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Retro Cinema

Exploitationeers! Get Ready for the Cinemapocalypse!

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:15:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Classics, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Mystery & Suspense, Guilty Pleasures, Retro Cinema

So if you've spent more than three or four nights at Austin's Alamo Drafthouse theater (Ritz or South Lamar, take your pick), then you're already somewhat familiar with the movie mania that pours out of the place(s). Well, a good deal of that geekery comes from on high, starting with Head Alamofo Tim League and leading directly to his lunatic lieutenants Lars Nilsen and Zack Carlson.

Aside from being ridiculously nice guys who love really weird things like Ball Rooms and Doris Wishman movies, Zack and Lars can often combine, not unlike the Wonder Twins, and create the biggest movie geek you've ever seen. All the pre-show Alamo stuff? These guys. All the wacky trivia shows, cult-favorite guest appearances, and sleazoid extravaganzas? Zack and Lars. Hell, they even have days of the week to call their own: Terror Tuesdays are all Zack's and Weird Wednesdays are Nilsen's domain. Yes, this is how I talk about all my friends. Especially when they concoct something like Cinemapocalypse! A whole bunch of old-school, sticky-floor, grindhouse-level C-grade movies hand-picked by Zack and Lars, and soon to be touring all across the left-hand side of the nation.

A flick through the event's official blog indicates that there'll be no shortage of sweaty cinema to sift through -- but of course I'll name my favorites: Oooh, a double feature of Vice Squad and Tourist Trap. Bring it on. Bill Lustig's Vigilante, followed by the outrageous Raw Force and the undeniably awesome Escape from New York? Dear lord, that's fun. Chained Heat, Gator Bait, AND The Return of the Alien's Deadly Spawn? Ugh, now that's just unfair. For a whole lot more on this event, the flicks at hand, the venues to invade, please do point your browser on the Cinemapocalypse blog and tell 'em Weinberg sent you. (I get slightly discounted sodas if you tell 'em I sent you.)

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Retro Review: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Wed, 21 May 2008 22:15:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Remakes and Sequels, Retro Cinema

The prologue to Steven Spielberg's irresistible Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade tells you all you need to know about the upcoming movie: It's going to be fast-paced and energetic, nostalgic and warm, fun for new fans ... but definitely a treat for the faithful. It's a fantastic early-career mini-adventure for Indiana Jones, here played quite wonderfully by the late River Phoenix, as he bounds through caverns, races across the desert, and turns a circus train into a chaotic mess. This opening sequence is a fantastic mini-movie all by itself. And then the real fun begins ...

After taking a lot of finger-wagging from the mommies of the world, series creators George Lucas and Steven Spielberg decided to lose the nasty edge that was so prevalent in the previous film (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) and hearken back to the old-fashioned charms found (everywhere) in the original Raiders of the Lost Ark. The treasure this time around is nothing less than The Holy Grail, but (as usual) the relic means a whole lot less than what it does to the people around it. Plus we've also got a sneaky, sexy German spy; a big fistful of meticulously crafted action scenes; and, of course, the stately presence of Mr. Sean Connery as Indiana Jones' papa. (Seriously, who else could be Indy's dad besides James Bond?)

Continue reading Retro Review: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Retro Review: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Tue, 20 May 2008 21:02:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Fandom, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Remakes and Sequels, Retro Cinema

Early on in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indy turns to his soon-to-be love interest and his newfound sidekick - a singer in Shanghai's Club Obi Wan (Kate Capshaw) and a scrappy pickpocket (Ke Huy Quan), respectively - and intones, "I think we got a big problem." He's not kidding: the warning comes toward the end of a miraculous 20-minute opening sequence during which Dr. Jones gets poisoned while trying to exchange the remains of a dead emperor for a legendary diamond, plays floor hockey for the diamond and the antidote, impales someone on a kebab, crashes through a window behind a rolling metal gong, and stows away in a plane full of poultry only to have the pilots ditch and take the only parachutes with them. He then proceeds to leap out of the plane on a rubber life raft, which crashes off a cliff and careens down some vicious Indian whitewater. "Big problem" doesn't quite describe it; the torrent of obstacles and challenges that Spielberg and Lucas hurl at their hero in the first reel of this first sequel seems downright cruel. But their unkindness aside, the barreling momentum, brilliant staging, and breezy nonchalance of Temple of Doom's opening evoke something rarely found in Raiders of the Lost Ark and more rarely still in the rest of Steven Spielberg's career: a sense that Spielberg -- the master, the magician -- is at play.

Continue reading Retro Review: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)