(aka, Jie ma you xi) A Chinese Hacker Thriller? Well, they have been making films in almost every Western genre — or subgenre. So why not? Mind you, the classic Hacker Thriller has been a bit scarce lately even if it does surface again now and then. But that, once again leads us to the […]
Read more "Reborn (2018)"Honorable Mention Strange. I never thought of William Devane as an action hero. But I suppose on Television in the 1970s almost anything was possible, particularly when it came to TV movies. For example, it came as a bit of a shock when I realized that this movie came out two years before the film […]
Read more "Red Alert (1977)"The things I get myself into… Okay, anytime you try some long-lost film, you know the odds. Most films made by someone you never heard of, in a city without a major film industry are going to be terrible, or worse. We know that. And, yes, M. Night Shyamalan managed to do his best work […]
Read more "Video Wars (1983)"One of the elements of the so-called “Ozploitation” era of Australian cinema that has always seemed the strangest to me is how many talented directors made a few, highly regarded films but never went on to make much of anything else. A few of them bogged down in television, turning out episodes of TV shows, […]
Read more "The Big Hurt (1986)"(Includes The Man from M.A.R.S. (1922). Aka, Radio-Mania, Mars Mania, M.A.R.S.) “Mother, does not the astonishing restriction of Earth man’s cerebral cavities limit his perspicacity to an infinitesimal minimum?” “Do not ask childish questions, dear!” Once again, I got to see something I never dreamed I would get a chance to see. Although I have […]
Read more "100 Years of 3D Movies Featuring the Man from M.A.R.S. (2022)"Honorable Mention How in the world do you even begin to talk about a film like Battle Heater? There are some many things that it is — or almost is — that it’s hard to know where to start. Hama (Akira Enomoto) is an electrician who gathers all sorts of electronic junk, repairs it and […]
Read more "Batoru hîtâ [Battle Heater] (1989)"This is a hard film to write about. Well…at least if you are worried about spoilers. After all, we are almost half-way through a horror film before any of the horror stuff actually starts. Yeah, yeah, there are little hints before that. The mysterious woman the hero sees, things like that. But it could just […]
Read more "Il mulino delle donne di pietra [Mill of the Stone Women] (1960)"Halfway into this creepy little black and white horror film about a witch, her magic mirror, and the ghost of her murdered Goddaughter, it abruptly changes course and becomes… A mad scientist film? Really? Only in Mexico. The director, Chano Ureta, is probably better remembered for The Brainiac, a film about an evil count resurrected […]
Read more "El espejo de la bruja [The Witch’s Mirror] (1962)"Honorable (mostly) Mention Now there’s a rare piece of truth in Advertising. I know it is hard to believe, but this poster sums up Terminal Entry with uncanny accuracy. After all, right up front, we have soldiers and explosions. Then, in the center a giant computer screen. And looming over that… A kid in […]
Read more "Terminal Entry (1987)"(aka, 360 Google Doodles/Spotlight Stories: Back to the Moon) Honorable Mention George Melies holds a special place in the history of Science Fiction film, as his legendary short film, A Trip to the Moon is generally held to be the first Space flight movie. It is often called the oldest science fiction film as well, […]
Read more "Back to the Moon (2018)"
rivets on the poster 