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Reviews
Invisible Invaders (1959)
Serviceable bit of low-budget sci-fi
Invisible Invaders was oddly enjoyable. It took a basic idea--invisible aliens from the Moon inhabit dead bodies as part of their plan to take over the Earth--and ran (or walked) with it. The special effects aren't very special; lots of use of stock footage to show mass panics, etc., but somehow it works in its own modest way. The acting isn't bad. It doesn't reach the level of (intended or not) camp of, say, Plan 9. For a late-50s, low-budget, sci-fi flick, it just works.
The theme of reanimated corpses was later prominent in other movies--Plan 9, of course, and Night of the Living Dead, to name a couple. In fact, the alien-occupied dead people are often referred to in this movie as "the living dead." (Which, of course, they are).
I'm not surprised that it wasn't nominated for an Oscar. But it's a decent little movie. I actually liked it.
A Royal Winter (2017)
If you watch this movie, you already know what you're getting yourself into
If you like bland movies with plots and endings you can predict with total accuracy in the first 5 minutes, you'll probably love this.
A beautiful, young, U. S. lawyer-to-be takes a European vacation while contemplating a high-powered job she has interviewed for and clearly doesn't want. She travels to a small fictional country, the entire population of which apparently fits in a small church. She meets a young, hunky prince with a cold, controlling, extremely manipulative mother (the Queen) who doesn't really like him and definitely doesn't like the U. S. commoner who has suddenly shown up in his life shortly before his coronation. Actually, it seems everyone loves the young woman except for the Queen.
But, of course, everything turns out just fine. Just as you knew it would.
Cleopatra Jones (1973)
Great fun-no more, no less
This movie is great fun to watch. True, it doesn't have the same level of grittiness, violence and gratuitous exposed breasts of many other blaxploitation films.
But it has Tamara Dobson kicking ass, Shelley Winters as an evil Lesbian drug lord, and a good cast-Tamara Dobson's performance may not have been Oscar-worthy, but who else could have done such a commendable job as a tough-as-nails but glamorous, leggy, 6'2", U. S. agent? Shelley Winters raises the top of "over the top;" Bernie Casey, Antonio Fargas, even Esther Rolle, and a brief cameo appearance by Don Cornelius (of "Soul Train" fame). And a very young MichaelWarren. And, of course, an assortment of evil, stupid and semi-competent white people and crooked cops. The production values are pretty good.
If you had higher expectations for this movie, I really don't know why. It's just great fun-no more, no less.
He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
An amazing movie
To be honest, I hadn't heard of this movie before. I often don't have the patience for silent movies. For this movie, I was mesmerized from the start. There is an other-worldly feel to it. Simply recounting the plot doesn't do it justice; it has to be seen to be believed.
To say that HE gets "slapped" doesn't quite explain it--the brutality he gladly faces is disturbing (also, I can't identify with the premise that people find it hilarious, but I guess that's not really much of a stretch).
And the idea that he gives up his name--his identity--to be known simply as "HE who gets slapped" (or, to his friends, simply "HE") adds to the pathos of this film.
Needless to say, Lon Chaney was a remarkable actor. This movie is a prime example of his talent.
The Monster That Challenged the World (1957)
Surprisingly not bad
The title is a little hyperbolic. And the premise seems kind of tame. But this is surprisingly well done. It moves along at a steady clip. The monster, while definitely low-budget and low-tech, is sufficiently scary. And honestly, it's hard to dislike anything that has Hans Conried in it.
Juan de los muertos (2011)
I loved this movie.
This movie mixes typical zombie fare with comedy, a smart-ass hero (kind of along the lines of Evil Dead, but not quite as arch) and politics--I mean, what more could you ask for? A few references to Cuban political history may go over most viewers' heads, but these are nice touches--not necessary to follow the movie. Well done, well acted, and generally clever. If this were *just* a zombie flick, it might not have been so interesting. But it all came together well.