The Ruins was based on a novel by Scott B. Smith, who wrote the novel A Simple Plan, and the screenplays for both movies. Neither are happy stories, but at least ASP is more watchable than The Ruins. There are 4 students who are in Mexico soaking up the sun. They meet a German tourist who is heading out to a remote ruin in the jungle. His brother is there. He talks the students into going. Bad idea to go into the jungle, especially when the local cab driver tells them it's a bad place. Who listens to a local cab driver in a movie, especially one who takes 20 bucks and drives them there anyway. They arrive at the ruin, an old pyramid covered with vines, and find the archeologists camp at the top but there isn't anyone around. The cab, which was an old pickup truck with TAXI painted on the door, took off right away. That's not a good sign. Neither is what the students find as they come down from the top of the pyramid. Mayan Indians shouting, pointing arrows, and waving guns at them. There's a language barrier, but when one of their party takes an arrow to the chest, and a bullet to the head, they understand. Stay on the pyramid. Confused at first they soon figure out the problem. The plants are hostile and they kill you by invading your body. That sucks, huh. The Mayans keep them there while the plant picks them off one at a time. There's a lot of complaining and yelling, both in the movie and in the living room. I didn't like many of the characters. They were lacking the common sense and survival traits that even the stupidest people have. The movie drags on and on, we were all complaining about the story. Why would they do that? How come that's happening? Eventually the movie is over. Some people seem to liked the movie, which scores a 6.0 on the IMDb. People really rate movies high there if there's plenty of gore. Not something that makes a horror movie for me. It's not one that I would watch again. Same might be true of our next feature.
Billion Dollar Brain, a 1967 Ken Russell film, is the third of the Harry Palmer movies with Michael Caine, and the most different. Len Deighton had written the books. I'm pretty sure that I read The Ipcress File and maybe Funeral In Berlin. This would have been back in the late 60's or the early70's when I was interested in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming which led to me trying other current spy novels. Plenty of cold war to write about, everyone was doing it. I know I have seen the first Harry Palmer movie. It's been twenty years since I first saw The Ipcress File. May 23, 1989. It's on my movie list as the first time I watched it. I have no listing for FIB and I'm pretty sure I haven't seen BDB. It sure wasn't familiar and I think I might remember some of the goofy stuff. Harry has quit MI6 and has become a gumshoe. His old boss shows up and tries to get him to come back. He needs him and maybe Harry would get a raise. Harry resists, but later his boss knocks him out and brings him back into the game. Karl Malden plays a spy who Harry had worked with in the past. He draws Harry into something he's got going. He works for a super computer, which talks. Cool, huh. I couldn't recognize the voice but it seemed familiar. Behind the super computer is Ed Begley. He's a rich Texan business oil man with a passion for hatin' the Russians. He's got Karl spying in Latvia and believes that Karl has set up a network of resistance fighters. They would suppliment the invasion force he has prowling the sea in ships. An invasion force Ed wants to use to free the repressed people of Latvia. Karl has been pocketing the money he gets to pay resistance. He's a creep who cheats everyone to get his. He gets his later in the movie. His being a slug to the eye. Our Harry keeps getting knocked out and waking up with different groups of people. My favorite was the pragmatic Solviet Secret Police Colonel Stok played by Oscar Homolka. He's the best friend Harry has, and Harry needs a friend, all his co-workers are trying to kill him. What a bunch of creeps. Harry wins though, and with the help of Colonel Stok, all the invading Texans are sunk under the sea. I'd have to agree with some of the other reviews I read, this is almost a parody of spy movies, which is not to surprising coming from director Ken Russell. I only have two of Russell's films, one intentionally and one accidentally. The Lair of the White Worm is to horror like BDB is to spy movies, but more entertaining. At least for me, so I got a copy. Gothic is in one of the multiple movie packs that I keep buying. I enjoyed it well enough when I first saw it but I didn't feel I needed to own a copy. I quit watching Ken Russell films after 1991. Most of them didn't interest me. I don't think I need a copy of this. Sperhauk recorded it off TCM to watch. Maybe the first two will turn up and I can see them again.