Yul Brynner Brings It As ...

The Ultimate Warrior

(1975)

Set in a future decimated by a plague, the Spartan populace of New York City is dispersed into pockets of survivalist groups. The civilised, the lawless and the scavengers each battle to survive in a world where food and water supplies are sparse. The cultivation of new crops is nigh on futile due to ecological devastation. There is hope, however, in the guise of Cal, a horticulturalist who has rediscovered successful seed growth in soil. He resides with the Baron (Max Von Sydow) in a fortified sanctuary within the city. Under the leadership of the Baron the people of this community have security and hope, but across the street resides Carrot (William Smith), a physically dominant figure of leadership to his anarchic followers. Carrot wants what the Baron has, and will do anything to acquire it !.

Fate plays its hand when a lone stranger appears one day. A warrior for hire, prominently standing for all to see in the centre of the dilapidated city. The Baron steps out from his protective haven with a small band of protective men, his intention to offer the stranger food and shelter in exchange for his services. Initially giving no response or indication of acceptance to the proposition made, the Baron makes his way back to his stronghold, but he and his men are set upon by the street scavengers. To their aid comes the stranger, bare chest displaying his strong physique, and a knife wielded in his hand clearly showing his intent. This man for hire is clearly all that the Baron believed him to be, a warrior !.

Yul Brynner is The Ultimate Warrior, and in great shape for such a physical role here at the age of fifty five, clearly setting a great example to the future senior Action stars of today who too have maintained their health and fitness regimes, enabling them to still be doing the physically demanding roles with believability, such as Sylvester Stallone. Brynner’s character introduces himself to the Baron as Carson. The Baron sees in him a man of honour and the perfect person he has been waiting for to entrust with a mission to benefit the future of mankind.

With Carrot and his mob gaining greater strength, and becoming more of a threat to him and his peoples good intentions, the Baron entrusts Carson with the sustainable plant seeds and the protection of his child bearing daughter. Carson tells the Baron that there is an island off the coast where decent people have settled, and are together striving to rebuild a new world together. He gives his word that he will get the seeds to them to continue Cal’s work, along with the Baron’s daughter and child to be.

The first part of the movie sets the scene of the plague decimated world environment, and dresses the screen stage of opposing factions fighting to survive in the dilapidated landscape of New York City. The second act plays out like condensed chapters of good and evil torn from the very bible itself !. A bleak yet intelligent story interwoven with a parable of hope, with the seed of life growing in the womb of a mother, and life giving seeds carried by a strong and good man to a new beginning !.

Yul Brynner puts in a solid performance, and Max Von Sydow delivers a consummate characterisation, in a decently developed production, well delivered under the experienced direction of Robert Clouse (Enter The Dragon 1973). William Smith plays the archetypal villain of the piece once again with screen stealing menace, soon leading him to one of the most memorable villainous roles ever as Falconetti in the epic television Best Sellers series Rich Man, Poor Man (1976).

Carson takes the seeds, and the Baron’s pregnant daughter surreptitiously away from the flailing colony, exiting underneath the compound, down into the long since dormant underground tube way system. Their departure does not however go unnoticed, and word soon reaches Carrot, who deploys his best trackers to stop their escape.

The underground setting is very well structured and dressed, convincingly portraying the look of a future ravaged period set almost forty years on from the films production back in 1975.

With a heavily pregnant young woman under his guardianship, and a band of thugs hunting him down, Carson has his hands full. Things get even tougher as the mother to be goes into early labour, and having to stop, in order to facilitate the birth, Carson must truly prove himself to be The Ultimate Warrior as Carrot himself catches up to them !.

Terrific stuff, and a movie that still holds up extremely well today. The role of Carson was as perfectly sculpted for the role of Yul Brynner as you could ever imagine, and it stands tall as an enduring representation to the quality of its genre and time. The visual introduction of Yul Brynner standing resplendent and proud, at the beginning of the movie, is a memorable tribulation to the screen presence of this movie great, and the gruelling conclusion to his fight with William Smith, as Carrot, is what good old fashioned, gutsy Action film making, is all about.

The Ultimate Warrior Movie Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sy4stNmkRc

Movie Details IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073835/

Femme Fatale Blows A Fuse ...

Eve Of Destruction

(1991)

When U.S. scientists play God, in creating their own synthetic being in female form, which also just so happens to be a global threat deterrent, all hell lets loose when her circuitry gets frazzled. Modelled upon her creator Dr. Eve Simmons (Renée Soutendijk), this robotic chick is just one automated click away from going nuclear. Once her internal twenty four hour clock kicks in, and when the countdown concludes, anything, and anyone, within a ten to twelve block radius gets obliterated !.

Robotic humanoid Eve VIII is being monitored out on a field test in the real world environment. She is in a bank when a robbery takes place, and the instigators of the act start shooting. Eve is shot and the result triggers a defence mechanism within her that sends her off out into the wide world environment. Her purpose is to act upon memories inherited from her blueprint creator Dr. Eve Simmons. It later transpires that Dr. Simmons experienced a traumatic youth that involved an alcoholic father, one who would beat his wife, and Eve’s mother. Tragedy would also befall as Eve’s mother gets killed in a car collision, brought about by being pushed into the oncoming vehicle in a drunken rage by the husband.

The military call upon their top problem solver Colonel Jim McQuade (Gregory Hines) to reel Eve back in. Brought up to speed with the humanoids capabilities, and week points, by Dr. Simmons, Colonel McQuade is not told the complete picture, and is unaware of Eve’s true purpose of being. When the military receive notification of Eve’s destruction mode becoming live they have to tell McQuade the whole truth, and implore him to render Eve defunct within twenty four hours. The robots area of vulnerability lays in her eye sockets. McQuade must use his precision targeting hand weapon to deploy the bullet direct to the eye of Eve in order to close her down, or her destructive device will explode as per her initiated directive.

A race against time unfolds as Colonel McQuade and the military track the Eve VIII model down. Intermittent action plays out as Eve adapts to her new found surroundings and situations, but another trigger, recessed in her human counterparts shared memory, brings out a violent side in her nature. Whenever anyone calls her a bitch to her face it unleashes her wrath, and this bionic babe is one striking lady you do not want to offend !.

Another very nice quality high definition enhanced showing for the MGM HD Channel. It is good to see that MGM is proudly showing off their back catalogue of movies, be they blockbusters or reasonable enough mid range fare. This film as a whole has a well intentioned made for television movie feel to it. Its identity is somewhat clouded also. There is the evident comparison to The Terminator (1984) and Terminator II (1991) films, but Eve Of Destruction seems to try and avoid sending its humanoid creation directly down the robot out of control route, and rather go for a more creative and emotive one. Ironically it is a more obscure Indonesian film called Lady Terminator (1989), which does not hide its rather obvious intent to ‘borrow’ heavily from The Terminator theme, with a rampaging female robot out of control on the city streets, that gives the rather promiscuous appearance and makeup of Eve VIII her look. Red leather jacket and tight fit, knee length skirt, totting a machine gun, is exactly the image torn from Lady Terminator (1989), made just two years earlier.

Neither main stars help raise proceedings, as Gregory Hines is just not believable in the Schwarzenegger, Willis or similar hard action guy role. The film would have been far better suited to someone like Dolph Lundgren. Renée Soutendijk does not convince either, coming across too cold and unapproachable in her role as Dr. Simmons, which curiously enough still does not greatly bear fruit when aptly applied to her robotic counterpart Eve VIII.

The film elevates itself in the action and excitement department enough to conclude things satisfactorily. Eve VIII clicks into the memory mode of Dr. Simmons as a mother, and in so doing goes in search of her young son. The race to stop her in time comes to New York City, and Colonel McQuade gets his chance to come eye to eye with the object of his pursuit in the New York subway. This is where it definitely turns Terminator, and both Sci-Fi and action fans get a pay off pick me up to end upon.

Eve Of Destruction Trailer

http://www.videodetective.com/movies/trailers/eve-of-destruction-trailer/1232

Movie Details IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101831/

BBC Quality Sci-Fi Alien World Drama ...

Outcasts

(2011 / BBC TV Series)

Intelligent and engrossing eight episode Sci-Fi series from BBC UK. A quality high definition channel show set in the not so distant future of 2040. Set upon a human life supporting alien world, where a new colony of Earth’s evacuees seek to begin a new life, as Planet Earth becomes inhabitable !.

The first colony of people escaping from Earth build a settlement, and in time create a city from their one journey space crafts, and every useful part upon them. Resourcefulness of the planets own ecology is also prevelant for this new world named Carpathia.

Order and structure is put into place and a fair minded leader is put in place as president of Carpathia, Richard Tate (Liam Cunningham). His right hand confidant, friend, and chief medical head is Stella Isen (Hermione Norris), together they bring the colony together in this brave new world. Amongst the other strong leads are chief security enforcers Fleur Morgan (Amy Manson), smart, sexy and sassy, and the likeably hot headed Cass Cromwell (Daniel Mays).

Dealing with the alien environment and all its new challenges is just half the battle on Carpathia, as dealing with each other proves to be just as demanding. Things are done in the name of science, and believed in the benefit of the ultimate survival of those settling on Carpathia. Decisions made by President Tate way heavy on his mind, particularly when with hindsight those decisions may well prove to have been hasty !. Giving the order to extinguish the lives of a manufactured group of human clones, used in testing resilience to the climate, haunts him and indeed comes back to physically haunt him !.

There are many unanswered questions and occurrences, abundant throughout this environment in which these alien settlers have claimed as their new home. As the episodes play out something insidious stirs out of sight in the background, something permeating the very fabric and fibre of Carpathia and those that inhabit it. An eerie underplay that is as interesting as the well structured characters, and more than tantalising in its threatening tone.

Fuelled by an insurrection of the cloned human life forms, hiding away in the mostly uncharted zone outside of Carpathia city, and forboding visitations by seemingly all too real apparitions !?, the residents of Carpathia constantly strive to make their lives sustainable.

The arrival of a new ship from Earth with more people seeking a new life, brings another unstable character into the fold, in the shape of Julius Berger (Eric Mabius). His position attained upon the Earth escaping craft is questionable, but his position quickly attained upon Carpathia is even more so as each episode unravels. Mabius makes the role of Julius Berger, a strong willed preacher, his own in an often chilling display of controlled psychotic manipulation.

As Carpathia, and its disowned human cloned creations outside, battle for supremacy to survive the greatest threat of all is still awaiting to befall. Julius Berger is in secret contact with an approaching armada from space, their purpose seems evident, but who are they !?.

An engaging drama, decently acted out and non reliant on any evident and unwelcome CGI effects. A simple tale of human nature, and survival at all costs in an alien environment. Most definitely worth investing viewing time in, and the conclusion is close to unravelling its intensions to those that have stuck with it since inception.

Outcasts Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM_-eFLJkSE

Series Details IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1697793/

Toho Terror From Japan ...

  

Matango

Attack Of The Mushroom People

(1963 / Japan)

Sixties studio Toho terror as a group of associates aboard a private yacht run into stormy seas. Battered and beaten by the elements the disabled boat is washed up near an uncharted island. The shaken up passengers and crew take to the beach, and go in search of fresh water and food. They soon discover that they are not the first to have strayed off course and been drawn to this place. They later pray that unlike their predecessors they actually get to leave its eerie embrace !.

This small band of people all have their own hang ups and all frailties, unpleasantness and selfish attributes soon come to the fore. Survival proves to be the most difficult thing of all, as trusting each other is essential, but the order of sensible command is tenuous at best. The men become insular and the women flirt to acquire position of importance in order to attain privilege. The baseness of man shows its true countenance.

A long derelict ship becomes their base, but aboard its deck and throughout its hold is a mysterious carpet of mould. This mould, however, is unlike anything regularly seen. Its density is irregular and the hue is different !?. The ship is identified as an oceanography craft, and those aboard were clearly experimenting with this growth, and also an unknown species of mushroom. An oversized mushroom contained within a wooden crate, marked Matango, is in situ within the scientific lab. The botanists had discovered this new species clearly indigenous to the island.

The two women in the party are the first to discover that curiously the ship has no mirrors. Where once they hung there is just an outlay marking of what once was. The remnants of the shattered mirrors are later discovered smashed up in the surrounding jungle. Tins of food and fresh water are uncovered, along with the ships log which deters the new arrivals from even considering using the mushrooms as a food supply. There is something about the mushrooms that holds the answer to what has happened to the former crew members, as no sign of their existence remains.

With an estimate of only one weeks supply of tinned food available the group must pull together and search for longer term supplies. They argue amongst themselves and the inherent human intolerances spill forth, causing discontent and worse within their ranks. Desperate acts leads to desperate measures, and soon some of the survivors turn to the mushrooms as sustenance. It is then that the truth behind what has gone before comes to be, and the presence of island inhabitation reveals itself.

A typically vibrant colourful horror / sci-fi social commentary strain of paranoia and class plays out in this Toho production. The islands kaleidoscopic hue is wondrously shown off in all its cinemascope splendour. The human hybrid creature costumes are so superior to the obvious CGI applications of today. There really is nothing to top a well made costumed monster, and the mushroom people are a great example of this. A very well made fantastical horror entry, replete with interesting, if flawed, characters and a creepy environment in the island itself.

When the Matango Mushroom monstrosities outnumber their human counterparts it pretty much falls upon one last credibly decent person to take flight, and finally attempt to escape from the clutches of the island. It’s an incredulous undertaking, but this lone survivor has had all the Shitake they can take !.

Matango

Attack Of The Mushroom People Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVyRYjJoZfc

Movie Details IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057295/

Sci-Fly Horror ...

The Curse Of The Fly

(1965)

Descendants of the Delambre family, from the original The Fly (1958) movie, are still cursed by the stigma surrounding their heritage. Science is however in their blood and the son of the original scientist is still working on the principal that teleportation can become a reality. The true reality is that success comes at an horrific cost !.

Henri Delambre (Brian Donlevy) keeps his hopes and dreams alive with the assistance of his own two sons. The elder son Martin (George Baker) is as dedicated as his father, but younger brother Albert (Michael Graham) is anxious for the experimentations to cease, particularly when those being experimented upon are human, and include his own father !.

The movie grabs your attention immediately with an intensity and great visual flair. The window to a stately building explodes outwardly, shards of glass hurl into screen in slow motion, displaying a quality akin to viewing a 3D film. An attractive young woman makes her way out of the window frame, she is without clothing save for her underwear. Hurriedly she runs away from the building, escaping into the surrounding wooded grounds, clearly trying to evade whomever it may be that she believes will soon come after her. In her possession is a large key, which she uses to open the main iron gates to the entrance of the property. Her escape is complete when picked up by a passing car on the main road, adjacent to the property. The benefactor to the young woman turns out to be Martin Delambre. A man with his own secrets to keep he does not overly press for an explanation of this near naked lady, but does ascertain her name as Patricia Stanley (Carole Gray). Her kept secret is that the estate that she has just ran away from is in fact a private mental institution, of which she is a patient !.

In an incredible whirlwind seven days Martin Delambre courts and marries his new found sweetheart, both accepting each other with no questions asked of their past. Together they move in to the Delambre home in Canada, which also just so happens to be Martin Delambre’s scientific laboratory. Set up in the lab is a teleportation device, with another just like it in his fathers home in London, England. Even more mad scientist like are the outhouse boarding’s for the still living results of failed human experimentations !. Married Chinese house servants Wan (Yvette Rees) and Tai (Burt Kwouk) keep the Delambre business a guarded secret, one that new arrival Mrs. Patricia Delambre threatens !.

A congenital gene remains predominantly dormant within Martin Delambre, thanks to a serum he injects when the condition does attack his system. Left untreated and he irreversibly ages at an alarming rate. In a bid to help his father complete the life long work passed down through the generations, he himself has experimented on human beings. Two members of earlier staff, and his own wife !. All are still living a deformed existence, locked up in the containment holdings at the back of the house.

The Delambre families problems are multiplied when the local police inspector calls at their Canadian residence, along with the head of the mental faculty, seeking answers to questions pertaining to Patricia Stanley. Learning of her marriage to Martin Delambre brings about more questions than answers, but without the right legal court order the law is not enforceable. Reluctantly Inspector Ronet and Madame Fournier, from the mental institution, leave the Delambre residence, but the inspector is intent upon pursuing the matter further with utmost urgency !.

Events spiral quickly out of control as Martin Delambre works to protect his father, and with his help cover their tracks by removing all evidence of their experimentation. Whilst they scientifically absolve themselves of their own morality, and cull the still living subjects with an perversely abhorrent outcome to two of the test subjects, Martin Delambre’s first wife Judith is set free by Wan. Having already played upon the instability of the new Mrs. Delambre’s mental health the devoted house servant acts on her own accord to aid her employers. The result proves to be counter destructive.

With the house of Delambre in turmoil, Inspector Ronet has accrued background information regarding the horrors surrounding the case of, The Fly !, from an elderly former inspector who has spent his life dedicated to the case history of the Delambre family. A prevalent link to the previous two films acts here as a neat explanation to previous events, and enables Inspector Ronet to act upon his own suspicions and storm back to the Delambre residence to get the truth.
Playing out to a climatic conclusion in the style of the old school Universal Studios horror house movies like, The House Of Frankenstein (1944), and The House Of Dracula (1945), not to mention the Roger Corman entries such as, The Fall Of The House Of Usher (1960), this house of Delambre figuratively comes crashing down. All of the outcomes and demises are suitably startling, alarming and shocking !.

When the curtain comes down, just prior to the end credits playing out, in large bold lettering comes the statement, ‘Is this the end !?’. Certainly for the original run of movies The Curse Of The Fly was the third and final entry, but the statement proved to be prophetic in that the franchise was re-imaged in 1986, followed by its own sequel in 1989. Perhaps otherwise, the producers back in 1965 were awaiting the public buzz, and cinema receipts, before closing the window on The Fly !?.

The Curse Of The Fly is released in a near pristine, original Black And White, letterboxed, wide screen 16:9 enhanced version to DVD as part of an excellent value, and one of the extremely well presented editions, in a UK PAL DVD Box Set. Completing the excellent package are the original, The Fly (1958), Return Of The Fly (1959) and both of the remakes of, The Fly (1986) and The Fly II (1989).

The Curse Of The Fly Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XqTeNWLNI

Movie Details IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059076/

It 'B' Movie Sci-fi Classic ...

It! The Terror Beyond Space

(1958)

Martian monster mayhem aboard the confines of a space ship in fifties sci-fi cult classic, It! The Terror Beyond Space.

Colonel Carruthers (Marshall Thompson) was commander of the first pioneering space trip to planet Mars, and he is the only living member of that crew. All of his team are dead, believed murdered by their superior officer !.

A second space ship is sent to Mars in order to retrieve Colonel Carruthers, and bring him back to Earth on sentence of the death penalty for crimes against his fellow man. Carruthers is adamant that he did not kill anyone, and that an unseen alien presence was responsible.

As the crew of the second interplanetary craft undergo final preparations to blast off from the surface of Mars an unwelcome stowaway comes aboard undetected. Hold up in the cargo bay of the multi level space craft it lays in wait for its prey as the ship heads for destination Earth. It is not until they are well underway that the crew become aware that it is not Colonel Carruthers who is the inhuman monster, but what resides in the lower level of their ship hungering for human sustenance !.

With belief in Colonel Carruthers installed the crew follow his lead in defending themselves against a hideous alien man beast. Its height and build too colossal to challenge in normal combat, and its three digit claws lethal in their swipe. The creature has intelligence and uses not only brute strength but guile, as it assesses its environment and adapts accordingly, taking full advantage of conduit shafts and dark lit recesses.

Members of the crew are picked off and the remainder have to batten down the hatches in retreat to the upper levels of the space ship. The creature recognises that it has all that it could want with a sustainable environment, and a livestock of human portions ripe for the taking whenever it so desires. The creature must kill in order to survive, and the human crew must kill in order to live !.

It's old school fifties schlock horror / sci-fi that may well have terrified patrons back in 1958, but sits harmlessly enough as a matinee monster movie for a modern audience. Interestingly enough although made in 1958 the film is set in the future tense of 1973. A prediction of its generation perhaps of when actual space travel to other planets might transpire ?. The plodding monster is endearingly clear for all to see just a silly old man in a big old rubber costume. Still scary enough for the very young mind you as the creature face close ups, and swiping claws still deliver some shocks.

Restored to a former original glory, care of a high definition enhancement for the MGM HD Channel, the film looks sharp and clear even in the darkened scenes. An irony of this wonderful clarity is that it lessens the scares of the movie which were heightened due to the very dark hues of the time aged Black and White production shoot.

The movie has a couple of familiar scenes that may well have been the inspiration for Ridley Scott's much later creature feature in space Alien (1979). The scurrying through conduits to flush out the creature, and without question how the surviving crew members finally confront their alien is all but identical in design and delivery. 

Marshall Thompson is well cast in the lead as the beleaguered Colonel Carruthers. Perhaps most famous for his starring role in televisions Daktari during the mid to late sixties, he has a charisma that is well suited to the heroic role. If he can tame a cross eyed lion named Clarence, then you can believe he will be the 'mane' man when squaring up to ... It! The Terror Beyond Space !.

It! The Terror Beyond Space Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZHrCkEmgFo

Movie IMDB Link

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051786/

Rock 'N Roll In Space ...

Planet 51

(2009)

Super animated Sci-Fi Fun with a hearty spin on the Fifties styled American suburban lifestyle, turning the threat of an alien invasion on its head. An inversive visitation of the quirky kind.

When an astronaut from Earth lands on the distant Planet 51 he is the alien invader that causes panic amongst the masses. A world of green skinned inhabitants with more than a passing society structure of innocence and naivety from the bygone age Planet Earth, when the threat of nuclear war was a global possibility.

Captain Charles T. Baker is voiced by former pro wrestling entertainer The Rock, these days going by his given name of Dwayne Johnson. The animation team have done a great job in incorporating Johnson's larger than life attributes from his days as The Rock into the animated character. You can almost smell what he is cooking as Captain Charles T. Baker just brings it to this strange new world he has landed upon.

Big Fun throughout and a huge draw for both adults and kids alike. The younger generation can thrill in the brilliance of the wonderful animation and the highly enjoyable characters on show, with the grown ups likely picking up on every one of the Fifties throwback references to classic film and TV show Sci-Fi.

The simple yet engaging story is how a young alien boy named Lem helps the unintentionally invading Alien Captain Baker escape the clutches of Planet 51 authorities, and reunite him with his orbiting space ship so that he may return back home.

This really does come into its own watched on a large television home screen in the High Definition Blu-ray format, or satellite service HD programming. The vibrancy of the picture provides a clarity so good that at times you feel as though it is a 3D movie.

All of the voice actors are well aligned to their on screen animated caricature. Along with Dwayne Johnson are Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Sean William Scott, John Cleese, James Corden, Matthew Horne and a brilliant turn from Gary Oldman as the archetypal, dedicated to his country military maniacal, General Grawl.

Tons of visual, musical and dialogue driven overtures to a well referenced bygone age, that has everything from Area 51 to The War Of The Worlds (1953). The movie is ninety minutes of family involving delight.

Movie Trailer For Planet 51

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n8PGnc_cV4

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762125/

Why Joan, What Big Ants You Have ...

Empire Of The Ants

(1977)

Joan Collins is the 'B' movie queen here facing up to a queen ant of gigantic size. She stars as Marilyn Fryser, a real estate seller who relies upon the gullibility of those seeking investment in property and land opportunities. Her devious demure is the perfect precursor to the iconic super bitch role she so ably makes her own, as Alexis Carrington Colby, in TVs Dynasty just a few years later.

Based upon the H.G. Wells story of nature fighting back against mans ignorance of the natural world around him. An unethical crime of toxic waste dumping, and its effect upon the ecology in the Florida Everglades.

Marilyn Fryser charters a small boat captained by Robert Lansing's character, Dan Stokely. An honourable man at the mid point in his life and disillusioned with the hypocrisy and avarice of people like Fryser. The guests and potential purchasing clientele are a small group of people from all backgrounds of life, each with their own reasons for being aboard, and pretty much all of them with no intention of committing to any investment on offer.

On the beach front the food and drink spread and real estate guided tour, laid on for the marks of con woman Marilyn Fryser, soon turns into a tidal wave of panic and pandemonium, as a parasitical player such as Fryser isn't the only predator seeking to feed on such easy prey !.

In typical H.G. Wells fashion nature spews forth monstrous manifestations, this time in the form of gigantically developed ants. In the same vein as The Food Of The Gods (1976) and Night Of The Lepus (1972) the real stars of the show are the antagonists, and in Empire Of The Ants the human protagonists don't have as many legs to stand on !.

This one is as silly as they come but still daftly enjoyable, and viewing here in High Definition compliments of the MGM HD Channel, it looks very crisp and clean for a movie over thirty years old.

With Joan Collins character losing the plot, in more ways than one as a Realtor, it's down to the stoic Robert Lansing and the younger male co-star John David Carson's character Joe Morrison to fend off the attacking giant monstrosities. Most of the support cast become food for these demi gods of the everglades, with the alligators presumably packing their bags and putting on their best crocodile boots to hightail it out of Ant Dodge City sharpish !.

The ant effects are at their worst when clearly just superimposed into proceedings, and at their laughably best when seen up close attacking the poor unfortunates who stumble and fall before them. There are a few moments of old school bright red blood letting but generally its harmless enough PG13 rated stuff.

The second half of the movie takes a bizarre storyline turn for the funnier, as the beach front survivors believe they have reached safety with the residence of a largely populated Florida town, only to discover that they have walked into an Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956) type scenario where the ants mind control the humans. Herding people and using them as slaves to cultivate and produce a regular harvest of sugar for the ants to feed off of. Given a few years who knows what they may have advanced to, chocolate confectionery and perhaps a chain of coffee houses !?.

It's time to up the anti for Messrs Lansing and Carson to save themselves, emancipate the populace from their enforced slavery and allow Joan Collins to have her curtain call. Can she triumph as the ultimate Queen or does she 'Die Nasty' !?.

Empire Of The Ants never looked as good as it does here in this glorious HD print, so well done to MGM for dusting down and giving it the full treatment.

Check Out The MGM Site For Details & The Movie Trailer

http://www.mgm.com/view/movie/598/Empire-of-the-Ants/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075989/

Frankie Says No To A Hit Bros ...

Death Race 2
(2010)

Out of the sequel starting blocks rather akin to a kindergarten kid Max Rockatansky, peddle car squealing around the school playground, and bouncing off the kerb like the prequel pretender to the crown that Death Race 2 actually is.

It's not that the film is actually that bad, rather than more of a well intentioned precursor to the Paul W.S. Anderson 2008 outing, itself a remake of the completely over the top cult movie of 1975.

Garnished with the same set dressing maximum prison facility, and replete with the very cool futuristic armour plated, multi weapon-ed and super charged cars from its predecessor this then sets the background story of how Death Race came to be.

Former British boy band singer turned actor Luke Goss stars as Carl Lucas, who is conveniently nicknamed Luke in the movie, perhaps to aid his starstruck co-stars unable to shake off the memory of Luke, the lead singer from yesteryear. Who knows what's up next for Luke, perhaps a lead in a remake of Star Wars if the force is with him !.

Fast car loving top driver and bank robber Carl Lucas is captured by the police in a job that goes badly wrong, due to the ineptitude and trigger happy sloppiness of his assigned partners in crime. Luke undertakes the job as a favour to criminal Mr. Big Markus Kane, as played by fellow Brit actor Sean Bean. When things go belly up though, and Luke is sent to prison, Kane gets jittery that his professional friend will spill the beans on him and so puts out a contract on his life.

Carl Lucas has to immediately adapt to life in the maximum security prison and attracts the attention of the female warden, a former beauty queen with a body for pleasure and a brain for business. Multi conglomerate head of the Weyland Corporation, characterised by Ving Rhames, affords the warden the run of the roost not only at his own pleasure but in cleverly allowing her pretty faced persona to be the media cover darling representation, when all the while she is the heartless proprietor of death fight matches within the prison. Satellite screened to a global audience, betting on the outcome of the matches, and paying top dollar to watch the events as they stream live from within the prison.

With the arrival of Carl Lucas she ups the anti and redresses the fist and hand weapons scenario, adding a new dimension to the games with the introduction of cars. This then is her brainchild and the dawning of what is soon known as ... Death Race !.

It takes over half the movie to get to this point and only really at this stage do proceedings pick up. Sticking to the successful format of cars, big weapons, sexy girls and convicts vying to win their freedom if they can win enough races and remain alive, Death Race 2 picks up the pace. Carnage and violence follows, the later in a more gory version available on the Unrated edition of DVD and Blu-ray.

The real purpose of Death Race 2 is to establish the inception of the titular brutal sport and to identify the birth of the iconic character of Frankenstein. For this reason and for the second half of the movie once in full on Action mode, Death Race 2 is well suited to its placement of direct to video releasing.

Luke Goss has a fair way to go if he wants to continue treading in the footsteps of the awesome Jason Statham, but he is good value for 'B' movie entertainment and displays a real desire to do his best in each role given.

There are a few well incorporated links between the original film and this its follow up 'prequel'. Actors Robin Shou and Frederick Koehler get to return and establish their characters of 14K and Lists. There is also a nice little snippet to set up the future role of lady prison warden Hennessey.

Death Race 2 may not prove to be a Frankenstein monster hit, but for ninety minutes of escapism it is worth a rental, as the sum of its parts form the body of an entertaining enough slice of Action hi jinks hokum.  

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1500491/

Who Is Santa !? ...

Christmas Tardis

Time And Relative Dimensions Involving Santa

What a highly entertaining seasonal coup for the BBC with their Christmas special of Doctor Who. A fantastical new spin on a classical tale. Michael Gambon is well cast as an embittered and grumpy old man named Kazran Sardick, very much in the mould of a meam spirited Scrooge. He holds ultimate power over a planet as the only person able to control the atmospheric conditions, by means of a super charged machine. 

The Doctor enters Kazran's life in order to save the life of his travel companions Amy Pond and her new husband Rory. The two of them are having their honeymoon upon an intergalactic space ship, which encounters serious problems upon its trajectory approach to the planet. It becomes drawn into the pull of the planets mysterious cloud cover. A dense layer of curious origin, and the pooling ground for Fish !. It's down to the doctor to reason with Kazran to alter the frequency of the planets machine to allow safe passage for the space craft, in order to enable a safe landing. To do this the timelord has to play the literary ghosts of Christmas past, present and future to show Kazran who he was, and what he has become.

Clasical Welsh songstress Katherine Jenkins makes an enchanting acting debut as a beautiful young woman who is kept in frozen animation, set free for one day each year on Christmas Eve. She is pivitol to The Doctor's plight in order to save his companions and also the redemption of Kazran Sardick. Awakened from her sub zero slumber her warmth and compassion melts hearts, and her vocal range strikes a harmonious chord with the planetary fish.

Matt Smith has stepped into the impressive shoes of previous Doctor incarnation David Tennant with immediate aplomb. He is a breath of fresh air and a rejuvinating representation to audiences both young and old. His infectious characterisation is curiously reminiscent of H.G.Wells, quirkily apt in the circumstances with the connecting link of a time machine. The combination of Matt Smith with Karen Gillan as Amy Pond is quite brilliant, and series writer Steven Moffat has elevated the show to must see status, where it rightfully deserves to be.

Dr. Who A Christmas Carol is then the perfect winter warmer. Great story, teriffic special effects, engaging performances from all involved, and with a giant shark for which I think you're going to need a bigger television to truly float your viewing boat !. A wonderful High Definition production to dazzle guests with as a show off your system stunner.

A truly wonderful Christmas present to all from the BBC.