ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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”The Live At the Earh’s Core and Whorship Judge Dredd!”

Just having a little fun with the titles of today’s threads on the rainy afternoon in North Carolina. If it’s raining where you are, have a little fun with the posts listed below by adding a reply.

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They Live (1988)



Life's a bitch and she's back on heat!

They Live is directed by John Carpenter who also adapts the screenplay form the short story Eight O'Clock in the Morning written by Ray Nelson. It stars Roddy Piper, Keith David and Meg Foster. Music is by Alan Howarth (and Carpenter) and cinematography by Gary B. Kibbe.

Unemployed drifter Nada (Piper) wanders into the city looking for work. But upon finding a unique pair of sunglasses, he sees a different world than everyone else. It's a world frequented by an alien race who are using the Earth for their own nefarious means.

See The Truth!

Carpenter does subversive sci-fi, and it's a whole bunch of fun. They Live is Carpenter's wry observation on the politico posers who endorse the rich getting richer and everybody else sliding down the pole! It's also a blatant paean to the glorious years of the 1950s, when paranoia based sci-fi schlockers and creaky creature features ruled the air waves.

It's also a wonderfully macho driven action movie, laced with comedy as well. You can rest assured there will be plenty of shooting, punching, dodging, and spoken lines to make you smile.

Piper is no Kurt Russell, but we shouldn't hold that against him, because he fills the role nicely. With muscular frame, 80s hair and a quip on the tongue, he is most assuredly a Carpenter leading man for the 80s. Alongside him is the reassuring presence of Keith David, himself a beefcake, and also one of the coolest muthas on the planet.

It's easy to believe that these two can save the planet, even after nearly beating each other to a pulp during a prolonged side-alley fight sequence, where Carpenter doesn't miss a chance to parody professional wrestling. Meg Foster gets the lead lady role, with those amazing eyes nestling in perfectly with the world Carpenter has created.

Carpenter does "political"? Yes, but it's not the be-all and end-all of his intentions. He wanted to make an action sci-fi schlocker with sly politico undertones as motives. And that's exactly what he did. Joyously so. 8/10
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Judge Dredd (1995)

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"I Am the Cloned Law!"

Judge Dredd is directed by Danny Cannon and written by William Wisher Junior and Steven E. de Souza. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Joan Chen, Jürgen Prochnow and Max von Sydow. Music is scored by Alan Silvestri and cinematography by Adrian Biddle.

Adapted from the Judge Dredd stories in British comic book 2000AD, the plot finds Stallone as Judge Joseph Dredd, a ruthless law enforcer of the future in Mega City 1. Framed for murder, Dredd finds himself on the other side of the fence (literally) as he is sent to prison beyond Mega City 1's walls out in the Cursed Earth. He must somehow escape to clear his name and stop Mega City 1 from becoming corrupted by those that framed him.

OK, it's hardly brilliant. It lifts from other notable sci-fi movies, so it's lazy, and it has plot holes galore. But is Judge Dredd deserve the critical mauling it got?

Well no, actually. That is, if you take it on its own mindless popcorn terms.

The action is fast paced, it's loud and brash, but it's not in an insulting way like Batman & Robin, Stallone positively plays it dead right with a glint in his eye and chin perfectly chiselled. Diane Lane is sexy as heck-fire in figure hugging futuristic suit, while the production design, the color toning, and the effects (with one exception) are undervalued eye-pleasing delights. Add in Armand Assante having the time of his life as villain-psycho Rico Dredd, and it's a more than adequate blockbuster material.

I understand the fan's reactions — those of the comic book that is — because I'm one of them. I treasured my 2000AD and Starlord copies right into my 20s when I foolishly sold them. This is without doubt a watered down version of Dredd, clearly caught between a fan director's will and a studio's insistence on popcorn munching appeasement.

So, it's a fact that we don't have the ultra violence and generally fascist wallop that permeates 2000AD's stiff-backed, hard bastard. But there are delicate hints of totalitarianism and Nazi overtones in Cannon's movie, and whiffs of satire are there as well. It really isn't the directionless adaptation some insist it is.

It has many flaws for sure, but it makes for a nice companion piece to the better Demolition Man, for that is the bonkers popcorn world it sits in. A guilty pleasure? Well I don't feel guilty about enjoying Judge Dredd a lot, but yes Mr. Fascist, I'm guilty as charged. 6.5/10
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At the Earth's Core (1976)



Masterpiece of the Z grade fantasy genre.

I'm serious as well. I mean don't get me wrong, if you haven't got a bent for this type of Z grade, creaky creature feature (why would you be watching is my first thought?) then it's a rating of about 3 to 4 out of 10 tops.

But to me it's a special kind of nonsense that takes me back to a nice time in my childhood. You know the kind, the memories that never leave yo — eagerly taking it all in with youthful wonderment as Doug McClure and Peter Cushing tunnel beneath the mantle to do battle with a host of creatures and sub-human species.

And now that we are all grown up, we can admire the wonder of Caroline Munro and her heaving cleavage. No wonder my older brother was keen to take me to the cinema to see this one!

Yes the effects are bad; men in suits, strings swinging parrot monsters around, and exploding rubber frog-like thingies amuse us greatly. And yes, Cushing and a surprisingly pudgy McClure act as if they have truly been mesmerized by the evil Meyhas at the "core" of our film.

But it matters not, zany and clunky and awash in glorious colour, At The Earth's Core is a throwback to a special pre-ILM time when kids like me queued around the block to see such joyous nonsense. 8/10
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)