Hey I’m back to resurrect my gambling addiction. The rules are the same and I went through my 20+ selected movies and picked out some movies with a cult following. That’s it, let’s go!
3748: Harold and Maude (1971)
First up is the 1971 cult classic movie Harold and Maude, a movie that was a nice return to reviving the RMR series, and has dethroned Re-Animator as my new favourite in this series. Harold and Maude surprised me as it’s simply a really good movie with the added bonus of some black comedy, my favourite!
The opening perfectly sets up what you’re going to get in this hour and 30 movie. You’ve got this happy upbeat song while our main character walks around his mum’s big living room and the music stops when he hangs himself. That’s our main character Harold who really wants to die. When he’s not going on forced blind dates set-up by his mother, he’s trying to commit suicide or going to funerals to continue thinking about death.
I promise this movie isn’t the most depressing thing ever because this is where we meet Maude. An almost 80+ free spirited, adventurous rule breaker who befriends Harold and teaches him that being alive is great. However, Maude does have edge over Harold for me as she has a bit of mystery to her, she has the same type of intrigue as characters like Alex DeLarge or Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka, all of which came out in 1971. How funny!
Their friendship eventually blossoms into a very touching romance which is easily the heart of the movie. Harold and Maude is just my type of movie as it has a very romantic core balanced with some sweet darker comedy. The acting is great, same with the camera work and I can’t recommend it enough if you’re up for something different!
1415: Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
The next cult movie is a low budget Sci-Fi movie, Battle Beyond the Stars. A movie that definitely wasn’t inspired by the success of Star Wars or Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai! I haven’t seen Seven Samurai, but the main race is called Akira, so I figured.
Despite my being a bit skeptical, this movie was actually pretty good. The story is not much to brag about, but the journey was more exciting than the destination, because this movie can get a bit strange. Bill Denbrough from the It mini series is in this and his planet of Akirian’s are attacked by an evil self proclaimed republic. So he goes recruiting a bunch of weirdos including your typical love interest, a space cowboy who is from Earth of all places, some Star Trek looking super clones and an Amazonian warrior lady who wants to die like a badass and boobs.
Since Star Wars comes to mind, most of the same camera work and usage of miniatures to make the ships look all epic and awesome are here. Fine by me as it’s never going to age badly. The design of these ships are also something to marvel at as all the magnificent space 7+ are very distinct and would be great on a shelf. Since we’re in out of space the dogfights are another plus, that being said there were points that I kind of struggled to tell who was who when things went boom-boom.
The acting and the late James Horner’s score is another plus, but the biggest praise I can give this movie is that I won’t forget it anytime soon. The biggest sway when it comes to movies is ‘Am I going to remember it this time next month?’ Hell yes! If this movie was just the story and with some cool looking ships and it wasn’t kind of bizarre, and sometimes really funny, then I wouldn’t be recommending to you to give this one a try.
609: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
It’s the final movie for this post and it’s time for some pizza and some ninja mutant teen turtles. I was debating whether to include this as it’s not really a cult movie, but it does have a small fan-base of very grown-up 90’s kids. (So I just answered my own question.)
TMNT is a franchise I’m as much of an outsider to as I am with Pokemon. I know the basic gist of everything and a little bit extra, but am not really a fan of either. This movie is somewhat of an origin story of how the Turtles only ever help out the not so bright reporter April O’Neil and how they uncover this plot of sneaky young New York pickpocketers working for these deep voiced Japanese samurais in an attempt for their gang to be feared in the city, I think? This isn’t really a movie where you’re supposed to pick apart important plot details like that or you’re going to go insane and ruin the fun for everyone.
Even though it’s darker than I expected, this is just a fine family movie that kids are going to absolutely love. I couldn’t tell you which turtle was which other than the red turtle because he’s the sulky loner, but I doubt they would have that same issue. The turtles also say plenty of corny lines and do plenty of goofy ninja moves. I can imagine this was what the 80’s cartoon was like, except for the darker moments involving torturing the old sensei rat.
It’s a well made adaptation of a beloved cartoon. It’s not really my cup of tea because I could probably do a lot better with my time. Like watch the 2014 TMNT remake, that’s a pretty fun time.
This is the end of another Blog Complainer post. I’m not sure what’s next for this series, but I’ll figure it out or if you have any suggestions then please let me know. Anyway I have been The Blog Complainer and I’m going away again!
The Blog Complainer 