Mothra (1961)

The début film for Toho's other famous kaijū begins with a typhoon in the Pacific. It forces a ship's crew to seek refuge on Infant Island, a place believed to be radioactive. A return expedition there uncovers something wondrous, which the less moral members of humanity typically disrupt, enslave and exploit. Their selfish actions bring an island god incarnate to their door.
Not inherently evil — in fact, with intentions that are objectively good — Mothra nevertheless brings death and destruction to much of Tokyo, with a force that's interestingly similar to the one that wrecked the sailors' ship.
Action scenes are typical of kaijū films of the era, with some quality miniature buildings, but the exotic flora and Polynesian-esque culture stand out.

3 mysteries of life out of 5

Dream Cruise (2007)

A feature-length version of a heavily trimmed episode from Mick Garris' Masters of Horror series (Season Two). Directed by Norio Tsuruta, it's based on a short story by Kôji Suzuki, who's best known in filmic circles as the author of the works that Hideo Nakata's Dark Water (2002) and Ring (1998) films were based on. Dream Cruise, as you've probably guessed, also involves water.
A lowly lawyer (Daniel Gillies) with a long-standing guilt complex and a fear of the wet stuff agrees to take a boat trip with a "valuable" client in order to keep him happy. The boat breaks down and the atmosphere, which wasn't there to begin with, never gets to a level where it can be felt. The weak framing, stupid plotting, overplayed sound effects, shit acting, lack of music, and reliance on Japanese horror clichés make it an utter washout.

1½ cabin crawls out of 5

Stone Cold (1991)

Classic 90s macho action with a salon-ready leading man (Brian Bosworth), who looks like he'd bleed adrenaline (and a hint of steroid) if he was to cut himself with a razor at home. He's Joe Huff, an Alabama Cop on suspension for aggressive behaviour, enlisted by the FBI to go undercover in a deadly biker gang that's headed by a laughing Lance Henriksen. But first the gang must accept Joe (aka Stone) as one of their own, so he has to get extra moody.
It's the kind of movie in which shotguns blow people through windows and stunt guys fall impressively from great heights. It uses action clichés to its advantage, somehow, allowing Stone to "turn it on" when needed.

3 bumpy rides out of 5

Broken Arrow (1950)

Celebrated more these days for what it did contemporaneously than for its story; i.e. being one of the first post-war Westerns to not portray its Indian people as one-note Hollywood savages, Dir. Delmer Daves' film stars Jimmy Stewart as a man who seeks to negotiate peace between the "white" US military and the Apache Indians, who were waging war upon each other. Both sides are characterised as being noble and honest or wicked and prideful.
I'm no expert on 1950s values, but I do wonder if 42-year-old Jim romancing a 16-year-old Debra Paget wouldn't have raised at least a few eyebrows back in the day? And what of the respected Christian General who condones murder as a punishment? Were they viewed as reflective of the 1870s in a similar manner to how we view the film's built-in 1950s social commentary today?

3½ long-distance signals out of 5

Matango (1963)

One of the more peculiar creature films in Dir. Ishirō Honda's filmography is a story told by a Professor (Akira Kubo) who knows what he says will make him sound crazy but is compelled to share it, nevertheless. It begins jovial, with seven people on a private yacht, but shifts to something more grim when a storm blows the revellers onto an unnamed Japanese island. Occasional flashbacks to before they set out on their sea journey add comparative value, but the subtextual layer is where the dark tone finds its anchor. Depending perhaps on your level of cognisance, the creatures may seem ridiculous or oddly unsettling, but my guess is for many it'll be somewhere in-between.

2½ broken mirrors out of 5

Pray for Rain (2017)

Jane Seymour looms on the cover, but the main focus is on her character's daughter, Emma (Annabelle Stephenson), who looks like she could really be closely related. The basic premise is standard TV drama: a young woman who moved to the big city to escape her farming community life returns to the parental home for a funeral and gets involved in local matters. In this instance the girl is a fashion reporter who suspects foul play. As she investigates one thing, she uncovers truths about the deceased, a person she thought she knew. On paper it's all too familiar, but the direction (Alex Ranarivelo) and score (Jamie Christopherson) help it be one that feels like it grew beyond its original agenda; in that respect, it exceeded expectations.

3 little fish out of 5

Time Trap (2017)

A modest budget sci-fi about a small group of people who venture into a Texan cave to find someone who ventured into the same cave and didn't come out; coincidently, the person they're seeking was there to find folks who also entered but didn't come out. It doesn't look good for all concerned - doubly so when you factor in the differing time dimensions and that the intelligence level of all but one of the team is barely above a typical horror movie bint.
The concept is classic genre stuff. Initially it seems as if the filmmakers are content to stretch it to breaking point, but if you're able to overlook the weak atmosphere, the am-dram acting, and some dire dialogue that relies too much on exposition, then there's a few turns in the latter half that may surprise. As a fan of shoestring sci-fi, I enjoyed the ideas more than the people.

3 lengths of rope out of 5

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)

I feel the throttle ought to have remained close to where it was at for the first movie, because upping the action to almost super-hero levels of ability makes the sequel feel like unintentional self-parody. If the scene that opens the farce (before the title appears) makes you cringe, then prepare for the worst, because things get even more moronic later on. The homages to other media feel forced, and the underlying worry of separation and outside commitments, which does actually play into the main plot, is as contrived as Justin Theroux's Irish accent. A pinch of decent subtext could've saved the story, but nothing other than residency on the cutting room floor could've stopped the action scenes from shitting over the potential for more light-hearted fun.

1½ whip tricks out of 5

Charlie's Angels (2000)

If the goal of the Charlie's Angels reboot was movie escapism on a superficial level, then it succeeded. The whole is heightened by the feeling that the "elite crime fighting trio" of Dylan, Alex and Natalie (Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, and Cameron Diaz, respectively) are having a blast while making it. The story is pretty thin and the primary villains are forgettable, but for every weak link (e.g. Sam Rockwell, Tom Green) there's a stronger one doing its utmost to draw attention away from the faults. In the latter category there's Crispin Glover, great use of chart music, playful stereotypes, ridiculous disguises, and a dynamic approach that never misses an opportunity to make its leading ladies shine. And for fans of the original TV series, the voice of John Forsythe.

3 bird calls out of 5

Buffalo Soldiers (2001)

Having no actual 'Buffalo Soldiers' present, nor any direct connection to the Bob Marley song from which it probably took the title, the 'satirical' film stars Joaquin Phoenix as US army Supply Specialist Ray Elwood, who's stationed in West Germany during 1989. When not cooking smack for drug-addicted recruits, Elwood spends his time scheming how to best make a profit on the military black market. He provides an occasional v/o, like Ferris Bueller's less charismatic cousin. And much like Bueller, despite having witnessed first-hand the dire consequences of his actions, his character learns nothing of value in the end. Likewise, I gained nothing of value from watching the work.

1½ non-regulation high dives out of 5

The Last Dinosaur (1977)

In a perfect world, the only living thing that people who hunt for 'sport' would be allowed to shoot are each other. But life isn't like that, and more often than not you'll find a rich person at the head of it. Such is the case with The Last Dino, a US/Japanese co-production between Rankin/Bass and Eiji Tsuburaya's FX studio, Tsuburaya Productions. The pairing produced an English language adventure film in a Lost World setting with kaijū-like dinosaurs (i.e. men in suits). To that location goes the "world's richest man," Masten Thrust (Richard Boone), under the guise of research, but in reality he wants a T-Rex head for his parlour wall. The T-Rex, however, has other ideas.
With very few sympathetic characters, there's little reason to feel sorry for the team when things go wrong. And the mixed message that surfaces, which seems to justify Thrust's murderous tendencies, doesn't help matters.

2 behavioural footprints out of 5