Night Gallery, Season 1 (1969)

This is an anthology series from Rod Serling, clearly following in the footsteps of this earlier The Twilight Zone, though with a distinctly more supernatural than science fiction bent.

The concept here is that the titular "Night Gallery" is a collection of macabre paintings, each of which has an (at least in theory) equally macabre story behind it, whether that be a murderous magical mannequin, or the shocking truth behind the disappearance of several astronauts on the moon.  Serling appears on screen as the curator of the collection, giving a short introduction to each tale.  There are two to three such entries in each episode, often with significantly varying run times: some tales are less than 10 minutes long; others run for nearly 40.

So does the show live up to its storied predecessor?  Well, to be honest the quality of the stories is fairly uneven: the "shocking truth" of the astronauts' fate is hysterically silly and more likely to evoke giggles than jitters, for instance, while another tale is pretty much just a variation on "The Monkey's Paw".  And you may well get tired of the number of them that revolve around embittered old men.

On the other hand, there are some good entries, too.  Which are "best" will depend on personal tastes, naturally - I wasn't much impressed by the one Emmy-nominated script, for instance, though obviously many people were! - but you probably will find one or two that tickle your interest, assuming you are in any way the target audience.  I liked "The Escape Route", "The House" (in concept at least), and the short form nastiness of both "Room with a View" and "The Last Laurel".

Worth looking at if you're in the target market.

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

A couple of years after letting Dominic Toretto go and losing his job as a result, ex-cop Brian O'Conner scrapes a living in illegal street races.  Or at least, he does until the FBI come looking for an expert driver to help them in a sting operation against drug lord Carter Verone.  Now Brian's going to have to try and stay one car length ahead of both Verone and his supposed employers, at least if he wants to stay alive and out of jail.  Good thing the authorities let him pick his own partner, since at least he can rely on boyhood friend Roman Pearce.  I mean, that whole grudge over letting Roman go to jail, and Roman's general hot-headedness, surely won't be a problem ...

2 Fast 2 Furious begins as it means to go on: very silly.  It's an affably goofy film which merrily dispenses with even the halfhearted hand-wave to plausibility that was offered by its predecessor.  It definitely suffered a bit from the loss of Vin Diesel (who chose to do Chronicles of Riddick instead), because Paul Walker didn't have the same on screen presence or off screen buzz of Diesel, but on the plus side it led to the creation of the Roman Pearce character and thus Tyrese Gibson's debut in the franchise.  Gibson's a fine on-screen talent.  It worked out pretty well for him, too: I doubt his bank balance has ever regretted taking this role.

At the end of the day, this is definitely one of the lesser entries in the Fast and Furious franchise, but it introduces Roman, as well as Ludacris's character Tej, both of whom will be central parts of the series from here on out.

Well, except for the very next film.  But let's not get to Tokyo Drift until we have to.

Samurai 7 (2004)

As its title none-too-subtly indicates, this is a reinterpretation of Seven Samurai, the difference here being that it is animated, has a bunch of robots added, and is actually over ten hours long (26 episodes of about 25 minutes each) rather than me just joking that it is.  So if you somehow aren't familiar with the whole villagers/bandits/samurai recipe, you can read my review of the original.  This review will focus only on what's new about this version.

Other than the post-apocalyptic, semi science fiction setting (including two of the seven samurai being cyborgs), the narrative of this adaptation makes a two significant changes from its inspiration.  First and foremost, it adds some new female villager characters who have significant roles.  I generally think this works to the advantage of the show.  The other significant change, though, I am less than enthused about.

You see in this version of things, the bandits are actually acting at the behest of the Emperor, who uses the crooks as an ersatz taxation system (and source of women for his harem).  Which is fine as a concept, but then the show decides to mash that together with this out-of-left-field secret clone replacement story arc involving someone who appeared to be just a minor nuisance character earlier in the narrative, suddenly elevating said nuisance to the Big Bad, a role for which he frankly doesn't measure up.

Feel free to skip this unless you can never get enough Seven Samurais in your life.

Superman: Doomsday (2007)

Lex Luthor's pursuit of weapons with which to defeat Superman leads to the discovery of an ancient alien spaceship.  The single inhabitant is a brutish, bone-spiked monstrosity that tears its way across the landscape toward Metropolis.  Immensely powerful, this alien creature is beyond anyone's control, and is such a fierce and powerful threat that the question is open as to whether the Man of Steel can defeat it ... or even survive the attempt.

Superman: Doomsday was the first DC Animated film, and it suffers from three key issues that prevent me from recommending it, even to comics fans.

First, it takes as its starting point the rather tedious "Death of Superman" story arc from the comments, in which a silent, unstoppable killing machine we've never seen before stalks in silent unstoppableness toward an extended fistfight with Supes.  Sensibly, the film only dedicates its first act to this, before moving onto the fallout of Superman's apparent death.  It becomes more engaging after that (and it sensibly eschews the over-complicated nonsense of the post-death comics) but it makes for a rather uninteresting first twenty minutes.

The second issue is the selection of Adam Baldwin as the voice of Superman.  In 2007 it probably seemed a decent choice, and his performance is technically decent, but in the modern day, when Baldwin's repellent bigotry is well-documented, it's a significant dissonance to hear his voice coming from the archetypal Good Guy.

Finally, the movie suffers from an issue that has also plagued DC's cinematic releases: a desire to be "edgy".  Pro-tip, guys: when your Lex Luthor executes a competent henchperson who has successfully done everything he asked them to do, it doesn't make him look badass, it makes him look like an idiot.

The New Statesman, Season 4 (1992)

Alan B'Stard returns from three years in a Russian Gulag to discover that his parliamentary seat is gone, and his less-than-adoring wife has had him declared dead and seized all his assets.  It's frankly no more than he deserves but he soon has his scheming, grafting snout in the new and even bigger trough of corruption that is the European Parliament.  He's joined, as always, by his well-intentioned but cretinously stupid sidekick Piers Fletcher-Dervish.  From manufacturing industrial disputes for his own financial gain, to attempting to purchase Hitler's corpse for his own financial gain, to intervening in the Balkan conflict for ... well, I bet you can guess why ... Alan is soon up to his old tricks, though he's definitely saving his biggest (and in the world of 2019, most topical) scheme for the grand finale.

The New Statesman is frequently funny in a deliberately crass kind of way, though there's something a little bit eerie these days in watching a fictional account of a venal, corrupt right-wing politician stoking the fires of British xenophobia against the EU in order to feather his own nest and without any regard for the consequences to anyone else.

Why yes, I do have strong opinions about Brexit.  What gave it away?

In the final analysis, if you've enjoyed earlier seasons of this show, you'll likely continue to like it in this last series.  The quality remains consistent, even if it's not really breaking any new ground in its overall content.

Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (2018)

Fifty years ago in the planned community of Seabrook, an accident at the Power Plant resulted in an explosion which caused half the population to turn into brain-eating zombies. Eventually, those that weren't affected managed to construct a wall to quarantine the zombies.

Five decades later, the government has invented bracelets that deliver electromagnetic pulses that suppress the zombies' violent urges.  The zombies now live peacefully in their own community, eating cauliflower in place of brains and raising little zombie children.  I guess they're still alive, despite being called 'zombies'.

A law has just been passed requiring that zombie kids be allowed to attend human school, which is not a popular decision on the human side of the wall.  The zombie kids are made to feel far from welcome, and if you think this sounds like a not very subtle reference to the forced desegregation of schools in the US, you are right, because it is not subtle at all.

Anyway, zombie boy meets seemingly perfect human girl, and there is instant, non-brain eating chemistry.  Will the power of love and heavily choreographed musical numbers heal the wounds of this divided town, or will it get really really Romeo and Juliet in here?  Well, this is a Disney channel film, so you probably shouldn't expect it to head into Shakespearian Tragedy Town.

Imagine Bring It On as an outright musical, and with much more overtly over the top set and costume design, and you're starting to get the kind of movie this is.  I honestly had more fun watching it than I expected.  Fun stuff.

Robin of Sherwood, Season 1 (1984)

In 12th century England, the Saxon peasants languish under the thumb of imperious Norman overlords.  A few try to fight back, but they are over-matched by the weapons and armour of their opponents.  All seems lost ... but in the heart of the country, the supernatural power of Herne the Hunter stirs, seeking the right person to lead a new resistance.

When his gaze falls on Robin of Loxley, the ancient spirit believe he has found the one he needs ... and soon the legend of the Hooded Man begins to spread ...

My mother's side of the family comes from Nottinghamshire, so it was probably inevitable that I would grow up with stories of Robin Hood and the outlaws of Sherwood Forest.  When this show debuted, 10-year old me was pretty much the core demographic, and I was a faithful viewer.

Of course, things we like as kids don't always hold up well as adults, and this show was created and largely written by Richard Carpenter.  That's the man behind Dick Turpin, which was, shall we say ... not as good as my childhood memories suggested.

I'm pleased to say, though, that while it is not high art, Robin of Sherwood has aged considerably better than Carpenter's earlier show.  Robin's enemies are not as buffoonish as those in Turpin, and the overall tone is more grounded (despite the addition of supernatural elements).  I also like that it subverts a few expectations along the way.

Also, it has a baby-faced Ray Winstone as Will Scarlet.  Who knew there was a time Mr Winstone wasn't craggy ? :)

Seconds Apart (2011)

A group of high school boys sit around, engaging in deeply misogynistic conversation.  It's no great loss then, when they all appear to kill themselves via means of Russian Roulette.

The cops, however, have to investigate such an odd event, and begin interviewing students from the school the boys attended.  Among the students there are are identical twins Seth and Jonah Trimble, whom the audience knows have some connection to the deaths, as part of some mysterious "Project" they're working on.

Will the police detective - who is still reeling from a tragedy in his personal life - uncover the boys' presumably creepy secrets?  Will the brother's own relationship survive Jonah's tentative flirtation with new student Eve?  Well, you're going to have to watch the movie if you want to find out.

This is a decent but not exceptional "killer kids" horror film with some nicely creepy plot reveals.  The plot's a bit far-fetched if you sift through it afterwards (and I'm not even talking about the supernatural parts), but as laid out on the screen it managed not to snap my suspension of disbelief.

If you're looking for a lower-key horror film to occupy an hour and a half, you could do a lot worse.

The Powerpuff Girls, Season 2 (1999)

Season two of The Powerpuff Girls sees the pre-school paragons return for 26 more ten minute adventures (two per episode).  Many familiar villains from season one, back for further stoushes with the super siblings, but the girls also face off with several new foes, including Princess Morbucks, Broccoli Aliens, and - perhaps most terrifying of all - the menace of cooties.

Invading Earth doesn't go so well for the Broccoli Aliens

I don't think there is anything in this second season that quite measures up to the wonderful madness of season one's "Boogie Nights", but off-the-wall adventures like "Supper Villain" and "The Powerpuff Girls Best Rainy Day Adventure Ever" are definitely worth checking out.

Check it out if you like your cartoons imaginative, a bit nutty, and full of little girls beating up supervillains.