Shameless Self Expression

Helen Slater is Kara, the cousin of Kal-El/Superman, an ‘inner-dimensional’ being who lives in Argo City, basically the remainder of the population of the planet Krypton. She goes on a mission to Earth to retrieve a device important to the survival of Argo City’s inhabitants. On Earth she poses as a boarding school student named Linda Lee, a cousin of Clark Kent and rooms with Lucy Lane (Maureen Teefy), relative of…you can probably guess. Unfortunately, the much sought after omegahedrom is currently in the hands of amateur witch Selena (Faye Dunaway), who wants to use its powers to attract the attentions of a handsome gardener (Hart Bochner). Or something like that. Peter Cook plays Selena’s on-and-off beau who just so happens to be a teacher at Kara/Linda’s school. Mia Farrow and Simon Ward play Kara’s parents, Peter O’Toole plays Kara’s mentor Zaltar, Brenda Vaccaro plays Selena’s smart Alec lackey, Marc McClure briefly reprises his “Superman” role as Jimmy Olsen, and Matt Frewer is...

Set in England in the late 1600s (but shot in lovely Portugal), Christopher Lee stars as the brutal Judge Jeffries (a real historical figure), the tyrannical Lord Chancellor who dishes out the harshest and cruellest punishments and is obsessed with power. He sentences poor Alicia (Margaret Lee) to death for the crime of witchcraft, whilst also having an eye for her sister Mary (Maria Rohm, AKA Mrs. Harry Alan Towers). The latter is currently being courted by boring Harry (Hans Hess), the son of Lord Wessex (Leo Genn), who is the Earl of the region. Harry has gotten in league with a band of rebels hoping to put a stop to tyrannical rulers like Jeffries, though his more political father cautions him against doing anything rash. Howard Vernon and Milo Quesada play a couple of thorough nasties, the former an executioner, the latter is Judge Jeffries’ chief henchman.   One of several films the late, great Christopher Lee made for infamous Spanish-born exploitation director Jesus Fra...

The final chapter in the life of gangster Al Capone (Tom Hardy), now gravely ill and erratic. Linda Cardellini plays Capone’s wife, Kyle MacLachlan is his doctor, Noel Fisher plays Capone’s loyal son, and Matt Dillon is an old friend/criminal associate come to help out in Capone’s final days.   Once-promising writer-director John Trank continues his career descent by directing Tom Hardy to his hammiest and worst performance to date in this useless, grotesque biopic from 2020. After the notorious flop of “The Fantastic Four” and now this ghastly bit of tedium, I’m not sure how poor Mr. Trank (whose super-powered “Chronicle” was one of the best films of its year) recovers. The idea of covering a less well travelled portion of Capone’s life isn’t an inherently bad one. However, in Trank and Hardy’s hands it’s about 100 minutes of Al Capone gurgling, crapping the bed, squinting, and rolling his eyes. It’s not an interesting or enjoyable experience, and Hardy’s unsubtle performanc...

Escaped convicts (Howard Keel, David Greene, and Michael Balfour) looking for a place to hide-out invade the home of a not-so happily married English couple (Valerie Hobson and James Donald). Donald is a playwright who has become embittered through life experiences and it’s affecting his marriage. Hobson was all set to leave the marriage when the criminals set upon them. Well this is rather awkward timing, isn’t it?   Before Humphrey Bogart played a fugitive in “The Desperate Hours” , Howard Keel made his screen debut (billed as Harold Keel) as a fugitive in this tautly-made 1948 British crime-thriller. Directed by veteran editor Fergus McDonell (who mostly directed shorts) and based on a Robert Westerby novel, it’s a rock-solid film deserving of greater status and reputation. Despite Valerie Hobson’s top-billing, the real lead here is the always good James Donald. As usual he’s perfectly solid as a mild-mannered Englishman, but this time he’s also an unhappy, insecure and embi...