Continuing with our Chuck Heston theme this week, here is arguably his most famous movie, the classic Planet of the Apes. Heston plays Col Taylor who is put into hibernation for a trip deep into space. He awakes to find that his ship has crashed on a planet where apes have evolved to dominate the planet and enslave man. It also stars Roddy McDowell and Kim Hunter. The original script was written by Rod Serling.
Another Heston movie that was released on Blu-Ray this week. Post apocalyptic tale of an Earth in turmoil in 2022. All natural food sources are extinct. People must live on water rations and a mysterious food called soylent. A detective (Heston) investigates the murder of the President of the company that makes soylent and discovers the food's terrifying secret.
This movie is being released on DVD today, so I thought I'd showcase the movie ad. In this movie, Heston plays identical twin prospectors isolated in the Canadian woods searching for hidden gold. A couple show up looking for a lost colleague, stumble upon the brothers, and are mistaken by the crazy twins as claim jumpers trying to steal their gold. It is Heston's last directorial effort and Kim Basinger's second feature role.
Over on Strange Kid's Club I talk about some of the DVDs released this week. Included is a compilation of four Michael J Fox comedies. They are all pretty good so I thought I'd finish out the week with ads for all Michael J Fox movies.
Here's an ad for a great little Michael J Fox movie called The Frighteners. It was written and directed by none other than Peter "Lord of the Rings" Jackson. It's much darker than your typical Fox movie. Fox plays an architect whose wife is killed. The trauma leaves him with the ability to see and talk to the dead. He works with three ghosts as a "Psychic Investigator". Fox sends the ghosts to haunt houses which he then cons people into having him remove the spirits...for a price. Fox's character then discovers that some evil spirit is killing people and only he can see who will be next.
This movie is darkly funny. I really enjoy it. Fox is great in this. There is also a great cameo by R Lee Ermey who pretty much reprises his role from Full Metal Jacket (but as a ghost). The most fun performance, though, is by "The Reanimator" himself, Jeffrey Combs. Combs plays Milton Dammers. Dammers is an undercover agent sent to pin the string of killings on Fox's character. However, Dammers just came off an assignment where he was undercover with a cult and his behavior is...erratic, to say the least. This movie is really good. If you haven't seen it, check it out.
Doc Hollywood is more along the lines of your typical Fox movie. I still enjoy it, though. It's got a great cast with Fox like Woody Harrelson, Bridget Fonda, George Hamilton, Julie Warner and Bernard Hughes. Fox plays a doctor on his way to his dream job in California. He crashes his car in Grady, SC and becomes stranded while his car is fixed. "City boy in the country" humor ensues.
Over on Strange Kid's Club I talk about some of the DVDs released this week. Included is a compilation of four Michael J Fox comedies. They are all pretty good so I thought I'd finish out the week with ads for all Michael J Fox movies.
Here is the ad for one of my favorite Michael J Fox movies and one I feel is underrated.
Over on Strange Kid's Club I talk about some of the DVDs released this week. Included is a compilation of four Michael J Fox comedies. They are all pretty good so I thought I'd finish out the week with ads for all Michael J Fox movies.
Here is the ad for The Hard Way starring Michael J Fox and James Woods. Fox plays movie star Nick Lange who wants to branch out into police dramas. He decides to follow around NY police detective John Moss to "learn the ropes". Hijinks ensue.
I love both of these guys. Woods and Fox are both fantastic and I just enjoy watching this movie. Yes it's cliche, but the actors make it work.
Fox's character stars in a popular movie, The Smoking Gunn, in which he plays supercop Joe Gunn. Watch the fake in-movie trailer for Smoking Gunn II below:
Over on Strange Kid's Club I talk about some of the DVDs released today. Included is a compilation of four Michael J Fox comedies. They are all pretty good so I thought I'd finish out the week with ads for all Michael J Fox movies.
Here's the ad for The Secret of My Success which is included on the aforementioned DVD collection. Michael J Fox plays Brantley Foster. A well educated kid from Kansas who moves to New York to make it big. When he finds it hard to get a job, he visits his uncle who happens to be CEO of a major corporation. His uncle gives him a spot in the mail room. Brantley falls for a beautiful executive and decides to pose as an executive to woo her. Oh, and while wooing the executive, Brantley starts having sex with his aunt.
This is actually a pretty funny movie. Michael J Fox is charming as ever and his aunt is ballsy and hilarious. The movie is also populated with TONS of 80s actors like SuperGirl herself, Helen Slater. Fox's aunt is played by Margaret Whitton who played the evil Indians owner Rachel Phelps in Major League. You'll also see Christopher Murney who played Eddie Arcadian in The Last Dragon and Fred Gwynne who was Herman Munster in The Munsters and the judge in My Cousin Vinny. Finally, in the opening credit sequence you see four models turn their heads rapidly. Cindy Crawford is the third model to turn her head.
This movie shows up on TNT a lot as a "New Classic". I watch it whenever I get the chance. It's still funny and I just enjoy watching Fox at the height of his powers (just two years after Back to the Future and two years before Back to the Future II).
