THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX (2018) **

The Cloverfield Paradox was released Super Bowl Sunday on Netflix with little fanfare.  To my knowledge, there had been no trailers or photos of the movie (aside from a few online rumblings to its actual existence) up until then, which was a smart move because it allows the viewer to go into it completely cold.  Streaming it in the home, with zero expectations, it is a passable, albeit forgettable effort.  I’m sure that if viewers had been waiting months in anticipation to see it in the theater, it would’ve been a massive disappointment.

This is the third installment in the Cloverfield franchise.  Plot-wise, they’re only marginally related.  However, The Cloverfield Paradox keeps with the tradition of introducing an intriguing premise and then letting it circle the drain from there.

It certainly had the most promise of the three films.  The set-up is a mix of ‘60s Cold War paranoia, ‘70s energy crisis parable, and ‘80s Alien rip-off.  In the near future, the world is approaching the end of sustainable energy while inching closer to the brink of global war.  A team of multinational scientists go into space seeking a way to sustain energy by performing a particle accelerator test.  The experiment goes wrong and they wind up in a parallel dimension.  The two alternate realities soon begin fighting for supremacy, causing odd paradoxes and bizarre changes among the crew. 

In addition to Alien, there are scenes that might remind you of Event Horizon and Galaxy of Terror, just to name a few.  As the Alien rip-off subgenre goes, you can certainly do a lot worse.  Despite a few bizarre moments (most of which relate to the paradoxes that occur onboard the ship), there really isn’t a whole lot here to recommend.  Viewers hoping for any connective tissue to Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane will likely find this to be a frustrating experience.  I for one think it would’ve been better without the nods to the other films, but what do I know?  I haven’t like a Cloverfield joint yet.

The cast is better than the movie deserves.  Gugu Mbatha-Raw does a fine job as the Ripley of the piece.  She’s particularly good in the scene where she’s confronted with the possibility that her dead children are now alive in this alternate universe.  Daniel Bruhl, David Oyelow, Zhang Ziyi, and Chris O’Dowd (who gets a few funny moments) aren’t given nearly as much to do, but they hold their own, despite the weak script.

One neat touch:  In the future you can use a 3-D printer to make guns AND bagels!  Who knew?

THE FLIGHT THAT DISAPPEARED (1961) **

Passengers in Los Angeles board a plane headed to Washington, D.C.  Halfway through the flight, the plane malfunctions and it begins ascending skyward.  The passengers start passing out left and right, all except a couple of scientists who are on the verge of discovering a new “Beta Bomb”.  The crew passes out too and the scientists are unable to stop the plane as it heads for its mysterious final destination.  

Directed by Reginald (Diary of a Madman) LeBorg, The Flight That Disappeared starts off as a decent enough disaster movie before turning into something akin to a piss poor Twilight Zone episode.  The early scenes of the passengers chatting each other up and getting to know one another are perfectly fine.  LeBorg even manages to provide a modicum of atmosphere, which is commendable given the cramped quarters of the plane.  The shots of the concerned crew in the cockpit are particularly effective (even if you can see the edges of the set).

I won’t reveal what happens to the scientists when they arrive at their fog-shrouded destination.  I will say that what happens there is heavy-handed and predictable.  Had this been a half-hour episode of The Twilight Zone, it would still feel clunky.  As a feature length motion picture, it’s doubly disappointing.  Heck, even after it wraps up its endless moralizing, it continues lethargically on for another reel or so.  

This is one flight worth skipping.

SWAMP COUNTRY (1966) *

Dave (Dave DaLie) is passing through the Okefenokee and stops to spend the night at a motel.  He finds the woman in the room next door strangled to death, and he is predictably wrongfully accused of murder.  Dave quickly takes off into the swamps and is pursued by sheriff Rex Allen.  Along the way, he bumps into a local girl (Carolyn Gilbert) who agrees to help him nab the real killer and clear his name.

There’s a lot of other subplots that gum up the works.  We also have to deal with a running feud between a mother and daughter (who look about the same age) and endless scenes of the sheriff’s love life, as well as some business with an unsavory gangster.  The scenes of DaLie struggling to survive in the swamp should’ve been the main thrust of the story.  I mean he saves a man from a grizzly bear, rescues a little girl from a panther, and almost gets bit by a snake.  This stuff should’ve taken center stage.  However, director Robert Patrick seems to rush through this stuff.  It’s almost as if he couldn’t wait to get back to the various love triangles and family squabbling.  All this shit really does is bring the movie down.  Heck, the long stretches of people slowly slogging through the swamp are preferable to much of the human drama in the film.

For a low budget, homegrown hicksploitation picture, Swamp Country has a pretty good cast.  In addition to Allen, we also have Lyle (Wonder Woman) Waggoner making his film debut as the deputy.  The best performance though is by Baker Knight (the songwriter responsible for “Lonesome Town”) in his only acting role, who sings a couple of songs in a Johnny Cash-type drawl.  His songs are pretty much the best thing about the movie, which is odd when you consider they’re only there to pad out the running time.

VIGILANTE FORCE (1976) **

George (Miami Blues) Armitage wrote and directed this muddled tale of a small southern California town overrun with crime.  With their police force depleted, they turn to a former war hero named Aaron (Kris Kristofferson) and his buddies to patrol the streets.  They clean up the place in no time at all, but they soon prove to be even worse than the criminals they ran out of town.  It then falls on Aaron’s brother (Jan-Michael Vincent) to set things right.

Vigilante Force plays almost like a remake of Bucktown.  Unlike that film, it’s awfully slow-moving and has very little drive.  It’s ninety minutes, but it feels much longer than that.  Folks expecting nothing more than standard issue Drive-In fare will probably enjoy it.  As a fan of Armitage’s work, I’m sad to report that Vigilante Force lacks the flare Armitage usually brings to his movies.  

A lot of that has to do with the clunky plot.  The big twist seems more random than anything.  When Kristofferson makes the switch from Good Ol’ Boy to villain it feels like he only does so because the plot needs him to; not necessarily because his character wants to.  Also, Kristofferson seems too nice to be a villain.  He would go on to play good villains later in his career, but he just seems too affable to be menacing here.  When he kills someone in cold blood, it just feels off.  

Jan-Michael Vincent is a bit bland for a leading man and can’t command the screen.  Since he’s unable to wrangle the movie away from Kristofferson, we’re really left with no one to root for.  At least the supporting cast is a veritable who’s who of exploitation stars and ‘70s personalities.  Victoria Principal, Bernadette Peters, Paul Gleason, and Andrew Stevens have some fine moments, and there are bits by Charles Cyphers, Dick Miller, and Loni Anderson too.

The bulk of Vigilante Force is lazily plotted and lackadaisically paced, but the last reel is really something.  The final showdown between the two brothers features lots of shit blowing up and plenty of guys falling out of high-story windows.  If only the rest of the movie had the same amount of energy.

THE TUNNEL (1935) ** ½

Richard Dix stars as an engineer who makes a proposal to build an underwater tunnel to connect England and America.  A group of millionaires decide to back the project and he devotes himself fully to the job.  As a result, it ruins his marriage.  Distraught, Dix plunges himself into his work.  When his estranged son joins the team, it’s an opportunity for Dix to mend fences with his family.  However, tragedy strikes when a disastrous accident claims the life of Dix’s son, along with many others.

Written by Curt (The Wolf Man) Siodmak, The Tunnel takes place in the then near future.  I liked that the futuristic look was grounded and seemed (at the time anyway) almost practical.  The scenes of the tunnel being constructed are impressive and some of the special effects and set design are reminiscent of Metropolis and Things to Come.  The “futuristic” technology, like the telephone TVs are pretty cool too.  

The potentially boring scene of Dix’s proposal is offset by some occasionally funny humor.  The part where they are forced to listen to Beethoven before the meeting is good for a laugh.  Unfortunately, the relationship drama that comes out of Dix’s obsession with building the tunnel is hit and miss.  Sometimes the film begins to veer into melodrama and when it does, it drags a bit.  There’s also a lot of rigmarole involving the state of the stock market and Dix having to appease the tunnel’s shareholders.  While this stuff would certainly occur if such an endeavor happened, it doesn’t exactly make for riveting cinema.

AKA:  Transatlantic Tunnel.

LADY BLOODFIGHT (2017) ***

Amy Johnston is the real deal.  She’s been a stunt double in many comic book movies, but with her starring role in Lady Bloodfight she proves she is ready for the big time.  In addition to her considerable martial arts skills, she has a likeable screen presence.  The film itself is worthy of her talents.  It’s a strong enough vehicle to make you want to see her kicking ass again real soon.

It’s essentially an all-women version of Bloodsport.  Johnston is a tough American woman who goes to Hong Kong to find out what happened to her father years ago.  Inevitably, she gets roped into fighting in a Kumite tournament, the very same one her father died participating in.  

The story is an old hat, but writer Bey (The Medallion) Logan and director Chris (Kiss of the Dragon) Nahon hit all the right notes in a competent and entertaining fashion.  I particularly liked the training montage in which Johnston uses a large bell as a punching bag.  I guess the message is that she has to ring the bell literally in order to ring her opponent’s bell figuratively.  

The fights are well-choreographed and efficiently edited.  There are only a couple of instances where the camera is a bit too shaky or too close to the action.  Nahon is smart enough to keep the camera back when Johnston does her spin and flip kicks so you can see them in their full glory.

Much of Logan’s script is straightforward and predictable.  However, the film has fun playing with some of the expected conventions of the fighting tournament genre.  For instance, when her teacher abandons her, it’s the villain who winds up giving Johnston a big pep talk before a crucial match.

Although her character is a bit one-note, Johnston still does a terrific job.  The fact that she can take a thinly-written character and make you care about her speaks volumes to her talent.  The scene where she confronts the thieves who stole her purse is particularly well done.  She doesn’t want the money back, only her last remaining photo of her father.  Johnston is so good in this scene that from then on, we’re totally with her on her journey.  Not only was I was rooting for her character, I will be rooting for her as an actress as well.  I for one think she’s destined to breakout and become a star.

CREATURE OF DESTRUCTION (1967) * ½

Creature of Destruction was the last of four made-for-TV remakes of AIP movies Larry Buchanan directed in the ‘60s.  It’s his version of The She-Creature.  If you’re a fan of that picture, you might enjoy seeing the way Buchanan restages some of its most memorable scenes.  Fans of cheesy monster flicks will get a kick out of the awful green-skinned, bug-eyed lizard monster, although it will probably make you yearn for Paul Blaisdell’s original She-Creature creation.

Les (The Slime People) Tremayne has the Chester Morris role of the hypnotist whose stage act concludes with him predicting murder.  When his predictions come true, a huckster (Neil Fletcher) tries to promote his act and milk it for all its worth.  A skeptic (Aron Kincaid) is roped into the act, which revolves around Tremayne doing a lot of past-lives hypnotism on his assistant (Pat Delaney).  He sees that she is being held against her will and he tries to free her from Tremayne’s clutches.

Creature of Destruction copies The She-Creature nearly scene for scene during some stretches.  The biggest difference is that it features a gratuitous (though not-bad) rock band who are very much a time capsule.  (They even sing a song about Batman!)  Their performances, along with the endless shots of teens dancing, help to pad out the running time.  

From a technical standpoint, the movie is all over the map.  The cinematography is great, and Buchanan’s use of color is sometimes eye-popping.  The sound is another story as there are some scenes in which the dialogue is poorly dubbed.  Tremayne is a bit miscast as the psychic, but he’s fun to watch.  Aron Kincaid is pretty horrible though as the romantic lead.  If you thought Lance Fuller was boring in The She-Creature, wait till you get a load of this guy.  Delaney is quite fetching as the lovely Doreena, although she spends most of the movie in a trance.

The silly songs and stupid monster can only take this thing so far.  For most of the running time, it’s a chore to sit through.  The scenes of Tremayne negotiating his contract are especially dull.  By the time he starts putting Delaney into a deep sleep, you’re liable to follow her.