Written by James M. Tate / 4/27/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , bill mckinney , brian dennehy , chris mulkey , david caruso , eighties , franchise , jack starrett , michael talbott , richard crenna , sylvester stallone , vietnam
TED KOTCHEFF DIRECTS SYLVESTER STALLONE IN 'FIRST BLOOD'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 4/27/2025
Title: FIRST BLOOD Year: 1982 Rating: ****1/2When rural sheriff Brian Dennehy drives ragged drifter Sylvester Stallone from one side of a one-mile town to the next, he mentions several times how that long hair wouldn't fit into such a peace
Written by James M. Tate / 4/16/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , constance forslund , eighties , fred ward , gene hackman , harold sylvester , patrick swayze , reb brown , robert stack , ted kotcheff , tim thomerson , vietnam , war , wings hauser
GENE HACKMAN COMMANDS TED KOTCHEFF'S 'UNCOMMON VALOR'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 4/16/2025
Randall Tex Cobb & Kelly Junkerman in UNCOMMON VALOR Year: 1983 Rating: ****Recently, three important people connected to 1983's UNCOMMON VALOR have died: the most significant being the legendary Gene Hackman, who stars as Colonel Jason Rho
Written by James M. Tate / 4/14/2025 / No comments / action , ann dvorak , boris karloff , exploitation , george raft , howard hawks , karen morley , mobster , osgood perkins , paul muni , thirties , vince barnett
PAUL MUNI IN HOWARD HAWKS ORIGINAL MOB-EXPOSE 'SCARFACE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 4/14/2025
Title: SCARFACE Year: 1932 Rating: ***Howard Hawks' SCARFACE is like a Cliff's Notes for a book that's yet to be written... and that's not only relating to the many-decades-later remake starring Al Pacino, but something like, say, THE ROARI
Written by James M. Tate / 4/10/2025 / No comments / ariel winter , buddy , comedy , crime , dark comedy , genre tarantino , gumshoe , michelle monaghan , neo noir , robert downey jr. , shane black , shannyn sossamon , stephanie pearson , val kilmer , zeroes
ROBERT DOWNEY JR WITH VAL KILMER IN 'KISS KISS BANG BANG'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 4/10/2025
Michelle Monaghan in KISS KISS BANG BANG Year: 2005 Rating: ****Famous for writing the original LETHAL WEAPON, thus receiving story credit for the entire hit-and-miss franchise, Shane Black energetically attempts to trade mainstream action
Written by James M. Tate / 4/08/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , eighties , fantasy , gavan o'herlihy , george lucas , jean marsh , joanne whalley , pat roach , rick overton , ron howard , val kilmer
VAL KILMER, JOANNE WHALLEY AND WARWICK DAVIS IN 'WILLOW'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 4/08/2025
Title: WILLOW Year: 1988 Rating: ***There's a point in the George Lucas production WILLOW directed by Ron Howard, a cross between STAR WARS and THE LORD OF THE RINGS, when Val Kilmer's ragged heart-of-gold scoundrel Madmartigan is battling
Written by James M. Tate / 4/07/2025 / No comments / biopic , counter-culture , crispin glover , frank whaley , kathleen quinlan , kevin dillon , kyle maclachlan , meg ryan , michael madsen , music , nineties , oliver stone , olivia barash , sam whipple , val kilmer
VAL KILMER PLAYS JIM MORRISON IN OLIVER STONE'S 'THE DOORS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 4/07/2025
CineGraphx image of Val Kilmer in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS Year: 1991 Rating: ***At one point in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS, Jim Morrison is told by one of several female admirers that he's better than the band itself, and that everyone only
Written by James M. Tate / 4/02/2025 / No comments / cold war , college , comedy , deborah foreman , ed lauter , eighties , gabe jarret , robert prescot , science-fiction , val kilmer , william atherton
VAL KILMER, GABRIEL JARRET & WILLIAM ATHERTON IN 'REAL GENIUS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 4/02/2025
Val Kilmer in REAL GENIUS Year: 1985 Rating: ****In two consecutive years, William Atherton played a smug antagonist against underdog scientific protagonists... in GHOSTBUSTERS he wanted to shut down the titular agency and in REAL GENIUS he
Written by James M. Tate / 4/01/2025 / No comments / eighties , joanne whalley , jon gries , joseph carberry , michael greene , michael madsen , neo noir , romance , val kilmer
VAL KILMER, JOANNE WHALLEY & MICHAEL MADSEN 'KILL ME AGAIN'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 4/01/2025
Val Kilmer in KILL ME AGAIN Year: 1989 Rating: **1/2A perpetually sexy/sultry stare with pursed full lips in a steamy Reno-set 1980's Neo Noir fits both femme fatale Joanne Whalley and her then-husband Val Kilmer... as a crookedly gorgeous
Written by James M. Tate / 3/31/2025 / No comments / akira takarada , godzilla franchise , keiko sawai , kumi mizuno , monster , nick adams , science-fiction , showa era , sixties
KUMI MIZUNO IN GODZILLA VS 'INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/31/2025
Title: INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER Year: 1965 Rating: ****1/2Ironic that American actor Nick Adams, who did a horrible job dubbing the dead James Dean's voice in GIANT, is dubbed horribly in INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER, the second Godzi
Written by James M. Tate / 3/30/2025 / No comments / adventure , akiko wakabayashi , fantasy , franchise , godzilla , ishirô honda , monster , science-fiction , showa era , sixties , yuriko hoshi
YURIKO HOSHI UNCOVERS 'GHIDORAH: THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/30/2025
Title: Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster Year: 1964 Rating: ****It's ironic that Japanese bombshell Akiko Wakabayashi would soon be the first Bond Girl in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE since GHIDORAH: THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER has her character, an A
Written by James M. Tate / 3/29/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , akira takarada , fantasy , franchise , godzilla , ishirô honda , japanese , monster , science-fiction , showa era , sixties , yuriko hoshi
YURIKO HOSHI UNCOVERS ISHIRÔ HONDA'S 'MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/29/2025
Title: MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA Year: 1964 Rating: ****1/2Japanese actress Yuriko Hoshi is one of the best Toho starlets, appeared in both GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA and GHIDORAH: THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER as a reporter named Junko, a hybrid of the love
Written by James M. Tate / 3/28/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , franchise , godzilla , heisei era , megumi odaka , monster , nineties , science-fiction
MEGUMI ODAKA IN 'GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/28/2025
Title: GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH Year: 1992 Rating: ***1/2The previous installment GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH, the first sequel to GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE after GODZILLA 1984 rebooted the franchise, actually has a character a
Written by James M. Tate / 3/27/2025 / No comments / barbara bouchet , barbara magnolfi , body-count , emilio miraglia , giallo , horror , marina malfatti , marino mas , mirella d'angelo , pia giancaro , seventies , sybil danning
BARBARA BOUCHET STARS IN 'THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/27/2025
Title: THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES Year: 1972 Rating: ****Italian giallo director Emilio Miraglia created the gothic thriller THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES where the title anticipates the body-count horror aspect of sporadic victims s
Written by James M. Tate / 3/26/2025 / No comments / action , alfredo alba , charly bravo , christopher mitchum , exploitation , import , jean sorel , ramón pons , seventies , spanish , sue lyon
SUE LYON KILLING STANLEY KUBRICK FOR 'MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/26/2025
Sue Lyon in MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD Year: 1973 Rating: ***On the surface, Spanish low-budget director Eloy de la Iglesia's MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD is set in a future where young gangs are directly influenced by Stanley Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK
Written by James M. Tate / 3/25/2025 / No comments / fifties , franchise , godzilla , hiroshi koizumi , ishirô honda , japanese , motoyoshi oda , sequel , setsuko sakayama , showa era , takashi shimura
STOMPING THROUGH THE JAPANESE SEQUEL 'GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/25/2025
Title: GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN Year: 1955 Rating: **1/2In the original Japanese GODZILLA from 1954, it takes almost the entire third act to completely destroy the nuclear-powered monster... which is far too easily brought back in the following
Written by James M. Tate / 3/24/2025 / No comments / akihiko hirata , akira takarada , fifties , franchise , godzilla , ishirô honda , japanese , momoko kōchi , monster , showa era , takashi shimura
DIRECTOR ISHIRÔ HONDA'S 'GOJIRA' AKA THE ORIGINAL 'GODZILLA'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/24/2025
Title: GORJIRA/GODZILLA Year: 1954 Rating: ****1/2Ironically, the original grainy black-and-white GODZILLA, that spawned countless colorful sequels and reboots, seems intended as a one-off, being more of a symbolic cautionary-tale presentat
Written by James M. Tate / 3/23/2025 / No comments / action , anna nakagawa , dinosaur , franchise , godzilla , heisei era , japanese , megumi odaka , nineties , robert scott field , science-fiction , time travel , world war II
MEGUMI ODAKA & ANNA NAKAGAWA 'GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/23/2025
Title; GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH Year: 1991 Rating: ****Before Toho's comeback GODZILLA MINUS ONE, which was an all-out tribute to American filmmaker Steven Spielberg's JAWS, the late 1980's/1990's Godzilla franchise was paying him tribute
Written by James M. Tate / 3/22/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , creature , disaster , eighties , franchise , godzilla , heisei era , japanese , kôji takahashi , megumi odaka , science-fiction , yoshiko tanaka
MEGUMI ODAKA MINDING MONSTERS IN 'GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/22/2025
YEAR: 1989 RATING: ****1/2 Strange that a movie about Godzilla fighting a giant plant with the head of a red rose would be one of the best of the entire franchise, dating back from the groundbreaking original classic, but it's true... GODZI
Written by James M. Tate / 3/21/2025 / No comments / action , beverly todd , cheryl smith , cop , eighties , exploitation , fred berry , gary sherman , gary swanson , lynda lei , nina blackwood , pepe serna , season hubley , wings hauser
WINGS HAUSER, GARY SWANSON & SEASON HUBLEY IN 'VICE SQUAD'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/21/2025
Wings Hauser in VICE SQUAD Year: 1982 Rating: ****Director Gary Sherman's VICE SQUAD combines three genres: involving a revenge-driven psychopath body-count/horror as Wings Hauser's killer pimp Ramrod murders hookers leading to the one that
Written by James M. Tate / 3/17/2025 / No comments / cold war , fifties , film noir or melodrama , jean peters , milburn stone , parley baer , richard kiley , richard widmark , samuel fuller , thelma ritter , willis bouchey
RICHARD WIMARK IN SAMUEL FULLER'S 'PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/17/2025
Title: PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET Year: 1953 Rating: ***1/2Samuel Fuller's PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET is arguably his best movie... if not his most conventional... a film noir that despises "Reds" and uses that word abundantly, which is a real tre
Written by James M. Tate / 3/16/2025 / No comments / action , barbara stanwyck , dean jagger , eve brent , gene barry , robert dix , samuel fuller , western
GENE BARRY IN SAMUEL FULLER'S NOIRISH WESTERN 'FORTY GUNS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/16/2025
Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Sullivan in FORTY GUNS Year: 1957 Rating: ***It's not that Samuel Fuller was an entirely overrated director, but more modern and outright artistic auteurs, from France to America as well as the myriad of rabid Ful
Written by James M. Tate / 3/14/2025 / No comments / clint eastwood , ennio morricone , gian maria volontè , klaus kinski , lee van cleef , sergio leone , sixties , spaghetti western
CLINT EASTWOOD IN SERGIO LEONE'S 'FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/14/2025
Clint Eastwood in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE Year: 1965 Rating: ****1/2Sergio Leone's Man With No Name or Dollars Trilogy was mainly interpreted as such from the second movie's sustaining title, A FEW DOLLARS MORE, sounding as if Clint Eastwood
Written by James M. Tate / 3/11/2025 / No comments / allen garfield , cindy williams , francis ford coppola , frederic forrest , gene hackman , harrison ford , john cazale , mark wheeler , michael higgins , neo noir , ramon bieri , robert duvall , seventies , thriller
GENE HACKMAN IN FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA'S 'THE CONVERSATION'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/11/2025
Gene Hackman in THE CONVERSATION Year: 1974 Rating: ****1/2By the time Gene Hackman's surveillance expert Harry Caul attends a convention of lesser experts who consider him an icon, we've already learned about how surreptitious his methods
Written by James M. Tate / 3/03/2025 / No comments / alan weeks , arlene farber , bill hickman , cop , drugs , eddie egan , exploitation , fernado rey , frédéric de pasquale , gene hackman , patrick mcdermott , roy scheider , william friedkin
GENE HACKMAN WITH ROY SCHEIDER IN 'THE FRENCH CONNECTION'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/03/2025
Title: THE FRENCH CONNECTION Shown: Gene Hackman, Marcel Bozzuffi Year: 1971 Rating: ****1/2After becoming a legendary yet sometimes difficult actor, Gene Hackman would put vulnerable young directors through the ringer, ranging from two of
Written by James M. Tate / 3/02/2025 / No comments / action , bernard fresson , cop , drugs , ed lauter , exploitation , fernando rey , gene hackman , john frankenheimer , sequel , seventies
GENE HACKMAN RETURNING FOR 'THE FRENCH CONNECTON II'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/02/2025
Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II Year: 1975 Rating: ***There's a kind of guilty pleasure watching a thinned-down Gene Hackman as New York's favorite tough cop Popeye Doyle being force-fed heroin in a Euro-slum, and then kicking it
Written by James M. Tate / 3/01/2025 / No comments / ed lauter , eighties , gene hackman , helena kallianiotes , indie , joe pesci , mickey rourke , nicolas roeg , rutger hauer , theresa russell
GENE HACKMAN MINING THROUGH NICOLAS ROAG'S 'EUREKA'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 3/01/2025
Gene Hackman in EUREKA Year: 1983 Rating: **1/2Following the game-changing THE FRENCH CONNECTION turning 2nd-lead and/or villain-role character-actor Gene Hackman into a leading man/movie star, he did two independent art-films, Jerry Schatz
Written by James M. Tate / 2/28/2025 / No comments / angelica huston , article , bill murray , danny glover , dark comedy , gene hackman , gwyneth paltrow , luke wilson , memorial , owen wilson , wes anderson , zeroes
GENE HACKMAN MAKING AND BREAKING 'THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/28/2025
Gene Hackman in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS Year: 2001 Rating: ****1/2It's not so ironic that Gene Hackman was extremely (infamously) difficult to director Wes Anderson working on THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS because his character, the tremendously flawed
Written by James M. Tate / 2/27/2025 / No comments / comedy , danny devito , delroy lindo , dennis farina , elmore leonard , gene hackman , james gandolfini , john travolta , jon gries , martin ferrero , neo noir , nineties , rene russo
GENE HACKMAN SHOTGUNS 'GET SHORTY' STARRING JOHN TRAVOLTA
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/27/2025
Gene Hackman co-starring in GET SHORTY Year: 1995 Rating: ****1/2One of the late Gene Hackman's least Gene Hackman-style roles is Barry Sonnenfeld's hip/slick adaption of novelist Elmore Leonard's Hollywood satire GET SHORTY, where, on the
Written by James M. Tate / 2/26/2025 / No comments / al pacino , ann wedgeworth , dorothy tristan , eileen brennan , gene hackman , indie , jerry schatzberg , richard lynch , road movie , rutanya alda , seventies
GENE HACKMAN AND AL PACINO TRAPISE THROUGH 'SCARECROW'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/26/2025
Title: SCARECROW Stars: Gene Hackman, Al Pacino Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2In a roundabout way, independent director Jerry Schatzberg made Al Pacino a star by providing him a zesty role in the low-budget street-addict-drama THE PANIC IN NEEDL
Written by James M. Tate / 2/24/2025 / No comments / al pacino , counter-culture , drugs , jerry schatzberg , joe santos , kitty winn , larry marshall , raul julia , rutanya alda , seventies , warren finnerty
AL PACINO AND KITTY WINN WEATHER 'THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/24/2025
Al Pacino in THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK Year: 1971 Rating: ****There are four minutes left of independent director Jerry Schatzberg's heroin-addict expose THE PANIC AT NEEDLE PARK when Al Pacino does the kind of screaming tantrum that would b
Written by James M. Tate / 2/19/2025 / No comments / classic , clifton webb , cop , crime , dana andrews , film noir , forties , gene tierney , mystery , otto preminger , vincent price
DANA ANDREWS AND GENE TIERNEY IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'LAURA'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/19/2025
Year: 1944 Rating: *****Dana Andrews as Det. Lt. Mark McPherson has fallen in love with a ghost, kind of, and that's not to be spoiled for anyone who hasn't seen LAURA with its particular dreamlike camera panning from a sleeping McPherso
Written by James M. Tate / 2/14/2025 / No comments / alice faye , ann revere , bruce cabot , dana andrews , film noir , film noir or melodrama , forties , linda darnell , otto preminger
DANA ANDREWS & ALICE FAYE IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'FALLEN ANGEL'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/14/2025
Year: 1945 Rating: ****1/2If you look at the filmography of two actresses who play sisters in the Otto Preminger Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL, Alice Faye, as naive June Mills, who's mentored by an older, wiser, more cautious Ann Revere as Clara:
Written by James M. Tate / 2/12/2025 / No comments / bert freed , british film noir/melodrama , cop , craig stevens , dana andrews , fifties , gary merrill , gene tierney , karl malden , otto preminger , suspense
DANA ANDREWS & GENE TIERNEY IN 'WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/12/2025
Dana and Gene a third time YEAR: 1950A sort of Film Noir in reverse as a downright bad and brutal cop does something accidental and pretty awful, covers it up and then, a bit later, gets half-a-heart, which is how Noir leading men usually s
Written by James M. Tate / 2/10/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , brian kelly , david mccallum , gary merrill , keenan wynn , lloyd bridges , marshall thompson , science-fiction , shirley eaton , sixties , underwater
BRIAN KELLY & LLOYD BRIDGES 'AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/10/2025
Title: AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA Year: 1966 Rating: ***1/2It takes exactly forty-minutes before the entire crew's aboard a relatively small submarine that's to drop sonar sensors to predict earthquakes in AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA
Written by James M. Tate / 2/08/2025 / No comments / ann ramsey , charles bronson , comedy , dennis fowley , don red barry , frank d. gilroy , jill ireland , seventies , stan haze , western
CHARLES BRONSON AND JILL IRELAND IN 'FROM NOON TILL THREE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/08/2025
Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland in From Noon Till Three Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2In another 1970's Charles Bronson vehicle that aesthetically looks more like a high-quality backlot-shot TV-movie than theatrical b-movie, Charles Bronson and
Written by James M. Tate / 2/07/2025 / No comments / angie dickinson , arthur penn , drama , e.g. marshall , ensemble , james fox , janice rule , katherine walsh , marlon brando , robert redford , sixties
MARLON BRANDO, ROBERT REDFORD & ROBERT DUVALL 'THE CHASE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/07/2025
Marlon Brando in THE CHASE Year: 1966 Rating: **Whether deliberate or coincidental, director Arthur Penn attempts what Richard Fleischer pulled off a decade earlier for VIOLENT SATURDAY, combining subtle yet eventually vicious bank robbers
Written by James M. Tate / 2/06/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , booth colman , creature , edmund gwenn , FBI , fifties , gordon douglas , james arness , james whitmore , joan weldon , leonard nimoy , science-fiction , sean mcclory , thriller , william schallert
JAMES ARNESS, JAMES WHITMORE AND EDMUND GWENN IN 'THEM!'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/06/2025
Title: THEM! Year: 1954 Rating: ****Director Gordon Douglas's THEM could have had three different lead perspectives: the investigation of FBI agent James Arness, not used to working in the scorching desert; scientist father and daughter in
Written by James M. Tate / 2/04/2025 / No comments / alix talton , craig stevens , creature , cult , fifties , nathan juran , pat conway , science-fiction , william alland , william hopper
PRODUCER WILLIAM ALLAND PRESENTS 'THE DEADLY MANTIS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/04/2025
Title: THE DEADLY MANTIS Year: 1956 Rating: ****Various military compounds are attacked by an unseen yet formidable menace — an impenetrable force of some kind, and, in that, only the title reveals the deck — the first half playing out like
STEVE COCHRAN DRIVING ROBERT CUMMINGS IN 'THE CHASE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/04/2025
Robert Cummings and Michèle Morgan in THE CHASE Year: 1946 Rating: ***Since some 1940's film noirs are very surreal, it's not strange that one-third of THE CHASE is actually a dream by penniless war veteran turned mobster's chauffeur Rober
Written by James M. Tate / 2/01/2025 / No comments / anna gaël , ben gazzara , bo hopkins , bradford dillman , e.g. marshall , george segal , hans christian blech , john guillermin , matt clark , robert logan , sixties , steve sandor , world war II
JOHN GUILLERMIN'S 'THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN' WITH BEN GAZARRA
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 2/01/2025
George Segal and Ben Gazzara in The Bridge at Remagen Year: 1969 Rates: ***George Segal had already played a resilient soldier in a World War II movie, KING RAT, who scrounges off the dead and unlucky to make money from the living...Which i
Written by James M. Tate / 1/28/2025 / No comments / british , cult , horror , neda arneric , peter sykes , rural , seventies , sheila allen , simon brent , spiders
NEDA ARNERIC SPREADS 'VENOM' IN 'THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/28/2025
Neda Americ in VENOM Alternate: THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST Year: 1971 Rating: ***After the grainy, low-budget VENOM aka THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST, British director Peter Sykes landed a job for legendary British horror production Hammer f
Written by James M. Tate / 1/26/2025 / No comments / gerald sim , hammer films , horror , lewis fiander , martine beswick , ralph bates , seventies , susan brodrick , thriller
RALPH BATES & MARTINE BESWICK AS 'DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/26/2025
Martine Beswick in DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE Year: 1971 Rating: ***1/2Seeking a new face during the late 1960's and early 1970's, Ralph Bates was supposed to be Hammer's young resurgence of Christopher Lee and/or Peter Cushing... yet he neve
Written by James M. Tate / 1/25/2025 / No comments / angharad rees , april wilding , body-count , derek godfrey , eric porter , hammer films , horror , jane merrow , katya wyeth , lynda baron , seventies
ERIC PORTER & ANGHARAD REES IN HAMMER'S 'HANDS OF THE RIPPER'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/25/2025
Title: HANDS OF THE RIPPER Year: 1971 Rating: ****1/2In 1971, Hammer Films managed to get two films centering not really on Jack the Ripper himself, but his legacy: in DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE, the Robert Louis Stevenson-based antagonists
Written by James M. Tate / 1/24/2025 / No comments / barbara bel geddes , debra paget , fifties , film noir or melodrama , grace kelly , howard da silva , james warren , jeff corey , jeffrey hunter , john randolph , paul douglas , richard basehart , thriller
RICHARD BASEHART STANDS PAUL DOUGLAS IN 'FOURTEEN HOURS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/24/2025
Richard Basehart in FOURTEEN HOURS Year: 1951 Rating: ****1/2The sparse poster for FOURTEEN HOURS has a rendering of Barbara Bel Geddes' screaming face looking up, surrounded by the hands of a clock, misleading in two aspects: that this int
Written by James M. Tate / 1/23/2025 / No comments / british neo noir , british new wave , caper , dilys watling , george martin , heist , john rutland , sixties , suspense , terence cooper , thriller , warren mitchell , william lucas
WILLIAM LUCAS & JOHN RUTLAND WEATHERING 'CALCULATED RISK'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/23/2025
William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2Low-budget thriller has THE BREAK baddie and overall capable British New Wave actor William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK, a hybrid of THE ASPHALT JUNGLE as a newly-released older short g
Written by James M. Tate / 1/22/2025 / No comments / british neo noir , crime , david sumner , heist , jan waters , lance comfort , roberta tovey , sixties , william lucas
LANCE COMFORT DIRECTS WILLIAM LUCAS IN 'TOUCH OF DEATH'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/22/2025
William Lucas in Lance Comfort's TOUCH OF DEATH Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2Four years after TOUCH OF DEATH, when British b-movie director directed British tough guy actor William Lucas in THE BREAK, he never reached the boat that would take h
Written by James M. Tate / 1/21/2025 / No comments / anne bancroft , anthony hopkins , british , david lynch , eighties , freddie francis , freddie jones , frederick treves , hannah gordon , history , john geilgud , time period
MEL BROOKS PRESENTS DAVID LYNCH'S ICONIC 'THE ELEPHANT MAN'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/21/2025
Anthony Hopkins in David Lynch's THE ELEPHANT MAN Year: 1980 Rating: ****After the bleak B&W, nightmarishly bizarre ERASERHEAD, otherwise comedy producer Mel Brooks hired offbeat auteur David Lynch to provide 1880's England the same kind of
Written by James M. Tate / 1/20/2025 / No comments / cornelia sharpe , creature , drama , eighties , exploitation , horror , hostage , klaus kinski , nicol williamson , oliver reed , sarah miles , snake , sterling hayden , susan george , suspense , thriller
VILLAINOUS OLIVER REED AND KLAUS KINSKI BITING INTO 'VENOM'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/20/2025
Title: VENOM Year: 1981 Rating: ****In England, a sickly child and his grandfather are overtaken by the help in their family estate: Earlier that day, the boy picked up the wrong snake from a pet shop: And now a deadly Black Mamba slithers
Written by James M. Tate / 1/19/2025 / No comments / action , bettina ciampolini , bobby rhodes , body-count , dario argento , horror , italian , lamberto bava , natasha hovey , nicoletta elmi , urbano barberini , zombie
DARGIO ARGENTO PRESENTS LAMBERTO BAVA'S HORROR 'DEMONS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/19/2025
Title: DEMONS from DEMONI Year: 1985 Rating: ***1/2It's a shame when, after thirty-minutes, when an audience watching a violent slasher-horror picture begin dying inside the theater... practically right alongside the movie playing on the sc
Written by James M. Tate / 1/18/2025 / No comments / adventure , cannon , donna denton , eighties , fantasy , jack palance , michelle clarke , nigel chipps , rebecca ferratti , science-fiction , sequel , urbano barberini
DONNA DENTON & REBECCA FERRATTI SHARING 'OUTLAW OF GOR'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 1/18/2025
Title: OUTLAW OF GOR aka GOR II Year: 1988 Rating: ***Cannon's fantasy exploitation GOR was more obviously leading towards a sequel than even the original STAR WARS... instead of just Darth Vader's tie-fighter flying off into space, there w
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TED KOTCHEFF DIRECTS SYLVESTER STALLONE IN 'FIRST BLOOD'
Title: FIRST BLOOD Year: 1982 Rating: ****1/2 When rural sheriff Brian Dennehy drives ragged drifter Sylvester Stallone from one side of a o...
