5 Against the House (1955) – Phil Karlson

The stunning Kim Novak joins Guy Madison, Brian Keith, Alvy Moore, and Kerwin Matthews in this noir thriller, 5 Against the House. Once again, this was a film I hadn’t heard of, but rather enjoyed it as I settled in for it. A group of Korean war vets are getting the most out of the…

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel (2018) – Stephen Cognetti

Y’know what? I’m not gonna lie. I had a pretty good time with the first film, Hell House LLC, so I figured I would dive into the sequels – I mean it’s the same writer/director through all of them, so we know that no matter how they play out, this is Cognetti’s story the whole…

M*A*S*H (1980) – Back Pay, April Fools, and The Best of Enemies

Hawkeye (Alan Alda) is out for justice in the penultimate episode of season eight. Back Pay was written by Thad Mumford, Dan Wilcox and Dennis Koenig and first debuted on 10 March, 1980. When Hawk receives a letter from home, he’s shocked to learn that there are doctors back State-side that are making a mint…

Moon (2009) – Duncan Jones

It’s been a while since I last watched Moon. In fact, I may not have watched it since it first came out. I remember delighting in it, and simply loving Sam Rockwell’s performance. So I was quite happy to settle in for it again, this time knowing how everything would play out, and pick up…

The Prisoner (1967) – It’s Your Funeral, and A Change of Mind

Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) finds himself ensnared in an assassination plot in It’s Your Funeral. Written by Michael Cramoy this episode was first broadcast on 8 December, 1967. There’s a new up and coming Number Two (Derren Nesbitt), he’s a bit of a heir apparent, and a different type of Number Two than we’ve seen,…

Mission: Impossible (1970) -Butterfly, and Decoy

Phelps (Peter Graves) and his IMF team (with Willy (Peter Lupus) back) head to Japan in Butterfly. Written by Eric Bercovici and Jerrold L. Ludwig from a story by Sheldon Stark, it first aired on 31 October, 1970. There’s some uncomfortable things that go on in this episode as the characters pose as various Japanese…

The Mary Shelley Club (2021) – Goldy Moldavsky

So I have been reading a lot of science fiction of late, and wanted to shake it up a bit, and find something a little bit more from the horror/thriller genre, and a top horror novels of 2021 list returned the Young Adult (I hate that term) novel, The Mary Shelley Club. Well I put…

The Prisoner (1967) – Checkmate, and Hammer Into Anvil

Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) squares off against Number Two (this time played by Peter Wyngarde) in a layered scheme in Checkmate. Written by Gerald Kelsey, this episode first debuted on 24 November, 1967. Inspired by a life-sized chess game, Six begins canvassing his own pieces, fellow prisoners, as he’s reasoned out how to tell the…

The Matrix Resurrections (2021) – 4K Review

Warner Brothers has sent me back to The Matrix with a copy of their 4K version of The Matrix Resurrections, which is available today in wonderful physical media form of blu-ray and 4K disc. Like everything after the first film, released back in 1999, this installment is as divisive as Reloaded and Revolutions, but for…

The Sniper (1952) – Edward Dmytryk

I do enjoy a good film noir, and The Sniper is one I had never heard of, and quite happily dug into, contained as it was in a Film Noir Collection I had been gifted one holiday season. Despite some very sexist trappings, it was the 50s after all, there’s a really fascinating story here….