Part two of the Adam West Batman series is probably my favorite installment so far, as it includes the famed crossover between The Green Hornet and Kato with the Caped Crusader. I always considered Green Hornet to be the superior series, so it’s a blast watching the pair of superheroes team up to stop what is a considerably lame villain. Granted, I would have loved to see them tackle the Joker, but beggars can’t be choosy.
The alternative to buying the two hundred buck Blu-Ray set is back once again, as Warner releases Batman Season two, Part One on DVD. Same bat time, same bat channel, just with lesser definition. I can definitely tolerate it not being blu-ray quality, and for folks looking for a less expensive alternative to owning the series, Warner is ensuring that they get their money’s worth by releasing every season in two separate parts. The series is about as good as ever, and depends on two factors: Either your nostalgia for the show, or your threshold for camp.
The oh so lovely Christine Nguyen is back in what is essentially a movie with the exact cast as “Sexy Warriors.” Though much more science fiction based, “Invisible Centerfolds” gets its kicks off of the comedy it mines from turning Christine Nguyen invisible. Think of it as the famous movie starring Claude Rains, except rather than a legendary male actor, it’s an obscenely sexy young Asian woman.
So I guess that’s the answer to any old stale franchise in the old days? Just put them in to space? Josie and the Pussycats went there, and now the gang from Gilligan’s Island. Considered the official sequel, the premise for this series is just as outlandish as the original series. And you have to take it with a grain of salt as well. Logic be damned, rather than build a boat out of the island, the professor builds a space ship. The group manages to get off of the island and find themselves stranded in space! Now they’re on an alien planet coming across all sorts of extra terrestrials while trying to repair their spaceship to get home.
Say what you want about softcore porn, but it serves its purpose if you’re in the mood to ogle hot women without the nastiness of hardcore stuff. “Sexy Warriors” definitely lives up to its title, supplying a foursome of really sexy women, all of whom indulge audiences in an Amazonian fantasy. This time around the really gorgeous Jazy Berlin is a warrior woman named Diana from the land of Lesbos who uses a magic orb to go to the future. Why she chooses LA is anyone’s guess, but she warps there. She’s followed by red headed bombshell Athena who is looking for her, and the two find that the future holds various pleasures. This is kind of like 2011’s “Thor” if Thor were a sexy Amazonian lesbian.
FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL
Shunji Iwai’s “The Case of Hana & Alice” is apparently an animated prequel and adaptation of a much beloved indie titled “Hana and Alice.” The pair of women are almost like pop culture’s most iconic best friend in its home country, and this film chronicles how they met and became the best of pals. You really don’t have to see the original film, claims much of the press releases, but I’ll say that it might just help. Surely, there aren’t many references to the original film, but the original actresses return to voice their younger selves, and this might be exciting to folks that love the original film. For me, it was just a nice little bit of lip service and nothing more.
If I had to pick a cult film that I’d take with me on a deserted island, it’d either be “Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!”, or Jack Hill’s “Spider-Baby.” It’d probably be the latter if I was pressed. I fondly remember being introduced to “Spider-Baby” as a child, when I used to sit down to watch “Horrible Horror” with Zacharly. I always found the scene of Jill Banner slicing and dicing poor Mantan Moreland to be one of the sickest bits of horror cinema I’d ever witnessed. Years later, I was happy to watch the film in its entirety, and thankfully Jack Hill’s dark horror comedy hasn’t aged a single bit.