Terror Train (1980)

A slasher killer loose on a steam train! A group of college kids hold their end of year party on a sleeper train, much debauchery is planned at night. What isn't planned is their ex-classmate Kenny (Derek MacKinnon), whom was sent to an asylum a few years ago after a prank went wrong, also joining the party and beginning his revenge with the help of various sharp objects.

While Alana (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Doc (Hart Bochner) are watching The Magician (David Copperfield), the body count starts to add up much to the consternation of the train conductor (Ben Johnson). Once the actions of Kenny are known a bitter and bloody battle for survival begins aboard the train as it steams through the night...

Although the slasher revenge theme is not too original, the setting is quite novel and adds an interesting dimension to the thrills and scares. The Magician adds a bit of mystery and cheese.

Brats (1930)

Sheer comic invention. With the wives away Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are looking after the boys, who look remarkably like exact mini versions of their Dads. However, while Stan and Ollie are trying to play a quiet game of draughts the boys are always up to mischief. Finally they are sent to bed but this is where the problems and destruction go up another level!

This is an incredibly inventive little film. All of the props were made twice, one normal size and the other larger so Stan and Ollie can realistically play children. 

The slapstick and visual gags are standard Laurel and Hardy fare but done so well, they are easily able to carry this film on their own.

The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961)

A gritty war film. Mitchem (Richard Todd) is leading a British Army patrol in the Malayan jungle with the Japanese closing in. His motley group of men fulfil various British stereotypes including the anti-establishment cocky cockney Bamforth (Laurence Harvey) and the touchy, proud but conflicted Scotsman (Ronald Fraser). Mitchem's main problem seems to be with Corporal Johnson (Richard Harris) who questions his orders.

Holed up in a hut the men capture a Japanese soldier (Kenji Takaki), Bamforth forges a friendship with the man and ends up defending him when Mitchem decides the man must die, and Johnson shows a rather bloodthirsty desire to carry out that order. When it is established the Japanese are a lot closer than expected the patrol tries to retreat but is it too late?

Although studio based (with some stock footage of wild animals) the film makes the most of it's limited sets and budget to produce a realistic view of war, and it's effects on humanity. No daring chisel jawed heroes here, more like ordinary men hurled into extraordinary times and how the true man behind the facade emerges when the pressure is on.

Contraband (1940)

An excellent little wartime spy drama. Andersen (Conrad Veidt) is the captain of a neutral Danish freighter which is impounded by the Royal Navy to check it's cargo. Two of his passengers, Mrs Sorensen (Valerie Hobson) and Mr Pidgeon (Esmond Knight), jump ship and head for London. Andersen goes in pursuit, he catches up with Sorensen and soon finds he is involved in a cat and mouse fight between British and German agents.

Andersen and Sorensen end up the prisoners of the Germans in a basement lair. Andersen manages to escape and enlists the help of some of his countrymen to save the day and more importantly Mrs Sorensen...

An exciting film full of derring-do that makes the most of a modest budget. Filmed when it was, just as the war was starting, the propaganda is dialled back and the Germans are mostly portrayed as doing their duty as opposed to just being evil. The growing relationship between Andersen and Sorensen is well portrayed and very believable.

Runaway (1984)

A rather strange, sometimes cheesy, but definitely fun future cop film. It is the near future (and looks like 1985) and robots are everywhere, doing everything from the cooking to construction. However, sometimes they go wrong and that is where the specialist police team led by Ramsey (Tom Selleck) comes in. Along with his new partner Thompson (Cynthia Rhodes) they chase and disable a runaway agricultural robot. But soon things become much more serious when they are called to the case of a robot which has killed people...

They discover the robot has been modified by an unauthorised microchip and under the control of someone else. That someone else is Luther (Gene Simmons), a rather over the top hoodlum and electronics expert, who wants to make these killer chips to terrorists and the mob. Ramsey seeks to stop Luther though he always seems one step ahead, plus he has a gun which fires heat seeking bullets...

A glorious mess of a film, completely ridiculous in many ways but always entertaining and with some interesting ideas about how technology would develop in the future (and they got a lot of things spot on). Tom Selleck seems a bit out of place in this film but that makes it all the more fun and to be fair he does a good job. Gene Simmons chews the scenery but it completely suits the film. Also look out for Kirstie Alley.