Atomic Robo needs your help!

Atomic Robo is a really great independent comic book that I've been collecting ever since it was released a few years ago. It's retro futuristic mixed with vintage design is what initially caught my eye, and having a fun, action packed story issue to issue also doesn't hurt. For more info on the animation studio's endeavor to bring Atomic Robo to life, as well as an opportunity to own some really great memorabilia and even an animated role on the film, check out there website here.

Be sure to check out the teaser trailer below for the hopefully soon to be finished Atomic Robo: Last Stop

Badass buy - Red Scorpion Japanese Laserdisc

Review: Rammbock: Berlin Undead

2010
Directed by: Marvin Kren
Category: Horror

The best thing I can say about Rammbock: Berlin Undead is that it's a competently made zombie film. That's not to say that it's great or offers anything new to the zombie genre, but for a zombie film that runs a mere 60 minutes, it's not a bad way to spend an hour.

Michael (Michael Fuith) recently got dumped by his girlfriend Gabi. He misses her so much that when she asks for her apartment key back, he decided to travel all the way to Berlin just to give it to her in person, so that he can use it as an excuse to see her again. Only problem is that as soon as he arrives at her apartment in Berlin, a zombie virus has taken over and has started turning people into rabid crazy zombies. And to make matters worse, Gabi's not even home and he's stuck in the apartment with a young handyman's apprentice with an attitude problem named Harper (Theo Trebs). Together they must keep the raging horde of zombies from breaking into the apartment and at the same time, come up with a plan to escape to the river where Michael saw a boat without turning into zombies themselves. 


The last really good zombie flick I've seen recently was the excellent The Horde from France, and this one just doesn't come close to the badassery displayed in that film. Here, the direction is uninspired, with handheld camera work being the predominant style, and there's not a single "Oh Shit!" moment to be found. And that's really what makes a good zombie film memorable, are the plenty "Oh Shit!" moments.

There were a couple of aspects I did like about this though. The first being the casting of Michael Fuith in the lead. He's a 35 year old who looks a lot older because of his receding hairline and just the constant look of dread on his face. He's overweight, short and not your average leading man material. But that's what I liked most about him, because he comes off so much more believable that way. Plus, he's a damn fine actor to boot. The second would be the last 15 minutes of the film. Not amazing or anything, but a helluva lot better than the rest of the film and an ending I honestly didn't see coming. So kudos to them for pulling that off in an otherwise stale and average zombie film. Third and lastly, the makeup effects and decent amount of gore helped tremendously too. It showed that the film did in fact carry a decent budget and it was all the better for it.

Like I said, you could do worse trying to waste an hour of your time. Definitely not the kind of film that's going to stick with you when it's all over, but a decently made effort with a better name than the film deserves.

M.A.R.K. 13 aka Hardware German Big Box VHS Clamshell

I know lately my reviews have been few and far between with more and more postings of my ever growing and obsessive VHS collecting popping up on here more than anything, but with what's been going on in my personal life this past month and all the new changes that will be happening from here on out until things settle down in April, I'd rather post something rather than nothing at all. Plus, it gives me a chance to show off my prize possessions as my collection grows more and more every day.

First off, I really need to thank my good buddy Ingo over at Hellford 667 Movie Reviews for helping me get my hands on these beauties. I really couldn't have done it without him. Besides being a fellow filmgeek and collector, he's also become a really good friend. Thanks man!

Today we have a really rad German VHS release of Hardware (as it's known here in the states) aka M.A.R.K. 13 (as it's known Internationally with just as cool a sounding name) from writer/director Richard Stanely. I'd kill for an image of this on a poster print hanging on my wall!

What's really great about a lot of the German VHS tapes is that they come in "book case" style VHS cases where rather than have a paper insert, the images are actually on the cases themselves. Not all of them come this way, but a good majority of them do and it's become my new obsession of collecting as many of these suckers as possible, which is really hard to do since a "lot" of sellers in Germany won't ship internationally.

M.A.R.K. 13, or Hardware as it is called here in the states, is one of my favorite low budget sci-fi flicks ever. While it has a few things stacked against it, like budget for one, it also has so much going for it that makes it stand far out from the crowd. If you take the time to revisit the uncut version of this, I guarantee you that you'll enjoy it a helluva lot more than when it was initially released. Director Richard Stanley, amazingly with a minimal budget, fashioned a cyber punk-post apocalyptic tale of a robot on a killing rampage with enough horror elements and plenty of gore in check to satisfy the casual film observer. For a recap of my review from way back in June of 2011, click here.

Review: Skyline

2010
Directed by: The Brothers Strause
Category: Sci-fi

I might be in the minority with this, and maybe even get a little flack, but despite "not" wanting to like it, or rather just "thinking" that I wouldn't like it, hell or high water I actually quite enjoyed this one. I love alien invasion films. And if they're done right, not necessarily with logic or story, but rather balls to the walls action and effects filled with aliens and spaceships destroying entire cities and it looks good, well I'm all over that and Skyline is no exception.

But let me not get ahead of myself here. For a film that wants to be a summer blockbuster type film, one of the biggest problems Skyline suffers from is that there is not one single likable character here, not one. And the Strause brothers do the same thing every wannabe hotshot filmmaker does and casts young good looking actors who look like they came right outta some teen show, and wouldn't ya know it, they all do. Every single one of them. And that's where a lot of the disbelief comes in, not just with Skyline but pretty much with any new horror film in general. They star actors who just don't look like the average person and you just don't buy anything. I mean, look at Independence Day for example, where the main characters are played by "seasoned" actors like Randy Quaid, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Will Smith and Vivica A. Fox. Ok, scratch those last two out, but with the others, that's what an average person looks like and that's what sells a situation. But anyway, I'm getting off track here.

Jarrod and his girlfriend travel to Los Angeles to meet up with his old buddy Terry, who's now a successful business man. That night Terry throws a party in his high rise apartment where he asks Jarrod to work for him, which in turn causes tension between Jarrod and his newly discovered pregnant girlfriend Elaine. That same night, when everyone's past out, blue lights start beaming from the sky, sucking people into the darkness causing panic and as the days go by, an alien invasion. 

This is by no means a sci-fi masterpiece, game changer or even offers anything new to the alien invasion story. And you have to sit through about 30 to 45 minutes of unavoidable back story and character development, but if you can get past the lame first half, the second half is where the fun really kicks in and with an insane amount of special effects and even some cool dog fight action between the military and some alien ships. BOTTOM LINE. This is a pure and simple alien invasion story done well by two visual effects brothers who's only other big budget effort was AVPR: Requiem, which I've still never seen. Once the aliens arrive in full force, it's a pretty badass thrill ride for about an hour, even though you never know why they're here or where they came from. They're here, they abduct humans, but why? Who knows, and it's a minor detail that, since the film as a whole was pretty fun, I just don't really care about. Sure I ask myself the "why, who and how", but I'm not gonna let it ruin the entire film for me just because I don't know.

I've read a lot of negative stuff about this, and even the ending mainly, and while I see and can understand a lot of the gripes, I still feel it was made in such a way that I still had fun with it, even though I didn't like "any" of the characters. I think all the stuff I had read about it when it first hit theaters is what kept me away from it all this time, but when I recently caught it streaming on Netflix, I couldn't pass up the chance to finally see it and now I wish I had seen it at the theater. It had enough going for it in my opinion that had I seen on a big screen, it would've made an even bigger impression on me.

I think one of the main things I really dig about it as that, while obviously unintentional, it retains a B-Movie quality, but on a big Hollywood blockbuster budget. That's the same way I felt with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. It's a big film, with a massive budget, Arnold Schwarzenegger and top of the line effects. But there's just "something" about it, and I can't pinpoint exactly what, that makes it look and feel like a B-Movie. Watch it again and see what you think? But that's how I feel about Skyline, that despite it's visual impressiveness and monster effects, it's got a B-Movie "feel" that I just can't shake. And that's fine because whether they're on a minuscule or massive budget, if it's done right, I'll enjoy it.  I've seen too many "bad" and "shitty" movies lately to let this one fall into that category. This was fun, with a lot of action and insane effects work going on in the second half that I can completely forgive the annoying characters, stupidity of the actions of those annoying characters and lack of a reason why these aliens are even here. I also need to commend the directing brothers for not doing what every single new director does, which is the lazy as shit "handheld shaky cam and hyper kinetic editing" technique. That was such a fucking surprise and a blessing that you can actually tell what the hell is going on and they didn't resort to that type of lazy filmmaking to mask the fact that they had no visual talent. They actually "do" and make Skyline look pretty damn good.

So finally, let's talk about that ending, which is most peoples gripes with this. It was ............. different and unexpected for sure. But, at least in my opinion, not the horrible ending I was expecting after everything I had read about it. I actually found it pretty creative and in keeping with it's B-Movie vibe through and through. I liked it and when the screen went black after that last shot, you just know they didn't want you to take this film too seriously. I mean, how could you with that kind of ending?

I think if they had recast the actors to more believable looking human beings, and maybe marketed it a little less seriously as they had done when it came out, I think it would have done much more solid business than it ended up doing. It certainly deserves to and I don't feel it's the awful sci-fi flick it was made out to be.

Review: Pearl Jam Twenty

2011
Directed by: Cameron Crowe
Category: Documentaries

I'm a lover of all kinds of music, but have always had an affinity for 80's Metal and 90's Grunge and Alternative. Those are the ones I always seem to listen to more than anything, whether I'm listening to actual CD's, or using XM Radio or Pandora, I always seem to be drawn towards the 90's Alternative stations more than any other.

I remember when grunge seem to come outta nowhere and take over the music scene back in the early 90's, and for me, it wasn't until I saw Cameron Crowe's Singles at the theater in 1992 that I even became aware of "grunge" music. I don't know, maybe I was pre-occupied with films or just hanging out with my friends, but at least from where I was raised, unless you lived in Seattle, you hadn't heard of grunge music yet. But once Singles hit theaters, I was hooked. Though to be honest, I was always (and still am) more of a Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden fan. But I've always kinda dug Pearl Jam. More so there radio hits. Just not as much as say Nirvana.

Cameron Crowe writes/directs/produces/narrates this exhaustingly informative and captivating documentary on the bands formation all the way to it's recent twenty year anniversary using new interviews, archival footage, home videos, news broadcasts and everything in between. This methodically detailed and fascinating documentary also chronicles the bands tumultuous relationship with there alternative counterparts Nirvana, as well as there decades long friendship with Soundgarden.

One of the best things about Pearl Jam Twenty, even if your not necessarily a fan of there music, is that it gives great insight in highly detailed research on the 90's grunge/alternative music scene. This is the part I loved the most because watching these bands from Seattle battle it out for dominance and how they influenced a generation of music lovers and musicians, even right down to how they dressed was just so fascinating to me. Being 36 now, I was a highly influential 16 year old back in 1992 when these bands really took off and were taking over MTV (when MTV actually played music videos all day) and the radio airwaves and I soaked it all up. From that core group of grunge/alternative artists that emerged from Seattle, my tastes later expanded to bands like Dovetail Joint, Fountains of Wayne and other alternative groups which led me into "Indie" music, of which I am still a huge fan of.

You don't necessarily have to like or be a fan of Pearl Jam to enjoy this documentary. Cameron Crowe puts it all together in such a way that whether you dig there music or not, you will thoroughly enjoy this history lesson of where and how the grunge scene was born and how Pearl Jam just so happened to be a major part of it.

Review: Best Worst Movie

2009

Directed by: Michael Stephenson

Category: Documentaries

Man, I always love me a good film related documentary. More times than not, the documentary ends up being better and far more entertaining than it's actual subject, and this is no exception. Directed by Michael Stephenson, who played little Joshua Waits in Troll 2, Best Worst Movie chronicles the legend that is Troll 2 and it's current cult status as "The Worst Movie of all Time". Here, Stephenson packs up his camera and together with the star of Troll 2, George Hardy (in his first of only a handful of roles), they track down all the major cast members, the writer and director, and travel the country hitting the conventions and special screenings of this masterpiece of "It's so bad it's good" cinema and try to decipher why the film has garnered such a huge cult status from all over the world, when in reality it's such an awful mess of a movie.

Knowing what Best Worst Movie was about, I suppose I should have actually watched Troll 2 beforehand as a way of brushing up on my memories of this film, which I think I have only seen once. But the beauty of this documentary is that you don't have to know diddly squat about it, because they fill you in on "every" aspect of the film itself, it's production and it's current huge following. This was a blast from start to finish and just simply hilarious. 

While they do go out and find all of the main actors from the film, they mainly focus on it's lead George Hardy, now a respected small town dentist, pillar of the community and all around nice guy. This guy is really interesting because he's such a contradiction. He doesn't like horror films in general, yet the few films he has appeared in are all horror films. Up until 2007, the only film he had ever been in was Troll 2, and if you look at his IMDB page you'll see he has appeared in 3 other films since then, which is strange since they are all horror films and he doesn't like them. And when you see him attend a horror convention as a vendor to promote Troll 2 and listen to how he reacts to seeing true horror fans and how they look, dress and act, he comes off as disgusted and repulsed by these people. 

The other character that also takes center stage in this doc is the films notorious director Claudio Fragasso. You gotta love this guy when you listen to him talk about Troll 2. He honest to god felt like he made an important "film" about society, the world and how we live. He honestly feels like there's deep meaning behind Troll 2 and that the entire world, including critics and fans alike, have gotten it all wrong and don't see the film for what it really is, and important piece of cinema. It's almost heartbreaking when you see him attend special screenings and conventions all over the U.S. and see his face when fans and even the cast members themselves bash the film for being completely incoherent, confusing and just plain awful. Because at first he's a little surprised and amused that almost 20 years later it's developed a huge following. But as the screenings go by one after the other to sold out crowds, it becomes apparent that the love for the film is because of how horrible it is, and not for the talent and hard work he feels went into making it and by the end, you kinda feel sorry for the guy. 

A truly fascinating, hilarious and thoroughly entertaining documentary about one of the worst and most confusing films ever made. Best Worst Movie is every bit as fascinating as it's subject. 

Review: The Keep

1983

Directed by: Michael Mann

Category: Horror

I swear, had I not already known beforehand that Michael Mann, that's right, the same guy who gave us Manhunter, Heat and Collateral-the same guy known for hard edged and violent thrillers more than anything- had done this, I never in  million years would have guessed that simply by watching this film. Truth is, I haven't seen everything the guy's ever done, but simply judging by the films he's most famous for, this is like nothing he's ever done before. 

During the second World War, a group of Nazis, led by Captain Klaus Woermann (Jurgen Prochnow), are ordered to seize an old, stone fortress located at the end of a Romanian pass. Once they have taken control of the fortress, one of the idiot soldiers, who greedily tries prying off a silver cross implanted deep into the stone wall, releases an evil supernatural force and the soldiers start dying off one by one in exceedingly gory fashion. When reinforcements are called in, led by the maniacal Major Kaempffer (Gabriel Byrne), it soon becomes apparent that there is a force at work here far out of there control and means to stop. Soon after, the Nazis are made aware of a Jewish scholar and his daughter, who have intimate knowledge of the Keep and it's secrets, and are brought in to help in an effort to stop whatever is happening. At the same time, a mysterious figure from faraway Greece (Scott Glenn) becomes aware of the evil force's release and begins his journey to Romania to stop the evil from ever escaping. 

I enjoyed this one a lot more than I should have. It has it's fair share of problems, like massive plot holes, a laughable "man in suit" kinda villain and a "lot" of things that are never explained, but what it lacks in structure it makes up for in creative visual film-making, outstanding special and makeup effects and a brilliant opening act. I think what most people will take away from this when it's all over, apart from it's odd casting choices and completely out of place score by none other than Tangerine Dream (with a lot of it sounding like it came right outta Blade Runner), is the fact that while it opens with a strong atmospheric and brooding first act, it retains near visual brilliance even when the film unfortunately falls into silly and ridiculous territory towards the end. 

As I said before, this thing starts off brilliantly with genuine dread and some pretty spectacular visual camerawork, special practical effects and badass kills. But somewhere about the halfway mark it turns into more of a monster movie complete with "man in suit" silliness and overstays it's welcome. Which is a damn shame because if you take out the kinda lame looking villain revealed towards the last act, it retained a pretty creepy and atmospheric dread. But that's all ruined once the "man in suit" villain shows up.

Scott Glenn, who plays the hero/stranger in the flick, is completely miscast here. I don't know, he's not bad in it or anything, but he has so much more to offer as an actor and here he just seems wasted as the weird looking silent guy with strange eyes. You know absolutely nothing about him or why he's drawn to the Keep once the evil is accidentally  released and it's never explained. He just "feels" the evil being released and travels to Romania with his special weapon to stop it and that's pretty much all we know. The rest of the cast is pretty great though. Jurgen Prochnow and Gabriel Byrne are great as the Nazi leaders assigned to take over the Keep, but we also have the great Ian McKellen as the Jewish scholar brought in to help figure out what is happening in this mysterious place. As much as I love McKellen as an actor and how great he is in a lot of roles, here something is just off. I don't know if his weird accent was on purpose or not, but sometimes it sounded like he came right outta California, and then sometimes it sounded like he wasn't sure what kind of accent he was supposed to be channeling. Most of the time, it was too much of a distraction whenever he was on screen. You just wanna yell "Pick an accent and stick with it!".

Tangerine Dream was another unusual choice for the score. Though I'm not sure I'd call it a misstep as more of an odd choice in choosing a composer to do the score for a film of this kind. Almost angelic at times, and sounding a lot like the Blade Runner score by Vangelis, it seems a little strange at first when you're used to hearing loud and thunderous themes to films like this. But once the confusion wears off, it gives the film a more "dated" sound, if that makes sense. Like, when you hear it, you know almost immediately it's from the early 80's, there's just no getting around that. And that was a good thing......for me anyway. After about 30 minutes I was sorta digging the feel that score gave the film, almost like you might be watching a fantasy, but a much darker one. One things for sure, they sure don't score films like that anymore, and I wish they would.

Problems aside, The Keep was a badass horror thriller. Some of the kills in here were just plain awesome and Mann shockingly delivers near brilliant visuals and camerawork. It's important to note that while the second half of the film delves into silly territory and you're left with a shitload of unanswered questions, the first half is worth the price of admission alone. If the second half had delivered on the brilliance of the first half, writer/director Michael Mann woulda had a bonafide horror classic on his hands.

Badass buy of the day - Star Wars 1st Ever VHS release! 1982 Video Rental Library Edition!

I knew if I was patient, I'd come across one of these for a decent price.

This was the very first "ever" VHS release of Star Wars. Released in 1982, this was released only to libraries for rental as stated on the front cover, spine and back cover. Later that same year they eventually released the first "retail" version in a cardboard "drawer case" edition, which you can find here.

So now I'm a very happy man. Not only do I now possess the first VHS retail edition of Star Wars, but I can now add the very first ever Star Wars VHS release. It's not terribly rare, depending on when you scour eBay for it. But depending on the condition, you can expect to pay a pretty steep price just based solely on what I've seen seller ask for it just this past year alone. Average it runs for about $40-$50, but I've seen it go for up to $100. What I paid for is nowhere near those figures, which is awesome considering this is in near mint condition.

This on top of the very nice package of German Big Box VHS tapes my good buddy Ingo sent me that I also received recently makes me a very happy man indeed. Expect those badass VHS tapes to be posted soon.