That’s right, the beloved director of such films as Ran, Sanjuro, Yojimbo, Dreams, The Hidden Fortress, Rashomon and The Seven Samurai would be one hundred years old today if he were still alive. We don’t actually have any of those titles, so I will instead distract you with this dazzling display of cinematic treasures we’ve just uncovered.
Monty Python fan? We’ve got you covered with all 14 zany crazy volumes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus! Also, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, The Meaning Of Life and Terry Gilliam’s mind-bending Brazil. And speaking of mind-bending and Terry Gilliam, how’sabout the Criterion Collection version of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. Yup, we got that.
Music fans may be interested in Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks, The Clash: West Way To The World, The Essential Clash or maybe Pink Floyd: The Dark Side Of The Moon, a 2003 release that takes an in-depth look into the creation of one of rock’s timeless recordings.
Maybe you want to get your 80s on: The Breakfast Club, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Fletch and the sequel Fletch Lives, Animal House and one of my all-time favorites: The Blues Brothers.
But wait, there’s more! Rob Zombie’s House Of 1000 Corpses, the two-disc super special edition version of Se7en, Army Of Darkness, Soylent Green, Logan’s Run, The Andromeda Strain (a movie that terrified me when I saw it as a youngster) First Spaceship On Venus/Voyage To The Prehistoric Planet (double feature) and the mother of all crappy movies: Plan 9 From Outer Space (includes The Ed Wood Story with Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Ed Wood’s wife Dolores Fuller and even Vampira herself!).
Want more? Good! Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson and Lauren Bacall smolder in Key Largo, Charlton Heston does what he does best in Ben Hur, Jack Nicholson chews it up in Five Easy Pieces and Chinatown, Paul Newman broods in Hud and The Hustler and Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif star in the sweeping epic Lawrence Of Arabia in a two-disc super-special limited edition.
Not finished just yet, but I’m getting there: Fan-favorites Die Hard, The Road Warrior and Fight Club, plus The Last Of The Mohicans and the classics The Conversation (later remade as Enemy Of The State) and High Noon starring Gary Cooper. A couple anime’ titles: Amon Saga and Appleseed, a tongue-in-cheek look back at “educational” films of yore in Social Engineering 201 (which touches on classic 16 mm films shown to schoolchildren from the 1940s to the 1970s like It Must Be The Neighbors and What To Do On A Date), and finally, a blaxploitation triple feature: Bad Azz Muthaz featuring Black Punisher (Jim Brown), Tattoo Connection (Jim Kelly) and Kid Vengeance (Fred Williamson). Ohhh yeah.
There’s a lot more than that, but my typin’ fingers hurt, so come on in and take a look at the Wall O’ Cool and see what strikes your fancy.
As both a satire & blaxploitation fan I have really been looking forward to seeing BLACK DYNAMITE ever since I saw a perfect trailer for it months ago. It was in the theaters for about a day, but I finally saw it last night, and believe me when I tell you it kicked some serious **s.
Essentially a parody of the entire 1970’s blaxploitation genre as a whole, this movie really gets it right. Cheesy dialogue, horrible choreographed fight scenes, boom mikes in the shot, tacky over-the top period clothing, gratuitous nudity…it’s got it all. They even shot it on grainy 16 mm film stock, and edited it so the story is very choppy and mildly hard to follow.
The main character Black Dynamite is a broad parody of Shaft. He’s a former government agent who plans to clean up the ghetto from drug dealing, cops & other villains of the genre, all who want him dead, all whilst avenging the death of his recently slain brother.
Along with the shaft parody, many of B.D.’s friends are satires of characters from other films that fans will recognize, including Black Belt Jones, and my favorite, “Bullhorn” who sends up my favorite star of the blaxploitation scene, DOLOMITE!
Black Dynamite got everything right…including a very funky soundtrack, and an animated sequence when Black Dynamite is getting his lovin’ on that, well, you’ll just have to watch it.
This is a very funny satire/homage to some great films of yesteryear, and I loved it. We have it new at Moviecycle to own right now, and will have it to rent very soon. Put it on yer list.
Here’s a trailer to whet your whistle you Bad Muther****ers!
Grr