Light of Day (1987)

The well-worn story of two young people struggling between the pressures of family life and the fantasy of rock and roll.

Joe (Michael J Fox) and Patti (Joan Jett) are young siblings who have the dreams of rock stardom to help them escape the mundanity of their lives in Cleveland, Ohio. Their mother (Gena Rowlands) would rather they got normal jobs as they might then get paid. However, it is when they are performing on stage then they can escape...

There isn't a great deal to this film, its fine (and occasionally cheesy and overly cloying) if not brilliant. Fox and Jett work together well as a convincing pair of close siblings.

Joan Jett in particular plays a good role, you would think an actual rock star would always be able to play a rock star on screen however, as we have seen so often in movies so many fail at it, but Jett nails it.

Tombstone Canyon (1932)

An average Western enlivened by the rather strange Phantom character.

Ken Maynard travels to Tombstone Canyon hoping to find out some more about his past. Unfortunately, a rather strange black masked character called the Phantom is terrorising the ranch of Alf Sykes (Frank Brownlee). Sykes has it in for Ken and tries to get him arrested or killed. Ken begins to investigate why Sykes has it in for him, and who the Phantom is... and why the Phantom is not a danger to him, rather he seems to be protecting him...

Really a fairly mundane Western, though Ken Maynard's real skills of horsemanship are always good to see. The film is given some novelty with the Phantom character, who looks likes he wandered off another film set where they were making a Gothic horror.

Just You and Me, Kid (1979)

A charming odd couple comedy drama, officially there is some darkness here in the plot but it never gets in the way of some old Hollywood nostalgia and nonsense.

Bill (George Burns) is a retired vaudeville performer who delights supermarket staff with his genial quips and illusionist tricks. His life is thrown upside down when he discovers a naked teenage girl in the boot of his car! 

The girl is Kate (Brooke Shields), a teenage prostitute on the run from drug dealers. Bill, once he has befriended Kate, has to keep her hidden and safe, from the bad guys, nosy neighbours and Bill's daughter...

This is a highly enjoyable film, packed full of light, finely observed, humour and nostalgia. The relationship between Bill and Kate develops well during the film, especially once Shields warms into the role.

On the Spot (1940)

A fun little crime caper romp, part of a series starring Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland.

Frankie (Darro) is a budding young scientist, biding his time working for a small town chemist before he heads to NY. He and Jefferson (Moreland) get involved with a gangster who tries to tell them a secret, where some stolen loot is hidden, before he dies of gunshot wounds. Unfortunately the man dies before he can tell them. 

The problem for Frankie and Jefferson is that no one believes that they were not told the secret and now everyone is after them, including gangsters and the law!

Darro and Moreland were a great double act and they help make this film highly entertaining. As a crime drama it works pretty well, once you get over the zaniness.

Rocketship X-M (1950)

Man sends it's first rocket ship to the Moon, only it ends up on Mars instead. Well we all makes mistakes.

The Rocketship X-M is the first manned rocket into space commanded by Dr Eckstrom (John Emery). Once in space things go wrong and the rocketship goes out of control. Soon it ends up in orbit around Mars so they land there instead! Eckstrom and the crew which includes Graham (Lloyd Bridges) and Van Horn (Osa Massen) explore this strange barren new world. 

They quickly discover the ruins of an advanced civilisation, with evidence that they destroyed themselves in a nuclear war. Now the savage survivors throw big rocks at their human visitors!

A perfectly decent 1950s space romp, the warnings about the danger of nuclear war and the rather downbeat negative ending makes the film stand out. The film is black and white but switches to a red tinted film for the Martian exterior shots which is a nice touch.