China O'Brien (4½ Stars)

Cynthia Rothrock spent the first five years of her acting career making films in Hong Kong. Her martial arts skills made her a perfect actress for films such as "Yes Madam". In 1990 she returned to America to make films in her own country, but there was still a Chinese connection. "China O'Brien" is set in America and has western (i.e. non-Chinese) actors, but it was distributed by Golden Harvest.

China O'Brien is a policewoman in the Big City, presumably New York. When breaking up a street fight she shoots someone pointing a gun at her partner. When he's lying dead, China realises it was only a child. She quits the police force and swears never to use a gun again. She returns to her home town, Park City in Utah. It's a sleepy little town, not a city at all, but a criminal boss has set up a drug smuggling ring in the town. He's effectively taken over the town, since he's bribed the judge and other officials to work for him.

China's father is the local sheriff and one of the few in the town who isn't corrupt. He's killed by a bomb planted in his car. China decides to become the next sheriff. She still won't carry a gun, but her martial arts skills are more than enough to do her job. I'm not enough of an expert to recognise what fighting skill she uses in the films. Cynthia has black belts in seven different fighting styles, so it's different to tell. I suspect that she's using primarily karate, with a lot of groin kicks.

It's interesting to see that the film was set in a real town. Usually towns are invented for films. We don't see any Mormons in the town. Maybe it's not such a religious place. What's strange is that her best friend Matt, who she's known since high school, has a strong Australian accent. No explanation is given.

I watched the film on a stunning 4K disc. This is the future of home cinema.

Bikini Airways (4 Stars)

I'm happy to say that Fred Olen Ray has released another one of the Medina films on Blu-ray. He's getting there, slowly but surely. Five down, 27 to go.

I call this series of films the Medina Collection, since they were directed by Fred using the pseudonym Juan Medina or Nicholas Juan Medina. He prefers to refer to them as his bikini films, even though there are no bikinis in most of the films.

This is the third version of the film I've bought so far. The first DVD was poor quality, and worst of all, it was a double-sided DVD. The second DVD was remastered from the original tapes. It was a significant improvement. The Blu-ray disc that I now hold in my hands is a further improvement, as I can see from comparing it with the second DVD. I have to qualify it though. The wide angle scenes are still slightly fuzzy, but the close up scenes look almost perfect on my 4K OLED television.

Pilots have been flying the skies for years, but they've never seen a UFO.

"Bikini Airways" is notable for having the first appearance of Eric Masterson in a Retromedia film. He went on to make a total of eleven films.

Admittedly, "Bikini Airways" is trashy, but I like trash. It was a good film that kicked off 53 further films in its softporn genra. Or was it 52? Fred says that "Bikini Airways" was the first of the bikini films, but it was the second film in the Medina Collection.

Here's a summary of the Retromedia films so far, with the Blu-ray releases marked.

The Medina Collection

1. Thirteen Erotic Ghosts (2002)
2. (BR) Bikini Airways (2003)
3. Haunting Desires (2003)
4. Curse of the Erotic Tiki (2003)
5. Bikini Carwash Academy (2004)
6. Erotic Dreams of Jeannie (2004)
7. Teenage Cavegirl (2004)
8. The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful (2005)
9. Bikini Chain Gang (2005)
10. Ghost in a Teeny Bikini (2006)
11. Bikini Girls from the Lost Planet (2006)
12. Harlots of the Caribbean (2006)
13. Girl with the Sex-Ray Eyes (2006)
14. Bewitched Housewives (2006)
15. The Girl from BIKINI (2006)
16. Super Ninja Doll (2007)
17. Tarzeena (2007)
18. Voodoo Dollz (2008)
19. Bikini Royale (2008)
20. (BR) Bikini Frankenstein (2009)
21. (BR) Twilight Vamps (2009)
22. Bikini Royale 2 (2009)
23. (BR) Bikini Jones and the Temple of Eros (2009)
24. Housewives from Another World (2010)
25. Lady Chatterley's Ghost (2010)
26. Bikini Time Machine (2010)
27. Sexual Witchcraft (2010)
28. Bikini Warriors (2010)
29. The Teenie Weenie Bikini Squad (2011)
30. Dirty Blondes from Beyond (2012)
31. Busty Housewives of Beverly Hills (2012)
32. (BR) Baby Dolls Behind Bars (2012)

The McKendrick Collection

1. Strippers from another world (2013)
2. Big Bust Theory (2013)
3. Intergalactic Swingers (2013)
4. (BR) All Babe Network (2013)
5. Great Bikini Bowling Bash (2014)
6. Stacked Racks from Mars (2014)
7. Atomic Hotel Erotica (2014)
8. Lolita from Interstellar Space (2014)
9. Sexy Warriors (2014)
10. Bikini Avengers (2015)
11. (BR) College Coeds vs Zombie Housewives (2015)
12. Lust in Space (2015)
13. Erotic Vampires of Beverly Hills (2015)
14. Invisible Centerfolds (2015)
15. (BR) Cinderella's Hot Night (2017)
16. (BR) Sleeping Beauties (2017)

The Apocrypha

1. (BR) Bad Girls Behind Bars (2016)
2. Vixens From Venus (2016)
3. Cyborg Hookers (2016)
4. Cosmic Calendar Girls (2016)
5. Escape From Pleasure Planet (2016)
6. (BR) Paranormal Sexperiments (2016)

The Medina Collection consists of films directed by Fred Olen Ray using the pseudonym Juan Medina. The McKendrick Collection consists of films directed by Dean McKendrick. The Apocrypha consists of films directed for Retromedia by other directors.

Notes:

(1) "Haunting Desires" (Medina 3) is the only Medina film that hasn't been officially released on DVD.

(2) "Bikini Carwash Academy" (Medina 5) was re-released with a different opening credits sequence, listing the director as Sherman Scott.

(3) "Tomb of the Werewolf" (not listed above) was directed by Fred Olen Ray using his own name, but it's in the Medina style. It has almost the same cast as "Haunting Desires".

(4) Dean McKendrick made seven erotic thrillers for Retromedia, not listed above.

(5) Apocrypha? If you have a better name for these films, let me know.

That's 11 out of 54 films released on Blu-ray so far. At the current speed they won't all be available on Blu-ray until 2040. I'm hoping Fred will speed up, but there are problems with the early Medina films. The first films were made in single density, so they'll need time-intensive remastering to be prepared for Blu-ray. Fred will only do that if he's 100% certain he'll make a profit. The later films shot in high density can be transferred to Blu-ray with a minimum of effort.

Pearl (5 Stars)

Pearl. She was a German farm girl who wanted more from life. She wanted to be a star on the big screen. She wanted the whole world to know her name.

In my opinion, this was the best film of 2023. It's a sin that Mia Goth was ignored by the Oscars. Here are a few photos.

Success Rate:  + 8.1

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Scream 6 (4 Stars)

I missed the latest instalment of the Scream franchise when it was in the cinema last year. If I remember correctly, I was in bed sick for a few days. It happens. This week I finally ordered it on Blu-ray. I didn't even wait for the price to fall to my eight Euro maximum. I was so impatient that I paid a whopping 9.99 Euros for the disc.

I shan't write much tonight, because I intend to watch it again soon. I felt like I was missing something. It continues from "Scream 2022" aka "Scream 5", with the same characters. I can only vaguely remember their back stories, so I need to watch the two films back to back. What I do remember is that the music – a vital element of the first four films – was scaled down in the last film, but in "Scream 6" it's been cut to an absolute minimum. That's not good. It's also not good that Neve Campbell is missing from the cast. Maybe she's had enough after 27 years of screaming.

The premise of "Scream 6" is that the teenagers from Woodsboro have gone to study in New York City, and the killer has followed them there. Actually, he hasn't followed them anywhere, because every film has a different killer under the mask. Who is it this time? It could be anyone, even your best friend.

Truer words have never been spoken. But to stop me missing something, there's the excellent web site Aftercredits.com that I always check before I go to the cinema.

Success Rate:  + 3.1

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Chantal im Märchenland (3 Stars)

"Chantal im Märchenland", engl. "Chantal in Fairy Tale Land", is a German comedy. It's still in the cinemas, and it's already the most successful film of 2024 in Germany, out-grossing the American blockbusters. As a serious film fan I had to acknowledge it by laying my money on the counter.

It's a spin-off of the "Fack Ju Göthe" film series. That's a strange premise. "Fack Ju Göhte" is a high school comedy that takes place in the real world, whereas "Chantal im Märchenland" is a fantasy film. Chantal is a girl that we met in the previous films. Now she's in her early twenties and she's trying to become famous as a YouTube influencer. It's not as easy as she thinks. She only has 500 subscribers to her channel.

One day Chantal falls into a magical mirror that she wants to use as a prop for a video. Her best friend Zeynep jumps in after her. The two young women find themself in a fantasy world. Chantal is a princess, while Zeynep is a commoner. The fantasy world is a mixture of fairy tales and other fantasy stories. Chantal meets a witch and realises that she's about to be cursed to become Sleeping Beauty, so she deflects the curse onto a prince. The prince falls into a deep sleep until he's awakened by the kiss of a stable boy. The two men fall in love, but he's ashamed to admit it, so he tells his mother that Chantal's kiss woke him up.

There are other things mixed in. There's a sword in a stone which will belong to whoever can pull it out. Many men try in vain, until a princess arrives and pulls it out easily.

Then Chantal meets a young man called Ali Baba. She weaves him a flying carpet, so that they can fly together to Bagdad.

The film is hilarious. It's a product of today's mixing of gender and sexuality roles, but it's successful because it's a comedy. When the prince and the stable boy kissed, nobody in the audience sighed romantically, they all laughed.

The film's biggest problem is the language. The dialogue is full of vulgar swear words. I see no reason for it. It's a fairy tale world, so why is everyone swearing? Is it supposed to be funny? I didn't find it funny. The bad language is totally unnecessary.

Seed of Chucky (5 Stars)

In the last film we saw Tiffany having a baby in the cemetery. This film takes place a few years later, and we see what a beautiful boy he's become. Red hair and blue eyes is a beautiful mix. He was stolen from the cemetery by a ventriloquist and taken to England, but after seeing Chucky and Tiffany on television he recognises them as his parents and mails himself to Hollywood.

It's not clear how the two murder dolls found their way into a movie studio. They seemed to have been destroyed at the end of the last film, but they've been reassembled to make a horror film about their killing spree. Ah ha, so it's a metafilm, like we know from "Scream"/"Stab". The dolls are no longer alive, so they have to be animated by electronics.

The star of the horror film is Jennifer Tilly, the real Jennifer Tilly.

She's supposed to be on a diet for her role, but she sneaks into the props room for a snack. What's she eating? I've watched the scene in slow motion, and I can't tell whether it's a Snickers or a Mars bar.

Leave her alone! She's beautiful enough to carry a few extra calories.

The boy recites a ritual from the pages of "Voodoo For Dummies", bringing his parents back to life. They call him Glen, but when he undresses they see that he doesn't have male equipment, so they change his name to Glenda. This starts an argument between the parents. Chucky wants a son, but Tiffany wants a daughter. Can't he be both?

Glen is a good boy. Or girl. He doesn't want to kill, but after seeing his parents go on a murder spree he wants to be like them. 

"Seed of Chucky" has a different style to the previous four films. Until now they've been horror films with slight touches of comedy. In this film the comedy is in the foreground. Critics have called this the weakest film in the series, probably because of the comedy. I used to agree with them, but after watching "Bride of Chucky" and "Seed of Chucky" back to back I can accept both films in their respective styles.

Success Rate:  + 0.1

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Bride of Chucky (5 Stars)

"Love between the ugly is the most beautiful love of all".

That quote must mean something to me. It's is the third time I've used it in my blog. Although I have to say, only Chucky is ugly. Tiffany is beautiful, even as a doll.

But I prefer her as a woman. Jennifer Tilly is one of the sexiest actresses I know. It's not just her voluptuous curves. It's not even her baby doll voice. Something about her oozes evil, and I mean that as a compliment. I wouldn't dare play poker with her. She'd take all my money and laugh at me as I leave.

Have you noticed that she always shows off deep cleavage when she plays poker? That's a deadly distraction to the men at the table. As they say, "If you've got it, flaunt it. If you've got a lot of it, use it as a weapon".

"Bride of Chucky" was made seven years after "Child's Play 3". Even though it's a continuation of the franchise, it has the feeling of a reboot. It's a new start with new dynamics, mainly due to the arrival of the Hong Kong director Ronny Wu. He's breathing new life into the series. Whatever he does turns to gold. I have enough of his films to do a mini-marathon. Maybe I'll start next month.

Success Rate:  + 0.0

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Oddity (2 Stars)

This is the 15th film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Ted Timmis works in a hospital for the criminally insane. One night his wife Dani is murdered, and a recently released patient is found guilty. But Dani has a twin sister who's blind and psychic. When she touches an object she can see what happened to it. She wants to investigate and find out if the patient really was guilty.

This is the sort of film I don't like. There are lots of things going on; some are relevant to the plot, some aren't. There's a lot that the viewer has to accept. For me it was too much. Evidently it was too much for the other festival guests as well. Things happened that made them laugh, even though they were supposed to be terrifying.

This was the last film that I watched in this year's Nights Festival. I regret that the festival ended on a poor note.

Concrete Utopia (4½ Stars)

This is the 14th film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

This was Korea's entry for the best foreign language film at the 2024 Oscars. It takes place in Seoul in an area where there are a lot of residential skyscrapers, 15 or more floors high. There's a massive earthquake, and all the buildings are destroyed, except for one. The people from the neighbouring buildings flood to it, seeking shelter, and the question is whether they should be accepted or turned away. Soon they're divided into two groups: the residents and the cockroaches.

The film's message is plainly clear. What should we do with refugees? Let them in or turn them away? And how is our decision influenced when we don't have much ourselves? There was an incident in my home town a few years ago. There was a supermarket called Cap which employed mentally handicapped people. Only the manager was "normal". I often shopped there. The staff were friendly. They were disabled, but I liked them. Then the town was ordered to build a home for asylum seekers. Cap had received financial support from the council because the employees weren't able to work as efficiently as normal employees. The council wrote to Cap and told them that the social budget was exhausted by the refugee home, so they couldn't pay money to Cap for the next two years. Cap was closed, and the mentally handicapped people lost their jobs. It never re-opened.

I found that disgusting. The weakest people in our society, the ones who needed the most help, were the ones who had to pay for the refugees. It was wrong to stop funding Cap.

I'd better stop ranting. Back to the film. It's very good, though uneven in parts. There are subplots which I found unnecessary. Nevertheless, I intend to watch it again.

Bitten (5 Stars)

This is the 13th film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

It's a coming of age drama, and the vampire elements are only incidental. The year is 1967. Francoise is a 16-year-old girl who lives in a Catholic boarding school. Her best friend Delphine has just lost her virginity. Francoise is jealous, but she has other things on her mind. She has a premonition that she will die before dawn, so she wants to have a good time in her final hours of life.

Francoise and Delphine hitch a ride to a mansion in the woods where there's a big party. Lots of good-looking boys, but Francoise rejects their advances. She's more interested in a young-looking boy called Christophe. He tells her that he's a vampire, and he's really very old. Francoise asks him to kill her, but he's reluctant.

That's it! No more spoilers.

As I said above, the vampire element of the film is subdued. It's more about the feelings of two young girls, trying to deal with their hormones and the impending feeling of doom.

Cobweb (5 Stars)

This is the eleventh film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

"Cobweb" is a film within a film. The director Kim Ki-yeo, called Director Kim by all, has just completed a film called "Cobweb". It's a wrap. But the day after its completion he has ideas about improving the film by changing the ending. His films have all been called lightweight trash by critics, but his new ideas will make it a masterpiece.

So he tries to refilm the final scenes. But his studio refuses. The actors have already gone on to film other projects. What can he do to continue with his film?

I admit that I found the opening scenes boring. "What's this all about?" But as it continued I was more and more drawn in by the zany humour. I was soon sitting in awe, waiting to see what would happen next. I was also trying to figure out what "Cobweb" (the inner film) was about, but it just confused me. In the original ending a woman killed her husband. In the revised ending another woman killed him. The scattered footage just gave clues that are intended to puzzle the audience.

This is the best film in the festival so far. I can't wait to see it again.

Boy Kills World (unrated)

This is the tenth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

It's not often that I decide not to rate a film. There's a lot in "Boy Kills World" that annoys me, but there's also a lot that I like. If I'd just averaged the film out with a three star rating, it wouldn't have accurately expressed my feelings.

The whole film has a post-apocalyptic feeling to it. It takes place in an American city that's controlled by Hilda Vanderkloy. Once a year she holds a ceremony called the Culling, in which she publicly executes anyone who opposes her rule. Bill Skarsgard plays an unnamed young man whose family was killed in a culling ceremony. He's been training all his life so that he can kill Hilda.

What I like about the film is the incredible fight scenes. They're a joy to behold. What I don't like is the film's post-apocalyptic premise and the stupid look on Bill's face. It's annoying. There are other things that annoy me which I can't reveal without giving away spoilers. Nevertheless, I'll watch the film again when I get the chance. Maybe I'll rate it next time.

The Empire (4 Stars)

This is the ninth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

The film takes place in a sleepy French fishing village. Something big is happening beneath the surface, not even seen by the inhabitants. Aliens from two races are taking control of villagers. The races call themselves the ones and the zeroes. The ones are benevolent and intend to live on Earth in peace, helping humanity to advance. The zeroes are selfish and wish to exploit humanity for their own purposes. The two races are preparing to go to war against one another.

This is a ridiculous science fiction comedy, but it's enjoyable.

Riddle Of Fire (3 Stars)

This is the eighth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Jodie, Hazel and Alice are three young friends who live in Ribbon, Oklahoma. They ride around on motorbikes that look too old for their age, armed with paint guns. The girl sitting on the ground is Petal, but they don't meet her until later in the film.

The film is described as a fairy tale, but it reminds me more of the computer adventure games in which a series of tasks have to be performed in order to reach a goal. It's easy to explain. The children want to play a video game, but only their mother knows the password. She promises to tell them the password if they fetch her a blueberry pie. The cook at the only bakery in town is sick, but she says she'll give the children her recipe if they fetch her ice to cool her down. When they get her the ice (by stealing it) she gives them the recipe, but they can't get a speckled egg because a man buys the last box before their eyes. So they have to follow him to steal the eggs.

And it continues from there. It's a whole chain of tasks that have to be performed in order to play their video game.

This is probably suitable as a children's film, and it's pleasant to watch, but it's not a film I'm likely to watch more than once.

Sting (4 Stars)

This is the sixth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Charlotte lives in an apartment building in New York City. The house belongs to her grandmother's sister. That's a great aunt, isn't it? Most of the apartments are used by her family.

One night a small meteorite smashes its way into her grandmother's apartment. Charlotte finds a small spider and takes it into her room. She calls it Sting and feeds it bugs, but the spider is very unusual. It whistles when it's hungry. It grows rapidly, doubling its size within a few days. It's remarkably intelligent, opening the lid of its jar when it wants to hunt for food, then closing the lid again when it returns.

Sting feels affection towards Charlotte, but everyone else in the house is in danger. It's soon as large as a dog and able to wrap humans in a web.

In theory the film could be terrifying. The problem is that the picture is too dark for most of the film. Do you remember the good old days of the 1960's horror films? Or any films, in fact. Even if a scene took place at night, the picture was still clear, and shading was used to show that it was nighttime.

The Invisible Fight (4½ Stars)

This is the fifth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Wow! This is the first Estonian film I've ever seen. I wonder if it's typical.

The story takes place while Estonia was part of the Soviet Union, so it's some time between 1944 and 1991. My guess is that it takes place towards the end of that period.

Rafael served in the Soviet army as a guard on the Russia-China border. While there he learned kung fu. After returning home to Estonia he wants to continue with his martial arts, so he applies to become a monk in an Orthodox monastery which teaches martial arts. I didn't know the Russian Orthodox Church encourages martial arts. I learn something new every day. Rafael only wants to stay a short while in the monastery, but the head monk sees something special in him. He says that Rafael will become a saint. Rafael doubts this, because he likes drinking vodka and listening to heavy metal, but maybe the head monk is right.

This is a hilarious film. Interestingly, no fun is made of the Christian religion itself. Christianity is assumed to be correct, and the humour comes from the way Rafael and the monks practise it.

It's already been released on Blu-ray in America.

Meanwhile on Earth (3 Stars)

This is the fourth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Franck Martens was an astronaut who took part in a space mission. The space ship disappeared. No explosion, it simply disappeared. Three years later he's considered a hero. A statue has been erected to him in his home town. His younger sister Elsa sits gazing at the stars every night wondering if she'll ever see him again.

One night she hears his voice talking to her. He tells her that he's the only survivor of the mission, and he doesn't know where he is. Then she hears a second voice telling her that they (whoever they is) will return Franck to her if she does them a favour. Over the next three days she has to take five people to a place in the forest, either one at a time or in a group. If they stand at the right place, or even just walk over it, their bodies will be occupied by them. They promise it isn't an invasion, they just want to live on Earth.

This is a quiet dreamlike film. Questions of morality aren't directly discussed. Elsa just wants her brother back. I found the film too quiet for my tastes.

Love Lies Bleeding (4 Stars)

This is the first film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

It takes place in an unnamed town in New Mexico, close to the Mexican border. Jackie is hitchhiking from Oklahoma to Las Vegas to take part in a body building contest. That doesn't look like the most direct route, but when you're hitchhiking you have to take whatever rides you can get. She's short of money and sleeping rough. In the opening scene we see her having sex with the manager of a gun club to get a job as a waitress.

Louise is the manager of a gym. When Jackie comes in to work out the two become lovers. They're both lesbians. Jackie only sleeps with men when she needs something from them.

It's a small town where everyone knows everyone. Louise's father is the owner of the gun club. The man Jackie slept with is Louise's brother-in-law JJ. Louise's father also makes money by illegally smuggling guns into Mexico. The FBI suspects him, but doesn't have enough proof to act.

Things start moving when Louise's sister Beth is so badly beat up by JJ that she ends up in hospital. Jackie takes revenge, breaking into JJ's home and killing him with her bare hands. Murder needs to be carefully planned. Spontaneously killing someone leaves clues. Jackie and Louise do their best to get rid of the evidence, but it's not easy.

The plot meanders on, with ever deepening conflicts. I shouldn't give away anything else, except that the film becomes even more fascinating as it continues.

I have a simple question. Is it normal for a bodybuilder to be a heavy smoker? I would have thought that Jackie would do without cigarettes in order to remain fit.

This was a good film to open the Nights Festival. I admit that I enjoyed the lesbian sex scenes with gratuitous nudity. What do you expect from me? I'm a man.

Mad God (4 Stars)

Mad God? Mad film.

"Mad God" was sold out in the cinema today. It's a visual treat, but I didn't understand it at all. I spoke briefly to the people sitting on either side of me, and neither of them had a clue what it was about.

After the film there was a live video conference with the director, Phil Tippett. There were several questions from the audience. In retrospect I regret that I didn't make a note of them all. One person asked the question that was on everyone's minds: "What's the film about?" Phil's reply was, "It's about 80 minutes". Further questions tried to tie him down, but his answers were always evasive.

There's no dialogue in "Mad God". Phil praised the golden age of silent movies. He claims that they were the days when directors were creative, unlike today when Hollywood just makes films according to standard formulas. When asked what silent movies he would recommend, his reply was "Google classic silent movies". He's a nice guy, but trying to get information from him is like squeezing water from a stone.

"Mad God" is Phil Tippett's lifetime work. He worked on it for 33 years from 1987 to 2010, continuing whenever he wasn't interrupted by other projects such as "Robocop" or "Starship Troopers". Mostly he worked alone, but other collaborators joined him for brief periods over the years. When asked how he knew the film was finished, he said that when the contract with Netflix was signed the film was complete.

I checked Netflix as soon as I got home, and it's not available. Maybe it'll be streamed at a future date. It's not the sort of film that can be given a big run in the cinemas. True, it was sold out today, but we were an audience of film freaks who'll watch anything weird.

Brotherhood of the Wolf (5 Stars)

After watching this film in the cinema in January I said I would buy it straight away. I ordered it the same evening, but it was temporarily out of stock, and it only arrived yesterday. Better late than never.

It's a strange film. A cult in 18th Century France that combines Christianity, politics and an adoration of wolves? I agree, it's infeasible, but somehow I have no difficulty accepting it in the context of the film.

And the most fascinating but infeasible character is Mani, played by Mark Dacascos. He's a Native American who's skilled in martial arts. Does he look like an American? He was born in Hawaii, but he's a multi-racial cocktail. His father is part Spanish and Chinese. His mother is part Irish and Japanese. He can pass for anything with a bit of makeup. In "John Wick 3" he plays a Japanese man.

But here's something curious. This warning is shown at the beginning of the film. Are they crazy? It should be obvious to anyone that not everything shown in films is meant as a recommendation. For instance, "Django Unchained" supposedly uses the word "nigga" 109 times. Quentin Tarantino isn't a racist, far from it, but it's a film about racism. Even Samuel L. Jackson defends the use of the word in the film. It's correct in its context. If racists use bad words in real life, why should films portray them as polite and gentlemanly?

Anyone who's offended by a film shouldn't watch it. It's not forced down our throats.

Success Rate:  + 0.4

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The Mummy [1999] (5 Stars)

After watching "The Mummy" again last month, I decided to buy the remastered 4K collection. Wow! The picture quality is far superior. I have no more complaints. The picture does justice to the wonderful film. Look how beautiful Rachel Weisz is as Evelyn.

Evelyn Carnahan isn't just a pretty face, she's also very intelligent. She can read Egyptian hieroglyphics. Or is she really intelligent? After opening the Book of the Dead she reads it aloud, reassuring Rick O'Connell, "It's only a book. No harm ever came from reading a book". That's a dumb thing to say. Has she never watched "Evil Dead"?

And this is the result, only 40 seconds later. Here's my advice to my readers: if you ever find an old book, whatever language it's written in, don't read it aloud!

And a few days later she's tied to an altar doing a Betty Page impersonation. "No harm ever came from reading a book"? Now she knows better. I hope.

Success Rate:  + 3.2

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