Movie version of the classic Robert A. Heinlein short story, “All You Zombies.” Remarkably true to the story, down to the dialogue, with an added layer of complexity added to make the story movie length. A very well made movie based on perhaps the best time travel story ever written.
Tags: Friday B-Movie, Movie, Robert Heinlein, Science Fiction, SciFi, Time Travel
A classic example of the Screwball Comedy genre from the 1930s and 1940s. The absolutely stunning Veronica Lake plays a Witch who was burned at the stake in Salem, MA, but not before she cursed the Wooley family who identified her as a witch. 270 years later, she’s back and decides to torment the current Wooley, who is running for governor of Massachusetts and is engaged to a shrew (because of the curse). A comedy of errors results in her falling in love with him!
Tags: Comedy, Friday B-Movie, Movie
Former Bond Pierce Brosnan teams up with former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko in this tale of espionage, morality, and international conspiracies. The action is good, as is the acting. There is the occasional upper torso female nude scene, just so you can have some sex with your violence. Not all the portrayal of human sexuality is wholesome though, one of the main villains is not a nice person. In all, a good example of B-Movie making. Well worth the rental and popcorn.
Tags: Action, action film, action movie, Friday B-Movie, Movie
Elizabeth Banks stars in this light comedy about a “good girl” having a bad day. She plays a local LA news anchor (i.e. a meat puppet news reader) who goes out drinking with her friends after a bad day (her fiance dumps her, and she comes up second for a network news position. Much drinking occurs, and after a series of advents going wrong, she ends up on the streets of LA without ID, phone or cash. She does have her car keys, but her car has been towed. To add to the drama, she has to get to work on time because it turns out she has a shot at the network meat puppet job. She endures a series of adventures, including a cabbie who thinks she is a stripper, cops who think she is a hooker, and the best part, spending some time in a South Central crack house. An ok comedy, not a great comedy. I think Banks took the role because she was turning 40 and wanted to show she could rock that yellow tube sock of a dress she spend most of the film in.
Tags: Comedy, Friday B-Movie, Movie
Let’s ring in the new year with the latest from Woody Allen. The Woodman isn’t in front of the camera for this film, he just wrote and directed. He got Owen Wilson to play the role of Woody Allen in this movie, and I have to say that Wilson plays the Woodman better than Woody ever did. A bit of Allen history here. Fans of the Woodman know his first film appearance was in “What’s Up Pussycat?”, which was set in Paris. Shortly afterwards, Allen moved to LA and starting writing (and directing/acting in) a string of successful movies. In this film, Wilson plays a writer who has had a string of very successful screenplays made into successful movies. He is currently in Paris, with his fiance, working on a novel. He is constantly complaining that he was truely happy back when was living in Paris as a near starving writer, before going to Hollywood and “selling out.” His fiance doesn’t see what the problem is, he is successful in his career and should continue doing what has been bringing in lots of money. To make things worse, they run into old “friends”, including a fellow Wilson’s character (i.e. Woody Allen) can’t stand, but his fiance thinks is knowledgeable and charming. True to form, our protagonist is complaining about many things, including about how boring modern times are, and how much more alive Paris was during the 1920s. Then comes the movie magic, while wandering the streets of Paris alone, at Midnight, an old limo pulls up and the occupants insist that he join them. The booze is flowing freely, so he gets in. The car takes them to a party where he meets F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Ernest Hemingway, and other famous people who made 1920s Paris their home. In the morning he returns to the early 21st Century and freshly inspired, works on his novel, while his fiance “tours” Paris with friends. This repeats for multiple nights, and his adventures continue, including getting Gertrude Stein and Hemingway to read his novel and give advice. Oh, and he also finds the love of his life. She is as bored with Paris of the 1920s as the Woodman stand in is of the 21st Century. She pines for the “Bella Epoch”. The two of them travel there, were they find her heroes pining for the old days as well. This is a revelation for him, he returns to the 21st Century, cleans up the mess of his personal life, and decides to move forward rather than living for the past.
I described an earlier B-Movie pick as “a big sloppy wet kiss, with tongue, to Steven Spielberg.” In this film, Woody Allen does much more than that. He gets down on his knees, unhinges his jaw, and deep throats Paris. The city of Paris is as much a character in this movie as any of the roles played by actors (the actor playing Hemingway was fornicating awesome BTW). This is a film carefully crafted by a master film maker and will be especially enjoyed by fans of the Woodman’s work, such as myself. The only part I would warn my gentle readers about is where Allen let’s his far left extremist political views leak through. It’s clear that those are based on his emotions, and not any rational thought.
Tags: Friday B-Movie, Movie, Time Travel, Woody Allen
On this Boxing Day, I’m going with a traditional Christmas move. It takes place during a Christmas office party, the hero came to LA to visit his wife for Christmas, there are Christmas decorations all over the place. It’s a staple of the holiday season!
Tags: action movie, Friday B-Movie, Movie
It’s Halloween, so let’s keep with tradition here.
An American Werewolf in London
Bonus for this year, Ghostbusters!
Let’s not forget Near Dark and Dog Soldiers, picks from October 2011, for a double header of vampires and werewolves.
Tags: Friday B-Movie, Ghosts, Halloween, horror, Movie, Vampire, Werewolf
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Ten years ago, this Diesel Punk classic hit the big screen with enough CGI to choke server rooms worth of servers. Most of the cast did all their work against green screens that later became the amazing background of the film that never existed outside the digital realm. Damn fine cast as well, Jude Law as the title character, Sky Captain, the leader of a group of lawful good mercenaries. Gyneth Paltrow as his on and off again girl friend and intrepid girl reporter. Angelina Jolie as the frost British air ace and the other woman in Sky Captain’s life. This film is all about the larger than life aspect. From the giant flying robots to the Royal Air Corp helicarriers. Oh ya, there are dinosaurs too. Great film to escape and enjoy good old fashioned pulp adventure. Fire up the popcorn and enjoy!
Tags: CGI, Diesel Punk, Friday B-Movie, Movie, Science Fiction, SciFi
This is a film fan movie. Wonderful cast, and tight writing that just cranks the dry humor to eleven and keep it there. I nearly fell off the couch laughing several times during this movie. Most of the movie is set in the 1930s and is the story of concierge of a famous Alpine hotel and his protege. The acting was wonderful, given the cast (Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Geff Goldbulm, Jude Law, Edward Norton, and more) this is not surprising. The film was also carefully crafted, nailing you with the next joke before you had a chance to recover from that last one.
Tags: Friday B-Movie, Humor, Movie
Going way, way, back to 1980 for this Chuck Norris classic. In this movie, he takes on his brother, played by Tadashi Yamshita (OK, one of them was clearly adopted), who went over to the “Dark Side” and set up a Ninja training camp for mercenaries. Norris, who is busy training for his next big fight, doesn’t want to get involved, but does anyway. Many the Ninja fall to his deadly, Ninjia killing inside crescent kicks. Of course there is the big brother on brother fight to the death, and plenty of gun fu as well.
Tags: Chuck Norris, Friday B-Movie, Martial Arts, Movie