Brian Thomas, a contributing author over at Enlightened-Digital kindly provided this entertaining look at A Century of AI in films. Thank you, Brian! Have a look:
Tag Archives: movies
3 LABOR DAY MOVIES
The Labor Day Holiday is taking on greater significance the more that the white collar criminals called Democrats and Republicans sell out the working class. Bought and paid for office-holders from BOTH political parties are content to screw over the working class.
MATEWAN (1987) – This John Sayles film examines the 1920 Matewan Massacre in the West Virginia coal fields. The workers were attempting to form a union and the owners – the kind of people that the one percenters’ beloved New York Times has proclaimed to be “the conscience of the country” used hired thugs to harass – and even kill – the laborers.
On top of that the owners planned to bring in replacement workers who would work for less money and would not expect “luxuries” like worker safety measures and the like.
It’s like today as DemCorp and RepubCorp embrace Corporate Fascism by helping bloated rich pigs usher unlimited numbers of illegal immigrants into countries around the world in order to bring in people who will work for lower wages and without “luxuries” like sick leave and such.
Today’s rich pigs have added a new wrinkle: pretending to be showing “compassion” and lecturing the working class and the poor about the glories of a borderless society. Ultimately this will even overload Social Programs to the point where they all collapse from lack of funding.
AN IMPORTANT REASON FOR HAVING BORDERS IS PRECISELY BECAUSE OF THE LONG-HELD PRINCIPLE THAT A COUNTRY CAN HAVE SOCIAL PROGRAMS OR OPEN BORDERS BUT NOT BOTH. Borders also help in disease control and crime control, but the one percenters and bloated rich pigs never have to worry about either. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History
HELLRAISER: ORIGINS TRAILER
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog may recall how fond I am of Clive Barker’s novel The Hellbound Heart and the subsequent Hellraiser horror film franchise. Mike LeHan and Paul Gerrard directed and produced a 2013 spec trailer hoping to get a reboot of the series greenlit.
Unfortunately that did not happen, but their trailer shows a lot of work went into it. The depiction of Hell is in keeping with the spirit of the first two Hellraiser movies and the re-imagining of Pinhead is intriguing but not entirely appealing. Anyway, the spec trailer is worth a look if you’ve already read Barker’s The Scarlet Gospels and are starved for more Cenobite material.
Filed under Halloween Season
SCREAM FACTORY: BRAIN DEAD (1990)
Scream Factory has announced that on September 11th it will be releasing its edition of the 1990 cult movie Brain Dead, with Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton.
It’s an enjoyable little head-trip of a movie that tries to keep you guessing about what’s really going on. Extras for the release will be announced at a later date.
I’m not sure if even I would want to own this movie but it’s at least nice for a one-time viewing. Once you know what’s really going on subsequent viewings lack any real oomph.
Filed under Bad and weird movies, Halloween Season
THE “IT’S ALIVE” TRILOGY ON BLU-RAY, PLUS THE MENU OF EXTRAS
It’s Alive from 1974 is a psychotronic classic. It Lives Again from 1978 features Frederic Forrest, the “I’m a saucier” guy in his second-worst onscreen relationship – the worst was with Teri Garr in One From the Heart. It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive is fairly lame but at least it has Michael Moriarty.
Yes, the It’s Alive Trilogy is coming out on Blu-ray! You can pre-order this May 15th release at the link below, plus here’s the menu of extras for each of the 3 films:
IT’S ALIVE
• NEW 2K scan of the original film elements
• NEW Cohen’s Alive: Looking Back at the It’s Alive Films featuring interviews with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen, actors James Dixon, Michael Moriarty and Laurene Landon and more…
• NEW It’s Alive at the Nuart: The 40th Anniversary Screening with Larry Cohen
• Audio Commentary with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen
• Radio Spots
• TV Spots
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery
IT LIVES AGAIN
Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies, Halloween Season
EASTER SILENT FILM: LIFE AND PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST (1907)
Since today is BOTH Easter Sunday AND April Fool’s Day I figured people might think my usual Easter examinations of Apocryphal Gospels were just made-up April Fool’s Day pranks. Instead I went with this 1907 silent film about Jesus from the cradle to the crucifixion.
Filed under Uncategorized
FRIDAY FOSTER: GOOD FRIDAY? SHE’S THE BEST FRIDAY
FOR BALLADEER’S BLOG’S REVIEWS OF THE OTHER TOP MOVIES OF PAM GRIER CLICK HERE
FRIDAY FOSTER (1975) – Pam portrays the title character, a comic strip heroine from the 1970’s who was often called “the black Brenda Starr.” Friday Foster worked as a photographer for a national weekly and the comic strip figure was regularly involved in much grittier adventures than Brenda Starr (or Mark Trail for that matter) ever had.
In this movie Friday uncovers a plot by White Supremacists to assassinate every prominent African American in the United States. Friday’s investigation into these dastardly goings-on leads her along a lengthy trail of victims, some of them played by very big-name stars. For instance: Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies, Blaxploitation
BLACK ROSES (1988): FILM REVIEW
BLACK ROSES (1988) – This legendarily laughable attempt at a horror film belongs to quite a few niche sub-genres. It’s a Canadian horror movie, it’s one of the wonderfully campy Heavy Metal Horror productions of the 1980s and most importantly for trivia lovers Black Roses is one of the Big Three Canadian turkeys to feature Frank Dietz in a supporting role. (The other two are Rock’N’Roll Nightmare and Zombie Nightmare. )
Dietz looked too young to be a police detective in Zombie Nightmare and he looks too OLD to be a high school student in Black Roses. But that’s part of his – and the movie’s – charm. He also plays one of the Black Roses in monster form during the film.
You want more kitsch-casting? How about Julie Adams of Creature From The Black Lagoon playing an elderly frump outraged over Heavy Metal’s supposed “Satanic” element?
How about noted musician Carmine Appice as Vinny Apache, one of the demonic members of the band Black Roses?
How about Vincent Pastore from The Sopranos as a Heavy Metal-hating parent who pays for that by getting mauled by a $1.49 spider-puppet AND getting sucked into a speaker playing Black Roses songs? Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies, Halloween Season
NEW MCFARLAND MOVIE BOOK: WHERE MONSTERS WALKED
Balladeer’s Blog’s fans know how in love I am with the books published by McFarland. They do some of the greatest and most useful reference material regarding every single obscure aspect of art and entertainment history. I’ve recommended their books to anyone who will listen, even going back to the days before I wrote this blog.
One of McFarland’s latest is Where Monsters Walked and it deals with the California filming locations of horror, sci-fi and fantasy films from 1925-1965. Despite how I always joke about Bronson Canyon being the site for virtually every low-budget flick of the 1950s onward, it’s terrific seeing the odd movie locations that you might not suspect were in the Golden State.
To order this and/or other McFarland masterworks Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
FILM MAG: THE FANTASTIC FIFTIES
From the U.K. it’s the latest issue of The Fantastic Fifties: Filmland’s Most Fabulous Decade.
The Spring 2018 edition is now available, featuring articles on Screen Goddesses of the 1950s, Alfred Hitchcock’s output for that decade, plus robots from Forbidden Planet, the neglected psychotronic flick Gog and The Colossus of New York – which I like to call They Saved Ross Martin’s Brain.
There have been four regular issues and an Annual Special dedicated to Peplums. Each issue is approximately 64 pages and they sell for just shy of ten Pounds in the U.K. and around $15 for U.S. customers plus international shipping.
Here are the covers for the other four issues that are available PLUS the info for buying copies: Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
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