Village of the Damnd (1960)

The original screen adaptation of the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by author John Wyndham, he of Day of the Triffids fame. The first 10-15 minutes of this movie is some of the most atmospheric, creepy, and down right intriguing horror film making I've ever seen, and the set up even pays off, which doesn't always happen.

"All of the inhabitants (including the animals) of the British village of Midwich suddenly fall unconscious, and anyone entering the village also loses consciousness. The military arrives and establishes a cordon. The military send in a man wearing a gas mask, but he too falls unconscious and is pulled back by a safety rope. The man awakens and reported that he had experienced a cold sensation just before he passed out. The pilot of a passing civilian plane is contacted and requested to investigate. When he goes below 5,000 feet, he loses consciousness, and the plane crashes. A five mile exclusion zone around the village is established for all aircraft. At nearly that very moment, the villagers regain consciousness, seeming otherwise unaffected. The incident is referred to as a "time-out," and no cause is determined.

About two months later, all women and girls of childbearing age who were in the affected area are discovered to be pregnant, sparking many accusations of infidelity and premarital sex. The accusations fade as the extraordinary nature of the pregnancies is discovered, with seven-month fetuses appearing after only five months. All the women give birth on the same day, and their children's unusual appearance is remarked upon: They have "unusual," "arresting" eyes, odd scalp hair construction and color (pale blond, almost white), and unusually narrow fingernails. As they grow and develop at a rapid rate, it becomes clear that they also have a powerful telepathic bond with one another. They can tell each other anything that they see from great distances. As one learns something, so do the others."- Wikipedia.

Creepy huh, and the implications of this, the stuff we don't see on screen, is creeper still, turns out this isn't the only village this happened too. George Sanders, the only 'star' in the film plays Professor Gordon Zellaby, the village resident who comes closest to understanding what is going on. Sanders is  good as always and gets to be kind of the hero of the film, which outside of the Saint franchise wasn't something he got to be very often. I highly recommend this movie, it's a must for fans of horror, both phantasmagorical and psychological. ***

Donnie Brasco (1997)

"The  film is based on the true story of Joseph D. Pistone, an FBI undercover agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family in New York City during the 1970s, under the alias Donnie Brasco, aka, "The Jewel Man". Brasco maneuvers his way into the confidence of an aging hit-man, Lefty Ruggiero, who vouches for him. As Donnie moves deeper into the Mafia, he realizes that not only is he crossing the line between federal agent and criminal, but also leading his friend Lefty to an almost certain death."-Wikipedia.

At first I felt that I'd seen enough Mafia expose movies, but this grew on me until by the end I was really liking it. It helps that its based on an interesting true story, and stars the likes of Johnny Depp (who uncharacteristically underplays his part to effect) as the FBI agent and Al "Crime Movie Legend" Pacino as Lefty. Also if you've read this blog you know I love close to anything with a gritty 1970's backdrop. ***1/2

Jeopardy (1953)

Director John Sturges, who would later make such legendary suspense/adventure pieces as Bad Day at Black Rock, The Magnificent Seven, and The Great Escape, manages to get about everything you could out of this simple, modestly budgeted, and surprising unrushed race-against-the-clock film. Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan and Lee Aaker are an American family on vacation in Mexico's Baja peninsula, Barry gets pinned down by some heavy wood from a decaying pier on an isolated beach, and with high tide coming to swallow the poor fellow Stanwyck is forced to leave young Lee to tend her husband while she rushes to find help in a sparsely populated land were she doesn't even speak the language. A seeming bit of luck doesn't pan out when the lone American she encounters (Ralph Meeker) turns out to be an escaped fugitive wanted by Mexican authorities (the film never bothers to give us any backstory on how Meeker ended up jailed in Mexico and how he escaped). Meeker wants to keep Stanwyck as a hostage and use her car to hightail it to a not well thought out conception of safety. Barbara only has a mater of hours to convince her captor not only to return her to the beach where she came from, but to then help save her husbands life once there, which of course in the end is what happens, and predictably just in the nick of time of. Sadly forgettable, I recommend instead a far better film from the same year with a  surprisingly similar plot, (instead of an American woman held hostage by an American fugitive  in Baja Mexico while on vacation, its two American men held hostage by an American fugitive in Baja Mexico while on a hunting trip), the Ida Lupino directed suspense drama The Hitch-Hiker. Jeopardy gets only  **

Into the Storm (2014)

Basically its Twister plus 18 years, so now everybody has a camera and the special effects are better. Fairly standard and predictable type plot, but well executed, this film actually produced for me a couple of moments of visual aw, which its hard to do anymore so big kudos on that. The cast is basically unknown, with Sarah Wayne Callies being the only one I found instantly recognizable. This movie is worth seeing on a big screen, its the visual punch that puts the thing over. Film benefits from restrained ambition so, it makes sure that what it does do it does well, and its gets it pacing down to just about perfect. For me, the big surprise of the summer. ***

To Please a Lady (1950)

Vehicle for stars Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable, unfortunately it comes about a decade after seeing such a screen paring would have been interesting (though  the two stars did share the screen briefly in the 1931 film Night Nurse, but not as love interests). Anyway the forced plot cast Stanwyck  as Regina Forbes a wildly successful columnist and radio personality who seemingly destroys the car racing career of bad boy former medal of honor winner Mike Brannan (Gable). The two have a hate/hate, followed by a love/hate, then a hate/love, and finally a love/love relationship. The film is weak, clichéd, and mostly boring, even the casting of the usually enjoyable Adolphe Menjou as Stanwyck's assistant doesn't add much to the proceedings. The only real interesting parts of the film are the period racing sequences, and that's largely because they serve as interesting artifacts of  IndyCar racing pre Mario Andretti era. Disappointing. **

Trollhunter (2010)

Norwegian 'found footage' style film concerns a group of student film makers hunting down a suspected bear poacher, only it turns out that this mysterious man known only as 'Hans' (Otto Jesperson) is in fact not a poacher, but an agent of the Norwegian government tasked with hunting down out of control Trolls, whose existence the government is trying to keep secret. The conceit of the film is fun and creative, it's spin on the mythology of trolls well thought out, and the execution well done visually and otherwise (though I for one would have asked Hans better questions then these student filmmakers did). Enjoyably unique. **1/2

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe leaves the confines of the Earth, and Asgard, to explore its quirkier cosmic side with this adaptation of the 2008 rebooted version of the titular space faring super hero team. Peter Quill ( a likeable Chris Pratt) was abducted from his home on Earth as a child, events that I suspect will be further contextualized in the next film in this series. Anyway Quill left Earth in 1988 with only a full backpack and an awesome mix-tap collection, and was raised by space pirates, he's now struck out on his own to hunt down a mysterious artifact, which it turns out could hold key to the balance of power in the galaxy. Circumstances put Quill in the company of"'a rag tag group of misfits" including a green skinned assassin (the lovely Zoe Saldana), the blue hued Drax the Destroyer (Dave Batista), and the CGI pair of  raccoon Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and tree creature Groot (Vin Disel). Lee Pace and Karen Gillian are the main bad guys.

A fun feature, which I saw in 3D and on rumble seats, but it would work about as well without them. The movies sense of humor and tone work, and it doesn't bit off more then it can chew. The movies soundtrack is memorable strong, and strikes a great tone for the film. The plot its self is nothing amazing, if anything its a tad weak, but the characters, effects and dialogue carry the movie. I expect there will be more to the sequel, but for an introduction to these lesser known comic book heroes, it hits all the desired points. ***