If you have ever lived along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico or along the Atlantic coast in the United States of America, you’ve probably lived through a hurricane or two. 2019’s Crawl, starring Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper, gets so many things wrong with hurricanes, alligators, and blood loss, but gets so many other things right that you can ignore its shortcomings.
The film’s plot is pretty simple: Haley (Scodelario) heads to her father’s home in southern Florida to check on him and hopefully convince him to evacuate before a Category Five hurricane slams into the state. She finds him injured and trapped in the crawlspace beneath his home. She attempts to pull him to safety but is cutoff by alligators that have apparently slipped into the crawlspace with them.
As the film continues, Haley and her father, Dave (Pepper), attempt to outwit the gators as the water rises under the house and the crawlspace begins to flood. Looters show up and are dealt with as expected by the gators as are a few other folks intending to help Haley and Dave. Eventually the water forces Haley to take drastic measures in order to save herself and her father.
The film is carried by the performances of Scodelario and Pepper. With lesser actors in the roles, the film would have flopped terribly. The alligators’ behavior is terribly off (I am from Louisiana and know what I am talking about) and things that happen (and don’t happen) as a result of the hurricane (again, Louisiana boy here) are wildly inaccurate, but the acting and direction lift the film above those shortcomings and makes for a really fun flick.
There are a number of genuinely suspenseful moments and a few “gotcha” scares that work to perfection. I found myself cheering on Haley and Dave and couldn’t wait for the next big obstacle to land in front of them throughout the film. The special effects are fairly solid and there’s plenty of action to keep horror and suspense fans interested. It’s a really fun ride and I highly recommend it.
Thanks for reading my post. If you’ve seen Crawl, let me know what you thought about it in the comments section. If you want to know more about the miscues in the film, let me know and I might make another post specifically about the screw ups.
As many of you already know, my home was lost in the destructive path of Hurricane Laura. My family and I will be spending the next six to eight months (possibly more, hopefully less) in a temporary home until our house is repaired and rebuilt. I still plan on going ahead with my Thirty-One Days O’Horror in October, but I probably will not be posting on all thirty-one days.
One special surprise that I was going to hold off on announcing was a review of the book Hollywood Gothic by David J. Skal. However, I decided to go ahead and announce it today since I probably won’t be reviewing another book that I hoped to sink my fangs into, Legendary Comics’ Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I really want to buy this graphic novel, but I probably won’t have the time nor the money to pick it up. Sooner or later I will get a copy and review it, but it probably won’t be for October of this year.
The story will be a more direct interpretation of Bram Stoker’s famous tale than the classic 1931 film featuring Bela Lugosi. It will feature illustrations that include Lugosi in the role that made him, and vampires in general, a worldwide phenomenon. El Garing and Kerry Gamill will breathe new life into the immortal Lugosi as he takes the stage (at least on paper) one more time as the infamous Count Dracula.
As far as the previously announced Disney horror films that I’ve mentioned, I’ll definitely review the films that I haven’t seen, but I might hold off on films that I’ve already reviewed like The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Haunted Mansion. Just know that I’ll do my best to keep Thirty-One Days O’Horror interesting.
I lost some collectible items as a result of the hurricane but I did manage to save all of my film and television Blu ray/DVD collection. If you are able, please donate time, money, or supplies to southwest Louisiana. My family and I will be okay, but many other families will continue to struggle long after the government and volunteer groups have left the area.
“A Coors Banquet for me and a Shirley Temple for the lady”
Originally released in 2018 on YouTube Red, Cobra Kai is a web series that continues the story of two of the primary characters from the classic The Karate Kid franchise. Those two characters are Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). I’m a huge fan of the original film and this series picks up over thirty years after the events of the original film and its sequels, so it was a no-brainer for me to watch this series once it hit Netflix.
Mild Spoilers Ahead!!!
The series opens with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) as a man trapped in the 1980’s, haunted by his failures as a member of the Cobra Kai dojo, and a generally down-on-his-luck person. He loses his job as a handyman and still lives in the shadow of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), who owns a successful line of car dealerships throughout the Los Angeles area.
Somewhat desperate for work, Johnny agrees to reopen the Cobra Kai dojo and takes on his first student, the quiet and somewhat nerdy Miguel (Xolo Mariduena), who is practically a mirror image of Daniel LaRusso from the original film. Eventually more outcasts and nerd-types join Cobra Kai including Aisha (Nichole Brown) and Eli (Jacob Bertrand). Johnny is verbally abusive at first, but he slowly comes to love and appreciate the students. His abrasive form of caring convinces Eli to revamp himself as “Hawk,” a bully with a massive mohawk and all of the other students hold fast to the “No Mercy” mantra of Cobra Kai.
As the series rolls along, Johnny and Daniel reignite their rivalry, with Daniel reviving the Miyagi-Do dojo and unknowingly taking on Johnny’s son, Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan), as his first student. Daniel also has to come to terms with his daughter, Sam (Mary Mouser), being in a relationship with Miguel, who continues to believe in his sensei despite Johnny’s many shortcomings.
While Johnny is battling his own demons, Daniel’s revival of Miyagi-Do dojo doesn’t go over as well as he’d hoped. He struggles to find students and helps build the rivalry between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do despite his good intentions. In both business and personal affairs, Daniel consistently makes bad decisions that cause issues between him and his family and between him and Johnny. In particular, the second season focuses on how Daniel’s desire to best Johnny results in a strained relationship with his wife, Amanda (Courtney Henggeler).
A number of other relationships and rivalries build over the show’s two seasons. Robby and Sam become close and events happen that cause Robby and Miguel to despise one another. Hawk develops a rivalry with his longtime friend, Demetri (Giani Decenzo), who is forced out of Cobra Kai by the returning John Kreese, Johnny’s sadistic sensei from the original films. Tory Nichols (Peyton List) is thrown into the fray in the second season as a foil to Sam.
The series works on three levels in my opinion: 1) The nostalgia is deeply rooted in each episode. From classic 80’s music to fan favorite characters and references, the series is loaded with Easter eggs for those of us who grew up with the original films. 2) It’s a solid teen drama that develops all of the new young characters for the younger demographic but doesn’t sacrifice the adult drama of the classic characters for older fans. 3) It’s a morality tale that shows us that just because Johnny was the “villain” long ago, it doesn’t mean that he can’t change. Also, Daniel isn’t the great white knight that some older fans might remember him to be from the old films.
The cast is solid all around. Zabka really gets to shine as Johnny and Macchio shows his range as Daniel struggling with poor decisions. The younger cast do great jobs, especially Xolo Mariduena and Nichole Brown. Martin Kove slithers right back into his devilish role as Kreese, and does a great job of undermining both Daniel and Johnny. Fans of The Big Bang Theory will recognize Courtney Henggeler as Sheldon’s twin sister, Missy. The rest of the cast do great jobs as well, giving us characters to love, hate, cheer for, or despise altogether.
Flashbacks help catch up any viewers that haven’t seen the original films, but they don’t overshadow the new stories in the series. Old fans will love seeing these moments and new fans will find them useful to understand Daniel and Johnny’s backstory.
This is an excellent series. For myself, nostalgia made me watch the show initially, but the stories and relationships of the series have kept me interested. Season Three is due out sometime next year on Netflix, and I can’t wait to see how Johnny and Daniel come together or grow farther apart in the series. Season Two ended with a bang, with a number of the characters in terrible positions. I’m excited to see how everything is resolved.
Thanks for reading this post. Be sure to check out Cobra Kai. You will not regret it! Also, I’m totally in love with Courtney Henggeler, so if you know her or anybody that does, please get me in touch with them because I want an autographed photo of Courtney!
As some of you may already know, I lost my home as a result of Hurricane Laura. My family and I were forced to pack over ten years worth of our lives in just a few days in order to prep our house for a demolition team. One of the few good things about losing my home was that I got to dig up a bunch of my collectibles that I haven’t really looked at in a long time. The KISS Funko Wacky Wobbler Bobbleheads that I’ve collected were some of the first items that I boxed up and packed away. I have a decent collection of bobbleheads, most of which I’ve opened, but these KISS Wacky Wobblers are three that have never left their boxes.
Released in 2011, I managed to collect three of the four bobbleheads. The Spaceman (Ace Frehley, Tommy Thayer) is the only one that has eluded me over the years. I’ve found plenty of the figures on the web, but the ones in “new” or “like new” condition have all been too expensive for my blood.
The three figures that I do have are all in excellent shape and look pretty good. Although they are sold with images of Ace Frehley and Peter Criss on the boxes, I do think that the actual bobbleheads resemble Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer. I’m not complaining about this at all as I have no issue with any of the members, past or present, represented on KISS items.
Sooner or later I will break down and purchase the Spaceman to finish my collection. Until then, I’ll enjoy the three that I do have in my possession.
Thanks for reading my post. Be prepared for more posts similar to this one as I’ll be revisiting a lot of old collectibles that I’ve uncovered due to the hurricane. Posts will be sporadic, but I will do my best to keep this blog from dying.
My home was lost in Hurricane Laura. Please help out the people in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas if you are able. Spread the word about the destruction left in Laura’s wake. We need help down here.
I still plan on blogging, but it will be sporadic. Please bear with me as I navigate insurance, FEMA, and everything else that is waiting for me.
Fans of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, and pretty much anyone that hasn’t been under a rock for over a year now, know all about the Child (or Baby Yoda, or The Asset, or whatever you might call it). It’s also safe to say that people either really love or really hate the little guy. Buffalo Games created a game based around one of the Child’s most famous moments in the Disney+ series: Frog eating.
The game is very simple to play: Set up the giant cardboard head on its stand, attach the cardboard ears, grab some frogs, and then flip them through the Child’s mouth onto your opponent’s side of the table until there are absolutely no frogs left on your side.
The game comes with six frogs (three orange and three blue) and two flippers that allow you to launch the frogs through the Child’s mouth. The game is fast, simple, and can be played multiple times without becoming a bore. My only complaint about this game is that the cardboard ears, despite being pretty thick, don’t appear to be very strong. I imagine that sooner or later they will be torn to shreds or lost.
In any case, this is a fun game that myself and the kids love to play. If you have children of any age (even fifty years old), I’m sure that they’ll enjoy this game as well.
Thanks for reading this quick post. I hope that you have a great week!
The 3rd Annual Calcasieu Parish Short Film Festival is happening this Saturday at the Brimstone Museum in Sulphur, LA. I’ve attended this festival every year and I really enjoy all of the wonderful short films created by independent artists. Shorts from all over the world are shown at the festival and this year’s batch will be no different.
The festival will begin at 10 AM. A lunch break will be taken from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM. More shorts will be shown after the lunch break culminating with an awards ceremony at 5 PM. At the midpoint of the morning session, Louisiana Entertainment will give a special presentation.
The slideshow above is just a small sample of the many shorts that will be presented at the festival. The Brimstone Museum has taken special precautions to make sure that the event will be safe for all of those in attendance. Masks are required and social distancing must be practiced at all times. This is a FREE event that is open to all ages, but please be aware that these shorts are not rated. The genres covered in this festival range from horror to romance and documentaries will be presented as well. They may contain adult language, sexual content, violence, or terrifying images. Parental guidance is suggested.
A complete list of film selections for the festival can be found at the Calcasieu Parish Short Film Festival website. I will be in attendance all day and would love to meet any and all of my readers that attend as well!
As always, thanks for checking out my post. I’ve got another toy review coming up this weekend and who knows what else I might have up my sleeve???
“You’re not warriors. You’re pigs! You’re all pigs!”
While the work of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg commanded most of my attention as a child, a third person who doesn’t get enough recognition from fandom in my opinion also took up a lot of my time. Ron Howard may not be one of the first names to register with science fiction and fantasy fans, but he has directed or produced a number of very popular genre films including Cocoon, Splash, and Solo: A Star Wars Story. He’s also responsible for directing massive hits like Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and Backdraft.
Howard teamed up with George Lucas in 1988 to give the world Willow. The film starred Warwick Davis (multiple Leprechaun, Star Wars, and Harry Potter films) as Willow Ufgood, a Nelwyn farmer with dreams of becoming a wizard. He’s given the daunting task of protecting Elora Danan from the evil Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh, Upstairs Downstairs, Cleopatra, The Changeling). With the help of a skilled swordsman turned criminal named Mad Martigan (Val Kilmer, Tombstone, The Saint, Batman Forever) and a number of other unlikely heroes, Willow does everything he can to stop the evil Bavmorda from murdering young Elora.
As far as fantasy films go, Willow is a very straightforward tale. With winks and nods to everything from the Bible and Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings and Gulliver’s Travels, the story by George Lucas (screenplay by Bob Dolman) doesn’t stray very far from the basic formula of a fantasy. Willow is an unlikely hero given an impossible task with all of the odds stacked against him. He gathers a ragtag bunch of heroes and rebels to help him defeat the evil queen and her army of black armored warriors who are led by the monstrous General Kael (Pat Roach). He faces off against trolls, a two-headed dragon, and a master sorceress. A forbidden love story is even thrown into the mix whenever the queen’s daughter, Sorsha (Joanne Whalley), falls for Mad Martigan and joins Willow’s forces against the Nockmaar army. It’s fantasy by the numbers, but it works very well.
The film features some fairly decent special effects for 1988, although earlier films from the decade like Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi, which featured the same effects company (Industrial Light & Magic), looked much better. That being said, the digital morphing effects used in Willow are directly responsible for massive advancements in CGI.
James Horner’s score is pretty good, but this isn’t his best work in my opinion. For someone who has composed music for films such as Titanic and The Rocketeer, this film’s score was lackluster. Horner was known for borrowing and/or tweaking the work of other composers in many of his films, and it’s extremely evident in Willow.
The film featured a number of actors that genre fans recognize. Davis has had an outstanding career in science fiction, horror, and fantasy. He’s one of the most easily recognizable faces in fandom. Val Kilmer was riding a building wave of success when he portrayed Mad Martigan. He would go on to become a massive star in his own right. Patricia Hayes (Fin Raziel) appeared in many fantasy films including The Neverending Story and The Terrornauts. Joanne Whalley was recently a part of the Netflix/Marvel series Daredevil. The legendary Billy Barty had a small role as The High Aldwin, the village wizard, and had plenty of other genre roles in films like Legend and Masters of the Universe. Tony Cox, Malcolm Dixon, Phil Fondacaro, Mark Northover, and David J. Steinberg, all Nelwyns in the film, have portrayed multiple memorable characters in fantasy and science fiction films. Of special note is Pat Roach as General Kael. Known for portraying multiple characters in the same films, Roach is probably best known for his role as the ill-fated Nazi mechanic that Indiana Jones battles in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He also portrayed a Sherpa in that film and had the rare opportunity to die twice in the same movie.
In the toy world, the film’s accompanying toyline is considered to be one of the worst in film history. Made by Tonka, the line featured stationary figurines of many of the film’s key players. The figures were trapped in an eternal pose and in actuality looked more like mini statues or game pieces than action figures. That being said, I owned a few of them as a child. I remember having Willow, one of the rebel soldiers, and General Kael. In all honesty, the Kael figure looked awesome. I loved his skull mask and his black armor. He looked like Skeletor on steroids!
Was Willow a great film? Nah, but it was a surprisingly fun formulaic movie. It triggered my imagination and has managed to hold my attention every time that I watch it. It doesn’t get as much recognition as a lot of other fantasy genre films, but I wouldn’t say that it deserves it, either. There’s talk of a new film and/or a television series coming in the near future and I’ll probably watch it for nostalgia’s sake, but the original film will always be my favorite.
Thanks for reading. If there are any films, books, TV shows, music, or other things that you’d like to see featured in Throwback Thursday, let me know in the comments!
Halloween will be here before we know it, so with that in mind I decided to give my readers a sneak peek at what’s to come in October’s month long celebration, Thirty-One Days O’Horror! Last year I focused on thirty-two Universal Monsters classic films (I threw in the Spanish version of Dracula for kicks). This year will look a little bit different. I’ve decided to post on every single day like I did last year, but not all of the posts will be about films.
Instead, I’ll be posting a minimum of two movie reviews per week and the rest of the reviews will cover everything from music to books to collectibles! Like last year, I’ll be focusing on one specific company’s horror releases. Since 2020 is doing a pretty good job of scaring the crap out of people on its own, I decided to lighten things up a bit this year….but just a little bit!
This year’s films will all be Disney releases. I’ll cover the mainstream hits like Hocus Pocus and The Nightmare Before Christmas, but I’ll also toss in a few Disney channel movies and some classic gems that don’t get the attention that their more popular counterparts receive.
There are a few films that I’ve never watched before like Mr. Boogedy that I’ll be reviewing, but I’ll also cover a few personal favorites like The Haunted Mansion and Halloweentown. For some of the films like The Haunted Mansion and The Nightmare Before Christmas, which I’ve already reviewed in previous posts, I’ll be taking a look at different aspects of the film instead of reviewing it in general.
I’ll also be digging into a film that I haven’t seen since 1980, Disney’s oft-forgotten and hidden from tender eyes classic, The Watcher In The Woods. I’ve always been mesmerized by the look of this film and have only recently manged to snag a copy of the film!
I haven’t finalized my list yet, but rest assured that I’ll have all of my ghouls in a row before October 1st! If you have any Disney film suggestions, let me know and I’ll see if I can review them!
I’ll have plenty of other posts dropping before October, so if Halloween isn’t your thing, there will be plenty of other content for you to check out. As always, thanks for reading. See all of you boys and ghouls very soon!
“I became He-man, the most powerful man in the universe!”
Available exclusively through Matty Collector prior to 2020, Masters of the Universe Eternia Minis by Mattel are hitting brick-and-mortar store shelves now! I recently saw one of the cool Castle Grayskull display boxes at a local WalMart and had to snag a few of these awesome little figures.
Each figure comes in their own mini Castle Grayskull case that features two pegs on the top to display your minis. I nabbed He-Man, Skeletor, and Man-At-Arms. These little guys are so fun to look at that I’ll probably get the entire set!
Each figure is a stylized miniature version of our Eternia heroes and villains that we all know and love so well. The figures come with one accessory and feature three points of articulaton (head and both arms). There’s a peg hole on both feet that allows you to display your figures on top of the mini Grayskulls as well.
The Skeletor figure is my favorite so far, but I really like the look of all of the figures.
Based on a little online research, this is only the first set of figures to be released this year. Apparently more figures will be released later this year and will be packaged in a Snake Mountain case! I can’t wait for those figures to be released!
Now, I know what you’re probably thinking about those Grayskull (and eventually Snake Mountain) clamshell cases. These figures are going to be in blind boxes. Well, you are correct, but a quick trip over to he-man.org (and a tip from a good friend) reveals that there’s a very simple method to all of this madness. Simply look on the bottom of the Grayskull clamshell and you’ll see a number followed by a single letter, A through H. Each letter represents which figure is inside of the case. Here’s a breakdown of the current list. Once I get the Snake Mountain list, I’ll list it in another post.
A = He-Man B = Skeletor C = Man-At-Arms D – Trap Jaw E – Ram Man F – Jitsu G – Buzz-Off H – Horde Zombie He-Man (original post from he-man.org lists this figure as Slime Pit He-Man)
In the image above, you’ll notice that Stinkor and Faker are pictured. I’m assuming that they will be in the second wave of figures released this year. According to a number of sources including the recent Power-Con 2020 event, future waves will feature Slime Pit and Anti-Eternia figures. Vehicles and multi-packs are also coming soon.
Along with the continuing Mega Construx line (which I love) and the newest wave of throwback action figures with modern design and articulation, it’s a great time to be a Masters of the Universe fan!
Let me know in the comments if you are picking up any of these figures or playsets. Do you have a favorite figure? Are you a collector of the classic figures? Let me know!
As always, thanks for reading my post. See you all again real soon!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 