Movies

[Rusty]

537 - The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) - 7/10 - In 1547, an Englishman travels to his brother-in-law's castle in Spain to try and find out more information about his sister's mysterious death. He is met with evasive answers in this Roger Corman gothic horror film. The movie lags at time, but it does a decent job of building atmosphere and the performances and sets are good.


538 - The Watcher in the Woods (1980) - 6/10 - An American family moves into a home in the English countryside. 30 years earlier, the teenage daughter of the home disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The two girls in the American family seem to have an affinity for the missing girl's ghost and they work to unravel the mystery. Bette Davis plays the mother of the girl who went missing. The film is watchable, but isn't that great overall.


539 - Threads (1984) - 7/10 - Tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union ratchet up in Iran and elsewhere. The film follows two families and other citizens in the city of Sheffield, England both before and after a nuclear war. It's pretty grim and matter of fact. I liked the first part leading up to the war more than the aftermath.


540 - Trick or Treat (1986) - 7.5/10 - Eddie is into heavy metal, but is picked on constantly by a group of boys at his high school. He suddenly has the opportunity to get revenge with the aid of his idol, Sammi Curr, who recently died in a fire. Sammi's spirit lingers on in his last recording made before his death. The story may be a bit cliched, but I thought it was a lot of fun.


541 - Fire in the Sky (1993) - 6.5/10 - A group of men are out logging when they have a strange encounter with aliens. One of the men is abducted and the others are disbelieved when they return to town and tell their story. They also are thought to have murdered their friend. This is apparently based on a book about a real incident. The movie was like a tv movie or special, but okay.


542 - Eastern Condors / Dung Fong tuk ying (1987) - 6.5/10 - Various Chinese prisoners being held by the U.S. are offered a chance for freedom plus a large payday if they undertake a mission into Vietnam to destroy a cache of missiles that were left behind during the pullout. They will be parachuted into the country and then will have to make their way to the destination, but it will be pretty dangerous along the way. Some of the stunts and humor were pretty good, but overall the film was decent, but not great.


543 - The Legend / Fong Sai Yuk (1993) - 7.5/10 - Fong Sai-yuk is a talented martial artist who falls for Liu Ting-ting. Sai-yuk does what he can to impress her and later enters a contest that her father set up to find a husband for his daughter. The catch is that the challenger has to defeat Ting-ting's mother who is also a very talented martial artist. The first hour or so of the movie is a lot of fun with some nice stunts and humor as well. I didn't enjoy the second part of the film quite as much when it turns a bit more serious with secret societies and a wicked governor and so on. It was still good, but not as good as the earlier section.


544 - Incident (1948) - 7/10 - A man gets beaten up on his way home from an evening with friends. It turns out that the intended target was a criminal named Slats, but there was a case of mistaken identity. The man who was beaten up sets out to find Slats, possibly to warn him that somebody is out to get him, but things get a little more complicated. The film moves at a nice pace and is pretty entertaining.

Le percheron (1946) (20 minutes)
Los Invencibles Shuaras del alto Amazonas (1926) (15 minutes)
Tala’vision (2021) (28 minutes)
You’re Dead Helene (2021) - (24 minutes)

[Rusty]

545 - Gentleman Jim (1942) - 8/10 - Errol Flynn stars as James "Gentleman Jim" Corbett, a boxing champion from the 19th Century. Corbett is a bank clerk in San Francisco who comes from a relatively poor family, but certainly isn't shy. His forward manner helps him gain entrance to a gentleman's club and affords him a number of opportunities to advance himself. Flynn is fairly charming in the role and Alexis Smith is good as the love interest/sponsor. The rest of the supporting cast is also good.


546 - Splinter (2008) - 6.5/10 - A couple are on a trip out in the wilderness when they are taken prisoner by another couple with a gun. They stop at a gas station to get gas and supplies only to find that some sort of parasitic creature is loose and they are in danger. I enjoyed the film, but could have done without the shaky cam.


547 - The Abominable Snowman (1957) - 6/10 - A British botanist (Peter Cushing) is in the Himalayas on an expedition with his wife and assistant when he comes across an American expedition searching to find and capture a yeti. He joins the expedition our of curiosity as their search takes them high into the mountains. Cushing is good, but the film is pretty dull overall.


548 - The Black Pit of Dr. M / Misterios de ultratumba (1959) - 6.5/10 - When a doctor is about to die, his colleague reminds him of a pact they made a year earlier to find a way to return and tell the survivor how they might visit or see into the afterlife and remain alive. The spirit returns during a seance and says that the plan is feasible, but there will be a terrible price. The film has a good gothic atmosphere, but the story is a bit hit or miss.


549 - Man Behind the Sun / Hei tai yang 731 (1988) - 4/10 - During WWII, the Japanese army had a special medical unit stationed in China to perform experiments on prisoners and civilians. Thousands were killed in search of information on biological weapons. The film doesn't really have much of a narrative other than to show a seemingly endless number of ways that they can torture and kill people.


550 - Open Range (2003) - 8.5/10 - Four men (including Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner) are herding cattle across the country when they come to a town where the marshal and a wealthy rancher named Baxter despise free rangers and attack the man sent into town for supplies. This leads to a confrontation between two of the men and a group of armed men in Baxter's employ. The long gunfight near the end of the film was pretty good.


551 - The Missouri Breaks (1976) - 6/10 - A large landowner hangs a horse rustler which angers the rustler's associates (including Jack Nicholson). The landowner hires an odd gunman (Marlon Brando) to track down and dispose of the other rustlers. Nicholson is pretty good in the film, but I didn't care for Brando at all. His character was strange and seemed out of place. The story also took its time storywise between points of interest.


552 - Tears of the Black Tiger / Fah talai jone (2000) - 7.5/10 - This Thai western, action, romantic melodrama has an interesting color scheme. It's over the top and almost gleefully so at times. It's also a lot of fun.

[Rusty]

553 - Sunday Afternoon / Domingo à Tarde (1966) - 7/10 - A doctor reflects back on his relationship with a dying patient. The film is pretty melancholy and I didn't always care for the narration, but it was decent.


554 - Acto da Primavera (1963) - 7/10 - Portuguese villagers reenact a passion play using a text from the 16th Century. They are in full costume as they act out the scenes of Christ's arrest and crucifixion among the nearby hills. It is a familiar story, but they do a pretty good job. There is also a small part that ties it to the present day.


555 - Change of Life / Mudar de Vida (1966) - 7.5/10 - Adelino returns home to his fishing village after serving in the army to find that his girlfriend has married his brother and has children. He finds this change of circumstance difficult to accept, but sets out to find work and eventually becomes acquainted with a young woman named Albertina. I liked this a bit more than the last two films that I watched.


556 - Xavier (1992) - 7.5/10 - Xavier was dropped off at an orphanage as a young boy by his mother, who was unable to care for him. Jump ahead many years and we see Xavier returning to Lisbon as an adult, reconnecting with the woman who ran the orphanage, his godfather, and others, some of whom he's not as eager to see. He's also awaiting the results of a trial as he works low paying jobs and tries to get his life in order. It's a decent film, but it feels like information has been left out and it might benefit from a little more explanation/fleshing out in places.


557 - O Milagre segundo Salomé (2004) - 8/10 - Salomé is a prostitute in Lisbon in 1917. She is the subject of attention of a lieutenant named Brás who can be mean, especially when drunk if his will is thwarted. Salomé comes to the attention of a wealthy patron who wants to take her to his estate away from Lisbon where she can live as a lady from the upper crust of society. However, her past won't necessarily let her go so easily. I liked the characters and setting.


558 - Ossos / Bones (1997) - 5.5/10 - A young father in a very poor area has custody of his baby after the mother doesn't want it. He doesn't seem to do much except for panhandle, asking people for money for the baby until he gets some help from a nurse. Some of the people just seem to sit around for long stretches saying nothing and doing nothing. I guess this is to get across a feeling of depression and hopelessness, but it ends up making the film seem kind of lifeless.


559 - Tempos Difíceis / Hard Times (1988) - 7/10 - This is a decent, though somewhat abbreviated, adaptation of Hard Times by Charles Dickens. It moves the story to 1980s Portugal and the characters and acting are generally pretty good. I'd rank the novel right around the middle of Dickens' novels, but it is still a very good book. This adaptation is good, but like Xavier, could have benefited from being fleshed out a bit more.


560 - In the Darkness of the Night / Noite Escura (2004) - 7/10 - The Pinto family runs a brothel, but the father owes a large debt to the Russian mob, As payment for the debt, the father plans to sell his youngest daughter to the Russians who will then take her to one of their brothels to serve as a prostitute. The daughter has been told that the Russians are going to take her to Spain to help her singing career. The girl's older sister would like to save her, but will she be able to find a way? The story takes place at the brothel on the night that the girl is scheduled to leave.

[Rusty]

561 - Five Days, Five Nights / Cinco Dias, Cinco Noites (1996) - 7.5/10 - In the late 1940s, a political prisoner has escaped from prison and needs to leave the country. He hires a guide to lead him cross country to Spain, but isn't sure if he can trust him. He meets a few people during the journey. There are some nice scenic views and while there really isn't a lot of tension, it's an interesting journey.


562 - Disquiet (2010) - 6/10 - There is definitely some interesting imagery at times and music as well, but I didn't really enjoy the film. It's an adaptation of a posthumous work from an author that died in the 1930s. It may be a good adaptation, but it doesn't inspire me to seek out the book.


563 - Nobody Will Speak of Us When We’re Dead / Nadie hablará de nosotras cuando hayamos muerto (1995) - 6.5/10 - A Spanish prostitute living in Mexico finds herself in the middle between two cops and two gangsters that leaves a couple of people dead. She is repatriated to Spain, but takes with her a notebook that contains the locations of various money laundering operations. She tries to find work, but needs money so has to use all of her resources. There were some nice scenes, but overall it was just so-so.


564 - El cochecito (1960) - 7.5/10 - An elderly man feels left out when all of his friends have motorized wheelchairs and scooters. They give him a ride at times, but he has to hang on behind one of the others. He comes to desperately want a motorized chair of his own, but his lawyer son and the rest of the family ignore his wishes and dismiss it as the fancy of an old man. He goes to great lengths to get what he wants. I liked José Isbert in the lead here.


565 - Strange Voyage / El extraño viaje (1964) - 6.5/10 - Three adult siblings are each single and live together in a small town. Two of them act like children and are dominated by their sister, Ignacia, who runs the household. The two begin to suspect that Ignacia is seeing someone and is possibly planning to leave them. We also get to see some of the people from the town with their gossip and secrets. It was okay, but I was hoping for better.


566 - The Executioner / El verdugo (1963) - 8/10 - An old executioner is getting close to retirement. When he finds that an undertaker is seeing his daughter, he sees this as an opportunity to groom his successor. The undertaker marries the daughter, but doesn't really want to execute anybody, though he has trouble saying no. José Isbert is good as the executioner and Nino Manfredi is also good as the undertaker/son-in-law.


567 - La escopeta nacional (1978) - 6.5/10 - A Catalan businessman travels to Madrid for a hunt that he organized with the wealthy and influential. He's hoping to make contacts and grow his business, but is met with a number of absurdities in this farce. The film moves at a frantic pace and I suspect that I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I was part of that culture, but as it stands, a number of things didn't really land for me, but seeing the man and the woman he is with deal with everything was somewhat interesting.


568 - Life in Shadows / Vida en sombras (1949) - 7/10 - Carlos is born during a showing of Lumiere Brothers shorts in the early 1900s. He seems destined to have a life in film. As a boy, he frequents the movie theater and as an adult, becomes interested in making movies, though the Spanish Civil War arrives and affects his life in a number of ways. This is a decent film, though there are a few places where the acting is kind of amateurish.

[Rusty]

569 - Ace High (1968) - 7/10 - A man named Cacopoulos escapes the noose and teams up with a pair of bounty hunters to exact his revenge on the people who set him up and put him in jail 15 years earlier. I enjoyed the parts with the two bounty hunters more than those with Cacopoulos. The film is a bit long, but has a nice ending sequence.


570 - Blindman (1971) - 4.5/10 - A blind gunman was supposed to escort fifty mail order brides to a group of miners, but they were taken by bandits instead and moved to their base in Mexico. The blind gunman goes after them in order to rescue the women, deliver them to the miners, and fulfill his contract. This was mostly pretty dumb.


571 - Dead Men Ride (1971) - 7/10 - A man named Roy escapes from a work camp where he was being held prisoner. A friend of his dies in the attempt and Roy sets out to make his friend's last wishes come true. The friend had owned a gold mine and his former workers are being held prisoner and forced to work by a group of Americans who now have control of the area. There's plenty of action and some intrigue as well.


572 - Death Rides a Horse (1967) - 7.5/10 - Two men are out for revenge against the same gang, but for different reasons. Ryan (Lee Van Cleef) was set up for a 15 year prison sentence by the gang. Bill saw the gang murder his family when he was a little boy. Ryan and Bill compete with and sometimes aid each other in their separate quests. The actor who plays Bill is a bit wooden, but Van Cleef is his usual good self.


573 - God Forgives… I Don’t! (1967) - 6/10 - A train full of dead bodies shows up at the station. This is the intro to a story about stolen gold, betrayal, and so on...a lot of the usual tropes. An insurance investigator and a gunslinger are each after the criminal behind the killings and the stolen gold. This film was okay overall, but was also a bit boring at times.


574 - Keoma / Django Rides Again (1976) - 7.5/10 - Keoma is a half-breed who returns home after the Civil War to find that his hometown is under the control of a man named Caldwell and his minions. Keoma's three half-brothers made life tough for him growing up and have thrown in their lot with Caldwell. Keoma works to free the town and also to help get much needed medicine to the town. The soundtrack is from the same people that did the soundtrack to A Man Called Blade so it's a bit different from the norm.


575 - Man from Nowhere / Arizona Colt (1966) - 5/10 - When the daughter of a saloon owner is killed by a gang member, Arizona Colt offers to track down the killer for a reward. This was pretty mediocre.

[Rusty]

576 - Main Street / Calle Mayor (1956) - 8/10 - Federico travels from Madrid to visit his friend Juan. He finds that his friend is hanging out with a group of men who are loud and obnoxious. They also like to play cruel pranks and after Federico returns home, they decide to have Juan pretend to fall in love and get engaged to a 35 year old woman whose hopes of marriage have dimmed over the years. Juan soon realizes the cruelty of the prank, but doesn't see a way out.


577 - Mi tio Jacinto (1956) - 7.5/10 - Pepote is a young boy who lives with his uncle Jacinto in a small shack. They have to scrounge to survive, but enjoy each other's company. Jacinto was once a bullfighter and gets an offer one day to fight again for a nice amount of money. Unfortunately, he doesn't have his bullfighting costume so he has to find a way to earn some money to get the costume before he can make the larger amount. Pepote is perhaps the real star here, but I liked the uncle as well.

[Rusty]

578 - Aunt Tula / La tía Tula (1964) - 6/10 - Tula is a single woman in her 30s who likes her independence and has no plans to marry. When her sister dies, she keeps a promise to her sister that she will look after the brother-in-law and two children left behind. The brother-in-law is a scumbag, though seeming respected by society and most who know him. He makes advances on Tula, but she is not interested despite pressure from him and from others, including the local priest. A number of the values shown by people in the film seem antiquated today, though I can see that they were likely part of society then.


579 - Black Sky / Cielo negro (1951) - 6/10 - Emilia is a young woman who works at a fashion house. She loses her job for borrowing a dress to impress a man who wasn't that serious about her. To make matters worse, her mother's health takes a decided turn for the worse and a vengeful former coworker employs a poet to send her love letters to lead her on. Emilia seems to be a mousy woman, though she takes a bit of a stand later in the film.


580 - Cousin Angelica / La prima Angélica (1974) - 7.5/10 - Luis is a middle aged man who travels to his hometown to inter his mother's ashes in their family vault. He stays with his cousin Angelica who he loved when they were both children. Angelica is now married with a daughter of her own who is about the same age that Angelica was when she and Luis were close. The past and the present get mixed up for Luis as he becomes lost in his memories at times. This is now my second favorite film from Saura (after Cría cuervos), though I've only seen seven of his films to date.


581 - Life Ahead / La vida por delante (1958) - 6.5/10 - Antonio is a lawyer, though not a particularly good one. Josefina is a doctor who tries to make a go of it as a psychologist. The two end up getting married and are barely able to make ends meet with Antonio resorting to various odd jobs plus some teaching to earn a little more money. There are some nice parts here and there, but it feels kind of disjointed.


582 - Nine Letters to Berta / Nueve cartas a Berta (1966) - 5.5/10 - Lorenzo has returned home to Spain after spending time in England. While in England, he fell for a girl named Berta whose father is a Republican exile from Spain. Over the course of the film, he writes (and narrates) 9 letters to Berta while events unfold in his life. The scenes themselves are somewhat interesting at times, but I found the narration dull and didn't like the score either.


583 - Tasio (1984) - 8/10 - Tasio is a charcoal burner and sometime poacher in a rural mountainous area. We get to see slices of his life as a child, teen, and adult, including meeting his future wife. He's a pretty good poacher, evading the local warden most of the time in a sort of cat and mouse game. This is a pretty nice film.


584 - Robbery at 3 O’clock / Atraco a las tres (1962) - 7.5/10 - The employees at one bank branch are all fairly close and they like their director as well. They get upset when the board brings in a new director who is humorless and strict. They make plans to stage a fake robbery at a time when they know that there will be a large deposit on hand. However, they didn't plan on real robbers showing up at the appointed time. It's perhaps a bit predictable, but still entertaining.


585 - What Have I Done to Deserve This? / ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (1984) - 8/10 - Gloria is a housewife who has a number of interesting people in her life. Her husband drives a taxi and has a love for a German singer he used to work for. Gloria's mother-in-law is headstrong and perhaps slightly crazy. One of Gloria's sons sells drugs and the other one is gay. Gloria's best friend is a neighbor who works as a call girl. There are a number of zany things that happen and it is a pretty entertaining film with plenty of humor.

[Rusty]

586 - The Specialists (1969) - 7/10 - Hud is a loner with a big reputation as a gunslinger. He returns to the town of Blackstone to find out who killed his brother. His brother was lynched after being accused of stealing a fortune from the town bank. He also has to contend with a sheriff who believes in keeping the peace by disarming everybody in town, though many seem to be secretly armed in spite of this. The film is pretty good in parts, less so in others, but overall I liked it.


587 - Trinity is Still My Name (1971) - 7/10 - Gunslinger brothers Trinity and Bambino are back with plenty of humor as well. They are mistaken for federal agents and try to use the situation to their advantage. I'd rate this a notch below the first film and while the humor can be low brow, I still enjoyed the film.


588 - My Name is Nobody (1973) - 7.5/10 - Henry Fonda stars as Jack Beauregard, an aging sheriff with a big reputation. He'd like to retire, but there are others who have different ideas. A younger gunfighter known as Nobody (Terence Hill) shows up. He is a big admirer of Beauregard and has his own ideas on how Beauregard should go out and arranges for him to face a gang of 150 men. There's plenty of humor and it's generally a fun film.


589 - Face to Face / Faccia a faccia (1967) - 5.5/10 - A professor with tuberculosis heads out west in hope of improving his health. A chance encounter with a wanted outlaw leads to the professor learning to shoot a gun, joining a band of outlaws, and eventually assuming a leading role in the band. Unfortunately, this film didn't do much for me.


590 - The Holy Innocents / Los Santos inocentes (1984) - 7.5/10 - The film shows life on some of the rural estates in 1960s Spain with aristocrats ruling over a few middle class managers and a bunch of poor serfs. Azarias has been working on one of these estates for 61 years and is sacked for being old and probably also because he is not too bright. He moves in with his sister's family on another estate. They are poor and have problems of their own, but their life is similar to his own. The film grew on me as it went along.


591 - Elisa, My life / Elisa, vida mía (1977) - 7/10 - Elisa (Geraldine Chapman) is having some marital difficulties so the telegram from her sister about her father's illness came at an opportune time. They visit their father (Fernando Rey) for his birthday and Elisa ends up staying on, getting to know her father better in the process. The film is a mix of memory, fantasy, and reality. It's a nice film with good performances from Chapman and Rey, but I think it overstays its welcome by 20 minutes or so.

[Rusty]

592 - The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) - 5/10 - A number of videotapes are found in an abandoned home which turn out to be the work of a serial killer who has operated in the area for some time. It's sort of an interesting idea, but the film itself isn't that great.


593 - Birth Certificate / Swiadectwo urodzenia (1961) - 9/10 - The film tells three tales of WWII from the point of view of different Polish children. In the first story, a young boy catches a ride with a Polish soldier driving a cart as he tries to go East. In the second story, a boy is taking care of his two younger brothers while his mother is in the country picking potatoes and his father is a POW. In the third story, a young Jewish girl is on her own and wanders the streets for some time, evading authorities. She is eventually helped by a doctor and his wife. All three stories are very good and effective.


594 - House of Usher (1960) - 6.5/10 - Vincent Price stars as Roderick Usher in this Poe adaptation from Roger Corman. Roderick is determined to keep his sister away from her fiancé, Philip Winthrop. Winthrop shows up one evening insisting on seeing her, but Roderick has other ideas based on his belief that the Usher line is cursed and should die out. The film has interesting sets, but I found it to be kind of dull.

[Rusty]

595 - Godzilla -1.0 (2023) - 8.5/10 - This prequel to the original Godzilla movie has a very nice story, good characters, and good special effects.

[Rusty]

596 - The Ladies Man (1961) - 5/10 - Jerry Lewis gets a job at a big rooming house where most residents are attractive young women. I'm not much of a Lewis fan, but this had decent sets and use of color. There were also a few good gags mixed in with the usual Lewis schtick.


597 - Best in Show (2000) - 6/10 - The Mayflower Dog Show is upon us and we get all of the 'excitement' of the event and get to know the dog owners as well. It's not really all that funny


598 - Waiting for Guffman (1996) - 7/10 - A director/actor in the small town of Blaine, Missouri (the footstool capital of the world) puts on a show to celebrate the town's 150th anniversary. A good portion of the screen time toward the end is dedicated to the actual show. It was a bit hit or miss, but I mostly enjoyed it.

[Rusty]

599 - The Dinner Game / Le Diner de Cons (1998) - 6.5/10 - Once a week, a group of men gather for dinner with each of them bringing an unsuspecting idiot to amuse them. One of the members happens across a man on a train who is an enthusiast for building models out of matchsticks and invites him to the dinner. However, the man injures his back before the dinner and is stuck with his idiot for the evening with things getting progressively out of hand. There are a few parts that are amusing, but a lot of it is kind of dumb.


600 - Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) - 6.5/10 - Abbott and Costello find themselves stuck in Egypt. After finding a special medallion, a number of people try to acquire the medallion from them. Costello is also thought to have murdered a man. The film was okay and had a funny ending, but it isn't one of their better outings.


601 - Night Call Nurses (1972) - 4/10 - Three young nurses have to deal with a variety of people in and out of the psych ward of the hospital where they work. Of course, there's still plenty of time to have fun, have sex, and hang out. It's not a very good film, but I can kind of see why Tarantino probably liked it.


602 - Babo 73 (1964) - 3.5/10 - This is a strange film about a new elected President and an odd cast of characters. I didn't really get much out of it. It was directed by Robert Downey (Sr.).

[Rusty]

603 - No More Excuses (1968) - 6.5/10 - There's quite a bit about the New York City singles scene plus something about a Civil War soldier/time traveller, and a guy going on and on about dressing pets in clothes. The film has a decent soundtrack and while it is an odd film, I did find myself enjoying it for the most part.


604 - Chafed Elbows (1966) - 3/10 - Another strange film from Robert Downey Sr.


Moose Hunters (1937)
Mickey's Amateurs (1937)
Hawaiian Holiday (1937)

[Rusty]

605 - A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora’s Box (1995) - 7/10 - The Monkey King is kicked out of heaven and is reincarnated as a human named Joker who leads a group of outlaws. When a couple of supernatural beings come in search of Monkey, it sets off a chain of events with plenty of action and humor. It's pretty silly, but still fun.


606 - A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella (1995) - 6.5/10 - More silliness ensues as the story from the first part continues. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Pandora's Box.


607 - The Private Eyes / Ban jin ba liang (1976) - 7.5/10 - The Hui brothers star in this comedy about a kung fu expert named Lee (Samuel Hui) who loses his factory job and seeks employment at a detective agency run by a man named Wong (Michael Hui) with an overworked assistant (Ricky Hui). There is plenty of physical comedy as well as other types of comedy and it is a nice ride as they go from situation to situation. There's also plenty of fun stuff when they are not working on any particular case.


608 - Tai-Chi Master / Tai gik Cheung Sam Fung (1993) - 6.5/10 - Two boys are raised together at a Shaolin temple, but are kicked out. One becomes a military commander while the other takes a more peaceful approach through Tai Chi. The two come into conflict with each other due to a civil war and their different paths. Michelle Yeoh is good in a supporting role and Jet Li was also good. I thought the film lagged a bit in the middle, but it had a nice finish.


609 - Dragons Forever / Fei lung mang jeung (1988) - 7/10 - Jackie Chan stars as a hotshot lawyer who is hired to protect a chemical plant by whatever means. He targets an activist opposed to the chemical plant, but ends up falling for her instead. He enlists two friends and there are some humorous mixups early on.


610 - Mr. Vampire / Geung see sin sang (1985) - 7.5/10 - Ghosts and hopping vampires are part of the fun here. A priest and his two bumbling assistants try to put a stop to the mayhem. The special effects are pretty good and it's an entertaining film.

[Rusty]

611 - Baby Face (1933) - 7.5/10 - Barbara Stanwyck stars as a woman who is tired of men expecting to have their way with her so she decides to use her charms to her own advantage. She alternately seduces men and plays the innocent to work her way up the ladder into better social and financial positions. Stanwyck is pretty good in her role and Theresa Harris has a small, but decent supporting role as her friend (and later maid).


612 - City Streets (1931) - 7/10 - Sylvia Sidney stars as the daughter of a man who works for the mob. When the father sees an opportunity to move up in the organization, he doesn't hesitate to involve his innocent daughter and let her take a rap as an accessory to murder. When she gets out, she is disillusioned and wants nothing more to do with her father and the mob. Gary Cooper has a relatively small role as her love interest with a talent for using a gun who eventually joins the mob.


613 - Frisco Jenny (1932) - 6.5/10 - Ruth Chatterton stars as a woman who loses her father and boyfriend in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Soon after, she gives birth to a son, but eventually has to give him up due to her connections to vice in the city. Chatterton gives a decent performance, but the story was somewhat lacking in emotional impact.


614 - Hell's Highway (1932) - 6/10 - A chain gang is being used as a road building crew where the man running the prison camp doesn't hesitate to employ the lash on prisoners and to use things like a sweat box as punishment. One tough prisoner sees his younger brother arrive and tries to protect him. Richard Dix isn't bad, but the movie itself is only okay.


615 - Her Man (1930) - 6.5/10 - A sailor and a prostitute fall in love in Havana. She wants to get away from the life she is in, but her pimp has other ideas. It had a few decent scenes, but was kind of boring overall.


616 - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) - 6/10 - I read this book back in the early 1990s and didn't like it very much. The movie seems to be a pretty good adaptation of the book from what I can recall and I did end up enjoying it more than the book itself based on the visuals and performances. It's still pretty bizarre.


617 - No Retreat, No Surrender (1985) - 4/10 - A man who runs a karate school moves his family from Seattle to Los Angeles after a gangster has his leg broken in a bid to take over the school. His teenage son idolizes Bruce Lee, but runs into a few bullies after the move and needs to get better at karate so he ends up getting help from an unexpected source. The acting was pretty bad and so are the fights and the movie.