Posts

Showing posts from 2009

Ray Parker Jr... Action Star!

Image
It is late to ask but this is what I want for Christmas people out there in the world who I don't know. I want this movie right here! So I'm sitting around listening to some Raydio, 'For Those Who Like to Groove' in particular which got to me thinking about my main man Ray Parker Jr. Before 'Ghostbusters' brought Ray into national prominence and completely destroyed his career he was one helluva an R&B heavyweight back in the day, so I curious to see what Ray had been up to lately. As it turns out my man is still alive and making music but what go my blood a pumpin' was this movie 'Enemy Territory'. How come I didn't get the memo that Ray was in a 1980's Lethal Weapon type action flick? How in the hell did this slip by me? My next order of business was to acquire this movie by any means available. Went to Netflix but the idiots behind this movie haven't felt the need to turn it into a DVD. Have you seen the stuff they put on

My Blind Side...

Image
I recently got back from seeing the movie ' The Blind Side ' mainly because folks were telling me how great this movie was. Personally, I didn't care it for it all that much, some of the reasons I touched on back at the main site but it did get me to thinking about my days as a football player so many years ago. The movie talks about how important a Left Tackle is to a Quarterback and this is true. I was a Right Tackle but my quarterback was left handed. Mark Ahn, one of my very best friends in high school and one of my very best friends to this day was our QB and it was my job to protect his blind side. Unfortunately for Mark his blind side protector wasn't all that good. I could mention that some of this poor play could be attributed to the fact that our football coach ran a bar and on the Friday nights before our Saturday afternoon games he would often entertain a few of his favorite players and serve us... I mean them... an alcoholic beverage or two, but I'

I did give it an effort...

Image
It's Thursday, the NFL network is kicking off its Thursday Night Football schedule and as Terrel Owens has advised me to do, I got my popcorn ready to watch Jay Cutler and Alex Smith have an exciting interceptions battle. I knew before hand that Former Lions GM Matt Millen, a man who in eight infamous years took my once gloriously mediocre franchise and turned them into the worst organization in the history of professional sports, was calling the game. But I'm over that. Just glad that loser is gone and hope that the new Lions regime can one day return us back to mediocrity. What I didn't expect, apparently, was that Matt Millen would actually open his mouth during the broadcast. Totally didn't see that coming. Blindsided. It took as long as the first play from scrimmage when Alex Smith threw a sideline pass to Michael Crabtree who made a spectacular play on the ball with Millen chiming in with 'Crabtree's got that 'it' factor'. How in the hel

Don't let them do it God...

Image
Some forty years ago there was this movie directed by Joseph Sargent called ' Colossus: The Forbin Project ' and if you haven't had the chance to see this minor cult sci-fi classic you should track it down and check it out. 'Colossus' is a deliberately paced, well thought out, well crafted science picture film chronicling Dr. Forbin's (Eric Braden) missile defense machine arbitrarily deciding that man is not fit to handle his own fate and thus takes matters into its own hands. Simple enough. Now this is somewhat old news but we hear that the Hollywood powers that be are planning a remake of this film and we are here to say that this time they must be stopped. At all costs. I realize remakes and retreads and the like are the way to go but a 'remake' of this movie is a no-win situation. First off the movie was done right the first time and more so the Matrix series and the Terminator series have wrung the whole man vs. machine thing dry. Besides the

You should know... Todd Jensen

Image
Every once in a while I think I'm gonna pick out some relatively obscure actor and give this guy or gal some props for their hard work in little seen Straight to DVD flicks with today's subject being the hard working actor Todd Jensen. Who is Todd Jensen? Beats the hell out of me but Mr. Jensen has been doing this acting thing for quite a while usually showing up as uptight FBI Agents or Bureaucrats but in three consecutive days I saw three separate movies featuring Mr. Jensen in which he was brutally murdered in each and every one. Man, that's damn good work if you can get it. In the remake of ' It's Alive ' Todd was cut to shreds by a new born baby, in the movie ' Train ' Todd was vivisectioned and harvested for his valuable internal organs and in the Sci-Fi Original film ' Star Runners ' Todd was gored and eaten by a giant bug. But that was only how Todd was brutalized this past weekend because we've seen Todd get murderized in a numb

The Ependables!

Image
It takes a lot for something to have an effect on an old bitter man such as myself, one beat down by life's cruelties and gross inequities. But the trailer for the Sylvester Stallone helmed upcoming action flick 'The Expendables' brought me to tears. You see this took me back to a simpler time when I, as a kid, watched tiny men such as Stallone, Mel Gibson and Eddie Murphy, just to name a few, got on the big screen to blow shit up and kick much ass all in the name of BadAss. Sadly, for the most part, these movies are gone now. The demographic, as it were, no longer has any use for tough men blowing shit up and making sweet love to the ladies. Instead this demographic prefers movies with gay pirates and gay teen vampires or watching young fit boys with lots of makeup dancing in high school halls. What the hell? As such our action stars of the past have faded away. Murphy has dedicated himself to making horrific family films, Gibson, a fine film director, is now better

Limbaugh and the NFL? you've been hoodwinked.

Image
So I'm watching Sports Center or the NFL Network, had to be one of the two since they're the only two channels I watch and I see that Rush over there is part of group interested in purchasing the St. Louis Rams. Now what's funny about this, and this is just my theory supported only by my own opinions, is that I'm almost dead positive that Rush Limbaugh has no real desire to own an NFL franchise. What little I know about the business of the NFL is that it loves stability, being middle of the road, and will do almost nothing to upset this train driven applecart which has given its 32 owners a license to print money. NFL Commissoner Roger Goodell's main function is to keep this gravy train rolling, just like his predecessor Paul Tagliabue and his predecessor the late Pete Rozelle. This is why when approached with the subject of Limbaugh Mr. Goodell doesn't say anything along the lines of yay or nay because that would mean getting out of the middle of the road.

Zero and One

Image
I know this blog thing is alleged to support the FCU website but it's fall and I haven't been sitting on my ass watching many movies lately and have instead been sitting on my ass watching football. When I was a kid NFL opening day was a bigger deal than Christmas Day with my Dad, older brother and eventually even my sister gathering around to break down game film. We loved us some football baby. Now that I'm an old man opening day isn't nearly as important to me as it used it to be but it does still does possess some cache. And this opening day is doubly important because this is the year my Lions rise from the ashes! Or maybe not. Saints QB Drew Brees and his good friends Colston, Shockey, Henderson, some cat named Bell and some of the fans from the stands played pitch and catch for sixty minutes while my Lions looked on and took notes. Were the Saints malicious they probably could've hung a hundred points on us but they kindly stopped at 45. The Saints sp
Image
God Bless the Internet. It is because a movie that I recently watched called 'Angel of Death' that I got turned on to Crackle.com as "Angel of Death' started out life as a web series on their sight. This in turn directed me to their rather eclectic list of web shows including ‘Mommy XXX’, a reality show about a porn star trying to raise her kids amidst the always supportive world of adult entertainment. Outstanding. I’ve never heard of this particular porn star Demi Delia but I do see that she is relatively ancient for an adult actress… she’s 40+… a number which relevant to more than just her age… but I imagine this makes her ideal for a certain genre of porn flick, as her IMDB filmography list would suggest and includes what I’m sure will be an instant classic… 'I Came in your Mom'. Outstanding. Actually the show is pretty damn entertaining. I’m talking about ‘Mommy XXX’ here as I have not and have no intentions of watching ‘I Came in your Mom’. Seriously. The

What happens to a dream deferred...

Image
Years ago when working as a valet parking cars in my native St. Louis a particular car I jumped in was playing on it's cassette 'The Velocity of Love' by Suzanne Ciani. This particular car also had what looked to be a pound of weed wedged into its glove compartment, but that's another story for another time. Regardless, hearing this song was a revelation as I, at the time, considered myself to be some kind of musician and through this woman's music I had finally discovered the kind of sound I was meant to compose. I brought every album this woman had made up to that point and dedicated myself to becoming a NewAge keyboard player. Yes, this is when people actually went to the store and paid for records. The unfortunate truth of the matter was that as a musician I couldn't carry Suzanne Ciana's jock strap, that is if she actually had the need for one... which I don't believe she does... but you get my point. I mention this because a couple of days ag

GO LIONS!!!

Image
Not that this is a sports blog or anything but I am a sports fan and at one time I was a pretty damn good athlete. In fact many people likened my basketball skills to that of Michael Jordan. No joke. That is if Jordan couldn't jump, run, shoot, dribble or pass. Otherwise or games were virtually identical. But we're here right now to talk about my team... the Detroit Lions. This past weekend I fired up my energy sucking, enviroment destoryig Plasma TV and watched my Lions play the Cleveland Browns in totally worthless pre-season football in glorious HD and my Lions looked TERRIBLE. Matthew Stafford looked TERRIBLE. Daunte Culpepper looked okay and Drew Stanton actually looked pretty good again. However to steal a quote from a guy I heard on sports talk radio, as some Lions fans begin clamoring for Stanton to start the season, all that proves is that the Lions 3rd stringers are better than other teams 3rd stringers. But even though the Lions looked awful and made the Bro

I have nothing to say...

...at this particular time. At least anything of any kind of value. However we do not want to let the FCU Blog lag so we will make a mindless post just to keep things moving. I may make another one tomorrow as well. Quell your excitement if possible. Let's see... I showed my 'green' side by buying a Plasma Television the other day. Next I'll purchase a Hummer H2 and run my air conditioning with the windows open. But this fifty inch LG does have an energy saving feature built in which in actuality means it uses less electricity than a 32 inch LCD. Thing is you actually have to 'use' this feature. Regardless... Plasma is SWEET! Watched some gawdawful preseason football on over-the-air HD and it looked so good I could almost smell the grass. Then we fired up some Soul Calibur IV and followed that up with ' 300 ' on defunct HD-DVD, The Look and Sound of Perfect... and it looks like I won't be desiring to buy a new TV for at least another three

GO U.S.A!!!

Image
In the first 'Transformers' flick when Bumble Bee transformed from an old '78 Camaro to a brand spanking new '09 Camaro the woman sitting next to me oohed and aahhed breathlessly saying that 'that's her dream car'. I was a little envious of that woman at that particular time because for a little more than 22G her dream car could be in her garage in the morning. My dream car on the other hand is a Jaguar XJ220 which, if you're really lucky, you might be able to track one down for a couple hundred thousand somewhere. Regardless, even though the American Auto Industry is on thin ice on a warm summers day, I offer that GM with their Camaro, Chrysler with the Challenger and Ford with the Mustang have three of the hottest mass produced cars being sold on the planet earth right now. Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Honda, VW, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Suzuki... whomever... don't have anything in their respective lineups in this category, in my opinion, of these glor

The new look of the Asian Male.

Image
So the family finishes watching the Rugby flick 'Forever Strong' and while it is a typical sports movie filled to brim with cliche it was still entertaining. I'm in the middle of writing the review and click on the name of the star of that movie, this dude to my left, Sean Farris, to see what projects my man has coming up since he's not a bad actor and he was also pretty decent in the equally derivative ' Never Back Down '. One of these projects would be the video game flick 'King of Fighters' with Mr. Farris playing the lead role of Kyo Kusanagi. Allrightythen. Maybe its just me but I'm thinking this cat doesn't look like someone who would be named Kyo Kusanagi. I don't know what problems the suits in Hollywood have with Asian people, particularly Asian males, but they need to get over it. I guess this is nothing new, dating back to Charlie Chan and the late David Carradine get the nod over Bruce Freaking Lee for 'Kung Fu', but

Taking a stand!

Image
I know we're in a tough economy and all but enough is enough! So we're at the Rite-Aid and the boy wants a box of Mike and Ike's which at one time in this glorious nation of ours used to be one of the better uses of a dollar bill. I grab the box and observe it was smaller than usual, significantly so. Damn if Just Born Inc. hasn't shaved 25% off the regular 8 ounce box changing it to six ounces while keeping the price the same. What kind of mess is that? But it gets worse. The next week back in Rite-Aid the 'New' Mike and Ike's box has big yellow tag on it claiming to give you a '10% BOUNS!!!' bumping it's piddly six ounces up to 6.6 ounces which is STILL 1.4 ounces less than what it was a couple of weeks ago while still happily taking our dollar bill. Where I come from we call that the Okey-Doke. What we Americans need in our current situation of financial uncertainty is more confectionery sugar products for the money. What we don'

He's Out of Our Lives

Image
So I'm being driven home by some friends after seeing the 'Transformer' sequel (which was... not good) and invariably the conversation turns to Michael who's been dead a couple of days now. Arvell says 'You're boy is gone'. And I resopond with 'He really wasn't my boy' and the radio retrospective then plays 'Smooth Criminal' which is like my jam. Not my favorite Michael Jackson song which would be 'She's Out of my Life' but 'Smooth Criminal' is my jam. Then I started thinking about it a bit, remembering scrounging up the cash to by 'Thriller' in high school, hijacking my brothers 'Off the Wall' LP and being financially solvent in 1987 via parking cars to buy 'Bad' without nary a thought. Damn $4/hr went a long way when you lived at home and didn't have to pay bills. I also purchased 'Victory' and that damn Rockwell album back in the day based on Michael's star power alone

I'm sick of these MF'n Snakes on my MF'n TV!

Image
Don't ask me why but for some reason or another I have decided to watch every Sci-Fi Channel inspired snake movie made in the last couple of years. Again, I don't know why. I was contemplating doing a special Snake show on Totally Twisted Flix but all these movies pretty much suck and I realistically can't have a show in which every movie is terrible. Mega Snake wasn't so bad or maybe it was bad but it just wasn't as bad as the others. I don't know anymore. But it was fun while it lasted spending time with David Hasselhoff, Luke Perry, Tara Reid, Krista Allen and Michael Shanks. There's one more I have to watch, Snakeman with Stephen Baldwin, but I think I'm done here. I'll never ever freaking do that again.

Starship Troopers III

A friend of mine out there in Los Angeles is up close and personal with an effects house out that way, one in particular which did the effects for this little Direct to DVD gem 'Starship Troopers III: Marauder'. I informed him that it just so happened that we did a segment on this movie on a recent episode of Totally Twisted Flix, a movie I unabashedly called possibly the best straight to DVD movie ever. Now if you don't watch a lot of straight to DVD movies then you probably won't be impressed. You'll know you're this person if you watch a straight to DVD movie and say something such as 'The Godfather was much better' or 'The special effects in this movie can't touch Revenge of the Sith' or 'Hmmmph, it certainly wasn't Truffaut'. Yeah, y'all can't hang out with us. Anyway, I promissed Darnell I'd post the video review and the print review so here you go bro. Starship Troopers III: Marauder

Why Eastwood should do Horror.

I doubt that Mr. Clint Eastwood would actually do this since he’s probably not interested in taking career advice from me, particularly since he has no idea that I even exist, but after recently watching his film ‘Changeling’ he should ponder directing a horror movie. He’s kind of done it already with ‘Play Misty for Me’ but he made that movie way before he mastered this whole film directing thing. Though ‘Changeling’ is a pure dramatic piece it does have a few sprinkles of horror elements strewn across its rather lengthy running time which got me to thinking, which is never good for anybody. Considering that most of Mr. Eastwood’s recent films have already been bitterly dark and depressing and taking into account his unparalleled ability to manipulate an audience I’m thinking if he just went full out horror for a movie it would be the best horror flick that anybody’s seen in years. I betcha. I know a few people who know a few people Mr. Eastwood and I think I can make it happen.

Speaking of sokko...

Since they remake pretty much everything in the movie business why haven't they gotten around to drudging up Johnny Sokko and his Giant Robot? With the success and the cheese that is The Power Rangers one would think that Robo and them would be prime material. Maybe they're intimidated by the fact the Unicorn, the secret agency battling the forces of Emperor Guillotine and his Gargoyle Gang, actually used children as secret agents placing them in harms way. But they did give those kids fully loaded guns so they could protect themselves if necessary. I mean U7 might've been all of eight years old but that little bastard would bust a cap for real if you didn't keep an eye on him. And who didn't enjoy the fact that Robo had to do his dance before he could freaking do ANYTHING. "Robot! Power Punch!" In due time U7 because my man has to bust his move first. Simply Outstanding. Of course there is the issue that outside of the nostalgia factor The Gian

SOKKO!!!

Image
So I'm scouring the internets trying to find the Johnny Sokko theme to use as a ringtone but alas a decent copy was nowhere to be found. Desperate I decide to go ahead and make my own damn ringtone. I mean the theme from Johnny Sokko has gotta be one of the simplest musical movements ever created so what the hell. So until Bandai or Toei or whoever the hell owns the Johnny Sokko copyrite tells me to take it down, here it is. Note I didn't say it was any good, but the the first twenty seconds should make for a halfway decent low fidelity ringtone. Right click to snag or click that bar at the bottom to audition. The Theme

The Death of the Spoof.

Just saw the screener for the Wayans new movie 'Dance Flick' which really wasn't all that bad. Nonetheless here is the opening paragraph of my soon to be posted review. If this movie ‘Dance Flick’ fails Director Damien Wayans and the Wayans family, a group of people which I believe constitutes 35% of the population of the state of New York, can personally thank Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg for this failure. If you aren’t familiar with the names of those two gentlemen then that’s great for you but if you do know the ‘comedy’ team of Seltzer and Friedberg like we know them then you are well aware this duo has singlehandedly atomic bombed the ‘spoof’ genre. Probably forever. Mind you this is not a genre without some history or legacy my friends, mined with hard work, sweat equity and comic precision by the likes of Mel Brooks and the Zucker brothers and don’t get me started on the near genius of Damon Wayans own ‘I’m Gonna Git you Sucka’. And while the whole ‘Scary

Taimak Lives!

Went to my first ever Comicon this past weekend with the esteemed Arvell Jones who I have observed knows every single person who's ever had anything to do with a comic book in the history of the planet earth. I was actually there to hoping score an interview with Tony Todd for an upcoming Totally Twisted Flix episode featuring the actor but alas he sold out the Motor City Comicon so no interview was to be scored. I did manage to get an interview Ryan Thompson who directed the locally produced 'Zombie Holocaust'. But amidst the Princess Leia's and stormtroopers and Boba Fett's were a string of old school actors hawking autographs and stuff for spare change. Yancy Butler, Joyce Dewitt, the cat that played Larry on Three's Company, Gil Gerard and Erin Grey, Eric Atavari, Garrett Wang, Kristy Swanson and a gaggle of old playmates just to name a few. But most importantly we saw TAIMAK! The Last Dragon baby! A very nice dude. I would've gotten a picture to
Image
The good thing about the summer movie season is that they release a crapload of big budget movies that I get to see for free. The bad part is that I have to go see these movies. I prefer to stay at home and watch old exploitation movies, low budget straght to DVD action flicks and ancient kung fu flicks. Now that's entertainment. The movie that preceeded this flick Angels and Demons, the gawdawful 'The DaVinci Code' had a budget of 125 million dollars. How in the hell can you make a bad movie with a 125 million bucks at your disposal? Anyway I'm going to assume that they gave Ron Howard even more money to make this movie because it was like ten times better than 'The Davinci Code'. My guestimate is this flick must have had a budget of 640 million dollars. Angels and Demons

Steven Seagal

Image
We don't know why, we wish we knew why, but when Steven Seagal releases his quarterly action flick we still get as giddy as a fat kid in an ice cream shoppe. Sure we recognize that 85% of the movies that Steve, I feel I can call him Steve due to our very close one sided relationship... anyway 85% of the movies that Steve has released this decade have been absolutely terrible and some would say that 85% is being quite generous, but I watch them all regardless. I've just gotten the notice that his latest Straight to DVD flick 'Driven to Kill' is primed and ready to go. Oh happy joy! Three word title? check. character who's a retired super badass? check. Skinny stunt man on stand by? check. We've already done two shows on Totally Twisted Flix dedicated to the Straight to DVD work of Steve with enough material for two more. I cannot wait for my personal copy of 'Driven to Kill' to arrive in the mail to see what the one who ' walks like a Blac

Off the Chain...

That's what that new Star Trek movie was. I'm no fan of IMAX for regular movies because it's just and extra big rectangle but the movie was some damn fine entertainment. It's not MacBeth or anything but I wouldn't mind seeing it again at regular theater. Star Trek
I'm off to the Chrysler Science center IMAX theater to check out the press screener for the new Star Trek movie. I gotta be honest and tell you that for me this is basically just another movie to see, a movie with Zoe Saldana in it, but still just another movie. I even made it available to my people at Decode who I know live and breathe this stuff but alas I'm the only one can regularly turn in a review on time so all systems go. I would imagine there should be freaks galore at the event and here I am without my Federation sanctioned uniform. This weekend I'll probably revisit 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' which literally put me to sleep as a ten year old in 1979.

Pacquiao v Hatton

So I'm big boxing fan. This ain't got jack to do with movies by the way. When they announced the Pacquiao /Hatton fight I was thinking there is no way that Ricky Hatton had a chance in hell of winning that fight. Especially since he got beat up by Mayweather a year earlier and considering what Pacquiao did to De LaHoya. Then they started hyping the thing with HBO and the trainers whispering in my ear on what a challenging fight this was gonna be, and damn if I didn't start listening and believing that Hatton had a real chance to challenge Pacquiao. I was gonna say 'one day I'll learn' but it's way too late in the game for learning for me. KTFO'd in the second round. I don't want to say that the 'sweet science' is dead but I can't remember it being any sicker in my lifetime than it is right now.

Welcome to Totally Twisted Flix

Alrighty then, we might as well start this thing off by posting something from Totally Twisted Flix as most of you can't getto channel 9407 on Dish Network. Regardless, TTF is the movie show dedicated to only Direct to DVD movies as the intro should inform. More or Less. Note that I was not born with a face for TV. We'll be dropping the occasional video review on the blog over the course of time. Audio sounds like I'm talking in public bathroom. Got that fixed later on.