Cinema Cycle - The Mafia: Resume

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE REVIEWED: 05/31/2017

TITLE: The Mafia: Resume

FORMAT: VHS

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 42 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 8.8 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 6827.5 miles

SYNOPSIS: A summary of Gang-Land murders and power grabs from the 1930s through the 1970s

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: The actual basis for the Godfather, Goodfellas and the Sopranos.

PROS AND CONS:  The cons here are the condition of the media.  This is a VHS tape and is not a good transfer nor is there high production value in the documentary.  

That said, this is a very informative piece to watch.  It delves into great detail regarding the frictions between the organized crime families of the century as well as the government's involvement both in promoting and combating organized crime.

Many of the interviews presented here are familiar faces in their much younger days as well as many organized crime figures that lay bare what really went in in the Cosa Nostra.

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

Cinema Cycle - Flash Gordon

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE REVIEWED: 05/30/2017

TITLE: Flash Gordon

FORMAT: BluRay

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 52 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 22.8 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 6815.7 miles

SYNOPSIS: A football quarterback a travel agent and a mad scientist team up to save the world from a universal warlord.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Comic books come to life, but not with all the brooding and backstory that we have today.  This is fun comics with a sinister edge.

PROS AND CONS:  It has been years since I have seen this and if you haven’t seen it recently (or at all) look at it on a really good television and sound system.  It is a whole lot better than I remembered it.

The production design of the planet Mongo and its moons, along with soundtrack by Queen and Max Von Sydow’s over the top portrayal of Ming the Merciless are all just huge amounts of cinema candy that you munch away on.

One of the things that is surprising about this film is just how much ‘implied’ gore is in it.  Even though it is just a comic book set to cinema, there is a real sense of dread in the film that this Ming guy is not a nice fellow.

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

Cinema Cycle - The Avengers '67 Vol 11

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE REVIEWED: 05/26/2017

TITLE: The Avengers ‘67 Vol11

FORMAT: VHS

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 52 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 11.7 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 6792.9 miles

SYNOPSIS: (from Wikipedia)

28 October 1967

You Have Just Been Murdered – Millionaires are being blackmailed into paying a mystery enemy not to murder them, as he repeatedly demonstrates how vulnerable to assassination they are.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Campy-ness, X-Files and James Bond all rolled into one (and the obligatory fight scene with Emma Peel in a skin tight suit).

PROS AND CONS: I really shouldn’t like this show but I do.  I found myself laughing at this episode more than anything else, because what was once ‘cool’ is bordering on farce.

However, this whole series has to be taken rather tongue-in-cheek.  In this outing, old lady assassins use knitting needles to kill their victims.  Not really very believable.  

This show got better with age as they continued to refine it and take it in new directions.  The first show in the series would be hardly recognizable compared to the last.

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

Cinema Cycle - Hot Rod

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE REVIEWED: 05/25/2017

TITLE: Hot Rod

FORMAT: HD-DVD

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 30 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 19.2 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 6781.2 miles

SYNOPSIS: An older teen living at home attempts to recapture of the glory of his dead father who was a stunt man.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: What the SNL crew does in their time off.  Some of the sight gages are hilarious.

PROS AND CONS:  A great film if you are a male, approximately 12 to 17 years of age.  Otherwise, most of this film is pretty cringe worthy.  The target audience is clear and they drill home the themes of the film to them.  

The film is a series of sight gags strung together into a plot, which really becomes secondary to the visuals of the film.  

The stunt and comedy scenes are well done and funny as all hell, but then we have to watch Adam Sandler move the plot forward another 12 hours before the next ROFLOL moment.

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

Cinema Cycle - Transformers

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE REVIEWED: 05/23/2017

TITLE: Transformers

FORMAT: HD-DVD

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 2 hours 24 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 29.5 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 6762 miles

SYNOPSIS: Robots come to earth and go at each other Mano-y-Mano for 2+ hours.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: ‘What if my toys could destroy the world?, wouldn’t that be cool?”, said every boy at the age of eight.

PROS AND CONS:  My second Michael Bay movie in a week (see previous review of “The Island”).  Please, stop the explosions!

I wanted to like this film but I quickly got lost in the pre-puberty male fantasy that the movie instantly becomes.

There are several plot lines at work in this film.  Two are actually quiet interesting, the third is questionable and the fourth (with LaBeouf and Fox) is just a farce which appears to be edited in just to titillate the pre-pubescent lads.  

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

Cinema Cycle - The Last Starfighter

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE REVIEWED: 05/19/2017

TITLE: The Last Starfighter

FORMAT: BluRay

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 42 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 21.2 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 6732.5 miles

SYNOPSIS: A teenager is recruited to fight an evil alien invasion on a far off planet.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Young boy fantasy, circa 1986.  Young men go off into space to shoot at things and blow things up.

PROS AND CONS:  In its day, not a bad film.  Part of the genre that launched Star Wars and other franchises.  Its early use of computer graphics is interesting.

This is not a film that was done on the cheap.  The production values are pretty high from the set design and technical aspects of the film that are not CGI (Computer Graphic Images).

The film benefits from the BluRay transfer which showed extreme sharpness and clarity on my flat screen monitor.  The surround sound didn’t hurt either.  All in all an enjoyable two hours revisiting my college years spent in bars pumping money into an Asteroids game.

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.