So, almost to the end of February, and life continues to be busy — and at times trying. Yet, there seems always tome to view movies and shows! So, here comes a bunch…
I’ve got the usual mix of monster/SF/horror movies, fantasies, mysteries, oh and Elvis Presley and a bunch of Murder She Baked mysteries, which were/are totally new to me. (But coming from a family of Swedish bakers, how could I resist a mystery show about a Scandinavian-American baker?) Anyway, the Hallmark Mysteries channel did a marathon of one set of them, and then another on consecutive weekends. Of course, they happened to run the sets in reverse order, but… Since each mystery and each set of mysteries are self-contained, that didn’t matter much. (Though it did undercut some romantic elements from the first season.)
Anyway, you’ll find a whole pile of those here, plus plenty more as well. On with the show!
Here’s the usual ratings system:
* – This film is not good. Avoid it unless you tolerate dreck well.
** – A flawed film. You may enjoy it if you like this genre or the folks in it.
*** – A good solid film. If you like this genre, you’ll probably like this film.
**** – A superior film within its genre. Thoroughly enjoyable.
***** – An outstanding film on many levels. A great example of its genre.
Note that some shows I’ve given a parenthetical star rating, usually adding (occasionally subtracting) stars, depending on how your amusement may differ from mine. I’ve explained the meaning in the reviews themselves. Mostly.
Addams Family, The (2019) **** Animated version of the Charles Addams’ creations have designs strongly reminiscent of the original cartoons, because of that, they can be a little more gruesome, perhaps, than a live-action movie aimed at kids could probably get away with. Good natured mayhem & attempted murder abound as the Addams Family is chased out of the Old Country only to settle on a haunted hilltop in “perfect” suburbia. There, they run into trouble with a scheming real estate developer aiming to grab their home to expand her little local empire. I found this take on the classic characters amusing. Kids will, too.
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice (2024) *** Beetlejuice returns doing most of the same stuff as the last time he showed up, except this time, the movie doesn’t give us any of the set-up; it just expects us to remember how the previous tropes work & who most of the previous characters are. Maybe I should have re- watched the original BEFORE this, rather than after, but I don’t feel like there should be required viewing if your sequel comes more than 3 decades after the original. Wynona Ryder returns with her own moody child & her mom to the old homestead to celebrate her upcoming marriage, while, in the underworld, Beetlejuice is having trouble with an ex back from a deeper level of the afterlife. The two storylines intersect, but not really well. Still, it’s nice to see much of the old gang back together.
Beetlejuice (1988) **** Alec Baldwin & Gina Davis are a young couple tragically killed in a car accident after moving into their dream house. When the house is sold to an obnoxious family intent of turning the place into a modern-art project, the ghost couple hire bio-exorcist Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to help rid them of their troubles. Anti-hero Beetlejuice shows up to do that, but also decides he should marry the obnoxious humans’ Goth daughter, Wynona Ryder. Tim Burton’s comic-horror ghost fantasy is over the top but mostly amusing. Better than the recent sequel because it doesn’t expect you to come in with previous knowledge.
Harry Wild (S2) **** The second season of Harry Wild starts with a bit of a shocker & a cast change, but it’s all to the better as our sly, sexy, middle-aged professor cum detective & her assistant/partner Fergus delve into a crop of new mysteries. Jane Seymour makes it all work & is fun to watch. Glad she found this series later in life.
Up In Smoke (1978) **** Cheech & Chong’s first movie is, so far as I know, their best, bringing stoner jokes & bits from their record albums to the screen in a way that still pretty much works — at lest for me. Two stoners meet up, become friends, & take a peripatetic trip from Mexico to a battle of the bands while unknowingly driving a micro-bus made out of marijuana back into the US. Silly fun.
Frighteners, The (1996) **** Before The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson directed Michael J. Fox & company in this story of a paranormal medium who uses 2 ghost friends to set up exorcisms to make money. Sure, he can see ghosts, but that doesn’t mean he has to like them or help them out, aside from his pals. That is, until an evil Reaper from beyond starts killing people with Fox — pursued by a manaical Jeffrey Combs — set up to take the blame. Some good FX & interesting moments with a strong cast.
Necromania – A Tale of Weird Love (1971 – restored blu-ray) **(*) Weird Ed Wood (yes, that one) sex film in which a couple who are having trouble making love to each other attend a “spiritual” therapy retreat of a weird cult who claims to be able to cure their sexual problems. Naturally, this involves screwing around with other members of the cult before their strange undead goddess (or something) shows up to “help” the husband in the final scene. The porn is pretty pedestrian, but the film definitely has a touch of Wood’s trademark “Plan 9 from Outer Space” weirdness. If you like Wood’s work, give it an extra star.
Only House in Town, The (1971) *(*) Yes, Edward D (Ed) Wood, Jr. did a bunch of adult films, & this is allegedly another one. It’s an anthology/portmanteau film set in a mansion. The flick starts with a woman being chased for unknown reasons, having her clothed ripped off, & then all her pursuers getting naked & rolling around on the mansion floor, while the dialogue is so hard to hear that I thought it was actually just camera directions being shouted on “set.” (An actual real house.) There’s supposedly a punchline at the end of that, but I couldn’t make it out. Then we get some more scenes of people working out their sexual issues in pretty tame skits, if you can call them such. Uschi Digart is among them, I think, but unless you’re a fan of her or Wood, this is a 1-star film.
Girl Crazy (1943) **** Playboy Andy Rooney is sent by his father from his big city college to a remote ranch-like college setting, so maybe he’ll stop chasing girls & get an education. He accidentally meets Judy Garland along the way, & it turns out her father is the head of the college — and there are still other girls to chase. Naturally, the college falls into financial trouble & our heroes must team up and put on a show to save the place. There is signing & some Busby Berkeley dancing (though he left partway through the film), & it’s all good fun. Pretty much what you’d expect, but I really enjoyed the change of setting from the usual Garland-Rooney cityscapes. (Also, no blackface number to squirm through.)
Young Marrieds, The (1971) **(*) I’m not sure if young marrieds having problems with their sex lives was a theme for director Ed Wood (seems like), or if it’s just the expected setup to adult films of the time, so they wouldn’t be seen as purely porn. ?Yeah, we’re having sex, but we’re not enjoying it. This is educational. See?” In this flick, the couple in question decide that maybe some swinging will spice up their lives, but naturally that only brings out the inequities in desire & expectation in the relationships. With some attractive stars, this is a bit better than some of Wood’s other adult films I’ve seen, but still only gets an extra star if you’re a Wood fan.
Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat, The (1982) ** It’s probably not fair watching the “bonus shows” included with How the Grinch Stole Christmas shortly after watching the original. Seuss himself worked on it, but for me it’s barely a shadow of the original. The Grinch starts his day happy, only to be reminded by a magic mirror of his “Grinch oath,” which is all about being mean & grinchy — as if the original story had never happened, or this is a descendant or something. In any case, the soon runs into veteran trickster the Cat in the Hat & the pair face off in escalating confrontations, with musical interludes which are also not nearly as good as the original. Proving you can’t repeat a magical experience, even with the same or similar people working on a sequel or prequel or whatever this is. Somehow, this won an Emmy.
Halloween Is Grinch Night (1977) ** Because this is the last extra with my Grinch set, I watched this last, though production wise it comes between the original & the Cat in the Hat crossover. Wikipedia says this is a “prequel” to the classic film/show, but again I have to ask, “Why do we need another Grinch?” Sure, he’s a great character, but so is Scrooge & thankfully we’ve been spared sequels to A Christmas Carol for over 150 years now. Again, Seuss is writing, Thurl Ravenscroft is singing, though Karloff (sadly dead) is ably replaced by Hans Conried, whose voice you almost surely know, even if you don’t recognize the name. When an ill wind blows through Whoville on Halloween, the Grinch is roused to go to town while the wind lasts & pully grinchy tricks on the fearful Whos. On the way, he runs into a little Who who tries to stall the Grinch until the wind stops. While clearly superior to the Grinch-Cat special, perhaps because of proximity to the original, I had trouble getting into this. Though this, too, won an Emmy.
Earth vs. the Spider (2001) *** Allegedly based on the Bert I. Gordon film of the same name from the 1950s, this actually re-casts the idea in the form of a lab accident — almost like the 1980s The Fly — that ends up giving our protagonist the powers of a spider. It plays out like a superhero movie at first & then turns into body horror & flat out monster stuff. Amusing, though I prefer the original featuring an amok Giant Spider.
Dragon Knight (2022) *** Well made British fantasy with a handsome cast & settings that, for me, never quite engaged me emotionally. After his country is overrun by evil, a brave knight goes on a perilous quest to find the last dragon, which is the only hope to drive back the encroaching darkness. CG dragon isn’t bad, just a bit standard, & they managed some pretty good fight scenes & a final battle. Well done for a low-budget effort, but not truly memorable.
Knights of Badassdom (2013) **** After a rough breakup, our hero’s friends convince him to join their live-action-role-playing (LARP) group for a weekend of fantasy swordplay culminating in a Grand Battle. Unfortunately, one of their number uses a real magic spell in the game and accidentally summons a violent demon from hell (in the guise of the hero’s ex) who makes the fantasy danger all too real. The cast is good, the comedy pretty funny, the SPFX good, and the LARPing more affectionate that parody. I enjoyed it!
Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1953) ***(*) A&C return for another horror outing, this time with Dr. Jekyll (Boris Karloff) causing chaos in his Hyde persona, while the boys are detectives trying to solve various Hyde-related crimes. Karloff was already pretty old, so all of his Hyde scenes are being doubled by stunt men, but that’s okay. Boris & the boys could almost do this stuff in their sleep & still be charming. Some funny stuff, & if you like either Abbott & Costello or Karloff, you can give it that extra star.
Underworld (2003) *** Selene is a vampire tasked with tracking down & destroying werewolves in the first of these modern horror-action movies pitting vamps against wolves with Matrix-style sensibilities & FX. Of course, there’s plenty of scheming behind the scenes in both the vamp and wolf clans to complicate our heroine’s mission — including a possible “chosen one” popping up for both sides to fight over. It’s a fun watch, has some iconic scenes, moody lighting & color grading, & some very good practical FX makeup. Should probably have paid royalties to Vampire the Masquerade RPG or at least my buddy, artist Tim Bradstreet for the look & settings.
Vampire Bat, The (1933) **** A small town fears itself in the grip of a vampire because of recent disappearances & mysterious deaths. Lionel Atwill is a scientist who doesn’t believe in the supernatural. Nor does Melvyn Douglas, whose girlfriend, Fay Wray, also finds herself mixed up in this. Dwight Frye is charming playing his usual half-mad character that everyone in town seems to suspect of the crimes. Of course, nothing works out to be quite the way it seems, & even if the film’s title is a bit of a cheat, it’s still an entertaining low-budget shocker. Extra points if you can see the restored version with hand-painted flames on the torches for the villagers-go-wild scene.
Private War of Major Benson, The (1955) *** Charlton Heston’s Major Benson is a stick-up-the-butt commander who’s so by the book that nobody else in the military much likes him. So the brass send him to look over a boys’ military school, where he soon becomes just as disliked by the young students. Even school nurse, the lovely Julie Adams, isn’t very fond of him at first, though he quickly warms up to her. Heston even drives the school to a football championship, which none of the boys want to celebrate, because they had no fun doing it. Eventually, Heston has a change of heart, but by then, machinations to remove him have already been set in motion. As an Adams fan who likes Heston, too, I enjoyed this, though it’s very much by the book.
Bright Victory (1951) **** Another movie from Julie Adams night on TCM. A soldier blinded in a WWII ambush returns to a military hospital in the US to learn how to return to civilian life. In doing so, he must learn to change his expectations about both his life, the people in his future, & his past prejudices. Julie Adams is the girl our protagonist — who doesn’t seem very heroic for much of the picture — left behind. This one took me by surprise & I really liked it, only to learn afterward that it had Oscar nominations & Golden Globe wins.
Night Key, The ***(*) Boris Karloff is the inventor of advanced security systems for an ungrateful corporation. When he comes up with a new, better system, they buy it from him with no intention of ever putting it into production, thereby denying him thousands of dollars & the acclaim he deserves. To get back of them, Karloff invents his “Night Key,” which allows him to bypass the older security system. He & a shady friend then prank businesses using the old system. Unfortunately, actual hoodlums find out about the Night Key, and then… A bit of suspense & comedy made fun by Karloff. Give it another star if you like Boris.
Tickle Me (1965) *** Elvis Presley is a singer goes west and is hired to work at a “fat farm” ranch were young women go to get in shape. Julie Adams is his older boss who takes a shine to him (which he never reciprocates — ’cause, Gosh! She must be, like 30! Meanwhile, one of the women at the ranch is heiress to some valuable land which has a “haunted” house sitting atop it. So, somehow we go from singing dude ranch to haunted house comedy that even has a werewolf (mask). Silly Elvis fun.
Jailhouse Rock (1957) **** Elvis is a young musician who ends up in jail for accidentally killing a man while protecting a woman & goes to jail for it. There, he hooks up with an old con who helps him shape his singing act. When Elvis gets out, he becomes a sensation — but he’s still often a jerk. The title number is great, as is all the rest of the music, including personal fave: “(You’re So Square) Baby, I Don’t Care.” Elvis gets to do some acting, too, & some character development in what may be his best film.
Viva Las Vegas (1964) **** My other favorite Elvis film, he’s a race car driver; Ann-Margret is a signing, dancing, swimming instructor working in a Vegas hotel. Together, they’re dynamite, with their chemistry exploding off the screen. Elvis wants to enter the Grand Prix, but doesn’t have the money to fix it up & enter. Naturally, he also wants Ann-Margret, who doesn’t? Eventually, there is a race as well as plenty of songs, including the super title track (several times). Good fun.
Vera 3-3 Young Gods ***** When a group of young campers sees a burning man plunge off a cliff into a lake, Very & company are called in. They soon discover that the victim was an extreme sports fan, but he also has a connection to an upper-class school, the same one the campers come from. As Head Boy there, he was involved in numerous cases of harassment. But is his checkered past or his present the cause of his horrible death? Naturally, Vera is up to the task of sorting it all out.
Harry Wild (S3) **** Harry & Fergus are back with more quirky mysteries to solve. Now an official detective business, they set their sights on more quirky mysteries. This season continues the fun and high standards of Season 2. If you like quirky but cozy mysteries, this series is a good bet.
Spinout (1966) *** Another film with Elvis as a race car driver looking to fix up his car — after a cute girl runs him off the road. He’s also in a band, of course, so there’s plenty of music. Three different women, including a bandmate, have their eyes on him, but will any catch him in the end? Naturally, there will be a climactic race, classic cars, & rock-and-roll. An Elvis programmer in the usual mold, but still enjoyable.
Girl Happy (1965) *** Elvis and his band are hired by a rich guy to go to Florida & bodyguard his daughter during spring break. Naturally, the boys in the band have some romances on the side, & just as naturally Elvis finds himself attracted to the rich girl, who’s not at all like he thought she’d be. Romance, rock-and-roll, & some good-natured low-sex comedy ensue. If you like Elvis, you may enjoy it.
Young Frankenstein (1974) ***** Mel Brooks & Gene Wilder teamed up to write & direct this classic horror comedy that still stands near the top of the genre 5 decades later. The son of Dr. Frankenstein returns home, finds assistants in Igor & the fetching Inga, & recreates his father’s famous experiment by creating a monster (Peter Boyle). The usual things go wrong in a funny way & many Universal horror scenes & tropes are paid homage. The more you know about classic horror movies, the funnier this becomes, though ins very, very funny even if you don’t get all the in-jokes.
Nosferatu (2024) **** This new remake of the classic vampire tale is beautiful, well produced, has a great cast. Seeking new blood, Count Orlok, a vampire, spreads horror & the plague in a central European city. The original film’s Dracula roots & original ideas are on full display here, plus it’s more gory & sexy than previous versions. Atmospheric, but perhaps just a bit too long.
Dracula (1979) **** Sexy Frank Langella plays Dracula, coming to an English costal town to thrive on new blood. And perhaps find love? This atmospheric adaptation changes around the character roles from the original book (as many Dracula adaptations do), but is still both creepy, charming, & erotic (in a fairly tame way). Sir Lawrence Olivier plays Van Helsing, & the score by John Williams remains iconic. Worth seeing.
Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry (1937) *** Early in their careers, Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland get mixed up with a young lord whose family is into horse racing but falls on hard luck while in America. Rooney is a jockey, & he and Garland must team up with the young heir to teach him to ride & save the family fortune. Pretty much by the book, but with glimpses of the great Rooney-Garland team-ups to come.
Jack & the Beanstalk (1952) *** Abbott & Costello do a comic take on the classic fairy tale — in color (& 3D, IIRC). Costello is a foolish youth, Jack, who trades in the family cow for magical beans, leading to the titular bean stalk, atop which lives a giant who (Buddy Baer) who has stolen the family’s magical goose. A few munsical numbers & some pretty funny comedy ensue. Costello produced and spearheaded this film with Abbott, as part of their attempt to work independently of the big studios. It worked & the film was a hit.
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend ***(*) Sean Young & William Katt are young scientists trying to find a mythical brontosaurus deep in the African jungle. Patrick McGoohan is a rival working with brutal warlords to capture a dinosaur & make a fortune, even if they have to kill one of the large dinos to do it. That leaves Young & Katt to tend “Baby,” a small bronto & try to rescue the large survivor. The film is better than I remembered, though maybe seeing it widescreen in HD helps. The dinosaurs are rubber puppets/suits, but they’re not that bad & actually seem quite charming compared to current CGI crapfests. If you like old school practical FX, give this that fourth star.
Tammy & the Teenage T-Rex ***(*) Denise Richards is the buxom title character whose boyfriend is killed by a mad scientist so that his brain can be transplanted into an animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex body. Yes, somehow THAT seemed like a good idea. Remember, though, that this is an SF/Horror/Comedy film — and actually a pretty good one at that. What follows is a gleefully gory, over-the-top romp. If you like wacky dinosaur movies, like I do, you may enjoy this.
King Kong (1976) *** Dino De Laurentis’ remake of the classic tale has a good cast, including Jeff Bridges & Jessica Lang. It also has a nice ape suit by makeup master Rick Baker & a good score by John (James Bond) Barry. It also spent a LOT of money on a life-size mechanical Kong. Sadly, it lacks dinosaurs & turns the story into a romance between Dwan (Lang) and Kong. Oil men seeking fresh grounds find a lost island & a giant ape, King Kong, who they decide to bring back to New York City to make their fortunes. Sequence atop the World Trade Center Twin Towers is impressive, nostalgic, & now sad because of 9/11.
King Kong Lives (1986) **(*) After his fatal fall from the World Trade Center, King Kong’s body his retrieved by scientists, who revive him by giving him an artificial heart. They also discover a female Kong & a love affair between the two soon develops as they go on the run against evil forces (naturally) wanting to exploit thiem. The premise is pretty silly, but the story is delivered with sincerity, It’s also an early starring role for Linda (Terminator) Hamilton. If you don’t mind silly monster films, give it that extra star.
Sound of Thunder, A (2005) ** Based on a famous Ray Bradbury story about time travel & a crushed butterfly, this film stretches out that premise to a full-length movie. But a troubled production history makes this Big Budget SF film look & feel much more like a TV movie. Big Game Hunters from the future travel to the past to “safely” hunt dinosaurs. But when something goes wrong, history changes in waves threatning to wipe out humanity. Some decent scenes & concepts can’t save this film from being “Meh.”
Bathing Beauty (1958) *** Songwriter Red Skelton & Esther Williams breakup — caused by a scheming friend — leads Red to enroll in a girls’ school where Esther has returned to her job as a swimming instructor. Despite schemes to legally expel him from the school by giving him demerits, Skelton manages to hang on, endearing himself to the female student body. Can he an Williams reunite & put on some kind of an amazing water show musical production? Well, this may be her first Technicolor musical, but it IS an Esther Williams movie, after all!
Longmire (S1) ***** Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire faces a new mystery & (often) murder every week in this series that has a great cast, involving characters, social conflicts between rich & poor, whites & Indians, & of course, plenty of scoundrels to go along with our cast of fairly upright cops. Lou Diamond Philips has a great recurring role as Longmire’s best friend & Native American owner of a western bar. Western locations also highlight this sh ow, which has quickly become a favorite of my wife & me. Thanks to our buddy Jean Rabe for recommending it!
Skeleton Crew (S1) ***** For me, the start of this Star Wars series looked like a suburban Spielberg film. This is because they made a mistake in the intro to try to save some “secrets” for later. (I could have solve the problem with one caption.) However, despite that early problem, this turned into a rollicking kid-friendly expansion to the Star Wars universe that really rocked me. Kids from a distant, isolated planet find an old pirate ship & set out accdientally to see the galaxy — as pirates. I won’t give more away, but, issue with Ep.1 aside, this gets my highest recommendation.
Monty Python & the Holy Grail (1975) ***** King Arthur & his Knights of Camelot set out to find the Holy Grail while facing numerous perils, including taunting Frenchmen, a deadly rabbit, & the Knights Who Say “Ni!” Of course, Arthur & the Knights are being played by members of the Monty Python comedy troupe, which makes this one of the funniest films of all time. Sure, it’s episodic, but each episode is a comedy gem, & it just keeps rolling along until the crazy & unexpected end. And despite all the absurdity, the low-budget nature of the filming makes this Camelot seem much more real than more elaborate ones. Worth watching again & again.
Shetland (S9) ***(*) Shetland’s a favorite of mine & it’s beck with a news sason. ‘Tosh is back as DI & so is the new DI character, Calder, they introduced last season. When one of Tosh’s friends goes missing with her young son, the team springs into action. Soon, the boy appears covered with blood & 2 bodies are discovered in a “croft” house being renovated. What follows is a series of incidents that seem to twine together, though some are unrelated. Really with all the plot threads, this mystery might have been better as 3 separate stories. I also remain annoyed that they have Tosh playing co-lead with Calder & somehow seeming like second fiddle some of the time. Still… Tosh, which gets that extra star from me.
Outlander (S7 pt2) **** Jamie & Claire are still in the American Revolution, now with Jamie fighting on the colonist side, despite his best friend & Jamie’s bastard son being British Loyalists. Clair is doing her best to show up the local military doctors with her 20th Century medical knowledge. The rest of the family is in the 1970s, though one has apparently been kidnapped into the past, so there’s are some time-jumping suprises in store. Overall, this remains a fun & compelling historical drama with SF overtones. Well written with great production. Worth the STARZ subscription. Looking forward to the final season.
Nightmare (1955) **** A man wakes up convinced that he somehow killed someone in a room full of mirrors. Yet, not even the police or his friends will believe him, because there’s no evidence. Eventually he searches out the details of what really happened in this noir thriller.
Rattlers (1976 – Cinematic Titanic) ***(**) In the desert southwest, people are being attacked & locations overrun by aggressive rattlesnakes. Here to investigate are a chauvinist scientist & a feminist reporter with a chip on her shoulder. So naturally they team up. I guess this was a low-budget theatrical film, because of brief nudity, but it plays more like a high-end TV flick. Not bad, but the Cinematic Titanic crew riffing makes it a great hoot. (Those extra 2 stars.) I was lucky enough to see this performed live.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978 – Sven) **(**) Horror movie spoof that gives you just what it says: Killer Tomatoes attacking humanity. It’s cheap, goofy, & a whole lot of fun, if you’re in the mood for a horror comedy with the emphasis on comedy. Some interesting satire going on, too, but it’s very, very cheap. If you like silly cheep horror movies, this is a 4-star picture. If not, maybe 2.
Monster Club, The (1981 – House of Sven) **(*) Svengoolie’s 3 new cohorts — Gwengoolie, Imp, & Nostalgiaferatu — are hosting a new series of movies in the horror host tradition of their boss, who makes occasional appearances on their show, too. Here, they bring comical breaks to the British anthology film framed by a club where monsters get together & hang out. There, they tell stories about the different types of monsters & their interactions with humans. While we see some ot the standard monsters, including Vincent Price as a vampire, there are lots of more obscure monster/human hybrids, some of which seem silly for me. At least this time, none of it quite worked for me, but an extra star for the Sven Squad.
Blackmail (1929) **** Woman bored with her policeman boyfriend decides to go back to an artist’s loft for a thrill that ends up in murder. Ever worse, a scruffy panhandler/vagrant knows what she did & soon shows up at her family business to put her on the spot as the film’s title character. This Alfred Hitchcock film was made in both sound & silent versions. (We watched the sound version.) And though it sometimes plays in that awkward semi-talkie way, it also shows a lot of the hallmarks for which Hitch would soon become famous. It even has a suspenseful chase & an ending to think about.
Hannah Swensen Mysteries 1-1 Sweet Revenge (2021) *** A re-branded new season of Murder, She Baked. When a worker at Hannah’s health club turns up dead in a hot tub, our bakery-owner heroine would investigate, even if her special chocolate chip cookies weren’t found at the crime scene. Part of an ongoing set of popular books & matching Hallmark Mystery series, this one plays out about the way you’d expect. If you’re looking for cozies, not a bad place to go. Usual cast includes Hanna, her nosy mom, her photographer sister, her cop detective fiancé, Mike, & her close friend Norman, a dentist who also seems to have snoopy tendencies (& looks & acts enough like Mike to be confusing to my aging eyes). Series of films are sequels to the “Murder She Baked” series of films.
Hannha Swensen Mysteries 1-2 Carrot Cake Murder (2023) **(*) An accident at a historic building reveals an old skeleton, a gold case that nobody seems too interested in solving. Naturally, Hannah has to snoop around to solve it & clear a friend who might be involved. Unfortunately, working together on the mystery causes, friction between her & her longtime detective boyfriend, Mike, who finds himself caught between her sleuthing & his job. This is only the second of these I’ve watched, but this one seemed “off” compared to the other. Still, it’s probably fine if you’re in the mood for a cozy, with the romance a little strained.
Hannah Swensen Mysteries 1-3 A Zest for Death (2023) *** House hunting with her sister lead Hannah, sis, & mom to discover the body of a their friend Rhonda in an upstairs bedroom. Soon, Hannah’s mom & her other sister, too, are helping Hannah snoop into the murder. The usual kind of complications, pastry, romantic & otherwise, ensue. Better than the Carrot Cake, though I still feel like I’m never quite up on who everyone is & their previous backgrounds & motivations. The filmmakers seem to think everyone’s been tuned in since the start.
Hannah Swensen Mysteries 1-4 One Bad Apple (2024) ***(*) Mike is gone to Quantico (courtesy a contract with another network), so Hannah is on this case solo & maybe in the market for a new beau, too, with both old buddy Dennis (the dentist with no apparent office in the series) & Bradford, a professor she dated in college, in the running, plus a hunky county prosecutor, Chad, on the scene, too. At least that’s how things seem, until the very flirty Bradford gets knifed to death & Hannah becomes a suspect. A fairly standard installment of the series follows. I’d give it an extra star for an exciting finish, but then I’d have to dock it one for Hannah not seeming to have any sad feeling when a longtime friend & old beau is killed. Still, above average for the series.
Hanna Swensen Mysteries 1-5 A Sprinkle of Deceit (2024) *** Hannah’s Cookie Jar bakery changes locations & her mom brings CP Cody by as an early customer to kick off the romantic prospects for this Hallmark Mystery. Hannah caters a reunion & the next morning one of the attendees, Darcy, turns up dead. To make things worse, Darcy was driven home — drunk — by Lonnie, the cop who is now dating Hannah’s sister, Michele. Lonnie, an ongoing character, is now one of the lead suspects. Naturally, our baking busybody must intervene & find the real murderer, by offering witnesses cookies in exchange for information. I had the killer nailed from early on, but still a fairly amusing entry in the cozy mystery series.
Becoming Hitchcock – The Legacy of Blackmail **** Documentary that looks at how the movie Blackmail reflects & anticipates many of the elements of the future style of director Alfred Hitchcock. Features inciteful commentary & plenty of film clips to make its points. Good Doc.
Psychic Killer (1975) *** Timothy Hutton picks up a Far Eastern trick when he’s wrongfully imprisoned. He learns to project his mind at a distance to take revenge on everyone who put him in prison in the first place. Jullie Adams is the only person who tried to help him in the slammer, but now she may be on his hit list, too. This low-budget thriller feels like a TV movie but still has some good points as well as a fairly unexpected, memorable climax.
Murder! (1930) **** Starts off like 12 Angry Men when a woman is found next to a dead body and a bloody poker. It seems like an open & shut case, & in the end even the famous thespian, Sir John Menier (Herbert Marshall, later in Foreign Correspondent), caves into the majority. Then he regrets it & spends the rest of the time trying to clear the woman, even hiring two down-on-their-luck thespians to act as guides (& comic relief) to the world in which the murdered woman lived. Another classic early Hitchcock has plenty of suspense & unexpected turns.
Dark Shadows (Set 16) ***** The 1897 storyline is in full swing. Count Petofi is on the loose & only the gypsies have a chance of stopping him, it seems. Trouble is, he and his buddy Aristide keep bumping them off. Barnabas has become such a thorn in Petofi’s side, that our vampire hero is in danger of being taken out of the picture for good. Quentin, too, is under Petofi’s spell, with his werewolf side under control only so ong as his portrait painted by Charles Delaware Tate keeps it at bay. Julie dropss in to mix things up as the whole storyline steams toward a cilmax, flailing & clawing all the way. Dark Shadows at its best!
Angelica the Young Vixen (1969/74) *(*) Included as an extra on The Mummy & the Curse of the Jackals blu-ray, Angelica is the softcore story of a farm girl who sleeps her way to the top by marrying a rich man, having various affairs along the way. It’s a primitively made film, but for those who like to see 1970s women’s bodies, it has some charms. (And gets that extra star.)
Lady Vanishes, The (1938) ***** Another masterpiece from Hitchcock. A young woman, Iris, travelling in Europe gets hit on the head accidentally just before getting on a train. A kindly old lady, Miss Froy, whom she’d met at the inn last night, helps her aboard & takes care of her. But when the young lady falls alseep, Miss Froy is gone & nobody remembers having seen her. Iris enlists Gilbert (Michael Redgrave), a man who’d annoyed her at the inn previously to help her find a woman. But did Miss Froy ever get on the train, or is she a vigment of Iris’ delerium? Add in a pair of Brits more interested in cricket for comic relief & you get a fine early Hitchcock suspense thriller.
Dinotopia (2002) ***** Two brothers & their pilot father crash in a terrible storm. Dad is lost, but the two brothers (with different mothers) find themselves swept into a land where people & dinosaurs live side-by-side in a near utopian society, Dinotopia. There, the brothers struggle with their personal issues, making friends & adapting to the society they find themselves in, & trying to find their father and get back home. Originally a TV miniseries, this flick features high production values (special effects & puppets by the Henson company, working for Hallmark, I beleve) & a good cast. It’s great to look at & fun for the whole family. I didn’t know until I watched this that it was followed by a series of TV movies, which may be good but don’t come up to the level of this production. Oh, some fo the dinosaurs talk, but even that story choice worked really well.
Sabotage (1936) **** A young woman, Sylvia, & her much older husband, Karl, runs a cinema struggling to stay profitable in London as war is threatening in Europe. The cienma is under the watch of Scotland Yard, who suspect Karl of being part of a league of saboteurs carrying out terrorist attacks in London. What follows is a tnese cat-and-mouse game between the Yard & the spies, with Sylvia & even her young brother caught in between. Famous for the scenes with the boy unwittingly carrying a bomb into the heart of the city, this is another fun pre-US Hitchcock film. Not to be confused with Saboteur, from later, which I did when I put the flick on. That one is set in America & features the Statue of Liberty.
Calling Dr. Death (1943) **** Lon Chaney, Jr., stars in this, the first of the Inner Sanctum mystery films from Universal. (He starred in the rest, too.) And it’s nice to see Chaney out of makeup & doing some “regular” acting. Chaney is Dr. Mark Steele, a successful hypnotist with a bitchy, unfaithful wife as well as a devoted assistant/secretary. Tired of his wife’s cheating, Mark drives off one weekend only to return suffering from a weekend-long blackout only to discover that his wife has been murdered & he’s the prime suspect. Mark must stay ahead of the police & try to solve the murder, which he may or may not have committted during his blackout. A good start to the series & entertaining for Chaney fans.
Murder, She Baked 1-1 A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery (2015) **** I’ve done this series in near reverse order, starting with the second series of movies, under their new title, and then backflashing to the first series. But, that’s the way they happened to be broadcast when I became aware of them. In the first of the Hanna Swensen mysteries, we’re introduced to Hannah & her supporting cast, whom I’m already familiar with. (Though I still have trouble telling Mike & Norman apart.) Here, Hannah starts her murder investigation career when an old friend, who delivers dairy, is found killed in his truck by the bakery’s back door. Norman has just moved ack to town & Mike arrives to help solve the murder. A good start & more emotionally interesting than most of the follow-ups.
Murder, She Baked 1-2 A Plum Pudding Mystery (2015) *** It’s Christmas time & both Norman & Mike are dating Hannah while still being super nice to each other. And I still wish one of them would dye his hair blond or something, so I could tell them apart more easily. Whike out with Norman, Hanna discovers the owner of a Christmas tree lot (who owes her money) murdered. Plenty of suspects follow, as well as the romantic triangle between our heroine & her two beaus. Standard, but with the eged of an early episode in the series. The charity auction for a year of cookies is almost more compelling than the mystery. Still, it’s a cozy & it’s fun if you like such things. Did have a nice suspense action sequence at the end.
Murder She Baked 1-3 A Peach Cobbler Mystery *** When a rival baker is killed, Hanna becomes the prime suspect (because she was helping the woman with a recipe). In between suspects (I had key elements figured out early on this one), the romantic rivalry between Mike & Norman continues. (I think I’m team Norman, though I know what happens in later episodes.) And eventually, all is solved, and there’s another pretty nice action finish. So, more cozy fun. Also, the death in this episode seems to have a lot more impact on the chracters than previous deaths, so that’s a good thing. No sad shaking of heads & then onto other matters. A good change.
Murder She Baked 1-4 A Deadly Recipe *** The local political race for sheriff takes a sudden turn when the current sheriff is found dead, murdered, in the street by our baker heroine Hannah Swensen. Does it have to do with a local rash of auto thefts striking close to home for our amateur detective? Or might it involve the lost secret ingredient for a recipe? Or a secret past dogging the sheriff and his wife? One thing’s for sure, Hannah will keep juggling her two beaus, Mike & Norman while still solving the mystery before Mike or anyone else on the police force.
Section 31 (Star Trek – 2025) ***(*) A rag-tag band of misfits must band together to save… Well, the Universe, because this is Star Trek, after all, even if the heist-like plot is from the Dirty Dozen, Kelly’s Heroes, Oceans 11, & other such films. And for me & my wife, it worked. It’s not perfect, by any means (the Mirror Universe’s method of picking an Emperor/Empress is silly, if heavily Spartan), but it was a fun roller coaster rider.Michele Yeoh returns as said Empress, now exiled into the ST universe & runnig a bar. Section 31, a kind of “black ops” espionage agency within the Federation needs here help in tracking down somone plannig to open a gate between here & Mirror. So the recruit her into a special ops group for a galaxy spanning romp. If you like this kind of caper, as I obviously do, give it that extra star. Though be warned, this action-heavy feature length installment had some hardcore Trek fans setting their phasers to disintegrate!
Murder She Baked 1-5 Just Desserts *** Hannah is a judge on a TV baking contest along with a crusty local High School basketball coach. But after a contentious session, the coach is found dead near the school by Hanna’s close friend, and assistant coach, Norman. Mike & the police investigate, of course, but naturally Hannah has to check things out as well. Also, it may be coincidence, but it seems someone may be sabotaging things to get to Hannah. Does it have to do with teh show, the ball team, or something else? Mike & Hannah’s romance hits some bumps, but will it resolve in the end? Another cozy entry.
So, that’s it for January, 2025, the start of the new year’s reviews.
TOTAL films/programs/etc. for the month is a super-respectable 69, a very good start for a year. Kind of an amazing kickoff number, really. If I could keep that up, I’d hit 700 for the year easily.
NEXT MONTH: Yes, February is almost done as I post this, and I’ve watched a lot of stuff, but I still have plenty of reviews to catch up writing. Maybe I can post them by the middle of the month this time, if my life will settle down a bit. (Which it shows no indication of doing.) There might even be a mew Hannah Swensen Mystery! See you next time!
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