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!

Project Terrible: Creepshow III!

Buddha Man! Gonna need you to take this one!

Done. Can't say I'm happy about it, though.

This blog's good buddy Maynard Morrissey from Maynard Morrissey's Horror Movie Diary sent this one to us - and knowing it was LGOOH's only entry in round eight of Project Terrible - he really went for blood.




Creepshow III  (Taurus Entertainment Company, 2006)  I saw Creepshow in the theater in 1982. I saw Creepshow 2 in the theater in 1987. I saw something that said it was Creepshow III in my home in 2012. Let's start off by noting the change in numeric style - already a bad sign. If it's Creepshow 2 then it should be Creepshow 3. If instead you call it Creepshow III you weren't paying attention. Do you get a sense where this is going? Well, then, I won't take up too much of your time. We start off with some weird Flash-style computer animation which does not work well compared to the cel animation used in the first two movies. Then there are five stories in this anthology. They have a good moment or two dotted in among them. None of them are anywhere near as good as the weakest story in the previous two movies, which in my opinion is Old Chief Wood'nhead from Part 2. The movie is very low budget, the acting ranges from tolerable to bad, and the effects go from fairly good practical stuff (for the money) to chintzy CGI. Had they called this movie Tales from the Limbic Region or Five Stories to Die For it would have been a meh movie and we'd be done talking.

I like this makeup. I hate the movie.

But no. Somehow, these clowns got ahold of the Creepshow franchise title and had the incredibly bad idea of putting the Creepshow name on this thing. There's no Creep, there's no comic book framing devices, there's no Tom Savini cameo. Because they force the issue, this movie is then held to the Creepshow yardstick - and it fails. Epic fails. They should be ashamed - trying to ride the coattails of the franchise to success. This is as misbegotten an in-name-only sequel as The Hidden II.



Wow. Glad you watched that one for me, buddy. Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

The Video Vault of Mora Tau 11/6/12!

It's time for video!


Sometimes when the movie you're going to watch ain't so hot - it's good to have a friend along - at least to lead into and back from commercials! Here's a tribute to some of my favorite movie hosts from years past...and coincidentally - all of the clips are from the heyday of the USA cable network!

Commander USA's Groovie Movies

USA Up All Night with Gilbert Gottfried

USA Up All Night with Rhonda Shear and Gilbert Gottfried

USA Up All Night with Rhonda Shear

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

Maniacal Movie Poster Monday #93!

Skyfall's release in the US is only 4 days away - I can't get off the Bond Wagon now - so here's a look at three different 007 poster designs from the same movie:

The Man with the Golden Gun!

This is the classic American poster - one I have owned - but sadly don't, anymore. (And there are some people who are going to smoke a couple of turds in purgatory as a result.)

This is a neat poster highlighting the titular weapon - constructed in prop form for its filmic debut by the British firm Colibri Lighters. I don't think I'd like this poster if it was the only one ever used - you need to see more elements in a Bond poster - but as a teaser poster, or a companion piece - it's marvelous.

This is a very neat poster both for the design itself, and for playing on the nostalgia factor by highlighting previous Bond villains and movies - and keep in mind that the oldest of them - Dr. No - was only twelve years previous at the time.









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

Saturday Night at the Movies 11/3/12!

Who cares what picture we see?




Geoffrey Holder undoubtedly does - so we're going to celebrate the impending release of Skyfall in six days with this one:

I always liked this entry in the series - Roger Moore's first - right from my first viewing on ABC TV. I think having a strong familiarity with the kickass theme song by Paul McCartney and Wings helped. I also like that for the first (and only, and only needed) time - there's a flirtation with the supernatural, as ol' Baron Samedi pulls off some spooky stuff, and then there's that remarkable young woman with the deck of cards...




Let's really jump on the Bond Wagon with some extras, too:



Here's a radio trailer for the movie - remember when they used to promote movies on the radio? I think this might be the best 007 radio spot ever...

There is a Tarot card deck that features prominently in the movie - and it is a deck especially designed for the movie by artist Fergus Hall - here are what the cards look like:





Here's the front and back - note the stylized "007" on the back.

More of the cards than we see in the movie.

Here's a card deck tie-in sold in stores at the time of release. I have not managed to track down the cards,
but I do have a copy of the instruction book.

Of course, Live and Let Die resides in the video vault on a pristine Blu-Ray as part of the Bond 50 set - so it stands ready for a Hi-Def screening at any time - even tonight, if you want to come over and hang!




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