What classics did you see last week, July 18 to July 24?

“Old”   Distributed by Universal Pictures, 108 Minutes, Rated PG-13, Released July 23, 2021:

Viewers who’ve ever enjoyed an especially juicy vacation and found themselves wishing they could remain at the location forever might find some emotional resonance, and not a small amount of irony, in “Old,” the new movie from filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and Universal Pictures now playing in theaters from coast to coast.

With their troubled marriage on the verge of foundering, overstressed insurance actuary Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his ailing curator wife Prisca (Vicky Krieps) decide to travel together with their school-age daughter and son to a remote tropical resort hotel for one final vacation together before breaking the news to the kids that they’re separating.

Unfortunately, this is no Fantasy Island. Accepting a quiet invitation from the hotel manager, the family is sent in a hotel jitney to an isolated beach for an afternoon of private and quiet family time. But on arriving, Prisca and Guy are puzzled to learn that they’re not alone as promised--three other families have also apparently received the same quiet invitation from the manager. The two are even more surprised a few hours later when they notice their young children are aging rapidly, growing years older by the hour.

As the other families on the isolated beach notice their own physical anomalies and interruptions of reality, members of the group begin to descend into varying stages of panic, dementia, mayhem, madness...and murder.

Uneven is a good way to describe “Old.” Filled with foreboding but inconsistent in tone, inconsistent in character development, and inconsistent in logic, the film seeks to keep the audience off balance but instead courts confusion. During the first scenes, the movie resembles a What’s Wrong With This Picture? puzzle--reality seems skewered, out of place. As the plot develops, the characters seem to be working from different scripts in a badly-dubbed foreign picture, and still later seem to be appearing in different movies entirely.

Adapted by Shyamalan from Pierre Oscar Long’s 2011 graphic novel “Sandcastle,” individual shots seem designed to resemble panels in a comic book, an effect which emphasizes both the scattershot nature of the narrative and the shallow characterizations. You also have to scratch your head at a movie which shows in intimate detail a doctor (Rufus Sewell) performing impromptu surgery (with what must be the world’s sharpest penknife) to remove a cantaloupe-sized tumor from a woman’s belly...but then balks at showing the decomposing skeleton of one of the beach’s casualties.

The movie is compulsively watchable, but that’s not the same as enjoyable. Guy and Prisca and the kids should’ve hightailed it off the island as soon as they saw the buzzards roosting in the dead tree on their way to the beach. While “Old” contains the compelling ideas we’ve learned to expect from a Shyamalan picture, after about the first hour or so of the picture the viewer’s real hope is that somebody--anybody--will survive the beach long enough to give the resort a really crappy rating on Yelp.

Filmed in the Dominican Republic, the first picture M. Night Shymalan has produced outside his native Greater Philadelphia region, “Old” is rated PG-13 for disturbing images, brief strong language, partial nudity, violence, and suggestive context.



“The Forever Purge”   Distributed by Universal Pictures, 103 Minutes, Rated R, Released July 03, 2021:

Just in time for the Fourth of July holiday, the cryptkeepers at Blumhouse Productions made an unusually effective attempt at political commentary with “The Forever Purge,” the belated sequel to 2016’s “The Purge: Election Year.” While the purpose of “The Forever Purge” might be little more than just another in the long line of Blumhouse-sponsored scarefests, recent events in real life might result in the movie being more disquieting than it might’ve been otherwise.

Taking up shortly after the events of “The Purge: Election Year,” in “The Forever Purge” it’s now 2041. The New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) through violent uprisings across the United States have overthrown the US government and reinstated the annual purge nights--twelve hours of lawless anarchy in which all crime, including murder, becomes legal.

Adela and Juan (Ana de la Reguera, Tenoch Huerta), a young Mexican couple fleeing across the US border into the United States to escape the violence of the drug cartels, find employment and shelter on the Texas estate of wealthy and openminded rancher Caleb Tucker (Will Patton) and his family. But Juan quickly run afoul of Tucker’s bigoted son Dylan (Josh Lucas) by upstaging the man’s skill with horses.

Later, after finding temporary protection in a local shelter during the 12-hour purge, Adela and Juan need to re-examine their priorities when the event is extended beyond its 12-hour limit and they’re forced out of the shelter and into the streets.

Often resembling an unlikely hybrid of “Night of the Living Dead” and “Mad Max 2,” “The Forever Purge” can be interpreted as a cautionary fable, a morality lesson, or a militant right wing fantasy, depending on where the viewer stands on the current political barometer. Still, the film’s impossible to dismiss, thanks to the disquieting knowledge that since the July 2016 release of “The Purge: Election Year” some of the key elements of the film’s narrative have come uncomfortably close to occurring in real life.

“The Forever Purge” uses the viewer’s memory of recent US history to create an unusually horrific subtext. While the purported purpose of the annual 12-hour purge is anarchy and street crime and seems exclusive to Texas, the clear intent of the event is the murder of any and all undocumented aliens (“really bad hombres”) who’ve made it past the border wall and into the US. With their Purge and Purify slogan, the “purgers” are redolent of white supremacists, while their NFFA and Ever After insignias can be easily misread as Antifa.

As pockets of violence begin to erupt across the US and the word circulates mid-purge that the event’s been extended indefinitely, the film’s sense of irony is amped up with the announcement that the governments of Canada and Mexico have opened their borders for six hours only as a humanitarian gesture to admit US citizens fleeing the purge. The young Mexican couple who’ve just arrived in the US are now compelled to escape back to Mexico...while protecting their racist American employer and his expectant wife, who seek to accompany them.

As terrible as the images onscreen in “The Forever Purge” appear to the viewer, they become infinitely worse when compared against our memories of the January 6 siege at the US Capitol. Whether intended as horror, political commentary, dystopian drama, or cautionary fable, our shared experience over the past few years turns “The Forever Purge” into troubling viewing indeed--even more so with the knowledge that the film completed production in February of 2020, nearly a year prior to the insurrection in Washington (the film’s release was delayed by Covid).

If “The Forever Purge” embarrasses us for misusing our liberties as much as it frightens us, the picture’s earned its money. As the great cartoonist Walt Kelly once noted with a nod to Commodore Perry, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Directed by Everardo Gout from a script by “Purge” series creator James DeMonaco, “The Forever Purge” is rated R for scenes of terrorism, gun violence, and gore.


“Luca”   Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 95 Minutes, Rated PG, Released June 18, 2021:

Richly detailed animation combined with superb storytelling turn the new Disney/Pixar feature “Luca” from a fish-out-of-water story into a minor triumph of the human spirit.

Luca Paguro, the teenage scion of a family of sea serpents living off the coast of the Italian Riviera, learns he has the ability to assume human form while on land and begins to explore the coastal town of Portorosso with his friend Alberto. Excited by the notion of owning a motorized Vespa scooter, Luca and Alberto with their new human friend Giulia decide to win the necessary money by combining their talents for the upcoming Portorosso Cup Race, an annual triathlon that combines cycling and swimming with pasta-eating.

A witty, clever, and sharply observant little fable with a sly sense of humor and strong streak of rich sentimentality, “Luca” turns out to be a real winner, a minor Disney/Pixar masterpiece irresistible to viewers of all ages. While the picture doesn't contain the flash, the infectious songs, or the mega-celebrity A-List voice characterizations of, say, the “Toy Story” movies or "Monsters, Inc.,” Disney magic combined with the peerless animation of the Pixar Studios turn "Luca" into another magical chapter in the rich tradition of classic Disney feature entertainment.

Reminiscent of both Disney’s own “The Little Mermaid” and to a lesser extent Guillermo Del Toro’s Academy Award-winning “The Shape of Water” from 2017 (although the picture also works well as a gentle, affectionate satire of the Italian auteur cinema of Fellini, Visconti, and Di Sica), purists might call “Luca” derivative while cynics might sniff that it’s too many trips to the seemingly bottomless Pixar well. But with material this good and animation quality this high, combined with a sweet subtext of inclusion and the generosity of friendship, who's complaining?

The voice cast of “Luca” includes 15-year-old “Room” and “Wonder” star Jacob Tremblay in the title role, “It” and “Me, Myself, and I” actor Jack Dylan Grazer as Luca’s friend Alberto, Emma Berman as their human friend Giulia, and the great Maya Rudolph as Luca’s hovering mom Daniela. Marco Barricelli is fun as Massino, Giulia’s brusque and intimidating but sweet-natured dad, and that’s Sasha Baron Cohen voicing Uncle Ugo. Only Jim Gaffigan as Luca’s distracted dad Lorenzo seems out of place with his distinctly American tones.

Highlights in a movie filled with memorable scenes include the humanized sea creature learning to walk on land, a traditional pasta dinner with an extended family of Italian sea serpents, and Luca’s mother employing her natural soccer skills as a means of identifying her lost son. A rich and unobtrusive music score from Dan Romer, the producer of Christina Aguilera’s hit “Say Something,” also underscores the picture’s soulful sentimentality.

Directed by first-time feature filmmaker Enrico Casarosa from a script from Jesse Andrews (“Every Day”) and Mike Jones, “Luca” was originally scheduled to be released to theaters on June 18. But following a one-week engagement at Hollywood’s El Capitan Theatre to qualify the picture for international film festival competition, the film was instead diverted by continuing Covid concerns to the Disney+ online streaming service.

Director Enrico Casarosa was also the writer and director behind the similar Pixar short “La Luna,” which preceded the studio’s “Brave” in 2012 and was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short Subject. The film’s opening titles are cleverly presented in Italian. And you’ll want to stick around for the picture’s closing credits for illustrations that add additional context to the film’s ending.

“Luca” is rated PG for language, rude humor, some thematic elements, and brief violence. Santa Mozzarella!



“The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot”   Distributed by Eagle Films and RLJE Films, 98 Minutes, Not Rated, Released February 08, 2019:

It’s okay to admit it: If you’ve perused the electronics section at Walmart fairly recently and allowed your eyes to scan the bottom tier of discount DVDs, you’ve probably seen a movie with a particularly unusual title.

You might’ve rolled your eyes and chuckled a little when you saw the name of the movie and the illustration on the DVD cover. But possibly you also caught a small part of your mind musing whether the movie’s as outrageous as its title suggests...or if, just possibly, the picture might be as interesting as it sounds.

In “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot,” Calvin Barr (Sam Elliott) is a man on the worn end of life. In his seventies and living his sunset years alone at home with his pet dog, Calvin mostly occupies his days sipping beers at the neighborhood tavern and trading affectionate insults with the bartender. But when he’s accosted and robbed on his way home one night by a gang of street punks and sends the thugs to the hospital in varying stages of unconsciousness, we begin to get the idea Calvin Barr’s not your typical grumpy old man.

He’s not. An elite Special Forces commando during World War II, Calvin was effective enough, and lethal enough, to have been selected for a challenging mission indeed--a top secret solo mission into Nazi Germany to assimilate himself onto the general staff, infiltrate the headquarters of the German High Command...and assassinate Adolf Hitler. His successful mission is an official deep government secret Calvin’s carried in his heart for decades, an assignment so dangerous and fraught with tension that he’s been haunted by flashbacks ever since.

So when Calvin learns there’s an especially vicious and relentless serial killer terrorizing the continent’s northern regions, and that there’s some suspicion that the murderer might actually be the fabled Yeti, he decides to travel northward to see what he can do--not only as a way of saving some lives, but also as a means of redemption, to put an end to his recurring nightmares and possibly, finally, to earn a measure of peace.

Occasionally a movie is released with a title that either misleads the audience by promising events it never delivers or suggests a certain kind of entertainment while containing another. To at least some extent, "The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot" falls into that category. With a title like that, how could it not?

But the movie's in good company: Both 1943’s “I Walked with a Zombie” and 1958’s “I Married a Monster from Outer Space” were also movies that seemed to promise either camp hijinks or flamboyant trash, but actually were straight-faced and thoughtful movie allegories. “I Walked with a Zombie,” believe it or not, was a reimagining of Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel “Jane Eyre.”

Naturally, a title such as “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot” is also guilty of containing not only a few major spoilers, but also a fairly detailed synopsis of the movie’s plot. Likely the title of the picture was carefully formulated by its producers for its shock value, its ability to stand out and grab the viewer’s attention. If you noticed the DVD at Walmart, you know what I mean. The great John Ford in 1962 faced precisely the same proposition with the title “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and delivered one of the greatest American movies of all time.

Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Robert D. Krzykowski, “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot” also takes its subject seriously, or rather doesn’t attempt to turn it’s unlikely narrative into either satire or farce. While it’s said that comedy equals tragedy plus time, some subjects remain unfunny even some eighty years after the fact...especially during an era when organizations such as Antifa and the Proud Boys are allowed to present a continuing threat to our country.

Probably the best thing that can be said about “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot'' is that it’s not nearly as lurid as the title suggests. Whatever camp humor the movie contains is relegated to a few peripheral flourishes here and there. But among movies depicting Hitler’s undoing, the picture’s not as outrageous as, say, Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds'' or even Bryan Singer’s “Valkyrie"...though neither do the filmmakers behind the excellent German film “Downfall” have any cause for sleeplessness in the area of verisimilitude.

Still, the audience’s enjoyment of “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot” relies not on the title of the picture, the events the movie depicts, or even whether the viewer’s a fan of movies which dispatch either der Fuhrer or der Sasquatch. Rather, the picture rests almost entirely on the broad shoulders and lanky physique of actor Sam Elliott as Calvin Barr, the role the movie’s colorful title describes. Elliott, and the characters he invariably plays, are righteous men poised for action to solve trouble they profoundly hope never arrives.

The solitary quality an actor needs to possess in order to sell trash like “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot” is trust. It’s a quality Sam Elliott possesses in spades, earned over the course of a screen career that’s lasted well over half a century. Elliott’s first film appearances were in small roles in “The Way West” in 1967 and in the classic “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” from 1969 (heard but not seen, Elliott was one of the men playing poker with Robert Redford’s Sundance Kid in the sepia-tone opening scene). Fifty-two years later, Sam Elliott has cred.

Still tall, lean, and wiry at age 76, genial eyes preternaturally squinted from riding into thousands of western sunsets, pushbroom moustache obscuring half his face, a mane of white hair transformed over the decades from a mane of brown hair, speaking only when necessary with a signature Sacramento twang in a voice so deep that it seems to bubble up from some primordial ooze at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Sam Elliott resembles a Mad Magazine caricature of a cowboy hero, a man who might’ve stepped whole and breathing from the pages of a Max Brand novel.

Over the course of nearly 100 movie roles over the years, Sam Elliott has rarely led his audience astray. Whether he’s on the big screen or on television, whether he’s the film’s leading actor (2017’s “The Hero”) or playing a supporting role (1993’s “Tombstone”), the audience watches Elliott’s performances because we’ve grown to trust him. Elliott might be the only actor in the world who can play a role like Calvin Barr, in a picture like “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot,” without a shred of self-parody.

If you enjoy Sam Elliott and the characters he plays, you’ll likely enjoy “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot.” The movie’s sort of Elliott’s career valedictory, his “Gran Torino.” And the movie itself, much like Sam Elliott, is a genuine American Original.

Executive produced by, of all people, special effects legend Douglas Trumbull (“2001: A Space Odyssey”) and independent film deity John Sayles (“Matewan”) “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot” is not rated by the MPAA, but is PG-13 in spirit. The picture is streaming free to subscribers of Hulu and Hoopla, and for a fee on Amazon Prime and Google Play.


“Black Widow”  Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 134 Minutes, Rated PG-13, Released July 09, 2021:

There’s a real Twilight of the Gods vibe surrounding “Black Widow,” the new Marvel Comics-based film from the Walt Disney Studios now playing in some 4100 movie theaters from sea to shining sea and streaming for a hefty extra fee to subscribers of the Disney+ premium online service. And now that Iron Man and Captain America have exited the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Black Widow” also represents something of a Changing of the Guard.

Starring actress Scarlett Johansson in her ninth (and reportedly final) appearance as Natasha Romanoff, aka The Black Widow, in “Black Widow” Natasha while estranged from the other Avengers is revealed to be a former member of a highly-trained and lethally-effective team of Russian-trained female assassins known as the Black Widows.

When Natasha discovers an especially nefarious conspiracy employing chemically-brainwashed Black Widows, she needs to recruit members of her own adoptive family to foil the plot and liberate the secret society of female assassins. Her most formidable opponents--the Black Widows themselves. Her closest ally--her long estranged little sister Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh)...who’s more than a little envious of Natasha’s fame and fortune.

Even with red herrings aplenty and a rollicking labyrinth-like plot, “Black Widow” turns out to be fairly standard Marvel motion picture fare, if there is such a thing. Directed by Australian-born filmmaker Cate Shortland from a script by “Wandavision” creator Jac(queline) Schaffer and filmmaker Ned Benson, there’s nothing special or particularly interesting about “Black Widow”...which might speak volumes about how slick and polished the Disney/Marvel productions have become.

Set between the events depicted in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War” and 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” and filling in some of the origin story of probably the least colorful member of the Avengers team of superhero crime fighters, “Black Widow” will likely be incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with at least some of the other 23 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But interesting casting, cutting-edge special effects and stuntwork, and a sly and understated sense of humor elevate the film to the level of grand entertainment.

One of the more intriguing attractions of Disney’s Marvel-based films is the casting. You’ll notice that the actors playing supporting roles in many of the pictures are just a little better than you might normally expect in a comic book adaptation. With the seemingly infinite financial resources of the Disney organization coupled with the promise of association with a surefire blockbuster hit, the Marvel films can attract the services of such distinguished thespians as Anthony Hopkins (“Thor”), Ben Kingsley (“Iron Man 3”) and Cate Blanchett (“Thor: Ragnarok”).

Which brings us to the subject of actress Florence Pugh. Over the course of the past few years, 25-year-old Oxford native Florence Pugh has been ricocheting all over the motion picture spectrum, seemingly performing reconnaissance in preparation for a ground assault on the title of the most gifted character actress of her generation. Often Pugh is all but unrecognizable from role to role and picture to picture--the actress modifies not only her accent and appearance, but also her physique and even her very persona, her identity.

From the WWE wrestler Paige in the delightful biography “Fighting With My Family” to the disturbed Dani in the psychological horror film “Midsommar” to the ambitious Amy in Greta Gerwig’s definitive film version of Alcott’s “Little Woman,” Pugh has been demonstrating a breathtaking mastery of the art of character acting in motion pictures. And as Yelena Belova in “Black Widow,” Pugh has finally established a beachhead in a picture sure to be a global mass-market blockbuster.

At one point fairly early in “Black Widow,” Pugh as the envious Yelena as a means of needling her older and more-famous sister mocks her character’s signature Black Widow fighting stance, laboriously and awkwardly contorting her own body into the now-familiar crouching, hair-flipping position, as a means of demonstrating how unnatural and contrived the stance appears to onlookers. In embarrassment, Natasha defensively denies any knowledge of such a preposterous and pretentious pose.

But a little while later in the picture, we see Natasha employing the self-same physical maneuver--the contrived stance, the signature hair-flip. And while the audience is still acknowledging how many times we’ve all seen Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow character using the contrived pose, the camera cuts to Pugh as Yelena, who rolls her eyes and mutters a rude remark.

The brief scene is over and gone in a few seconds, and the shot of Florence Pugh’s reaction to Scarlett Johansson’s physical stance is intended as a throwaway line, a quick laugh in the middle of an action sequence. But during those few seconds, buried in the middle of a 134-minute action adventure film...well, a star is born.

Also starring David Harbour and Rachel Weisz and Natashe’s parents and William Hurt as Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross, “Black Widow” is rated PG-13 for some language concerns, thematic material, and sequences of intense violence and action.


“Escape Room: Tournament of Champions”   Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, 88 Minutes, Rated PG-13, Released July 16, 2021:

Time is relevant, said Albert Einstein. While time flies when we’re having fun, when we’re miserable time draws out like a blade until minutes can seem like hours.

That’s the fate of the characters in “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions,” the new movie from Sony Pictures Releasing now playing in some 2775 theaters across North America. A sequel to the low-budget 2019 horror hit “Escape Room,” the primary trouble with the new movie is that misery and the sensation of slowly elapsing time is also the fate of the audience.

In “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions,” Zoey and Ben (Taylor Russell, Logan Miller), the only survivors of the events depicted in the 2019 film, are determined to make sure the escape room’s designer Minos Escape Rooms is held responsible for the deaths of the other players. But on their way to New York City to testify against the company, the two are abducted and trapped with survivors of other Minos games in an even deadlier escape room developed by the company.

With shades of 1932’s “The Most Dangerous Game” and its many remakes, “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions” takes up where its predecessor left off...which isn’t really a good thing. The movie adds a couple of lame new twists, riddles, and brain-teasers (so to speak) to the first movie’s bag of tricks...although when the solutions to the puzzles seem designed to accommodate the special makeup effects, the viewer knows he’s decidedly not in good hands.

Simultaneously mean-spirited, sadistic, and patronizing, “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions” doesn’t graduate the audience to a higher level of the game so much as it drops the viewer down to a more elemental one. The solitary bright spot of the picture is its sleek 88-minute running time. But while the picture’s over relatively quickly, by the end of the movie some viewers might feel years have passed since they’ve bought their ticket. Player beware--this “Escape Room” is nothing but a more genteel version of “Saw.” Skip it.

Directed by Adam Robitel in his first feature film since the original “Escape Room” in 2019, “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions” is rated PG-13 for violence, terror, scenes of peril, and strong language.


“Space Jam: A New Legacy”   Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, 115 Minutes, Rated PG, Released July 16, 2021:

Early in the execrable new “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” basketball superstar LeBron James, playing himself, utters the line “Athletes acting--that never goes well.” James’ sentiment seems prescient in view of what follows.

In “Space Jam: A New Legacy” LeBron and his thirteen-year-old son Dom (Cedric Joe) are bumping heads: LeBron wants the boy to follow his footsteps into sports, while the more cerebral Dom is interested in computers. When LeBron takes his son along to a meeting at Warner Bros. to hear a pitch for a new computer app that’ll integrate the player into the online action “to make mind-blowing entertainment forever,” Dom is intrigued...but his dad rejects the proposal.

In retaliation for LeBron’s rejection, disgruntled virtual web designer Al G. Rhythm (Don Cheadle) reduces both father and son to pixels and traps them inside the Warner Bros. Serververse. The estranged LeBron and Dom need to bond together and collaborate with each other in order to defeat the game and return to reality...a task for which they also receive the help of Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes gang.

Unfortunately, there’s more wrong with “Space Jam: A New Legacy” than there is right. The classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons the movie purports to celebrate each clocked in at six or seven minutes max. The new picture begins to wear out its welcome after nine or ten minutes--wooden performances, an idiotic script, listless direction, an infuriating attitude of self-congratulatory smugness, and relentless plugs for other Warner Bros. pictures do the rest. As LeBron exclaims at one point, “What in ‘The Matrix’ hell?!”

Directed by “Scary Movie 5” filmmaker Malcolm D. Lee from a script credited to six writers who must’ve worked on different days, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” becomes an instant candidate for the Worst Picture of 2021. Thanks to the absence of the late Warner Bros. cartoons voice artist Mel Blanc from the proceedings, even Bugs Bunny and his friends seem like they’re overacting. The only winner in this mess--Pepe LePew, whose pre-#MeToo sensibilities led to his exclusion from the picture.

LeBron and Dom have to fight their way out of this one. You have an easier option: Just say no.

“Space Jam: A New Legacy” is rated PG for saltier-than-usual cartoon humor. The movie should’ve been rated S for Stupid.

Green For Danger (1947) 6/10

Princess of the Nile (1954) 7/10

Above Suspicion (2021) 6/10

To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) 7/10

Body Heat (1981) 6/10

Here is what Tele have seen lately


Kong: Skull Island 2017 directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and based on a character created by Edgar Wallace and Merian C Cooper.
Forget about all earlier Kong movies, this one doesn't want to explore him as a Circus freak. 
I thought it was another kind of version of Kong Island, that makes it clear that Kong actually is a balance in nature so the natives can live on, and best would be to leave it untouched.
Much better than I thought it would be, since I didn't expect much.


Honky Tonk Freeway 1981 directed by John Schlesinger
That such a prominent director was involved in this mess of a movie is beyond me, though later learned that he replaced someone called Don Boyd.
Premise is not bad, new freeway in Florida overlooked a small town named Ticlaw (Mount Dora Fl), so they tries to get an exit  from the freeway, first legally, then by bribes and in the end by dynamite. That could have been fine, but instead we have to follow a whole bunch of characters that will eventually end up in Ticlaw, that drags on forever.
Altman's Nashville on Wheels it ain't, as they tried to sell it, here all dialogue becomes nothing.
An absolute waste of talent that ends with a badly staged long slapstick car crash sequence.
At that date the most expensive comedy ever made, that means it beated Spielberg's 1941 from 1979, at least you could see where the money went in that movie, in this movie it's nada.
A huge flop that nearly killed EMI as a film company.


Non si sevizia un paperino aka Don't Torture a Duckling 1972 directed by Lucio Fulci
Apparently this is one of Fulci's best Italian Giallos and his own favorites, but the more I watch movies called Giallos the more confused I get of what that actually is, I mean a little blood here and there, and murders offourse would have been a just as acceptable as a Poliziotti movie, even if there is a witch involved who might or might not be real.
Remote southern village, small boys disappears, found dead, witch is blamed since she put a hex on kids who happened to see her bury Satan's child, but that was only on three kids, so when a fourth and a fifth is dead it must be somebody else...
I guessed rather early who it could be, and it turned out I was right.
Not bad at all with a name cast of actors, and Riz Ortolani's music is far from "Forget Domani" and Mondo Cane's "More"


The Incredible Shrinking Man 1957 directed by Jack Arnold and based on a story by Richard Matheson.
It took a very long time before I finally got to see this movie, and it turned out to be a really good one, and one of the most somber atomic era sci-fi movies I have seen, considering it doesn't have a happy ending, instead it has a thoughtful ending..
The acting is a bit cardboard but this time the story carries them, all the way down to millimetres or milliinches.
The cat you used to cuddle and scratch suddenly sees you as pray, and there is a strange spider in the cellar that needs to be killed.
For thrill effects it's understandable they choose'd a Tarantula (after all it's had it's own movie by then), but they don't build nets!
Anyway it's in my opinion, in the top echelon of the sci-fi atomic era movies.


The Law and the Lady 1951 directed by Edwin H. Knopf (who hadn't directed a movie since 1933) and based on a play by Frederick Lonsdale (at least 3 other versions of his play has been made).
I'm pretty sure this movie is seldom mentioned among Greer Garson Fans, and I had never heard about it until a few hours before I watched it, so I didn't know there were other versions with Norma Shearer 1929, Joan Crawford 1937 and Lili Palmer 1961.
So since I'm not bound to any obligations, I kinda enjoyed Greer Garson as a con artist, a former maid who got accused of a theft she never made, who together with a born ten minutes late penniless Lord (I might have got the title wrong) travel from town to town all over Europe and Asia and San Francisco, where they end up with an American loud mouth widow (lovely Marjorie Main at the hights of her Ma Kettle popularity) and Spanish Royalty (Mr Esther Williams), and then. the story sags down a bit.
Enjoyable fluff that worked for me on a lazy hot afternoon, Garson and Wilding phrase English so well that it was a pleasure just to listen too.
On the music soundtrack appears a strange thing as a theme and over the titles we hear what is obviously "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and yet there is nothing Christmassy in this movie, and it returns ever and again in orchestrated versions. By 1950/51 it was more or less a forgotten song that nobody had heard in ages, or cared about, I might be out on thin ice here, but it was re-introduced to Americans on a TV-show in the mid'1950's, but not until then it became a regular Christmas standa
It Started with Eve 1941 directed by Henry Koster
This could have been tearful schmaltz but instead it went for laughs that was actually enjoyable to watch.
Dying gazilionaire want to see his son's fiance, son rushes to hotel but they are out, in desperation ask a hat-check girl to play the part and that would be it. But the old man didn't die that quick so the substitute has to be around to keep the old man happy, and even worse he recovers...
This is only the second movie I've seen with Deanne Durbin (she filled paged in my mothers scrapbooks), so it's difficult to have an opinion, but this sure was an entertaining movie, and Charles Laughton too was a delight, as he overplays and underplays at the same time.


The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 directed by William Keighley and Michael Curtiz and based on the legends...
True love never dies, I watch this movie as a treat to myself on my Birthdays before I go to bed, I don't think I will ever grow tired of it, at least once a year. 



Thanks for me!

Also watched episodes from the 1980s anthology tv series ‘Monsters’ & ‘Tales from the Darkside’.

The Last Man on Earth (1964) - 7/10 [re-watch]
Curse of the Werewolf (1961) - 7/10 [re-watch]
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) - 7/10
Final Justice (1985) - 4/10
The Search for Weng Weng (2013) - 8/10
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (2011) - 8/10
Nintendo Quest (2015) - 5/10
Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary (2017) - 7/10
Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four (2015) - 6/10
Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s (2012) - 8/10

Favourite feature of the week;
The Search for Weng Weng (2013)

Hamlet / John Gielgud (1964). In 1963 Richard Burton attacked the title role in a Broadway production directed by John Gielgud. This movie, one of the first to attempt anything like this, is a film of one of the actual performance nights with the sounds of the New York audience very much in evidence. It is performed on an almost bare stage. Some risers and a few pieces of furniture are the only set. The actors are costumed in “rehearsal clothes.” They wear everything from sweatshirts to business suits. Burton and Gielgud were good friends although from different generations with different acting styles. Gielgud’s Hamlet was one of the greatest from the “golden voice” era. You were captivated as much by Sir John’s vocal rhythms and precise diction as with Shakespeare’s words. Burton, on the other hand, has a very unpoetic way of speaking. In moments of great emotion, words come tumbling out in a great torrent, not always totally understandable. His voice and portrayal are very muscular and masculine. Also in the cast is “Kiss Me Kate” star Alfred Drake as Hamlet’s uncle, the King, and the wonderful Hume Cronyn as an excellent Polonius.






Comedian /Christian Charles (2002). When Jerry Seinfeld ended his long running TV series, he decided to go back to his roots and return to stand up comedy. This documentary follows him as he virtually starts over. We see him trying out new material in small comedy clubs, talking over the business with fellow comedians like Colin Quinn and Chris Rock, and building up his act piece by piece (“I did 10 minutes out there tonight”). As a parallel to Seinfeld, half of the film belongs to rising star Orny Adams (“That can’t be your real name,” a waitress tells him. “No mother would name her child Orny”). During the course of the film, Adams gets himself a agent and a spot on the Letterman show. Adams, though, already thinks of himself as a star. He thinks that he already deserves the respect and perks due big stars” At one point, he espouses the theory that when audiences don’t laugh at his material it is because they are ignorant of what’s really funny but Orny does because he is “a comedy professional. He works part of this into his act, telling his audience that he wouldn’t come into their offices and tell them how to run their business so they shouldn’t be a judge of his comedy routine.
   At the climax, Seinfeld drives out to meet his idol, Bill Cosby. Earlier, Chris Rock had told Jerry that he had seen Cosby do two and a half hours of killer material without an opening act or intermission. “He made me feel like a fraud,” Rock said. The meeting between Seinfeld and Cos turns out to be an uninteresting mutual love fest. The parts of “Comedian” are of a higher value than what they add up to. The Orny Adams footage gets pretty irritating and the Cosby buildup was a let down, especially knowing what we know now. But Seinfeld’s conversations and his growing confidence on stage make good drama…uh…comedy, I mean…oh, you know what I mean. All in all, a pretty light weight film.





Body Heat / Lawrence Kasdan (1981). “You’re not very smart are you? I like that in a man.” This is spoken to the not-very-good south Florida lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) by a woman he has just met at an outdoor concert. She is Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner), wife of a wealthy but mysterious and often absent husband (Richard Crenna). Florida is in the middle of a heat wave, high temps and humidity even for what is normal for the state. Ned and Mattie fall into a hot and sweaty affair with Ned getting in so deep that he begins to think about how it could be if Matty’s husband should die suddenly. Of all the so-called neo noir films of the modern era, “Body Heat” comes closest to classic film noir, specifically the film that many believe to be noir essence, “Double Indemnity) from 1944 with Barbara Stanwyck luring weak male Fred MacMurray into a murder plot. Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan has done his classic movie homework. “Body Heat” was a breakthrough film for several actors: Kathleen Turner, Ted Danson as a tap dancing D.A. and Racine’s friend, and Mickey Rourke as a former client of Racine’s who is roped into the murder plot. One of the best of the ‘80s.





To Live and Die in L.A. / William Friedkin (1985). Adrenaline rush, ‘80s style. William Friedkin had gone through something of a dry spell for about seven years without a hit film. He had directed only one film in the 1980s until he decided on “To Live And Die” which broke the slump. Two Secret Service agents, Chance (William Petersen) and Vukovich (John Pankow), are after a master counterfeiter, Eric Masters (Willem Dafoe in his breakthrough role) who had killed Chance’s former partner and mentor. Because Friedkin has directed “The French Connection” with its trend setting car chase, he decided to better that picture’s road race. He probably does. It was the thrill of the year. Maybe it is just the years from 1985 or so many movie car chases under my belt, but I got tired of it quick and used the fast-forward scan button to get to the last sequence when Chance drives up an exit ramp and the wrong way down an Interstate. Not THAT was impressive, mainly as an example of movie magic because most of the time only one vehicle was in motion. As Chance swept around the other cars, in Reality, those cars were standing still. Their movement was an illusion. Kudos to the stunt drivers. Also with good performances from Debra Feuer, John Turturro, Darlanne Fluegel, and Dean Stockwell. Robert Downey, Sr. plays the Secret Service supervisor who has the cliché job of ordering the two rogue agents to go by the Book.

BODY HEAT is in my top 10 of the 80s.
Make that top 5.

This week’s MASTERPIECE 50 is: A TOWN LIKE ALICE (1981) which is also celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year. Based on Nevil Shute’s novel, this was the first non-UK production to air on MT. Watched Episode 1 and parts of 2. Starmaker VHS

18
The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) “The Subterranean Secret” Runthrough of last week. Esteban, Zia, and Tao get separated from the adults and end up at an Inca kingdom called the High Peak. There, Esteban learns his and Zia’s medallions are the key to opening the lost Cities of Gold. He also learns that he may be the exiled son of an Incan Priestess long since sacrificed. The kids get reunited with Mendoza who gives Estaban back his part of the medallion. Dubbed. Fabulous DVD

ALIENS (1986) 35th Anniversary James Cameron’s action sequel to the 1979 thriller. Saw bits and pieces here and there from the late 1980s on. Saw the whole film in 2008. DVD

TELEVISION: OUR LIFE AND TIMES (1985) Tony Randall hosts a look at Sitcoms, Dramas, Thrillers, and Children shows from the 1950s to the 1960s with interviews by Lucie Arnaz, Robert Stack, Garry Marshall, Tina Louise, etc. VHS Recording of WGN Broadcast 1985.

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THE SLAYERS NEXT (1996) “Bitter Curve Balls! Gutsy Fast Balls!” 25th Anniversary Japanese with English Subtitles Sculptor Software DVD

JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS (1986) “Starbright Part 3” 35th Anniversary The Holograms make their own movie to get the money to finance Starlight orphan Ba Nee’s eye operation. Rhino DVD

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MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 (1991) “Alphabet Antics” & “Daddy-o” 30th Anniversary Joel and the Bots handle John Williams’ first composed film. YouTube presentation of premiere Comedy Central Broadcast June 20 1991.

ONLY YESTERDAY (1991) 30th Anniversary Studio Ghilbi Animated feature (produced by Hayao Miyazaki) about a 27 year old city woman thinking back to her childhood. The Ending song is a Japanese version of “The Rose.” First saw this on Turner Classic Movies on Winter 2006 (the channel was broadcasting a marathon of Ghibli films). Japanese with English Subtitles VHS Recording of Turner Classic Movies Broadcast 2006.

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The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) “The Urubas” Using a chart from the High Peak, the gang head for what might be the city of gold. The path is marked by giant barbarians. English Dubbed. Fabulous DVD

ROYAL WEDDING (1951) 70th anniversary this year. MGM musical of Fred Astaire and Jane Powell as a sibling duo going to London for Elizabeth and Philip’s Wedding where they meet love partners in Sarah Churchill (Winston’s daughter) and Peter Lawford. The film is well known for Astaire’s ceiling dancing number as well as being the last straw for MGM and Judy Garland (this film was another attempt to recapture EASTER PARADE but Garland’s mental and physical problems led the Studio that caused those problems to fire her). Warner DVD.

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The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) “The Great Condor” the gang find not the city of gold but a city with a giant gold condor. To get in through a passage they have to put their medallions upon the breasts of female statue (through the nipple holes. I remember this from 1986 and I have to wonder how the heck Nickelodeon managed to get this scene intact). I recall using building blocks to make the temple and columns. English Dubbed. Fabulous DVD

23
THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1986) “The Second Stain” 35th Anniversary MPI Video DVD

The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) “The Maiden Flight of the Golden Condor” The city of not gold is built under a volcano, which then erupts. Fortunately the condor can fly! Yep, this was a major draw for me back then. English Dubbed. Fabulous DVD

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NARUTO SHIPPUDEN (2014) “The Divine Tree “ English Dubbed. Viz Media DVD

BIMBO’S INITIATION (1931) 90th Anniversary Bimbo the dog was Max Fliescher’s second star after Koko the Clown. His most famous short was this surreal story of him being invited to a secret club (The Bobobo Ha-cha) and suffering punishment for turning them down. This episode also marks an early appearance of Betty Boop during her Dog phase. First saw this on a documentary THE FANTASTIC MAX FLIESCHER CARTOONS hosted by Leonard Maltin in 1992. Olive Films DVD

The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) “The Nazca Plateau” The condor takes the gang to the Nazca ground drawings, where they confront Pizarro and his soldiers. They escape his clutches with the conquistador promising vengeance. However this is the final appearance of Pizarro in the series. English Dubbed. Fabulous DVD

ALL IN THE FAMILY (1977) “Mike Goes Skiing” VHS Recording of TBS Broadcast 1985.

THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS (1974) John Williams first composed film for Steven Spielberg. VHS Recording of TBS Broadcast 1985.

Saw parts of:
MIAMI VICE (1984) “Glades” VHS Recording of NBC Broadcast June 1985

SLAPSHOT (1977) VHS Recording of Cinemax Broadcast 1985.

ALCOA-GOODYEAR THEATER (1960) “Birthright” VHS Recording of Arts & Entertainment Broadcast 1985.

SANFORD AND SON (1976) “The Surprise Party” VHS Recording of TBS Broadcast 1985