The Big Sleep (1946)

Director: Howard Hawks

Writers: Raymond Chandler, William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman

Composer: Max Steiner

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone, Peggy Knudsen, Regis Toomey, Charles Waldron, Charles D. Brown, Bob Steele, Elisha Cook Jr., Louis Jean Heydt

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The type of man she hated . . . was the type she wanted!

Plot: Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

For my money, Bogart's THE MALTESE FALCON (1941) was the peak of his detective pictures.  THE BIG SLEEP is probably second.  It's a good flick that gets a little better with each viewing.  I didn't dig it all that much the first time I saw it but I've grown to like it more and more over the years.  The cast is great and it's a fun and it's got that great fast talking dialogue that these kids are so good at...and there's some great dialogue in this one.  It's a great and convoluted crime thriller even if it's overshadowed by the even better and tighter FALCON.  Because of the classic nature of this picture I'm really surprised at how few extras are on the Warner Bros. DVD.  All you get is a comparison between the '45 and '46 versions (17 min) and the theatrical trailer. 

Detonator (1993)

Original title: Death Train

Director: David Jackson

Writer: David Jackson

Composer: Trevor Jones

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Patrick Stewart, Alexandra Paul, Ted Levine, Christopher Lee, John Abineri, Nic D'Avirro, Clarke Peters, Andreas Jung, Ron Berglas, Vili Matula, Lorrie Matula

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The mission is impossible. The consequences deadly.

Plot: A German scientist has aided an ex-Soviet General in constructing a nuclear weapon, which is now in the possession of an American mercenary, heading across Europe in a hijacked goods train. Malcolm Philpott, a member of U.N.A.C.O, (United Nations Anti Crime Organization) must use a team of hand-picked Agents from various parts of the globe to stop this death train at all costs.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

This picture feels like it's on the better side of direct-to-video but it falls back on some of the trappings of a low budget movie wanting to look bigger than it is.  There's too much time spent going back and forth from the action to a control room with people on computers helping Brosnan. I get that you would probably have this in real life but it's such a common thing to see in a TV show, for example, that the trope brings this picture down a little.  Brosnan does fine with the material and it's always a treat seeing Patrick Stewart and Christopher Lee so those three help but they can't save it.  It's an OK action thriller that feels like so many other bland action thrillers with a ticking clock to the finish before the bomb blows up.  If that's what you dig then you'll like this more than I did but if it's not, I'd say give it a pass despite it having some great actors doing it for the money.  The New Line DVD has the film in both fullscreen and anamorphic widescreen.  The only extras are four trailers for other films.

Squidbillies (2005) TV series

Creators: Jim Fortier, Dave Willis, Matt Maiellaro

Starring: Unknown Hinson, Dana Snyder, Daniel McDevitt, Dave Willis, Bobby F. Ellerbee, Todd Hanson, Scott Hilley, Patricia French, Mary Kraft, Pete Smith, Shawn Coleman, Stewart Beihut, Charles Napier, Brendon Small, Dana Swanson, Edward Hastings

More info: IMDb

Plot:  Follows the adventures of the Cuylers, an impoverished and dysfunctional family of anthropomorphic, air-breathing, redneck squids who live in a rural Appalachian community in the state of Georgia.

My rating: 10/10

Will I watch it again?  Constantly.

This has been one of my favorite shows since the beginning.  I'd about say it's my favorite.  I was hooked from the first couple of episodes and it's remarkable that the high quality has continued for ten seasons already.  The show is only about ten minutes long so you're in and out pretty fast but the laughs per minute are high.  So far there are 104 episodes and that makes for more than 17 hours of funny with more to come.  The voice work is exceptional.  All of the main characters are hilarious and if there's one fault, you don't get to spend enough time with the secondary characters like Aunt Lil and Krystal.  I wish all of them could be in every episode.  The music is great and so are the occasional songs.  There's an awful lot of talent working on this show and I couldn't be more thankful.  I've bought all of the DVDs but there's very little else in the way of merchandise and I can't tell you how much that stinks.  I've got a fistful of cash with no one to trade Squidbillies shit for it.  I've seen Unknown Hinson in concert twice (man, does that guy put on an amazing show!) and Dana Snyder (I had him sign my homemade Squidbillies flask) at a Comic Con but that's it.  I'd LOVE to meet the rest of the cast.  I just hope they know how much people like me appreciate the work they do.  It's not a show for most people for for those who like it, they fuckin' love the shit out of it.

Season 11 starts October 15, 2017 bay-beeee!  Woo!

The Fugitive Kind (1960)

Director: Sidney Lumet

Writers: Tennessee Williams, Meade Roberts

Composer: Kenyon Hopkins

Starring: Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward, Maureen Stapleton, Victor Jory, R.G. Armstrong, Lucille Benson

More info: IMDb

Tagline: ...and now the screen is struck by lightning!

Plot: Valentine "Snakeskin" Xavier, a trouble-prone drifter trying to go straight, wanders into a small Mississippi town looking for a simple and honest life but finds himself embroiled with problem-filled women.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

It feels like a stage play (which it was) but the filmmakers do a good job of trying to eliminate as much of the staginess as probably possible.  The performances are strong but the movie drags.  It's a drama and there's a lot of drama being slung around. I did get a kick out of seeing Lucille Benson.  She's a hoot in DUEL (1971) and 1941 (1979).  I dug it for the most part but the dreariness wore me down after an hour and then for me, it was all about getting to the end.  And the ending?  It's even more of a downer than the rest of the picture.  The MGM DVD has no extras and presents the film in non-anamorphic widescreen.

The Dirt Gang (1972)

Director: Jerry Jameson

Writers: Michael DeForrest, Michael C. Healy

Starring: Paul Carr, Michael Pataki, Lee de Broux, Jon Shank, Nancy Harris, T.J. Escott, Jessica Stuart, Tom Anders, Joe Mosca, Michael Forest, Jo Anne Meredith

More info: IMDb

Tagline: God Help The Fuzz that flashes a badge on the Dirt Gang!

Plot: A film crew shooting in the desert is terrorized by a vicious outlaw motorcycle gang (on dirt bikes, no less).

My rating:

Will I watch it again?  No.

If you like your biker flicks on the cartoonish side then this might be for you.  The movie's not cartoonish but the biker gang leader sure looks the part.  Right from the start these guys show us how mean they are by murdering a cop.  Then they come across this isolated Western film shoot and they take it over and terrorize the few people involved with making the picture.  The performances are what you'd expect in a low budget exploitation picture like this but there was one person who immediately stood out as soon as he opened his mouth and that was Michael Forest, one of the guys making the movie.  And it's no wonder; this guy's been acting for a long time.  He's almost 90 and he's got nearly 300 IMDb credits including playing Apollo in the STAR TREK episode, WHO MOURNS FOR ADONAIS? (1967) and he'd been at this since '55.  The best part of the movie isn't any actor but the big biker orgy scene in the last act.  There's a ton of great nudity.  What hurts the picture most is how much the movie drags shortly after the bikers end up that the movie shoot until the orgy.  It's an OK movie and it's not so bad that it deserves the current IMDb user rating of 1.7.  It's a middle of the road biker flick from that era.  I've seen a bunch of them from that period and few of them are worth watching more than once, very few.

Unknown (2011)

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Writers: Oliver Butcher, Stephen Cornwell, Didier Van Cauwelaert

Composers: John Ottman, Alexander Rudd

Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, Frank Langella, Sebastian Koch, Olivier Schneider, Stipe Erceg

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Take back your life.

Plot:  A man awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes. 

Thrillers, like any genre but more so, are hit and miss.  To be really effective they have to grab you by the short and curlies and hold on until the end and that's not easy.  Hell, any level of suspense will do.  For me, this one worked very well and it did just that.  My heart rate didn't increase much, if any, but it did a good job of not only holding my attention but keeping the tension and fulfilling a goal of giving a good and satisfying ending.  After it was over I began to wonder how I would've handled being in Neeson's shoes or, at the very least, what it must be like to have amnesia.  And then I moved on and slapped some sloppy exploitation picture in to further my cinematic education.  It's a good action thriller that's more grounded in reality and with few plot holes, if any, to get in the way.  The Warner Bros. DVD has a nice anamorphic widescreen print with only one extra and that's a lousy four and a half minute fluff piece describing the film.  There's not even a trailer.

White Witch Doctor (1953)

Director: Henry Hathaway

Writers: Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts, Louise A. Stinetorf

Composer: Bernard Herrmann

Starring: Susan Hayward, Robert Mitchum, Walter Slezak, Mashood Ajaia, Joseph C. Narcisse, Elzie Emanuel, Timothy Carey, Otis Greene

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The story of a woman who followed a dream to the end of the earth ... and found a love that will live to the end of time!

Plot: In 1907, a nurse arrives in the Belgian Congo to work for a missionary doctor but meets a grumpy animal hunter who secretly plans to search for gold in the dangerous Bakuba tribal region.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Ho hum drama/romance/adventure that benefits from three good leads and an atmospheric score from Bernard Herrmann.  There's not too much to really dig besides that.  Even in 1953 the trope of a white man (in this case woman) going into the jungle to help the black man was getting old.  Another old cliche was that of the white man who understands the jungle refusing to take a woman on his mission.  Combine these with yet another where that man has a greedy partner that lies in order to get him to take the trip so that together they might find the riches he wants.  Oft used plot lines aren't bad.  It's what you do with them that separates the pros from the kiddies.  There's a little jungle location shooting but it's mostly filmed in the jungles of Southern California on a stage. It all ends exactly like you think it will so there's no surprises in store at any point in this picture but in the meantime, sit back and enjoy hanging out in the jungle with Hayward, Mitchum and Slezak.