30 for 30: “The American Gladiators” Documentary is a Surprising Look Inside One of the Biggest Series of the 1990’s

If you grew up in the 1990’s as I did, the mere mention of two words: “American Gladiators,” is bound to evoke a lot of smiles and rabid discussion. For those of us that spent our younger years in the decade of the 90’s, “American Gladiators” was a pop culture phenomenon. After the immense success of professional wrestling, many people sought out to build on that by introducing their own form of sports entertainment. The closest we ever got was “American Gladiators.”

For those unaware, the series was a sports entertainment series revolving around a group of normal contestants. They’d have to go up against a group of muscular, athletic and vicious male and female athletes, all of whom had one mission to keep the competitors from winning.

Continue reading

“Super Mario Bros: The Movie” 30 Years Later: The Baffling Feature Film Adaptation

Kids today will soon know their Mario Brothers as CGI animated sprites in the upcoming “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” I, for one, am psyched. But back in 1993, my Mario Bros. (beyond the video games) were found on television and in the movies. After Captain Lou Albano and Danny Wells ended their run as Mario and Luigi in “The Super Mario Brothers Super Show!” in 1989, the studios decided to finally bring the Super Mario world to the big screen in 1993. Said movie was called “Super Mario Bros: The Movie.”

You’d probably think: “How they could possibly get such an easy concept so wrong?”

But they did. They really did.

Continue reading

90’s Night In – 8-Movie Set (DVD)

For folks looking to re-live the nineties, Mill Creek Entertainment has made eight of the more notable and not so notable films from that decade available for folks craving overalls and ripped jeans. And there was that odd period where everyone was obsessed with swing dancing. What the hell was that about? Nonetheless, at over twelve hours long, Mill Creek offers eight dramedies of varying quality, and many of which are definite time capsules of the decade.

Continue reading

Cool as Ice: And Other Assorted 90's Nonsense

8lrY1SKA Few interesting facts about “Cool as Ice”: It’s never been released on DVD and the chances of it being on Blu-Ray are slim, Gwyneth Paltrow nearly took the role opposite Vanilla Ice as his love interest but was advised against it by her father who objected the sexual content, on Amazon.com the rare VHS is available on auction for nearly five hundred dollars, and director David Kellogg disowned the film. He later went on to direct “Inspector Gadget” in 1999.

Continue reading