My aunt first told me about Blazing Saddles sometime in the 1980s but all she mentioned was the famous fart scene. A group of cowboy marauders are sitting around a campfire eating beans when one of them, Lyle (Burton Gilliam), leans over and lifts up his leg a little and lets one out. Then, theContinue reading “‘Blazing Saddles’ Turns 50”
Category Archives: Movie Flashback
Carl Weathers Went The Distance
Very few people can claim the achievements in life of Carl Weather’s. He was an actor finding himself cast in multiple franchises as well as gaining lots of acclaim and praise for his directing. It’s not bad for a young man who started out as an all-athlete playing football, soccer as well as being involvedContinue reading “Carl Weathers Went The Distance”
‘Edge Of Tomorrow’ Is ‘Groundhog Day’ Meets ‘War Of The Worlds’
Tom Cruise has grown from a 1980s teen heartthrob to a 1990s acclaimed actor to a 2000s action star to an overall odd celebrity. Maybe it’s the Scientology stuff. The whole Oprah episode didn’t help his reputation. There’s a lot of people who don’t like him even though at 61, he’s still jumping out ofContinue reading “‘Edge Of Tomorrow’ Is ‘Groundhog Day’ Meets ‘War Of The Worlds’”
‘Straw Dogs’ Has A Better Bite Over Its Original’s Meager Bark
Filmmaker Jean-Luc Goddard once said, “The way to criticize a film is to make another film.” In 1971, when Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs was released during the Christmas holiday season, it shocked audiences and divided them. Based on the novel The Siege at Trencher’s Farm, it starred Dustin Hoffman as a meager intelligent mathematician whoContinue reading “‘Straw Dogs’ Has A Better Bite Over Its Original’s Meager Bark”
Soar High “Flyboy”
In the annals of classic horror actors, you might not expect people to know the name David Emge. He only appeared in about five movies and hasn’t appeared in a movie since 1992 Hellmaster. But it was his role as one of the leads in the horror-satire classic Dawn of the Dead released in 1978Continue reading “Soar High “Flyboy””
‘The Wraith’ Scares Up A Good Time
A movie like The Wraith seems to be a casserole of genres. It’s about a murdered person who returns from the grave to exact revenge in a slasher style where each killer is murdered one by one mostly. But it’s also a western, set in the Arizona desert, where the main protagonist like Clint Eastwood’sContinue reading “‘The Wraith’ Scares Up A Good Time”
‘Identity’ Has A Great Look
A movie like Identity draws its inspiration from Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. A character even references it at one point. And why not? Most thrillers/horrors owe some debt to Christie and what she did to help the genre. But this movie has a twist that is so good that when you thinkContinue reading “‘Identity’ Has A Great Look”
‘Eye See You’ Coded But Has Some Life
Like most people, I spent my youth hanging out in the aisles of video rental places like Hollywood and Blockbuster. One day, I came across a shelf that had VHS and DVD copies of Eye See You starring Sylvester Stallone and wondered “How did I miss this?” I still read Entertainment Weekly, before the writersContinue reading “‘Eye See You’ Coded But Has Some Life”
‘Jacob’s Ladder’ Is A Nightmare That You Never Want To Experience
Christmas may be over but a movie like Jacob’s Ladder isn’t technically a Christmas movie. It’s set in the dreary late fall/early winter of December for a reason. It’s about the darkness a man experiences following a traumatic experience. Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) was once a philosophy professor but after his youngest son, Gabe (MacaulayContinue reading “‘Jacob’s Ladder’ Is A Nightmare That You Never Want To Experience”
‘Tombstone’ Retells How The West Was Won, For The Most Part
The story of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday had been told so many times before that in the early 1990s, attempts were being made to tell it like it really happened. Earp himself dabbled in acting before his death at 80 nearly 95 years ago. And early filmmakers weren’t really consumed with telling the truthContinue reading “‘Tombstone’ Retells How The West Was Won, For The Most Part”
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