1980s

Movie Review – Explorers

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Explorers (1985)
Written by Eric Luke
Directed by Joe Dante

explorers

Ben is an average kid having extraordinary dreams. In these dreams he is flying in the clouds, looking down on a complex outline of circuitry. These could just be inspired by his late night viewing of classic science fiction films, but he still shares them with his nerdy friend Wolfgang. They discover this information allows them to manifest an anti-gravity field that they can manipulate the size and speed of. With help from their other friend Darren, they use an old Tilt-a-Whirl car to create a ship they can fly across the city with. A variety of complications arise putting the boys’ plans of space exploration and alien contact in jeopardy.

This is not going to be the review you are expecting.

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Comic Book Review – Invasion!

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Invasion! (1989)
Written by Keith Giffen & Bill Mantlo
Art by Todd McFarlane, Keith Giffen, and Bart Sears

invasion tpb cover

On the distant homeworld of the despotic Dominators, a plan is being hatched. They have been abducting humans and subjecting them to experiments to uncover why Earth is home to the majority of the galaxy’s super-powered beings. A tenuous alliance is formed after the discovery of the metagene. This invasion force consists of The Dominators, the Khunds, Daxamites, Durlans, and other alien races. Their goal is to conquer Earth and harvest these metagenes for their purposes. A surprise attack is launched, and the superbeings of the planet form a defense force to resist these invaders.

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Comic Book Review – Cosmic Odyssey

Cosmic Odyssey (1988)
Written by Jim Starlin
Art by Mike Mignola

cosmic odyssey 01

For eons, Darkseid has searched for the Anti-Life Equation, a manifestation of ultimate power that would allow him to conquer all of reality. It turns out that Anti-Life is a living entity and it has sent four essences into the positive matter universe with the goal of destroying a chain of solar systems that would affect the gravity of the galaxy so drastically it would obliterate it all. A tenuous alliance is made between Darkseid and Highfather of New Genesis to prevent this from occurring. They gather a group of Earth’s greatest heroes (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Starfire) and a mysterious old man named Jason Blood to help stop Anti-Life’s plans. But of course, with Darkseid, not everything is as it seems.

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Movie Review – Back to the Future

Back to the Future (1985)
Written by Bob Gale & Robert Zemeckis
Directed by Robert Zemeckis

back to the future

Marty McFly is your average high school student. He lives in Hill Valley, California. He has a girlfriend. He has lame parents. He’s friends with an elderly disgraced nuclear physicist. You know as regular teenagers do. Things get heavy when Marty meets Doc Brown in a mall parking lot in the middle of the night. Doc shows off his modified Delorean, transformed into a mobile time machine. The experiment is cut short when the Libyan terrorists Doc stole plutonium from show up and kill the elderly scientist. Marty escapes in the Delorean and is tossed back to 1955 without the needed fuel to get time machine running again. To make matters worse, he interrupts his parents’ first meeting so that his future mother is now in love with him! The clock is ticking before Marty destroys his timeline and he needs the Doc Brown of 1955’s help to undo the damage.

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Comic Book Review – Millennium

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Millennium (1988)
Written by Steve Englehart
Art by Joe Staton

millennium cover

Life is going about as usual in the DC Universe when the peace is interrupted by the return of two strange figures: one Guardian of the Universe and one Zamaronian. These two ancient cosmic beings are on Earth to warn of the threat of the Manhunters and the coming of a group of special humans called The Chosen. The heroes of the DC Universe are split into groups to travel the globe and contact the Chosen while protecting them from the cult-like Manhunters.

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Comic Book Review – Legends

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Legends (1987)
Written by John Ostrander & Len Wein
Art by John Byrne

legends cover

On the planet Apokolips, the god Darkseid makes a wager with the Phantom Stranger that he will turn humanity against their most celebrated heroes. Darkseid accomplishes this by sending Glorious Godfrey, a supernaturally powered svengali to sway the general public. He also dispatches the psychic terror Dr. Bedlam in the form of a manufactured villain Macro-Man and the fiery acolyte Brimstone. The first target is the bastion of goodness Captain Marvel, and he is the first of many heroes to fall. Along the way, the Justice League of America crumbles, and Batman is driven from his cape and cowl when given orders by the Gotham City PD. However, this is the beginning of a new era in DC Comics with the introductions of Blue Beetle and Captain Marvel into the DC Universe as well as the reintroduction of Wonder Woman.

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Movie Review – E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

I hope you are enjoying the content I publish on my blog. If you feel compelled and are financially able to, I would greatly appreciate anything you could contribute to my Patreon. I will take it as your way of saying thanks and put that money towards growing the site in a slight manner.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Written by Melissa Mathison
Directed by Steven Spielberg

e.t.

Elliott is a boy living in northern California who doesn’t seem to have any friends. He tries to join in on his older brother’s Dungeons & Dragons game but is seen as too little. One night, Elliott discovers a creature living in the shed in the yard, a small brown alien who has been stranded on Earth. The two create an empathic bond so that they feel each other’s emotions and sensations. This bond allows Elliott to understand that the creature, whom he nicknames E.T., is going to die unless he can contact his people and return to his world. Elliott lets his brother and little sister in on his secret and the trio work to help their new friend. However, in the background government agents are searching the woods after seeing the aliens leave initially. Slowly but surely they are circling closer and closer to Elliott and E.T.

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