The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_557" align="alignright" width="307"] Official Score = 3 1/2 Devils[/caption]

For years now I have been a fan of both Horror and Science Fiction movies, and you know what? Generally speaking it seems like to me that with Horror movies, I usually come out of the movie feeling very satisfied, and sometimes I have even come out of the movie wanting to buy it!

With Science Fiction I feel very similar… That is to say I am also a huge fan of the Science Fiction genre, and frankly oft times I also come out of those movies either very happy with my selection… I would even go so far to say that I usually end up wanting to build the Science Fiction side of my library!

But you know what truly defines a great movie? When that movie actually electrifies you!

Now I am not talking that you get a jolt of actual Electricity... But it is not far from it… I mean you get that intense jolt of adrenaline that one gets when seeing a truly awesome movie, so much so that when you get out of the movie you can’t stop thinking about how great that movie was and it stays with you for a bit afterward… If you have had that then, you know what I am talking about!

And you know what? The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) was just one of those movies!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Michael Paré with Bobby Di Cicco in, 'The Philadelpha Experiment'![/caption]

Starring: Michael Paré (Solar Force), Nancy Allen (Carrie), Eric Christmas (Air Bud), Bobby Di Cicco (Night Shift), Kene Holliday (The District) and Stephen Tobolowsky (Groundhog Day).

The Philadelphia Experiment, tells the story about how in 1943 an experiment on board a A Navy Destroyer that went horribly wrong and ended up transporting two sailors by the name of David Herdeg (Paré), and Jim Parker (Di Cicco) that were on board the ship from 1943 to 1984…

Once they get to this foreign world though, they are not much better off… You see, besides the fact that both of them are both way out of date, and have no idea what seems to be going on, one of them is experiencing weird pain… But despite all of that, the world is coming to an end due to the fact that no one seems to be able to seal up the hole, and the hole seems to be sucking everything in to it!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Herdeg with the one friend he and his friend, 'Jim Paker' have been able to make since being thrown in to the future![/caption]

And once Jim finally disappears, David and his new friend, ‘Alison’ (Allen) will stop at nothing to find out what happened to him and his ship, and ultimately to maybe regain some sort of semblance of his life… It is the ride of his life!

In the end, this movie was freakin amazing… Now for those of you who don’t know, this movie is supposedly loosely based on the true story of an experiment that went wrong during World War 2… (And did a great job with the story line I suspect because of that…)

The truth is though is that they don’t make Science Fiction movies like that anymore… I mean this movie had some amazing talent that just did a fantastic job! Admittedly the special effects are a little campy… But what can you expect? I mean this movie is almost 30 years old, and in all truth I have to admit that the special effects (despite their campy appeal were part of what made this movie so awesome!)

The last thing that I wanted to mention here is the fact that this movie had an amazing script, with an awesome story line… the reason I say this, is that I saw a documentary on the, ‘Real’ Philadelphia Experiment, and in truth, at least according to the documentary, the way the movie depicted the events on the ship in 1943, were pretty close to what really happened, and the plight of the two Sailors lost in time (something that as far as I know didn’t actually happen) was amazingly well written!

In the end, this movie, I thought was just awesome… And if you check it out you might think the same!

http://youtu.be/iURHeZ3Qv8E

Universal Solider (1992) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

When I was a kid (as I am sure was the case with a lot of us that grew up watching action films in the 1990s), we can all remember the good ole days when the movies that Jean-Claude Van Damme (Time Cop) didn’t suck!

Well that isn't entirely fair of me to say, the main reason that I say that, is that for the last many years, Van Damme has been doing really low grade films that didn't sound to good to me (although, I have heard that he has been picking up the pace, what with having recently done, The Expendables 2 (2012) and the latest sequel in the Universal Soldier franchise!

And speaking of the Universal Soldier franchise, I thought that I would review the first Universal Soldier movie as this movie holds a special place for me as this was the first movie that I ever saw of his in the Theater!

That’s right folks, you see, this movie, which was directed by: Roland Emmerich (The Noah’s Ark Principal), and which stars Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren (The Punisher) and Ally Roberts (The Profiler), told the story of how in the early 90s, the government decides to revive dead Soldiers that had died in combat at some point in the last 30 years and enhance them in every way so that they could become a sort of genetic super solder…

The only problem is that two of the genetic super soldiers that died in Vietnam and had been brought back to life for this program, by the name of Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) and Andrew Scott (Lundgren)…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="420"] The Universal Soldiers in action![/caption]

Now before Deveraux had passed away, he was sort of a mild mannered good soldier that was fighting for his country like any other good soldier would have done, but Andrew Scott had been suffering from combat fatigue and was starting to get more and more violent in the way that he would kill the enemy!

In the end though, as both Luc and Andrew begin to remember their old lives, Luc starts to want to get back to the life he had led before he died in Vietnam, but before he can do so, he has to try and stop Andrew Scott from continuing with the bloody massacre in the United States in the early 90s, that he had started in Vietnam decades before!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) a re-animated super soldier who is about to remember who he really is![/caption]

For me, I have to admit that I still freakin love this movie! It had a great cast of action super stars at what I still believe to be the height of their careers, it had a fun (somewhat believable) story line, as well as fantastic special effects that I still think are pretty awesome!

All in all, if you have a chance to see this movie, then I highly recommend it, it is a fun one, that you might like as well!

http://youtu.be/gBUTgd4M6w8

Earth Vs. The Alien Invaders

You don’t see these to often for some reasons, Alien Invasion movies that are set on Modern Day Planet Earth, which is an unfortunate thing, because they are great!

Why are they great you ask, well Hollywood in all fairness has shown both sides of the coin on this one, some of these movies have shown just how the Military can handle such problems as the American Military taking on an entire Alien task force (such is the example in the movie, American Battleship (2012)). Some of them show just how it may take some time, but eventually the world will figure it out, and humanity will triumph over the Alien menace (as is the example from, Independence Day (1996), and of course there are some that show how in the end, we just couldn’t make it (as is the case with, Body Snatcher (1993).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="650"] A scene from the movie, 'American Warships' (2012)![/caption]

Well if you’re like me, then you are going to like pretty much all three that I have mentioned above…

With this in mind though, unfortunately for the most part I would have to say that most of these types of movies that were really good came out in the 90’s and before… Unfortunately, there has been some real stinkers that have come out in the last few years… (Skyline (2010) is a great example of this!)

Now before I go on though, there has been some great Science Fiction Invasion movies that have come out in the new millennium that are truly great (Again I have to use American Battleship as an example because it was truly one of those genuinely fun movies!)

But as for the first category (movies where the Military kicks ass almost immediately), is a great one because in all truth, they usually have a great story about some form of lone base, Unit, or ship of some sort that has been entrusted to stop the Alien invasion, and they also have a great message about pride that we should all be taking in, what our armed forces are doing to protect us!

The second category that I thought that I would mention here (The one having to do with, when the world has been beaten back, and then the main cast develops a way that will help destroy the Alien invasion forces…)

Well the truth is, in my opinion, I think that these types of movies have the best story lines to them, as well as great talent and direction to follow up with as well… These types of movies usually have a great message in them, (we may be down. But when we get up, you’ll wish we hadn’t!)

Now as for the third… What can I say? They are just fun! I mean they usually have a great chilling story that does appeal to the horror fan in me, as well as great talent to back them up as well!

The other thing that I thought that I would mention about all three of these categories is just how, all of these movies almost always have great special effects and oft times (even with the crummy versions of any three of these types of movies,) will often have a great cast!

In the end, if you’re a Science Fiction fan and you haven’t had a chance to check out any of these types of movie yet, then I highly recommend doing so, I mean they are pretty kick ass flicks that you might really enjoy as well!

http://youtu.be/WxABSUBEmJc

http://youtu.be/okW2UfLNaJc

http://youtu.be/d-S9nKByu5w