Fouke Monster Festival Is Coming In Less Than Two Weeks!
I’ll be heading to the Mecca of the Southern Bigfoot, Fouke, Arkansas, on April 29th as part of Filmsquatch at the Fouke Monster Festival! Myself and Patrick Bennett will be podcasting live throughout the day and handing out free swag, having contests, and interviewing folks that want to tell us about their favorite cryptid creature features!
Join us at this amazing, family-friendly event featuring guests such as Lyle Blackburn, Chester Moore, Jerry Hestand, Jeff Stewart, Fouke Mayor Terry Purvis, and County Judge Cathy Hardin Harrison! There will also be tons of vendors selling Bigfoot and Fouke-related items that will please even the most skeptical visitors to the festival. All proceeds from the festival will go to the Fouke School District. It will be a great time and I hope to see you there!
I’ll be heading to the beautiful cities of Jefferson and Marshall, Texas on Friday, April 28th, to spend a little time in the Bigfoot Capital Of Texas and the home of the Texas Bigfoot Film Festival, respectively. I plan on taking a little hike along the Port Jefferson History and Nature Center Trails. I’ll also try to stop at Caddo Lake if I have time. I’ll definitely post photos as I make my way through the squatchiest parts of East Texas once I end my day in Texarkana, home of the host hotel for the Fouke Monster Festival. If you’re in the area, let me know and maybe we can hang out for a bit!
Cocaine Bear should have been an outrageous, silly comedy film. It should have accepted the fact that it is a film loosely based upon an already insane true story and expanded that insanity to the Nth degree. It should have been full of practical effects that had audiences roll their eyes with joy. Instead, Cocaine Bear is a drawn out, boring, healthy budgeted film that missed every opportunity thrown at it. Yeah, as you can tell already, I didn’t care for this flick.
The film’s pencil-thin plot is split between a mother, portrayed by Keri Russell, trying to find her daughter and her daughter’s friend, and a duo of drug dealers, played by O’Shea Jackson, Jr. and Alden Ehrenreich, hunting down their missing cocaine which was tossed out of a plane over the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest by the pilot, Andrew Thornton (Matthew Rhys), before the plane crashes in Tennessee. There are also about fifty subplots including a horny ranger (Margo Martindale) that wants to bed a local wildlife activist named Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), the same ranger’s ongoing battle with a band of National Forest ruffians (yes, you read that correctly) known as the Duchamps, a policed detective named Bob (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) and his hunt for the perfect dog and the missing cocaine, and a ton of other somehow intertwining subplots that are absolutely not necessary. Along for the ride is a black bear with a penchant for cocaine that will kill anybody that gets in the way of its blow.
The film is pieced together in amateur fashion by Elizabeth Banks. Banks, who has two other directorial runs under her belt (the decent Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) and the wretched Charlie’s Angels (2019)) doesn’t seem to understand what to do with the movie written by Jimmy Warden. At times it plays out as it should, with tons of silly violence featuring a bear amped up on cocaine, and at others it’s loaded with dull sequences full of dialogue and bad acting. The bear isn’t on the screen enough and even when it does appear it has to take a backseat to terrible performances by TikTok stars and futile attempts at humor. It’s just boring and bad.
Alden Ehrenreich and O’Shea Jackson, Jr. do turn in some pretty decent performances and actually have a few funny moments. The rest of the acting is just bad. It’s a shame that Ray Liotta passed away after the making of this film as he deserves a much better swansong than this pile of bear scat. Keri Russell is wasted as is Margo Martindale and everyone else in the film. It’s terrible. Seriously!
Do yourself a favor and skip this movie. It’s not so-terrible-it’s-funny nor is it scary enough to be a horror film. It’s a dud. If you want a better bear film I recommend 1976’s Grizzly. It’s terrible as well but at least the bear gets more screen time.
Thanks for reading my post. I promise I’ll be in a better mood next time I post!
Everybody loves a good movie. This year, 2023, marks the thirtieth anniversary of three of my favorite films. Those three films are Jurassic Park, Dazed And Confused, and Tombstone. Jurassic Park is arguably my favorite film of all time. Dazed And Confused is my favorite coming-of-age film. I consider Tombstone to be the greatest western of the modern film era. All three of these films have stuck with me since I first watched them. This year I will be revisiting all three of these films via reminiscent posts, action figure or music reviews, behind the scenes looks, and a few in-depth looks at some of the actors, directors, and crew that worked on these films.
I vividly remember seeing Jurassic Park at the old Prien Lake Mall Cinema I, II, & III (torn down in the late 1990’s and replaced by a Cinemark fourteen screen theater). I remember the cinema being packed and being pinned into my chair by the morbidly obese lady that sat next to me. I also remember how it was raining when I left the theater and now any time it rains on a warm day, I get the itch to watch Jurassic Park. At the time, collecting action figures or other toys wasn’t very important to me. For that reason, I completely skipped over collecting any toys from the film release. Since then, however, I’ve become a fan of the Hammond Collection and the Amber Collection from Mattel and have posted a few reviews on toys in those collections over the years and a few this year with more to come. I love this film. It’s perfect in every way.
When I first started seeing trailers for Tombstone, I had my doubts about the film. It was a western being released in a time when new western movies were relegated to TBS and the classics were available on AMC or TMC. The western was dying a slow death in cinemas during the late 1980s and early 90s, and Tombstone just didn’t seem like it would work. Thankfully, I was wrong. The film was loosely based on Wyatt Earp’s time in the town of Tombstone, AZ, with his brothers, Virgil and Morgan, and his friend, John “Doc” Holliday and the events leading up to and including the Earp Vendetta Ride. I remember sitting in the old Oak Park Cinema VI with my entire family watching the film. It rekindled my interest in the American West and would ultimately lead to a family trip to Arizona to not only visit the historical town of Tombstone, but to see sites where the film was shot and other areas of the state as well. I’ll review the film itself (the only one of the three that I haven’t reviewed yet) later this year and I’ll also take a look at locations, behind the scenes information, and the actual events that the film is inspired by throughout the year.
While I have vivid memories of watching Jurassic Park and Tombstone in the theater, Dazed And Confused was a much stranger beast. Unlike the other films, I didn’t see Dazed And Confused until I was in college. I watched it alone on VHS in my dorm room and then multiple times on cable television after that while attending college. It didn’t grab me initially. In fact, it sort of bugged me. Some of the film’s characters, specifically Mike, Tony, and Cynthia, annoyed me to a certain degree. As the years went by, however, I came to realize that the reason these characters got on my nerves was because I was so much like them. The film’s soundtrack is amazing and includes some of my favorite tracks and artists of all time. I also fell in love with Austin, TX as a result of this film. As far as what I’ll be looking at this year for the film, my biggest plan is to visit Austin again for the sole purpose of checking out a few of the actual locations where the film was shot and grab a burger from Top Notch (and to hang out with family). I’ll also take a look at the film’s soundtrack as well. Other than that, I will probably do a few posts about the careers of some of the actors after the film’s release.
I hope that you will join me this year on this trip down memory lane. I appreciate each and every one of you for checking out my posts. Let me your favorite films from 1993 in the comments section. See you soon!
Fans of the Jurassic Park/World franchise might scratch their heads when first laying eyes on the Concavenator figure recently added to the Hammond Collection from Mattel. The reason for that is because they might not have even noticed the dinosaur in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It appears briefly in the Lockwood Manor sequence during the film as a statue. It’s still nice that Mattel decided to add it to the Hammond Collection, however, and it looks great.
The figure features a wired tail that can be positioned in a number of ways and multiple points of articulation. Including the tail I counted nineteen points of articulation. This allows for some amazing poses and thanks to the tail, the figure doesn’t topple over easily. I’ve seen other reviews that state that the figure only has seventeen points of articulation, but I’m pretty sure that most of them aren’t counting the tail and are probably missing the fact that the top of the head is moveable. I didn’t notice it at first but after checking, the top portion of the head does indeed move.
The paint applications are amazing. They are both bright and earthy and give the figure life. The figure is scaled to compliment the 3 3/4″ Hammond Collection human figures. With the tail fully extended, the figure is just over one foot long. It’s a really nice figure that displays well.
This is a beautiful addition to the Hammond Collection and if you are a fan of Jurassic Park/World, I definitely recommend it.
Thanks for checking out my review. See you again real soon!
Game Warden Robert Muldoon (portrayed by the late Bob Peck) is the one character in the original Jurassic Park (1993) film that I hated to see die. If you’ve read the novel you are aware that the character survived the incident at Jurassic Park. He was one of my favorite characters in both the film and the book, so it was aggravating to know that his death was apparently added to the film to make up for the fact that John Hammond would live. Hammond died in the novel but as the script developed, he became a much more sympathetic character. It was decided that he would live and another character would have to take the fall. That character was Muldoon. Muldoon was an experienced hunter and tracker and knew more about the raptors than anyone else on Isla Nublar, so it made little sense that he would be tricked by the raptors.
Anyway, enough of my soapbox. Let’s talk about the figure.
While I personally prefer the 6″ Amber Collection of figures, Mattel decided to dump that series and focus on the 3.75″ Hammond Collection. This is apparently more cost effective for the company and also allows for the creation of more dinosaur figures at a reasonable price point. Muldoon looks pretty good in his 3.75″ form. The figure comes with two heads (one with and one without his hat), two pairs of hands, and Muldoon’s trusty SPAS-12 shotgun. The shotgun can be held with both sets of hands and can also be fitted across Muldoon’s shoulder. Muldoon features sixteen points of articulation and a removable vest. The head mold is a fairly close reproduction of Bob Peck’s face in the film. I also appreciate the detail in Muldoon’s clothes, especially his JP badge. His pistol and holster are molded over his right rear butt cheek and cannot be removed.
I’m not quite sure why Mattel packaged the figure with the hatless head on the body. Looking at the packaging, the head with the hat is in all of the photos. It’s definitely the better looking head as well. Also talking about the packaging, this one features the “30th Anniversary” tag for the original film’s release. All of the figures in the Hammond Collection released in 2023 will feature this logo. What’s sad is the fact that I found this figure already on clearance with a number of other Hammond Collection and Jurassic World: Dominion figures (humans and dinosaurs) at my local Target. Does this mean that this line isn’t selling well or does it just mean that these specific figures are underperforming? Hopefully it is the latter as I’d hate to see this line end like the Amber Collection.
Since the Hammond Collection is Mattel’s choice for figures for the foreseeable future, I guess that I’ll have to collect them. While I won’t purchase as many of these figures as I would have in the Amber collection, I’ll still grab my favorites. I missed out on Dr. Alan Grant but I did get Dr. Ellie Sattler (and reviewed here) and will soon have the 6″ Amber Collection versions of both Dr. Sattler and Muldoon in hand in a week or so! I already reviewed the second release of the 6″ Dr. Ian Malcolm so I’m excited to get the opportunity to add two more classic figures to my collection! If you’re interested, I also reviewed the Amber Collection Dilophosaurus and Owen Grady. Click the links on each one to read those reviews.
Thanks for checking out my review. I’ve been longing to get a Muldoon figure for awhile, so it’s nice to finally have one. Keep an eye out for another Amber Collection review and a Jurassic World: Dominion figure set review coming soon!
A teenage loner stumbles upon a powerful laser cannon in the desert and becomes possessed by it in 1978’s Laserblast. The film was directed by Michael Rae and produced by Charles Band. It starred Kim Milford as Billy, Cheryl Smith as Kathy, Roddy McDowall in a small role as Dr. Mellon and a ton of strong character actors at different stages in their career. It also featured makeup by Steve Neill and stop-motion animation by David W. Allen, a longtime effects man for Charles Band.
In the film, an unnamed man is being hunted by a pair of aliens. He is in possession of a laser cannon and has taken on a monstrous appearance. The man is killed by the aliens when they catch up to him in the desert. After killing him, the aliens leave the planet. They also leave behind the laser cannon. After having a really bad day, Billy stumbles upon the cannon in the desert, places it on his arm, and begins to pretend firing it. He also finds an amulet that when worn by the person holding the cannon, he discovers, fires strong laser blasts. From there, Billy slowly begins to transform into a monstrous being like the man at the beginning of the film and he and the laser go on a rampage of revenge against those that have done Billy wrong. The aliens return to Earth to stop Billy and collect the cannon and a federal agent and Billy’s girlfriend also go on the hunt. Can Billy be stopped? Watch Laserblast to find out!
I wasn’t aware of this film until I heard about it on a recent episode of the Pop Ninja Podcast. I decided to give it a shot. It’s not completely terrible but it won’t win any major awards, either. Kim Milford seems to be going through the motions in the film. As he spirals into insanity, his behavior becomes more erratic. He also likes to shake his fists and growl at the sky for some odd reason. As far as the rest of the cast is concerned, they aren’t all that bad. Cheryl Smith does a decent job as Billy’s girlfriend, Kathy. Gianni Russo plays the federal agent, Tony Craig, straight and to the point. Roddy McDowall does just fine as the doctor. The rest of the cast is stacked with amazing characters actors. The film is Eddie Deezen’s screen debut. Most people will know him from films like Grease, Critters 2: The Main Course, and WarGames. Keenan Wynn portrayed Colonel Farley. He was a prolific character actor with over 250 acting credits. Of the rest of the supporting cast, Dennis Burkley is perhaps the most recognizable. He’s appeared in over 135 films and television shows. He primarily appeared as mechanics, bikers, bartenders, dirty cops, and blue collar workers.
The special effects are television movie quality at best. The makeup is okay. The real gem is the stop-motion animation by David W. Allen. The alien creatures look like tortoises without their shells. They move about a bit sluggishly and aren’t the brightest beings in the galaxy, but they look great. The direction by Rae is sufficient. He wouldn’t direct again until 2005, when he would helm two films, Imago and Aliens Gone Wild. Charles Band has produced over 350 films, directed over eighty films, and written over sixty films. Some of the best known projects that he has been a part of include Trancers, Puppet Master, Fists Of Fury, and Mandroid. While he and Rae definitely made the film with a minimal budget, Allen lifted it up to another level.
Is Laserblast worth checking out at least one time? Sure. Some folks will appreciate the stop-motion animation and others will love seeing so many brilliant character actors in the same film. Overall, however, Laserblast is just okay.
Thanks for checking out my post. See you again real soon!
Okay, in my last action figure post I stated that it was my last McFarlane review for awhile. Well, I lied. I completely forgot about the fact that I pre-ordered the McFarlane Toys DC Mulitverse Mister Freeze figure. I debated on whether or not I should hold off on reviewing the figure, but the truth is that this action figure is too “cool” to ignore. McFarlane has made up for their many recent miscues with this frigid figure!
Normally I would start my review with images of the box, but the box I received had a massive shipping sticker across the front of it so I had to nab an image from the web to give you a look at the figure in box. Mister Freeze comes with the standard base and one lone accessory, his freeze gun. Please note that the ice blast coming out of the freeze gun DOES NOT detach! It’s meant to stay in the gun and, if I’m being completely honest, it’s the only drawback of the figure. Mister Freeze also comes with the standard collector card that comes with all of McFarlane’s figures.
The first thing I noticed about this figure is the bulk of it. Mister Freeze is a heavy figure. That’s a great change from some of my recent acquisitions such as the John Stewart Green Lantern and the Endless Winter Black Adam. Mister Freeze is also fairly easy to pose despite having the elongated gun and his freeze tank attached to his back. The pauldrons on his shoulders lift out of the way to give him very good shoulder articulation and if you look closely, you’ll notice that many of his hinge points are hidden, especially in his arms. The rest of his POAs are very good as well.
Of special note is the fact that Mister Freeze‘s cryo-dome is removable. It pops off with relative ease and allows you to pose the figure with or without the dome. With it removed, Mister Freeze‘s head as a decent range of motion. Some positions will not allow the dome to be placed back on but you can basically turn the head left or right and then put the dome back on with little to no trouble. The paint apps are also very well done. They do appear to be heavy in some spots, but they look nice overall.
There is a platinum edition of this figure on the market but it honestly does not look as good as the standard figure. I highly recommend picking up the standard figure and save the money you would have burned on the platinum edition for a better figure.
Thanks for checking out my review. This figure is awesome! He’s literally and figuratively the coolest figure McFarlane has released in a long time. On top of that, he’s one of the rare villains that McFarlane decided to make a figure of instead of releasing another Batman or Superman. You’ve got to get this figure. It’s right up there with the Rebirth Batman as one of my favorite figures.
I had the pleasure of attending CyPhaCon over the weekend as a representative of the Lake Charles Film Festival. The convention ran from Friday evening to late Sunday afternoon. I was unable to attend on Friday due to work but I more than made up for it on Saturday and Sunday. I arrived early on Saturday, found the LCFF fan table on the second floor, and started chatting with a few old friends from CoastCon (more on that particular convention in a bit). Then the doors opened and tons of attendees starting pouring. We had a number of folks stop at the table that were interested in attending upcoming LCFF events and almost all of them took a few stickers as well. I presented my The Droids You Are Looking For panel on Saturday afternoon and am happy to say that it drew the largest crowd that I’ve ever had at CyPhaCon. I received a ton of positive feedback on my panel and for those of you that attended it, I appreciate you!
There were some amazing costumes on display at the event. Yours truly even dressed up as a jungle adventurer from Tarzan. I spent most of the day at the fan table but managed to grab quite a few photographs of cosplayers. I highly recommend checking out CyPhaCon’s Facebook page to see more images of cosplayers from the event. It was refreshing to see so many comic, horror, and Furry cosplayers at the event this year as it tends to lean more towards anime cosplayers (which are cool as well). I stayed for the cosplay contest and was so glad to see Strangecat Cosplay take home Best In Show! I also got to walk around the vendor area where they had tons of anime items for purchase as well as action figures, artwork, handmade goods, and a few more fan groups and guests.
Strangecat Cosplay.
When Sunday rolled around I arrived at CyPhaCon fully caffeinated and ready for more fun. As usual for most conventions, Sunday was a bit slower. Despite this, my Bigfoot On The Big Screen panel featured my largest Sunday crowd ever for CyPhaCon. I visited the gaming area that featured board games, video games, and the weekend long eSports event. I played a few classic games like Galaga and then headed to the vendor area to meet the wonderful Terry Farrell from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the sitcom, Becker. While I didn’t say anything to her, I have to admit that she is still a gorgeous lady! She was so very kind to me and even took one of my stickers (Pinhead from Hellraiser) for her tumbler! After chatting with her for a good amount of time, I ventured back up to the LCFF table and visited with a number of people including the wonderful (and really buff) Knightmage Cosplay. He was “decked” out as Gambit! I picked up a print of Knightmage as Blue Falcon. I also caught up with my friend, Kat, who did a brilliant job of running the cosplay contest. She cosplayed Jupe from Nope.
Knightmage Cosplay.Kat as Jupe!Terry Farrell.
CyPhaCon was excellent this year. I plan on returning again in 2024 and can’t wait to see who and what they have in store for fans. This is event is a solid as it has ever been and I don’t see it slowing down any time soon. If you have never been to this event, I highly recommend attending it. See you next year, CyPha!
Thanks for checking out my post! Next up is the Fouke Monster Festival in Fouke, Arkansas. Be sure to come say hello to me as I’ll be there with Filmsquatch. We’ll be broadcasting live throughout the day and will also be recording interviews with folks at the event. I hope to see you there!
Jack Haley, best known for portraying the Tin Man in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, and Bela Lugosi, the legendary Count Dracula of Dracula (1931), combine their humor and horror in One Body Too Many (1944). The film was directed by Frank McDonald, a director primarily known for his work in westerns and action films. McDonald and Haley would work together on three films for One Body Too Many‘s production company, Pine-Thomas Productions. The company was notorious for making films on a lean budget, but it’s hard to tell in this terrific comedic mystery.
In the film, Jack Haley stars as Albert Tuttle, a somewhat cowardly yet opportunistic insurance salesman who schedules an appointment with Cyrus J. Rutherford, a multi-millionaire who studies and believes in astrology. Rutherford passes away prior to Tuttle’s appointment and his lawyer gathers the Rutherford family and the mansion staff to read Rutherford’s will. The will states that Rutherford’s heirs will receive their portion of his wealth in descending order so long as they all remain at the mansion until a glass vault is built so that Rutherford can eternally look upon the heavens. If he is buried in any other place or his body goes missing, the heirs will receive their fortune in reverse order. Certain members of the family conspire to make sure that Rutherford’s body goes missing or is buried elsewhere so that they will gain a larger portion of the family fortune. Expecting such a thing to occur, Rutherford’s lawyer, Gellman, hires a security guard to watch the body. Tuttle arrives on the scene just minutes after the guard is attacked while on his way to the front door of the mansion. The family believes that Tuttle is the guard. High jinks ensue as Tuttle teams up with Rutherford’s niece, the lovely Carol Dunlap, to prevent his body from being taken away.
Lugosi stars in the film as Merkil, the family butler, and spends the film with Matthews (Blanche Yurka), the family maid. Together they plot against the family in a humorous fashion. Jean Parker plays Carol Dunlap. Fay Helm, Lucien Littlefield, Lyle Talbot, Douglas Fowley, Dorothy Granger, and Maxine Fife co-star as the Rutherford family and Bernard Nedell portrayed Attorney Gellman. All of the players had their humorous moments but Haley stood out from the pack. From pratfalls to wordplay, Haley had me laughing almost the entire time. Lugosi also had some very funny moments but they were on a much more subtle level.
Watching this film has inspired me to seek out the other Pine-Thomas films featuring Jack Haley. Those films are People Are Funny (1946), Take It Big (1944), and Scared Stiff (1945). As a fan of classic Hollywood films, I’m definitely going to do my best to find them. I’ll probably watch other Pine-Thomas films as well.
If you enjoy goofy comedies mixed with a bit of murder and mystery, check out One Body Too Many. It’s a surprisingly well made film that holds up well to this day.
Thanks for checking out my post. I hope to see some of you this weekend at CyPhaCon!
“I may not be smart enough to know everything, but I’m dumb enough to try anything.”
George Perez is, was, and always will be one of my favorite comic book artists. With that in mind, it was a no-brainer to pick up this classic Perez-era Beast Boy figure from McFarlane Toys. While Perez didn’t create the character, that honor belongs to Arnold Drake and Bob Brown, the version that he and Marv Wolfman built for The New Teen Titans is easily the most popular version of the character. This particular figure draws inspiration for its suit and overall look from Perez’ artwork. It is a Walmart Exclusive Gold Label McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse figure and is available now in stores.
Sadly, while the figure itself looks nice, it’s nothing more than a repaint of the recent Jon Kent/Superman figure with a different head sculpt and paint apps and the giant “S” logo removed. I understand that reusing molds saves the company and the consumer money, but if you’re going to do such things, at least pick a mold that fits the character better or add in a few more accessories. It felt like McFarlane just phoned it in with this figure. Again, I do like the overall look of the figure, I just wish that McFarlane would come up with a base mold to be used on figures that are essentially wearing tights instead of using other hero molds.
Note the similarities in these figures. The legs, arms, and torso are the same. The waist, or diaper, is different. The hands are the same but in the Jon Kent photo, he is featured with one of his alternate hands. Also note the flat chest on Beast Boy where the “S” logo would have been applied.
As far as accessories go, Beast Boy comes with the standard figure base and trading card. His lone additional accessory is Beast Boy in eagle form. Yep, Beast Boy‘s accessory is another Beast Boy. You can’t even attach the eagle to the arm of other McFarlane characters like Robin or Cyborg. It’s just a chunk of green plastic. For a Gold Label figure, that’s a big shame. You would expect an exclusive figure to have at the least a second set of hands but, nope, not for Beast Boy.
I do like the articulation on this figure as he’s very poseable despite what my photos show. The right arm on my specific figure is loose, so watch out for that if you do buy this figure. Other than the articulation and the overall look of the figure, there’s not much to like about this Beast Boy and that makes me sad. Maybe McFarlane decided to go cheap with this version of Beast Boy to boost sales for its Titans Build-A-Figure line featuring Arsenal, Nightwing, Donna Troy, and Raven. I actually want to purchase this line of figures if I can find them, but the beefed up Beast Boy isn’t my favorite version of the character. If I do manage to collect all of the figures in the line, I’ll definitely have my Perez Beast Boy on display with them.
Thanks for reading my post. I really am disappointed by this Beast Boy figure. It deserved a much better release. This will be my last McFarlane review for awhile unless I manage to get my hands on the Titans wave or any of the new figures from the upcoming The Flash movie. See you again real soon!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 