JFK (4 Stars)

I was recently recommended this film by a friend. I'm thankful to him. It's 26 years since it was first released, and I'd vaguely heard about it, but for some reason I've never been inclined to watch it until now. When the film started I was a bit scared by the 3 hours 26 minutes running time, but I soon found it so fascinating that I couldn't tear myself away.

The film covers a controversial subject. On November 22nd 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Within hours Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested as the prime suspect, but he was never put on trial because he was shot dead on live television two days later.

From the beginning there were doubts about the investigation. Lee Harvey Oswald swore he was innocent, but he was denied access to a lawyer. He was interrogated for 12 hours by the police, but no tapes were made.

Things remained calm, or rather swept under the rug, for the next three years. In 1966 Jim Garrison, the District Attorney of New Orleans, began to investigate the case. He was unable to name any one person as the shooter, but he was convinced that Lee Harvey Oswald was not the killer. It was possible that he fired the first shot and missed, but the following five shots came from marksmen firing from three different angles. This is in contrast to the official Warren Report that claimed there were only three shots, all fired by Oswald. The evidence was arranged so neatly for the police to find that it looks like Oswald was set up. It's highly unlikely that he could have fired all three shots, even if there had only been three. His military record described him as a poor to medium marksman, and he was shooting from a difficult angle through foliage. Garrison asked three expert marksmen to hit a stationery target from the same room, and none of them succeeded. Lee Harvey Oswald was able to hit a person in a moving car.

Jim Garrison claimed that the assassination was orchestrated by the CIA, assisted by the FBI, the American military, the Mafia and anti-Castro Cuban immigrants. The motive was the dislike of Kennedy's pacifism and his intention to withdraw all American troops from Vietnam.

While it's not certain if Garrison was correct in all of his suppositions, there are too many suspicious circumstances surrounding the case. Many of the primary witnesses died soon after the assassination, some by accidental deaths and some by suicide. Somebody in a position of authority was doubtlessly trying to cover things up.

Do I have an explanation? No. I don't have access to enough information on the subject to form an informed opinion. The official documents on the subject were to be kept sealed until 2029, but their release was brought forward to 2017, with the exception of a small number of documents that President Trump decided should be withheld for a few more years. I expect no revelations from these documents. Anyone who wanted to act illegally made sure that nothing was written down.

The film is obviously one-sided, but it's a good film in its pacing and suspense. It's about as good as any legal drama can be.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Hotdog (4 Stars)

When I moved to Germany 18 months ago I thought I would be watching a lot of German films in the cinema. Even though I'm watching more than I did while I was in England it's not as many as I expected. More than 100 films are made in Germany every year, of which most are shown in the cinemas, so I could theoretically watch 50 to 70 German films every year. As it was, I watched exactly 12 German films in the cinema last year. I suppose one a month isn't bad.

"Hotdog" is my third German film this year, so let's see if I can keep up the pace. It's a comedy starring the two top German actors Til Schweiger and Matthias Schweighöfer, with Heino Ferch in a smaller role. German comedies are always a hit or miss affair, but this is a well made film that kept the audience in stitches.

Luke and Theo both work for a fictional elite German police squad in Berlin. Luke (Til Schweiger) is a determined hard cop who never fails in a mission, however many bad guys he has to shoot in the process. Theo (Matthias Schweighöfer) is a nerd with a photographic memory who joined the police to impress his father, but he has none of the skills needed to be a uniformed offer, so he's kept indoors in charge of the station's weapons.

Luke is disciplined after he saves hostages from a museum, but clumsily destroys millions of Euros worth of artefacts in the process. He's put on guard duty at the Bellevue Palace, the home of the German President. Theo has been begging for outside duty for months, so he's also stationed as a guard. It's a boring job, because nothing ever happens. At least, nothing usually happens. On their first day the President of Moldavia is visiting with his family, and a terrorist group kidnaps his daughter. Luke and Theo are suspended because of their failure to stop the terrorists.

Being suspended doesn't stop a determined cop like Luke from doing what's right. He sees it as his moral duty to find the president's daughter, and Theo teams up with him. With the assistance of a computer hacker they go into action.

The situation comedy is hilarious. Most of the humour is in the clash of the two buddy cops. Luke considers Theo inexperienced and incompetent, while Theo considers Luke to be a reckless rule breaker. They're both right.

German critics have slammed this film for being "too American". Why is that a problem? That's probably the reason why it's so funny. I can verify that the cinema audience loved it.

Downsizing (4½ Stars)

This is a beautiful film which almost earned a five star rating, but I had to deduct half a star for a plot weakness that I can't describe in this review. Spoilers!

In the near future a Norwegian scientist has discovered the solution to the overpopulation that is exhausting the Earth's resources. People can be shrunk to a fraction of their size, from six foot tall down to five inches. To make a real difference the whole human race has to be shrunk, but the project begins with it being done on a voluntary basis. In the film 3% of the Earth's population have already volunteered, which is already a considerable number.

There are big advantages in volunteering in the initial period which have nothing to do with saving the planet. The little people can live in luxury, because their savings go a lot further. A full sized mansion costs millions of dollars, but a miniature mansion costs less than $500.

Paul and Audrey Safranek are a young couple who decide to downsize, as the procedure is called, to escape the dull routine of their lives. The promise of great riches after being shrunk is an added perk. On the day of the downsizing they're separated into the male and female downsizing areas. Paul arrives in the little kingdom, but Audrey isn't there. She changed her mind at the last minute. Paul is now rich and alone.

Audrey files for divorce, taking most of the money Paul had saved for his new life. Now Paul is poor and alone.

Despite comedy elements this is a serious film. Maybe it has a message. I don't know. If it does, it's not a deeply significant message, it's a parable. It's the sort of plot that Spike Jonze or Charlie Kaufman might have written, but Spike Jonze would have added more of a political message while Charlie Kaufman would have made the film even weirder.  Matt Damon isn't one of my favourite actors, but he's very convincing as Paul. Christoph Waltz and Udo Kier play relatively small parts, but they're always exquisite actors who can't put a foot wrong. The Norwegian scenery in the last half hour of the film is so beautiful that I want to visit Norway as soon as I can.

Based on early prognoses "Downsizing" looks like it will have trouble making back its budget at the box office. That's a shame. It might look like an over-intellectual film on the surface, but I believe that it's a film most people would enjoy if they gave it a chance.

The Shape of Water (5 Stars)

This is the ninth film in the Stuttgart White Nights Festival.

My regular readers must have noticed that my reviews were shorter than usual the last two days. My regular readers who are also attentive already know the reason why. When I visit a film festival I watch a lot of films, sometimes as many as five in a day. I want to write about them all while they're fresh in my head, but I don't have much time to write because of a little thing that I do every day called sleep. For that reason I give myself a ten minute limit to write about festival films.

"The Shape of Water" is the last film I've seen at the White Nights Festival, and I consider it the best film, so I can stay up late writing about it. I don't have to get up early to watch any films tomorrow. It's a film that deserves a bit of extra effort.

Reviewers have written that this is Guillermo Del Toro's best film since "Pan's Labyrinth". I disagree. I consider this to be his best film ever, leaving "Pan's Labyrinth" far behind. The film isn't original, but when was originality ever necessary to make a good film? It copies the story of "Splash", but with reversed genders.

A secret government laboratory in Baltimore in the early 1960's is doing research to assist the space race. An underwater creature is delivered from South America which is thought to hold the secret of surviving in space. The creature is tortured by the laboratory's sadistic boss, Colonel Strickland, who plans to ultimately dissect the creature for his research.

A mute cleaning woman called Elisa sees the creature and has sympathy with it. The creature reacts to her kindness, and the sympathy turns into love. Elisa realises that the only way to save the creature's life is to smuggle it out of the laboratory.

The film can be praised from so many different angles. As a fairy tale for adults it delivers everything that's expected, including a happy ending. (That's not a spoiler, because everyone knows that films like this have a happy ending). The cinematography highlights the bland imagery associated with the 1950's and 1960's. Sally Hawkins, an actress I've never paid attention to before now, puts on a brilliant performance as Elisa. Octavia Spencer also acts brilliantly as Elisa's colleague Zelda, but we expect no less from her in all her roles.

This is the most nominated film for this year's Bafta awards, in 12 categories. It's one of the favourites to win the Oscar for best film, although it has some tough competition this year.

The Endless (3½ Stars)

This is the eighth film in the Stuttgart White Nights Festival.

A mother is travelling with her two young sons. The car crashes, killing the mother. The boys are found by a religious cult which takes them in as members. As adults they decide to leave. Their return to normal society is a big media event. The older brother, Justin, calls the cult a UFO Death Cult which is planning a mass suicide. The younger brother, Aaron, doesn't remember anything bad happening.

After 10 years Aaron is sent a videotape in which one of the cult members speaks about an upcoming event called the Ascension. This sounds like the mass suicide his brother has always talked about. He decides to go back to visit the cult, just for one day, and persuades Justin to go with him. When they return they find the same members that they knew when they left, with the exception of one new girl who joined them after running away from a mental asylum. Nobody seems to have aged, but Justin and Aaron shrug it off because it's only been 10 years. They're warmly welcomed by their old friends, so they decide to extend their stay. Then they notice unusual things. On the first night they see two Moons in the sky. On the second night they see three Moons.

This is a surreal mystery. The mundane and the supernatural are intertwined. The viewer is kept guessing until the end.

The Little Hours (3½ Stars)

This is the seventh film in the Stuttgart White Nights Festival.

Supposedly this film was preceded by scandal. The Vatican objected to it when it had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. I don't see why. I'm sure it's not the most scandalous film made about the Catholic Church. Isn't it well known that in past centuries women only joined convents so they could find other lesbians?

That's not the only sin. The priest who oversees the convent is an alcoholic and a liar. Some of the nuns sneak out at night to perform pagan rituals. They're all loud-mouthed blasphemers. The biggest sin is that one of the nuns is a Jew. The shame! But you can't blame her. As I said already, convents used to be the only place to find other lesbians, so she had to pretend to be a Cathoolic.

The film is very funny, but sexually tame. "Virgin Territory" is much more explicit.

Les Affamés (3 Stars)

This is the sixth film in the Stuttgart White Nights Festival.

This is a Canadian zombie film made in French. It was a new experience for me. I've never heard Canadian French before. My understanding of French is very good, and I don't usually need subtitles when I watch a French film, but I hardly understood any of this film. The accent sounded so bizarre to my ears.

The film is about small groups of humans who are hunting zombies. As you all know, zombies tend to vary in nature from one film to another. Every director has his own ideas what zombies should be like. In this film the zombies infect humans by biting them, which is practically the only feature common to all zombie films.

After being bit it takes about two days to become a zombie, so a victim can continue to fight until the change sets in. This is in contrast to films like "The Girl with all the Gifts", in which the change takes place within minutes.

The zombies in this film run fast and scream while they're running. In most films zombies walk slowly.

What's very different to other films is that the zombies in this film show intelligence in catching victims. They might run fast and loud when they're attacking, but they're smart enough to sneak up behind a victim without making a sound.

There's one really strange thing in this film that's not explained. The zombies collect chairs and build a high tower in a field. Then they stand for hours staring at the chairs. Very weird indeed.

It's a depressing film. The humans are picked off one by one, making it difficult for the viewer to guess who will be left alive at the end, if anyone. It was voted Best Canadian Film at the Toronto Film Festival, which I find difficult to understand. The plot goes nowhere.

You were never really here (4 Stars)

This is the third film in the Stuttgart White Nights Festival.

This is a chilling thriller about an ex-soldier, a hitman for hire. He specialises in retrieving kidnapped children. He's successful in his work, but when he's hired to find a politician's daughter he gets involved in a conspiracy which is over his head.

Joaquin Phoenix received the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his performance in this film. I can see why. He doesn't play a heartless killer like John Wick, he's a tortured soul who struggles with the ethics of what he does. He wants to do good, even if it involves beating people to death.

Technically, not much happens in the film, but what does happen is astounding. Watch out for it in the Academy Award nominations.

Hostile (3 Stars)

This is the second film in the Stuttgart White Nights Festival.

In the near future a virus has spread that has turned most of the human race into flesh-eating monsters. Effectively they're zombies, they just don't look like zombies.

Juliette lives with a small human community, but she has gone out alone to search for food. While returning she has a car accident and suffers a severe leg injury. Out in the desert alone she has to fight off one of the creatures.

The film is beautifully shot, but it's spoilt by a bad ending that made me groan. You'll have to watch it for yourself to see what I mean.

Let the Corpses Tan (3 Stars)

This is the first film in the Stuttgart White Nights Festival.

A gang steals gold bars from a transport van, brutally killing the guards. They take the gold back to a hilltop residence where they're based, which seems to be some sort of hotel. A painter is living at the hotel who has nothing to do with the robbers. On the way back to the residence the robbers pick up three hitchhikers, who are also heading to the hotel. Do robbers really do that when they're fleeing from a crime scene? The hitchhikers are the painter's estranged wife, her son and her maid.

Three motorbike policemen go to the hotel in search of the robbers. From then on it's pure chaos. It seems like everyone is shooting at everyone else. The robbers betray one another. One of the policemen sides with a robber. The painter's family take sides in the fights.

The film is confusing. It's not always clear who's shooting who. The film is non-linear (although that's the smallest problem). The film has frequent imagined fantasy sequences. I would give the film's atmosphere and imagery five stars, while the screenplay gets one star. Three stars is a good average.

After walking out I spoke to a few people about the film. One person said that the film was great, and when I said it was confusing he said I hadn't been paying attention. "Didn't you see the references?" He started to recite a list of 1970's films, but I stopped him and said I already knew it was an homage to 1970's films, so he should just tell me what happened in the film. He couldn't give me an answer.

Marvel Years 02.11 - November 1962

Fantastic Four #8

Title(s): Prisoners of the Puppet Master
In the Hands of the Puppet Master
The Lady and the Monster
Face-to-Face with the Puppet Master
Death of a Puppet

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Puppet Master

Regulars: Alicia Masters

This is a single story split into five parts that have been given individual titles. Before they meet their new enemy, the Puppet Master, we see Reed Richards attempting to devise a cure to turn the Thing back into Ben Grimm. These experiments are repeated so often in the early years of the Fantastic Four that we can consider it a sub-plot.

Technically, Alicia Masters isn't a regular character yet. In later issues she becomes the Thing's girlfriend. I've forgotten when, but I'll remind myself as I re-read the comics this year. I call her the Thing's girlfriend, not Ben Grimm's girlfriend, because she loves the Thing most when he's in his orange rock form.

---

The Incredible Hulk #4

Title: The Monster and the Machine

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Regulars: General Ross, Betty Ross, Rick Jones

This comic contains two short stories. The first story doesn't contain any enemies. It's a development in the Hulk's powers. At the beginning of the story Bruce Banner is permanently the Hulk and Rick Jones has the power to control him. Before this happened Bruce Banner built a gamma ray machine intended to cure himself. Rick Jones orders the Hulk to lie down beneath the machine. Rick pulls a lever, and the Hulk turns back into Bruce Banner.

Bruce is weaker than ever after the transformation. He can't stand and has to be pushed around in a wheelchair. He doesn't want to live like this, so he takes a risk. He makes an adjustment to the machine which he thinks will turn him back into the Hulk without losing his intelligence. It works. He becomes the Hulk, then goes to rescue a family from a burning house. After saving them he goes back to the hidden lab to hide. The next dose of gamma rays turns him back into Bruce Banner, but very weak again. He now has a machine that will turn him into the Hulk and back whenever he wants.

What's curious about this comic is that it breaks Stan Lee's habit of keeping the age of his characters vague. It's clearly stated on page 10 that Rick Jones is 16 years old.

---

Title: The Gladiator from Outer Space

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Communist soldiers

Regulars: Rick Jones

Yet again Communists take on a Marvel hero. Will they never give up?

---

Tales to Astonish #37

Title(s): Trapped by the Protector
Face to Face with the Protector

Writer: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber (uncredited)
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: The Protector

This is a single story split into two parts that have been given individual titles. The issue also contains two short anthology stories.

---

Journey into Mystery #86

Title(s): On the Trail of the Tomorrow Man
Flight to the Future

Writer: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber
Artist: Jack Kirby

Regulars: Jane Foster, Odin

Villain: Zarrko the Tomorrow Man

If you look at the cover page of this comic you'll see something new. It's the first issue in which Thor is featured in the comic's title. "Journey into Mystery" has become "Journey into Mystery starring the Mighty Thor". This is repeated in the next issue, but after that it becomes sporadic. It isn't until issue #104 that the comic is renamed "Journey into Mystery with Thor". From issue #126 onwards the comic is only known as "The Mighty Thor".

This story shows a vision of the future that (possibly) contradicts other Marvel comics. 300 years in the future (the year 2262) there is global peace. No more weapons exist. One man, Zarrko, sees it as an opportunity. He owns the world's only time machine, so he travels back into the past to steal a nuclear weapon; to be precise, he steals a cobalt bomb, whatever that is.

Thor travels into the future to pursue him. We find out that one of Thor's powers is that he can spin his hammer faster than the speed of light. Doesn't that make him dizzy?

The unnamed general on page 3 looks suspiciously like General Thunderbolt Ross from the Hulk comics, and he also looks like the unnamed general in Fantastic Four #3 page 12. Is it the same person in all three comics? Or does Jack Kirby think all generals look the same?

This is a single story split into two parts that have been given individual titles. The issue also contains two short anthology stories.

---

Strange Tales #102

Title(s): Prisoner of the Wizard
Wizard's Wiles

Writer: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber (uncredited)
Artist: Jack Kirby

Regulars: Susan Storm

Villain: The Wizard

This is a single story split into two parts that have been given individual titles. The issue also contains two short anthology stories that are advertised on the cover.

The Wizard later forms the Frightful Four and becomes a frequent enemy of the Fantastic Four.

The Look of Love (4 Stars)

Money can't buy love. But if you have enough money you can maintain the appearance of love for a long time.

When billionaire Paul Raymond died in 2008 he left his son Derry McCarthy nothing. Not one penny. I don't know where he lives now. He's faded into obscurity. It wouldn't surprise me if he's happier than his father ever was.

Click here for a more detailed review.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Skyscraper (3 Stars)

After watching the very good film about Anna Nicole Smith's life I decided to go back and re-watch her films. I own two of the three films in which she had the leading role, and I've put them both on my priority to-watch shelf.

Let's be perfectly honest. Anna Nicole Smith was never a good actor. She was hired to play the leading role in "Skyscraper" because she was a celebrity. She was a moderately successful model, having been Playboy's Playmate of the Year in 1993, but she gained her biggest notoriety from marrying the billionaire oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall. She wasn't someone who wanted to be a rich housewife hidden away in a mansion, she wanted everyone to see her. She wanted to become a big Hollywood star. She had more opportunities than most people, but she didn't have the talent needed to succeed.

A terrorist group calling itself the People's Democratic Liberation Party has acquired the four parts it needs to build a device that can control satellites. Anna Nicole Smith plays Carrie Wisk, a helicopter pilot for Heliscort, a type of flying taxi company that carries passengers from one building to another in Los Angeles. It certainly beats the traffic. She carries two of the terrorists to the roof of the Vitex Building, but before leaving the terrorists secretively break off her radio antenna so that she can't report her position. That's a mistake. If they'd left the antenna intact she would have left to pick up her next customer. Without radio contact she has to go down into the building to phone her boss.

The terrorists take hostages when the police arrive -- couldn't they have collected the four parts of their device at a more discreet place? -- so only Anna Nicole is left to save the hostages, the city and the whole world.

"Skyscraper" has all the merits of an action film made for TV: reasonable special effects and tough guys who can put on impressive fight scenes, but poor acting and a weak script. It wouldn't be worth watching at all if not for Anna Nicole. The film starts with a shower scene, showing Anna Nicole washing her enormous breasts. That's probably what the male viewers are paying to see. After this obligatory nude scene the action starts, slowly at first. Halfway through the film the director must have started worrying that the male viewers would be getting bored, so there's a totally unnecessary flashback of Carrie making love with her husband.

I find one of the later scenes more enjoying. Anna Nicole is captured, and one of the terrorists is assigned to guard her.

Instead of just guarding her he decides to have some fun. Boys will be boys.

He rips Anna Nicole's clothes off, not noticing that she's found a letter opener on the desk. We can't see where she stabs him, but it seems to hurt. Girls will be girls.

So what does a man say when a woman overpowers him? Does he apologise and promise never to do it again? No, he swears at her with vile language that I won't repeat in my blog.

Bad idea. She shoots him with his own gun. He deserved it.

It's this scene that earns the film a three star rating. It's the film's one highlight. It's the one scene that stops the film being completely forgettable.

"Skyscraper" is now out of print on DVD, but it's available to watch on Amazon Prime in America and England. Take a look if you're a member. Maybe you'll like it.

A Thought of Ecstasy (1 Star)

Sometimes I think I'm not cut out to be a film reviewer. Today I watched a film premiere presented by the director Rolf Peter Kahl, or RP Kahl, as he likes to call himself. He was such a nice guy and I immediately liked him as he excitedly talked about his film. The trouble is that I found the film exceedingly dull. I felt like I ought to give the film a higher rating out of sympathy for the director, three stars at least. No. I have to be hard. I've given the film the only rating it deserves.

Frank, also played by Rolf Peter Kahl, is a man from Frankfurt in Germany. He reads a newly published book called "Desert LA" by Ross Sinclair. He immediately recognises himself in the story. 20 years ago he spent some time in Los Angeles and had an affair with a stripper called Marie. For Marie it was a great romance, but for him it was just a casual affair, and he broke off contact when he returned to Germany.

Frank goes back to America to find Marie. The publisher refuses to disclose personal details about the author's name, but she says she's sure the book is a work of fiction. Frank visits strip clubs on the outskirts of Los Angeles, in the middle of the desert. He almost dies when his car breaks down, but a stripper rescues him and lets him live in her home. He pays for his stay by filming sado-masochistic scenes that the strippers perform with customers.

I can see what the director is trying to do. He's imitating the style of David Lynch. He's trying to make a David Lynch film, but he fails. The cinematography is fascinating, sometimes bizarre, sometimes beautiful, and the musical soundtrack is excellent, but the film plods so slowly that it's just not interesting. The characters say their lines woodenly without any hint of emotion. The sex scenes are so unerotic that not even a 14-year-old boy would be aroused. The film is dull. That's the only word to describe it. Dull.

The Ninth Gate (5 Stars)

What's Roman Polanski's best film? Some would answer "Rosemary's Baby". Others would say "The Pianist". They're both excellent choices, but I disagree. I believe that "The Ninth Gate" stands out above all of his other films. It's a supernatural story, but it also has lots of action. It's a very well written film. From the opening scenes on it's emphasised that Dean Corso, played by Johnny Depp, is an unscrupulous bad guy, but we still feel sympathy for him and want him to succeed in his investigations.

Dean Corso carries out detective work, but he's a book detective. Has that ever been the subject of any other film? Boris Balkan, a millionaire book collector in New York, has recently acquired a copy of "The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows", an extremely rare 17th Century book. He suspects his book might be a forgery, so he hires Dean to compare it with the only other two copies known to exist. One copy is in Portugal, the other in France. It might seem like a simple job, but he finds that people are willing to kill him to get their hands on the book he's carrying with him.

This is one of my favourite ever films, in my top 20 at least. I can't praise it highly enough. I also think it's Johnny Depp's best performance.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

The Girl with all the Gifts (5 Stars)

This is a zombie film for people who don't like zombie films. A deadly virus has turned 99% of the world's population into mindless flesh-eating creatures. The infection spreads fast. One bite and the victim becomes a zombie within minutes. There's no known cure.

At least, there's no known cure yet. Dr. Caroline Caldwell is researching into a cure in a military facility in central England. The key is a group of children that the army has captured. They were all babies in the bellies of pregnant women shortly before giving birth at the time when their mothers were infected. The children are different to other zombies. They're flesh-eaters, but they're intelligent and can talk.

Helen Justineau, played by Gemma Arterton, is a teacher who educates the children. She's particularly attached to Melanie, the girl who shows more intelligence than any of the other children.

The army base is overrun by zombies, and only six people escape: three soldiers, Dr. Caldwell, Helen Justineau and Melanie. Together they have to fight to survive against overwhelming odds.

The film has action and suspense, but it's also full of heartbreak and emotion. This is what all zombie films should be like.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

The Commuter (4 Stars)

Mike McAuley commutes to New York City every day, a 69 minute train journey from Peekskill to Grand Central Station. He's been selling life insurance in the City for the last 10 years. After thousands of journeys on the same train at the same times every day he recognises the familiar faces of fellow travellers, and he even exchanges words with some of them. It's a pleasant enough journey. For almost the whole journey the train follows the bank of the River Hudson. You just have to sit on the right side of the train to enjoy the view.

In a single day his whole life changes. His boss tells him his company is downsizing, so he has to leave. When an American company says "leave" they mean "leave now". No notice is given. Out is out. Mike complains that at 60 he has no chance of finding a new job, but who cares? Out is out.

At the train station a man bumps into him who steals his wallet and his mobile phone. I have some advice for my friends. If you wear a jacket, don't keep your wallet in the jacket pocket. You're too vulnerable. Trouser pockets are much better.

On the train a woman sits down opposite him. She offers him a small job, based on his experience as a regular commuter. He has to identify a person who doesn't belong on the train. He isn't told if it's a man or a woman, just that the person is travelling to Cold Spring. If he succeeds he will be given $100,000. If he fails, or if he tells anyone else about his task, his wife and son will be killed.

That's a very weird task. When I saw the film's trailer I thought it was stupid. However, as the train rolls on from stop to stop it all falls into place. It all begins to make sense.

Liam Neeson amazes me. He's 65 now, five years older than the character he's playing in the film, and yet he's still tough enough to play an action hero. As the plot unravels he gets into repeated fights with other passengers on the train.

The film might be a mystery, but in the foreground there's non-stop action. The film is thrilling from the beginning to the end of the train journey. By the time the film ends you'll be breathless. It's incredible.

Marvel Years 02.10 - October 1962

Fantastic Four #7

Title(s): It came from the skies
Outlawed
Bound for Planet X
Twenty-Four Hours Till Zero
The End of Planet X

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Kurrgo

This is a single story split into five parts that have been given individual titles. A planetary evacuation is solved by Reed Richards creating a shrinking gas and an enlarging gas. The shrinking gas reduces the planet's inhabitants in size so that they'll all fit into one space ship. After arriving at their destination the enlarging gas will return them to normal size.

That's a good idea, and Reed Richards' genius allows him to invent a reducing gas within a few hours. Wow! However, he lied about creating the enlarging gas. On the new planet the former inhabitants of Planet X have to remain small. But how many readers can spot the blunder in the panel above? Reed Richards says "no reducing gas" when he means "no enlarging gas". Stan slipped up, but only once.

---

Journey into Mystery #85

Title(s): Trapped by Loki, the God of Mischief
The Vengeance of Loki

Writer: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber (uncredited)
Artist: Jack Kirby

Regulars: Jane Foster, Odin, Heimdall, Balder, Tyr

Villain: Loki

This is a single story split into two parts that have been given individual titles. We see Loki for the first time, who has been trapped in a tree for hundreds of years. The question arises, why isn't he put back in a tree after Thor defeats him? That would keep him out of the way for another few hundred years.

This is also the first Thor story that shows the other Gods of Asgard. Odin, Heimdall and Balder return in later issues. I can't remember ever seeing Tyr again. In Norse mythology he was the God of Justice and one of the other sons of Odin.

The issue also contains two short anthology stories which are named on the cover.

---

Tales to Astonish #36

Title: The Challenge of Comrade X

Writer: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber (uncredited)
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Comrade X

The story is split into two parts, but they aren't individually named. Once more the enemy is a Communist agent. In this issue he's named.

The issue also contains two short anthology stories.

---

Strange Tales #101

Title(s): The Human Torch
The Flaming Fury Strikes Back

Writer: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber (uncredited)
Artist: Jack Kirby

Regulars: The Thing

Villain: The Destroyer

After "Journey into Mystery" and "Tales to Astonish", "Strange Tales" is the third Marvel anthology comic which is headlined by a super-hero. (If you include "Amazing Fantasy", which was cancelled after the 15th issue, it's the fourth). This time it isn't a new hero, it's the Human Torch, who we already know as a member of the Fantastic Four. Amusingly, the cover states that he appears "by permission of the Fantastic Four magazine", as if it were necessary to ask for permission. This is one of the little jokes that Stan Lee liked to spring on readers over the years when he was a regular writer.

This is an example of Marvel's infamous "editor's notes" that used to explain what was happening in the story. We can be certain they were never written by the editor Martin Goodman. They were Stan's own words. Is that a dual personality? Stan says that four of Johnny's schoolmates knew of his secret identity. In Fantastic Four #3 (page 18) we see three of his friends in a cafe who know his identity. In Fantastic Four #4 (pages 4 to 6) we see another three of his friends in a garage who know his identity. Maybe they weren't the exact same friends, and there were only four distinct people in the two groups.

Until now the Human Torch has only had one ability: he could turn into flame and fly. In this comic we see that he has other abilities.

1. He can control nearby flame (page 5).
2. He can partially turn into flame, for instance if he wants to use his hands to carry someone without burning him (page 5).
3. He can shoot fire pellets from his fingertip (page 7).
4. He can create a duplicate of himself out of fire (page 8). By combining this with the first ability in this list he can make the duplicate move.

When will the Human Torch catch up with these abilities in the Fantastic Four comics? We'll have to wait and see.

This is a single story split into two parts that have been given individual titles. The issue also contains two short anthology stories.

There's one small thing that I should have mentioned before now. The writers and artists weren't usually credited in Marvel's anthology comics, including the super-hero stories. It's easy to see who the artists were because of their distinctive styles. Stan Lee always wrote the plot, unless otherwise stated. What's uncertain is who wrote the script, especially if the scripter was Stan's younger brother Larry Lieber. In those cases I use the information from the Marvel Database, which is based on Stan's memories of the 1960's.