'AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT'S 80's SCI-FI PEAK AND VALLEY' DOUBLE FEATURE! 113.- E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL: 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION (1982/2002, DVD)
Or, as it's most commonly known, the version of "E.T." where Steven Spielberg replaced shotguns in policemen's hands with walkie-talkies. That one-line summary overshadows the many CG-enhanced facial expressions and body movements (hopping like a kangaroo!) added to the E.T. puppet, plus two additional scenes (Elliott and E.T. in a bathtub, and Dee Wallace picking up her two other kids on a street with a flaming Halloween pumpkin) that total about 4 minutes of extra running time. None of the new material detracts or enhances the main feature (my rating for both versions of the film would be identical), but it's a reminder that Spielberg almost fell into the same revisionist bandwagon that consumed fellow filmmaker George Lucas with the latter's early "Star Wars" features. Steven regained his senses, hasn't done any major alterations to any of his previous films since, and now the only way to watch this CG-altered "E.T." is to own the 2002 two-disc DVD set... with the 2nd disc offering the unaltered theatrical version of "E.T." See, George? Give the people what they want. 🫤😤
As a children's sci-fi tale that aims for emotion and tugs at viewers' hearts (old and young alike), "E.T" remains unmatched in creating a cinematic worldview that appeals to either 10-year-old kids or the inner 10-year-old inside all of us. While Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore deserve every accolade they earned for their performances as young children (Dee Wallace and Peter Coyote are good too as the only adults with meaningful screentime), I'm always drawn to Robert MacNaughton's Michael. He's the older brother and initially acts like it (not backing Elliott early on when he wants to join his friend's D&D campaign, pointing out his brother's indifference toward their mother's feelings when mentioning their absent father, etc.), but backs down and recognizes that Elliott is smarter in figuring out how to handle having an extraterrestrial hiding in their home. From Carlo Rombaldi's expressive puppet and Allen Daviau's gorgeous cinematography (those sun-drenched dusk scenes!), and from Melissa Mathison's finely-tuned script to John Williams' classic score (not to mention the Amblin logo iconic moon shot), "E.T." is primo 80's sci-fi spectacle that never forgets to put character, emotion and a sense of humor (frog liberation day! 🐸) front and center.
5 CRUSHED COORS BEER CANS ['COORS, THE OFFICIAL BEER OF "E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL." BUY IT WHEREVER ALCOHOL IS SOLD/SERVED. MUST BE OVER 21 TO PURCHASE. PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY.'] (out of five).
This is one I've been wanting to re-watch. I had kind of dismissed it as a "fun alien movie" until the FthisMovie hosts spoke of it so highly. I liked it when I saw it as a kid (perhaps at a drive in?) but in the years since had dismissed it as a "kids movie" (stupid right? because I love kids movies). I saw the first 1/3 a decade+ ago when we were going out and had my parents to babysit. It was good, but I was mostly looking forward to going out without the young kids.
I DID watch it. So good! Funny that I don't remember where we went for the date, but I do remember watching the first bit before leaving. But you got to take you chances to be kid free sometimes. I'm sure it was delightful. But as delightful as E.T.? I'm not so sure, because this movie rocks! The John Williams score is absolutely 10/10.
Did you cry at the end, or when E.T. was naked in the river being mo!ested by a raccoon? 🦝🥵 No shame either way, but these were the scenes l remember as a child brought the entire theater to tears. 🥺😰
Amblin's late 80's attempt at remaking "Fantastic Voyage" for a then-new generation has been given a new lease on physical media life by the folks at Arrow Video. Not only is the 4K remaster of this Joe Dante sci-fi/comedy exquisite to look at and listen to (Jerry Goldsmith's score sounds glorious! 🤩🤠), but it sports extras/bonus features content never seen before (home videos, behind-the scenes, on-set, making-of... you name it, it's here) that makes you realize you weren't the only one that liked "Innerspace" all along. A box office failure during its initial release (saw it in theaters as a double-feature with "The Living Daylights," loved them both), the adventures of a meek supermarket clerk (Martin Short) trying to outsmart would-be techno-terrorists (Kevin McCarthy and Fiona Lewis) with the help of accidentally-injected-in-his-body military pilot Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) and his girlfriend reporter (Meg Ryan) proved too weird and esoteric for the Steven Spielberg-loving masses to embrace. Awkward title and slow opening act pace notwithstanding (necessary to let the character interactions, convoluted plot and comedy bits coalesce in the last two thirds), "Innerspace" is that rare special effects-driven action comedy where quirky personality is as important to the whole as the punchline and/or the artery blood cell effect. 4.65 DICK MILLER TAXI DRIVERS SEEING DENNIS QUAID'S JUNK IN THE CAB'S REARVIEW MIRROR! 😳😱(out of five).
The movie takes the premise of Fantastic Voyage, adds comedy, and moves the plot focus away from internal anatomical obstacles to external bad-guys-are-chasing-us-to-steal-the-shrinking-technology obstacles. The result, for me, is a more fun movie (with respect to Fantastic Voyage, which I like, and which I'm sure was quite the special effects marvel in its day).
Innerspace knows its tone and wisely avoids getting too bogged down in Sci-Fi details. The emphasis is on fun, so when the movie decides it'd be funny to body swap, get Dennis Quaid drunk by getting Martin Short drunk, transfigure a face, or do some halfway shrinking, it just goes for it without worrying too much about setup or explanation (the setup or explanation is often, itself, sort of in on the "we're just doing it" joke).
An excellent cast and Joe Dante's supreme weirdness give the movie a ton of charm. Little touches like the detachable hands, the dog on the desk in the pinkish light, henchwoman Margaret's healthy sexual hunger... they give the movie that little something extra. And I didn't even mention "The Cowboy."
And Vernon Wells as Mr. Igoe, super assassin that flies a supersonic jetpack to kill Dennis Quaid... inside Martin Short's raging stomach. God, l love this movie! 🤩🤗
Ha! Yep, that bit with Igoe and Tuck having their mini mech/sub battle around the bubbling stomach acid while Tuck tries to get Jack's ulcer to flare up was one of the few bits of anatomical action, and it was great. I had a blast with this one.
115.- SLIPSTREAM (1989, ROKU CHANNEL). Also streaming on PLEX, FAWESOME. Unrated 110 min. version streaming on additional streaming platforms.
The fifth and final directorial effort of Steven Lisberger (OG "Tron"), and an unrecognizable Mark Hamill's return to movies after a years-long, self-imposed hiatus from film acting after "Return of the Jedi." It's also the project that put producer Gary Kurz (first two "Star Wars" movies) in bankruptcy after no studio would release "Slipstream" theatrically in the States... and now that I've seen it, I can understand why. What starts as a post-apocalyptic hunt by two police officers (Hamill and Kitty Aldridge) of a special runaway prisoner (Bob Peck's Byron) in the hands of a greedy bounty hunter (Bill Paxton, still doing Hudson schtick three years after "Aliens") descends into a slow-paced crawl of a boring, self-absorbed tale that grows less interesting the more you get to know the main characters. The hook of the film's title (a wind current between arid continents that is the only means of transportation via light planes) starts promising despite dated-for-'89 rear projection effects, then it's almost forgotten before it comes back strong at the end for a cool-but-too-late final action sequence. I'm trying to not spoil a couple of surprise reveals, but it's not like if you knew them "Slipstream" would be any less of a chore to sit through. It might be one of the most tedious, boring movies I've ever seen. 2 BLONDE CHICKS BILL PAXTON SLEEPS WITH... LITERALLY (out of five).
BONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 20! 116.- BEING THERE (1979, BLU-RAY)
For the longest time Peter Sellers was a sad little man who simultaneously loved that the "Pink Panther" movies were making him wealthy, but resented that some cinematic work he considered more worthy of critical attention was overlooked because people couldn't see past his Clouseau role. "Being There" was Sellers' passion project, his shot at Academy Award recognition, that languished in development hell for years and only got greenlit on the heels of the "PP" series' success. Peter plays Chance, a simple-minded (slow perhaps?) middle-aged gardener who hasn't had contact with the world outside the Washington D.C. mansion he works at. Chance is forced to leave when his employer suddenly dies, with no human interactions (besides the ones he has seen on television) to help prepare him for life on the streets. A chance hit-and-run with the limousine of a powerful D.C. businessman (Melvyn Douglas) and his wife (Shirley MacLaine) eventually leads to the rechristened 'Chauncey Gardiner' becoming an important voice in Washington's power corridors. All because people who listen to Chance's words don't really hear what he says, but what they want to interpret out of the simplistic thoughts coming out of an uneducated person's mouth. Sound familiar? 😮
Directed by Hal Ashby and written by the great Jerzy Kosinski from his own novel, "Being There" is the rare Hollywood comedy that was both a big hit and received Oscar nominations for Sellers (didn't win Best Actor, and blamed the producers for including outtake footage during the closing credits that he perceived undermined his chances) and Douglas (who did win Best Supporting Actor). Most importantly for this monthly endeavor is that, for the first time in years and despite losing the Oscar race, Peter Sellers was happy. He was divorcing his 4th wife (Lynne Frederick) and was looking forward to making another "PP" feature, "Romance of the Pink Panther," which he'd co-written and even had a new director lined up to replace Blake Edwards. Things were looking good for Peter. 🥺😢😓
I will catch up with yesterday (things going on), but I wanted to do a double feature for this day.
BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS (1980, dir. Jimmy Murakami)
Another title that has long been in my watchlist for Junesploitaiton and a perfect day for it.
Taking inspiration, or borrowing, from all kinds of B-movie sci-fi and Star Wars, there is a lot to take in with this Roger Corman production that punches above its weight when it comes to the budget. Though some of the special effects are not the best, a lot of them hold up well to what was being done at the time. (I miss models in movies.) Many quality actors in the cast add some class as well. Considering the number of movies I have seen some the footage from this used in, Corman must have been very happy with the final product. And that James Horner score is fabulous and also reused several times.
I was very entertained by Battle Beyond The Stars. The plot is basically The Seven Samurai, with a young man from a planet threatened with invasion going out to find mercenaries willing to fight for his cause. Once his adventures get him the fighters and weapons his planet needs, the fight is on with John Saxon's low-rent Darth Vader. The fighters all have their own personalities, with Sybil Danning's St. Exmin being my favorite. The action is of a high standard for a low-budget space opera. The flow of the action actually has some logic to it, too. Recommended.
INSEMINOID (1981, dir. Norman J. Warren)
I will not say that Inseminoid is not entertaining, but its shortcomings are apparent after watching the prior film. This is schlock sci-fi horror ripping off Alien and with a lot of slasher elements. A team of interplanetary archaeologists are exploring tunnels under the surface of a planet - more introduced through exposition than showing it - when strange things start to happen. The plot mechanics get confusing once the killing starts. Weird things happen to shock the viewer every so often. Not the worst film of this kind out there, but there certainly are better ones. (Forbidden World is a recommendation for an Alien rip-off.)
A collection of music videos masquerading as a cheesy teenage sci-fi romp. Aliens come to Earth in their guitar-shaped spaceship to do what exactly? Unclear, but once there, they decide to become a New Wave band and play the high school dance in a town called (wait for it) Speelburgh, where everyone's dressed in the height of early MTV fashion. All the kids are into them except the local rockabilly band/bad boy gang, led by Pia Zadora's jealous boyfriend. There's also a snarky robot who camouflages as a mobile fire hydrant, an out-of-nowhere tentacle monster, and Michael Berryman as a maniac chainsaw killer. As you can imagine, the movie is unbelievably silly - so silly that it eventually won me over with just how silly it is.
Definitely a love it or hate it kind of film. Voyage swings so far to the silly side of the story that it is hard to be neutral with it.
The Jermaine Jackson song that begins the film is extremely catchy. I still listen to it once in a while.
Classic Hollywood to cheesy 1980s flicks, Ruth Gordon's career took an interesting trajectory. She did not seem to judge the projects she was in, at least. Check out Mugsy's Girls to see her giving her all for trash.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in the 8th Dimension (1984)
I know this is a beloved cult classic, but I have never seen it before. I have a vague memory of renting the VHS and turning it off after 10 minutes, but nothing looked familiar.
What a quirkly, silly movie. The plot is difficult to summarize but I assume most here have seen it. The cast is off the chart, unhinged Lithgow is my favorite. The musical number was amazing. I think the customes will be what I remember the most, Jeff Goldblum's chaps in particular, along with "Why is there a watermelon there?"
I watched the Final Cut. What can I say? It's real real good. I re-read Roger Ebert's three reviews from 1982, 1992, and 2007. I've probably seen it that many times in a similar span of time. I agree with him it gets better every time you watch it.
My second Ozploitation, and also my second Steve Railsback of the 2026 campaign. A dystopian DANGEROUS GAME variation, this one takes a minute to get going, but once the hunt is on, it’s pretty ripping. Notable for over-the-top, Snidely Whiplash-like villainry, some surprisingly gory practical effects, Hussey’s well-endowed body double, and for a top-hatted circus freak/wolfman who joins the chase. Also loved that the main villain was named Thatcher—very subtle! BTS (the director, not the K-Pop band) delivers the exploitation goods yet again!
THE SALUTE OF THE JUGGER (1989) dir. David Webb Peoples
Rutger Hauer, Delroy Lindo, and Vincent D’Onofrio star in a post-apocalyptic version of Rollerball, except it’s more like Quidditch played in the dirt by Road Warrior extras and the Golden Snitch is a dog skull. It looks cool but it’s kinda boring.
Not sure why I thought it was gonna be Sci-Fi cause there’s no science here. Sorry.
2010 - The Year We Make Contact (1984): I've been on a Roy Scheider kick lately, since Blue Thunder 4k came out, so today's the perfect day to rewatch this. It's been a while and I forgot we had Helen Mirren showing up. Still a great movie, but those who haven't seen it yet, don't expect another 2001. It's mostly a pretty good 80s sci-fi with everything you'd expect from that crop of movies. It's Warner, so I assume Arrow will release it on 4k at some point. Hopefully they can get interviews with some of the surviving cast and crew.
Lenny Von Dohlen (who felt to me like what would happen if David Strathairn and David Byrne could have a kid) is Miles, a milquetoast architect who buys a computer to get himself organized. He spills some champagne on the computer and wouldn’t ya know it? It develops its own personality (voiced by Bud Cort) and helps him Cyrano de Bergerac his lovely (but shockingly dimwitted) neighbor (Virginia Madsen) before falling for her itself and fighting Miles for her affection.
It’s very much of its time (though there are certainly parallels to today’s struggles against the hot mess that is generative AI) but at least that means the music is pretty great. Outside of that there’s not much to recommend here, it’s a comedy without any laughs and there’s no real chemistry between the two leads. Personally I’ll stick to Weird Science for my computer-centric 80s comedy needs.
Lifelong fav nerd wins film! Super hard to find forever. ADORE the duet scene with the computer and neighbor thru the air vent. Also dig the theme song. Cheezy 80s crazy computer goodness!
My second John Carpenter of the month. This premise would have been pretty incredible from any other director, but knowing he made a movie about shape shifting and inhabiting bodies two years after The Thing gives it that extra depth. Every time I see Jeff Bridges in something new, I am amazed at the range of characters he has played over his career. Does it still count for Junesploitation if the movie gets an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor? I also love that this is yet another John Carpenter movie where he's not concerned about how/when a character learned to drive a car.
Or even Dr. Alien, Cyborg, Dr. Caligari and Shocking Dark.
Coming from the creative minds of Robert Dyke and Tex Ragsdale, this kicks off with a brilliant premise: during the 1969 Apollo 11 landing, a robotic eye secretly watches the astronauts leave. Fast forward twenty years and a routine Space Shuttle mission discovers a 14,000-year-old human corpse and a mysterious pod in orbit. Once on Earth, the pod does what any good 80s killer robot would do. It builds itself a cybernetic body out of lab equipment and human remains, leading to a glorious shotgun showdown.
From there, Moontrap turns into an Apollo-era search-and-destroy mission to the Moon. What makes the movie work so well is its casting. Sci-fi royalty Walter Koenig (Chekov from Star Trek) plays the cynical Colonel Jason Grant and he is paired perfectly with the legendary Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) as Ray Tanner. Campbell brings his signature dry wit to the lunar surface, making the dialogue pop even when the plot dips into standard survival-horror territory.
Realizing the moon is basically a hotbed for killer robots, NASA dusts off the last remaining Apollo rocket and sends Grant and Ray Tanner, back to the lunar surface. Once on the moon, they find the ruins of an ancient human civilization and wake up a beautiful woman in stasis named Mera (Leigh Lombardi). She warns them about the Kaalium, killer cyborgs who love nothing more than turning organic life into spare parts. Before they know it, the Kaalium steal their lunar module, blow up their command module real good and leave our heroes stranded.
Poor Bruce Campbell gets taken out (spoiler!), and Grant and Mera are captured and put aboard a massive Kaalium ship heading for Earth. But not before Grant makes a tent on the moon’s surface and despite being menaced by cyborgs, still has the time to feel up an ancient, reanimated woman. It’s a man’s world.
The cyborgs need the NASA tech to complete their ship, but Grant rigs the stolen module to self-destruct and he and Mera blow their way out into space, using the recoil of his gun to jet away like a couple of badass space cowboys while the alien vessel explodes behind them. They make it back to Earth, Mera learns English, and they live happily ever after… until the classic it’s not really over stinger shows a surviving Kaalium pod sitting in an Earth junkyard, getting ready to build a new body.
It would sit there for a long time.
James Glickenhaus—the legend behind The Exterminator—was ready to go big with a sequel titled Moontrap 2: The Pyramids of Mars. It sounds like the kind of high-concept, space-faring madness we all craved, but thanks to the usual grind of studio financial woes, it died. Fast forward to 2011, and Robert Dyke and Tex Ragsdale announced a graphic novel campaign. The idea was to use the art as a visual pitch to secure funding for a film. It was a noble effort, but the backers didn’t bite and the project got the axe before it even started.
But you can’t keep a good space-killer down. By 2014, the Moontrap team was back at it with a new project: Moontrap: Target Earth. Now, they were quick to clarify that this wasn’t a direct sequel, but a standalone adventure set in the same universe. Instead of just picking up where Grant and Mera left off, they pivoted to a story about an archaeological dig unearthing an ancient craft and a young woman (Sarah Butler) getting whisked off to the moon to unlock the mystery.
They actually got the cameras rolling in Michigan, bringing in Charles Shaughnessy to play the heavy and Damon Dayoub as our lead adventurer. It’s a different vibe, sure, but after all those years of what ifs and cancelled graphic novels, seeing the Moontrap movie try to become a franchise makes me happy.
In a post-apocalyptic future, mutant beasts roam the Earth and the few surviving humans live in a domed city. They send two agents back in time to 1980's rural Australia to prepare for the entire city to travel there, and when it arrives, the final battle to somehow decide the fate of humanity is fought there for some reason.
The premise is way more convoluted that it needs to be, which makes the movie both confusing and slightly fun. The effects are as cheap as you'd expect them to be. The lead is played by ̶a̶ ̶p̶i̶e̶c̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶d̶a̶m̶p̶ ̶d̶r̶i̶f̶t̶w̶o̶o̶d̶ Tom Burlinson, Dean Stockwell hangs around with little to do, and Carrie Fisher has a really thankless role, but at least she gets to wear "armor" that's arguably more demeaning than the Return of the Jedi metal bikini.
TERMINUS (1987) In this Mad Max/Death Race type of post-apocalypse, truck drivers play an elaborate game by crossing a desert filled with deadly obstacles overseen by a sinister game master and his child genius sidekick. Got all that? Words can’t describe just how freakin’ weird this movie is. The filmmakers are throwing everything at the wall. Outrageous costumes, elaborate makeup, and a truck’s dashboard computer that’s a pair of fleshy lips manipulated by little metal arms. Karen Allen does what she can to keep things centered as our hero trucker, while Jurgen Prochnow indulges in all the ham as our villain. I can’t call this a good movie, but it must be seen to be believed.
30 days of fan films, day 20: THE MATRIX REPROGRAMMED (2022) A Neo-like guy enters the Matrix on a secret mission, only to be pursued by an agent. But then there’s a twist. This is mostly an excuse for these two actors to show off their cool fight moves and their even cooler action poses. The "guerilla filmmaking" thing really shows, with a foot chase past baffled passersby at a crowded shopping center, and super-serious dialogue about the fate of Zion while children are playing little league baseball in the background.
Quite possibly one of the most inexplicably inept and bananas films ive watched for junesploitation. So much so that the most i can say is "huh...so there are OTHER movies like The Room??". It stars a bodybuilder alien who is only identifiable as an alien thanks to his cheap spock ears hidden under an 80s hair helmet mullet. Oh and he breaks in to dance a bunch and dresses like a Michael Jackson video extra playing a pimp. The plot apparently has to do with some alien technology, played by an ash tray, that is some kind of drug? Its the kind of movie where i cant imagine how it got made other than potentially as filler scenes for a bad porn parody. So. Odd.
An unintentional Dennis Quaid double feature (with Innerspace earlier today).
Kind of a mash-up of The Fury, Inception, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Dennis Quaid has ESP and can enter other people's dreams. Interesting premise, but the execution felt a little underbaked. Fun cast (Norm! Luther from The Warriors). Some advice: say no to any research project that Max von Sydow and Christopher Plummer are involved in (although if Kate Capshaw's also involved, I guess I can understand the mistake of saying yes).
Jack Death is a Trooper in 2023. A cop charged with taking down Trancers. Human zombies under mind control by the evil Whistler. After he kills Whistler, Jack hunts the last of the Trancers. But it turns out Whistler is not dead he has gone "down the line" a type of time traveling where you can only transport your consciousness to the body of a genetically qualifying relative and basically take over their body. Jack travels back to chase Whistler after the future cops learn that Whistler is trimming the top branches of the councils tree. Thus snuffing "The Council" the governing power in 2300s out. When in 1984 Jack hooks up with a quarterback princess and a housing-insecure alcoholic former baseball player in order to finally end Whistler's plan. The movie's a blast. A quick watch filled with jokes and action. Its low budget hurts it some but its charm saves it. Thomerson gives a star-making performance that for some reason didn't work out. In a perfect world, we got at least one Jack Death Ashley Williams team-up. Sadly we only have this and the 4 sequels. Each of diminishing value but 2 and 3 are definitely worth your time.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Gee Whiz! This movie is a lot of fun, between the space chases with ships shooting at each other (Pew! Pew!) and Luke using his lightsaber (Vrmmmmm! Vrmmmm!) and Darth Vader getting angry at his subordinates (K-shoom! K-shoom!) this movie is a feast for the eyes and ears, a movie any ten-year-old would love. Boom! Boom!
The run of quality sci-fi in the 80s is actually absurd and this is no exception. 10/10, up there with The Fly and The Thing in my all time favorites. Threw Killer Klowns on after - also damn near a perfect movie for me.
'AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT'S 80's SCI-FI PEAK AND VALLEY' DOUBLE FEATURE!
ReplyDelete113.- E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL: 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION (1982/2002, DVD)
Or, as it's most commonly known, the version of "E.T." where Steven Spielberg replaced shotguns in policemen's hands with walkie-talkies. That one-line summary overshadows the many CG-enhanced facial expressions and body movements (hopping like a kangaroo!) added to the E.T. puppet, plus two additional scenes (Elliott and E.T. in a bathtub, and Dee Wallace picking up her two other kids on a street with a flaming Halloween pumpkin) that total about 4 minutes of extra running time. None of the new material detracts or enhances the main feature (my rating for both versions of the film would be identical), but it's a reminder that Spielberg almost fell into the same revisionist bandwagon that consumed fellow filmmaker George Lucas with the latter's early "Star Wars" features. Steven regained his senses, hasn't done any major alterations to any of his previous films since, and now the only way to watch this CG-altered "E.T." is to own the 2002 two-disc DVD set... with the 2nd disc offering the unaltered theatrical version of "E.T." See, George? Give the people what they want. 🫤😤
As a children's sci-fi tale that aims for emotion and tugs at viewers' hearts (old and young alike), "E.T" remains unmatched in creating a cinematic worldview that appeals to either 10-year-old kids or the inner 10-year-old inside all of us. While Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore deserve every accolade they earned for their performances as young children (Dee Wallace and Peter Coyote are good too as the only adults with meaningful screentime), I'm always drawn to Robert MacNaughton's Michael. He's the older brother and initially acts like it (not backing Elliott early on when he wants to join his friend's D&D campaign, pointing out his brother's indifference toward their mother's feelings when mentioning their absent father, etc.), but backs down and recognizes that Elliott is smarter in figuring out how to handle having an extraterrestrial hiding in their home. From Carlo Rombaldi's expressive puppet and Allen Daviau's gorgeous cinematography (those sun-drenched dusk scenes!), and from Melissa Mathison's finely-tuned script to John Williams' classic score (not to mention the Amblin logo iconic moon shot), "E.T." is primo 80's sci-fi spectacle that never forgets to put character, emotion and a sense of humor (frog liberation day! 🐸) front and center.
5 CRUSHED COORS BEER CANS ['COORS, THE OFFICIAL BEER OF "E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL." BUY IT WHEREVER ALCOHOL IS SOLD/SERVED. MUST BE OVER 21 TO PURCHASE. PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY.'] (out of five).
This is one I've been wanting to re-watch. I had kind of dismissed it as a "fun alien movie" until the FthisMovie hosts spoke of it so highly. I liked it when I saw it as a kid (perhaps at a drive in?) but in the years since had dismissed it as a "kids movie" (stupid right? because I love kids movies). I saw the first 1/3 a decade+ ago when we were going out and had my parents to babysit. It was good, but I was mostly looking forward to going out without the young kids.
DeleteHope you enjoy your eventual rewatch of "E.T." as much as l've enjoyed mine, including in 4K (theatrical cut only). 🤠
DeleteI DID watch it. So good! Funny that I don't remember where we went for the date, but I do remember watching the first bit before leaving. But you got to take you chances to be kid free sometimes. I'm sure it was delightful. But as delightful as E.T.? I'm not so sure, because this movie rocks! The John Williams score is absolutely 10/10.
DeleteDid you cry at the end, or when E.T. was naked in the river being mo!ested by a raccoon? 🦝🥵 No shame either way, but these were the scenes l remember as a child brought the entire theater to tears. 🥺😰
Delete114.- INNERSPACE (1987, ARROW 4K UHD)
ReplyDeleteAmblin's late 80's attempt at remaking "Fantastic Voyage" for a then-new generation has been given a new lease on physical media life by the folks at Arrow Video. Not only is the 4K remaster of this Joe Dante sci-fi/comedy exquisite to look at and listen to (Jerry Goldsmith's score sounds glorious! 🤩🤠), but it sports extras/bonus features content never seen before (home videos, behind-the scenes, on-set, making-of... you name it, it's here) that makes you realize you weren't the only one that liked "Innerspace" all along. A box office failure during its initial release (saw it in theaters as a double-feature with "The Living Daylights," loved them both), the adventures of a meek supermarket clerk (Martin Short) trying to outsmart would-be techno-terrorists (Kevin McCarthy and Fiona Lewis) with the help of accidentally-injected-in-his-body military pilot Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) and his girlfriend reporter (Meg Ryan) proved too weird and esoteric for the Steven Spielberg-loving masses to embrace. Awkward title and slow opening act pace notwithstanding (necessary to let the character interactions, convoluted plot and comedy bits coalesce in the last two thirds), "Innerspace" is that rare special effects-driven action comedy where quirky personality is as important to the whole as the punchline and/or the artery blood cell effect. 4.65 DICK MILLER TAXI DRIVERS SEEING DENNIS QUAID'S JUNK IN THE CAB'S REARVIEW MIRROR! 😳😱(out of five).
Innerspace (1987) was also my pick for today.
DeleteThe movie takes the premise of Fantastic Voyage, adds comedy, and moves the plot focus away from internal anatomical obstacles to external bad-guys-are-chasing-us-to-steal-the-shrinking-technology obstacles. The result, for me, is a more fun movie (with respect to Fantastic Voyage, which I like, and which I'm sure was quite the special effects marvel in its day).
Innerspace knows its tone and wisely avoids getting too bogged down in Sci-Fi details. The emphasis is on fun, so when the movie decides it'd be funny to body swap, get Dennis Quaid drunk by getting Martin Short drunk, transfigure a face, or do some halfway shrinking, it just goes for it without worrying too much about setup or explanation (the setup or explanation is often, itself, sort of in on the "we're just doing it" joke).
An excellent cast and Joe Dante's supreme weirdness give the movie a ton of charm. Little touches like the detachable hands, the dog on the desk in the pinkish light, henchwoman Margaret's healthy sexual hunger... they give the movie that little something extra. And I didn't even mention "The Cowboy."
And Vernon Wells as Mr. Igoe, super assassin that flies a supersonic jetpack to kill Dennis Quaid... inside Martin Short's raging stomach. God, l love this movie! 🤩🤗
DeleteHa! Yep, that bit with Igoe and Tuck having their mini mech/sub battle around the bubbling stomach acid while Tuck tries to get Jack's ulcer to flare up was one of the few bits of anatomical action, and it was great. I had a blast with this one.
Delete115.- SLIPSTREAM (1989, ROKU CHANNEL). Also streaming on PLEX, FAWESOME. Unrated 110 min. version streaming on additional streaming platforms.
ReplyDeleteThe fifth and final directorial effort of Steven Lisberger (OG "Tron"), and an unrecognizable Mark Hamill's return to movies after a years-long, self-imposed hiatus from film acting after "Return of the Jedi." It's also the project that put producer Gary Kurz (first two "Star Wars" movies) in bankruptcy after no studio would release "Slipstream" theatrically in the States... and now that I've seen it, I can understand why. What starts as a post-apocalyptic hunt by two police officers (Hamill and Kitty Aldridge) of a special runaway prisoner (Bob Peck's Byron) in the hands of a greedy bounty hunter (Bill Paxton, still doing Hudson schtick three years after "Aliens") descends into a slow-paced crawl of a boring, self-absorbed tale that grows less interesting the more you get to know the main characters. The hook of the film's title (a wind current between arid continents that is the only means of transportation via light planes) starts promising despite dated-for-'89 rear projection effects, then it's almost forgotten before it comes back strong at the end for a cool-but-too-late final action sequence. I'm trying to not spoil a couple of surprise reveals, but it's not like if you knew them "Slipstream" would be any less of a chore to sit through. It might be one of the most tedious, boring movies I've ever seen. 2 BLONDE CHICKS BILL PAXTON SLEEPS WITH... LITERALLY (out of five).
BONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 20!
ReplyDelete116.- BEING THERE (1979, BLU-RAY)
For the longest time Peter Sellers was a sad little man who simultaneously loved that the "Pink Panther" movies were making him wealthy, but resented that some cinematic work he considered more worthy of critical attention was overlooked because people couldn't see past his Clouseau role. "Being There" was Sellers' passion project, his shot at Academy Award recognition, that languished in development hell for years and only got greenlit on the heels of the "PP" series' success. Peter plays Chance, a simple-minded (slow perhaps?) middle-aged gardener who hasn't had contact with the world outside the Washington D.C. mansion he works at. Chance is forced to leave when his employer suddenly dies, with no human interactions (besides the ones he has seen on television) to help prepare him for life on the streets. A chance hit-and-run with the limousine of a powerful D.C. businessman (Melvyn Douglas) and his wife (Shirley MacLaine) eventually leads to the rechristened 'Chauncey Gardiner' becoming an important voice in Washington's power corridors. All because people who listen to Chance's words don't really hear what he says, but what they want to interpret out of the simplistic thoughts coming out of an uneducated person's mouth. Sound familiar? 😮
Directed by Hal Ashby and written by the great Jerzy Kosinski from his own novel, "Being There" is the rare Hollywood comedy that was both a big hit and received Oscar nominations for Sellers (didn't win Best Actor, and blamed the producers for including outtake footage during the closing credits that he perceived undermined his chances) and Douglas (who did win Best Supporting Actor). Most importantly for this monthly endeavor is that, for the first time in years and despite losing the Oscar race, Peter Sellers was happy. He was divorcing his 4th wife (Lynne Frederick) and was looking forward to making another "PP" feature, "Romance of the Pink Panther," which he'd co-written and even had a new director lined up to replace Blake Edwards. Things were looking good for Peter. 🥺😢😓
Oops, almost forgot. 3.75 PETER SELLERS IMITATING JESUS LIZARDS (out of five).
DeleteI will catch up with yesterday (things going on), but I wanted to do a double feature for this day.
ReplyDeleteBATTLE BEYOND THE STARS (1980, dir. Jimmy Murakami)
Another title that has long been in my watchlist for Junesploitaiton and a perfect day for it.
Taking inspiration, or borrowing, from all kinds of B-movie sci-fi and Star Wars, there is a lot to take in with this Roger Corman production that punches above its weight when it comes to the budget. Though some of the special effects are not the best, a lot of them hold up well to what was being done at the time. (I miss models in movies.) Many quality actors in the cast add some class as well. Considering the number of movies I have seen some the footage from this used in, Corman must have been very happy with the final product. And that James Horner score is fabulous and also reused several times.
I was very entertained by Battle Beyond The Stars. The plot is basically The Seven Samurai, with a young man from a planet threatened with invasion going out to find mercenaries willing to fight for his cause. Once his adventures get him the fighters and weapons his planet needs, the fight is on with John Saxon's low-rent Darth Vader. The fighters all have their own personalities, with Sybil Danning's St. Exmin being my favorite. The action is of a high standard for a low-budget space opera. The flow of the action actually has some logic to it, too. Recommended.
INSEMINOID (1981, dir. Norman J. Warren)
I will not say that Inseminoid is not entertaining, but its shortcomings are apparent after watching the prior film. This is schlock sci-fi horror ripping off Alien and with a lot of slasher elements. A team of interplanetary archaeologists are exploring tunnels under the surface of a planet - more introduced through exposition than showing it - when strange things start to happen. The plot mechanics get confusing once the killing starts. Weird things happen to shock the viewer every so often. Not the worst film of this kind out there, but there certainly are better ones. (Forbidden World is a recommendation for an Alien rip-off.)
Voyage of the Rock Aliens (1984)
ReplyDeleteA collection of music videos masquerading as a cheesy teenage sci-fi romp. Aliens come to Earth in their guitar-shaped spaceship to do what exactly? Unclear, but once there, they decide to become a New Wave band and play the high school dance in a town called (wait for it) Speelburgh, where everyone's dressed in the height of early MTV fashion. All the kids are into them except the local rockabilly band/bad boy gang, led by Pia Zadora's jealous boyfriend. There's also a snarky robot who camouflages as a mobile fire hydrant, an out-of-nowhere tentacle monster, and Michael Berryman as a maniac chainsaw killer. As you can imagine, the movie is unbelievably silly - so silly that it eventually won me over with just how silly it is.
Definitely a love it or hate it kind of film. Voyage swings so far to the silly side of the story that it is hard to be neutral with it.
DeleteThe Jermaine Jackson song that begins the film is extremely catchy. I still listen to it once in a while.
Classic Hollywood to cheesy 1980s flicks, Ruth Gordon's career took an interesting trajectory. She did not seem to judge the projects she was in, at least. Check out Mugsy's Girls to see her giving her all for trash.
Oh, I will, thanks for the tip!
DeleteThe Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in the 8th Dimension (1984)
ReplyDeleteI know this is a beloved cult classic, but I have never seen it before. I have a vague memory of renting the VHS and turning it off after 10 minutes, but nothing looked familiar.
What a quirkly, silly movie. The plot is difficult to summarize but I assume most here have seen it. The cast is off the chart, unhinged Lithgow is my favorite. The musical number was amazing. I think the customes will be what I remember the most, Jeff Goldblum's chaps in particular, along with "Why is there a watermelon there?"
Blade Runner (1982, dir. Ridley Scott)
ReplyDeleteI watched the Final Cut. What can I say? It's real real good. I re-read Roger Ebert's three reviews from 1982, 1992, and 2007. I've probably seen it that many times in a similar span of time. I agree with him it gets better every time you watch it.
TURKEY SHOOT (1982, Brian Trenchard-Smith, AUS)
ReplyDeleteMy second Ozploitation, and also my second Steve Railsback of the 2026 campaign. A dystopian DANGEROUS GAME variation, this one takes a minute to get going, but once the hunt is on, it’s pretty ripping. Notable for over-the-top, Snidely Whiplash-like villainry, some surprisingly gory practical effects, Hussey’s well-endowed body double, and for a top-hatted circus freak/wolfman who joins the chase. Also loved that the main villain was named Thatcher—very subtle! BTS (the director, not the K-Pop band) delivers the exploitation goods yet again!
THE SALUTE OF THE JUGGER (1989)
ReplyDeletedir. David Webb Peoples
Rutger Hauer, Delroy Lindo, and Vincent D’Onofrio star in a post-apocalyptic version of Rollerball, except it’s more like Quidditch played in the dirt by Road Warrior extras and the Golden Snitch is a dog skull. It looks cool but it’s kinda boring.
Not sure why I thought it was gonna be Sci-Fi cause there’s no science here. Sorry.
IMDB classify it as sci-fi, so you're good.
DeleteI got the awesome Umbrella 4k when it came out. Highly recommended if you're into spending too much money for a boxset
2010 - The Year We Make Contact (1984): I've been on a Roy Scheider kick lately, since Blue Thunder 4k came out, so today's the perfect day to rewatch this. It's been a while and I forgot we had Helen Mirren showing up. Still a great movie, but those who haven't seen it yet, don't expect another 2001. It's mostly a pretty good 80s sci-fi with everything you'd expect from that crop of movies. It's Warner, so I assume Arrow will release it on 4k at some point. Hopefully they can get interviews with some of the surviving cast and crew.
ReplyDeleteElectric Dreams
ReplyDeleteLenny Von Dohlen (who felt to me like what would happen if David Strathairn and David Byrne could have a kid) is Miles, a milquetoast architect who buys a computer to get himself organized. He spills some champagne on the computer and wouldn’t ya know it? It develops its own personality (voiced by Bud Cort) and helps him Cyrano de Bergerac his lovely (but shockingly dimwitted) neighbor (Virginia Madsen) before falling for her itself and fighting Miles for her affection.
It’s very much of its time (though there are certainly parallels to today’s struggles against the hot mess that is generative AI) but at least that means the music is pretty great. Outside of that there’s not much to recommend here, it’s a comedy without any laughs and there’s no real chemistry between the two leads. Personally I’ll stick to Weird Science for my computer-centric 80s comedy needs.
Lifelong fav nerd wins film! Super hard to find forever. ADORE the duet scene with the computer and neighbor thru the air vent. Also dig the theme song. Cheezy 80s crazy computer goodness!
DeleteStarman (1984)
ReplyDeleteMy second John Carpenter of the month. This premise would have been pretty incredible from any other director, but knowing he made a movie about shape shifting and inhabiting bodies two years after The Thing gives it that extra depth. Every time I see Jeff Bridges in something new, I am amazed at the range of characters he has played over his career. Does it still count for Junesploitation if the movie gets an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor? I also love that this is yet another John Carpenter movie where he's not concerned about how/when a character learned to drive a car.
Moontrap (1989)
ReplyDeleteThe sci-fi event of 1989!
Never mind that The Abyss came out that year.
Or even Dr. Alien, Cyborg, Dr. Caligari and Shocking Dark.
Coming from the creative minds of Robert Dyke and Tex Ragsdale, this kicks off with a brilliant premise: during the 1969 Apollo 11 landing, a robotic eye secretly watches the astronauts leave. Fast forward twenty years and a routine Space Shuttle mission discovers a 14,000-year-old human corpse and a mysterious pod in orbit. Once on Earth, the pod does what any good 80s killer robot would do. It builds itself a cybernetic body out of lab equipment and human remains, leading to a glorious shotgun showdown.
From there, Moontrap turns into an Apollo-era search-and-destroy mission to the Moon. What makes the movie work so well is its casting. Sci-fi royalty Walter Koenig (Chekov from Star Trek) plays the cynical Colonel Jason Grant and he is paired perfectly with the legendary Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) as Ray Tanner. Campbell brings his signature dry wit to the lunar surface, making the dialogue pop even when the plot dips into standard survival-horror territory.
Realizing the moon is basically a hotbed for killer robots, NASA dusts off the last remaining Apollo rocket and sends Grant and Ray Tanner, back to the lunar surface. Once on the moon, they find the ruins of an ancient human civilization and wake up a beautiful woman in stasis named Mera (Leigh Lombardi). She warns them about the Kaalium, killer cyborgs who love nothing more than turning organic life into spare parts. Before they know it, the Kaalium steal their lunar module, blow up their command module real good and leave our heroes stranded.
Poor Bruce Campbell gets taken out (spoiler!), and Grant and Mera are captured and put aboard a massive Kaalium ship heading for Earth. But not before Grant makes a tent on the moon’s surface and despite being menaced by cyborgs, still has the time to feel up an ancient, reanimated woman. It’s a man’s world.
The cyborgs need the NASA tech to complete their ship, but Grant rigs the stolen module to self-destruct and he and Mera blow their way out into space, using the recoil of his gun to jet away like a couple of badass space cowboys while the alien vessel explodes behind them. They make it back to Earth, Mera learns English, and they live happily ever after… until the classic it’s not really over stinger shows a surviving Kaalium pod sitting in an Earth junkyard, getting ready to build a new body.
It would sit there for a long time.
James Glickenhaus—the legend behind The Exterminator—was ready to go big with a sequel titled Moontrap 2: The Pyramids of Mars. It sounds like the kind of high-concept, space-faring madness we all craved, but thanks to the usual grind of studio financial woes, it died. Fast forward to 2011, and Robert Dyke and Tex Ragsdale announced a graphic novel campaign. The idea was to use the art as a visual pitch to secure funding for a film. It was a noble effort, but the backers didn’t bite and the project got the axe before it even started.
But you can’t keep a good space-killer down. By 2014, the Moontrap team was back at it with a new project: Moontrap: Target Earth. Now, they were quick to clarify that this wasn’t a direct sequel, but a standalone adventure set in the same universe. Instead of just picking up where Grant and Mera left off, they pivoted to a story about an archaeological dig unearthing an ancient craft and a young woman (Sarah Butler) getting whisked off to the moon to unlock the mystery.
They actually got the cameras rolling in Michigan, bringing in Charles Shaughnessy to play the heavy and Damon Dayoub as our lead adventurer. It’s a different vibe, sure, but after all those years of what ifs and cancelled graphic novels, seeing the Moontrap movie try to become a franchise makes me happy.
The Time Guardian (1987, dir. Brian Hannant)
ReplyDeleteIn a post-apocalyptic future, mutant beasts roam the Earth and the few surviving humans live in a domed city. They send two agents back in time to 1980's rural Australia to prepare for the entire city to travel there, and when it arrives, the final battle to somehow decide the fate of humanity is fought there for some reason.
The premise is way more convoluted that it needs to be, which makes the movie both confusing and slightly fun. The effects are as cheap as you'd expect them to be. The lead is played by ̶a̶ ̶p̶i̶e̶c̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶d̶a̶m̶p̶ ̶d̶r̶i̶f̶t̶w̶o̶o̶d̶ Tom Burlinson, Dean Stockwell hangs around with little to do, and Carrie Fisher has a really thankless role, but at least she gets to wear "armor" that's arguably more demeaning than the Return of the Jedi metal bikini.
Alien Nation (1988)
ReplyDeleteTim Meadows: You can't OD on it!
TERMINUS (1987)
ReplyDeleteIn this Mad Max/Death Race type of post-apocalypse, truck drivers play an elaborate game by crossing a desert filled with deadly obstacles overseen by a sinister game master and his child genius sidekick. Got all that? Words can’t describe just how freakin’ weird this movie is. The filmmakers are throwing everything at the wall. Outrageous costumes, elaborate makeup, and a truck’s dashboard computer that’s a pair of fleshy lips manipulated by little metal arms. Karen Allen does what she can to keep things centered as our hero trucker, while Jurgen Prochnow indulges in all the ham as our villain. I can’t call this a good movie, but it must be seen to be believed.
30 days of fan films, day 20: THE MATRIX REPROGRAMMED (2022)
A Neo-like guy enters the Matrix on a secret mission, only to be pursued by an agent. But then there’s a twist. This is mostly an excuse for these two actors to show off their cool fight moves and their even cooler action poses. The "guerilla filmmaking" thing really shows, with a foot chase past baffled passersby at a crowded shopping center, and super-serious dialogue about the fate of Zion while children are playing little league baseball in the background.
Alien Private Eye (1989)
ReplyDeleteQuite possibly one of the most inexplicably inept and bananas films ive watched for junesploitation. So much so that the most i can say is "huh...so there are OTHER movies like The Room??". It stars a bodybuilder alien who is only identifiable as an alien thanks to his cheap spock ears hidden under an 80s hair helmet mullet. Oh and he breaks in to dance a bunch and dresses like a Michael Jackson video extra playing a pimp. The plot apparently has to do with some alien technology, played by an ash tray, that is some kind of drug? Its the kind of movie where i cant imagine how it got made other than potentially as filler scenes for a bad porn parody. So. Odd.
You're the second person to watch this for 2026 and have reinforced my need to see it asap!
ReplyDeleteDreamscape (1984)
ReplyDeleteAn unintentional Dennis Quaid double feature (with Innerspace earlier today).
Kind of a mash-up of The Fury, Inception, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Dennis Quaid has ESP and can enter other people's dreams. Interesting premise, but the execution felt a little underbaked. Fun cast (Norm! Luther from The Warriors). Some advice: say no to any research project that Max von Sydow and Christopher Plummer are involved in (although if Kate Capshaw's also involved, I guess I can understand the mistake of saying yes).
Trancers(1984 Dir Charles Band)
ReplyDeleteJack Death is a Trooper in 2023. A cop charged with taking down Trancers. Human zombies under mind control by the evil Whistler. After he kills Whistler, Jack hunts the last of the Trancers. But it turns out Whistler is not dead he has gone "down the line" a type of time traveling where you can only transport your consciousness to the body of a genetically qualifying relative and basically take over their body. Jack travels back to chase Whistler after the future cops learn that Whistler is trimming the top branches of the councils tree. Thus snuffing "The Council" the governing power in 2300s out. When in 1984 Jack hooks up with a quarterback princess and a housing-insecure alcoholic former baseball player in order to finally end Whistler's plan. The movie's a blast. A quick watch filled with jokes and action. Its low budget hurts it some but its charm saves it. Thomerson gives a star-making performance that for some reason didn't work out. In a perfect world, we got at least one Jack Death Ashley Williams team-up. Sadly we only have this and the 4 sequels. Each of diminishing value but 2 and 3 are definitely worth your time.
Jack last name is Deth not Death.
DeleteBack when young Helen 'scooter stunt' Hunt was hot! 😍😋
DeleteThe Empire Strikes Back (1980)
ReplyDeleteGee Whiz! This movie is a lot of fun, between the space chases with ships shooting at each other (Pew! Pew!) and Luke using his lightsaber (Vrmmmmm! Vrmmmm!) and Darth Vader getting angry at his subordinates (K-shoom! K-shoom!) this movie is a feast for the eyes and ears, a movie any ten-year-old would love. Boom! Boom!
The Blob (1988)
ReplyDeleteThe run of quality sci-fi in the 80s is actually absurd and this is no exception. 10/10, up there with The Fly and The Thing in my all time favorites. Threw Killer Klowns on after - also damn near a perfect movie for me.
So two movies reviewed, not one? "Blob '88" (blub!) AND "Killer Klowns From Outer Space"? 🤓
DeleteThat's a double bill i can get behind
DeleteTron (1982)
ReplyDeleteI was listening to the Tron: Legacy soundtrack while driving today (as one does) and then was like, oh, I can rewatch the OG Tron for 80s sci fi day!