The Goonies (1985)

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

If you want a pure unadulterated ride in to the middle of the eighties, “The Goonies” is an inadvertent trip in to the complete mindset of the decade. Cyndi Lauper, adventure, escapism, work out obsession, coming of age, nostalgia for the sixties, a humongous Steven Spielberg influenced narrative, Corey Feldman, Richard Donner, Jonathan Ke Quan, if it was in the eighties, it’s likely here. That doesn’t act as a caveat, thankfully, as “The Goonies” is a very decade relevant film that still manages to work as an excellent child oriented fantasy adventure in the vein of “The Hardy Boys.”

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Phantom of the Megaplex (2000)

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

I think one of the reasons why the DCOM “Phantom of the Megaplex” has now gone on to basic obscurity is that it’s one of the weirder movies the Disney Channel ever produced. It’s not just an ode to the love of movies, but it’s a call back to “The Phantom of the Opera.” Not only does the film draw heavily from the original story, sans the violence and murder, but it actually influences its audience to check out the Lon Chaney masterpiece. “Phantom of the Megaplex” is a busy and often messy horror fantasy, but one that works, mainly because the writers of the film clearly love movies as much as we do.

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20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

In the fifties, many horror and science fiction films spoke of two things. The nuclear age, and the potential dangers of space exploration. While the US tested radiation, and strived to bring their men to space to explore other planets, Hollywood explored such ideas and its negative effects through filmmaking in films like “Godzilla”, “The Day The Earth Stood Still”, “Them”, and another film that would come in 1968 changing the face of filmmaking and horror for decades to come, a much more grim grotesque exploration in to the potential consequences of bringing a foreign chemical home with us and eventually spell doom for the rest of the world through a familiar foe.

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King Kong (1933)

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

Film icon Faye Wraye plays Ann Darrow, an actress who accompanies an expedition crew to “Skull Island” to discover the god-like giant ape King Kong, a gigantic monstrous animal who is worshipped by tribes that inhabit the island. When Carl Denham seeks to kidnap Kong to bring him to New York to market off of his size and make money, Kong is put on display for all to see. But when he escapes from his restraints and begins wreaking havoc on the city seeking out Ann who he’s fallen in love with.

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Small Soldiers (1998)

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

Director Joe Dante’s “Small Soldiers” is sadly a film without an actual audience. It’s tame for horror fans, and may possibly be much too menacing for kids. And while the film had real potential to burst out with merchandise and tie-ins, the premise never lasted beyond a single film. That’s a shame, too, since the idea of psychotic toys wreaking havoc almost never gets boring. As a hardcore fan of the “Puppet Master” movies, “Small Soldiers” feels like a high tech remake that really manages to work as dark comedy, and creepy fodder for young boys. War toys working toward their initiatives and becoming violent is just a great idea, even if the premise is far-fetched.

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Little Monsters (1989)

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

The 1989 horror comedy from Richard Greenberg is definitely one of the best buddy comedies from the late eighties. While nostalgia is very kind to it, many years later it’s just a very good movie that hasn’t aged all that well. In either case, “Little Monsters” is a childhood classic I recall watching about three times a day for a month, and still loving. I was a seven year old horror fan and couldn’t get enough of this world presented to us on-screen. It also helped that the movie starred Fred Savage who, at the time, was the big name as a child star.

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Blade (1998)

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

Though the media often cites Bryan Singer for starting the comic book movie boom of the twenty first century with his adaptation of “X-Men,” most comic book fans argue that “Blade” really started it all. “Blade” was a scaled down production based on a popular comic book character and managed to present an epic story with a minimal budget. It’s ironic that the character that would restart the comic book movie boom was a kitschy seventies horror character known primarily for being one of the few minority superheroes in the Marvel Universe. The adaptation of the Marv Wolfman character manages to get the character just right.

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