Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966)

Director: Robert Day

Starring: Mike Henry, David Opatoshu, Manuel Padilla Jr.

Tarzan battles a megalomaniac millionaire named Vinero, who kidnaps a young boy whom he believes can lead him to a legendary city of gold. Vinero is accompanied by his own army, including henchman Mr. Train and gorgeous Sophia.

Mike Henry is a delicious specimen. Any Tarzan movie starring this hunk of a man is worth watching, even if just to marvel at that great physique. Together with that soothing voice, he is a gentle giant (similar to Clint Walker). When not dressed in his skimpy jungle attire, Tarzan is a distinguished gentleman. Either way, he is a sight for sore eyes! Mike Henry is also – to my knowledge – the only hairy-chested Tarzan. Oh, and those muscular legs!

But enough of Mike Henry for now. ‘Tarzan and the Valley of Gold’ is an action adventure that revolves around the legendary city of gold. When a young boy who knows the location of the city is kidnapped by the ruthless criminal Vinero, it is up to Tarzan and his animal compadres to save the boy – and the city.

More often than not Tarzan reminded me of James Bond. His antics were reminiscent of the secret agent, and at times Mike Henry even looked like Sean Connery from his 60’s Bond movies. He was not the stereotypical jungle man as we’ve come to know Tarzan, and he had a wide knowledge of…well, almost everything!

‘Tarzan and the Valley of Gold’ is not always believable, but from an action adventure perspective, it was very entertaining. This is a good option for a family friendly movie night. Kids will love the animals and the call to adventure.

Would I watch it again? I doubt it.

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen

When a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.

I know I’m in the vast minority here – and you can crucify me for saying this – but I hated this movie. Quintin Tarantino’s movies require an acquired taste, and I guess I haven’t acquired that taste yet. I found this utterly boring and quite annoying, actually.

So, most of the film is set in a warehouse. The Reservoir Dogs are a bunch of thieves. A Heist – which is not shown to the audience – went wrong, and now the thieves are trying to figure out which one of them is the “rat”, who alerted the cops. They suspect one of them is an undercover cop, so the film sees the men talking, yelling, swearing, talking, yelling, swearing, talking, yelling, swearing…oh, whatever, I hated this! I swear, almost the entire movie revolved around these men arguing about who the rat is!! Ugh, enough already; this is so not my kind of entertainment!!

I mean, need I say more? There was nothing else happening here, and very little was actually shown to the audience. For most parts, the viewer had to envision what happened. I quickly loose interest in movies with too much dialogue. Add a couple of swear words in every single sentence and I’m tempted to hit the STOP button on my remote.

When they had that 5-minute conversation in the beginning of the movie about tipping in a restaurant, I should have stopped already. I don’t normally enjoy neo-noir crime movies. Did I enjoy ‘Reservoir Dogs’? Well, the answer to this is obvious: it’s a resounding NO!!

‘Reservoir Dogs’ received 36 award nominations, winning 13.

Would I watch it again? NO.

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Director: Takashi Yamazaki

Starring: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Sakura Andô

Post war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know by now I’m no Godzilla fan. Yet, every time there’s a new Godzilla movie I find myself watching it – maybe hoping there would finally be one that I enjoy. And such was the case with ‘Godzilla Minus One’. I think the biggest reason I enjoyed this blockbuster ‘Godzilla’ is the fact it was not made by Hollywood. I also enjoyed the fact this movie was not set in modern times. Another reason I enjoyed the movie more than the American versions, was the fact I liked the characters. (Most of the characters in the Hollywood films are bland and one-dimensional).

‘Godzilla Minus One’ starts in 1945 during World War 2. Koichi Shikishima is a Kamikaze pilot who abandoned his duties and pretended his plane was faulty. When Godzilla attacks a military base and Koichi freezes up when ordered to shoot the creature, Koichi is blamed for the deaths of the soldiers. This, together with the fact he abandoned his initial mission, sees Koichi being branded as a coward.

Returning home, he finds the city in ruins, having been bombed. He meets Noriko, who found a baby and now cares for it, and reluctantly allows her to stay with him because she has nowhere to go. Koichi finds a job disposing of landmines that were planted in the sea during the war.

Although a monster movie, the film also concentrates on character development and human drama. This allowed me to root for the characters in their fight against Godzilla. Godzilla is a giant, ugly sea monster and the film showed no mercy when it came to destruction and human casualties – just as it ought to be when a giant prehistoric creature attacks a city.

After causing unimaginable destruction, the authorities must now devise a plan to kill the monster. While the film’s first half was pretty much character driven, the second half delivers more action as the fight against Godzilla ensued. I absolutely loved the film’s toned down score (as opposed to the loud and bombarding score of most of the Hollywood blockbuster movies). In fact, the score was absolutely stunning. The visual effects are also incredibly good!

The film is also a display of heroism in the face of disaster, and an enemy almost impossible to defeat. I must be honest, I did find Godzilla’s ability to produce heat rays causing atomic bomb like destruction maybe a bit too much, but that’s just my opinion and it was still all good. This is a very entertaining movie.

At the box office, ‘Godzilla Minus One’ earned nearly $116 million on a budget of around $12 million. The film received 97 award nominations, winning 41 including the Oscar for Best Achievement in Visual Effects (well deserved!).

In Japanese.

Would I watch it again? Yes.

American History X (1998)

Director: Tony Kaye

Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D’Angelo

Living a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.

By the time the film ends, it feels like a good movie. I however can’t deny the fact that ‘American History X’ was mostly an unpleasant viewing experience. With all the racist remarks and foul language, it really was not a pleasure to watch. I’ve said this so many times before but can’t stress it enough: I hate any kind of racist depiction in movies. In this day and age I don’t want to be reminded of racial issues. We are – or should be – all equal.

What I admire about the film, though, is its good script, good character development, good photography, and good performances by the entire cast. Edward Norton, especially, was fantastic, and he owned every scene he was in.

Edward Norton stars as Derek, an arrogant neo-Nazi who was jailed for cold-bloodedly shooting hijackers. Derek’s younger brother Danny is a kid with an attitude, and is quickly following in the Derek’s footsteps.

When Danny’s history teacher asks him to write a paper on Derek – called American History X – Derek’s life is told through backflashes (shown in black and white) as Danny writes the paper. With Derek now being released from prison, he is a changed man. His girlfriends and friends are still part of a gang destined to ‘set things right’ in America.

‘American History X’ deals with many different issues – mostly racism – and due to its subject matter, I did not really enjoy the movie. This is not my kind of entertainment. As mentioned, the ending almost made me believe this was a good movie in its entirety, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

‘American History X’ received several award nominations including an Oscar nomination for Best Lead Actor (Edward Norton).

Would I watch it again? No.

Spartacus (1960)

Directors: Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Mann

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons

The slave Spartacus survives brutal training as a gladiator and leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic, as the ambitious Crassus seeks to gain power by crushing the uprising.

Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) has been a slave since the age of thirteen. He is among a handful of slaves selected by the Roman Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov) to be trained as gladiators. (I absolutely loved Peter Ustinov in the role of Batiatus; he was fabulous!)

Slaves are treated like animals, and those in power have no feelings for them whatsoever. They would have slaves kill each other purely for entertainment. Spartacus makes friends with the slaves, and when an opportunity arises, they overpower the guards and manage to escape. Now, the slaves are building their own army in revolt against the Romans.

Laurence Olivier stars as Crassus, a wealthy Roman senator and the film’s main protagonist. Jean Simmons stars as Varinia, also a slave and the love interest of Spartacus. I enjoyed the developing romance between Spartacus and Varinia. The film follows Spartacus as he builds his army and plans to avenge the Romans, even if it seems impossible to fight against such a mighty power.

From all the costumes to the magnificent sets and thousands of extras, ‘Spartacus’ is an incredible production. In a time before CGI, the scale of the production is jaw-dropping! The film apparently had a cast of 10,500 members (with all the extras). Today the extras would simply be added with CGI in post-production. And this is why I enjoy older movies so much; it was real film making. On every level, ‘Spartacus’ is a film of epic proportions. It’s hard to believe this film was made more than six decades ago!!

If I had to compare ‘Spartacus’ to more recent films, movies like ‘Gladiator’, ‘300’, and the TV series ‘Rome’ comes to mind.

‘Spartacus’ received several award nominations and won Oscars for Best Supporting Actor (for Peter Ustinov), Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, and Best Costume Design. All of these award are well deserved! Back in 1960 the film earned $60 million on a budget of $12 million.

Would I watch it again? Maybe.

Taxi Driver (1976)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd

A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.

There really is one character here that matters, and that’s taxi driver Travis Bickle (very well portrayed by Robert de Niro). From a character study point of view, this is an effective film, but if it’s an entertaining movie you’re looking for, ‘Taxi Driver’ is not a good option. I’m sorry, but I was not entertained by this slow (yes, and boring) movie, no matter how high the acclaim.

26-year old Travis gets a job as taxi driver. He works long hours – mostly at night when the “filth” (as he calls it) roam the streets. When he notices a woman one day that seems ‘different’ to the rest of the people he quite literally stalks her, and finally asks her out. This is Betsy (with a rather annoying portrayal by Cybill Shepherd). When she agrees to go out with him (not that it took much convincing) he takes her to a theatre that shows porn movies! Needless to say, that date did not go well!

I must be honest, I never really rooted for Travis. I found him pushy and arrogant; even obnoxious. He is a hypocrite and a liar and he never really had good intentions. Then again, I suppose this behaviour added to the character study. He clearly is disturbed, and in that regard the character is well set-up. As the viewer, we have to understand this guy does not think or reason the way normal people do. (In his opinion, there was nothing wrong with taking a girl to a porn movie on their first date!)

The film does take its time before anything of significance happens, though, and I yawned several times. I kept wondering when something exciting was going to happen. I almost stopped watching at the 30-minute mark, but decided to sit it through. Around the 1-hour mark there’s promise of something eventful happening, but alas, I would have to wait unit the final act before the action arrived. Even then, I did not agree with Travis’ methods, and definitely never rooted for the guy.

‘Taxi Driver’ is another example of a highly acclaimed, multi-award winning movie I believe will loose its appeal with the new generation. Its just too slow, and not even all that interesting…

‘Taxi Driver’ received 43 award nominations, winning 22. It received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (for Robert de Niro, and I agree on this one), Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Score. At the box office, the film earned $28.6 million on a budget of $1.9 million.

Would I watch it again? Nope!

The Survivor (1981)

Director: David Hemmings

Starring: Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, Joseph Cotten

When an airline pilot survives a crash that kills all 300 passengers, he works with a psychic and a priest to find the culprit behind the incident and pacify the souls of the victims.

‘The Survivor’ is not to be confused with 1984’s ‘Sole Survivor’, which is also about a plane crash leaving only one survivor.

I’ll start by saying ‘The Survivor’ had the potential to be so much better, but no thanks to the director’s vision of the film and choppy editing, I found the film difficult to follow at times. There literally were moments in the film where I had no idea what the hell was going on. To add to this, many scenes were so dark that one could hardly follow the action.

After a confusing start of various images edited together, a plane crashes, killing everyone on board except pilot David Keller (Robert Powerll). Not being able to remember anything since taking off, David is trying to find out what happened.

Clairvoyant Hobbs (Jenny Agutter) – a rather strange character in her own right – seems to have some sort of connection with the victims, and contacts David. She feels she was somehow involved with the accident. I didn’t fully understand this character, nor their quest for answers. At times the film seemed to have a supernatural edge, but when the reveal came it had nothing to do with supernatural powers. Speaking of which, I can’t say I agree with the twist ending.

‘The Survivor’ has a confusing premise and I won’t be surprised if I forget this in an instant.

Surprisingly, the film won an award for Best Screenplay. It also received award nominations for Best Lead Actress, Best Achievement in Sound, Best Achievement in Production Design, and Best Achievement in Cinematography. I think I must have missed something here…

‘The Survivor’ might be classified as a horror, but there’s no horror here. Thriller at best.

Would I watch it again? No.

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Directors: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson

To everyone’s surprise, including his own, Po, an overweight, clumsy panda, is chosen as protector of the Valley of Peace. His suitability will soon be tested as the valley’s arch-enemy is on his way.

I love animated movies, but I remember watching ‘Kung Fu Panda’ many years ago and thinking it was definitely more suitable for a young demographic. With the release of ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ I decided to watch the original again to see if I’d had a change of opinion, but – as it turns out – I don’t. I still believe it is a cartoon for kids. (I also haven’t seen any of the sequels).

Po, an overweight Panda Bear, has dreams of being a kung fu warrior, and his heroes are kung fu masters The Famous Five. His Dad, a goose, runs a noodle restaurant and has hopes of Po taking over the restaurant. (Interestingly, the film never explains how the goose came to be a Panda’s dad. I would have liked a back story on this.)

At a ceremony for choosing the next Dragon Warrior, Po accidentally ends up being chosen. Now, he is being trained by Shifu, a red Panda. Meanwhile, the real Dragon Warrior, Tai Lung – a Snow Leapord – escapes from a maximum security prison. There’s a back story telling us Shifu took in Tai Lung when he was little, and trained him, as well.

Action and adventure – and kung fu fighting – ensues, but I once again couldn’t really get into the movie. I found it a bit too cartoonish; like a big budget kids cartoon. My opinion aside, ‘Kung Fu Panda’ is a film families can enjoy together. Kids, especially, will have a good time with the movie and fall in love with the characters. It is a story of good versus evil, with a message of believing in yourself – no matter what.

‘Kung Fu Panda’ was a huge box office success, earning $631.7 million on a $130 million budget. It received 54 award nominations, winning 15. It also received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

Would I watch it again? No, I think twice is enough.

Immaculate (2024)

Director: Michael Mohan

Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Simona Tabasco

Cecilia, a woman of devout faith, is warmly welcomed to the picture-perfect Italian countryside where she is offered a new role at an illustrious convent. But it becomes clear to Cecilia that her new home harbors dark and horrifying secrets.

On invitation from Father Sal Tedeschi (Alvaro Morte), Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) joins a convent in Italy . With the opening scene already having set the tone for the rest of the film, the audience already knows there is something terribly wrong at the convent.

Cecilia is welcomed by the not-so-friendly and somewhat mysterious Sister Isabelle, who also becomes Cecilia’s mentor. Cecilia befriends Gwen, who apparently does not have faith but joined the convent for a place to stay, food, and to live a descent life.

Cecilia soon starts having nightmares and is plagued by creepy visions. Beware: Jump scares ahead!! The jump scares come without warning and they are guaranteed to make you jolt in your seat! Despite all the (effective) jump scares, ‘Immaculate’ is still a slow burn horror.

Here’s where there might be spoilers, so if you don’t want to know, stop reading! Without having had sexual intercourse, Cecilia discovers she is pregnant. This is viewed by the other Sisters as a miracle, and some even refer to her as Mary. However, her being pregnant is no miracle, as we discover, and under the façade of faith and devotion lies a sinister plan. Father Tedeschi is also not who he appears to be…

Hell, this film takes a turn I never saw coming!! The third act is fantastic, and it does become much gorier than I expected. Sydney Sweeney delivers a powerful performance and proves she has what it takes to become a vengeful protagonist. What an incredible finale!

‘Immaculate’ was indeed a pleasant surprise. I don’t always like unexpected turns in movies, but here it was just wonderful. Well done!! ‘Immaculate’ earned $21.7 million on a budget of $9 milllion.

Would I watch it again? Yes!

When Worlds Collide (1951)

Director: Rudolph Maté

Starring: Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, Peter Hansen

As a new star and planet hurtle toward a doomed Earth, a small group of survivalists frantically work to complete the rocket which will take them to their new home.

Long before Roland Emmerich brought us the modern-day disaster movies, director Rudolph Maté gave us ‘When Worlds Collide’. Back in 1951 the visual effects were groundbreaking and the film won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Off course the visuals are no match for today’s films, but teleport yourself back in time more than seven decades, and you can imagine how good the effects must have been.

Pilot David Randall (Richard Derr) is hired to deliver a black box to Dr Cole Hendron (Larry Keating). Inside the mysterious box are predictions of impending doom: a new planet and a giant star are on a collision course with Earth.

Now, the scientists must build a modern-day Noah’s Ark (in the form of a space rocket) to save a handful of people and ensure the survival of humanity. They plan on landing on the new planet, named Zyra. With a deadline looming before impact, the film is a race against time to complete the mission while there is being decided who the 44 occupants of the rocket will be.

The dialogue is sub-standard by today’s standards, but remember this film was made well before space travel became a reality. (The space race only achieved success over a decade after the release of ‘When Worlds Collide’). With little to no knowledge of space travel, the universe and rockets, this film was ahead of its time in that regard.

Off course the film offers a romance interest as well. Hendron’s daugter, Joyce (Barbara Rush) – who is engaged to be married to Dr Tony Drake – develops feelings for David, and in the process ensures his selection to board the rocket.

The final act delivers plenty of action and excitement. Yes, it is dated, but it was nevertheless still an entertaining disaster movie.

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