Watched a few things of late. Have you seen any of them?
Impulse: a 1984 eco-shocker about chemical waste entering the water system of a small American town and .... sending the townsfolk barmy and homicidal. A decent attempt at a toxic quarantine along the lines of the Crazies and Andromeda Strain.
Rings of Power: I'm enjoying Prime's super-expensive retelling of Tolkien's early tales and seeing characters like Tom Bombadil brought to life. Just waiting for the next episode now in Season 2.
Werewolf by Night in Colour: I first saw this Marvel mini-film on Disney+ a coupla years ago in monochrome. This time they've added full colour. I really like this Marvel short because it lets one of its less-well known but fabulous characters, the marvellous Man-Thing get an airing. Please give us more Man-Thing Marvel!
The Crazies: the modern remake of the old Romero movie [which I've yet to see] starring Timothy Olyphant. He plays a great sheriff role in a small American town about chemical waste sending the townsfolk barmy and homicidal. Its a lot gorier than Impulse but taps into the same vein of state-run mass experiments on citizens.
Sting: an alien spider film. The first ten minutes were so tedious it was sacked off till a later date.
X-Files The Movie: the first and best of two film spin-offs from the famous and fantastic TV series that kept us glued to the telly in the 1990's. The film's got it all; Mulder, Scully, Cancer Man, the Four Horsemen, aliens, viruses, shadowy figures of power in a global conspiracy and lots of bees. Martin Landau makes a brilliant appearance as Dr. Kurtzweil. Yep, I love the X-Files.
The first X Files film is, in my view the best ever film of a tv series purely because it manages to just be an episode, which almost all attempts at making a film of a tv show fail to make age.
ReplyDeleteIt is really excellent kevin I agree. Its got everything that was so good about the X Files. Alas, we've just watched the 2nd film, I want to Believe and I cant think of a more different second film. Its awful and the concept had clearly run out of steam. Shame.
Delete'Manage', what the heck is spell checker doing?
ReplyDeleteCan't say I've watched anything new like that. Two recent viewings were Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), which is as awful as I recall it back in the theater, and reinforces my theory that Steven Spielberg ruins everything! Also, Orloff Against the Invisible Man (1970), pure exploitation Euro-Trash with an invisible gorilla and three beautiful nekked wenches - what's not to like! SFZ
ReplyDeleteIs it the TZ with William Shatner in the plane SF? I remember the original episode in black and white. Never heard of that Orloff film! One to add to the list. As for Steven Speilberg, I have to disagree I'm afraid. His Close Encounters is perhaps the best Sci fi movie ever made imho and along with Batteries Not Included, the two main spaceship scenes in the two films are guaranteed to bring the Grandson and me to tears every time [in a good way].
DeleteThe TZ movie I'm speaking about is the 1983 feature, with John Lithgow hamming it up in the old William Shatner role. As for Spielberg, everything he touches turns into to sappy schmaltz. But I know I am in a very tiny minority here, as witness the huge success of his movies worldwide. SFZ
DeleteAh, so it was Bill Shatner in the original! Doh!
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