The Forgotten Warrior (1986)

A basic but entertaining Rambo-esque action drama.

During the late Vietnam War, Parrish (Ronald Marchini) is badly wounded whilst escaping the Viet Cong. He is nursed back to health by some villagers and decides to stay and start a family there. He helps the villagers learn martial arts to protect themselves from the VC led by Colonel Minh (Sam Lapuz). However, danger is never far away especially after the corrupt Major Thompson (Quincy Frazer) arrives back in Vietnam...

The plot is fairly thin, just enough to hang many fight scenes off. The action is ridiculous, the good guys don't need to aim much to wipe out the bad guys. The many battles in the jungles of the Philippines... sorry Vietnam have a high bodycount but some pretty decent one-on-one battles too. The film isn't very sophisticated but if you want plenty of aimless gun and martial arts violence then this film does the job.

The President's Plane Is Missing (1973)

A tense conspiracy - Cold War drama that is somewhat let down by it's ending.

Air Force One crashes in the desert, the President is missing but assumed dead. The hapless Vice President  called Kermit (Buddy Ebsen) is now in charge but under pressure by White House hawks to launch a nuclear strike on China! However, reporter Mark Jones (Peter Graves) is suspicious, he doesn't think the President is missing after all...

So, that is the premise and it is a great one. This is a superb TV movie with good performances and an air of tension throughout (if punctuated where the advert breaks would be have!) 

The only problem with the film is the resolution and the big reveal, which stretches credibility a bit and also relies on a bit of luck. However, this is a really enjoyable watch.

Creature (1985)

A low budget but fun Alien rip-off.

A survey mission to Titan ends in disaster after something has wiped out the crew. Two new missions from rival countries head out to find out what has gone wrong. The US mission led by Davison (Stan Ivar) soon runs into trouble when it gets stuck on the surface. 

They head over to the German ship which has already arrived but finds that the crew is dead apart from it's commander (Klaus Kinski). He tells them that they found ancient alien infrastructure, and now a dangerous alien is running amok...

So, the plot will be pretty familiar and predictable and the effects are mostly cheap (though the alien itself is pretty excellent). This is an enjoyable sci-fi romp that has enough nonsense, twists and gore (and no shortage of cheese) to keep you entertained.

Night People (1954)

A static but tense Cold War drama.

A young US serviceman is snatched off the streets of West Berlin, Colonel Van Dyke (Gregory Peck) is tasked with retrieving the man, though has to content with political pressure from home as well as the dark antics of the Soviets. Van Dyke isn't sure who he can trust as more details emerge of the price that must be paid to return the soldier...

This is a good film that relies on good dialogue and tension rather than action, indeed for much of the film not a lot is happening at all! That doesn't matter though as the story is slowly revealed. A dark tale of double agents, betrayal and intrigue where people are mere pawns of the major powers and completely disposable.

Assault on Dome 4 (1996)

Low budget science-fiction action nonsense, and it is great!

Notorious terrorist Windham (Bruce Campbell) seizes an off-world base and forces the scientists to build bombs for him. 

Luckily, space policeman Chase Moran (Joseph Culp) just happened to be on the station at the same time (to surprise his wife Jocelyn Seagrave) and now he is on-hand to stop Windham and his mad and murderous scheme to take control of an alien world...

This is pulp nonsense which involves a lot of running around a space base and endless fights. Moran is the one-man army who whittles down Windham's squad one by one. It isn't very original, and has cheap special effects, but is a fun and frequently ridiculous watch. The cheese factor is high.