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Nerve-shattering... Brain-battering... Mind-splattering...
A ONE MAN DISASTER!
Rudy Ray Moore is arguably the king of ass kicking, jive talking, kung fu fighting, black cinema heroes. He is indisputably the godfather of rap and rhyme. Moore was one of the top comedians of the 1970s, incorporating a kind dirty urban limerick style to his comedy and had a succession of hit films with his "Dolemite" series, "The Human Tornado" being the second in the series. Consider this quintessential Blaxploitation 101 if you will. You got to see it to believe it, and like Dolemite says in the film, "Don't believe it? Watch this good shit!".
1976
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 85 mins
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A screamin' demon rages inside, turnin' him into Mr Hyde... don't give him no sass or he'll kick yo' ass!
Ok, so let’s begin by ignoring the fact that this film has neither a character named Dr. Black nor a Mr. Hyde, and for good measure, neither does it have a character named Mr. White, as an alternate title for the film suggests. Our main character, portrayed by Bernie Casey, whom always brings to mind, for us personally, Lambda Lambda Lambda every single time we see him, is actually named Dr. Pride, which admittedly, does, remarkably, rhyme with Hyde. Is there a point in me telling you this? No. Not really…
For the most part, Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde lives up to what you’d expect from a Jekyll and Hyde story. Aforementioned doctor has promising experimental drug that he tries on himself, turns into a monster and proceeds to go on a rampage. The monster, in this case, has notably lighter skin and has had some people debating whether or not this film is actually a commentary on racial issues. We suppose that’s best left up to the audience to decide. We just show movies, and we can tell you that this one is actually not very good, but it is funny because of it. It’s better than Blackenstein, anyway. At least come out the week before to see the trailer. It has that awesome Dolemite constant rhyming schtick that never gets old.
1976
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 85 mins
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WARNING! You may be offended if you're black, white, male, female, rich or poor, Bill Cosby, Mr. T or Richard Pryor.
It’s Eddie Murphy at his greatest… Still funny like he was on SNL only with lots more swearing like Delirious, but with a leather outfit that only he could wear. Raw is stand up comic, concert gold of the highest order. It’s foul-mouthed and immature, but at least it doesn’t have him playing multiple fat people or talking to animals. And hey… if you show up for anything, at least show up for the intro sketch featuring young Eddie Murphy just getting started with Samuel L Jackson as little Eddie’s uncle. It’s worth it just for that alone.
1987
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 93 mins
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The sequel you’ve been waiting for is finally here. In 2007 Brand X Cinema presented Video Game Month. In 2009 we now present “Revenge of the Son of Mrs. Video Game Deluxe”, our latest celebration of the video game movie. Following in the footsteps of our previous outing we’ve taken the best and worst of films that tried to adapt, used them as a premise, or defined a reality with one of our favorite time wasters. Along with the film assortment we have a vast array of additional short film and videos related to the hobby. Join us on our journey through pixels, polygons, rasters, vectors, and all those other things your parents don’t understand! |
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Play it. Live it. Kill for it.
It has been both greatly compared to, and, very unfortunately overshadowed by The Matrix which was released the same year. Both films do deal with an overall question of which reality is reality, though eXistenZ does it with the style that only David Cronenberg can, leaving one with the uneasy sense that the mind and the flesh are not so distinct.
An all-star cast including Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Willem DaFoe and Ian Holm take the audience on an adventure through a bizarre world of conspiracy and organic video game devices that plug straight into a person’s spinal column, making the lines between reality and virtual reality indistinguishable. Don’t let video game review sites or grossly misunderstood comparisons to other movies steer you in the wrong direction with regard to this film. There’s a lot more going on than just games.
1999
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 97 mins |
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It's not just a game anymore.
When a boy with an obsession for computer games accidentally comes into possession of classified information concealed within a video game he's soon on the run from goons trying to reacquire the cartridge from him at any cost, even his own death. The reality of the situation is a bit overwhelming for a child to comprehend so the boy manifests an imaginary protector, super agent Jack Flack (played by Dabney Coleman) to guide and encourage him throughout the ordeal. Starring Henry Thomas of "E.T." fame and featuring a fictional Atari 5200 version which was sadly never made. Enjoy video game month.
1984
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 101 mins |
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An Interactive Trip To Hell
Remember when The Lawnmower Man made virtual reality headgear the future of video games? Wow! Just like my flying car and that hoverboard Back to the Future II promised us? Either way, virtual reality was supposed to really open an entirely new doorway into the gaming experience, though the reality reality of it was that the equipment was so damned expensive only the military and really rich kids got to be disappointed by the crappy immersion into jerky-slow-ultimately pointless world. That didn’t stop Hollywood from playing it up that a video game would one day be so realistic that it would be not be discernable from real life. Hey… it made sense at the time, right?
Brainscan is one of these films plus. Plus, because it stars a post-T2, pre-drug addled Edward Furlong, still in his squeaky-voiced teenage glory, as a horror film/video game fan of the first degree. He’s sent a copy of an enigmatic game called Brainscan that introduces him to another character that almost seems to be a not too distant cousin to Robert Blake’s Mystery Man in Lost Highway. As the game unfolds and the perceived fabric of reality reality seems to come unthreaded, much confusion ensues. Come on. It’s fun.
1994
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 96 mins |
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This Ain't No Game, It's a Live-Action Thrill Ride!
Nintendo rarely missteps, but when they do, it usually isn't pretty. 'Captain N' hurt us a little, but we were kids and could handle it back then. 'The Legend of Zelda' cartoon wasn't the worst, so long as you don't revisit it. Heck, 'The Super Mario Bros. Super Show' was super cool because Lou Albano was Mario. The movie though, yeah, it's like someone was told about the game through a third party and figured "sure, that sounds like it'll be easy to make". No. This isn't a good movie in any one way, but it serves as one of the greatest examples of how to take source material and throw it out the door. Who cares that John Leguizamo was in it… But Bob Hoskins? Dennis Hopper? All I can say is wow. Just wow.
1993
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 104 mins |
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We here at Brand X like Video Game Month so much that we used a special code to get an extra week to show another video game movie. Maybe it'll be good, maybe it'll be bad, all we know is it's an extra video game movie, and you should thank us.
830-1030pm, free admission |
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A Science Fantasy Adventure.
No dialog, cavemen and nude Rae Dawn Chong all movie long. Need we say more?
Psst… it’s actually really good.
1981
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 100 mins |
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A world light-years beyond your imagination.
Born out of the wake of Star Wars, Krull, like other films from the era, followed with its own take on the fantasy genre. Krull also managed to mix in some Sci-Fi elements to give it its own weird identity. A very British and very strange, but very cool movie.
1983
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 121 mins |
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Another World, Another Time... In the Age of Wonder.
A world has been torn in two by the breaking of a magic crystal that had once held everything in balance. Since the schism, the land became subjected to the rule of the vile, covetous Skeksis race who only seek to prolong their own lives at the cost of others. On the other side of the world though, there is a peaceful race known as the Uru who seek only contentment and mysticism.
From the land of the Uru, a young Gelfling named Jen is about to set out on a monumental adventure as the world lines up to become whole again.
The Dark Crystal is an amazing piece of work and a testament to the imagination of Jim Henson and the puppeteer skills of his company. This film is classic and should not be missed.
1982
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 93 mins |
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The end of mankind as we know it.
From director Ralph Bakshi we offer up this seldom seen sword and sorcery classic.
Using the rotoscoping technique (filming live actors then using an animation process over the footage) Ralph Bakshi was able to revolutionize a brand new way of seeing animated features and utilized this technology in such classics as "Wizards" and the animated "Lord of the Rings" film. So if you dig Conan, Red Sonja, or Heavy Metal [or Frank Frazetta -ed.] I'd check this one out.
1983
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 81 mins |
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Bombed out in space with a spaced-out bomb!
Poor special effects, cheesy music, and talking bombs, plus John Carpenter and Dan o Bannon = AWESOME.
1979
830-1030pm, free admission
RUNTIME: 83 mins |
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February 8