What I Watched In January

Whew! What a month. Snow in Tennessee is a rare and glorious thing and we've had plenty so far this year. All that snow has given me the chance to see a number of movies, run through an entire serial (TERRY AND THE PIRATES), read Stephan King's Under the Dome (not too bad at all) and come up with a new project I'll be announcing here in the next couple of weeks. I'm pretty excited and not just because the final season of Lost begins tonight!

By the way -TERRY & THE PIRATES was a fun Columbia chapter play. Spread over 15 installments it started to wear out its welcome near the end but overall it was a good one. Most serious serial fans regard the Columbia output to be of lesser quality than the ones from Republic Studio but I've found a number of them (THE SPIDER'S WEB, THE SHADOW, THE GREEN HORNET) to be very good examples of the form. I'm currently marching through the fantastic Republic produced DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE with my girlfriend and having a hell of a time with it. This is my second viewing of this classic serial but the first time I really have a chance to enjoy it. The first time through was with my old buddy Jack years ago. We watched the whole damned thing all in one night- chapter after chapter. That was a long night.

Also, without planning, January became krimi month for me. I watched four of those great German crime movies and enjoyed each one. And I have more in the pile to see as soon as I can! The wonders of the film world are grand!


MY NAME IS BRUCE (2008)- 5 (fun but strained comedy)
LIGHTNING BUGS (2004)- 6 (well done coming of age drama)
RING OF DARKNESS (1979)- 4 (sloppy hokum about Satan, naked women, evil, etc.)
SLEEPERS WEST (1941)- 5 (not bad Michael Shayne tale)
HAVE A GOOD FUNERAL, MY FRIEND... SARTANA WILL PAY (1970)- 8
THE HUMAN VAPOR (1960)- 2 (deadly dull Toho sci-fi)
THE FROZEN DEAD (1967)- 3 (frozen Nazi/mad scientist films starring Dana Andrews should be much better than this)
HELL’S HIGHWAY (1932)- 6 (good Richard Dix prison film)
BARBARIAN QUEEN (1985)- 3 (pretty bad sword & breasts saga)
SHERLOCK HOLMES (2009)- 8 (fun new version of a great character)
THE MERCENARY (1968)- 8 (rewatch) (fantastic Corbucci western)
THE GORILLA OF SOHO (1968)- 6 (silly, frantic krimi with one big plot problem- but still fun)
LOTR: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003)- 8 (rewatch)
RETURN OF THE GLADIATOR (1971)- 2 (terrible peplum)
DAYBREAKERS (2010)- 7 (good, gory vampire SF)
NOT OF THIS EARTH (1958)- 6 (fun Corman science fiction)
AMERICA 3000 (1986)- 2 (terrible post apocalyptic tale)
FLASHMAN (1967)- 6 (fun, Euro-heroic adventure)
THE DEAD ONE IN THE THAMES RIVER (1971) – 6 (good, late-in-the-cycle color krimi)
DEAD HEAT ON A MERRY-GO-ROUND (1966)- 9 (fantastic!)
DRAG ME TO HELL (2009)- 8 (rewatch)
OSS 117 (1963) – 5 (very DR. NO-like, but flat and uninvolving for the most part)
THE BOOK OF ELI (2010) – 7 (well done if a bit too flashy at times)
THE SCARLET BLADE (1963)- 6 (good Roundheads vs. Royals adventure tale with Oliver Reed the standout)
CHARLIE CHAN’S SECRET (1936) – 6 (Warner Oland was the best Chan)
THE TRYGON FACTOR (1966) – 7 (well done krimi)
THE ROARING TWENTIES (1939)- 9 (Cagney & Bogart ripping the place to the ground)
THE SINISTER MONK (1965) – 7 (great krimi)
TOWER OF TERROR (1941)- 5 (ok wartime spy tale)
ROCK ‘N’ ROLLA (2008) – 8 (rewatch)
THE CROSS OF THE DEVIL (1975)- 6 (supernatural, creepy tale)
THE MARK OF THE WOLFMAN (1968)- 6 (rewatch)
KILLDOZER (1974) – 6 (cool TV movie)