Marabunta (1998)

Jim (Eric Lutes) arrives in Alaska for a spot of fishing, but his holiday gets off to a bad start when he finds a dead moose which has been eaten down to the bone in hours. Not long afterwards a human similarly consumed. And whats more... no fish!

Luckily Jim is an entomologist and soon discovers that meat eating ants from South America are to blame (obviously). With the help of the Sheriff (Mitch Pileggi) and teacher/future love interest Laura (Julia Campbell), the town is evacuated but no plan goes that smoothly...

Trapped in the town, our heroes are surrounded by ants as the town is overrun by the little things. As flamethrowers, guns and chemicals are not enough to stop the ants wiping out Alaska, Jim has a plan to blow up a dam to drown the ants. Only problem is to get the explosives required means going back into the midst of the ants...

Insect based monster films generally are cheesy and terrible, but Marabunta must rank as one of the worst. Low budget, ropey special effects, average acting and (as this was a TV movie) the action is nicely packaged for the regular advert breaks. It is terrible and somehow brilliant at the same time.

Another Fine Mess (1930)

The first official Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy film was 1927's Duck Soup, this was a talkie remake of it and is a madcap comedy short packed full of gags and crazy antics. Colonel Buckshot (James Finlayson) is heading off to Africa on Safari, his staff leave the house empty early. It is thus in this condition that Laurel and Hardy, a couple of tramps on the run from the police, find the house.

Lord Plumtree (Charles Gerrard) and his wife (Thelma Todd) arrive to rent the house. Oliver pretends to be Colonel Buckshot and Stan has to pretend to be both the butler and the maid, outfit changed where necessary. Oliver manages to agree a price with Plumtree but their plan all falls through when Colonel Buckshot arrives back home early...

This is a fun comedy short though maybe packed with too much going on at times. The comedy replies more on gags and comedic repetition than slapstick though it does end with some remarkable stunts.

The Net (1953)

A bit melodramatic and uneven but an exciting enough aviation spy drama. Michael (James Donald) is the developer of the top secret research aircraft M7, he devotes so much time he neglects his wife Lydia (Phyllis Calvert) who briefly finds solace in the arms of fellow scientist Alex (Herbert Lom). Meanwhile, there is a spy in the base whom Sam (Robert Beatty) is hunting for...

We know who the spy is though, the doctor Bord (Noel Willman), who plans to steal M7 and Michael along with it. After a near disastrous first flight, he manipulates Michael into taking him with him on an unauthorised second flight and that is when he will strike...

The film isn't sure what it should be. It could be a spy drama, aviation adventure or melodramatic romance and if it had chosen one of those and stuck with it it probably would have been an excellent film. Unfortunately it tries to be all three with varying degrees of success. 

The special effects with M7, which is a classic British 1950s style vision of the future of flight (basically a Victor bomber with nuclear engines), are pretty good. The tension, when it is there, is good. The padding kind of ruins things a bit, but overall a decent watch.

Lady Ice (1973)

An enjoyably trashy though complicated crime movie. Andy (Donald Sutherland) is an insurance investigator who employs unusual methods to get back stolen gems. This includes handcuffing a fat man to a toilet and posing as a mechanic at the garage owned by Booth (Patrick Magee) as he knows Booth's daughter Paula (Jennifer O'Neill) is a top jewel fence along with Eddie (Jon Cypher). The law in the form of Pierce (Robert Duvall) are also after the jewels and Booth (who has suspicious sources of income) but is prepared to let Andy do the running for now.

A game of cat and mouse between Andy and Paula, who knows he is not what he seems - at first she just thinks he is just another thief. This ends up with Andy getting a kicking from Eddie's goons. Eddie wants Andy silenced permanently but Paula talks him out of it especially she now knows his true purpose and has taken a bit of a shine to his cocky charms... 

A jewellery store is robbed in Chicago, the jewels end up in Eddie's possession in the Bahamas but Andy arranges for Eddie to be mugged and gets hold of the jewels. He uses them in a complicated scheme with the police to get Eddie and his thugs busted and get Paula off the hook...

A decent film though a little hard to follow at times. It is also rather superficial, most scenes look cool (there are lots of hot sports cars in it for example) but lack much energy or much purpose and the plot does meander a bit. Treat it like a trashy airport novel.

Liberty (1929)

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy escape from prison. They manage to get away fine with some help, though in their rush to get dressed they appear to have put on each others trousers! Changing into the correct trousers is of course not as simple as it sounds, and Stan ends up with a crab down his pair! This causes more slapstick mayhem.

With the police still after them, they hide in a workman's lift on a skyscraper building site. They of course end up on top of the building and have to creep along the bare girders with various death defying stunts.

Not the best Laurel and Hardy comedy short but with plenty of invention especially in the skyscraper sequence though this part of the film might go on a bit too long.

The Jigsaw Man (1983)

An excellent spy drama. Kimberley, a former MI6 chief now Soviet defector in Moscow is tasked with retrieving a stolen document in England, he is given a new identity and face using plastic surgery and becomes Michael Caine! Kimberley immediately gives his KGB handlers the slip and contacts the head of MI6 Sir Gerald (Laurence Olivier), he wants to exchange the document for cash.

Kimberley also contacts his daughter Penelope (Susan George) and uses her help to stay hidden, and recover from an attempted assassination by the KGB. Sir Gerald knows that Kimberley is the man behind the new identity and a game of cat and mouse begins with rival spy boss Sir James (Charles Grey) and top agent Fraser (Robert Powell) who has been sleeping with Penelope.

A fairly complicated plot line ends up with a highly enjoyable and strange car chase through a safari park. The budget was fairly low and it shows, the film is very reminiscent of TV dramas of the time like The Professionals - and that is no bad thing.

Raffles (1939)

A jolly crime caper. Raffles (David Niven) is a top-class cricketer by day and a master criminal by night. He is responsible for a string of daring crimes across London as the "Master Craftsman", taunting Inspector Mackenzie (Dudley Digges). 

However, Mackenzie gets a clue. Raffles is planning to steal the jewels of Lady Melrose (Dame May Whitty) in order to raise funds for his out of luck chum Bunny (Douglas Walton). Raffles and Bunny are guests at the home of Lord Melrose (Lionel Pape) along with Gwen (Olivia de Havilland), Raffles' new love interest. Mackenzie also invites himself to the house...

To complicate matters a much more mundane thief (Peter Godfrey) is also after the jewels. Raffles ends up stopping this theft and ends up with the jewels himself. Back in London, Raffles plans to fence the jewels but Mackenzie by now knows who the Master Craftsman is. Can Raffles evade the long arm of the law?

A light and fast moving crime drama that ends up a bit of a romp. It is slightly marred by the terrible British accents by some of the American actors but Niven plays a great role. Not very substantial but definitely fun.