Bastille Day (4½ Stars)

This is a fast-paced action film made in 2016, starring Idris Elba looking more like James Bond than James Bond. It's not boring for a moment, from beginning to end. That makes it all the more puzzling that the critics have rated it so poorly.

The film is about Michael Mason, an American pick-pocket in Paris who's wrongly accused of a major crime. He steals a carrier bag that contains a mobile phone and a stuffed toy. He pockets the phone and throws the bag away in a street corner. A minute later there's an explosion that kills four people. There was a bomb hidden in the stuffed toy. CCTV footage identifies him as the man who placed the bomb.

The CIA agent Sean Briar (Idris Elba) is the first to find Michael. After initial doubts, he believes Michael's story, even though his superior officers are pressuring him to hand Michael over to the French police. There's something bigger going on. The bomb was just a warning for a bigger attack planned for Bastille Day. Sean relies on Michael's help in foiling the plot.

The film was a box office success. Cinema audiences know a good film when they see one.

Success Rate:  + 1.7

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Meet Joe Black (5 Stars)

This is an unusual film. It's a supernatural film that's moving and emotional. Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt are perfectly matched in their respective roles.

The media tycoon Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) has a heart attack shortly before his 65th birthday. Death (personified) speaks to him and tells him that it's his time to die, but he'll give him a few extra days if Bill will do him a favour. Death has been watching the Earth for thousands of years, but he wants to walk the Earth as a man and have Bill show him around. He occupies the body of a young man (Brad Pitt) who's just died. He enters Bill's life, living in his home and attending his board meetings, which puzzles everyone around Bill.

But more happens. Death (whom Bill has spontaneously named Joe Black) falls in love with Bill's daughter Susan. It's mutual. Bill is horrified, because he doesn't see how this relationship can possibly succeed.

The film is serious, but it has many comic episodes resulting from Death's naivety in living as a human being. As the film progresses there are repeated clashes between the two men. Death is all-powerful and expects to be obeyed, but Bill is a business executive who is also used to having his wishes followed.

This is a beautiful film, made more intense by the deliberate, slow pacing. It's been criticised for being too long, almost three hours, but that's not too much. "A good film is never too long, a bad film is never too short". This is an excellent film, and I wouldn't have complained if it had lasted an extra hour.

Success Rate:  - 0.4

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Suspiria [2018] (2 Stars)

When I saw this film in the cinema two years ago, I gave it the benefit of the doubt. I didn't completely understand what was happening, so I thought I would be able to judge it better after watching it again. Today I finally returned to the film, and I understand most of what happened. The after-credits scene still puzzles me. Now that I understand the film, I have to say that I don't like it. There are a lot of good ideas, but that's the problem: there are too many ideas thrown together. There's no reason to include the news reports of the Baader Meinhof Gang and the hijacked plane in Mogadishu. I'm old enough to remember these events, but they'll only confuse younger viewers. The tales of Nazi persecution are interesting, but unnecessary in this film. As for the Berlin Wall, why do we have to see it in the background of so many scenes? There are too many spurious details.

The original version of this film was simpler. The lack of complexity made it better. The remake is beautiful and stylistic, but it's a bloated failure.

And what's the point in having Tilda Swinton play three different roles?

Success Rate:  - 2.6

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Savage Beach (4 Stars)

This is the fourth film in the Andy Sidaris collection, made in 1989. Here's a competition for my readers: think up a caption for the picture of Andy Sidaris and Julie Strain. The winner will get an honourable mention in my blog. You can't turn down a reward like that!

This is a complex story of greed. "The love of money is the root of all evil" (1. Timothy 6:10). In this case it's not about dollar bills, the object of desire is ten gold bars, stolen from the Philippines in 1945 and hidden on a Pacific island ever since. The story is complex, because so many different people are chasing the gold for their own purposes, some more idealistic than others, with multiple layers of deception. Let me see if I can list them all:

Rodrigo Martinez is a representative of the Philippine government, charged with retrieving the gold. He's being supported by the US navy officer, Captain Andreas, and Major Harrison of the US army. Captain Andreas is the only one of them who's on the level. Martinez wants to give the gold to a revolutionary group, and Major Harrison is really a CIA agent who wants to keep the gold for America. When the other members of the revolutionary group arrive on the island, they reveal that they want the gold for themselves to sell it to the highest bidder. There's also a lone Japanese soldier on the island who's been guarding the gold for his general ever since 1945. Caught in the middle are Donna and Taryn, who crash landed on the island in the middle of a storm while delivering medicine.

They have no idea why everyone is shooting at everyone else, but Donna joins in the fun.

So does Taryn. Never underestimate a small girl with a big gun.

This is the island's savage beach. Spectacular!

But somehow I think the girls prefer their warm jacuzzi in Hawaii. I know where I'd rather be. From left to right we have Pattycakes (Patty Duffek), Rocky (Lisa London), Taryn (Hope Marie Carlton) and Donna (Dona Speir).

Poor Andy. His wife Arlene won't let him jump into the jacuzzi with the girls. He's only allowed a cameo role as a radio operator.

This film features only five former Playboy models. I say only, because the last film, "Picasso Trigger", had seven Playboy models.

• Teri Weigel, shown above as Martinez's girlfriend Angelica, was Playmate of the Month in April 1986.
• Dona Spier (Donna) was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in March 1984.
• Hope Marie Carlton (Taryn) was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in July 1985.
• Patty Duffek (Patticakes) was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in May 1984.
• Maxina Wasa also appeared in Playboy, month unknown.

This is Maxina Wasa, distracting agent Shane Abilene from his work. Shane is the replacement for his cousins Cody Abilene ("Malibu Express"), Rowdy Abilene ("Hard Ticket To Hawaii") and Travis Abilene ("Picasso Trigger").

Shane's cousins must have told him he'd be surrounded by hot girls. They'd make any man keep coming.

You might get the impression from this review that it's all about sexy women, but this is also a highly enjoyable action film. It's worth watching, especially now that it's finally been released on Blu-ray.

Chloe (4 Stars)

This isn't necessarily one of my favourite films, but it's a film I keep returning to. I've watched it more often than films I rate higher. I have to ask myself if four stars is too high, because it has a cheap feeling to it, like a television movie, but it still fascinates me. It's a good story with great acting, but something about the cinematography lets it down. It's difficult for me to describe exactly what it is.

Catherine Stewart suspects her husband of having an affair, and maybe he's even had several affairs. I'll give away a spoiler: it's not true. He's been faithful all the years they were married. He flirts with other women, but it never goes past words. I can relate to that, because I see myself in him. I've always been flirtatious, even while I was married, but I still remained faithful.

Catherine hires Chloe, a beautiful young call girl, to test her husband. She asks Chloe to meet her husband and seduce him. That's a dangerous game. Chloe is being paid to succeed, so she'll do anything within her power to get him into bed. Could any man resist temptation like that, especially when the girl is as sexy as Amanda Seyfried?

Here's a small anecdote. In the 1980's the British army hired three girls to test the security at military bases, in Britain and Germany. The idea was that they should try to seduce the security guard to leave his post. Any guard who failed the test would be court-martialled. What the army didn't reckon with is that the girls treated it as a competition. They kept in contact with one another, comparing their results. The girl who won the competition had a 100% success rate. Was it a fair test? No, the guards were set up to fail, but it could just as well have been Russian spies trying to break into a base.

Back to the film: what Catherine didn't expect is that Chloe has her own agenda. She's not satisfied with just doing her job; she also seduces Catherine herself and Catherine's teenage son. She takes over the family.

This film is included with Amazon Prime, but I strongly recommend that you watch it on DVD or Blu-ray. The discs include two alternative endings. They're both better than the ending in the film. They're not really alternatives. To understand the film's message you have to watch both of them. I can imagine what happened. The director filmed both endings, and he couldn't decide which one to use, so he used neither. They should both have been used, even if it meant restructuring the film. One of the endings could have been slightly refilmed and put into a mid-credits sequence. There has to be a way this could have been done better. As it is, you need to watch both alternative endings after watching the film. If you don't do that, you'll miss out.

Success Rate:  - 0.9

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Sadly, this film has only been released on DVD in the UK. If you want to watch it on Blu-ray, buy the German release.

Extra Ordinary (5 Stars)

If ghosts are all around us, why don't we see them? Maybe we're looking in the wrong places. Maybe we should check the rubbish bins. Most ghosts are shy and don't want to be observed. They're scared some amateur exorcist might come and try to banish them, even though they're not doing any harm. It's understandable. If I loved someone I wouldn't want to move on, I'd want to stay near and watch over them.

That's Martin's problem. His wife died recently, but she's still in his house, taking care of him. She puts the shirts on the bed that she wants him to wear. She throws his donuts in the bin, because she wants him to lose weight. Most of all, she stops him meeting other women, because she's insanely jealous. Now he's had enough. He visits his village's local exorcist, Rose Dooley, who also runs a driving school. She wants to help him, but first she has to deal with another problem. An Australian pop star who's bought a nearby castle, wants to sacrifice a virgin to make himself successful again. And guess who the village's only virgin is? It's Sarah, Martin's daughter.

This is an excellent film, the best Irish horror comedy I've ever seen. I saw it at the 2019 Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival. It should have been in the cinemas in March this year, but that was cancelled due to the Coronavirus. It's been released on DVD in Germany, and its cinema release has been indefinitely delayed in other countries. That's a shame, considering it's such an outstanding film. Critics agree, judging by the 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Una (2 Stars)

When she was 13, Una had an affair with Ray, a man in his late thirties, a friend of her father's. She planned to run away with him, but due to a misunderstanding she thought he'd backed out, and she admitted everything to her parents. The police came, Ray was convicted as a paedophile, and he spent four years in prison. Now it's fifteen years later. Despite having been told for years that Ray is a bad man, she makes contact with him. She still loves him. Ray has moved on, Una hasn't.

The film has a lot of interesting ideas. It's not judgemental about the relationship with a young girl. It happened. In some societies it would have been acceptable, but not in modern day England. Ray isn't a predator, he was just caught up in something beyond his control. He'd never been attracted to young girls in the past, it was all about Una winning his heart.

Despite all the interesting ideas, this is a poorly made film. If you don't already know what the film is about (from watching the trailer or reading the first paragraph of this post), you'll have no idea what's happening for the first 15 minutes. The film jumps backwards and forwards from 13-year-old Una to 28-year-old Una, and it's not even obvious that they're the same person.

The film isn't very satisfying. Una wants Ray back in her life, but he resists her. It took me an hour of the film to overcome my aversion to the mixed age relationship, and just when I was hoping that Una's love would triumph, it all came crashing down. The acting by the main characters is outstanding, but the film leaves a sour taste.

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The Wave (5 Stars)

This is another very good film that's been gathering dust in my basement for more than 10 years. It's a German political drama that's disturbing but fascinating at the same time.

The school teacher Rainer Wenger is required to do a project week on authoritarianism. When he talks to his class about the Third Reich, children say that it's something that could never happen in today's enlightened Germany. He conducts an experiment. Relying on his own charisma, he persuades his class that they can do better if they stick together, the more intelligent children aiding the less intelligent. Social differences can be covered up by wearing the same clothes, jeans and a white shirt. The teenage children are motivated, and give themselves a name, "Die Welle" (engl. "The Wave"). Within a week they're idolising him as their leader.

Can the evils of Fascism ever happen again? Yes they can. All it needs is the right circumstances and a strong man able to take advantage of those weaker than himself. Don't say it can never happen again. It can.

Success Rate:  + 4.5

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Super Ninja Doll (4 Stars)

"I'm Asian. I'll always be a schoolgirl" (Christine Nguyen, 11th November 2020).

"Super Ninja Doll" is the third film included in the Christine Nguyen Collection. This was a necessary rerelease, because the original DVD was long out of stock. Unfortunately, the Christine Nguyen Collection is now also sold out, and I have no way of knowing if it will ever be made available again.

As in "Voodoo Dollz", Christine is playing a schoolgirl once more. It's a role she plays well, however old she gets. She's a naughty girl who reads comics in class. What she doesn't know is that her comic is a portal from another universe. A warrior called Gorath enters our world in order to steal the Earth's most intelligent scientists.

There weren't any girls like this in my school. I grew up in the wrong country.

Click here for a more detailed review.

The Doors (5 Stars)

It's been a long time since I last watched this film. More than 10 years, since it hasn't been mentioned on my blog. The title of the film is "The Doors", but it's really about Jim Morrison. The other band members hardly get any screen time, and their characters aren't fleshed out enough for us to get to know them.

I enjoy the film a lot (as should be obvious from my rating). Val Kilmer was an excellent choice to play Jim Morrison. He's fascinating from his early years (1965) until his death (1971). He was doubtlessly a genius, based on the poetry he wrote. Were the drugs that he took (mainly LSD) an inspiration or a hindrance for his poetry? They were probably both. LSD opened his mind to new thoughts, but as he continued the drugs took control of him and stifled his creativity. Added to the problem is that he mixed drugs and alcohol. There may be different opinions on the harm or benefit of several recreational drugs, but one thing all experts agree on is that alcohol and drugs shouldn't be mixed.

The film has a dreamlike quality. Jim Morrison's trips repeatedly bring back memories of a dead Indian (Native American) that he saw in a car crash as a child. He considers him to be a shaman. I don't know whether this actually happened in his life, but it makes the film more fascinating.

Today, after watching the film, I read that the film has been heavily criticised by those who knew Jim, in particular the other members of the Doors. They think that he was portrayed too negatively in his later years. I can't comment on this. I just know that the way he's shown makes a good film. It could have been called "The Rise and Fall of Jim Morrison". In his 27 years he lived more than most people live in a hundred years.

I might have written more about this film, but the bugs in the new Blogger interface take a lot of the joy out of writing. How long will it take for Google's Blogger team to fix the critical bugs, let alone the minor bugs?

Success Rate:  - 0.9

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Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (4 Stars)

I probably saw the trailer for this film more than any film ever. At the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival in 2019 it was shown at least three times a day. The people in attendance learnt the dialogue of the trailer by heart, and they were reciting the lines whenever it was shown. Ironically, I missed it when it was finally shown on the last day of the festival, because it was shown too late. I always missed the last film, because I needed to catch the last bus.

The film takes place in 1968, against the background of the Vietnam War. It's a constant theme in conversations and news reports. It begins on Halloween. Four teenagers visit a haunted house. In the late 19th Century it was the residence of Sarah Bellows, a woman who killed children. She disappeared, but years later her corpse was found in the basement, where she'd been locked up by her family. Supposedly, anyone who sat in the basement could hear her telling stories.

They find the room where Sarah was trapped. They find a book in which Sarah wrote her stories. It's full of scary stories. Stella Nicholls takes it home to read it. Later in the evening she sees a story writing itself. It's about a boy in her school turning into a scarecrow. The next day the boy has disappeared, and she finds a scarecrow wearing his clothing. Over the next few days this repeats itself: a new story is written each evening by an invisible hand, always about one of her friends, always leading to the person's death. The events in the story take place in real life while the story is being written.

This is a good film, only marred by the appearance of silly looking monsters. I suppose it's supposed to be a series of stories, so the monsters don't have to look realistic within the context of the film. I've always liked horror films that take place with high school children, and the contemporary pop music makes it sound like "Scream". The film ends with a hook for a sequel. It was a financial success, so we can expect a sequel as soon as it's permitted by the Coronavirus.

Success Rate:  + 2.2

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Voodoo Dollz (4 Stars)

"I make wax dolls, I stick pins into the most exciting places".

After the "Voodoo Dollz" DVD was sold out, it was included in the Christine Nguyen Collection, which is now also out of print. If you want to get your hands on it, you'll have to look for a used copy on Ebay, and I'm not selling mine!

Christine Nguyen plays Christina, a girl who's expelled from her boarding school when she's caught indulging in lesbian activities. Girls just wanna have fun. She's sent to another girls school, which is a front for a demon worshipping cult. The fact that the headmistress's name is Miss Damballa should have been a clue. Christina is due to be a human sacrifice.

This is a fun film, not to be taken too seriously, but enjoyable if you're a big fan of Christine Nguyen, and they don't come much bigger than me.

Mortal Engines (2 Stars)

This is a post-apocalyptic action film. It takes place a thousand years after a catastrophe called the Sixty Minute War destroyed civilisation, splitting the Earth open and rearranging the continents. The survivors have developed rolling cities that chase and swallow other cities for fuel. The most aggressive predator city is London, which has travelled to Bavaria in search of old technology to build new weapons.

I don't like post-apocalyptic films, apart from very few exceptions. They all tend towards speculation and silliness. The idea of rolling cities is ridiculous, because the mechanical problems are insurmountable. This is a cute film with some nice special effects, but it can't be taken seriously.

One more matter: I always like to hear your thoughts on my blog posts. Most comments are left on my Facebook page, where I advertise my posts, but I would prefer to hear from you in the comments box below.

Success Rate:  - 1.2

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Frozen (3 Stars)

Something about this film has fascinated me for years, ever since it was first released in 2013. It was a mixture of the quirky little faces and the beautiful theme song "Let it go". For years I've been tempted to buy it on Blu-ray, but the price remained too high. So I waited for it to be released on Netflix or Amazon Prime. No luck.

Then the new streaming service, Disney Plus, was founded. I didn't want to sign up for it, partly because I was opposed to the creation of yet another streaming service, partly because it was overpriced in comparison with the Big Two. Recently my son Benjamin signed up for Disney Plus, and he offered to share his account with me. Four people are allowed to stream from one account simultaneously, which is generous, almost making up for the high price.

So today I logged in to Disney Plus and searched for "Frozen". No such film. What? That can't be. How could Disney fail to include one of their most popular recent films? So I scrolled through the animated movies on offer, and what did I see? "Die Eiskönigin". That's the German title for "Frozen". It never occurred to me to search for that. When I want to watch films on Netflix or Amazon Prime, I can always search for the original English titles, however much the German title differs. Disney ought to consider improving their search function.

Elsa and Anna are two princesses, the daughters of the King of Arendelle. Elsa, the older sister, can do magic, creating and controlling ice and snow. She does tricks to entertain Anna. One day there's an accident, and Anna is badly injured. A troll is called to heal her, which he does, but he says that to remain healthy she must be separated from her sister until they're adults. Strange. In addition, Elsa must cease to perform magic. She wears gloves at all times, because the magic comes from her hands.

The King dies. On Anna's 21st birthday she's crowned the Queen of Arendelle. This is the first day that Anna is allowed to see her since their early childhood. While arguing, Anna pulls off Elsa's glove, and Arendelle is plunged into a cold winter. She's unable to undo the spell. The people call her a witch, so she has to flee. Only Anna believes in her sister's goodness, so she sets off to find her.

There are a lot more details to the story, but the only thing I'll add is that Anna, not Elsa, is the film's main character, even though the German title (literally "The Ice Queen") is named after Elsa.

I'm not saying that I didn't like the film, but it didn't thrill me either. I fail to see why it's become so popular. That's not just because of my age. There are other children's films that I enjoy. All I can say is that the film didn't speak to me.

I've read that the film deviates strongly from the original fairy tale, because it was considered too adult to be a children's film. I'm curious. Now I'll have to read it.

Success Rate:  + 6.5

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Bikini Girls from the Lost Planet (4 Stars)

I'm still experimenting with my new television set and 4K Blu-ray Player. I've already seen how well it upscales films from the standard 1080p resolution to 4K quality. I was highly impressed. Today I wanted to see how it handles upscaling from DVD resolution (probably 540p) to 4K. The picture was good, but not perfect. It was slightly blurred, especially in complex scenes with a lot of people. Nevertheless, it's an improvement over upscaling to 1080p.

Click here to read my review of this film. The original release is long out of print, and even the rerelease in the Christine Nguyen Collection, pictured above, is now unavailable. This is an item that you had to grab while it was hot.

Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters (3 Stars)

As you can see if you compare this post with my last two reviews of "Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters", my ratings aren't always consistent. I change my mind. It often depends on my mood when I watch a film. If I think a film is absolutely brilliant the first time I see it, it will always get a five star rating, however many times I watch it. On the other hand, if a film is merely good to average, my rating can oscillate between three and four stars. Three stars is the lowest rating I've given to the film so far.

I'll always remember this film as the beginning of a new period in my life. It was the first film that I went to see with the Birmingham Film Group on 27th February 2013. Until then I'd watched films almost exclusively at home. My daughter Fiona, who still lived with me at the time, suggested that I look online for a film group in Birmingham. She was worried that I was becoming a hermit. It was one of the best suggestions that she ever made to me. I finally developed a social life.

At the film group I met Mike McAuley, the group's leader. Over the next months we became close friends. I'd go as far as to say he was one of my best friends. A year later I became a co-host in the film group. We made it a routine that I hosted one film a week (usually on Wednesday) and Mike hosted one film a week (usually on Sunday). In addition, he frequently hosted social meetings on Saturdays, which I always attended. It was usual for Mike and I to be the last ones to leave.

Mike was disappointed when I said I was moving to Germany in 2016. He tried to talk me out of it, for several reasons. Firstly, he thought that the film group would suffer without my help. Secondly, he would miss me as a friend. I wasn't his best friend, but those that he considered his best friends all lived in different parts of the country. A possible third reason, which he didn't state directly, was that he felt that I was betraying my country by leaving. Maybe I'm wrong about this, because I'm basing this opinion on remarks he made while he was drunk.

Time went by. Four years. I stayed in touch with Mike, speaking with him regularly on Facebook, and I visited him whenever I was in England. In Germany I formed a new film group in Stuttgart. Then the Coronavirus lockdowns started. Mike organised online meetups for social purposes or to watch films, so I was an active participant in his group once more. Then something strange happened. Mike started to send me rude messages on Facebook, usually late at night. I shrugged them off, because I assumed he'd been drinking. Then the following conversation took place on my timeline:

As you can see, I was being polite and understanding with him, but he was totally crazy. In the following conversation my friends jumped to my defence. They confirmed that I'd never said I wanted Boris Johnson to die. My friends all know that I'm a strong supporter of Boris Johnson. I consider him to be the best prime minister the UK has had in the last 30 years.

At first I thought Mike McAuley had made a mistake. However, the matter escalated further. He began to spread lies about me on his Facebook timeline. He unfriended me to stop me reading what he was writing, but my friends sent me screenshots of the conversations. For instance:

This is interesting for a few reasons. First, he's backed away from saying that I wanted Boris Johnson to die. This is probably because too many people told him it wasn't true. He's gone on to accuse me of hate speech in general. My friends know that I never indulge in hate speech of any form, but anyone who doesn't know me might believe him.

Secondly, who is Phil Murtagh? I don't know him, and he's certainly never been on my Facebook friends list. How can someone who doesn't know me call me racist or bigoted? It's possible he's confused me with another Mike.

Thirdly, Andy Pettitt (who is Mike's best friend) says I've been warned repeatedly. What's he talking about? When was I ever warned about wanting Boris Johnson or any other politician to die? Andy was one of my Facebook friends, so I sent him a message asking him about it. Instead of replying, he unfriended me immediately. I can understand him taking Mike's side as his best friend, but I'm disappointed that he didn't have the moral integrity to look into the matter and find out what Mike was talking about.

So what's it all about? It's not about Boris Johnson or racism. The problem must lie elsewhere. I think it had to do with my recent appearances in the online meetups. I talked with the people, mostly new members who hadn't been in the group in 2016, and they liked me. This bothered Mike. To explain this I need to go back to 2013. 

On one of our first meetings Mike McAuley boasted to me that he'd had sex with 300 women. I was impressed, but when he left the room one of the other group members said, "It's not true. That's what he tells everyone to make himself sound special". In the following years I realised it was something he often repeated, so I just smiled and nodded, winking at anyone else who was listening.

When I became a co-host of the film group, many people who only visited during the week met me first and considered me the group's leader. Eventually they met Mike, and I told them he was Big Mike, I was only Little Mike. But they still confided in me. One of the members, Elisha, complained to me that Mike had been sexually harassing her by text. I told her that he often misbehaves when he's drunk, but she wasn't happy with my excuse and left the group. A few months later it happened again. Emma, a very good friend of mine, complained that Mike had been sexually harassing her. Once more I told her that he was drunk, but she said that the text messages came early in the day, so he couldn't have been drunk. Emma broke off her friendship with me because I was defending Mike. After I left England in 2016 my daughter Fiona joined the group, and the same happened with her. Mike was sending her sexual messages less than a week before his wedding. This time I spoke to Mike, and he denied it. Fiona sent me screenshots to prove it was true. She also left the film group.

Mike knew by now that women were telling me about him. He'd wanted me to remain in England for the sake of his group, but now that I was gone he wanted me to stay away. I wouldn't have made a connection, but after the initial arguments with Mike in Facebook another two women came forward and told me Mike had sexually harassed them. One of them, Anne, had left the group immediately. The other has remained in the group, and she's asked me not to name her. Anne thinks that Mike only harasses women to make up for his inadequacy at hardly ever having had sex.

I think it's sad that things have turned out like this. For seven years Mike McAuley was one of my best friends. Now he's decided to spread lies about me. This post tells the truth, for anyone who's willing to listen. Despite everything, I don't bear a grudge. If Mike apologises to me in public, everything will be forgiven.

Success Rate:  + 2.5

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Duel of Fists (3 Stars)

This is a Chinese film, made in 1971. With the exception of the opening scenes, it's filmed on location in Bangkok. It's been released with different titles over the years, including "Fan Chu" and "The Chinese Connection". The latter name is confusing, because several films have been released with this title.

Fan Chu is an engineer on a Hong Kong building site. He's called to the death bed of his father, who owns a martial arts school. His father tells him that shortly after he got married he was on business in Bangkok and had an affair with a young woman. A baby was born that he's never seen. His dying wish is for Fan Chu to meet his brother, who's now 23 years old. He doesn't know his son's name, he just knows that he's a Thai Boxer. It's weird for a jilted lover to keep her son's name secret but to give information about his career. It's a necessary construction for the plot, but it's very artificial. The only way Fan Chu will be able to recognise his brother is by a tattoo on his arm. That's another artificial construction, and it would never have been a help if the missing brother were working in an office.

The viewer is shown Fan Chu's brother, Wenlie. He's a highly gifted Thai Boxer, but he's being harassed by a gang boss called Xu who wants to become his new manager, so he can rig his matches. The reigning champion is Cannon, who also works for Xu. He's famous for killing his opponents in the ring.

Fan Chu arrives in Bangkok and soon meets Wenlie, but he doesn't know it's him while he's fully dressed. It isn't until he attends a boxing match between Wenlie and Cannon that he knows it's his brother.

This is the weakest Shaw Brothers film I've seen so far. The plot is infeasible from beginning to end. Added to this, David Chiang, the actor who plays Fan Chu, isn't realistic as a martial arts fighter. I don't know whether this is because he's lacking skill or the choreography is poor. The fights just don't look like fights, they look like a third rate ballet. Wenlie's fights, which are in a completely different fighting style, look more realistic.

Here are a few lobby cards from the film's British release as "The Chinese Connection".

This film has been released in Germany on Blu-ray with English and German subtitles.