Showing posts with label Patrick McGoohan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patrick McGoohan. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Sunday, January 14, 2024
Scanners (1980) - still blows my mind … kind of:
They had interesting concepts, but were flawed, and often hampered by wooden acting.
Scanners is no exception, sadly, but it still entertains me.
If I had to make up a category, I guess Flawed but Fun would fit.
This is a fun movie to be enjoyed simply for what it is: fantasy.
Whenever I watch Scanners, I ignore the numerous plot holes and inconsistencies.
I wish I could ignore the lousy acting in particular … however, that’s simply impossible.
Stephen Lack, as great and jovial a guy as he is, in my movie-watching experience, gives the worst performance of a lead actor I have ever seen.
He acts as if he’s in a daze and says his lines in a droning monotone.
He’s so wooden; I felt I could have made a solid bookcase just out of his performance!
The man was cheated out of his Razzie Award!
I laugh every time I see and hear him deliver the line:
“The future! You murdered the future!”
He’s excellent as the villain, Revok, and his presence in a movie has always inspired me to view it.
The vein and eyeball-popping final battle between the hero and villain will make you smile at how fake it all looks.
For all its faults and fall-shorts, there’s still a lot to enjoy in this movie, and no blog about Scanners would be complete without mentioning the landmark exploding head scene.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQBNh5wsdqyCa9W-s05O17grWT_43LEWh_nxLMyb6SOOOaKQ3GkRcFCS0D63zEkuVX99DHwRbGD_3xf5jokcDEI9ALWhBNp33-Le_wWzmiOhtvTF27an6PIWPQIJU_Hy-cxhieQ4xLWy3GtByhZv_cSaengpURm6W6Ou0NDSKeBWQoqibjJd7ZCg_ffQ/w400-h220/scanners19804.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC9070XGZOnGbcoKfFAEp_pMwolfEXky_QhIw1gaPS9y39RLW9OmfIn20nFFFnQNoZJw9q5PLvDOdipbqOfJtGrRKzf--UHzG7jfI67NtzYMOs3gMsPYdLxe_2NRRy6JtaAE3211rFLSOw-3owlax7G9EmW-UjTlVuxYO_m1tnmPYUwjtAUuu-wQIVcA/w400-h220/scanners19805.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2f5Rh3iVHy-RQEzyq1nzIVQSVTOcBi4TJsBkOIBp69rGTUALz5xypSLI4Ym13UwZu6884RUYBst5Tbz0eYcmJYTDf3h3urWOS7vCGzwdAohRV4dLEUdbZZ53FWAb82bs-yrjVfG6NgvGPlosCkTvfa5zrbMSbqYmPX_sPTFB0gK_WHlqx9VaAsmzm9A/w400-h220/scanners19806.jpg)
It was a long time before a making-of documentary revealed to me how they achieved the exploding head effect in Scanners: a latex life-cast was made of actor Louis Del Grande’s head:
After numerous failed attempts to produce a convincing effect, special effects artist, Gary Zeller, finally took a shotgun, positioned himself low behind the seated dummy, and blew its head off!
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