The Incredible Hulk (1977)

Film Title: The Incredible Hulk
Released: November 4, 1977
Directed by: Kenneth Johnson
Written by: Kenneth Johnson based on the character created by Jack Kirby & Stan Lee
Starring: Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno, Jack Colvin & Susan Sullivan

Plot: A scientist researching feats of superhuman strength in ordinary people performs an experiment on himself that causes him to become a raging green Hulk.

IMDb: 6.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 57/100
My Score: 3.5/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

This is the pilot episode of The Incredible Hulk television series. It premiered as a TV movie on CBS in the beginning of November 1977 and was followed by another TV movie at the end of the same month but it wasn't until March of 1978 that the series began running weekly. Despite it being a made-for-television pilot, the film did see a theatrical release outside of the US, including France, the Philippines, Germany and Finland. This version of the character(s) sees some significant changes in the origin story from the comic books and subsequent incarnations. In the comics (The Incredible Hulk #1, May 1962), Dr. Bruce Banner is a scientist caught in the blast of an experimental gamma bomb while saving teenager Rick Jones from the explosion. Initially, the transformation of Banner into the Hulk, whose skin was gray, happened from sunset to sunrise but this only lasted a short time as he was cured in issue #4 of the series. Afterward, he used a gamma-ray machine to induce the transformations and allowed him to harness the Hulk's power with Banner's intelligence intact. However, the machine created side effects that made him sick and weak for a time when becoming human again and the eventual overuse led to the most popular version of the Hulk, that of the rampaging, child-like green-skinned brute whose appearance is caused by anger or stress. It is this incarnation that Lou Ferrigno portrays here and in the ensuing television series and TV movies. This film introduces us to Dr. David Bruce Banner (Bill Bixby), a scientist studying regular people who exhibited extraordinary strength in times of great stress, something he could not produce when he and his wife were involved in a car accident that took her life. Bixby and his partner, Dr. Elaina Marks (the luminous Susan Sullivan), are searching for the causes of such displays of power to learn how to tap into those reservoirs of strength at will. To that end, Bixby discovers that gamma radiation plays an integral part of the manifestations and exposes himself to an unintentionally large dose of gamma rays. At first, there are noticeable effects but when he is on way home in the rain, a flat tire causes him to lose his temper and triggers his change into the Hulk. As an origin story that sets up the television series to follow, you can't get much better than The Incredible Hulk. Well plotted and well acted, the movie even sets up Jack Colvin as the unscrupulous tabloid journalist who chases Bixby/Ferrigno for the next several years. As good as Sullivan and Bixby are (both are wonderful and have a really great chemistry), the best performance for my money is from Susan Batson. Batson is the mother of a child who had an almost identical experience to that Bixby's but succeeded where he failed. Her delivery is natural and organic and the emotion she exudes in the climax of her tale almost brings one to tears themselves. Watch the clip of her speaking to Bixby and Sullivan below and see if you agree with me.

The Chance of a Lifetime (1943)

Film Title: The Chance of a Lifetime
Released: October 26, 1943
Directed by: William Castle
Written by: Paul Yawitz based on the character created by Jack Boyle
Starring: Chester Morris, Richard Lane & Erik Rolf

Plot: Boston Blackie has to help a parolee when his old partners come looking for the money they stole four years earlier and one of them ends up dead.

IMDb: 6.3/10
My Score: 3/5

The sixth film in Columbia Pictures Boston Blackie series was also the first not to contain the main character's name in the title. The Chance of a Lifetime marks the feature-length directorial debut of B-movie legend William Castle and gathers the same cast of characters that we have grown to know and love over the previous five entries: Chester Morris as Blackie, Richard Lane as police Inspector Farraday, George E. Stone as Blackie's sidekick the Runt, Walter Sande as Farraday's assistant Detective Matthews and Lloyd Corrigan as the easily flustered millionaire Arthur Manleder. Cy Kendall also returns as pawnbroker Jumbo Madigan after appearing as a villain in the last film, After Midnight with Boston Blackie. This time around, the movie opens with Morris making a case to the Governor (Pierre Watkin) to parole a group of prisoners with skills needed in the war effort. Lane is on hand to rebut Morris' proposal but when even the prison warden backs Morris up, the motion is granted and the parolees are set to stay with Morris in his apartment. When he allows one of the men (Erik Rolf) to go see his wife and child on the first night out, Rolf's former partners come looking for the $60,000 they stole together, which Rolf has just recovered. When they tussle with a revolver, one of them ends up dead and the other (Douglas Fowley) runs off when Morris shows up. Knowing that no one would believe the death occurred in self-defense, Morris agrees to help Rolf out of the predicament but when Lane catches he and Stone with the body, Morris then spends the rest of the movie trying to prove his and Rolf's innocence. Full of the comedy, drama and action that the series is known for, The Chance of a Lifetime is another fine entry into the series. If watched back to back, I can see how the films would really start to get tiresome but due to the stand alone nature of each, if watched individually they don't wear out their welcome. Co-starring Jeanne Bates as Rolf's wife, it also has appearances by Sid Melton, who would later appear on the long running Danny Thomas sitcom Make Room for Daddy, and Ray Teal, best known as Sheriff Roy Coffee on the long running western series Bonanza. Rolf went on to appear in Disney's Song of the South a few years later with his real-life wife Ruth Warrick but he died he 1957 at the age of 45. Fowley is probably best remembered as movie director Roscoe Dexter in the classic Singin' in the Rain. Watch the opening sequence of The Chance of a Lifetime below or the whole movie here.

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012)

Film Title: Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
Released: September 22, 2012 (Austin Fantastic Fest)
Directed by: John Hyams
Written by: Jon Greenhalgh, John Hyams & Doug Magnuson based on a story by Moshe Diamant & John Hyams based on characters created by Dean Devlin, Christopher Leitch & Richard Rothstein
Starring: Scott Adkins, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren & Andrei Arlovski

Plot: After a man recovers from a severe beating in which his family is murdered in front of him, he goes on a quest to find the one responsible but soon discovers that nothing is what it seems.

IMDb: 5.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 51/100
My Score: 3/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning is the sixth film in the Universal Soldier franchise but only the third to be recognized as canonical. John Hyams, director of the previous film Regeneration, returns to helm this entry, which he also co-wrote. Also returning are stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren and Andrei Arlovski. In past installments, the main character has been Luc Devereaux, usually portrayed by Van Damme, but his time, however, the focus is on series newcomer Scott Adkins. In the opening sequence, filmed in first-person perspective, Adkins is awoken by his young daughter telling him that there are monsters in the house. At the urging of his wife, he searches the house and discovers a group of masked individuals in his kitchen that proceed to viciously beat him with a crowbar. His wife and child are then dragged into his view and one of the assailants (Van Damme) removes his ski-mask before shooting the woman and little girl in the head. Fast forward nine months and Adkins awakens in a hospital from a coma. He is visited by an FBI agent (Rus Blackwell) that asks him if he remembers the attack and the man who killed his family, showing him a picture of a Van Damme for clarification. Adkins is released from the hospital and proceeds to piece together the gaps in his memory, said to be caused by his head injury, and to track down Van Damme for revenge. What follows is bit of fresh air for the franchise but the results fall somewhat short of the intentions, not quite reaching the heights it aims for. A few decent plot twists, which really shouldn't be that surprising to anyone familiar with the series, a couple of excellent fight scenes (the Adkins/Arlovski fight in the sporting goods store is definitely a highlight) and more blood and guts than the entire rest of the series combined try to compensate for the weaker points of the film. Repeated several times is an almost nauseating strobe effect that should be a concern to anyone who suffers from epilepsy and Adkins and female lead Mariah Bonner, who plays a stripper, have zero chemistry. I mentioned in my review for Regeneration that one doesn't watch a Universal Soldier film for depth. As if in response to that criticism, Day of Reckoning attempts not just to be a action film but also a violently gritty psychological thriller full of conspiracies, dilapidated locations and seedy characters, including prostitutes, governments agents and a memorable disfigured guy who has an office inside of a meat locker. Having now watched every film in the series, I realize that the script recycles many tropes from the previous entries, like cloned soldiers, messianic leaders and sleeper UniSol agents infiltrating the government. Not a terrible entry but also not as entirely new as it would appear at first glance.

Beautiful Dreamers (1990)

Film Title: Beautiful Dreamers
Released: March 1990
Directed by: John Kent Harrison
Written by: John Kent Harrison
Starring: Colm Feore & Rip Torn

Plot: Dr. Maurice Bucke, the head of the London, Ontario, insane asylum in 19th century Canada, meets American poet Walt Whitman and his world and that of those around him are never the same again.

IMDb: 6.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 2.5/5

Beautiful Dreamers is the 1990 feature length directorial debut of John Kent Harrison. A largely fictionalized account based on an actual events, Colm Feore is Dr. Maurice Bucke, appointed head of the provincial Asylum for the Insane in London, Ontario, in 1877, a post he held for almost the rest of his life. That same year, he also met American poet Walt Whitman (Rip Torn) and the two formed a lasting relationship. In fact, Bucke would become a noted Whitman biographer. The film opens with Feore beginning his duties as superintendent for the small asylum in Ontario. We are introduced to his repressed wife (Wendel Meldrum) and the stuffy local moral authority, Rev. Haines (Colin Fox). While attending a symposium in America, he encounters Torn and they bond quickly over a disdain for "modern" psychiatric practices, including restraining and beating the mentally ill and the surgical removal of the clitoris and ovaries to "cure nymphomania and moral insanity" and to "compose the high-strung, hysterical woman." Feore and Torn, whose brother (Jeff Braunstein) is mentally ill, believe that all people, regardless of their mental faculties, should be treated humanely and with compassion, much to the chagrin of the established medical and religious majority. When Feore brings Torn to stay with him in his small town, Torn's freethinking philosophies and views of life enrapture Feore but challenge everyone else in the city, causing chaos. Torn gives a fantastic portrayal of Whitman and is really the highlight of the movie. Feore walks through the film with a look of smitten wonder toward Torn, quickly becoming a disciple of Whitman's worldview. The whole piece ends up a saccharine saturated fluff piece about breaking the restraints of preconceived societal prejudices. A feel good movie that skirts the dirtier aspects of both main characters real life counterparts, Beautiful Dreamers is a passably entertaining, if somewhat slow moving, period piece co-starring Sheila McCarthy as one of Feore's mental patients. The film was nominated for four Genie Awards in 1991, including Best Achievement in Art Direction, Best Achievement in Costume Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Overall Sound, which is kind of funny to me since the sound on the copy I watched was terrible.

After Midnight with Boston Blackie (1943)

Film Title: After Midnight with Boston Blackie
Released: March 18, 1943
Directed by: Lew Landers
Written by: Howard J. Green based on a story by Aubrey Wisberg based on the character created by Jack Boyle
Starring: Chester Morris, Richard Lane & Ann Savage

Plot: Boston Blackie is accused of killing a recent parolee over some stolen diamonds and sets out to clear his name.

IMDb: 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 3/5

After Midnight with Boston Blackie is the fifth in Columbia Pictures Boston Blackie series and the second to be directed by the prolific Lew Landers. Chester Morris returns as Blackie along with Richard Lane as police Inspector Farraday, Walter Sande as his assistant Detective Mathews, George E. Stone as as Blackie's sidekick the Runt and Lloyd Corrigan as affable millionaire Arthur Manleder. When Diamond Ed Barnaby (Walter Baldwin) is paroled, he goes after his stash of diamonds to give to his daughter Betty (Ann Savage). But when his former criminal partners (Cy Kendall, Al Hill and George McKay) get to him first, Savage contacts Morris to help her find her father. When Baldwin is killed while on the telephone with Lane, the inspector automatically assumes Morris' complicity. There's also a subplot thrown in of Stone trying to get married to burlesque dance Dixie Rose Blossom (Jan Buckingham) but the nuptials keep getting interrupted by the main plot line. The heavies in After Midnight are no strangers to the series. Cy Kendall, who appears as nightclub owner Joe Herschel, is also recurring character Jumbo Madigan in Alias Boston Blackie and Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood and George McKay also appeared in Alias as Roggi the Clown. Mostly fun and fast paced in the style that the series is known for, After Midnight was the first Boston Blackie film that I actually cringed while watching. This is due to a scene in which Morris sneaks past Sande by using soot from a car's tailpipe to make him appear to be a black musician. While I'm not sure that it quite constitutes blackface, I still found myself wincing while watching it, especially when he delivered lines in a racially stereotypical voice. I understand that it was a vastly different time period socially but still for me, watching the film from my modern social perspective, it still stings. What do you think? Watch the clip which I'm referring to below or the whole movie here and let me know your thoughts.

The Invincible Iron Man (2007)

Film Title: The Invincible Iron Man

Released: January 23, 2007

Directed by: Patrick Archibald & Jay Oliva supervised by Frank Paur

Written by: Greg Johnson & Craig Kyle based on a story by Avi Arad based on characters created by Stan Lee & Larry Lieber

Starring: Marc Worden, Gwendoline Yeo & Fred Tatasciore

Plot: When industrialist Tony Stark is critically wounded by insurgents as he is raising an ancient Chinese city, he creates a suit of armor to escape. He then uses this armor, becoming the superhero Iron Man, to fight an ancient evil that has escaped from the Chinese ruins. 

IMDb: 6.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 2.5/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Appearing almost a year and a half prior to its live action counterpart, The Invincible Iron Man offers a similar but variant origin story of the titular character than either the later film or the original comic books. In all three versions, the basics are the same: billionaire genius Tony Stark is injured by villains who kidnap him; severely injured, someone saves his life with a device that is the only thing keeping him alive; once stabilized, the villains force him to build weapons for them but instead of weapons for the bad guys, Stark builds a prototype armor with the help of the person who saved his life and escapes his captors. In the comics (Tales of Suspense #39, March 1963) Stark is kidnapped by a group led by Wong-Chu and saved by Ho Yinsen who dies in the escape attempt. As Stark is making his way back to the American forces, he comes across a wounded Marine fighter pilot, James "Rhodey" Rhodes. In the live action film, Stark is kidnapped by the terrorist organization the Ten Rings, led by Raza, and saved by Yinsen, who dies in the escape attempt. Stark is then found by Rhodey, with whom he was already friends with. In this animated feature, Stark and Rhodey are both kidnapped by the insurgent group the Jade Dragons, led by Wong Chu. Rhodey saves Stark's life and they both escape their captors alive. The Jade Dragons are a group of guerrilla warriors trying to sabotage Stark's attempts to raise an ancient Chinese city because they believe that in doing so, the spirit of the Mandarin, an ancient dictator and mass murderer, will be released to wreak havoc upon the world once more. I have to say that I wasn't overly impressed with The Invincible Iron Man. The marriage of computer and traditional hand drawn animation isn't all that seamless and it takes the movie quite a while to really get rolling. In spite of that, there were a few moments where I was surprised by the hard edge the film took, like when Wong Chu shoots a fellow prisoner in the head to persuade Stark to build his weapons for him. A few small plot twists are refreshing but not really enough to overcome the fairly two-dimensional characterizations of most of the cast. Certainly not the worst animated film I've ever seen, but if you want to be satisfied by an Iron Man feature, I'd suggest the live action Jon Favreau version over this one. The movie features the talents of several accomplished voice actors including Marc Worden as Tony Stark, Gwendolyn Yeo as Li Mei, Fred Tatasciore as the Mandarin, Rodney Saulsberry as Rhodey Rhodes, Elisa Gabrielli as Pepper Potts and James Sie as Wong Chu.

Parasomnia (2008)

Film Title: Parasomnia
Also known as: Dreams of the Sleepwalker (Germany)
Released: October 17, 2008 (Screamfest Film Festival)
Directed by: William Malone
Written by: William Malone
Starring: Dylan Purcell, Cherilyn Wilson & Patrick Kilpatrick

Plot: A young girl suffering from parasomnia, a disease that causes her to literally sleep her life away, awaking only rarely, becomes the object of affection for an art student who kidnaps her from the hospital rather than let her become a guinea pig for scientific research. But little does he know that this "sleeping beauty" is being terrorized by a mass-murderer in her dreams, which the monster is now making a reality.

IMDb: 5.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 3/5

Sometimes called William Malone's Parasomnia, writer/director William Malone independently financed this project with the help of his friends. And while the end product occasionally shows its low-budget pedigree, it succeeds more than it fails, especially as an independent film. After a fantastic opening sequence in which Sean Young (her only appearance in the movie) jumps off the top of a building followed by the camera, with the impact being felt by both, we are introduced to Dylan Purcell, an art student who makes ends meet working at a record store. After his girlfriend leaves him and clears out his apartment, he visits his friend in rehab at the local hospital who tells him about a beautiful girl (Cherilyn Wilson) suffering from parasomnia, and the serial killer (Patrick Kilpatrick) who lives in the room next to her. When he stops by the girl's room he becomes instantly fascinated and smitten with her, despite being shooed away by her doctor (Timothy Bottoms). He begins visiting her more and more frequently, even sharing music with her via headphones while she's sleeping. He discovers that she is going to be transferred to a disreputable sleep lab as a test subject and kidnaps her instead, bringing her home with him. Very quickly he discovers that Klipatrick, who believes that she belongs to him, will stop at nothing to get her back. Jeffrey Combs (a personal favorite) and Jeff Doucette co-star as a pair of police officers investigating the kidnapping and the series of murders that ensue and John Landis has a small cameo as a department store manager. Kilpatrick, who has made a career of playing the bad guy, is sufficiently menacing as the villain, imbuing him with a malicious intelligence and charisma. Wilson is cute as a button, excelling in the scenes where she is filled with child-like wonder with the world she so rarely sees. She and Purcell have a nice, believable chemistry despite the awkward nature of their relationship. The early scenes of the two of them together really give the movie its heart, a heart mostly abandoned by the halfway point when the film becomes more style over substance. That style, however, is intriguing and inventive, full of surreal dreamscapes and a healthy dose of blood and guts. If watched in succession, you can see the evolution of Malone's visual style from House on Haunted Hill to Feardotcom to Parasomnia, his last, but perhaps best, film to date. The independent nature of the movie has largely meant obscurity for this one and a lot of people probably don't even know it exists, which is a shame since its much better than the bigger-budgeted Feardotcom.

Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942)

Film Title: Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood
Released: November 5, 1942
Directed by: Michael Gordon
Written by: Paul Yawitz based on the character created by Jack Boyle
Starring: Chester Morris, Richard Lane & Constance Worth

Plot: When his good friend Arthur Manleder needs help in California, Boston Blackie doesn't hesitate to jump on the first airplane. But Inspector Farraday doesn't trust Blackie one bit and follows him out west.

IMDb: 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 3/5

Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood, Columbia Pictures' fourth Boston Blackie movie, changes up the scenery by transferring most of the action to California from New York. The gang's all here again: Chester Morris as Blackie, Richard Lane as police Inspector Farraday, George E. Stone as Blackie's sidekick the Runt, Walter Sande as Farraday's dim-witted assistant Detective Matthews, Lloyd Corrigan as lovable but gullible millionaire Arthur Manleder, and Cy Kendall as pawnbroker Jumbo Madigan. Just as he and Stone are preparing to go to Florida on vacation, Morris receives a telegram from Corrigan letting them know that he's in trouble. After some misadventures they head to California with Lane and Sande right behind them. This was the first film in the series that I was actually annoyed with, particularly the writing. Normally Farraday keeps an eye on Blackie to make sure that every action he performs is on the up and up, ready to nab him the moment he goes back to his life of crime. This time however, Farraday actually breaks into Blackie's apartment looking for evidence to use against him, obviously breaking the law in the process. This goes against everything that the character stands for and makes Farraday out to be the crook. Aside from this glaring bit of poor writing, the rest of the film is pretty fun, with Morris and Stone donning disguises and confronting gangsters in traditional Boston Blackie fashion. Co-starring Constance Worth (who had a small part in the series' first film, Meet Boston Blackie) and Forrest Tucker (who is probably best known as Sgt. O'Rourke on the 1960's sitcom F Troop). This marked the feature length directorial debut of Michael Gordon, who would go on to direct Cyrano de Bergerac with José Ferrer, who an Oscar for the titular role, and Pillow Talk, which won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, with Rock Hudson and Doris Day. Watch the opening sequence below (the burglar turns out to be Farraday).

Iron Man (2008)

Film Title: Iron Man

Released: May 2, 2008

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Written by: Mark Fergus, Matt Holloway, Art Marcum & Hawk Ostby based on characters created by Don Heck, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee & Larry Lieber

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges & Gwyneth Paltrow

Plot: When billionaire playboy genius Tony Stark gets kidnapped, he creates a suit of armor to escape. Once free, he improves upon the design and becomes the hero known as Iron Man.

IMDb: 7.9/10

Rotten Tomatoes: 93/100

My Score: 4/5

Iron Man is the 2008 blockbuster that kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, a huge shared universe of various Marvel Comics superheroes whose first phase of films culminated in Joss Whedon's The Avengers in 2012. Robert Downey Jr is Tony Stark, a deeply flawed, arrogant genius billionaire who is equal parts womanizer and philanthropist. Downey Jr is pitch perfect in the role, giving us an egotistical bad boy that we fall in love with and root for all the way. Gwyneth Paltrow is Pepper Potts, Tony's long-suffering assistant who becomes a budding love interest once Stark starts to get his priorities straight. I'm not sure that I've ever seen Paltrow look as good as she does in this film and she plays Pepper with a healthy dose of spunk, matching Downey Jr quip for quip with ease. The chemistry between these two is so believable and natural that you never once question their relationship. Jeff Bridges is Obadiah Stane, an old partner of Tony's dad, Howard Stark, and runs Stark Industries with Tony. Bridges brings more than enough gravitas to the role as required by the character's story arc. Lastly among the principal cast is Terrence Howard as Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Tony's best friend and confidant. If there was one actor I felt dragged the move down it has to be Howard. His portrayal of Rhodey made me dislike the character immensely as he just comes across as a jerk 95% of the time. I feel like the only reason he and Downey Jr are friends is because the script says that they should be. The great thing about this movie is the combination of action and humor. Downey Jr has great banter with the robotic assistants in his workshop providing several moments of levity, and the sequence of trial and error experimentation of trying to build the suit is entertaining and hilarious. Iron Man is an origin story that doesn't feel like an origin story and that is one of the its greatest strengths. The final battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger is truly something to behold. As the first film in the MCU, the movie marks the first appearances of Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury (in the post-credits scene). Co-starring its director Jon Favreau (as Happy Hogan), Leslie Bibb, Bill Smitrovich, and Paul Bettany (as the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S.), the film also features cameos by Peter Billingsly, musician Tom Morello, comedian Ahmed Ahmed, and Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee. For those who don't know, Lee has a cameo in several films based on Marvel characters (most of which he had a hand in creating), a practice that stretches back to the 1989 TV movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. Iron Man won seventeen awards, including three Saturn Awards (Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actor: Robert Downey Jr. and Best Director: Jon Favreau), two Taurus Awards (Best Fire Stunt and Hardest Hit) and the AFI Award for Movie of the Year but was nominated for a whole lot more, including two Oscars. In a particularly painful defeat, the film was nominated for a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie but lost to High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Ouch.

Movies I Want to See: The Blue Elephant (2014)

The 2014 Egyptian film The Blue Elephant was released in its home country on July 28. Directed by Marwan Hamed and written by Ahmed Mourad based on his best selling novel of the same name, the movie stars Karim Abdel Aziz as Dr. Yehia Rashed, a psychotherapist who works with the criminally insane. After his best friend is admitted as a patient, Dr. Rashed gets pulled deeper and deeper into a terrifying new world. The book has been a bestseller in Egypt since its publication and the film is getting rave reviews in Egypt. I have no idea what's being said in the trailer but it looks like it could be pretty amazing.

Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)

Film Title: Universal Soldier: Regeneration
Also known as: Universal Soldier: A New Beginning (Japan)
Released: October 1, 2009 (Austin Fantastic Fest)
Directed by: John Hyams

Written by: Victor Ostrovsky based on characters created by Dean Devlin, Christopher Leitch & Richard Rothstein

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren & Andrei Arlovski

Plot: A group of terrorists, who have gained control of a next-generation Universal Soldier, have taken hostages inside the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Officials have call Luc Deveraux, one of the original UniSols, back into action to save the day.

IMDb: 5.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 3/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Universal Soldier: Regeneration, known in Japan and Malaysia as A New Beginning, may be the fifth installment in the Universal Soldier franchise but is the first since the original film to be considered canon. A terrorist group has gotten their hands on an NGU (Andrei Arlovski), or Next-Generation UniSol, and have used him to kidnap the teenage children of the Ukranian prime minister. Holding the kids in the dilapidated Chernobyl nuclear reactor, they set up a series of explosives that, if detonated, would release a catastrophic radiation cloud. US troops team up with the Ukranian military to take down the bad guys but are decimated by the NGU. The only solution is to bring Luc Devereaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) back into service. He's been living in Switzerland for years undergoing rehabilitation therapy with Dr. Fleming (Emily Joyce), who is trying to reintroduce him back into society. Regeneration, while it has some serious flaws, the lackluster script in particular, attempts to make up for many of them with some with some intense and brutal fight sequences, which really are the highlights of the film. The result is the best Universal Soldier film so far, in my opinion. There is some action in the first two thirds of the film but it is mostly mediocre. The opening kidnapping sequence is pretty good but its a car chase, not a fight. There are four Gen-1 UniSols sent in to take down Arlovski towards the beginning but only one actually puts up any sizable resistance, and it's not even John Foo, who is one of the other four! Things don't really heat up until Van Damme is let loose but that doesn't happen until the final thirty minutes of the film. But what a half an hour it is! The fight between Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren (who was literally shredded to pieces in the first film but returns here as a clone) is ten times better than any of their confrontations in the original. They put each other through concrete walls, down flights of stairs and ultimately out a five story window to the ground below. Needless to say they both end up really taking a beating. The fight between Arlovski and Mike Pyle, who is a human army captain in the film, is clearly indicative of their mixed martial arts backrounds, both men having fought in the UFC as well as other MMA promotions. And the final fight between Van Damme and Arlovski is the first time in the film that Arlovski is really given a challenge. There's no denying that this is a piece of action fluff but anyone looking for depth in a Universal Soldier movie is just kidding themselves. You don't come to the franchise for answers to the deep questions, you come for the action, which Regeneration ends up delivering, literally, in the end. Directed by John Hyams, his father, Peter Hyams, who directed Van Damme in the films Timecop and Sudden Death, serves as director of photography.

Murder By Phone (1982)

Film Title: Murder by Phone
Also known as: Bells, Hell's Bells, The Calling
Released: December 1982
Directed by: Michael Anderson
Written by: Michael Butler, John Kent Harrison & Dennis Shryack based on a story by George Armondo, Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack & James Whiton
Starring: Richard Chamberlain & John Houseman

Plot: Some one is killing people using the telephone. When one of his former students becomes a victim, environmental professor Nat Bridger tries to unravel the mystery and stop the madman responsible!

IMDb: 5.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 2/5

Murder by Phone, also commonly known as Bells, is a 1982 Richard Chamberlain vehicle directed by the Oscar-nominated Michael Anderson. Chamberlain is Nat Bridger, an environmental professor who gets embroiled in a serial killer's rampage when one of his former students is murdered. Personal favorite John Houseman is Stanley Markowitz, Chamberlain's mentor who puts him up at his house while Chamberlain is in town to speak at a symposium. While investigating the girl's murder, Chamberlain encounters a hard-nosed cop (Gary Reineke) and uncovers a series of murders involving telephones. When he goes to the phone company to make inquiries into the matter, he is brushed off none too subtly by the powers that be who are trying to keep the situation under wraps. Of course this only strengthens his resolve to get to the bottom of things. This is a silly but interesting premise and the movie really doesn't live up to the potential of it. Chamberlain is stiff and unrelateable and even the indomitable Houseman seems to struggle with the thin plot. The ideas of an evil telephone company and killer telephones are pretty good ones and would have succeeded better if played tongue-in-cheek. The result, however, is a preposterous but inventive, poorly scripted and ultimately forgettable film. Not even the killer is memorable and the script doesn't even really explain his motivations for killing people. Sara Botsford co-stars as Chamberlain's love interest. Watch the good bits of the movie (the death scenes) below or the whole movie here.

Alias Boston Blackie (1942)

Film Title: Alias Boston Blackie
Released: April 2, 1942
Directed by: Lew Landers
Written by: Paul Yawitz based on the character created by Jack Boyle
Starring: Chester Morris, Adele Mara & Richard Lane

Plot: Boston Blackie needs to track down a wrongly-convicted prison escapee before the revenge-minded convict or the police do something foolish!

IMDb: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 3/5

Alias Boston Blackie is the third film in the Columbia Pictures Boston Blackie series. Reprising their roles from previous film, Confessions of Boston Blackie, are Chester Morris as reformed jewel thief Boston Blackie, Richard Lane as his friendly nemesis police Inspector Farraday, George E. Stone as Blackie's sidekick the Runt, Walter Sande as Farraday's assistant Detective Matthews and Lloyd Corrigan as good-natured millionaire Arthur Manleder. Its Christmas Eve and Morris has decided to give the inmates at the prison did time in some holiday cheer in the form of a variety show. Lane and Sande hitch a ride on the bus with the performers so Lane can keep an eye on Morris at the prison. An inmate named Joe (Larry Parks) is the brother of a chorus girls in the troupe, Eve (Adele Mara). He uses the opportunity to escape, planning to take his revenge on the men that set him up and landed him in prison with a 15 year sentence. He ties up the clown in the act, donning his make-up and wardrobe, and leaves with the cast back to the city. When the escape is discovered, Lane believes Morris to be involved and Morris has to track down Parks before he kills his targets or before the cops get to him, as Morris has discovered Parks is innocent. So far I haven't been disappointed with this series and even three movies in the schtick hasn't grown old yet. I believe that this is due largely in part to the brief running times of the films, usually between 60 and 70 minutes each. There's not a lot fluff added to pad the movies and the result ends up feeling more like episodes of a fun, old time detective television series than feature films. Alias Boston Blackie marks the first appearance of Jumbo Madigan, a shady pawnbroker who aids Blackie in his adventures by providing him with information on various nefarious figures. Cy Kendall is Jumbo this time around, one of only two actors to play the part. Director Lew Landers, who began his career as Louis Friedlander, proved to be incredibly prolific and is credited with over 130 feature films (this film was already his 51st in a career started only eight years prior) and over 200 episodes of various television series, including Topper, The Adventures of Superman, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Maverick and Bat Masterson. Paul Fix co-stars as one of the hoods Parks is after and a very young Lloyd Bridges has a uncredited bit part as the bus driver in the beginning of the film. Watch Bridges in the opening sequence below or watch the whole movie here.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)

Film Title: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Released: December 21, 2007
Directed by: Jake Kasdan
Written by: Judd Apatow & Jake Kasdan
Starring: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer & Kristen Wiig

Plot: The epic life story of music legend Dewey Cox.

IMDb: 6.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 75/100
My Score: 4/5

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a hilarious, star-studded fake musical biopic from Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan. John C. Reilly brilliantly brings the eponymous character to life as a stupid, self-centered, drug-addled buffoon that we nevertheless root for because he's just so damned lovable. Mainly spoofing the Johnny Cash and Ray Charles biopics Walk the Line and Ray, a bevy of other references are thrown in, too, including a nod to the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire! While watching these other films enhances the humor, you don't need to have seen them in order to enjoy Walk Hard. What I appreciate about Apatow's films is that there is a sweet and endearing center to them that happens to wrapped up in toilet and drug humor and this one is no exception. We are treated to the incredible highs (pun intended) and gut-wrenching lows of a fictional musical legend, who we really believe is a legend due to the phenomenal soundtrack assembled. All of the songs attributed to Dewey Cox are sung by Reilly and he is fantastic. The variety of styles on display range from Johnny Cash-style country, early Beatles-esque pop, and Bob Dylan-inspired folk, with even a little rap thrown in for good measure. Reilly's Dylan impression on the song "Royal Jelly" is classic and I dare you not to at least smile at the double-innuendos in "Let's Duet." The also movie boasts a huge number of hilarious cameos, many of which are uncredited. These include Jack White as Elvis Presely, Frankie Muniz as Buddy Holly, Jack Black as Paul McCartney, Paul Rudd as John Lennon, Jason Schwartzman as Ringo Starr, and Justin Long as George Harrison, as well as Harold Ramis, Jonah Hill, Ed Helms, Jane Lynch, Jack McBrayer, John Michael Higgins, Molly Quinn, Simon Helberg, Gerry Bednob, Nat Faxon, Rance Howard and Martin Starr. There are also a number of celebrities appearing as themselves, too, including musicians Jewel, Lyle Lovett, Ghostface Killah, Eddie Vedder, Jackson Browne, and The Temptations, actors Patrick Duffy, Morgan Fairchild and Cheryl Ladd, and supermodel Cheryl Tiegs (whom Cox marries briefly in the seventies and becomes Cheryl Cox-Tiegs). Co-starring Jenna Fischer and Kristin Wiig as two of his wives, Raymond J. Barry and Margo Martindale as his parents, Tim Meadows, Chris Parnell and Matt Besser as his band, Craig Robinson as nightclub performer Bobby Shad and David Krumholtz as his manager Shwartzberg. Reilly was nominated for a a Golden Globe (Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical) and the song "Walk Hard" was nominated for a Golden Globe (Best Original Song - Motion Picture) and a Grammy (Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media). Much like Apatow's other movies The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, Walk Hard may be raunchy but it has a heart of gold.

City of Ember (2008)

Film Title: City of Ember
Released: October 10, 2008
Directed by: Gil Kenan

Written by: Caroline Thompson based on the book by Jeanne DuPrau

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway, Tim Robbins & Bill Murray

Plot: In the majestic underground city of Ember, the great generator that has illuminated the darkness for generations has stared to fail. Two teenagers task themselves with finding a solution.

IMDb: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 53/100
My Score: 3/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

City of Ember is a 2008 family adventure film from Tom Hanks' production company Playtone distributed by Walden Media. Directed by Gil Kenan from a script by frequent Tim Burton collaborator Caroline Thompson, it is based on the 2003 novel by Jeanne DuPrau and was released just two months after the final book in the series, The Diamond of Darkhold, hit store shelves. In the opening sequence, it is revealed that the city of Ember was built underground in order to preserve humanity following a global catastrophe. A mechanical box containing the instructions for reemergence on the surface, with a 200 year timer, is passed from mayor to mayor. This plot point is pretty cleverly conveyed by the box passing from one set of hands to another with the timer winding down to show the passage of years. When one mayor dies before imparting the importance of the box to a successor, it is placed in a closet and forgotten with 47 years left on the timer. The years pass, the box opens and no one notices. Now in the year 241, the ancient generator that provides light and energy for the city is failing. Having been running several decades beyond its intended use, blackouts are becoming commonplace and taking longer to resolve. Not only that, but the storehouses of food supplies are also running low. Into this scenario is introduced plucky teenager Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan), an orphan and descendant of the mayor who died in office, living with her dying, senile grandmother and much younger sister. On Assignment Day, a day where those who are of age chose the occupation they will perform for the rest of their lives by pulling job titles out of a burlap bag, Ronan is given the occupation of pipeworks laborer, much to her dismay. Another teen, Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) pulls out "messenger" but asks Ronan to switch with him. Working in the pipeworks will get him close to the generator, which he believes he will be able to fix if given the chance. She readily agrees, as messenger was the job she was hoping for in the first place. Ronan ends up coming across the long-forgotten box in the closet it was scuttled into but the papers inside are damaged. She enlists the help of Treadaway in solving the riddle and the duo uncover a conspiracy involving Mayor Cole (Bill Murray), his loyal henchman (Toby Jones, who looks like denizen of Whoville), a storeroom clerk named Looper (Mackenzie Crook) and a room full of hoarded food supplies. The kids realize that the contents of the box may be the one thing that can save Ember and chase the mystery voraciously, dodging Murray and company as well as giant, mutant moles that roam the ancient tunnels surrounding the city in the process. They are aided to various degrees in their pursuit by Treadaway's father (Tim Robbins), seasoned narcoleptic pipeworker Sul (Martin Landau) and an old friend of Ronan's family, greenhouse farmer Clary (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). In the grand tradition of child protagonists taking on entrenched and often corrupt adult authority, and usually saving the world in the process, City of Ember boasts some really incredible looking set design that has a post-apocalyptic-meets-steam-punk feel. We're treated to stand out performances from Ronan, who brings a quiet intelligence and hopefulness to Lina, and Robbins as a disheartened revolutionary whose spark is reignited by his son. Unfortunately, Murray as the corrupt mayor is a major let down as it seems he's sleepwalking through the film with Jones and Crook providing all the menace. The decent and sometimes impressive effects through the film end on a low note with a badly animated sequence of the heroes traveling through a series of underground water tunnels in what appears to be an homage to Splash Mountain. A brisk 95 minute run time glosses over much backstory and doesn't give you a chance to really explore this gorgeous and fascinating world. Also co-starring Mary Kay Place, City of Ember is a flawed but entertaining film that was nominated at the 2009 Irish Film and Television Awards (Best Actress in a Lead Role in a Film: Soairse Ronan) and the 2008 Satellite Awards (Best Art Direction & Production Design: Jon Billington, Martin Laing and Best Costume Design: Ruth Myers).

Movies I Want to See: The Theory of Everything (2014)

The Theory of Everything is an upcoming British biopic based on the early life of world renowned physicist Stephen Hawking with his now ex-wife Jane. Written by Anthony McCarten using Jane's memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen as inspiration, it stars Eddie Redmayne as Hawking, Felicity Jones as Jane and is directed by Oscar winner James Marsh. The will movie recount their relationship, his development of ALS and his scientific challenges and breakthroughs. The film will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and is scheduled for release on November 7.

Confessions of Boston Blackie (1941)

Film Title: Confessions of Boston Blackie
Released: December 8, 1941
Directed by: Edward Dymtryk
Written by: Paul Yawitz based on a story by Jay Dratler & Paul Yawitz based the character created by Jack Boyle
Starring: Chester Morris, Harriet Hilliard & Richard Lane

Plot: When he's accused of murdering a man at an auction, Boston Blackie goes into action and uncovers a ruthless ring of art thieves.

IMDb: 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 3/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Confessions of Boston Blackie is the second of Columbia Pictures Boston Blackie series and has Chester Morris and Richard Lane reprise their roles as reformed jewel thief Boston Blackie and his friendly nemesis, police Inspector Farraday. The movie opens revealing that a group of art counterfeiters are copying a valuable statue owned by Harriet Hilliard in an effort to steal the original. She is auctioning the family heirloom to raise money for her sick brother. Morris is invited to the auction by his millionaire friend Arthur Manleder (Lloyd Corrigan) and Lane is on hand with his partner, Detective Matthews (Walter Sande). When Hilliard investigates the fake statue at the auction and discovers its a replica, one of the thieves (Ralph Theodore) tries to shoot her, only grazing his intended target but killing one of his partners, the owner of the art house. Of course Lane immediately assumes Morris is guilty of the crime and takes him into custody. In the confusion, Theodore hides the body inside the hollow statue but much to his dismay, Corrigan buys the fake and has it transported it to his home. Morris manages to get free from his captors and eventually uncovers the truth of the matter with the help his sidekick, the Runt (George E. Stone), and Corrigan, ending with a gunfight between Morris, Lane, Sande and the crooks in their secret hideout. There is also a subplot involving Morris being blackmailed by Joan Woodbury. Keeping in tone with the action/comedy of its predecessor Meet Boston Blackie, Confessions is a lot fun and introduces more of the peripheral characters that appear regularly in the rest of the series. Corrigan is great as the easily flustered but good natured Manleder and Stone is the definitive Runt, playing him in every film of the series except the first and last. Sande has a bit part as a cop on the boardwalk in Meet but is given a bigger role here and plays it lovable but dim. Director Edward Dymtryk was nominated for an Oscar for his 1947 film Crossfire and Hilliard is known the world over as the Harriet of Ozzie and Harriet. Consistently named one of television's top moms from the golden age of television, she starred on the long running sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet and is the mother of Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer Ricky Nelson. Watch the opening sequence for the movie below or the whole fun-filled adventure here.

Jurassic Shark (2012)

Film Title: Jurassic Shark
Also known as: Attack of the Jurassic Shark
Released: April 20, 2012 (India)
Directed by: Brett Kelly

Written by: David A. Lloyd with additional dialogue from Trevor Payer

Starring: Emanuelle Carriere, Christine Emes & Celine Filion

Plot: An oil company's drilling unleashes a megalodon that terrorizes a group of thieves and coeds in a lake, trapping them on an island.

IMDb: 1.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 0.5/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Jurassic Shark is 2012 Canadian horror movie from no-budget director Brett Kelly. An oil company illegally drilling on an island in a lake in Canada unleashes a giant ancient shark from its prison of ice. A gang of art thieves making a water escape after their heist lose their painting in the water after the shark tips over their boat, killing one of them. A group of coeds, one of whom is trying to gain proof of the illegal drilling operation, also show up and are tipped over on their way to the island in the lake, killing one of them as well. The two disparate groups join forces for survival after they meet. However, the thieves still need to get their painting from the water, so their leader (Angela Parent) keeps sending people in to retrieve the goods. Needless to say, everyone who goes into the water dies. In the end, with the help of some dynamite, the last two coeds end up defeating the shark. Afterward, however, another megalodon is revealed to still be in the lake and hungry, eating a pair of fisherman. Really bad effects, atrocious acting and a nonsensical script make this a terrible movie but I like terrible movies. I appreciate ridiculousness for the sake of ridiculousness and can overlook a lot when a movie can turn that corner from being bad to being good again. Jurassic Shark almost gets to that point but fails even at that. It does have its moments, though. For example, when one of the thieves is standing in shallow water and the shark eats him and swims away. Or the Free Willy moment when the shark jumps over the heads of Emanuelle Carriere and Christine Emes on the beach, eats Parent in mid-flight leaving only the bloody stumps of her legs, and goes back into the water. Pretty epic. Unfortunately, there's not enough of these types of moments to get it to the "so bad its good" level. And while there are plenty of girls in bikinis (or bikini tops, anyway), there's no nudity in the movie for a T&A factor, either. The movie itself is just over an hour but Kelly adds an additional thirteen minutes for the closing credits. Starting with everyone in the movie receiving a video credit with their name over slow motion clips of themselves, it runs for another ten minutes after that with the slowest moving credits you've ever seen in the largest font possible. This is definitely one of those movies that has the all the good parts, of which there are few, in the trailer.

Batman (1966)

Film Title: Batman
Also known as: Batman: The Movie, Batman & Robin (Hong Kong)
Released: July 30, 1966
Directed by: Leslie H. Martinson

Written by: Lorenzo Semple Jr. based on characters created by Bill Finger, Edmond Hamilton, Bob Kane, Sheldon Moldoff, Jerry Robinson, & Dick Sprang

Starring: Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, Burgess Medredith, & Frank Gorshin

Plot: The Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin, must save the world from the combined forces of Catwoman, the Riddler, the Penguin & the Joker.

IMDb: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 79/100
My Score: 3.5/5

1966's Batman, later commonly referred to as Batman: The Movie, was released in between seasons one and two of the Batman television series. The stars of the show, Adam West and Burt Ward, are present in their roles as Batman and Robin, respectively, as are the most notorious villains from their rogues gallery: Cesar Romero as the Joker, Burgess Meredith as the Penguin and Frank Gorshin as the Riddler. Lee Meriwether makes her only appearance as Catwoman, taking over for Julie Newmar who appeared in both seasons one and two of the series but was unable to star in the film due scheduling conflicts. The story concerns the super villains kidnapping inventor Commodore Schmidlapp (Reginald Denny as in his final film appearance) and his invention, the total dehydrator, a device that removes every bit of water from a person, reducing them to dust. Aiding the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder are their allies Commissioner Gordon (Neil Hamilton), Chief O'Hara (Stafford Repp) and trusty butler Alfred Pennyworth (Alan Napier), all whom appear on the series. Wacky and surreal, including colorful onscreen signs reading "Pow!", "Bang!", etc, during fight scenes, a proliferation of Dutch angles and nearly everyone onscreen overacting, it stands as a touchstone of camp, and watched as such, is a lot of fun. Batman is one of my favorite comic book characters and I usually prefer the darker, grittier, post-Frank Miller version of him. Miller's 1986 comic book miniseries The Dark Knight Returns forever eradicated the kitschy aesthetic associated with the character for years after the series ended. But this adaptation of the hero hearkens back to the more family friendly, post-World War II era of Batman history, and does so wonderfully. While everyone is delightfully demented, I enjoyed Gorshin's interpretation of the Riddler the most out of all the villains. He imbues the character with such manic madness that he has an almost childlike sense of wonder that is truly a treat to watch. The godfather of fitness Jack LaLanne makes a quick cameo as a man on a rooftop exercising with a group of girls who wave at the Batcopter as it passes overhead near the beginning of movie. In 1972, director Leslie H. Martinson won the Golden Gryphon Award at the Giffoni Film Festival for his work on the movie. Watch the trailer below and check out this informative feature length history of Batman and review of the movie from The DVD Shelf Movie Reviews.