SkimbleSHANKS presents "Event Horizon" with Kodiak Thompson

Films Researched for this Podcast: Hellraiser (1987), Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), and Event Horizon (1997)

NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast

Episode 41: SkimbleSHANKS presents "Event Horizon" with Kodiak Thompson.

Kodiak Thompson returns to the podcast to talk up Paul W.S. Anderson's attempt to combine "Alien" and "Hellraiser", "Event Horizon". Cool Movies Darth and his guest go over the most memorable video game features the auteur was behind as they try to figure out how this Lawrence Fishburne lead feature was Anderson's biggest financial bomb despite being his most original and impressive concept. It gets sad when you find out how much CG effects that look bad in 4K cost in 1997.

 

 

We obviously took a trip down memory lane with this feature being 24 years old. This haunted house in space is Anderson's second American directorial effort. He would go on to direct "Soldier" (which we failed to mention despite our swooning over Sean Pertwee) the following year, but otherwise, there is a 16-year gap between him working on projects that are not established IP (17 if you include the "Blade Runner" references in the Kurt Russell feature). It easy to thickly lay on the scrutiny of his talents with that resume.

Computer generated effects do not hold up from these turn of the century features, but that is not his fault. HDR just shows the seams. It may explain why he is an expert when it comes to 3D features. You cannot care to look at every detail if it flying at your face.

 

His talent comes from realizing his vision. When I say vision, it is solely what you see. As for stories, his 500 batting average with his "Resident Evil" franchise gives a warning of where he may come up short.

 

"Event Horizon" features his best ensemble and they are aware of the feature that they are making. It has moments of levity, but the actors do an extraordinary job at maintaining the film's tone. The film also earns bonus points for overlooking standard horror movie tropes and letting Lawrence Fishburne be the lead actor of this ensemble.

 

Despite what Screen Drafts's Co-commissioner Ryan Marker will have you believe, Sam Neill does a great job as the antagonistic scientist going mad. Kodiak and I dive into the concept of whether or not Dr. Weir knew where he was sending the faster-than-light spacecraft the film is named after. Was he no different than Uncle Frank from "Hellraiser"?

With the Clive Barker film serving as inspiration (Kodiak was up on his research.), I took the time to watch the first two films in the "Hellraiser" franchise. Those reviews are featured on this podcast.

Here is one last warning before heading into the last spooky pod of October. We both offer incites on Sean Pertwee, son of the Third Doctor Who. I go on about how Pertwee is not only a comforting face, but a great casualty to add to any feature. This leads me to do my best in selling Neil Marshall's "Doomsday" to his queue.

My Twitter account is @catbusruss. This is where I want your hate to be directed if you disapprove. Otherwise, positive feedback would be best displayed as subscriptions to my podcast and five-star reviews. Lets work that algorithm.

If you think you have a film or franchise that you are an expert on. Send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. Most franchises have at least one feature that will qualify for NinetyForChill. The runtime just needs to be between 74 and 99 minutes. We have four episodes to fill.

 

I have been asking for weeks for assistance in composing an episode dedicated to vampire features like "The Lost Boys" trilogy, "Near Dark", and the "Underworld" movies. Here is to hoping that this bunch of critiques will stir up some inspiration in my audience to step up and hold off on the garlic. If this is a topic you up for discussing, feel free to send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All I need is a half hour on Zoom to get this done.

I hope I am impressing or at the very least amusing you with this podcast and I am open to any and all criticism. My biggest want is more guests and more suggestions on what to chat about (@catbusruss, russthebus07@gmail.com@coolmoviesdarth). If we can get 3 hours out of "Little Nicky", the possibilities are endless. Thanks for visiting.

 

After WrestleMania Backlash, I will tell you that we need to take zombie pro wrestling back. My suggestion is that we finally get my low-budget zombie movie, "Main Event of the Dead" off the ground. The script lacks a lumberjack match, so you know it has got to be better than the "Army of the Dead" advertisement. Ask for a treatment or give me suggestions on how to get it to a crowd-sourcing stage with an email to russthebus07@gmail.com.

 

r/MoviePosterPorn

NinetyForChill The #Podcast: A 2nd Chance to Master the Schwartz and "Spaceballs"

   

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast

Episode 26: A 2nd Chance to Master the Schwartz and "Spaceballs"

The Schwartz Is Strong with ThePoeticCritic and The Kwazz

It is difficult to come up with an inclusive title for this podcast when it comes to my guests. I do not know how big a wrestling fan Jessica is. Can I picture her shouting, "I am the Kwazz. And I am Awwwesome!"?

Others titles I thought of were "Two Women Show the Parody More Respect than Disney Did the IP" or "Two Women Take "Star Wars" by the Schwartz (or Spaceballs)." Those seemed too wordy.

This week on NinetyForChill - The Podcast, Jessica Kwazz from the "Second Chance Movies Podcast" expresses her love for Mel Brook's "Spaceballs" while ThePoeticCritic returns with the history of how this feature became a classic. ThePoeticCritic and I discuss why "Star Wars" was nearly abandoned while Jessica regales us with her admiration of cinema's GREATEST franchise.

 

I did the best to put together the audio Jessica captured (and figure how to do that for myself) from last week. Since my side ended up not getting recorded (I blame being a Verizon customer and their history of not letting us multitask with their phones.), her conversing may sound weird, but her knowledge and articulation get her points across. And of course this geek is not going to exclude "Star Wars" content.

ThePoeticCritic on the other hand is not part of the cult of Lucas, so she provides us with a more balanced look on the history and making sure we know that there was a time where the "Star Wars" IP was just passé. This perception of the product might be why George Lucas would dismiss the criticism of the prequels because "They're kids movies". We also go on to discuss how the parody movie craze maybe remembered in a far fonder light than it should have been.

As for next week's show, I do not currently have that mapped out. It can be kept brief, but after England's defeat on Sunday, a person to converse with to get my mind off of that would be greatly appreciated. Send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com with a movie, theme, director, or actor. If you promise to center the topic around movies between 74 and 99 minutes, audio gold should be the product.

 

If you need some suggestions, movies like "Fear of a Black Hat", "UHF" and "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" can make for a great theme. ThePoeticCritic knew that Robert Downey Sr.'s satirical masterpiece, "Putney Swope" fits the pod's time restraints. There are also Tim Burton's early classics "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" and "Beetlejuice". Or we could just focus on movies Danny Elfman scored.

 

I have been asking for weeks for assistance in composing an episode dedicated to vampire features like "The Lost Boys" trilogy, "Near Dark", and the "Underworld" movies. Here is to hoping that this bunch of critiques will stir up some inspiration in my audience to step up and hold off on the garlic. If this is a topic you up for discussing, feel free to send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All I need is a half hour on Zoom to get this done.

 

 

I hope I am impressing or at the very least amusing you with this podcast and I am open to any and all criticism. My biggest want is more guests and more suggestions on what to chat about (@catbusruss, russthebus07@gmail.com@coolmoviesdarth). If we can get 3 hours out of "Little Nicky", the possibilities are endless. Thanks for visiting.

 

After WrestleMania Backlash, I will tell you that we need to take zombie pro wrestling back. My suggestion is that we finally get my low-budget zombie movie, "Main Event of the Dead" off the ground. The script lacks a lumberjack match, so you know it has got to be better than the "Army of the Dead" advertisement. Ask for a treatment or give me suggestions on how to get it to a crowd-sourcing stage with an email to russthebus07@gmail.com.

 

Event Horizon - Inspiration for Gory Bastardized Remakes?

 *Blog was post started on June 8, 2021.

Event Horizon - Inspiration for Gory Bastardized Remakes?

I am now on a leave of absence from my retail job, so I am acting like I have more energy. Too bad I am in the midst of a final 10-day work week. It might just be me feeling like I am on a winning streak. Dad already had some free VPN promos so I might have reduced my primary entertainment bill to just $85. That is for Internet and AEW Plus.

"American Gods" season 3 was concluded, so Starz is out of my streaming budget. Without Xfinity TV, my NJPW World subscription should get more use. Hulu is great for lunch breaks at work. HBO is still the best premium network, so I am not cutting that. Shudder is the only thing that I need to jump at adding. ESPN+ will be good for Euro 2020. It is tempting to just change the credit card numbers to my benefactor, but Experian says its good for my credit.

And my sports betting is getting back on track. If I learned anything after my earnings went from $600 to $400 is that the only blue I can trust are the Chicago Cubs. We could spin that into some ACAB humor, but I digress. Anyhow, frustration is the wrong way to react to this. The knowledge that my little brother has some losers (Toronto Maple Leafs) that he lovingly endures is just one more thing to bond over.

Enough of how I have been getting my introverted groove back, let us get into a baiting sub 100-minute movie review. This means I might need to listen to all of my friends' podcast, but do you really need an excuse to rewatch what maybe Paul W.S. Anderson's only classic feature on his resume?

"Event Horizon" is a 1990's horror classic, but I do not even know if it is Anderson's best movie. The man operates from derivatives, so nothing is ever expected of him. But, he is the only director that you expect cool 3-D from, so there is at least a niche he is filling and thus some talent. This leaves me to ponder if that was even present with his first American non-established IP film.

In 2040, the experimental spacecraft Event Horizon traveled to the orbit of Neptune to test its gravity drive. The intention of this was to create a mini black hole that would suck space time in allowing the craft to travel to a different location instantaneously. But the intentions of the craft were not made public, so all anyone is suppose to know is that the ship was lost. So it is quite the surprise for Captain Miller and the crew of the Lewis and Clark to find out that they are suppose to salvage this craft and rescue the crew seven years later.

The crew arrives at the craft to find it in a seemingly state of deep freeze. At subzero temperatures, surely the crew is dead, but life form readings are detectable through out the ship. As the crew inspects the ship, one of them, Justin, tries to turn the power back on. When this occurs, he seems to be sucked into the gravity drive and the accompanying power surge cause a breach of the Clark's hull. To survive, the entire crew has to board the Event Horizon while they wait on repairs to the ship that got them there.

Justin is essentially spat out of the gravity drive in a catatonic state. His rescuer describes the incident to Miller, but his believability is immediately questioned by Dr. Weir. Weir is accompanying the Clark's crew since he was one of the scientist who designed the ship. Logic and physics are soon thrown out the window as other crew members, including Miller, start seeing what can only be considered hallucinations. Miller's lieutenant has a theory. This theory is that whatever the life readings are must be creating these experiences.

Once Justin awakens only to soon enter an air lock without a spacesuit to run from the darkness he saw, surviving becomes paramount to actually finding out what happened. Too bad Dr. Weir does not see it that way.

My synopsis for "Event Horizon" may have excluded the pitch for this feature: Spaceship returns from hell. With that said, going with a gothic horror approach to the premise is unique when you consider that the video game "Doom" is very similar. Horror was on a downturn in the mid 90's as we recovered from 80's slasher fatigue, so this was a brave 60 million dollar gamble on the "Mortal Kombat" director. The initial loss was 20 million, but after home release, it is surprising that there were not attempts to capitalize on the IP.

In the end, the movie ended up managing to be a hit in some form, and that tends to indicate great quality. That quality is provided by the cast and script. Anderson's direction is adequate, but there are not many set pieces that show his strengths when it comes to directing. If anything, it seems to me that the off-and-on auteur can only see in 3-D. I do not find this to be a weakness though when you take in to account how his "Resident Evil" franchise was able to have three additional sequels solely because of 3-D filmmaking's popularity. A 3-D re-release with some polished computer-generated effects would be worth telling streamers to bugger off.

I implied that the special effects are not great when it comes to the CG. They may have been great for the time, but like "Mortal Kombat", FDR/HDR does not do them any favor.

If there was one more flaw, it is the pacing. This is gothic horror on a spaceship which had been done before in the greater classic, "Alien". When you move from one scene to the next without anytime to revel in the horror of the situation, you are watching for the cool suggestive imagery of hell instead of being at the edge of your seat. This is primarily the reason that I am not going to declare this feature to be Anderson's best. I am leaning towards the first "Resident Evil".

As I discussed with Andrew Tiede on NinetyForChill - The Podcast, Anderson seems to have an abundance of cool premises like Ivan Reitman when it comes to talented actors. They are really cannot miss ideas and as long as you catch it all on the frame, it should turn out alright. Unlike Reitman, the script can be lacking. Anderson can make everything look cool enough that you at least have something that can be on mute that fits in a lowly Downstate Illinois dance club. You cannot say that about "Twins".

Returning to the gothic horror elements, was this the feature to inspire the Dark Castle remakes of the late 90's and early 00's? This can be a goreless feature, apart from the air lock scene, but a lot of the films fans are there for the gory sets and eyeball removal. "Alien" was subtle with its gore being limited to the chestbuster. Did Dark Castle see this feature and just pick up on how the feature's devotees talk about the gore? Is this why we have "House on Haunted Hill" and "House of Wax" remakes that lack all of the charm of their predecessors?

"Event Horizon" is a film that had a greater impact than its box office indicates. It is a fun and entertaining bit of horror that has become more camp than it is scary. Too bad that any horror flick between this and torture porn strives to be this film because the hole it started to fill is still quite a void.

Pinterest @martinriggs1981

 

NinetyForChill.com - The Podcast - Episode 15: When in Doubt, Take It To the Outer Space (Opera)

Films Researched for this Episode: The Ice Pirates (1984), The Heist (1989), and Space Truckers (1996)

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast

Episode 15: When in Doubt, Take It To the Outer Space (Opera) (Just Press Play)

Read more: https://html.com/media/#ixzz6jIeBsAn5

After communicating with a girl for two weeks via online dating apps only to come out to a bar to meet her on a whim and then be ghosted as if 20 minutes in person showed that I am not meant for three dimensions, it is great to know I have family. I made it to the bar safely. There is no way that I reeked of the Midnight Moon Strawberry Moonshine that I was consuming as I recorded this week's podcast.

Was it that I was not impressed by her Chase "Darth Vader" debit card she paid for her meal with? I work in retail. There have been hundreds of those cards that I have seen. It is perplexing to develop a connection online only to not hear anything from her because of a per chance meeting did not go fantastic. Girls who have shot me down are more considerate.

This is just an indicator that I need my friends to step on and go beyond expressing interest in recording podcasts and actually commit to it. If free evenings were not a commodity, then I would not have to deal with bar meetings and actually get to know a person on a date. Consider my love life folks like I am considering your vacations.

With that said, the idea of a Danny Elfman and Tim Burton themed episode has been expressed on the Internet. I will not mention who I worked the concept out with, but I know others who are tempted to volunteer for it. Email me at russthebus07@gmail.com to find out more.

One of those who expressed interest was this week's guest, ThePoeticCritic. Like all of us sophisticated cinephiles, she dug all of their early collaborations from "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" to "Batman (and perhaps "Returns")". The closest thing to this concept that we really discuss in this episode is how I think "Mars Attacks" being released so soon after "Independence Day" perhaps prevented an early revival of the Space Opera that Stuart Gordon's "Space Truckers" could not jump on its own.

Letterboxd's The Poetic Critic and I examine the who/what/why/how the late 70's and early 80's fell in love with the concept of Jack Sparrow in space. Okay, the answer is "Star Wars" but lets give Stanley Kubrick some credit for "2001: A Space Odyssey" and more importantly "Silent Running" for setting the stage.

The biggest question we address is how did anyone think that creating galaxies could be done in 90 minutes. How much raping and pillaging can the "Ice Pirates" commit? Do all of Roger Corman's knock off count as a cinematic universe? How many space TV shows did the 70's have to offer? Should this genre have disappeared?

TPC and I share some debate on what constitutes a Space Opera and some of the features. She also points you in the direction of the best knock offs...or at least the most interesting ones that the world has to offer. 

As a bonus, I return to the "Ally's Accessories Shop of Etsy" trash features and look at the time between "Remington Steele" and "007 Goldeneye" by viewing the Pierce Brosnan starring feature, "The Heist" from 1989. It is good to see him playing Irish, but he might not be meant for 90 minutes (see "Survivor").

10 Best Gonzo Science Fiction Movies in the Whole - Gizmodo

Bad Taste: Peter Jackson, The WWE Intercontinental Championship, and Billy Corgan

 

 *Blog post started on October 16, 2020.

My three day weekend cannot come soon enough. The Staley blog network (NinetyForChill.com, MainEventOfTheDead.com, Russ's Remnants of Anime, and Disgruntled Real Championship Wrestling) are scheduled out to early November, so it will be a nice change of pace to not keep stockpiling content. The biggest problem for my blogs right now is a dependence upon wrestling content.

And with that said, I may as well address recent championship title changes in pro wrestling. "Bad Taste" is in the title of this blog post, and that is the general consensus of what people think the fans of that industry have. My personal taste says we fans should lean into that more, but when I suggest the Katie Vick was a fun angle, that opinion maybe disqualified.

As a horror and occasional raunchy comedy fan, I respect when the creators take something further than what the audience considers far enough. If Triple H did not toss the brains at the end of the funeral parlor segment, my thoughts about the angle would be that it was in poor taste. Once that poor taste has been taken to the bad realm, the imagination of the audience has been destroyed. To gain that kind of control is something I admire.

For my argument with Billy Corgan over poor versus bad taste, visit MainEventOfTheDead.com.

Why is the Intercontinental Championship a part of the blog title? Because the recent Sami Zayn angle behind it was done in bad taste. How do you end up stripping a champion because of COVID-19, but Brock Lesnar was never rushed to defend his championships over the past six years?

Is the Intercontinental Championship greater than the TNT Championship? See why it is not be visiting DRCWwrestling.blogspot.com.

The 149th Disgruntled's Real Ocho Champion

AEW TNT Champion Cody (3) (10/7/20).

It is tempting to declare Zayn as the champion because of the length of his reign, but again, he did not start his reign with a great win. Three-on-one handicap match against the champion versus a dog collar blood bath: Cody's title victory is the superior.

A blood bath serves as a perfect transition into how I finally got around to Peter Jackson's debut directorial effort, "Bad Taste". The prior night, I revisited the failed lesbian take on the already pretentious "Dead Poets Society", Canada's "Lost and Delirious". It ended up being a downer of a film on top of that, so I needed something to cleanse my pallet. "Young Adult" is still a disc that I need to open, but as a depressed writer, I did not think the feature was right to bounce back from patriarchal bullshit (The only valid thing about "Lost and Delirious outside a Graham Greene supporting role is that it took place in the current day, so making it about accepting teenage lesbians at an up tight boarding school a good premise.).

As I looked through my unwatched DVD's and Blu-rays, "Young Adult" was the only film under 97 minutes. Anything purchased on iTunes was either foreign or experimental, so I did not know if I had the attention span for those. So I turned to Amazon Prime's offerings, and "Bad Taste" beat out "Night of the Demons" as my choice to add to my 90-minute movie data base.

Was there really a choice between these two "classics"? It is an Academy Award winner B-movie versus the guy who directed the sequel to Charlie Sheen's "The Arrival". To director Kevin Tenney's credit, his movie called "Brain Dead" from 2007 did help inspire me to write my B-movie script, "Main Event of the Dead". Email russthebus07@gmail.com with any questions about my production.

Bad Taste

The Astro Investigation and Defense Service (a joke that may have been ahead of its time) is investigating the town of Kaihoro, New Zealand. There seems to be no locals present, just a group of men in identical blue work shirts and jeans. Barry and Derek are the advance team. 

Barry is quick to capture one of these men while Derek is being tracked by an axe-wielding simpleton who he destroys with his magnum. Based on the reaction the two have received upon arrival, Barry is certain these are not friendly aliens with glowing fingers but extra terrestrials who intend to end humanity. It is a good thing their action-loving team members Frank and Ozzy (Is this a Muppet joke?) are en route to this town.

With all this ruckus, a gang of these aliens mount a counter attack which results in Barry taking a fall that leaves him with a compound fracture of the skull. The team writes him off, but the persistence of Barry allows him to figure out ways to keep his brain matter in his cranium, but perhaps at the cost of his sanity. Unfortunately, our heroes cannot leave because a charity collector, Giles, had arrived before Frank and Ozzy could block the roads into town.

Giles is soon captured, so the boys are set on rescuing him. As they infiltrate the alien base, they discover what has happened to the town folk. The aliens represent Crum's Country Delights and they have decided that human beings will be the dish that will make them competitive in the intergalactic fast food market once again. Kaihoro maybe lost, but there is no way the AIDS team is going to let Lord Crum and his cronies introduce this new menu item to space car hops.

"Bad Taste" is a very cheap slash-stick comedy which is very amateur in nature, but successfully shows there is a great director behind it. Peter Jackson shot this film over four years on weekends and the New Zealand film board took notice of his dedication. The result is a great exercise in practical gore effects while being more amusing and easier for the squeamish to stand than the similar efforts of Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead".

This film was a passion project of Jackson who knew this feature just had to get made. He was going to give audiences a bad film though, so his clever direction allows us to forgive the features shortcomings. It is more than apparent that Jackson lacked the means to produce high art, but his short cuts allow the audience to be in on the joke that these cheats are.

Until the finale, the action starts as being a little too sloppy for its own good. It starts to feel long, but the once a chainsaw-wielding psychopath is introduced, it finds its groove and becomes a ball until the gory climax that was repeated in "Dead Alive" and was missing from all of his features after (I may need to rewatch "The Frighteners" and "Heavenly Creatures" to confirm the lack of rebirth sequences.). Darn PG-13 and its limitations.

Excellent gore, a John Carpenter styled soundtrack, and the sheer absurdness of "Bad Taste" make this feature a classic. The film becomes more polished as it moves along (probably because of the New Zealand government funding), so it feels like you are learning about film makings alongside the great auteur Peter Jackson. It also leaves you missing the gory beauty that he was producing, but would you trade it for "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy? With the sheer amount of false endings in "Return of the King", perhaps.

90-Min Netflix DVD - "Silent Running" Great Message in a Pre Space Opera World

I finally got to that physician assistant appointment, and I do not know if I can say that was a good idea. A haircut could have probably taken care of my contact dermatitis. The need for them to build a profile of me has led to me being borderline anxious, and in turn, I realize all the stress I am dealing with now as my family is settling into the true retirement lifestyle. Being challenged to lose 10 pounds in a month led me think that I took on the bank's health insurance just to be judged.

I will give her some credit, she is hoping that I get healthy enough to no longer need such high amounts of medication. My past doctor was a live and let be kind of guy. Her efforts were so appreciative that "nihilism helps" was not one of my responses.

I am in a very misunderstood place and that has been all of my adulthood. You need to try and understand, not give up me.

And that is how you transition from my depressing life to 1972's "Silent Running". It is a film about people giving up on inconvenient things despite the beauty that they offer.

When it comes to beauty, I do not think I offer much. Just call me the reincarnation of Louis the Drone. If only I had space on my robot wrist to memorialize him.

Silent Running

Humans have given rabbits a run for their money in terms of breeding, but with a lack of suitable planets to colonize, how are they to come up with space for all of the people. Since deforestation never slowed down, clearing the world of vegetation and relying on synthetically constructed food, homo sapiens can survive on Earth indefinitely. It is even easier to be an Earthling because to keep up the means to create a comfortable 75-degree weather across the planet, everyone has a job. Humanity triumph over nature results in a comfort no one should reject.

Of course there was resistance to the idea of destroying all of the forests and encouraging mass extinctions in the name of progress. To address the naysayers, American Airlines Galactic Shipping have devoted a fleet of ships to maintain terrariums. Once the planet can allow for forestations, they will be transplanted back to Earth.

Be it the bottom line or just a dead soil, it is eventually determined that it is just too much work to maintain these galactic forests. The crews of these ships for the most part seem to agree, and they welcome the opportunity to nuke them all and head back home. Only one person thinks differently and determines that the beauty of nature must live on at any cost. This person is Freeman Lowell.

Lowell makes the rash decision to kill his fellow crewmates and make a run for the outer reaches of the solar system. Faking an accident to allow him to take this adventure on, he determines the vastness of space will prevent search parties and any chance for humans to finish the job of eliminating anything that is wild. The question is, can one man and a set of drone robots maintain the best parts of Earth, let alone Freeman's sanity?

"Silent Running" is a beautifully shot film with a lead character who is explored extremely well for a feature with a 89-minute runtime. For a viewer like me who has only seen Bruce Dern portray cranky, borderline evil old men, it was quite refreshing to see him portray a character that we sympathize with. But, if you want that cranky nature, he is still portraying someone who wants you to stay off his grass.

The set design and outer space scenes look marvelous. It made me wonder why it took Hollywood another five years before we got "Star Wars". I would dare say the special effects still hold up to George Lucas's original trilogy's standards. This film was from a time where science fiction was primarily there to teach us,  and with the Joan Baez soundtrack, you could not justify that this space film to warrant dog fights.

There only being one character to focus on and relate to, the film does not need extra special effect sequences. You see Lowell as a crusader who knows there is no going back to what he was suppose to be. The film is about him accepting that and how we need to be more willing to prevent a so called dystopia/utopia that require no effort. Its story nearly pulls at every emotion, and you leave feeling exhilarated going on such a thorough and brief journey.

I have long needed to give "Logan's Run" a thorough rewatch. "Silent Running" left me feeling like I had just watched the most important pre-"Star Wars" science fiction feature of the 1970's. To go and claim that it is without rewatching "Run" would be irresponsible.

I thought this would give me a reason to also rewatch "Rollerball", but their is a sense of that feature being grounded in a more relatable reality. Douglass Trumbull's directorial debut takes you to another world that you are glad to visit and hope will never become a reality. Who does not want to chase someone down in roller skates to knock them out with a studded glove? I can live with corporations ruling everything. I cannot live without trees.

Pinterest - PopCultArt

Pinterest - PopCultArt - https://www.pinterest.com/popcultartco

"See No Evil 2:" Will There be 12 Rounds for Kane?

 

90-min. Prime Video: "Forbidden World" Away from the Bernie Bros

*Blog started on April 11, 2020.

Maybe I have lost some of my passion for politics. Acquaintances from Morton are sharing and reacting positively to my Facebook posts. What does it take to get unfollowed? I guess my tolerance for bullshit is gone. This week has led me to unfollow anyone implying that they are not going to vote for Joe Biden.

It all ends up being a conspiracy by the baby boomers. Millennials were given everything growing up, so they feel entitled. Thus, they need to get their way or no one gets their way. Their parents were playing the long game. Be pushed around and underappreciated by your crotch fruit so that these twats feel like the world owes them just as much as you. Hillary Clinton fairly beat Bernie Sanders, so they voted against all of their interests instead of protecting some of them via Jill Stein or Donald Trump.

The rode to hell is paved with good intentions. How else did you expect me to transition this rant to a Roger Corman movie? He knew that we needed "Alien" and "Star Wars" to feature over-the-top gore and female nudity, but what we got was a cinematic purgatory in "Forbidden World.

Forbidden World (1982)

Being awoken to battle some space pirates, Troubleshooter Mike Colby's robot custodian SAM-104 advises him that he has received a new assignment. The two are to head to planet Xarbia to contain a research experiment that may have gone wrong or horrendously right. Dr. Hauser and his team have been trying to develop a new food source to solve all galactic hunger concerns by creating organisms with Proto-B DNA. It seems a noble cause, but because it is playing God, they are isolated on this deep space planet.

This new DNA's metamorphic nature puts into question who is actually playing the all mighty on high. The latest mutation decided to kill all of other test subjects before cocooning itself in the lab. Its violent nature leaves Colby believing that it needs to be terminated, but Hauser and his primary assistants want to see how this plays out...even after it attacks the janitor and escapes the lab. 

Technically, the cleaning guy is still alive, just dissolving into protein with a pulse. That sounds like a fate worse than death, so the majority of the crew is ready to side with Colby's intentions. The minority seems a little to eager to further study the events, so everyone will eventually be on the same page, but will they have enough numbers to battle the large-toothed, intelligent insectoid that it has become?

IMDb.com - Forbidden Planet

Roger Corman's importance to cinema should make his last name an entry in the Oxford Dictionary. Aside that word should be the primary poster for "Forbidden World". It tells you the film knows what you want, but this is still a deal with the devil.

A few months ago, I had watched the Corman-produced "Galaxy of Terror". It was entertaining enough despite a haphazard story, so I expected this feature to be the same. Aside from the reuse of James Cameron designed sets and overall tackiness, this film lacks the originality of its predecessor, and once we witness the space dog fight (from Corman-produced "Battle Beyond the Starts") and concept of hypersleep, you know you are just settling into a cheap knock off of the biggest sci-fi of the time.

The acting is hindered by everyone trying to be either hip or sexy, with our male cast focusing on being David Carradine hot, so it feels like 2000's indie wrestling. Its special effects are all around laughable with an Ed Wood equivalent monster as the villain and a robot that just misses the mark. There are some good gore effects too start, but it all just becomes a mess of red and transparent gelatin by the end of the flick.

Despite all of its flaws, it does show the beauty of a good Corman production. In trying to differentiate itself from what it is ripping off, possible inspiration for classic films are present. The monster's development is very much like 1995's metamorphic alien film "Species", and the demise of the beast is very similar to the end of "Species 2". It attempts to improve on some of the sequences from "Alien", which you have to applaud the effort, and in turn offers up devices that may have been used in that film's sequels.

If anything beyond the production values can be said to have aged poorly, it is all the female nudity, but I can defend that. "Game of Thrones" first season is classic television and it shows us that sexposition is still a valid storytelling device.

With some Clark & Sheffield Vodka, Kahlua and Meijer's brand Italian Sweet Crème Coffee Creamer, "Forbidden World" was a fun experience. If you can talk some friends into watching it with you, there are few better celebrations of mediocrity. This is not art, but you will not feel dirty seeing classic films being subverted and perverted. You can accept that is just part of the deal if a flick has been labeled a Roger Corman Cult Classic.

IMDb.com - Forbidden Planet