Not So Secret Weapon

Picked off another Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes flick from the Instawatch in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943). Not one of my favorites as it's a bit bigger in scope as Holmes must prevent a secret device from falling into the hands of the enemy. Story is weak but still great performances. 7 / 10

• July New: 6
• July Re-watch: 0
• July '11 MTD: 6
• July '10 MTD: 54
• 2011 YTD: 392
  

Surviving the Sequoia

Sole Survivor (1983) has a good premise but lousy execution. Everyone dies in a plane crash except one person who is then haunted by killing ghosts. Sounds good, eh? But just drags. Unfortunate. Generous 6/10

Dead Men Walk (1943) was on Hulu so I gave it a spin. A murdered doctor returns from the grave to seek revenge on his murdering brother. Not a great film but watchable. 6/10

Stopped by Showplace 12 for a screening of Kim Seok-yun's Detective K: Secret of Virtuous Widow a.k.a. Jo-seon Myeong-tam-jeong (2011). Man, do I ever love this film. It's just a hokey Sherlock Holmes adventure set in feudal Korea. Good balance of comedy and action. Definitely an honorable mention for best of 2011. 8/10

Picked off Valley of the Giants (1938) from TCM. Quite a fun little film about a small logging town about to be overtaken by a big corporation from the east that wants to clearcut the entire area. Amazing amount of violence for a G-rated flick. Love Alan Hale as Ox! Very enjoyable. 7.4/10

• March New: 37
• March Re-watch: 1
• March '11 Total: 38
• March '10 Total: 75
• 2011 TOTAL: 199
  

Rescued from the Horrors

The Horror of Party Beach (1964) is the super low budget B-movie by Del Tenney that features possibly the most comical sea creature costumes used on screen. And a really bad movie that like… kinda. 5.5/10

Went up to Randhurst AMC for The King's Speech (2010) before it gets switched out for the sanitized PG-13 version. Good film but it shouldn't be Rated R anyways. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are marvelous but this didn't deserve to win the best picture academy award. 8/10

Love the atmosphere in Jacques Tourneur's I Walked with a Zombie (1943) quite a bit. Great mood and quite haunting. 7/10

I know I've seen The Rescuers (1977) at some point over the years but didn't have much a recollection of it until the final "rescue" sequence. Enjoy the voice acting the most here but still a nice Disney animation. 7/10

• March New: 13
• March Re-watch: 1
• March '11 Total: 14
• March '10 Total: 75
• 2011 TOTAL: 175
  

First Grave of Godzilla

Final night of G-Fest was the film that started it all, the original Gojira (1954). I have always wanted to see the original version on the big screen and it really was an awesome evening! Amazing how terrifying the original Japanese version is compared to the neutered US version. Nice to close out G-Fest on a high note!

Finished up Five Graves to Cairo (1943) thanks to TCM & my DVR. This is Billy Wilder's second major feature film and he really shows the signs of brilliance. The story revolves a British soldier who becomes a reluctant spy disguised as a waiter at desert inn in Egypt currently housing Rommel & his German soldiers. Film offers plenty of suspense as well Erich von Stroheim as Rommel. Solid.

• July New: 15
• July Re-watch: 6
• July Total: 21
• 2010 TOTAL: 408