Serial Week

Hey folks. Sorry for starting the week on a Tuesday but apparently it was Migraine Monday. Yeah really hope that is not going to be a thing but weather patterns are screwy that way. Well last week got to glimpse some interesting Free-to-Play games on Steam which a handful of them were actually fun... well a few... okay I really only enjoyed one. This time around I thought I would give acknowledgement to a time honored concept that hailed back when going to the movies meant spending a dime and popcorn was also cheap as could be.

Now put on your mittens, Robin. You have to shovel the walk.

During the 1930s and the 1940s short cartoons or even programming of live-action capers and thrillers would shown before the feature length movie. These shows would have a continuing plot that furthers the story from anything from undersea voyages, cowboys and even a few comic book heroes.

These short films were called serials. As one chapter of thrills and spills ended, next week a new one would happen. Giving the term cliffhanger (a plot device in fiction where a main character is in a difficult scenario or confronted with shocking news that will change their life forever) originated in Movie and Radio bringing as much as excitement to their customers and listeners at home and always ending with To Be Continued or The End? The following serial would most commonly begin with a recap of the events in the previous episode to lend it weight to the audience or justify the outcome.

Created by 5 major studios in competition with one another, each trying to bring their own spin of things and persons, Columbia Pictures brought you such titles as: (The Secret of Treasure Island, The Spider's Web, Flying G-Men and Mandrake the Magician) while Universal Pictures had (The Spell of the Circus, The Airmail Mystery, The Lost Special and Clancy of the Mounted) Mascot Pictures and Pathe Exchange were fading out due to the introduction to the age of sound, Pathe stopped production in the latter 20s while Mascot merged with the most known picture racket of the serials Republic Pictures producing shows like : (Dick Tracy, Zorro Rides Again, The Lone Ranger, Captain America and Batman)

So this week we take a look at some of these serials that brought joy, terror and a bit of exhilaration to audiences during the Depression and WWII, because they sure needed it.

We might have some laughs, some elation and possibly be diverted to joy. Let's find out, shall we?

Hello police?  Yeah my sidekick took my bike and shield again.

Dirty Harry Week: Magnum Force

Welcome back to Day 2 of Dirty Harry Week.  Today is one of my personal favorites out of the batch.  Homicides are piling up in the old town of San Francisco, which is nothing new but this time around the victims may all have something in common and it is up to Harry to figure out what is going on and how to stop it.  This is Magnum Force.

Scram Mormons!!!

Harry Callahan:  The rest of you could shoot like them, I wouldn't care if the whole damn department was spoiler.



Mobster Ricca gets acquitted due to a technicality in the case and is off on the road when a traffic cop pulls him over.  No sooner is he done looking at the driver's ID he comes back and wastes all three men in the car at point blank range.

Inspector Callahan and his partner Early Smith (Felton Perry of The Towering Inferno, Sudden Death, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Robocop and Robocop 2) have been lifted from Homicide to a stake out duty on a kingpin when their Lieutenant, Neil Briggs (Hal Holbrook of All the President's Men, Lincoln, Midway, The Fog and The Bachelor) has Ricca and crew's homicides looked into and Harry is just the man to stick the job with.   Early and Harry look over the Lincoln and get the ballistics and corner reports while an house party of a known scumbag gets gunned down, guests and all.

Doing anything tonight, bright eyes?

As Callahan and Smith pursue the case, a known pimp is also smoked like turkey at close range but Harry notices the pimp's cash is available like a bribe to a traffic cop.  Later that day Callahan meets four rookie traffic cops with impeccable aim at the gun range.  Turns out all four men are former Airborne Rangers and chose to carry the good fight on in civvie life via police.

I had just a few comments to make about this film.  This is the second of the Dirty Harry series as was directed by Ted Post (Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Hang 'Em High, Peyton Place and Beneath the Planet of the Apes).  Our four rookies are played by David Soul (Here Come the Brides, Starsky and Hutch, Salem's Lot and Tides of War) Tim Matheson (Animal House, 1941, Fletch, Cannonball Fever, Trial & Error and Burn Notice) Kip Niven (Earthquake, Damnation Alley, New Year's Evil and The Painting), who I didn't immediately recognize and lastly but certainly not least Robert Urich (SWAT, Vegas, Spencer: For Hire and Night of the Wolf).

 With a fast pace, disturbing content and a bit of nudity this hard hitting action film pushed boundaries and make us root for Harry yet again.

JUST PAY THE PARKING FINE!!!!

Blaxploitation Week

Hello again readers!  This week I wanted to focus on some amazing pieces of film that falls under a genre that tends to get the nose turned up to it because of where the term hails from.  Blaxploitation films were created in the 1970s and are predominately a black cast including lead and most secondary characters.  Blaxploitation or Black Cinema was an attempt to reach more urban audiences by developing heroes, anti-heroes and situation that not every white person would get, understand or comprehend.   These films were the first of its kind to introduce soul and funk soundtracks to movies.  Primarily these movies were based around gang violence, cops working the streets and mobsters making their mark in the world.

Snap kick, Sucka!!

What these film did was to bridge the gap and cultural understandings between different ethnic backgrounds and try to tell a good story.  Like with all exploitation films there are some that just stand out from an amazing cast to a terrific story.  Others like Dolemite, tend to be shot in the South were apparently every other white guy is a racist in a position of power trying to bring the brothers down.   Some examples of this black empowerment like Shaft and Coffy gave creditable performances, great story line and a kick ass soundtrack.

Racist vampires??? Say it ain't so!

Many organizations felt this cinema genre would cause race riots, uprises and a surge of crime waves and cast white people as horrendous people hell bent on being slavers, heartless oppressors and in general; scumbags.  For those in that disgruntlement bracket, I suggest you read a little history prior to the Civil War and GET OVER IT.    The irony of this genre is that the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), The SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) and The Urban League that are all African American foundations felt these movies were base, crass and had no moral value which consequently ended this genre for a time.

This movie concept was to break free of the shackles of stereotypical writing for black actors getting foisted into criminal, war mongers and bad guys of the week and show people that hatred had been around a long time and here is another side of it.

So some of these films will blow you away like they did me and some will be like Dolemite, so buckle up kids cause we are going for a ride.

Craigslist romance goes horribly wrong.

A Dash of Film Noir: The Killing

Hey there gang and welcome to Day 1 of A Dash of Film Noir Week.   I was scouring through the film archives and came across what I can call a fine example of the genre.  Fortunately a seasoned director had his hands on this flick.   Director Stanley Kubrick (Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey) helmed our movie as it was his third full-length feature film about a robbery gone wrong.  So let’s hold out in the flop house, clean and prep the roscoes and try to keep a cool head.  This is The Killing.

So fellas, gin rummy anyone?

Johnny Clay: Alright spoiler, that’s a mighty pretty head you got on your shoulders. You want to keep it there or start carrying it around in your hands?

Our movie’s leading role ain’t one of the good guys but a career criminal that is planning one last score before he and the missus settle down for the house with the white picket fence.  Tough guy Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden of Flaming Feather, Hellgate, The Golden Hawk, The Star, So Big, Dr. Strangelove and 1900) is as vicious as they come but with a heart of gold. His doll baby Fay (Coleen Gray of Kiss of Death, Red River, Kansas City Confidential and Cry from the Mountain) is a gal with great stems and a can do attitude and Johnny would move the heavens just to give her a better view.

Oh Johnny, why can't you be more like Burt Lancaster?

With a few choice teammates he assembled Johnny plans to rob a little over two million dollars from a racetrack during a high stakes race.  With using a betting teller George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr. of The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, House on Haunted Hill, Blacula and Salem’s Lot: The Movie) giving the access to the back room, a crackshot sniper who is cold as they come, Nikki Arcane (Timothy Carey of Rio Conchos, Beach Blanket Bingo, Gunsmoke, A Time for Killing, Head and What’s the Matter with Helen?) a corrupt cop Randy (Ted de Corsia of The Lady from Shanghai, The Naked City, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Delta Factor),  a wrestler Maurice (Pro Wrestler Kola Kwariani of  The Killing) for crowd distraction. The deck is stacked and ready for game time. 

One slight hitch is George blabs the plan to his annoyed wife Sherry (Marie Windsor of Force of Evil, The Narrow Margin, Swamp Diamonds, The Day Mars Invaded Earth, Bedtime Story and Salem’s Lot: The Movie) who schemes to  get her gunsel boy toy Val Cannon (Vince Edwards of Ben Casey, The Victors, The Devil’s Brigade, The Return of Ben Casey and Son of Darkness: To Die For II) to rob the lot of them and do them in if they get out of line.   The heist is set and everyone knows their part but George tells Johnny his wife knows everything and Johnny takes care of business with Sherry telling her to know her place and she and George are getting a big piece of the action as it is.   Will the scheme go off without complications or will it blow up in their faces?  Hey check it out because it is another brilliant Kubrick film.

When clowns turn to crime!!

Eurozombie Week: La Horde

Hello all and welcome the last day of the Eurozombie Week and thankfully I managed to find a gem in all this muck.  Yes after a bit of research into the subject matter I can honestly say I have found a Eurohorror zombie film that is easily better than Zombie Lake and Oasis of the Zombies. I knew it was out there and all I had to do was wade hip deep in the depths of mediocrity and the movie appeared like a beacon of hope to the genre.  So strap on…your pistols.  Grab some food and booze of course and welcome to the night that knows little to no end.  This is La Horde.

Filthy Jacque won't stand for this.

Kim: This is spoiler Jimmy, we don’t have to do this…

Our movie opens with a bit of CGI drama laid ruins and a bald headed man roaming about, following up with the flashback sequence of the rest of the movie.  Yes it is a bit of a cliché film starter but it does pick up.  A crew of crooked cops plans to hit these ruthless gang bangers for blowing away one of their own.  Their badges mean nothing on this aggressive vigilante act and they full well know it.    They are not looking for the law but good old fashion street justice.  Our boys pimp slap their boys, fights of gun and fist break out in this building the bangers are holding up in.  

Man, Black Fridays are brutal!

Meanwhile outside of this building; explosions are seen and heard, sirens are screeching and insane garbled rabble is running about the streets.  You know, Black Friday in the states.  Our cops and robbers stop their reindeer games long enough to find out what is going on outside and are terrified to see the very building they are in is under siege (starring Steven Segal) a giant mob of the flesh rendering zombies.  Our collective groups have to team up to fend the zombies off long enough to find an exit from the building.    Just a reminder to those curious that this film is insanely graphic, a large grab bag of gore gags, some fast paced camera and editing so photophobics may want to bow out now.   Also these are not your Romero disarrayed zombies ambling along and stumble on a fleeing human zombie.  These suckers are adrenaline fueled, fast clip moving uber zombies that claw, tear and rend anything and everything until they get their bellies full of that sweet delicious flesh.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I had a quick few highlights about the film and crew.  Our director/writer/actor Yannick Dahan pulled off his very first full-length film with impressive hand held work, dolly tracked hallways and even a few crane shots for scope.   His best friend writer/ documenter Arnaud Bordas (Maniac: Carnage culte, Our New Wave and CinemApocalypse) forged a series of vapid expressions and stale sayings with overdone concepts and still manage to produce a horrific vision of desperation, human frailty and uneasy alliances for self-preservation.    While the fullness of the impeding apocalypse was not rendered as well as I would have liked it to be, the movie does establish mass hysteria, rioting and utter chaos brought to us by this wave of undead.  

Soo...cocktails gonna happen or what?

Tom Clancy Week: NetForce

Welcome back avid readers to Day 4 of Tom Clancy Week.  Because of this man 20 years of gaming via computer and console systems thus making several FPS fans happy as could be with titles such as: Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, EndWar and H.A.W.X. to name a few.  So the small screen was the next logical choice and kids we have a decent TV Movie on our hands.  So shoo the dog off the couch, plunk your feet on the ottoman and have a healthy snack.  This is Netforce.

You ain't payin me enough for this role.

Jay Gridley: Good Morning Spoilers!!!

Set in the far away time of THE YEAR 2005!!!...A new division of the FBI has been dubbed NetForce, a investigations team monitoring the policies and practices of the Internet as well as keeps tabs on computer crime of any sort.   Alex Michaels (Scott Bakula of Quantum Leap, Star Trek: Enterprise, The Informant!, Chuck and Men of a Certain Age) has been named Deputy Director of NetForce following succession of his boss and mentor Steve Day (Kris Kristofferson of Convoy, Songwriter, Stagecoach, Blade and Bloodworth) who was assassinated for an ongoing investigation. 

Cable companies...OF THE FUTURE!!!

As our NetForce begins to dig into Day’s findings there seem to be more than a fair share of clues that Web pioneer and owner of Januscorp Will Stiles (Judge Reinhold of Fast Time at Ridgemont High, Beverly Hills Cop, Vice Versa, Zandalee and The Santa Clause) may have been the cause.  Unbeknownst to our valiant computer crew, Stiles has developed a web browser that allows him to bypass all forms of encryption and hack into any computer in the world and gain complete and utter control of the Internet.

Michaels and his team on hot on the case looking for Stiles and looking forward to uploading a little justice.

Take that, Bill Gates!!

Okay, yes this is the part where I am going to nitpick just a bit.   The events around the technology are a bit laughable in how the internet was completely hooked to every major system…with no redundancy or safety protrocols and heck why have anyone monitor those systems?  For crying out loud Net Nanny has better security than this fictious world.  Lines like “Phew the Internet is still intact!” made me grind my teeth.   Veteran character actor Brian Dennehy’s performance seemed flaccid and ineffectual to Bakula’s take charge attitude.

The Lex Luthor wannabe portrayal that Reinhold is trying to pan off on us of the evil billionaire trying to take over the world feels made for cartoon rather than TV and boy oh boy they sure skimped on the technical aspect and most action sequences revolve around the computer room…but no proper jargon or explanation. 

Coach slugs and deeply devoted Tom Clancy fans were probably ecstatic with this rather impressive cast of characters but most felt like they were foisted on us.  The effects were fair and incidental music was spot on…boy it has come to this.  Main problem was all these secondary characters tossed in a large embankment of computers and cubicles to I guess look busy and on the job when they didn’t get any real development or characterization.  Just a name on a plastic badge getting the cliché, “Dammit, Johnson we need everyone on top of this,” speech. 

In case you forgot the title of the TV movie.