Neutron the Atomic Superman vs the Death Robots (1962)

You just gotta love these 60s-era lucha movies!, 28 September 2018

The quick pitch:  Masked luchador and superhero Neutron must do battle with the mad Dr. Caronte and his band of zombie-like creatures if he is to save the world from a neutron bomb.

You just gotta love these 60s-era lucha movies!  I readily admit that Neutron the Atomic Superman vs the Death Robots isn’t a good movie by any normal standards.  Neutron comes across a bit like the poor, red-headed stepchild of the better known Santo films. Everything about the movie - acting, sets, lighting, special effects, direction, pacing, cinematography, script, fight choreography - it all scrapes the bottom of the proverbial barrell.  And to make things even worse, the movie features some of the worst dubbing I’ve ever heard. It sounds like you took the dialogue and converted it into about a dozen languages before you finally hit on English. It’s pretty poor. But despite all that, Neutron the Atomic Superman vs the Death Robots is just bizarre enough and just fun enough to make it worth watching.  From Dr. Caronte’s over-the-top pronouncements to the ridiculous way the bomb is planted at the airport to the silly looking death robots to the unibrowed mini-me named Nick, there’s something to be seen and experienced around most every corner.

5/10

Scream 4 (2011)

"You hang up on me and I'll cut through your neck until I feel bone!", 24 September 2018

I missed Scream 4 when it was originally released about 7 years ago.  Over the weekend, I finally caught up with the latest on Ghostface, Deputy Dewey, Gail Weathers , and everyone’s favorite victim, Sidney Prescott.  So how was it? Much better than I could have imagined - and a huge improvement over Scream 3. If you just go with it, it can be a lot of fun.

I’ll start at the beginning - I’ve read a number of negative things regarding Scream 4’s cold opening, but it worked for me.  It takes the whole concept of “meta” and ramps it up a few notches. Stab 7 opening with scenes from Stab 6 (or is that the other way around) was about as clever as I could have hoped.  An added bonus was watching Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell in small (but bloody) parts.

After the opening, the main parts of the film flow nicely with heaping helpings of action, mystery, and thrills.  Being a Scream film, there’s also plenty of comedy and, fortunately, most worked. Sure, there are a number of annoying monologues from pretentious characters I just wanted to see die, but overall, the tone and feel is very similar to the first Scream.  There aren’t any death scenes in Scream 4 that I found particularly innovative (in fact a couple harken back to the original), but they are all appropriately violent and bloody. The new characters, especially those played by Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere, fit in nicely.  I even got a kick out of Marley Shelton’s Deputy Judy. The final reveal worked on me in that I was surprised. I’m not sure the reasonsing is very sound, but the “Who done it?” aspect was enjoyable enough.

I do, however, have a couple of problems with Scream 4 - chief among them is that finale in the hospital.  I know that I said if you just go with Scream 4, it’s fun. However, the last bit in the hospital takes things way too far and gets a tad ridiculous.  Still, overall it’s a fun film is you don’t take it too serious (like I seem to have done with the ending).

An easy 7/10 from me.

7/10