Nightshift - 2020 - Egypt

Nightshift - 2020 - 6/10

 
Zein works the graveyard shift for Delta Telecommunications.
Customers phoning about outages, connectivity issues, whatever.
One infuriated caller repeatedly crosses the line, leaving our poor worker to deal with it.
Ugly short will strike a chord with any hapless soul who ever worked the phone line.

Chloe - 2022 - UK

Chloe - 2022 - 6/10

 
Middle of the night, Becky receives a cry for help from her childhood friend, Chloe.
Too late, Becky learns she is dead.
She adopts the name Sasha, along with a new persona, and ingratiates herself with Chloe’s wealthy friends.
Since Chloe’s death feels somewhat sinister.
Dicey six part series shuffles time and perception.
Often we observe Sasha’s theorizing of an event, only to be reeled back to reality.
There is much to enjoy if winding thrillers are your cup of tea.
“Heavy sleeper” concept over-used, and the ending borders on a mere attempt.

Plunkett & MacLean - 1999 - UK

Plunkett & MacLean - 1999 - 6/10

 
Freewheeling retelling of a pair of highwaymen.
A fallen criminal pairs up with an impoverished gentleman.
Robbing from the rich and giving to … themselves.
An antidote to glossy productions, this is grubby and dirty.
Where even amorous relations result in sore consequences.
Funny throughout, situations and wordplay, layered with a thoroughly modern dance score.
Truth, ever strange = https://www.irishpost.com/news/irelands-gentleman-highwayman-seven-facts-about-the-irish-outlaw-of-london-hanged-for-his-courteous-crimes-102797

The Old Man And The Sea - 1958 - USA

The Old Man And The Sea - 1958 - 6/10

 
Spencer Tracy in essentially a one man vehicle.
An elderly Cuban fisherman has not caught a “big one” in months.
Until he lands a huge marlin, larger than his boat.
Therein is the drama, how to bring catch back intact, with sharks about.
Not high adventure, but an existential struggle of Man vs. Nature.
Long at 90”, it feels slow, despite lush photography.
I am hardly a Tracy fan, and this is just one more of his films that left me flat.

Fragile - 2019 - Canada

Fragile - 2019 - 7/10

 
An off-road auto crash leaves two men dead.
Both were apparently strangers:  Felix from a wealthy family, Dom working class.
As police try to put together why they were in the same truck, the back story unfolds.
That is also the trick to this well crafted Canadian series.
It is fairly clear, the crash was no accident.
The small town isn’t so much a nest of secrets, as it is of longings and frustrations.
As well as buried wrongs and long held resentments.

Atlantis, The Lost Continent - 1961 - USA

Atlantis, The Lost Continent - 1961 - 5/10

 
Two fishermen rescue a shipwrecked female, then take her back to her home.
Turns out, she is a princess of Atlantis!
Is there a reward?  Nope, just slave labor for our eagle scouts.
Turns out there is a power struggle for the kingdom.
Big budget sword and sandal has interesting effects, but no script.
Expensive and stupid.
My favorite was the energy crystal death ray gizmo, which was swiped from Archimedes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes'_heat_ray

Theater Camp - 2023 - USA

Theater Camp - 2023 - 7/10

 
Theatre aspirants, register immediately!
Summer camp for children smitten with the acting bug.
Trouble behind the scenes, however, as the founder has suffered a stroke and the finances are dire.
Not to fear, her dimwitted son is bursting with ideas.
Kids rehearse, counselors nurse grievances, crises erupt.
Missing anything?  How about, the bank is ready to foreclose.
A jewel for fans of theatre, especially musical theatre.
Fans of Connie And Carla, of Waiting For Guffman, shoot, Footlight Parade (1933), hurry to find your seats already!

The Iron Commissioner - 1978 - Italy

The Iron Commissioner - 1978 - 5/10
AKA - Il Commissario di Ferro

 
Mauro is a one-man police unit.  Backup?  Ordinary patrolmen?  Who needs ’em?
Almost single-handedly, he busts a kidnapping ring.
When a few escape, he begins the hunt.
Mauro neglects his family, doesn’t bother going to HQ.
Thereby missing out when a terrorist takes over his office.
Two unconnected storylines, neither compelling.
Half baked, rushed Euro-Crime clone.

Space Sweepers - 2021 - S Korea

Space Sweepers - 2021 - 5/10
AKA - Seungriho // 승리호

 
Space janitors sweep debris from orbit.  Defunct satellites, crushed vessels, bodies …
The crew of the Victory finds a small girl, who turns out to be an android, who is actually a mega-bomb.
Will the crew bond with their find?  Will conspiracy types stop at nothing to acquire the “child”?
Best suited for families, others will find this cringe time.
Aside from a few characters, everyone has the maturity of eight-year-olds.
Sadly, like many Korean films this is overlong.  Action sequences go on and on.
Heroics are never ending.  Everything is excess overload.
Again, for families – children – this will be OK.

I Love This Dirty Town - 1969 - UK

I Love This Dirty Town - 1969 - 6/10

 
Margaret Drabble bemoans the transition of the city into suburbia.
One realizes the city, for her, is dozens, if not hundreds, of small villages.
Freestanding green-grocers and butchers, instead of Tesco and Marks & Spencers.
Independent chemists, rather than Boots.  Pedestrians over the motor car.
Her complaints likely resonated when Romans organized Londinium.
Ever the battle between developers and residents.
James Mason explored this topic in The London Nobody Knows (1969).
Suggs turned the lens towards places on the verge of extinction in Disappearing London (2006).

The Phantom Empire - 1935 - USA

The Phantom Empire - 1935 - 5/10

 
Oh, man.  One of the most absurd serials ever, and mightily entertaining!
The lost civilization of Mu is somehow underneath the Western desert.
More than that, it is underneath Gene Autry’s Radio Ranch.
He and his cowpokes find it, but the Muranian Queen does not want surface dwellers near her kingdom.
Meanwhile, there are the usual villains, greedy land developers who cover Radio Ranch!
All sorts of shenanigans keep Gene and his friends galloping across the sagebrush.
Still, he finds time to sing daily at 2:00.
Did I mention Mu robots wearing metal Stetsons?

Zorro’s Fighting Legion - 1939 - USA

Zorro’s Fighting Legion - 1939 - 6/10

 
For a Saturday matinee serial, this is full of exciting adventures.
High film-making artistry?
The Lord of Gold (Don Del Oro), with plans to become emperor, steals gold shipments.
Enter Zorro, and his band of …ahem … singing men.
OK, they mostly sing the “We Ride” song.
This is set in Mexico, not California, though villagers immediately recognize the hero.
Excellent budget for this Republic serial, star power (Reed Hadley), outstanding stunts.
Best DVD copy is the restoration by Serial Squadron.