Welcome to the “Favorite That’s Not” Silver Medal Quiz! (Featuring Pix of B-List Kaiju)

Cinematic, Genre-Centric, Potentially Mayhem-Packed!

Yes’m, this is LERNER INTERNATIONAL’s First Quiz, and welcome to it!

Look, Hurricane Sandy has trapped you indoors if you live on the Eastern Seaboard of the US, so what else are you going to do? Take a movie opinion quiz!

Why “Silver Medal” and “Favorite That’s Not” Quiz?

One thing that bugs me most about some movie quizzes (aside from my frustration at the questions) is the lack of bandwidth, with the same answers appearing from all contestants.

Of course, there are classics out there that all filmgoers love across the board, and so you’ll get a million people all answering “Godzilla” or “Willis O’Brien’s King Kong,” when the question is “What Is Your Favorite Giant Monster?”

Let’s try and shake that up! (And doesn’t Hedora, the Smog Monster [above, at top] look like he’s made of silver?) (And NO, monsters are not the only topic discussed in this post...)

Questions below!

Thirty-Wonderful Reviews of Halloween

Since I have been so lax (once again) in my attempts at a “31 Days of Shocktober,” I’ve instead made a list of 31 of my horror reviews for you to enjoy.

If I was a big liarpants, I’d say I’d watched all these movies this month, but that’s not how LERNER INTERNATIONAL ENTERPRISES rolls—even despite our abbreviation.

The majority of the reviews are in praise of the films in question, with the two negative reviews being recommendations towards fixing the flick in question (with one of those also being an overview of Tobe Hooper’s career).

Read on—links ahead!

LIE # 57: Bleak House—Some Notes on “The Cabin in the Woods”

The Cabin in the Woods (2011; directed by Drew Goddard; written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard) is hardly deep; but definitely fun.

It’s often like something the ghosts of Philip K. Dick and H.P. Lovecraft have conjured up—cruel surveillance-paranoia technocrats meet Cthulhu—and on second viewing, I noticed the flick has a nihilistic streak a mile wide.

And maybe that’s a good thing.

The Girl With the White Halloween Meme 2012

Despite our apparent differences, one of the sites LERNER INTERNATIONAL visits routinely is the wonderful The Girl With the White Parasol (and if you don’t recognize that movie reference, shame on you!).

Usually concentrating on more civilized films than us, Rachel’s The Girl With the White Parasol has posted its “Halloween Meme” quiz, and who are we to fight the inevitable?

Like ghosts drawn to the psychic, LERNER INTERNATIONAL is compelled!

Answers (and possible spoilers) below…

LIE #55: Make Mine Marvel!

Marvel’s The Avengers (UK title: Avengers Assemble) (2012; written and directed by Joss Whedon; from a story by Zak Penn and Joss Whedon, based on characters created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee) is a blast—a one-way ticket to Fanboy Heaven.

More importantly, the film celebrates the can-do teamwork spirit of the USA that brings together different fractious personalities to unite for the common good, as opposed to the cold and brutal self-created authority of the Batman and Superman mythologies.

’Nuff Said!

Excelsior!

Mid-Shocktober Cinema! 2012 Version!

Reviews of Quadrophenia, “A Room With No View,” Lockout, and The Legend of Hell House

It is a bit of a lie for me to use the word “Shocktober” in the headline, but ’tis the season…

Thinking of curtailing my viewing habits (addiction) until I can play catch-up with my writings, but not sure if that’s even possible…

Desirous of writing more in-depth pieces, but also for maintaining a steady flow of “product.” Decisions, decisions.

And there’s nothing to do with neck-bar-codes; just a fab pic I had laying around and wanted to share.

Here we go…

LIE #53: Be Cruel to Your School (From 1976, DVD MIA “Massacre at Central High”)

Massacre at Central High (1976; Rene Daalder) is an incredible political metaphor disguised as a sleazy B-movie that needs to be (re)discovered*. 

Copious violence and teen nudity is the hook to get asses in the seats, but like with the best grindhouse potboilers, a strong sociopolitical message is inserted.

Not that that should stop you from enjoying naked teenagers getting slaughtered.

Sergio Leone and the Infield Quiz Rule: SHOCKTOBER 2012 Edition!

Once again, the Fabulous Dennis Cozzalio via his incredible film site Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule has unleashed one of his uniquely skewed, and probably patented, Movie Quizzes! (Mack Daddy Denny the C.’s answers are HERE—but read mine first! Please.)

Where in the past, the gauntlet was picked up by fraternal site The United Provinces of Ivanlandia, this will be the first time the brain trust at LERNER INTERNATIONAL is tackling the topic—and confidence is high!

For one thing, the ramblings these questions inspire are a lot of fun—

Turn launch keys NOW!

September Index: The Hunt for Job October

Lists! Lists! Lists! (That’s to be said in the same manner Kurtwood Smith snickers, “Guns! Guns! Guns!” in the classic Robocop.)

Jeez, I watch a bunch of movies, it seems.

But that’s what happens when you’re looking for work…

And for kicks, this post of LERNER INTERNATIONAL will be illustrated with an exquisite corpse of comic book panels—whether they make sense depends on your point of view…

Not Quite Ozploitation (and two by Polanski!)

Wake In Fright (1971; Ted Kotcheff) has all the elements of a B-movie exploitation flick—a visitor to an remote town must deal with the place’s strange and foreboding customs—but wisely never plunges into obvious horror-movie territory.

There’s nothing supernatural going on, nor any superfluous “crime” subplots that are supposed to jack up the action.

However, Wake In Fright is a vicious anthropological study of the Australian continent’s worst citizens, both rural and urban, and as such is a top-shelf entry into a specific segment of “feel-bad” Savage Cinema.