oldboy (2003)

aka Oldeuboi. Old Boy.
"Remember this: "Be it a rock or a grain of sand, in water they sink as the same."
Dae-su Oh (Min-sik Choi) manages to break out of solitary confinement after being kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years, with no explanation. So no wonder he is after answers, but finds that he only has 5 days to find his jailer.
Original, shocking and captivating (no pun intended).

oldboy (2013)

"I want to get out of here and away from you as fast as possible."
It's 1993 and ad exec Joe Doucett (Josh Brolin) is at a make or break client meeting, which he ruins when he hits on the clients wife. Subsequently he is kidnapped and held in solitary confinement; During which he is set up for the rape and murder of his estranged wife. Twenty years later he is released and goes in search of answers and vengeance, but only has 84 hours to do so.
Entertaining reinterpretation of the highly original modern Korean classic, but not one that can hold up against it.

on the fiddle (1961)

aka Operation snafu. Operation War Head.
"You don't know yet, but I'm here to diddle ya!"
Cockney wide-boy Horace Pope (Alfred Lynch) ends up in the army as a way to avoid jail when caught peddling stolen goods. Once in Pope befriends the easy going Pedlar Pascoe (Sean Connery), who is more than willing to join in Popey's scams. But when the two end up in France, all Popey's wheeler-dealing cannot avoid the oncoming Germans.
Charming enough if you like the main characters.

dr strange (1978)

"sorcery, magic or science. It's been called many names..."
Morgana Le Fay (Jessica Walter) is back after her battle with Merlin and the only one that can stop her is the unsuspecting Dr Strange (Peter Hooten).
TV movie, that takes the mystical and otherworldly Marvel comics character, and brings it down to earth!

crazy nights (1978)

aka Follie Di Notte. Le notti porno nel mondo nº 2. Sexy Night Report n. 2. Amanda Lear - Follow me. Scandinavian Erotica.
"Follow me..."
Mondo style documentary with Amanda Lear as your tour guide, showing the hottest places to go at night in every mayor city around the world, from Las Vegas, Tokyo, to Paris. Each in turn dissolves into various sexual activities.
The only reason to watch this is for Amanda Lears songs, and they aren't even that good!

tarzan and the trappers (1958)

"Now I can try my skills against the king of the jungle."
Tarzan (Gordon Scott) stops an illegal hunting party in his jungle, and becomes hunted by the brother of a trapper Tarzan had jailed after the man had kidnapped Boy (Rickie Sorenson).
African adventure that plods through a plot with no interesting features.

planet of the dinosaurs (1977)

aka Planet Of Dinosaurs.
"Captain we don't know what's down there!"
When the crew of a spaceship are forced to land on an unknown planet, they find it is populated by dinosaurs, and have to fight for survival as they await rescue.
Bad in so many ways.

the falcon's brother (1942)

"If it isn't the great falcon!"
Gay Lawrence (George Sanders), the amateur detective known as the Falcon takes up the trail when his brother supposedly commits suicide, which he obviously disbelieves, as the body he is shown is not his brother. along for the ride is intrepid fashion reporter Marcia Brooks (Jane Randolph).
The driest of wit propels this entertaining detective yarn along at a pace.

the robot versus the aztec mummy (1958)

aka The Aztec Mummy Against the Humanoid Robot. La momia azteca contra el robot humano. The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy.
"You have my word that the story I am telling, is the truth."
Dr. Eduardo Almada (Ramón Gay) tries to prove his theories on past life regression, by hunting for some lost Aztec treasure, with his patient leading the way. Unfortunately the Aztec mummy Popoca (Ángel Di Stefani) has other ideas, then to make things worse, mad scientist, The Bat (Luis Aceves Castañeda) takes an interest in obtaining the loot...
Weird Mexican movies are taken by American K. Gordon Murray, hacked up and dubbed into English, then sold onto the lucrative the drive in market, and this is one of them. Mad, Bad and mildly diverting to watch!

eight o'clock walk (1954)

"He murdered her!"
A young girl plays an April's fool joke on newly wed Tom Manning (Richard Attenborough). Unfortunately he is the last one to see her alive, and is soon charged with her murder, and although he is innocent, all the evidence seems to state otherwise.
Dependable film that captures the cold-hearted grind of justice, and revels in the details of the various participants daily lives.

prophecy (1979)

"We've tried the supreme court; now we are trying one that's higher."
Environmental protection agency agent Rob (Robert Foxworth), is sent to a oversee events at a forest, where the native people are preventing the logging and mining interests from devastating their land. Complicating matters is the arrival of a creature that is chewing up all it finds. Is it a mythical beast come to save the forest, or a hideous mutant born of pollution from the paper-mill.
Eco-creature feature, that suffers from inconsistency in pace and characterisation, but is none the less watchable.

killdozer (1974)

aka In Exile.
"I'll go rev up my big yellow baby."
A construction crew, led by Lloyd Kelly (Clint Walker), are battling to complete the facilities on a drilling site, hit a snag when a large bulldozer is taken over by a spirit and decides to go on a killing rampage..
A legendary horror, based entirely on mentions in such sterling work as Bevis and Butthead!

jungle moon men (1955)

"You mean you have learnt the secret of eternal life!"
Johnny Weissmuller (as Johnny Weissmuller) is in a remote area of Africa, with a number of others, who as usual are up to no good and looking for a lost diamond mine. The mine is protected by moon men, pygmies who worship the high priestess Oma (Helene Stanton), and neither are in any mood to give up their precious stones.
A weak re-tread of Jungle Jim, mixed with a dash of Tarzan.

jungle man-eaters (1954)

"Never turn your back on a hungry lion..."
Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) has to battle a despicable diamond smuggler, who has enlisted a a renegade tribe to drive other more peaceful tribes off their land.
Cheap and uninteresting.

flying swords Of dragon gate (2011)

aka Long men fei jia.
"You really do deserve to die."
Zhao Huai'an (Jet Li) leads a number of warriors who battle two corrupt secret societies within the Emperor's employ. Then he finds someone is impersonating him, but why?
Lavish and complex film, that relies heavily on wire work and cgi.

sacrifice (2010)

aka Zhao shi gu er.
"You don't think anything is good enough for our son."
A jealous army general (Xueqi Wang) slaughters the entire Zhao clan, but a doctor (You Ge) manages to save a baby, but his actions lead to the death of his wife and baby. As the Zhao child grows up, the doctor becomes consumed with seeking vengeance, and worms his way into the general's retinue. The general grows to like the child, and a bond grows between them, not knowing that the child is a pawn in the tale of revenge.
Thougtful and intelligent film, that plays on the emotions rather than action.

shogun's samurai (1978)

aka The Yagyu Conspiracy. Intrigue of the Yagyu Clan. Yagyû ichizoku no inbô. Yagyu Clan Conspiracy.
"You were born to be shogun."
The sudden death of the shogun leads his two sons to become bitter rivals in the pursuit of power. Yagyu Tajima (Kinnosuke Nakamura), the fencing instructor of Iemitsu (Hiroki Matsukata), the rightful heir, fixates upon securing his master the shogunate, by any means, and enlists his son Jûbê (Sonny Chiba) and a clan of Ninja's to ensure it.
Confusing tale, with many minor characters obscuring the main story.

three outlaw samurai (1964)

aka Sanbiki no Samurai.
"I understand, but even if you succeed you will be punished."
Ronin Shiba (Tetsurô Tanba), encounters three desperate peasants who have kidnapped a magistrates daughter, in an attempt to make him reduce taxes, anad stop them starving to death. Shiba is taken with their plight and attempts to intercede on their behalf. As the cruelty of the magistrate becomes aparant two of his guards, Sakura and Kikyo (Isamu Nagato & Mikijirô Hira), switch sides and it becomes a battle to the death.
Beautifully realised in B & W, this is a film that rattles along at a pace.

dead man down (2010)

"My daughter was killed whilst she slept."
Gang boss Alphonse (Terrence Howard) is paranoid, as he is receiving death threats and clues to why through the post. As he tries to find who is after him and why, one of his enforcers Vic (Colin Farrell) gets involved with Beatrice (Noomi Rapace). Beatrice has an ulterior motive for seeing Vic, she wants him to kill the man that disfigured her in a car crash, but she soon finds that Vic has hidden depths, and both are after revenge.
What seems a straight up gangster actioner unveils itself with twists that hook you in due to the solid performances of the main characters.

shank (2010)

"Gotta be on dis ting... "
London 2015, and there is no law and order. In this anarchic society lives Jr (Kedar Williams-Stirling), a 14 year old who idolises his big brother. So when one day he's killed by Tugs (Jerome Holder) after protecting him, Jr just has to get revenge.
What London would be like if run by a grime artist video director. Wanna be stylish action thriller, (Mad max meets the Warriors via a grime video), which in reality is a weak and inconsistent version of London's gang culture. Like most of the characters, this is a loud, and obnoxious, with nothing to say.

blue ruin (2013)

"Just leave my sister out of this."
Dwight (Macon Blair) has been living as an itinerant since his parents were murdered, but comes back when he learns that the man jailed for the crimes is being released. All he has on his mind is vengeance, but this only makes things worse...
Thoughtful and languid exposition into how one's actions get reactions.

on the game (1974)

aka Sex Through The Ages.
"All I need is my drain of white satin."
A mildly comic history of prostitution narrated by Charles Gray.
Nothing of interest here in any shape or form!