posted
"Takes off like a slow moving horse and cart?"
Krull has a good cast, and all the ingredients to be a great action movie, but the plot flaws just weaken the film too much. Think of it as a series of good set pieces but not a great movie. Lysette Anthony looked great but for some reason they chose to dub her voice with an American actress.
Ice Pirates is a low-budget blast. Everyone is having fun and clearly not taking the film too seriously. I agree with Crash; Robert Urich was always likeable and seemed permanently on the cusp of being a bigger star. He'll always be 'Spenser for Hire' to me.
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posted
I, too, loved Robert Urich as Spenser. Having read almost all of the Robert B. Parker Spenser books, I have to say that he was perfectly cast, as was Avery Brooks as Hawk and the female leads. I thought that the show really captured the feel of the books, the later made-in-Canada TV movies perhaps not as much, but Urich as Spenser has always been a favorite with me.
One more thing about The Ice Pirates. It was directed by Stewart Raffill, who also did cool films like High Risk and The Philadelphia Experiment, along with junk like Tammy and the T-Rex and Mac and Me. He was a very underrated director with a good eye for action and shot composition. It's a pity that while he flirted with becoming a big-budget, studio-film guy, he just didn't quite make it.
Posts: 2008 | From: Dixieland | Registered: Oct 2008 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
"I'm going to sue Spielberg! When I saw ET I could tell that he'd ripped off a story I wrote about a young boy who befriends a lost alien and they both build a special bond before the alien has to go home!" "Wow. That does sound the same. What was it called?" "Mac and Me."
He does seem to have had a patchy career. I really like Ice Pirates and the Philidelphia Experiment. Never seen High Risk but it sounds good to me.
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posted
The Philadelphia Experiment is clearly Raffill's best film. I believe that for a while John Carpenter was going to direct it. He's listed as an Executive Producer in the credits. The Ice Pirates is indeed very entertaining. High Risk is ridiculous--four ordinary guys, all good actors like Ernest Borgnine, decide to rip off a Colombian drug lord--but it's a lot of B-movie fun. When I lived in Philadelphia in the early 80s, local newspaper critic Joe Baltake was a huge Raffill fan (probably the only one), going so far as to praising his earlier family films like The Sea Gypsies. I think Baltake still works for some syndication service. I used to love reading his stuff. He was the rare critic who wasn't a snob and really appreciated films on their merits, despite the budget or genre. For example, he also liked Albert Pyun's The Sword and the Sorcerer and raved about Abel Ferrara's Ms. 45 My kind of critic!
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High risk is a blast and certainly worth hunting down Logan and it's a pity that it has been so neglected over the years despite it having a very solid cast.
I have a budget Dvd of it but the picture quality is attrocious and more like a VHS rip and a bad one at that!
The Philadelphia Experiment is also a really fun movie,never seen Mac and Me but from the trailer alone and the gif image above it looks hilariously bad!
Joe Baltake sounds like my kind of film critic Crash!
Posts: 3243 | From: canterbury united kingdom | Registered: Mar 2011 | Site Updates: 0
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
Member # 6575
Too bad my Mac and Me tape was damaged but i believe there´s another one lying around somewhere. I need to investigate.
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That's just about the best thing I've heard all week: that you actually have an extra copy of Mac and Me. LOL
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File under 'phrases you never thought you'd hear'...
Found High Risk on Youtube... that poster makes it look like a comedy, but it's playing more like a thriller!
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Found High Risk on Youtube... that poster makes it look like a comedy, but it's playing more like a thriller!
Your right Logan from what I remember it's more of an action/thriller with the odd comedic moment,i looked at the picture quality on YouTube and like my DVD it leaves a lot to be desired and I think the only time I have watched this with a half decent picture clarity is when it aired on the box from time to time late at night on BBC 1 here back in the day.
Certainly needs a re-release on either Dvd or Blu-ray and I'd imagine someone sooner or later will pick it up!
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Leo Logan has just posted on 80s Blu Ray's coming soon thread that the 1985 action adventure King Solomon's Mines is coming to Blu Ray from Olive Films in February 2017 and I was wondering is it worth checking out?
I've seen the sequel Allan Quartermain And The Lost City Of Gold which I thought was pretty bad but I have read that the original is easily the better out of the two and unlike the sequel I can actually remember this doing the rounds at the theatres and was an altogether bigger budgeted affair plus it was also directed by the talented J Lee Thompson!
Anyone seen it?
[ 08. December 2016, 14:45: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
Member # 6575
Leo Logan has just posted on 80s Blu Ray's coming soon thread that the 1985 action adventure King Solomon's Mines is coming to Blu Ray from Olive Films in February 2017 and I was wondering is it worth checking out?
I've seen the sequel Allan Quartermain And The Lost City Of Gold which I thought was pretty bad but I have read that the original is easily the better out of the two and unlike the sequel I can actually remember this doing the rounds at the theatres and was an altogether bigger budgeted affair plus it was also directed by the talented J Lee Thompson!
Anyone seen it?
Haha, well it´s better than Firewalker which isn´t much really. I suggest you grab a sixpack before watching it Posts: 7073 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2008 | Site Updates: 7
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posted
I'll second the vote about getting a six-pack. The Allan Quartermain films are the Cannon/Grade D versions of the Indiana Jones films. The first one is marginally--and I do mean marginally--better than the second one. And Firewalker.
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I've seen the second one and that was tough going and you say this one is only marginally better. Oh Dear!
I think I'll give this one a wide birth and Firewalker which I watched again recently on Blu-ray rental I found that one a bit of a slog considering it was supposed to be a Action Comedy it actually had very little of either on display!
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Come on, these movies are great fun.. i love all three of them, and i am not ashamed to admit it !
Although i do think there's some nostalgia involved here, as i've seen all three when they first came out on video. If i hadn't seen them before, and would watch them for the first time nowadays, my opinion could be completely different.
I also think it would have been wiser to release King Solomon's Mines and Allan Quatermain And The Lost City Of Gold as a double-feature on blu-ray rather than two seperate releases, especially since there are no special features.
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Don't get me wrong Johnny I didn't think that Firewalker was terrible and the both times that I have watched it I have made it through to the very end and also I did like the pairing of Norris and Lou Gossett it's just that I thought the film really lacked in the action department especially for a mid 80s Cannon films Norris Action Adventure!
If they'd picked up the pace a bit more and made things that more explosive I think it would have made it so much more fun!
I also think it would have made more sense for them to release them both (King Solomon's/Quartermain) together as a double feature but I suppose this is Olive Films we are talking about that can barely even scrape a trailer together for there releases!
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posted
The name Quartermain alone makes me want to watch it. So cool
Posts: 2027 | From: The deep end | Registered: Jun 2011 | Site Updates: 14
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Going through my VHS and I spotted these two that have been sitting around for years and I have never got around to watching them - The Playboy's from 1992 and Soapdish from 1991.
Well I've finally got around to watching The Playboy's and must say I really enjoyed it but have still yet to check out Soapdish, anyone watched it before and if so what should I expect is it a worthy watch?
It's definitely got a good cast whatever!
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Saw Three for the Road at the DAV. I almost bought it but thought I would consult the experts first. I'm pretty sure I saw this back in the day since I liked Sheen at the time, not so much now. Chan't remember anything about it
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
Member # 6575
posted
Three for the Road is a harmless road movie with a cool cast. A chance to see Alan Ruck right after Ferris, lovely Kerri Green and yes, i still like Charlie So, what are you wating for I need to revisit this one myself one of these days.
posted
I'd like to check out Three For The Road but the UK VHS is really scarce, I'd say go for it Terd as the cast what with Sheen,Alan Ruck etc it sounds a good one!
I have seen this early 90s Michael J Fox comedy before on VHS upon its original release under the alternative title of The Concierge but remember very little about it,anyhow they have a lot of Universal movie Blu Ray titles for 2 for 10 UK pounds here in the UK at the moment and not sure whether it's worth grabbing or not?
Also what was Clint Eastwood's The Eiger Sanction like and also The Beguiled (which again I haven't seen for many years) and also the film Breezy which he directed like?
Looked back at previous posts and Breezy seems quite highly regarded!
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Anybody seen this 1988 comedy The Invisible Kid starring Jay Underwood and Karen Black (Invaders From Mars) and if so is it worth checking out for a few laughs?
There's a budget dvd I've seen doing the rounds on different sites which I might just grab anyway!
Anybody seen this 1988 comedy The Invisible Kid starring Jay Underwood and Karen Black (Invaders From Mars) and if so is it worth checking out for a few laughs?
There's a budget dvd I've seen doing the rounds on different sites which I might just grab anyway!
I probably haven't seen this since 88 so my memory may be cloudy, from what I remember it was below average, obviously has a few scenes a teenage boy in the 80's was looking for but I don't remember it even being that funny. It's no Weird Science.
I have to admit I own this but it is still in it's cellophane wrapper, I may crack it open.
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So I watched The Invisible Kid, it's very clearly as low budget as I remember, don't get me wrong there are some amusing bits in it. Some of the acting is way over the top.
I tried watching it when I posted my original comment but I had to turn it off because I wasn't in the right mood, I think you have to be to watch this. I did get through it yesterday and found myself smiling at a few bits but not much.
I would rate it 3.762 out of 10.
I think I'm glad I watched it again but do feel my time could have been better spent. Posts: 315 | Registered: Sep 2019 | Site Updates: 0
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Cheers for checking it out Hoff I might give it a rental instead of going for the blind buy as it sounds a little bit underwhelming and not quite the hidden gem that I thought I'd perhaps missed out on!
[ 16. October 2019, 10:44: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
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I need to revisit this one myself one of these days.
