This month’s movie pick is probably in bad timing. But, “f*ck all that feelings sh*t”. This movie is probably not to some of yous taste or interest. You will probably be entertained or annoyed or you just might be like me and be on that timing. No, I’m not gonna give a whole Big Boss monologue. This is the Retro Movie of October 2025.

The Spook Who Sat by the Door is a 1973 action crime–drama film based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Sam Greenlee. It is both a satire of the civil rights struggle in the United States of the late 1960s and a serious attempt to focus on the issue of Black militancy. Dan Freeman, the titular protagonist, is enlisted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its elitist espionage program, becoming its token Black person. After mastering agency tactics, however, he becomes disillusioned and drops out to train young Black people in Chicago to become “Freedom Fighters”.

Directed by Ivan Dixon, co-produced by Dixon and Greenlee, from a screenplay written by Greenlee with Mel Clay, the film starred Lawrence Cook, Paula Kelly, Janet League, J. A. Preston, and David Lemieux.

Sometime in the 1970’s in Chicago. After the approval rating in the African American community takes a nose dive for a U.S. Senator, the Agency decides it would be good optics for the government as well for itself to go out and publicly recruit African American males to join the CIA. With no intention of passing any of them they begin scouting in the inner city. To their surprise one recruit actually makes it through the training. Dan Freeman who unbeknownst to the Agency (Nowadays this would be impossible with social media and digital footprints), Freeman happens to be a Black Nationalist.

The idea of the Agency recruiting from the population isn’t hard to believe. There have been numerous occasions of people being covertly recruited or claim to have been recruited since the beginning of the Cold War. Especially with all the projects such as MK ULTRA.

Back to the plot – Freeman is a Black Nationalist and the Feds don’t know it. After passing his training, Freeman impresses his handlers. However, he is placed in the basement as file clerk and routine tour guide for visitors to project the image of inclusivity. This doesn’t last long before Freeman comes to the reality that he is a Token. (To be honest he most likely was aware this would happen from the start). Freeman keeps a low profile as he completes the Guerilla Warfare training in weapons, subversion, communications and you get the point. When he learns what he needs to learn he quietly resigns and returns to social work in Chicago.

Freeman has the intention of using what the government has taught him and turning it back on them. This is called BLOWBACK. He starts training local youths the same techniques he learned from the government and begins his insurgency for Black Liberation.

After its release the film was pulled from theaters and banned for a time by the FBI for its political tones and themes. Especially since the Civil Rights movement was still fresh in the minds of the inner cities and there were a lot of African American veterans returning home to a country they fought for and  experience the same racism and poverty that existed before the war; a lot of veterans with military training in guerilla warfare and weapons. The idea that this film might spark the idea for revolt and self-determination was just too scary for the powers that be that happen to be Ofay. Shame because, I wish this flew below their radar and more people were able to watch it.

“Tim Reid, whose company helped to release Spook on DVD, said to the Los Angeles Times in 2004: “When you look back at the times…Martin Luther King was assassinated, Malcolm X, Bobby Kennedy. Black people were really angry and frustrated; we were tired of seeing our leaders killed. What do we do? Do we have a revolution? There is nothing that comes close to this movie in terms of black radicalism.””

I mean if you remember how the proto-dudebros were all charged up after watching 300 for the first time enough they adopted it’s imagery, themes and masculinity(?) like cosplay, tribal tattoos and fake muscles shirts. It would’ve been interesting if THIS film had a longer life in the theaters – Could’ve been interesting.

Regardless of their attempts, enough people did watch it and it gained Cult status over the years before the original film reels were found and restored for the public.  

“Nina Metz wrote in the Chicago Tribune: “For years it was only available on bootleg video. In 2004, the actor Tim Reid tracked down a remaining negative stored in a vault under a different name (‘When they want to lose something, they lose it,’ Reid told the Tribune at the time) and released it on DVD.”  In a 2004 feature for NPR, Karen Bates reported that the director of the film, Ivan Dixon, admitted that United Artists would not show the film in a way that would allow its political message to come through when clips were viewed prior to the film’s public release. “Dixon says when United Artists screened the finished product and saw a Panavision version of political Armageddon, they were stunned.””

So f**k all that interference and here is for your pleasure or discomfort is the controversial, thought provoking and inspiring – 1970’S The Spook Who Sat by the Door, directed by Ivan Dixon.

Stay free, Stay Strapped, Read more, Learn Real History, Build your bodies and Minds, Question authority, Buy physical media, practice your aim, sharpen your punches and conceal your knives, know the law and the law won’t trick you. Stay fresh, smart and always keep your finger on that damn REWIND button.

Movie link: https://youtu.be/HG-56GKbPtk?si=C53B1Pwf0122h5IU

• How is this not a Troma film?

Flesh Eating Moms directed by: James Martin. Starring: Robert Lee Oliver, Donatella Hecht, Neal Rosen, Valorie Hubbard and Marie Michaels.
Year of release: 1988
Runtime : 88 min / 1.85:1

Pardon my French but “these b*tches is crazy”. What the hell did I just watch? 90 minutes of lucid insanity and I needed it. Please just take me back to the eighties and the nineties, please. Take me back to the BMX ramps in the cul-de-sac, the yellow school bus with the nicotine stenched driver. The Pizzeria run by a guy named Sal next door the breakfast diner that served beer after 7pm. The shitty box television set with the knobs and the furniture with the plastic coverings. The Late, Late Movie on channel 7, frozen orange juice in the freezer, the leaves of autumn, the imaginary Leave It To Beaver music that played in your head on the way to school, the rotary phone with the two foot cord, walkie-talkies, lazer-tag, Saturday mornings, 25cent juices, the girl next door, the creepy van that was always parked down by the river, the haunted house on the corner, the sketchy guy at the park, the Ice Cream man with the sailor tattoos, stranger danger, DARE, the danger of razors in the candy, the rocks that addicts smoked, “No-that wasn’t candy”, MSG, the OTB, phone phreakers, NYNEX, book reports, BOOKS, Nintendo, VHS, A Current Affair, Unsolved Mysteries, the Cold War and the threat of impending doom with every slice of pizza & fruit punch. I was lucky enough to find this on youtube while researching conspiracy threads and documentaries online; there I was taking a break from learning about the Sabbateans and I noticed this title pop-up in my feed (no connection).

• PLOT
  Somewhere in some corner of New Jersey, the mothers have come down with a sickness and have turned into savage cannibalistic fiends. Nothing is off the menu when these hotwives go feral and start ripping into their neighbors and loved ones. The kids are stoned and freaked out trying to get to the bottom of the madness. The chief of police knows more than he says. The local medical examiner is barely over five feet tall and even he smells something is fishy going on.
  

This film was shot on a shoe string budget and enough imagination, humor and not-a-care in the world attitude to make this something special. I’ve already watched this film twice and still laugh my balls off. All shot on location in west bumblef*k.

• “It’s so damn bad it’s great. How is this not a Troma film.”

The limited budget was obviously focused on what special fx they could put together and “YES” the gore is here; almost reminiscent of early Peter Jackson type body horror courtesy of special effects artist Carl Sorensen (Child’s Play, Tremors). There is so much red stuff dripping here you could stock a Nathan’s Hot Dog stand and film an entire MaxiPad marketing campaign. The script is witty, tongue-in-cheek and crass. The cannibal virus itself has a nice original plot twist to it.
The acting? The acting is pure public-access meets Loyd Kaufman shot on film and smeared together inside the frame of an episodes of MONSTERS. I can’t say I recognize any of these actors aside from Marie Micheals who was one of the mob wives in Goodfellas and Donatella Hecht (The Manhattan Project 1986). I LOVE THIS. This is why I review these forgotten gems of analog entertainment when life was simpler, less sanitized and fun. Gen X wasn’t just an era it was a friggin attitude and I was fortunate enough to slide down the tail-end of that generation into the birth of the millennial before everything just became cookie cutter and redundant.

Flesh Eating Mothers is also available in Blu-ray format from Vinegar Syndrome presents, freshly restored in 2K and featuring a new batch of exclusive extra features.

You been fluffed enough now. So click the link below and watch with some friends and some pizza rolls, soda pop, whatever the hell you smoke and your significant others Hot Pockets. Just remember to take it easy, be dangerous, be cool, keep your finger on that Rewind Button and Yippee-ki-yay and F the Law.

• DECODER (1984) directed by Muscha & starring: FM Einhert a.k.a. Mufti (Einstürzende Neubauten), Bill Rice (The Offenders (1980), The Big Blue (1988), Manhattan Love Suicides 1985, Coffee&Cigarettes), Christiane F., Genesis P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle, Psychic-TV) and featuring William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch, Junkie, Queer, Drugstore Cowboy, Dead City Radio) whose writing was an inspiration for the film.
  * The film featured this month is very avant-garde, subversive and punk-af. It is not meant for children under the age of 18 years of age and contains images of nudity, drug use, chaos magick, surgical footage, sexual situations and ideas of delinquency and anti-authoritarian themes.
  Language: German with Spanish subtitles.
  
  

In 1970 the collection of essays by Beatnik and Underground art icon William Burrough was published. In it Burroughs meditates on the written word and its evolution into the spoken. That language is something unique to the Human experience as it can exist both in image and sound. That the written language can enable the writer to cheat time and space and project thoughts, ideas, emotions, through time and affect readers in the future. Language regardless if it’s written on a medium or spoken has power; it is magick; no different from the sigils in a magician’s grimoire or the crystal ball, energized and imbued with power. How with the write configuration of words, images, sounds and their meaning can influence, control, infect and gestate inside the psyche very much like a virus.  

Decoder is a 1984 West German cyberpunk film that you’ve probably never heard of. I was fortunate to find it one late night while in one of my insomnia periods.

The story follows FM as he works for a fast food chain to make ends meet but, spends his evenings making compositions of abrasive industrial music. When FM starts noticing how passive and docile the customers at his Burger joint are when the Muzak playlist is cycling over the speakers. He figures that perhaps there might be something in the Muzak that’s making people compliant. That it’s the muzak that’s lulling people into submission in a world where visceral reality is almost a cheap thrill (a kink), something you tuck under your mattress when the relatives come home; a world where we just accept subjugation into an authoritarian corpo system where fascism bridges the gap between military and corporate corruption. FM also spends his free time with his girlfriend (Christiane) a peep show girl that works in the red-light district.

One night while working on music, FM starts to manipulate one of Christiane’s frogs and records the screams. FM realizes that he can use abrasive sound to instigate destructive impulses in people that listen to his music and cancel out the corporate muzak. He strategically places tape recorders, like sonic I.E.D.’s, at different well-known fast food establishments armed with his music. These subversive recordings cause riots, destruction of property, violence and social upheaval. After sometime these terrorist incidents earn the attention of the corporate overlords who hire an assassin (Bill Rice) to find who is creating these tapes and execute him. Bill Rice’s character a weary hitman more preoccupied with haunting the red light district and infatuated with a peep show girl who just happens to be FM’s girlfriend.

DECODER is low-budget, analog, cyberpunk with a Cold War edge to it. Lush lighting and a noir dread drip heavily here. The soundtrack features SoftCell, Psychic-TV, THE THE and Einstürzende Neubauten. The basic plot of the film is summarized here in this review so all you have to do is follow the visuals and vibe. Not suitable viewing for anyone under-the-age of 18.

Stay dangerous, stay underground, stay out of sight, stay away from bootlickers, magahats, democrats and anyone that tows the company line, puts blinders on, shuts up and takes it right up in there deeply (and without even a kiss or dinner to eat), drinking the government kool-aid. Stay aware, stay armed and get angry and keep your G*ddamn finger on the REWIND button.

Movie:

https://youtu.be/vdCXssmZLdw?si=PDidB4yL53XRVpXv

Bonus: Soft Cell – Seedy Films (Official Video Release HD)

I am breaking night again. Sleepless and restless yet bored and tired of the hamster wheel of square living; lost in the ether of the surface web again. I’m just here vegetated and binging on information and entertainment to numb the nerves and relax me as I float and drift with spontaneity. It looks like there’s an abundance of skullduggery and cloak & dagger schemes occurring in the world – more than the average citizen or loiterer could fathom. There is just so much information to process, to extrapolate, to synthesis and to summarize with such short time left. Information is more important than necessity; without information you have no access and avenues to proceed in society. You cannot arm yourself mentally and physically without information and the access to it.

That is what compelled me to present 1992’s Sneakers and luckily someone on YouTube was cool enough to have it uploaded.

Sneakers directed by Phil Alden Robinson, screenplay co-written with Walter Parkes and Lawrence Lasker. Starring Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier and David Strathairn.

A successful movie from the creators of the 80’s classic WARGAMES, and the 20^th highest grossing film of that 1992, Sneakers is a crime thriller that if made nowadays would be considered cyber-noir. It’s another film that Roger Ebert didn’t get and gave a low review when released but, he had a knack for disliking movies before they found their audience.

The films plot revolves around a group of security penetration testers or “Pen Testers” that are recruited by men claiming to be NSA agents to retrieve a Russian black box that they are looking for. After successfully retrieving the item, the team learns that they have walked into something bigger than any of them could have imagined.

Filmed in multiple locations with a really good script and a stacked ensemble cast of heavy hitters, Sneakers has just enough humor and intrigue to keep your attention for the whole journey. A moment in time capsule for real-life cyberpunks of an analog time when things were more hands on. I definitely recommend this film for you the viewer.

Interesting sidenote:

• Leonard Adleman was the mathematical consultant on this movie. The character of “Bernard Abbott” was named after Robert Abbott, the so-called “Father of Information Security,” who was also a consultant for the film. The character “Whistler” was based on Josef “Joybubbles” Engressia and John “Cap’n Crunch” Draper, well-known figures in the phone phreaks and hacking communities.  “Donald Crease” was based on John Strauchs, a former CIA officer who founded the security consulting firm Systech Group.  Dan Ackroyd’s brother Peter supplied conspiracy material on “UFOS, cattle mutilations, the Tri-Lateral Commission, the staged moon landing, JFK, [and] Marilyn Monroe” that was used to “spice up” his character.

• The film’s press kit was accompanied by a floppy disk containing a custom program explaining the movie. Parts of the program were quasi-encrypted, requiring the user to enter an easily guessable password to proceed. It was one of the first electronic press kits by a film studio.

I know you’re probably out there in the wastelands feeling it right now: living check to check, angry, scared, dejected, detached, and trying to find some kind of escapism from reality. I hope my retro movie choice can give you some form of escapism from the madness and noise. Movies are an escape. Movies have a beginning and a definitive conclusion with all the drama and conflict playing out made digestible by the dialogue, characters and exposition, unlike reality. Reality sucks for everyone. But just know that you’re not alone out there in the storm. Stay safe, live reckless, question everything, dress smart and always keep one finger on that Rewind button. Til’ Next time.

How’s everyone doing out there? Are you doing well or just getting by during yet another disastrous presidential term. Seems like the whole western world is dragging everyone else down in a flaming shopping cart full of fireworks down a thumbtack water slide of energy drink into oblivion and the third-world. It’s not even 2077 and life is just cyberpunk (af) or at least a Temu version of it. What does this have to do with this months movie- absoultely nothing. Nothing except the mood of dispair in the air.

Spoiler Alert: This is Violence Jack and the sequel to Devilman; both created by Go Nagai.

This the final OVA in the series. The other entries are unedited and thus I can’t share with you here. However, fortunately or not, this version is the VHS edited version.

The Plot:
Sleepy town in the wastelands of Japan where a village is determined to pick up and rebuild their way of lives in the afterbirth of the apocalypse. A young hopeful teacher is kidnapped by the Hell’s Wind biker gang. Strapped to a ticking time bomb her only hope is the mysterious and freakishly gigantic antihero known as Violence Jack and his superhuman strength and size.

More backstory:

The series takes place in the ruins of the Kantō region, after a massive earthquake (which in the OVAs was triggered by a Comet strike) dubbed ‘The Great Kanto Hellquake’. Cut off from the rest of the world, the survivors of the disaster are divided between the strong and the weak, and the land becomes a haven for criminals and renegades from around the world. Violence Jack is uncovered among the rubble and demolished granite by the inhabitants of a ruined city, asking him to help the weak people and helping them destroy what, in most cases, are the strong groups commanded by killers and rapists (this is the story line of “Violence Jack: Evil Town”). In the three OVAs, Jack is requested to help different groups, such as the Zone A (later he ends up helping Zone C women) or a small town, as shown in “Hell’s Wind”. As for the manga, the stories change drastically, the first being the story of Violence Jack helping a group of female models in a tropical forest in Kanto by possessing a boy living in said forest in order to fight off a roving tribe of bandits. Although Jack maintains a ruthless facade, he often helps the weak, and expects nothing in return. However, Jack’s unpredictable nature means that bystanders get injured or even killed on occasion as a consequence of his vicious fighting style.

It’s not the longest but it’ll do the trick. I know she said that but, I meant this movie. If you are interested in the further adventures of Violence Jack I recommend finding (if you can stomach it) the other unedited OVA’s in the trilogy as well the mangas. Or you can go and revisit the Devilman animes including the Devilman Crybaby anime that is still on NETFLIX.

sO in ThE meantIme, stay vigilante, stay angry, learn h0w the shoot, con, build networks, put money away, don’t be a dumb maga or dumb blue maga, be yourselves, persevere and keep your damn finger on that ReWind Button.

Dominion has been adapted into three original video animation series: the first, Dominion Tank Police, was released in 1988, the second, New Dominion Tank Police (特捜戦車隊ドミニオン, Tokusō Sensha Tai Dominion) in 1993, and the third, Tank Police Team TANK S.W.A.T. 01 (警察戦車隊ＴＡＮＫＳ．Ｗ．Ａ．Ｔ．０１, Keisatsu Sensha Tai TANK S.W.A.T. 01) in 2006. The 1988 OVA is four episodes long and animated by Agent 21, the 1993 OVA is six episodes long and animated by J.C.Staff, while TANK S.W.A.T. is one episode long and was animated by DOGA Productions. The manga was published by Hakusensha, Kodansha and later by Seishinsha. It has been published in English by Dark Horse Comics. The anime has been released in English translation in the United Kingdom and Australia by Manga Entertainment and in the United States by Central Park Media, under their U.S. Manga Corps division.

Cyberpunk from the land of the rising sun. Masamune Shirow’s precursor to his magnum opus Ghost in the Shell. Tank Police is retro-futuristic camp, as cheesy as you would imagine a love child of the Kerberos Panzer Cops and the Police Academy films.

First aired in the States on the Sci-fi Channel in it’s first years during Saturday Anime in the 90’s.
Get connected. Enjoy the ride and tune into a channel under a dead sky and get jacked into my nostalgic drip.

Stay off the drugs, stay strapped, stay dangerous, don’t forget your burner, wetware and ballistic hardware and always keep your finger on the REWIND button.

-HaiNe

Back from the ether and here on the nostalgia streets with another bundle of retro content to think back on.

Currently streaming on Amazon Prime is the recent film by Hideaki Anno (Evangelion, Shin Ultraman, Shin Godzilla) and the newest live-action interpretation of the beloved Kamen Rider franchise.

Sosuke Ikematsu stars as our masked rider, Takeshi Hong. Hong is a motorcycle enthusiast that after being abducted experimented and turned into an augmented hybrid cyborg that is enlisted in the fight against an evil organization of “Augs” threatening to take over the world by any means necessary.

The film does start off slow and will have moments where the characters and story can breathe and flesh themselves out. But, make no mistake this is an action movie. In fact – this is probably one of the best superhero films on the year (in my opinion). The action is brutal and visceral and well filmed; the whole movie is filmed very well with decent pacing. For a live-action Japanese movie Shin Masked Rider is outstanding.

Based on the manga by Shotaro Ishinomori , this entry in the franchise celebrates 50 years of Kamen Rider that consists of numerous television series and feature films. It was released in Japan on March of 2023, earning $16 million dollars making it the highest grossing film in the series and receiving positive reviews from critics.  

Currently available to view Free on Amazon PRIME with original Japanese dialogue with English subtitles optional.

Shin Masked Rider is a definite recommendation and worthy of your time.

Stay Tuned tomorrow for the return of the Retro Movie handpicked by yours truly. Until then, stay cool, stay dry and always keep your finger on that REWIND button.  

MadMax’s bastard child. A future where human birth rates are at an all time low and reptilian mutations have evolved into the new age. No, it’s not a David Icke lecture. It’s Roddy Piper starring in HELL COME TO FROGTOWN.

Roddy Piper is Hell, One of the last fertile men alive in the world and destined to help rebuild humanity. Sandahl Bergman is a government scientist assigned to Pipers’ HELL. Lost in the wastelands tethered by a shock collar to his escort (Bergman) and battling evil tribes of amphibious savages. When his companions are kidnapped by the Frogs he must navigate a nightmarish hellscape to free them and give humanity one-more-chance.

One of Roddy Pippers lesser known cult classics. Hell Comes to Frogtown is actually a very very good movie. Loaded with very convincing practical make-up and visual effects; with a story that actually looks like someone was thinking outside the box. Bergman is as beautiful and engaging as she ever was. And Roddy Pipper is just awesome.

Critical reception for Hell Comes to Frogtown has been mixed to positive. TV Guide awarded the film two out of five stars, calling it “Another of those futuristic, post-apocalyptic science fiction dramas”.^[4]

DVD Talk gave the film three out of five stars, writing, “Rowdy Roddy Piper has to save the world by diddling beautiful babes and squashing six-foot mutant toads with crummy attitudes. What’s not to like?”^[5]

Jason Cook from The Spinning Image rated the film a score of six out of ten stars, writing, “Cheap and cheerful its narrative lulls and directorial shortcomings are glossed over by a winning central performance and a smattering of witty dialogue. Its no cinematic masterpiece, but were there any talking mutant frogs in Citizen Kane?”^[6]

Though not received well by critics, producer Randall Frakes says he was glad the fans seemed to like it and “get all the jokes as intended”.

Hell Comes to Frogtown inspired the title of the “Hell Comes to Quahog” (2006) episode of animated television series Family Guy.

I really don’t want to spoil this one. So keep an open mind. Be cool. Be real. and always keep that finger on the REWIND button.

Look at what I found. Looks like I’ve found an entire episode of USA Networks UP ALL NIGHT starring the late Gilbert Gottfried.

See, in 1989 USA network was trying to establish a foothold on the burgeoning cable network wars. Imagine the competition we see happening now between streaming sites except back in the 80’s with analog cable network channels. The USA Network was once a sports network but, under new management began making moves to branch out its programming with original properties and syndicated shows. Yes there was still Golf broadcasts and Tuesday Night Boxing Nights was still a great time. But, now you had new seasons of AIRWOLF, The Hitchhiker, Ray Bradbury Theater, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, reruns of The New Mike Hammer, Murder She Wrote, Street Hawk, The Equalizer,  Dragnet, Werewolf, and then later Silk Stalkings, Swamp Thing and eventually the monolith that was Monday Night Raw. More importantly was the fan favorite late night movie show: UP ALL NIGHT that ran from 1989 – 1998.

Originally hosted by Gilbert Gottfried on Saturdays and by Caroline Schlitt on Friday nights (later replaced by Ronda Shear) Up All Night was a late night movie showcase similar to the Late Movie and the Late Late Movie show on ABC. Each film would be bookended by a skit from the host with additional skits peppered before and after commercial breaks. Most nights there would be two films and in later years a third film would be added without any skits just the UP ALL NIGHT title screen. The majority of the films featured were cult classics, B movies and low budget direct to video films like: Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988), Nightlife (1989), 976-Evil (1988), Bachelor Party (1984), Basket Case (1982), Body Double (1984) and you get the point.

This is the best quality I can find on site with the best volume. And the vintage commercials are included. Yes, even better than the film, the original aired advertisements are included.  Making this a must watch Retro Pick.

The featured movie is Loyd Kaufman’s classic Troma film THE TOXIC AVENGER; New Jersey’s only superhero of superhuman size and strength. Need I say more? Didn’t think so.

So sit up and kick back. Keep your fingers on that REWIND button and enjoy USA’s UP ALL NIGHT and the Toxic Avenger (1984).

Babylon (1980)
directed by Franco Rosso.  Written by Franco Rosso and Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia), and shot by two-time Academy Award winner Chris Menges  (The Killing Fields), Babylon is an incendiary portrait of racial tension and police brutality set in Brixton, London. The film, anchored by Dennis Bovell’s propulsive score, is partly based on Bovell’s false imprisonment for running a Jamaican sound system, Sufferer’s Hi Fi, in the mid-70s.

We constantly hear stories and watch films about Thatcher-era Britannia from the early Punk-era to the mayhem in the football stands.  Skinheads, Suedeheads, Rudeboys, New Romantics, Yardies, Casuals and the like; diversity and culture brewing from the melting pot that is the streets of England. One group to have a major influence on culture in Britain was the first and second generation of British Jamaicans. Jamaican style and music was a crucial inspiration to working class youths of the era; early Rocksteady rhythms of the Bob Marley & the Wailers, Desmond Dekker, Derrick Morgan, Symarip and The Ethiopians, sweeping into the hearts & minds of British working-class youths. Later, Sound System culture and eventually DUB with remixes and arrangements from King Tubby, Lee Scratch Perry, Scientist, Mad Professor and others were the rage. It wasn’t just cool, it was ITAL. It wasn’t just the Beatles and Bowie, it was Spliffs, Ganja, Rastafarianism; it was Black and Caribbean and unapologetic/authentic.  

Babylon was a renegade film showcasing how those sounds woven themselves into the fabric of British youth in opposition of racist pushback from ignorant conservative norms of the time. The time of filming was especially ripe in the center of racial tensions. Production headquarters were in an abandoned warehouse and most of the shoot locations in Brixton were kept under wraps from the media and general public due to the themes depicted in the film.

This is considered one of British cinemas best features and has been praised by critics including myself since its release.

I being a former Fred Perry fresh-cut at one time and growing up during heated racial tensions in NYC can fully identify and relate to the confusion, aggravation and disillusionment of the main characters. This film is independent filmmaking at its finest; made exquisite by its soundtrack provided by reggae and dub artists such as Yabby U, I-Roy, Aswad, and Dennis Bovell.

Total runtime is 95 minutes.

Highly recommended for fans of Beat Street and Coolie High.

Stay Fresh, Stay Cool, and Stay Safe out there. But, always, always keep your finger on that REWIND button.

                                                       ABOVE THE RIM (1994)

The last film in Barry Michael Cooper’s Harlem trilogy Above the Rim (94) was directed and co-written by Jeff Pollack with a screenplay by Cooper adapted from a story by Benny Medina. Above the Rim stars Duane Martin, Tupac Shakur (Juice, Bullet, Gridlock’d), Leon Robinson (Five Heartbeats, Colors, Cool Runnings), Marlon Wayans (Requiem for a Dream) and Wood Harris (Paid in Full, Dread, HBO’s The Wire). Distributed by New Line Cinema and premiering on March 23, 1994.

This Retro Pick of the Month is a coming-of-age story about a talented and promising young man named Kyle Watson (D. Martin) living in Harlem with potential to get a basketball scholarship and likely a future in the NBA. He must choose between working hard to better himself or falling victim to the allure and pitfalls of street life. Between the encouragement and tutorship of a security guard named Shep (Leon Robinson) or the manipulations of a local hustler named Birdie (Tupac). It’s a tug of war over the soul of a young man learning to become his own man.

Above the Rim was filmed on location in Harlem with some locations as Manhattan Center for Science & Mathematics in East Harlem, Howard Bennett Playground on 139^th street and the legendary Rucker Park. With a soundtrack featuring hits by SWV, the Dogg Pound, Nate Dog & Warren G, the Lady of Rage, AL.B. Sure! and Tupac Shakur.

A basketball movie that was made during the second wave of Black Exploitation cinema, also known as the Hood movie craze of the nineties, after the success of John Singleton’s Boyz in the Hood (1991) and the Hughes Bros’ Menace 2 Society (1993). It was during this time that we were blessed with Cult Classics like New Jersey Drive, Juice, Fresh, New Jack City, Belly, Clockers, South Central, Deep Cover, Sugar Hill, Hangin with the Homeboys, and you get the point. It was a great time for variety with stories about US, the sons & daughters of the ghetto, with no pandering and no ulterior motives or tokenizing. Hollywood was eager to green light new auteurs and stories while profiting from black dollars at the cinema. That is until the 2000’s came and well let’s try to forget that nosedive; I’m looking at you No Limit films and SOUL PLANE.

It’s a time capsule of Nineties nostalgia and HipHop culture. It was the last film released during Tupac Shakur’s lifetime. It is a story about US about US.

Other remarkable recommendations: SUGAR HILL (1993), JUICE (1992), Cooley High (1975), He Got Game (1998), Fresh (1994), Straight Out of Brooklyn (1991).

This movie reminds me of nothing less than my classmates from OUR LADY of LOURDES School on W. 143^rd street (Sugar Hill, Harlem) class of 1996. I Love Yous all.

Stay fresh, Stay Fly and always keep that finger on the REWIND button.

Back in 1982, director Ridley Scott dropped the audience into the then-future world of 2019 Los Angeles. It’s a seedy environment of perpetual darkness, rain, and urban sprawl. In this sci-fi noir, the police bring Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) back into work after a self-imposed retirement from blade running. A blade runner is a specialized detective whose job is to track down bio-engineered humanoids called replicants. These are not robots, but society does not consider them fully human due to their synthetic creation and lack of emotional maturity. Will Deckard maintain his humanity during this ruthless pursuit, or has his life in this dystopia already stripped him of it? Furthermore, there are deeper puzzles to solve, especially in the 1992 and 2007 cuts.

1982 was a special year for science fiction films. In addition to Blade Runner, the year saw the release of E.T., The Thing, and Star Trek II; The Wrath of Khan, among others. Likely due to the crowded field and possible audience surprise at the film being not a typical heroic Harrison Ford picture, the film was a box office disappointment. It made just near 1.5 times its production budget, and this not including advertising, one can feel Scott’s and the studio’s hurt. Contemporarily, it’s still not a mainstream hit, but it’s developed such a cult following that the studio released a sequel years later. Moreover, Blade Runner’s aesthetic and mood influenced more popular science fiction films since its release than nearly any other property. This is why it’s good to see what makes Blade Runner still a thing.

Even years later, the visuals are still a wonder to observe. The combination of design and in-camera effects put the viewer in a world that is both tangible and strange. For those who have grown up on a diet of CGI, this is all physical and camera trickery. For the cityscape, the team utilized models and matte paintings, but the world is real enough that you can feel you can just drop in and shuffle amongst the crowded representation of the future. Just think of the time needed for the multipass exposures that helped give the film its unique neon-lit against darkness lighting. It gave the audience a different idea of what science fiction could be from the Star Wars and Star Trek properties.

But who are the characters that we’re following in this update of noir cinema? Deckard is the typical film noir detective: burnt-out, possibly alcoholic, and with no future. Really, he’s not much of a hero. Throughout the film, he barely makes it out of his scraps, and when he does, there’s nothing triumphant. It’s not surprising that audience interest fell off the film; word got out that Ford was not playing another Indiana Jones or Han Solo. However, it’s interesting that Ford risked playing a role different from his previous pulp characters. One could say he was reaching back to his brief role as an army officer in Apocalypse Now. Some say the disinterested attitude was due to his dissatisfaction on the movie set. It worked that it matched the listless character he was supposed to portray.

The star of the film is Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). Despite being artificial, he’s the most sympathetic character, even after some of his brutal actions. Despite being a type of superman, he displays the most human qualities during his quest with his fellow replicants. He often shows this without words; though, his dialogue is memorable as well. The femme fatale Rachel (Sean Young) is probably the weakest of the main characters. Still, her stilted manner and speaking could be considered to be a positive attribute to add to the mystery of who she is revealed to be. Other acting props are for the weirdness of Gaff, the cold detachment of Tyrell, and the playful quirkiness of Pris.

What is most memorable about Blade Runner is the music. The production could’ve gone with traditional orchestration. Vangelis instead composed a melancholy, jazzy synth score. This perfectly sets the mood for the future setting, while paying tribute to the tropes of film noir. In fact, in addition to the synthesizers, the score utilized a saxophonist for the popular “Love Theme.” In addition, you can hear bits of Asian and Middle-Eastern tinges throughout the film. These showcase the multiethnic atmosphere of 2019 Los Angeles.

Does it date the film from being of the eighties? To a certain extent, yes. However, one should distinguish between quality and mediocre synthesizer work. Quality work brings a sense of wonder, charm, or menace depending on the emotional mood of the film. It gives added texture to remind a person that this film is from a never to be repeated era. Vangelis is one of the masters to bring on that nostalgia.

Some have leveled criticisms of dullness, lethargy, and aimless plotting against Blade Runner. Looking at the film from a certain point of view, these thoughts could have some merit. This is not an action film, at least not in the modern sense. It’s a work that emphasizes mood and atmosphere. Often, other films focus on getting the hero from point a to point b. Some will balk at this type of cinema. That’s their right. There’s a reason why the film has been re-released in multiple cuts over the years beyond the Ridley Scott revisions.

But they shouldn’t discount the impact that the film has. People will never widely love it like many of the blockbusters of the time. Even some more critically and popularly derided fare of the time like The Thing have seemed to rise to more public consciousness than Blade Runner. Still, Blade Runner welcomes at least a first view for the uninitiated. We see bits of the future running before us rather than soaring into space through this type of relatively grounded science fiction.