The Monster Squad

Time for a short rewind to the 80s with The Monster Squad. The story centers on a group of young kids who are really into monsters, the Universal Horror variety of Frankenstein, Wolfman and Dracula. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for them, they get to do battle with those very creatures. While watching it, I felt like it was the younger cousin of The Goonies or Lost Boys.

Most of the plot details leave a lot to be desired such as why this actually happens where it does, where the Van Helsing book comes from, how did the crystal get in the basement of the house, etc. And all of this written by Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black! However, this movie is obviously for young kids with a love of classic monsters so you can't fault it too much...or can you? Check out the trailer and judge for yourself.

The Edge of Heaven

The Edge Of Heaven is the latest film from one of my favorite directors, Fatih Akin. I've only seen two of his other films (Im Juli and Head-On) but they both really impressed me, especially Head-On which is a definite must-see for anyone. This most recent movie wasn't as powerful as the the last two but it still had a lot of what I love about his work.

The story concerns the interconnecting paths of a group of characters: a Turkish immigrant and his German-born son, a Turkish-German prostitute and her missing daughter, and a German student and her mother. It's simply a story about life and relationships, especially the one between parent and child.

Check out the trailer.

Chopper

Chopper is a semi-autobiographical account of part of the life of Mark "Chopper" Read, one of Australia's most famous criminals (and top best-selling author).

Eric Bana stars as Chopper, completely transforming himself into the violent criminal with an explosive temper. However, Chopper is also quite witty and charismatic and it's this aspect of his personality that is appealing enough to keep you watching through all the ear-hacking, face stabbing and gory gunfire.

The trailer is an excellent example of what to expect from this film.

Bluebeard

Bluebeard is another film from the Edgar G. Ulmer Archive DVD set. This thriller takes place during the 19th century in a fearful Paris; there is a killer of women on the loose.

The film starts off with a trio of women walking home together terrified to be alone at night. They run into the local puppeteer (John Carradine) who invites them to see his Faust puppet show in the park. At the same time, the police are closing in on the killer.

This movie is all about atmosphere, physically and psychologically. Carradine's portrayal of the lovesick yet psychotic Gaston is so subtle and utterly effective. Although it's a bit melodramatic by today's standards, it is still highly intriguing and enjoyable.

Jupiter's Darling

Jupiter's Darling is one of Hollywood's Technicolor musical extravaganzas filled with singing and dancing (and in this case, swimming). It stars Esther Williams as the betrothed of Emperor Fabius Maximus (George Sanders). However, Hannibal (Howard Keel) and his elephants are coming to conquer Rome and she finds him a bit more exciting.

To plot a movie like this around a serious historical event is a bit odd, to say the least. Hannibal is the only one who takes the whole mission of wiping out an entire city serious. Everyone else is too busy having fun swimming with underwater statues or dancing with elephants (as Marge and Gower Champion do). It has songs with lines like "If this what it's like being a slave, I don't want to be free". And this exchange between two Roman slaves: "Don't you have any manners?" "No, I'm a barbarian". But all is forgiven because the movie is a lot fun. Esther Williams is beautiful and charming, Howard Keel has an incredible voice, and the Champions are fascinating dancers.

Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Silk Stocking

Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Silk Stocking was originally produced for BBC television. I'm not a Sherlock Holmes fanatic so I can't be any judge of how accurate it portrays the world's greatest detective but I can say that as a layman I enjoyed it very much.

This version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creation is played by Rupert Everett with Ian Hart as Dr. Watson. On the eve of his marriage to an American woman, Watson gets Holmes interested in the acts of a serial killer who is preying on young society girls; his calling card is a silk stocking wrapped around her neck and another stuffed in her mouth. It really is all a bit fetishistic.

The Masterpiece Theatre mini-site has a preview of the film.

Black Sunday

Back in the 1970s when Black Sunday was released, a terrorist attack on American soil was pretty much solely the stuff of movie thrillers; nowadays it's a reality. This change in the state of the world actually makes this film much more up-to-date than it really should be. Let's just say, it aged well.

Bruce Dern is a former Vietnam War POW who is extremely bitter after being court martialed. He teams up with members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September in planning a massive attack on the 80,000 football fans at that year's Super Bowl. The FBI and an Israeli agent (Robert Shaw) only know part of the plan and race against time to find out the where and the when of this imminent massacre.

When the movie first started, I was afraid that it was going to be bogged down by too much intrigue. However, the action quickly moves away from Beirut (where the film begins) to America, focusing on Dern's mental deterioration and Shaw's investigation. John Frankenheimer's direction is excellent as usual with his signature style of setting the action smack dab in the middle of real people and real situations.

Moon Over Harlem (1939)

Moon Over Harlem is a low-budget, all-black cast drama by prolific director Edgar G. Ulmer. Typical to these types of film there is the prerequisite Cotton Club-type song and dance numbers. However, atypical is the fair amount respect given to the black cast by not portraying them with too harsh cliche stereotypes.

The film starts off with "Dollar Bill" marrying the recently widowed Minnie. Unfortunately Dollar Bill doesn't have the best intentions; he's a womanizing gangster involved in racketeering and extortion. Minnie's daughter Sue is aware of Bill's lifestyle but nothing she can say can convince her mother he's a ne'er-do-well.

Available: Netflix, Amazon

The Black Cat

The Black Cat is loosely based on the Edgar Allen Poe story of the same name. This version is directed by Italian horror movie favorite Lucio Fulci who is best known for his gory (but convoluted) zombie movies. Luckily this movie is fairly cohesive with only a few minor bits that don't make sense; just don't think too hard about the details and you'll be fine.

The story concerns a psychic (Patrick Magee) who communicates with the dead, and his evil black cat who likes to kill people. There doesn't seem to be any real explanation as to why the cat is killing but that's okay because the killings are done well. And even though this is a Fulci film, the deaths aren't overly gory but that's okay too.

Check out the trailer to get a better idea of what to expect from this film.

Circus of Fear

Circus Of Fear was originally released in the US under the title Psycho Circus (which is a better description for this film, in my opinion). It was also released in B&W even though it was shot in color. Of course watching this in B&W would take away a lot of what makes it great; luckily the DVD print is in glorious color.

The movie starts off with a gang robbing an armored truck and stealing all the money. When one of the gang panics and kills a guard, the big boss summons him to the winter quarters of a traveling circus. That gang member ends up dead and the money disappears; then things really get strange.

And what a cast of characters! There is Mr. Big the midget who is bribing Gregor the masked lion tamer (played by Christopher Lee); there is the unfaithful knife-thrower's assistant who is sleeping around with an unidentified man (who is most likely the killer); there is ring master who is there to find the man who killed his father many years before; and then there is Klaus Kinski who obviously was around for only one day of shooting and whose part is completely useless (although menacing looks from Kinski are always welcome in any film).

View the UK trailer.

Dead Man's Shoes

I can't believe it's taken me so long to finally see this film. I also can't believe that it's not as well-known as I thought it was. Dead Man's Shoes was released in the UK almost four years ago; more people need to this movie, now.

The film is directed by Shane Meadows and stars Paddy Considine as a returning soldier who dishes out revenge on the men who harmed his mentally challenged brother Anthony (played by Toby Kebbell). There's really not much more than that plot-wise. However the writing, direction and acting of this film is what really makes it worth it. It really is a text-book example of how a movie should be done.

View the trailer on the film's official site.

Charlie Chan at the Circus (1936)

This month on TCM the spotlight is Race & Hollywood: Asian Images in Film. The movies showcased will include those with negative racial stereotypes or have Caucasians portraying Asian characters. As part of this I was able to watch Charlie Chan at the Circus.

This was the eleventh film that Fox produced starring Warner Oland as the detective Charlie Chan. He would end up making a total of sixteen Charlie Chan films before Sidney Toler took over the role. This movie starts off with Charlie Chan and his twelve children enjoying a day at the circus. Of course someone gets murdered and Charlie gets involved in the investigation with the help of this Number One Son (played by Keye Luke).

I am surprised how much I enjoyed this film. The circus setting was great since it allowed an interesting array of characters to be involved: sideshow midgets, trapeze artists, a snake-charmer and an escaped gorilla. Keye Luke was excellent as the comic relief especially when he dressed as woman pushing a baby carriage with a midget disguised as a baby. However as silly as this all sounds, it was never presented as goofy or stupid just as a lightening of the mood as they tried to track down the killer.

The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon is one of those classic films that should be viewed by everyone. It stars Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade, author Dashiell Hammett's famous hard-boiled private detective character. Spade gets involved with a group of unscrupulous personalities when Ruth Wonderly (played by Mary Astor) comes to his agency asking him to tail a man whom she claims is running off with her sister. Of course this story is not true; in fact, almost everything Ruth says is a lie. As Spade tries to get to the truth more shady characters pop up including Joel Cairo (a young, curly-haired Peter Lorre), the Fat Man (Sydney Greenstreet) & his boy Wilmer (character actor Elisha Cook, Jr).

The copy of this film that I watched was from the Special Edition 3-disk set that was released a couple of years ago. Not only does it contain this 1941 version, but also two other filmed versions and several radio plays with many of the same actors.

Man With The Screaming Brain

Man With The Screaming Brain is written, directed by and stars Bruce Campbell, B-movie actor best known for the Evil Dead films and cult classic Bubba Ho-Tep.

The plot of the film concerns an American drug company CEO who travels to Bulgaria for business concerns. Unfortunately a psycho scorned lover (played by Tamara Gorski) murders him. But do not fear! Crazy scientist Dr. Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov (played by an almost unrecognizable Stacy Keach) has just perfected an anti-organ rejection drug and uses it to replace the damaged part of the businessman's brain with the donor brain of a taxi driver. Of course, the cabbie's brain controls half his body resulting in slapstick physical comedy reminiscent of Steve Martin in his half-body possession film, All of Me.

The movie is silly and goofy with ridiculous characters and ridiculous situations. However, it doesn't take itself seriously at all so there is no reason why the viewer should either.

View the trailer on the film's official site.

Summer and Smoke

Based on a Tennessee Williams play, Summer And Smoke is a story of repressed desires in a southern town during one hot summer.

Laurence Harvey plays the doctor's son, known for his wild ways. Geraldine Page plays the priest's daughter who lives next door and, although still young, is quickly becoming known as the town spinster. Can she tame him or does he corrupt her?

It's all very typically Tennessee Williams. And after watching this, I realize that I'm not really a terribly big fan of his work. These plays are probably much better on stage; but when they are produced as Hollywood movies, they come across just a little too melodramatic for me. View the trailer to see if it's within your tastes.