Monday, September 11, 2006

"Dragon Fighter" review

Dragon Fighter (2003)

Directed by Phillip J. Roth
Writing credits Micheal Baldwin Phillip J. Roth

Dean Cain .... Capt. David Carver
Kristine Byers .... Dr. Meredith Winter
Robert Zachar .... Dr. Ian Drackovitch
Marcus Aurelius .... Dr. Greg Travis
Robert DiTillio .... Kevin Korisch

A bunch of scientists decide to clone a dragon. It escapes. Things go haywire. People are killed. Mayhem. Death. Etc.

"Dragon Fighter" was pretty good for a straight to video flick. The dragon effects were decent. The movie zipped right along. It was as good as I could hope for. One thing that annoyed me was the amazing amount of split screen action. In many instances, the camera would break into different little screens so you were looking at almost every actor in the room. They must have said, "We filmed it, therefore it's important. We must get this shot of this guy doing nothing. It's crucial!" Soon I was singing the Brady Bunch theme song. All the little boxes inspired me.

They also had this weird gimmick where every new character would get a statistic chart when they were introduced. So when somebody entered the room, their face would go to the top left of the screen and their vital statistics would flash below. Date of birth, weight, stolen bases, Batting average etc. Were they trying to sell scientist trading cards? Collect them all! Here's this guy...from this movie! Isn't his weight fascinating?

SCORE:2 out of 4 scientists stuck in split screen mania

Sunday, September 10, 2006

"Cover Girl Models" review

Cover Girl Models (1975)

Directed by Cirio H. Santiago
Writing credits Howard R. Cohen

Pat Anderson.... Barbara
Lindsay Bloom.... Claire
Tara Strohmeier.... Mandy
John Kramer.... Mark
Rhonda Leigh Hopkins.... Pamela
Mary Woronov.... Diane

I bought this one from Blockbuster for five bucks. Three models head off to Hong Kong for a photo shoot. They get involved with a spy ring and some other nonsense. They strike a pose and lose some clothes. Microfilms, revolutionaries and other misfits mix it up with the models.

This was a typically brainless 70's exploitation movie. On the plus side, all the models get topless. But the spy storyline was completely inane. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Most of the movie is spent watching the models model. So we are treated to many fashion shoots. Excited yet? There is a big gun battle at the end but none of the models are topless during it.

SCORE: 1.5 out of 4 cover girl models modeling