A-Z Challenge 2014: G is for Going in Style!

1979

By the late 1970's George Burns was back in the spotlight for another phase of a career that reached back to the early Talkie pictures of the 1930's. He'd gotten going again with The Sunshine Boys in 1975, but really took off with the release of Oh God! in 1978. With his revived box office clout - this movie got the greenlight for 1979.



Teaming George with Art Carney and Lee Strasberg - this is a cool little comedy/drama about three old guys who decide to alleviate their boredom by robbing a bank. It's funny, exciting, and at times touching, and I'd love to see it again. I recommend it to you too.










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

A-Z Challenge 2014: F is for Fade to Black!

1980

This movie jumped onto the horror bandwagon that had resulted with the incredible success of  John Carpenter's Halloween in 1978. I first saw it when it premiered on Showtime some months later.



I instantly felt a kinship to the lead character, Eric Binford - played by Dennis Christopher. He's a lonely film buff whose life unravels. Eventually he snaps and starts bumping people off while dressed as movie characters. (The kinship ends at the murders, by the way)



It's not a perfect movie by any means - Tim Thomerson's cop character seems to be in another movie entirely for the most part - but I still kind of love this movie - and definitely recommend it for movie buffs and horror fans. If nothing else - you can see Mickey Rourke in a very early role - as one of Eric Binford's doomed tormentors.





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

A-Z Challenge 2014: E is for Equinox!

1970

Here's a cool production story - a bunch of talented college students make a short film about the occult - little knowing that a future special effects Oscar winner (Dennis Muren) is among their crew. The short film turns out well enough that when longtime producer Jack H. Harris sees it at a screening - he makes the kids an offer - he'll put up the money if they'll get back together and shoot enough new footage to stretch the short to a feature - which he'll then release.




They agreed and the feature film version turned out as a pretty cool little monster movie. Because the second round of shooting occurred years later hairstyles don't always match, and the actors do visibly change age throughout - and that's part of this movie's charm. Recommended. And if you do watch - yes, that is Frank Bonner from WKRP in Cincinatti - acting under his real name here - Frank Boers, Jr.





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

A-Z Challenge 2014: D is for Day of the Triffids!

1963

It's a terrific British sci fi horror movie - and it even gets mentioned in the opening song from The Rocky Horror Picture Show - "Science Fiction Double Feature."



A beautiful meteor shower comes down all over the planet - and nearly everyone watches the light show. They are the first victims as they all go blind from the radiation. Then, when ambulatory carnivorous plants grow from the meteor fragments - Earth finds itself in dire straits.



I read about the movie in some monster movie magazine long before I saw it - and when I finally did see it I thought it was marvelous.



Until the next post - roughly the same time tomorrow - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

A-Z Challenge 2014: C is for The Crater Lake Monster!

1977

Here's a case where the poster far outstrips the movie it is advertising. The Crater Lake Monster is a throwback to the creature features of the 1950's, right down to the awesome stop motion animation used to bring the monster to life. But the film is beyond slight - and represents the only filmic output of nearly everyone involved - except for visual effects guru Dave Allen - who had a fine career in movies and television before his untimely death a few years ago.



So, the movie is not that great - although a nostalgic fave of mine - but I don't think anyone would say that isn't a terrific and gorgeous piece of cinematic advertising up there.







Until tomorrow's post, which I hope will rock "D" world for you - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

A-Z Challenge 2014: B is for Battle Beyond the Stars!

It's the second post in a month long alphabetical look at some cool movie posters - here we go!

1980

When Roger Corman decided to cash in on the Star Wars craze he decided to make a science fiction version of The Magnificent Seven - itself a Western retelling of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai - and he lined up some solid talents both in front of the camera and behind it.



While credited director Jimmy Murakami may have been a little over his head and might have been assisted along the way by others - the script by John Sayles is solid B movie fun - and the cast plays the whole thing with tongue firmly in cheek. And yes, it's the same John Sayles who wrote the movie in yesterday's "A" post - what can I say - the guy was good. Sadly, we lost him to indie drama - he doesn't do genre flicks any more. In any case, I promise we'll look at some movies he didn't write this month too.




And, uh, Sybil Danning. OMG.







Our next post is tomorrow, I hope you'll "C" your way clear to come back by - until then, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

A-Z Challenge 2014: A is for Alligator!

Welcome to my fourth go-round for the A-Z Blogging Challenge! After the first two Challenges - where I sometimes wrote posts with word counts that rivalled Dostoevsky and Stephen King - combined - I took it down a notch for the 2013's third blogfest with much shorter posts.

I'm going to bring it down again. This year, it's going to be 26 movie posters. I feature a lot of movie posters in this blog. Monday's regular department is Maniacal Movie Poster Monday - with three randomly chosen movie posters on display; and Saturday Night at the Movies is the other regular department where I feature a movie poster and trailer from my own video collection. So that's four posters a week right there.

So yeah, I do love movie posters. For this A-Z Challenge we'll run right down the alphabet - with the hopes of putting the spotlight on 26 smaller movies - flicks that didn't necessarily have huge budgets or massive advertising campaigns - but which are well worth a look anyway.


First up - I'm very happy to announce that

A is for Alligator!

1980

 

Long before there was a Syuh Fyuh channel (I pronounce it when I write it) or their never ending stream of nature runs amok movies featuring goofy combo creatures and mostly bad CGI - here was a prime example of the genre that I prefer to call "Chew 'Em Up and Spit 'Em Out" movies - with a variety of practical effects pulling off a pretty cool alligator.



The little critter was brought home from Florida and subsequently flushed into the sewers of Chicago.
It started eating the remains of genetic experiments dumped illegally - and now Chicago faces a 36 foot long monster. Cop Robert Forster teams with biologist Robin Riker to try to save the city.




Add in a killer supporting cast - a knowing script by John Sayles (Return of the Secaucus Seven) with just the right amount of tongue in cheek - and tight direction from Lewis Teague (Cujo) and you have the recipe for a fine B picture - highly recommended.







Thanks to all the host blogs and associates - you guys rock!





Hope you'll "B" back tomorrow for the next post - until then, you Can Poke Me With An Alligator, Cause I Am Outta Here!