PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Jimmy Olsen

The first collection of Superman Family came out last week and I have been reading through it. It's pretty fun. It collects the first 22 issues of Jimmy Olsen , originally published from September 1955 to August 1957. Here are some funny covers. All of the issues in this massive 572 page DC Showcase Presents edition have 3 stories of 8 pages each. The covers are also reprinted, everything in black and white. The art is great, most of it by Curt Swann. He has a nice clean line, very attractive. The stories, most of them written by Otto Binder, are not always original, but they make up for it with the wild and inventive antics. They cram a lot of story in those 8 pages. Jimmy Olsen, for those that might have forgot, is a cub reporter at The Daily Planet. He's Superman's best pal, it says so right on the cover, and he's Clark Kent's co-worker. The stories often have crimes, or some sort of mystery to solve. In one Jimmy goes on assignment to a lumbercamp. Someone is causing trouble and people are getting hurt. Production is falling off and there isn't enough newsprint for the newspaper. He solves the puzzle, with a little help from Superman. Most of the stories have Superman in them, often just a brief appearance. There are a lot of humourous stories, like the one where Jimmy gets a million dollar reward but has to destroy it to save his life. Trapped with Lois Lane he needs to burn the money to attract Superman's attention. Jimmy has a special watch he can use to call for Superman's help, but in this story it quit working after it got wet. I don't recognize or remember many of the stories in this collection, but I first started reading Superman and Jimmy Olsen some years after these issues came out. I did remember the story where Jimmy gets a baby dinosaur. It grows and wrecks things and eats too much food. Since Jimmy can't afford to keep it Superman takes it to a dinosaur planet way off in space. These stories have happy endings, and for me this makes an enjoyable read. Coming soon The Haunted Tank.

1st year

Today it's one year since I started this blog. I was going to count up all the reviews but that seemed like too much work. If you find out let me know.

I took the afternoon off to use up some vacation time and after shopping for what seemed like 80 minutes, but was really only an hour, I went home. King Kong came out on dvd today. I picked one up at Target, it was cheaper, and had a free comic. I bought the 2 dic version. The comic is available in the single disc version also. That dvd case size comic is a reprint of the regular Dark Horse comic. It's only part of the story. That was my first stop. Then it was to Cub to get some prescriptions. I went to the doctor yesterday, I need to step up my Lipitor use and cut out more sugar. That's going to be hard, cutting out the sugar. I did get some fake sugars to try them. I got Splenda and some SweetnLow. We'll see which I like. I use sugar for tea and cereal. I also like the sugar that's made into candy. I'll miss the candy. Then it was over to the BestBuy. There were 3 things there that I was interested in. I got two copies of the John Carpenter Masters of Horror series episode Cigarette Burns. I don't know anything about it. I do like Carpenter and his commentaries are usually pretty interesting. The other copy isn't for me. The fifth and last season of Six Feet Under is just out. I was going to watch the whole series in a row. That should be interesting. It's only about 60 episodes, won't take long. I'll be seeing a lot of dead people. Spooky.

I also picked this other dvd. The Sci-Fi Boys is a documentary about the science fictions film fans that grew up in the 60's and were influenced by Forrest Ackerman's Famous Monsters Magazine. According to Fangoria it's from Universal and the dvd is only available at BestBuy. I really enjoyed it, but I'm a sucker for science fiction movie documentaries. I probably have nearly 40, not counting the countless number that come with many dvd's. It's an 80 minute movie with 66 mintues of additional scenes. There are some pictures here.

Friday Night Movies 51

It's amazing how people, when given a choice, will knowingly pick the wrong path. Intelligent people, too. Rather than watch the new Harry Potter, and it was one of many good choices, we double-dipped into the 50 Movie Pack Chilling Classics. That's two lies in one, at least there are 50 movies in that pack. Mind you, my definition of classic greatly differs from that of Mill Creek Entertainment. Mine has something to do with well liked and well respected films that have stood the test of time and are still watched and in the public mind. Their idea of classic seems to have something to do with being available for repackaging. Still, 40 cents a movie, can't expect much for that.

Crypt of the Living Dead is a 1973 American/Spanish co-production so bad it has 5 titles. Although filmed in color it seems only B&W TV copies are available on video. On a Greek island an older man stumbles onto a hidden crypt with a massive stone coffin. A quick plot device later he's crushed under that very same coffin. His son, Andrew Prine, comes to town to see where his father died and to bury him. Prine looks and dresses like porn Icon John Holmes AKA Johnny Wadd. At least he leaves his clothes on. The only people in town who will talk to him much are the school teacher and her novelist brother. Against the wishes of the local townspeople, who do nothing to stop him, he moves the massive stone coffin. The coffin contains the remains of Vampire Queen Hannah. She's been sealed in her tomb for 700 years. It opens accidentally and the still beautiful Hannah walks the earth once again. She's pretty hot for a 700 year old vampire who can turn to mist and a wolf. She kills a dog. That's about as exciting as it got. It was a chore to stay awake. The brother eventually goes wonky and there's a bit more killin' and thank god it's over. 85 minutes of near sheer tedium and another 40 cents wasted. Sperhauk remarked at the end that color wouldn't have made it much easier to sit through.

Messiah of Evil delivered more than 40 cents worth of entertainment. It was in color. And it was Technicolor, not the crappy lack-o-color Metrocolor like the previous movie. Willard Huyck, directed and wrote the screenplay. He also wrote both American Graffiti films, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Howard The Duck. So, you can see he's rather hit and miss, but I'm guessin' his royalty checks are wackin' huge. While no bullseye, it's certainly no miss either. There are some fun moments and some near creepy scenes. Most of the actors are vetern tv performers with a mixed level of talent. Elish Cook Jr. and Royal Dano are the big names with tiny parts.  Director Walter Hill has an un-named part. If I ever watch it again I'll try to remember to keep an eye out. A young woman comes to the town of Point Dune looking for her father. He's not home. He's left a journal that tells a Lovecraftian type story of supernatural beings and their strange powers. The townspeople are flesh eaters that like a nice stare down on the beach. It's where they go every night, waiting, staring out to sea, waiting for the stranger to emerge from it's watery depths. I'd rather have a lay in. In bed. Where it's dry. The daughter meets up with a euroguy and his two gal pals. There's a lot of beds involved but sadly no nudity. Euroguy is looking for the father too. They all stay at the father's beach house mixing a dash of soap opera with violent death. There is a fun scene in the movie house. Most of the horror scenes are fun, much more so than the drama or soap scenes. Most everyone dies and it has a Lovecraft type end that reveals the daughter to be in a mental hospital. She sits and paints now. Nice. Stay out of towns that have that much evil in them. You'd think you'd be able to smell evil like that. It would put a stank on the town. You can read a nice long synopsis of the film here. Here's a place with a few bad photos.

So long Chef

It was funny when he crapped his pants.

Friday Night Movies 50

A double dip of Cronenberg tonight. A History Of Violence was first. I hadn't bought it. I have mixed feelings about Cronenberg films. There are some that I just don't connect with and others I really like. I liked A History of Violence. It's a nice tight little story with great characters. If I'm going to watch a drama I want them to be this interesting. It's a studio film that's much more accessible than Cronenberg's normal output. Harry Knowles over at Ain't It Cool News said he thought it was Cronenberg's best film since 1986's The Fly. He has a good review on his page. I normally don't care for his reviews. It's a personal thing. I think AHOV is better than The Fly, and I certainly like it as much or more than my favorite Cronenberg film Naked Lunch. I'll buy a copy, it's only 15 bucks on Amazon, and it will probably be cheap at Target before the year is out. Viggo Mortensen plays a small town cafe owner, Maria Bello is his wife. They have two children, a small daughter and a high school age son, and a happy home life. Two really bad men try holding up his cafe. Viggo fights back and kills them both. The brief flash of publicity attracts the notice of Ed Harris. Ed's under the impression that Viggo is a guy from Ed's past. Ed thinks Viggo is the guy who ripped up the side of his face with a fist full of barbed wire, and he'd like to take that guy back to Philly. There are things to discuss with the family. Viggo insists that he isn't that guy, Ed is mistaken. Ed and his thugs circle Viggo and his family in their ominous black car. I hate to give anymore away. The violence ramps up and more people start dying. The situation pushes Viggo's family apart and it's a struggle to reunite them by the time the film's over. All this in 98 minutes. The cast is great, everyone doing a top notch job. The small parts as well as the large parts. Cronenberg is one of those filmmakers that attracts interesting people to his projects. It's the work, not the money. And they all work very hard to make this a good film. Here's an interview with Cronenberg. AHOV is based on a graphic novel. I never read the novel, have never looked in a copy, I did recognize the cover. I didn't like the look of the art from samples I saw on the internet. Cronenberg says the movie only uses a  small part of the graphic novel and then goes it's separate way.

Existenz is like a nightmare. Reality breakdown from too much game playing. "Am I live, or am I Memorex?" I never cottoned to this movie when it originally came out. I don't have a copy, and it's cheap on line. My initial feeling, when it was originally over, was one of disappointment. After all the running around by Jude Law and Jennifer Jason Leigh, the message was videogames are bad. I just couldn't imagine why anyone would bother to even mention it. There are several scenes I like and the cast is good. The story just doesn't click with me.

Robert Montgomery

A few weeks ago I noticed that Lady In The Lake was on Turner Classic Movies. TCM was having Robert Montgomery on in February. Here's a bio for him. I wanted to upgrade the tape I had to a DVDR copy. The movie stars Robert as Philip Marlowe, the Raymond Chandler Private Eye. Montgomery also directs this interesting 1947 adaptation. The whole film is shot from Marlowe's POV. Except for a quick glimpse or two during the film, and very brief scenes at the beginning and end where Marlowe looks into a mirror, you don't see Robert Montgomery at all. It sounds kind of gimmicky but it does work fairly well. I think Montgomery pulls off a nice piece of film noir. It has a nice sense of humour and I would recommend it to anyone who likes that sort of thing. I've seen it several times and it still holds up very well.

I didn't try to catch all the Robert Montgomery films Turner ran but one night I captured two on one dvdr. They looked like they might be fun. The first was 1940's The Earl Of Chicago. It's based on a 1937 book by Brock Williams. The brief description on the TCM webpage sounded like it has potential. Robert Montgomery is a small time criminal who discovers he is really a Lord. He goes to England and fish out of water ensues. I finally got around to watching it this last weekend. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. It starts with Edward Arnold getting out of prison after seven years. He's picked up by Robert Montgomery, the hood who framed him. Montgomery offers the new ex-con a job in his liquor business. Arnold declines but Montgomery wins him over with some not so vague threats. He wants an honest general manager, and Arnold is the only honest man he knows. Maybe he feels he owes Arnold something for the 7 years, but he won't ever admit it. After a brief montage as the odd couple settle in together a messenger brings the news of Montgomery's new Earldom. He's got a wacking great packet of land. Millions of pounds. Dirt but no money. And all that dirt is Nationally Protected. He can't sell it. Arnold learns this little fact but doesn't pass it on to the new Earl. Off the pair float to England and the castle. Once there it's just the sort of fish out of water gags that you might expect. A few people help him, some laugh behind his back. Our guy starts learning humility and all the while Edward Arnold is secretly working behind Robert's back to ruin his booze business. The jailbird wants revenge and he has great success. Up to that point I was right with them. In the final showdown Robert Montgomery pulls out a gun and shoots the gloating Edward. He shoots the face down Arnold in the back until the gun runs out of bullets. Now I am wondering where this is going. It's a bit bleak, eh.  I was just getting some sympathy going for the guy. There's a speedy trial and the Murderin' Earl gets a quick trip to the gallows. What. In the final scene we return to the castle where the weekly tour of the castle is going on. Robert Montgomery has been resurrected in a new portrait with an interesting new story. "He was a friend of mine," exclaims the guide, going into his tale. What an odd thing. I didn't expect it to turn so dark there. It didn't work so well for me. According to this site the movie was a flop. Who the hell isn't surprised!

The second Robert Montgomery film on the dvdr was much less dark. Fast and Loose teams Robert and Rosalind Russell in the third Joel and Garda Sloane mystery. They were also the third couple to play the book seller and his wife in this 1939 film. Short on cash Robert takes on a brokering job. He is acting as a go between in the sale of a priceless Shakespeare manuscript. All interested parties are guests at the mansion of the rich guy who owns the manuscript. The rich guy turns up murdered and guess what? The manuscript is gone. Then it's back. Then it's a fake. What the hell's goin' on. There are several suspects, some of whom are also stealing some of the rare books in rich guy's collection. It's no The Thin Man and Robert Montgomery is no William Powell, but it's a decent and fairly fun detective story. Unlike The Thin Man, Fast and Loose won't stand the test of time and neither will Montgomery. He's good but he's not great. His films aren't the films people talk about when they talk about films from before the 1950's, although Lady In The Lake, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith all might do well in the future. Large numbers of people just aren't going to be discovering these films in the middle of the night on TMC. Few are on dvd. There's a nice site that covers most of Montgomery's life and career. Montgomery is also the father of Elizabeth Montgomery of the 60's tv series Bewitched.

During the Feb Montgomery flood on TCM, I soaked up a copy of The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. It's the only movie I have with Joan Crawford. I have never been a Crawford fan. There in 1937 she was pretty good and quite attractive. She play's a rich widow from Minneapolis or Minnesota, depending who you talk to, who meets various members of an old, well established, wealthy British family. They are a fun bunch of odd balls. The Duchess, played by the delightful Jessie Ralph, has some really nice pearls. William Powell plays her butler. Robert Montgomery plays the charming love 'em and leave 'em cad who has fallen for Mrs. Cheyney. Robert recognizes William Powell as a crook from before the movie started. We learn Mrs. Cheyney's secret dilemma. It has a fun ending with police. The cast good and the story clever, a nice combination.

Chilling Classics Disc 1

I watched the first disc in the Chilling Classics 50 Movie Pack. Each disc is double sided and 11 of the discs have 2 movies per side. The 12th disc has 3 per side, bringing the total for the 12 discs to 50 movies. Death Rage was the first movie on Side A. It's a mob hitman revenge movie. Yul Brynner's brother is killed by some mob guys who wind up in Italy. Yul goes looking for them with his angry eyes, and a collapsible gun in a suitcase. The film keeps cutting away to them. The eyes not the gun. Someone noticed and they titled a release of the film Anger In His Eyes. Although Anger In His Gun would have been ok too. Sounds very Italian to me. That's where this was made. It was Yul and his angry eyes last role, but those angry eyes don't make enuf of a movie. There's some killin', some screwin', a few jokes, and lot's of revenge. It's not very good, even with a couple of nice nude scenes. The hooker is nice looking, but the dvd transfer is so crappy you can't tell if she has nipples. I have home made dvdr's that look better. Oh, well, 40 cents, it's only 40 cents. Plus tax.

The second movie on the first side was Memorial Valley Massacre. Cameron Mitchell appears briefly as a rich land developer. He's building a camping ground in Memorial Valley. It's opening day and the project is behind. There have been a series of strange happenings and accidents. There's a dead dog in the well. Even though the camping ground isn't ready for customers Cameron announces that it's open to the the crowd waiting at the gates. There's no power or running water, but they can stay if they want to rough it. There's free biodegradable toilet paper. What the campers who stay don't know is the problems are being caused by a strangely dressed hairy guy who lives in a cave. Cameron Mitchell's son comes to the site and gets a job helping the ranger. In the ranger's back story, his son was lost in the wilderness 20 years ago. The boy's body was never found. The ranger has been looking for the boy or the body ever since. We are introduced to the crappy campers who are to provide chopping fodder for the axe swinging hairy guy. There's an ignorant family with a spoiled son. When he runs out of things to steal he takes off on his banned ATV, only to be stabbed in the neck by the hermit. There are some lame bikers and like most of the characters in this movie, they die. At least it lives up the the alternate title Valley of Death. Parts of the movie made me laugh, but it's just not that good. Most of that 40 cents is wasted.

Side B has Medusa and Deadtime Stories. The first stars George Hamilton and his famous tan. Very nice tan, not so nice movie. He's a neardowell with a nice tan, but that tan can't keep him out of money trouble with the mob. Eventually the trouble kills him and his sister. We know that from the start as a boat washes up on shore with their bodies in it, then the story unfolds washing my interest away. Cameron Mitchell plays the bad mob boss and he's mostly ok, but there's really nothing much going on in it's 103 minutes. Another wasted 40 cents.

Deadtime Stories is a horror anthology of stories told by an uncle to his nephew at bedtime. Get it, bedtime deadtime. It has a fansite of somesort. The first story is about a guy who is captured by two witches who are trying to resurect their dead sister. It's kind of boring. The second is a modern Red Riding Wolf story that has a werewolf in need of his tranquilizers. It goes bad when he can't find them. It a bit better than the first story. Number 3 is a fun adaptation of Goldilocks and the three bears. The Baers are a psycho family. Mom has just broken dad and junior out of the mental hospital and Goldi has just killed off her family. The meet in an abandoned house. They team up and Goldi developes a thing for Baby Baer. It has more jokes and wacky stuff than either of the first two. It barely feels like 40 cents worth of movie though.

Friday Night Movies 49

I have mixed feelings about Mirrormask, our first feature. Mike and Greg brought copies, a double dose of snoozin' powder. We watched Mike's copy. Mike fell asleep soon after the movie started. That's a good joke on the rest of us. He slept through most of the movies 104 minutes, but he'd already seen it. If I'm dozin' it's usually during the last feature. Depends on how much sleep I got the night before. Sleep interrupted nights seem to be more common as I get older. I haven't read anything by Neil Gaiman except the book Good Omens, co-written with Terry Pratchett, and I thought it was mildly funny but not a great book. Someone told me they thought it was the funniest book they ever read. It wasn't for me. I certainly wouldn't read it again. I hold humour novels up to a pretty high standard. I'm serious about this shit man, I gotta u in that fucker. Now, you'd never see swearing like that in P.G.Wodehouse. I still love him, but I like the swearing mucho grande. There's not much swearing in Mirrormask but that's not bothering me, what bothers me is Dave McKean. He's the director and the artist that designed the film. McKean also co-wrote the script with Neil Gaiman. I don't care for Dave McKean art. He's done a bunch of books, mostly in collaboration with Neil. His art just doesn't appeal to me. I'm not going to learn to like it either. I've been at the center of a Gaiman/McKean hotspot for years and I still don't like Dave McKean. Greg says he's a nice guy but his art, I just don't care for it. There seems to be a nice big lump of people who like it, the movie gets a 7.5 on IMDb, though I am sure that very rabid Gaiman fans have run that number up. The story isn't new or that interesting, so combined with visuals I don't care for, it's a lose lose situation. I give the film makers some points for making a movie with a really personal visual style. In the last few years there have been several high profile films with an interesting new visual style. Sin City comes to mind first, but it's a so much better piece. Casshern and Sky Captain, both interesting, but less than great.

Atragon was our second feature. I'd seen it before. This is the new Tokyo Shock dvd. It looks nice and there are a few extras. I haven't picked up one yet. I have a bootlet tape. It's not one of the better Toho SF movies. Ancient Muians, living on the ocean floor, are threatening the land dwellers with invasion. There's a lot of talking, but only one monster. I was dosin' during the middle, but the movie isn't really awful. It's just slow going. There are a lot of underwater shots and Japanese Nationalism. Atragon is a big new super sub, called Gotengo in Japan, built by a defeated WWII Navy Captain in a secret island hideout. The Captain is conflicted. He wants to use his new sub to attack the western world, the Japanese government wants him to fight the Muians. The Muians captured the Captains previous sub before the movie starts. Then the Muians kidnap the Captains daughter. The Captain brings Atragon to bear and it's the end of the Muians and their goal of world conquest.

Friday Night Movies 48

Two foreign films, miles apart in location and content. Crimson Rivers: Angels of the Apocalypse, released in 2004, is the sequel to Crimson Rivers, released in 2000. We only watched the sequel. Both star Jean Reno, he's the only returning cast member, as Commissaire Niemans. In France the second movie is called Les Rivières pourpres II - Les anges de l'apocalypse, that's a mouthful to those of us not used to Frenching it up. The first movie is based on a French novel, a police thriller. Joe found the movie, brought it, we watched it, and I thought it was great too. I've seen it several times now. It's a gorgeous looking film with interesting scenery and buildings, much of it dark and bleak. Reno is investigating an unusual murder. He's the guy they call in for such things. His investigation brings him into contact with another detective who is investigating grave vandalism. Turns out they are on the same path, a twisted one, that leads them to deep dark secrets and more murder, all set in the beautiful French Alps. Just another story pointing out that man, left unwatched, will fuck some shit up. Reno is joined by Vincent Cassel, both of whom do a great job. Cassel was also excellent in the French film Brotherhood of the Wolf. If you haven't seen that, it's a must see. The Canadian Director's cut is the longest at 152 minutes. You can find a copy on Amazon.ca. I picked one up in Winnipeg when I was visiting mom.

The second Crimson Rivers has Reno investigating an unusual murder, a man has been walled up in an old abbey. Just recently. He's starts leaking when they drive a nail into him. Yuck. While hanging up a crucifix. That's disturbing, and it's just the start of a series of grisly murders, most with impaling, which lead Reno to his co-star. Benoit Magimel plays a younger detective investigating the attempted murder, of Jesus. Turns out their cases are connected and their foe is a nasty one. Old Nazi's! They are the worst. Christoper Lee plays a German guy, you know he's involved just from readin' the box. There's old Vatican treasure at stake, and it's the sort of treasure that can bring about the end of the world. Now, really, who in the hell would want that? Oh, yeah, pissed off old Nazi's. Left alone, they'd fuck some shit up. Luckily, we have Reno and Benoit on their trail. The trail leads them to the tunnels of the Maginot Line on the border of Germany. 600 kilometers of tunnels. With a big suprise at the end. Here are some pictures of one of the bunkers, here's a place that does tours, here's a nice piece on the tunnels by The Straight Dope people. It's a faster paced film than the first, there is a lot of style on the screen, but those things don't scare me. I enjoyed the dramatic scenery and the decay of the old buildings and bunkers. The action scenes are fast paced, fairly entertaining and somewhat gory. The bad guys are super fast and dressed like monks. Oh, yeah, there's some drowning. Enjoyable, I must say.

Our second feature was the 1970 Japanese  monster movie Space Amoeba, or Gezora, Ganime, Kameba: Kessen! Nankai no daikaijû in Japanese. You might have seen it as Yog, Monster from Space . I have a bootleg tape with that title, Sperhauk got the new Tokyo Shock dvd version with the original title. It looks very nice. Here are some words and pictures at this site. A space critter falls into the ocean, makes some sea creatures large, takes over their brains and goes on a rampage. It's a bit silly, but mostly fun.

Beauty and the Beat

When I logged on to IMDb this morning they had a piece on their front page promoting their Publicity Photo Services. That's where they have a picture on the IMDb page for each person in their database. They used Frances McDormand as an example and the photo was really stunning. Here's a large version of it. Beautiful, and what a smile. I tried to down load the photo from IMDb but had the same trouble I had before. It claims it's a GIF but there's nothing there when you save it. While searching about for some other place to get it I found this movie and media site. Premium Hollywood has reporters with nicknakes like Buffybot, Tyler Durdin and Eli Cash, amongst the more normal ones, so you probably know what they are talking about. It's an amusing site with some good links to more crap to help fill up your saturday. I'll add it to my movie favorites. It's there that I noticed a link that took me to a piece on Police Squad coming to dvd. I just dubbed those. Damn! Twice. Double damn!! I was going to do the first two shows over, for the third time, but now I won't. That will save me some work and a dvdr. Thanks media sites of the internet and your tireless search for the truth.