PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Matlock Series 1 2024

Matlock Series 1 2024 Based on the old Matlock series, developed by Jennie Snyder Uman. Kathy Bates stars as Matlock, a law talkin' lady with vengeance in her heart. Nineteen episodes aired over the last quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.

I actually decided to watch the series because of Kathy Bates. I didn't really know any of the cast, other than Beau Bridges and Sam Anderson. Kate, playing Matty Matlock, joins a law firm to dig out who in the firm covered up some evidence in a pharmaceutical trail that might have meant opiates would be taken off the market much sooner than they were. Matty's daughter died from opiates. Her husband and grandson help with the investigation. It's all rather conflict creating.

Matty proves to be clever and resourceful, helping win some cases. Little by little she works her way into the firm and finds out the truth about the evidence that went missing. I enjoyed the law wielding action but started fast forwarding through some of the personal drama. Sometimes it seems to overwhelm the case. I got to the end, a bag full of cliffhangers and wide open doors, and decided I wouldn't bother with them again. I might watch the 2nd series when it rolls around. I'm trying to get caught up on the TV I've got stashed away to watch and I'm being more ruthless when it comes to keeping stuff for another go around.

Tales From The Third Dimension 1984

Tales From The Third Dimension 1984 Written by Worth Keeter, Thorn McIntyre and Todd Durham, directed by Earl Owensby, Worth Keeter, Thorn McIntyre and Todd Durham. An anthology movie that was released in 3D. One of 6 3D films that Earl Owensby released in the 1980s. He made plenty of other low budget 2D films, aimed at the exploitation market, working out of his own studio in Shelby, North Carolina. Here's a video about the old property, long abandoned.

In the first short a vampire couple want to adopt another child, they already have four. The child they send along has been called a problem child. In the second short some robbers want to rob a tomb in a graveyard. It was a big mistake on their part. In the last short a couple of kids are dumped off at their grandmother's place while the parents take a trip. Granny runs of her medication and she turns mean. Santa Claus comes to the children's rescue.

The shorts were somewhat entertaining but over all the movie is below average. I found a crappy copy on YouTube but's it's gone now. No matter I wouldn't need to see it again.

Science Fiction Sunday 843

Escape 2120 2020 Based on The Magician's Horses by Brian K Bennett, he also wrote the screenplay and directed. A science fiction time travel movie.

A guy is hired by some scientists to help them with their time travel project. They've built a foil lined box that keeps them in some sort of stasis. The guy's job is to take care of their hiding place. Thing happen, I got bored and I could barely finish the movie.

The script is sloppy and weak, the acting amateurish, the production values are nearly non-existent. I saw it on YouTube and I'm not supplying a link. You shouldn't waste your time.

Alien Intervention 2023 Written by Adam Seidel and directed by Janet Grillo. A science fiction movie about a visiting alien.

A woman lives in a rundown motel with her husband and elderly mother. She'd like to turn it into an artist colony. Her parents ran the place for years. Twenty five years previous she meet an alien in the nearby desert. The alien gave her a blue rock before he got arrested by the government. He told her to keep it safe. He'd be back. He shows up in the present day to retrieve the blue rock so he can catch a storm to his home planet. The alien leaves her a big briefcase filled with cash. I'd like to meet that benevolent alien. It's a bit better than the previous but still below average. I wouldn't need to watch it again.

Friday Night Movies 1043

Bohachi Bushido: Code Of The Forgotten Eight 1973 Based on the manga Bohachi Bushido by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, screenplay by Susumu Saji, directed by Teruo Ishi. A Japanese erotic action film set in the past.

An assassin called Shinō Ashita escapes some samurai by jumping into a river, members of the Bohachi clan rescue him. The head of the Bohachi offers him the job of killing the customers of the local low end prostitution rings operating out of tea houses in Edo. They're cutting into the Bohachi's trade. Ashita is ordered to bring the sex workers to the Bohachi clan, they have a royal warrant to run the Yoshiwara in Edo, they need huge flocks of naked ladies to supply their customers with good times. The Yoshiwara is a designated prostitution area. The Bohachi's warrant literately lets them get away with murder making Ashita safe from getting arrested for killing the local johns.

The Bohachi have a strict code of conduct that forgets the 8 traditional virtues,  justice, courage, benevolence, politeness, honesty, honor, loyalty and self-control. Any deviation from the code usually leads to death for the rule breaker. The leader of the Bohachi is Shirobei Daimon. He assigns 5 lady ninja's to keep an eye on Ashita, they run around naked a lot. Sending them back to the Yoshiwara turns Daimon against Ashita and they all fight among themselves until the Bohachi clan is nearly destroyed.

The film is packed with sword fights and sex. There's acres of naked skin on screen. For an action nudie flick it's well made and very colorful. It's quite entertaining and a movie I'd watch again some time. 

Postal 2007 Written by Uwe Boll and Bryan C Knight, directed by Ewe Boll. It's based on the Running With Scissors game called Postal. Boll was interested in the project because of the game's political incorrectness.

Zack Ward plays a loser who's lacking a job on top of all his other problems. He lives in a filthy trailer in a rundown park with his enormous wife. She's a vile monster who bangs all the locals while poor Zack is out of the trailer. Zack's uncle is played by Dave Foley, he's set up in a doomsday religious cult's compound with his followers. Sadly he's neglected to pay taxes and he could face some jail time. Dave's got a plan to raise some money, he's going to steal some Krotchy Dolls, they're penis shaped dolls that have become rare because of a shipping accident in which the production run was almost completely destroyed. They're selling for $4000 each and there's a stock of 2,000 in the German themed amusement park called Little Germany.

Osama bin Laden and his men also plan to steal the dolls, they want to hide a virus in them, this way they can kill thousands of Americans. Dave and his gals manage to get the dolls into a truck with Zack's help. There's plenty of gun fights among the terrorists, Dave's followers and the locals. Everyone has guns and an unlimited supply of bullets. Most of the characters get slaughtered but Zack manages to escape with his new lady friend. Lucky for him his awful wife gets blown up in the trailer park. She could have escaped but she was too fat to get out of the trailer's door. The movie ends with George W Bush and Osama romping in a field as the nukes rain down.

It's a comedy and it's packed with jokes. Not all the jokes are good ones but occasionally there's a laugh. Sometimes the laugh is one of those "what did we just see" sorts. It's definitely not for the squeamish. The critics hated it, justifiably so, and it did really poorly at the box office. That's typical of Uwe's movies , most of which were box office failures, this one made less than $150K on a $15 million budget. Uwe's not a good film maker, his only skill seems to be in raising a budget. Despite his poor track record he continues to make films. I enjoyed the film and would see it again. I can't say that about the other Boll films I've seen.

Takin' It Off 1985

Takin' It Off 1985 Written by Bob Canning and Ed Hansen, directed by Ed Hansen. Ed's big claim to fame, to me, is he was an editor on The Bullwinkle Show from 1959 to 1963. Starting in 1983 he made 13 films, he stopped in 1995 and died in 2005. I've only seen this film, I'm not likely to search the others out.

Kitten Natividad stars in this rather low rent Russ Meyer's type nudie film about a stripper who wants to be an actress. That's the plot, the script is rather poor and the jokes are broad and weak. There's not much going on. It's more and excuse to wave some nudie boobies around. Kitten and Meyer lived together off in the 1970s and 1980s. He paid for her breast implants and that's about the most interesting thing related to the movie. There's no good reason to want to watch it. Angelique Pettyjohn is the only recognizable name in the cast, at least to me.

No Heroics Series 1

No Heroics Series 1 Created by Drew Pearce. One series of 6 episodes aired in September and October of 2008.

No Heroics universe is simulated to ours but it's populated with superheroes. Locally they're nicknamed Capes. Many are good and helpful, some are so much less so. A little group of lesser Capes hang out at the superhero pub The Fortress.The club doesn't allow superheros to wear costumes or use their powers. It's rather like a normal pub otherwise.

The group we follow along with are:

Nicholas Burns - Alex - The Hotness - controls fire.

Claire Keelan - Sarah - Electroclash - controls machines.

James Lance - Don - Timebomb - can see 60 seconds into the future.

Rebekah Staton - Jenny - She Force - World's third strongest woman.

Their main annoyance is Excelsor, he's a full of himself superhero that has plenty of powers and exciting pieces on the news. He especially likes picking on The Hotness. Jim Howick plays Simon the bouncer, he's the Thundermonkey and he can summon monkeys to kick your ass. If you wait around for them to arrive by delivery service, it may take a couple of hours for them to show up. Sometimes the baddies just go home. Steve Speirs plays Norse Dave, he's the bartender, we never learn much of anything about him.

Alex and Sarah used to date, now they're that annoying couple that bicker, Don is gay, rather dark and always on the pull, Jenny and Sarah used to be a super duo, they didn't last too long, they weren't very good, Jenny has trouble with dating.

I liked the scripts, I found some nice funny bits and some nice dark bits, I even laughed out loud a few times. People compare it to Mystery Men but it's more like The Specials. I was happy to see it and hope to watch it again before the end of time.

Science Fiction Sunday 842

Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams Series 1 2017-8 Developed by Ronald D Moore and Michael Dinner. Ten episodes based on PKD short stories aired on Amazon Prime in 2017-2018.

Half the episodes were filmed in the UK and half in the US. There's a bunch of name actors involved: Timothy Spall,Geraldine Chaplin, Steve Buscemi, Greg Kinnear, Sam Witwer, Anna Paquin, Maura Tierney and Brian Cranston were the ones I knew. There were plenty more I didn't know.

Episode Titles and Story Title:

The Hood Maker - The Hood Maker

Impossible Planet - The Impossible Planet

The Commuter - The Commuter

Crazy Diamond - Sales Pitch

Real Life - Exhibit Piece

Human Is - Human Is

The Father Thing - The Father Thing

Autofac - Autofac

Safe And Sound - Foster, You're Dead

Kill All Others - The Hanging Stranger

The episodes were about 50 mins each and the stories adapted were rewritten, some more than others. The Hanging Stranger get re-titled Kill All Others and the story changed from a secret alien invasion to mind control by the government. I actually read the story just a few mins ago. Way different. Autofac was a bit more like the story. I didn't check any of the other stories. 

Enjoyment wise, it's a mixed bag, some I found more interesting than others. Some just left me cold, I didn't care for those stories. It's often compared to Black Mirror, which started in 2011, the 3rd Series came out in 2016, PKD's Electric Dreams came out the following year. It has a similar feel but not quite as sharp as BM. Sometimes BM leaves me cold too. I still prefer Charlie's Wipe Work.

I don't think I'll ever get back to Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams but I know I'll watch some of my favorite Black Mirror stories again. 

Friday Night Movies 1042

Trapped Ashes 2006 Written by Dennis Bartok, directed by Sean S Cunningham, Joe Dante, Ken Russell, Monte Hellman and John Gaeta.

Several people are taking the studio tour with driver and host Henry Gibson. He lets them into the haunted mansion where they get trapped in a big room. Henry tells them they might get out if they tell their most terrifying stories. Joe Dante directs this bit of the film.

Ken Russell directs The Girl With Golden Breasts, a story about a woman gets a breast augmentation to further her acting career and winds up with with blood sucking breast implants.

Sean S Cunningham directs Jibaku, a story about a couple that find a man who's hung himself in a wood, the wife gets seduced by a demon. The husband has to go to Hell to rescue here.

Monte Hellman directs Stanley's Girlfriend, a story about a blood sucking witch.

John Gaeta directs My Twin, The Worm, a story about a parasite that affects a woman's pregnancy.

Once the stories are told Henry drops a bit of bad news on the group. No one's going home. Sad, huh. Henry was the best character in the movie. He plays a delightfully demonic guy.

I wasn't sure if I had seen this, the opening tour ride seemed familiar. Turns out I had back in September of 2011. My comment on My Watched Movie List was "trapped people/tits". That's mostly what the stories were about: sex and breasts. It was OK but I'm not tempted to buy a copy now I've seen it again. I'd prefer watching Dr Terror's House of Horrors, The Vault Of Horror or Tales From The Crypt, a few of Amicus Productions anthology films.

The Boy And The Heron 2023 Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

Mihito is ten during WW2, his mother dies when the hospital is bombed. His father builds parts for planes, they move the factory into the countryside to escape the fire bombings. The father has married his dead wife's sister Natsuko and they have moved into her family estate. Mohito is rather cold to his step mother. He discovers the tower building designed by Natsuko's grand uncle who disappeared 30 years ago. Mohito has encounters with a grey heron who talks and has another being living inside of his body. The heron claims he could find Mohito's mother.

Natsuko wonders off into the forest and everyone searches for her. Mihito and Kiriko, one of the granny maids living in the house, enter the collapsing tower which turns out to be the gateway to the oceanic world. They have some adventures, meet Mohito's mother, rescue Natsuko and return home. Mohito has gotten to like his step mother better.

I enjoyed some of the movie but it felt it was less entertaining than some of my favorites, I've seen My Neighbor Totoro at least a couple of dozen times over the years and still enjoy it. Same with The Castle Of Cagliostro. I liked most of the other films he did through Howl's Moving Castle but haven't watched them anywhere near as often. Laputa and Kiki's Delivery Service are the most watched of that lot. I bought a DVD of Ponyo in 2010 but still haven't watched it. I don't have a copy of The Wind Rises. I just put one in my cart on Amazon.

Despite having a copy of TBATH I don't know that I'll return to it anytime soon. It seemed like a greatest hits of Miyazaki scenes.  Some of the later movies are in the 2 hour range but they move the story along quicker and seem less draggy. No matter, there's still the earlier lot of films to watch again. I've also got Miyazaki's Sherlock Hound to watch. He directed the first 6 episodes before trouble with the Doyle estate put a hold on production. Miyazaki moved on and someone else finished the series of 26 episodes. 

Kill Me Tomorrow 1957

Kill Me Tomorrow 1957 Story by Robert Falconer, written by Robert Falconer and Manning O'Brine, directed by Terence Fisher. A British film with Pat O'Brien, Lois Maxwell and George Coulouris. Tommy Steele sings Rebel Rock.

Pat O'Brien plays a reporter who's been fired, hard up for cash he returns to the newspaper to see if he can get his old job back. He's surprised to find his boss dead in his office. Then he's offered money to take the wrap by the killer. He takes the offer and then spends the rest of the movie trying to get out of his predicament. He gets some help from Lois Maxwell and Robert Brown, they're both reporters on the same paper with Pat. George Coulouris is the baddie, he owns a nightclub, it's where Tommy Steele sings. He has a diamond smuggling ring on the side. 

It was enjoyable, about average, entertaining cast, decent script. Pat was hired to try to get more American bums on seats. He was getting a bit long in the tooth but he still did an OK job. I'd probably watch it again, it's going to be a while, so many movies yet to watch first.

Kill Her Gently 1957

Kill Her Gently 1957 Written by Paul Erickson and directed by Charles Saunders. A British crime thriller.

A man picks up two criminals on the run from a prison work gang and offers them a job. He wants them to kill his wife. He'll give them a bunch of money and a ticket for passage on a ship. His wife had him committed to a mental hospital, now he's out, he wants some vengeance. The criminals agree to his plan but the plans of psychopaths and criminals don't always work out so well. Especially in a movie. Most of the characters don't have a chance once the ball starts rolling.

It was fairly enjoying, I had a few laughs, not at jokes. It's about average or slightly above. It's kind of predictable but the cast does a decent job with the script. There's plenty going on, people are quite active. Marc Lawrence stands out, he plays the tough crook, he does a good job. It was fun watching him deal with the situation. Griffith Jones was equally entertaining. I'd watch it again someday.