Shameless Self Expression

A society of Amazon women led by the super-serious Alena Johnston’s Antiope whose disdain for all things male and manly are put to the test on the society’s annual co-mingling with a tribe of male Greek studs, especially the very studly Theseus (Angelo Infanti). You see, it’s this one time of the year that the women will fornicate with the men for the sole purpose of procreation (female children only, of course). Theseus however, would like very much to break down Antiope’s man-hating defences. Luciana Paluzzi turns up as Theseus’ wife Phaedra. One of the strangest pairings of filmmaker and film is seeing the name of director Terence Young ( “Dr. No” , “From Russia With Love” , “Wait Until Dark” ) at the helm of this 1973 piece of C-grade (to be charitable) softcore exploitation mythology. The only sign that this was from the director of “Thunderball” was the casting of Luciana Paluzzi. Was Young doing a director-for-hire job here at very short notice and a tight schedule? B

Set in Pompeii 79AD, Sybil Danning plays a well-respected queen who is secretly trying to help female slaves escape. Meanwhile, a volcano looms in the background. Tally Chanel is essentially our protagonist, slave Vespa. Donald Pleasence plays a randy local official, whilst “Deathstalker” co-star Rick Hill is a gladiator hunk named Marcus. Essentially an attempt by producers Joe D’Amato (director of “ Black Cobra Woman” , and several of the ‘other’ “Emanuelle” exploitation pics) and Harry Alan Towers (Essentially the British Dino De Laurentiis) to do another “Caligula” but far tamer. This 1987 skin flick from director Chuck Vincent (a prolific director of both hardcore and softcore film ventures) is actually not terrible. In fact, it’s a far easier watch than “Caligula” because although far less explicit, it’s also far less overly indulgent in the sex scenes. I’m not saying this is a well-scripted, well-plotted character drama or anything – it’s an exploitation flick alr

It’s Christmas time, and NYC cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) has flown in to spend some time with estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) and the kids. Holly is at the Nakatomi Plaza high-rise building for her Japanese-American company’s Christmas party and John is hoping to meet her there. Before they have much time for a rather tense family reunion, a group of multi-national terrorists headed by German criminal Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) waltz into the building and take everyone hostage. Everyone except John, whose presence somewhere else in the building Gruber and co have not yet cottoned onto. This one tough, wise-cracking cop is about to try to spoil the terrorists plans and save the day. He sure would like some backup from local law enforcement, though. Gruber’s men include the likes of Clarence Gilyard Jr., Alexander Godunov, Andreas Wisniewski, Al Leong, Dennis Hayden, Wilhelm von Homburg, and Bruno Doyon. James Shigeta plays Nakatomi head Takagi, whilst Hart Bochner is sleaz