Booze and B-Movies Booze and B-Movies

This week we finish our look at Roger Corman's career with what may be the closest thing to an adult film that Roger put his name on, Dinosaur Island. We weren't quite able to "know it when we see it," though, because we had to watch a version that was apparently edited to meet YouTube's community standards. 

In the final installment of the Corman Compendium, Steve runs down what is actually a pretty impressive list of the filmmakers and actors to whom Roger Corman gave early-career opportunities. 

On to Dinosaur Island: Five soldiers wash up on the shore of an uncharted island after a plane crash. As luck would have it, the island is populated by cavewomen who seem to be experiencing a shortage of leather, because their clothing options didn't offer much coverage. But, things aren't all daquirirs and skinny-dipping. A "giant" T-Rex terrorizes the women. Can these goofball soldiers save them from their tormentor *and* teach them the ways of male/female...relations...or is that job more than they can chew?

Dinosaur Island final grade:

Steve likes the movie and calls it an entertaining bit of camp. But, as usual, he's also harder on the movie for its low quality acting, crappy dinosaurs, and lackluster visual effects. 3.69/5.0

Brandon calls this the goofiest, most ridiculous Corman movie we've watched thus far, with the worst Dinosaur models and puppetry ever seen. Of course, this means the movie was very good and amusing. It's also possible he saw this movie on Showtime in 1994. 4.04/5 

Cocktail of the Week:
Dino-Sour

1 oz Dark Rum

1 oz Light Rum

1 oz Fresh-Squeezed Lemon Juice

1/2 oz Rich Demerara Syrup

1/2 oz Egg White

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker without ice. Dry shake a few times. Add ice and shake again. Double strain (all about that mouth feel) over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish as you like.

Cocktail Grade: A good sour cocktail. Taste very similarly to a standard whiskey sour, with perhaps a slightly more pronounced vanilla. For our tastes, 5/5

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After being stymied by streaming services on a few other options to continue May's Roger Corman retrospective, we land on another Alien-style knockoff. This one does divide Brandon and Steve a bit and give a glimpse in their different movie-grading criteria. Brandon likes this one for it's splattery, campy toplessness. Steve expects more in terms of production value, set design, and writing.

Tell us if you've heard this before. An experiment goes wrong at a space research facility. Expert problem-solver is sent in to investigate the problem. He recommends killing the troublesome critter while it's small and containable. Scientists disagree and ask him to sleep on it. By morning, it's too late and the critter has become ginormous and is killing everyone.

In addition, Steve airs some grievances he has with AMC theater's new contactless policies and Brandon mentions a couple cultural differences he noticed while on holiday in Scotland. Steve continues with the next chapter in his Roger Corman biography.

Forbidden World Final Grades

Steve: James Cameron wasn't in the building for this one, so this iteration of a Corman knock-off of a previous Alien-knockoff falls flat. Can't get over the styrofoam trays as walls. Good special effects don't make up for being well below-average in every other respect. 2.46/5

Brandon While this wasn't as "good" a movie as Galaxy of Terror, the campy, splattering Skinemax qualities hit in the "entertainment" category slightly better than its predecessor. Acting scared of a thing you can see is easier than acting scared of a thing you haven't seen, so the flick had an easier formula to pull off. 4.02/5

Cocktail of the Week:
Forbidden Sour

1 1/2 oz Your Favorite Bourbon

1 oz Pomegranate Liqueur

1/2 oz Fresh-Squeezed Lemon Juice

1/2 oz Simple Syrup

Shake all ingredients over ice and strain into lowball/rocks glass and garnish with a lemon slice.

Cocktail Grade: Pomegranate adds a slightly different flavor profile to one of our favorite cocktails. A nice twist on the classic whiskey sour. Would definitely drink again. 5/5

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The boys are back after a #Fortnight on the road. Brandon enjoyed a couple weeks in Scotland and Steve was off gallivanting around Utah and Arizona.

Sadly, the "King of the B-Movies," Roger Corman, passed away while we were on holiday, so we'll be dedicating the rest of May to his career, in a series we'll be calling, "There MAY Be Boobs."

Steve takes a deep dive into Roger Corman's career and we'll review one of the more well-thought-of Corman Creations, 1978's Piranha.

Kids vanish after they trespass onto a "secret" military site on which "secret" experiments are conducted. Maggie McKeown, a bulldog of a skip tracer, ropes a down-on-his-luck drunk, Paul Grogan, into helping her locate these missing teens. Her own brazen disregard for the law and pulling levers without contemplation of the consequences leads to a plethora of deadly critters being dumped into a local recreational waterway. Coincidentally, Paul's daughter is attending a summer camp on that very lake. What are the odds? Now Paul must race to rescue his daughter, who has a fear of water, has no interest in going in the water, and will never enter the water under any circumstances. Can he do it?

Piranha Final Grades

Steve: Doesn't comprehend the cult status of this movie. Think a better product could have been put together if Corman himself had been more involved. But, he also doesn't want to give a Sub-2.0 grade to the recently deceased. 2.47/5

Brandon Uninteresting story construction. Dialog and acting didn't help elevate it. This movie was "pretty bad." The worst Roger Corman movie we've seen as a part of this podcast. Adding an extra couple tenths of a point for all the Skinemax movies of the early '90s that he didn't know Corman produced. 1.31/5

Cocktail of the Week:
Piranhas In The Water, another Brandon Creation

2 oz Ruby Port Wine

1 oz Dark Rum

1/2 oz Orange Liqueur

1 oz Pineapple Juice

A couple spurts of honey syrup

Top with coconut water.

Mix all ingredients other than coconut water in a mixing glass over ice. Strain into Collins glasses. Garnish with orange twist and skewered Swedish Fish.

Cocktail Grade: Not bad for random liquids thrown into a glass. Mostly tastes like the Port Wine. It is red, though, so it looks like bloody water. Needed bubbles. Was better after adding some club soda for round two. 2.69/5.1

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Some nut with a weird imagination gets all excited when the Winnie the Pooh classic hits the public domain and decides he needs to make a scary "what if" out of it.

Being abandoned by Christopher Robin drives Pooh and Piglet to uncontrollable violent rage. Young women have a girls' getaway in the woods. Paths cross. You can probably guess the rest.

Not a bad idea, but the execution misses. Poor writing and acting don't make you care about the characters. Repetitive, formulaic violence gets boring after a while. To be fair, an honest attempt on the budget available. It just doesn't do any one thing well. It was better than expected, based on the reviews, though. Maybe check it out if you're intrigued, but you probably won't watch it twice.

Winnie the Pooh Blood & Honey Final Grades

Steve: A good idea that missed the mark. Maybe after learning something here and getting a bigger budget for a planned sequel, they can put out a better product next time. 1.78/5

Brandon Couldn't hear things. Couldn't see things. Why don't British people speak English? This movie is like Pooh in your pool or Pooh in your treehouse or finding Pooh in your living room. Pooh. 1.59/5

Cocktail of the Week:
The Bees Knees, two ways

Steve gets gin, Brandon gets tequila

2 oz Gin or Tequila

1 oz Honey Syrup (50/50 Honey:Water)

3/4 oz Fresh-squeezed Lemon Juice

A couple dashes Angostura Bitters for the Tequila version

Shake the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and strain over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with a lemon peel.

Cocktail Grade: Two very good cocktails. The tequila version with the bitters has a little better flavor profile than the gin version that is a little sweeter. Both of them are great if you've got a scratchy throat. It's just delicious cough syrup, really. Highly recommended for any sick days.

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A Schwarzenegger-style action movie with more goofiness and fewer steroids. Fictional countries are at odds. One of them hires the Megaforce, a band of skilled, highly-armed mercenaries to handle their dirty work for them. Plans go awry. The Expendables meets Spies Like Us.

Silly, unrealistic effects, like a flying motorcycle with 7" wings with no more flight controls than one man's hopes and dreams. Sweet dune buggies. Repurposed Death Cycles from Deathsport. More rockets than an eight-year-old boy could dream of. The old guy from Knight Rider. What more could you ask for?

A charming offering from the 80s. But what is intentionally campy or did it just miss the mark on a real action movie? Who knows? Doesn't matter anyway. The good guys win, even in the 80s. 'Merica.

Megaforce Final Grades

Steve: An above average addition to the subgenre. Dad jokes abound. Sweet dune buggies. 3/5

Brandon These silly 80s goofball action movies are finding a special place in this movie watcher's heart. This one was a little more family-friendly than the Roger Corman flicks of a similar style, meaning...less boobs. The motorcycles are painted like tigers. 3.57/5

Cocktail of the Week:
The Freedom Martini

2 oz Vodka

1/2 oz Raspberry Liqueur

1 1/2 oz Pineapple Juice

Shake ingredients in a martini shaker. Strain into frosted martini glasses.

Cocktail Grade: A fine little martini option. Good flavors, not too sweet. Maybe a hint of caramel on the back end, unless that's just the effect of using a 20-year-old bottle of liqueur?

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A low-budget warm-up to Aliens. A rescue party is sent to investigate a crashed vessel. Tentacles keep popping out of places. An unseen force kills off the the landing party one-by-one, using their greatest fears against them. It's a pyramid, just like the ones in Egypt. Coincidence?

If you've ever read Sphere by Michael Crichton or watched the movie adaptation, you kinda get the idea.

The guy who plays Freddy Krueger doesn't get killed, but also doesn't make it to the end of the movie. WHERE DID HE GO??

Galaxy of Terror Final Grades

Steve: James Cameron works magic on a Roger Corman budget. A likeable movie with better set dressing, costumes, direction and production than Ol' Rog usually gets. 4.2897/5

Brandon A not-as-scary space thriller. Missing a bit of psychological aspect that could have made up for a evil creature/force that's barely on camera. But, overall, a pretty good movie. Mostly a fun watch. 4/5

Cocktail of the Week:
Trader Steve's Lemon Gin Refresher

1 1/2 oz Old Tom Gin

3/4 oz Limoncello

1/2 oz Fresh-Squeezed Lemon Juice

Trader Joe's Lemon & Ginger Seltzer

Pour the gin, limoncello, and lemon juice in a Collins glass over ice. Stir to combine and top with the seltzer.

Cocktail Grade: A very refreshing spin on the classic Collins. Good flavor. Easy to drink. Makes you happy. 5/5

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