12 Roger Corman Trailers

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Roger Corman in The Godfather Part II

Today we pay tribute to the legacy of Roger Corman with a special edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film Trailers.

  1. Five Guns West (1955)

This western was the first film that Roger Corman was credited with directing.

2. The Day The World Ended (1955)

Though Corman worked in almost every type of film genre imaginable, he’s probably best remembered for his science fiction and horror films.  This was one of the first of them.

3. Not of this Earth (1957)

Not of this Earth was not only one of Corman’s better sci-fi films but this also the first film in which Corman really took full advantage of character actor Dick Miller.  (Miller, a longtime friend of Corman’s, largely improvised his role as a hip vacuum cleaner salesman.)

4. Machine Gun Kelly (1958)

Along with westerns and sci-fi films, Corman also directed several gangster classics.  Machine Gun Kelly is remembered as one of his best.

5. Bucket of Blood (1959)

In Bucket of Blood, Roger Corman gave Dick Miller a starring role and also mixed comedy and horror in a way that influence many future horror directors.

6. Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

Roger Corman famously shot Little Shop of Horrors in just two days.  The end result was a mix of comedy and horror that continues to be influential to this day.  The musical is very good but I still prefer the cheerful low-budget aesthetic of the Corman original.

7. The Intruder (1962)

Corman was an exploitation filmmaker with a conscience.  At a time when other films were avoiding social issues, Corman dove right in with challenging films like The Intruder.

8. The Terror (1963)

Corman was famous for his ability to spot new talent.  His 1963 film The Terror starred a then unknown actor named Jack Nicholson.

9. The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

In the 60s, Corman was also well-known for his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, the majority of which starred Vincent Price.  With these colorful and flamboyant films, Corman showed himself to be a pop artist at heart.

10. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967)

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre featured Corman directing a film for a big studio.  The film recreated the gang war between Al Capone and George Moran while also finding room for Corman regulars like Jack Nicholson, Dick Miller, and Jonathan Haze.

11. The Trip (1967)

Roger Corman was always sympathetic to the counter-culture, which led to the remarkably nonjudgmental nature of The Trip, a film in which Peter Fonda drops acid under the guidance of Bruce Dern and Dennis Hopper.  Jack Nicholson wrote the script.

12. Frankenstein Unbound (1990)

In the 1970s, Corman retired from directing and instead focused on producing and distributing movies.  In 1990, he briefly came out of retirement and directed his final film, Frankenstein Unbound.

Scenes That I Love: Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On this date, 117 years ago, Katharine Hepburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut.  She would go one to become a cultural icon, a performer who survived being labeled box office to poison to eventually become one of our most acclaimed actresses.  Hepburn was a total of four acting Oscars over the course of her career, a record that has yet to be topped.

Today’s scene that I love comes from 1940’s The Philadelphia Story and it features Katharine Hepburn acting opposite another one of my favorite performers, the great James Stewart.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Jess Franco Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Today is the 94th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Franco!  One of the most prolific filmmakers of all time, Franco made movies that …. well, they’re not easy to describe.  Jess Franco was responsible for some of the most visually striking and narratively incoherent films ever made.  He made films that you either loved or you hated but there was no mistaking his work for being the work of someone else.

Today, in honor of his birthday, here are….

4 Shots From 4 Films

The Awful Dr. Orloff (1962, dir by Jess Franco, DP: Godofredo Pacheco)

Count Dracula (1970, dir by Jess Franco, DPs: Manuel Merino and Luciano Trasatti)

Vampyros Lesbos (1970, dir by Jess Franco, DP: Manuel Merino)

Female Vampire (1973, dir by Jess Franco, DP: Jess Franco)

May Positivity: Divine Will (dir by Ken Jones)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

First released in 2017, Divine Will is a short film but it’s also a rather odd film.

Dave Blessing (Brent Reed) used to be the lead singer of Isolation, a band that was apparently the hottest in the world in the 90s.  His son, Will (Lee Roessler), is the result of a marriage that only lasted for two weeks.  When Will’s mother dies, he moves to Chicago and lives with Dave and Dave’s quirky sister, Jenny (Kat Moser).

We are told (but we do not see) that Will had trouble in Chicago and that he spent a few nights in jail.  Wanting to raise his son in a better environment, Dave accepts an offer to become the music minister for a church in small town Kentucky.

So, Dave, Will, Jenny, and the always silent ghost of Will’s mother move to Kentucky.  At first, everyone is skeptical about a rock star becoming a choir leader but then all of the women in town see how handsome Dave is and they all suddenly remember that they were once huge fans of Isolation.  While Dave tries to avoid all of the women that now want to marry him, Aunt Jenny gets a job as an art teacher.  Jenny’s quirky methods go against the staid traditions of the school.

As for Will, he falls for Casey Buckner (Kathryn Boswell), who lives next door and who is still coming to terms with the death of her brother.  Will should be able to help both her and several other people in town because he has the power to bring people a feeling of peace just by touching them.  It’s a power that he’s had ever since the passing of his mother.  Did I mention that the silent ghost of his mother keeps popping up at random moments?

Oh!  And did I also mention that the movie is a musical?  Will breaks into song while walking around the countryside.  Later, he and Casey share a duet.

As I said, it’s an odd film.  I’m a little bit hesitant about reviewing it because the imdb lists the film as having a 114 minute run-time while the version on Tubi was only 74 minutes long.  Either the imdb is incorrect or the version of Tubi was heavily edited.  Either way, the version I saw did feel as if it was missing a few scenes.  It crammed a lot of plot into just 74 minutes and the film was not always easy to follow.  The version I saw leaned very heavily on Will’s narration, especially during the first few scenes.

But you know what?  It’s a likably goofy film and it’s earnest enough that it feels somewhat churlish to be too critical of it.  If nothing else, it definitely captures the feel of living in the country.  There’s a scene set in a barn that has so many bales of hay that I immediately felt like I was back on my grandmother’s farm and suffering from allergies.  Much like the country that it portrays, the film was odd but the scenery was lovely.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.6 “The Bear Facts”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Saturdays, I will be reviewing the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

This week, Howard helps Murray master the bush.

Episode 2.6 “The Bear Facts”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on November 7th, 1986)

Murray, the teenage stockboy played by Simon Reynolds, has a problem.

He’s in the Scouts.  He promised his father that he would not leave the Scouts until he earned all of the badges.  He only has one badge left …. the *snicker* Bushmaster Badge.  In order to get *cough* Bushmaster Badge, he has to go camping with his father.  However, Murray’s father is in the Merchant Marine and is far from home.  Hey — maybe Howard could go camping with Murray and help him become a *chortle* Bushmaster!

Since Howard is actually being a nice guy in this episode, he agrees.  (As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, this show is incredibly inconsistent when it comes to how Howard is portrayed.  Sometimes, he’s a saint.  Sometimes, he’s the boss from Hell.)  Howard even puts on a scout uniform.  While camping, Murray talks about how his parents split up 12 years ago but that he still hopes that they’ll get back together.  (Awwww!)  Howard admits that he has never asked Edna to marry him because he worries that it would end in divorce.  Howard and Murray bond and you know what?  It’s actually kind of sweet.  Simon Reynolds is actually rather touching as the naive Murray while Don Adams, in the role of Howard, actually stops yelling long enough for us to see that Howard is a sensitive guy underneath all the bluster….

Of course, then a bear shows up and eats Murray.

Or maybe not.  Howard sees the bear and he runs away, just to later realize that Murray didn’t run away with him.  Howard assumes that Murray has been eaten.  Instead of calling the police or Murray’s mother, Howard goes back to the store and tells Edna, Christian, and Leslie about what happened.  No one seems to be that upset about Murray being devoured and that’s kind of sad.

Suddenly, Murray’s scoutmaster (Diane Douglass) shows up and says that she personally wants to give Murray his *ahem* Bushmaster Badge.  Howard explains that Murray was possibly eaten by a bear.  The scoutmaster is about to form a search party when suddenly, Murray shows up.  It turns out he wasn’t eaten after all.  The bear was really nice and Murray was not only able to escape but also make it through the untrimmed wilderness on his own.  Everyone agrees that Murray has truly proven himself to be a master of the bush.  Murray gets his final badge and, as a result, he can finally stop wearing his uniform.  Yay!

This was a weird episode.  It started out as very sincere and heartfelt and then it suddenly devolved into a bunch of jokes about a lonely teenage boy being eaten by a bear.  I have to admit that I kind of dug this episode, precisely because it was so odd.  The best episodes of Check It Out! are usually the ones where the show gets unapologetically weird and this one did just that.

Hopefully, next week will be even stranger.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 5/5/24 — 5/11/24

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Abbott Elementary (Wednesday Night, ABC)

This Abbott Elementary Mother’s Day episode was sweet and funny.  No, Janine, Kevin Hart is not your father.

Baywatch Nights (YouTube)

I wrote about Baywatch Nights here!

Check It Out (Tubi)

My review of this week’s episode will be dropping shortly.

CHiPs (Freevee)

I wrote about ChiPs here!

Coronation Street (Hulu)

On Tuesday, I watched two episodes of Coronation Street on Hulu.  They were both from January of this year.  Bethany returned home!  I have no idea who Bethany is or who anyone else on this show is but I still found it interesting to watch.  Maybe I just miss London.  Due first to the pandemic lockdowns and now to the way that anti-Semitism is spreading its shadow across Europe, it’s been a while since Jeff & I last visited.

Degrassi Junior High (YouTube)

I wrote about Degrassi Junior High here!

Dr. Phil (YouTube)

On Monday morning, I watched a really sad two-parter in which Phil talked to an old widow named Kaye who had basically become so enthralled by a catfish that she gave him the password to her bank account.  Kaye’s daughter tried to tell Kaye that her online boyfriend was a fake but Kaye was very angry and would not listen.  I felt terrible for her and her family.

On Tuesday, I rewatched the episode with the woman who was convinced that she was married to Tyler Perry, despite having never met him before.  Dr. Phil, of course, took time to point out that he knows Tyler Perry and is apparently one of his best friends.  Dr. Phil knows everyone!  I followed this up with an episode featuring a man who thought he was engaged to a Kennedy cousin named Misty.  Not surprisingly, there is no Kennedy named Misty.

On Friday and Saturday, I watched too many episodes.  Most of them were about feuding in-laws.

Fantasy Island (Daily Motion)

I wrote about Fantasy Island here!

Friday the 13th: The Series (YouTube)

I wrote about Friday the 13th here!

Highway to Heaven (Tubi)

I wrote about Highway to Heaven here!

Law & Order (Thursday Night, NBC)

On Tuesday evening, I watched last week’s episode of Law & Order and I have to say that I groaned a bit when I saw it was going to be yet another episode about a murder involving a wealthy family.  There’s a lot that I have liked about this season but I’m a bit bored with every episode revolving around the same generic wealthy characters.  Not every case has to be a society scandal.  That said, last week’s episode did feature some interesting twists and turns and personally, I think the jury made the right decision.  Overall, it was a good episode though, once again, we had to spend some time listening to Maroun whine about having to do her job.

On Friday, I watched this week’s episode.  The defendant was an ex-con who had previously been given a lenient plea deal by Nolan Price.  Because of Price’s involvement, Baxter took over as lead prosecutor on the case and demoted Price to second chair.  This not only kept Maroun out of the courtroom and minimized her involvement in the episode (yay!) but it also gave Baxter a chance to show off his abilities.  The great thing about this episode is that Price finally got called out for being so wishy-washy and self-righteous.

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

I wrote about The Love Boat here!

Malibu, CA (YouTube)

I wrote about Malibu, CA here!

Miami Vice (Freevee)

I wrote about Miami Vice here.

Monsters (YouTube)

I wrote about Monsters here!

Snub (Night Flight Plus)

On Friday, I watched a bunch of music videos from 1987.  It was fun!

T and T (Tubi)

I wrote about T and T here!

Welcome Back, Kotter (Tubi)

I wrote about Welcome Back Kotter here!

The Films of 2024: Sixty Minutes (dir by Oliver Kienle)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Octavio Bergmann (Emilio Sakraya) has a problem.

A German MMA fighter is just minutes away from fighting a leading contender when he gets a call from his ex-wife.  It is his daughter’s birthday and Octavio is told that if he doesn’t make it to her birthday party within an hour, Octavio’s ex-wife is going to demand full custody of her.  Octavio runs from the match, hoping that he can somehow make it from one end of Berlin to the next in just 60 minutes.

What Octavio doesn’t know is that the fight was fixed.  Octavio’s opponent agreed to take a dive so a bunch of gamblers put down a lot of money on Octavio winning the fight.  If Octavio forfeits, they’ll lose all of their money.  Soon, Octavio finds himself being pursued by motely collection of Serbian mobsters, bikers, and cops.  Meanwhile, Octavio just wants to pick up a cake and his daughter’s birthday gift (an adorable kitten named Onion) and make it to the party in time.

That’s not a bad premise for an action film and Sixty Minutes features a lot of exciting fight scenes as Octavio battles his way to his ex-wife’s house.  Unfortunately, it soon becomes obvious that the film is cheating a bit with the time frame.  When Octavio takes off running, a stopwatch lets us know that he has 59 minutes and 59 seconds left.  About ten minutes later, the stopwatch reappears and tries to convince us that only four minutes have passed.  Octavio has to face a lot of obstacles on his way to that birthday party but it’s hard to create any suspense when the audience knows that the movie isn’t going to be honest about how much time has passed.  If any film cries out for a “real time” approach, it’s this movie.

(Personally, I would have changed the title to 80 Minutes.  It would still be a stretch to claim that the majority of the movie’s action could have taken place over such a compressed time frame but it would still be more believable than 60.)

On the plus side, the action scenes are exciting.  Emilio Sakraya is not the most expressive of actors but, as a former Full-Contact Karate champion, he’s totally convincing in the fight scenes.  Wisely, the film does not try to convince us that Octavio is some sort of genius.  He is often his own worst enemy.  (If you had to get across Berlin in a narrowly-allotted amount of time, would you be stupid enough to stop to argue with the cops?)  And there definitely is something rather sweet about Octavio’s determination to make sure that his daughter gets her birthday present.  (And fear not, animal lovers — the cat survives the film.)  Finally, the soundtrack was heavy on EDM, which I definitely appreciated.

With all of the scenes of Octavio running through Berlin and checking his watch to see how much time he had left, the film feels a bit like a direct descendant of Run, Lola, Run.  Unfortunately, Sixty Minutes is nowhere near as exciting, witty, or thoughtful as Tom Tykwer’s classic film.  Still, Sixty Minutes is entertaining when taken on its own terms.  Just don’t make the mistake of trying to count the minutes.