Media Notes: Roundup for April 2020

This is a somewhat random selection of the movies and series on DVD and/or online I watched during April 2020.


Movies and films (links to IMDB.com for basic information unless noted otherwise). Some of these I watched via TubiTv.com or other online source. The DVDs come from the public library (unless noted otherwise). In addition, I will try to add other trivia notes, such as when a film is based on a book adding the information about the book (at least the WorldCat record if available):

• 31 (2016. Horror. Thriller). One of Rob Zombie's films. The plot: "Five carnival workers are kidnapped and held hostage in an abandoned, hellish compound where they are forced to participate in a violent game, the goal of which is to survive twelve hours against a gang of sadistic clowns" I suppose kind of a take on stories like The Most Dangerous Game.It is not bad, but it is not great either. Each clown has their gimmick, but overall the movie is fairly slow, not that tense to be honest. Malcolm McDowell's character leads the game and is wagering on whether the carnies will survive or not with two other women; the name of the game is "31." McDowell, great actor that he is, is seriously underused and not really much of a deal in the film, a pity really. I found the idea interesting, but as I said, the movie is fairly slow and to be honest not that horrifying. It does start with a pretty good scene, but that was about it. After that, the film is fairly basic. Like many horror movies, the ending is left somewhat vague. It has moments where it looks good, and the gritty 1970s vibe can be nice but overall fairly tame film. Via TubiTv. On a side note, reading around, I get the impression this may not be Rob Zombie's best work, so I am willing to take another chance on another of his films, but not in a rush to do so.
• The Devil's Rock (2011. Horror. War. New Zealand film). The plot: "Set in the Channel Islands on the eve of D Day,two Kiwi commandos, sent to destroy German gun emplacements to distract Hitler's forces away from Normandy, discover a Nazi occult plot to unleash demonic forces to win the war." This is another entry in the "Hitler's wonder weapons at the end of the war" genre. This time, the Nazis are summoning demons, and our two commandos stumble upon this plot. Now a cat and mouse game ensues to thwart the demonic plot. It is a slow building film with minimal setting and minimal cast; it mainly takes place inside the German bunker on one of the islands, and once the plot gets going, only three main characters. The real major special effects are the female demon, and we see that mostly towards the latter part of the film. For a B-movie, not too bad but not great either. This is the kind of fare you might watch late at night on cable. I'd say it was fairly good. Via TubiTv.  
• Death Collector (a.k.a. Family Enforcer. 1976. Drama. Crime. Mob). Jerry Bolanti (portrayed by Joe Cortese) is a small time hood who returns to his Jersey neighborhood. He begins working as a collector for the mob, but he is hotheaded, not too successful initially, as every time he collects he gets robbed, and someone has a hit man killing his friends. The boss thinks Jerry is just stealing the money for himself. All Jerry wants is to get revenge and then take his girl out on a camper trip. This is not a polished film by any stretch. The story to be honest is so so, and the acting is not that great either. It certainly is a 1970s film with the big cars and the music. The movie does feature some early appearances by Joe Pesci (in a relatively small role) before his work with Martin Scorsese and the perennial mob movie actor Frank Vincent. The title is fairly misleading; not a terribly violent film. Yes it has some violence but nothing like what the title might suggest. Other than the before they were famous actors, film is fairly forgettable. Via TubiTv.
• Nameless Gangster (2012. Crime. Drama. Mobsters. South Korean film). The plot: "On the verge of being fired, a corrupt customs official finds a haul of drugs and teams up with a vicious gangster to become the most powerful crime partnership in Busan." Our protagonist, Choi Ik-hyun, the customs official turned gangster, rises to power by a combination of good luck, a bit of chutzpah, and the fact he has good kinship connections (seriously, family and kinship links can be extremely important in this society, and he uses them to his best advantage), and strong sense of how bureaucracies work (knowing who to bribe, who to do favors for, so on). So while his partner has the brawn, he has the brains even if he does not way all the ways of the mob. That is his weakness, his innocence about the ways of the mob even as he rises in it. So he will need his wits to survive. The movie can feel a little long (it is about 2 hours and 13 minutes, but I say slow because it does have some slow moments), but it is a good drama overall and a pretty good character study. The film was interesting overall, and I'd say worth a look. Via TubiTv. 
• Nazis at the Center of the Earth (2012. Action. Adventure. Science Fiction).  Plot description: "Researchers in Antarctica are abducted by a team of masked storm troopers. They are dragged deep underground to a hidden continent in the center of the earth. Here Nazi survivors, their bodies a horrifying patchwork of decaying and regenerated flesh, are planning for the revival of the Third Reich." This is about what to expect with a movie with this title. B-movie where the Nazis managed to survive past World War II and are just waiting to pounce and take over again. It falls to the researchers to try to stop them and to escape. This is your basic late night fare, probably kind of thing you might see on SyFy or similar channel. Starts a bit slow but soon the pace and action pick up, all the way to the end. It has some entertaining moments, a bit of cheesiness, and a cyborg Hitler. Plus it has Jake Busey playing one of the researchers who turns out was helping these Nazis along the way. What more could you ask for? It's bad but in the sort of amusing kind of bad. Special effects are, well, on par with a low level movie, and the acting is so-so, but as I said, one of those that is amusing as it is bad. Via TubiTv. 
• Massacre Mafia Style (1974. Crime. Drama. Mobsters. a.k.a. Duke Mitchell's Like Father Like Son). Simple plot description: "After a New York City Mafia boss’s son decides to move the family hustle to Hollywood, the deaths pile up as he takes on new enemies in the streets." The start of the movie begins with two men, Mimi Miceli and Jolly, killing a bunch of people in some office building; though it is not meant to be amusing, the background playful music they use as the scene happens adds an unintentional comic element (turns out this movie starts in the middle of the plot, then goes back in time til we get to the scene again and things catch up). By the way, as usual in movies, they have revolvers but do not run out of bullets it seems for the most part (one scene, for a bit of comic effect, one of the did run out of bullets). Now, the part with the child as they are getting away is a bit creepy; they choose not to kill the child. The protagonist moves on to L.A. where he starts consolidating power violently starting with taking over bookies and prostitution. On an interesting note, between scenes we do get some musical interludes. Miceli is certainly not subtle. Miceli in his quest for power makes enemies, leading to the final showdown, as he realizes that the times of his father have passed and times have changed..This is a very 1970s film. There is violence, but it is not gory like it could be today. Dialogue at times can a bit all over, serious at one time, not so serious the next. Like typical mafiosi, there is a lot of eating in the film. And then there is the ending, which you sort of expect and yet still surprises you. Overall worth a look, but don't go expecting a saga like The Godfather though. It is one of those movies that tries to be serious, but does not quite make it. Via TubiTv.
• Maniac Cop (1988. Action. Crime. Horror). Basic plot description: "A killer dressed in a police uniform begins murdering innocent people on the streets of New York City." Since it could be a police officer, naturally the police commissioner and the mayor want to make sure nothing tarnishes the image of the police, so it's time to cover, obfuscate, manipulate, so on. Meanwhile, there is a killer cop, or cop impersonator, out there killing fairly random people. Fans of Bruce Campbell will notice his role in this one by the way, but the movie does have a few well known actors like Richard Roundtree (yes, Shaft, this time as the police commissioner). Meanwhile, Lt. Detective Frank McCrae is tasked with solving the case, even as the mayor and higher ups are setting him up to fail (again, the covering up). Soon the pieces of the puzzle come together, and the police, well, Officer Forrest (Campbell), who was initially framed, and Officer Mallory, eventually realize the suspect the cops thought they had was not the killer. Let's be honest, like any good slasher movie, there are some people you just can't wait for the killer to kill. In terms of gore, this is fairly tame, but it does have some pretty good suspense. To be honest, the ending was pretty satisfying. Overall, movie was good, not great, but not bad either. I can see why it has become a cult classic. Found this one on YouTube.  
• Maniac Cop 2 (1990. Action. Crime. Horror). Officer Cordell is back from the dead once more to seek revenge and deliver his brand of justice.  This time he joins forces with a serial killer. Bruce Campbell and Robert Z'Dar return to reprise Officers Forrest and Cordell (the Maniac Cop) respectively along with some others from the first film, but we also get some newcomers to the series like Robert Davi, Claudia Christian, Jack Napier, and Clarence Williams III. This film pretty much picks up shortly after the first ends. Once again, Maniac Cop goes on killing, and the police administration as usual does not want to believe it is Cordell and wants to cover itself. The action does ramp up a bit in this one, still more action than horror per se but pretty good overall. It does have some nice twists as well. By the way, he now even has a theme rap song, which plays in the credits. Via TubiTv. 
• Maniac Cop 3 (1992. Action. Crime. Horror). The third and last installment of the series. Basic plot description: "A young female cop is framed for murder. She falls in love with the Maniac Cop, who seeks out justice for her, no matter the cost." Actually, she is not just framed; she is gunned down and dies, falls for him after death. As in the second movie, they reuse footage from the first film to summarize the story of Officer Matt Cordell, the undead Maniac Cop; the opening music score is a lot more eerie this time, also to go along with the voodoo ritual some guy is doing at the opening, who as it turns out summons Cordell. This time Cordell seeks out justice for Kate, the framed dead officer, no matter the cost.  As always in a horror movie, we get characters we can't wait to see the Maniac Cop kill, and in this case, the uncaring doctor caring for a dying Katie is the one we'd all love to see him get killed in a most gruesome way, and Cordell delivers. And there are some others like the corrupt freelance reporters that helped frame Kate. Overall, this was better than I expected with a good blend of action and thriller. Robert Davi returns as Lt. Detective McKinney and of course Robert Z'Dar returns as Cordell. Pretty good B-movie entertainment. I liked it. Via TubiTv.
• Death Wish (1974. Action. Crime. Drama). The classic Charles Bronson film where he portrays architect Paul Kersey, who is described as a "bleeding liberal." He then "becomes a one-man vigilante squad after his wife is murdered by street punks in which he randomly goes out and kills would-be muggers on the mean streets after dark." One of the details I find interesting is how early on everyone, including his client in Arizona who is helping out, assumes Kersey is liberal, pacifist, and an East Coast type. But turns out Kersey can handle guns just fine; he grew up with them as he reveals. Grief and a desire for revenge soon drive him to become the vigilante. The movie still holds up pretty well; still, it was made in the 1970s, and it shows. So in that way it is a bit of a time capsule. I always find watching these old movies now some of the details fascinating, such as the fairly easy going security at the airport. This was certainly way before 9/11 was an idea to anyone.The movie does build up slowly but at a steady pace. This is not like the big action quick pace movies (including the later sequels, where the action is ramped up and by then Kersey becomes an outright fighter). In the film, Bronson captures Kersey's anguish at his loss and his gradual path to becoming the vigilante. The police certainly do not come well in this film. It is not just their incompetence but their corruption, something NYPD is notorious for (especially so in the 1970s), in this case entering and breaking into a citizen's apartment without a warrant to fish for clues they would not get otherwise (the detective basically assured if Kersey got arrested he would walk due to that search without a warrant). If anything, makes Kersey that much more sympathetic, which is a focus of the film, and it does that well. On a small detail, a very young Jeff Goldblum portrays one of the punks early in the film. Overall, a classic from the 1970s still worth a look. Via Popcornflix. 
• On a trivia note, this film (and the later remake with Bruce Willis) is based on a book, this case the 1972 novel Death Wish by Brian Garfield.I did not know that the first time I saw the film long ago but noticed it in the credits watching it now. A few libraries still have the book, so I may request it via Interlibrary Loan and read it. If I do read it, I will review it here.
• Uncle Sam (1996. Horror). Plot description: "Desert Storm vet who was killed in combat rises from the grave on July Fourth, to kill the unpatriotic citizens of his hometown, after some teens burn an American flag over his burial site." I decided to watch this because it is by the same director of the Maniac Cop series, so I did go in with low expectations. Sergeant Sam Harper is the relative his sister would rather soon forget; he apparently was not a good person. In fact, others in the town could not care less about Sam (not sure what kind of unreal U.S. town this is; most small towns in the U.S. would be all hailing Sam's heroic return, even if in a casket).  However, his nephew Jody looks up to him, and he himself can't wait to enlist when he is old enough. Sam is returned to his home just in time for the 4th of July weekend by the way. And once he senses how unpatriotic the town is, he comes back from the grave to punish them. Isaac Hayes appears in the film as an old Koran War veteran that Sam had looked up to and that Sam listened to his war stories. The movie overall is pretty slow. It is a nice premise, but overall the film is fairly slow until they get to the 4th of July celebration and then the horror starts, though even that is pretty tame. The blind boy who sort of knows who Uncle Sam is adds a small bit of creepiness.  Overall, pretty silly B-movie that is not really scary and even though it is also labeled comedy, not that funny. Just a low end flick you'd watch at 3am when there is nothing else on. Via TubiTv.  
• Dead Snow 2: Red Vs. Dead (2014. Horror.Action. Comedy). Sequel to Dead Snow (2009, which I saw in 2017), it starts right where the first film left off.  Martin, the survivor ends up in a hospital after a car crash as he was escaping the zombies. When he wakes up, the cops think he killed the others. Meanwhile, an American "zombie squad" gets wind of the case and goes over to Norway to get rid of the zombies, or so they think. Meanwhile, turns out the Nazi zombies have a mission to complete, a mission given to them by Hitler back in the war, and they have come back to complete it. From there, things get a bit insane to put it mildly, and if that was not bad enough, the Red Army is also rising. The movie is pretty good in the horror comedy; it is ridiculous but it is oh so good entertainment. If you saw the first one, you will probably like this one as well. Where the first film tried to be a serious film with comic elements, this one goes all out of the comic into the ridiculous, and it is fun to see. I certainly liked it. Via TubiTv.

Television and other series (basic show information links via Wikipedia unless noted otherwise). Some of these come in DVD from the public library. Others may be via YouTube, which, as noted before, I keep finding all sorts of other old shows in it, often full episodes:

• George Carlin: On Location at Phoenix (1978. a.k.a. George Carlin Again. Stand up comedy). This is Carlin's second HBO special. Show was performed at at the Celebrity Star Theater in Phoenix on July 23, 1978. "The routines include: Death, Kids and Parents, Newscast #2, Time and Al Sleet, the Hippy-Dippy Weatherman." At the beginning of the special, Carlin shows some photos from his childhood and youth which are very amusing. He really is the comedian that thinks and reminds us to laugh about those things we often we do not think about. A pretty good show. Via TubiTv. 
• Paul Mooney: Analyzing White America (2002. Stand up comedy.). Comedian Paul Mooney "is angry, fearless and very funny. Here he takes direct aim at racism and White America and hits his targets with dead-on accuracy - and humor" The special in parts may be a bit dated since this came out right after 9/11. However, many of his observations are very much spot on, like his insights on slavery versus freedom for Black Americans. Along the way he addresses other issues like use of the "N-word" and white guilt. We also find out why the Jerry Springer Show is the excellent American show. As he says, "the truth defends itself." The performance is interesting where he does some stand up, then he has segments where he "plays" a therapist for white patients who need help with their racist issues and/or white guilt. Overall, this is a special that makes you smile as well as make you see and think about truth head on. There is no sugarcoating here. Via TubiTv.