The Angry River (1971)

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I talk a lot about Shaw Brothers Studio in these pages, but there was another Hong Kong studio that was knocking out kung fu movies around the same time – Golden Harvest. I tend to think of them as second-rate to Shaw Brothers, and that isn’t really fair. They made some good movies, and Shaw Brothers made some atrocious ones.  I’ve just seen more Shaw Brothers films so I think that makes me lean more towards them.

The Angry River was Golden Harvest’ very first film, and it’s a good one. It is also the debut film of Angela Mao, who would become a big deal in Hong Kong cinema. 88 Films just released it on Blu-ray, and you can read my review at Cinema Sentries.

Five Cool Things and Her Private Hell

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As I mentioned in a previous post, I got confused about which date I was supposed to write the Pick of the Week for Cinema Sentries and when I was supposed to do Five Cool Things. I wrote this 5CT last week, but it is just now getting posted. As you can see this time I’m talking about Sheep Detectives, some classic Doctor Who, a lovely Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn comedy, Civil War, and They Will Kill You. Click here to enjoy.

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Body Heat is the Pick of the Week

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Over at Cinema Sentries, I alternate writing the Picks of the Week with another guy, Dave.  When I’m not writing that week’s Pick, I write my Five Cool Things articles. On several occasions I’ve gotten the weeks mixed up, and I’ll either write a Pick of the Week when it isn’t my turn to, or, like this week, I’ll write a Five Cool Things when I was supposed to write a Pick. 

The guy who runs Cinema Sentries texted me last night around eight about my error.  I promised to get a Pick of the Week written ASAP. In my mind I was going to dash something off quickly.  I’d write a couple of paragraphs about my pick, then maybe one single line for anything else that looked interesting.

But me being me, I wrote a whole freaking essay about turning 50 and how movies seem to change as you grow older.  Eventually I landed on the great movie Body Heat being released by Criterion as my pick.  You can read the whole thing here.

Malfeasance: Four Films By Yves Boisset

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I love discovering new movies, new actors, and new directors. There is something wonderful about watching a film and finding a new artist to follow. Back in April I got a set of films from French director Yves Boisset. I’d never heard of him, but I dove into the films and really liked him. Now I’ll be seeking him out. That’s kind of awesome. You can read my review of the set at Cinema Sentries.

Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins…(1985)

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I’m fascinated with franchises that never really took off. Like a movie gets made, and the studio expects there will be sequels and spin-offs, but the first film bombs, and so nothing comes of it. Remo Williams is titled The Adventure Begins…but it also ended there because the film bombed and there wasn’t a sequel.

That’s too bad, too, because this film is a lot of fun. Fred Ward stars as Remo Williams, who actually isn’t Remo Williams but a NYC police officer who gets into a scrape and has his face and name changed to Remo Williams to help out a super secret government agency. He’s like James Bond but dumber and less cool.  Which pretty much sums up the film.  You can read my full review at Cinema Sentries.

Confessions of a Police Captain (1971)

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Radiance Films continues to put out fantastic sets of really good, and rather obscure films from all over the universe. I seem to be watching a lot of their releases of 1970s-era Italian films, and I’m loving it.

Confessions of a Police Captain is a gritty tale of murder, corruption, and a man who wants to change things.  Martin Balsam is a corrupt cop who does something bad, and Franco Nero is the prosecutor trying to make things right. It is a great film and this is a great release from Radiance.  You can read my full review at Cinema Sentries.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2025)

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This is a fun little sci-fi flick from director Gore Verbinski, who hadn’t made a film in nearly a decade. You can read my full review here.

And yes I’m not saying much about it here. I have a terrible sinus headache but I want to keep posting all the stuff I’ve written at Cinema Sentries on this pages.