A four-person squad of Libyan terrorists (radicalized by a Muammar Gaddafi lookalike in their homeland) cross into U.S. territory by boat, lands in Indiana through 'Dunes Beach' (no such place exists in real life) and sets out to destroy a nuclear plant near the city of Kokomo. Meanwhile a group of age-appropriate (30+) high school stereotypes gather for after school detention at the classroom of a Dabney Coleman lookalike teacher. The terrorists fail their mission and get into a lengthy car chase/shootout with local/state police through the streets, cornfields and farms of Kokomo, easily destroying half the town and offing dozens of civilians/cops. The surviving Libyans take refuge at Hoosier High (!), hold the detention students/teacher hostage and keep the police at bay waiting for a bus/plane to return them to their homeland. In a scattershot, refusing-the-call-to-action way, the students fight back.
Oh... my God! :-O Judged solely by its first 45 minutes "Terror Squad" is easily THE GREATEST JUNESPLOITATION! HALF-A-MOVIE OF ALL TIME! No exaggeration, everything you could ever wish for in a Cannon-induced, fevered-dream exploitation experience is here at the start. It's like an unending mini-H. B. Halicki highlight reel. The same way the city of Pittsburgh/NHL Penguins team opened their arms to the "Sudden Death" team, you can tell the citizens/institutions of Kokomo, Indiana embraced the "TS" crew and let them do anything they wanted. Scheduled-for-demolition giant buildings collapse, people walking the street get shot at/run over (twice!), police cars crash/explode as they fall from garages/buildings, etc. Even the handful of cutaway moments to the "Breakfast Club"-inspired student stereotypes deliver enough quirk (nerd watching p@rny aerobics show on his portable TV, Midwest Bender playing guitar with the janitor, etc.) to further lift this opening act.
Shame the second half of "Terror Squad" descends into a deathly dull cliché hostage set-up. Even useless police chief Chuck Connors (TV's "The Rifleman") comments with the always-nagging SWAT captain how much this resembles "Dog Day Afternoon." Ken Foree's wasted in a nothing role and the terrorists/students don't have the acting chops to make their scenes have any tension. Only during the last ten minutes does to movie regain some of its early crazy mojo (the school bus shrinks! :-D), enough to end the show on a mini-high. A 2.5/3 at best, but even with the boring 2nd half during June this one earns 4.35 JOE FARIGNO's MIRACLE BUTT BUSTERS (out of five). If at all possibe, please watch the first 45 mins.
I was on such a high after "Terror Squad" that I decided to bust open the Vinegar Syndrome 4K of "Invasion U.S.A." I was holding back for Cannon Day. Yes, it's a bummer this feels as timely now as it did 40 years ago. :'( But then Chuck Norris wipes out an indoor mall terrorist cell and Richard Lynch shoots a couple of dudes in the you-know-what. Then I was happy again. :-P Cannon, they're dynamite. 4.5 HOMELESS ARMADILLOS (out of five).
Back to "Terror Squad," the gift that keeps on giving. :-) The 2nd half was so boring I fell asleep watching, and when I woke up TUBI was playing a documentary about the life/career of Italian exploitation legend Ruggero Deodato. I went back to finish "TS," then afterwards I decided to watch "Deodato Holocaust" from the start. At 71 min. and with Ruggero front and center narrating/answering questions from the unseen filmmakers, we get great war stories and tons of clips from almost his entire filmography. The infamous "Ca**ibal H@l@caust" controversy gets mentioned but not really tackled until the very end, when Deodato lets down his guard and reveals true feelings at odds with his public statements. Great way to get some J! suggestions, many of them streaming on TUBI. 3.65 MICHAEL YORK-MEETING-OLD DOG CLIPS (out of five).
Killing Them Softly (2012) At the very least, it's a pretty fun dirtbag hangout movie. Hangin' with Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn, the lowest of the dirtbags: fun. Hangin' with Brad Pitt and Richard Jenkins, the intellectual dirtbags: fun. But most fun of all is hangin' with the cold-blooded killer dirtbags, Gandolfini and Pitt. I could watch a whole movie of Gandolfini pounding drinks and spouting complaints while Pitt looks on in various states of incredulity and concern. Their scenes together rule. I was mostly ready to squint past all the 2008 America stuff, but Pitt's final mini-monologue won me over a little bit to the idea that there's at least a little meat on this nasty bone.
I had the strange experience of not liking this movie very much when I saw it closer to its release. I was always mildly surprised that so many people liked it so much. I love CHOPPER & just couldn't figure this one. Rewatched a couple years ago & everything was right. I couldn't even figure out what I hadn't liked.
This was my first watch, but I could see why it might leave some a little cold. If not in the frame of mind to enjoy the dirtbaggery, or if that's not someone's jam, the characters are pretty unlikable, the story flits around a bit, and the stakes are a little vague. Glad to hear you liked it more the second time. I didn't realize it was the same director as Chopper, but that makes a lot of sense!
An L.A. Sleaze Double Feature this morning (and overnight).
DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE! (1979, dir. Robert Hammer)
It has taken eight Junesploitatons to watch this, one of my first Vinegar Syndrome acquisitions back in 2017. Don’t Answer The Phone! Is prime Junesploitation material. A strangler/rapist is terrorizing Los Angeles, and the police are struggling to make any progress in the case. The strangler’s identity is revealed at the beginning, and the film spends a lot of time with him. He likes to contact a radio show hosted by a female psychiatrist, which makes her a target for his murderous lust. DATP is supremely sleazy when it comes to the strangler’s attacks. The script bounces around quite a bit as the detectives pursue the investigation, and the dialogue is far from great. The sleaze factor compensates for much of the film’s deficiencies.
ANGEL (1983, dir. Robert Vincent O’Neil)
I did not plan a re-visit today, but Don’t Answer the Phone! put me in a mood to watch Angel again. This is another VS release. There are many similarities with DATP, mainly a plot about a killer on the loose in Los Angeles. Both utilize some of the same locations, especially Hollywood Boulevard. What Angel has, however, is a better script and a lot of heart. You care about the characters, especially the title character. She is a teenage “working girl” surviving on the streets while trying to build a future for herself. The killer is targeting women in her line of work, including some of her friends. Later she becomes the target. Angel is among the great 1980s exploitation films and yet another sleazy Junesploitation watch.
Angel is connected with one my greatest nights of movies. It was part of a triple bill at the Mahoning Drive-In years ago with Ms. 45 and Lady Terminator. With all three being first-time watches, it was a night full of pleasant surprises.
In August of 1979, Kit Williams published Masquerade, a book that had clues to the location of a jewelled golden hare that Williams had created and hidden somewhere in Britain. He had been challenged by publisher Tom Maschler to create an illustrated book that did something no one else had before. He made sixteen detailed paintings of the story of Jack Hare, who is taking a treasure from the Moon to the Sun. He loses the treasure, and the reader is asked to help him find it.
In a box that said, “I am the keeper of the jewel of Masquerade, which lies waiting safe inside me for you or eternity,” he buried a gold rabbit pendant with celebrity witness Bamber Gascoigne.
Published by Intravision, there was a movie directed by the man who came up with the idea, Sheldon Renan, and a book illustrated by Jean-Francois Podevin and published by Warner Books. A gold horse was the prize in this contest designed by Paul “Dr. Crypton” Hoffman, who was the president and editor-in-chief of Discovery magazine, president and publisher of Encyclopedia Britannica and the man who made the treasure map for Romancing the Stone.
Renan wrote the first book about underground movies, An Introduction to the American Underground Film and “The Blue Mouse and The Movie Experience,” an influential Film Comment article about how the Blue Mouse Theater in Portland went from Hollywood movies to grindhouse films. Wildly, he also directed The Killing of America, wrote Lambada and has been a speechwriter for every CEO of Xerox since 1990.
While IMDB says that cinematographer Hilyard John Brown (also a cameraman on This Is Spinal Tap and Solomon King) came up with the idea of a film with treasure — but “opted out of working on the film because director Sheldon Renan wanted a lot of helicopter shooting, and Brown had had too many close calls in helicopters” — every other article I have found says that this was Renan’s project.
You know who did shoot this? Hanania Baer, who was also the cinematographer for American Ninja, Masters of the Universe, Ernest Scared Stupid, Night Patrol, Breakin’ 2, Ninja 3, UFOs Are Real and so many more, and Dennis Matsuda, a cameraman on Hotline, Poltergeist, Raising Arizona and Stand By Your Man.
The movie is about a girl (Dory Dean) trying to find her father and her lost horse, Treasure (Galahas). She’s helped by Mr. Maps (Elisha Cook Jr., Mr. Nicklas in Rosemary’s Baby), a blacksmith (John Melanson, who was an actual blacksmith and is also the Man with the Black Gloves), a sushi chef (Yasumasa Adachi), Mr. Night Music (Herman Sherman), Dream Dancers and the Ghost Party, all narrated by Richard Lynch. Yes, Richard Lynch, who says things like “The city. It was no place to find a horse. Not her horse. She knew that roads that started in the city led in all directions. How could she leave the city and find the right direction?”
This came out during the early console video game era, and there was also going to be a Colecovision game. A silver horse was buried and is still there, as the puzzle to find it never got made.
My dad was obsessed with this book, staring at it in B. Dalton and wondering how to solve it. We couldn’t afford it, so he would sit on the floor and draw sketches of it. No one won, and the prize money was given to Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Seven months after the contest was over, Nick Boone and Anthony Castaneda discovered where the horse was with the Captain Nemo solution.
Tromeo and Juliet (1996): Kind of a weird movie to watch while eating my eggs this morning. It's everything you'd expect from a Troma movie: horny, gory, violent, funny, weird. I mean, they're not even trying to be good actors, well a couple of them do, but that's not the point. Despite all of this, this is a fairly good adaptation of the story, maybe a bit more 'porny' than expected. I blind bought the blu-ray a short while ago after seeing a sequence on facebook, so I kinda knew what I was getting into. I've seen most of James Gunn output after he left Troma and I think it's my first actual Troma, or Lloyd Kaufman film I've ever seen. Not exactly my style, and definitely not for everyone, but I don't regret it. And we get Lemme Kilmister introducing the movie, so that's a win.
THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (2025) A mega-rich eccentric enlists his long-lost daughter to help him pull off one last major business deal. At least, I think that’s what it’s about. The details of the actual “scheme” were lost on me, and don’t know that all the financial wheeling and dealing added up to anything. On the other hand, the father-daughter part of the story was quite effective. If actress Mia Threapleton becomes a big star thanks to this movie, I’m okay with that. And did anyone else watch this and wonder if it's a live-action Scrooge McDuck and his nephews?
30 days of Georges Melies, day 14: RIP VAN WINKLE’S DREAM (1905) Rip, scoundrel that he is, flees into the forest to hide from the local bailiff. He falls asleep, dreams of imps and ghosts, and wakes up as an old man. This is a whimsical, kid-friendly entry. There’s a very cool effect in the dream where a guy turns into a snake and then turns into three of the same guy. Reminded me of the little Ashes who torment Ash in Army of Darkness.
Nate and Hayes aka Savage Island (1983, dir. Ferdinand Fairfax)
Swashbuckler starring Tommy Lee Jones as the pirate Bully Hayes. It's not great but the settings are glorious (filmed in Fiji and New Zealand) as is Tommy Lee Jones' beard and feathered 80s haircut. Also, the director is named FERDINAND FAIRFAX!
I knew going in that this would be a meh parody, which it is, but it did TRY to do a bunch of Airplane style gags. There were a small handful that landed but way way to many that didn't. Also this is when Leslie Nielsen started doing the hammy mugging schtick.
One crazy junesploitation coincidence happened: I also, randomly , watched Meatballs 4 this month as apparently I hate myself. My goodness it's terrible. So imagine my surprise when I read that both these movies were directed by the same director who made almost no other features. Crazy.
THE HEROIC TRIO (1993, HBO MAX) THE UNHOLY TRINITY MATERIALISTS THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (2025, THEATER)
The only superhero movie in the Criterion Collection, Johnnie To's "The Heroic Trio" doesn't waste time establishing early on that in its colorful modern-day Chinese universe women are the cool action protagonists while the still-relevant-to-the-plot men (cops, scientists, etc.) play second fiddle. Initially opponents, a common enemy (Shi-Kwan Yen's powerful Evil Master) and long-repressed shared past revealed through flashbacks eventually bring together city savior 'Wonder Woman' (Anita Mui), invisible baby kidnapper Ching (Michelle Yeoh) and emotionally conflicted mercenary 'Thief Catcher' (Maggie Cheung). Using every '93 pre-computer effect trick in the book (ignore the too-visible wires), the brawls between the trio and Evil Master's minions (or plain common criminals) flirts with Schumacher-era "Batman" cheese but stays serious-enough to engage. If you can stomach the not-insignificant scenes of children in peril and/or not surviving this is a silly fun ride, and further proof Michelle Yeoh can do anything. 4 EXPENDABLE C@NNIB@L HOSTAGE CHILDREN (out of five).
We get so few modern westerns made I wanted to get the word out on "The Unholy Trinity" while you can still catch it on the big screen. In 1888 Montana a young man (Brandon Lessard) arrives at the frontier town of Trinity to avenge the death-by-hanging of his old man (Tim Daly) by killing the sheriff (Pierce Brosnan, whose thick Irish brogue is explained in dialogue) that apprehended his dad many years back. An opportunistic priest (David Arquette), a native American woman living in the outskirts of town (Q'orianka Kilcher) and a former slave with a chip on his shoulder (Samuel L. Jackson) also converge around Trinity with their own agendas, some of which clash against the easily-riled-up drunken locals. Jackson and Brosnan command the screen when they're given juicy scenes to chew on, Lessard looks/acts confused most of the time and the gunplay/MacGuffin plot machinations keep the narrative humming along. 'It's fine' and the Montana sights are pretty, but it's an otherwise average-at-best western. 3 BANDIT SISTERS TAKEN FOR GRANTED (out of five).
"Materialists" marks a return to form by A24 after last year's disappointing "Babygirl" despite both movies tackling similar relationship territory. We're still in the realm of incredibly attractive/rich/white people in Manhattan, but instead of Nicole Kidman kink we're following professional matchmaker Lucy (Dakota Johnson) struggling to find the perfect match for both a personal favorite client (Zoe Winters' Sophie) and Lucy herself. Cynical and calculating but also sophisticated and practical (she deals with rich people but knows she's working class), a wedding of one of her clients puts Lucy in touch with (a) her old boyfriend John (Chris Evans) that she never really stopped loving but couldn't hold on to because he's not good with money, and (b) perfect single unicorn Harry (Pedro Pascal) who's also a nice guy. Though the choice is obvious (hunk vs. rich hunk) writer/director Celine Song ("Past Lives") mixes enough flourishes of romantic fantasy (vacation to Iceland) with bitter reality (physical assault during a date) to make you intrigued how Lucy reacts. It's one of Dakota Johnson's best performances that takes full advantage of her particular acting style, though personally l felt her chemistry with Pascal was stronger/better than with Evans (my opinion). 4 UNPLANNED UPSTATE WEDDING CRASHES (out of five).
"The Phoenician Scheme" welcomes Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed and newcomer Mia Threapleton (who steals every scene she's in) into Wes Anderson's quirky cinematic universe. Harder (but not impossible) to follow, its complicated '50's era plot ultimately feels like intellectual window dressing to a simple tale of a rich absent father (Benicio del Toro) learning to bond with his only female daughter. 'It's fine.'3.25 EPIC BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH BEARDS (out of five).
Wrapped up a couple movies I'd started on other nights, but couldn't stay up to finish...
The First Slam Dunk (2022) A playoff basketball game that repeatedly flashes back to show the backstories its players (not your usual premise for an animated movie). The movie really only has the runtime to fully flesh out one of its characters, so some of flashback arcs for other characters feel pretty incomplete and tacked on (I'm sure the story is much more fleshed out in the manga). In both the backstory drama and basketball action, the movie swings around from serious/realistic to batshit crazy, which can make it feel a little uneven. Still, the animation is great, the action and drama are mostly compelling, and the even if not every individual character beat lands, the general scrappy-team-coming-together bit works.
Raw Force (1982) Schlock of the lowest order. The bad guys are a group of human trafficking jade merchants led by a Hitler lookalike, who trade naked women for jade with the other bad guys, a bunch of pervy cannibal monks who act as stewards of an island filled with jade and disgraced dead-warriors-turned-zombies. The good guys and gals are a karate club, a cop (I think?) who's a martial arts expert, a ship's cook who's also (surprise) a martial arts expert, and some other passengers on a boat cruise full of naked women and exhibition fighting. They all end up on monk/zombie island and have a big fight. It's pure exploitation cheese in the worst and best ways (perfect for this month).
A family of four move into their newly inherited (and cursed) house on Elm Street and are beset on all sides by monsters, rats, bats, relatives, real estate agents, a TV that only shows The Twilight Zone, and worst of all, Jeffrey Tambor.
Based on the title, I went in thinking it's a slasher parody, but it's much more closely related to something like Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein, with parodies of the classic Universal monsters. The jokes have more hits than misses and the cast is going for it. I had fun with this.
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987, dir. Sidney J. Furie) (rewatch)
With the Cold War heating up, Superman makes a unilateral decision to destroy every nation's nuclear arsenal. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor clones Superman which results in a villain called Nuclear Man, a ruthless and seemingly indestructible killing machine... with one fatal flaw. Meanwhile meanwhile, Clark Kent has a new love interest and The Daily Bugle has a new publisher... and they're the same person!
Feels like the cast, the writers, and the director were all sleepwalking through this. It's simply bad. John Williams' score does a lot of heavy lifting. But at least it has the decency to be 35 minutes shorter than Superman III was.
She-Wolf of London (1946, dir. Jean Yarbrough)
When unexplained animal attacks start occuring nearby, a young heiress suspects she suffers from a family curse that turns her into a werewolf at night.
Less of a werewolf movie and more of a mystery about whether there's a werewolf of not. It's not the most mysterious of mysteries, but it'll keep you engaged for its crisp 61 minute runtime.
Spaced Invaders (1990, dir. Patrick Read Johnson)
Thinking a 50th anniversary radio broadcast of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds is real, the incompetent crew of a Martian warship decide to assist in the invasion they think is underway. They land in a small Illinois town on Halloween night, but are mistaken for trick-or-treating children.
The kind of comedy that thinks loud means funny, it's just constant noise that I got sick of pretty fast. The animatronic alien costumes are kinda cool, though, and Royal Dano is always an engaging screen presence.
Sushi Girl (2012, dir. Kern Saxton)
A bank robber is released from prison, so his old accomplices host a lavish party for him, including sushi served off a naked woman's body. But as the night goes on, old grudges resurface and things turn tense.
The DVD cover says "100% Tarantino style", and that's definitely what it's trying really hard to be. Unfortunately, Kern Saxton is no Quentin Tarantino. There's some juice in the basic premise, but it's overshadowed by needing to be cool and edgy and tarantinoesque. Mark Hamill going over the top with a stereotypically effeminate gay character in a wig and thick glasses is just embarassing. Tony Todd is the one actor here who can give the clunky dialogue some gravitas. But Tony Todd can give anything gravitas. Sonny Chiba, Danny Trejo and Michael Biehn pop in for an inconsequential 30-second cameo each.
I think i mentioned it in another post where someone watched another superman (maybe you, my memory is very bad), but I kinda like Superman 4 and I can't wait to binge my recent purchase of the 4k set, skipping the first movie as i've seen it fairly recently
Redbelt (2008) Mamet doesn't exactly scream exploitation, but this has martial arts and conspiracy (something Mamet does exactly scream), so I'm counting it.
The first hour or so had me locked in, but the movie eventually fell apart for me. All the converging coincidences of the plot (the watch, the fabric, the window, the magician) eventually reached a boiling point of absurdity that just didn't feel like it matched up with Mamet's take-this-all-deadly-serious, tone. The whole plot turns to dust under a split second's scrutiny. Something like the black and white marble handicap gimmick would be fine in a mindless JCVD fight flick, but clashes badly alongside this movie's high-minded attempt to explore themes of ideological purity vs. cynical pragmatism.
But what is this, Serious September? Film Criticism February? For Junesploitation, I'd easily recommend Redbelt as a pretty entertaining watch, and Chiwetel Ejiofor's performance is fantastic.
I watched it recently, i've seen it before, i still liked it. You are right about the last part of the movie, but i didn't let it bother me. I blame it on the lack of time and budget it most likely had
There's definitely a lot to like in the movie (and I spent so much time trying to hash out and articulate the negatives that I probably gave short shrift to the simpler-to-explain positives). Getting bogged down by plot gripes in one movie, while being able to look past similar stuff in other movies can be a fine line, and sometimes just comes down to my mood. Redbelt was definitely interesting enough that I'll revisit it at some point, and maybe it'll click better for me on another day.
It's an entertaining movie, but the defining premise that "Dirty" Harry Calahan is a loose cannon because HIS GUN IS BIGGER THAN EVERYONE ELSE'S just seems silly to me. Especially since Schwarzenegger and Stallone were running around carrying M60 machine guns a decade later. But here, all the cops are afraid of him because HIS GUN IS SO MUCH BIGGER THAN EVERYONE ELSE'S. There's even a scene at the gun range and also a shooting competition in this movie. The cast is fairly loaded: Hal Holbrook, Tim Matheson, David Soul, Robert Urich, etc. The story revolves around renegade cops killing criminals without due process. Not terribly surprising when you realize it was written by John Milius.
SUROH: THE ALIEN HITCHHIKER (1996, Patrick McGuinn) First-time watch, Bleeding Skull Blu-ray, 8/10. My big fat Vinegar Syndrome box arrived just in time to offer plenty & eat up time "processing" it all. SUROH is one of the new arrivals. Paul gets high in the desert with his buddy then finds a male-sounding alien by the side of the road. They psychically bond & Suroh demonstrates ultimate s-e-x-u-a-l pleasure without physical contact. This SOV brainmelter offers copious psychedelics in the form of video FX, pontifications worthy of the opening desert session & G-men in black shades. This is great stuff if you're hoping not to get stuck watching a normal movie. Chase with LIQUID SKY for ultimate enlightenment. "You might say we are not only your parents, but also your children."
This brings me to my own suggestion that is likely to be as popular as Jess Franco or Troma day: SOV day.
Yellow Fever: The Rise and Fall of the Giallo (2016) People complain that it’s a standard, talking head documentary. But that’s not the point! It’s a home video extra designed to be a crash course…and that’s exactly what it is!
Dead Talents Society (2024) A Taiwanese horror comedy parodies ghost stories, influencers, and celebrity culture - with, as many have pointed out, obvious inspirations from Monsters Inc. and Beetlejuice. Not exactly my jam (I still enjoyed it), but if it's your jam, it seems like it would be the best movie ever.
Dune Redux (1984) (fan edit, 2017 I think): I've said it before and I'll said it again, I unironically love that movie, warts and all. Strangely enough, this fan edit makes it even better. About an hour of extra scenes were added and they fill so many holes that I didn't know needed to be filled. It's a fan edit, so the guy was limited by the material available, so the music is reused many, many times, to the point of being annoying sometimes. And some scenes were not edited as well as they could be. But those are quibbles, only making you wish for a proper director's cut, that will unfortunately never happen now. I'm sure there's some notes somewhere, give them to this guy, Spicediver, as well as some money, he clearly knows what he's doing.
You can find it on Youtube if you're interested. Here's the link:
https://youtu.be/7Yw2nGCUPa4?feature=shared
Commando (1985): what can I say about this movie, Arnold is a comic book looking character in real life, playing an over-the-top violent superhero-like character. The movie is actually written by a renown comic book writer, Jeph Loeb, who you might know as the writer of the comic book that was one of the main influences of The Dark Knight.
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ReplyDelete'SO THIS IS WHAT DYING AND GOING TO HEAVEN FEELS LIKE' TRIO!
ReplyDeleteTERROR SQUAD (1987, TUBI)
INVASION U.S.A. (1985, VINEGAR SYNDROME 4K UHD)
DEODATO HOLOCAUST (2019, TUBI)
A four-person squad of Libyan terrorists (radicalized by a Muammar Gaddafi lookalike in their homeland) cross into U.S. territory by boat, lands in Indiana through 'Dunes Beach' (no such place exists in real life) and sets out to destroy a nuclear plant near the city of Kokomo. Meanwhile a group of age-appropriate (30+) high school stereotypes gather for after school detention at the classroom of a Dabney Coleman lookalike teacher. The terrorists fail their mission and get into a lengthy car chase/shootout with local/state police through the streets, cornfields and farms of Kokomo, easily destroying half the town and offing dozens of civilians/cops. The surviving Libyans take refuge at Hoosier High (!), hold the detention students/teacher hostage and keep the police at bay waiting for a bus/plane to return them to their homeland. In a scattershot, refusing-the-call-to-action way, the students fight back.
Oh... my God! :-O Judged solely by its first 45 minutes "Terror Squad" is easily THE GREATEST JUNESPLOITATION! HALF-A-MOVIE OF ALL TIME! No exaggeration, everything you could ever wish for in a Cannon-induced, fevered-dream exploitation experience is here at the start. It's like an unending mini-H. B. Halicki highlight reel. The same way the city of Pittsburgh/NHL Penguins team opened their arms to the "Sudden Death" team, you can tell the citizens/institutions of Kokomo, Indiana embraced the "TS" crew and let them do anything they wanted. Scheduled-for-demolition giant buildings collapse, people walking the street get shot at/run over (twice!), police cars crash/explode as they fall from garages/buildings, etc. Even the handful of cutaway moments to the "Breakfast Club"-inspired student stereotypes deliver enough quirk (nerd watching p@rny aerobics show on his portable TV, Midwest Bender playing guitar with the janitor, etc.) to further lift this opening act.
Shame the second half of "Terror Squad" descends into a deathly dull cliché hostage set-up. Even useless police chief Chuck Connors (TV's "The Rifleman") comments with the always-nagging SWAT captain how much this resembles "Dog Day Afternoon." Ken Foree's wasted in a nothing role and the terrorists/students don't have the acting chops to make their scenes have any tension. Only during the last ten minutes does to movie regain some of its early crazy mojo (the school bus shrinks! :-D), enough to end the show on a mini-high. A 2.5/3 at best, but even with the boring 2nd half during June this one earns 4.35 JOE FARIGNO's MIRACLE BUTT BUSTERS (out of five). If at all possibe, please watch the first 45 mins.
I was on such a high after "Terror Squad" that I decided to bust open the Vinegar Syndrome 4K of "Invasion U.S.A." I was holding back for Cannon Day. Yes, it's a bummer this feels as timely now as it did 40 years ago. :'( But then Chuck Norris wipes out an indoor mall terrorist cell and Richard Lynch shoots a couple of dudes in the you-know-what. Then I was happy again. :-P Cannon, they're dynamite. 4.5 HOMELESS ARMADILLOS (out of five).
Back to "Terror Squad," the gift that keeps on giving. :-) The 2nd half was so boring I fell asleep watching, and when I woke up TUBI was playing a documentary about the life/career of Italian exploitation legend Ruggero Deodato. I went back to finish "TS," then afterwards I decided to watch "Deodato Holocaust" from the start. At 71 min. and with Ruggero front and center narrating/answering questions from the unseen filmmakers, we get great war stories and tons of clips from almost his entire filmography. The infamous "Ca**ibal H@l@caust" controversy gets mentioned but not really tackled until the very end, when Deodato lets down his guard and reveals true feelings at odds with his public statements. Great way to get some J! suggestions, many of them streaming on TUBI. 3.65 MICHAEL YORK-MEETING-OLD DOG CLIPS (out of five).
3 solid movies!
DeleteKilling Them Softly (2012)
ReplyDeleteAt the very least, it's a pretty fun dirtbag hangout movie. Hangin' with Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn, the lowest of the dirtbags: fun. Hangin' with Brad Pitt and Richard Jenkins, the intellectual dirtbags: fun. But most fun of all is hangin' with the cold-blooded killer dirtbags, Gandolfini and Pitt. I could watch a whole movie of Gandolfini pounding drinks and spouting complaints while Pitt looks on in various states of incredulity and concern. Their scenes together rule. I was mostly ready to squint past all the 2008 America stuff, but Pitt's final mini-monologue won me over a little bit to the idea that there's at least a little meat on this nasty bone.
I had the strange experience of not liking this movie very much when I saw it closer to its release. I was always mildly surprised that so many people liked it so much. I love CHOPPER & just couldn't figure this one. Rewatched a couple years ago & everything was right. I couldn't even figure out what I hadn't liked.
DeleteThis was my first watch, but I could see why it might leave some a little cold. If not in the frame of mind to enjoy the dirtbaggery, or if that's not someone's jam, the characters are pretty unlikable, the story flits around a bit, and the stakes are a little vague. Glad to hear you liked it more the second time. I didn't realize it was the same director as Chopper, but that makes a lot of sense!
DeleteCLOWN IN A CORNFIELD (2025, Dir. Eli Craig):
ReplyDeleteFun and inventive slasher. The rotary phone gag made me laugh out loud.
An L.A. Sleaze Double Feature this morning (and overnight).
ReplyDeleteDON’T ANSWER THE PHONE! (1979, dir. Robert Hammer)
It has taken eight Junesploitatons to watch this, one of my first Vinegar Syndrome acquisitions back in 2017. Don’t Answer The Phone! Is prime Junesploitation material. A strangler/rapist is terrorizing Los Angeles, and the police are struggling to make any progress in the case. The strangler’s identity is revealed at the beginning, and the film spends a lot of time with him. He likes to contact a radio show hosted by a female psychiatrist, which makes her a target for his murderous lust. DATP is supremely sleazy when it comes to the strangler’s attacks. The script bounces around quite a bit as the detectives pursue the investigation, and the dialogue is far from great. The sleaze factor compensates for much of the film’s deficiencies.
ANGEL (1983, dir. Robert Vincent O’Neil)
I did not plan a re-visit today, but Don’t Answer the Phone! put me in a mood to watch Angel again. This is another VS release. There are many similarities with DATP, mainly a plot about a killer on the loose in Los Angeles. Both utilize some of the same locations, especially Hollywood Boulevard. What Angel has, however, is a better script and a lot of heart. You care about the characters, especially the title character. She is a teenage “working girl” surviving on the streets while trying to build a future for herself. The killer is targeting women in her line of work, including some of her friends. Later she becomes the target. Angel is among the great 1980s exploitation films and yet another sleazy Junesploitation watch.
Angel is connected with one my greatest nights of movies. It was part of a triple bill at the Mahoning Drive-In years ago with Ms. 45 and Lady Terminator. With all three being first-time watches, it was a night full of pleasant surprises.
Two greats!
DeleteTreasure: In Search of the Golden Horse (1984)
ReplyDeleteIn August of 1979, Kit Williams published Masquerade, a book that had clues to the location of a jewelled golden hare that Williams had created and hidden somewhere in Britain. He had been challenged by publisher Tom Maschler to create an illustrated book that did something no one else had before. He made sixteen detailed paintings of the story of Jack Hare, who is taking a treasure from the Moon to the Sun. He loses the treasure, and the reader is asked to help him find it.
In a box that said, “I am the keeper of the jewel of Masquerade, which lies waiting safe inside me for you or eternity,” he buried a gold rabbit pendant with celebrity witness Bamber Gascoigne.
Published by Intravision, there was a movie directed by the man who came up with the idea, Sheldon Renan, and a book illustrated by Jean-Francois Podevin and published by Warner Books. A gold horse was the prize in this contest designed by Paul “Dr. Crypton” Hoffman, who was the president and editor-in-chief of Discovery magazine, president and publisher of Encyclopedia Britannica and the man who made the treasure map for Romancing the Stone.
Renan wrote the first book about underground movies, An Introduction to the American Underground Film and “The Blue Mouse and The Movie Experience,” an influential Film Comment article about how the Blue Mouse Theater in Portland went from Hollywood movies to grindhouse films. Wildly, he also directed The Killing of America, wrote Lambada and has been a speechwriter for every CEO of Xerox since 1990.
While IMDB says that cinematographer Hilyard John Brown (also a cameraman on This Is Spinal Tap and Solomon King) came up with the idea of a film with treasure — but “opted out of working on the film because director Sheldon Renan wanted a lot of helicopter shooting, and Brown had had too many close calls in helicopters” — every other article I have found says that this was Renan’s project.
You know who did shoot this? Hanania Baer, who was also the cinematographer for American Ninja, Masters of the Universe, Ernest Scared Stupid, Night Patrol, Breakin’ 2, Ninja 3, UFOs Are Real and so many more, and Dennis Matsuda, a cameraman on Hotline, Poltergeist, Raising Arizona and Stand By Your Man.
The movie is about a girl (Dory Dean) trying to find her father and her lost horse, Treasure (Galahas). She’s helped by Mr. Maps (Elisha Cook Jr., Mr. Nicklas in Rosemary’s Baby), a blacksmith (John Melanson, who was an actual blacksmith and is also the Man with the Black Gloves), a sushi chef (Yasumasa Adachi), Mr. Night Music (Herman Sherman), Dream Dancers and the Ghost Party, all narrated by Richard Lynch. Yes, Richard Lynch, who says things like “The city. It was no place to find a horse. Not her horse. She knew that roads that started in the city led in all directions. How could she leave the city and find the right direction?”
This came out during the early console video game era, and there was also going to be a Colecovision game. A silver horse was buried and is still there, as the puzzle to find it never got made.
My dad was obsessed with this book, staring at it in B. Dalton and wondering how to solve it. We couldn’t afford it, so he would sit on the floor and draw sketches of it. No one won, and the prize money was given to Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Seven months after the contest was over, Nick Boone and Anthony Castaneda discovered where the horse was with the Captain Nemo solution.
Tromeo and Juliet (1996): Kind of a weird movie to watch while eating my eggs this morning. It's everything you'd expect from a Troma movie: horny, gory, violent, funny, weird. I mean, they're not even trying to be good actors, well a couple of them do, but that's not the point. Despite all of this, this is a fairly good adaptation of the story, maybe a bit more 'porny' than expected. I blind bought the blu-ray a short while ago after seeing a sequence on facebook, so I kinda knew what I was getting into. I've seen most of James Gunn output after he left Troma and I think it's my first actual Troma, or Lloyd Kaufman film I've ever seen. Not exactly my style, and definitely not for everyone, but I don't regret it. And we get Lemme Kilmister introducing the movie, so that's a win.
ReplyDeleteDebbie Rochon! You have won Junesploitation.
DeleteHurray 🎊🎉
DeleteTHE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (2025)
ReplyDeleteA mega-rich eccentric enlists his long-lost daughter to help him pull off one last major business deal. At least, I think that’s what it’s about. The details of the actual “scheme” were lost on me, and don’t know that all the financial wheeling and dealing added up to anything. On the other hand, the father-daughter part of the story was quite effective. If actress Mia Threapleton becomes a big star thanks to this movie, I’m okay with that. And did anyone else watch this and wonder if it's a live-action Scrooge McDuck and his nephews?
30 days of Georges Melies, day 14: RIP VAN WINKLE’S DREAM (1905)
Rip, scoundrel that he is, flees into the forest to hide from the local bailiff. He falls asleep, dreams of imps and ghosts, and wakes up as an old man. This is a whimsical, kid-friendly entry. There’s a very cool effect in the dream where a guy turns into a snake and then turns into three of the same guy. Reminded me of the little Ashes who torment Ash in Army of Darkness.
Nate and Hayes aka Savage Island (1983, dir. Ferdinand Fairfax)
ReplyDeleteSwashbuckler starring Tommy Lee Jones as the pirate Bully Hayes. It's not great but the settings are glorious (filmed in Fiji and New Zealand) as is Tommy Lee Jones' beard and feathered 80s haircut. Also, the director is named FERDINAND FAIRFAX!
And written by John Hughes. Yep, THAT John Hughes! 😳😱
DeleteI legitimately thought he did only movies featuring teens
DeleteHey, since it's Free Day, it's the perfect time to do some suggestions. I hope I'm not overstepping, I had a couple of ideas.
ReplyDeleteInspired by my watch this morning, Lloyd Kaufman or Troma day
Then maybe Miami/Florida day, inspired by the Bud Spencer/Terrence Hill movies I love so much
Speaking of Bud, a Sergio Corbucci day
Anyway, do what you will with this
We did a Troma day several years back! It did...not go well.
DeleteHahaha, roger that
DeleteRepossessed (1990)
ReplyDeleteI knew going in that this would be a meh parody, which it is, but it did TRY to do a bunch of Airplane style gags. There were a small handful that landed but way way to many that didn't. Also this is when Leslie Nielsen started doing the hammy mugging schtick.
One crazy junesploitation coincidence happened: I also, randomly , watched Meatballs 4 this month as apparently I hate myself. My goodness it's terrible. So imagine my surprise when I read that both these movies were directed by the same director who made almost no other features. Crazy.
THE HEROIC TRIO (1993, HBO MAX)
ReplyDeleteTHE UNHOLY TRINITY
MATERIALISTS
THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (2025, THEATER)
The only superhero movie in the Criterion Collection, Johnnie To's "The Heroic Trio" doesn't waste time establishing early on that in its colorful modern-day Chinese universe women are the cool action protagonists while the still-relevant-to-the-plot men (cops, scientists, etc.) play second fiddle. Initially opponents, a common enemy (Shi-Kwan Yen's powerful Evil Master) and long-repressed shared past revealed through flashbacks eventually bring together city savior 'Wonder Woman' (Anita Mui), invisible baby kidnapper Ching (Michelle Yeoh) and emotionally conflicted mercenary 'Thief Catcher' (Maggie Cheung). Using every '93 pre-computer effect trick in the book (ignore the too-visible wires), the brawls between the trio and Evil Master's minions (or plain common criminals) flirts with Schumacher-era "Batman" cheese but stays serious-enough to engage. If you can stomach the not-insignificant scenes of children in peril and/or not surviving this is a silly fun ride, and further proof Michelle Yeoh can do anything. 4 EXPENDABLE C@NNIB@L HOSTAGE CHILDREN (out of five).
We get so few modern westerns made I wanted to get the word out on "The Unholy Trinity" while you can still catch it on the big screen. In 1888 Montana a young man (Brandon Lessard) arrives at the frontier town of Trinity to avenge the death-by-hanging of his old man (Tim Daly) by killing the sheriff (Pierce Brosnan, whose thick Irish brogue is explained in dialogue) that apprehended his dad many years back. An opportunistic priest (David Arquette), a native American woman living in the outskirts of town (Q'orianka Kilcher) and a former slave with a chip on his shoulder (Samuel L. Jackson) also converge around Trinity with their own agendas, some of which clash against the easily-riled-up drunken locals. Jackson and Brosnan command the screen when they're given juicy scenes to chew on, Lessard looks/acts confused most of the time and the gunplay/MacGuffin plot machinations keep the narrative humming along. 'It's fine' and the Montana sights are pretty, but it's an otherwise average-at-best western. 3 BANDIT SISTERS TAKEN FOR GRANTED (out of five).
"Materialists" marks a return to form by A24 after last year's disappointing "Babygirl" despite both movies tackling similar relationship territory. We're still in the realm of incredibly attractive/rich/white people in Manhattan, but instead of Nicole Kidman kink we're following professional matchmaker Lucy (Dakota Johnson) struggling to find the perfect match for both a personal favorite client (Zoe Winters' Sophie) and Lucy herself. Cynical and calculating but also sophisticated and practical (she deals with rich people but knows she's working class), a wedding of one of her clients puts Lucy in touch with (a) her old boyfriend John (Chris Evans) that she never really stopped loving but couldn't hold on to because he's not good with money, and (b) perfect single unicorn Harry (Pedro Pascal) who's also a nice guy. Though the choice is obvious (hunk vs. rich hunk) writer/director Celine Song ("Past Lives") mixes enough flourishes of romantic fantasy (vacation to Iceland) with bitter reality (physical assault during a date) to make you intrigued how Lucy reacts. It's one of Dakota Johnson's best performances that takes full advantage of her particular acting style, though personally l felt her chemistry with Pascal was stronger/better than with Evans (my opinion). 4 UNPLANNED UPSTATE WEDDING CRASHES (out of five).
"The Phoenician Scheme" welcomes Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed and newcomer Mia Threapleton (who steals every scene she's in) into Wes Anderson's quirky cinematic universe. Harder (but not impossible) to follow, its complicated '50's era plot ultimately feels like intellectual window dressing to a simple tale of a rich absent father (Benicio del Toro) learning to bond with his only female daughter. 'It's fine.'3.25 EPIC BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH BEARDS (out of five).
Wrapped up a couple movies I'd started on other nights, but couldn't stay up to finish...
ReplyDeleteThe First Slam Dunk (2022)
A playoff basketball game that repeatedly flashes back to show the backstories its players (not your usual premise for an animated movie). The movie really only has the runtime to fully flesh out one of its characters, so some of flashback arcs for other characters feel pretty incomplete and tacked on (I'm sure the story is much more fleshed out in the manga). In both the backstory drama and basketball action, the movie swings around from serious/realistic to batshit crazy, which can make it feel a little uneven. Still, the animation is great, the action and drama are mostly compelling, and the even if not every individual character beat lands, the general scrappy-team-coming-together bit works.
Raw Force (1982)
Schlock of the lowest order. The bad guys are a group of human trafficking jade merchants led by a Hitler lookalike, who trade naked women for jade with the other bad guys, a bunch of pervy cannibal monks who act as stewards of an island filled with jade and disgraced dead-warriors-turned-zombies. The good guys and gals are a karate club, a cop (I think?) who's a martial arts expert, a ship's cook who's also (surprise) a martial arts expert, and some other passengers on a boat cruise full of naked women and exhibition fighting. They all end up on monk/zombie island and have a big fight. It's pure exploitation cheese in the worst and best ways (perfect for this month).
Saturday the 14th (1981, dir. Howard R. Cohen)
ReplyDeleteA family of four move into their newly inherited (and cursed) house on Elm Street and are beset on all sides by monsters, rats, bats, relatives, real estate agents, a TV that only shows The Twilight Zone, and worst of all, Jeffrey Tambor.
Based on the title, I went in thinking it's a slasher parody, but it's much more closely related to something like Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein, with parodies of the classic Universal monsters. The jokes have more hits than misses and the cast is going for it. I had fun with this.
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987, dir. Sidney J. Furie) (rewatch)
With the Cold War heating up, Superman makes a unilateral decision to destroy every nation's nuclear arsenal. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor clones Superman which results in a villain called Nuclear Man, a ruthless and seemingly indestructible killing machine... with one fatal flaw. Meanwhile meanwhile, Clark Kent has a new love interest and The Daily Bugle has a new publisher... and they're the same person!
Feels like the cast, the writers, and the director were all sleepwalking through this. It's simply bad. John Williams' score does a lot of heavy lifting. But at least it has the decency to be 35 minutes shorter than Superman III was.
She-Wolf of London (1946, dir. Jean Yarbrough)
When unexplained animal attacks start occuring nearby, a young heiress suspects she suffers from a family curse that turns her into a werewolf at night.
Less of a werewolf movie and more of a mystery about whether there's a werewolf of not. It's not the most mysterious of mysteries, but it'll keep you engaged for its crisp 61 minute runtime.
Spaced Invaders (1990, dir. Patrick Read Johnson)
Thinking a 50th anniversary radio broadcast of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds is real, the incompetent crew of a Martian warship decide to assist in the invasion they think is underway. They land in a small Illinois town on Halloween night, but are mistaken for trick-or-treating children.
The kind of comedy that thinks loud means funny, it's just constant noise that I got sick of pretty fast. The animatronic alien costumes are kinda cool, though, and Royal Dano is always an engaging screen presence.
Sushi Girl (2012, dir. Kern Saxton)
A bank robber is released from prison, so his old accomplices host a lavish party for him, including sushi served off a naked woman's body. But as the night goes on, old grudges resurface and things turn tense.
The DVD cover says "100% Tarantino style", and that's definitely what it's trying really hard to be. Unfortunately, Kern Saxton is no Quentin Tarantino. There's some juice in the basic premise, but it's overshadowed by needing to be cool and edgy and tarantinoesque. Mark Hamill going over the top with a stereotypically effeminate gay character in a wig and thick glasses is just embarassing. Tony Todd is the one actor here who can give the clunky dialogue some gravitas. But Tony Todd can give anything gravitas. Sonny Chiba, Danny Trejo and Michael Biehn pop in for an inconsequential 30-second cameo each.
I think i mentioned it in another post where someone watched another superman (maybe you, my memory is very bad), but I kinda like Superman 4 and I can't wait to binge my recent purchase of the 4k set, skipping the first movie as i've seen it fairly recently
DeleteSpeaking of Tony Todd, one of my recent find is Candyman 4k. I need to figure out where to fit it during this month
DeleteYeah, I watched Superman III for the first Free Space day.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRedbelt (2008)
ReplyDeleteMamet doesn't exactly scream exploitation, but this has martial arts and conspiracy (something Mamet does exactly scream), so I'm counting it.
The first hour or so had me locked in, but the movie eventually fell apart for me. All the converging coincidences of the plot (the watch, the fabric, the window, the magician) eventually reached a boiling point of absurdity that just didn't feel like it matched up with Mamet's take-this-all-deadly-serious, tone. The whole plot turns to dust under a split second's scrutiny. Something like the black and white marble handicap gimmick would be fine in a mindless JCVD fight flick, but clashes badly alongside this movie's high-minded attempt to explore themes of ideological purity vs. cynical pragmatism.
But what is this, Serious September? Film Criticism February? For Junesploitation, I'd easily recommend Redbelt as a pretty entertaining watch, and Chiwetel Ejiofor's performance is fantastic.
I watched it recently, i've seen it before, i still liked it. You are right about the last part of the movie, but i didn't let it bother me. I blame it on the lack of time and budget it most likely had
DeleteThere's definitely a lot to like in the movie (and I spent so much time trying to hash out and articulate the negatives that I probably gave short shrift to the simpler-to-explain positives). Getting bogged down by plot gripes in one movie, while being able to look past similar stuff in other movies can be a fine line, and sometimes just comes down to my mood. Redbelt was definitely interesting enough that I'll revisit it at some point, and maybe it'll click better for me on another day.
DeleteMagnum Force (1973)
ReplyDeleteIt's an entertaining movie, but the defining premise that "Dirty" Harry Calahan is a loose cannon because HIS GUN IS BIGGER THAN EVERYONE ELSE'S just seems silly to me. Especially since Schwarzenegger and Stallone were running around carrying M60 machine guns a decade later. But here, all the cops are afraid of him because HIS GUN IS SO MUCH BIGGER THAN EVERYONE ELSE'S. There's even a scene at the gun range and also a shooting competition in this movie. The cast is fairly loaded: Hal Holbrook, Tim Matheson, David Soul, Robert Urich, etc. The story revolves around renegade cops killing criminals without due process. Not terribly surprising when you realize it was written by John Milius.
SUROH: THE ALIEN HITCHHIKER (1996, Patrick McGuinn)
ReplyDeleteFirst-time watch, Bleeding Skull Blu-ray, 8/10.
My big fat Vinegar Syndrome box arrived just in time to offer plenty & eat up time "processing" it all. SUROH is one of the new arrivals.
Paul gets high in the desert with his buddy then finds a male-sounding alien by the side of the road. They psychically bond & Suroh demonstrates ultimate s-e-x-u-a-l pleasure without physical contact. This SOV brainmelter offers copious psychedelics in the form of video FX, pontifications worthy of the opening desert session & G-men in black shades. This is great stuff if you're hoping not to get stuck watching a normal movie. Chase with LIQUID SKY for ultimate enlightenment. "You might say we are not only your parents, but also your children."
This brings me to my own suggestion that is likely to be as popular as Jess Franco or Troma day: SOV day.
There already was an SOV day in 2019, and not many were thrilled about it.
Deletehttp://www.fthismovie.net/2019/06/junesploitation-2019-day-26-shot-on.html
FREE SPACE - INTERNATIONAL HORROR DAY
ReplyDeleteYellow Fever: The Rise and Fall of the Giallo (2016)
People complain that it’s a standard, talking head documentary. But that’s not the point! It’s a home video extra designed to be a crash course…and that’s exactly what it is!
Dead Talents Society (2024)
A Taiwanese horror comedy parodies ghost stories, influencers, and celebrity culture - with, as many have pointed out, obvious inspirations from Monsters Inc. and Beetlejuice. Not exactly my jam (I still enjoyed it), but if it's your jam, it seems like it would be the best movie ever.
Dune Redux (1984) (fan edit, 2017 I think): I've said it before and I'll said it again, I unironically love that movie, warts and all. Strangely enough, this fan edit makes it even better. About an hour of extra scenes were added and they fill so many holes that I didn't know needed to be filled. It's a fan edit, so the guy was limited by the material available, so the music is reused many, many times, to the point of being annoying sometimes. And some scenes were not edited as well as they could be. But those are quibbles, only making you wish for a proper director's cut, that will unfortunately never happen now. I'm sure there's some notes somewhere, give them to this guy, Spicediver, as well as some money, he clearly knows what he's doing.
ReplyDeleteYou can find it on Youtube if you're interested. Here's the link:
https://youtu.be/7Yw2nGCUPa4?feature=shared
Commando (1985): what can I say about this movie, Arnold is a comic book looking character in real life, playing an over-the-top violent superhero-like character. The movie is actually written by a renown comic book writer, Jeph Loeb, who you might know as the writer of the comic book that was one of the main influences of The Dark Knight.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)
ReplyDeleteI'm seeing Weird Al in concert in like 2 weeks so this was a perfect opportunity to watch this very factual film. 100% true story.