Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs

Internet Movie Database          Movie Reviews

Dr. Goldfoot is back with another nefarious plot to take over the world.

Mr. Otter and I were in Austin, visiting Craiggers. We had had a really fun day of bookstores, food, games and had gone to see Guardians of the Galaxy in a local movie theater. We didn’t want our visit to be over, so around 10 pm we all decided to watch this, having enjoyed the first Dr. Goldfoot movie the night before.

What we didn’t know was that this one is completely different; I quote from IMDB:

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) was only a moderate box-office success in America but a big hit in Italy and as such this sequel was shot in Italy with an Italian director Mario Bava and with two Italian comedic movie stars, Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia.

Also gone was Frankie Avalon, replaced by the extremely wooden Fabian. The only cast member who returned was Vincent Price as the campy and amusingly over-the-top Dr. Goldfoot…and even his wonderfulness wasn’t enough to save this movie.

The plot was awful, the acting was extremely bad (even for this type of campy low-budget movie) and the two Italians they put in as the comic relief made us groan and yell imprecations at the screen whenever they showed up. They did slapstick of the stupidest and most annoying kind, and got WAY too much screen time.

Even if you loved the first Dr. Goldfoot movie, give this one a pass. Trust the Otter.

 

Guardians of the Galaxy

Internet Movie Database
CinemaSins        Movie Reviews

Oh, you know, the universe is about to be destroyed and it’s up to a wacky band of misfits to learn to work together and stop the bad guys.

This is yet another in the brilliantly integrated set of Marvel movies based on their comics series that all tie in together; the ultimate big bad in this is the same guy we saw at the end of the Avengers movie, so obviously this group is being groomed to at least show up in the next Avengers movie, and maybe vice versa.

Having said that, this stands on its own very nicely.

Mr. Otter and I were traveling, and let our friend Craiggers in Austin TX know that we were coming to town (he expected us but didn’t know the exact date til we got close enough to pin it down.)

What do you guys want to do while you’re here? Craiggers asked.

Well, I said, this movie is opening that weekend, want to go together?

Oh hells yes, he said, or whatever the equivalent is in Craigspeak. And so we did.

And he knew a theater that has good screen size and sound, but that would not be crowded, so we had rockstar seating, and enjoyed this movie very much.

The wacky misfit alien superheros (the usual group- a thief/charming rogue, the standoffish girl who only wants to save her people, a guy bent on revenge, and two cute nonhuman types, one of whom is a bounty hunter) are all given good character development; the writing is good, the plot holds together, the characters (at least on first watching) never do anything that doesn’t make sense for that character, and the special effects are awesome.

There are a lot of really good funny parts, and some near-sniffly bits. This totally lived up to its hype and the awesomeness of the trailer, and I am hoping the next one (because you KNOW there’ll be a sequel) is as good. See and enjoy, says the Otter.

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine

Internet Movie Database          Movie Reviews

Dr. Goldfoot has a nefarious plan to create beautiful, gold-bikini-clad robots that will kill key military figures so that he can take over the world!

We were staying with Craiggers in Austin, TX, and we all love silly movies…but little did we know that bikini movies (usually beach movies) are a favorite genre of his. He had bought a two-disc set of these, but none of us had seen them, so we took the plunge.

And this one was fun. Self-consciously slapstick, wow-we-are-so-silly-everybody-come-see-us-being-silly 60s humor, but hey, Vincent Price was in most of it, right there that redeems a lot of stupid jokes. Frankie Avalon was the hero-guy, and there were some cameos by then-famous people (Mr. Otter recognized Annette Funicello and Craiggers recognized someone from a series of wacky biker flicks).

The plot is ridiculous, but one would expect nothing less. This was cute, light fun and we all enjoyed it.