Thursday, April 1, 2021
Thursday, February 4, 2021
SUPER FANTASTIC TERRIFIC SHOW #53 – WONDER WOMAN 1984
Our latest Podcast is now online.
This time we discuss Wonder Woman
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http://www.superfantasticterrific.com/super-fantastic-terrific-show-53-wonder-woman-1984/
SUPER FANTASTIC TERRIFIC SHOW #52 – CHRISTMAS MOVIE REVIEWS
Our latest Podcast is now online.
This time we discuss Christmas Movies
http://www.superfantasticterrific.com/super-fantastic-terrific-show-52-christmas-movie-reviews/
SUPER FANTASTIC TERRIFIC SHOW #51 – DISASTER MOVIES
Our latest Podcast is now online.
This time we discuss Disaster Movies
http://www.superfantasticterrific.com/super-fantastic-terrific-show-51-disaster-movies/
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Battle Beyond the Stars 1980 5 out of 10 (Star Wars Rip-off # 3)
Battle Beyond the Stars 1980 5 out of 10
The next Star Wars rip-off I dug into was Battle Beyond the Stars from 1980. This was another odd one. The film is basically a silly version of The Seven Samurai in space. A villain played by John Saxon has threatened a small planet and the peaceful people decide to hire some fighters to protect them. They send John Boy from the Walton's into space to get help without any way of paying for it. The first hour of the film has him way too easily getting a bunch of random aliens and people to help him fight for the planet. The crew he assembles includes George Peppard as a guy named Space Cowboy and Robert Vaughn as a mysterious hired gun known throughout the galaxy.
The movie was super corny and cheesy - but actually had some decent editing and special effects in the space battles that made it seem more exciting than it should be. Famed director James Cameron worked on the films special effects - so that may be why that part of the film stood out. Other than the effects the story was just unremarkable and not very memorable.
Star Crash 1978 5 out of 10 (Star Wars rip-off # 2)
One of the co-hosts of the podcast recently sent me a Youtube video of some Star Wars rip-offs and I was intrigued and had to see them for myself. The first one I watched was Star Crash which I hadn't previously heard of for some reason.
This film starred sci-fi hottie Caroline Munro as Stella Star the bikini clad hero of the film. The name didn't immediately ring a bell -but when I looked her up her previous work was familiar. She was Bond Girl in Spy Who Loved Me and was also in the Golden Voyage of Sinbad..
The film itself was pretty unremarkable. There were aliens sidekicks (one with a bullet head and odd cowboy accent). There were laser swords and a villain with a planet destroying weapon -- but the plot was pretty thin. Stella Star is an outlaw smuggler that is enlisted to help the Emperor rescue his son and destroy the evil super weapon. The characters stop at several planets in search of the lost ship and encounter a tribe of Amazon woman with a giant metal robot straight out of something Ray Harryhausen flick. On a different planet they bump into some prehistoric looking mutants before finally rescuing David Hasellhoff. Together they break into the villains lab and have to fight off a couple of duck looking metal robots. These robots looked like the insides of some Disney animatronic (not very menacing) The film then ends with some odd space battle that doesn't even involve the main characters as they watch from the Emperor's ship.
After watching several of these Star Wars rip-offs and the Flash Gordon film from the 1980's I'm shocked that George Lucas was able to pull off Star Wars the way he did. Star Wars caught magic in a bottle. Star Wars just worked - when it could have so easily ended up forgettable like most of the Star Wars rip-offs that followed in its footsteps. I'm glad I checked out Star Crash just to see what it was unfortunately it was no diamond in the rough --- instead it was just rough. It had silly plot that just seemed pieced together and some goofy characters.
Friday, November 13, 2020
SUPER FANTASTIC TERRIFIC SHOW #50 – ALL THINGS MANDALORIAN
Our latest Podcast is now online. This time we discuss The Mandalorian
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Project Power 2020 8 out of 10. (Netflix Movie)
Project Power 2020 8 out of 10. (Netflix Movie)
Finally a direct to Netflix movie worth watching. The film had a terrific cast. It was basically an interesting Super Hero meets cop drug story. I would give it points for originality --expect for the fact that the drugs that could give people super powers actually reminded me of the Inhumans story line on Agents of Shield from a couple years back. The angle of making it a drug that someone could take and the powers only being temporary gave the story and interesting angle and the strong cast made for a surprisingly compelling story. I'd definitely say that this take on a superhero tale was worth a watch.
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Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Portals 2019 5 out of 10 (Quick Thoughts)
Portals 2019 5 out of 10
This movie had a really cool concept like something out of an Arthur C Clarke novel- but instead of trying to tell one really good story involving the concept it ended up telling 3 mediocre stories. The idea of a bunch of mysterious portals showing up all over the earth was such a cool idea. It almost feels like the creatives behind this had this original concept --but couldn't agree so instead told three versions of what it could be instead of just really concentrating on one great idea of what it was. It made for a movie that had potential -- but didn't live up to it.
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Monday, November 2, 2020
Palm Springs 2020. 8+ out of 10. (Time Travel Movie #20)
Palm Springs 2020. 8+ out of 10. (Time Travel Movie #20)
I'm not a huge Andy Sandberg fan --but the second I found out it was a Time Loop movie I was in. Since 2020 has been such a crazy year and literally almost all 2020 movies have been either delayed or sent straight to streaming this may actually end up being my favorite film of the year. It plays around with the concept of a time loop in the same way as the movie Groundhog's Day did --except the main character starts the movie out having already been in the time loop for quite some time and the twist is a couple other people have over time become trapped in the loop as well. The way the movie has fun with and plays with this concept was a delight. The main character almost just plays around with the world as if he is in a video game because he has been stuck in this loop for so long. We get to see this loop more through the eyes of the girl from the wedding that he wakes up as a guest of everyday since she is new to the loop. Just writing this blog makes me like the film better. This may be the kind of film that I like more upon repeated viewings. If you enjoyed Groundhog's Day and like Time Loop flicks I would rank this as a must see fun comedy film.
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Sunday, November 1, 2020
It Came From he Desert 2017. 5 out of 10. (Quick thoughts)
It Came From he Desert 2017. 5 out of 10.
The trailer and poster gave me false hope that it could be better than it was. It was an average Giant Ant film with motorbikes. I was hoping the film was going to be funnier. The trailer gave the impression that it was more of a parody of these types of movies, but it just fell kind of flat in the delivery.
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Friday, October 30, 2020
Beyond the Time Barrier 1960 4 out of 10 (Time Travel Movie # 19)
Beyond the Time Barrier 1960 4 out of 10
I'm a sucker for anything Time Travel Related and I got some suggested movies that came to my attention on Amazon Prime. Beyond the Time Barrier from 1960 has a great poster -- unfortunately the movie was just so-so. The story follows a military test pilot that ends up going through a time wrap that during a test flight and ends up in the year 2024 (the distant future back then). Of course as in most of these old time travel movies the future is a bleak place thanks to a plague (oh crap).
(Apparently all the mutants shop at the same store.)
The theme of the story was cool -but the plot moved along slowly and there were too many scenes of just dialogue. I felt like I've seen better and more interesting versions of similar stories in old Twilight Zone episodes so as a movie this left me really underwhelmed.
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Thursday, October 29, 2020
Terminator: Dark Fate 2019 5 out of 10 (Time Travel Movie # 18)
Terminator: Dark Fate 2019 5out of 10 (Time Travel Movie # 18)
I have to be honest ..... I was really disappointed with this film. It brought back Linda Hamilton --who has been absent from the franchise since T-2. It brought back James Cameron (at least being involved in the series again) and it brought back an older more out of shape Arnold. Honestly watching this film made me really question whether Disney should do Indy 5 with Harrison Ford. I don't mean to be mean --but bringing back Linda Hamilton seemed like a good idea on paper -but instead of the bad-ass I remember from T-2, I felt like I was watching someones grumpy old grandma going on adventures.
Instead of following the events of the past Terminator (which I enjoyed) the series tries unsuccessfully to reboot itself yet again further damaging the brand. It is like some weird attempt at doing a bad sequel to T-2. It takes the franchise in another new direction where apparently John Connor has been killed by an Arnold Terminator after Skynet was stopped and yet further in the Timeline the robots still rise and now a new girl is the one that will lead the rebellion. I didn't find myself liking any of the new characters that were introduced to the franchise. The story seemed uninspired and unoriginal. It was only watchable because there were some fun action sequences in the film. As a Terminator fan I would consider this film an unnecessary watch. Box office wise this sixth installment was a disaster and may have permanently damaged a once thriving series.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Terminator Genisys 2015 9 out of 10 (Time Travel Movie # 17)
Terminator Genisys 2015 9 out of 10
The original Terminator was a terrific time travel action movie done on a low budget and starring a pretty much unknown at the time Arnold Schwarzenegger. By the time they made the sequel T-2 Arnold was the biggest movie star in the world. T-2 had cutting edge special effects and is one of the best sci-fi action movies ever made in my opinion. It was a non stop roller coaster ride and a box office success. The first 2 films were a perfect 1-2 punch--but of course like many other franchises --whether the story dictates it or not they keep trying to cash in on the franchise name. There was a third Terminator without James Cameron's involvement which was a good action packed film - but was the first piece in ruining the story laid out in the first 2 films. It is almost like the franchise just abandoned all concept of connecting with the previous films which is why this once powerful franchise is less valuable today. Sure some of the films were still enjoyable --but the franchise gets ruined a little with each unconnected film.
That being said I personally enjoyed Terminator Genisys as a solo film on its own. If T-3 and Terminator Salvation hadn't already happened this soft reboot that took some of the basic ideas from the original film and went in a new direction with them was satisfying to watch. This film brought Arnold back deaged to look like he did in 1984. It follows the Kyle Reese character sent back from 2029 to 1984 to stop Sarah Conners death (played by the talented Emilia Clarke). When Kyle arrives in 1984 he finds that the past he thought he was being sent to has already been altered and the clueless girl he thought he was supposed to protect has been raised by a reprogrammed older Arnold. If the two previous films in the franchise hadn't happened this would have been an excellent addition to the franchise. Unfortunately as a fan you pretty much have to pick and choose which films you personally consider canon to make any of the films work together. I just really wish the franchise could have been run better from the beginning. It is a shame that T-2 was so amazing and the franchise never even got close to being that good again.
Putting the franchise issues aside, I really enjoyed this film much more than a lot of other people apparently did. I thought the action and story were fun. I actually loved Emilia Clarke way better than Linda Hamilton from the original 2 Terminator films. The old Arnold versus the younger Arnold was a cool element.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Flight That Disappeared 1961 6 out of 10
Flight That Disappeared 1961 6 out of 10
While on a flight from Los Angeles to Washington DC for an important meeting a plane that continues to climb despite the pilots best efforts to stop it. A couple important passengers find themselves stuck in a strange dimension where they are put on trial for events that haven't occurred yet. This movie feels like a Twilight Zone episode. The concept of the story is cool --but it gets a little preachy during the trial which basically puts the characters on trial for creating a powerful weapon that hasn't happened yet. The film feels at times like it could be a stage play since it basically takes place in only two sets the plane and the trial in the dimension without time, The film is basically equivalent to a good yet not great episode of either Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits. If you go into it with that expectation you may enjoy it.
Sunday, October 25, 2020
The Time Travelers 1964 5 out of 10 (Time Travel Movie # 16)
The Time Travelers 1964 5 out of 10
The Story of the film revolves around a group of scientists who find their time-viewing screen allows them to travel through time as they literally walk through it and into the future. Once through the portal they encounter some mutants (guys in store bought bald caps) that immediately made me think of the movie within the movie in Strange Brew. A long chase scene down a desert canyon leads them into a cave where the last humans are surviving and preparing to leave the dying earth. At this point the pace of the film slows down and drags a bit as they talk and live with these future scientists. It has some interesting stuff like the strange Androids that are quite freakish looking that would have actually made for better mutants.
(Creepy Androids)
The conclusion of the film helps to make up for the middle section as the mutants attack just as the spacecraft is about to leave earth. A battle occurs between humans, their creepy android servants and mutants leading to a cool and intriguing ending. All and all it was a watchable film that showed some potential (at least in some of the concept) but that fell flat in some areas that left it just so-so in the end.
Trailer
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Saturday, October 24, 2020
Gemini Man 2019 6 out of 10
Gemini Man 2019 6 out of 10
Gemini Man is a decent action film that centers on a character (played by Will Smith) who is a super elite assassin who has decided to retire. The people who he works for don't like that idea an try to take him out as they consider him a loose end. It turns out the assassin sent to kill him is a younger clones version of himself.
The movie has some fun action sequences and a decent story --but I really had a hard time accepting one point in the film. They establish at the start of the film that he is such an amazing assassin that he was able to kill a man from a long distance on a moving train and yet when he ends up battling himself both of them have the accuracy of a couple of stormtroopers shooting cans in the desert. If you can get past that fact which I considered a flaw in the film you may enjoy it. It is definitely worth a watch at home if you haven't seen any decent action flicks in awhile.
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