PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Science Fiction Sunday 829

Retina 2017 Written and directed by Carlos Ferrer.

A science fiction film about mind control and terrorism. There's usually little going on, vague images, quick cuts and lots of people staring into the middle distance. I didn't think it was that interesting to wade through all that to get some sort of pay off at the end. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Sadly for me the most interesting thing about the movie are the IMDb votes. It got a 3.8 on the IMDb and that's with 32.2% of the votes being a 10. Half the votes are in the 8-10 range. That's good vote jacking. If you switch to the votes for other countries, the votes mostly skew to the bottom of the range. It gets a 2.4 in Australia but that's with a dozen votes. I gave it a 3, mostly for the editing and the decent CGI in places.

Mission Backup Earth 2013 Written and directed by Alexander Pfander. Originally the movie was a web series.

The sun is going out and some people form a plan to save some humans by building generation ships to spread humans among the stars. Sadly they picked the worst humans for the project. It's 129 mins and it was a struggle to keep my interest. I probably should quit watching these bad SF films.

Friday Night Movies 1029

Tender Dracula 1974 Written by Justin Lenoir, directed by Pierre Grunstein. A French film set in the world of TV production. We watched the Blu-ray from Severn, it's part of the Cushing Curiosities Blu-ray box set.

Peter Cushing is a horror TV show star, he wants to quit horror and make romantic content. His producer sends 2 scriptwriters and 2 women to talk Peter into keeping on with the horror show. Peter greets them and offers them a place to stay. There's a few odd characters in the castle Peter lives in and plenty of odd stuff happens. As the movie plods on it becomes harder and harder to believe what's really happening and what's imagined. It doesn't help to know that.

The movie might be a comedy but the jokes are few and often weak. Peter's character is rather insane and he likes to yell at people. Peter treats his wife poorly, she used to be married to Peter's Igor, a poor lumbering mute who's treated poorly. The scriptwriters try to talk Peter into staying with the horror program but Peter's not buying it. The two ladies seem to loose their clothes pretty regularly.

It could be more fun if the jokes were stronger. I didn't dislike the film but I'm not sold on it. I'm listening to the commentary, hoping that I might learn why it's what it is. So far, no go. They do have a bit of info on the production. We'll see if the interview with the director yields anything.

Fright 1972 Written by Tudor Gates, directed by Peter Collinson. Gates wrote a few movies I've seen: Twins Of Evil, Lust For A Vampire, The Vampire Lovers, Barbarella and Danger: Diabolik. Collinson directed a good lot of films, some I've seen: The Italian Job, Innocent Bystanders and Ten Little Indians.

A couple goes off to dinner with a friend, they leave the babysitter, Susan George, in charge of their 3 year old son. Susan's boyfriend comes to visit. She thought she had seen him at the window but we'll find out that wasn't true. The couple have a secret, the wife's ex-husband is in a mental institution for murder. She doesn't know that he's escaped and gone to visit his wife. Poor Susan's stuck in the house with the madman murderer. She screams all the time and that was making me pretty annoyed.

Other than for the noisy Susan, I would have enjoyed the movie more but it was pokey and kind of familiar. I didn't hate it but it wouldn't make me buy the BR. I would take too long to get back to it. Those Susan George screams were annoying, I'm not rushing back to that.

The Agatha Christie Hour 1982

The Agatha Christie Hour 1982

A series of 10 episodes that are based on Agatha Christie stories. Adapted and directed by a gang of film makers. There are dozens and dozens of actors, some I knew, some I did not.

The stories are a mixture, there are some that are more serious and some that had a nice sense of humor. I liked most of the stories, the more serious were less engaging. I'd watch about a half dozen again, the others I'd probably speed through or skip. I found a used DVD online for 15 bucks. Fifty smackaroonies new on Amazon.

Science Fiction Sunday 828

The Rig Series 2 Written by David Macpherson, Matthew Jacobs, Morgan and Meg Staller, directed by John Stricklland and Alex Holmes. I watched it on Amazon Prime.

I'd seen the first series but hadn't cared enough to want to revisit. I skimmed my way through the second series and wasn't impressed with that either. More trouble on the Rig with baddies from the corporation trying to control the situation for profit and the ancient creature they call the Ancestor knocking them about. Greedy corporate characters are the worst of the two. Lots of running about and lots of yakking.

Like the first one I wouldn't bother with this series again. It looks from the ending, it reminds me of a big ass open door, the producers hope for a third series. It's only been out for a few days, we'll see if they announce a third series or not.

Friday Night Movies 1028

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard 2021 Story by Tom O'Connor, screenplay by Tom O'Connor, Brandon Murphy and Phillip Murphy, directed by Patrick Hughes. Sequel to The Hitman's Bodyguard.

Michael Bryce is seeing a therapist about his loss of license to be a Triple A bodyguard. She tells him he should take a sabbatical from guns and take a vacation. His vacation is interrupted by the arrival of Sonia Kincaid, she's looking for help getting her hubby back from the gangsters who kidnapped him. Now he's involved in the middle of a scheme to destroy Europe's economy with some magical software that turns the power grid into a ticking time bomb. A Greek billionaire who's mad that the EU is leveling sanctions on Greece.

It's a globe trotting shoot 'em up with plenty of laughs and a huge body count. Greg cast in Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L Jackson, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman, Richard E Grant, It got poor reviews form the critics and it didn't make enough money. I sure liked it more than they did. I laughed a lot, as did others in the room, and I would want to watch the pair of films again.

Le Magnifique 1973 Written by Philippe de Broca, Francis Veber and Jean-Paul Rappeneau, directed by Philippe de Broca. The film was also called The Man From Acapulco, referring back to de Broca's That Man From Rio from 1964. I think that's the only other film by de Broca I've seen.  

Jean-Paul Belmondo plays a spy novel writer François who's struggling to finish his 43rd book which is due in a few days. His imagine runs wild and he starts putting the people around him in his book. Jacqueline Bisset is his pretty neighbor, she becomes the romantic interest for the spy character. François's mean and sleazy publisher Pierre becomes the Albanian Head of the Secret Service Karpov. François is upset with his plumber and kills him off twice in the book.

The movie jumps between the reality of François life and the fantasy of the action novel. It gets more and more ludicrous as the movie plays out. There's some fun stuff going on and a few good laughs. Not as funny to me as the first movie tonight but I still enjoyed it. I'd watch it again and plan to listen to the Blu-ray commentary track.

Satan's School For Girls 1973

Satan's School For Girls 1973 Written by Arthur A Ross and directed by David Lowell Rich. A made for TV horror movie. David directed a lot of TV episodes and TV movies in his 37 year career that started in 1950. I've seen a few of his films and certainly some TV. Some were better than others, Telethon, The Horror At 37,000 Feet and some were poor enough, SST: Death Flight, to make it to MST3K. His theatrical films include: Chu Chu and The Philly Flash and The Concorde...Airport '79, a hand full of others are less interesting to me.

Martha's sister hangs herself, the police say suicide but she doesn't believe that and she sets about to find out what really happened. She enrolls in the sister's school to investigate. Odd things happen and bodies start to appear. The killer is revealed and Martha has to work hard to survive the cult of Satan.

This is pretty average, it's got some danger, some slight scares and a lot of talking. I thought it was watchable but wouldn't need to watch it again. You can check it out on YouTube, link in the usual place.

Tiger By The Tail 1970

Tiger By The Tail 1970 Written by Charles A Wallace, directed by R G Springsteen. The movie was shot in 1968 but not released until 1970.

Christopher George is Steve, he's a Vietnam war vet who returns to Arizona to make up with his brother Frank. During the robbery of the local race track Frank is killed. Frank was a co-owner of the track and Steve is a suspect as he will inherit the controlling interest in the track.

The viewer knows it wasn't Steve, we saw the robbery, he wasn't there, the villains had an inside man. John Dehner is the Sheriff, he's entertaining, especially when he's talking. He tells Steve that he likes him out on the street investigating. Steve is good investigating, if by investigating you mean stirring shit up. Lucky for Steve he's good at biffin' and boffin', he leaves a trail of bruised men.

Tippi Hedren was Christopher's old girlfriend. There's a bit of romance going on but it doesn't get in the way of the investigating. Steve's got three days to buy out the other owners or they can buy him out. The baddies bump off the inside man and try to put Steve down. You can figure he's going to triumph, it's not that dark of a film. Just greedy men who were bad at their robbing.

The cast is good: Dean Jagger, Charo, Lloyd Bochner, Glenda Farrell, Alan Hale Jr, Skip Homeier, R G Armstrong, Dennis Patrick and one of my favorite character actors Burt Mustin. People who know film and TV of the 1960s would recognize a lot of them.

It was a decent crime film, nothing outstanding about the script. It's not the sort of thing I would buy, I found it on YouTube, link in title, and enjoyed it enough to get to the end. I might watch it again but it wouldn't need to be for a good while.

Science Fiction Sunday 827

El Refugio TV Mini Series 2022 Written by Francisco Ortega, Julio Rojas and Enrique Videla, directed by Pablo Fendrick. A Mexican 6 episode mini series about an alien invasion.

Something is going on in the sky and it's affecting people's phones and TV. People living on a ranch in the country see weird lights in the sky. Locals in the nearest town start going crazy, they get violent as the food gets scarce. The family manage to keep people off their farm but there are casualties. Eventually it gets to the alien and their ugly dog like creatures with big teeth. No big whoop there.

Most of the screen time is spent on the family and their day to day personal drama. After a few episodes you see the alien ship and near the end you see the alien attack dog. The CGI and practical effects were fairly good. I don't see much of modern Mexican TV. Decent looking program, much like the productions of many other countries. I didn't care that much for the story, there was a cliffhanger for every episode and then an abrupt ending. I don't know if there are anymore eps coming? Probably wouldn't care if there were.

Friday Night Movies 1027

Alienoid: Return To The Future 2024 Written and directed by Choi Dong-hoon. A Koreaan SF film that is a sequel to Alienoid. 

Pretty much picks up where the last one left off. The aliens have plans to kill off the human race with poison in the present. A group of humans and robots fight to stop that. It jumps around from the present to the past. It's packed with plenty of battles, there's lots of sword fights, explosions, gun fights, noise, leaping about and death. They do save the world.

It was entertaining. I might be interested in watching the pair of movies again but I've no plans to buy the Blu-rays.

The Hitman's Bodyguard 2017 Written by Tom O'Connor and directed by Patrick Hughes. We'd watched the movie back in December 2018, FNM 715.

Ryan Reynold's has to protect Samuel L Jackson from a Belarusian dictator who's on trail at the International Criminal Court. Samuel is the witness who could put him away. It's packed with action, noise, gun fights and plenty of chases.

I enjoyed it all over again. There's a plan to watch the sequel soon.

Emergency 1962

Emergency 1962 Written by Don Nicholl, Jim O'Connolly, Lewis Gilbert and Vernon Harris, directed by Francis Searle. A remake of Emergency Call from 1952.

A girl is hit by a truck, she's got a rare blood type and the blood bank is out. The possible donors are an odd lot, a murdered waiting to be executed, a scientist who's been selling secrets to foreign agents and a soccer player who's got a big game coming up. The murdered doesn't want to do it. The scientist thinks the police visiting him at work are after him for being a traitor so he goes on the run. The soccer player's manager hides the request from the player until the last minute.

It's fairly touch and go for the little girl and there's a bit of tension. I enjoyed it but it's only about average. It's only an hour long and the time passes quickly.