Dinner and a Movie with Moxie

  The Hobbit (1977) I remember I was in middle school when I first was introduced to JRR Tolkien's classic children's novel The Hobbit, and soon after reading the book, I was introduced to the Rankin and Bass animated film adaptation of the novel.  To me this is still the best film adaptation of Tolkien's beloved classic novel, it adds nothing to the story, and only takes out what it has to, in order to keep the pace moving, and to fit into the television time slot in which it aired.  The was a beautiful adaptation, with beautiful artwork inspired by the artwork of Arthur Rackham, and an amazing cast of voice actors, and it keeps close to the book upon which it is based.   The Hobbit tells the story of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who is recruited by the wandering wizard Gandalf, to be the burglar for a party of 13 dwarves who seek to reclaim their kindow that was taken from them by  dragon.   Along the way he has adventures and learns that there is more to him than he tho

  The Blob (1958) This next film ranks among one of my all-time favourite films!  The Blob from 1958, was a low budget science-fiction/horror film, that featured a young Steve McQueen in his first starring role in a feature film.  The Blob cold have easily become just another forgotten b-horror/sci-fi film, but it had this special quality to it that made it appealing and endearing to audiences.  The film was first of all shot in widescreen format and beautiful colour, and it had a playful tone to it, not taking itself too seriously.   The film was originally intended to have a more serious tone, but thankfully that opening theme was changed to this cute catchy theme song, written by Burt Bacharach and Mack David, which helped set the tone for the  film.  This is a fun film, and it was a huge hit with film goers in 1958, and has always been a beloved classic b-horror film, but I can't call it a cult classic, because it has been successful since its initial release, and has never sto

  The Hideous Sun Demon (1958) Actor/director Robert Clarke, after experiencing success with the low budget film The Astounding She-Monster, which he starred in, decided that he could do it himself, and that he did.  The Hideous Sun Demon was his attempt to make a low-budget b-horror film, armed with a crew of amatures made up mostly of University Of Southern California students, and a cast of students, amatures, friends, and family and a miniscule budget he made a film.  Was it a good film, well no, neither was it a successful film, but it did go on to become a cult classic, and an unintentional comedy, so I guess in a way, that would make it a success.   I personally find this film to be dull, with some unintentional comedic parts, it is definitely one of those films that is best watched when Elvira or Mystery Theater 3000 is mocking it, or to do something like that yourself with friends, but to watch it as a serious film is kind of chore, and I found my attention constantly wanderin

  The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer (NES 1989) The first time I discovered this game would have been in the early 1990s, when my dad was married to a woman who collected NES games, at the time she helped me to build my Nintendo collection as well.  Sadly that original collection that I had as a kid I had gotten rid of over the years, which was something that I always regretted.  As an adult I have been working to rebuild my old NES collection, and one of the games that I knew I had to hunt down and re-add to my collection was The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer.  This game starts off with Tom Sawyer sleeping in class at school, and then we go into his dream where he must save Becky from Injun Joe.   The game takes the player through six levels, fighting a boss at the end of every level, until finally Tom gets to Injun Joe who is riding upon the back of a sea monster, and the player must beat him to save Becky.  In the two player mode, player two gets to play as Huck Finn.  The game is loosely base

  Pete's Dragon (1977) The beautiful bold coastline of Maine with it's cliffs and lighthouses, and quaint fishing villages has long been an inspiration for the settings of films.  Though Pete's Dragon never outright states that it is set in Maine, there are plenty of hints that Maine is the setting for this musical adventure film.  The first hint is the name of the fictional town that the film is set in, Passamaquoddy, which is the name of a tribe of natives that inhabited North Eastern Maine, and New Brunswick, which is how the real life locations of Passamaquoddy Bay, and West Quoddy Lighthouse/State Park got their names.   So knowing that this film takes place in a small fishing village on the coast of Maine, and the village is named Passamaquoddy, and that there is a lighthouse located near this small fishing village would give hints to the real life location of this fictional village where young Pete and his dragon friend Elliot found their home.  As I was researching

  Porco Rosso (1992) Studio Ghibli is one of the most consistently great animation studios in the world of animation, almost all of their films are absolutely amazing.  Porco Rosso from 1992, is a bit of a lesser known classic from Studio Ghibli, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and based on his 1989 watercolour manga, Hikotei Jidai ("The Age Of The Flying Boat").  The film tells the story of a WW1 ace fighter pilot from the Italian Air Force, who went rogue after the word and became an exile from his home country and turned to a life of freelance bounty hunting.   The pilot had been cursed to become an anthropomorphic pig.   Though he fights sky pirates, he isn't really a good guy, nor is he really a bad guy, he's just a pig, which he uses to explain his bad behavior at times.   However Madam Gina has never given up on the man that became the pig, and in her heart she bears only love for him, and then there is the young and talented aeroplane mechanic Fio Piccolo, who als

  Isle Of The Snake People (1971) aka: La Muerte Viviente Sadly at the end of his career, Boris Karloff was starring in some pretty bottom of the barrel films, which is so sad to see the great actor who played Frankenstein's monster and The Mummy in their first film appearances, playing sinking to the bottom.  Just before his death in 1969 he was filmed his part for 4 Mexican horror films, that have ultimately been mostly forgotten over the years.  One of those strange Mexican b-horror films was La Muerte Viviente, or Isle Of The Snake People in the US, or just Snake People in the UK.  This film sees Karloff starring as a rich plantation owner on a remote pacific island, and he dabbles in science and voodoo, and there is some voodoo cult that dance half-naked with snakes, and zombies and an evil dwarf...okay this film is just weird.  I think that Snake People attempts to be artsy, and almost psychedelic at times, but overall just really loses its direction. Isle Of The Snake People