Brand of the Devil (1944)

A perfectly reasonable Western, familiar themes but well done.

Three Texas rangers Tex (Dave O'Brian), Jim (Jane Newill) and Panhandle (Guy Wilkerson) are hunting for the Devil's Brand gang of rustlers led by Varno (I Stanford Jolley). Molly (Ellen Hall) meanwhile has her horses and cattle stolen by the gang, though the Rangers are in disguise do not seem to be any help...

The film begins rather cliched with a fight in a bar but soon develops into something a little better (though still pretty familiar). An enjoyable film that has decent (if not much more) performances. The film is somewhat strange at times, like many Westerns it includes a few songs including one sung by a character tied up!

Hijacked: Flight 285 (1996)

Fairly unoriginal aeroplan hijacking movie with a cast of stereotypes in the Airport movie tradition. It isn't that bad though.

Convicted murder Peter (Anthony Michael Hall) is being transported on a commercial flight, however he has two friends aboard the flight who release him from the Marshals and he takes over the flight. He demands a flight to freedom and twenty million dollars. FBI investigator Deni (Ally Sheedy) is rushed from her gymnastics coaching (really) to handle the situation...

As usual with these films we follow the story with a number of the fellow passengers. So, we have the rude drunk businessman (David Graf), the retired couple, the troubled family who come good as the varied passenger stereotypes (no alcoholic middle aged woman though which is disappointing, so we can't complete the bingo card). All are vital to the plot to some degree though so that is good.

The film is quite generic we are to be honest with few surprises but it is competently done. If a bit ridiculous.

False Pretenses (1935)

A fairly familiar subject maybe but nicely done.

Mary (Irene Ware), after being embarrassed by her drunken oaf boyfriend, loses her job as a waitress. She meets a rich former millionaire who is now skint (and stops him killing himself). Kenneth (Sidney Blackmer) and Mary concocts a plan where he will teach Mary how to be a refined lady and snag a rich husband (and she can pay him a finder's fee). Naturally, things don't go to plan...

So, a familiar story, poor girl learns how to be a rich girl. Its a pleasant little comedy with some decent performances and good chemistry between the lead pair. Witty dialogue especially early on makes the film, it does fall a little flat later on though the film is short enough for this not really to be a problem.

Firepower (1993)

Its the near future, street gangs have taken over parts of the city where the police are afraid to go.

However, police detectives Darren (Chad McQueen) and Nick (Gary Daniels) are operating undercover to investigate Drexal (Joseph Ruskin) who runs illegal drugs including counterfeit AIDS vaccines in the no-go zones and also runs death matches, his champion The Swordsman always wins. The Swordsman is Jim Hellwig aka The Ultimate Warrior in what is probably his only movie role!

So, this is pretty basic stuff. Violent and cheap, everything is rather dark despite all of the open fires. Nothing really makes a lot of sense but it doesn't really matter as there will probably be another killing in ten seconds. The Ultimate Warrior is probably the best part of the film even though he doesn't really say much. 

The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972)

A tense spy drama that keeps you guessing and has some pretty amazing twists.

An explosion at a top secret rocket lab seems to have left only one survivor Welles (Michael Sarrazin) who turns up a bloody mess at the home of Nicole (Christine Belford). Government investigator Tuxan (George Peppard) thinks Welles has stolen top secret data but the problem is, Welles has no memory of the events, in fact he claims he has no memory of anything!

Tuxan ruthlessly probes Welles but it really does seem that he has no memory. Tuxan stages Welles' release to try and flush out the dark figures behind the conspiracy. Welles and Nicole go on the run but Tuxan is always watching... even the bedroom!

A surprisingly good film packed full of government hysteria and mystery and it will keep you guessing about what is really going on.