Apparently, this website is no joke. Kid Rock is running for the Senate. I blame Donald Trump for this. One thing Trump’s election win proved is that the American people no longer require any relevant experience or qualifications to hold elective office. That’s probably been the case for a while, now, but it took Trump to prove to all the other celebrities in the country that they, too, can ride their popularity into a position of real power. And this is has the potential to be a huge problem. Continue reading “Stay in Your Lane, Famous People”
Author: capcom
Battle Beyond the Stars
Roger Corman was absolutely shameless. There wasn’t an idea he wouldn’t steal, nor a corner he wouldn’t cut to save a buck, in any of the dozens of films in which he had a part. He is hailed as a pioneering and legendary filmmaker. He launched the careers of numerous, better filmmakers and is showered with credit for their talents. And he did all this, and more, while cranking out a relentless stream of awful films. Terrible, unwatchable, dreadful sins against the art of cinema. And sometimes, he managed to make a shitty movie that was worth a damn. Continue reading “Battle Beyond the Stars”
Donnie Dumbass, Jr.
Last night the New York Times dropped a bomb on the Turdpol Kakistocracy. After a weekend where the Times reported that Donald Trump, Jr. met with Russian lawyers with Kremlin ties, reporting that Trump Jr. and his father both confirmed, it was further reported that Trump Jr. took the meeting with the understanding he would be receiving materials damaging to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Then last night the Times reported that before the meeting, Trump Jr. received an email about the meeting that claimed that the promised materials were coming from the Russian government, which was engaged in an effort to aid the campaign of Donald Trump. If these articles from the Times are accurate, then this is the proof of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to undermine American democracy we all knew was out there somewhere. Continue reading “Donnie Dumbass, Jr.”
The Raiders of Atlantis, aka The Atlantis Interceptors, aka I predatori di Atlantide
The Italian invasion continues here at Shitty Movie Sundays. I don’t know who is responsible for either buying or selling the rights to these dogs, but whoever it is, I would like to thank you. It would have been easy to let films like Escape from the Bronx, or today’s flick, The Raiders of Atlantis, fade into total obscurity. But someone, somewhere, signed a deal to make sure flicks like these continue to survive on internet streaming. Whether or not this person is a shitty film lover like myself or a rights holder gathering up pennies, I salute you. Continue reading “The Raiders of Atlantis, aka The Atlantis Interceptors, aka I predatori di Atlantide”
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
Today Shitty Movie Sundays is featuring another Irwin Allen disaster flick. What makes this one different is that Allen wasn’t just the producer of today’s film. He also directed. It wasn’t his first time in the director’s chair, having helmed a couple of halfway decent sci-fi flicks in the past. But, I don’t think it would have made much difference who was at the helm for this stinker. John Ford could have directed this flick and it still would be packed to the gills with stupid. Continue reading “Beyond the Poseidon Adventure”
Point Break
It’s somewhat amazing, but Point Break, the 1991 action flick from director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter W. Peter Iliff, has become a classic. It’s a film that’s loaded with contemporary action tropes. It’s also one of the flicks that, despite its success, can be pointed to as partly responsible for the downfall of 1980s-style action films. It has aged well over time, but when it came out it was an eye-roller. Continue reading “Point Break”
Accuracy Over Efficiency
As the Washington Post reported today, “People connected to the Russian government tried to hack election-related computer systems in 21 states, a Department of Homeland Security official testified Wednesday.” Continue reading “Accuracy Over Efficiency”
The New Gladiators, aka Warriors of the Year 2072, aka I guerrieri dell’anno 2072
Television is a tough racket. Just ask the employees of WBS TV. In the future, the year 2072, to be precise, WBS has a hit show on their hands. It’s called The Danger Game, where contestants are hooked up to a machine that pumps visions of bloody torture directly into their brains. If they endure the torture without panicking, they win. It’s a successful show for the discerning TV consumer of the dystopian future, but it’s still getting beaten in the ratings by Kill Bike — a show featuring riders on motorbikes engaging in some poorly filmed jousting.
The mysterious head of WBS, Sam (Giovanni Di Benedetto), has a new idea for a show that should get WBS back on top of the ratings. Essentially, WBS is going to steal the idea of Kill Bike, but WBS will increase the stakes. The contestants will all be convicted murderers, and they will battle to the death in the famed Coliseum of Rome.
The New Gladiators was released in 1984, and is part of the wave of cheap Italian sci-fi that found inspiration following the successes of the Mad Max films and Escape from New York, among many others. This particular film, from famed b-movie auteur Lucio Fulci, borrows from those two films, while still finding enough room to cram in heaping amounts of Rollerball, Blade Runner, and A Clockwork Orange. Most impressively, Fulci was able to reach forward through time and steal ideas from The Running Man (all joking aside, the similarities are enough that I have to think the people behind The Running Man were Fulci fans). Continue reading “The New Gladiators, aka Warriors of the Year 2072, aka I guerrieri dell’anno 2072”
The Raid 2
Despite how much I liked The Raid, my review of the film ended up being a little thin. That’s because, while there was much to recommend, the film was overwhelmed by its violence. It took all the hard work that went into the sets, the music, the costumes, even the acting of the leads, and rendered it subservient to the majesty of the violence. As it turns out, that’s because the only thing to survive writer/director Gareth Evans sprawling vision of crime, police corruption, and kickass martial arts, was the violence, owing to a budget that precluded any grand scope. The success of The Raid opened the taps more for the follow-up, and allowed Evans to explore in-depth themes that were forced to remain on the periphery in the first film. Continue reading “The Raid 2”
Bad Ass
A viewer can tell what writer/director Craig Moss was trying to accomplish with Bad Ass, but the execution just wasn’t there. Inspired by the Epic Beard Man viral video, so much so that one of the production companies for this flick is listed as Amber Lamps, LLC, Bad Ass follows Danny Trejo as Frank Vega, a down on his luck Vietnam vet who kicks the shit out of a couple of skinheads on a Los Angeles bus. Continue reading “Bad Ass”