It’s almost the end of a busy, crazy March, which included Gary Con XVII with a poignant memorial to my old friend Ernie Gygax. Plus, I’m on the brink of having ankle surgery for what’s probably a cyst, making my ankle the size of a golf ball. That’ll limit my mobility for pretty much all of April. Despite that and a bunch of other Life stuff looming in my mind, I wanted to get this set of reviews out before my operation and then anticipated month-long recovery period.
It’s late, so I think I’ll keep this short and let you discover the treats this month below. See you at the end of the post.
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.
She-Creature, The (1956 MST3K) **** Corman studios produced it & Tom Conway has a prominent role, but it’s the Paul Blaisdell who created the titular monster & donned the classic costume to play the role that makes this film a standout. Dr. Lombardi can cause his assistant to regress to her past lives via hypnosis. Unknown to anyone else, Lombardi can also cause the assistant’s most primitive form — the She-Creature — materialize to carry out Lombardi’s hateful agenda. Though Conway’s character makes Lombardi rich & famous, that’s not enough for the former side-show carny & the monster’s reign of terror continues. A super fun B-Movie classic!
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas **** Dreamworks animated version of Sinbad lacks most of the usual Arabian trappings & atmosphere, but makes up for it in with a pan-mythological cast & crew. Despite his wishes to gain some quick coin, Sinbad runs afoul of the scheming & devious Eris (Greek Goddess) & is forced to go on a quest to the end of the world & beyond to save a city — and perhaps his own soul. Well-designed characters & some memorable action sequences, including some computer-assisted animations, make this fun for all ages.
20 Million Miles to Earth (Sven) **** Ray Harryhausen classic about a spaceship returning from the first trip to Venus that brings along with it a Venusian animal, which ends up loose when the return rocket crashes into the see. Earth’s atmosphere makes the monster (known to fans as the Ymir) quickly grow to monstrous size. It then terrifies the Italian countryside leading to a climactic confrontation in the Roman Colosseum. Great SciFi flick.
Murder, She Wrote – The Murder of Sherlock Holmes (pilot) **** The pilot for the (great) Murder She Wrote series features the introduction of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) & the basic premise of the series: (soon to be famous) mystery writer solves baffling murders wherever she happens to go. In this case, she starts on her first book tour in New York only to discover that her fame has preceded her, even to an exclusive party at a friend’s mansion where, naturally, someone among the cast of famous guest actors is murdered. There’s a little more feeling of danger to this show than usual, as if maybe they weren’t sure if the pilot would be picked up, which is fun. And it’s generally a great kick-off to the series.
Wild Robot, The (2024) **** A service robot with an advanced AI system ends up crash landing on a deserted island populated only by animals. Over the course of a long time, the robot learns to fit in with the locals & adopts an orphaned goose, Brightbill, who it then must teach to to do all the things that normal geese to, to comic effect. But things go wrong when the robot’s tracking mechanism makes the corporation that created it to send a retrieval team. Amusing & often touching family-friendly film that embraces both nature & technology.
Skin Game, The (1931) *** Based on a play, this Hitchcock film is about two families: one formerly rich landowners now down on their luck; the other a pushy family of a newly wealthy industrialist. Naturally, the son of one & the daughter of the other are fond of each other, but they get tangled in between when the industrialist tries to buy (or cheat) his way into owning all the land & kicking out the tenant farmers. The gentry fight back by vowing to reveal the shocking background of the industrialist’s daughter-in-law (my favorite character in the story). It’s one of those stories that seems doomed to an epic train wreck — though the ending is somewhat ambiguous.
Big Store, The (1941) *** The Marx Brothers are past their peak in this story where they try to save the titular store from bad guys looking to take over & push out the kindhearted owners. There’s one big rousing musical number, “Sing While You Sell,” Harpo playing the harp among many reflections in mirrors (some of which are playing different things), & a memorable crazy chase (probably mostly stunt doubles) through the store. So, fun, but not up to the standards you’d expect from the Marx Bros.
Death in Paradise (S12) **** Detective Inspector Neville Parker continues to solve mysteries on the series Caribbean island setting. The series has really settled into this DI by now & his annoying quirks have become far less annoying & more interesting bits of his character. The series’ supporting cast is also doing fine work & the mysteries continue to be engaging & well crafted. A reliable watch.
All About Eve (1950) ***** The film starts with an awards banquet for mega-star Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter (Ten Commandments)) & them backflashes to how she got there by ingratiating herself to reigning star Margo Channing (the great Bette Davis in a key role). Eve first becomes Margo’s friend & then her assistant & aide-de-camp. Eventually, Eve seems to be taking over Margo’s life & the conflict between the two, and revelations about Eve’s past, form the driving force in this flick, which deservingly won the Best Picture, Best Director, & Best Screenplay Oscars, among it’s record 14 nominations. George Sanders also won a well-deserved Oscar for his small but pivotal Best Supporting actor role. My guess is that neither Davis nor Baxter won, despite being nominated, because voters couldn’t decide between the two. (Judy Holiday won for Born Yesterday.)
Red Shoes, The (1948) ***** Powell & Pressburger’s colorful masterpiece about an obsessive ballet producer, his ballet company, & a woman (Moira Shearer) dancer who longs to work her way to the top. And she does through long & difficult practice, bending to the will of the producer & sacrificing her personal life. Until she doesn’t, which causes things to fall apart for her, but not for the ballet. A compelling & beautiful study of love, art, & obsession, with the overlay of the Hans Christian Anderson tale about a pair or red shoes that forces its owners to dance themselves to death.
Room Service (1938) *** Groucho is a play producer & Chico & Harpo his assistants & they’re holed up in a hotel where they’ve managed to run the bill through the roof for them & their cast. So, when a new efficiency expert takes over the hotel, the trio & their friends must dodge the management while trying to pull together enough funds to put on their “sure to be a hit show” about the struggles of mine workers. Despite having none of the Marx’s musical hallmarks, there are quite a few funny bits in this flick. But if you’re pining for Duck Soup or Horse Feathers (or even Animal Crackers), replay those classics.
Death in Paradise 2023 Christmas Special **** The story starts with a woman, Debbie, leaving for a meeting at her boss luxurious mansion in the Caribbean while her homebody significant other, Dave, decides to stay home, much to her dismay. She meets the wealthy man’s family, including artist daughter who has made a Christmas tree sculpture out of bottles. Later, though she hears a scream and finds her boss nearly dead in a ravine, where he whispers “It’s behind you” before he dies. By the tiem DI Neville & our regular cast of police arrive, Debbie has vanished, which brings her boyfriend to the island to hunt for her & nearly die himself looking for his lost love. Another amusing, extra-long Christmastime mystery for this show.
Reality Bites: A Hannah Swensen Mystery *** Hannah & her crew (minus Mike, who got an exclusive contract elsewhere) & hunky prosecutor Chat are back for another food-centric mystery. This time, Hannah’s Cookie Jar is being rented out for a popular TV baking show that may not be all it seems. Soon, one of the producers turns up dead & our heroine must help to solve the mystery in order to get the cops out of her bakery & reopen it. A secondary plot has Chad readying for a trial in which Hannah will be a witness. We get the usual Hallmark-trademark cozy with attractive characters & some romance. Unclear if this is the first in a new series, but we have another change in the title format, with neither Murder… nor Hannah… as the first word. I’m still enjoying them. Light entertainment.
Madame Web (2024) *** The origin of the Marvel comics character is told from the time before she was born until, more or less, the time she originally appeared in the comics as a blind seer connected to (an electronic) web of information. Thsi story, though, centers on her learning about her precognitive powers & using them to protect a trio of young women who will later become spider-powered superheroes from a mysterious adversary who wants to kill them before they come into their own. I enjoyed this superhero flick, though stealing a Yellow Cab & then driving it around for a chunk of the film without being caught did stretch my suspension of disbelief. Still, a good cast & much better than you probably heard.
Primevals, The – David Allen Version (2023) **** This cut of The Primevals includes some storyboarded scenes with an extra monster or two that never quite made it into the final cut. That’s too bad, because the missing monster I remember shows up during a section of the film that’s mostly “walking in the woods” & could use some more excitement. When a Yeti is killed in Tibet, a team of scientists led by Juliette Mills goes to the Himalayas looking for a living specimen & the secret behind its origins. The stop motion in this cut of the film remains top notch & it’s a pity that, after all the effort put in, some scenes could not be completely realized. Still, it’s nice to see what they might have looked like. (The storyboard cutouts are inserted amid the live action.)
Lost to Time – Unearthing the Primevals (2024) ***(*) Documentary about the long & winding history of David Allen’s The Primevals, which started out as a pitch that Hammer films titled “Zeppelin vs Pterodactyls.” The film was nearly greenlit back then & several times since, with Allen continuing to work on the story & ideas — and even completing animated test footage — only to have it all fall apart over and over again. Finally, he found a home with Full Moon entertainment, completed principal photography & was working on the animations when he sadly died. Happily, his friends & co-workers picked up the project years later & finished it. This doc tells the story of all that & if you’re a stop-motion fan like me, give it that extra star.
Curse of the Werewolf, The (1961) **(*) Hammer’s only werewolf film stars Oliver Reed as the adult version of a boy cursed to be a werewolf because: 1) his mother was raped, and 2) he was born on Christmas Day, and — in this film’s mythology — God is jealous of that day for His son alone, & curses all children born on it. Yeah. This distasteful back story/mythology makes it hard for me to enjoy this film. Because no matter what young Oliver does, he is doomed from birth. (Apparently, the book it was based on had similar ideas.) The other Big Problem here is that the werewolf only shows up in something like the last 10 minutes. So, though the makeup is great, you don’t see it much & the monster is swiftly dispatched. I give it a third star only for the makeup. The rest is too annoying, despite Hammer’s usual high production values.
End of the World, The (1977) ** Christopher Lee is in this unmemorable film & not even he can save it. After a promising Body-Snatchers-like start (they’re coming), the story quickly bogs down and becomes nearly incomprehensible. Aliens have taken infiltrated a monastery & are intent on bringing about the end of the world — because our world is a cosmic infection, or something like that. I guess it could have been worse, because there is a story, even if it’s an annoying one. For Lee fans only.
Equinox, The (1967) ***(*) Original version of the film, before the distributor added the icky (but not terrible) Satanic-related stuff, still has all the SPFX by future Oscar winner Dennis Muren, Dave Allen, & co., which are what make this low-budget SF/horror flick fun & memorable. Group of young people discover a Lovecraftian book while investigating the disappearance of their favorite professor. This leads them to pierce the barrier between our world & a dimension filled with weird monsters, who seems to want to infiltrate & take over our world. Extra star if you like old-style practical SPFX.
Tomb Raider (2018) **** Not quite a reboot, but a trip back to Lara Croft’s origins as she looks for her lost father, who is somehow connected to the search for the tomb of a Chinese God-Empress. Along the way, she meets friends & gets on the wrong side of the bad-guy treasure hunters (of course), before ending up stranded on an exotic island & fighting for her life. A highly entertaining action-adventure film with good actors & special effects that manages to feel visceral, even with CGI enhancement. Too bad the pandemic kept this version of the character & series from continuing. Who knows if they’ll make another?
Dracula (The Dirty Old Man) 1970? *(**) Dracula & his werewolf/were-jackal crony kidnap (mostly naked) young women to drain their blood, etc. Filmed on a super-low budget, the filmmakers later decided to go back & re-dub the film as a comedy, a la What’s Up Tiger Lily? Sometimes, it kinda works, kinda induces a few chuckles. Mostly of interest for those who enjoy low-budget period filmmaking & a lot of female nudity before everyone had plastic surgery. In that sense, or for fans of bad comedy, give it the extra stars.
Tales of a Salesman (1965) *(*) The production values are pretty good on this cheapie, meaning the film stock remains bright & mostly free of damage. Salesman gets tips from an unseen voice of a mischievous poltergeist that keeps leading him into sexy situations with semi-nude & nude 1960s women. Naturally, it never gets too sexy. Included as an extra on the Dracula (The Dirty Old Man) blu-ray, &, like that film, mostly of interest for the era & the variety of natural bodies.
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft (2024) *** Netflix animated series featuring the iconic heroine travelling around the world & confronting various supernaturally based menaces while meeting friends & searching for treasures. Allegedly a bridge between the prequel(s) and the original games, these adventures all seem pretty by-the-book to me. I think the real problem is that the animation doesn’t feel very special or exciting — it’s just kind of a standard anime look, unlike Arcane or even Marvel’s What If…?, which bring an interesting look to the material. All the pieces were there, but the result is only okay.
Longmire (S2) ***** The second season of this western lawman series has more continuity to it stories than the first, with the backstories of Longmire & many of his supporting cast being filled out, while still maintaining the gritty feel of season 1. An Indian “Ghost Soldier” stalks through the background, popping up almost at random to menace and/or kill people, Longmire & co. spend a lot of time trying to track him down, or even prove who he is & that he’s real & not an actual ghost or hallucination. More info about the death of Longmire’s wife also comes to the surface. Several episodes are harrowing, especially the one with the survivalist cult capturing some unintended victims. And the season ending arc contains a real shocker.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (S1) **** The only black & white season of this Irwin Allen’s SciFi series focuses at least as much on the James-Bond-type espionage elements of the times (mid 1960s) as on the SF — and that’s to the series betterment. Later seasons would become monster-of-the-week, but this season has a great, interesting mix of stories. Because it’s a 1960s TV show, it also has a lot more hour-long episodes than the 20 or fewer we get nowadays: 32! Of special interest to me is the dinosaur episode (with Nick Adams & footage from the 1960s film) & the Loch Ness Monster episode. Great fun!
Black Narcissus (1947) *** This gorgeous film is more style than substance for me, as Powell & Pressburger explore the lives of a group of nuns sent to life on a clifftop monastery in the Himalayas. Their initially rules-bound superior (Deborah Kerr) resists giving in to the native customs or bending the rules, which leads to conflict, as the nuns try to bring “civilization” to the area. Their school attracts a young prince at least as much interested in a pretty local girl as learning. And the isolation eventually drives someone memorably mad. Maybe it’s just because of the times (1947) that this is described as erotic, but it didn’t really play that way for me. Even with a memorable climax, it still only rates as good for me.
Sssssss **(*) Evil scientist is obsessed with poisonous snakes & decides to turn his assistant, Dirk Benedict, into one. Because why not? Naturally, this does not turn out well for anyone. There are a lot of real, poisonous snakes in this, so if you’re afraid of the scaly ones, you should definitely avoid it. And the “freak factor” of live humans working with deadly reptiles is part of the thrill, for sure. Despite that, the film is slow in places & often feels like a TV flick. In the end, it’s only okay, but you can give it an extra star for the John Chambers makeup, which isn’t on screen enough.
Dark Shadows (2012) **(*) Tim Burton & Johnny Depp said they loved Dark Shadows & maybe they did, but the decision to make this film a comedy totally undercuts the original series & its fan base. It’s one of those “if they’d just called it something else, it’d be good” films. But as it is, all the cool stuff in it — including production values — is obscured by the way it treats the original characters & concepts. Sure, it’s pretty, but… A vampire, Barnabas, comes back to life 200 years later & tries to revive the Collins family fortunes, which are fading because of competition from the witch who turned Barnabas into a vampire, Angelique. If you can turn off the connection to the original, or if you want to see the brief glimpse of Jonathan Frid, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker, & David Selby, you can give this that extra star.
Teenagers from Outer Space (1959 House of Svengoolie) *** Young man from outer space comes to the earth with an invading force to see if Earth is a suitable place to grow & harvest the Gargons, which are either a food source or a weapon or both. (Giant lobsters.) Turns out the man secretly the son of the alien leader & so his comrades cannot simply disintegrate him when he goes on the run the same way they blasted the first little dog they met. Really, there are no teenagers here though the teenage-style love vs. duty question is pretty teen. But I really like this low-budget SciFi film. It’s earnest & fairly well produced. The added segments by the Sven Squad — Imp, Gwengoolie, & Nostalgiaferatoo — are amusing but neither raise nor lower the stars if you see it on their show.
Captain America Brave New World (2025) **** The Falcon is now Captain America (see Falcon & the Winter Soldier mini-series) & that works just fine for me. Cap must hold tight to his principles despite his old foe Thunderbolt Ross becoming president & an administration bent on breaking the rules & covering up what they’re doing. Antony Mackie doe his usual fine job as Cap. Danny Ramirez is engaging as the new Falcon. Harrison Ford takes over T-Bolt Ross in a good re-casting. There’s a little too much “inside baseball” from earlier films, but you can still follow it. And I’m not going to give away the surprise guest, like the trailers did, which makes a fine Boss Battle for the end. Drop your preconceptions! This fits in well with the previous Cap films maintaining their streak as the best Marvel series.
Eternals (2021) ***(*) Even for Marvel Maniacs, this film seemed to drop in from outer space, the same way its main characters came to Earth. Based on a semi-obscure Kirby series, Eternals updates the Gods From Space idea & tries to ret-con it into the MCU. The idea is overly ambitious, but it mostly works — though the changes from the Kirby original ideas was enough to seriously piss off one comics fan I know. Since the beginnings of history, Mankind has been protected from monstrous Deviants by a small band of diverse Eternals, whose masters have an agenda that doesn’t seem to match the heroics. The cast & powers diversity is what makes this film interesting, though it’s too long & has some flat stretches. If you can ignore those problems & the divergent from the original comics, give it that extra star. It amused me. Oh, and the Black Knight kind of appears, too.
Dark Shadows (Set 17) **** The 1897 storyline finishes up with a flurry of crazy scenes with Quentin, Barnabas, Petofi, Charles Delaware Tate, Pansy Faye, & the rest of the crew. Characters leave suddenly, & then just as suddenly, we’re off to Barnabas’ past in the 1700s for a weird rerun of the end of his origin story, with a slightly different outcome. And then.. Barnabas is kidnapped by the weird cult of the Leviathans, & we’re off to the present (!) of 1969 & a whole new storyline. The 1897 wrap up is a little sloppy, but it’s been a great, fun ride while it lasted.
Chronicles on Narnia, The – The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe (2005) **** Maybe this film seemed a little tame in the wake of Lord of the Rings, but now it plays like the delightful kids story it was when originally published. The prodution values are high & even the allegory plays pretty well. Kids escape WWII England by using a magical wardrobe to cross into the enchanted land of Narnia, which is under the oppression of the evil White Witch. The kids, chidlren of Adam & Eve, are propecied to bring about the return of the Christ-like lion, Aslan, and a new Golden Age. Despite my dislike of “chosen one” stories (overdone!), I enjoy this fable, & the film is well made & entertaining, if maybe a bit long. CG work has aged okay. Doesn’t hurt the film.
Only Murders in the Building (S4) ***** Our three main characters leave the building to look for “Sazz” (Jayne Lynch) who was the stunt woman for Steve Martin’s character in his show Brazos. As evidence that she was murdered mounts, the usual trio — Martin, Short, & Gomez — must travel not only to California, but also to the unknown “other side of the building” where they discover a funny conpsiracy group, including a man whose every day is Christmas. To complicate things, Hollywood has decided to make a film of the trio’s adventures & has cast actors who are maybe not appropriate to the roles. Once again, this series manages to be both an engaging mystery & very funny.
Chronicles of Narnia, The – Prince Caspian *** After returning to our world, the children from the first film find themselves drawn back into Narnia to help save Prince Caspian from the evil overlord who killed his parents & took his kingdom. Our heroes are surprised to discover that they’ve returned hundreds of years after they left, with their fabled palace & all the accomplished in ruins. The production & CG are even better in this film, but the story suffers from a mid-point battle that jsut makes no tactical sense. It also makes the movie longer than it needs to be. Fortunately, the story recovers by the end, and the introduction of the swashbuckler mouse Reepicheep definitely helps.
Zontar the Thing from Venus **(*) This rea=make of Cormans It Conquered the World is definitely one of Larry Buchanan’s best films, which isn’t saying a lot, except for the general quality of Buchanan’s work. John Agar in the lead helps. Amoral scientist contacts Venusian monster/warlord Zontar, who comes to earth & uses batlike injectapods to take over the local populace & military. The monster designs aren’t as good as the original, but they’re good by Buchanan standards. If you’re going to see one of his films & can tolerate low-budget, give it that extra star & watch this.
Curse of the Swamp Creature *(*) If you’re a Buchanan fan, & I am, in a car-crash kinda way, give this film the extra star. If slow fils with not enough monsters get to you, don’t. Mad scientist living in an isolated swamp mansion (with swimming pool allegedly filled with alligators) tries to improve the human race by turning victims into half reptiles. (Yeah, sounds like a cheapo version of Alligator People.) If they’d only had a female stunt performer in the monster suit (which supposedly derived from a women victim), it’d be better. But it’s not.
Naked Witch, The (1961) ** Another Buchanan cheapie. A researcher goes to a small town & accidentally resurrects an ancient witch, who wanders around naked (but with black bars) for some of the picture, killing the descendants of the people who originally put her to death. More nudity of less Buchanan could have helped this & there’s a huge voice-over history section at the start to pad out the runtime.
Creature of Destruction ** Yes, it was Buchanan day on the Monster Kid Radio stream, and this sucker wraps it up. This remake of the She-Creature has a less interesting cast & a monster suit possibly reused from another Buchanan flick (It!) — though maybe that flick reused this one. Evil hypnotist discovers he can regress the spirt of his female subject to its pre-human level & sends out a physical projection of that monster to kill his enemies and/or drum up publicity. Les Tremayne gives this cast some interest, but otherwise just an inferior remake.
War of the Gargantuas (1966 – Sven) **** Giant monster classic (& pseudo-sequel to Frankenstein Conquered the World). There are two giant monsters — Gargantuas — a green one from the sea; a brown one from the mountains. The green one is evil & eats people; the brown one is kind & protects people. Scientists, including Russ Tamblyn walking through is part, are confused & at first think there’s only one monster. Naturally, the 2 monster “brothers’ must collide & give us the movie’s title. The creatures being slightly smaller than usual kaiju gives the citywide desctruction in this film a more relaistic feeling & the whole thing is as fun as a barrel full of… Gargantuas. (Svengoolie can’t improve or hurt it.)
LEGO Scooby-Doo Blowout Beach Bash *** The Scooby gang gets built out of LEGO blocks & heads for Spring Break only to discover that the place is haunted by pirates seeking either: 1) the bash captain crowns, or 2) to rid the beach of interlopers, or both, or some even more nefarious plans. Despite the blocky animation, this turns out like a usual long-form Scooby adventure, with some extra funny moments provided by the characters all being LEGO — like the mummy at the pre-story sequence having his identity revealed by simply twisting his head around to the normal face on the other side. I’m a Scooby fan, so I enjoyed this, and you kids probably will, too.
Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible **** Steve Coogan is the titular character & a main character in every one of these half-hour-long stories parodying the classic British horror/adventure films from Hammer, Amicus, & such studios. Because the series is British, there’s more nudity & sexy language than you might expect in a similar US show, though overall the series is still pretty tame. I especially enjoyed the lesbian vamprie story and the Fu-Manchu-like one. My only regret is that it was a one-series show — though maybe that’s what makes it special. Humor goes from highbrow to (mostly) low.
Pinocchio (1940) ***** Walt Disney’s 2nd animated feature remains a classic & boasts what some of the most beautiful animated art ever done. Lonely woodcarver & toy maker Geppetto’s wish for a son is granted when the Blue Fairy makes his puppet, Pinocchio, come to life. But the puppet is naive, so he’s given a conscience in the form of Jiminy Cricket. Sadly, Pinocchio is still often led astray (by a wicked cast of characters), & therein lies the adventure. Darker in places than you might expect (the villains are never really punished) & even frightening, it’s all of that plus the gorgeous animation, make this one of Disney’s best ever. Personal History: My father once spent an afternoon watching this film over and over, instead of going home, which created a frantic search by my grandparents. 🙂
Strange World (2022) ***(*) In a world similar to but not our own, the Clade family splits when their super-adventurer father goes off to find what’s on the other side of the mountains, while his meeker son takes a valuable energy source back to their isolated community. Decades later, the father has not returned & the energy source is dying, prompting the farmer son to embark on a search to save his energy-based society. This leads him, his wife, and son into adventure in the titular Strange World. Watching this film, I was reminded of a classic 1960s SF film, before discovering it had more bearing than I thought. That “secret” actually makes me like the film more in retrospect than when I was first watching, thus the extra star.
That’s it for February 2025. Total for the month is 43, bringing our total so far this year to 113 films, series, & notable other programs.
NEXT MONTH: March has been so full of chaos that I’m not even sure how to sum it up — mostly because it’s not in my memory right now, because I’m having (hopefully minor) ankle surgery on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. I did just finish a bunch of series, including the new Reacher, Father Brown, and another set of Dark Shadows (#18)… So those will definitely be there. Wish me luck with my recovery & I hope to see you soon!
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