I found it supremely entertaining with a terrific lead actress and a compelling story (up to a point), 14 October 2017
Wonder Woman seems to be one of those movies that splits people. Reviewers on IMDb seem to either love it or hate it. There doesn't appear to be much middle-ground. Well, put me in the "love it" category. It's not perfect, but I found it supremely entertaining with a terrific lead actress and a compelling story (up to a point).
Entertaining – For me, the 2+ hours just flew by. From Diana's backstory as a small child growing up on the Island full of Amazons to her first steps off the island to her battles with the Germans, it was pretty much a thrill-a-minute. And I appreciate the fact that the filmmakers decided to inject some humor. My biggest complaint with most of DCs other efforts is the complete lack of anything remotely funny. They're dark and depressing – and as a general rule, dark and depressing do not equal entertaining in my book.
Lead Actress, Gal Gadot – What a woman! As someone who adored Lynda Carter in the Wonder Woman TV series, I'm glad Gadot resembles Carter. It made it easier for me to believe in her performance. And what a performance it was! For someone with a relatively limited acting background, I thought she was magnificent. She held her own acting- wise. Her comedic timing was spot-on. She delivered some of the best deadpan funny lines I've heard in a long time. And her ability to be at least somewhat convincing in the fight scenes was a real plus. She's just amazing!
The Story – I enjoyed most all of the plot. If I have one complaint, it's with the film's ending. The whole god vs god thing at the end just didn't work on me. There was too much CGI and too little storytelling. But, as evidenced by my rating, it wasn't enough to spoil the entire movie for me. I was having way too much fun to let this get in the way. And up to that point, the plot worked for me. I bought the rest of Wonder Woman's story hook, line, and sinker. They made her a believable, real character – something that's hard to do with a superhero. Sure, there were holes and illogical things going on, but as I've repeatedly said, when it's this much fun, who cares?
9/10
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The Revenge of Dr. X
A real mess of a movie, 14 October 2017
What a disaster of a movie! It's billed as Ed Wood's lost "classic", but I'm not sure Wood is to blame for the mess that is this movie. Most of his films are light-years better than this. In The Revenge of Dr X, Dr Bragan (James Craig) leaves the stress of his high-powered job at NASA and seeks the solitude provided by a remote Japanese retreat. There, he begins experimenting with plants by splicing together different Venus Flytrap type plants to create his own super, meat- eating monster.
First, what's with all the title confusion? This thing seems to have been billed under several wildly different names – The Revenge of Dr X, Venus Flytrap, Body of the Prey, and more. It's even listed on IMDb under two different names with two different release years – Venus Flytrap (1970) and Akuma no niwa (1967). Finally, the copy I saw listed Eddie Romero as director. Romero might have been responsible for a lot of junky movies, but as far as I can tell, he had nothing to do with this mess.
There are so many issues with The Revenge of Dr X that listing them all would be impossible. I'm not even going to try to enumerate all the technical problems – suffice it to say that it's a technical disaster. Instead, I want to write about a few of the illogical plot points presented in the movie drove me nuts:
1. I understand that the pressure of being a top-dog at NASA might lead you to want to take some time off to relive stress, but why go to the middle of nowhere Japan? Wouldn't a few weeks in Palm Springs or Club Med have recharged Dr Bragan's batteries? And would he really leave the US just after a spacecraft he was responsible for was launched. I would think that even the most stressed person would want to know the outcome of their life's work. Not Dr Bragan. He never so much as mentions NASA again.
2. I'm not sure how Dr Bragan was able to achieve anything at NASA given his wild mood swings. This man takes bi-polar to a whole new level. And why would his Japanese assistant stay with him? He treats her like complete dirt. It makes no sense.
3. I haven't researched Japanese customs regulations from the late 60s, but I have trouble believing the Japanese government would allow Dr Bragan to bring a non-native plant species into the country so easily. Wouldn't it have had to go through quarantine or something similar?
4. Dr Bragan needs "heart blood" to feed his new creature. As movie luck would have it, there is a ready supply at a nearby sanitarium for Dr Bragan to take advantage of. That sanitarium was never mentioned until Dr Bragan made his late-night visit. How convenient!
5. Did Dr Bragan buy the Venus Flytrap with the wild idea of creating his killer plant creature? It seemed like more of an impulse purchase with little thought behind it. Next thing you know, Dr Bragan and plant are in Japan staying at a large remote, abandoned facility that just happens to have a greenhouse and other equipment that he needs for his experiments. You'd think that his plan of splice plants together to create a new living creature and all that was required would take years of planning to pull off. Here, Dr Bragan just sort of stumbles into being a mad scientist with a fully stocked lab.
That's probably enough. Writing about the many problems of this movie is like taking candy from a baby – it's way too easy. The lone highlights for me are the creature design and the decision to let Atsuko Rome (if I've got the right person) use her own voice instead of dubbing her. But that's the extent of anything positive I have to say.
2/10
Better than the first episode, 14 October 2017
Slade is hired by A.S. Batson to prove that a mine was fraudulently "salted" prior to its sale/purchase. As you'd expect from a 1950s era program, Slade is surprised to learn that A.S. (the "A" is for Alice) Batson is a woman.
I learned something from The Salted Mine. Going into this episode, I had no idea what was meant by "salting a mine". Turns out that an unscrupulous seller would spread just enough gold dust around a worthless mine to make the buyer think he was getting something of value.
The Salted Mine played better for me than the first episode in the series. My enjoyment came primarily from all the back-stabbing and double-crossing going on among the cast. It's not hard to spot the baddie with such a small cast and less than 30 minutes. Still, the way it all plays out is reasonably entertaining. I'm still not a big fan of Scott Brady (and most likely I never will be). He just seems too unnatural to me. I did enjoy seeing Marie Windsor in the role of A.S. Batson. She's been a favorite of mine since I first saw Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy over 45 years ago.
5/10
Strange little show, 3 October 2017
A private detective named Shotgun Slade (Scott Brady) is hired to locate a missing train car holding $! million in gold coins.
The first episode in the series, The Missing Train, is appropriately enough my introduction to the series. Overall, I wasn't overly impressed. Part of the problem comes from the "feel" of the show. Why make it a Western? With the silly soundtrack, it has more of a 50s crime feel to it than a Western. You could change everyone's costumes, take away the horses and hats, and the story would have been right at home in the time period it was made. My second problem is with the character played by Allison Hayes. She is described as a real tough woman with a dangerous streak. That's not what I saw. She too easily turned on her partners and gave Slade information that wasn't in her best interest. Not the cool, shrewd woman her reputation suggested. I suppose she couldn't resist Brady's charm (I say with as much sarcasm as I can muster). What woman could resist those gangly arms and legs and that head full of Brylcreem?
Anyway, at less than 30 minutes, I didn't waste too much time. And despite the faults, I found The Missing Train and Shotgun Slade oddly intriguing. I'll probably check out more episodes.
4/10
When will they learn to stay away from the pineal gland?, 30 September 2017
When will the scientists in these 40s/50s sci-fi/horror films learn to stay away from the pineal gland? It only leads to misery and death. In She Devil, a brilliant scientist has developed a formula to help treat sick and injured patients. With the consent of a dying patient, Kyra Zelas (Mari Blanchard), Dr. Dan Scott (Jack Kelly) injects her with his formula. Once Kyra's pineal gland (here we go) is sufficiently stimulated, her disease immediately goes away. She's cured and everything's great. Well, not really. Not only did the serum cure Kyra, but it gave her other powers as well - the ability to heal instantly and the ability to change her hair color at will (which comes in handy when you're evading the police). It also took away many of her inhibitions and turned her evil. Killing to get what she wants doesn't seem to faze the new and improved Kyra.
I loved She Devil much more than I should have. The IMDb rating of 5.6 is probably more indicative of the film's quality, but I found it much more entertaining than that. I compare it to the way I felt about another film I found much more entertaining than IMDb's rating would suggest - The Devil's Hand. In some ways they're very similar. Both are B&W, neither has a particularly outstanding cast, both are from the same time period, both are low budget thrillers, and both feature similar themes - man's destruction at the hands of a woman.
What appealed to me most as I watched She Devil was Kyra's quick transformation from a sickly, docile woman to a beautiful, confident killer. Once she's cured, you can see the change on her face almost immediately. It came as little surprise when she popped the old guy on the head and took his money, changed her hair color (now that was a surprise), and coolly slipped past the police. What a fun scene! The main reason I sat down to watch She Devil was Mari Blanchard. I saw her in an episode of It Takes a Thief and was intrigued. She didn't disappoint. As Kyra, she commands the screen and dominates everything. Neither of her co-stars comes close to comparing to the screen presence she possessed. I'm looking forward to discovering more of her work.
7/10
Robert Wagner and Bill Bixby work well together, 29 September 2017
A diplomat is suspected of having stolen NATO documents that he intends on selling to the highest bidder. Mundy's mission is to pose as a photographer, infiltrate the diplomat's villa, and recover the documents. The problem is, however, Mundy's got some competition. Another world-class thief, George Palmer (Bill Bixby), has been casing the villa and intends to steal a very valuable necklace. Al and George will battle it out to see who can get there first.
To Steal a Battleship is easily one of the best episodes I've seen so far. The actual theft isn't much to write home about, so that's not the reason. Instead, what makes this episode so special is the way Robert Wagner and Bill Bixby work off each other. Their back and forth and one-upmanship is on another level altogether. It's a blast. There are so many moments in To Steal a Battleship that work, I can't list them all. But my absolute favorite set-piece has to be the fistfight the two have in the hotel room. While the two go at it, The Blonde (Janis Hansen) watches on, munching an apple like popcorn in a movie theater. Funny stuff. Other than Susan Saint James, I've yet to see co-star in the series the Wagner worked so well with. I haven't looked to see if he comes back, but I can only hope that Bill Bixby pops up in a future episode.
8/10
Really liked the ending, 29 September 2017
Before he's killed, an American spy manages to place an important piece microfilm into a ring belonging to the Petrovian ambassador's wife. Mundy's job is, quite naturally, to steal the ring and retrieve the microfilm from the heavily guarded Petrovian embassy.
Up until the final twist at the end, Birds of a Feather is a fairly average, run-of-the-mill episode with nothing much of note. But that final twist (which I will not reveal) is worth the wait. I knew Mundy had gotten the ring, but I couldn't figure out how he got it out of the embassy. He and his possessions were thoroughly searched before he was allowed to leave the embassy. It appeared he'd failed. Then the surprise and it all made sense. Another plus for me was seeing Strother Martin in a small, but important role. He's always been a favorite of mine.
One thing that really bugged me about Birds of a Feather was how easily Mundy's break-in at the embassy was spotted. Seconds into the break-in and the guards were swarming the place. You'd think a master thief could at least get to the building before being spotted.
Finally, I love the made-up name "Petrovia". Say it with a Russian accent and it just rolls of the tongue. Nice!
7/10
