The Cannonball Run (1981) - Needham's major buck race bonanza

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Excitement and star parade on the high-spirited poster for Hal Needham's The Cannonball Run

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A row of charismatic groups in different cars each wants to win the outlawed Cannonball Run that races across the States.

This silly, nearly plotless crazy comedy/car movie was able to gather a surprising cast, which causes some laughs and entertainment value and in the process salvages the boundlessly pointless film from sinking as dead weight.
Roger Moore (A View to a Kill (1985)), worn out Dean Martin (Rio Bravo (1959)) and Sammy Davis Jr. (Ocean's 11 (1960)), Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights (1997)) and Dom Deluise (Blazing Saddles (1974)) along with Farrah Fawcett (Logan's Run (1976)) and Jackie Chan (The Legend of Drunken Master (1994)) help to make Cannonball Run, - despite its obvious idiocy, - an enjoyable lowbrow comedy.
It is directed by stunt man legend/director Hal Needham (Cannonball Run II (1984)), produced by the Hong Kong-based Golden Harvest company, and it's based on an actual outlawed race, which was held twice in the 70s.

Related review:

Hal Needham: The Villain/Cactus Jack (1979) or, The Wackadoodle West!

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 16-18 mil. $
Box office: 89.8 mil. $ (USA and Germany only)
= Huge hit
[Despite bad reviews, audiences loved this film: It made 72.1 mil. $ in the US and 17.6 mil. $ in Germany alone. It was the 6th biggest box office hit in America that year.]

What do you think of The Cannonball Run?

Carnivàle - 1st season (2003, TV-series) - Grand but oft clotted-up period mystery show

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Beautifully designed poster for Daniel Knauf's Carnivàle

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This huge and impressive 1930s period production begins outstandingly in Milfay (1), in which the main characters are introduced:

Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)), who SPOILER buries his mother and father and leaves a dessert storm to join the carnival; its leader Samson (Michael J. Anderson (Twin Peaks (1990-91)), and the mysterious Brother Justin (Clancy Brown (Homefront (2013)), who can get coins to flow from a woman's mouth.
Later other characters are presented, like the confounding 'executive' leader 'Management', the bearded lady and Professor Lodz, Rita Sue, the girl (Clea DuVall (Girl, Interrupted (1999)) and the mother who communicate telepathically etc. etc.

The structure of the series leaves something to be wished for: It appears that a final goal has been set up, (it indeed had by series creator Daniel Knauf (Dracula (2013-14), who had mapped out 6 (!) seasons for the show) and that each episode is to serve the overall story. The problem is that each episode becomes thinner and thinner, plot- and theme-wise, although there's no shortage of blood and sex, (in-line with HBO's general crops.) Carnivàle at some point reaches a place where it feels totally without direction, simply wallowing in its own mysticism.
Brown is good as the Methodist preacher, who goes through so much: SPOILER His church (with 6 kids in it) gets burned down by his sister; his escape, suicide attempt; his visions of his own derelict childhood as a Russian refugee, his getting placed in a mental hospital and, finally, his exposure as a demon!
The Hawkins drifter character, on the other hand, stands for good. At the end, SPOILER he saves the dead snake-woman by killing the unpopular Lodz.
The Carnivàle-production is handsome and highly unusual. The product in itself is problematic.
It got a second season, before its benefactor-financier HBO canceled it due to high production costs and dwindling ratings, to the outcries of many thousands of fans. 
The first season's 12 episodes (averaging 54 minutes each) are directed by 8 talented directors behind shows like The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, Hannibal, LOST and True Blood. Columbian Rodrigo Garcia (Six Feet Under (2001-05), the most used of them, directed 4 episodes of the first season.
Knauf has been active in several TV-series since Carnivàle, both as writer and producer.

Best episode:

1. Milfay
Story, universe and character introductions

 

 

Watch the season 1 trailer here

Cost: Reportedly 4 mil. $ per episode, totaling a whopping 36 mil. $
Box office: None
= Unknown

What do you think of Carnivàle?
Stories about the production or your experience of the show are welcomed

Creepshow (1982) - Fun, campy horror anthology from King and Romero

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The morbidly festive poster for George A. Romero's Creepshow

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With a framing story about a voodoo-practicing boy, whose father throws his Creepshow comic out, 5 ghoulish stories are served: SPOILER About a living corpse, who wants his cake; a meteor, which transforms a fool into a Plant Man; a jealous millionaire, who favors monitored drowning; a monster from the North Pole in a crate; and finally one about a neurotic city magnate with a bug problem ...

- Particularly this last story is a true nightmare for all of us who can't stand tingling insects, (in this case cockroaches.) 
Creepshow is an anthology horror movie homage to 1950's horror comic, written by horror maestro Stephen King (Christine (1983)) and directed by master horror director George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead (1978)). Its stories are deliberately corny and sensationalist with some holes here and there.
The film boasts several stars: Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild (2007)), Leslie Nielsen (The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)), Ted Danson (Cheers (1982-93)), King gives a highly physical performance as the fool, and E. G. Marshall (Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)) amuses as the unlucky magnate in the final story, which also showcases Romero's keen satirical talent.
The lighting throughout is refreshingly high-key Bavaesque, the animations are cool, and Tom Savini's (Martin (1976)) special effects are somewhat crude but effective. The film is a joy (especially for a horror-fan.)

Related reviews:

George A. Romero: Dawn of the Dead (1978) or, Mall of Death!

Watch the awesome original trailer here

Cost: 8 mil. $
Box office: 21 mil. $ (US only)
= Box office success
[The film is labeled a sleeper hit. Including other territories (which I can't find numbers for, except that nearly 350,000 people paid admission in Spain) and video, TV and merchandise, Creepshow must surely have been a great source of income for Warner Bros. It took First Blood's #1 spot at the US box office and was Warner's top horror film of the year. It got one official sequel in 1987 and a direct-to-DVD unrelated sequel in 2007.]

What do you think of Creepshow?
Other horror anthologies that you like or dislike?