PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

The Brokenwood Mysteries Series 8

The Brokenwood Mysteries Series 8 Another 6 episode series with my favorite detectives from New Zealand. The episodes aired July 1 to August 1 2022.

Neill Rea plays Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd, Fern Sutherland plays Detective Kristin Sims, Jarod Rawiri plays Detective Constable Daniel Chalmers and Cristina Ionda plays Dr. Gina Kadinsky. There's the ones who deal with murder in the imaginary town of Brokenwood.

They've got interesting murders in interesting places, like the museum, a music festival, a beach house called a bach, the champion of the world Spoofing bar game is dead in a fountain, a woman is murdered over a giant gold nugget that's said to be a myth, a guy is found burnt after a shed fire.

The show is light -hearted and there's a sense of humor that I like. The stories are well written and the production values give it a nice look. I hope they keep putting the show out on DVD, I'll pick this up when it does.

The Fringe, Fame and Me 2022

The Fringe, Fame and Me 2022 Directed by Eric Haynes.

A history of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival through the voices of some of the people who appeared there. A good number of my favorite comedians are in the mix: Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey, Alexei Sayle, Lucy Porter, Paul Merton, Eddie Izzard, Michael Palin, Frankie Boyle, Stephen K Amos, Henning Wehn, Maisie Adam, Nish Kumar, Rose Matafeo. Emma Thompson, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Miriam Margoyles. It was all really quite good.

Fisk Series 1

Fisk Series 1 Created by Kitty Flanagan and Vincent Sheehan, written by Kitty Flanagan and Penny Flanagan, directed by Kitty Flanagan and Tom Peterson. The six episodes of this Australian comedy aired in March and April 2021. There's a second series coming.

Kitty Flanagan plays Helen Tudor-Fisk, she's a lawyer who's marriage has broken up, she was fired from her last job in Sydney and has moved to Melbourne. She gets a job with a small firm that specializes in wills and probate. That's Kitty with Aaron Chen, an Australian comedian who I've seen on other shows, he plays the firm's probate clerk and webmaster.

That's Marty Sheargold and Julia Zemiro, they play brother and sister Ray Gruber and Roz Gruber. Both were lawyers but Roz got suspended and is acting as the office manager, Helen is her replacement.

Each episode follows Helen as she tries to get her life on track and fit into an office with other dysfunctional people. She's never tried a case in front of a judge and she's rather unorthodox but the clients like her results.

There's a fair number of gags some of which had me laughing out loud. I'd be happy to see Series 2.

Strike Series 1-4

Strike Series 1-4 The show is airing in the US as CB Strike. The 11 episodes that made up the series so far aired from August 27 2017 through September 13 2020. There's a 5th series on the way.

The four series are based on the first four Robert Galbraith novel. That's really JK Rowling under a pseudonym, she's an executive producer on the show. I have not read any of these novels and don't think I want to read them. I like the HP books quite a bit but I didn't care much for her novel Casual Vacancies. It's a dreary novel that put me into the lives of some people I just didn't like. I got a chance to see all the current episodes and took a chance, thinking that I wouldn't have to spend as much time in that world as I would with a novel.

Cormoran Blue Strike is played by Tom Burke and Robin Venetia Ellacott is played by Holliday Grainger. Strike's an ex-soldier who had his leg blown off at the knee during the war in Afghanistan, he became a Army cop and now he's trying to be a private eye in London. Robin shows up as a temp, her desire is to become a private eye.

They both have a big multi-piece set of personal baggage. Strike's broken up with his girlfriend, the business is doing poorly and he's sleeping in his office. Robin's got a boyfriend what she's going to marry, she wants to be a detective, she's unsuited for either situation. Over the multiple stories the situations change and the show spends a lot of screen time going on and on about their issues.

I liked the cases that they investigated but found myself speeding through the personal melodrama. I was interested in seeing the series, I wasn't sad when I was done, but didn't think I'd need to see them again. I'd check out the 5th series if I can. It does reinforce that the books aren't for me.

Science Fiction Sunday 702

Doctor Who 0136 The Twin Dilemma Four part story that aired March 22 to 30 1984. Written by Anthony Steven and directed by Peter Moffatt.

The final episode of Series 21 has Colin Baker take over the roll of the Doctor. He acts pretty crazy for a bit then settles down to figure out what's going on in Titan 3. I still think it's a bit of a weak story that picks up once they get investigating.

 

Doctor Who 0137 Attack Of The Cybermen Two part story that aired January 5 to 122 1985. Written by Paula Moore and directed by Matthew Robinson. The show changed to 45 min long episode with the 22nd series. They only did it for the one series in the first run. The episodes were broken into two 25 min episodes for other markets.

The Tardis lands in London in 1985 where the Doctor and Peri stumble onto a robbery headed up by an alien. They soon learn that the Cybermen are behind the heist. About average.

Doctor Who 0138 Vengeance On Varos Two part story that aired January 19 to 26 1985. Written by Philip Martin and directed by Ron Jones.

The Tardis needs some Zeiton-7 and Varos is the place to get it. There they fall into some court intrigue on a planet run by complete scumbags. The Doctor and Peri sort that out in no time. Not a favorite, about average.

 

Doctor Who 0139 The Mark Of The Rani Two part story that aired February 2 to 9 1985. Written by Pip and Jane Baker, directed by Sarah Hellings.

Now the Doctor and Peri run into a couple of rogue Time Lords, the Master and the Rani, in 19th century England. The Doctor and Peri have to work hard to defeat them. There's plenty going on and the episode is a bit better than their average story.

Doctor Who 0149 The Two Doctors Three part story that aired February 16 to March 2 1985. Written by Robert Holmes and directed by Peter Moffatt.

It was fun to see Patrick Troughton back as the second Doctor and the same can be said for Frazier Hines returning as Jamie McCrimmon. The story was OK, the two Doctor's cross paths trying to stop a time travel experiment. The evil Chessene has made a  deal with the stupid Sontarians but she's evil and betrays them. Some of the episode was filmed in Spain. The show got put in hiatus for a year after the season ended from all the complaints of violence. They do kill a lot of people and aliens in these episodes. Then the episode was done I missed the 2nd Doctor.

Basket Case The Trilogy

Basket Case The Trilogy

I ordered the Second Sight Blu-ray in August 2020 and I'm finally getting around to it. Second Sight is a UK company but the set is region free and all 3 films have their own disc. I liked all three films with I first saw them.

Basket Case 1982 Written and directed by Frank Henelotter.

Kevin Van Hentenryck plays Duane Bradley, a young man who had a conjoined twin called Belial. They were separated when they were in their early teens, Belial survived and the twin went to live with their Aunt. She died and the twins set out to kill the doctors that separated them. There's three of them and Duane is successful in his endeavor but he creates a big mess and falls off a building.

There's a lot of mayhem and murder in the film, it's all balanced out by a good dose of humor. There's plenty of odd characters and 42nd Street plays a big part in the film. Not for everybody but I still like it after quite a few viewings.

Basket Case 2 1990 Written and directed by Frank Henelotter.

The story picks up with Duane and Belial in a hospital. They are rescued by a woman called Granny Ruth. She's got a nice big house and it's filled with a large number of deformed people. Belial finds a girlfriend while Duane thinks he should be allowed to go off and lead a normal life. He wants the one woman in the house who seems normal to go with him but Granny Ruth's granddaughter Susan isn't willing to leave the group.

Duane and Belial are wanted by the police for all the murders and things get dicey when a snoopy reporter and her photographer spot Duane in the house. The deformed people fight back and the snoopers come to a gory end. Duane gets nuttier and nuttier, especially when he nearly has sex with Susan. The movie ends with Duane killing Susan and then trying to sew Belial back on his body.

It's somewhat sillier than the first movie while still providing plenty of laughs and gooey content.

Basket Case 3 The Progeny 1991 Written by Frank Henenlotter and Robert Martin, directed by Frank Henenlotter.

Some time has past and Duane has been locked in a padded room in Granny Ruth's house. She finally lets him out as the group are going to take a road trip to visit her ex-husband Hal. Belial has gotten his girlfriend pregnant and she wants some help with the birth. Once they get to Hal's house things go downhill pretty quickly. Duane escapes the house and Belial attacks Hal. Duane gets arrested and the cops want the million dollar reward for for the capture of the brothers. Things go bad for the cops when they get involved, many of them die.

Even more gore and mayhem in this one. More laughs too.

It would be 17 years before Frank made another movie.

Bonus Features A mix of older extras from the US DVD and some new stuff. The commentary and the new docu were the most entertaining extras for me.

What's in the basket? A new 79 min docu with director Frank Henenlotter; actors Kevin VanHentenryck, Beverly Bonner, Annie Ross; producers Edgar Ievans and James Glickenhaus; make-up effects artists John Caglione Jr, Kevin Haney, Gabe Bartalos and writer Uncle Bob Martin.

Interview With Graham Humphreys A new interview with the artist who did the cover to the Second Sight Blu-ray set.

Everything below came from the US DVD:

Video introduction by Frank Henelotter

Audio commentary by director Frank Henenlotter, producer Edgar Ievins, and actress Beverly Bonner

Outtakes / Behind-The-Scenes

In Search Of The Hotel Broslin Frank and a pal wonder around New York looking at the places where they filmed the movie.

Trailers / Radio Spots

Photo Gallery: Behind-The-Scenes, Promotional Material, Stills

Friday Night Movies 902

Monstrum 2018 Story by Jeong-uk Byeon and Heo-dam, screenplay by Heo-dam and Jung-ho Huh, directed by Jong-ho Huh. A Korean giant monster story set in the 15th century.

King Jungjong's got some trouble with his Prime Minister. The PM is turning the citizen's against the King with a series of plots to instill fear into the citizens. He plans to depose the King and take over. There's a plague going on, and now, a monster is killing the locals in the countryside.

Yoon Gyeom was a member of the King's guard but he had a difference of opinion with the king and was booted out of the court 5 years earlier. Yoon had gone to live in the countryside with his right hand man Sung Han and Myung, a young girl he'd saved from being killed by the Prime minister's men. The country is having many issues and food is short. Muck of them are the PM's doing. He's totally ruthless and human lives mean nothing to him.

The King send Heo to ask Yoon to help find and kill the monster. The King suspects it's the Prime Minister behind the beast but there is no proof. A large group of men are organized, they march into the woods intending to flush the beast and kill it. The group is half civilians rounded up to help and 100 of the Prime Minister's soldiers. The soldiers soon turn on the civilians but the monster shows up and all hell breaks out.

The rest of the movie is about trying to survive the monster and the Prime Minister. There's plenty of action, colorful locations, a great giant monster, plenty of court intrigue, an incredibly scummy villain, endless slaughter and wonderful explosions. Entertaining enough for me to order the Blu-ray. I will want to see this one again.

Men On The Hour 1977 Written and directed by Ming-Hua Chen. A dull kung fu film made soporific by the dubbing. It was a struggle to get through the thing. I have rarely seen a worse kung fu film. You can check it out on YouTube but I wouldn't recommend it.

The Avengers Series 1 & 2

The Avengers Series 1 & 2 Created by Sydney Newman for ITV. Each of the first two series had 26 episodes and they aired from January 7 1961 to March 23 1963. The first three series were shot in the studio "as live" and recorded on videotape in B&W. A lot of British TV was shot that way. Occasionally location footage was shot on film and inserted while the live shoot was going on. Series 4 to 6 were shot on film, 4 in B&W and 5 and 6 in colour. The episodes look pretty good despite their origins.

I hadn't seen The Avengers in quite some time. It looks like I blogged about watching the A&E DVDs in 2011. I recently ordered Series 1-3 of the Studio Canal DVD collections from the UK. They are region 2 and aren't playable on US DVD players. The Studio Canal DVDs came out in 2009 and the first set has Series 1 & 2 on 8 discs. Series 1 is mostly lost, the set has two complete episodes and the first twenty mins of another. Series 2 is complete, only part of Series 2 was released in the US by A&E, they never bothered with the rest of Series 2. A&E put out Series 3 but they missed putting on the very first episode on the DVD. I'm still of the opinion that A&E suck as DVD producers.

There is a 3rd complete episode titled Tunnel Of Fear that was found in 2016. It has it's own DVD release, we watched that at a movie night back in 2019. Ian Hendry is the lead actor in the series with Patrick Macnee in a more supporting role. The production of the first series was interrupted by a writer's strike, it lasted a good while and Ian Hendry signed a movie contract and wasn't available to appear in the second series. Ian played a police surgeon in Police Surgeon, the series only lasted 13 epsidoes. The first and only existing episode, Easy Money, is included in the box set. In the story Ian helps a delinquent played by Michael Crawford. It was a slight but decent enough story, topical for the day, and sadly, still topical today.

The box set has these episodes of The Avengers: Hot Snow, Girl On A Trapeze and The Frightners.

Ian plays Doctor Keel, his fiance is murdered by drug dealers in Hot Snow. Patrick plays John Steed, he enlists Ian to catch those scumbags. Ian likes catching crooks and he joins up with Steed for further adventures.There's a commentary by producer Leonard White on the episode, he also provides a commentary on Mr Teddy Bear.

In Girl On A Trapeze Doctor Keel stops a woman from committing suicide by jumping into the River Thames. Steed doesn't appear in this episode so Doctor Keel goes it alone against some foreign agents travelling in a European circus. He gets them arrested. This episode wasn't discovered until 2001.

In The Frightners a rich guy is trying to convince his daughter to dump her gold digging boyfriend. He hires some thugs to beat up the boyfriend. Ian and Steed rescue the boyfriend only to find out he's a scum bag. They set about to frighten off the daughter themselves. They were all fairly good episodes but I'm not warming to Ian's character much. For a long time this was the only surviving episode of Series 1.

Patrick Macnee stars as John Steed in all episodes of Series 2, Jon Rollason plays Dr Martin King in 3 episodes, Julie Stevens plays singer Venus Smith in 6 episodes and Honor Blackman appears as Mrs Cathy Gale in 17 episodes. Julie Stevens sings a bunch of songs in her episodes. She appears in some short intros to her episodes on the DVDs and does one of the five commentaries in the set. Neither Dr King nor Miss Smith will appear in the 3rd series.

The 26 stories have a variety of plots with a good assortment of baddies. There's an assassin named Mr Teddy Bear, some one's stolen some rocket fuel from a murdered courier, Steed and Venus have to protect the president of a Balkan Republic, someone's running guns to Africa, a dead guy has £50,000 worth of diamonds in his stomach, the usual sort of stuff.

Of interest to me was the episode that involved a stamp called The Mauritius Penny. This isn't a real stamp but was patterned after the British Guiana 1 cent magenta. That stamp was sold last year for $8.3 million. It had sold for $9.5 million in 2015.

On average I liked the stories in Series 2 and was entertained by the character interaction. In my Series 3 post from 2011 I wasn't as taken with Mrs Gale as I was by Mrs Peel but I liked her more this time around. John Steed is more of a wild card in this series, he's forever throwing others into to a prickly situation. Poor Venus isn't an agent by any stretch of the imagination but Steed's plans put her into the hands of the baddies time and again. She makes the right decision to avoid him after her last episode.

I was happy that I got the series and look forward the Series 3.

The Gentleman From Nowhere 1948

The Gentleman From Nowhere 1948 Written by Edward Anhalt and directed by William Castle. I'm big William Castle fan, I'll always take a chance on one of his films. Edward was no slouch in the writing department he won Oscars for his scripts of Panic In The Streets and Beckett. He also wrote scripts to The Boston Strangler, The Madwoman Of Chaillot, The Satan Bug and Girls! Girls! Girls!.

Warner Baxter is a security guard at a fur coat warehouse. He shot in the leg during a robbery and despite that the cops are wondering if he's the inside man. Turns out that Warner has a past he's trying to cover up.

A good crime film with a good script and cast. You can check it out on The Internet Archive.

Seaway 1965-1966

Seaway 1965-1966 Created by Abraham Polonsky. The series had 31 episodes that aired on the CBC.The Wikipedia says it was the most expensive show produced in Canada at that time, costing $3,000,000 which is about $11,200,000 today. It did well but it was in B&W and it didn't make a sale to the US because of that.

Steven Young and Austin Willis were the two main stars. Steven was a ship owner's agent and investigated crimes that involved the owner's ships. Austin was an agent for the Department of Transport. The action took place along the St Lawrence Seaway with several of the shows filmed in Toronto and Montreal.

I remember seeing this as a kid and liking it. I found a few episodes on YouTube and watched them. They were about average but watchable. There's some action, some drama and a bit of humor too. I put the link to YouTube in the title above.