to whittle the group down one by one in his own inimitable fashion, working towards his climactic chase and stalk session with Final Girl Chris. But there are a couple of moments that stand out amid the carnage – first – after Shelly scares Vera wearing a wet suit and hockey mask – Jason takes Shelly out off camera and dons the hockey mask – and thus a horror icon is born. All these years later, it seems every single crew member down to the craft services guy takes credit for suggesting the hockey mask, so we might never really know who came up with it. I'm going with director Steve Miner, who does get mentioned in a few people's memories as the brain trust behind that decision. And boy it works. On paper it sounds goofy, but seeing that big hulking bald guy in that hockey mask – awesome.

Gonna getcha! Gonna getcha!

The other moment that needs examination is Chris’s reveal of her Big Secret – because as should surprise no one – it involves Jason. Apparently, two or three years previously while her family was vacationing at Higgins Haven, Chris stayed out late with Rick, causing her to get in a big fight with her parents when she got home. She ran away into the night, eventually trying to get a few winks under a tree near the lake. Of course, who should come trundling along but our boy JV? So the first seeming discrepancy is that this flashback happens before the entirety of Part 2, because that movie’s events were only a day or two before Part 3. And when we catch a glimpse of Jason in the flashback – he’s bald and hulking, looking not at all like the smaller and much hairier version on display in the final moments of Part 2. However, as discussed earlier – this probably isn’t a discrepancy – the Jason we saw unmasked at the end of Part 2 was Ginny’s dream version. Apparently the lack of hair seen in his drowning flashback in Part 1 continued into adulthood and he was never the shaggy critter Ginny imagined him to be. The second part of this though – is what exactly happened between Chris and Jason? She doesn’t know – she says she was trying to fight him off but he was too strong and she passed out – then woke up later in her own bed with parents who would not speak of that night. So what happened? Are we supposed to believe Jason sexually assaulted Chris? And she never realized – as she doesn’t act like someone who’s been through that experience? Hard to believe. Was he trying to kill her, and he got interrupted? Possible – but why not show it? Then both Chris and the viewer can know how narrow her escape was, making the later stalk scenes potentially even more exciting. In fact – this would have been a prime opportunity to tie this movie to the earlier films – as the interruption that prevents Jason killing Chris could have been the arrival of Crazy Ralph on his bicycle, or maybe Sgt. Tierney – the latter being more likely to cause Jason to break off and head home. It could have been a neat cameo for either gentleman – but that’s not what we ended up with. Even in my mid-teens I was wary of this kind of plot contrivance - sure for a moment that Chris was going to end up having Jason's baby. Then I remembered it was a flashback to more than a year before - so that obviously wasn't it. In any case, these factors all make the flashback problematic - another place in the series where you kind of have to put your hands over your ears and go LA LA LA for a couple of minutes if you want your continuity cohesive.

Here's another cockamamie theory I have about this movie - Debbie is holding Fangoria #13.
(Trust me - I'm a Fango geek - I know that sliver of cover.)
But when the camera shows the interior of the magazine - it's the interior of Fangoria #1.
(with a nice in-joke view of an article on Tom Savini - the makeup whiz in charge of Parts 1 and 4.)
But I say the filmmakers were saying here "13 is 1" - as in Friday the 13th is #1!
(Told you it was cockamamie!)

So, the rest of the movie features another lengthy sequence with Chris on the run from Jason and turning up the corpses of her friends one by one as she tries to find a place of safety. But it is an exciting climactic chase - in slick 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, and it was of course all the more cool on the Big Screen in 3-D. The ending (the second one shot) manages to do a fine job ripping off the first movie - and I do have to give it to Dana Kimmell - her last scene is an absolute corker - she is spot on in her performance in the last moments she has in the movie.

Look out for that yo-yo, yo!

Of course, this is one of my favorites of the series. There is a well known horror blogger who thinks this movie is silly because of all the stuff thrust out from the screen. He truly doesn't get it. That's what 3-D is. Depth, yes, but also everything a character holds should be shoved out into the viewer's face. 3-D is silly by definition - so you bet I want you to load the movie with as much of it as humanly possible! This one keeps moving, and gives us some fun characters to watch in their final moments on Earth. All in all an essential piece of gloriously cheesy 80's cinema, and it gets a high recommendation as a result!





Let's Get Out of Here ?

Quite appropriately for a part three - we get The Line three times!

At around 29:05 Paul Kratka doesn't want anyone to look at Shelly, preferably by not being in the room with him.

At approximately 33:14 Catherine Parks thinks running over the motorcycles was a bad idea.

And at roughly 55:44 David Katims reveals he really hates the barn.






Eye Candy ?


Oh you know we got some with this movie!

Tracie Savage!

Catherine Parks!

Rachel Howard!

and Dana Kimmell!

 

 

Welcome to the list, ladies!

Buddha Man's Capsule Review

Buddha Man says: "Friday the 13th Part 3 is like director
Steve Miner said in Fangoria - more of the same, only deeper!"
 

Pegged it as usual, Mr. Man! Thanks! Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Secret Origins: Random Stew!

Ah, now it's time to turn the Secret Origins spotlight on another recurring department here at LGOOH - albeit one that hasn't actually appeared for months.



Somewhere back in the early days of LGOOH I was looking for some picture to put up in a post - and in my search I turned up some weird piece of pop culture flotsam or jetsam - and it sparked a happy memory in me.



I thought it would be fun to chat about it in a post - and just like that the recurring department Random Stew was born!



As more of the posts appeared, I started blathering more and more about the various pictures - I am a wordy cuss you know - and the Random Stew posts got fairly big and time consuming to put together - so they stopped appearing as often.



Then, recently, I thought - why do I have to completely put the stew together, then serve it? Why not keep the cauldron bubbling all the time - and just keep adding one ingredient at a time? (In other words - why cobble together a bunch of pictures for each post - instead I'll post one at a time - quicker to read, more posts going up - seems like a win/win to me!)



So welcome to not only the Secret Origin of Random Stew (such as it was) - but also - the introductory post in the all new recurring Random Stew series!

Since we've been Bonding for the last few days - let's spend a moment with Sean Connery circa 1967...I don't even like bourbon - but I would drink some hanging out with him...



Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Maniacal Movie Poster Monday #94!

For this entry in the series, I turned to this blog's good buddy Maynard Morrissey of the ever incredible Maynard Morrissey's Horror Movie Diary for some assistance choosing this week's posters. He got to choose a random number, a genre, and a movie.





Black Devil Doll from Hell  (Lowest Common Denominator Entertainment, 2007)

I haven't seen this spoof of 70's horror - but it's supposed to be pretty graphic - this was the movie title Maynard chose - I think he was trying to get LGOOH rerated from PG-13 to R - because the other poster for this movie has more profanity than a Quentin Tarantino movie!










Mannequin Two: On the Move  (Gladden Entertainment, 1991)

For genre Maynard chose RomCom - and  he might have been hoping to get the poster for one of those Hugh Grant flicks he's so fond of - but I decided to go further back - and highlight yet another romantic comedy fantasy that seemingly only *I* like! But look - you have the star of Fright Night romancing the original cinematic Buffy the Vampire Slayer - with Meshach Taylor back as the wildly un-PC Hollywood - and Terry (Weekend at Bernie's) Kiser as the bad guy! What more could anyone ask?







Adios Sabata  (United Artists, 1971)

This was not originally a Sabata film. The original Italian title translates as something like Indio Black, You Know What? You're a Big Son of a...,  and Yul was playing Indio Black, but the title and Brynner's character name were changed for the American release to cash in on the original Sabata film, which had starred Lee Van Cleef, who was unable to make this movie because he was starring in The Magnificent Seven Ride! as Chris, a character originally played by...Yul Brynner. Mindfreak! 


I haven't seen this movie, and this one was a completely random number pick.




My thanks to Maynard Morrissey for helping me out with this post - you rock, and I'll buy you a hairy burger one of these days in thanks!




Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Saturday Night at the Movies 11/10/12!

Who cares what picture we see?



I do, actually, and for this round I say we make this the first ever Saturday Night at the Movies Field Trip! And I'll bet you already know what we're going to go out to see:

Since it just opened  - why don't we leave the couch and my Super TV behind for the evening and venture out to the cinemas to see the first 007 movie to premiere since LGOOH first opened its doors?



I can pretty much guarantee the presentation will be stellar - let's just hope the popcorn's fresh!




Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

007...Reporting for Duty...!

Skyfall  (MGM/Columbia, 2012)

Before the Camera:


Daniel Craig  (Layer Cake)
Javier Bardem  (No Country for Old Men)
Naomie Harris  (28 Days Later...)
Ralph Fiennes  (Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit)
Berenice Marlohe  (Untitled Terrence Malick Project)
Albert Finney  (Murder on the Orient Express)
Ben Whishaw  (Layer Cake)
Rory Kinnear  (Lennon Naked)
Ola Rapace  (All About My Bush)
and
Judi Dench  (A Study in Terror)
as
M



Behind the Camera:


Directed by Sam Mendes


Produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli


Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and John Logan

James Bond created by Ian Fleming



For the 23rd official time, James Bond comes to the big screen with his latest adventure. Bond (Craig) and fellow agent Eve (Harris)  are in the field as the movie opens, hot on the trail of a hard drive containing encrypted agents' undercover identities. Despite their best efforts, the hard drive is spirited away. 007 goes into a self imposed exile over the failure. After a cool credits sequence with the terrific song from Adele, the film picks up some months later, as M realizes that the person who stole the list of agents is someone from her past, and now they are using the information to attack her and MI6. Bond returns to duty, but his time away has dulled his edge. The villainous Silva (Bardem) stays one step ahead of them as he implements his terror plot piece by piece. Has James Bond finally met his match?

007 is always ready to start a new cycle of action...

Four years after the disappointing Quantum of Solace, the Bond team gets back on track with this fantastic new entry in the long running series. Craig is finally allowed to play a complete 007 - not a newly minted 00 agent, or an agent of vengeance from events in the previous movie. Now he is James Bond. He brings all the same acting chops and physical skills to the table, but this time he gets to have a bit of fun and even tosses off some one liners. The cast is marvelous down the line - director Mendes is obviously a draw, so you get a cast like that one up there.

Silva gets up close and personal with 007.

Bardem is a particularly twisted Bond villain, and seems to really enjoy the role - bringing some gusto and panache to his baddie. He may be joining the ranks of the great Bond villains - a couple more viewings will allow me to cement my opinion on that. The ladies - Harris and Marlohe - are good, but really - the Bond girl this time is Judi Dench - with M front and center for a big chunk of this movie's running time. Apparently Judi Dench's late husband Michael Williams used to joke with her about being a Bond girl - and now she really is one! It's also incredibly cool to have such fine British actors as Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney in the movie - it lends some dramatic gravitas to have big time respected actors like these two gentlemen gracing an "action movie." And how awesome that not only does Q finally return - but he's brought to life in a cool and up to the moment way by the great Ben Whishaw.

If Q married a girl named Barbie - she'd then be Barbie Q.
Ouch!

 The storyline is fine - although at this point in the series you can't get away from echoes of previous movies - and without going in to spoiler-y territory I will say that there are moments that hearken back to Never Say Never Again and Die Another Day. I don't mind this, although I find it interesting that the same writers wrote Die Another Day...
    Director Sam Mendes got the job through his previous association with Daniel Craig on Road to Perdition, and what an inspired choice he has turned out to be! He handles the dramatics with his usual confidence, and after the groteque "shaky-cam" action sequences in Quantum turned out to be one of the fatal choices for that movie - the effects and stunts here are visceral, and shown clearly, and in full - with nearly seamless CGI working hand in pixel with practical effects and stunt work. Mendes also brought a lot of his regular crew with him - Roger Deakins as cinematographer and Thomas Newman as composer. Deakins gives the film a great look - very crisp and gorgeous, with muted overcast skies lending the look of the film a somber gray tone. Newman's score is lush and well mounted - and thankfully he brings back some wonderful segments featuring the James Bond theme - missed so much in the last two movies as a misguided attempt to break away from the old a little too much.



My only downsides - the middle section of villain Silva's plan requires a fair amount of contrivance to come off - people he's not in control of need to be in fairly exact spots for it all to work - but that's a quibble, and in the big picture doesn't mar the movie. I'm also a little weirded out that Bond now goes out in the field to the far corners of the earth wearing an earpiece - with M, Q, and Chief of Staff Tanner now yelling in his ear - piggybacking his actions and second guessing his decisions. I know the technology is there - but I come from the time when Bond got his mission briefing then went out on it solo.

M stands for...this picture. See the empty chair?

Everything else about the film - the production design, the effects, the costumes, the stunt work - are all top notch - whether performed by long standing members of the Bond crew family or by new names in the credits - it still feels like a "Bond movie," and I mean that in the very best sense of the phrase.


Skyfall shows Bond in fine form in his 50th cinematic year - and as such gets my highest recommendation - and if you can - go see it on the Big Screen - this is the kind of picture that going out to the movies was invented for - so get out there and check it out!




I think this review needs to be necessarily vague while the film is in theaters, so this review is kind of a first pass/initial thoughts thing. I will beef it up in a few weeks with more direct story points and more descriptive review and analysis.







Let's Get Out of Here ?

I think I heard it in the government hearing scene - but more research is required.




Eye Candy ?


Yup. I mean, it's a James Bond movie...what did you expect?

Naomie Harris

Berenice Marlohe

Welcome to the list, ladies!

Buddha Man's Capsule Review

Buddha Man says "Skyfall has it all.
Well, except that exploding pen."

Thank you 00BuddhaMan! Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!