Shameless Self Expression

Years ago, Sir Hugo Baskerville (an enjoyably hammy David Oxley) was said to have been murdered by the ghostly hound of the film’s title. Ever since, the hound has been attributed to the deaths of every Baskerville heir. Now, Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing) and Dr. Watson (Andre Morell) are asked by Dr. Mortimer (Francis De Wolff) to investigate this mysterious and possibly supernatural family legacy before it also claims the life of current heir to the Baskerville estate, Sir Henry (Christopher Lee). Ewan Solon and Marla Landi play Sir Henry’s neighbours, Miles Malleson plays the tarantula-loving local Bishop, and John Le Mesurier is suitably frightened as a butler.   Hammer does Holmes with this 1959 film from director Terence Fisher ( “The Horror of Dracula” , “The Mummy” , “The Devil Rides Out” ) and screenwriter Peter Bryan ( “The Brides of Dracula” , “The Blood Beast Terror” ). It’s a real classy effort all round, particularly in terms of atmosphere and visual aesthetics....

Harrison Ford is archaeologist and professor Indiana Jones, who in the late 1930s is hired by the U.S. government to track down the Ark of the Covenant. Along the way he’ll encounter feisty old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), as well as an evil Nazi named Toht (Ronald Lacey), and Indy’s arch-rival Belloq (Paul Freeman) who are both looking for the Ark themselves. John Rhys-Davies plays the gregarious Sallah, Indy’s friend in Cairo, Denholm Elliott is Marcus Brody, Indy’s university colleague, and Alfred Molina turns up as a shifty sort in the opening set-piece.   Y’know, I liked “The Big Bang Theory” as much as anyone. However, I gotta call them out (belatedly and perhaps pointlessly now) on their notion regarding Indiana Jones. In addition to being factually wrong about Indiana Jones’ irrelevance to the plot of this 1981 adventure classic from director Steven Spielberg ( “Jaws” , “ET” , “Schindler’s List” , “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” , “Minority Report” ), it ...

A masked man with martial arts prowess takes down a couple of narcotics cops. Head of the narcotics squad Clu Gulager suggests they recruit the aid of karate/kickboxing expert Chuck Norris. Initially hired to train the cops (which include Jennifer O’Neill and Ron O’Neal), Chuck ends up doing an investigation of his own after the criminals make it personal for him. Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace plays Norris’ opponent in an upcoming fight.   You’d think that a Chuck Norris film that is really a vehicle for someone else would be a good thing for a non-fan like me. Unfortunately, this 1979 cop movie from Paul Aaron (who wrote the story for the decent Chuck Norris ninja movie “The Octagon” and directed Wings Hauser in “Deadly Force” ) isn’t even good for what it’s trying to be. And that’s a shame, because there’s some ingredients here that could’ve been turned into something rather decent instead of rather ‘meh’.   The problem here is the way Chuck and martial arts are used in ...

After the events of the first film, our protagonists are holed up in the abandoned White House, having a pretty fun time, actually. Eventually, the plot kicks in as Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) leaves the group to hook up with a bunch of hippies. This concerns the other three greatly, as they head out in search of her. The first stop is Graceland, which Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) is especially happy to visit, and he meets fellow survivor and fellow Elvis fan Nevada (Rosario Dawson). The trail eventually leads them to a hippie commune called Babylon (isn’t it always Babylon?), and it’s about this point that the zombies turn up en masse. A giant horde of zombies and they’re in the one place where weapons are discouraged. Yikes. Zoey Deutch turns up as a bubbleheaded girl who Columbus allows himself to be flattered by when mad at Wichita (Emma Stone) briefly abandons him, post-marital proposal. That’s gonna be a nice, calm situation isn’t it?   The first “Zombieland” was one ...