Flight of the Navigator

Yet another Disney Sci-fi from the 1980's. Seems the studio had an idea of what the people wanted and poured it on.

Flight of the Navigator follows David, a regular kid who likes baseball and lives in 1978, until a spaceship abducts him and not realizing that a gap of a few years might be an issue, drop him off a tad late...1986. Police take still young David to his parents house, parents that have aged a bit. Noticing the oddity, the government and NASA borrow David and take him to a research facility. As luck would have it, the spacecraft that dropped David off, got a little tangled in some power lines, short circuited and is in a hanger, pretty much next door to David.

David starts to hear something (telepathically) and wanders off for a look. Turns out, the ship needs a pilot following that electrical mishap and David's the 'man' for the job. In the tradition of many Sci-fi's, there's a cute alien friend for the lonely kid...looks a bit like a gecko with even bigger eyes and a smile.

As of 2009, a remake is in the offing.  

A Matter of Life and Death

Filmed in 1946, directly after the end of WWII hostilities by British film making legends Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, A Matter of Life and Death was aimed at cheering up and enlightening a nation with a fantasy love story.

The story revolves around a mistake by the powers that be. David Niven (Pilot of a a damaged Lancaster bomber) is trying to bring his plane back to the British shore in one piece. Sadly, all the parachutes have gone (having commanded his crew to bail out) and his only recourse is to radio in and alert the ground crews. Immersed in dense fog over the channel, Niven keeps his upper lip stiff and even starts a little flirting with the wren on the other end of the microphone.

Finally realizing the flames are too much and the plane is beyond help, Niven must bail from the craft, parachuteless and to certain death. However, given the depth of the fog, it seems the fella sent from above to take Niven to the delights of the other side got a might lost and as such, Niven survives...on borrowed time.

Told almost as a lesson in litigation, Niven and his therapist must convince a heavenly court that despite their mix up, he should be given the chance to live and love. For a nation grieving for their own losses, a story that allows for a second chance must surely have brightened lives.

If only for the stairway to heaven scene, this film is well worth watching. In 2004, a film magazine vote declared A Matter of Life and Death the second best British film ever, runner up only to Get Carter.

Flight of Dragons

There's magic out there, but for it to survive you need to believe.

An animated feature, Flight of Dragons follows Peter, an inventor/scientist in the real world, who invents a Dungeons and Dragons type game and is magically transported into that world. On his trip he meets a magician, dragons (not surprisingly), ogres, giants and the Princess Melisande (he likes her, she likes him, it's all so romantic) and the evil Ommadon (James Earl Jones).

The story goes like this, magic is weakening, the real world no longer believes and in a bid to preserve this culture, the good wizard and his wizardy mates decide to create a 'last realm of magic'. Problem being that the dark wizard doesn't much fancy being a minority and decides to conquer all of creation, that means the real world of science too. Good Wiz-Carolinus figures he needs some help and enlists Peter to go and kick the bad Wiz's bum, along with a young and old dragon and a knight.

Knights errant, magic, invention, creatures, princesses, a flight of dragons...all the things that you'd like in a kids animated classic.  

Fun Fact: Music by Don McLean- American Pie.

Jason and the Argonauts

In 1963 the craze for mythical greek heroes was in its prime.

With the aid of Ray Harryhausen (The Seventh Voyage 0f Sinbad) and his creature effects workshop, Jason (Todd Armstrong) leads his crew (including Hercules) across the oceans of the world, battling colossal bronze statues (Talos-2nd best monster of all time according to Empire Mag), hydras (monster with loads a heads), harpies (flying bat-like chicks who steal from blind men-not nice), clashing rocks (big rocks that slam together), sword wielding skeletons and Gods, to retrieve the Golden Fleece (which restores all life) and win the girl (Nancy Kovak).

When you see the film, you'll be amazed at the estimated budget for this action fiesta...$1,000,000. Yep, that's it, they say.

I saw this film repeatedly as a child and as a result, adopted Jason's swimming style at the Cub's freestyle swimming competition in the late 1980's...as such, I swim sideways...thought you'd like to know that.

Fun Fact: Harryhausen regards Jason and the Argonauts as his best film...that is some statement!  

The Gauntlet

Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood as a hard drinkin', wayward cop, with a real sense of duty, Ben Shockley's tasked with finding and returning a female witness, Gus Malley (Sondra Locke) from Las Vegas to phoenix. Of course, there's one or two folk after stopping Clint from returning and given that he was only given the job 'cos he's a burnout and his bosses are corrupt...well, there's a few problems involved.

The majority of the film can be largely ignored, but for the finale alone, this film is essential viewing for cult film fans. Just look at the poster below and you can guess why.

Released in 1977 with a $5.5 mil budget, The Gauntlet grossed nearly $27,000,000 at the box office.

Original casting had Steve McQueen and Barbara Streisand, but fights between the pair led to Eastwood taking over and replacing Babs.

Raise the Titanic

What a premise!

Based on the Clive Cussler novel of the same name (why would you change it?!), Richard Jordan plays the lead role of Dirk Pitt, an all round hero/explorer type fella, charged with the mission to raise the Titanic following the realization that the hold of the sunken wreck could very well contain a mineral (very rare) integral to a new defense shield that the US military has developed. In time honoured 1980's espionage/cold war ways, the soviets are after the substance and given that it originated in jointly held Arctic regions, they feel they have as much right to salvage as the Yanks.

Filmed on a massive budget- $36,000,000, the feature raised (get it) barely $14,000,000 at the box office world wide...little of that from the U.S.S.R I imagine.

Fun Fact: the film received numerous awards, sadly, they were Razzies. Worst Picture, Screenplay and Supporting Actor all acknowledged.

The Last Starfighter

Now, just imagine, there's a large galaxy out there...some where and out there, there's a war, it's between (can you guess? no?! Ok...) the good guys and the bad guys. Now, it seems that the good guys are getting there bottoms kicked and need some new pilots to help 'em fight. Now, this being the 1980's (on Earth anyway), how would you recruit an intergalactic warrior?...video games!!!! Oh yeah! That's right!

So, in the tradition of all Sci-fi's, Alex Rogan (trailer park handyman and never-done-nuthin'-never-gonna-do-nuthin' bloke) is playing this game where he's the pilot of a Gunstar and fighting Xur and the Ko-Dan armada, when he wins the game and tops the high score, subsequently triggering a beacon and notifying both a headhunter and a mercenary.

Long story short, Alex is replaced with a doppleganger, heads off for spaceship training and goes to war to save the universe, the Earth, his girlfriend and all trailer-park life everywhere.

Quite probably down to the Sci-fi craze of the 1980's, The Last Starfighter, with a budget of $15,000,000 grossed nearly $30 mil! Not bad.

Fun Fact: a sequel with the director, screenwriter and star, Lance Guest (Jaws-the revenge) is in the pipeline.

Highlander

Directed in 1986 by Russell Mulcahy (Razorback) and starring a French actor by the name of Christopher Lambert and a Scottish fella called Sean Connery, we find out that along with regular folk, there's a bunch of immortal people running around the world, from pretty much the dawn of time, trying to chop each others heads off. Why you ask would you want to take part in timeless genocide? Well, if you happen to be the last of the immortal race, you win a 'Prize'. Not like at the carnival, when you get a goldfish or a cuddly elephant, no, if you win, you get all knowledge and a connection to everyone. Kinda omnipotent...a tad God-like.

So there's the good guys, Frenchman Lambert as a Scot and his mentor, Scotsman Connery as a Spanish-Egyptian, then there's the bad guys, mainly just American Clancy Brown (the Kurgan), fella with a big slash across his throat and what I can only guess is a Kiss (the band) fetish-he keeps sticking his tongue out and wiggling it about a lot.

With music by Queen and Michael Kamen (Die Hard) and a budget of $16,000,000 you'd have hoped that it'd do alright. Sadly, Highlander failed to make it's money back. This clearly didn't stop it's rise to video cult status and the resulting franchise- Highlander having seen four sequels (II:the quickening, the final dimension, the end game, the source), three TV series (Highlander the series, Raven and the animated series) and an animated film-Highlander: the search for vengeance.

Fun Fact: there may be a remake...with Vinnie Jones as the Kurgan.
Also, instead of Lambert, it could easily have been either Mickey Rourke or Marc Singer...imagine...

seems there could be only three.

Escape to Victory

If you like football, if you like war films and if you love Michael Caine...you'll have seen this film.

Oddly for a cult war film, this one was shot in 1981 and starred everyone you'd ever hope to see in a film of this ilk.

Directed by the legendary film maker John Huston and a cast including the afore mentioned Caine, Sylvester Stallone, Max Von Sydow and given the subject matter of the film, Pele, Bobby Moore, Gordon Banks (goal keeping coach to Stallone) and quite a few of the 1980's Ipswich Town team, we follow the allies, in a prison of war camp, challenged to a game against the Nazi's.

Clearly a propaganda stunt by the powers that be, despite the Major (von Sydow) wanting a fair game, there's some naughtiness on the part of the Germans and the allies need to do something about it. This is, as the title suggests, a WWII escape film and following in the footsteps of The Great Escape, you'd be forgiven for feeling disappointed, but I ask you to go into this film without preconceptions. Sure, it's light on most things, story mainly, but think of it at football saves the world. An American in goal, Pele on the pitch with Bobby Moore and Michael Caine in charge...this film can't fail!

Fun Fact: following on from all his tutoring by the English World Cup legend Gordon Banks, Sly Stallone decided that he was pretty good and challenged some bloke called Pele to a shoot out.

Pele scored 5/5! Nice try Sly.

Humanoids from the Deep

Released in the UK in 1980 under the title, Monster and executive produced by Roger Corman, you can probably write the script yourself.

Imagine you were given a title and with a little b-movie knowledge and some, not much, but some brain power, were asked to come up with a film...this is quite likely what you'd get.

Starring Doug McClure (Warlords of Atlantis & The Land that Time Forgot), we begin in a remote American fishing village. The salmon are running low (running, get it...salmon run...Oh, I give up!) and a big company has come along to save the day. Now, the resident American Indians are up in arms as the company would end up destroying the 'way of life' and the locals are miffed at the Indians for trying to stop it all.

Turns out, the company has hired a scientist and she has been doing her best to genetically alter the salmon so they grow faster. Problem being, there's been a storm and they got out into the general food chain...blah, blah blah, local animals ate 'em and now there's these seven foot tall humanoid creatures that swim and eat folk.

There are, I'll be generous and say, homages to (not stolen scenes) from Alien, Psycho, Jaws and one of two other slightly more successful films of the era and the 1950's.

It's a fun film. Very low budget, I imagine (Doug McClure not with-standing), although the men in humanoid suits look "good" and there's a few explosions.

Fun Fact: Producer Gale Anne Hurd worked as a Production assistant on this film. I doubt she mentions that too much at dinner parties.

Tremors

Now, 20 years old, this b-movie/cult franchise has seen two decades and if rumour is to be believed, a third now beckons.

Shot in 1990 by Ron Underwood (Mighty Joe Young), Produced by Gale Anne Hurd (Aliens & Terminator) and starring Kevin Bacon (7 degrees of) and Fred Ward (Remo Williams), Tremors is set in a secluded little American town, happily named, Perfection. Kevin and Fred are handy-men and eek out a living based on odd jobs and promises of beer. One day, the pair decide that Perfection ain't all it's cracked up to be and set off for the big city. Sadly, they don't get very far, with the only road blocked by a landslide, strangely and coincidentally enough the phone line is down also.

So, it turns out that there's these giant worms, with teeth, they burrow through the earth and have recently (probably due to seismic events) started nibbling at folk.

It's down to Kev and Fred to save the day.

In true b-movie fashion, this film has a cast of no more than twenty people, is set in a small, isolated hamlet and has all the jokes and ridiculous scenarios that a film can muster. It also has some romance thrown in for good measure and the Chinese magician bloke (Victor Wong-RIP) from Big Trouble in Little China too...he doesn't get any lip action though, shame.

Budget: $11,000,000
Gross: $16,667,084

Fun Fact: Tremors V may reprise Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward in their original roles and is rumoured to have Paul 'Croc Dundee' Hogan too.

Masters of the Universe

What would you do with a Swedish martial artist, standing 6'5", with a gruff voice, a real lack of acting talent and who's breakthrough performance was as a Soviet boxing stooge in Rocky IV?

Answer: He-Man, Masters of the Universe.

In a decade where toys became films (GI Joe, Transformers), it was only a matter of time before He-Man would make his cinematic debut...on this occasion, Live.

Plot: He-Man (Prince Adam of Eternia- Dolph Lundgren) kinda finds himself in a civil war, battling his arch nemesis, Skeletor (Frank Langella) and he almost gets him, but he gets away, using a cosmic key (looks like Edward Sissorhand's dinner set, with lights) to another world (Earth), so He-Man and his mates (Man-at-Arms, Teela and the key's inventor, Gwildor), chase after 'em.

It's all so very, very 80's!

It's not good. It's far, far, far from good...but sadly, it is a cult film. It has heritage and had hope when it was released.

Maybe that's the reason for the poor showing at the box office?

Budget: $17,000,000
Gross: $17,336,370

Fun Fact: In the 1980's, directly after the film, a sequel was discussed and abandoned, leading to the, already produced costumes, being used in low-budget Sci-fi action vehicle, Cyborg.

Conan the Barbarian

You'll not believe me, so you can feel free to check, but Conan, was written by Oliver Stone!
That's right. So already, you know, that this film, will be...ok..ish.

Starring the newly discovered Mr. Olympia and Universe, Arnold Schwarzenegger (yeh, I don't know who the fella is either) and Darth Vader (I mean James Earl Jones), we see the two giants of cinema pitted against each other as the hard done by, orphaned, slave turned gladiator bloke and the reformed, former genocidal warlord, now religious cult leader.

Ming the Merciless is in this flick too, that's right, Max 'the man' Von Sydow.

There's a great scene where Conan fights a giant snake...much better than Snakes on a Plane.

Budget: $20,000,000
Gross: $68,851,475

Not bad for a 'period' film, with a skimpily dressed Austrian wielding a large sword.

The Princess Bride

You kinda get a little star struck when you rattle off the names that were blessed to appear in this fantasy story...

Cary Elwes (Robin Hood-men in tights), Robin Wright (Forrest Gump), Peter Falk (Columbo), Fred Savage (The Wonder Years), Andre the Giant, Mandy Patinkin, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest and many more.

The story follows the lives of Wesley and his one true love, Buttercup (my word, were these bad names, but that's as may be), parted by sea, pirates, an evil prince, giants, swashbucklers, R.U.S's (watch and you'll find out), magic, fire swamps and death, the pair must fight for their lurve.

Fantasy films, to be successful, must inundate, saturate and generally drench the audience with all and every manner of fun adventure tool at its disposal...The Princess Bride captures imagination and dream in one fowl swoop and deliberately never releases the viewer.

Directed by Rob Reiner in 1987 on a $15,000,000 budget, the film, based on the William Goldman novel, more than doubled it's costs at the commercial box office. Given the films cult status, the novel the film was based on has had a new lease of life, selling well in the film/music chains HMV and Fopp.

Fun Fact: Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) provided the music and the film was shot entirely on location between Ireland and England (Bakewell and Castleton-I used to go there all the time as a kid, I even fell down the same hill that Wesley did...awesome!).

Ooooh, another- Andre the Giant had had back surgery prior to the film, so all his "carrying" scenes were faked!

Transformers the Movie

In 1986, Eric Idle, Leonard Nimoy, Scatman Crothers, Judd Nelson and Orson Welles made a film together. That's right, a Python, a Vulcan, an overnight aged rapper, a brat pack member and some fella that made films way back when, decided to get together and entertain a bunch of kids. What resulted, was an eighties cult legend of a film.

Transformers the Movie, as you might expect, was designed to rake in the dollars. Filmed as an inter-series money maker (between seasons 2 and 3), the studio or studios, Hasbro, Toei and Marvel, through quite a bit at it actually...stars that is. The film made just over $5,500,000 at the box office, but that is inconsequential given the status of the franchise even before Michael Bay (Armageddon) was handed the reigns.

As possibly the largest series, second only to the Star Wars franchise, Transformers started and continues to inspire and enthrall children...of all ages.

In this film, we as fans are treated to the most horrific event a childhood fan mind could possibly contemplate...the death of an icon, the passing of a legend...they killed Optimus Prime!

Thankfully, they didn't mean it and in the end credits announced the return of the hero.

I'm aware this review fails to actually review the film, but...do you really care?...I didn't think so.

Fun Fact: The song 'Torch', featured in the film, was originally written and scheduled to appear in the Sylvester Stallone vehicle, Cobra.

The Goonies

Directed by Superman and Lethal Weapon supremo Richard Donner, The Goonies follows a group of misfit teens in search of treasure, a treasure they need to save their suburb, the Goon Docks. To get said treasure, as with any similar hunt, they were going to need a map...luckily, there happened to be one in the attic, along with one of those electricity ball thingys...cool.

On their quest, the kids are chased and shot at by the Fratellis (not the band-a gang of baddies led by their mom), see a dead body in a freezer, best booby traps and discover the spanish galleon of the pirate 'One Eyed Willie'. Sean Astin (Mickey) also gets a snog from his big brothers bird...smooth.

Starring the kid from the second Indiana Jones film, a Corey (Feldman), Sean Astin (that Hobbit fella) and Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men), The Goonies is an adventure for every young boy, along the same lines as Stand By Me, but with a darn sight for silliness.

Budget: $19,000,000

Gross: $ 61,389,680

Fun Fact: There's talk of a Goonies II and a musical adaption. You could even get Goonie action figures!

Death Race 2000

Directed by Paul Bartel (who also makes a cameo in earlier review, Chopping Mall), produced by legendary film-maker Roger Corman and starring David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone , Death Race 2000 (filmed in 1975) unsurprisingly takes place in the future society of the year 2000, a time when high speed racing, coast to coast through the mainland US and running people over for fun, is regarded as a sport and a very successful one at that.

The stars of the film are Frankenstein-Carradine (so named for the numerous and varied injuries that have led to him wearing a mask) and Machine gun Joe-Stallone (can you guess why?) are mortal enemies, willing to take any step to better the other, including running over an array of wheelchair bound senior citizens...for which you accumulate points.

The film, like many Sci-fi, actually carries a message of anti-establishment and rebellion. Carradine being the audience's favourite and possibly the nations saviour.

Fun Fact: this film was shot on a budget of barely $300,000.
Roger Corman published a comic book sequel in 1995 entitled: Death Race 2020.

The Italian Job

Filmed in 1969, The Italian Job defined a generation.

Starring Michael Caine, Noel Coward and Bennie Hill, featuring music from producer Quincy Jones and involving the scene that re-worded edge of your seats endings, cliff hanger, The Italian Job is the caper film that does so little to admonish crime, that we can only imagine that scores of London kids turned to heists as a career path in the following years.

No need to review this one really.
If you never saw this film, you're either not English and or have been living in a cave your entire life.

Fun Fact: Upon release in the US, the film received the Golden Globe nomination for...'Best Foreign Language Film'...?!!!!! Huh?!

The Time Machine

In 1960, director George Pal followed up his legendary War of the Worlds adaption, with this genre defining film. Much like The Omega Man, this production suffered from rotten make-up and creature design, but I'd be lying if I said the Morlocks (future cannibalistic creatures) of this production didn't vastly out-scare the ones from the remake, starring Guy Pearce in 2002.

The original, starring another Australian-Rod Taylor (Gulliver's Travels) makes use of the now iconic time machine (cameo in Gremlins) and sends the character of H. George Wells into the future, making use of Oscar winning time-lapse photography, charting the passage of time at a glance. Prof Wells travels through from 1900 into the near and ultimately distant future, experiencing shocks from revealing ladies clothing to WWIII and more.

While this feature may seem dated in it's style, the story in itself is (pardon the pun) timeless.

Fun Fact: the 2002 remake was directed by Simon Wells, the author's great-grandson.

Clash of the Titans

Even the title makes this film sound awe inspiring.

The story consists of a young man, Perseus (Harry Hamlin) given a few gadgets (a few hundred years pre-bond/Q), a flyin' 'orse, a sexy bird (Ursula Andress) and set on a mission to stop the fearsome Kraken, a sea creature loosed by the Gods and save the lassie he fancies...but to do that he has to kill a load of big scorpions' (Ray Harryhausen created), chop the 'ead off a this snake haired chick called Medusa and go for a joy ride with the fella that rows the boat to the 'other side'. There's a Gold wind up Owl in there too (homage in the 2010 remake).

Now, clearly I bring flippant in my review, I just didn't want to gush too much.

Along with Jason & the Argonauts (another Harryhausen inspired feature), this was my favourite film as a kid and it still gets me going.

Fantasy, adventure, action, swords, flying creatures, monsters, witches, heroes, villains, Gods and romance...there isn't anything else they could have fitted into this film.

Fun Fact: a sequel entitled Force of the Trojans was proposed to MGM in 1984, sadly not to be realized.
Screen writer Beverley Cross (married to Maggie Smith-also in this film and looking rather lovely back then) also wrote Jason & the Argonauts.

The Black Hole

This Walt Disney produced Sci-fi was created to challenge Star Wars for space supremacy...however, you'd be hard pressed to find one in twenty folk that'd ever heard of it. That's not to say that it's a bad film, far from it, it was simply that the studio had clearly never seen Star wars, if they had, they would never have imagined that The Black Hole could or would compete against the original space western.

Plot: The film charts the story of a team of space travelers who come across a mad scientist and get caught up in his diabolical scheme, kind of a mixture of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, The Island of Dr Moreau and possibly a bit of James Bond baddiness too.

I remember seeing this as a young boy and thinking that I didn't get it. It didn't do what it set out to do. There were no star fights, no aliens, there were some lasers and a few robots, but I'd say that's the only thing that made me persevere to the end.

It had real potential too...

...Alan Dean Foster wrote the screenplay (collaborator on Star Wars), music by John Barry (Jaws!!!!!), starred Ernest Borgnine (The Dirty Dozen) and Anthony Perkins (Psycho) yet this film fell so far from it's intended audience, it may well have vanished into it's own black hole.

At an estimated $20,000,000 budget (the most spent on a single film by Disney at that time-1979), you can see why they may have assumed success. The film made it's money back, but given the laundry list of positives this film should have had going for it, more was surely expected.

Cult yes, good...hmmm, it's just so very different. It's like a space horror...the first though. Not really for kids.

The Lost Boys

Before Keifer Sutherland did 24, before Jason Patric did Speed 2-Cruise Control, after the two Corey's (Haim and Feldman) did Goonies and before Alex Winter did Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure/Bogus Journey...there were, The Lost Boys.

In 1987, Joel Schumacher (Batman & Robin and Tigerland) created a teen vampire horror (not Twilight!). This told the story of two brothers and their mom, who relocate from Arizona to Califor NI AAYY, for a fresh start, following a divorce and move in with grouchy grand-dad.

Covering The Doors classic 'People are Strange', Echo & The Bunnymen's version opens up the film and sets the theme for the entire movie, dark and thrilling.

Older brother 'Patric' gets involved with a gang, 'cos he fancies this chick and it turns out he's a victim of peer pressure and ends up drinkin' this 'drink'...he doesn't know, but we do, don't we folks...that's right, Pat's on his way to full Vampire-dom. Except, Corey Haim (younger bro) has started going to the comic book store, met these 'cool' guys that know about wierd stuff going on around the place and recognize the symptoms in Corey's older bruv.

So, they decide to sort it!

Line of the film: "Something I could never stand about this town...all the Damn Vampires"!

Ghostbusters

In 1984, the entire world was gripped by one concern and only one...

...forget that this is the year that Apple Macintosh was born, forget the Sarajevo Winter Olympics, the US pulling out of Beirut, space shuttle Challenger landing for the first time at the Kennedy Space Center, Ronald Reagan calling for a ban on chemical weapons, Sweden winning the Eurovision song contest with 'digg-loo, diggi-ley, the Soviets (remember them?) boycotting the LA Olympics, Virgin Atlantic making its inaugural flight...forget all that, the only thing that 1984 citizens of the world cared about was,  if there was a ghost in ya closet, under ya bed or flying around ya chandeliers...Who were they gonna call?!

With one sequel (Ghostbusters II) possibly another in 2012 (if you believe the press) and a non too shabby animated series (The Real Ghostbusters), Ghostbusters stands the test of time as The ghost story for a generation, then another generation and presumably, every generation until the lads (Murray, Ackroyd, Ramis & Reitman) decide that's enough.

Budget: £30,000,000
Gross: $291,632,124

Fun Fact: Slimer appears on behalf of The Real Ghostbusters in the animated, anti-drug, TV special Cartoon All-stars to the Rescue.

Firefox

Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, Firefox tells the cold war story of retired pilot Mitchell Gant, recalled to active duty (having retired to a secluded house in the country to recover from Vietnam trauma) to infiltrate a high security testing base in communist Russia (USSR) and steal their prototype fighter plane, the MiG 31 or Firefox.

As cold war dramas go, this is fun on a variety of levels. Espionage, flashbacks, disguises and general spyi...ness, this film has it all and then some.

The final scenes in the air are striking and certainly, in this reviewers opinion, make ample use of the relatively modern 'reverse' bluescreen and a $21,000,000 budget. Despite the poor reception at the box office, like many of the films on this site (Hell comes to Frogtown not withstanding), Firefox has more than made it's initial outlay back, three times at present.

Fun Fact: Sadly the sequel, written by author Craig Thomas, Firefox Down, was never made into a motion picture. I wait with baited breath and quite probably deluded hope.

Kelly's Heroes

Possibly, probably, almost definitely the best world war II film ever made!

You should all watch it and here's why...Clint Eastwood, Don Rinkles (for his name alone), Donald Sutherland. Telly Savalas and directed by Brian G.Hutton (Where Eagles Dare-also starring Clint).

Kelly (Clint) is mid-interrogation of a German officer and comes across a lead bar in his bag of papers. Now, usually this would be used to weight down the bag in a river so the enemy forces (Yanks) didn't get em, however, on this occasion Kelly spies something odd...it's sparkling. A little scraping later and Kelly and the officer are drinking away merrily so Kelly can find out where there are more of these 'Lead' bars (they're Gold..figured I best spell that out).

So, Kelly finds out that there's rather a lot of Gold bars (around 14,000) in a bank...kinda way, way behind enemy lines (Krauts) and to get there, he's gonna need some help. Cue the battle hardened Master Sergeant "Big Joe" (Telly), the whiney "Crapgame" (Don) and beatnik Sherman Tank Commander "Oddball" (Donald).

You have to see this film to believe it.

Iconic and Cult in the same league as The Italian Job...I'm not sure I could praise this one any higher.

Line of the film- "why don't you knock it off with all those negative waves man?!"

Flash Gordon

FLASH...arh arrrrrhhhhh...


That's right bitches, Flash is the man.

The Sci-fi legend has been rewarded with a resurgence recently, in the form of another TV serial...how good that is, is clearly debatable. However, what we do know is that the 1980, Queen inspired, Mike Hodges directed, Max Von Sydow starring film, is without a doubt, cult Sci-fi.

Leading actor Flash (Sam J.Jones-a Chicago born former marine) falls victim to a thunder storm, along with love interest Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) and the airplane they are flying in crashes, somewhat fortuitously into the research laboratory of "Mad" scientist Dr Hans Zarkov, recently shit-canned from NASA. As it happens, Dr Z has been ranting and raving for a wee while about the end of the world at the hands of an unknown force out, somewhere in space and as such, figured he'd build his own space rocket and have a jaunt to figure the whole thing out.

So, Dr Z can't pilot the thing alone and being a tad nervous, kidnaps all american football star Flash and reporter Dale and they take of, amid raining 'hot hail' stones. They crash land, again, on planet Mongo this time and then, all the fun starts.

How can this film have been a commercial failure I hear you scream?!

God only knows. What I do know is that this film more than made up for it's losses at the box office with video and dvd sales and has since become Iconic...if only for Mr Sydows' shirt collars.

...he's the saviour of the Universe! 

Spaceballs

Y-"Use the ring Lone Star".

LS-"I can't, I lost the ring".

Y-"Forget the ring, the ring is bupkiss, I won it in a crackerjack box!"


Mel Brooks (Legend!), Rick Moranis (Little Shop of Horrors), John Candy (The Great Outdoors & Uncle Buck), Joan Rivers (Look Who's Talking) and Bill Pullman (Independence day & Timescape)...All Star cast!

Parody of Star Wars and every Sci-fi to that date, Spaceballs tracks the lives of Han Solo and Chewbacca...oh wait...I mean Lone Star and Barf. Two Intergalactic smugglers in deep trouble with Pizza the Hut. To offset their debt, they agree to rescue Princess Vespa and her android (Joan Rivers) from the Spaceballs (the empire), who fly about space in a galactic statue of liberty...don't ask why.

Anyway, long story short, Lone Star learns the power of the Schwartz (Jewish force), fights the evil Dark Helmet and rescues/falls in love with the Princess (Daphne Zuniga).

Best cameo ever....John Hurt as a space diner customer ordering the special and reliving his birth scene from Alien. Awesome!

Razorback

If you read the earlier post regarding Piranha, you'll notice that I forgot to reference this film...for shame!

Directed by LEGENDARY Australian filmmaker, Russel Mulcahy (Highlander & Highlander 2), we are treated to a gore fest the like of which the outback hicks of Oz had rarely witnessed before.

Razorback charts the story of a voracious, massive, wild Boar (well, he's clearly not house broken) who goes around killin' and eatin' folk. A few people try to stop him and there's a meat processing factory in the little town. Not much else to this story, really.

Fun Fact: the dvd has extra features, one of which is a featurette entitled; Jaws on Trotters.

This was Mulcahys' debut feature, the DOP was Dean Smeler (Mad Max 2) and rolling in at $5.5 million Aussie Dollars...whoof! Or snort snort as the case may be.

Forbidden Planet

This film is not only a cult film, it's a cinematic classic.

Shot in 1956, the MGM studio created, in conjunction with director Fred M. Wilcox, possibly the most relevant Sci-fi film ever produced. As with many films of this genre (this one happened to be one of the first), we are exposed to morality and human frailty.

Starring Leslie Neilsen (Naked Gun, Naked Gun 2 1/2 & Naked Gun 33 1/3) who, leading the United Planets Cruiser C-57D (a flying saucer-complete with under floor glowing lights, think Fast and the Furious, but earlier) lands on a planet to look for an errant Doctor. As it turns out, the Doctor and daughter (his mrs having died some years previously) live a very relaxed life with their "futuristic" 50's house, house robot, Robby (Cameo appearance in Gremlins & The Invisible Boy) and their mini zoo (complete with Tigers).

All seems tranquil, until the snooping United Planets crew stumble across the Doctors big secret...Aliens!

It smacks of 1950's America and that's the beauty of it. It's a timeless film both for the fact that it's set in this fantasic, dated future and the romanticism and idealism that the film commands.

Fun Fact: Robby the Robot cost MGM $125,000...in 1956 and Warner Bros, with Babylon 5 guru Michael J.Straczynski are in current pre-production on the remake.

The Omega Man

Right, so it's 1971 and Charlton Heston has decided to make a Sci-fi movie. What does he pick? He picks a tragically, laughable adaption of the Richard Matheson classic story I am Legend, previously shot as The Last Man On Earth, with Vincent (Hammer Horror) Price. There's even been two more film adaptions; I am Legend (Will Smith) and I am Omega (Mark Dacascos-Double Dragon).

Plot: Last bloke on Earth, also happens to be a doctor, searching for a cure to a disease that has created mutant fellas and fell-etes, who roam the street at night. This at least means that Mr Heston has the entirety of the day to do what he wants. This includes boosting cars from showrooms, robbing clothes out of JC Penny or somewhere and watching Woodstock at the cinema for the hundredth time since the world went to pot. He finds a chick, they do "stuff" and he goes on trying to cure the world. There is more, but I'd hate to spoil it.

The best scene in the entire film is actually the beginning, when you see desolate streets throughout the city and Heston joy riding. It's actually a very well executed and I might even say beautiful piece of cinematography.

Now, I'm aware that telling you the best part of the film is the beginning might entice some of you to watch just that, but you'd be missing out. Sci-fi from the 1950's-80's has something that modern Sci-fi don't (I ignore the 90's...urgh!), it has innocence and often heart. They also often have very bad make-up that is quite amusing. Case in point.

Chopping Mall

I kid you not.

Yes, it is DIRE...but it is certainly a b-movie and very nearly cult...you just need to tell your friends.

Plot: Teenagers finish work at their Mall jobs and arrange to have a little party in the furniture store (it's the 80's, so it's all about the beds). However, the owners of the Mall stores have only that very morning decided to trial a new security system...Mall bots (robot security guards). Well, the parties in full swing and everyone is having a grand time, including the up tight kid, who's been set up with a nice girl. So, everyone's kissing and "stuff" (that'll be my euphemism for tits and shaggin') when a lightning storm hits the robot control box (safely located on the roof) and short circuits (that's right, I slipped another eighties robot movie reference in there) the now 'Killbots' and guess what happens next?...oh wait...did I give it away?

The robots appear so slow that it beggars belief that the director and the designer of said 'bots' thought they'd even come close to scary or dangerous. The poster is silly too, no where in the entire movie is there a robotic/zombie/demon armed creature holding a shopping bag...shame.

Budget: $800,000
Gross: probably a darn sight less.

B-movie, yes. Cult movie?...maybe one day.

Vanishing Point

"This radio station is named Kowalski,..."

A road movie, THE road movie!

The plot is simple, but the lead character is anything but. Kowalski (Barry Newman) is a former race car driver, motorbike rider, cop and now, delivery driver of cars across the United States. Framed by his former police partner in a drug bust (after stopping his attempted rape of a girl), Kowalski now travels the free life, popping speed and driving at 'high' speeds. His mission, is to deliver a white, 1970, Dodge Challenger to San Francisco. To do this on time, Kowalski will have to drive rather fast, avoid road blocks and dodge helicopters at every turn.

Imagine the chase scene from The Blues Brothers at the end...this whole film is like that, but even better.

A man liberated from the system. A sign of the times. The Last American Hero?!

CULT. Legend

Critters

They Bite!

Furry little space monsters, with sharp teeth and a proclivity for devouring any and all life, escape a stellar prison, commandeer a ship (that'll be of the space variety), crash land on Earth, hide out in a barn and scare all the nice folks there abouts with their rolling into balls and firing spikes at people...then eatin' them. On their trail are a pair of inter-galactic bounty hunters, they morph their appearance to blend in and one even choses to mimic a Playboy model...shame.

This first of the four films, filmed in 1986, starred Dee Wallace-Stone (E.T. & Alligator 2: The Mutation) and a bit part for Billy Zane, the second-written by director David Twohy (Pitch Black & The Chronicles of Riddick), with Leonardo Di-Caprio (yep HIM) in the third, Critters 3: You Are What They Eat and Angela Bassett in Critters 4: Critters in Space.

Budget: $2,000,000

Gross: $13,167,232

Seems being involved with the Critters franchise is good for your career.

I've, uh...seen them all :-(

I was young OK! Impressionable! I blame my brother!..The first one's fun though.

Fun Fact: Scriptwriting on this film actually started prior to that of Gremlins. Due to re-writes, the film was delayed and followed Gremlins by two years.

Piranha

In 1978, in the wake of Jaws (wake, get it?) the world decided, or Hollywood (get the two so mixed up some times), that Joe Dante (Gremlins), having not done much by then, should make a scary film about really small fish, with teeth, that are released from a military reservoir by a silly insurance investigator woman and then start nibbling on summer paddlers in the resort down the road.

You can't say that doesn't sound...

...AWESOME!!!!!!

This lead to one sequel (Piranha II: The Spawning), one 1995 remake, Piranha (starring, a very young Mila Kunis-That 70's Show) and the very recent, Piranha 3D...I'm just surprised it didn't happen in the 80's, when 3D was used for the third Jaws film. Although, that was a rather large failure.

If you like this and you will, there's a whole spool more of these type of crazed animal flicks listed below.

Grizzly, Tintorera, Orca, Tentacles, Monster Shark, Alligator and Great White...to name but a few.

Hell comes to Frogtown

Now, it doesn't take much to figure out, this is not the kind of motion picture destined for Oscar glory.
If I were to be honest, I only happened upon it a week or two ago.
I'm so glad I did.

Starring 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper, fresh from his triumphant turn in They Live, Rowdy plays Sam Hell, one of few potent men left in the USA, following a nuclear war that decimated much of the world and at the same time, mutated...Frogs? Yeah, Frogs are now Frog men (the frog masks are brilliant) and live in Frogtown. No real explanation on that one, sorry.

Any who, Sam Hell is captured by the lady run US government and made to agree to shag the ovulating women of the world, so as to re-populate...poor old Sam. There is a catch though, Hell has to wear a chastity belt (wouldn't want him wasting all those mini-Sams in there) that also acts as a bomb and will explode if he gets too far away from his 'handler'. So, Hell and two chicks have to go rescue some potentially receptive women from Frogtown, as they were captured and are all pacifists. Women! Eh!

Um, there's a sequel...or three.

The second (Return to Frogtown) has Rowdy replaced, but there is light at the end of the tunnel...Lou Ferrigno's in it, TV's Hulk!!!!!  

I wouldn't recommend the follow ups and honestly, I don't know how a studio allowed it in the first place.

Hell comes to Frogtown can barely be described as a b-movie, but judging by the posters for the sequels,  at least it's not a c-movie.

Silly, random, odd, bizarre and strangely enjoyable.

They Live

"I came here to chew bubble gum and kick some ass...and I'm all outta bubble gum!"

Plot: 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper (WWE Superstar & Hell comes to Frogtown) stars as a drifter, who winds up on a shanty town in downtown LA, in search of some construction work. While helping out at the communal soup kitchen, Mr Piper meets Keith David (The Thing & Pitch Black), another transient worker and the pair form a bond. Very soon it's clear that there are supremely different class structures in this society, the Elite and the rest.

Rowdy, off on a wander, happens upon a pair of sun glasses, however, when he dons said shades, he sees the world for what it really is. To the naked eye, all people look just fine, but under the lens of some rather dated and original 3D looking eye wear, Rowdy sees aliens (their faces look all drippy). He also happens to see subliminal messages everywhere he looks. Buy Buy Buy...

Rowdy don't like this! Rowdy go all wrestler on their asses! Rowdy Rocks!

Fun Fact: Upon it's release and not until sometime later was this bested (2000's ish), the pivotal scene in this film, a fight between the main stars, Rowdy and Keith, was the longest fight captured on film.

Well worth the entrance fee in 1988 and certainly worth the £4-5 you'll pay to own this delight on dvd.

Escape from New York

Another John Carpenter turn.

Set in a post-apocalyptic New York city, now a walled in prison, the President of the United States (Donald Pleasence) crash lands in an Air Force One escape pod, after the aircraft is taken over by terrorists.  Up against the clock, it's up to the soon to be interred prisoner, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) to go into the prisoner controlled bedlam and rescue the President before a deadline for a peace summit passes (the US is at war you see...).

As ever, John Carpenter does the music, as he did with the iconic Halloween (dun dudda dun dun...dun dudda dun dun...) clearly relying heavily on that new fangled invention, the Synth.

BBC computer special effects and a cast of aging stars (Lee Van Cleef, Isaac Hayes and Ernest Borgnine) lend style and substance to an endearing and delightful end of the world moral tale.

Watch it.

You can even watch the sequel, Escape from LA...but it's not really worth it.

Escape from New York cost only $6,000,000, it made $50,000,000 worldwide. That tells you something, surely.

Tron

Awesome.

Review done!...






Maybe I should write some more...?

Directed by Steven Lisberger (Slipstream & Tron: Legacy-writer/producer) , starring Jeff 'The Dude' Bridges and produced by Disney...Tron is THE cult film. the word Cult was invented for Tron!


Premise? Ok...

Jeff worked for a computer/software design company and while working late, took it upon himself to design a whole range of games. Some chap stole em, presented them as his own work and now he runs the company. Jeff on the other hand, runs his own video games arcade, beats the high score on his own creations and is constantly looking for the evidence to get the rights back.

While searching, some old buddies come to his aide (one's a really hot chick, Cindy Morgan-Caddyshack and the other is Bruce Boxleitner-Babylon 5) and they decide to break into the company. While Jeff is at a terminal, conveniently located in front of a matter transporter, Jeff is zapped into the computer world and made to interact as a character in his own games.

Budget: $17,000,000

Gross: $33,000,000 (US alone)

It's all neon...y and stuff.

Totally Awesome! Well good and stuff.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Ted Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves-Point Break & The Matrix flicks) and Bill S. Preston Esq (Alex Winter-Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey...not much else really) are a couple of dopey, slacker, high school failures, with dreams of rock star status...problem...they can't play. Turns out, they will figure it out someday and become saviours of humanity...however, to get to that stage, they have to pass final grade history. To do this, comedian George Carlin comes back from the distant future in a time traveling phone booth and tells em how to sort it. Awesome!


Directed by Stephen Herek (Critters & The Mighty Ducks), this film that cost $10 mil to make...made...any guesses...?

$40,485,039 (domestic), that doesn't include video, dvd, blu ray and other kinds of sales. WOW.
No surprise it spawned a sequel...and I love it more?! Possibly.

There was even a TV series...pretty good too.

Stand By Me

Were you a young boy in the 1980's? Yes? Then why the hell are you reading this?! You've seen this film a hundred times! At Least!!

Everyone who hasn't seen this 'Masterpiece'...shame on you!

Stand By Me was THE coming-of-age film. It created the genre. 

Directed by Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride & Throw Momma From The Train) this film follows the story of four best friends, Gordie (Will Wheaton-did some Star Trek-Next Generation stuff), Chris Chambers (River Phoenix-Explorers & Indiana Jones-The Last Crusade), Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman-The Lost Boys) & Vern Tessio (Jerry O'Connell-Sliders & Pirahna 3D).

Vern is looking for a jar of pennies he buried at the beginning of the summer, under his folks patio, when he over hears his brother and his gang buddy talking about a missing boy that they found dead along the train tracks. Vern tells the other boys and they decide they want to be heroes and also see the dead body. As the boys walk the tracks they dodge trains, fall pray to leeches, escape killer dogs and continuously tell each other what they'd do to the others Moms. All in good jest you understand.

I can't write a review that'd do this film justice. I watched it when I was maybe, eight, the first time, watched it again recently...it's still THAT good!

Adapted from a Stephen King Novella, I can only wonder why a man of such iconic talents (Shawshank Redemption) wastes half his time writing trash horror. 

Don't get me wrong, some of that stuff is good, but please, why not create more of these life changing films?

Explorers

Pick of the week.


Hands up if you've seen Explorers?

One, two...is that your hand up at the back? Don't be shy. Three, right. Well, you're my people.

This film is the sci-fi film of the decade, the 80's decade I mean. Directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins!...and Pirahna) and starring a stellar cast (get it?!...more bad puns to come, bear down folks), that's Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix, Explorers tells the story of Ben (Hawke), he loves his sci-fi nonsense, reads all the trash novellas, watches War of the Worlds and is a staunch follower of drive-in sci-fi sitcoms. One night, Ben has this dream about flying over a giant circuit board. Turns out, his mates (Phoenix, etc) had the same dream...weird huh? Well, they decide to build a spaceship, using the schematics they dreamt (smart lads these) and pop out to see who's up there.

Think, Goonies in space.

Industrial Light and Magic are responsible for the special effects and Academy award winner, Jerry Goldsmith (Poltergeist & Chinatown) the musical score. Placing number 7 on the Top 11 Underrated Nostalgia Classics, it's easy to see why the word Cult lends itself to this romp. If I say romp, I mean it folks.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Directed by Jamie Uys (he did the second in the five film series too), this film is set in Botswana and South Africa, we follow the story of the Sho tribe, in particular, Xi (bloke). The idea is a delightful one. Shot and set in 1980, Xi and the tribe are having a nice relaxing day doing what folk who have never met anyone from the outside world do, cooking, playing, hunting...that sort of thing. Then, out of the sky, literally, a litter bug pilot drops an empty Coca Cola bottle (the classic style-glass) out the window. It lands in the tribes back yard, doesn't break though, that was lucky eh?...or was it?...ahhhhh.

Turns out that the Sho have no knowledge of material wealth, jealously or violence...until they all realize that they like the Gods' plaything a little too much. They decide to get rid. That means taking it to the end of the Earth and binning it. Xi's the man for the task and the end of the Earth happens to be about fifty miles away...they reckon.

On Xi's journey he discovers both, that the Earth doesn't end so soon and there be white folk out there. It's all a little odd for Xi and hilarity ensues.

Sounds a bit of a nut ball film, it is. It's also heart felt, funny, warm and...educational.

I love it! I haven't seen the other films, but I imagine they end up ruining the quirky premise.

This one is worth watching. Cult is accurate for this film too. If you google the images, you'll even find President Obama has been immortalized on a mock-up version of the dvd cover...honour indeed.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

You all know what this film is, but for those weird ones out there, the ones that have never seen a Bond film or Star Wars, here's the plot and a little more.

There's these turtles and they live in a sewer, they're mutated (from this odd ooze like stuff), they're all teenagers (meaning they love pizza and say silly things like Cowabunga) and let me think...I'm missing something...??? Ah yes...They're Ninjas!!!!

How can this not fascinate you?!
How can you not be desperate to see this movie?!

Characters: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael (they'll be the turtles), their Master (Splinter-he's a, um...Rat), they have an arch enemy, Shredder (he's the tall fella in the metal mask) and his gang (the Foot clan).

Ok, so they have fights and jump around a lot and use nun chucks and swords, staffs and things to beat bad guys up. It's all good, clean fun for all the family.

The good guys fight the bad guys and occasionally skateboard and such. There's a reporter, April O'Neal and some vigilante bloke called Casey Jones (Elias Koteas-the only one to have a career after his or her TMNT experience), they hate each other, but really I think they actually like each other, but don't tell them that, it'd ruin the love interest bit.

It is cult film. The franchise spans two live action sequels (secret of the Ooze and the not so imaginatively titled, III) a computer animated fourth outing (TMNT- released in 2007) and a TV show, renamed for the time of the day it aired as, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. It seems Hero is preferable to Ninja, but the network had no quarms over promoting Mutants...curious.

Directed by Steve Barron (never heard of the fella, but he did a load of music videos-Billie Jean-Michael Jackson and Electric Avenue-Eddie Grant, to name but a few), this might explain the soundtrack, MC Hammer and the now legendary, "Turtle Power" rap by Partners in Kryme, the look and feel of the film is ideal for an entire generation.

Previous decades would ask the question, where were you when the Berlin Wall fell, well,

I ask you...

Where were you when you first saw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?!

Sing it with me folks, T.U.R.T.L.E Power!

Big Trouble In little China

It's Amazing!

Obviously I won't be sugar coating this post.

Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) is a truck driver, popping through San Francisco's China town district, when his mate's mrs is kidnapped by some bad guys. Jack is enlisted to help rescue her. There's gangs (Good and Bad), kung-fu, guns, monsters, mystical stuff, magic and luuuuurve.

It's awesome, truly.

Directed by John Carpenter (you'll read a lot about his films in later blogs), we are blessed with all manner of wit and whimsy. This is technically a b-movie, but it is most assuredly a Cult Classic. Oddly enough, I almost ignored it in Woolworths at the age of 8. It was my Mum that made me buy it. A film that would soon become a favourite in my then, video collection. Thanks Mum.

It's got Kim Cattrall in it (she was very lovely then) and has the best musical score this side of They Live (another Carpenter gem).

It's one of those films that, despite the box office failure, became Cult through home video sales and you'd be struggling to miss it in any and all good retailers. There's even talk of a sequel...! Yippieee!!!

  

Maximum Overdrive

Ok, here we go...

So, the Earth is caught in the tail of a comet, due to pass by in eight days. However, it seems a by product of the fancy light show we're supposed to witness, is the injection of homicidal tendencies into every electrical and mechanical device on the planet...that includes battery operated carving knives.

It's a Stephen King novel, adapted by the maestro himself. Starring a rather young Emilio Estevez as a parolee, working in a truck stop diner, for a nasty boss. Some chick, hitchin' a ride with a bible sales man (yep, it's set in North Caroliiiina!) arrives and Emilio wastes little time (hot damn boy!).

So, the trucks go mental, circle the diner, trap everyone inside and they have to get away, the end.

It's not a deep story. It's badly directed, in what must be King's first outing at adapting his own stuff. The camera work is shoddy at best and the cast has little to do but run around.

All that being said, it's a b-movie. We need more of them, because this is throw away film fodder and it's fun!

Laputa-Castle in the Sky

Castle in the Sky, it does what it says on the tin. If ever there was a film that delivers everything you might request in a fantasy story, this is it.

Watching 'Laputa-Castle in the Sky' as a child, I had no knowledge of what I was seeing, short of a wonderous film and that it would later form the basis for my university dissertation. I saw the initial dubbed version as an eight year old boy and instantly, my brother and I made it our staple film. I don't mean to gush, I truely don't, but it is 'wonderous'! Based on the film-maker's knowledge of Wales, that's right, and his reading of Dianne Wynne Jone's novels, Hayao Miyazaki set about to create a grounded basis for a fantastical film. 

The story takes place in a mining town (deliberately not named) and centres around the day to day life of our lead character Pazu (voiced by Mayumi Tanaka, Barbara Goodson-yes, a lady as a boy-hmm, bart anyone? and James Van der Beek-yeah, him?!), an orphan, working in a mine. There is initially and throughout the greatest sense of family in this film, that being the subtle message that permeated this man's childhood experience.

One day, Pazu looks up from the winch platform he operates and a blue glow is descending from the heavens. He bounds over to the centre of the machine and realizes he's seeing a girl, floating into his arms...and then suddenly crashing into them. Being a good lad, Pazu takes her to his deceased father's home and seeks to nurse her back to health, while also looking after his menagere of pidgeons (Wales you see?). 

As it transpires, Sheeta (that's the lassies name) has escaped from the government and would really rather not go back. The blue glow? Well that's the levatation pendant her mum gave her when she was a kid. Long story short and I wouldn't want to write it all here for you anyway, this is THE boys story! Think how you felt when you saw 'Princess Bride', it's the animated equivilent of that. There are Pirates (good guys), the Government (bad guys), extended family, chivalry, chase scenes, airships, planes, trains, automobiles, fights, floating islands and there's even your introduction to love.

Hayao Miyazaki. He's the chap that everyone speaks about now and rightly so. For many in the west (until Disney bought the Ghibli studio) an unknown talent, a newly discovered film-maker that has happily got an extensive back catalogue. Whether you had the luxury of growing up on his films, as so many Japanese children did and I unwittingly did, or whether you take the time know to familiarize yourself with any and all (My Neighbour Totoro being the stand out feature) of these stories, the Ghibli Studio as a whole is that must see event.