Yellowstone Kelly (1959)

Director: Gordon Douglas

Starring: Clint Walker, Edd Byrnes, John Russell

In 1870s, in the Sioux territory south of the Missouri, trapper and Indian scout Luther Yellowstone Kelly is hired by the army at Fort Buford but runs into trouble with the Sioux.

I enjoy Clint Walker in Westerns. With his big physique and deep, clear voice this man was born to be a cowboy! Unfortunately, I did not enjoy ‘Yellowstone Kelly’ as much.

The film had so much potential and was going so well – and then the woman showed up, romance interfered and the film became an ‘all about the woman’ farce. Clint Walker stars as trapper Yellowstone Kelly, who is also a fur trader. Upon meeting him, young Anse Harper offers his services to Kelly, and so the two travel together.

Along the way they are pursued and eventually captured by the Sioux Indians. Many years ago, Kelly saved chief Gall’s life. Gall asks Kelly to remove a bullet from a Sioux girl’s spine. With the Sioux being such a wise tribe, I found it unbelievable that they couldn’t do it themselves – or at least had a medicine man among them as they always do – and needed Kelly’s help, who was a trapper and not a doctor. The girl in question is Wahleeh, who later manages to ride alone by horse to Kelly’s home.

Chief Gall agrees for Wahleeh to stay at Kelly’s place so him and Harper can look after her until she is well enough to return to the tribe. Harper, however, starts having feelings for Wahleeh. Although Kelly warns Harper it will never work between a Sioux and a white man, he, too, starts having feelings for her. And this is where the film started losing my interest. I also found the film slow paced – slowed down significantly by the romance element. It became too much about the woman. In fact, it became all about the woman…

As a result there is little in the form of cowboy action (yet it started off so well!), so if its a classic cowboys and Indians movie you’re after, this is not it. Clint Walker did still manage to make the movie watchable.

Would I watch it again? No.

The Guest (2014)

Director: Adam Wingard

Starring: Dan Stevens, Sheila Kelley, Maika Monroe

A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence.

The guest in this instance comes in the form of a handsome, well-built soldier named David (Dan Stevens). He turns up unexpectedly at the door of the Peterson family claiming to be their recently deceased son Caleb’s friend, who served with him in the army.

The family immediately welcomes him with open arms, inviting him to stay with them for a while. Caleb’s sister Anna is a waitress, and his younger brother Luke is being bullied at school. David quickly bonds with the family and gets on the good side of every member, but the entire time it is clear he has ulterior motives – or that there is more to him than meets the eye. Slowly but surely David’s true character comes to the fore, and we learn so much about him. The film teaches us to never judge a book by its cover!

Dan Stevens delivers a fantastic, believable performance as David. He is also devilishly handsome with an incredible body and does justice to the character. I must mention, I did not entirely understood David’s actions the first time I saw the movie. The second time around everything made better sense and I fully understood the character and his intentions and motives.

‘The Guest’ is a slow-burn, highly effective film with good performances all round. The film also has good cinematography, with great action sequences. I really enjoyed this movie.

‘The Guest’ received 18 award nominations, winning 5 including Best Actor and Best Film.

Would I watch it again? Yes.

Orion and the Dark (2024)

Director: Sean Charmatz

A boy with an active imagination faces his fears on an unforgettable journey through the night with his new friend: a giant, smiling creature named Dark.

Orion is an eleven year old boy with many fears. He obsesses about every negative thing that could possibly happen. He is also being bullied at school by a kid named Richie. And he is most afraid of the dark. Which young kids aren’t? Ok, but because Orion is so extreme in his fears, darkness mutates into a figure one evening and pays him a visit. Although perceived as scary, Dark is a gentle giant with a big smile – and he has feelings.

Hoping Orion will overcome his fear of the dark, Dark invites Orion to join him for one night to see what a night is like for Dark. Reluctant at first, Orion agrees. Although he soon regrets his decision, his outing takes him on a wonderful journey of discovery.

Orion meets the other night entities as well: Sleep, Insomnia, Sweet Dreams, Quiet, and Unexplained Noises. Although a young audience might not entirely understand these characters, the film tells its story in such a unique manner that it will appeal to youngsters even if they don’t fully understand what it is about. The characters are funny and likeable. In a way it felt like ‘Inside Out’ meets ‘Rise of the Guardians’.

The animation is fantastic. No wait, it’s better than fantastic; it’s outstanding!! The voice over work is also excellent. I know it’s still very early in the year, but already I’m hoping ‘Orion and the Dark’ will be a contender for Best Animated Feature at 2025’s Oscars. This film is just absolutely brilliant on every level, and there is so much we can learn from it. It also depicts the cycle of life, which I somehow found sad in a way, but very relevant and thought-provoking. I absolutely LOVED this film! It will no doubt go down as one of my all-time favourite animated films of all time! Yup, that’s how much I liked it!

Would I watch it again? Yes, definitely!

Alienoid (2022)

Director: Dong-hoon Choi

Starring: Kim Woo-bin, Ryu Jun-yeol, Kim Tae-ri, So Ji-sub

The door of time opens between the swordsman who wants to seize the legendary divine sword at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty and those who chase after an alien prisoner imprisoned in a human body in 2022.

If you haven’t yet seen ‘Alienoid’ here’s a word of advice: rather watch it when you’re able to watch Part 2 as well. I didn’t realize this was Part 1 of 2 and was very disappointed by the abrupt ending until I noticed ‘TO BE CONTINUED’. Had I known that, I would have waited for Part 2 to be available as well so I could watch them back to back. With such a complex storyline and so many characters, you’re bound to forget something – or someone – by the time Part 2 arrives.

As I said, this is a complex story. It is set in three different timelines and the film constantly intercuts between these timelines. There are also different characters with different storylines. The only characters who appear in all the timelines are Guard and Thunder, humanoid robots who manages and escorts alien prisoners.

So, what’s the story about? Aliens lock up their criminals in human bodies (the brain to be exact), but sometimes these alien criminals can escape for a moment. It is Guard and Thunder’s duty to capture and secure these criminals. Their power source is the Divine Blade. When a young mother dies during such a process in the year 1380 A.D., she begs them to take her baby with them. Guard refuses, but Thunder takes the baby without Guard’s knowledge.

The film jumps ahead in time and we learn Guard raised the child, Yian, as his own. But now, at the age where she is smart enough to figure things out, Yian realizes Guard is not her father and might be an alien. Her suspicions are soon confirmed, but when she witnesses humans being implanted by aliens, she has to rely on Guard to protect her.

When the leader of the rebellion, called The Controller, is implanted in Detective Moon’s brain, and escapes, it causes chaos and destruction and its up to Guard and Thunder to save the day. There’s plenty of action and the scene where a car is chased by a space ship is mind blowing!! I have quite honestly never seen anything like it. The visuals are astounding! It looks like a big budget Hollywood superhero movie.

Although the film offers plenty of action and excitement I have several issues with the film. There are way too many characters and too many subplots. This is a very confusing story and difficult to keep track of all the characters and their stories. There’s also too much unnecessary humour taking up too much screen time. This significantly slows down the action and could – and should – have been trimmed. With so much going on in one film I found my mind wandering. Several scenes in the film were so similar to ‘Woochi: The Demon Slayer’ that they seemed copied.

If you’re not used to watching subtitled movies, I fear you will be completely lost trying to read AND follow and understand the film. I’ve seen hundreds of subtitled movies and reading subs has pretty much become second nature for me, but even so, ‘Alienoid’ was difficult to follow. I’m not sure I can recommend this.

In Korean.

Would I watch it again? I don’t think so.

Apostle (2018)

Director: Gareth Evans

Starring: Dan Stevens, Richard Elfyn, Paul Higgins

In 1905, a drifter on a dangerous mission to rescue his kidnapped sister tangles with a sinister religious cult on an isolated island.

What the bloody hell was this? Writer/Director Gareth Stevens obviously knew what he was doing. As for the rest of us, we have no idea!

Dan Stevens is in a position to pick and choose his roles, so why chose this?? I disliked this film so much, I don’t even know where to begin. Should I start with the incoherent plot? Should I start with the characters? What was this film all about actually?? The film starts off very, very slow. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen, but nothing here made any sense! Despite hints of something supernatural in the beginning, the film takes its time before it actually shows us anything.

I didn’t understand the main character, Thomas (Dan Richardson) at all. In fact, I didn’t understand any of the characters, as the script simply did with them what was convenient at the time. None of the characters really had a goal, let alone character development.

After a tedious 90 minutes or so, the film then became another installment in the ‘Wrong Turn’ franchise – or so it seemed. It becomes torture-heavy, disgusting and almost sickening. Some scenes honestly was very difficult to watch. In fact, I disliked the film so much towards the end that I could hardly stand watching it any longer. Yet I did…

Thomas – despite being the protagonist – simply disappears during the third act and the attention shifts to other characters. There were so many sub plots here that my head started spinning! The film is also very dark – and I mean literally dark. It has the same dissatisfying ending as 2006’s ‘Wicker Man’. I HATED this film!

Would I watch it again? NO!