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Bliss (1985)
An Advertiser's Journey To Hell (And Back?)
I'm one of those people who asks a lot of my entertainment media and I don't often become seriously engaged with them, but every once in a while an opportunity presents itself and I become engrossed. Bliss is one of those movies. One of the things that I often say is that "there is always a good story in a movie and it's up to the director as to whether or not it's told bad or good". Bliss' story is not a particularly complex one, but it's told well, exceptional well. It focuses on a man named Harry Joy, an advertising agent who's celebrating his birthday, who out of the blue has a heart attack. When he's eventually revived, he becomes an entirely different person, believing his immediate family to be sinister mimics after a grim afterlife encounter which Harry believes to have been "hell".
Thereafter he seeks redemption by undoing everything wrong that is within his control and meets Honey Barbra, a granola street walker who lives in the sticks and adores fresh honey. Harry and Honey Barbra later fall in love and I think that's about as much the movie as I can discuss without delving too heavily into spoilers.
Bliss is just that, a Blissful movie-going experience that deserves far more attention than it gets as an "Ozploitation" film
Mr. Robot: eps1.1_ones-and-zer0es.mpeg (2015)
Choices
After an unbelievably engrossing pilot, Mr. Robot hurls us deeper into the rabbit hole that is the life and tribulations of Elliot Alderson. This episode, while having the very simple premise of "choices", expounds on it in a way that almost mirrors some of the greatest linguistic poets of our time. Everything merely tricks us into believing that there is more to the shades of "black and white" that consume our everyday lives. Coke and Pepsi, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, McDonalds and Burger King I love the direction this show is headed in and I applaud USA for picking up such a daringly different and bold series
Last Action Hero (1993)
The Parody To End All Parodies
During the better half of 1980's and 1990's, action movies were huge, and even that can be considered a vast understatement. Full of explosions, cheesy one liners, and over the top characterizations, this genre was just BEGGING for a parody. While "Hot Shots! Part Deux" did an admirable job, Last Action Hero is the absolute "last word" on the subject of "action movie parodies" as it takes an already takes an established "beefcake" action star like good ol' Arnie and thrusts him into the spotlight as the mega-hit cop hero, Jack Slater.
The film centers around a delinquent kid named Danny who skips school constantly so he can watch movies (namely Jack Slater Films) in a rundown theater run by a kindly old man. The old timer offers to show Danny an advance screening of the latest Jack Slater film provided he attends school. And he does so after being mugged in his own home and having day dreams of Arnold (who also plays himself along with Jack Slater) starring in a much more action oriented version of the film adaptation of Hamlet during class. When Danny arrives at the cineplex, he's given a magical ticket by the old man who says that it was given to him by Harry Houdini. Later on, while Danny is enjoying the movie, the ticket sparkles and he's instantly thrust into the celluloid world of Jack Slater who's hot on the case of Tony Vivaldi. And Jesus, this film plays "homage" to so many action film tropes that it is quite honestly INSANE. Cops dying three days before retirement, the henchmen double crossing his incompetent boss. the hero getting his badge revoked during an important case, etc, etc, etc The tropes are openly mocked as well as celebrated and I feel is the biggest underlying theme of this movie: the celebration, not mockery, of action movies. And what's strange is how many people see Arnold's other film "Commando" (1985) as a parody movie (namely Doug Walker, alias "The Nostalgia Critic") and view "Last Action Hero" as some shlocky mess of a film that can only be laughed at "ironically".
Bottom line: If you like Action Movies and a good bit of satire, get Last Action Hero
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007)
Braindead, But Enjoyable
"Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" is probably one of the most notorious shows to air on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. It gave rise to a great deal of "stoner humor" that now permeates a lot of it's programming. For a long time, I kind of detested it, and I still kind of do. But there are some aspects of the show that are indeed funny. Not to mention others that are just plain awkward, nausea inducing, and borderline strange overall.
Predating Awesome Show was of course "Tom Goes To The Mayor" which follows a lot more of the conventions of situational humor. Sort of makes one wonder what was the drive in creating such a sharp contrast in this very surreal sketch comedy show.
It's enjoyable to some, namely the ones who are somehow under the impression that it's somehow "subtle" and "intelligent" and not on the level of Family Guy in terms of comedic sensibilities. But a big head scratcher for many. Then again, it's best to keep in mind that all humor, even Tim & Eric's brand, is very subjective and open to interpretation
WNUF Halloween Special (2013)
Viewer Beware, You're In For A Scare
"WNUF Halloween Special" is one of the many "found footage" movies that have cropped up in the last decade. "Supposedly" this special was aired in the late 80's on a local UHF station. Afterwards, all known copies were destroyed and the event was forgotten about, until now (Blah blah blah, you know the gist of these things) Basically a news reporter, a paranormal investigator husband and wife team (along with their cat) and a priest, seek to unravel the rumored haunting of a local house where a son killed his parents after being told to do so by ghosts that he communicated with via a Ouija board.
Surprisingly the film is very authentic, looking exactly like a 3rd or 4th generation VHS tape, complete with "modern for the time" commercials with varying degrees of cheese. And while not too terribly frightening (to me at least), it does build atmosphere, which a lot of "found footage" films are sorely lacking.
Definitely worth a viewing
The Heart, She Holler (2011)
A Gothic Southern Tale Of Mystery And Suspense
"The Heart, She Holler" is a 2011 live-action adult swim series revolving around the extremely rural town of the Heartshe Holler, run by Hoss Holler. At the time of his death, he lives a video will entrusting the safety and well being of the Holler to his son Hurlan who was "tucked away in a hidey hole when he wasn't be one minute old".
Hurlan's main job post Hoss's departure is to protect the town secret that no one is really aware off and prevent his sisters Hearshe and Hambrosia from gaining control of the Holler.
The show is really something of a head scratcher, it's not completely terrible (something that's quite rare for live action adult swim programming), but it's not necessarily that great either.
Maybe the show's faults will be rectified come the second season which is to air sometime in September of 2013
Final Cut (1993)
Half Baked Film That Can't Even Decide It's Own Genre
Final Cut is a 1993 Thriller directed and written by Chris Lechler. It stars Chip Flanagan as Lance, a young man who has recently lost his father. Upset and confused, he leaves home to start work on a documentary of his travels as a hitch hiker. After sleeping next to a dead skunk on the side of the road, he meets a guy named Buck, who's about to start work on a film based on Lance's favorite book, "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac. But things are not always as they seem.....
I really don't know how to put this film into words but it's pretty dull and half of the time it really can't decide where it's going. It's half a "coming of age film", half "city slicker noir", half "horror/slasher movie", and half "snuff film". When you start mildly enjoying one section, it drunkenly swerves into another, which hurts an otherwise moderately entertaining film.
Expect plenty of "tomato juice" blood.
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad (1994)
A daring attempt to revamp Ultraman
Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad (also known as Lightning Superman Gridman in Japan) was brought over to the states by DIC in an attempt to dethrone Mighty Morphin Power Rangers after Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills (which also had some very Ultraman like elements to it) had failed.
The show, which at times is VERY in line with the source material, is about a young teen named Sam Collins and his three friends who play in a band called Team Samurai. One day Sam is mysteriously sucked into his computer and bonds with an anti-virus program called Servo in an attempt to take out a rouge government computer program named Kilokhan and his lackey Malcom Frink, who supplies him with digitally scanned artwork of monsters which he uses to create "mega-virus monsters" so that they can wreck havoc on the digital world.
To assist Servo are "helper programs" that are piloted by his band mates. There's Vitor (a red jet fighter), Borr (a mobile unit with twin drill bits), and Tracto (a tank with two laser guns on the sides). Servo combines with these to obtain powerful armor that transforms him into "Samurai Synchro" in order to better combat Kilokhan's minions. There is also Jamb and Torb, which create "Samurai Phomo". Jamb can also be used as a projectile flamethrower, not to mention that the two can form their own independent mecha. Same with Vitor, Borr, and Tracto.
Now do keep in mind that this show came out when the internet was in it's infancy. The show could hardly be called a success in it's home country, but surprisingly it did rather well here. Had it been released or conceptualized a bit later, it probably wouldn't have been just a footnote in Eastern Superhero culture.
All in all though, the show is very enjoyable and I'd dare to say that it's even BETTER than Power Rangers, but that's just my own opinion So if you like Ultraman, Megaman NT Warrior, & Tron, then do yourself a favor and seek this show out You WILL NOT regret it, trust me
Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues (1983)
And The Legend Continues, For No One To Hear About, Ever
Boggy Creek II & The Legend Continues, periods and all, was an attempt by the director of the original Boggy Creek (Charles B. Pierce) to say "Piss Off" to the man who decided to make a sequel to his glorious shlock of a film.
And Charles B. Pierce takes that hate, molds it, shapes it, and passes it onto you.
The film is about a college professor and his students who get a call saying that there has been sightings of the skunk ape Sasquatch known as the Boggy Creek Creature and hightails it up to the remote countryside of Arkansas in the hopes of trying to document it And without giving too much else away, I will say this, what started off as an idea to incorporate "leave nature as it was intended" into a bigfoot movie turned a redneck booty-short fantasy land of laughable attempts at acting This isn't to say that the film still isn't enjoyable, very much the opposite I've watched it ten times, each viewing offering something more to savor from the mind of the late Mr. Pierce
Satsujin ken 2 (1974)
You can never trust anybody who speaks that much jive....
If you ever had a single reason to doubt the greatness of Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris, Sonny Chiba in the role of Terry Tsurgi, a deadly half-breed assassin for hire, will make you a believer that they're ammeters in every sense of the word.
Continuing from the last film, "The Street Fighter", Terry is hired once again by the Yakuza to take out two former members who could very easily disclose some very important info to the cops, namely that the boss is hoarding money in order to build a fake dojo. Joining him is his partner Kitty, a jive talking embodiment of the seventies who loves popping in 8-tracks in Terri's "gettaway car" and grooving the hell out.
And yet me just say, if you are squeamish around blood or violence, DO NOT WATCH THIS.
This quite possibly the most brutal kung fu film ever made, but that's what makes it so great.
For instance, there's a scene in the spa which turns out to be a trap set up by the Yakuza. Terry throws half the men into a sauna, locks the door, and jacks up the heat to the point where the crime stooges are broiled alive.
But honestly the violence is what makes it so beautiful and so memorable because it's done on such a intricate level of insanity that you can't help but laugh. Terry does these things, these viciously savage inhumane things in order to honor the memory of his father, to let no man overtake, to let nobody else be "the number one man".
If you are any sort of Kung Fu buff, or simply just a fan of Eastern cinema, you owe it to yourself to watch this over and over again with your friends, by yourself, with estranged family members Because no one should be without knowledge of the greatness that is Sonny Chiba