Eraserhead (1977)

Director: David Lynch

Writer: David Lynch

Composer: David Lynch

Starring: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates, Judith Roberts, Laurel Near, V. Phipps-Wilson, Jack Fisk

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Be warned. The nightmare has not gone away...

Plot: Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

David Lynch is one of those polarizing filmmakers that most people either like or not.  I'm kind of on the fence.  After knowing about this film for more than thirty years, I FINALLY watched it.  I pulled down the big screen for this one (11' x 7') and had the sound up nice.  The sound is great.  The background sound (it's not noise and it's not music in the traditional sense) is constant and it keeps you in the film.  Visually it's interesting.  I didn't want to look away from it.  But following this as a narrative film is futile.  I'm not sure if Lynch was trying to say anything but he created (over a five year period) an unusual film experience.  I doubt I'll ever watch it again but I'm glad I finally saw it.  It's different, I'll say that much.

Bad Georgia Road (1977)

Director: John C. Broderick

Writers: John C. Broderick, Jeffrey Bernini

Composer: Don Peake

Starring: Gary Lockwood, Carol Lynley, Royal Dano, Tom Kibbe, John Wheeler, Cliff Emmich, Glynn Rubin, Dick Haynes, John Kerry, Conrad E. Palmisano, Mary Woronov, George 'Buck' Flower

More info: IMDb

Taglnie: They're makin' time to the county line.

Plot: A NYC magazine fashion editor leaves everything when she inherits a $100k estate in Alabama.  Little does she know that it's not the sprawling romantic Southern plantation she thinks.  Instead it's a small rundown house and a small-time moonshine runnin' business.  Defeated, she sees the money potential in the liquor and tries to make it better.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I don't know why I keep watching these dumbass 70s hicksploitation pictures.  I know they're not going to be good but I keep hoping to find that gem among the trash.  This one stars Gary Lockwood, Frank from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968).  You'd think that'd be a positive but he plays the main redneck, Leroy, who runs the liquor.  He's covered in dirt and grease and he's always out for himself.  I barely recognized him.  That's good acting, I guess.  Royal Dano is fun as always.  There's not much action, almost nudity (but not quite) and lots of stereotypes and dumb yokels (which include the police, of course).  The only thing that makes this stand out from the rest is around the 3/4 mark there's a rape.  It gets real awfully fast, going from a dumb redneck comedy to HOLY FUCK!  After that it's right back into familiar territory and it ends without bringing the story to a close.  The ending works but it leaves you wanting more...well, not really wanting more to this movie but wanting closure I reckon.  The last twenty minutes is unlike any hicksploitation flick I've seen and that's worth a little something.  And what the fuck is the title all about?  It takes place entirely in Alabama (although I'm sure it was filmed in CA).

Blood Work (2002)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Writers: Michael Connelly, Brian Helgeland

Composer: Lennie Niehaus

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Jeff Daniels, Anjelica Huston, Wanda De Jesus, Tina Lifford, Paul Rodriguez, Dylan Walsh, Mason Lucero, Gerry Becker, Rich Hoffman

More info: IMDb

Tagline: He's a heartbeat away from catching the killer

Plot: Still recovering from a heart transplant, a retired FBI profiler returns to service when his own blood analysis offers clues to the identity of a serial killer.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

I hadn't realized it until just now, while looking at Eastwood's directorial credits, that I've seen 22 out of his 36 pictures.  I'm going to miss him.  It's amazing that he'll be 88 this year and the guy's still making pictures.  That's just fantastic.  Anyway, about this one, I liked it.  It's a good thriller with a different kind of gimmick for the serial killer genre.  Eastwood's the big reason to watch this (surprise).  He's great.  The rest of the cast does a fine job and Eastwood's direction keeps things moving smoothly and interesting.  The ending surprised me but then I'm not one to examine every little detail (most of the time) and try to solve the mystery.  If the movie is good I give myself to the film and go for a ride.  When it's not good my mind wanders and I usually don't care.  

Alley Cat (1984)

Directors: Victor M. Ordonez, Ed Palmos, Al Valletta

Writer: Robert E. Waters

Composer: Quito Colayco

Starring: Karin Mani, Robert Torti, Britt Helfer, Michael Wayne, Jon Greene, Jay Fisher, Claudia Decea, Tim Cutt, Jay Walker, Moriah Shannon, Marla STone, Kevin Velligan, Tony Oliver

More info: IMDb

Tagline: This lady owns the night.

Plot: A beautiful young martial arts expert stops a vicious street gang from robbing her grandparents' house. The gang marks her for murder, but her grandparents are killed instead. The girl sets out to take her revenge on the gang.

My rating:  7/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes!

Holy crap was this a fun piece of low budget goodness that I didn't see coming!  How is it possible that star Karin Mani only starred in one movie (this one), kicking ass so nicely and doing a good job acting (more so for someone with so few credits) and not getting signed on for more kick ass pictures?  I'm stupified.  She's fantastic.  No only is her fighting swift and powerful but she's smokin' hot to boot!  The pacing is nice and brisk and there's some great lines, fights and a lot more great nudity (including her) than you'd think there'd be.  I'm going to have to call a special council meeting and get the fellas over to the house to watch this.  It's too much fun to keep to myself.  And so are these...

Heartbreak Ridge (1986)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Writers: James Carabatsos, Dennis Hackin, Joseph Stinson

Composer: Lennie Niehaus

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Marsha Mason, Everett McGill, Moses Gunn, Eileen Heckart, Bo Svenson, Boyd Gaines, Mario Van Peebles, Peter Jason

More info: IMDb

Tagline: ...the scars run deep.

Plot: A hard-nosed, hard-living Marine gunnery sergeant clashes with his superiors and his ex-wife as he takes command of a spoiled recon platoon with a bad attitude.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Clint is great and grizzled as always.  He's one cantankerous S.O.B. and that's why you love him.  He behaves like I felt watching this movie.  It's frustrating.  On one hand he's fun to watch and you totally understand where he's coming from (most of the time) but on the other, you've got these over the top bozos he commands.  How in the hell would the Marines allow their shenanigans to begin with?  Sure, they're whipped into shape by the end of the movie but for the rest of it they're childish assholes.  Until they got their shit together it felt like they were in some frat house comedy.  I didn't like them and it brought the movie down, especially the annoying Mario Van Peebles (and the rest aren't far behind).  Now, when Clint gets knocked down near the end and he's lying on the back in the rain and you can barely hear him say, "Shit!"?  Classic.  I remember liking this quite a bit thirty years ago in my teens but not so much no.  Shit!

Outlaw Riders (1971)

Director: Tony Huston

Writer: John Zila

Composer: John Bath

Starring: Bryan West, Darlene Duralia, William Bonner, Bambi Allen, Jennifer Bishop, Lindsay Crosby, Rafael Campos, Ray Cantrell, Ed Sarquest, Tim Brown, Robert Tessier

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Tough as Leather...Harder Than Steel!

Plot: An outlaw motorcycle gang is headed by two couples (Allan, Bishop, Bonner and West). The gang is badly hurt by a botched robbery and the four stars, the only survivors, eventually head to Mexico, where they have to combat a gang run by a sadistic Mexican

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

This is not your typical biker flick.  The picture starts off with the gang pulling a heist at a farm feed plant or something somewhere in Arizona.  They hide out in the wilderness for a while to stay out of sight of the fuzz (who are using helicopters), then they head down Mexico way.  There they get mixed up in a battle with some Mexican biker gang who takes the Gringo's women to prostitute them out.  Now the two Outlaw Riders are alone in the wilderness of Mexico looking for their broads with no weapons or transportation.  I wish I had a better copy than the shitty VHS print that's dark overall.  That was a real drag because I would've enjoyed this flick a lot more if I could've at least seen it better.  The night scenes are so bad you have to use your imagination with the audio.  What's even worse is that because of that I might've missed some nudity.  The last few minutes are balls to the wall insanely great.  It's probably the best ending to a biker flick I've ever seen.  And then the movie has full on end credits that play for a couple of minutes.  Few movies did that before this one but it's still a rare thing by '71 and for a low budget biker flick. 

Snake Eyes (1998)

Director: Brian De Palma

Writers: Brian De Palma, David Koepp

Composer: ryuichi Sakamoto

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise, John Heard, Carla Gugino, Stan Shaw, Kevin Dunn, Michael Rispoli, Joel Fabiani, Luis Guzman, David Anthony Higgins

More info: IMDb

Tagline: He's got 14,000 eyewitnesses and no one saw a thing.

Plot: A shady police detective finds himself in the middle of a murder conspiracy at an important boxing match in an Atlantic City casino.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Nicolas Cage and Brian De Palma?  We should get these kids together again.  I loved the setting of half in a boxing arena and the rest in and around a casino hotel.  It's a taut thriller with a lot of interesting enough and easily defined and distinguishable characters.  Cage is great and he's got a neat little sandbox to play in and De Palma's direction is nicely handled, too.  The Paramount DVD has an OK looking non-anamorphic widescreen print with an equally so trailer for the only extra.  The quality is such that it's good enough if you get it for a buck at a yard sale.