Starman A departure for director John Carpenter, STARMAN is a gentle, simple film that won accolades from critics and applause from audiences. Jeff Bridges plays the title character, an alien that has come down to Earth on a peaceful scouting mission. When he takes the form of a recently widowed woman’s dead husband he unintentionally involves her in his mission. The alien only has a few days to reach a rendezvous point where he will be picked up by his mothership. Along the way he must discover what he can about human beings and our civilization. He finds out plenty very quickly, as his relationship with the young widow grows very strong as they make their way to the rendezvous point. Meanwhile, the FBI is in hot pursuit after it discovers the discarded landing vehicle, and the alien’s own health is deteriorating in Earth’s foreign atmosphere. The story tells of the struggle for communication, the pain of letting go, and the search for understanding. Jeff Bridges gives an unforgettable performance as the gentle alien trying his best to cope with being a human. With STARMAN, Carpenter proves he is a master storyteller, not just of horror and science fiction, but of subtle, emotional drama as well.
Customer Review: A Star of a Story
I didn’t remember how good this movie was until I saw it again this afternoon. This is one of Jeff Bridges masterpieces as well as for Karen Allen, whom I first saw in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and her great performance recently in “Basket.” I felt that Bridges gave a convincing job of an alien learning earth customs and gradually acquiring more grace with his speech. It moved toward tender moments between the two as one remembered a mate and the other succumbed to feelings emanating from his body. All this developing while running from a fanatically dedicated government official searching for the alien. It will be forever one of my favorite movies of whatever genre. This review is of a VHS from my private library.

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The Swoll Package Customer Review: High School Memories {4 Stars}
Much respect to Amazon for having this album on hand. I bugged out when this turned up after a random search on the site. I thought this joint was all but extinct. Since it’s selling for a penny, you know I had to snatch it up. I bought this on tape back in High school and my friends and I would bump this joint after school during long video game sessions (mostly Joe Montana Football and Bulls vs. Blazers lol). The debut LP from Capital tax is made up of DJ Cool Al, TMD (Total Mind Devastator), Bozie, and Scruff. It’s hard to describe what they sound like. Try to imagine the Fu-Schnickens (minus Chip Fu) rhyming over some B level Marley Marl beats (which would still be better than a lot of beats that came out of ‘93) and you’ll have some idea. Lyrically, the album is tight, the production is nice. What more could you want?

The only problem I have with the album is that a lot of the production sounds the same. The entire album is produced by DJ Smooth G, so I guess that should’ve been expected. Also, there are a lot of skip worthy tracks on the album like “Can You Dig It”, “Mista Wonka”, and “We Pals”. The rest of the album is pretty good.

The Swoll Package is a dope album from a crew of cats that were all but ignored by the mainstream. It could’ve been because a lot of other acts were bringing a lot of the same flavor at the time, so they probably got lost in the shuffle. Either way, this album is worth a listen. I recommend checking it out. Now I think I’ll go dust off my Sega Genesis and play Sonic The Hedgehog while I bump this.

Standout Tracks: Poet Treeman, Givin’ It Back, Nottie Natural, Make Some Cash, I Can’t Believe It, In Memory Of, Make A Move Y’all (My Favorite), The Masha, and Styles I Manifest

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