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Stars: Barry Bostwick, Michael Beck, Persis Khambatta, Edward Mulhare, George Furth, Henry Silva | Written by Albert S. Ruddy | Directed by Hal Needham

Oh the 80s, how I love thee so… From the fashion and the music to the video games and the movies. And oh, what movies! From the decades big blockbusters to the direct-to-vhs dross that clogged video store shelves I loves me some 80s flicks. So when two of the decades most infamous flicks get re-released on DVD I just knew I had to check them out… First up, Megaforce!

I’ll admit, Megaforce passed me by back in the day, during the 80s I was all about the cheesy horror and anything Star Wars-esque. But, like any movie fan, the film’s reputation had not gone unnoticed by me… The film stars Barry Bostwick as Ace Hunter, leader of a mercenary army force who uphold peace,

Mediumrare Entertainment continue their trend of releasing some of the weirdest cult films and TV shows with four films that are making their UK DVD debuts – and two are also getting the Blu-ray treatment too! Check out all the details below. I know I’ll be snapping these up, will you?

Operation Condor: Armour Of God II (1991)

Global adventurer Asian Hawk (Jackie Chan) comes to Europe in search of the ‘Armour of God’, a magical relic from the Crusades. He hopes he can use it to bargain for the freedom of his girlfriend from a deadly cult. With his trusty companion (Andy Tam) by his side, his quest takes him from one perilous adventure to another. Directed by Jackie Chain himself, who performed all his own stunts, it was regarded as one of the most expensive films at the time. The third instalment of the Armour of God adventures,

DVD Release Date: Sept. 4, 2012

Price: DVD $19.95

Studio: Hen’s Tooth

Barry Bostwick and Persis Khambatta aim to save the world in Megaforce.

The silly 1982 science fiction action movie Megaforce is a cult favorite and guilty pleasure if ever there was one!

Barry Bostwick (Some Guy Who Kills People) stars as Ace Hunter, leader of an elite task force of American adventurers who gallantly fight to uphold justice around the world. The team’s ultramodern weaponry plays a major part in their perilous mission to save a small democratic nation which has been invaded by a band of ruthless mercenaries led by the evil dictator Guerrera (Henry Silva, The Manchurian Candidate).

Megaforce is directed by stuntman-turned-filmmaker Hal Needham of Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run fame. Needham brings his flair and knowledge of stunt work and automotive hijinks to the film for its frequent action scenes, which include many high

More long hidden horrors are now available as part of Warner's made-to-order Archive Collection. Oh, the classic terrors that await you, dearest reader! Dig it!

Head on over to the Warner Archives and order yours today!

The Awakening

Director: Mike Newell

Cast: Charlton Heston, Susannah York, Jill Townsend, Stephanie Zimbalist

Synopsis

Mention Bram Stoker’s name, and literature and movie buffs will conjure up Count Dracula. But there was more blood in Stoker’s pen. He also wrote The Jewel of the Seven Stars, later filmed with chilling effect as The Awakening, grippingly directed by Mike Newell (Dance with a Stranger, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and sensuously shot on Egyptian locations by veteran cinematographer Jack Cardiff. Charlton Heston stars as an Egyptologist with a passion that will trigger several mysterious deaths. He’s obsessed with a sorceress whose return has been prophesied – and whose tomb he opened

Joanne Woodward on TCM: Rachel, Rachel; Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Count Three And Pray (1955) A Westerner turns preacher to overcome his shady past. Dir: George Sherman. Cast: Van Heflin, Joanne Woodward, Phil Carey. C-102 mins. 7:45 Am Rally Round The Flag, Boys! (1958) The arrival of an Army missile base shatters the peaceful life of a suburban town. Dir: Leo McCarey. Cast: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Joan Collins. C-107 mins, Letterbox Format. 9:45 Am Paris Blues (1961) Two jazz musicians deal with romantic problems in Paris. Dir: Martin Ritt. Cast: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier. C-99 mins, Letterbox Format. 11:30 Am Signpost To Murder (1964) A convicted murderer, who escaped from a mental institution, hides out in the home of a woman whose husband is missing. Dir: George Englund. Cast: Joanne Woodward, Stuart Whitman, Edward Mulhare. Bw-77 mins, Letterbox Format. 1:00 Pm

Actress Hope Lange, who received an Oscar nomination for the 1957 film Peyton Place and won two Emmy awards for the sitcom The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, died Friday at a Santa Monica hospital; she was 72. According to her husband, Charles Hollerith, Lange died after suffering an infection caused by an intestinal inflammation known as ischemic colitis. A child actor who already had 12 years of Broadway experience before she moved to film, Lange quickly found fame with her first two big film roles in Bus Stop and Peyton Place. The latter film nabbed the actress an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and launched her career as one of the more popular ingénues of the late 50s. Appearing in The Young Lions, The Best of Everything and A Pocketful of Miracles, she segued into television in the late 60s, where she starred opposite Edward Mulhare in the romantic sitcom The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, which ran only from 1968-1970 but garnered the actress two Emmys; Lange later appeared in The New Dick Van Dyke Show from 1971-1974. Her later roles included Blue Velvet and Clear and Present Danger, as well as innumerable guest television appearances. Married previously to actor Don Murray and director Alan J. Pakula, Lange is survived by Hollerith, her third husband, as well as two children from her marriage to Murray, actor Christopher Murray and daughter Patricia Murray. --Prepared by IMDb staff

OUT TO SEA

20th Century Fox

Fox's other summer nautical summer release finds those grumpy old men definitely up to speed.

In "Out to Sea", old pros Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau show why they're one of the screen's most enduring comedy teams, elevating what could have been "Love Boat: The Movie" to an amusing romp that ranks as the most satisfying of their recent pairings.

Of course, they get some able assists here from an all-AARP ensemble, including Donald O'Connor, Dyan Cannon, Gloria DeHaven, Elaine Stritch and the late Edward Mulhare, as well as some nimble direction from Martha Coolidge.

Serving as the navigator, Coolidge gives everyone a chance to shine, while adeptly giving just the right weight to both the comedic and heartfelt moments. It's a tricky balancing act that, save for a few rough patches, succeeds admirably (HR 6/30).

Michael Rechtshaffen

HEAD ABOVE WATER

Fine Line

Has there ever been a good movie about someone's comic efforts to dispose of a dead body? Even Hitchcock in "The Trouble With Harry" couldn't pull it off. The latest effort in a bizarre genre, "Head Above Water" makes "Weekend at Bernie"'s look like a masterpiece.

Despite the best efforts of the cast -- Cameron Diaz, Harvey Keitel, Craig Sheffer, Billy Zane, Shay Duffin -- Jim Wilson's attempt at black comedy simply does not come off, with the humor feeling strained and the violence simply repellent.

Diaz, looking luminous, at least manages to invest her role with a certain amount of energy and enthusiasm, while Sheffer and Zane seem at an understandable loss as to how to make their characters remotely believable. (HR 6/26).

Frank Scheck

GABBEH

New Yorker Films

A startlingly beautiful and occasionally moving experience, "Gabbeh" is 40-year-old Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf's 13th feature in 15 years. A lyrical and often hypnotic fable with interwoven stories of nomadic life, the New Yorker release -- in Farsi with English subtitles -- will draw strongly from its target audience in select-site engagements.

Makhmalbaf initially set out to make a documentary about a tribe in the remote steppes of southeastern Iran. Combining footage shot on location and material added later, "Gabbeh" is relatively crude by domestic standards and a short 75 minutes, but it's otherwise accessible to Western audiences.

Intent on capturing a vanishing way of life, Makhmalbaf became fascinated by the centuries-old tradition of families creating elaborate carpets, or "gabbehs," that tell stories with a pictorial artistry (HR 6/26).

David Hunter

Other reviews

Also reviewed last week were: "Fall" (HR 6/27-29), "Mondo" (6/30) and "The Innocent Sleep" (6/30).

Fox's other nautical summer release finds those grumpy old men definitely up to speed.

In "Out to Sea", old pros Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau show why they're one of the screen's most enduring comedy teams, elevating would could have been "Love Boat: The Movie" to an amusing romp that ranks as the most satisfying of their recent pairings.

Of course, they get some able assist here from an all-AARP ensemble, including Donald O'Connor, Gloria DeHaven, Elaine Stritch, Dyan Cannon and the late Edward Mulhare, as well as some nimble direction from Martha Coolidge.

Boxoffice-wise, this throwback of a romantic comedy should experience exceptionally smooth sailing.

This time around, Matthau is Charlie, a compulsive gambler (talk about playing it close to home) whose less-than-winning ways at the racetrack have definitely put a strain on his relationship with his bookie. Undaunted, he comes up with a new can't-miss scheme -- talking skeptical brother-in-law Herb (Lemmon) into joining him on a Caribbean cruise where the promise of lonely, wealthy women could solve his little cash flow problem.

What he has failed to inform Herb is that he has volunteered both of them as dance hosts in order to gain free passage, his two left feet notwithstanding. Twinkle-toes Herb ends up having to do all the work, as Charlie woos the very eligible Liz LaBreche (Cannon) while trying to avoid the highly suspicious gaze of cruise director Gil Godwyn (Brent Spiner).

To further complicate matters, devout widower Herb has unwittingly found romance with Vivian (a glorious DeHaven), a former publisher who has been "shanghaied" by her well-meaning daughter and new son-in-law.

It's refreshing to see so many actors of a certain age working together and so effectively in the same movie. Having performed with each other on-and-off for over 30 years, Matthau and Lemmon have developed a terrific shorthand that translates into funny even when tyro Robert Nelson Jacobs' workable script isn't always up to snuff.

It also doesn't hurt to have O'Connor on board as a legitimate dance host (he naturally doesn't get away without strutting some of his famous stuff) or Stritch as Cannon's terminally feisty, gold-digging mom. Also doing fine work are DeHaven, Spiner, Rue McClanahan as the ship's owner and Mulhare (in his last screen appearance) as Matthau's suave, high-stakes nemesis.

Serving as navigator, Coolidge gives everyone a chance to shine, while adeptly giving just the right weight to both the comedic and heartfelt moments. It's a tricky balancing act that, save for a few rough patches, succeeds admirably.

As a double added bonus, the end credits feature the various cast members in a very funny interpretive dance sequence, plus those ever-popular outtakes accompanied by a number of well-placed bleeps preserving that PG-13 rating.

OUT TO SEA

20th Century Fox

A Davis Entertainment Co. production

A Martha Coolidge film

Director Martha Coolidge

Producers John Davis, David T. Friendly

Screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs

Executive producers Dylan Sellers, Barry Berg

Director of photography Lajos Koltai

Production designer James Spencer

Editor Anne V. Coates

Music David Newman

Costume designer Jane Robinson

Casting Jackie Burch

Color/stereo

Cast:

Herb Jack Lemmon

Charlie Walter Matthau

Liz Dyan Cannon

Vivian Gloria DeHaven

Godwyn Brent Spiner

Mavis:Elaine Stritch

Mac Hal Linden

Jonathan Donald O'Connor

Carswell Edward Mulhare

Shelly Rue McClanahan

Running time -- 106 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13