Category: Movies

“Invaders from Mars” (1953) starring Helena Carter, Arthur Franz and Jimmy Hunt / Z-View

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Invaders from Mars (1953)

Director: William Cameron Menzies

Screenplay: Richard Blake; story by John Tucker Battle

Stars: Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Jimmy Hunt, Leif Erickson, Hillary Brooke, Morris Ankrum, William Phipps, Milburn Stone, Fay Baker, Barbara Billingsley, Peter Brocco, Charles Cane, John Eldredge, Luce Potter and Richard Deacon.

Tagline: Murderous Martian creatures from out of space!

The Plot…

Late one night a thunderstorm wakes young David MacLean (Hunt).  Looking out his bedroom window David sees a flying saucer land just beyond a hill out back.  David runs to wake his parents, but they brush it off thinking David had a bad dream.

The next morning in order to appease his son, David’s dad agrees to go check things out.  When dad returns, he is cold and emotionless towards David.  Before too long David sees his mother and neighbors behaving the same way.  So he goes to the police.  They don’t believe him either… but a county health care physician, Dr. Pat Blake (Carter) does.

Dr. Carter takes Jimmy and contacts the military.  Will they be too late to stop an alien invasion… even if they do believe her?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Richard Deacon appears uncredited as an Military Police officer.  It was his feature film debut.  Deacon would become most famous for his role as Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Invaders from Mars is famous for it’s ending… was it just a dream?

The film starts off pretty good.  It has a nightmare quality and rightly so, but is hurt by too much stock footage and cheap looking “invaders”.

Invaders from Mars (1953) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“Wolf Man” starring Julia Garner – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Wolf Man starring Julia Garner, the poster and trailer are here!

Deal me in.

What if someone you loved became something else? #WolfManMovie only in theaters January 17.

—
From Blumhouse and visionary writer-director Leigh Whannell, the creators of the chilling modern monster tale The Invisible Man, comes a terrifying new lupine nightmare: Wolf Man.

Golden Globe nominee Christopher Abbott (Poor Things, It Comes at Night) stars as Blake, a San Francisco husband and father, who inherits his remote childhood home in rural Oregon after his own father vanishes and is presumed dead. With his marriage to his high-powered wife, Charlotte (Emmy winner Julia Garner; Ozark, Inventing Anna), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (Matlida Firth; Hullraisers, Coma).

But as the family approaches the farmhouse in the dead of night, they’re attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, and Charlotte will be forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without.

The film co-stars Sam Jaeger (The Handmaid’s Tale), Ben Prendergast (The Sojourn Audio Drama) and Benedict Hardie (The Invisible Man).

Wolf Man is directed by Whannell, whose previous films with Blumhouse include The Invisible Man, Upgrade and Insidious: Chapter 3. The screenplay is written by Leigh Whannell & Corbett Tuck, Lauren Schuker Blum & Rebecca Angelo (Dumb Money).

The film is produced by Blumhouse founder and CEO Jason Blum and is executive produced by Ryan Gosling, Ken Kao, Bea Sequeira, Mel Turner and Leigh Whannell. Wolf Man is a Blumhouse and Motel Movies production.

“Werewolves” starring Frank Grillo – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster and trailer for Werewolves screams “Drive-In Movie!” and I’m here for it.

Deal me in.

Described as The Purge with werewolves, Steven C. Miller‘s (Silent Night) Werewolves will be unleashed in theaters December 6, 2024.

From Briarcliff Entertainment and The Solution Entertainment Group, Steven C. Miller’s Werewolves stars Frank Grillo.

In Werewolves, “a supermoon event triggers a latent gene in every human on the planet, turning anyone who entered the moonlight into a werewolf for that one night. Chaos ensued and close to a billion people died. Now, a year later, the Supermoon is back.”

Katrina Law (NCIS), Ilfenesh Hadera (Godfather Of Harlem), James Michael Cummings (City On The Hill) and Lou Diamond Phillips (Prodigal Son) also star.

Werewolves is rated “R” for “Violence, some gore, and language.”

“Apartment 7A” (2024) starring Julia Garner / Z-View

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Apartment 7A (2024)

Director: Natalie Erika James

Screenplay: Natalie Erika James, Christian White, Skylar James; story by Skylar James; based on ROSEMARY’S BABY by Ira Levin

Stars: Julia Garner, Dianne Wiest, Kevin McNally, Jim Sturgess, Rosy McEwen, Anton Blake Horowitz, Patrick Lyster and Andre Lillis.

Tagline: Rosemary was not the first.

The Plot…

Terry Gionoffrio (Garner) is a dancer who came to New York with big dreams.  Terry has a lead role on Broadway when she badly breaks her ankle during a performance.  When her ankle heals, Terry struggles during auditions.  Her bright future seems over.  Terry’s reputation precedes her.  She has become known as “the girl who fell”.

Unable to get a job dancing and with her bills piling up, Terry is running out of options. Then Terry meets a nice older couple named Minnie (Wiest) and Roman Castevet (McNally).  A friendship between the three develops.  Minnie and Roman offer to help Terry get back on her feet.  They live in the Bramford apartment building and say she can live in Apartment 7A rent-free.

How could Terry refuse such a generous offer?  The Castevets are godsend!

Terry will come to learn that the Castevets are the farthest thing from a godsend.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Apartment 7A is a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby.  If you haven’t seen the original film, it won’t hurt your enjoyment of Apartment 7A.  You will get a bigger kick out of the final scene if you have.

If you only know Julia Garner from Ozark, you may not recognize her.  She does an excellent job here as well as in Ozark.

Apartment 7A (2024) rates 4 of 5 stars.

“Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes”- The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster and trailer for Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes are here.  I’m a Bogart fan and look forward to see this one.

Narrated in his own words, the first official documentary to explore the remarkable life and legacy of Hollywood legend and cultural icon Humphrey Bogart. Framed around the five key women in his life, the film intricately weaves together his most important relationships against a backdrop of world events giving a fresh and captivating perspective on one of Hollywood’s most revered stars.

In Select Theaters November 15

“Endurance” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The clever poster and compelling trailer for Endurance worked.

Deal me in.

In a legendary feat of leadership and perseverance, polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton kept his crew of 27 men alive for over a year despite the loss of their ship in frigid pack ice. Over a century later, a team of modern-day explorers sets out to find the sunken ship. From National Geographic Documentary Films and directed by Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin and Natalie Hewit, ENDURANCE tells the inspiring stories of these two landmark expeditions, bound by their shared grit and determination.

The 20 All-Time Best Noir Films!

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Christian Blauvelt at IndieWire came up with a list of The 20 Best Film Noir Movies of All Time.  It’s not a bad list.

I’ve seen 16 of the top 20.  The films I haven’t seen are ‘Christmas Holiday’ (dir. Robert Siodmak, 1944); ‘Leave Her to Heaven’ (dir. John M. Stahl, 1945);  ‘The Reckless Moment’ (dir. Max Ophuls, 1949) and ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ (dir. Alexander Mackendrick, 1957).

Using just Blauvelt’s 20, here are my top five (in alphabetical order)…

  • Big Sleep, The (dir. Howard Hawks, 1946)
  • Double Indemnity (dir. Billy Wilder, 1944)
  • In a Lonely Place (dir. Nicholas Ray, 1950)
  • Night of the Hunter (dir. Charles Laughton, 1955)
  • Touch of Evil (dir. Orson Welles, 1958)

There are two noirs that would have made my top five had they made Blauvelt’s list: The Postman Always Rings Twice and The Big Heat.

For some reason I usually don’t consider Night of the Hunter a noir film.  Same goes for The Maltese Falcon.  I love both of them, but they don’t usually come to mind.

“Tarzan’s Revenge” (1938) / Z-View

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Tarzan’s Revenge (1938)

Director: D. Ross Lederman

Screenplay: Robert Lee Johnson, Jay Vann, based on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Stars: Glenn Morris, C. Henry Gordon, Hedda Hopper, Joe Sawyer, George Meeker, Howard Hickman and Al Thompson.

Tagline: TARZAN CALLS AGAIN…and new thrills sweep the jungle wilds!

The Plot…

An expedition into the jungles of Africa runs into trouble with a dangerous tribe.  Tarzan to the rescue.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Tarzan’s Revenge is really bad.  Poor acting equal to the poor story and direction.  Tarzan’s yell will make you laugh.

Glenn Morris gets the least amount of screen time of any actor who has played Tarzan.  For that you’ll be thankful.

Tarzan’s Revenge (1938) rates 1 of 5 stars.

“Get Fast” starring Lou Diamond Phillips and James C. Clayton – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster and trailer for Get Fast scream fun drive-in movie.

Deal me in.

US Release Date: November 15, 2024

Starring: Lou Diamond Phillips, Bradley Stryker, Alisha-Marie Ahamed, Fei Ren

Synopsis: After a heist goes wrong, a thief and a troubled orphan must rescue his kidnapped partner from a ruthless drug lord and her charming hitman. With guns, cars, and explosions, their escape is a high-stakes race against time.

“I Am Not Your Negro” (2016) directed by Raoul Peck / Z-View

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I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

Director: Raoul Peck

Screenplay: James Baldwin, Raoul Peck based on Remember This House by James Baldwin

Stars: James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, Robert F. Kennedy, Harry Belafonte, Dick Cavett, Bob Dylan, Sidney Poitier, Ray Charles, Doris Day, Gary Cooper, Tony Curtis, Joan Crawford, Rod Steiger, Richard Widmark, Fay Wray, Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston, Michelle Obama, George W. Bush, Stepin Fetchit, Audrey Hepburn, J. Edgar Hoover, Coretta Scott King, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Samuel L. Jackson (narration).

Tagline: In “Remember This House” Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished -a radical narration about race in America, through the lives and assassinations of three of his friends: Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers and Malcolm X. using only the writer’s original words.

The Plot…

Author and activist, James Baldwin intended to write a book exploring racism in America through his eyes and what he learned from his friends civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evers.  Baldwin started the manuscript but died before it was finished.

Filmmaker Raoul Peck decided to make a documentary using Baldwin’s manuscript, his words from interviews and writings to create a film that would envision Baldwin’s planned book.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Nominated for 2017 Academy Award Best Documentary Feature.

James Baldwin was a fascinating speaker.  He was intelligent, perceptive and had the ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hand.

I Am Not Your Negro (2016) rates 4 of 5 stars.

“Aftermath” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster for Aftermath is okay, but the trailer has me interested.

Deal me in.

US Release Date: November 1, 2024
Starring: Dylan Sprouse, Megan Scott, Nick Apostolides
Director: Patrick Lussier
Synopsis: A returning war veteran, stricken with PTSD, gets trapped with his teenage sister on Boston’s Tobin Memorial Bridge as a heavily weaponized group of ex-military revolutionists takes everyone hostage.