Shameless Self Expression

Soldiers at a quarry dealing with the handling of radioactive materials are badly burned when a huge crack opens in the ground under them. Dean Jagger is a scientist at a nearby research facility who looks into the incident. Before long a series of attacks leave the victims badly burned if not completely melted. What on Earth – or anywhere else perhaps – is going on here? Anthony Newley and Michael Ripper play soldiers, Leo McKern is an investigator, John Harvey plays a military Major, and William Lucas plays Jagger’s right-hand man.   Directed by Leslie Norman (1958’s “Dunkirk” ), this 1956 Hammer sci-fi film was intended to be a spin-off from Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass series. However, since the screenplay was written by Jimmy Sangster ( “Horror of Dracula” , “The Snorkel” , “The Nanny” ) and not Kneale, the latter refused the use of his characters, thus the final product comes with some character alterations. It’s Quatermass in all but name, and frankly a lot better than Hamm...

Technically a ‘pom’ by birth, but we claim him as Australia’s own, John Farnham is for me the best vocalist we’ve ever had here. In addition, he was the sound of my childhood, especially his “Whispering Jack” and “Age of Reason” albums. He’s the perfect showman in concert and seemingly a great bloke too, with a fun sense of humour. He’s had a tough time of it health wise in recent years, known as ‘The Voice’ his voice has been dimmed through throat cancer surgery. Even in this documentary he sounds really raspy and unwell, I imagine even the more recent audio interview bits with him were still recorded some time before the 2022 surgery date. Directed by Poppy Stockell, I suspect this was a mater of getting this made as soon as humanly possibly before it potentially became too late to hear from the man first-hand (though I hear he has been at least able to sing a bit at home fairly recently). This 2023 documentary is essential viewing for all Australians as far as I’m concerned, but int...

Long-time married couple Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis (who was Oscar-nominated here) announce that they are splitting, which shocks their friends Woody Allen and Mia Farrow. Then Woody and Mia start having marital woes of their own, with Woody’s wandering eye fixing on one of his young students (Juliette Lewis) and Mia being pursued by charming Liam Neeson. Lysette Anthony turns up as the object of Pollack’s desire.   I’ve enjoyed rather few Woody Allen films ( “Annie Hall” , “Deconstructing Harry” , “Alice” , “Broadway Danny Rose” , and “Blue Jasmine” among the good ones), and this 1992 talkfest is certainly not one of them. I say this with the full knowledge that I love the 120 minute screaming match “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” , but I don’t understand how anyone could be interested in watching this constant chatter and ugliness. The conversations are endless, there’s no room to follow along with them because no one seems to stop to take a breath.   Sydney Po...

After a nuclear apocalypse has devastated much of Earth and rendered it radioactive, there is a valley that has been protected by lead-bearing mountains. Among the protected is survivalist and former Navy commander Paul Birch, who lives with his daughter Lori Nelson and their stockpiled supplies. A few other characters turn up at Birch’s doorstep seeking refuge. They include a hoodlum (Mike Connors) and his stripper gal (Adele Jurgens), a uranium mining specialist (Richard Denning), and an elderly prospector (Raymond Hatton). Birch very reluctantly lets them in and that’s when the trouble starts as one of the survivors (Jonathan Haze) has been contaminated and is turning into something monstrous and menacing.   One of the earlier sci-fi directorial efforts from late director Roger Corman ( “A Bucket of Blood” , “It Conquered the World” , “The Intruder” , “Tomb of Ligeia” ), this 1955 low-budgeter is one of several Corman-directed films that frankly deserves to be talked about m...

Rebooting the franchise whilst also being a follow-up to the original “Gojira” , our title monster bursts out of an erupting volcano 30 years after the events of the first film. A group of fishermen witness this, but are quickly attacked by mutated sea lice, who kill all but one of the men. This lone survivor is rescued by a vacationing journo (Ken Tanaka) who tries to get all who will listen to take the story seriously. Familiar faces Yoshifumi Tajima and Hiroshi Koizumi (who had roles in several previous Toho films) turn up as a government minister and geologist, respectively.   The 1984 Japanese version of what was eventually sliced and diced into the Americanised “Godzilla 1985” , this Koji Hashimoto (a veteran 2 nd assistant director on several Toho films including the tedious “King Kong vs. Godzilla” ) film was meant to be the vastly superior cut I was informed. I haven’t seen “Godzilla 1985” in decades, but this sloppy, unfocussed, and dull affair is bottom tier Godzil...

Paul Rudd stars as real-life 1930s baseball player Moe Berg, a Jewish-American who also doubled as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services. They’ve tasked him with finding out if theoretical scientist Werner Heisenberg (Mark Strong) is secretly working on an atomic bomb project for the Nazis. Guy Pearce plays chief of foreign intelligence Robert Furman, Jeff Daniels is the OSS chief, Paul Giamatti plays a Dutch-American physicist, Hiroyuki Sanada plays a gay Japanese delegate associate of Moe’s, and Sienna Miller is Moe’s girlfriend.   Although I have my issues with it, I seem to like this 2018 film from Aussie director Ben Lewin ( “The Sessions” ) a bit more than most people, enough for at least a soft recommendation. Scripted by Robert Rodat ( “Saving Private Ryan” ), this true story is a bit disjointed at first, and also seems to end strangely early, but if you like your true stories and non-Bond spy stories this one’s worth a look.   There isn’t a bad performanc...

Innocent Maria Rohm and heroin-addicted Luciana Paluzzi are two of the newbies at a remote island women’s prison run by a brutal and sadistic lesbian warden (Mercedes McCambridge) and overseen by a sleazy governor (Herbert Lom). Maria Schell plays a well-meaning but useless prison shrink, who tries to get better treatment for the prisoners, but eventually Rohm and Paluzzi realise their only chance for survival is escape. Rosalba Neri plays the requisite 'warden’s pet' who has her eyes on one of the newbies in particular.   1969 Jesus Franco ( “Vampyros Lesbos” , “Eugenie de Sade” , “Count Dracula” ) film is one of the earlier versions of the kind of sleazy, exploitative women in prison (WIP for short) films that would become a bit of a schlock staple in the 70s and 80s. It’s probably one of the best as well, at least from the ones I’ve seen. It’s a solid effort from the erratic but prolific Franco who made several films in this subgenre.   If this is your kind of film,...

Stefanie Powers is an American in Britain currently engaged to Maurice Kaufmann. Whilst in the country, she decides to visit the mother (Tallulah Bankhead) of her previous fiancé who died a few years back. What Powers had hoped would be a quick pop-in to pay her respects, turns into a seemingly unending bizarre nightmare as the old bible-thumping battle-axe ensures Powers can’t leave. Peter Vaughan and Yootha Joyce play Bankhead’s creepy servants who have their own alternate reasons for staying in Bankhead’s employ. Donald Sutherland turns up in the role of an intellectually challenged handyman.   Although it’s not among the better-known or more widely seen Hammer films, this 1965 outing from director Silvio Narizzano ( “Georgy Girl” , “Loot” ) has its fans out there. I’m not among them. Also known as “Fanatic” and scripted by the pretty reliable Richard Matheson ( “The Incredible Shrinking Man” , “The Fall of the House of Usher” ), this adaptation of an Anne Blaisdell novel r...

Cher Butler and Gregg Gomez Thomsen are teenagers trying their best to stay out of trouble. Unfortunately they live in a shitty, crime-ravaged part of L.A. so it’s only a matter of time. When Thomsen’s cousin gets gunned down by a rival gang, Thomsen decides to rejoin his old gang for some payback. Revenge is sought, someone is murdered and Thomsen goes to prison. Meanwhile, piranhas are circling poor Butler who is quickly turned into a drug addict before being sold for sex slavery. Who is she sold to? A kingpin named Steadman (Jim Brown), that’s who. It only gets worse from there for poor Butler, who is constantly used and abused and hooked on crack. Anthony Geary plays Butler’s school counsellor, who deals heroin that is supplied by Brown, Angel Tompkins plays Butler’s alcoholic mother, and Richard Roundtree is the cop in charge of resolving all of this mess.   Distributed by the fine folks at Cannon, this 1989 urban crime flick from director Michael Fischa ( “Death Spa” , an...

An Oscar-nominated Barbara Stanwyck plays a wealthy bedridden woman trying to get in touch with her husband (Burt Lancaster) who is at work. Due to a crossed line she overhears a conversation between two men planning a murder that night! Ed Begley plays Stanwyck’s father, Wendell Corey is Stanwyck’s psychiatrist, and William Conrad plays an intimidating criminal.   Terrifically tense 1948 Anatole Livak ( “Night of the Generals” , “The Snake Pit” ) screen version of the famed Agnes Moorehead-headlined radio play, with Stanwyck (one of the all-time greats) arguably giving her finest performance amidst a sea of excellent turns throughout her career ( “Double Indemnity” being another standout, as the benchmark femme fatale). She’s is completely commanding, acting her heart out and then some but also playing a more vulnerable character than you might expect from her. Lancaster is terrific and cast against type somewhat as a weak ne’er do well, but he’s better than what is on the pr...

The story of the young Jewish girl of the title (played by Diana Davila), her family and several other people attempting to hide in an attic from the Nazis during WWII. Donald Pleasence plays the fussy Mr. Dussel, who isn’t fond of children, especially precocious loudmouth children like Anne.   Made for ABC TV in America, this 1967 version of the world’s most famous diary is directed by Alex Segal (who did a lot of theatre-based TV directing gigs) and is based on the play by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich. Adapted by James Lee (The silly Elvis movie “Change of Habit” , the landmark TV miniseries “Roots” ), it’s not one of the more effective presentations of the story, and perhaps that’s why it’s a bit of a forgotten relic, something Anne’s diary itself should never be rendered (In my view it’s the most important historical document of all-time). As a historical document there’s some interest here and some solid performances. However, I’d rather re-read Anne’s diary, or wat...

A vampire Count (Robert Tayman) is cornered and destroyed by the townsfolk after having bitten a local girl to feed on. However, in his final moments the Count curses the town. He also claims the blood of the townsfolk’s future generations will be the source of his eventual resurrection. Fifteen years later and the village of Schtetel is now ravaged by a plagued and shut off from any nearby towns. Somehow a travelling circus manages to get in to Schtetel. However, this is no ordinary circus. They are connected to the vanquished Count and have come to do their master’s bidding and resurrect him. Adrienne Corri plays the circus impresario of sorts, Thorley Walters is the town burgomaster, and David Prowse is the circus strongman.   Hammer always seemed to come up with fresh ideas for vampire movies, and this 1972 film from director Robert Young ( “Fierce Creatures” of all films) and screenwriter Jud Kinberg (the underrated “Reach for Glory” , the solid miniseries “To Catch a Kil...