Alien action figure from 1979

I had this toy and I melted the head by accidently knocking it over onto a hot lightbulb. But I have a model kit of the same toy which I have yet to build.

Star Wars Retro Day

Happy Mothra's Day!

The Great Race (1965)

We watched "The Great Race" last night and it is one of my favorite "classics" because I am a huge fan of Laurel and Hardy, and this film was dedicated to them.

Directed by Blake Edwards of Pink Panther fame, it is huge in scope and genius in characters.

The film is led by Tony Curtis as the dashing  hero Leslie, or as he is well known, The Great Leslie. The femme fatale is wonderfully played by Natalie Wood as the steadfast suffragette, leading the way for womens rights.

The favorite of all the characters are the pairing of Jack Lemmon (who also has a dual role) as Professor Fate and Peter Falk as Max, his sidekick. Trying to foil Leslie's attempts at breaking world records in the early 20th century, they enter an automobile race across 3 continents from New York to Paris. Hijinks ensue!

This is one of those films from the mid 60's that has an overture at the beginning, an intermission, and a closing song. At 160 minutes, it seems like 3 movies in

 one but all enjoyable. And of course it wouldn't be complete without a pie fight at the end!

Keep an eye out for some of your favorite character actors throughout, including Vivian Vance.

Trivia: As slapstick as the film is, the story is based on a true race. 

http://www.greatrace.com/newsite/index.php/the-great-race/greatestrace/

Check out how close the cars look.

TV Land Awards 2009

For me, the highlight of the show, was the fun tribute to Sid and Marty Kroft. They are the creators of the sugar bomb cereal induced, Saturday morning drugged out shows like HR Pufnstuf, Lidsville, The Bugaloos, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and many more.

Fun musical numbers, Cyndi Lauper singing Electra Woman and Dyna Girl and all your favorite characters. But I swear, Reba was playing Witchiepoo!

Catch the reruns! You'll enjoy it.

Star Wars Retro Day

Here's an extra one for fun:

Star Wars Retro Day

Video arcade gum

I loved this packaging. Gum that came inside video arcade boxes. These came out in 1983 and I'm surprised didn't take off and continue onto other famous games. Some of the games that were included were Q-bert, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Zaxxon and Centipede.

Star Wars PSA for drunk driving

Euro Disney Days

These are pics from our trip to Paris Euro Disney where we had a really fun time. We had 2 days in Paris and did a whirlwind tour of the city one day and did Disney the next day. 

Star Wars retro day

Here's another for March. A Ralph Mcquarrie poster that was designed for character design.

My younger days at Disney World!

These are snaps of me at I think around 12. They are very random but bring back a lot of good memories

Star Wars retro day

Behold the image for February!

Sleeping Beauty Awakens!

Today is the day that Walt Disneys "Sleeping Beauty" premiered at the Fox Wilshire Theater in Los Angeles. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend to get the BluRay version that is out now.
The restoration is incredible and is one of the most beautiful animated classics I've seen in a long time. It's a timeless classic!

RIP Ricardo and Patrick!

Ricardo Montalban 11-25-1920 / 01-14-2009















Patrick McGoohan 03-19-1928 / 01-13-2009

Retro-fantastical Star Wars images

This is the Star Wars Iron-on book that came out in the 70's after Star Wars was released and when they knew how to do promotional tie-ins before the abortions that a certain bearded fellow put forth as "prequels".

As campy and corny as the cover of the book is, it's still holding the magic of the characters of the film that we all love originally!

As much as I wanted to use them and wear them to school and know that I would be held in the highest regard in gym class, I kept it with out using them. Why? I don't know. I just thought it was a cool book with cool images and tucked it away. Don't judge me!

Luckily I did and now I can scan them and print them on iron-on paper and create my own geekified t-shirts and not have to pay $100 for one at a retro store or Macys.

I'll keep posting them throughout the year. Maybe like a calendar.

Behold: January

Reviews

Well, I'm getting into 2009 head first and not slowing down, BUT, I'm going to take a breather and review the films form New Years Eve so I can concentrate on writing new stuff for the...new year.

The first film we watched is the classic 1974 The Poseidon Adventure starring an eclectic cast of stars including Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, Roddy McDowall, Stella Stevens, Red Buttons and Jack Albertson.

The story is like this: New years eve cruise going from Greece to New York gets hit by a tidal wave caused by an underwater earthquake and capsizes the ship making the survivors have to make there way through an upside down ocean liner to make there way to the top (or bottom) and out the engine room where the steel is the thinnest.

It is a well played disaster film and the scene chewing by Hackman and Borgnine makes it even more fun. If you are a disaster film buff and you haven't seen this but only the marginal remake, this is the one to watch. I also recommend Earthquake, The Towering Inferno and The Swarm!
The 2nd film we saw was one I have been dieing to see for a long time. This little gem is called Sleepaway Camp and it was released in 1983 so it makes it the perfect early 80's slasher film to watch with other friends who appreciate schlockey horror films (with a tub of sangria and champagne).
It's your basic camp filled with teens and pre-teens who run amok in mid-riff T-shirts (and these are the boys!) and do teen-like things. It's starts off with the tragedy at the camp that lives on through the years and you have to find out who the survivor is that has returned to wreak vengeance. You get your fun gorey kills and your silly kills... but all adds up to a very creepy and totally unexpected twisty ending!

Happy New Year!!!

Yes it's another year gone by but lets be thankful for everything that was positive and given to us over 2008. I know I am and even another birthday didn't get me down.

See you all next year and I promise to start adding more content on my blog!

We are going to celebrate the night with a few good films. 

Sleepaway Camp and The Poseidon Adventure!

Remember, there has got to be a morning after!

I'll review both next week. Be safe and be true to your resolutions, if any.

Holiday guilty pleasure films!

Yes, we all have the one or more guilty pleasures and around the holidays, is not any different. Don't let anyone tell you different. It's one of the greatest things in your life since cookie dough ice cream or finding an open lane on the 405. My treasures I watch over the holidays are as follows:

Yes, this is one of my childhood favorites and I know it's not christmasy but it still is in my list. The child catcher alone is worth watching. And having had the pleasure of riding in the original car while in London, it's even more magical! If you don't know the story, it revolves around a crackpot inventor, Caracticus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) and his 2 kids struggling to keep the windmill running and support Grandpa. He buys an old race car and transforms it into a car that flies, floats, and is coveted by the evil Baron Bomburst of Vulgaria (Gert Frobe). The land does not allow children so the evil Queen (Anna Quayle) Sends out the Child Catcher (Robert Helpmann).  

And He is still one of the top ten scariest movie characters to this day!

Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes) rounds off the cast 

as the love interest. Fun and silly and some memorable music numbers. Look for Benny Hill too!

I also love to watch the now classic A Christmas Story!

This was a quietly ignored film that didn't do well when it came out in 1983 but came to be a standard christmas film  every christmas on VHS and now DVD which people are finding and word of mouth is spreading to make the film a top cult favorite.

The time is the 1940's and Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) is trying to hint at his parents to buy him the Red Rider bb gun but all he gets from them and his teacher is "You'll shoot your eye out!"

Darren McGavin and Mellinda Dillon are wonderful as his parents and the supporting cast is really well cast!

There is even a huge cult following that has made props you can buy from the show like the famous leg lamp, or as they call it, a major award! A warm and funny film, this is great viewing for the whole family. The only sad thing about this is the director Bob Clark was tragically killed in a car accident with his son by a drunk driver so I support this film and the following it has brought to the Christmas holidays and throughout the year!

And of course the ultimate classic A Charlie Brown Christmas!

Film Review Weekend!

This weekend I saw 2 films, one that was just recently released and the other was out last year but finally got around to Netflixing it.

The first is Let the Right One In. Now if your a vampire fan, you know what that phrase really stands for. You have to invite a vampire in. They cannot enter a residence of there own accord SO you need to make sure to let the right one in.

John Ajvide Lindqvist adapts his own novel for the screen and blends vampire lore with one of the creepiest coming of age stories in a long time and director Tomas Alfredson hits the spike in the chest with this one with his understated mood and setting.

Seeing it with a group of friends hungry for something other than a WB Twilight vampire tween romp, we really got what we lusted for. Moody and eery in tone, the lead boy, Oskar, (Kare Hedebrant) is dealing with the usual pangs of adolescence. Bullies, divorce, and now a vampire who he has more in common with than anyone in school. 

Eli, (Lina Leandersson) is the new kid in town and with no backstory as to where she came from or how old she really is, lends a great tone to the mystery of this "12" year old. Her protector, the Renfield of the cast, is well played and used by her to get fed from the locals. One thing that bothered me was instead of going for the bums and drifters around town for her meals, the killings were too local and were known people.

As for the gore factor, very sparingly and well used throughout the film. The cat scene will make you laugh but the finale is the scene worth waiting for. Each kill hits you with short startling bursts when you least expect it. 

The light score is very good at setting the mood and I highly recommend it. It can be slow and feel a bit long but for a long awaited good vampire flick, this is the right one.

The Fall is a very good storytelling film along the same feel of Pans Labrynth and Baron Munchausen. Tarsem Singh, who directed The Cell with Jennifer Lopez, along with David Fincher and Spike Jones, brings the same dreamscape imagery to this film but again goes back and forth between the story a bed ridden stuntman is telling a little girl staying in the same hospital and also tricking her into getting more morphine to help kill himself.  Catinca Untaru is a breath of fresh air as the little girl who is swept away in the fable he makes up. She must be ad-libbing half the dialogue and just being herself because you can't take your eyes off her.

The Fall is shot within 18 countries and with incredible costumes by Eiko Ishioka.

If you like stunning visuals and incredible characters, find this gem and give it a watch and get lost in it. Now!