Archive for year 2011
Schlock-Wire: Don’t Miss Out On Martin Popoff’s New THIN LIZZY 69–76 Biography!
Dec 31st
The Schlock-Wire closes out 2011 on a rock-scholarly note with some belated good news for Thin Lizzy fans. Martin Popoff, a specialist in biographies on hard rock legends, has released the first installment of a biography on Irish legends Thin Lizzy. This tome is entitled Fighting My Way Back: Thin Lizzy 69–76 and covers the More >
FAST FIVE: A High Octane Vacation For Your Brain
Dec 30th
There’s nothing wrong with making a goofball popcorn movie. Despite the many bad example of the form in modern times — we’re looking at you, Michael Bay — there is always room for an energetic bit of fluff that dazzles your eyes while your intellectual capabilities take a nice nap. When such a movie is More >
Schlock-Wire: RaroVideo Brings The FERNANDO DI LEO CRIME COLLECTION To Blu-Ray In January
Dec 29th
One of the most exciting developments for fans of Eurocrime fare in 2011 was the release of the Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection box set on DVD. In 2012, RaroVideo will take this set to the next level by giving it a blu-ray release. As with the DVD set, the blu-ray release will contain Caliber More >
KILL THE IRISHMAN: The Gangster With A Heart Of Pure (And Irresistible) Hokum
Dec 29th
There certain genres that function as the cinematic version of “comfort food” for their fans. Even if a film from one of these genres has serious problems, it can still inspire affection in genre fans if it makes the appropriate moves. This is doubly true if that film has the kind of cast to inspire More >
STRAW DOGS (2011 Version): When Bloodlust Gets Pedantic And Pretentious
Dec 28th
Whether you accept them or hate them, remakes are an unavoidable part of the modern Hollywood film landscape. The best a filmgoer can hope for is that the people involved in helming a remake distill the essential concept of the film they are remaking, bring a fresh perspective or interesting twist to the storytelling and More >
Schlock-Wire: InterVision Picture Corp. Unearths German Underground Gore-Shocker THE BURNING MOON In February
Dec 27th
Looks like the beginning of 2012 will be a busy time for Severin Films offshoot Intervision: they’re serving up a pair of Aussie sexploitation flicks in January and then following that up in February with a release of The Burning Moon. This was an early straight-to-video effort by Olaf Ittenbach, a goremeister from Germany whose More >
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS: A Mutant Franchise Learns To Control Its Powers
Dec 27th
As ready-made as some comic books might seem for film adaptations, some of them have a complexity that makes it difficult to capture their essence on the big screen. The X-Men is a good example: despite its movie-friendly elements - a strong component of melodrama, a guys-on-a-mission element that allows for multiple adventures — it More >
STRAW DOGS (1971 Version): No Answers, Only Questions And Bloodshed
Dec 26th
Sam Peckinpah was one of cinema’s great provocateurs. He had greater range than he is usually given credit for (see The Ballad Of Cable Hogue or Junior Bonner for a look at his gentler, more reflective side) but he found his greatest success in being confrontational. He specialty was digging into the darkest, most difficult More >
THE SKIN I LIVE IN: The Sexy, Stylish Side Of Mad Science
Dec 23rd
If there is a foreign filmmaker who is accessible to schlock fiends, it’s definitely Pedro Almodovar. Any guy who incorporates a snippet of Bloody Moon into the opening of one of his films (Matador) has to have a little schlock in his heart — and Almodovar never shies away from material that the Hollywood crowd More >
Digi-Schlock: BARRY RICHARDS T.V. COLLECTION, VOL. 1 (Resurrection Prod. DVD/CD Set)
Dec 22nd
The cult movie market has been serviced well by the DVD/blu-ray world but can the same really been said for the cultish rock music market? Major labels rarely show an interest in this stuff, their corporate mindset precludes such chance-taking and rights issues (the bane of the music reissue world) frequently snuff out the best More >
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