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Throwback Thursday: Lon Chaney, Jr.

“When The Wolfbane Blooms…”

Today’s throwback is special. Why? Because today we celebrate one of my favorite actors of all time: Lon Chaney, Jr. Yes, I could have blogged about him in one of my Focus On features, but I decided that he needed to be highlighted today because on this day, July 12th, in 1973, Chaney passed away at the age of sixty-seven.

Pretty much everyone knows or at least recognizes Chaney from his iconic role as Larry Talbot/the Wolf Man in the 1941 Universal horror classic The Wolf Man. Some of his more hardcore fans know that outside of the Wolf Man flicks that he starred in, he also portrayed other legendary Universal monsters in later films. He portrayed Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the Mummy in addition to his work as the Wolf Man. He’s also the only actor in Universal’s horror films to portray his signature monster in all of the sequels that followed the original film during the 1940’s.

Lon Chaney, Jr. spent the bulk of his career in horror films ranging from movies in the Inner Sanctum series to later films such as The Devil’s Messengers. In between these films, in which he usually had a starring role, he took on numerous supporting roles in films from different genres, especially Westerns.

Chaney steadily worked in film and television until his health began to severely deteriorate in 1971. His final film roles were in a Western, The Female Bunch (1971), and the ill-received horror film entitled Dracula Vs. Frankenstein (filmed in 1969 with additional footage added in 1970, released in 1971).

Lon Chaney, Jr. is one of those rare Hollywood talents that had a career that equals or surpasses their parent’s popularity. Lon Chaney, Sr. was definitely no slouch in the business, as he was known for his starring roles in The Phantom of the Opera ((1925), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), and Oliver Twist (1922). More importantly, he became known for his work as a makeup artist. At the time that he worked in film, studios didn’t have a makeup department and relied on the actors to do much of their own makeup. For his roles and his skill with makeup, Chaney, Sr. was dubbed The Man of a Thousand Faces. Sadly, many of the films that Lon Chaney, Sr. performed in have been lost to time. Some incomplete footage exists of a few of his films and only a few have been saved in their entirety.

Lon Chaney, Sr. in The Phantom of the Opera.

Lon Chaney, Sr.

I’ve always loved classic horror films and I fully blame Lon Chaney, Jr. for this love. His portrayal of the Wolf Man and Larry Talbot made me sympathetic for the “villain” in a film for the first time. Chaney’s performance convinced me to spend more time seeking out and watching classic movies not only in the horror genre, but other genres as well. Because of this, I’ve become a fan of classic serial cliffhangers and films such as It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) and The Quiet Man (1952). He showed me that just because a film is shot in black and white or older than I am, it can still be a great film.

My love of film and television expanded beyond what was produced and released during my lifetime thanks to Lon Chaney, Jr. I’ve shared my love of his work and of other classic actors with my family and I’m slowly convincing them to watch films and shows released decades (and even a century) before they were born. My hope is that by exposing my kids to these classic works, they will continue to live on long after I am gone.

Thanks for reading my post. Thanks to Lon Chaney, Jr. for inspiring me to seek out the classics and legendary films of the past. I hope that you have a certain actor or actress that inspired you to seek out different types of films as well. If so, let me know about them in the comments section.

I’ll be having another Outpost article in the very near future and hopefully a review or two in the next few days. Also, I’ll be attending the Calcasieu Serialfest on July 21st, so look for my follow up post on that in a couple of weeks!

Tunes: Vixen Is Back!

The late 1980’s

Vixen first rose to fame in the late 80’s with their self-titled debut album that featured the hits Edge of a Broken Heart and Cryin. They followed up that album with Rev It Up. Despite a solid track list that included How Much Love and Love is a Killer, the album failed to meet expectations for the band’s label at the time and Vixen was soon dropped.

As was the case with most glam and hair bands of the time, Vixen attempted to change their sound with their third album, Tangerine. With a sound leaning towards grunge, the album failed to make a mark. Also, neither bassist Share Pedersen nor guitarist Jan Kuehnemund played on the album. More ups and downs would follow, including a legal battle for the band’s name and another ill-received album, Live & Learn, which had no participation from drummer Roxy Petrucci, vocalist Janet Gardner, or Pedersen.

In 2012, things started to look promising as Kuehnemund, Pedersen, Petrucci, and Gardner started gearing up for a reunion tour. Sadly, Kuehnemund would fight and lose a battle with cancer, ending any chance for a reunion of the classic lineup. Gine Stile, who played guitar on Tangerine, was brought in to fill the void left by Jan and the band started regularly touring once again. As a fan of the band, it was great to see them back together and on tour again, but I wanted more. I wanted a new album.

In March of 2017, it was announced that Stile was no longer a part of the band. She was replaced by Jaded guitarist, Britt Lightning and the band continued successfully touring. It was during this time that the group made a live recording of their performance at the Arcada Theater opening for Slaughter. That recording became their most recent album, Live Fire.

Released on July 6, fans of the band were given the opportunity to pre-order the album on CD, as a digital download, on vinyl, or even cassette. There were multiple options to purchase the album including an autographed CD pack (the one that I purchased) featuring an autographed CD sleeve, stickers, a pick, and a limited release print. Other options included t-shirts, larger prints, and even a thank you call from Janet Gardner.

The album features songs primarily culled from the group’s two most successful albums, but it also includes the previously unreleased Big Brother, and a cover of I Don’t Need No Doctor with Share Ross (formerly Pedersen) taking on the vocals for the song. It was originally recorded by Nick Ashford in 1966, but has been covered by numerous artists including Ray Charles, Humble Pie, and Joan Osborne.

The album also features a new studio recording of You Ought To Know By Now and a slow acoustic version of Edge of a Broken Heart. You Ought To Know By Now, if memory serves me correctly, was never released on a studio album but was a track that the band would play at live shows. The acoustic take on Edge sounds wonderful. It’s stripped down and played at a slower pace and despite the slower groove, the song is still just as singable as the original.

The album’s sound quality is a little sketchy at the beginning in my opinion, but before the opening track, Rev It Up, really gets rolling, the sound greatly improves and is excellent for the rest of the disc. Since this is essentially a greatest hits album recorded live, you already know just how great these tunes are and there’s really no need to go into a deep discussion about them. Still, there are a couple of things that I can talk about before ending this post.

For starters, the band sounds great. The harmonies are tight and Janet’s voice sounds as strong as ever despite recently having surgery. Roxy and Share provide excellent rhythm and a heavy bottom end that punches along with each song. Britt Lightning tackles the lead guitar with a gritty touch that fits in perfectly with Vixen’s sound. Also, be sure to listen for a little Purple Haze thrown into one of the band’s tunes by Britt.

The autographed slipcover, pick, stickers, and print were a nice touch. The band is also having a drawing to give out classic goodies from the band’s history (autographed photos, vinyl, posters, CDs from the band’s solo efforts, etc.) for all of those that pre-ordered Live Fire.

The band is currently on tour and there are rumors floating around that they might head back to the studio to record a new album. I truly hope that they release some new music and tour in support of it. I also hope that they come to Louisiana or southeast Texas. I’ve never seen Vixen live, but would love to see them in concert. I would definitely take advantage of any Meet and Greet package that they offer, as I’ve always wanted to meet the band.

I’m excited to see that Vixen is back and stronger than ever. Live Fire does a great job of catching their spirit on stage, and it feels like 1990 again in my forty-plus year old mind. If you love Vixen (and ya know you do), pick up Live Fire. Relive a few old memories that you made while listening to the songs that Janet, Roxy, Share, and Britt are belting out for you on the disc and make plans to attend a live show if they come to your town. Support your favorite acts no matter how long it has been since they released any content. Show them some love on social media as well.

Finally, I want to say that the loss of Jan was pretty big to me. I was so excited when the group announced that they were getting back together and immediately crushed when I heard that she was diagnosed with cancer. She is missed by myself and other Vixen fans across the world.

Thanks for reading this post. Technically it’s a review of Vixen’s new album, but it’s really just a love letter to a band that I’ve enjoyed listening to for many years. I plan on doing a few more album reviews in the near future, including a look at The Amorettes’ latest effort, Born To Break.

Keep rockin’, ya big nerds!

Outpost: Austin, TX

Weird City

Keep Austin Weird. It’s a sentiment shared by plenty of people across the city of Austin and pretty much all over the state of Texas. Austin is definitely something of a strange bird when compared to the rest of the state that it calls home, but it somehow manages to be something to just about anyone that passes through it.

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I recently visited the capitol city of Texas with my family for the first time. I have relatives that live there now and decided that it was time for a visit. I also wanted to see what was so wonderfully bizarre about ATX. I wasn’t disappointed at all. This post will feature a brief glimpse at our time in Austin. I hope that you enjoy it.

Our journey began where every journey across Texas should begin: Buc-ee’s Travel Center. Buc-ee’s is as Texas as Whataburger and cowboys. It’s a staple of the Lone Star State and if you ever get the chance to visit one of these extraordinary travel centers, I highly recommend it. The larger centers are found along most major highway systems throughout the state and smaller, more standard convenience store versions of the chain can be found in many neighborhoods in Texas. The travel centers offer everything from Texas and Buc-ee’s souvenirs to brisket, sausage, and other great tasting goodies. They also have their own line of sweets which can be found in both the large and small versions of the stores. My wife’s favorite treat are the Buc-ee’s Beaver Nuggets, which are sweet puffed corn treats. I love the t-shirts and the restrooms. The shirts change on a regular basis and have become collectors’ items for fans of the chain. The restrooms are insanely clean and the stalls are walled around so that no one can see in or out while you’re taking care of business. Learn more about Buc-ee’s here.

After meeting up with our relatives in Austin, they took us on a whirlwind tour of the city and then stopped on Congress Avenue to let us check out a wonderful stretch of shops that included Big Top Candy Shop and Lucy In Disguise With Diamonds. Big Top featured all sorts of wonderful candies and sweets including many old fashioned candies that are harder to find in brick and mortar stores. They had an enormous selection of more modern candy as well and all of it was under the guise of a traditional tent circus. Oddities were hanging on the wall as were classic circus posters.

Lucy In Disguise With Diamonds is every cosplayer’s dream. It featured all sorts of accessories and pieces for creating your own costume as well as costumes that were ready to rent or own. Photography was restricted in the shop since it’s pretty obvious that with all of the cool items that they stock, people will naturally want to try things on and post selfies without actually buying things. The store had everything from high end creations to simple costumes that can be purchased in stores like Party City for Halloween. If you’re a cosplayer, definitely check out this place.

Our second day in Austin featured a visit to the State Capitol, the Texas Capitol Visitor’s Center, Barton Creek Greenbelt, Zilker Botanical Garden, Amy’s Ice Creams, and the Congress Bridge Bats. We journeyed to the gorgeous state capitol grounds first and checked out the many statues and monuments that highlighted both local and state events, individuals, and the multiple cultures that have impacted the city and state. One of my favorite monuments was the one for African American history in Texas. The large monument was simply beautiful.

We then took a guided tour (absolutely free) of the capitol and also visited the Texas Capitol Vistor’s Center that featured exhibits highlighting everything Austin and Texas. There were exhibits for the capitol and the history of Texas, as well as exhibits highlighting truly unique aspects of the state such as Blue Bell Ice Cream and Whataburger. My favorite part of this visit was getting to see the painting Dawn At The Alamo by Irish painter Henry Arthur McArdle. It is located in the Senate Chamber.

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After our trip to the capitol, we had lunch at In-N-Out Burger because we wanted to see what all the hullabaloo was about. As far as hamburgers go, it was pretty good. We then journeyed to the Barton Creek Greenbelt for a quick hike smack in the middle of Austin. We were surrounded by rocks, trees, and even a few rock climbers. After our brief hike (which was a wonder to find in the middle of a bustling city), we went to Amy’s Ice Creams, a trippy little ice cream joint that featured all sorts of wonderful flavors. Be sure to check out their link above to see the wild and delicious flavors that they offer. On our trip, Amy’s had a dinosaur theme going in honor of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Flavors included Godzilla, Rex, and Blue (for the beloved velociraptor) and others. I took on the Dino, which featured Mexican vanilla ice cream, rainbow sprinkles, and Fruity Pebbles. It was tasty!

After visiting the Greenbelt and filling up on ice cream, we headed to Zilker Botanical Garden to look at some beautifully unique gardens. The Hartman Prehistoric Garden and the Isamu Taniguchi Oriental Garden were two of our favorites, as were the Pioneer Settlement and the Woodland Fairie Exhibit (a limited time exhibit). The Prehistoric garden included a replica of the Zilker Turtle fossil found at the site (the real fossil is at the Texas Memorial Museum). It also features a statue of an Ornithomimus, a dinosaur whose tracks were found in the garden.

That evening we staked out a spot under the Congress Avenue Bridge to see the Congress Bridge Bats take flight. Be sure to check their website above if you plan on making a trek to Austin to see the bats, as they only make their trek throughout certain months of the year. It really is an awesome sight to see whenever they take to the night sky. I also recommend visiting the Nightwing monument located just down from the bridge near Barton Springs Road. It was created by Dale Whistler and quietly spins in the night as the wind blows.

Our last day in the city included a visit to the Texas Memorial Museum located on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. We spent a few hours learning about the geological and biological history (and prehistory) of the state of Texas. Exhibits were found in the Hall of Geology and Paleontology, the Hall of Texas Wildlife, the Hall of Biodiversity, and the Great Hall, which features the suspended reconstruction of a skeleton of Quetzalcoatlus northropi, a massive pterosaur found in Big Bend National Park. There was also an exhibit dedicated to the ancient Buzz Saw Sharks (Whorl Tooth Sharks) found in Texas, Idaho, and other U.S. states, as well as Mexico and even Australia! This is a moving exhibit that will only be at the museum until September of this year. Visiting this museum was a blast! I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. Be sure to check it out if you can!

After leaving the museum, we had one last visit with our relatives that included a walk along the Colorado River on the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail. We paid our respects to Stevie Ray Vaughan along the trail by visiting his statue. We then headed back to Louisiana. Our journey home included more stops at Buc-ee’s and a couple of detours at shops in Bastrop, TX.

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I highly recommend visiting the city of Austin, TX. It is beautiful, the people are friendly, and there’s so much more to the city that I need to explore. I haven’t even visited any of the live music locations yet, and there are plenty of other places in and around the city that I want to experience. Check out the Travel Texas and Austin Travel websites for more information and maybe we’ll run into each other next time I visit!

As always, thanks for reading my posts. I really appreciate each and every one of you for reading, liking, and sharing my content.

Throwback Thursday: 3-2-1 Contact!

The Early 1980’s

I’m old. I’m getting older. But one of the things that keeps me young is revisiting things that I loved as a child. PBS provided me with a lot of excellent programs that I fondly remember and I often look for episodes of these shows not only to reminisce, but to share with my children as well. PBS gave me Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Square One TV. It also introduced me to 3-2-1 Contact, a show that ignited my interest in science and made me confident enough to not only ask why something happened, but to attempt to make it happen with experiments.

3-2-1 Contact made me feel older and more intelligent than I really was at the time. It made talking to adults (especially teachers) easier because I would often learn things on the show that I had not yet learned in class. I loved watching as characters like Lisa (Liz Moses), Kathy (Kelly Pino), Marc (Leon Grant), Miguel (Frank Gomez), and Trini (Ginny Ortiz) would go on adventures to learn about everything from animals to space and architecture to sound waves. They were all just a few years older than me, but they were doing cool and wonderful things that I could only dream of doing.

I also enjoyed watching the adventures of The Bloodhound Gang, a group of teens working for Mr. Bloodhound’s detective agency who used science to solve mysteries. Vikki (Nan-Lynn Nelson) and Ricardo (Marcelino Sanchez) were the mainstays of the show with three junior detectives that assisted them named Zach (Kelly Pease), Cuff (Glenn Scarpelli), and Skip (Seth Greenspan). Their adventures would often last more than an episode, so you had to regularly watch 3-2-1 Contact to keep up with their stories. I always hated whenever my local PBS station would play episodes out of order and the Bloodhound mystery would be spoiled too soon.

There’s an interesting and fun four part interview with the surviving cast members of The Bloodhound Gang from a few years ago that I highly recommend reading. Check it out on Noblemania’s website. Part one can be found here and simply follow the links to the other parts of the interview. I especially love the part of the interview where the cast talks about Sanchez, who passed away in 1986 due to AIDS-related cancer.

The series ran for the length of my childhood. I was born in the mid 70’s, and 3-2-1 Contact began airing in 1980 and lasted until 1988. The first season ran during 1980 and featured Lisa, Marc, and Trini. It was rerun until the second season began airing in late 1983. Lisa, Marc, and Trini were replaced by Kathy, Miguel, Paco (Benjamin Carlo), and Robin (Judy Leak). More cast members came (and others left) in the next few seasons.

Even though I was still a young kid at the time. I developed three notable but purely innocent crushes on Kathy, Trini, and Lisa. They were lovely, loved science, and were entirely too cool for a squirt like me.

I know that I’m not the only person who was impacted by this series as a youth. Just after a brief internet search, I’ve uncovered fan groups on social media and a ton of episodes and snippets from episodes on YouTube. If you grew up in the 80’s like I did, I’m sure you watched this show as well. If you did, let me know what you thought about it in the comments. If you know any of the cast members or know a way to get in touch with them, I’d love the opportunity to speak with them and possibly get a quick interview.

As always, thank you for taking time to read my post. If there’s anything that you’d like to see covered in Throwback Thursday, let me know.

Absolutely Bonkers!

Feudal Japan

I received a copy of Batman Ninja for my birthday. I didn’t know what to expect from the film, I just knew that the animation was visually amazing in the trailer. This isn’t the first time that Batman was given the anime treatment (That would be the short story collection, Batman: Gotham Knight, 2008), but it is definitely the first one on such a big scale.

SPOILER FREE REVIEW AHEAD!

The story is fairly simple: Gorilla Grodd attempts to set off his Quake Engine in Arkham Asylum in an attempt to transport all of Gotham’s greatest villains to a faraway time so that he can take control of the city. As usual, Batman shows up just in time to disrupt Grodd’s plans and he, Gorilla Grodd, Poison Ivy, Penguin, Two-Face, Deathstroke, Bane, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, the Joker, Red Hood, Red Robin, Nightwing, Robin, and Alfred all get transported back to Feudal Japan.

When Batman arrives on the scene, he’s two years later than everyone else. Luckily for him, his Batmobile and some of his other tech made the trip as well and have been taken care of by Catwoman and Alfred.

Batman learns that a power struggle has divided up Gotham’s villains. Each one has created their own feudal state and have been battling each other for control ever since they arrived. At the moment, Joker is the top dog, but there is another villain waiting for his chance to strike.

Batman teams up with his old allies and a Bat clan that has been waiting for him to arrive as part of a prophecy to bring peace to their land. Numerous over-the-top battles ensue, each highlighted by brilliant animation and insane action sequences. The fights include everything from Power Ranger styled robots that combine to form a larger robot to traditional sword fighting and even a few bats and monkeys.

The entire thing is bonkers. It shouldn’t and doesn’t make sense. With that said, it’s still pretty entertaining, especially if you love brightly colored animation. I’m pretty sure that fans of more traditional Batman stories have a high chance of disliking this movie. Fans of the Joker will take the absurdity of it all in stride. Personally I found it to be okay after my first viewing, but with each additional viewing I became a bigger fan of the story. My son loved it. It definitely had a few problems I’ll mention in a bit, but it definitely grew on me with time. I’ll leave it up to you to make your own decision about this film.

Pros:

Animation – I can’t say enough about how wonderful the animation is in Batman Ninja. It’s vibrant, beautiful, and expertly drawn. The characters are also excellently styled, especially Batman in his final battle costume and Catwoman in her gear.

The Joker – He’s insane. We all know that. Batman Ninja cranks up the insanity with a ton of weapons including the Joker’s traditional acid squirting flower to fanned blades and gigantic robots controlled by the mind of the Clown Prince of Crime. Coupled with Harley Quinn, the Joker is in top form in this film.

Music – Yugo Kanno’s music shifted from traditional Japanese sounds to high energy guitar-driven music similar to that of the Power Rangers during the battle sequences. The music aided in the digestion of the insanity unfolding on the screen.

Cons:

Character development – Batman acted out of character multiple times during the film. Sure, it’s a fish out of water story, but Batman acts nearly helpless whenever he loses most of his technology. Robin is entirely out of character. While he’s apparently styled after young and excitable anime characters such as Naruto, any Batman fan with the slightest bit of knowledge about Damian Wayne’s Robin knows that he’s serious almost all of the time. In this film, he’s nothing like the established DC character we know and love.

Absurdity – I only include this one for fans of Batman who might not have a taste for some of the more insane antics that go down in this movie. Each battle sequence seems to be trying to outdo the previous one and they succeed in spades, becoming harder and harder to wrap my brain around.

Lack of Rhythm – The story seemed to do a lot of shifting and struggled to find a good rhythm until it was almost over.

Ultimately I believe that this film will divide the audience just as much or more than Justice League and Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. It’s an extremely unique tale in the world of Batman that is definitely worth a look. As I said earlier, the more that I watched this film, the more I enjoyed it. Give it a chance and you might become a fan as well.

English Dubbing: Roger Craig Smith as Batman, Tony Hale as Joker, Grey Griffin as Catwoman, Tara Strong as Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy, Fred Tatasciore as Gorilla Grodd/Deathstroke, Adam Croasdell as Nightwing, Yuri Lowenthal as Robin/Red Hood, Tom Kenny as Penguin, Will Friedle as Red Robin, and Matthew Yang King as Eian.

As always, thanks for reading. If you’re a fan of the Joker, I highly recommend this film. It’s crazy, unhinged, and just as insane as the Clown Prince of Crime.

Throwback Thursday: The Last Starfighter

Greetings, Starfighter…..

Way back in July of 1984, a science fiction yarn loaded with a newfangled form of special effects known as CGI (computer generated imagery) was released. That film, The Last Starfighter, nearly doubled its production cost of around $15 million dollars in ticket sales, but to this day it gets very little respect from the film going community and genre fans in general.

The film stars Lance Guest as Alex Rogan. He represented a large demographic of teens in the mid-1980’s. He was full of big dreams and also loved playing video games. In particular, he was a fan of Starfighter, a game at the trailer park where he, his mom, and brother were live. He plays it to escape the norms of life such as not getting a scholarship to go to college, and soon gets the highest score on the game.

Not long after defeating the game, Alex is approached by Centauri (Robert Preston), who offers him a prize for winning the game. He doesn’t get a prize, though. Instead, he’s taken to the real world that the game is based on and is asked to become the gunner in one of the Gunstar ships from the game in order to defend Rylos and the Star League against the evil Ko-Dan Empire.

Alex refuses at first and asks to return home. Centauri does as he wishes, but the Ko-Dan Empire attacks Rylos, wiping out all of the fighters except for one. They also send an assassin to kill Alex, the last surviving gunner, back on Earth. Luckily for Alex, an android copy of him named Beta was left on Earth to cover for his absence while fighting the Ko-Dan armada. When he meets Beta, they are attacked by the assassin and Alex escapes to take the fight back to the stars in order to hopefully save the Star League.

Alex teams up with Grig (Dan O’Herlihy), a pilot who happened to be working on a new Gunstar prototype when the attack on Rylos occurred. They team up and single-handedly face off against the Ko-Dan armada. How does it end? You need to watch the film in order to find out.

The Last Starfighter has always had a special place in my heart. It’s one of those films that allows the viewer to live out a fantasy through the eyes of characters such as Alex. Who hasn’t longed to go to space to fight aliens and save the galaxy? It’s a classic hero’s tale set in a science fiction atmosphere.

For its time, the special effects were cutting edge. Two years earlier, Tron used CGI and was received much better by general audiences than The Last Starfighter. Perhaps it was because Disney was backing that film, but I’ve always preferred The Last Starfighter. It has gained a cult following over the years and there have been numerous rumors and hints at a possible sequel or reboot. I’d love to see Lance Guest and Catherine Mary Stewart (who played Maggie, Alex’s girlfriend) reprise their roles in a new film. It would be interesting to see how the movie would play out and who would be the next enemy.

Speaking of enemies, Norman Snow portrayed the primary villain in the film, Xur. He was a traitor to the Rylans and planned to take over them with the help of the Ko-Dan Empire. I won’t spoil what happens to him in the film, but know that he could definitely pop up again in a sequel.

The Last Starfighter is far from perfect, but for a kid like myself growing up in the 80’s, it was just one more in a long line of great films (in our little minds) featuring a hero that we all longed to become someday. Be sure to check out this film if you’ve never seen it, and thanks for reading this post.

“It’s Risky, But It’s Worth A Try”

In that galaxy far, far away…

Apparently Solo: A Star Wars Story is a major flop for Disney. From what I’ve read, the film needs to make around $500 million just to break even and as of this writing, it’s crawling just beyond $350 million and things aren’t looking too good for the film.

The thing that drives me crazy about all of this is why is the film doing so bad? Is it Star Wars fanboys still upset with The Last Jedi that are refusing to see the film? Has burnout finally begun on the franchise? Have reviews been too negative? I’m not sure, but I do know that anyone who isn’t seeing this film, no matter their reason, is missing out on a fun adventure. My spoiler-free review of the flick is below.

Alden Ehrenreich steps into the massive shoes of Harrison Ford as he portrays Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Joonas Suotamo steps into the physically larger and almost as massive shoes (at least in the Star Wars galaxy) of Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, Han’s beloved sidekick. Although to be fair, Suotamo has portrayed Chewie in The Last Jedi and all of the more active parts of The Force Awakens, so he’s a little more comfortable in his role.

The film follows Han from his youth as an orphan where he and his first love, Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), are working for a crime boss named Lady Proxima (voiced by the amazing Linda Hunt) on Corellia to his unhappy time with the Empire as an ousted pilot sent to the mud planet of Mimban where he meets Tobias Beckett and his gang of thieves. Han also meets and befriends Chewbacca on Mimban, but I’ll let you find out just how they meet by watching the film yourself.

Han joins up with Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and his team that consists of Beckett’s wife, Val (Thandie Newton) and Rio Durant (voiced by Jon Favreau). His plan is to use his cut from their upcoming job to buy a ship so that he can return to Corellia and free Qi’ra from Lady Proxima. As is always the case for Han, the deal goes south and the crew finds themselves at the mercy of one of the cruelest crime bosses in the galaxy, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany).

After a lot of convincing, Vos agrees to allow Beckett and Han one more chance to recover their losses. His only request is that his most trusted lieutenant, who happens to be Qi’ra, tags along to ensure the success of the mission. In need of a ship, Qi’ra suggests visiting a smuggler who happens to have the fastest ship in the galaxy. That smuggler, of course, is Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover). His ship happens to be the Millennium Falcon. We also get to meet L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Lando’s co-pilot and trusted friend.

As the story moves along and Han and his fellow criminals attempt to pull off one last job, we get to see many of the things that Han talked about in the original trilogy come to fruition. We see the legendary Kessel Run. We see how relationships are built between certain characters and learn how Han establishes that a having good blaster and shooting first are two of the most important lessons to learn in the galaxy. There are also a couple of surprises in the film including a huge cameo near the end.

Solo isn’t a perfect film. Then again, none of the Star Wars films are perfect (not even The Empire Strikes Back, but it’s pretty close). I’ve read other reviews of the film that stated that it played it safe as far as the story goes. I’ve also seen where some critics claim that the film adds nothing new to the Star Wars franchise. In all honesty, I agree with both of these assertions. Despite this, it’s still fun to see a lot of Han’s background unfold on the screen.

One thing that the film definitely does is re-inject some humor into the franchise. Star Wars had quite a few lighthearted moments in the original trilogy, many of which were provided by Han and Chewie. Beginning with the prequels, Star Wars seemed to be taking a heavier and gloomier tone. The Force Awakens brought back a little of this humor, but the films that followed, Rogue One and The Last Jedi, turned back to the dark side of the franchise.

Solo was FUN. I found myself smiling throughout much of the film and laughing out loud at quite a few moments. It’s a really cool adventure and I’m glad to see that the franchise might be lightening up a little bit.

The film also features some great chase and battle sequences and a pulse-pounding train robbery (okay, it’s probably technically called a space train) that reminded me of similar sequences from the original films and even in the prequels. The fact that the effects were nearly flawless only added to the wonder as the film played out on the screen.

The film’s music was sufficient, but much like with Rogue One, I found that the music took more of a backseat to the story than it did in the original trilogy, the prequels, and even in the new trilogy. John Powell’s music seemed to be a dialed back version of John Williams’ classic scores. Perhaps this was intentional, but in any case I really have no complaints with the music overall.

I also have no complaints about the cast. Ehrenreich did a great job as a young Han Solo. Is he Harrison Ford? Absolutely not, but that’s no reason to write him or his performance off as something terrible. I hope to see Ehrenreich continue in the role if and when young Han is needed again. Suotamo gives a youthful kick to Chewbacca, and he also manages to show a great deal of emotion at certain points in the film. Harrelson is great as Beckett. I don’t trust him at all during the film. He really sells the shady side of his character to perfection.

There’s been a lot of talk about Donald Glover and his performance as Lando, and all of the praise is warranted. Glover bleeds Billy Dee Williams in this film and I want to see him do more with the character. Emilia Clark does a fine job as Qi’ra, but I felt like the writing actually held back her performance. Much like the scene stealing K-2SO in Rogue One, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s L3-37 steals pretty much every scene that she is in as well. I really enjoyed her work on Flea, and was happy to see her become a part of the Star Wars franchise. Paul Bettany is a somewhat standard villain, but he’s sufficient enough in his role.

Erin Kellyman appears as Enfys Nest, a new character that leads a group of marauders known as the Cloud Riders. While her role is brief, it’s important to the development of Han’s character, as is the brief appearance of Jon Favreaux’s Rio Durant, who gives Han a little timely wisdom during a tense moment in the film.

HS-469196_R — Joonas Suotamo, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover, Ron Howard, Emilia Clarke and Alden Ehrenreich on the set of SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding the production of Solo. Original co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were ousted from the project well into production and Ron Howard was brought in to pick up the pieces. I believe that Howard did an excellent job with the film and would like to see him take on another Star Wars project that’s all his in the future.

Ultimately, Solo: A Star Wars Story is an imperfect romp that’s a whole lot better than it is given credit for and I highly recommend that you check it out. There have been much worse films that have pulled in bigger audiences and for the life of me I can’t figure out why Solo is doing so poorly. Give it a chance. “It’s risky, but it’s worth a try.”

Thanks for reading my review. I really do believe that people are missing out by skipping Solo. Be on the lookout for a post about my recent trip to Austin and I’ll have a Throwback Thursday post later today (cuz it’s passed midnight).

Throwback Thursday: Cat-Women Of The Moon!

1953

This week I’m taking the Wayback Machine to the 1950’s, a great time for film thanks to the release of such great classics like The Ten Commandments (1956), The Wild One (1953), and Some Like It Hot (1959). It was also an exceptionally wonderful time for science fiction. Classics like Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1956), The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) and Forbidden Planet (1956) were released in the decade as were a multitude of other classic genre films too long to list in this post.

Tucked in among these classics is a much loved (but not always mentioned) B-film that is the epitome of cheese and one of the first films in a long line of films featuring planets full of attractive ladies in (at least for its time) revealing outfits that were usually attempting to take over mankind in some sort of brilliant scheme. That film was Cat-Women of the Moon. It was also released in 3-D, which would explode in the 1950’s and be featured in multiple films.

The film’s plot is simple but effective. A scientific crew is sent to the Moon on an expedition. As they get closer to their destination, the team’s navigator, Helen (Marie Windsor) begins to have dreams and visions that make her feel as if she’s already been to the Moon. Once the team lands, Helen leads the group deep into a maze of caverns where the atmosphere is breathable…..and giant spiders reside!

Eventually the group meets up with the desirable Cat-Women, who have been using telepathy to influence and control Helen’s actions. They reveal to Helen their grand scheme to take over Earth and save their civilization which is almost extinct. In order to do this, the Cat-Women have to eliminate the men, learn how to use the expedition’s spaceship, and steal the crew’s spacesuits in order to make it out to the ship which is not in a breathable atmosphere.

The film is rather brief (just over an hour long), but that actually helps since the story plays out very quickly and, in all honesty, probably didn’t have to be as long as it was in the first place. The acting is sufficient and the special effects are exactly what you’d expect from a film made in the early 1950’s.

The music was composed by prolific composer Elmer Bernstein, who would go on to win an Academy Award and multiple other awards for his work in films such as The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, To Kill A Mockingbird, Ghostbusters, Cape Fear, and The Ten Commandments. Bernstein is one of only four composers to have two of their scores listed on the American Film Institute’s 100 Years Of Film Scores list. Only one composer, John Williams, has more. He has three on the list.

The film has a few notable cast members who would go on to bigger and better things. Marie Windsor worked in over eighty films in her career and had multiple roles on television as well. Dubbed “Queen of the B’s” for her work in the genre, Windsor had steady work up until her death in 1991. Victor Jory (who portrayed Kip) is best known for his work in Gone With The Wind, the television series Manhunt, and his work as the Shadow in the classic film of the same name. Also of note is Douglas Fowley (who portrayed Walt) who portrayed Doc Holliday in The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp. He is the father of Kim Fowley, best known as the manager of the influential rock group The Runaways, the band that introduced the world to future solo stars Joan Jett and Lita Ford, as well as Michael Steele of The Bangles.

As stated before, Cat-Women of the Moon was one of the first films to use the concept of a planet or civilization made up primarily of attractive women intent on taking over mankind. This would lead to a long line of exploitation films including Fire Maidens From Outer Space and Voyage To The Planet Of Prehistoric Women. The film is regularly featured at film festivals and has even received the Rifftrax treatment. I recently watched it at Sci-Fi Saturday at The Mines Theatre in Sulphur, LA.

The film is both loved and despised for its camp and exploitation. Honestly, is a dance number necessary in the middle of the film? No, but you’re gonna get one anyway! If you’re interested in checking this film out, it’s currently available to watch on Amazon Prime and is also available on DVD. It can be purchased individually or as part of discounted collections. I do not believe that it is available on Blu-ray as of this writing.

Thanks for reading. I really do hope that some of you check out this film if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s worth watching even if it just gives you the chuckles.

Hurricane Pro: The Crowning

Beaumont, TX

On Saturday, June 16th, I took my son and daughter to the best professional wrestling event that I’ve been to in a very long time. Hurricane Pro’s The Crowning, which took place at the Beaumont Civic Center, was simply awesome. There’s no other way to describe the event.

We purchased VIP tickets that gave us early access to the venue, a meet-and-greet with some of the featured wrestlers, and hot pink t-shirts commemorating the event. My kids really enjoyed meeting the women of The Crowning. All five competitors met with VIPs before the show and took photos and signed autographs with everyone. As a rule, I don’t post photos of my children on my blog, but know that the kids were excited to meet the competitors before the matches began.Our seats were ringside, meaning we had an up-close-and-personal view of everything that went down during the night and things definitely went down!

Things opened up with Ayden Cristiano taking on Jordan Jensen. Cristiano didn’t get a very warm reception from the crowd. They cheered on fan favorite Jordan Jensen throughout the match. Both men and Cristiano’s manager, The Don, put on a great show. The Don interacted with the crowd and took a lot of verbal punishment for his troubles. He also ended up on the business end of Jordan Jensen’s fists a few times as well. Jensen was victorious, but he wasn’t done for the evening. I’ll get to that later.

Next up was an interesting pair of matches pitting two tag teams against each other in singles matches. Make Your Own Path’s Alex Lane faced off against the Dark Alliance’s Heinz Emmerich. Lane’s high energy dominated the match despite interference from Emmerich’s partner, Billy W. Fletcher. Lane and Emmerich took things outside of the ring and into the crowd at one point. Blood was also drawn as Lane started bleeding from the mouth during the match.

Lane succeeded in his match, but for him and his teammate, Ricardo Cage, to become the number one contender for the tag team titles, Cage had to defeat Fletcher in singles competition. That match started immediately after Lane pinned Emmerich, and unfortunately for Make Your Own Path, Fletcher defeated Cage. During that match, though, myself and the crowd had a lot of fun taunting Emmerich. He even told me to shut up a few times.

Next up was the Hurricane Pro Heavyweight Title Match between challenger Bu Ku Dao (my son’s favorite wrestler) and champion Terrale Tempo. In all honesty I’m a fan of both of these guys, so I pretty much sat quietly as this match unfolded. Neither wrestler disappointed as Tempo managed to keep his title for another day. After the fight, the crowd applauded both wrestlers and Bu Ku Dao left the arena knowing that he did a great job. During his exit, though, another wrestler entered the arena, grabbed the heavyweight belt, and walked around the ring with it a few times before finally giving it to Tempo. That wrestler? Jordan Jensen, a man who has wanted a shot at Tempo’s belt for awhile. It looks like he’ll get his shot in July! More on that in a minute.

The next match-up was a a two on three handicap match between the Pump Patrol and Brysin Scott and Estrella Galactica. Despite the handicap, Scott and Galactica held their own throughout the match. Things even went outside of the ring a few times, as Scott and Galactica utilized their aerial moves on the Pump Patrol numerous times. Ultimately it was a failed attempt at cheating that cost the Pump Patrol the match. setting up Estrella Galactica for the win.

The event was capped off by the first ever Hurricane Pro Women’s Championship match that featured five excellent wrestlers. Miranda Alize, Chelsea Green, Phoebe, Hyan, and Simply Luscious faced off in a gauntlet match. Phoebe and Luscious entered the ring first, with Luscious brutally attacking Phoebe. Simply Luscious never let up on Phoebe, but Phoebe eventually managed to get the best of Luscious and scored a victory. She had no time to catch her breath, however, as Hyan entered the ring immediately after Simply Luscious’ exit. Hyan focused on Phoebe’s damaged arm and wore her down with a series of holds and attacks. Phoebe eventually succumbed to Hyan’s perfect execution of moves and was sent packing despite a solid effort. Miranda Alize was next in the ring and she and Hyan squared off in an excellent contest that showed both ladies take a ton of abuse. Miranda managed to defeat Hyan, but Hyan definitely left her mark on Miranda, Phoebe, and the fans of Hurricane Pro.

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The final competitor to enter the match was Chelsea Green. Demanding that the crowd cheer louder for her, she strutted into the ring full of confidence and she and Miranda began circling one another until they finally commenced their battle. The competition was very close as both ladies gave as much as the got during the first half of the match. Green verbally sparred with the crowd while holding her own against Miranda.

About halfway through the match, and possibly as a result of two running corner kicks from Miranda, Chelsea Green snapped, whipped out some lipstick, and turned into the highly unhinged Hot Mess of Professional Wrestling that she is known and loved for by her fans. Her attack became more brutal and relentless, eventually tossing Miranda into the crowd. Neither Miranda nor popcorn buckets or chairs were safe as the Hot Mess savagely beat her opponent. The action spread all over the arena and eventually ended up in the row behind our seats.

It was at this point that Miranda started to regain control of the match and the two wrestlers finally found their way back into the ring. Miranda eventually got the win over Chelsea Green to become Hurricane Pro’s first Women’s Champion, but none of the ladies involved in the match did a bad job. All of them were deserving of the title, and hopefully we will see Miranda defend her title against all of them in future matches.

After the match was over, the announcer let everyone know that both Miranda and Chelsea and many of the other wrestlers from the event would be out signing autographs and taking photos. My daughter got a second photo with the ladies and my son grabbed a quick snap with Estrella Galactica. I had to get a selfie with the Hot Mess in full psycho mode, and she happily took a photo with me. I also got an autographed photo from her.

Just a few hours ago, Hurricane Pro officially announced that their next big event is coming up on July 28th and it will feature Terrale Tempo defending his belt against Jordan Jensen. More matches and ticket information will be coming in the near future, so be sure to check out Hurricane Pro’s website and follow them on Facebook to keep up with everything that is happening at the next show!

I want to thank each and everyone of my readers for viewing this post and everything else that I’ve posted over the years. Please note that I have received no compensation for this post or any other post that I’ve made from the beginning. I do this on my own and at my own expense. I do this because I love everything from movies and books to cartoons and professional wrestling. As long as I see that people are reading my content, I’ll content to post to this blog.

Keep an eye out for my eventual Solo review and also for a recap of my recent visit to Austin, TX. I had a blast out there and have a ton of things to talk about from my trip. Again, thanks for reading!!!

Throwback Thursday: Jurassic Park

Isla Nublar

Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park got the Steven Spielberg treatment with 1993’s film of the same name. The movie blazed new trails in practical and CGI effects. In fact, the CGI in that film is still considered by some as some of the best CGI in cinematic history. John Williams handled the musical duties and knocked it out of the, cough, park. The cast featured Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant and Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Sattler, two scientists sent to Isla Nublar, home of a new park that features dinosaurs brought back to life through science, in order to give it their stamp of approval. Along for the ride is Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), a chaos theorist who attempts to be a voice of reason, Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero), a lawyer representing investors, and John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), the man who hopes to bring his dream of a dinosaur park to life.

Of course, everything goes wrong and the small group (including Hammond’s grandchildren played by Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello) end up in a fight for their lives. If you haven’t seen this film, you’re missing out big time.

The film would spawn four sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (loosely based on the second novel with some of the first book crammed in for good measure), Jurassic Park III (utilizing characters from Crichton’s books in a new story), Jurassic World (featuring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard), and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (releasing in the United States on June 22, 2018). Each one of these sequels has proven to be profitable, but the consensus is that the story quality deteriorated with the second and third films. The fourth film, which takes place over twenty years after the original, has managed to correct the franchise’s course, but still lacks the magic and wonder that the original film had in my opinion.

While the films have had some memorable supporting characters portrayed by actors such as Samuel L. Jackson, B.D. Wong, Wayne Knight, Bob Peck, Richard Schiff, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Pete Postlethwaite, Tea Leoni, William H. Macy, Michael Jeter, Irrfan Khan, and Vincent D’Onofrio, it’s the dinosaurs that are the real stars. The Tyrannosaurus Rex, Spinosaurus, and a genetic hybrid known as the Indominus Rex have all been key dinosaurs over the course of the films, but it is the Velociraptor that has become the most popular dinosaur out of the bunch. They became so popular, in fact, that some of them were given names in the newest films in the series, with Blue being the one raptor that stood out from the rest.

There have been quite a few deviations from the books in the films, especially when it comes to who lives and who dies. Muldoon was one of my favorite characters in the first book and he survives the raptor attack on the page. I was ticked off when he wasn’t as lucky in the film. Hammond survived in the film but dies in the book. Gennaro survived in the book but dies in the film. He’s also a lot braver in the book. A number of characters have much larger roles in the book, in particular Dr. Wu ( portrayed in the films by BD Wong), who appears to have become a primary villain in the newest sequels.

As time has passed, Jurassic Park has become one of the most beloved films in cinematic history. It paved the way for modern CGI but also did an excellent job of blending practical effects with computer generated effects. It did a great job of building suspense and had quite a few genuinely scary moments. Many of the cast members went on to star in other big films or had solid careers as character actors.

There’s no denying the legacy of Jurassic Park and its sequels. People still watch the original film and continue to collect any and all things Jurassic that they can get their hands on from clothing to toys and other collector’s items. The film also triggered interest in paleontology and dinosaurs in general. My son is one of the many young minds that has been inspired by the film and its sequels.

As always, thanks for reading. Let me know what you think about the film in the comments section and look out for my review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in the near future!

“When The Wolfbane Blooms…”

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The late 1980’s

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Weird City

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The Early 1980’s

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Feudal Japan

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Greetings, Starfighter…..

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In that galaxy far, far away…

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1953

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Beaumont, TX

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Isla Nublar

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