Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

  • Title: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
  • IMDb: link

Widely regarded as one of the worst films ever made, the low-budget Santa Claus Conquers the Martians features a story about Martians kidnapping Santa Claus (John Call), and two American children (Victor Stiles and Donna Conforti), to Mars to instill the spirit of Christmas and wonder in their own children. Just about as wacky as it sounds, the story also takes a turn when one of the Martian (Vincent Beck) soldiers, disagreeing with this plan to sully Martian society with Earth nonsense, repeatedly attempts to sabotage the endeavor and murder Santa and the children.

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians Read More »

Black Doves – Go Bang Time

  • Title: Black Doves – Go Bang Time
  • IMDb: link

While suggesting there’s something more keeping Sam (Ben Whishaw) from killing Hector (Luther Ford), who he lets go again, the raid does snag the missing Kai-Ming (Isabella Wei) who sadly can shed no light on who killed her father or Helen’s (Keira Knightley) lover Jason (Andrew Koji). There’s plenty of carnage in the shoot-out, but its the maneuverings and the bits of info that begin to trickle out in the rest of the episode where things start to pick up. Given a new assignment, in getting the CIA Agent (Finn Bennett) out of the American Embassy for Mrs. Reed (Sarah Lancashire), Helen also hopes to get the answers she seeks. However, very little goes according to plan.

Black Doves – Go Bang Time Read More »

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

  • Title: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
  • IMDb: link

Director Johan Grimonprez‘s film is an unusually structured documentary blending music, soundbites, interviews, archival footage, and narration from different sources to examine jazz, decolonization, subversion, autonomy, political assassination, and Cold War clashing ideologies all through the lens of the murder of prime minister Patrice Lumumba of the newly independent Congo which was unwittingly aided by Louis Armstrong in his role as an ambassador to Africa.

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat Read More »

West Coast Avengers #2

The second issue of West Coast Avengers features the team taking on some gun runners who turn out to be the Sovereign Sons led by Flag-Smasher. Spider-Woman gets a bit of a highlight here as the point woman with the others jumping in as the battle heats up. By putting a cruise ship at risk, our baddie manages to escape (after going toe-to-toe with the team without having to break a sweat). I’d expect to see Flag-Smasher again, although a new antagonist is revealed at the end of the issue.

West Coast Avengers #2 Read More »