Raw Courage
– Reviewed by Skids Poppe
I got a little worried with this one. I though it may have happened again. The box showed a picture of a motorcycle on it and here I was, a half hour into a ninety-minute film, and still no bikes. If this was some cheap advertising ploy to get me to spend my rental dollars, I was going to be pissed! Continue reading “Raw Courage”
Running Cool – Reviewed by Skids Poppe
Oh man, oh man. This is really bad news. Paramount has gone and done the unthinkable with a biker movie: They’ve made it good. No, strike that. I’m wrong. First off, Paramount didn’t make it. Ferd and Beverly Sebastian did. And it’s not good…It is great! Continue reading “Running Cool”
Street Hawk – Reviewed by Skids Poppe
The only thing which saves me from feeling really bad about this whole thing is that I know you all would have done the same thing if you were in my place. See, there I am, my girl Franki and I are looking for something “romantic” at the video store when I come across a sure-fire hit. The cover of the box has a great shot of a high-tech two-wheeler rearing its front end. In fact, the slug line reads “The ultimate high-tech crimefighter”. C’mon, you mean to tell me you wouldn’t pick up a movie about a good guy biker over something sappy? I would. I did. (Okay, we also got the sappy one, which we watched together. I’m not stupid)
Continue reading “Street Hawk”
The Reunion – Reviewed by Skids Poppe
Happy New Year!
Well, it’s over. We only have forty-nine weeks left until Christmas comes again, but for now, we all have a temporary reprieve in which to collect our thoughts and pay our bills. Hopefully, if you all live charmed lives like I do, you all got what you wanted from loved ones and family and are right now hurrying through this column (can’t miss this column, right?) to get back out there and play with your new stuff. Continue reading “The Reunion”
Chrome Hearts – Reviewed by Skids Poppe
All right, it happened again. I’m not proud of it, but I, Skids Poppe, got suckered once more by those slick sludge heads manufacturing motorcycle movies. What can I say? I mean, I took some time off from watching the vids, thought I’d try and get some perspective back. Did it work? I’d say not. Continue reading “Chrome Hearts (C.C. & Company)”
Chrome Soldiers
– Reviewed by Skids Poppe
It’s twenty years after Vietnam–Do you know where your Harley is?
I do, and so do the group in Chrome Soldiers, this USA network film just released on video. Continue reading “Chrome Soldiers”
Last of the Gladiators – Reviewed by Skids Poppe
This month, I decided to take a detour at the store and ended up in the documentary section. What? Skids Poppe looking for something which just might tell him something he never knew before? Possibly even show him there’s such a thing as culture? What’s happening to the world? I wondered the same thing myself as I looked over rows and rows of Greek plays and National Geographic specials thinking I was actually going to have to watch a movie to tell you about when I saw my salvation. Continue reading “The Last of the Gladiators”
Stone Cold – Reviewed by Skids Poppe
Okay. I changed video stores because I just couldn’t handle another film like Nomad Riders (see last issue Oh Faithful Readers). I get to this new place and I’m looking around, this guy comes up and says “Can I help you?” I figure I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and tell him what I’m looking for. He points me in the direction of Stone Cold, a brand new release fresh from the mines. I take it and read the back. We’ve got a renegade cop posing as an outlaw biker to bring a couple of cold-blooded killers to justice. Sure, it sounds like my kind of film, but I’ve been burnt before. What the hell. You can’t go through life scared of video tape boxes, can you? Continue reading “Stone Cold”
Pumpkinhead – Reviewed by Skids Poppe
There’s nothing I hate more than a film chock full of wasted potential. Just think about where you can go if someone hands you the idea of eternal damnation for a smidgen of revenge. The ideas are endless. I know I could make a film that could scare your girlfriend’s pants off if someone gave me that kind of premise.
So what happened with Pumpkinhead? Continue reading “Pumpkinhead”
Angels Die Hard – Reviewed by Skids Poppe
Picture this scenario: A sleepy little town, somewhere in the far reaches of the state (for arguments sake, we’ll say Northern California). This town has some sort of “powerful” local political figure who is generally in charge of the way things run in his city (Could be the sheriff). Enter a second powerful, “bad”, element, someone or something which could, if the situation presented itself, take control away from the sheriff (in our little fable, I think it’s safe to say this could be a biker gang). Continue reading “Angels Die Hard”
The other day, I was on a long drive on my bike, going up the coast or something like that and I started thinking about politics. Specifically, about the budget and ways to cut spending. Now, I hear you asking “But Skids, I thought you weren’t political?” I know. I thought so, too. But what are you gonna do? Continue reading “Alphabet – A Skids Poppe Commentary”
Harley – Reviewed by Skids Poppe
I may be the only one who feels this way, but haven’t we all had enough of these feel-good movies where we all learn something about ourselves and everyone else by the end? I don’t even like ’em when they’re done well, but when they’re bad, I just want to rip ’em right out of the VCR and throw ’em in with Guantanamo’s explosives kit. This month, the video we’re talking about is Harley, a Lou Diamond Phillips vehicle. Continue reading “Harley”
I was in a bar the other day, trying to get Guantanamo to buy me a drink when this cute young thing walked in and headed straight for a bar stool near mine. I took it as a sign from above and headed over to offer her a bag of complimentary airline peanuts I had saved for just such an occasion. It worked. We started a pleasant conversation and I figured I was getting somewhere until I mentioned that I worked for a motorcycling magazine. After that, the conversation took a downward spiral that I never recovered from and I ended up leaving with only Mr. Guantanamo for company. Continue reading “Organ Donors”
The Mouse and the Motorcycle – Reviewed by Skids Poppe
This month, I want to talk to you about the next generation. I mean here you are, a freewheeling biking dude (or dudette, always equal opportunity, right?) and all of a sudden you find yourself with child. It may not even be your child. Maybe your sister dropped the little tyke off for the weekend. What are you gonna do? Continue reading “The Mouse and the Motorcycle”
Timerider – Reviewed by Skids Poppe
I was having one of those days a while back, you know the kind where you start wondering what happened to all those people you grew up with? I went from some of the kids in grade school, like Mickey Muchitello, to some of the guys I knew in reform school and that time I spent in the county slammer. Then I thought about the music. What was happening to the ones that got out lucky, the ones that didn’t OD or get shot by some nut or die in a plane crash? I asked Guantanamo. He said to ask Dagney Hultgreen, she knows everything. Then he said he did know about one guy and brought out a tape for me to watch. Continue reading “Timerider”
