Movie review - "Small Hotel" (1957) **

 A cultural time capsule in its way - an adaptation of a play that was quite popular in the mid 50s with Gordon Harker an old character actor.  I guess he's fine but someone more lively and scurrilous like Sid James would've been more fun as the film's about an experienced waiter who knows how to grift and survive. The plot has him about to be fired, which is a universal fear, and give stakes.

Harker has a nice relationship with Janet Munro as a waitress who he tells how to chisel and gets in trouble. There are entrances and exits and characters come on to do "bits". It feels as though it lacks extras (as in, people) - it wouldn't matter on stage but does on screen. 

Wet Hollywood leading man John Loder is the efficient expert. Amiable enough.

Movie review - "Nosfertau" (2024) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 Gorgeous production design. Good actors. Lily Rose Depp brings star power, Nicholas Hoult is always reliable. Memorable scenes.

The film is a classic script written by a director - full of scenes and moments but badly needs interrogation. I got lost in the second half. Got confused by the time line how long it took to go from one thing to the other and why people tried to kill vampires at night instead of the day and why Depp didn't tell her plan to Hoult? Did you even need Aaron Taylor-Johnson's character? Or his family? I mean good scene killing the kids, good gore but... just more time taken up in a 130 minute movie.

Movie review - "Bitter Harvest" (1963) ** (re-viewing)

 I went easier on this the second time. But still... Janet Munro is a woman who dares to hope for something more. She's raped while unconscious, gets pregnant, moves out, hooks up with John Strider, who is kind of shown to be the perfect man, who loves her. But he's also controlling, doesn't want her to go out, throttles her when she makes fun of him, is dull... at the end he goes off happily with his new girl while she's killed herself with tablets.

Her great crime is not wanting to me a mediocre idiot settling for nothing. The film punishes her. But it also states her case. It's hard to forget the image of John Strider being happy while her ambulance rushes past.

Alan Badel is terrifically engimatic as a producer who lures her. 

Fascinating film in many ways in that it's sympathetic to its heroine but also hates her. It seems to endorse its dull male lead but enough sneaks through that he's a horrible person.

A flop. Peter Cotes was sacked during filming.

Movie review - "Jolly Bad Fellow" (1964) **

 Michael Balcon tries to repeat the success of Kind Hearts and Coronets with another film about a loveable murderer. Robert Hamer even wrote the script. Leo McKern has a lead role but isn't right. Janet Munro is bright and sexy writhing under bed sheets (again) although it's a stretch to have her into McKern.

McKern is an academic who starts bumping off rivals. Black comedy is hard. This doesn't work. Black and white. Not very funny. Don Chaffey not a great comedy director.  Dennis Price is in it.

Movie review - "Uninhabited" (2010) **

 Credit to Bill Bennett he manages to reinvent himself. Here he goes for the low budget horror route - an attractive young couple are on an island where Strange Things Happen. He touches on the colonial past and it's about a woman of colour being raped and getting revenge which is fair enough, just feels a little off soming from a white filmmaker. Geraldine Hakewill and Henry James are fine - James didn't do much else, I'm surprised that he didn't at least get a soap and/or some guesties. 

Bennett goes on location which is pretty. It doesn't quite build appropriate menace - people keep getting knocked out and waking up when letting scenes play out might have been more effective. Ditto giving the young couple to play something more than "young hot couple" might've been ideal. And the Greek fisherman just being, well, bad Greek fisherman.

Basically it needed more menace and jump scares. Says I, anyway. It was fine. Hakewill has a strong screen presence.

Movie review - "One More Train to Rob" (1971) **

 This actually has a decent story - train robber George Peppard seeks revenge on the man who betrayed him (John Vernon) and married his girl, and in doing so winds up helping some Chinese. It's done in with a combination of Andrew McLaglen's flabby direction and that bland Universal treatment - bright colours, backlot sets, sting music.

Peppard loved the character he played - a rascally train robber. I get why but he's a little too low energy. peppard was at his best playing straight men surrounded by rascals.

Peppard doesn't bounce off anyone. John Vernon has an Irish accent that comes and goes. The Chinese angle is sort of French but no real characters - noble prostitute (Frances Nuyen, who is at least allowed to live instead of die tragically), noble son, noble old man.

This needed to be more fun. Peppard thought it was fun and it was fun for him, I'm sure, more than his usual characters. But it isn't fun. I'd dump the boring Chinese couple. Have all the Chinese women and they all want to sleep with Peppard. Have one Chinese turn traitor. Have more colourful other characters.

Larry Cohen once said Andrew Mclaglen and Burt Kennedy killed the Western in the 1970s with their dud movies and this is definitely an argument in favour of Cohen.

I think this was the last of his five picture Universal contract - Tobruk being outside that.

Movie review - "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" (2024) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Another solid entry, surprisingly emotional, with a big death toll - I kept expecting that young girl to be alive. Lots of subtext about dealing with loss. Plenty of production value and spectacle. Suffers from some bloat and overlength but generally a good time.

Movie review - "Cool Change" (1985) *1/2 * (warning: spoilers)

 There's a terrific moment in this - single mum Lisa Armytage is struggling to get cattle off her land and about to give up when all of a sudden Jon Blake and all these cattlemen who've been feuding uniting to help her out. That's an image strong enough to build a movie around even if yes it would be nice to have a few female riders in that group. But...

It's confusing as to why she needs help - she's overgrazing is that right? And the people chasing after her are... park rangers with machine guns is that right? Because they work for the state government who want a national park? 

And the conflict among the cattlemen is weak and/or confusing. 

They really, really needed to do more work on the story. The story, rather than the script. It's just... bad. The greenies want to kick the cattlemen off because of overgrazing. I think I get that. But the conflicts within the cattlemen are confusing - Jon Blake's dad looks like Lisa Armytage's uncle. The older women look the same. They act the same (sensible! No nonsense! No plot function!) Having Blake be the father of Armytage's kid muddies things - doesn't give us anything. I don't like her for not telling him. Why not have it as a baddy's kid? Why not have a proper baddy? Deborah lee Furness is meant to  be bad but she's just a politician. Why have Furness go topless in a family flim? Why have Armytage be do dumb she assumes Blake slept with Furness? Why build to an exciting climax then have cattlemen play dumb jokes. Start climax and go backwards.

People use property developers and criminals as villains because they work. They are personal, their goals are clear. This is too messy.

Needs to be simple. Government want to kick cattlemen off land. Pick on Armytage. She's overgrazed. Use her as an example. Give her a good reason why it's happened. Cattlemen are divided viciously over what to do. Armytage too proud. Blake tries to help. She has to move stock from A to B in 24 hours to raise money. Ticking clock. Etc.

There was a market for this sort of film, even this sort of propaganda. They stuff it.

Movie review - "Brothers" (1982) *

 Okay wow so yeah, uh.... Terry Bourke's output is... variable. This is a melodrama best known for its opening sequence which dramatises the killing of the Balibo Five. Only here it's the Balibo Seven - two brothers, Chard Hayward and Ivar Kants, actually survive and have PTSD. Kants settles down in a New Zealand town with Alyson Best and Haywood wants him to go back to journalism.

That's not a bad set up. But the result is a mess, growing increasingly campy as it goes along, with Hayward having a fling with a local girl and getting beaten up and they break up and he's with Jennifer Cluff and the local girl has a break town and turns into a hooker and tries to kill herself and has a break down and the town hate Hayward and there's a gang who want to beat up Hayward and Kants does it and then there's a bus crash and... 

Anyway a lot happens. Not much to do with the Balibo Five.

In fairness the plot is not worse than the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink efforts of say MGM in the 30s which were pushed over by having Clark Gable and Jen Harlow in it (the non classics, of which there were plenty, people just forget them). This doesn't have quite the same star power - no knock on Hayward he just, uh, isn't Clark Gable. (Having him do karate was perhaps particularly unfortunate). It's his film - and Margaret Laurence's - more than Kants. I think maybe they should've leant into Hayward and Kants more.

Is the bus crash based on a famous bus crash? The woman being impaled by a log is pretty funny.

Movie review - "Ride the High Country" (1962) ****1/2 (warning spoilers)

 Terrific film. It just works from its opening credits, beautifully shot and haunting melacholic theme tune. Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott are perfectly cast in the leads (did this inspire Larry McMutry's Lonesome Dove), Mariette Hartley is a different female heroine (still pretty but smart, unconventional), the brothers are a terrific rogues gallery: handsome but sketchy James Drury, LQ Jones, Warren Oates, etc. Ron Starr is a little more stock as the kid but that's fine.

The location work looks gorgeous (mines, snow, towns with cars). It's got these old 1950s trappings with Peckinpah's freshness (brothel scene, end of West). The story is simple but effective - great jolt when Hartley's father is killed - and the ending is guy cry nirvana.

Movie review - "The Siege of Pinchgut" (1959) **1/2 (re-viewing)

 Such a great idea and amazing start,  with all the excitement sucked out of it via treatment.

- unrealistic casting

- wishy washy goal of convicts

- confused motivation other convicts (why does Victor Maddern go along with everything)

- wet performance from Neil McCallum

- doing absolutely nothing with Heather Menzies

- making the convicts too unscary

- not raising stakes

Movie review - "The Stud" (1978) ***

 Terrific exploitation. Trashy melodrama story which says something about the class system giving it some depth, terrific disco soundtrack (10CC, Hot Chocolate), great casting, lots of sex. Reminded me of 70s Oz films like Petersen - director Quentin Masters was Australian. Joan Collins shows off her body a lot and has lots of sex. Oliver Tobias is handsome and can act- why didn't he become a bigger name? 

Lots of fun.

Movie review - "Cannon for Cordoba" (1970) **

 Quentin Tarantino likes this film but his taste is a little suss on this period, he can't resist TV movie style entertainment and B listers. I should love it -  a guys on a mission story to get some cannons, George Peppard, Pancho Villa era.

But it takes forever to get going. I thought they'd start with the mission but then there's an attack then they go, like more than 30 mins in. The characters are all the same. There's a girl. There's some guy. Another guy. Peppard. Peppard detours with hookers. Big moments have no impact like the girl betraying someone and a member of the team who wants revenge on Peppard for letting his brother die and the deaths of the others.

Movie review - "Damnation Alley" (1977) **

 How did this cost so much money? At its heart it's about just a few people running for safety in a post apocalyptic wasteland. I guess there's the giant insects but they aren't very convincing. There's the landcruiser but that's just a landcruiser. B level names like George Peppard (then), Jan Michael Vincent, Dominque Sanda. I like Jackie Earl Haleyas the kid, There's a scene where the van goes through water. They could've cut the opening sequence as war is declared though that has emotional impact.

Peppard has a bad moustache. Little effective character work. Stock rednecks raping. This should've been done cheaper and trashier.

Movie review - "Hot Frosty" (2024) **

 Kind of like Splash with a snowman and set at Christmas. Lacey Chabert seems bored, Craig Robinson and Joe T prove they need writers, it all feels a little sluggish.

Movie review - "The Third Day" (1965) **

 Amnesiac mystery starts off well benefiting from George Peppard at his handsome peak but bogs down - doesn't have enough action and movement, too much hanging around a house. Elizabeth Ashley isn't quite right as the female lead - I'm sure she was great on stage, but that magic doesn't transfer. Roddy McDowall is fun as her slimy brother and Herbert Marshall offers some low key star power as his father in law but other roles feel undercast: Mona Washborne, Arthur O'Connell.

It's fun to see Sally Kellerman as a floozy and Arte Johnson is a creepy dude. This is the sort of film I expected Robert Webber to turn up in and he did.

The main problem is the lack of star power and pace. If they couldn't afford other names in the case it needed Peppard to be on the run more, uncovering things more slowly.

Movie review - "The Take" (1974) **

 Starts well with a terrific robbery sequence. Billy Dee Williams has star charisma and there's colourful support including Vic Morrow, A Martinez and especially Frankie Avalon as a dodgy guy. Apart from the sequence at the beginning and another bit at the end though it's plodding and not very gripping. Dee Williams' corrupt hero is a little too much of an anti hero - the baddies should've been meaner to him. Location filming in New Mexico is interesting made it feel like a prequel to Breaking Bad at times.

Movie review - "Jamboree" (1957) **

 One of those late 50s rock musicals where they shove a bunch of acts together and have a loose story to keep you watching. The story here is about a male and female singer who are put together by their squabbling managers - that isn't a bad story though not much is done with it.

This was made by "Vanguard" a company of Subotsky and Rosenberg who later formed Amicus.

Musical acts include Jerry Lee Lewis (singing 'Great Balls of Fire') and a very young Frankie Avalon. Paul Carr, the male juvenile, looks about 50.

The film includes as many DJs as artists. Historically invaluable.

Book review - "David Bowie: The Oral History" by Dylan Jones

 Exhaustive. Fun. Illuminating. He was a well endowed, skilled lover. Had a fling with Lionel Bart. Made Let's Dance to make money. Very professional in studio. Got off drugs quickly. Smart. An artist.

The stuff of his later career isn't as interesting. The Tin Machine gets bagged.

Radio serial review - "Wings above the Diamantina" by Arthur Upfield (1939)

 A Boney novel adapted. Some dodgy race stuff but at least he's the hero. The mystery isn't bad. Everyone talks posh but they were like that back then. The version I heard wasn't credited but I think it was from 1939 with Ron Randell.

Book review - "The Beginning or the End" by Greg Mitchell (2020)

 Account of the making of no one's favourite MGM movie - about the making of the bomb and it being used. Goes through the original idea - a scientist contacted Donna Reed! - the battle to do a screenplay, all the censorship, rival project from Hal Wallis written by Ayn Rand. It's weird MGM made this before Dore Schary joined the studio!

A few nit picking errors - Above and Beyond made money. And the book feels as though it needs a new edition now that Oppenheimer has some out. But fascinating. Great way to explore this subject with its hype, prima donna scientists, lunatic army men, vain presidents. I had sympathy most for Hollywood producers, just trying to make the damn thing happen.

Book review - "Sailor and Fiddler" by Herman Wouk

 I once read a lot of Wouk - well the war novels, Marjorie Morningstar, Youngblood Hawk. I sensed even then what was autobiographical.

Easy to read semi memoir. Well written (no surprise). Useful summary of his career. Enjoyed the account of workin in radio and getting into the navy via the fact he worked for Fred Allen. Mentions the drowning death of his young son. His wife is all wise all knowing - she'd just died. Not a lot of in depth analysis of his self. But useful and short.

Book review - "I'll be in My Trailer" by John Badham and Craid Modderno (2006)

 I don't think of Badham as an actors' director but his films tend to be well acted. Full of good advice, some of it common sense but even that it's ideal to hear again. A lot of testimonies from people who are now cancelled or cancelled ish eg Frank Langella, James Woods, Stephen Collins, Mel Gibson. I liked the stuff about bad behaviour the most.

Book review - "Fletch" by Gregory MacDonald (warning spoilers)

 Never read this. Lots of dialogue. Funny. But not Chevy Chase funny - not as funny as that. Chase did his own version. But the Underhill account is in here. Solid mystery. Everyone wants to have sex with Fletch - like, everyone. He's a Vietnam War vet, a hero. Alan is a lot more sympathetic here - like not a villain.  Story broadly the same. I didn't get the joke he was playing on his two ex wives. To get them to move in and he lied? Sorry is that funny? Easy to read. There's a fourteen year old hooker Fletch befriends who dies who I think he might be sleeping with.

Movie review - "Skidoo" (1968) *

 Basic plot simple - retired hitman goes into prison to kill gangster. Jazzed up with wackiness. Otto Preminger not a naturally funny director. The late sixties doesn't help.

Carol Channing bizarre. Groucho Marx tired. Frankie Avalon good - so too Frank Gorshin and Austin Pendleton. John Phillip Law tries. Alexandra Hay is pretty.

A mess. Interesting.

Book review - "Desperately Seeking Something" by Susan Seidelman

 Entertaining book about a director who was a big deal in 1985 but then had a few under performing films then went to movie prison and never quite got out of it although she had a strong career including the pilot for Sex in the City. Written brightly. Maybe could've done with a few trims (there were a lot of bits where she says she couldn't remember the name of something). Seidelman was middle class, so isn't as traumatised - her parents subsidised her lifestyle, which every director needs, and she married well, had a kid etc. I don't meant to be dismissive, just pointing out it adds to a life.

Madonna stories are the best, offering to go down on Barbara Boyle, munching faces as she auditions love interests. Rosanne Barr offered to go down on Seideman too.

Random observation - Seidelman doesn't seem to repeat key collaborations. What happened to the writer of Susan? Why didn't she work with the same stars again? Really wish she and Rosanna Arquette worked together again (although Seidelman admits they butted heads).

Also I think the good luck that greeted Smithereens and Susan vanished later on. She didn't have the stars to make her films non-ignorable, except arguably Meryl on She Devil. Making Mr Right and Cookie needed bigger stars I feel.

Loved the story about Gary Oldman flaming out on Dylan. Had no idea about Seidelman's later movie work.

Movie review - "The Castilian" (1963) **

 Sidney Pink is best known for his sci fi efforts but this is a medieveal (well, tenth century) epic about a Spanish hero - a kind of El Cid knock off. There's plenty of production value. I didn't recognise the Latin actors but there's cameos from Alida Valli and Broderick Crawford, Cesar Romero is the hero's BFF and Frankie Avalon is a strolling troubador.

Movie review - "Drums of Africa" (1963) **

 Producer Al Zimbalist re-used Kong Solomons Mines footage for Watusi and does it again here, to even less effective results. To give him his due, the script does try  - Robin Estridge did it and there's lots of chat between Lloyd Bochner and Mariette Hartley about love and stuff, which implies ambition. But it lacks decent exploitation - pace, sex, twists. Foreigners are dodgy, whites know best, the black Africans try. The action is unexciting. A comic evidence is underutilised. Hartley's nude swum is lively.

Michael Pate is in it as a dodgy Portugese and Ron Whlenis in it as a ship's captain. Frankie Avalon is professional, charming and can sing but sorry he just looks weird in Africa. His part could've been cut out. Bochner has a deep voice but that's it, really.

Torin Thatcher plays a version of Allan Quatermain who is given a different name for some reason. Hartley does her best.

Script review - "Juno" by Diablo Cody

 Read this just for fun - warm, simple, unplotty. Great dialogue of course but also consistent - Juno and Leah talk different to Juno and Bleeker and Juno and her parents. Complication provided by the two yuppies. Cody doesn't demonise either not even Mark - it's clear Vanessa doesn't get him either.

Movie review - "One Way Wahine" (1965) *1/2

 More obscure beach party movie despite starring Joy Harmon, Anthony Eisley and Edgar Bergen. Harmon has this weird red tan and seems to be mentally off. Combieds some bech stuff with a robbery plot. Filmed on location but it stil looks cheap and studio bound. I am a soft marker on beach films but the indeptness of this got me down. Bergen's role is very small.

Script review - "Fletch" by Andrew Bergman

 Not the final transcript bc there are some key admissions (narration, some famous lines, the legendary "I billed it to the Underhills" line). But the core of it is all there and many famous lines were scripted. First rate mystery. Great villain - the scary cop. Charming relationship with Gail. Colourful characters. Escape sequences. It's a series of encounters but it's well plotted out.

Movie review - "Winter a Go Go" (1965) ** (warning: spoilers)

 The stars of Swinging Summer go to work for Columbia - photography looks great, neat ski action, sluggish story (they start a ski lodge). It as a TV vibe - goons try to wreck business - interspersed with musical numbers. Racist comic cook. The leads get married. Had trouble telling people apart.

Movie review - "A Swingin' Summer" (1965) ** (re-watching)

 A "lake paty" movie - the beach party set at Lake Arrowhead, Surprisingly heavy and serious - lots of talk about needing money, pressure, and a big brawl that is very seriously done involving James Stacy. More fun is William Wellman being pursued by Raquel Welch, a nerd determined to have a boyfriend for the summer.

Jerry Lewis' son performs in this. Michael Blodgett dances. The lake is pretty. Quinn O'Hara has to be too serious.

Movie review - "Thunder Alley" (1967) **1/2 (re-watching)

 Solid car film. Maybe benefits from having Fabian rather than Frankie Avalon - he's more serious, gritty, chip on his shoulder. He's sleeping with Diane McBain but falls for Annette Funicello who has one of her better roles. She's still the girl but she drives, sings, fights of Warren Berlinger, has a lot of swagger, and there's a nice father-daughter relationship. The film could've done with a little more star power - John Ashley at least. But strong score, pretty good film.

Movie review - "Alien: Romulus" (2024) ***1/2

 The first decent Alien film in a long time - made by a director who clearly knows what he's doing. Sets up a strong world, and flows it through logically. The Easter eggs for fans are a little annoying. Some excellent acting.

Random list - pop stars whose parents were movie stars

- Gary Lewis from Gary Lewis and the Playboys - son of Jerry Lewis
- Peter Lewis from Moby Grape - son of Loretta Young
- Crispian Mills from Kula Shaker - son of Hayley Mills
- Dino, Desi & Billy - sons of Dean Martin and Desi Arnaz
- David Crosby son of Floyd Crosby the DOP

Movie review - "It's a Bikini World" (1967) ** (rewatching)

 Deborah Walley is a cutie. Warm, gorgeous, plucky. Tommy Kirk is fine - better as the nerd. There's not enough story. Needs at least two more plots. Great photography and music.

Movie review - "Empire of the Ants" (1977) **

 Giant ant movie from the 1970s. Joan Collins shows some potential land buyers around, they're attacked by giant ants, they run to safety, but find the townsfolk are under thrall of the ants. I really liked this twist.

Interesting cast - Collins, Robert Lansing, Robert Pine (Chris' dad, the sarge from Chips).

It's not a very good movie but it's impossible to dislike.

Movie review - "Trap" (2024) ** (warning spoilers)

 Gets off to a strong start, playing with audience sympathies. Josh Hartnett has his best role in ages and rises to the occasion. M Night Shamalan clearly loves his daughter. The film does run out of ideas. Shifts POV twice - to his daughter and Alison Pill. I think we could've done with one. Shame they had to lead the stadium. Hayley Mills is a profiler and she's quite good!

Book review - "I am Pilgrim" by Terry Hayes

 Admired this more than liked it. Hayes has done a lot of work, done his research, come up with sequences of imaginaiton. But it's got a black heart. I didn't care about the hero or his protagonist or anyone really and the cracks about how easy it was for immigrants to move around got annoying. A book that demands respect though.

Movie review - "A Christmas Frequency" (2023) **

 Ansley Gordon is a solid lead. Novelty in seeing Denis Richards. The male lead has a literal mop of hair.  Awkward blocking.

Movie review - "Acquaman and the Lost Kingdom" (2023) **

 Big, loud, dumb. Who cares about Jason Mamoa and Patrick Wilson being brothers? Who cares about the random villain being bad. Some interest in seeing Amber Heard's role being minimised - I guess she'd be too heroic? They may as well have killed her. Or kidnapped her. And Nicole and Dolph.

Dull.

Book review - "Helen Morgan: The Original Torch Singer and Ziegfeld's Last Star" by Chris Connelly

 Definitive book on Morgan, a singer I was mostly familiar with because of Showboat and that film about her. Hollywood was kind of obsessed with that twenties Broadway period with Texas Guinan, Morgan, Ziegfield etc. It sounds like fun with everyone drunk and getting raided and making huge amounts of money. Of course there was a dark side and Connelly is strong on that - he's strong on everything, even Morgan's legal troubles, her complicated upbringing (lots of step dads).

Impossible to imagine a better book about Morgan.

Movie review - "Ski Fever" (1966) **

 European version of beach party/ski movies. Shot in Europe with Curt Siodmak as director! Martin Milner is a dull hero. Claudia Martin is pretty as an American at a ski lodge. There's some lecherous Europeans. The girl who had dream sequences were funny. Nice ski shots. Some songs. A pool scene.

Movie review - "Stop Making Sense" (1984) ****

 I finally saw it! Understated direction. The band are very talented. David Byrne is a clear star. Changes visual look.

Movie review - "Sergeant Deadhead" (1965) ** (rewatching)

 Some bright moments but the film never seems to make up its mind what the story is. There's a bumbling soldier who gets shot into space - fine - but then he has a big head and so they get in a look alike, which is a whole new movie, then the lookalike tries to avoid having sex with Deadhead's fiance. Then the lookalike disappear and they go to meet the president.

It's unsatifactory. Some songs are alright. The players try. Frankie Avalon gives his all. Deborah Walley is sweet. Why is John Ashley in this? Harvey Lembck. Donna Loren gets some lines. Bobbi Shaw is wasted. Buster Keaton gets  a joke. Eve Arden gets a song.

Movie review - "Fireball 500" (1966) ** (warning: spoilers) (re-watching)

 A transitionary film from beach party to stock cars - I've seen this a few times and now I'm used to it and it's more enjoyable. The acting is very good, Fabian helps make it more serious, the conflict between he and Avalon feels real, I like the moonshine stuff, Harvey Lembeck is excellent in a serious role.

I think it was a mistake to resolve "who caused the fatal accident" before the big final race. There should have been some sabotage - Fabian found out but the audience didn't and the baddies tried to kill him or something.  

An odd mishmash but endearing.

Movie review - "Puppy Love" (2022) ***1/2

 Sweet rom com which actually has a point of difference in that it's more about the guy - the lead, a screenwriter surrogate most likely (Grant Gustin) has bad social anxiety, is very used to being alone. He mets hot mess Lucy Hale and they dislike each other but in a cute twist their dogs hook up so they're stuck together.

Hale is always good in these roles, and she and Gustin have genuine chemistry. There's a range of "turns" from wacky people the lead run into each other. Some of these go over the top, others work.

But you genuinely sense the leads fall in love and it's all very sweet.

Movie review - "The Last Lion" (1972) **

 I know little about South African cinema - mostly Jamie Uys and various films shot there in the 70s. This one has a script by Wilbur Smith though not based on one of his novels. He did use part of it for A Time to Kill because like that this is about a dying man determined to kill a lion. He's accompanied by a woman only not his daughter bu doctor Karen Spies. Jack Hawkins is the guy, only a short time from death, with his voice dubbed. He's playing a dying man so that's moving.

Most of it is chats with Hawkins and Spies. Spies is pretty but her role is "you shouldn't be doing this". There's another guy who is a guide who I expected to have a romance or die but he doesn't. There's no development. No twists.

It's novel. Just a little dull.

Movie review - "The Spoilers" (1942) **** (rewatching - warning: spoilers)

 Much better than the 1930. Much clearer. Better dialogue. Acting. The lot. Okay the blackface scene isn't great - Wayne putting on boot polish to rob a bank.

But the other stuff is good. The set. John Wayne young and sexy playing off against Marlene Dietrich. Harry Carey, who I expected to die. Richard Barthemless shines as Dietrich's offsider. Randolph Scott, firm and tough, a surprise villain. Margaret Linsday lots of fun.

Everyone wants to have sex in this. Dietrich and Linsday want to have sex with Wayne. Wayne wants to have sex with Dietrich and Lindsay. Barthemless and Scott want to have sex with Dietrich. Dietrich wouldn't mind having sex with Scott.

Movie review - "The Spoilers" (1930) ** (warning: spoilers)

 First sound version of the famous tale. Not very widely seen. Not bad. Confusing. Gary Cooper has youthful charisma. He still plays a sook when he thinks a woman has betrayed him.

Cooper aside lacks stay power - Kay Johnson is a bland heroine, Betty Compson a dull saloon gal, William Boyd a bland baddie. The death of Cooper's friend had an impact. The brawl at the end is fine.

Director Edwin Carewe doesn't do much of a job. The tension going to sound is an issue but the movie didn't have to be as confusing as it was.

Movie review - "Beach Blanket Bingo" (1965) *** (re-watching)

 The last really strong AIP Beach Party movie - energetic, confident. Weird moments like that moody ballad Frankie Avalon sings and the Deborah Walley fake rape plot. Odd that John Ashley is Frankie's rival.

The romance between mermaid Sylvia Kristel and Jody McCrea (who is the lead as much as anyone) is charming because both. are dumb - but then he gets with Linda Evans? Confusing that both are blondes. Unsatisfactory.

Linda Evans gorgeous and sweet. The double act of Bobbi Shaw and Buster Keaton is funny. Fun silent era chase and climax. This was peak Mac Sennett period at AIP.

Don Rickles' night club act isn't funny. Paul Lynde is funny.

Movie review - "The Secret of Nimh" (1982) ***

 I'm not that familiar with Don Bluth films. The animation is very fine, and there are memorable sequences such as visiting the owl and going underground - all the spooky stuff. There's some full on scenes of animal testing, people getting crushed and stabbed, and adult flirting. 

The story lacks momentum - it's about staying still, inside because a kid has pnuemonia. 

Really interesting voice cast including Wil Wheaton, Shanneon Doherty, Elizabeth Hartman and Aldo Ray! Hartman took her own life only a few yers later.

Movie review - "Tudor Rose" (1936) ***

 British view on Lady Jane Grey. It doesn't have much time to settle into anything other than Jane and her husband were sweet and naive, and Edward VI was manipulated and the adults were prats... but that's basically true, so why not? There is no central core relationship - at the very least it could've dug into the love story more.

 Nova Pilbeam briefly became a star playing the lead. John Mills didn't playing her husband - he just is too young looking. Cedric Harwicke is a terrific villain. I liked Desmond Tester, from Sabotage, as Edward VI.

Very stylishly shot and directed by Robert Stevenson.

Movie review - "Out of Sight" (1966) *

 There's no reason why a mash up of Beach Party movies and spy films couldn't have worked. AIP could've pulled it off - they mixed it with haunted house films and sci fi. This is just a bad movie. Jonathan Daly is hard work as a spy's butler who becomes a spy.  He' s a drag. Maybe he was famous at the time. But Frankie Avalon in this role would've been so much better.

There's some terrific music - versions of "Baby Please Don't Go" and "It's Not Unusual". I did really like the three female assassins

But on the whole this is a dull movie.

Movie review - "Beach Ball" (1965) *** (re-watching)

 Roger Corman financed cheapie. Stephanie Rothman worked on it. A decent script - a little more stakes-y than AIP which tended to be more of a grab bag.

It's cute. Edd Byrnes is sleazy. Chris Noel is fun as are the other girls. Aron Kincaid is amiable. Terrific music including the Supremes.

Movie review - "Furiosa: A Max Max Saga" (2024) ***

 Sublime action, terrific technical achievement, acting very good. I can see why it wasn't a hit - this is in hindsight. There's nothing at stake. We know Furiosa will live and can guess her friend will die. But Mad Max 2-4 were about saving a group of people. That's not done here.

The opening sequence is amazing because the stakes are so huge - trying to hide the nice community. But this is dropped for the rest of the film. The movie needed to be about protecting that.

Fantastic stuff here. But some stuff could've gone - like seeing how Chris Hemsworth (excellent) rose to power. Didn't need it.

Movie review - "Ski Party" (1965) *** (rewatching)

 Gene Corman was brought in to produce this and he in turn brought a fresh infusion of talent - Alan Rafkin director, Robert Kaufman writer, Aaron Kincaid actor, Robert Q Lewis actor.

It doesn't quite work, a little bit too much of a rip off of Some Like It Hot, but full of energy, fun moments. Terrific music - Lesley Gore, James Brown, etc. Skiing on location (moving to the beach at the end is a jolt). Bobbi Shaw is very winning and likeable - more than Deborah Walley and Yvonne Craig to be honest. Annette Funicello is fun as a student kissing teacher - it's a shame she couldn't have come along.

Bright and fun.

Movie review - "Absolute Beginners" (1986) ***

 A mess. So much good stuff. So much bad stuff. Patsy Kensi is fine. Gorgeous full of energy. Eddie O'Connell sinks the film. He's a rebel but also sells out. Not good looking. Can't sing, dance or act. This, in Britain in the 80s with film stars falling from every tree. The movie stuffs the love story.

Needed to simply - not that they're going out but that he adores her from afar, has a crush, she has to do what she does for money, she realises he's the perfect guy etc.

So much good stuff though like I say. The title track, Bowie's dance number, the tracking shot, the riot, the colours, Ray Davies' Frank Tashlin/Jerry Lewis style number. Temple was allowed to spend too much money.

The film needed a male lead who could act or at least have presence and to be made for a quarter of the price.

Movie review - "Am I Ok?" (2022) ***

 Enjoyable friend-com about a later in life lesbian Dakota Johnson and her BFF Sonoya Mizuno. Done with warm and style. Occasionally the guest stars - Sean Hayes, Tig Notaro (who directed) get a little hammy in their cameos - but it's all in good fun.

Movie review - "Muscle Beach Party" (1964) ** (re-watching)

 Odd Beach Party movie - no Harvey Lembeck, lots of soulful philophising from Frankie Avalon who dreams of surfing forever, Luciana Paluzzi instantly falls for a bodybuilder then instantly falls for Avalon, which is unsatisfactory, then offers him a singing contract, and this offends the friend group because... why? He wants to be a pop star? And Avalon is offended because Paluzzi wants to pick up the tab because...? The film doesn't make sense.

The muscle boys are at least visually different, Don Rickles has fun, Candy Johnson dances, Donna Loren sings, Little Stevie Wonder sings, Dick Dale plays music and surfs, Peter Lorres does a cameo, Buddy Hackett is Paluzzi's helper, fun opening credits, some decent tunes. Avalon smokes after a night surf.

But it's too serious and gloomy.

Movie review - "Wicked" (2024) ****

 Extremely well directed - John Chu deserves more kudos than he gets. A real film. It's opened up. Leans in to the benefits of filmmaking in 2024 with animatronic animals and so on. Gets points fot giving the juiciest role to a relative unknown Cynthia Erivo - who will no longer be unknown. Ariana Grande is more limited but is perfectly cast so it doesn't matter.

Gorgeous colours. Gutsy story. I did feel the momentum dropped when they got on the train - the film could've ended there really (as it was the end of the emotional connection between the two leads). 

Jonthan Bailey seems to channel Rupert Everett - a good thing for the role.

Movie review - “The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini” (1966) ** (rewatching)

I’m glad the Beach Party series ended on this and not How to Stuff a Wild Bikini. This isn’t a good movie, not really, but it’s full of fun stuff. So was How to Stuff, but that film had a hollow core as there was no decent central romance. This one has, however tentatively, Tommy Kirk and Deborah Walley.

It also has a script heavily influenced by Pajama Party - like that this is a mash up, in this case beach party and haunted house stories. Patsy Kelly plays, basically, Else Lanchester, Aron Kincaid plays the nephew role essayed by Jody McCrea, Bobbi Shaw is back with Benny Rubin stepping in for Buster Keaton. Quinn O’Hara is fun as the short sighted femme fatale, constantly trying to seduce statues, Francis X Bushman plays an old butler, Basil Rathbone has a decent sized role as a villain, Piccola Pupa is this random singer stepping in for Donna Loren, Nancy Sinatra is the second female lead. Kirk and Kincaid spend a lot of time being spooked, Walley doesn’t have that much to do, Harvey Lembeck and co are on hand.

The device of Boris Karloff and Susan Hart was added after the original cut - it suits the jokey nature of the film. Bobby Fuller Four is in this.

The whole notion of a busload of teens travelling to a house and breaking out into impromptu dance numbers with a band playing a long is just so silly it’s very endearing.

As finales to series go, this was fine.

Tommy Kirk interview

 

Movie review - "Star Trek Beyond" (2016) **

 Gets off to a bad start by coming in on the Enterprise more than half way through its deep space expedition, and showing Kirk as... bored. Come on, he was hanging out for it. Then they run into a space station which robs from the "deep space exploration" feel because it's a huge base. Then they help out a alien person in distress, and there's a baddy and the Enterprise breaks up.

It feels like the episode of a TV series.

Why not use the deep space stuff? Isolation, loneliness, mutiny, cannibalism, primitive-ism? What happened to Alice Eve's character - why not give Kirk a romance and/or son?

The villain is dull - an ex Starfleet officer.

It isn't a very good script. The cast don't seem that into it.

Movie review - "A Cry from the Streets" (1958) ***

 Charming melodrama with Max Bygraves a little awkward but a warm, comforting presence. He has a decent role to play an engineer whose wife and kid died so is wary of involvement but he falls for Barbara Murray a social worker dealing with kids including two Aussies - Dana Wilson from The Shiralee whose dad murdered her mum, and Colin Petersen from Smiley whose mum is a drunken actress. There's also another older kid.

It's serious subject so the warmth is welcome. Lewis Gilbert directs with sensitivity. Lots of care in the film.

Bygraves sings one song and it's sweet - I'm surprised they didn't do a few more.

Movie review - "Pajama Party" (1964) *** (re watching)

 Fun dance numbers. Plot is silly. Anntte Funicello gets to dance. But her character falls in love very quickly - she's so flippant. Jody McCrea isn't in to her so she goes with Tommy Kirk but then he is attacked by Bobbi Shaw and she huffs, he says sorry, finds out she's a martian, and huffs again.

The veterans are very well used - Jesse White is fun as is Elsa Lanchester, it's great to see Buster Keaton yucking it up with Bobbi Shaw, Dororhy Lamour has a terrific number. The numbers are good except the dim love ballad with Funicello and Tommy Kirk.

Annette suits Frankie better but she and Kirk are fine and he's charming as usual. Teri Garr is a dancer - all those AIP starlets and the true star was there. Susan Hart gets a lot of screen time but she just shimmies. She struggles with her few lines. Donna Loren sings. They may as well have shown Avalon's face we know it's him. He's funny as is Don Rickles.

This is fun. A mash up of sci fi and beach party - the first mash ups. Goldfoot and Ghost in the Invisible Bikini were closer like that.

Movie review - "The Scamp" (1957) **1/2

 A genuine Colin Petersen vehicle. He repeats much of the stuff from Smiley - knocks out his dad and runs away, gets in a fight, is cute. Also he plays drums which Petersen could do. He's charming star - the heart of this film. Richard Attenborough's school teacher is a little creepily invested and dismissive of Dorothy Alisoin his wife. Terence Morgan is an excellent cad as Petersen's dad and Jill Adams is fun as the trashy blonde he dates.

Movie review - "Smiley" (1956) *** (rewatch)

 Charming. Lovely shot. Good acting across the board - Chips, John McCallum. Shame all the POC had to be bad.  Alex Korda's last film.

The Robert Clarke account

 

Movie review - "Dr Goldfood and the Bikini Machine" (1965) *** (rewatching)

 It doesn't hold up well but I'm giving it three stars because it's silly and fun and such a delight for AIP fans: whether it's James Nicholson writing the story as a vehicle for his soon to be wife Susan Hart, Susan Hart getting a lead role, the double act of Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman, the double act of Vincent Price and Jack Mullaley, the cameos from Deborah Walley, Harvey Lembeck, Annette Funicello.

The film just works. All the casting. It has an emotional core - Hickman and Avalon have a proper bromance. Also the scenes where Hart is tortured by Price make her likable.

No room for songs, cutting them was good ieda.

I watched The Weird World of Goldfoot afterwards - it just wasn't as good. Aaron Kincaid isn't as funny as Avalon. Tommy Kirk isn't as warm as Hickman, Harvey Lembeck isn't as good as Mullaney.

Movie review - "Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 Extremely good sequel. Inevitably lacks the surprise and freshness of the 2009 version but full of life, mixes the tropes well, and I really liked how there's two villains, nasty Peter Weller and enigmatic Benedit Cumberbatch.

I was surprised that Bruce Greenwood's Captain Pike survived the first movie so it wasn't a shock to see him killed her. Alice Eve - an It Girl at the time - doesn't really add much and has to do a scene in her underwar. They struggle to give Zoe Saldana stuff to do. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are excellent.

There's the usual bloat but on the whole I enjoyed this.

TV review - "Noon Wine" (1967) ***1/2

 This brought Sam Peckinpah back after the double whammy of Major Dundee and Cincinatti Kid.  The plot hasJason Robards and Olivia de Havilland running a farm - a mystery man turns up to work for them. He does a good job. Then its revealed the man has a history of mental instability. A visitor says this, causes trouble, and Robards kills him .

Interesting parallels to Straw Dogs - a simpleton innocently accused.

Plenty of story. Unexpected developments that are logical - the bounty hunter after the guy is slimy but Roberts still overreacts killing him, the simpleton is killed by the posse, Robards is full of guilt. Ben Johnson is a local sheriff.

Movie review - "Star Trek" (2009) **** (rewatching)

 Really fun. Starts with a bang and keeps it up. High drama.

I maybe had some reservations at wiping out a planet to give stakes for Spock - I mean, the whole planet? Felt heavy. Winona Ryder is only in two scenes really but it's nice to see her in a hit. Ben Cross is fun.

It's spectacularly well cast. Beautifully so. Chris Pine and Zachery Quinto have the biggest shoes to fill but Karl Urban is fun and Simon Pegg and... everyone really. Eric Bana is fine as the villain. Leonard Nimoy steals the show. I didn't really follow the time travel stuff but I'm sure it holds.

Movie review - ""Star Trek: Nemesis" (2001) ** (warning spoilers)

 This gets off to a flying start and I was excited to see it but then slows down and becomes sluggish. Next Gen films really only focused on Picard and Data and that's the case here.  The film kills off Data but it doesn't really matter since he's got a clone. Young Tom Hardy is on hand as the evil Picard clone a young version which had potential but it's not developed. Hardy gets too much screen time where he chats rather than doing anything cool. The regulars don't seem into it.

Movie review - "Star Trek Insurrection" (1998) **1/2

 The only one with much to do in these is Picard and Data - the other characters don't pop, or maybe it's different in the series. This feels like an episode of a TV series but it's well done, I liked Picard's romance, the fountain of youth always works. F Murray Abram does decent villainy.

Movie review - "Beach Party" (1963) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 Kind of taken for granted but all the stuff is there -  the bright tone, the meta nature (Dorothy Malone telling Bob Cummings "AIP will buy the film rights", Vincent Price's cameo), the various subplots (Cummings studying kids, Frankie and Annette making each other jealous, bikers as a threat), colourful characters (Lembeck and his bikers, Morey Amsterdam's cafe owner, Jody McCrea's dumb friend, Eva Six's blonde bombshell, Dorothy Malone's sexy older woman, Cummings' anthropologist, Candy Johnson's dancing, John Ashleyh's more cynical friend). 

The tunes are very good - "Beach Party Tonight", "Don't Stop Now", "Surfin".

There is variety in the female roles - Funicello is a good girl, but there's also a man hungry Rhoda (who can't understand why Annette doesn't want to have sex with Frankie), the shimmying Candy Johnson, Eva Six, Dorothy Malone.

The musical numbers are done with tremendous verve.

Cummings was 53 (32 years older than Annette) but still looked good at the time - that would change within a year or so eg The Carpetbaggers.

Analysing John Ashley's role in this film - it's clear he's a kind of alpha in the group, suggesting Frankie dump Annette and also being the one not Frankie who entices Cummings on to a surf board (maybe this was to protect Frankie? Or Avalon may not have been available.)

The action screeches to a halt when Annette sings her ballad 'Treat Her Nicely'. But I liked how she was so protective of Cummings. (Also there's a moment where her character seems willing to sleep with Cummings, which is interesting. As is the implication that Frankie has slept with Eva). Because Funicello's character wants to be married an acts old she kind of matches with youthful (ish)Cummings.

Dorothy Malone doesn't have much to do but I liked her and she's sweet shimmying along to 'Tell It to the Moon'.

Movie review - "Lucky Me" (1954) **

 Bob Cummings appeared in a few musicals, usually playing light comedic leading man duties and not being involved in any singing or dancing. He plays a songwriter here so he has to warble a tune or two. -well, he's dubbed, not very well. Still he handles light comedy stuff as adept as always. Doris Day is the lead and she's very winning.

It's a dim story. It feels like one of those scripts that they kept putting writers on to work on it and never did much good since the central concept was weak. Doris and her mates (including Phil Silvers) are struggling performers, Cummings is a top composer. There's a scene where he pretends to be a mechanic to woo her - people were always faking their identity to romance Doris Day but it's not funny here.

Martha Hyer is the fake love interest.

Movie review - "Star Trek First Contact" (1996) ***1/2

 Solid entry which involves going back in time to find the Inventor of the Thing (James Cromwell) and his friend (Alfred Woodard). The Borgs are strong villains and Alice Krige is fun.

It's entirely smart and respectible. I miss the lunatic fun of William Shatner and the originals, I admit.

Movie review - "Heaven Only Knows" (1947) **

 Angel fantasy which had more potential - Bob Cummings is an angel sent down to reform Brian Donlevy who has grown up bad as a scowly saloon owner in the old West when he's meant to be good. Cummings is ideal as a breezy angel and Donlevy as a baddy and the Western setting had potential because it's full of violence.

While the film has good moments, notably Majorie Reynolds as a saloon gal taken by Cummings and the death of Edgar Kennedy with a sobbing boy, the film never quite works. It takes itself too seriously when it needed to be lighter. It could've lent into the Western tropes more. There's a dull pastory in the town and the action screeches to a halt when boring school teacher Jorja Curtright (the future Mrs Sidney Sheldson) had scenes with Donlevy. Like, give her some life and fun.  The whole movie could've been more fun. More matchmaking from Cummings, more Donlevy-Cummings by play.

I was confused by the mum giving up the kid at the end - so he's meant to die? She gives her kid up to die? I was just a little confused.

Movie review - "Lovin' Molly" (1974) *

 This film is an abomination.

The credits started I thought "this is okay" but it's sunk within the first two minutes with Tony Perkins (then 40) as a young cowboy and Beau Bridges and Blythe Danner (both around 30) as his friends. They needed to be the same age and played by young actors.

I think the rationale was "well they're playing older later in the film let's get older actors" but there's 50 minutes of them being young.

Perkins is spectacularly bad. Danner is sweet and lovely and might've succeeded in another film but goes down with the ship. Beau Bridges is too chunky. He's not as bad as Perkins but isn't great either.

Susan Sarandon's part - quite big in the book - is blink and miss.

The whole thing feels fake. The friendship. The sex. The mood.

It's awful.

Movie review - "Star Trek: Generations" (1994) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 Smart, very well done, has an ace up its sleeve in that it allows Kirk to meet Picard and shows the death of Kirk. Those are great "posts" for the film to swim towards.

Malcolm McDowall has played this sort of villain role a lot but what they heck. Starts strong with Kirk, Chekov and Scotty and some action - plus Alan Ruck as the guy taking over from Kirk! Then cuts to the new gang. Some talk and action... there's decent spectacle. Strong last third.

Movie review - "Tell It To the Judge" (1949) **1/2

 One of Rosalind Russell's many comedies of remarriage and she's excellently teamed with Bob Cummungs who is in superb form, as is she. They are so terrific and the film full of possibilities and some strong support (Gig Young) that it's frustrating the filmmakers couldn't cobble it together.

Rosalind Russell is up for being a judget and is getting over the divorce from her ex Bob Cummungs. That's promising as are other bits - Cummings giving testimony from gangster's moll Marie McDoanld who gangstes are to get, Gig Young romancing Russell being a suave possible criminal.

Why don't they use the gangsters? Why don't they have life and death stakes? It would justfiy the lying. Why not have MacDonald love Cummings?

So many dumb ideas like Rusell being continually upset about MacDonald when there's a perfectly good reason for him to be with her, and Cummings not wanting Russell to be a judge in the first place, and not using gangsters, and MacDonald being scared all the time and Cummings fobbing her off.

Have Cummings as a prosecutor, Russell an co worker becoming a judge, make the blonde more Machiavellian and less trust worthy, have Cummings under strict instructions to lie to Russell, have Russell applied to the case, have people trying to shoot them, use the gangster, have Young be either super virtuous or super villainois.

So frustrating. Nice photography.

Movie review - "Star Trek 6 The Undiscovered Country" (1991) ***1/2 (warning spoilers)

 Nick Meyers' return to the series acts as a tonic - it's a first rate story and done wittily, with solid stakes (Kirk arrested for murder). It could have done with extra pesonal connection. -like maybe the traitor should have been Kirk's ex, mother of dead son, as well as or instead of Kim Cattral.

It feels low budget - has a TV episode feel. Like it lacked an extra $5-10 million to do the action or something. Star Trek 4 had whales, I don't know, felt bigger. Maybe a romance would've helped. Or a relative.

But it's very enjoyable. Tight, Fun. Christopher Plummer adds dash as does Kim Cattrall, Iman, Brock Peters. The film loses some poionts having Shatner do a Bodyguard style dive at the end. Maybe this is more a three star movie. But it's the last one with the old gang, so...

Movie review - "The Bride Wore Boots" (1946) **

 A comedy of remarriage that shoud've been a romantic comedy. Because they split up for dumb reasons so I didn't care, and it's so contrived keeping them apart. It's a dumb script.

The set up would've worked as a rom com. Barbara Stanwyck is a horsey outdoorsy woman who falls for booking Robert Cummings who writes about the Civil War. Both can play comed and would be ideal casting - Stanwyck looks physical Cummings can play nerds. But this central conflict isn't dramatised. It's mostly Cummings having literary groupies particularly Diana Lynn who tries to kiss him all the time and Stanwyck eventually sues for divorce. It makes everyone an idiot. Break them up for a solid reason. I mean they've got two kids one of whom is Natalie Wood.

Classy cast includes Robert Benchley, Willie Best. Patrick Knowles is dull as a rival for Stanwyck.

Book review - "Sonny Boy" by Al Pacino (2024)

 Fun. Actor-y. Rambles. I listened to the audio book. Helped a lot. He's a man child. A creature of Greenwich Village. Thought nothing of playing gay characters in the 70s. Loves the process. Keeps dating actors (good taste: Diane Keaton, Beverly d'Angelo, Tuesday Weld, Marte Keller, Jill Clayburgh, Kathleen Quinlan). Hopeless with money. As in, a kid. Bumbles through life. Loves his craft.

Some great stories like Diane Keaton going to Pacino's accountant after he was broke "don't you know who this man is? He's an idiot! A child!" Pacino going to the Oscars stoned.

Leaves out stuff, like Lyndall Hobbs.

Enjoyable read.

Tony Scott Top Ten

 1) Spy Game - I've never forgotten this especially the endin

2) Revenge - ditto - flawed but memorable

3) Domino - another spectacular Scott ending

4) Crimson Tide - a great macho movie

5) The Last Boy Scout - always thought this was terrific

6) Enemy of the State - feels forgotten now but very slick very fun

7) True Romance - the best Tarantino film not made by QT (I know that's not a big category)

8) Top Gun - too campy and well done not to include

9) Unstoppable - silly fun

10) Man on Fire

Movie review - "Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier" (1989) **

 Not very good. Some good bits. Interesting ideas. Starts evocatively on that desert plant. I enjoyed the Star Trek crew being challenged by trauma. But there's too many "bits". Some just don't work - sorry, Kirk rock climbing... he's not Tom Cruise he's too tubby. Not much continuity for the previous films. (2 to 4 really are the proper trilogy). Unfocused. Laurence Luckenbill isn't much of a villain - no Ricardo Montalban and not even Christopher Lloyd. Taking on death and religioun was a decent idea but the film can't package it.

Fun to see Harve Bennett make a cameo as an admiral. Jerry Goldsmith's music is wonderful. But it's not a good movie.

John Candy Top Ten

 1) Planes Trains and Automobiles

2) Uncle Buck

3) Home Alone - only a short role but terrific

4) Splash - scene stealing turn esp when he admits he could never be that happy

5) Stripes - a stand out

6) Cool Runnings - don't believe him as a former athlete but really good

7) National Lampoon's Vacation

8) Brewster's Millions

9) Spaceballs

10) JFK

I haven't seen Only the Lonely - am sure it's terrific

Movie review - "A Man About the House" (1947) *** (warning: spoilers)

 After leaving Gainsborough, producer Ted Black joined Korda then seemed to have trouble getting films made. He eventually made this which at heart is an old gaslighting saga about two sisters, Dulcie Gray and Margaret Johnson, who go to Italy. Both fall for handsome local Kieron Moore who marries Johnson and then seems to be trying to poison her to get the land.

It's handled very well. Gray and Johnson are excellent even if both lack X factor of a star - I did miss Phyllis Calvert and Margaret Lockwood say. Moore looks the part and mostly is fine - when he gets too much dialogue the Italian accent is wearying. Guy Middleton is fine but he's so old - he's Gray's love interest and he beats up Moore at the end but he looks 105. Why didn't they cast a young spunk? What was Black thinking?

Some scripting problems - the girls are passive for so long. Takes them ages to figure out what's going on and then they just whistle for help - well, Gray, Johnson never does. It lacks another twist, a bigger role for Moore's secret lover say.

I did like the way it conveyed Moore was shagging Johnson into compliance - her look of dreaminess.

The film cost too much. It was shot on location in Italy and didn't need to be, not really. It's in black and white.

Black's star spotting hadn't abandoned him altogehter - Gina Lollobrigida has a small part.

Movie review - "Star Trek IV: Voyage Home" (1986) ****

 Deserves its high reputation. Warm, funny, smart, exciting. Catherine Hicks isn't just the girl. Other crew members are given something to do. Nick Meyer's combination of wit and literacy is perfect for Star Trek.

Movie review - "Charlie McCarthy Detective" (1939) ** (warning spoilers)

 I've heard some radio shows with Charlie McCarthy the dummy - he was very funny, and could have transferred to films if in the right vehicle. This isn't it. It has some funny momens but is far too gloomily shot - director Frank Tuttle seems to be in noir mode.

The cast is very strong - Constance Moore, Bob Cummings, Louis Calhern. There's not enough Charlie though - why was this? Too many brooding actors. Not enough comedy. Wrong director? Wrong producer?

I did like that Cummings was guilty, that was different.

Movie review - "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" (1970) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Sam Peckinpah's follow up to The Wild Bunch was closer to Noon Wine and features the same star as that - Jason Robards. This was budgeted at $880,000 and blew out to $3.7 million which is absurd for a simple tale.

Roberts is engaing as Cable who discovers water and falls for a hooker (Stella Stevens). Peckinpah/s direction of Stevens is pervy and lecherous - close ups of her crotch, cleavage, arse, etc... She's very winning it's just Peckinpah is such a perve. So too David Warner's charactr. he's a sexual predator.

Strother Martin, LQ Jones, Slim Pickens, RG Armstrong and company are on hand.

This film is beloved in some areas. It didn't do it for me. The ending was quite moving when he dies.

Movie review - "Start Trek III: The Search for Spock" (1984) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Direct pick up from part 2 with Kirk trying to save Bones, and retrieve Spock by stealing the Enterprise. Because they're looking for Spock, his absence until the end isn't noticed. The film has learned from Part 2 to keep the regulars at the forefront - the plot is about rescuing Bones, and finding Spock, and the Enterprise blows up, and Kirk's boring son is in danger and dies (he doesn't even get a close up the poor guy).

Kirstie Alley's replacement as the female Vulcan isn't as good. I like Chris Lloyd's nasty Klingon - Shatner gets to beat him up and throw him off a cliff presumably to make up for not doing with the Khan.

Some nice lines, Shatner has a fine old hammy time. Sorry these stories are a little silly. Why didn't Nichelle Nichols go on the mission? It seems weird just with Scoy, Sulu and Chekov.

Nice to see Australia's own Judith Anderson at the end.