Friday, June 5, 2020

Junesploitation 2020 Day 5: Sci-fi!

Part alien. Part human. All nightmare!

77 comments:

  1. '1983's FUTURE, TODAY!' DOUBLE FEATURE!

    2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK (1983, YouTube, Patrick Bromley: 6/12/2014)

    I'm down for a decent "Escape From NY" Italian copycat, and this Sergio Martino joint has the minimal resources and maximum effort to deliver a fun time. After a fiery car fighting intro ("Twisted Metal: Nevada Race") our antihero S̶n̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶P̶l̶ Parsifal is sent to controlled-by-bad-guys New York City by the leader of the Pan-American Confederacy looking for the last woman left on the planet who can procreate. You know the drill: amoral betrayals, appearances by exploitation veterans like George Eastman and Romano Puppo (Ratchet rules!), sound effects from "Mazinger Z," post-apocalyptic freaks (Jack Black midget? Check), boobs, exploding body parts, cute-as-a-button miniatures... "2019" has it all except an "LA"-style sequel. Shame. 4 John Carpenter Copyright Infringement Lawsuits (out of 5)

    STARFLIGHT ONE (1983, A.Prime, Michael DiBella: 6/2/2016)
    Lee Major pilots the first commercial hypersonic plane on its maiden voyage (complete with ex-wife Lauren Hutton and evil Aussie industrialist Terry "Weekend at Bernie's" Kiser onboard), but winds up stuck in orbit with zero gravity and a ticking clock to forced reentry. If you approach this with an "Airplane!" mindset forget it. The Irwin Allen disaster template is slavishly followed, including the 'guess which of our 'B' and 'C' guest stars ("Barney Miller's" Hal Linden? "Dark Shadow's" Gail Strickland?) won't live 'till the end' formula. It drags toward the end and its science is beyond hokey (Columbia shuttle takes off and lands FOUR TIMES in 24 hours), but worth seeing for John Dykstra working with an early 80's shoestring TV budget. 3 Baby-Faced Robert Englunds (out of 5)

    But we're only halfway!

    IVAN VASILIEVICH: BACK TO THE FUTURE (1973, YouTube, Mikko Viinikka: 6/1/2016)
    A nebbish scientist completes his home-made time machine just as his landlord switches places with Ivan The Terrible (both played by Yuriy Yakovlev) alongside a burglar in the 16th century. And as Ivan frolics around modern day Moscow, women trouble complicates things for all the men. Low-hanging comedy fruit of the "Benny Hill/Three's Company" variety (complete with wacky music and sped-up foot chases) ensues, along with very mild social commentary (black market parts to fix the time machine, the real Ivan's newfound love for pop music, etc.). This comedy aims and clears the low bar it sets for itself... but just barely. 2.5 Contraband Cinzano Bottles (out of 5)

    THE ENDLESS (2017, Netflix, hibachijustice: 6/28/2018)
    Typical Justin Benson/Aaron Moorhead minimalist, lo-fi production about two 20-something brothers having trouble adjusting to life after being raised by "a UFO Death Cult" they escaped ten years prior. To appease baby brother Aaron's anxieties, Justin agrees to return to Camp Arcadia for a quick visit. Wish I'd seen this before "Midsommar," which raised the bar for the "cult" genre. Neat slow-burn premise when the truth is revealed, and Benson/Moorhead were smart in making the testy relationship between estranged siblings as important as whatever it is out in the woods. 3 Broken 8mm Videotapes (out of 5)

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    1. I keep waiting for 2019 to show up on Prime, J.M. So far it has not. Martino made some fun low-budget films in the 1980s. Hands of Steel, though a sad production with the death of one the actors, is great.

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    2. I highly recommend anyone who watches The Endless to see their 2012 film, Resolution, first.

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    3. "2019" is available on home video, but YouTube is a safe tryout without committing.

      Abd l'd be down for more Benson/Moorhead flicks. They have a Duplass Bros. thing going but less stuck on relationship and mumblecore trappings.

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    4. I really liked The Endless. Resolution was good too, but I watched it after The Endless, and it would be better to watch them in the order of release date. The Endless is on Netflix (Canada, US) and Resolution is on Prime (Canada, and US)

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  2. THE GREEN SLIME (1968, dir. Kinji Fukasaku)on the DVR

    A Japanese production that has a cast made up of Americans and Europeans. Viewed by the standards of the 21st century, The Green Slime is laughable science fiction. The models for the ships and space station are noticeably made of plastic. Other special effects have a slapdash quality to them. But that is exactly the charm of the film. The Green Slime is the kind of pulpy sci-fi that reigned until 2001: A Space Odyssey raised the standards the genre is judged by. For the time period, The Green Slime had high production values and a script that sets up an entertaining ninety minutes of schlock.

    The Green Slime is made up of two different plots, and they might sound familiar. The first involves an asteroid heading toward Earth, and the second is the infestation of a space craft by a dangerous alien species. All of this, of course, happens in a distinctly 1960s aesthetic. The story is anchored by two astronaut leaders who were once friendly but became rivals. The love interest, portrayed by the lovely Luciana Paluzzi, has more depth than one would expect in this kind of film. If anyone is a Paluzzi fan (like me), this will not disappoint. I cannot forget to add that the theme song for the American version is an absolute earworm. Green Sliiiiiiime!

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  3. Escape 2000 aka: Turkey Hunt (83)

    Gotta love f this movie fest for encouraging me to wake up at 6am, while the baby is still asleep, in order to watch this gem. Enemies of the state are sent to "reconditioning camps" (please, 2020, don't get any ideas...) where a select group are thrown into a 'most dangerous game' hunt. Fun movie overall. A bit tamer, yet also higher production value, than anticipated so I suppose all is even in the universe. Glad to have discovered this one.

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    1. Junesploitation*. This is your brain on parent of a 7mo

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  4. Nines (2007, John August)

    This was Dan's pick. Ryan Reynolds living three different realities in different segments. It was a tad up it's own ass at times or way up there depending on the segment, but I am a sucker for ' What is realit' cerebral movies. And I got a touch of Southland Tales or Under the Silver Lake with The Nines. Plus it is a chance to see Hope Davis be awesome. And her singing is worth the price of admission.

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  5. Starcrash (1978)
    Very entertaining Star Wars ripoff with a surprising cast.

    Halfway through, Christopher Plummer reveals that he has the power to stop time so they can escape an explosion, and they never talk about that again.

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    1. "Imperial battleship, halt the flow of time!" was my favourite part of my first Junesploitation.

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  6. Corman Double Feature - Galaxy of Terror (1981) & Forbidden World (1982)

    I like sci-fi, always have. I’ve always been a Star Wars kid through and through. Star Trek has always been a few dozen rungs down (although my exposure has been only been the movies, I know I need to deep dive into the shows at some point). Everything else is somewhere in the mix. That said, I have always avoided the movies that came in the wake of Star Wars, Close Encounters, and E.T. They all just looked so cheap (they were) and corny (they are) and lacking the charm that makes those movies what they are. I’ve seen Starcrash and Battle Beyond the Stars in the last few years and they are firmly in the “Star Wars knockoff” camp. I was not expecting these two Corman movies to be so firmly in the “Alien knockoff” camp.

    FW is definitely the more straightforward of the two: space badass goes to science base on a backwater planet to take care of a “pest” problem that turns out to be a science project gone awry. GoT is a counterfeit miracle in terms of how closely it apes Alien. Team goes to planet at behest of the “Master”, finds creepy space pyramid filled with monsters that pick everyone off one by one. Now that I think about it, ironically, Prometheus is more a ripoff GoT than GoT is a ripoff of Alien.

    Both are firmly in the “exploitation” zone. Gore, alien monsters, nudity, lasers, ro-bits, space ships, that weird state park with the pointy rock formations, 70s hair, aging TV actors, characters making asinine decisions, groovy tunes, abrupt endings, etc. Being straight up, really the only thing that I wish was left out was the slug rape scene in GoT. Rape scenes are never comfortable to watch in any movie but especially when it’s exploitative. No thanks, not sorry.

    The cast of GoT is better in my opinion and more enjoyable to watch because it’s people you know and like (Sid Haig, Robert Englund, Grace Zabriskie, Ray Walston). The FW cast isn’t bad, but there’s nothing about Jesse Vint that makes me believe he’s a smooth space badass who would bag both of the women on this station within a matter of minutes, or that Fox Harris (who looks like warmed over flu diarrhea and is coughing gunk from the first moment you meet him) would be a credible scientist. Michael Bowen (aka Dr. Pussy Wagon from Kill Bill) is fun in his one scene that also happens to be his death scene.

    That said, the petrie dish creature in FW is hands down cooler and better executed than any of the numerous monsters in GoT (which mostly hides and obscures it’s creatures). The production design is gaudy and cheap in both (lots of matte paintings in GoT, a “space station” hallway in FW made out of egg cartons, foam pipe insulators, and foam takeout boxes) but there’s a certain charm to the handmade character of both that elicits a nostalgia for when movies were actually “made” rather than just being “rendered”.

    On that note, I’m not sure who said it, but on an old episode of KillerPOV someone said “If you know your budget is only $5K, write the best $5K script you can. Don’t write a $5M script that you can’t properly execute.” That’s some of the best general filmmaking wisdom I’ve heard and is overwhelmingly relevant for today’s DIY Indie culture. But ignoring that wisdom is kinda exactly why both of these movies (and so many other Corman’s flicks) are enjoyable to watch on a dull night. The filmmakers pushed the limits of what they could accomplish with the pennies they had and made these absurd and audacious knockoffs (or “sweded” movies if we want to use a more warm and loving term). They remind me of the stupid Star Wars, 36 Chambers, and Indiana Jones knockoffs my friends and I would make in the backyard when we were young. Are they any good? Not really. Are they original and creative? Absolutely not. But there’s lots to enjoy about them if you’re in that liminal late night head space and want something weird to throw on as you’re going to sleep.

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    1. There certainly is a lot to enjoy about that period of Roger Corman's career. He was trying to compete against the major studios, and these particular movies show how much of lost cause that was. Corman was at least still trying. I would much rather watch these than any of the made-for-tv CGI monsters flicks like Sharktopus that he has been involved with in the 21st century.

      It will be a sad day when Roger leaves this world. Besides Lloyd Kaufman, I cannot think of any other big names from the heyday of independent exploitation films still left.

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    2. I guess Charles Band could also be listed there; he started out in the theatrical exploitation era.

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    3. Yeah, Corman and Band are the only ones left from the old vanguard still putting out product regularly. Even then, "quality" is still a foreign concept to Charles' output (and a low priority for Roger).

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  7. Underwater (2020)

    Kristen Stewart is a deep-sea mechanical engineer trapped almost 7 miles below the ocean’s surface with a hideous beast, but enough about co-star and alleged sex-monster TJ Miller (zing), there’s also an actual aquatic monster down there with them.

    It’s really nothing you haven’t seen before in other monster movies, but it’s still a solid oceanic Alien riff. The undersea stations feel real and lived-in and the movie wastes no time at all getting to the dangerous stuff, it’s a lean monster movie standout in a time of bloated blockbusters. The characters are a tad underbaked, but the movie is propulsive and fun so that’s a minimal issue. Admittedly I’m a sucker for sea-bound stories to begin with, but I’m pretty sure this one will be making it into my regular rotation so it’s a win for me.

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  8. Universal Soldier (1992) dir. Roland Emmerich

    I assumed this would take place in space

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  9. Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

    I remember having an emotional response when I first saw this trailer. There was something about those big round eyes that got to me. I still had that feeling watching this. My only problem is that this feels like Rodriguez is trying to start a franchise as opposed to making a great movie. I wanted it to go to a place it never really reaches for. I still enjoyed it, I just wanted more.

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  10. Class of 1999 (1990, dir. Mark L. Lester)

    Swearing teens, blood, violence, robot Pam Grier. Yeah, it's a damn good one.

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  11. The Vast of Night (2019) "Amazon Prime"

    A 50's era throwback with a twilight zone vibe. Light on action but makes up for it with amazing atmosphere and what I consider to be a stuck landing. The 50's, radio waves and potential conspiracies...I can do that all day!

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    1. I've hearing good things, it's been added to my que.

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    2. Hope you like it. Either way would love to hear your thoughts. :)

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  12. Battle Beyond the Stars (1980, dir. Jimmy T. Murakami)

    "The Magnificent Seven in Space" is such a great idea, it lends itself perfectly to showcasing inventive alien designs and special effects (made in part by a young Jim Cameron). Add in Junesploitation mainstays Sybil Danning and John Saxon, plus Roger Corman's skill of stretching a limited budget, and you've got yourself one damn enjoyable movie.

    Retrograde (2004, dir. Christopher Kulikowski)

    A cheap time travel movie with lazy plotting, paper-thin characters, stilted dialogue, shoddy directing and bad effects. But Dolph's in it, so it's all right.

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    1. Been wanting to see "Retrograde" for years. Was it streaming somewhere, rental?

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    2. No idea, I picked up a used DVD a while back.

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  13. War of the Worlds (2005, dir. Steven Spielberg)

    This movie is scary! Tom Cruise's portrayal of panic in tandem with Dakota Fanning's terror in reaction to it is pretty powerful stuff. A few minor problems (the draggy Tim Robbins scene, the ending) keep this from being a true masterpiece... but that first 40 minutes...

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  14. Barbarella (1968)

    What a sweet, sexy, trippy, sexy, fun and sexy movie. Did I mention it's super sexy as well? I'm curious if it's the first cinematic use of the classic "in the future, mankind has evolved beyond traditional sex" trope, also seen in things like Sleeper and Demolition Man. Any insight will be appreciated.

    In other news, I finally understand the reference behind Duran Duran's name (I'm a fan, so that's a plus) AND the origins of that cute exchange in Wonder Woman about Chris Pine being an above average example of his sex - Jane Fonda was way more modest about it, btw).

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    1. "Barbarella, Bar-Barbarella"

      I first saw part of Barbarella on a cable station in the 1990s. As a teen, I did not know what to make of it. I still do not know, but it is a fun time capsule of a film. Was it Vadim or de Laurentiis who made it the mess that it is? Maybe both.

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  15. Outland (1981)

    So, so close to being a great film IMO. Sean Connery is awesome. It's missing a great villain. Boyle is fine but I needed a bigger, meaner bad guy. Yes, it's High Noon in space with the look of aliens but still worth a watch and overall a solid flick.

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    1. I am struck by Sean Connery in this movie because he really seems scared/vulnerable which is rare for him. It's a really strong performance and a really cool movie.

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  16. Mars Attacks! (1996):

    This was my first rewatch in years, and I never realized then exactly what Burton was getting away with, here. Holds up beautifully.

    Akira (1988):

    First-time watch. Not quite my jam, but I was happy to see it and gain a greater appreciation for the aesthetic it helped inspire.

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  17. Sorry to Bother You (2018- dir. Boots Riley)

    Really inventive and wonderfully funny, and pretty much every performance popped for me. Stanfield was fantastic, though there definitely wasn't enough Kate Berlant for my liking. I somehow managed to go into this completely cold, and I'd suggest anyone who sees this do the same. Great stuff.

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    1. I got to tour the ADI special elects workshop a few years ago, and I got to see the animatronics they used for the horses. Really cool.

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  18. Future Kick (1991, dir. Damian Klaus)

    Was I going to NOT watch a movie called Future Kick? I've never fully warmed to Don the Dragon Wilson as a movie star, but maybe I still haven't seen the right vehicle.

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  19. 2069: A Sex Odyssey (1974)

    "A spaced out comedy with the most exciting climaxes!". It's much less lurid than you'd think (but still plenty of skin, but often casual, rather than sexual). Some alien women come to earth to gather 10,000 years worth of sperm. But they don't understand sex at all. Hilarity ensues.

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  20. Trancers (1984, Charles Band)

    Hello to a new favourite Christmas movie!

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  21. HG Wells' The Shape of Things to Come. Amusingly cheap but deadly dull 70's crap. Shot in the finest paper mills and warehouses $1.78 could buy. Sparks is probably the lamest of the R2D2 ripoffs (not the most annoying, just the least impressive). I liked Jack Palance's cape though, and my wife thought the female lead's eye shadow was on point.

    I watched the MST3K episode of Laserblast with my 8 and 10 year old too. The riffing keeps it interesting, but I still dig this silly little drive in movie, and the kids like the stop motion butt monsters. aliens.

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  22. Battle Beyond the Stars(1980)

    The choices on my list for today were Galaxina(1980) and BBtS. After yesterdays home run with Alligator I decided to stick with Sayles.
    Okay Lets just cut to the point, this was Cormans attempt at a Star Wars cash in. But were Lucas took inspiration from The Hidden Fortress to make Star Wars Corman just remakes the Seven Samurai or more accurately The Magnificent Seven in space. Fueled by another brilliant genre script by Sayles, Horner's Classic Score, a game cast and some really effective practical effects one doesn't have to watch the credits to see Corman loaded up the production crew with talent. But watch those credits. Even the Matte painter is a GOAT candidate in the industry.

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  23. STAR ODYSSEY (1979)
    Incomprehensible Star Wars ripoff from Italy. It has its moments, I suppose, but mostly it just bored me. For the scenes with the lightsaber props, they had to turn the lights way down in order to make the lightsabers look like they’re glowing, and it just turns into blue blurs swirling around the screen. That’s as amusing as it gets.

    30 days of HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT II, day 5
    On today’s viewing I concentrated on side character Jess, and her teen pregnancy subplot (and her HUGE hair). Right after her storyline is introduced, Jess gets taken out in a brutal death scene. I first thought Mary Lou was going to possess Jess, only to reject her because of the pregnancy. That’s incredibly distasteful, yet horror is where we go to confront the distasteful. On the other hand, Mary Lou’s spirit (or whatever) is reawakened by Vicki, not Jess. All I can conclude, then, is that Jess’s death is just the slasher trope of introducing characters and then killing them off one by one.

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  24. The Final Countdown (1980)

    Sci-fi/war movie about a aircraft carrier that goes through a wormhole and gets sent back in time to the day before Pearl Harbour was to happen. You'd think the film would be about "do we intervene and risk changing the future", but nope, it's hardly touched on. It's about a 1/3 just footage of jets landing and taking off of the aircraft carrier (I think it was partly funded by the military). That being said, it was pretty cool to see the jets and carrier in action, and we're left wondering what will happen until very near the end as the morning of Pearl Harbour approaches. Then it wraps up so very abruptly. Quite enjoyable, but could have been a lot better.

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  25. Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe's War (1996)

    Holy sh*t y'all. I was watching this movie for about 30 minutes and like "Eh" and then I started to realize Patrick Bergin was giving an awesomely bad performance. Then I realized Matt Frewer was doing a Jim Carrey impersonation. Then I realized the "Milk Did That Body Good" kid from Rookie of the Year is in this as a hacker. Then everywhere kept saying "Jack in" and "Jack out" culminating with someone saying earnestly "Jack in to VR." Then someone said "Eye Phone." Then there was a sword fight climax on a plank in VR. Finally, during the end credits the movie runs out of score and finishes for the final minute in silence. This movie...I want to be its stepdad.

    I might watch Johnny Mnemonic and Virtuosity now. Tonight. VIVA LA VIRTUAL REALITY!!!

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    1. Hot take: Jim Carrey was inspired by Matt Frewer aka Max Headroom

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    2. Hahaha I think this is my favorite Junesploitation review so far... And I think Virtuosity is aging like a fine wine... I hope you check it out!

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    3. This gave me a good chuckle. Thanks!

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  26. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001)

    Animala: Rowr!

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  27. Lockout (2012, dir. James Mather and Stephen Saint Leger)

    Joe Gilgun was always my second favorite part of Preacher and he's really going for it here -- it is a shame that he hasn't been in more movies recently

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  28. Damnation Alley (1977)

    Somehow five days into Junesploitation I found myself watching my second Jan-Michael Vincent movie of the month. This movie is a whirlwind race from nuclear war, through post-apocalypse, to the world starting to heal, with the movie ending pretty optimistically considering the hour and a half that proceeded it. The middle hour or so is a road trip movie dealing with the usual hassles of driving across country in your 12 wheel, amphibious rovers: flesh eating bugs, irradiated mountain men, and surprise oceans.

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  29. Day 5

    Attack the Block (2011)

    I watched this with my 13 year old son. He had a blast. I thought was so inventive, kinetic, and propulsive. John Boyega feels more like a movie star in this than in any 3 of the new Star Wars movies. This movie did so much more on it's small budget and quick running time compared to the bigger, bloated superhero movies we get every week it seems. I want more like this!!

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  30. Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam (1986)

    This is by far the most fun I've had this month. Hell, in a while.
    I haven't watched any of the Ernest movies in 2 decades, but this was better than my memory of those movies. This was so much fun, I had a blast laughing through this one.

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  31. The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989)

    Toxie goes to Japan. It's okay. I much prefer the original.

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  32. The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989)

    Toxie is turned evil, he gets better.
    Excellent villain design.

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  33. Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

    This movie's a weird, grungy mess but I like having it on every once in awhile.

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    1. Oh boy, I just watched Johnny Mnemonic, too. I think better lighting would improve this movie by 80%, but mostly it just makes me want a club sandwich.

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  34. Sunshine (2007)

    Let's restart the sun!!! Despite the obvious choice of naming BOTH ships heading towards the sun Icarus (ugh) I do really like this movie.

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  35. Shocking Dark (1989, dir. Bruno Mattei)

    Can't even imagine how interesting it would have been to watch this not knowing it's rip-off reputation going in. But of course I did, and it lives up to that insanity. All that aside, the movie may be cheap but it looks pretty terrific. It's fast, fun and just the right kind of schlock for this month.

    If you haven't seen it yet, the BEAUTIFUL new Severin transfer is available free on Amazon Prime!

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  36. Alien: Covenant (2017)

    My third time watching this, and I like it more every time. This watch I was really appreciating the background when they're in the forest, and when they first find the big ship in the woods. Although I know it's entirely digital, it looked almost like a matte painting (were they going for that? dunno). I think Katherine Waterston's acting is fantastic in this. Really like the minimal score as well. Ridley Scott is one of my favourites. I should seek out some of his lesser known movies.

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  37. Dark Star (1974)

    "Let there be light."

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  38. Sorry to Bother You (2018)

    Lakeith Stanfield is always great and so is Tessa Thompson. Directed by Boots Riley(best name ever?) Excellent white person voices by Patton Oswalt and David Cross. How much would it take to get you to be horse for 5 years?

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  39. Ad Astra (2019, dir. James Gray)

    NOT ENOUGH LIV TYLER.

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  40. The Vast of Night (2019)

    This felt a little like an extended Twilight Zone episode. That's not a dig on the movie. It's kind of hypnotic and has some excellent long takes. It's worth checking out.

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  41. The Blob (1988, dir. Chuck Russell)

    Better each time I come back to it. Shawnee Smith is the greatest. Kevin Dillon’s doofy white puffy shirt underneath his leather jacket? *chef kiss* The gamut of practical effects is so incredible: many of the composite shots feel like a deliberate hat-tip to the original film, while other gnarlier effects are such an incredible leap forward and still hold up beautifully.

    Also, this was my partner’s first time watching the film, so tonight was very much that giddy experience of sharing something you really like with someone you really care about while hoping they like it, too. She enjoyed the movie and that made me happy. I hope you all had a great evening, and I hope you’re enjoying your Junesploitation!

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  42. Virtuosity (1995)

    Basically Face/Off if you think of Denzel Washington as Sean Archer and Russell Crowe as Castor Troy. It's kind of a boring movie imho.

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  43. Mind Killer (1987)

    When you can't pick up girls on your own, you have to learn mind control and telepathy to trick women into dating you. That's how it's always been. This movie was almost fun. Decent creature effects for such a low budget, though.

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  44. The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

    I found this one on Amazon Prime. David Bowie plays an alien from outer space, which, given his out of this world persona that he had already captivated, he falls into perfectly. The film itself was one of those scifi vehicles that relied less on special effects than on overly ambitious ideas. It was bizarre. It doesn't always work, but I appreciated it for its unique take on the genre.

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  45. Welcome to Blood City (1977) Amazon Prime

    I can only comment on about 50% of this movie as the other half appears to have been cropped out without even the courtesy of a pan and scan. Interesting premise, almost like some odd combination of Westworld and The Prisoner. It doesn't entirely live up to that potential but there's a nugget of something interesting in there.

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  46. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

    What else is there to say! Pretty awesome, effects look cool even today. I could watch an entire buddy cop movie with John trying to teach the Terminator how to do high fives.

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  47. My bonus flik for the night.

    Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary (2019). It was a fun love letter to one of my favorite films, revisiting through interviews with cast and crew. Highly recommended if you are a fan.

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  48. Liquid Sky (1982)
    This is the kind of movies I'm seeking at festivals and repertory cinemas, where there's nothing to distract you, no phone to pull you out of the director's world.
    I wish we'd gotten more Paula Sheppard. This was her second and final movie after Alice Sweet Alice, and there really was something special about her (besides her obvious beauty).

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    1. I have this saved in my queue. I started it for today just based in the one sentence description on Shudder but my wife couldn’t get into it so we switched to something else.

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  49. Edge of Tomorrow aka Live Die Repeat (2014)

    Tom Cruise does his best Groundhog Day to beat aliens trying to destroy the world.

    Second viewing and an absolute underrated sci-fi. It’s a shame it bombed at the box office because it is really good. I’m a sucker for time bending stuff, so I’m sucked in just in the premise. Action is top notch. Totally recommend.

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  50. Star Trek VI:
    I felt the need to have Kirk and Sulu come to save us from ourselves. All the big moments that I remember are still there, but I did not remember how slow it was between those moments. Nevertheless, it was good to see the old gang in their big farewell, and it does leave us with a good feeling.

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