Friday B-Movie Pick: Remo Williams
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins
Based on the long running pulp book series “The Destroyer”, Remo Wiliams: The Adventure Begins is the only screen version of the approximately 150 book series. The cast is actually pretty good, with Joel Grey, Wilford Brimley, Fred Ward and for you Star Trek geeks out there, Kate Mulgrew. Don’t expect high art, but it is fun to watch.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Princess of Mars
A deliciously low budget adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic. Updated a bit, John Carter is no longer a Civil War veteran (from the losing side), but a Marine in Afghanistan. Traci Lords was the “name” actor in this flick, but poorly cast as Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium. The movie was shot on an obvious shoestring budget and was shot in an amazing short time. Just 12 days to shoot a SciFi adventure story by one of the classic writers of the genre. Ya, the acting was bad, the script so-so, and the Tharks only have two arms. Still, not too shabby for the budget they had. I’m betting most Hollywood “indies” couldn’t pull off a feature film with the time and budget constrants this crew had to work with.
Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer
Pretty damn spot on.
Friday B-Movie: The January Man
From 1989 comes this nicely done murder mystery, were tracking down the serial killer is only half the mystery. The cast is top notch. It includes Kevin Kline, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Susan Sarandon, Harvey Keitel and Danny Aiello. They really breath some life into a so-so script and make this movie worth watching.
Quote of the Day
“The reason the first three Star Wars movies were so terrific, and the second three sucked so bad, is actually very simple. The first three were about rebels, shooting guns and driving fast, and speaking with American accents. The second three were about politicians, discussing treaties and holding court, and speaking with British accents.”
Bill Whittle, LAND OF THE MOSTLY FREE, HOME OF THE OCCASIONALLY BRAVE
You can also watch Mr. Whittle deliver the entire speech at PJTV.
Friday B-Movie Pick: The Bourne Identity
Not the big budget action flick with dumb looking dummy from Team America, but the 1989 made for TV movie version. This version had the reigning King and Queen of 1980s TV movies, Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith. Deliciouly bad, and Jaclyn Smith’s performance reminded me of Sally Field’s performance in Soapdish, which was made two years later.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Jake Speed
A wonderfully campy tip of the hat to the pulp novel series: The Executioner, The Death Merchant, Nick Carter, and yes, the classic are included. Doc Savage is mentioned by name!
Friday B-Movie Pick: Love at First Bite
From 1979 comes this comic send up of the Dracula legend with a great comic cast. George Hamilton as the Count, Artie Johnson as Renfield, Richard Benjamin as the decendent of Von Helsing (who changed his name to Rosenberg for “professional reasons”), and Susan St. James as the love interest of both Rosenberg and Dracula. The movie starts out with Dracuala being kicked out of Romania by the Communist government and moving to New York City. It is a period piece (late 1970s, complete with a big dance number at a disco), but the gags are great and the cast really delivers.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Walk Hard
Walk Hard – The Dewey Cox Story
This musical bio-pic mockumentary takes on multiple musical bio-pics, but mostly the very well done Johnny Cash story, Walk the Line. John C. Reilly is a great pick, since he does all his own singing and guitar playing, which he actually does quite well! The rest of the cast is quite funny and the music is really good too! Yes, I bought the soundtrack CD.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Forbidden Planet
This SciFi classic hit the screen in 1956. It had a very good cast, including Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen as the dashing young spaceship Captain. It was also the first time Robbie the Robot was seen! Beware the Creatures of the Id!