Fat Freddy

First Goodwill Store score in a few weeks: Ramones - Ramones Mania Heart - The Road Home Bad Company - Extended Versions Dixie Chicks - Home

"The Protector" (1985) Two New York cops (Jackie Chan and Danny Aiello) are sent to Hong Kong to track down a kidnapped girl and end up tangling with a ring of vicious heroin smugglers. Of course, lots of bullets fly, many butts are kung-fu kicked, and lots of stuff blows up. Jackie Chan was already a huge movie star in Asia in 1985 -- "The Protector" was intended to be his big break into the global action-film market, but it didn't catch on. It's an entertaining '80s style shoot'em up, but it would take a few more years before "Rumble In The Bronx" finally made Jackie into a cult hero in the West.

Better than the last song they leaked but New Guy's vox are still too whiny/Mark Slaughter-y for me....

Pavement Music is still a thing? Dang. I haven't heard that name since the 90s.

I thought it was the band "Sum 41" with a name change.

^^ you wound me, fellas!!

It was my 9 year old's turn to pick a movie... "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" (2010) Sequel to the 2003 family hit continues the ongoing battle between canines and felines, but this time the cats and dogs must put their differences aside and fight against a common enemy. The villainous Kitty Galore's plans for world domination are so extreme that they endanger both species. Silly kid stuff packed with nods to the James Bond series (including a voice cameo by the late, great Roger Moore as the head of Feline Intelligence, "Tab Lazenby"), "The Silence Of The Lambs" and action flicks in general.

"Generation X" (1996) The new class of super-heroes-in-training at Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters battles a mad scientist who can control people's minds by invading their dreams. So...yeah, basically this is a ripoff of "A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" in X-Men wrapping. Long before Marvel Comics' characters were sure fire box office gold, they kept farming out their properties for low budget TV movies like this. The story is weak, the sets are cheap, and the effects suck. Finola Hughes provides some eye candy as Emma Frost, but whoever is playing Banshee has the least convincing Irish accent I've ever heard and Matt "Max Headroom" Frewer is irritating as hell as the villain. "Generation X" aired on Fox as a pilot for a potential series but it never caught on (thank goodness).

"Spider-Man" (1977) Science dork Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider during an experiment and gains its powers and abilities. Those skills come in handy because New York is being terrorized by a mysterious hypnotist who makes ordinary citizens commit crimes via mind control. I hadn't seen this cheap-n-cheesy pilot movie for the short lived '70s Spidey TV series since I was a kid and it was, as I expected, entertainingly awful. No wonder the show didn't last long.

Steel Horse - Wild Power Triumph - Never Surrender Rose - Healing Quiet Riot - Condition Critical Accept - I'm A Rebel Nuclear Assault - Survive

Metallica - Death Magnetic Various - Not the Same Old Song and Dance: A Tribute To Aerosmith Starborn - The Dreaming City EP Van Halen - 5150

Seen it! Yeah, that's a good one

Megadeth - Dystopia Rocka Rollas - The War Of Steel Has Begun Prong - Ruining Lives and X: No Absolutes Heart - Greatest Hits Angel Witch - Resurrection Nuclear Assault - Survive

"Iron Man" (2008) After a near-fatal experience in a Middle East war zone, zillionaire genius Tony Stark returns home and creates a super-suit of armor that allows him to kick mucho bad guy butt. Robert Downey Jr. was the perfect guy to play Stark, he's got Tony's world-weary, smug prick vibe down pat. "Iron Man" kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe in fine style, and is still one of the best flicks in the MCU all these years later.

Nuclear Assault - Survive

"We Are X" (2016) Documentary about the long and sometimes bizarre/tragic history of Japanese rock legends X Japan, who are treated like Gods in their homeland but remain a mostly unknown quantity in the Western world. X Japan is one of those bands I've always heard much about though I don't think I ever actually heard any of their stuff till I watched this film. In spite of my near-total unfamiliarity with their material, this was an interesting rock doc. I imagine if you're an X Japan fan, you'll dig it even more than I did.

"The Matador" (2005) A contract killer teetering on the edge of burn out (Pierce Brosnan) meets a dorky salesman (Greg Kinnear) in a Mexican hotel bar, and the two men strike up an odd friendship ...which ends up with Pierce needing Greg's help to finish one last job. A well written, funny twist on the "buddy comedy" formula, with great performances by the two leads. Brosnan is definitely having a ball playing the total opposite of his usual super-suave type.

"Apocalypse Now Redux" (1979/2001) Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever seen Francis Ford Coppola's sprawling Vietnam War epic - via the three-hour-and-fifteen-minute "director's cut" re-release, no less. Martin Sheen is an Army captain on a top secret assignment to eliminate a former Special Forces colonel (Marlon Brando) who's taken over a portion of the Cambodian jungle and set himself up as a murderous Manson-type cult leader. The people he meets on his journey up river - and the atrocities he witnesses along the way - make up most of the story. I've been told for years that this is one of the movies I need to see before I die, and now I see why. "A.N." is spooky, haunting, disturbing, beautifully photographed, and full of great performances and quotable bits. This 2001 extended version is at least a half hour longer than is really necessary but even so it's still great stuff.

"Omega Cop" (1990) Zero budget action schlock starring martial artist Ron Marchini as the only police officer left in a post-apocalyptic "city" (which looks like a deserted suburban industrial park on a Sunday afternoon). He protects a couple of girls with bad '80s hair from a gang of slave traders and kicks ass on an endless stream of random mulleted dudes who look like WWE rejects. Yup, that's it. This flick has no production values, no plot, no story, no redeeming values whatsoever. Followed by a sequel, "Karate Cop," which I shall make sure to avoid like the plague.

New entry... I dusted off one of those irresistibly crappy "Dollar Store Double Feature" DVDs recently to revisit these oldies but baddies... https://reelrundown.com/movies/Dollar-Store-Double-Feature-Abraxas-Guardian-Of-The-Universe-1990-and-Laser-Mission-1989

Recent reads: Various - Deadpool: The Complete Collection Vol. I The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen: Awesome Female Characters From Comic Book History by Hope Nicholson Batman: The Long Halloween graphic novel by Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale Kicking & Screaming: A Story of Heart, Soul and Rock & Roll by Ann and Nancy Wilson

Gene has withdrawn his trademark application. The Ghost of Ronnie Dio must have talked some sense into him.

Cloven Altar - Enter The Night Carnivore - s/t Scorpions - Live Bites Triumph - Never Surrender Faith No More - The Real Thing Paul Stanley - '78 solo The Police - Outlandos d'Amour

"Critters 4" (1991) A space pod containing the last two "Krite" eggs in existence is picked up by a salvage vessel 50 years in the future... and the crew makes the mistake of thawing them out. You can probably figure out the rest. Slow moving, cheaper-than-usual DTV schlock that borrows liberally from "Aliens" and "Star Wars," this fourth and thankfully final installment is a tough slog. Skip it. "Curse Of Chucky" (2013) After the mysterious death of their mother, a handicapped woman and her dysfunctional relatives learn that their family has a long and unfortunate history with the infamous serial killer Charles Lee Ray, aka "Chucky." I must admit, I had extremely low expectations for this reboot of the never ending "Child's Play" saga and I ended up pleasantly surprised. This one's got lotsa cool, creepy atmosphere and avoids the cheap humor that had become the series' trademark. This may be the best damn Chucky movie of 'em all.

"Sexina: Popstar P.I." (2007) Extremely campy, low budget nonsense about a Britney Spears-style pop starlet by day who works as a leather-clad private eye by night, chasing down music-industry evil doers. Her investigation into a missing scientist leads to a plot by an evil record-company exec (Adam West!) to invent the first all-android boy band, which would (gasp!) eliminate the need for human pop performers altogether! "Sexina" provided a few chuckles and the leading lady is quite the piece of eye candy, plus it's always fun to watch Adam West ham it up, but your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance for this sort of silliness.