Yeah, I've been reviewing a lot of flicks from my youth lately. The Last Starfighter, The Black Hole, and now The Monster Squad. Being one who over thinks things, I wonder if I'm having a belated mid-life crisis. Or maybe I just feel like watching some old movies? Stick with me! Dracula is alive. In fact, he plans to rule the world and that is why he seeks the help of other legendary monsters. However, a bunch of kids regarded by their peers as losers uncover the devious plan and prepare for a counter strike.  The Monster Squad pretty much bombed when it came out, but it's well regarded among genre buffs as a classic of the 80s. This is when kids' movies had mild profanity, bloody violence, showed a girl in her bra and panties, and even mentioned whether or not she's a virgin. And yes, parents were OK with this. Oh, how I miss those days. Nostalgia aside, The Monster Squad doesn't hold up as well as Starfighter and Black Hole. It's still a decen...

Much like The Last Starfighter , The Black Hole is one of those untouchable movie memories from childhood; something that is fondly remembered but really should be left alone when it comes to revisiting the film as an adult. Yet we Basmentites keep doing that, don't we. A research vessel finds a missing ship, commanded by a mysterious scientist, on the edge of a black hole. And that is about it in terms of plot. In fact, nothing happens in The Black Hole for about an hour, then all hell breaks loose in glorious cinematic fashion.Yet despite the lack of action, story, characterization and an ending that makes much sense, The Black is still a bad to the ass movie. Stick with me. For one, the ending of the film -- which puzzled the shit out of me when I was seven -- is literally a journey to hell and back. I get that as an adult. Is it the best possible ending for a piece of sci-fi escapism? No. Does it display balls? Yes. In fact, it's the edginess of this Disney pro...

What can I say about The Last Starfighter ? I was 12 when it came out and immediately fell in love with the story of a nobody from a middle-of-nowhere trailer park who ends up saving the universe. What 12-year-old boy wouldn't fall in love with a movie like that? Oh, and the hero has an incredibly hot girlfriend played by Canadian actress Catherine Mary Stewart . First actress crush for this Basement Dweller? Yarp. A video-gaming boy, seemingly doomed to stay at his trailer park home all his life, finds himself recruited as a gunner for an alien defense force. So says the official synopsis. Truth is, The Last Starfighter shows it's age almost as much as this Basementite. It was one of the first movies to use CGI extensively, and the special effects are worse than most video games from the last 30 years. The rest of the flick looks like a 30-year-old TV movie . It's clunky by today's standards and lacking in any real excitement and tension. Yet The Last St...