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Saturday, December 31, 2011

TOP 40 DVD RELEASES OF 2011 (10-1)

Well here is the final and Top Ten DVD releases in my opinion...

10. Mutiny In Outer Space (Sinister Cinema) A space fungus gets loose on a space station in this highly underrated sci0fi film.

9. Quatermass Experiment (MGM MOD) The very first movie adaptation of Nigel Kneal's story about a space alien taking over an astrounaut's body. One of my all time personal faves.

8. Vampire Circus (Synapse) Excellent Hammer film about vampires invading a small town to seek revenge. This was a long time coming, but Synapse finally gave it a great DVD/Blu Ray combo release.

7. Machete Maidens Unleashed (Dark Sky) In a year with a hell of a lot of documentaries, this classic deals with filmmaking in the Philippines in the 50's 60's and 70's. Simply the best of its kind this year.

6. Very Best Of WCW (WWE) Diamond Dallas Page hosts this three disc look at some of the best from WCW in the 90's. The best pro wrestling release of the year.

5. Sharktopus (Anchor Bay) Roger Corman produced this doozy of a film about an underrwater hybrid bred for destruction that gets loose and goes on a killing spree. Damn, I love this film.

4. Women In Cages Collection (Shout Factory) Three of the greatest Roger Corman produced WIP films on a fantastic two disc set. Big Bird Cage, Women In Cages and Big Doll House. All are in excellent conditiona and look better than ever.

3. Vampires, Mummies and Monsters (Shout Factory) Another great 2 disc release of Roger Corman produced gems. In this set you'll have Lady Frankenstein, Grotesque, Time Walker & Velvet Vampire. The best monster movie collection of the year.

2. Island Of Lost Souls (Criterion) FINALLY!!!!  After many years of requests from movies fans this 1933 shocker is finally released in an excellent format by Criterion. Charles laughton stars as a mad doctor who turns animals into people. One of the best horror movies ever made.

1. Attack of The Crab Monsters/Not Of This Earth and War of The Satellites (Shout Factory) This came out in january of 2011 and held the number one slot all year. Three classic Roger Corman directed 50's sci-fi gems that should have been on DVD years ago. Shout brings us high quality prints on all of these movies, and Ifor one think it was the best all round genre release of 2011.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Barbara Carrera is 66, Donna Summer is 63, Sean Cunningham is 70,and  Burton Cummings is 64.



Friday, December 30, 2011

PEOPLE OF POP CULTURE WE LOST IN 2011

We lost a lot of good ones in 2011...here is a list of some of them:
Henry Morgan-96
Anne Francis-80
Gerry Rafferty-63
Jack LaLanne-96
Jane Russell-89
Michael Gough-94
Elizabeth Taylor-79
Phoebe Snow-60
Randy "Macho Man" Savage-58
James Arness-88
Clarence Clemons-69
Peter Falk-83
Sherwood Schwartz-94
Bubba Smith-66
Cliff Robertson-88
Frances Bay-92
Charles Napier-75
Anne McCaffrey-85
Ken Russell-84
Tura Satana-83
Michael Sarazin-61
Sid Melton-94
Anna Massey-74
Aron Kincade-71
Jill Haworth-66
Ross Hagen-83
Susan Gordon-62
David Hess-75
Delores Fuller-88
Margaret Field-89
Jackie Cooper-89
Linda Christian-87
William Campbell-87
Patricia Breslin-80
Eve Brent-82



Some damn good talent has left us, but they have also left a legacy of fun and entertaining movies and music.

WHISPERING SMITH 1948 (UNIVERSAL)

Alan Ladd plays a railroad detective who is convinced that a series of robberies is being committed by one of his best friends. Robert Preston, Murvyn Vye and Donals Crisp co-star as well as Brenda Marshall.
This is a very well made and entertaining western from Paramount, made at a time when westerns were very strong box office. Recommended!!

ALBUQUERQUE 1948 (UNIVERSAL)

Shot in Cinecolor, this excellent 1948 western stars Randolph Scott as a man who comes to Albuquerque to
star a new job and finds himself caught between his despotic uncle and and the town. George "Gabby" Hayes co-stars with the lovely Barbara Britton. Lon Chaney is a gun toting heavy in this one as well.
The color is gorgeous and Scott does his usual great acting job in a film that will please western fans. Recommended!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO......

Eliza Dushku is 31, Fred Ward is 69, Russ Tamblyn is 77, Lloyd Kaufman is 66, and Laila Ali is 34.




Thursday, December 29, 2011

AMERICAN TOP 40 THE 80'S

This weekends broadcast is part one of the Top 100 of 1983 from 12/31/1983. This features such great songs and srtists as "Far From Over" by Frank Stallone, "Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy" by Sammy Hagar, "Look Of Love" by ABC, "Suddenly Last Summer" by The Motels. "Rock The Casbah" by The Clash and many more.
Listen this Sunday beginning at 1 PM eastern time on WMGN from Madison, Wisconsin.

AMERICAN TOP 40 THE 70'S

This weekends presentation is the Top 40 from 1973 featuring such songs and artists as "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John, :Delta Dawn" by Helen Reddy, "We're An American Band" Grand Funk, "Rocky Mountain High by John Denver and much more. Listen this Saturday at 10pm eastern time on WMGN from Madison, Wisconsin.
If that isn'e enough, WMGN will be airing Casey Kasem and At 40 the 70's all day on New Years Eve. They will be airing shows from 12/20/1975, 8/17/1974, 7/14/1979, 12/11/1976, and 1/7/1978 as well as the 12/30/1973 countdown of the 40 biggest hits of 1973.
These start on Saturday at 7 am eastern time only on WMGN...Madison.

MY POLL

Well it seems my poll has disappeared from the site, and it isn't coming back, but it seems Sci-Fi was winning by a landslide. The question was "What is your Favorite Movie Genre." Thanks to those who got to vote and I will set up another poll on Jan. 1.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO,,,,

Ted Danson is 64, Mary Tyler Moore is 75, Barbara Steele is 73, and Yvonne Elliman is 60.



Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Sunday, December 25, 2011

SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS 1964 (TREE LINE)

This movie is a charming and wonderful little film that is squarely aimed at children. The Martians kidnap Santa to bring joy to the Martian children. The plot is very, very simple, but that is how things should be/
I always read bad things about this film, but it is not high tech or anything...just FUN.
People have forgotten how to have fun and just enjoy movies. This is from my childhood and I watch it every year and I suspend my disbelief and enjoy it all over again. Highly Recommended for the child in everyone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Dick Miller is 83, Jimmy Buffett is 65, and Barbara Mandrell is 63.


Saturday, December 24, 2011

DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS 1954 (NAVARRE)

Classic British scifi about an alien female from Mars landing in the Moors and causing havoc. She is actually there to bring men back to repopulate her world after a war of the sexes!!
Hazel Court stars along with Patricia Laffen as the alien and Hugh McDermott as a reporter staying at the small inn on the Moors where the ship has landed.
Interesting film and a must for fnas of 50's sci-fi from England.

TOP 40 DVD RELEASES OF 2011 PART 3

20. Herschall Gordon Lewis: The Godfather Of Gore (Something Weird); Excellent documentary about the man who created the "splatter" genre. This year has seen some great docs come out and this is one of them.

19. Dr. Black & Mr. Hyde (VCI) Bernie Casey stars as a scientist who changes into a white killer in this blaxploitation film based on the Jekyll & Hyde story. Good performances, but gad what a title.

18. Embodiment Of Evil (Synapse) The long awaited (40 years) continuation of the Coffin Joe films by Jose Mojica Marins as the evil man is released from prison and again begins a search for the woman who will bear his children.

17. Lethal Ladies (Shout Factory) Three excellent films from the Roger Corman Classics line from Shout. Firecracker wil the sexy Jillian Kesner, TNT Jackson with Jeanne Bell and Too Hot To Handle with gorgeous Chari Caffaro. One of the best from Shout.

16. American Grindhouse (Lormer) Another great documentary about the rise and fall of grindhouse movies. Narrated by Robert Forster, this is a good place to learn a little about exploitation films of old.

15. Dinoshark (Image) Roger Corman produced this little gem about a forzen monster that thaws out and raises havoc.

14. Horror Express (Severin) Peter Cushing, Telly Savalas and Christopher Lee star in this wonderful film about an escaped monster aboard the Trans Siberian Express.

13. Colossus Of New York (Olive) 1958 sci-fi fun about a giant robot with a man's brain causing havoc in New York. Sexy Mala Powers stars with Otto Kruger. A rare and sometimes forgotten gem.

12. Night Of The Demon ( Code Red) Maria Kenellis hosts this great film about a bigfoot monster running amok int he woods. The bloodiest movie of it's kind ever.

11. Damnation Alley (Shout Factory) George peppard stars in this end of the world thriller about several people making their way across a barren landscape to find other people after the world has undergone nuclear war. Finally this has made it to DVD!!

Next week....The Top 10 Best of The Year

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOO....

Edwige Fenech is 63, and Donna Martell is 84.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Thursday, December 22, 2011

THE GANGSTER 1947 (WARNER ARCHIVE)

Gripping and very well made film noir starring Barry Sullivan as Shubunka, a ruthless gangster who is slowly losing control of his empire as a bigger gangster wants to take over.
Sheldon Leonard is Cornell, the an who is taking over Sullivan's numbers rackets, and he does an excellent job playing a hood. The supporting cast is one of the best and includes Fifi D' Orsay, John Ireland, Akim Tamaroff (as Shubunka's number one man), Harry Morgan, Virginia Christine, Elisha Cook, Jr (as a trigger happy gunman) and Belita as Shubunka's woman who actually turns tables on him.
Great twist ending and a tight plot make this a winner. Nice to see Warner churning out the Allied Artists library it owns.

RIP ROBERT EASTON 1930-2011

Character actor Robert Easton passed away on December 16th at the age of 81. He was in literally hundreds of TV  shows and movies and genre fans will remember him most for his starring role in Giant Spider Invasion.
He studied phonetics for many years and became one of the top voice coaches in Hollywood.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

TALL TARGET 1951 (WARNER ARCHIVE)

Dick Powell stars as John Kennedy, a detective who is trying to protect President Lincoln from being killed while in Baltimore. This is great story telling from director Anthony Mann. Paula Raymond, Adolphe Menjou, Marshall Thompson and Ruby Dee co-star in this top notch effort.
This has a lot of film noir overtones and is one of the best films Powell made later in his career. Thompson plays one of the assassins out to kill the President.
A highly recommended film and an excellent print from Warner Archive.

MORE HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES TO....

Nicole Maurey is 86 and Audrey Totter is 93.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Jenny Agutter is 59, Jillian Grace is 26, Angel Tompkins is 68, and John "Bud" Cardos is 82.




Monday, December 19, 2011

RIP DON SHARP 1922-2011

Director Don Sharp passed away on Dec. 18th at the age of 89. Sharp is best know to genre fans for directing such classics as Kiss of The Vampire, Brides of Fu Manchu, Face Of Fu Manchu, Psychomaniam Witchcraft and many more.