Airheads

 

TITLE-Airheads

SOURCE-DVD

I clearly remember going to see this opening night. After the movie was over left the theater thinking god that wasn't good.  Skip ahead to 2003 found the DVD cheap. Grabbed it and owning the DVD and Comedy Central airing it often made me change my mind of this comedy.

Chaz is the lead singer of the struggling band The Lone Rangers. He gets kicked out of his girlfriend's apartment. Moves in with the rest of the band. And after Rex brings home some realistic looking waterguns from work,they make a plan. They are gonna take a radio station hostage until their demo gets played on the air.

After bumbling their way into the station,and their demo reel to reel tape burning up we get the stand off. So many lines from this I quote often. "I ain't farting on no snare drum!" 

So the head of the cops out front of the station sends off a young rookie cop. Told to go to the strip to find the girlfriend that has the cassette copy of the bands song. 

She is found at a night club,where White ZOmbie are on stage. Guessing this wasn't long before White Zombie broke up.

Back at the station we got an accountent crawling thru the air ducts,armed with a gun. Seems the drummer is also a pool boy. And in the pool boy job he slept with the head of SWAT's wife. So SWAT armed this accountent with a gun,

When the list of stuff the band has demanded,including items like a football helmet full of cream cheese and Nude Pictures of Beat Arthur,the Lone Rangers are bringing it in. The front door closes early and breaks the tip of the water gun. Which causes some of the hostages to run out yelling that the guns are fake. Same time our accountant takes fire at the band. And the DJ ends up getting the gun and handing it over to the band.

Soon a big record label is there offering the band a contract. A stage is flown in and they are gonna get to not only perform their song but also shoot a music video. Once they learn they will have to lip synch the video they refuse. Jump out into the crowd. And we fade to a few months  later. The Lone Rangers are performing in prison. And should be out in 6 months. 

Simple plot,and with a lesser cast this would just be another forgotten mid 90s comedy. Look at this cast, got Steve Buscemi as Rex,Adam Sandler as Pip the drummer,Brendon Fraiser as Chaz. Then an at the time not that big a star Chris Farley as a cop,Ernie Hudson as the head of the police team. 

Not really sure why this has been out of print for so long. The DVD use to be easy to find. The Blu Ray is one I have only seen in person a few times. It is rare to find Airheads streaming on any legit service.

And how can I hate a film that hopefully got a pile of mid 90s teens into the band Reagan Youth. Yes the song the Lone Rangers do near the end of the film is a cover of the 80s Hardcore band Reagan Youth's best known  song.

Airheads gets a B+.

Supergirl Being Super OGN

 

TITLE-Supergirl Being Super

SOURCE-DC Original Graphic Novel

I rarely read superhero comics from Marvel or DC anymore. Too many of them are so tied into other titles I feel like I need to read 10 comics to understand 1 that I want to read. But when I find Original Graphic Novels for cheap I will grab them.

About 2 months ago at the local library I found  this Supergirl OGN for sale. Was a former Library book. The books for sale is a name your price type thing. I just give them a buck for each book I grab.

Kara is a teenage girl. Enjoying her years in high school. She is part of the basketball team. Along with one of her best friends. And her other best friend is the studious but rebellious one.

See Kara was found in the field in  a spaceship. The couple that found her adopted her and been  raising her. And Kara has powers. She can fly, she is strong and nothing seems to hurt her.

Then weird stuff starts happening. Kara's coach gives her and her two best friends new watches. That are suppose to track their pulse and other things. But Kara and the rebellious friend are suspicious of these gifts.

Then an earthquake hits. Kara's basketball friend falls in the now open gap. Kara tries to save her using her powers but her powers fail. And we see that the coach runs a nearby secret lab. 

At this lab is another person like Kara. He is a Kryptonian that was sent to Earth to investigate it. He got captured and this lab has been running experiments on him to see if there is a way to use him and his powers as a fuel source.

This other alien talks Kara into going with him to raid the lab. We get a great fight. And by the end Kara realizes that while she might be Kryptonian by genetics she is an Earthling.

Well written and you can tell it is aimed at teens and young adults. It captures the feelings we all had as teens. That we didn't fit in. And nothing made sense. Mariko Tamaki is the writer and seems she is a New York Times best selling author.

The art is well done. My only complaint is the modern coloring done by computers hides some of the pencil and ink work. But I am slowly getting use to this new coloring but still not a big fan. Joelle Jones is the artist and is someone I will look for more of their work.

When I grabbed this the plan was read it whenever and then put it up for sale. Figuring at a buck I could ask 5 bucks and make a nice profit. Like a week after I bought Supergirl Being Super I pulled it out . Figuring I would read a few pages each night while eating dinner. Gotten into the habit of standing at the bar in the kitchen when I eat dinner. Usually got some music playing and I read a comic. I read while eating that night. Quickly cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes then went back to reading. Only reason I didn't finish this OGN that night was I had to be up early the next day.

I love how this works for any reader. You do not have to know about Supergirl or the DC universe for the story to make sense. But if you are knowledgable about either there is plenty of Easter Eggs through out the novel.

Supergirl Being Super gets a B.

Red Rock West

 

TITLE-Red Rock West

SOURCE-Cinepathe Blu ray

Yea the above cover is the DVD. Finally 30 years later I got to see this film how it was meant to be seen. Back in 96 I had a deal with a local video store. Could rent anything I wanted free. Just couldn't be new releases and I had to have it back the next day before the store opened. So myself and the woman I was with  at the time would go most evenings right as the store was closing and get 2 or 3 movies. After renting  everything the horror section had she moved to the dramas. One  evening she grabbed Red Rock West,I think cause of Nic Cage,and we both loved it. Made a copy of that VHS. And it was a film we would tell everyone to see.

Skip ahead to 2003. I have long ago lost that VHS copy. I'm in a Dollar General. Looking at their DVDs. See the above cover and grabbed it. Not realizing this DVD was 4:3. Still loved the movie. And just recently got in the new remastered Blu Ray.

In the early 90s a pile of films came out that were inspired by the film noir stuff of decades ago. Dubbed Neo Noir this sub genre peaked by the late 90s and by 2001 was pretty much dead.

Nic Cage is a military vet. With a bad knee. He makes it into the town of Red Rock Wyoming. Applied for a job in the oil fields. Goes to a nearby bar for a drink and gets mistaken for a hitman coming from Texas. 

And that starts a the plot going. More twists and turns than most films of this sub genre. And with an amazing cast,Red Rock West is a movie that once you see it you do not forget it.

So that cast. Already mentioned Nic Cage,and this is back when he gave  a shit.  You believe him as the broke drifter. Also got Dennis Hopper,as the hitman from Texas. Dressed a bit like he was in TCM2,Dennis is his normal nutty self and your eyes will stay on  him when he is on the screen. Any noir worth a crap has that sultry evil woman. For this film that is Lara Flynn Boyle. Fresh off Twin Peaks,Lara is great as the cheating wife that is trying to double cross everyone.

Made from a new scan of the IP this Blu ray looks amazing. You can see the film grain some and I love that. Gives each scene a nice texture. Sound is great. And the extras. A fun commentary. And many other extras.

Track this down and see it!

Red Rock West gets a A-.

Robotech Archive VOL 1 TPB

 

TITLE-Robotech Archives vol 1 The Macross Saga Volume 1 TPB

SOURCE-Titan Books

I am horrible about thinking "Oh I want to read this book or this comic" and now that I order all them online I go order it and the 2 days to 2 weeks later it arrives I toss it on the need to read pile and years later might read it.

The above TPB is an example. I had gotten a few issues of Comico's Robotech Macross Saga run,read them and wanted more. Looked and this Titan TPB that covered the Graphic Novel and first 11 or so issues of the run was cheap. Like 8 bucks with shipping cheap. Ordered it. It came in a week later. Got put on the Need to Read pile and sat and sat.

Then recently had a day where I had to drive people to two doctor appointments. Waiting rooms are always noisy. So I will put on a podcast and sit there read. Got almost this entire tpb read that day. So the  next few nights during dinner I would eat and read.

The story? It is pretty much the first 11 or so episodes of Robotech. Few minor changes to dialog. The art really in some issues looks like they traced the cels. Other times you can tell it was drawn by hand but looks so much like the cels it feels odd. The coloring for this era stands out. It looks so much better than the colors on a DC or Marvel book from this time. And what time frame am I talking about? 1985 IIRC. 

If you have never experiences the Macross saga part of Robotech this is a great way to do it. And it is faster than watching the show. I got 11 issues and the GN read in less time than it would take me to watch 4 episodes.

Now I am bias,I love Robotech and really love the Macross saga. Which  made this collection perfect for me.

Robotech Archive Macross Saga vol 1 gets a B+

The Game of Clones Bruceploitation Boxed Set Vol 1

 

TITLE-The Game of Clones Bruceploitation Collection vol 1

SOURCE-Severin

About a year ago this set came out. And I wanted it but wasn't gonna drop 120 bucks on it. Skip ahead to late May this year. Had a few extra bucks and ordered the documentary that comes in this set.  Took me 3 days to get it watched. Mostly cause the day it came in our power went out and was about almost 10 hours. But once I got it watched I knew I wanted this set.

Being born in the middle of the 70s I grew up with Kung Fu Theater every Saturday. After cartoons and Pro Wrestling on the UHF channel. Each week I saw a different Kung Fu movie. And I was a huge  fan. Got in trouble at the annual family reunion on Fathers Day weekend. All cause my  cousin pissed me off so I was chasing him around the  park karate chopping him in his back.

Now back when I was a kid I would be mad when I saw a Bruceploitation film  on Kung Fu Theater. And what is Bruceploitation? After Bruce Lee became a huge star other studios started making ripoffs of his films. Casting actors that looked a bit like Bruce. And once Bruce died the amount of these films multiplied.

This set is 7 discs. With 6 of them holding 2 films each. One disc is the documentary I mentioned,which means I now have two copies of it.

How are the films? Well Severin found the best prints they could. With them looking so much better than they ever did on Kung Fu Theater or the many  VHS or DVD copies I have seen over the years.

There is extras on  each disc. Sometimes you get a commentary,sometimes you get more than one on the film. 

Out of all the films the stand out is The Dragon  Lives Again. Where Bruce Lee goes to Hell and teams up with Popeye to fight Dracula. Go look the movie up on Youtube there is a few copies up. Total insanity but it works. 

Yea the films are cheap and  cheesy. Stil I had fun watching each of them. The extras help add some info and context to the movies. And the included book in  the boxed set is well made.

The Game of Clones Bruceploitation VOL 1 gets a B+.

GLOW The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling Blu Ray

 

TITLE-GLOW The Story of The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling

SOURCE-AFGA Blu ray

GLOW was part of my Saturdays for about 3 years. I got between 4 and 9 hours of wrestling each Saturday. And GLOW was the only one my parents watched with me.

Take a bad variety show,add in some lady wrestlers and you got GLOW. Imagine Hee Haw but set in a wrestling ring not a corn field.

And I loved it. Now of course more people know the Netflix show GLOW. Which was good. 

Years ago when this documentary came out I got a copy and loved it. Went out bought a few GLOW dvds and enjoyed them.

A recent Vingar Syndrome sale I grabbed this. Covering the entire run of GLOW and headed up by the lady that was Little Egypt,this documentary is a great look at the hard work all the ladies did to make that show a success.

And we also get to see what  pile of them have been up to since GLOW folded. I know Tina Ferrari became Ivory in WWE. I knew Matilda the Hun did some things. And had heard Hollywood was still working. Had no clue Hollywood films custom matches? 

Sadly we see that Mount Fiji is in rough shape. But she is gonna try her best to make the GLOW Reunion. And the last part of the documentary is that. Mount Fiji and a pile of the other ladies at this reunion. 

The commentary is great. They got a few of the GLOW wrestlers to help out. And the extras!!! Matches,promos and more!

GLOW The Story of Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling gets a A-

Challenge of the Tiger

 

TITLE-Challenge of the Tiger

SOURCE-Severin Blu Ray

While not the most insane Bruceploitation film in Severin's big boxed set of them,that would be The Dragon Lives Again,Challenge of the Tiger is close.

 A drug is invented that causes Males to not be able to reproduce. And everyone is after it. But we got Bruce Lei teaming up with Richard Harrison to protect it.

Filmed all over the place this is just pure fun. Every 5 or so minutes is either a fight or nudity. Oh yea forgot to mention not long after Harrison first appears in the film he goes to a villa. Where none of the women appear to wear tops. And we got a slow motion shot of a lady topless playing tennis.

Best fight scene in  the movie has Bruce and Richard fighting two guys on motorcycles. With a great stunt where Bruce lays on top of Harrison and a bike drives over Bruce's back.

The print looks and sounds good. A bit of wear but that is expected for a low budget film from 1980. The commentary is great. Loaded with info and stories. 

Worth tracking down. No clue what the releases before this one look like. Betting there is a 4:3 DVD from Wu Tang DVD or Brooklyn Zoo DVD.

Challenge of the Tiger gets a B-.

Mom n Pop the Indie video store boom of the 80s Blu ray

 

TITLE-Mom N Pop The Indie Video Store Boom of the 80s/90s

SOURCE-Saturns Core Blu ray

The small area on the MS gulf coast where I grew up was loaded with Mom n Pop video stores. Wasn't until 93 or 94 that a chain store invaded the area,and not long after that all the Mom n Pops started closing. So when I saw there was a documentary on these indie video stores I had to see it.

Full of people that either owned a Indie Video store or went to them often this is a great look back at a forgotten era. I see people all the time wishing Blockbuster was back.. Fuck that. Blockbuster sucked. Sure if you just wanted to see the major releases and rent a SNES game they were ok. But I wasn't finding stuff like Pink Flamingos or Nekromantix at Blockbuster. Nah had to goto Video Showboat or Tapes and More. 

Added bonus J.T. "Streebo" McRoberts appears a few times. He is a indie horror director/writer. Who through a podcast we learned we are both from the same hometown,well I was only born in that town he lived there for a bit. I was actually listening to this documentary while organizing my Blu Ray/4k shelf. Heard Streebo's voice and stopped to go see him being interviewed at one of the many cons he goes to.

Loaded with extras this is a niche documentary. One if you remember back when there was video stores everywhere and Blockbuster hadn't come and destroyed a once thriving local business.

And if you are one of those pining for the days of Blockbuster... I feel sorry for you. Not knowing a good video store. Will we have 28 year olds in 10 years from now wishing Redbox was back?

Mom N Pop the Indie Video Store Boom gets a B+

The Toy DVD

 

TITLE-The Toy

SOURCE-Full Screen DVD

It is odd what sticks in my memory. I sometimes forget the month or year. But got clear memories of going in 1982 with my parents and the neighbors to see The Toy at the movie theater near the mall in Mobile AL.  Then about a year or so after that new video rental store opens in town,we already had 2 in town that we were members of,and we go and rent The Toy. So After school one day Mom wasn't home yet,Dad got off at 5pm and was never home before 6pm,I invited a pile of the local kids over and we watched The Toy. 

And that rat bastard Lil Colon,yes he was Colon Jr so got called Lil Colon(also his last name was Brown...) told his mom about the part when the robot dog pisses on Richard and the nude painting of Gleason's wife. His mom comes over chews out my mom and I catch shit.

All of that clear in my memory and it was 83 so 42ish years ago. Then when I put this DVD in a few weeks ago I remembered almost nothing of the film. 3 scenes tops.

This is a remake of a 70s French film,Richard Pryor is Jack/Jackie Brown. A vet that is about to lose his home to taxes. His lady is a lawyer for Klan Watch,a civil rights group. He is told by his buddy at the bank if he had "A real job" the bank would extend the time he had to pay the back taxes. Pryor is a writer and wants to work for the big newspaper. Which is ran along with most other places in Baton Rouge Louisiana back then by U.S. Bates. 

U.S. Bates is an older delisional white guy. Who pretty much puts himself first ahead of all others. Became rich by being born into the money and running shady schemes to get richer. And has dreams of getting into Politics.

Pryor puts his name down as Jackie Brown,to maybe  get a job as cleaning staff at a big party at Bates' mansion. Gets hired to do that and work a few nights a week cleaning the big department store Bates has. 

The party is a disaster.Pryor is dressed up in a maids outfit. Dumps the meal in Bates lap and gets told to "Shave that mustache and you are fired".

Pryor the next night is cleaning the department store late at night,right when Bate's young son is coming into town. The kid lives at a military boarding school. Only coming home for 1 week a year. He is told he can  have anything in the store,by Ned Beaty(who is a weasel like underling for US Bates). Young Master Bates,and yes that joke is made,sees Pryor being his normal comedic self and tells them "I want that" 

So  needing lots of money fast Pryor agrees  to come stay at the mansion and be young Master Bate's living toy for a week. 

Young  Master Bates is played by Scotty Schwartz,who was Flick in A Christmas Story. Thinking  this is his first role. He is good as the asshole kid that just wants some attention from his dad.

After having too much of Scotty's pranks and just being a general asshat,Pryor leaves goes home. Then middle of the night a drunk as fuck Ned Beatty shows up. With a check for 10k,the amount Pryor needs to save his house. All he has to do is come back and stay until Scotty goes back to boarding school.

Pryor comes back, lets the kid know he aint taking any shit. And talks Scotty into doing a free newspaper called The Toy. The paper will be all about US Bates. They start interviewing the various butlers,maids an chauffers  that have worked for US Bates for years and learn he won the butler in a pool game. And various other shady deals.

The published their paper and US is up in arms. But sees that his son is happy. 

This cast,wow this cast. Jackie Gleason isn't given much to work with as US Bates. Stories are the stuff he would say and stories he would tell between takes was funnier than this film. Richard Pryor has said he really enjoyed working with Gleason. 

Of course as an 8 year old kid when I first saw this lots of the jokes went over my head. Now I of course I get them. I had been wanting to re-watch this for a long time. Never seems to be streaming on any service I got. So finding the DVD for a buck or so I was happy. 

Load it up,fucker is Full Screen. Ok it's a comedy I can deal with that. THen 20 minutes before the ending it starts skipping and pausing. FUCK. Clean the disc and yea appears disc rot....Want to see the ending. Go look Amazon Prime Video has it for 5 bucks. Got 3 bucks amazon credit. So 2 bucks out of pocket I now own it digitally.

The film has this odd is it for kids nah it isnt for kids shift often. The interactions between Pryor and Scotty are totally 80s made of kids movie stuff.  It is rated PG,but this is early 80s when PG wasn't like now. 

Never noticed before Richard Donner directed this. Yea Lethal Weapon 1,2,3 Richard Donner.

The Toy is one where if you saw it as a kid or back when it came out I can see you having nostalgia for it and wanting to see it again. The DVD and Blu ray are both out of print.  Used copies of the DVD are still cheap,undder 10 bucks. The Blu ray starts at 30 bucks and goes up from there. I am happy with the buck or so I paid for the partially working  DVD and then 2 bucks for the digital copy.

The Toy gets a C+

Bikini Carwash Company Blu ray

 

TITLE-Bikini Carwash Company

SOURCE-MVD REWIND Blu Ray

Never thought I would see this film on Blu ray. Much less one with a commentary. Bit of history. When cable finally made it to the backwoods community I grew up in it was 1990. I was working part time. So while my parents were happy to  pay for cable,going from 6 to 8 channels on a good day to 30 was mind blowing to them,I was the one that said Hey I will pay the 20 bucks a month they want so we get Showtime and The Movie Channel, Yea this tiny company (Rural Cable vision) only offered Showtime,TMC and Disney Channel as premium channels. At 10 each a month.

Quickly I learned about Joe Bob Briggs show on TMC. I would set my vcr to record it. Then one week he got a 5 night event on Showtime. Each night he showed a different Emmanulle movie. And not the Sylvia Kristel ones. This was Laura Gemser and all the other bootleg Emmanuelles. I had an 8 hour vhs that I recorded each of this 5 night event on. And the final night after the Emmanuelle film ended Showtime aired the R rated cut of Bikini Carwash company and my tape got this too. 

I had no clue. That tape sat in a box for years. I was tape trading a few years later and someone wanted that Fridays Joe Bob airing of Emmanuelle 4,the COrman cut of the film with Monique Gabrielle,and after it ended I let the master tape keep playing and saw Bikini Carwash Company. 

Watched it all and found a film that was dumb and funny. A film where over half the running time feels like music videos shot for Hot Rocks on Playboy Channel. But a film I would put on sometimes just cause it was so dumb.

The nephew of the car wash owner is called to Califorina from the mid west,I think it was Iowa. He gets dropped off at the beach and is trying to find the car wash. Ends up running into our leads,who have just had all their packs of edible bikinis melt in the heat. They sell him one as "California Gumbo" and tell him how to get to the car wash.

The Uncle is sick. Nephew has to run the place and sees it is about  to go under. Gets talked into hiring the California Gumbo Ladies to wash cars in bikinis. Saves the business. But a local politician wants to shut them down on  moral decency grounds.

All the while a flasher is running around showing his dong to people.

This all converges in the last 20 minutes before we get one final MUSIC VIDEO set to a song from some forgotten glam rock band.

Being on Blu ray this of course looks better than my copy on that 8 hour VHS tape. From what I have read online it is the unrated cut. The music videos now are a bit longer and include some shots that were not on that SHowtime airing. 

Heard this is an AI Upscale and sometimes the backgrounds look a bit smeary. The sound was decent. It is revealed on the commentary,cereal at midnight host talks to Jim Wynorski,that this was filmed on 16mm and then edited on tape. 

Really this is a niche release for a niche audience. Those of us that remember when it was a big deal cause Hardbodies was playing on HBO that weekend. 

Bikini Carwash Company Blu ray gets a B-