Tremors (1990)

Director: Ron Underwood

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, Reba McEntire

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: The monster movie that breaks new ground.

Plot: Natives of a small isolated Arizona desert town, defend themselves against strange underground creatures which are killing them one by one.

My Rating: 8.5/10

Would I watch it again? Yup.


I love this movie! I've seen it a few times over the years and it, along with REMO WILLIAMS, solidified my love for Fred Ward's work. He's hysterical and, despite his 84 film & TV credits, he hasn't done enough. He's one of those few actors I like enough to want in every movie ever made.


That said, TREMORS is a fantastic horror/comedy throwback to the sci-fi/horror films of the 1950s. The difference here is they've got a budget to include really good effects and a very good and effective score (Ernest Troost) that plays it serious.


Bacon and the others do a fine job but it's Fred Ward, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire that steal the show, ESPECIALLY McEntire. She's a gas. At one point she could have had my babies.


Though I haven't seen the sequels (there are 3 after this and a short-lived TV show) I will give them a shot. Ward's back in #2 along with Gross who's also in 3 & 4 (which also has Billy Drago). There's no way they can top the first one but they may offer something a lot of films of this type don't...fun.

My Name is Bruce (2007)

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The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Director: Joseph Sargent

Starring: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Jerry Stiller

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: We are going to kill one passenger a minute until New York City pays us 1 million dollars.

Plot: Four armed men hijack a New York City subway train and demand 1 million dollars - which must be delivered in 1 hour - for the train and the lives of the passengers held hostage. Lt. Zachary Garber of the New York City Transit Police must contend with City Hall red tape, the unrelenting demands of the hijackers, and the ever-ticking clock in his efforts to save the passengers and bring the hijackers to justice.

My Rating: 9/10

Would I watch it again? sooner than later

"Whadd'ya want?"

"I'm taking your train."

It's been way too long since the last time I saw this. Waaaaaay too long. It might sound like a lame premise that can't be pulled off but just look at the cast. If all I knew was that Shaw was in it, that'd be enough to get me to watch it.

Mr. Blue: It is 2:24, Lieutenant, you've got forty-nine minutes.

Lt. Garber: Be reasonable, will you? We're trying to cooperate with you but we can't do anything if you don't give us enough time to work with.
Mr. Blue: Forty-nine minutes.
Lt. Garber: We're dealing with City Hall, for God's sake, you know what a mess of red tape that is?
Mr. Blue: Forty-nine minutes.
Lt. Garber: Look, fella, we know how to tell time as well as you do, but we're not gonna get anywhere if all you do is repeat forty-nine minutes!
Mr. Blue: Forty-*eight* minutes.
Lt. Garber: Yeah, all right, we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
[after shutting off the mic]
Lt. Garber: Son of a bitch.

You've got four things that make this work extremely well.

1) The acting is top-notch, from the top to the bottom of the bottom. EVERY actor in this thing plays their part beautifully and realistically and the NYC accents are great.

2) The direction. Sargent's work behind the camera keeping all of this together is remarkable. The performances feel real and there's plenty of tension in spite of abundance of humor.

Lt. Garber: [after talking to Mr Blue on the radio] The guy who's talking's got a heavy English accent. He could be a fruitcake.

3) The score by David Shire. It's edgy. The doubling of bari sax and bass trombones play like a killing machine punching through walls. It's ballsy and you get a good idea of what you're going to get right from the start. Great score.

4) The balance of tension and humor. I've never read the book but I am curious as to how much humor is in it. There's quite a bit here but a lot of it is incidental humor. Many of the funny lines aren't meant to be but are because of where they're coming from. Like when an old man rants and starts spitting out obscenities or when the pressure is on and someone is throwing out heavy sarcasm. That kind of humor. I cannot think of another film that builds tension like this one while at the same time let it out so easily without "emptying the bag" so to speak.

Caz Dolowicz: You're a mental case. I'm gonna nail his pecker to the goddamned wall.
Asst.: Caz, take it easy, will ya?
Caz Dolowicz: Oh, come on. If I've gotta watch my language just because they let a few broads in, I'm going to quit. How the hell can you run a goddamn railroad without swearing?

The last 10 seconds of PELHAM are ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN' PRICELESS!!! It's one helluva finish!

There's a remake coming out very soon with Denzel Washington in the Matthau role and John Travolta in the Shaw role. I don't doubt Denzel but Travolta is no Shaw. The trailer below looks OK and there are some spots that look faithful to the original film. One big change seems to be that Travolta is acting alone and not with three others. It's too bad they didn't go with a real actor. Travolta is a better movie star than an actor. Maybe director Tony Scott was able to pull a good performance out of him. I guess we'll have to wait until June to find out but I won't be there. They certainly won't be able to improve on the original, that's for sure.

And as if you needed more ammo not to see the remake (or at least pay to see it), just look at the following poster art for the original and the remake. The new one is piss-poor and looks like it's going straight-to-DVD. The original just begs you to see it, doesn't it?

Blue Velvet (1986)

Director: David Lynch

Starring: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Dean Stockwell

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: It's a strange world.

Plot: Jeffrey (MacLachlan) returns to his home town after being away and discovers a severed human ear in a field. Not satisfied with the police's pace, he and the police detective's daughter (Dern) carry out their own investigation. The object of his investigation turns out to be a beautiful and mysterious woman (Rossallini) involved with a violent and perversely evil man (Hopper).

My Rating: 7.5/10

Would I watch it again? Yeah, in another ten years or so


It's been 15-20 years since the last time I saw this. Now, the first time I watched it I was blown away. The second time was just about the same. With so much distance and so many crazy movies watched in the interim, I still find it a very good movie if only a little less effective than 20 years ago but back then it was mind-blowing.


With the exception of THE STRAIGHT STORY (1999), BLUE VELVET is his most accessible film since 1986. If you've never seen a Lynch film, this is the one to start with. It's crime thriller of sorts that plays out linearly. You don't get the plethora of "WTF is going on" moments you'll find in his later work. leaving you scratching your head for months. It's got a couple of high tension scenes and more than a handful of memorable situations, characters and dialogue.


THE standout performance goes to Hopper as the sadistic nutjob, Frank Booth. He's off the charts. If you want to see a different kind of Hopper psycho role then look no further. He's vicious and has no problem with sudden bursts of violence directed at women or otherwise. He's scary as hell and he's got some funny-ass lines.

"MOMMY!"

Frank: What kind of beer do you like to drink, neighbor?
Jeffrey: Heineken.
Frank: Heineken? Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon!

Rossellini does her own singing in the nightclub scenes and I wish she hadn't. I've heard worse, sure, but her voice just lies there on the floor, floundering like a dying fish. Woof. I'd like to think that she's better than that and was directed to make it sound not so good. Either way, it's painful. I guess you could say she makes up for it by her multitude of nude scenes. But what doesn't hurt is Angelo Badalamenti's really neat and fun score. Lots of brass and it often doesn't feel contemporary. Very unique.

I've never really cared an awful lot for Laura Dern's acting. She's good but I've never seen "great". I suppose I don't have to as she's very easy on the eyes. Hubba, hubba!


Dean Stockwell is hilarious as a pimp (I think) named Ben. He's got what looks like a brothel of large ladies that look more at home in a John Waters movie..


It's right at two hours long but it never really feels like it. The pacing, story and great imagery (I love the retro-50s/early 60s look while grounded in present day) keep you glued to the screen all the way through. And if you don't like it? Then I wouldn't go any farther with his catalog except for THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980). It's got a beautiful score by John Morris and excellent performances by Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt.

Welcome to Blood City (1977)

Director: Peter Sasdy

Starring: Jack Palance, Keir Dullea, Samantha Eggar, Barry Morse

More Info: IMDB

Plot: A group of people find themselves as slaves in what looks like a Wild West town, but with no memory of who they are or how they got there. In this town, people advance through killing others. One of the people decides to go for the top position.

My Rating: 7/10

Would I watch it again? Probably not until a better print comes along

Despite it's lackluster production values and the fact that the copy I watched was a crappy, over-cropped pan & scan copy, I really enjoyed it.



This is not a remake WESTWORLD (1973) as some would like you to believe. Westworld dealt with a theme park robot that went loopy and started killing people. WTBC is about a scientific experiment that places innocent victims in a virtual reality to test their skills. So the only thing these two have in common are that they're both Sci-Fi Westerns. If anything WTBC is closer to The Prisoner episode, "Living In Harmony" than anything else.

THE man - Jack Palance

Keir "2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY" Dullea

Palance is a lot of fun, as usual, and HE'S having fun without over-doing it as he sometimes did in the 70s (plus he's not drunk). The rest of the cast does a fine job as well. For the most part I'm satisfied with the plot details that were given but I would have liked a little bit more. For example, in the beginning the "experiment subjects" have cards in their pockets labeling them murderers and how many people they killed. Now, unless those cards are only there to give the subjects a tiny bit of info as to who they are and maybe why they are there, I'd like to know more about their purpose. However, I really like that the film makers don't hold your hand and spoon feed you the information, allowing you to think for yourself. I guess I can't have my cake and eat it, too.


Roy Budd turns in a good score, too, except I can do without the musical saw that showed up from time to time. It's threatening where it needs to be and there are times where the film could have used more music instead of some scenes sitting there flat without any at all.


I've been going through a 70's Sci-Fi kick recently, searching out films I hadn't seen before. This one was a pleasant surprise. Yeah, it has pacing issues but it's got a great concept and it's a film that really relies on the story, not the effects. And that's a nice change of pace compared to what we've been given for the past 20 years.

Walking Tall (1973)

Director: Phil Karlson

Starring: Joe Don Baker, Noah Beery Jr, Bruce Glover, Felton Perry

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: A real man who became a living legend!

Plot: Based on the life of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser whom almost single-handily cleaned up his small town of crime and corruption, but at a personal cost of his family life and nearly his own life.

My Rating: 8/10

Would I watch it again? Yesiree Bob! Yee Hoo!


I sometimes check the run times of films before I start so I at least have a feeling of how long I'm in for, for better or worse. This one clocks in at 125 minutes, which gave me some reason for concern. Then it starts and it's not pretty. Walter Scharf's score is idyllic with lots of hope and promise and with orchestration akin to a TV show. I think I'm going to throw up. You see, I've never seen this picture before. I know, I know. It's got a great reputation and all and I've been wanting to see it since forever but I'm just now getting around to it and I thought I knew what to expect.

























OK, back to the film. Buford and family make it to his parent's house in the backwoods of Tennessee. There's lots of talk about how he's retired from wrestling (because he didn't like the broken system that controlled it) and how he's going to lead a non-violent life and so on. They're really beating me over the head with it. It's getting stale and fast. So far, this overly-optimistic crap has got to go. But that's OK 'cause I know he's going to be kicking ass and taking names at some point but then again, there's about two more hours left to go!

Nice fried eggs, Ma'am.

The shit finally hits the fan when he meets-up with a childhood buddy and he's taken on a tour of the town, seeing how things have changed since he left. They end up at a gambling/prostitution joint and Buford confronts a guy cheating at the craps table and proceeds to kick said ass. It's one man against many and he's eventually overtaken and they bust out a large knife and start carving up his chest and back. OUCH!!! I felt it, too. OOoooh.

From this point on Buford's in badass mode and this is where the good stuff starts and doesn't let up for barely a moment until the credits roll. WOW! What a kickass little movie this is. It's certainly deserving of its reputation. Baker is fantastic as Buford Pusser, the real-life man who became sheriff of a small Tennessee town to clean up the corruption that blanketed it. He's a menacing figure to the point you believe he's really doing it.


The always fun Bruce Glover is great as the head deputy who helps Buford out. It was funny because I've always seen him play bizarre characters. This is the most normal role I've seen him in which was just really weird. The woman who played Buford's wife, Pauline (Elizabeth Hartman), could have been a better actress. She was too sheepish. She was sometimes assertive but most of the time she was the stand-by-your-man , Southern stereotype. The contradiction was killing me.


What surprised me most was the emotional impact found throughout the film, whether it's from the sometimes brutality of the violence or the consequences of that violence to Buford and the people around him. Even the courtroom scenes had me wrapped up in them. It may have started out all rainbows and sunshine but that didn't last long. The impact of the tonal shift with the first attack was unexpected and mature for what you'd expect with a film like this. It's got more than a few "jump up and cheer" moments. I'm all for the law but many of these people needed to be killed because they won't stop until they're dead.


It's based on a real man but how much of it is true, I have no idea. I don't look to movies for the truth. I watch them for entertainment and WALKING TALL entertained the hell out of me. This one would have been great to watch at a drive-in 35 years ago. Maybe someday. I'm just glad I finally got around to watching it.