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Review: Battle of the V-1

Set during WWII and based on a book by Bernard Newman, Michael Rennie stars as a Polish schoolteacher recruited by the Polish resistance to be the inside man in an attempt at sabotaging a rocket built by the Nazis (The ‘V-1’ of the film’s title). Patricia Medina plays Rennie’s wife, Sir Christopher Lee plays a German prison camp officer.   Good, solid work by George Pastell and Patricia Medina still doesn’t do much for this dull WWII flick from 1958 also known as “Missiles From Hell” . Directed by Vernon Sewell (who went on to direct “Curse of the Crimson Altar” and “The Blood Beast Terror” for Tigon British) and scripted by Jack Hanley and Eryk Wlodek (neither of whom have extensive IMDb credits), the film actually starts rather well. The opening 20 minutes are stark and terrifying stuff. Sadly, after that it becomes a bog standard ‘let’s try and outsmart the Nazis’ rah-rah film with heavy use of stock footage. Also not helping things is the boring Michael Rennie as our leading
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Review: Lady Cocoa

Cocoa (Veteran Vegas entertainer Lola Falana) was jailed for contempt of court, refusing to testify against her gangster ex-boyfriend. After some time behind bars she’s had a change of heart, so cops Ramsey (Alex Dreier) and Doug (Gene Washington) are tasked with escorting her to a Vegas hotel awaiting her court appearance. Sounds simple, right? Not so. Cocoa is a petulant and hostile diva, and there’s a couple of hitmen (one played by ‘Mean’ Joe Greene) sent out to snuff her before she gets to court. Millie Perkins turns up as one half of a honeymooning couple in town.   A nice little surprise, this obscure 1975 blaxploitation film from director Matt Cimber ( “The Black 6” , co-starring Gene Washington and ‘Mean’ Joe Greene) and screenwriter Mikel Angel (who also scripted “The Black 6” ) doesn’t come with glowing reviews or scores but I must say I rather enjoyed it. Yes it’s really cheap-looking, but so are most of these films – because they were made cheaply. It’s also got one
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Review: Jinnah

The story of Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Sir Christopher Lee) the politically moderate founder of Pakistan. A Muslim lawyer, Jinnah fought to form a separate nation from India for the Muslim minority, whilst Mahatma Gandhi (Sam Dastor) wished for India to stay united and proposed Jinnah as the new PM as a compromise. James Fox plays British viceroy Lord Mountbatten, Indira Varma plays Jinnah’s wife, and veteran bit player Vernon Dobtcheff plays a British dignitary.   Although Christopher Lee’s title performance received some critical notice and the actor himself was very proud of the work, this modestly budgeted 1998 biopic from director Jamil Dehlavi ( “Immaculate Conception” with Melissa Leo) and co-writer Farrukh Dhondy ( “Red Mercury” with Stockard Channing and Ron Silver) was largely ignored at the time and still very little-known today. Part of that is probably due to the poor marketing of the film, and difficulty in finding a distributor. It’s hard to get people to talk about a
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Review: American Pastoral

David Strathairn attends his 45 th high school reunion and becomes curious as to what happened a guy named Swede Levov after running into his younger brother (a dreadful Rupert Evans) at the reunion. Swede recently passed and Evans tells Strathairn the tragic tale. Ewan McGregor plays Jewish-American ‘Swede’, married to a stunning former beauty queen (Jennifer Connelly), and father to a rebellious daughter (Dakota Fanning) who gets caught up in the anti-Vietnam War movement of the late 1960s. Molly Parker plays a well-meaning but seriously misguided psychiatrist.   First-time director Ewan McGregor doesn’t make it easy for himself by tackling the Pulitzer Prize-winning work of Philip Roth with this 2016 drama. Unfortunately, Ewan really isn’t up for the task with this extremely silly film full of absolutely dreadful dialogue and unconvincing performances. Adapted by John Romano ( “The Lincoln Lawyer” , the infamous “Cop Rock” ), in terms of plot and themes there’s some interest
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Review: Problem Child

Big-hearted John Ritter and his wife Amy Yasbeck (whose heart is considerably smaller) adopt young Michael Oliver from Gilbert Gottfried’s adoption agency where the juvenile devil has been traumatising the staff of nuns. Ritter, whose disreputable businessman father Jack Warden is a cold-hearted jerk, wants to do everything right with ‘Junior’ that his father did wrong with him. Junior however, is a malevolent little turd who lives almost solely to cause mischief and has been pen-pals with a psycho dubbed ‘The Bow Tie Killer’ (Michael Richards). Every now and then a film comes along that apparently I shouldn’t like because it’s considered trashy or puerile or just plain low-class.   Screw everyone else, “Problem Child” is a perfectly fine, amusing film and you’re all just plain wrong about it. This one’s underrated and I say that knowing that Gilbert Gottfried is in the cast and the first pee joke is mid-opening credits. Directed by Dennis Dugan (who has helmed way too many Adam S
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Review: Falling

  Viggo Mortensen is the mild-mannered gay son of bigoted Lance Henriksen, an angry old man who is now plagued by cancer and dementia. He brings the old man away from the family farm to stay with him and his husband (Terry Chan) while Henriksen looks more locally for a home of his own. Unfortunately, the abusive old bastard doesn’t recall making the suggestion and is none too happy. He’s also not remotely tolerant of his son’s same-sex marriage. Meanwhile, we get flashbacks to when Henriksen was a younger man and frankly no nicer in disposition. Gabby Velis plays Mortensen and Chen’s adopted daughter, whilst Laura Linney turns up as Henriksen’s daughter, whose family Henriksen is every bit as hostile around. Illness or not, the guy’s an unrepentant arsehole.   Viggo Mortensen makes his directorial debut with this 2021 dementia drama, which he also produced, scripted, and co-stars in. Mortensen’s parents both had dementia, so the material here obviously meant something to him. My fa
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Review: Trent’s Last Case

Business tycoon Orson Welles (seen in flashbacks) is shot dead, with investigative reporter Michael Wilding put on the case. Margaret Lockwood is Welles’ widow, John McCallum his loyal but seemingly secretive aide. Miles Malleson plays Lockwood’s uncle.   Mostly colourless 1952 mystery from director Herbert Wilcox ( “The Lady With a Lamp” , “The Heart of a Man” ) had a conclusion I didn’t predict, but I also can’t say I cared much. The film takes a good while to really kick into gear and once it does it still doesn’t fire up much interest. Michael Wilding’s slightly cheeky performance as the detective was the only thing keeping me awake here. Orson Welles’ late participation is curious, it’s such a nondescript film and his lively, if unsubtle cameo performance isn’t enough to lift the film. He’s fine, but why is he here ? A pretty big waste of the always solid Miles Malleson in a nondescript role as well. I must say leading lady Margaret Lockwood didn’t do much for me, nor
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