CultFlicks.net

Rating:

Review

Groundbreaking and mind-bending, Reservoir Dogs historically introduces us to the dynamic and twisted mind of famed American director Quentin Tarantino. Though his career can almost entirely be dubbed “cult,” his mainstream appeal is still very much apparent. Though there is little doubt that this low-budget early 90’s gem brought the life of Tarantino’s aesthetic to the masses. Reservoir Dogs takes a group of psychotic men to the brink when a botched robbery brings them circling around who to trust and who is out to out the entire group. there are plenty of homages to crime films of many eras, and the film is almost seen as a homage to crime film making as a whole. The film is violent, twisted, and accounts for some of the most iconic scenarios in modern crime films. It can be said that Tarantino began a new trend of homaging old school films and bleeding turmoil for all with 1992’s Reservoir Dogs.

Reason to Watch

The film acts as an early introduction to some fantastic actors with a great cast. One scene in particular is simply astonishing effective at being both emotional and merciless. Yet it is the introduction to Tarantino’s style and the films overt influences that makes it a worthy watch.

Context

The film is undoubtedly violent, but the plot structure and characterization creates some crime staples seen throughout many films following it. The film is intense and merciless in its construct, and is a stand towards what a directorial debut can accomplish with a fantastic cast and a blender of influence and creativity.

Most Memorable Quote(s)

• Joe: He was the only one I wasn’t 100% on. I should have my fuckin’ head examined, going on a plan like this when I wasn’t 100%. 
  Mr. White: [shouting] That’s your proof? 
  Joe: You don’t need proof when you have instinct. 
• Mr. Blonde: Listen kid, I’m not gonna bullshit you, all right? I don’t give a good fuck what you know, or don’t know, but I’m gonna torture you anyway, regardless. Not to get information. It’s amusing, to me, to torture a cop. You can say anything you want cause I’ve heard it all before. All you can do is pray for a quick death, which you ain’t gonna get.  You ever listen to K-Billy’s “Super Sounds of the Seventies” weekend? It’s my personal favorite. 
• Mr. Blonde: Eddie, you keep talking like a bitch, I’m gonna slap you like a bitch. 

What You Need to Get Through This Movie

A lack of knowledge of Pulp Fiction would be a great addition to your viewing experience. The film spoils the Tarantino style and arguably executes it better. Also, a color chart is a necessity, as every core character is based on a color. If you skipped grade school or never seen a rainbow, you may be confused.

Trivia

The film uses the word “fuck” 272 times.

The film completed final editing and pressing just 3 days before its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival

The film budget was so low, many actors wore their own clothes

Reservoir Dogs is consistenly ranked as one of the best heist films- a heist that happens entirely off screen

The film was filmed in just over a month

Director Quentin Tarantino plays Mr. Brown. he is also quoted as probably being the most inexperienced person on set

Mr. Blonde is considered the most ruthless, yet he is one of the only characters to never kill in the film

Educational Content

• Pink is a good luck color
• robberies are probably a bad idea

Justification for Rating

There are 8 key characters in the film, 1 star for every character that is a total Rambo badass

Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-qV9wVGb38

Rating:

Review

Demolition Man is one of the most relentless action movies not starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Before Steven Seagal made it cool, Wesley Snipes was killing innocent people left and right. Ok, not really, but Demolition Man is relentless, fast-paced, and totally MAN. There’s enough testosterone hear to fill a pool, which only barely makes sense, just like the science-fiction future plot lines threading through the whole first half of this movie. but when you realize it doesn’t have to make sense, and Sylvester Stallone is going to crack a skull, the movie becomes entirely clear- we are seeing action film at its best. Demolition Man is probably an hour and a half longer than it needs to be, but there is something truly special about a white man and a black man duking it out for the future of the races- in the future! that IS what this thing is about right?

Reason to Watch

Sandra Bullock is actually attractive here. Oh, and the final sequence is one of the best things ever put on film next to the middle half of Gone With the Wind, another relentless action flick.

Context

Demolition Man is stupidly awesome, and the best thing ever,  and if you want proof, look at the list of actors and the director, who has directed this movie ONLY and not another before or since.

Most Memorable Quote(s)

• John Spartan: You’re gonna regret this the rest of your life… both seconds of it. 
• Simon Phoenix: Wait a minute, this is the future. Where are all the phaser guns? 
• Boggle Guard: Mellow greetings. What seems to be your boggle?

What You Need to Get Through This Movie

Three cases of beer, a dead shark wrestled with your bare hands, and a pet grizzly bear who feeds you cake and recites lines all Stallone’s lines

Trivia

Sylvester Stallone wanted the Simon Phoenix character to be played by Jackie Chan. Chan refused, since Asian audiences don’t like the idea of actors who have always played heroes suddenly playing evil characters

The “ray gun” used by Wesley Snipes in the Museum Armory sequence is based on the Heckler and Koch G11, a prototype weapon for the German army that would have been the most advanced rifle in the world, firing caseless ammunition

Educational Content

Being frozen for 44 years has awkward side effects

Jackie Chan can’t play a villian

John Spartan, the name, induces immediate fear

Justification for Rating

No matter how you cut it, Demolition Man is pure badassery and unrelentingly violent and borderline misogynistic- hence the 9 rating

Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCagn9-OUQk

Rating:

Review

On the surface, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is not a good move. I would not disagree if you though it was, in fact, a terrible abysmal film. Yet Buckaroo Banzai does something few films have managed to do well- it was brilliantly spoofed the entire science-fiction genre. it has played on the cliches and basic ideological bullshit stuffed into them, while being engrossing and entertaining throughout. The film is smarter and better than most its peers, and stands as just a ridiculous example of film making. Everything about this film cries out as being the last calling card for all sci-fi byproducts. None are greater than the one that single-handedly mocked all the cliches of the times in one fell swoop.

Reason to Watch

Buckaroo Banzai might kick your ass if you do not. Personally, I like my ass intact and have ordered a new copy of Buckaroo Banzai Across whatever through Amazon.

Context

It’s like Dune, except not as pretentious and bloated and more streamlined and awesome.

Most Memorable Quote(s)

• Perfect Tommy: Pictures don’t lie. 
  Reno: The hell they don’t. I met my first wife that way. 
• John O’Connor: They’re only monkey-boys. We can crush them here on earth, Lord Whorfin. 

What You Need to Get Through This Movie

An awesome open mind and appreciation for Banzai, the Chuck Norris of his time.

Trivia

• The latitude and longitude recited by the technicians during the “alignment” of the Oscillation Overthruster are the coordinates of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• President Widmark is clearly intended to look and sound like Orson Welles, who directed and starred in the radio presentation of “War of the Worlds” referenced in the film.

Educational Content

Well, for starters, there is an 8th dimension

Science fiction films as a whole are sort of dumb, no matter how many dimensions they add

Justification for Rating

However you spin it, this science fiction spoof is smarter, wittier, and basically superior to any legitimate science-fiction film ever made. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy holds its own as a film, but this came out decades before and stands the test of the time as the final capstone on terrible science-fiction, and what a way to bow out.

Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NG8Ipk9CnU

Rating:

Review

There aren’t many things that have involved both Weird Al Yankovic and David Bowie. One known more for his quickly dated parody songs, the other as the experimental pop mastermind, these two men have made a calculated risk with UHF and over 20 years later, I’m still not sure if it did much of anything. UHF has both musicians playing “sort of” archetypes as themselves as George and Bob. George earns, through a series of events, the ability to run a quickly declining television station. he hires his friend Bob to help, and through a host of unrealistic and obnoxiously prototypical characters, we have chaos and “humour.” UHF isn’t all that funny, but it does show you that when a musician acts, it more often than not fails miserably. Sting tried it, Bob Dylan tried it, just doesn’t work unless your black.

Reason to Watch

If you are a fan of Weird Al or David Bowie, you may get a kick out of watching them pretend their not themselves by basically acting how they would act as musicians in the spotlight. Also, the Rambo scene.

Context

UHF is silly and harmless, and instead of hurting the career’s of those involved, it essentially kept everything completely and utterly neutral. Yay for film moving forward.

Most Memorable Quote(s)

• George Newman: Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs… all next week on Town Talk. 
• Stanley Spadowski: I’m thinkin’ of something orange. Something orange. Give up? It’s an orange. 
  Stanley Spadowski: Ok, now I’m thinkin’ of something blue. Something bluuuuuue. 
• Bob: I don’t know about this, George. We don’t know the first thing about what goes on in a television station. 
  George Newman: Don’t worry, Bob. It’s just like working in a fish-market. Except you don’t have to clean and gut fish all day. 

What You Need to Get Through This Movie

You may need Keanu Reeves from Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey to help out. I believe he’s a fan of both Weird Al, David Bowie, and arbitrary stupidity.

Trivia

After extremely positive feedback from test screenings, Orion Pictures concluded that this film was their sure-fire summer blockbuster. Unfortunately, the film was released during the summer of 1989 against huge films like Lethal Weapon 2, Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  It did turn a minor profit but wasn’t enough to save Orion. Following a string of box-office flops, Orion went bankrupt in the early 1990s.

The first cut of UHF was over 2 and a half hours, and where Weird Al still insists on not releasing the director’s cut, saying there was a reaosn those scenes did not make the film

During film, Weird Al had moles on his face removed. Some scenes they are visible, and others they are not

Educational Content

Even as an actor in a comedy film, Weird Al barely qualifies as funny

Justification for Rating

UHF is reminiscent along the lines of Wayne’s World, but ends up being only partly funny, because the whole time you are never attached to a character or itnerested in the paperthin spinning wheels recycled scenarios plot. Clever ideas tossed and turned around…

Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n1hKQULa9Y

Rating:

Review

Having been banned in countless countries, including rape scenes and controversy, and the utter hatred of the author who created the original story, the film version of A Clockwork Orange is polarizing and simply awesome. Stanley Kubrick is a tue visionary of the film medium, and by making a film so outwardly bizarre and controversial, it has essentially confirmed the film the status of “cult.” Yet despite the status, the film manages to say something about society, commercialism, greed, and corruption in a way that is so fresh and inventive it still stands the test of time as a primeir film of the horror divine. Kubrick is a cult mastermind, and A Clockwork Ornage arguably stands as his greatest creation in film-making.

Reason to Watch

Without getting into too great of detail, two scenes in particualr are enough to watch this film. it is also culturally historic. if you haven’t seen the move, i’m sure you’ve missed a few references to it in other areas. The cinematography is exquisite and astonishing effective in setting the mood. For you move newbies and dingdongs, that basically means it’s really cool to look at. On a final note, if you have no knowledge of Stanley Kubrick (or awesomeness) there’s no better place to start.

Context

The movie is not without its detractors. its controversy and message still holds up over time, and if you want to hear what all the fuss is about, might as well dive into the film right. it may offend you, even for its time, and it may keep you reeling from thoughts such as “how did they get away with that?” and “I want to learn cool dance moves and rape things.”

Most Memorable Quote(s)

• Alex: Welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, well. To what do I owe the extreme pleasure of this surprising visit? 
• P.R. Deltoid: I’ve just come from the hospital; your victim has died. 
  Alex: You try to frighten me. Admit so, sir. This is some new form of torture. Say it, Brother Sir. 
  P.R. Deltoid: It’ll be your own torture. I hope to God it’ll torture you to madness. 
• Chief Guard Barnes: Are you now, or have you ever been a homosexual? 

What You Need to Get Through This Movie

Hallucinogenic drugs wouldn’t hurt, though we would never condone behavior such as that. A bottle of Nightquil will do. Ok, maybe just a backscratcher. Do not watch with a new date!

Trivia

One of only two films to ever be nominated for an Academy Award to debut with an X rating.

The film’s first cut was just over 4 hours, a notorious typical action for Kubrick

Director Stanley Kubrick handled a large portion of the marketing for the film, a rarity, especially in the early 70’s.

The film largely uses a made up language, a mix of Russian, English, and slang words of both. It was an original invention of original author Anthony Burgess, which you would think makes the book unreadable but contrarily makes it amazing.

Educational Content

• Sex isn’t always fun or awesome
• The message: over saturation of media is bad, in case you haven’t heard that before
• You can change a person from bad to good if you force their eyeballs open and have them watch depictions of cute puppies cuddling

Justification for Rating

After it’s all said and done, A Clockwork Orange says more than most films ever could and does it more splendidly and with greater enthusiasm than most films could ever achieve- all capped with an unrivaled eye for perfection from director Stanley Kubrick.

Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C-20JyOgMY