Immediate Response: Rifftrax Live!: Point Break

 Tubi Thursday is bumped back for the once a Year (save for the Replay) Live Show.

Let me tell you whether or not to come back on Tuesday for the Replay...

The Good

* The Film is just good enough to be enjoyable, but also just bad enough to Riff without feeling bad.

Would you imagine telling someone watching this when it came out that the same lady would direct a Film like Zero Dark Thirty?!?

* The Riffs are great.  Mike especially has the darkest/meanest jokes.  Good for him.

* Lori Petty.  Always a good thing.

* Plenty of great jokes are made based on the fact that The Ex-Presidents wear the Masks they do.

The Bad

* Our Theater didn't get the feed started until DURING the Rifftrax Intro.  I'll have to scour Reddit for the early jokes.

* With a longer Film, there's no Short(s).

A really good Live Show.  
I'm just unhappy that we didn't get to see the Intro... again.

Riffed Films: The Power (1984)

 A strange little Film that I finally got around to- thanks, RiffTrax!

This is The Power, a 1984 Horror Film that sure looks like it came out of the late '70s.  The Plot involves a strange object of great power and the people that want to control it.

Can anyone control The Power (TM) though?

Its Co-Writer/Co-Director - Stephen Carpenter- has a handful of interesting Films/Shows on his Resume ranging from The Kindred, Soul Survivors and the Grimm for NBC.  How have I never watched that Show?!?

The other Directed those Films with him and did that Bram Stoker Mummy Film from the '90s.

Is this a good Film in spite of RiffTrax tackling it?  To find out, read on...

A Professor lectures his Class about objects of power- as you do- and they leave after he's done...but a man stays behind.

He has one of said 'objects' and the power overwhelms him, throwing him against the wall and throw a flagpole!

Said object is.... about the least threatening thing you've ever seen.  I've got Funko Pops that are more terrifying than this thing.
Admittedly, it is CapWolf, but still.

The man meeting the Professor has a whole section where he goes to Mexico to try and control the thing.  As stated, of course, you can't control The Power.

That leads us to the, what, third Leads here so far.

We have a Local Reporter and her Brother, who break the story when...

Some College Kids find and get their hands on the Idol.

One of them proves that it can act like a big magnet...until it wrecks his home like a really big magnet.

More people do, well, the same thing and it keeps not going well.

Ultimately, the brother is corrupted by the Idol and tries to kill the students.

They narrowly defeat him, although not without losses.

For a final bit of wrap-up, the guy from the Mexico Scenes returned to see the Final Girl.
As you can see, the experience has maimed him.

For one last twist, he's killed when the Girl reveals that she too is possessed!  The End.

It is alright, but pretty forgettable.  Truth be told, I saw this a few weeks back and just didn't get around to reviewing it.  To quote Megadeth, 'looking back is just a bit fuzzy.'

That said, there are some good practical effects here and the general Mood of the Film is good.  The Premise is fine as well.

The execution, however, is not that exciting.  We get rushed into the Introduction and death of the first 'owner' and then a long sequence with the second.  After that, the Film begins proper...about 40 minutes in.

It is almost like they wanted to make a self-contained Anthology about this Idol/object and then chickened out halfway through.  That or they made a Film that was too short and added the Intro bits.

The fact that I can make indirect/possibly wrong comparisons to Curse of Bigfoot is not in this Film's favor.

The Power is a decent Horror Film- and I will get a Poor Bastard of Cinema out of it- but nothing special.  Maybe this Film that sounds like a Prequel will be better.

This came out in 1990.

Next up, I go back to plans with my first Remake in recent memory.  I have more coming for October, so this is just an aperitif really.  Stay tuned...

Immediate Response: Rifftrax Live!- Rad (1986)

 The only Live Show of the year?  

Oh well, at least it is...

The Good

* The 2 Shorts- Gumby 'Adventures'- are fun, weird and ridiculous.

* 'Cru' is there to watch the Show- great!

* Rad is silly and enjoyable as hell.  Lots of BMX jumps, spins and hops.  Lots of hops!

* Lots of great Riffs, with obvious shot at Lori Loughlin and more '80s references than you can shake a Cabbage Patch Doll at.

* Ass-sliding.  No context.

The Bad

* Needs more seneschals!

* We never get to see how you can 'light the night when they hear your heart of thunder.'  We need answers!

* We don't get to see another Live Show this year.  What will I have to do?  Watch Rifftrax at home?!?
Oh, right.

Seriously though, this is a fun time and a great Show.  We got a Bill flub to boot- gotta keep that streak alive!

I'd tell you to go see the Replay...but there is one.  So, I guess, just buy it when it releases on Digital.

Quick Review: Rifftrax vs. Greydon Clark

Greydon Clark is not the most famous of the 'Bad Movie Directors' out there.  He does hold a special place in the hearts of the Rifftrax Crew though, since they've done, well, a big chunk of his Filmography!

To begin, my most recent watch of the group and one they redid from MST3K.  If Joe Don can go for seconds, so can they?

The Plot: A Texas Lawman is stuck in Malta with an Italian Criminal he was trying to bring in.  He battles indigestion- not a joke, but a real Plot Point- and the Mob as he tries to get, well, the Title.

Thoughts: A serious misfire for a number of reasons.  The Film tries to have it both ways.  It has Joe Don as an 'unlikely Action Hero' with faults, but then also has him try to look bad-ass.  It's like if you cast modern Seagal as John McClane- it doesn't work.  It also looks and feels very cheap.  It's silly in a mostly bad way (if watched without Rifftrax of MST3K).  It's not as interesting as they clearly thought.  It's just bad and dumb, although it does feature Greydon as a guy named 'Bob,' so I'm happy.

Next up, Clark goes Horror for a Film I actually covered as a normal Film.  Well, normal is not the right word for this...

The Plot: A mutated monster hides out as a cat, but ends up on a bad guy's yacht with some random 'teens.'  The creature reveals itself in time, letting them try to fight for survival on the high seas!

Thoughts: A strange and silly Horror Film.  A cat-like monster hiding inside of a cat puppet-thing kills some evil Businessman and some 'teens' on a boat.  Who thinks of that?  Oh right- the guy who would write Satan's Sadists!  Seriously, what is this creature?  On the plus side, it is complete trash, completely-dated and features a sad George Kennedy.  The guy feels worse being in the Film than I feel watching it (unriffed- like I did).  It's a bizarre mess.  On the plus side, it features one of Greydon's kids in this Sequel Bait...

Now we get to the tail end of Clark's Film Career.  Can his second-to-last Film be his best?

The Plot: Surviving Humans are forced to live in some sort of Train/Subway Station by Robot Overlords.  One guy discovers a baby is born and leads a revolution.  Children of Men this is not.

Thoughts: A weird mess of a Film.  An off-screen Robot Apocalypse apparently happened and leads to surviving Humans being forced to live in a Subway Station running Night Clubs.  So is this just reverse Westworld?  The Effects are cheap, the Plot is dumb and the Acting is...yeah, it's bad.  The whole thing then takes a weird turn that I still don't really (care to) understand.  It's just dumb.  On the plus side, it features the first Andy Sidaris Film Lead I saw- Cody from Malibu Express.

For the finale, we have the Film so bad that it gets name-dropped as 'shit' in the other Clark Riffs.  It's also his last Film, so enjoy...

The Plot: A Space Prince (not to be confused with the Prince of Space) crash lands on Earth and befriends a kid.  Can they survive in the Wild AND escape the Alien threat now leveled at both of them?

Thoughts: Clark's magnum opus of insanity.  Why is this the most infamous Film of his?  Well, besides being his last, he also cast his two Sons as the Leads.  Casting Brothers as kids that aren't related- always a winning strategy!  The actual Plot is just plain nuts.  On top of that, he somehow roped Tony Curtis into this!  Most notably, it features a Compute A.I. that appears as...Pennywise?

There you have it- Rifftrax's four Greydon Clark Films- so far.  Here's hoping for more, as this guy made cheap crap that we can all enjoy (ironically)!

Quick Reviews: Rifftrax vs. Edgewood Studios

Another shout-out to Tubi for helping me watch 2 out of 3 of these ones.

So Edgewood Studios is the company most famous for giving us Time Chasers.  They made alot more and, well, here are 3 of the 4 Films that Rifftrax has also covered...

First up, their Sci-Fi Horror Film...

The Plot: A bunch of people are stranded after a plane crash by a Barn/Cave full of mutant spiders.

Thoughts: It is a weird mix of silly and strange.  It tries to be a quirky Sci-Fi/Horror/Action Film and is mostly just weird.  The Effects are ambitious, but pretty laughable.  It also looks the most dated, despite being the most recent Film on the list (2003).  I seriously did a double-take when I read that!

Next up, an Action Film with some serious Casting issues...

The Plot: A spy is thrown in jail after collateral damage from a mission that he was betrayed during.  He flees town and, conveniently enough, runs into an operation that connects back to said betrayers.

Thoughts: Both ambitious and cheap.  This guy as our Lead is the biggest problem.  There's a fine line between 'unassuming enough to be a spy' and 'there's no way that this guy is a spy.'  All of the Films problems revolve around this issue, making it hard to buy any of this.  Naturally, he also wrote the Film (and his only other Starring Role).  On the plus side, two Time Chasers Actors get cameos...

Last but not least, a 2000 Action Film with a surprising Lead...

The Plot: Billy Ray Cyrus (!!!) plays a former-CIA Operative pulled back in for one last mission.  Naturally, it has personal stakes and he has to rise to the occasion.

Thoughts: It doesn't work, but it at least works more than Pressure Point.  He looks like he could do the Stunts.  That said, he can't really act.  The Plot is also *very* similar to the second half of Point, even reusing the same Town.  I guess they assumed that you wouldn't be dumb enough to watch both Films.  Self burn!  It's a weird mix of a generic Action Film and The Howling VII, which is not a compliment.

These were all fun- especially watching the latter two with Bob- and I look forward to once more jumping into the fray...

Cheap Films that deliver a cheap laugh or two.  Thank you for that, Rifftrax.

Quick Reviews: Yor- The Hunter From the Future

According to Wikipedia, this Film came out (in Italy) just 5 days after I was born.  As such, we share a kinship.  So when Rifftrax got involved, it was time to watch this one again...

In a dangerous, prehistoric World, beauty and fear co-exist in a dangerous dance.  Who can tame it?

Yor!  Just listen to his Theme Song- it's his World and he's 'the man!'

He battles evil Cavemen, romances a Tabula Rasa Hottie and adventures with...the same old man from Strike Commando(?!?).  Who said that these Films were made cheaply again?

Slowly but surely, Yor learns some secrets about his past that will change everything!

It's not a SPOILER to show the sci-fi element.  After all, every Poster made for America does!

Will he save the day?  Will the Film end inconclusively due to this being more of a set-up to a Mini-Series that wasn't made than a Film?  Is this hilarious?

To find out, watch the Film- with or without Rifftrax (or both!).

I love this silly little gem.  I'm not the first person to tell you about Yor right?  It's not even new to me- I watched it years ago.  With Rifftrax putting the track/Film combo out recently (and me having a credit), I went back and re-watched it.  It still holds up.  It's still stupid as hell.  It's still pretty nonsensical.  The Poster is like 80% lie.  Hell, they don't even have Reb's proper hair on it!  He's not from the Future.  He's barely even a Hunter.  He is Yor and it is his World though- that's just set in stone!  Speaking of stone, they try to make this look like the Stone Age.  Stuck the landing!  Seriously, the Film spends 80% of the runtime acting like this is just straight Fantasy.  Granted- the Italian Title was Yor's World (translated).   We seem to be the Country behind the Subtitle and confusingly-SPOILER-but-not-really Poster I used over here in America.  This is based on a Book BTW.  How are so many Films that don't look like they should be based on Books- like Beaks, Slugs and Bug (by William Castle)- actually based on them?!?  Never mind The Meg!  While I know that it is sacrilege to say it, I'd liked to see a big-screen Remake of this with like $40-50 million behind it- provided you get a good Director.  That said, the original is almost an anti-classic.  It's so bad that it's good!  You can watch this for cheap- the older DVDs or VHS- or shiny and new- like the Blu-Ray Special Edition.  Speaking of which, nice to see you again, Reb!

Basically a ridiculous Film made by a talented Director with no inhibitions.  It is silly, stupid and just plain amazing!

'70s Trash: Terror at the Wax Museum (1973)

Another Rifftrax Review, but one I'd do normally anyhow.  This gem is Terror at the Wax Museum, a 1973 Horror Film full of silliness.  This is one of MANY Films in the Wax Museum Sub-Genre of Films.  In the group, you have Mystery of the Wax Museum, House of Wax, this Film, Waxwork, House of Wax (2005) and a few notable others.  You also get my favorite- the one where the guy is turning ladies literally into wax and is revealed to be a Robot at the end!  Thanks, Italy!  The Films are all a bit different, but usually relate to the idea that wax figures are somehow killing people.  It's so silly that you can see why they've made them for over 80 Years!  This time, the intrigue is based around the Museum as someone tries to buy it.  When the murders start, who is to blame?  The Film is notable for its Cast of 'Aww, you're in this?!?' Actors.  They include John Carradine, Ray Milland, Louis Hayward and Broderick Crawford- among others.  Is the fact that I watched this on Rifftrax a bad sign?  Yes.  To find out how and why, read on...

A weird, old man- Carradine- owns a Wax Museum and might sell it.  He's confronted that night by his...animated Figures.

That's just an average Tuesday for him in the '70s though.

After he dies the next night, his Niece inherits the Museum and his mute/deaf worker.  He must be evil- the Poster says so!

Some murders start to happen and all signs point to...Jack the Ripper.  That or the Wax Figure of him.

Either way, this guy is going to solve the case...or get into the Niece's 'pants'- whichever comes first.

She too starts to experience weird things such as noises and figures appearing to move.  What is going on here?!?

On top of that, another murder happens- this time with the 'Oh, it's you!' cliché used to full-effect.

Who is the guilty party?  Is it Jack the Ripper (real one)?  Is it the figure?  Is it Ray Milland, who's character is written as a combination businessman/black-out drunk?

Nope- it was the Bartender.  Yep, it's that anti-climactic.  And no, I didn't forget to mention this important Character- he wasn't one.  The End.

It really is that anti-climactic and random.  A story like this should be easy to tell.  You can add some flourish and style- sure- but the Film should be easy enough to follow.  Instead, they keep building up that the Figures come to life...or one comes to life...or it is Jack the Ripper...or it is Milland.  Hell, by the end, I'm surprised they didn't also try to pin it on the Aunt, the Detective or Carradine himself!  The Film is fun to watch for the sheer silliness of it all.  There's nothing super-special here other than the early Carradine freak-outs.  Sadly, he's not in this much- not that he's ever in these kinds of Films much.  He's like a shooting star- an old, fragile and insane shooting star.  I kid, I kid- mostly.  The rest of the Cast- mostly Milland and Crawford- handle things well in his absence.  If you like this kind of silly stuff, check it out.  You can watch it with or without Rifftrax- but I prefer the latter.  Films like this have dry spots, which they help cover, and they are quite funny.  Now they just need to do the original...

Next time, I will actually get around to a Film I planned to do back in, oh, June.  It's Japan, so it's crazy and hopefully-fun.  Stay tuned...

Quick Reviews: A Talking Cat!?!

Another Rifftrax Review- only this one was one that I was never going to do otherwise.  To see what I survived, read on...

This is Duffy.  He's a talking Cat that sounds like Eric Roberts.

He's magic and can talk to people, but only once.  He's also NOT the Cat on that Poster above...

This is a rich guy (played by the grown-up kid from Sigmund and the Sea Monsters).  He's...I mean...well...next picture!

This is his Son.  The Actor has no IMDB Page, but he's got to be more than 35 years younger!

He needs confidence, which only a talking/slurring Cat can give- obviously.

Can he get the girl?  Can his Dad find love?

On the plus side, this is a David DeCoteau Film and he's only shirtless that one time.  Progress?

The Cat goes around giving advice...in between the Film's overuse of Stock Establishing Shots, an obsession with Cheese Puffs and the fact that they are obviously tricking this cat with a laser.

Can the Cat survive a(n off-screen) car accident?  Will the families work together?

Will someone please take Eric Roberts *back* to Rehab based on his line reading?  To find out, watch the Film (but only with Rifftrax).

I wish I was on whatever Eric Roberts was on!  Seriously, this is a true bit of Trivia as stated by David DeCoteau- Roberts' part was recorded in 15 minutes in his living room!  I honestly believe that.  I guess kudos for doing the work that fast- it's less time than writing this Review has taken.  I also wasn't clearly on a metric ton of pot while doing this either.  Putting aside is weird, slurring delivery, the Film is still terrible for many reasons.  The Film has two locations- David DeCoteau's House (as seen in every Film of his after 2010) and a smaller House.  Both were furnished with random stuff brought by the Cast (to save money).  Why mention how many locations it has?  Well, the Film uses- wait for it- 59 ESTABLISHING SHOTS.  Yes, someone counted (not me)!  It's just...holy Xenu- that's too many!  The Acting is tolerable, but that's about all I can say for it.  The Plot is a loose mess of nonsense, pointless bits and Cheese Puffs.  These things- the homemade kind- are introduced as a Plot Point around an hour in.  If you play the 'Cheese Puffs' Drinking Game, your kidney will shut down before the end of the Film!  If you watch this for accidental hilarity, it is there...but you have to endure a lot.  Rifftrax- again- makes it tolerable and honestly really damn funny.  For example, the Film uses FOUR DIFFERENT SHOTS of a Car driving on a road IN A ROW!  The gang make a great running gag out of it that makes the whole thing actually enjoyable.  If you're a brave (and stupid) man, you can watch stuff like this and Roller Gator on your own.  I wouldn't (again) though.  I guess I'll see if A Talking Pony!?! is any better someday.  Before nobody asks, even THIS Film has alternate Cover Art that is a complete lie (and a new Title)...

Bad, bad so-bad!  It- like Roller Gator or Manos is a delight to watch with Rifftrax though.