Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1972)

Kolchak's first TV appearance doesn't feel like an intro movie. The character is so well-presented that it feels more like he's been established already and we're now deep into his world. Even though he's a Las Vegas newspaper reporter, with an almost ever-present cassette tape recorder, he's more like a small screen detective in a police drama. His sleuthing to find a big story takes him into what might be supernatural happenings.
Dir. John Moxey took some interesting chances with the script. It's not atypical to see the world through a killer's eyes, but from the POV of a corpse on an autopsy table? That's refreshingly weird.

4 sleepless nights out of 5

Return of the Magnificent Seven (1966)

RotMS again features a village threatened by an outside force, but the men's reasons for giving aid are different. For some of them it’s personal.
Most of the seven are different, too. Some are less noble but no less capable with a gun, which is just as well because the enemy numbers are higher.
Brynner’s the focal point of the group conscience and an experienced tactician, extending influence only to those that he knows want and need it.
It’s a step down in quality. The story isn't as good and the characters aren't as memorable. Nevertheless, it's still a decent Western for the most part and despite a few missteps that damage the film at a time when it should be at its peak the last half hour brings the score up.

3 little talks out of 5

The Curse (1987)

With a less than enthusiastic writer and director, this film based on H.P. Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space never got out of the box. It does closely follow certain events from the source material such as a mysterious meteorite landing near a farm, the subsequent bountiful yet putrid harvest and its catastrophic effects on the farm handlers. But as most HPL adaptations turn out, it never truly captures the essence nor the impact of the descriptive passages in the story. In unsuccessful attempts to frighten the audience with ominous music over scenes of characters drinking the tainted water supply and the degradation of the livestock, it only creates a stale boredom in its stead. The poorly handled ending leaves much to be desired in both logic and fascination.

1 whoring wife out of 5

Rio Bravo (1959)

Sitting down to watch John Wayne in a Howard Hawks Western means you’re in for a good time, but I admit I’m not in love with this one as much as the film world seems to think I should be.
Wayne as Sherriff is fantastic as always. Dean Martin had a tough job but he did it well. Ricky Nelson looked at home with a guitar but less so with a gun; it was early in his acting career and he was still inexperienced. The Feathers character (Angie Dickinson) was a square peg in a round hole; she didn't bring enough to the clique to warrant inclusion.
Everything else works and by the end we know why each unequivocal decision was made.

3½ sing-songs in the jail-house out of 5

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

The original simian saga ended with a sequel to the Theatrical Cut of the previous film. It's a story of Caesar told in flashback. Twelve years after the end of the human/ape war the two races live side by side but aren't equal. The apes rule. The humans work the fields and clean the apes' houses. There's peace, yes, but it's an uneasy one held in place by fear and one-sided politics.
I suppose it's possible that the entire ape population could've learned to speak by this stage, but it does seem highly improbable.
The script tries hard to inject moments of real feeling by comparing and contrasting the family unit with the civil one, but even when tragedy strikes it doesn't hit as hard as it should have. And while the Kane and Abel element does its job well enough, the whole film feels unnecessary.

1½ paths rebuilt out of 5