A few reviews . . (film or TV) — Page 177

The film Fantastic Four First Steps is THE best adaptation of the iconic team thus far. I highly recommend it, especially because it has finally given us the one and only Galictus.

Slade In Flame - 1975 - 6/10

The Glam rock band throw a left hook here.
Rather than deliver a broad comedy, or feel-good, big show finale saga, this feels dark.
Flame forms from two journeyman bands, somehow gets a hit, then publicity.
Pressures on the road, rivalries, crooked managers, an indifferent label.
One gets the feeling that “the suits” regard them as disposable.
For the band members, this likely had the ring of truth.
They had either lived this scrabble life for years, or knew groups … like Badfinger.
Slade do well within their roles. They themselves never caught the breaks Stateside.

Wingman: An X-Wing Story - 2023 - 6/10

A “Star Wars” chapter, which I suspect will be viewed as canon down the line.
Fifty-minute film of two halves.
First, an ambush / extraction mission, targeting an Imperial commander.
Second, a pair of X-Wing pilots left behind owing to craft damage.
Fan film from Germany, and I must say extraordinarily professional.
From costumes, to fighter crafts, to backgrounds, to storyline.
Narrative remains on point, never meanders, seldom loses momentum.
Restrained acting shames melodramatic hamminess of recent SW efforts.
Aspiring filmmakers, the costs were €3500.
English subtitles = https://subsource.net/subtitle/wingman-an-x-wing-story-2023/english/10132592

Car 99 - 1935 - 6/10

A series of brazen bank robberies plagues the Midwest.
Michigan has state-of-the-art communications web, yet they are slim match for the Professor.
He has a crack gang, a police radio, and knows to send false reports.
Fred MacMurray plays the headstrong trooper, courting his superior’s daughter.
Fast moving action, with sporadic comic bits tossed in.
Marina Koshetz memorable as the moll, even better as the gang’s wheelman.
Best is Guy Standing, cunning mastermind hiding in plain sight amidst the officers.

Murder In Martinique - 2016 - 6/10
AKA - Meurtres en Martinique

Missing beauty contestant is found a year later under a mudslide.
Parisian transfer teams up with a grizzled veteran.
The beauty contest smacks of exploitation, the area is replete with superstition.
Plenty of suspects, not a lot of twists, but good use of off-the-track scenery.
I was hopeful since I doubted there would be romance between the white bearded cop and the beautiful transfer.
Sometimes these shows exercise restraint, other times they are more unbelievable than Hallmark.

Damnation Alley - 1977 - 5/10

World War III ignites and much of Earth is annihilated, one exception being a Mojave Desert Air Force Base.
And yet … there are radio signals from Albany, New York.
A handful of survivors set forth in armored land vehicles (which might have inspired Aliens).
Obstacles include scorpions the size of pool tables, swarming killer cockroaches, and hillbillies.
I tell you this, those vehicles got damn good mileage. I never saw them refuel.
Every place they stopped, Vegas or nonworking gas station, every place had been hit with feather duster.
Altogether mediocre SciFi, that participants might have been foolishly optimistic about.
Unaware that, across the Atlantic, George Lucas was guiding a project in England.

Lost Hearts - 1973 - 6/10

“None of us are given much time. Lifespan, a mere flicker.”
Declares Mr Abney to Stephen, his much, much younger cousin.
Young Stephen is still trying to settle in, asking questions about children who preceded him.
Abney, a most sinister man, yet admired by servants, masks his guile with smiles.
Gothic suspense based on M. R. James, holds up well and is an effective thriller.
Informative commentary by Kim Newman seems a bit too jolly for the subject.