finetunes Reviews

Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946)

Underrated Gem

[9/10 · 20 February 2024]

I thought I'd seen every great mid-century comedy. Maybe I had passed this one by because the title sounded like a musical. This movie starts out as good as any Preston Sturges movie. Follow the dialogue carefully because their are some fabulously funny lines, some of which might pass you by. The movie does start to lose some of it's magic halfway through but it's still totally enjoyable. The ending is worth the wait; don't miss this movie! Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan were great; Joan Leslie comes across as sort of an opportunist but don't let that stop you from thoroughly enjoying the mid-40's comedic romp.

The Gryphon (2023– )

If only it had been made around the time of the Lord of the Rings

[7/10 · 26 December 2023]

Easy to identify the great ideas of the book vs the poor budget and very bad dubbing of the movie. The CGI of the series is very limited and isn't cutting edge unless this is 2005. Seem's on the level of Stargate SG-1 which is 25 years old.

You can't tell if the actors are good or bad because the dubbing acting is so poor. Interesting difference between Hollywood productions and this one is that this one has no pretty people in it. Even the spoilt rich blonde friend has a peculiar ugly, duckish kind of face.

There were too many glaring "why did they do that, react to that, didn't do that" behaviors from the characters.

Besides the limitations, I recommend watching it but only if you enjoy sci-fi.

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Boring, Depressing, and Irritating

[1/10 · 20 November 2023]

I rarely give a movie a rating of 1. I love the Coen Brothers movies except for this turkey. It's so slow!! And uneventful. Ten or fifteen minutes could have been cut out of the running time. Depressing, oh my god, Llewyn is so dysfunctional in so many ways and the dysfunction is not limited to Llewyn; add his agent, love life, family and passengers in the car ride to Chicago which just about covers everyone in the movie. LLewyn is the most irritating character in cinematic history and one of my cardinal rules of movies is that the protagonist has got to be likable somehow. Even if you are a diehard Coen fan you should pass on this train wreck. Don't follow your urge to be a Coen Brothers completist.

Waiting for Gorgo (2009)

Charming

[6/10 · 6 August 2023]

I'm sure budgetary restraints kept them from having a great ending to the film but isn't that the problem with any genre that requires a big budget for special effects? I can't fault the writers for not coming up with a more satisfying ending; I couldn't come up with anything clever myself. I don't want spoil the ending because the film is worth watching. I've taken away 2 stars because of the ending.

This film does deliver an important message - the DMOA is alive and efficient, doing its job for the Department of Defense. Please, take 19 minutes and watch this salute to the DMOA and let's keep funding it.

Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949)

Great amalgam of adventure, fantasy and comedy!

[8/10 · 27 July 2023]

I watched all the Tarzan movies growing up and most of my favorites were the ones with Weissmuller, but I wasn't a big fan of him as Tarzan, his physicality bothered me, he wasn't trim and muscular like later ones, nor was he handsome, but he did have charisma. In this movie, Barker didn't have a lot of lines to develop his own distinct personality but he handled the action scenes with aplomb. And the other aspects of the movie made it one of the more memorable Tarzan movies. The chimps has lots of screen time and were fun to watch. Cheetah's fate made a great ending for the movie ( I won't spoil it). I loved the luminated fountain of youth water and as a kid it fascinated me. Here, watching it 60 years later, so many memorable scenes came back to me. The huge flaming arrows and bow protecting the blue valley, especially the scene where the eye patched bad guy gets it in the chest. The movie added a nice touch of interesting historical fiction with the missing female aviator. Now that I'm 70 years old I'm ready to move to the blue valley. This movie was truly great cinema escapism for kids and adults, and if you like Tarzan then don't miss this one.

The Nice Guys (2016)

The title should have been "Everybody in this movie acts stupid"

[3/10 · 17 June 2023]

I love smart movies, clever and funny. I like movies with likeable characters. This movie has none of the above. If you like dumb and stupid you will adore this movie and will want to name your babies after it, especially if you have girls. It seems like every other minute while watching this movie I asked myself "why did they do that?" If you like stupid then go watch the 3 Stooges or Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello but this movie is not funny stupid it's just plain stupid. I kept waiting and hoping that the movie would get better as it went along but it didn't and then to my horror I found myself becoming stupid, too. Don't follow and my footsteps, don't watch this movie. I gave it 3 stars because I'm a generous person.

Hatari! (1962)

Mostly boring!

[3/10 · 22 April 2023]

If John Wayne had not been cast in this movie it would have been even more forgettable. Wayne was way too old for his love interest and there was no chemistry between them. Wayne was way too old for action movies by this time and was showing off more than his share of middle age spread. It was true Hollywood magic that Anna Maria, without hardly any interaction with Sean, fell madly and hopelessly in love with him. The dialogue of the movie, in general, was so plain vanilla compared to the witty/snappy dialogue that Howard Hawks movies were FAMOUS for, it's not surprising (as was mentioned by another reviewer) that the movie started with little or no script because, unfortunately, that's what it ended up with. And Pockets winning the other love interest?? So we have a 55 year old John Wayne and Red Buttons as the male Hollywood movie heart throbs who capture the love of two models-turned-actors? What were the parameters for casting this movie? Drinking buddies? Bridge partners? Broken English?

The animal chase scenes were well filmed but went on too long and very soon I was rooting for the poor animals to escape and get back to their loved ones. And where were the tranquilizer guns that would have made it so much easier to capture the animals?

I'm a huge Howard Hawks fan but this movie rates at the very bottom. And while I'm not a big John Wayne fan, he made a lot of great movies but this was not one of them.

If you value your time, skip this movie and pick just about any other John Wayne or Howard Hawks movie.

BTW - Hatari is Swahili and means "danger"

Carry on Nurse (1959)

Disappointing

[3/10 · 11 February 2023]

This is the first "Carry On" movie I've ever seen and boy was I disappointed! I can see that if I had grown up with these movies as a kid I would have enjoyed them but what was edgy and naughty back in mid century is now just plain vanilla. Regarding the rating, if you subtract the nostalgia factor I can only give this movie a 3. A lot of reviewers rated this movie one of the better in the series; after seeing this one I'm not motivated in watching another. Oh, well, somethings age better than others; I watched a Charlie Chan movie the other night and was thoroughly entertained. Another piece of classic TV that I watched recently was an episode of the Jack Benny's TV show; it was brilliant. The comic actors can really make a difference; the particular show I watched had guest star Mel Blanc; along with Rochester they were all brilliant!!

If you grew up with these movies then have at it and enjoy your trip down memory lane, otherwise pass.

Gila! (2012 TV Movie)

Big Surprise!

[6/10 · 14 January 2023]

I've been disappointed lately with all the movies I've watched and that includes much of my collection of 50's sci-fi movies, most of which are B-movies. Even with the nostalgia factor factored in I haven't enjoyed them like I used to. Historically, I love big monster movies, new and old. So I decided to watch this one hoping it wouldn't disappoint... and it didn't.

The best thing about it was the soundtrack - classic 50's rock; no covers, all original artists.

The movie is very low budget with the special effects about 20 years behind the times but they are serviceable. A plus for the ancient CGI in this movie is that sometimes it's used cleverly, I won't give any spoilers but the old maxim holds true here "it's not what you got but how you use it".

The actors are hit and miss, some are competent and others marginal. The plot... your basic rebel teens help save a small town from an environmentally overgrown lizard. The dialog is surprisingly intelligent and clever and a much higher cut above low budget movies.

The bottom line is if you like 50's sci-fi and big monster movies then give it a look.

Black Adam (2022)

Poor Storytelling

[3/10 · 22 November 2022]

1st time I watched the movie I dozed off in a couple of places and, of course, that could explain my confusion after the movie was over. Who was this group of superheroes fighting Black Adam? I must have fallen asleep when they were properly introduced; I barely caught there names. The plot seemed to explode with world building and even more world building, couldn't they have come up with a story with less padding of details? The writer and director tried to pack a trilogy into one movie. Again I blamed my lapses into sleep so I watched it again, and again I fell asleep but in different sections. I tried to put it all together but do I blame my falling asleep for not grasping this movie or do I blame the incomprehensibleness for putting me to sleep?

Something else and very important - the movie gave off a weird vibe - who were the good guys and who were the bad guys, they all seemed a bit unlikeable.

It's one thing to give a movie novel plot twists and unique characters but it takes creativity and inventiveness to come up with something likeably new. I wish I knew how to underline "likeably". One day I'll give this movie another chance and see how right or wrong I was on this review. Maybe there needs to be a 4 hour Zak Snyder's cut to fix this mess of a movie. It was poor storytelling.

P. S. I just looked up the director on IMDB - he directed Jungle Cruise??? How could they let him direct a huge budget movie like Black Adam after directing a mediocre movie like Jungle Cruise.?? I'd sure like to know the decision-making process behind that.

Eraser (1996)

Deserves much better than 6.1

[8/10 · 7 November 2022]

I just watched this movie and the remake Eraser: Reborn. They are like night and day. Reborn was hindered by a small budget but the direction was so lacking considering all he had to do was copy the original. Among many things, Reborn suffered from not having a sympathetic female lead like Vanessa Williams. The original had a small amount of CGI but it's sparsity is a good thing cause much of that old CGI didn't age well. On the other hand, it had some great stunts to make up for the lack of CGI. Arnold as usual is a great likeable lead and he is supported with greats like James Caan and James Coburn. Watching these two movies back to back gives you an idea how good talent makes the difference in a script. My advice, watch the original and pass, definitely pass on the remake. This is one of the great action movies of the 90's and is a real joy.

The Apparition (2012)

Give this movie a chance

[7/10 · 17 October 2022]

This has a nice creepy, chilling factor to it. Everything about this movie is competent so why such a low score from everybody? The concept is a little on the unusual side (in a good sense) and is played out well. The acting is fine and so is the pacing. It uses some halfway credible sci-fi notions with horror factored in; it's not just some dumb scares. It has a modern neighborhood/Poltergeist vibe to it but that's no sin. Ashley Green carries the lead with no problem. This isn't just some low budget movie with unknown actors; those are the kind of movies that deserve less than a 3 rating. The CGI is not mind blowing but it's serviceable. This movie has a lot going for it and deserves at least a 4 or 5 rating. I like Tom Felton and Ashley Green so I give the movie a few extra points over that. If you like a nice creepy sci-fi horror movie then this will meet your needs. Just don't put your faith in a Faraday cage.

Medieval (2022)

Poor story telling

[4/10 · 12 October 2022]

There's a story to be told here but it's fairly lame. Sets, location and costumes and the actors are top notch. This movie is heavy on the gravitas but Ben Foster's character says all of two words in the whole movie. Maybe Clint Eastwood was able get away with it but not Ben Foster. Sophie Lowe doesn't say much more; there's got to be at least one person communicating to have a relationship develop. Maybe humans didn't have much in the way of personalities back in the Middle ages, if so, this movie is very realistic... and boring. Not many characters to care about in this movie and most die off before we even get to know them. There are a lot more movies of this era that are much better so pass on this one.

Hellraiser (2022)

Life can be such a drag, my movie experience doesn't have to reflect it so intensely

[4/10 · 8 October 2022]

Note: I've claimed spoilers but they are very minor.

So many aspects of this movie hit the target - set design/ costumes/ CGI/location, things Hollywood does so well if there is a budget for it. The actors are competent and the Hellraiser concept is unique and solid. But horror is one of the genres that I personally require that there be a hero or underdog, someone likeable, relateable or smart, whatever reason. I didn't care about any of the characters or their fate. Most of the protagonists are not very clever and are always one step behind trouble and rarely get a break. Riley, who should be the "hero", is a mess and the complications of her life spill over and affect everyone around her. You want to sympathize with her but the reality is that she is a loser sucking the life out of everybody. Maybe she will rise above her problems with the help of her family and friends but not in this movie, maybe Hellraiser 2. All the "good" characters are disorganized and flounder from one problem to the next. There is no comic relief which is not a deal breaker but sometimes it lightens the load of a "heavy" movie. This movie just seemed to drag me down to a hellish nightmare with no relief; I'm getting that in real life right now and don't need an extra dose. The movie didn't advance any new info about the cenobites and their god, so nothing new there. The cenobites are not very interesting, someone needs to add a little spice to their personalities. If you are a fan of the original Hellraiser you'll probably enjoy this adaptation, otherwise I'd pass.

Secret of the Incas (1954)

Some good, some not so...

[5/10 · 15 September 2022]

For an adventure movie there is too little action and too much soap opera. One requirement that I insist on for an entertainment movie is that there has to be likeable main characters. Harry Steele fails miserably in this regard. He's a sleaze of the highest degreze with no redeeming qualities; besides glorifying his thieving qualities, he's not likeable in any other way. The location shooting is worth the watch: Machu Picchu, the native dress and the singer Yma Sumac.

Spoiler alert - Harry giving up the sun disk at the end could be just as easily be chalked up to a rash decision instead of a change of morals. Thought of the day - maybe the girl, Elena, made her decision to go with Harry instead of Stanley because she thought that Harry's answer of Abraham Lincoln to the question "Who chopped down the cherry tree?" was the correct one. Boy, was she in for a life full of regrets.

The final line - you might watch the movie till you get your fill of the views of Machu Picchu then watch something else.

The Black Room (2017)

Average

[5/10 · 7 September 2022]

Nothing new here to offer but it does involve a succubus so there are sexual shenanigans going on in the movie to raise it above the typical crappy horror movies that have come out ever since the 50's.

In addition, there are name-recognition actors in this movie - Lin Shaye, Natasha Henstridge and Augie Duke and a modest cgi budget. So the movie really rates higher than the current rating of thirty four out of a hundred in IMDB. Try it out on as a Saturday night popcorn movie you won't regret it but if you do you won't regret it too much. I think there is something wrong with the character counter for the IMDB review site. It requires 600 characters and I know I've already passed that.

MEAD (2022)

So much potential

[3/10 · 11 August 2022]

Extremely uneven results in the creative talents. Patton Oswalt carries the whole movie - without him the movie would be a big fat zero. Oswalt, Picardo and Warburton are shining examples of the importance of good comic supporting actors. The actors that played Fritz, Tam and Phoebe are prime examples of actors in lead roles with no charisma; I'm assuming that after hiring Oswalt, Picardo and Warburton there was no budget left to hire experienced, even fairly well known lead actors. Why else would they hire actors with such mediocre resumes? The CGI, which there was plenty of, was on the surface good if you didn't look too closely. The plot had great potential but was let down by the script's lackluster dialog. The direction suffered from poor pacing - sometimes glossing over areas that were hurried along and other parts that seemed to drag. A bigger budget might have helped to refine the script and hire a better director and lead actors. The CGI makes the movie heavy on eye candy attraction and the character actors mentioned already give the movie a generous feel-good vibe and keep it from being a total loss.

In general, the limitations of this movie will be better overlooked by a younger audience. The ending invites a sequel; but unless a larger budget can address it's problems properly there won't be a Meade 2.

The Strain (2014–2017)

Really good, but uneven in spots

[7/10 · 31 July 2022]

So many good things about this series, plot, characters, actors and the special effects. But sometimes it fell short on logic. Good guys discovered weapons but then seemingly forgot about them. A lot of fight scenes were good but others totally stupid. Little things were big irritations such as not securing doors in high risk areas and no defensive body armour for all the main characters, I mean none! Some character behaviours were unrealistic . Season 1 and 2 were really good but I almost quit during season 3 because of the aforementioned criticisms. I won't go into spoilers and I do recommend seeing it but beware of the uneven parts that at least, to me, almost had me quit. One minor spoiler, the German, Thomas had more lives than a cat.

Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)

Very Re-Watchable!

[8/10 · 26 July 2022]

I loved the story-telling. Likeable, quirky characters. I've seen it about 4 times now and I'm going to watch it in 3D for the first time tonight. Will update the review afterwards. Don't believe the low scores; this movie is worth watching.

Inspector Ike (2020)

Not funny

[1/10 · 14 July 2022]

Mild humor sparsely sprinkled among the bland dialog. Plot hole! Spoiler! Chip could have been holding the remote in his hand out of camera view. Too bad that parodies of Dragnet have been done to death otherwise they could have done that instead of 70's police procedural shows.

Next (2007)

Rates much higher than imdb 6.2

[8/10 · 10 July 2022]

Well written and directed. Sometimes messing with time in a movie can make it confusing, not so with this one. Lot's of action and suspense and clever stuff. Nick Cage is good and Jessica Biel is good to look at. It goes without saying, Julianne Moore is always great. Ending is a little different but satisfying.

Innerself (2018)

ouch!

[2/10 · 7 July 2022]

Total misfire of blending a musical with martial arts. I had to turn it off after 15 min. The songs, both melodies and lyrics are derivative, the acting is amateurish and the fight scenes are pitiful.

Black Site (I) (2022)

Movie gets one extra star because I like Michelle Monaghan

[2/10 · 11 May 2022]

The story has been told many times before but if the storyteller is good it can be freshened up.

I believe every movie should hire a "logic director" to watch for all the stuff that is confusing or doesn't make sense. But first I have to admit that there were some things happening that, at first, didn't seem to make sense. And though we find out later why they happened, the viewer is angry/upset/frustrated until the confusion is straightened out. At least, I was and I almost turned it off after about ½ hour. I definitely enjoyed picking this movie apart much more than I did watching it. Many spoilers ahead but I recommend that you have watched the movie before reading further because you won't be able to follow along.

Here's a list: 1. The prisoner Hatchet is brought in and handcuffed in the cell. Somehow, impossibly, he gets out of the handcuffs, kill one interrogator and injures another. With what we know at this point it's impossible. What we learn later is he's with the CIA so someone must have unshackled him. Two of the interrogators are inexplicably wearing masks!!! Conveniently, allowing Hatchet to pose as one of masked guys. Abby et al. Bust into the interrogation room and don't notice that Hatchet is not there!!!! Remember there were two guards left outside the room so there was no way he could escape.

2. The injured man is taken to sick bay and although Hatchet sprays the security camera with a semi-clear liquid it's not enough to hide the scuffle. Even if the security team monitoring the situation couldn't make out what was happening they would at least know that something is wrong because the camera view is fuzzy. Camera views are not normally fuzzy.

3. Minor quibble - Abby mispronounces Rashid as "Ra shid" instead of "Ra sheed" - you know, her boss for 10 months??

4. Abby doesn't spend much time at the interrogation room and goes directly to sick bay where Rashid dies in about 20 seconds. Then she calls the watch tower but somehow Hackett has had enough time to kill all three guards there, where they are located in a room with a large window so it would be hard for Hatchet to sneak up on them.

5. When Abby gets no answer she calls Mia at the command center but oops, it's too late, she'd dead, too. Along with equipment smashed including external coms.

6. Do you notice that Abby is always running and Hatchet is always walking slowly?

7. Abby initiates lockdown which conveniently, for Hatchet and the plot, doesn't lockdown the prisoners or the armory or anything else inside.

8. The guards at the "jail" are killed somehow in their secure guard house. There are only two men sent to secure all the prisoners and keep Hatchet from getting to Farhan.

9. Abby sees Hatchet on the security monitor walking down toward Farhan's cell. Does she call for guards to rush there to protect him" No, she just says secure the prisoners.

10. Hatchet gets to Farhan's cell but doesn't kill him but does so later, why?

11. With one easy blow, and I mean really easy, Hatchet breaks a pretty substantial looking lock on the circuit breaker box and bare handed rips out enough wiring to shut down all the lights in the place. You have to be pretty lucky to be not only extraordinarily strong enough to rip out wiring (if you are familiar with the electrical codes) and lucky not to be electrocuted.

12. Hatchet quickly/walking slowly makes it back to the cell blocks, kills a good guy and nonchalantly walks away with nobody noticing. His timing is perfect, as usual.

13. The Mossad, guy, Uri, is posted in the watchtower to find Hatchet on the security cameras but conveniently the place is designed with lots of blind spots.

14. Conveniently audio coms are patchy on level 4 (they've been meaning to fix that!) 15. Abby heads to the server room where they keep all the goodie secrets with no backup.

16. Checking the computer, she notices that there have been recent security breach attempts half a day ago that nobody noticed and it's never explained.

17. While on the computer, Uri discovers the translator, Tessa, has tried to access the site from a remote location. I don't know what that means but Uri is sure the Tessa is a bad guy and tried to call and warn Abby but the coms just won't cooperate. Uri checks the security logs and sees Mia letting Tessa into the command center. We don't see Mia being attacked but Uri somehow makes that assumption.

18. At that exact moment, Tessa, instead of shooting Abby in the back of the head, decides to chat instead, now giving Abby the time to pick up a keyboard (or something) and with Tessa holding the gun conveniently close enough knocks the gun out of her hand.

19. All this time no one had decided it might be a good idea to secure the armory where Hatchet has had time to rig a timed charge.

20. Hatchet sneakily sneaks up on Chaplain and grabs him using him as a shield and points his gun at Abby and Westley. Now, we all know Hatchet is a cold blooded killer but he's given a warning to drop his gun; his response is he kills Westley and shoots at Abby.

21. Have you noticed that nobody in this movie is wearing a bullet proof vest?

22. Meanwhile, on level two Hatchet w/Chaplain move into a blind area, frustrating Uri and me.

23. Abby is searching the living quarters and Uri gives an update "Hatchet is on the move". Isn't that informative?

24. Uri decides that he might be able to rig up a Sat phone, really? I mean, you don't have to rig a Sat phone, you just turn it on.

25. Miller and Tessa have a fractured, non-productive conversation where Miller acts like Tessa has given him the way to get out of the Black site. Later, Miller really screws things up. When Abby shows up, Miller kills Tessa right in front of her, which puts him in a very difficult situation if Abby lives to report him, if he was smart he would kill her, but he decides, no. They have a showdown, with Miller and his buddy pointing their guns at Abby and Abby pointing her gun at Miller. Abby knows that if she gives up her gun Miller will kill her but she does it any way and though Miller(idiot) doesn't kill her he locks her up which is a death sentence for her, considering the drone is on the way. Meanwhile, Uri should have been watching and listening to the 'mutiny" 26. Miller and his buddy take Farhan to the breakroom? And goes to the middle of the room exposing all three of them from multiple directions so that Hatchet can do his usual appearing-instantly-from-nowhere-behind-everybody's-back. Hatchet throws a knife at Miller's buddy which hits him in the non-lethal shoulder killing him instantly. The Hatchet and Miller fight ends with Miller's neck slit by the glass in the oven door. Now most people don't know this but the modern oven door glass is tempered which is 5 times stronger than regular glass and doesn't break into shards like regular glass, it just crinkles. Plus, the oven door glass is actually 4 separate pieces of glass. Hatchet is not going to knock Miller's head through it. What should have happened when Hatchet slammed the door down was for Millers head to bounce off and probably hit the floor.

27. Abbey goes out the antenna access where there is no antenna, where she is outside and free (why doesn't she just escape????) to connect the satellite phone to the dish? Antenna? But we all know satellite phones only need a satellite, right???

28. Meanwhile Uri shoots Chaplain after he's forced out of the elevator wearing clothes to make him look like Hatchett though Hatchet never wore those clothes. Uri makes sure he's dead with a second shot before verifying that he really is Hatchet even though we know that he knows that Chaplain might still be alive.

29. Abby contacts "Homestead" (I assume her powers that be) gives the security code to abort the drone but there is a Republican on the other end of the line who replies "Abortion, no can do". Abbey accepts it without a fuss not even asking to speak to the guy's manager; she can be such a doormat.

30. Abby confronts Hatchet and shoots him twice in the legs but doesn't kill him. He being CIA, pleads with her to go back together and they can straighten things out. Did he really believe that she would be such a good sport, knowing that he killed her husband and child? There was no way she could go back without implicating the powers that be in all there badness.

31. Now that I think about it, how did she know that the drone strike on the hospital was done by the CIA? A lot of things are not explained in this movie.

32. Drone's ordinance is limited to about 50 lbs. Would that be enough to blow through those heavy duty blast doors and go to the lower and upper levels of the Site? WW2 bombs which weighed up to 500lbs. That were dropped on ships didn't necessarily sink them. A Javelin, that can destroy a tank (but not annihilate it) has an explosive charge of 18.5 lbs.

33. The remote Black site was conveniently located by a nice road close enough that she could walk to. Heck, she didn't even need to carry food or water. I was expecting a camel train of nomads that would end up selling her into the white slave trade.

34. At the very end, both her and her ride were trusting souls weren't they?

35. I noticed that this movie had a female director, this could have been a great movie if Kathryn Bigelow had been at the helm.

The Twilight Zone: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (1960) Season 1, Episode 22

The Republicans are Due on Maple Street

[10/10 · 27 April 2022]

This episode is an observation of human fears, paranoia and conspiracies and is as relevant today as it was during the Cold War, McCarthy era, lynchings and the Salem Witch Trials. When I was a little kid back in the early 60's I was so encouraged by the election of Kennedy, I felt the U. S. was entering a modern age where science and rationality was the new religion and the U. S. was leading the way. And I loved the Twilight Zone because it was one of the trending shows - smart but equally showing compassion for the human condition. In the show the good American folks of Maple street "lose it" with only one man keeping his cool. Fear of the unknown and events out of the ordinary stoked peoples paranoia until irrationality became the norm. Jumping to conclusions is also called pre-judging - or prejudice. Ever so quickly opinions morph into fact.

Times were scary back then; times are scary now.

Clash of the Titans (2010)

Sydney Powell - "Release the Bubo"!!! - Good Action Movie

[8/10 · 20 April 2022]

People have been too hard on this movie! I just watched the 1981 version backed by this one to compare them and they were both good. The stories are almost the same and what great stories they are. Maybe there should be a revival of Hellenism, I might be interested in retiring to the Greek isles and worshipping the gods of Mt. Olympus. Both movies have great action scenes, beautiful women, and special effects. Regarding the 1981 version, I'm a big Ray Harryhausen fan but I didn't care for the clockwork owl, Bubo, it was such a rip off on R2D2, I would have gone back to the swamp and dove for the helmet of invisibility.

Don't hesitate to watch and enjoy either movie.