Welcome to Sci-Fi 100! 100 Sci-Fi movies in 100 days!
"The Philadelphia Experiment" is a sweet little sci-fi flick from 1984. It was directed by Stewart Raffill (Ice Pirates, Mac & Me) and stars Michael Pare' (Eddie and the Cruisers) and Nancy Allen (Robocop.) The film is about a top secret experiment in WWII to make ships invisible to enemy radar. The experiment works, but then something else happens... the ship disappears all together. Two of the sailors jump overboard and into a time vortex which takes them from 1943 to 1983.
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It's basically a fish out of water story about these two sailors from the '40s being introduced to the world of the future (40 years.) They meet up with Nancy Allen who helps them run from the police and the Navy as they try to sort out what has happened to them in the experiment.
It's a cool time travel story and a movie I've been very fond of for many years. In my opinion, Michael Pare' is a very underrated actor. I have enjoyed his performance in every role I've seen him in.
This film spawned a sequel and has been remade this year for the Sci-fi channel. Too bad it wasn't remade with a decent budget. I would love to see it remade and done right. Check it out. - Patrick Shawn Bennett Broadcasting from within the vortex.
Welcome to Sci-Fi 100! 100 Sci-Fi movies in 100 days!
"The Final Countdown" is a sci-fi flick from 1980 directed by Don Taylor. It has an impressive list of actors... Kirk Douglass, Martin Sheen, Katharine Ross, James Farentino, Ron O'Neal, Charles Durning, and Lloyd Kaufman (yes, Lloyd Kaufman who makes all those cheesy low-budget Troma films like the Toxic Avenger. He not only played a naval officer in the movie, he was a producer on it as well.)
This movie is about the aircraft carrier "The U.S.S. Nimitz." It enters a strange storm and is sent back in time to arrive just hours before the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. The commander of the Nimitz, Kirk Douglass, must make a hard choice... to use the mighty firepower (102 modern jet fighters and the ship's armament) to destroy the Japanese fleet and prevent the invasion of Pearl Harbor and possibly saving all the lives lost in WWII, or to do nothing and let history run its course so that nothing in the modern timeline will be changed ala the "butterfly effect."
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This is a super cool movie that I enjoyed very much when it came out in the 80s. It's a little dated but is still fun to watch. The cast is incredible! The story really gives you something to think about. I recommend that you watch this one. A pretty good sci-fi flick!
- Patrick Shawn Bennett Broadcasting from a life raft somewhere in the Pacific. Oh, and from the past too.
Welcome to Sci-Fi 100! 100 Sci-Fi movies in 100 days!
"Small Soldiers" is a sci-fi gem from 1998 directed by Joe Dante (director of Gremlins & Gremlins 2.) It stars some big names, mainly a teenage Kirstin Dunst, the late great Phil Heartman (Saturday Night Live,) David Cross (Arrested Development, Alvin and the Chipmunks,) Denis Leary, Kevin Dunn (Transformers 1-3,) Robert Picardo (Star Trek Voyager,) as well as some top names for the voices of the Small Soldiers such as Tommy Lee Jones,
Frank Langella, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, Bruce Dern, George Kennedy, Clint Walker, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Christina Ricci. WOW! That's an incredible list of talent. This movie is a must see just for that.
The story is about a new toy line that is being developed and the toy company mogul demands that the toys be able to do something extraordinary... so, the designers install military missile guidance chips in them. The chips make the dolls basically come to life.
The military commando dolls, led by Major Chip Hazzard (Tommy Lee Jones) are programmed to seek out and destroy the villain dolls, known as Gorgomites, let by Archer (Frank Langella.) Anyway, these toys now learn and are super intelligent. They adapt and create weapons and take down anyone who gets in their way. A kid whose dad owns a toy store gets involved as he tries to protect Archer and the Gorgamites from the crazed soldiers. There's tons of explosions and firepower as these toys tear up the neighborhood in their epic battle.
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This is an awesome film. It has great actors, great action, a great story, and pretty amazing CGI for the '90s. What kid didn't wish his G.I. Joe's were alive and could go on adventures with them. This is a great family film thats fun for everyone. I don't have anything negative to say about this movie. It's available on DVD and Netflix. Go watch it. You won't be disappointed. - Patrick Shawn Bennett Broadcasting from the top shelf at the toy store.
Welcome to Sci-Fi 100! 100 Sci-Fi movies in 100 days!
"Puppet Master X: Axis Rising" is the latest entry into the Puppet Master franchise from Full Moon Features. Directed by Charles Band, this sci-fi/horror film is set during WWII and picks up where Puppet Master 9 left off. The story is about Nazis hiding out in the U.S. using a kidnapped Austrian scientist to conduct experiments on re-animating the dead in hopes of creating a super Nazi Soldier that can't be killed. Well, he might not be able to do that, but the scientist stumbles upon the secret of Andre' Tulon and replicates the serum used to animate the puppets. He creates evil Nazi puppets for his captors.
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All of the original puppets, except Torch, are back in this installment. We are also introduced to 4 new puppets created by the captured scientist... Bombshell, Weremacht, Kamakazi and Blitzkrieg.
My favorites of the Tulon' puppets have always been Six-shooter and Blade. Like most Full Moon Features movies, the budget is low, the acting isn't that great, the effects are cheesy and the story looks like it was written last night. But that's all good things, right?
I love it when they set these Puppet Master films in the '40s and they battle the Nazis. This is a good installment and I hope they keep cranking them out. Check it out!
- Patrick Shawn Bennett Broadcasting from my new puppet body.
Welcome to Sci-Fi 100! 100 Sci-Fi movies in 100 days!
"The Faculty" (1998) is an underrated sci-fi film directed by Robert Rodriguez that contains a who's who cast of some of the top hollywood youth of the day and some other great actors, including: Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Salma Hayek, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie, Christopher McDonald, Robert Patrick, Jon Stewart, and Usher. (see what I mean!)
The story is about an alien invasion where some type of amphibious, replicating, alien parasite starts taking over bodies of the faculty of a high school and then the faculty begins putting the alien parasites into the students, slowly taking over the town. A group of high schoolers figure out what is going on and try to fight back and stop the invasion before the aliens take over the world.
Click on the box above to view the trailer. Lots of star power packed into this flick which I sum up as "The Body Snatchers meets The Breakfast Club." The acting is very, very good by all that are involved. This is a sometimes overlooked masterpiece from director Robert Rodriguez. The special effects were pretty awesome too for the time period that experimented with CGI.
One of the most chilling scenes in the movie is when a student comes across the football team all standing on the field looking up into the sky as it rains down on them and alien antennae are sticking out of their eyes and faces, soaking up the rain. The movie has a few twists and turns, like in "The Thing" where you don't know who is still human and who is now an alien. I found it very suspenseful at times. It's a great, fun, sci-fi flick. I hadn't seen it since it had originally played in theaters in '98 and it was great to revisit it. A modern classic! Check it out!
- Patrick Shawn Bennett Broadcasting from the teacher's lounge. Or am I an alien broadcasting from the teacher's lounge?
"The Man From Planet X" is a 1951 sci-fi movie directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and stars Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, and Raymond Bond. The movie is about a mysterious planet that is headed very close to the Earth. An American reporter heads to a small Scottish Island to investigate the experiment that a scientist is working on that ties in to this mysterious planet. Once there, they discover a spaceship in the foggy moors that belongs to an alien scout sent ahead from the approaching planet to plan an invasion. The alien scout has a ray on his ship that can hypnotize humans and then he can control them like puppets. But this alien isn't any match for Scotland Yard! That's right.
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The film looks very good... the black and white images are very sharp and contain great contrast. The acting is good too. The plot isn't so bad except for how one scientist learns to communicate with the alien... through geometry "the universal language." Yea. If I ever confront an alien I'm going to jot down some geometry on a note pad and show it to him and see if he understands that I'm asking him "what are you doing on our planet?" It worked in this movie!
The alien costume was done cheesily well and the alien mask/makeup was very strange. I have never seen another alien depicted in such a manner. The sets were very small and the whole film was contained in just a few locations. The fog hid a lot of its' shortcomings. Not much more that I can say about this movie. I enjoyed it, but it's not one I would watch often.
- Patrick Shawn Bennett Broadcasting from the foggy moors of a Scottish Island.
