Savage Streets (1984)

So this movie is basically perfect. From the late Danny Steinman pre F13-5 infamy, this here is high school rape/revenge gang movie set in Los Angeles 1984. You can't get a more perfect setting.

As it begins, our female protagonists are led by Linda Blair, whose nips are the first thing you see. Don't worry, you eventually get to see her topless, but we'll get to that later. Her deaf little sister is played by Linnea Quigley, and it's funny to see her playing such a naive and innocent girl. Well, she almost gets hit by a car driven by our punk antagonists, and here's the funny thing... the gang apologizes and offer the girls a chance to party. The girls respond by telling them off, stealing their car, and trashing it. Who is in the wrong here?


We're eased into a high school setting, which offers a lot of great 80s cheese to fluff out the movie before the main action starts. Apparently, gym class encourages the students to wear the most skimpy of outfits, but I'm not complaining. Then there's the shower scene, which is chock full of titties. There are a lot of titties in this movie. It's wonderful.

As things escalate between our heroes and villains, the bad guys decide to take it out on sweet little Linnea, because after all, she gets raped in a lot of her movies. It's her calling card. Things don't stop there as the gang becomes increasingly unhinged as one of the newest members (who kinda looks like a twerpy version of Al Pacino) experiences remorse and regret, and from then on, you can figure out the rest.


The 80s flair is through the roof. You'll even hear some cheesy anthems to accompany quasi-montage scenes until the violent climax hits. At first it seems all too easy, but then it becomes a cat and mouse chase. I tell ya, this movie has villains that you love to hate. What I really like are the little scenes that are there simply to add character and authenticity. Things like John Vernon playing himself, students fucking with the teachers, and crossbows. This movie has all kinds of shit to offer, so you're bound to like some of it.

#Review

BlacKkKlansman

Everybody ought to know by now that Spike Lee is the one of the most racist directors of all time. Somehow, his movies always end up alright in spite of his awful and ironic sentiments, and this movie is no exception. It's actually kind of funny for the most part, because everybody likes to laugh at white supremacists. Especially when they're all dumb rednecks, which is exactly how Spike Lee views every white person.

John David Washington sports a killer afro and sounds exactly like his father. He's the voice and Adam Driver is the vessel to infiltrate the klan and the progression is fairly entertaining for the most part, but it starts to get preachy at the end before it all falls apart.

For those less astute individuals, the title of this movie contains three letters that ought to give you an idea why this movie was made: BlacKkKlansman


Don't you just hate it when an otherwise good movie turns to complete horse shit in the closing moments? We had a decent 1970s biopic on our hands, it wrapped itself up, and then it turned into an anti-Trump PSA by (in a typical CNN manner) playing footage completely out of context. Yes, the movie was racially motivated by then current events, but the final message was so incredibly forced and heavy-handed that this movie ends up being another piece of racial propaganda bullshit that wants me to feel guilty for being white.

#Review

Demonic Toys

I don't have a terribly high opinion of Full Moon. I love the idea, but I haven't seen many that I would call great. They're known for Puppetmaster, right? And that one was pretty mediocre, so naturally, they had to make an excessive amount of sequels and spin-offs. Here's another. Demonic Toys.

Right off the bat, I notice a standout in the credits. David S. Goyer wrote this film before he was writing A-list movies, and because of this, the movie isn't terrible. By Full Moon standards, it's pretty good, which in regular cinema standards means it's still below par.

The fast-food guy represents the classic tough-talking dude who turns into a sissy in the face of real danger. The security guard was the best though. I just love sloppy inept characters of any type, and this is one of 'em. They could have made the whole movie about him and it would be better.

Different Ways that Los Angeles is Destroyed or seriously bleeped up in films, books, etc

I started thinking about this after I posted something here about the SNL recurring skit, The Californians. Los Angeles is, of course, massively over-represented in pop culture. There is basically no escaping it. Probably more than half of all movies released in many, many, many given years are filmed there, at least partly, and are often set there. That sucks, of course.... it would be nice if more of an effort were made to spread things out, and film movies in more major cities in the US, at least. Or even all around the world.... I would support that.

But... be that as it may. For better or for worse, Los Angeles is the king of movie locations. So, I have been thinking: what are some movies, books, video games, or any other type of created experience designed to tell a story, in which Los Angeles is somehow menaced or laid waste by some kind of disaster, scourge, alien, zombie apocalypse, terminator, or whatever? Just stick to Los Angeles. There are shitloads of movies like this, of course... I know some of us can come up with some good ones.

Here are a few to get started.
They Thirst, by Robert McCammon
I am a fan of this book. Some people might think it's a Salem's Lot rip-off, and that is probably how it got started. But, the author really spent time and effort setting it in Los Angeles specifically, and he stuck in a lot of cool details. It is about vampires taking over L.A., if you haven't figured that out yet.

Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
The Earth is hit by a comet. The book focuses mostly on Los Angelenos, struggling to survive tsunamis, storms, earthquakes, starving refugees, etc.

Inconstant Moon, by Larry Niven.
A short story, set in L.A. The idea is that there is a massive, terrifying solar flare, which occurs in the middle of the night for L.A. So, the entire far side of the Earth (the far side from the perspective of L.A.) is basically destroyed instantly, and people in L.A. who understand what is happening have a few hours to decide if they can even try to survive.

Them! (1954)
Giant mutant ants threaten L.A.

Night of the Comet (1984)
Makes no sense, but I love it anyway. Something about a passing comet causes everyone who sees it to turn to dust, and a couple girls survive in L.A. because they were in steel reinforced buildings.

OK, I know there are many more, and I'll come back to this, I hope. If everybody can just post one, the first one you think of, this could become a fun thread. Don't even spend any time describing it, if you're in a hurry, just mention any book, movie, video game, or whatever in which L.A. gets really fucked up.

Terminator/space shuttle columbia connection?

I know I repeat myself here sometimes, I think I might be doing it now... sorry. Anyway, I am watching Terminator: Genisys again, and I was just thinking about something John Connor says. He mentions something called the Nacogdoches Offensive, which sounds like some kind of post-apocalypse battle by the resistance against Skynet in the 20-teens or 2020s in the original Terminator timeline.

I was just thinking, I bet they mentioned that particular location because it was where a lot of the debris from Space Shuttle Columbia landed, in 2003. They were probably just throwing that out there, planning to fill in some details later, about how Columbia was destroyed by some kind of attack by Skynet. Maybe an advanced model of Terminator from the future materializing in the middle of the Columbia.... something like that. They could create all kinds of stories based on that, and on the Resistance's efforts to head it off.

Wait, does this make sense... OK, maybe they would say that the Terminator that materialized in the middle of the Columbia destroyed the Columbia, but was neutralized itself during the explosion, but then maybe a decade or two later it was re-activated by a lightning strike, or by some kids playing in a junkyard... I'm sure they could come up with something. This would all be coplicated even more by the possibility of multiple Terminators from multiple future timelines coming back to mess things up even more, of course.

Welp, had to share.

Wendigo - 2001 (with spoilers)

So someone asked me post my thoughts about this movie. It's one I picked up in a Goodwill haul.
Overall, it was pretty good. (6/10)
As a psychological thriller, it worked really well. The basic plot is a fairly common one among horror/thrillers: a family/group move into a house that belonged to another family, and one of the family members goes coocoo for Coco-Puffs.
The Wendigo itself was really more of an afterthought. And I don't think it really existed. It was just an old story that came up and messed with Otis's mind over his guilt for shooting George.
So basically, if you're looking for a horror movie, that's not what you will find.
But as I said, if looking for a psychological thriller, this would be a good watch.

The Singing Ringing Tree (1957)

Have any of you seen this movie? It's an East German children's movie. Never heard of it until I saw it on some list of scariest movies. The dwarf is pretty freaky. I can see how he would scar young children.
And it's actually a really good movie, too. IMDB tating is 7.0, which is what I gave it as well.
If you haven't seen it, go check it out. Here is the YouTube link:
It's 71 minutes of good old fashioned nightmare fuel.

Hal Holbrook

I keep thinking of this classic scene from Creepshow, ever since HH died. Anyone else have a favorite HH scene from anything?? Maybe from Capricorn One, or The Firm, or something else from Creepshow...?

The Little Things (2021)

HBO Max and facebook have been shoving this down my throat, so I figured I'd give it a whirl. Denzel plays a cop who basically ruined his life on his previous case because he got too invested. Somehow or another, he gets roped into a serial killer case, teams up with Rami Malek, and you can watch the rest to see how it unfolds.

My thoughts? It's well made, but that doesn't mean it's great. It's certainly not bad, so I guess I'd say it just is. I think a lot of these detective crime stories are loaded with filler, because it's not always interesting to get from point A to point B.

Don't shoot me, but I'm not the biggest Denzel fan. I think he's overrated, but he does all right here. Rami Malek is weird. And when I say weird, I mean weird looking. Dude looks like an alien and I'm supposed to move past it. Okay. So the only primary cast member left is Jared Leto, and he's the guy you want to watch the movie for. Even though he isn't in much, he's so method that you know part of him is enjoying being a weirdo creep.

The ending isn't quite what you expect, but I liked it. I think it helps justify a lot of the middle muck, and it does make you question a bit about character motives after. Not the worst way to start off 2021.

#Review

The Tax Collector (2020)

I like the idea of David Ayer more than I like some of his movies. He's a hard-hitter who loves to add the grit into mainstream cinema, and if I had to give a reason I'm not fully onboard with him, it's Suicide Squad. Pure shit, and after a streak of decent movies. Bright was okay in an awkward way, but he's finally hit his stride again, and despite its low rating, this movie ain't bad.

All you need to know is this is a Los Angeles crime movie and you'll know what to expect. It's not original, but it's well executed. He doesn't skimp on the violence in the final act, that's for damn sure.

However, there's a lot of buildup for Shia LaBeouf to do some bad-ass things, but well... he never does anything bad-ass. I think he did a good job though overall. Too bad Hollywood hates him now, but if they go on blacklisting at this rate, they'll be empty in no time.

Tax Collector. They collect taxes, until one guy says no. It doesn't pay to be a gangster. Except money. It pays a lot of money.