Dark Future (1994)

Not the most inspired of posters

I, for some strange reason love a dystopian story and have lately been watching a few of Greydon Clark's films, so I thought I would check this one out.  It is supposed to be a science fiction film, but also was listed as horror, and since I don't generally care for horror films I was a bit wary of watching this one.

It turns out is is not much of a horror film, though I read a review that some one wrote saying the film was really scary to them as a kid.  It's not much of a science fiction film either, though.  It does has a dystopian, oppressive society setting, but other than that and laser guns that look like toys, the film has little to suggest it was set in anything other than the 80s.

Also, the cast is rather unremarkable, being that I did not recognize a single actor in the film.

The film was modestly enjoyable but extremely simple in both plot and dialogue.  It is as if some one came up with two or three lines of a concept, and then decided to just start filming from there.  The dialogue seems completely uninspired.  While this seems like a harsh criticism, I understand that this film was made on an extremely low budget, and it's any film has the potential for entertainment and a spark a creativity.

I am curious where the beginning scene with the exceptionally long escalator was filmed (still don't know why Logan's Run or any other film thought it was a good idea to include escalators in a science fiction film, they are technology from the late 1800s).

After doing a bit of research, the closest matching escalator is the one in the St. Petersburg Metro, but I find it hard to believe the budget of this film covered a trip to Russia.  The second possibility is the Washington Metro Wheaton Escalator.

Joysticks (1983)

I thought I had seen every nerdy video game film from the 80s, and was pretty sure I had seen this one already, but as I watched it, I was amazed to find that I had never seen it before. I wonder if there is a similar film I am confusing it with.

The film is confusing as the plot doesn't make sense at times and some of the video game interactions are questionable (why does McDorfus open up the back of the Pac-Man game after losing?)  It's like the plot of other films, adults against the kids, was pasted on the film but didn't quite fit right, but no one bothered tinkering with it to work out the kinks.

I felt that Scott McGinnis had a much more prominent career than he may actually have had, from watching "Making the Grade" repeatedly on cable.  I thought he was one of the 3 young men who played bullies in 80s movies, the other two being Ted McGinley (Revenge of the Nerds) and William Zabka (The Karate Kid and Just One of the Guy).  It turns out, one of the roles McGinnis is most know for is "Mr Adventure" in Star Trek III.  I remember watching that film and wondering why McGinnis had taken such a small role.

I immediately recognized John Gries from his role in Real Genius but only found out after looking up his Wikipedia entry that he is the same actor who portrayed Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite.  I found that he has played a wide variety of roles in a huge number of films and TV shows.

I also immediately recognized John Voldstad, the other brother Darryl from Newhart.  I thought I had never seen him in anything else, but after googling him, it turns out he appeared in Stripes, a film I have seen a few times.

The director's comentary is somewhat interesting to listen to has he only has positive things to say about all the actors and the making of the film.  I think he may be a little deluded about how sucessful the film was, but according to him it was number one in the box office during it's first week of release.

It turns out this director's previous film also stared Scott McGinnis, Wacko.  While I watched that film, it's not really my kind of film, being a horror parody.  That film did feature Elizabeth Daily, who played a  number of character in a large number of 80s films, as well as having a singing career.