Enola Holmes (2020)
I enjoyed this quite a bit. Stars the girl who plays 11 in Stranger Things.
It was a good film, though I can't help thinking the actors playing Sherlock and Mycroft should be switched. Mycroft with his short hair and tache is more how I image Sherlock would look. A bit like H G Wells and Elgar.
42nd Street. Busby Berkeley extravaganza offers backstage look at the creation of a Broadway type musical during 1930s depression. Beginning dancer Ruby Keeler gets her first job as a chorus girl and rises to the top when offered the lead after star of the show breaks her ankle. Great dance numbers, clever dialogue, and exceptional camera work make this a must see. When Keeler tosses her skirt aside, hang on!
THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD 1957 -- Years and years it has been since I watched this--hard to forget the creature! For 1950s mechanical puppetry it is still pretty good.
SWEET SWEET RACHEL 1971 - Pilot for a psychic investigator series. Seen it years ago too but all I remember was a scary phone call with strange cards being listed. "Eye! Knife! Raven! Doll! Coffin!"
The shtick of the show is a former surgeon who is sensitive to psychic suggestion and he has a partner who is psychic and blind. And odd couple they certainly make. They made casting changes to it after the pilot (a common occurrence).
Early talkie of the Old Dark House variety, with horror movie elements and one heck of a villainess. An elderly woman with a fear of being buried alive has a loud alarm horn installed in her crypt, just in case she needs to be rescued. Meanwhile, she changes her will so her money will go to her weak-willed, drunken nephew instead of her muscular but mentally challenged son. Openly out to get her hands on the money is the drunk's wife, who is our femme fatale. In short order, she manipulates her husband into killing his aunt; her lover into murdering her husband; and the dimwitted son into murdering her lover. In addition to this macabre domino effect, we've got one of the victims resurrected temporarily via an adrenaline shot, only to be killed again. Then there's the apparent return of the elderly woman from the grave. The villainess vamps every man she sees shamelessly and slinks around in pre-Code satin gowns that cling to her body like Saran Wrap. Her performance definitely makes up for the movie's creaky, stagey filming. You don't know whether or not she's going to get away with multiple murder by proxy until the very last minute of the film.
Ordinary low budget semi-comic whodunit that suddenly turns into a Mad Scientist movie during the last ten minutes. It seems that somebody has been killing folks who went on trial for murder, but were acquitted. The victims seem to have been strangled, and have a little note signed "Rx." Our hero, a private eye, gets hired by the defense attorney who happened to get the victims acquitted. Most of the rest of the film gets filled up with comedy relief, from an Irish cop, an African-American servant, and banter between the hero and his girlfriend, later his wife. Lionel Atwill shows up very briefly as an obvious red herring. Along the way another victim gets killed immediately after getting acquitted, apparently strangled by an invisible killer in a courtroom full of witnesses. Various folks try to get the guy off the case, and try to get the guy to stay on the case. Along the way we find out that some other guy who was investigating the case witnessed something so terrifying that his hair turned white and he went insane.
At the very end, our hero gets captured by the killer, wearing a hood, and winds up in a typical Mad Scientist lab. The villain has a gorilla, and intends to switch its brain with that of our hero! Cut to the hero back at home, and the solution to the mystery, with no real explanation as to how he got away! The hero just blacks out, and later says he doesn't remember what happened! The whole thing about an apparently invisible strangler is explained by a pen that shoots tiny poison darts. Other than this ridiculous climax, it's a pretty dull affair.
THE VAMPIRE LOVERS 1970 -- It seems as though the years 68-72 were a particularly intense period for horror films. Vampires especially were everywhere. Dracula, Count Yorga, Blacula, the Karnsteins. A Hammer-AIP co-production, although well-made and atmospheric, I don't consider this a favorite. Of the three Karnstein films I prefer Twins of Evil.
Hot Fuzz (2007) - A comedy about a tough, by-the-book urban policeman posted to a rural backwater. In no time, the hero uncovers a sinister conspiracy that seems to take in the whole village.
Simon Pegg is very good as the uptight hero, a change from his usual responsibility-dodging manchild characters. The supporting cast, including some serious British actors, are very solid. The rural types are very recognisable and, while there are some obvious straw-chewing yokels, the characterisation is spot on: I've met people like Olivia Coleman's lewd Doris, or the incoherent, shotgun-collecting old farmer, but I've never seen them portrayed before. The film skilfully satirises country life - in particular, the sense of "You're not one of us so you can't criticise us, and if you were one of us you wouldn't criticise us", which is still quite common in rural England.
Overall, very good indeed. My only quibble is that the gore is a bit excessive for a comedy like this, which might put some viewers off.
The World's End (2013) - The final film in the Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost sequence that began with Shaun of the Dead. A slightly crazed and deeply underachieving man (Pegg) coaxes four former schoolfriends to repeat a pub crawl they did as teenagers. On the way, they discover an alien plot to conquer the earth.
Despite its similarities to Shaun and Hot Fuzz, this doesn't really work for me. The conspiracy is too bizarre and Pegg's character (perhaps meant to be more realistic than Shaun or Tim from Spaced) is both more annoying and less sympathetic. The way that the characters persist with the pub crawl doesn't feel convincing, even on comedic terms. It's hard not to feel that these guys have done this sort of thing better elsewhere. On the other hand, it's funnier than most comedies and worth a look, and Nick Frost is good as (unusually) the most grown up of the friends. Pretty good.
Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) I am not into Who, but as Peter Cushing had the title role here & its sequel, I watched both. I enjoyed both. Ben M. mentioned that Cushing's portrayal of Dr. Who was not much like the TV series version, because some viewers might not be familiar with the series.
Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) I think the flying saucer was very impressive, given the film was made inn the 1960s. Very much fun, both films!
The Killer Shrews (1959) One of my favorite B-horror films! Very difficult to get a good in-focus screen capture of the shrews's snouts poking through a hole in the adobe walls, but, I finally got one! Poor characters! Screenwriters make them do the stupidest things!
So, scientists on a remote and otherwise uninhabited island are using shrews because of their very brief reproductive cycle -- they bring forth new offspring in a matter of weeks, so the scientists can have many generations in just one year. The head scientist (Gordon McLendon) hopes to reduce the size of humans in order to reduce the demand for food. Quite the contrary of the Scientist in TARANTULA, who hoped to increase the size of livestock!
But, wouldn't you know it, a mutated species of shrew pops up, grows to the size of wolves, and has toxic saliva, and escapes from the lab. Captain Thorne Sherman (James Best) arrives at the worst possible time, just ahead of a hurricane, and is lured into staying for dinner, after which they tell him it is dangerous to go out after dark. Now he is stuck, and the shews have exhausted all the other sources of food on the island!
so, they use these conveniently empty oval-shaped steel drums to make armor to use to crawl from the house to the ocean, good thing shews cannot swim. Just as they are nearing the shore, the professor's daughter shouts in terror 'quicksand!' O.k., so where is it? I was a bit disappointed that only the word itself was used. No real or even fake movie quicksand!
THE RACKET (1951) NOIR ALLEY & noir remake of a 1929 crime film, which I saw some years ago. In both cases, & likely the stage version also, honest cop McQuigg is precinct Captain, & is frequently transferred from one place to another, once the corrupt politicians in league with the criminals, set-up shop in those towns. So, this version has Captain McQuigg (Robert Mitchum) & mobster Nick Scanlon (Robert Ryan), apparently having grown-up as friends, or, at least, acquaintances. Not that it makes much difference. Scanlon has a younger brother, whom he spoils with un-earned money, college education, etc., hoping he will become a proper socialite. But, little brother has fallen for a nightclub singer (Lizabeth Scott), much to big brother's disgust. As I recall, the 1928 version, had the kid brother a young adolescent, in military academy, who was in an entirely different type of trouble.
Anyway, Mcquigg decides that the kid brother is Scanlon's weakness, and, he should work on him. The punk is a snot-nosed nose-in-the-air type, who steal a Rolls-Royce after big brother, enraged about the nightclub singer, takes away his car. Arrested, he tries to use his identity as a get-out-of-jail-free card, but that fails. The singer, is also detained, but, only for her own safety. Nobody does fury like Ryan, is nearly explodes when he cannot convince the political boss, whose reelection is nigh, to get kid brother released. Being insane with rage, he threatens to tell on the political machine, and storm out, intending to confront McQuig at the police station.
Detective Sergeant Turk (William Conrad), part of the corrupt political machine is ordered to make sure Scanlon does not talk. Very intense film!
I have seen this [Death Curse of Tart]u]! The thing could not be killed, but by natural forces, as I recall. Thanks, Victoria Silverwolf! I was wanting to remember the title.
Early exploration of the transgender theme. We first meet our main character watching pretty ciswomen walk by. Typical heterosexual cisman behavior? Not really, because we quickly find out that the protagonist is a transwoman in a genetically male body, dressing and living like a cisman. I'm using these terms, although the film doesn't, because it's impossible to watch the movie without realizing how times have changed. Anyway, the character is caught by Father in women's clothing, leading to a huge fight. The protagonist leaves home, thanks to having a small inheritance from a dead Mother, and slowly goes through the process of dressing and living like a ciswoman.
(You'll notice that my sentences are awkward, because I'm trying to avoid the use of gendered pronouns.)
Eventually the main character, who up to this point doesn't seem to have any sexual interest in anyone of any gender, wins the attention of a cisman. This doesn't work out well, leading to a scene of sudden violence. Then we get a semi-happy ending.
This film must have been quite progressive in its day, although some of the ways in which it presents the protagonist are cringe-worthy today. The main character is presented as extremely, almost ludicrously, feminine, like a Stepford Wife. The ciswomen in the movie are much less girly.
One problem with making this kind of film is casting the lead role. If you don't have a transgendered performer portraying the role -- not likely at the time -- what do you do? In this case, they went with a ciswoman (Anne Heywood.) She (I can use gendered pronouns now) isn't very convincing as the protagonist when living as a cisman, and does better when living as a ciswoman. Overall, an interesting look at attitudes which have changed, at least to some extent.
Two comedic 'horror' films, both with a very young Jack Nicholson in supporting roles:
THE RAVEN (1963) Dr. Craven (Vincent Price) is minding his own business, when --why do I bother? everybody knows this one!
In my opinion, Price as Craven defeating Karloff as Scarabus is a way of the old horror stars giving way to the new one. O.k., so both continue well into the 1960s, & Price was not a young man, but it seems to me this!
Peter Lorre had really put on weight! He seemed to be the link between the old horror & the new; though, horror was not new to him, crime drama was his usual genre. He died a few years after making The Raven.
THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960) Not much point in detailing this one's plot, either. Loved Jack's Hollywood smile, though!
Oculus (2013): I expected this to be a mediocre horror film; I remember seeing the trailer and not being very impressed. Having watched it now, I'm surprised at how well it was put together, especially plot-wise. It meshes the supernatural with the psychological very well. I didn't expect the downer ending; for some reason I expected a Hollywood ending, but am glad we didn't get it. The idea sounds unimpressive (a haunted mirror) but the film has less to do with that and more to do with tragedy and the horror of being thrust into the unknown as a defenseless child.
Efficient police procedural/whodunit. The burglary of a real estate office, where only leases were stolen, leads to the discovery of a murder. The cops put in a lot of foot work, leading to dead ends, red herrings, etc. Almost documentary style, with no music on the soundtrack. Not bad at all.
Traditional murder mystery, set at a girls' school. One of the teachers is found strangled with a scarf, which happens to belong to another teacher, our heroine/amateur detective. The victim was disliked by all the other teachers and students, and was having an affair with a married man, so we've got plenty of suspects. Clues include a book of matches, a missing pair of shoes, and so on. It's a decent example of the genre.
Kitchen sink drama about a couple of teenagers who get married, then quickly develop serious compatibility problems. When the boy's grandfather dies, he wants to move in with the grandmother, so she won't have to go into an old age home. This is the last straw for the girl, so she stays in their tiny flat while he moves in with grandmother, as well as his homeless buddy, with whom he shares a love of motorcycles. The buddy seems to be trying to keep the married couple apart. Another clue is that, when the two guys go off on a trip to the seaside and chat up a couple of giggling girls, the buddy has no interest in them. You have to read between the lines until the end, when it's made clear that the buddy is gay. It's something of a groundbreaking film in that way, I suppose. Even if not so, it's got fine performances and location shooting that adds a great deal of realism.
UFO: Target Earth (1974)
Ultra-low budget science fiction film that tries to mix a lot of mysticism into the flying saucer stuff. First we get some phony interviews with people who have encountered UFOs. Then our title sequence, with a groovy soft psychedelic rock song on the soundtrack, and grainy photos of UFOs. Enjoy them, because these are the only ones we'll see. The nearly incomprehensible plot involves a guy who somehow overhears a secret military discussion about UFOs on his own telephone. This leads to flashbacks to when he was a little kid, and saw a bright light scare him while he was in bed. His mom tells him its just his "waking light." (?) Somehow or other he gets involved with some science/computer types and a psychic. The psychic freaks out at a bar or restaurant or something, hyperventilating while the music on the juke box slows down to a crawl and the electricity fades away. Somehow this leads to a lake where they somehow (you'll see me use this word a lot) figure out a UFO landed one thousand years ago. (Hilariously, they just had an interview with somebody who witnessed that landing.) Eventually, the completely unseen aliens produce a bunch of hippie light show type images on a TV set, like a bargain basement version of 2001: A Space Odyssey, spout off some mystical nonsense, and tell the guy that he's only the fourth person in history to be worthy of ascending. Guys walks into the lake, and the computer guy tries to pull him out, but there's only a skull left. Then the movie ends with a quote from the Book of Revelations:
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation
I Saw What You Did And I Know Who You Are 1965 - William Castle film about three girls who make prank phone calls and it backfires when they start pranking a killer. A mix of comedy and suspense--the comedy doesn't date much all things considered.
Quatermass and the Pit 1967 - Martians jumping! Leaping!
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One of my favorite B-horror films! Very difficult to get a good in-focus screen capture of the shrews's snouts poking through a hole in the adobe walls, but, I finally got one! 
