Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Disney Movie Review

Hope you’ve all been enjoying the holidays, albeit with some necessary modifications and perhaps a few compromises. Not to proselytize, but if we all do the right thing, hopefully this year will soon be little more than an unpleasant memory.

Be that as it may, in this season of merriment, Roy and I will conclude 2020 on a low note – and isn’t that saying something? – with an “in-depth” discussion of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954).

This whale of a tale features Kirk Douglas as the swashbuckling Ned Land, James Mason as a brooding Captain Nemo, and a 40-foot squid as the ultimate metaphor for that great leveler, COVID. Land sings a saucy sea shanty about his affairs with loose women, and Nemo plays Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor (of course) on an organ in his decked-out submarine. Gotta love vintage Disney.

Peter Lorre and Paul Lukas are along for the ride, in this intelligent family classic that’s refreshingly free of flatulence jokes.

I hope you’ll join us for a hearty good riddance to 2020, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Leave your comments in the captain’s log as we live-stream on Facebook, this Sunday evening at 7:00 EST.

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

It’s all true… I swear by my tattoo!

December 26, 2020
Santa vs Martians A Star Wars Conspiracy?

None other than Santa himself was kind enough to sit in for me for last night’s discussion of “Santa Claus Conquered the Martians,” and I don’t think Roy has ever laughed so hard. During the course of what might kindly be termed an autopsy, it gradually emerged that George Lucas stole everything from this cult camp masterpiece (including the spiderweb viewports, a Yoda-like mentor, the Wampa snow beast, and the Jedi mind-trick) to create “Star Wars.” Okay, maybe he also borrowed a little from “Metropolis” and Akira Kurosawa, but what are they next to “Santa Claus Conquered the Martians?” Am I joking? Share the pain – watch the movie – and then soothe the burn with this revelatory analysis.

We’re off next Friday for Christmas, but we’ll be back on Sunday, full of merriment, to end the year on a low note – 20,000 leagues, to be exact – and a 2020 discussion of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954).

Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner is live-streamed on Facebook most Friday and Sunday evenings at 7:00 EST.

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

Happy holidays, and remember to keep Mars in Christmars!

December 21, 2020
Willie Wonka’s Dark Side Holiday Shopping

It’s never too early for Oompa-Loompas!

Actually, this was originally planned to be our Black Friday show, but then things went awry with the internet connection. The choice seemed an oddly appropriate one for the “shopping season,” due to the film’s sharp commentaries on greed, gluttony, and consumerism run amok. I remember in the 1970s, in the days before premium cable channels fragmented our society forever, “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” was shown on TV on Thanksgiving night. At any rate, it was good to revisit this Gene Wilder classic, which seems to only get better with the passing of time, because, let’s face it, human nature has not changed, and everyone deserves to be sent to the taffy-pulling machine.

Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner is livestreamed on Facebook most Friday and Sunday evenings at 7:00 EST.

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

Tonight, it’s our last broadside before Christmas, as our topic will be “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” (1964). HO HO HO!

December 20, 2020
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians Movie Night

Peace on Earth! Pia Zadora on Mars!

Not even H.G. Wells, who projected that intellects, vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, dreamed that they would ever come for our Christmas. And like that other Welles, Orson – who started out at the top with “Citizen Kane,” only to wind up doing wine commercials – Zadora never made a better film.

It’s just not Christmas until Santa Claus is on Mars. Join us for our stunned reactions to the cult camp classic “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” (1964), on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, live-streamed on Facebook, this Sunday evening at 7:00 EST!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

December 20, 2020
Willy Wonka Wild Ride Tie-Dye Sci-Fi

There’s no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going…

Get ready for a wild ride with Gene Wilder, as Roy and I explore “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (1971). The beloved family musical, very much a product of its time, offers a perverse world of umbrella mushrooms, tea cup daffodils, and psychedelic steamboat rides, reflective of its merry prankster ethos.

Leave your comments next to the snozzberries, then climb aboard the Wonka Mobile for a quick cleanse. The Candy Man promises a groovy lemon pie – ‘cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good.

Oompah-Loompahs are the new orange, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Don’t sell-out to Slugworth, as we live-streamed on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

December 18, 2020

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