The B-Masters Cabal » Greywizard http://www.b-masters.com Meh. I've seen worse. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:07:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Aw, shoot… http://www.b-masters.com/2010/07/22/aw-shoot/ http://www.b-masters.com/2010/07/22/aw-shoot/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:13:42 +0000 Greywizard http://www.b-masters.com/?p=2920 One thing I can’t understand is why makers of B-movies these days seldom venture into the western genre. Yeah yeah, there is the obvious fact that audiences these days don’t seem to be as hungry for westerns as they were a few decades ago… though as I’ve pointed out before, there have been significant turn-outs the few times a good western has arrived in theaters these past few years. And westerns made-for-cable have been delivering solid ratings during this period as well. Plus, the western genre offers many advantages for those often cash-strapped B-movie producers. For one thing, there’s thousands of acres of magnificent landscape with little to no hassle to get permission to shoot on. Not only can Mother Nature can look like a million bucks and instantly increase the look of your movie, but you are often far away from nosy union representatives as well. Scenes that take place in towns? No problem; there are still some old western town sets standing, and with few westerns being shot these days, it’s likely you can rent them cheaply. And some incidentals like period clothing can be reasonably replicated or found cheaply as well.

But what about essential personnel, like directors or (most importantly) actors with at least a passable amount of star value? In the case of The Shooter, they managed to round up a respectable number of B movie stars: Randy Travis, William Smith, Andrew Stevens, and Robert Quarry. Oh, and Michael Dudikoff as the hero gunfighter. As for the director, they got the infamous Fred Olen Ray. Getting the picture now?

Keith Bailey is the proprietor of The Unknown Movies Page.]]> http://www.b-masters.com/2010/07/22/aw-shoot/feed/ 0 I know how David Copperfield did it! http://www.b-masters.com/2010/07/08/i-know-how-david-copperfield-did-it/ http://www.b-masters.com/2010/07/08/i-know-how-david-copperfield-did-it/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:19:22 +0000 Greywizard http://www.b-masters.com/?p=2875 Psst! I know a secret that I think you’d be interested in knowing. It has to do with the famous magician David Copperfield. Remember how years ago, he made The Statue Of Liberty disappear? I know how he did it. If you want to know how he did it, simply read my review of the magic-themed Ben Gazzara movie Quicker Than The Eye, and in the review you’ll find the answer. And if I get enough positive comments about this review, I will tell you guys the ingredients of the coating mix on Kentucky Fried Chicken (is it really eleven herbs and spices?)

Keith Bailey is the proprietor of The Unknown Movies Page.]]> http://www.b-masters.com/2010/07/08/i-know-how-david-copperfield-did-it/feed/ 6 If only there was this excitement at my high school http://www.b-masters.com/2010/06/24/if-only-there-was-this-excitement-at-my-high-school/ http://www.b-masters.com/2010/06/24/if-only-there-was-this-excitement-at-my-high-school/#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:09:21 +0000 Greywizard http://www.b-masters.com/?p=2864 When you’ve got a movie with a title like Malibu High, released with a poster showing a bikini-clad woman lying seductively, and being released by Crown International Pictures in the 1970s, you probably think you know what you are going to get – a teenage sex romp. And you’d be wrong. Instead, it is a movie that will show teenagers that the best way to better yourself is to engage in blackmail, prostitution, and eventually murder. To think I wasted all my high school years studying.

Keith Bailey is the proprietor of The Unknown Movies Page.]]> http://www.b-masters.com/2010/06/24/if-only-there-was-this-excitement-at-my-high-school/feed/ 0 The script and technology are both obsolete http://www.b-masters.com/2010/06/10/the-script-and-technology-are-both-obsolete/ http://www.b-masters.com/2010/06/10/the-script-and-technology-are-both-obsolete/#comments Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:10:09 +0000 Greywizard http://www.b-masters.com/?p=2827 There will be some viewers who will feel that Defense Play is seriously out of date. It takes place back in a time not only when floppy disks were being used, but when floppy disks were actually floppy. But I admit that all this low-tech stuff in the movie was pleasantly nostalgic for me. I grew up with that now-dated technology, and it was nice seeing this obsolete stuff once again. It’s too bad that the movie’s script didn’t please me as much as the technology it presented.

Keith Bailey is the proprietor of The Unknown Movies Page.]]> http://www.b-masters.com/2010/06/10/the-script-and-technology-are-both-obsolete/feed/ 1 Something is definitely missing http://www.b-masters.com/2010/05/27/something-is-definitely-missing/ http://www.b-masters.com/2010/05/27/something-is-definitely-missing/#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 15:02:50 +0000 Greywizard http://www.b-masters.com/?p=2776

Of all the movies made that deal with man-apes, Missing Link is unusual in a couple of ways. It’s one of the rare ones that was made by a major Hollywood studio. Also, it makes great strides to be sober and serious in tone. But it does share one thing with most other man-ape movies in that it’s overall not very good. Even good production values can’t save a man-ape movie alone.

Keith Bailey is the proprietor of The Unknown Movies Page.]]> http://www.b-masters.com/2010/05/27/something-is-definitely-missing/feed/ 1 Nuns and guns! http://www.b-masters.com/2010/05/13/nuns-and-guns/ http://www.b-masters.com/2010/05/13/nuns-and-guns/#comments Thu, 13 May 2010 15:17:22 +0000 Greywizard http://www.b-masters.com/?p=2698 Opinion is extremely divided on the horror movie The Convent. Those who have seen it seem to love it or hate it, with no one taking the middle ground. Although I can’t say that I didn’t find any faults with the movie, I am still among those who love it. Yes, it’s often extremely silly, but that’s part of its charm. And the moments of extreme violence are pleasing as well. I’ve tried to write a pretty spoiler-free review, so you can be pleasantly surprised like I was by the movie’s unique efforts to entertain when you sit down to watch it.

Keith Bailey is the proprietor of The Unknown Movies Page.]]> http://www.b-masters.com/2010/05/13/nuns-and-guns/feed/ 16 Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo… http://www.b-masters.com/2010/04/28/going-to-the-zoo-zoo-zoo/ http://www.b-masters.com/2010/04/28/going-to-the-zoo-zoo-zoo/#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:33:34 +0000 Greywizard http://www.b-masters.com/?p=2653 Before he was an adult, actor Jackie Earle Haley starred in prominent movies like Breaking Away and The Bad News Bears. In recent years, he has made a big comeback starring in movies like Watchmen and Little Children. The Zoo Gang comes from neither of those periods – it comes from the time when Haley, a few years after he turned into an adult, was struggling to get acting jobs, and not getting quality projects. It’s not as bad as the Albert Pyun movie he later appeared in, but… well, it still should have been locked up in a cage.

Keith Bailey is the proprietor of The Unknown Movies Page.]]> http://www.b-masters.com/2010/04/28/going-to-the-zoo-zoo-zoo/feed/ 0 We don’t need another hero http://www.b-masters.com/2010/04/15/we-dont-need-another-hero/ http://www.b-masters.com/2010/04/15/we-dont-need-another-hero/#comments Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:54:12 +0000 Greywizard http://www.b-masters.com/?p=2629 With Kick-Ass and Iron Man 2 about to be released, it seemed like a good time to review an unknown movie concerning superheroes. The Specials is the movie I chose for this occasion. I have to admit that I find many superhero movies overblown. What attracted me to this particular one was that it concerned superheroes in a more realistic world, and that these superheroes had problems many of us could identify with. Another promising thing about the movie was that it was written by James Gunn, who has written entertaining movies like Tromeo & Juliet, Slither, and the remake of Dawn Of The Dead. Though he also wrote the Scooby-Doo movie, so I prepared myself for the possiblity that this one would be equally not so special.

Keith Bailey is the proprietor of The Unknown Movies Page.]]> http://www.b-masters.com/2010/04/15/we-dont-need-another-hero/feed/ 5 Ho? No! http://www.b-masters.com/2010/04/01/ho-no/ http://www.b-masters.com/2010/04/01/ho-no/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:50:17 +0000 Greywizard http://www.b-masters.com/?p=2587 In Sakura Killers, we have ninjas that don’t dress in traditional black, but in brightly colored outfits instead. The movie appears to have been made with two different film units, and the footage from both units awkwardly edited together. Also, the one star of the movie who has some name value only appears occasionally, and never in the movie’s main action. Ah, you are thinking, this must be another Godfrey Ho concoction! Wrong – Godfrey Ho had nothing to do with this movie. Yes, it appears that this movie got some of its inspiration from the works of Godfrey Ho. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it? If you think that’s bizarre, wait until you see the movie for yourself.

Keith Bailey is the proprietor of The Unknown Movies Page.]]> http://www.b-masters.com/2010/04/01/ho-no/feed/ 1 Who knew evil could be so dull? http://www.b-masters.com/2010/03/18/who-knew-evil-could-be-so-dull/ http://www.b-masters.com/2010/03/18/who-knew-evil-could-be-so-dull/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:48:36 +0000 Greywizard http://www.b-masters.com/?p=2552 Evil Aliens is a movie that has clearly been inspired by the early films of Peter Jackson, definitely Dead Alive, but also movies like Bad Taste and Meet The Feebles. It should have been a movie that I would have picked up right away at the video store, but it wasn’t. When I first saw it and did research on it, I came up with reviews from a number of folks who said it was a bad rip-off of Peter Jackson. So I left it alone. But as time went on, I started to uncover an equal number of reports from other people who said that this was a good homage of sorts. The fact that there was so much disagreement about the movie intrigued me, enough so that I decided that I had to judge it for myself.

Keith Bailey is the proprietor of The Unknown Movies Page.]]> http://www.b-masters.com/2010/03/18/who-knew-evil-could-be-so-dull/feed/ 0