The Car

More killer-vehical movies, this time, it's a rather large black muscle car with chrome and a distinct lack of driver.

Plot: James Brolin (Deputy Sheriff) lives in a small, dusty town with his two young daughters and his girlfriend. Happy, settled and enjoying a life of handing out parking tickets, until one day...
the entire town becomes a target for a car that revs its engine and honks its horn repeatedly before an ensuing attack. You only need wait 6.30mins for the first murder and the action never stops.

There have been quite a few films of this ilk, the previous review being an example, though not a great one.
The Car is pretty well acted, the direction is good and some of the dialogue is laughable because it's funny, a change from many others of the genre.

Budget: $ ?

Gross: $ ?

The critics panned the film, but I can only assume it's because they failed to enjoy it for what it was, malevolence gone rife...in a Lincoln Continental Mark III.

Fun Fact: The car was designed by George Barris, the fella that built the original Batmobile in the 60's and the Munster coach.

Killdozer

Yes, really. A film about a killer bulldozer!

Plot: A meteorite falls from space, impacting an island off the coast of Africa. As it happens, there's a construction team there levelling the beach for an oil drilling company. While 'dozing', one of the men touches the unearthed, blue glowing rock. He dies and the bulldozer absorbs the 'evil' powers of the meteor. Then it goes around 'dozing' people to death.

'Dozing' to death is the best term, considering the vehical can barely best 5mph and yet, it manages to 'off' the majority of the crew on the island.

This is one of the many maniacal motor movies, in the vein of The Car, Christine and Duel that came out in the mid 70's-early 80's...and with it being mercifully short (70 odd mins), it's just this side of tedious.

I'd love to meet the executive that 'green-lit' this project.

Fun Fact: Based on a 1944 story, where in the malevolent force originated from an underground temple, post WWII.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVBSGXj7HrM

Best of the Best

Just making it into the cult martial arts of the 1980's, Best of the Best is an action film comprising of all the elements the cold war and the 80's require.

Plot: Eric Roberts (Julia's much less talented brother) is a retired taekwondo dude, with a young son, who decides to have another crack at this beat-em-up stuff and joins the USA National side to fight Team Korea. That'd be fine, but Roberts has a gammy shoulder, there's a red-neck fella (Chris Penn-Reservoir Dogs), an angry, out for revenge for my brothers death fella, a buddhist and a tough fella from 'the streets'.

You know you want to watch this.

Don't get me wrong, it wouldn't be listed here if there weren't any redeaming features...er, er, er, oh yes!!!! It's got Darth Vader in it!

Gross: $1,700,000

Fun Fact: Small appearance by the maniacal nurse herself, Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over The Cukoo's Nest). Former UFC champ-Chuck Liddell says this is his favourite fightin' film.

Last Night

Plot: It's the last day on Earth.

You don't know why and thanks to some very adept film making, it doesn't matter. What matters is the individual reactions to this ending. David Cronenberg has taken it upon himself to call all the people his company provided power to and thank them (his assistant sticking around as she has a crush on the married man). Sandra Oh, Cronenbergs wife, (Grey's Anatomy) is out shopping for their last meal when her car is overturned and she can't get back in time to see him. Callum Keith Rennie (Battlestar Galactica, Californication) is trying to fit in all the sexual experiences he's ever wanted...including his mate, Don Mckellar (Director) and his former french teacher.

This film, set in Toronto, Canada, has an almost empty feel to it, as if the director had managed to take all the ambient joy out of the film and replace it by only what the actors bring...and it works extremely well.

Not always a fun film, but continually enthrawlling.

Budget: $2,300,000 (Canadian)

Fun Fact: An early role for Dawn of the Dead actress Sarah Polley. The film was voted 9th best Canadian film of all time...and this on Don Mckellar's debut.

Silver Bullett

Another of the Stephen King Stable of stories, this one starring Gary Busey (Point Break) and Corey Haim (Prayer of the Rollerboys, Lost Boys. R.I.P) with an appearance from Terry O'Quinn (Lost & West Wing).

Plot: Set in a quaint small town in America, where everyone likes everyone, murders begin occurring. Gruesome murders, heads flying off shoulders etc. Cue our hero, Corey Haim. On this occasion, Corey rides a suped up wheelchair, is around 11 years old and his uncle is Gary Busey. Not ya typical werewolf story, at least, not typical in that the hero is disabled.

Effects wise...so-so. Some of the transformation stuff is good, but at one point it looks like our bad guy is wearing a bear head or something equally rubbish.

Ok, not bad, no real zing to it, but the stand alone scene has to be when the fog engulfed lynch mob are attacked...watch out for the baseball bat, awesome!


Budget: $7,000,000

Gross: $12,361,563

Fun Fact: Gary Busey ad-libbed most of his lines, to the delight of the director, Daniel Attias and Stephen King. Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, Bubba Ho-Tep)was the original director, quitting when the were-wolf designs fell behind and progress stalled.

Prophecy

In 1979, John Frankeheimer directed this eco-horror staring Talia Shire (Rocky & The Godfather) and Armand Assante (Gotti & Judge Dredd).

Plot: Doctor in the ghetto and his concert cellist wife are tasked with mediating a dispute between loggers and Original People (American Indians) regarding their lands. As our doctor begins to investigate, he discovers a very large salmon, a tadpole the size of your fore arm, campers getting mauled to death and a whole lot more. There's also an irrate racoon and Armand Assante trying to be Indian.

Possible tagline...if you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a BIG surprise!

Budget: $12,000,000

Gross: $54,000,000

Fun Fact: Frankenheimer believed he failed to fully deliver on the promise of the book, mainly due to alcoholism...still made a fair bit o'change at the box office though.