Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare (1975)

Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare (1975)

Alice's masterpiece began life as a concept album. It deviated somewhat from the original idea, but, personally, I still regard it as one due to how well its individual parts complement each other, despite their obvious compositional differences. It's like a painting in musical form, layered with vibrant textures and blurred lines that when followed lead back upon themselves.

Not all songs flow into each other effortlessly, but the order in which they're arranged is so deeply ingrained in my mind after decades of listening and re-examination that to remove or shuffle one would ruin the unifying essence that makes each one work alongside its neighbour.

Chariots of the Gods (1970)

Chariots of the Gods (1970 / 2021)

Dir. Harald Reinl

A documentary based upon Erich von Däniken's 1968 book of the same name, a work that was regarded as little more than supposition and pseudoscience by most of the scientific community. Likewise, Dir. Harald Reinl's film also lacks credible evidence to support the claims, but it's more enjoyable than its dog-shit cover might imply.

It posits that aliens may have had a hand in constructing many of the world's most famous ancient landmarks, such as the pyramids in Egypt and the statues of Easter Island.

The claims are often presented as heavily weighed suggestions or questions designed to encourage viewers to arrive at their own conclusions, but the hope is clearly that any such conclusions will be congruous with that of the filmmaker's own. For while it lacks evidence to prove that aliens did contribute, it also shows that we can't prove they didn't.

Regardless of which side of the extra-terrestrial fence you reside on, the documentary has some great footage of both the natural world and its people. The 50th Anniversary Edition (2021) is a new 2K scan from the OCN. That it was released in the 51st year seems entirely fitting.

The Cell (2000)

The Cell (2000)

Dir. Tarsem Singh

J-Lo dives into the mind of a very mentally disturbed, comatose serial killer (Vincent D'Onofrio) hoping to convince him to take her seriously now that she's an actress in a real, genuine, honest to grud film! If she fails to reach and reason with him in time, someone dies.

It's aged badly (or maybe that's me?), and is shallower than it pretends to be — step in it and your toes will barely get wet — but the movie has a few memorable moments, most of which come from D'Onofrio, who has an intensely overbearing cinematic presence. Without him it would be little more than a bunch of pretty moving pictures attached to a plot that draws from The Silence of the Lambs (1991) movie.

Visually, it's both bad and good: the CGI is awful, but many of the visual and optical effects are pretty wonderful, with a surreal quality that on occasion seemed inspired by the likes of the Quay Brothers; there's a tiny bit of Lynch, too.

Assassin's Creed (2016)

Assassin's Creed (2016)

Dir. Justin Kurzel

Besides the goal of making lorryloads of cash for its producers, game developer Ubisoft was probably hoping that the live action Ass Creed film would entice lorryloads more people to check out their long-running game series, which in turn would increase profits there, too. Anything is possible, I suppose, even when the movie they hoped would sway people is a 125 million dollar turd.

Given that it might be someone's introduction to the world, I'll mention how it presents itself, rather than how it translates its source to the screen. But in that respect, it's dire.

It begins in Spain, 1492. We meet Aguilar de Nerha (Michael Fassbender), a member of the Assassins Brotherhood, a secretive group who are collectively at war with the Templars. The Assassins fight for individual freedoms and expression, whereas the Templars seek to control society through imposed order.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: Authorized Adaptation (2011)

SWTWC: The Authorized Adaptation (2011)

Author: Ray Bradbury | Illustrator: Ron Wimberly | Page Count: 144

'She was blind, yes, but special blind. Just as they felt that balloon sift down like an autumn rain, so she could feel their souls. Each soul, a vast warm fingerprint.'

A comic book adaptation of Ray Bradbury's novel. I reviewed it a decade ago (HERE), so I won't go over the plot again. I'll focus solely on whether or not I feel the adaptation is successful. The short answer is yes, it mostly is. It retains a lot more descriptive language than is normal for a graphic novel, but that's a good thing because that's where the magic really happens in Bradbury's prose. His worldbuilding is often more beautifully realised than his dialogue.

The narrative accentuates the differences in the two boys more than the novel did, but that was necessary so that the second half of the story could do its job properly in a shorter space of time.

Vytor: The Starfire Champion (1989)

Vytor: The Starfire Champion (1989)

Dir. Tom Burton | 4 episodes, approx 22 mins each.

A short-lived animated Children's TV Series that might've gained a decent following if it hadn't been cancelled after only four episodes. It's not packed with originality — it reminded me of ThunderCats and Masters of the Universe often, particularly in the way it blends high fantasy and science fiction tech — but it's not completely derivative, either.

The hero is Vytor, a youth with aspirations of becoming protector of his village and its people, a group with an indigenous connection to the natural world, and whose technology is pre-industrial.

The backstory for the series goes something like this: seventeen years prior our introduction to Vytor (Michael Horton), a trio of big-wigs had a falling out, resulting in three separate Kingdoms.

Ninja Scroll (1993)

Ninja Scroll (1993)

Dir. Yoshiaki Kawajiri

I don't understand why Ninja Scroll is so named. It has a ninja — actually, it has lots of ninjas — but what's the scroll part about? Fuctifino. But what I know for certain is that when it comes to 90s era anime movies, NS is a classic. I've watched it a dozen times over the years and it impresses me every time. It isn't packed with plot like, for example, Akira (1988) or Ghost in the Shell (1995) are, but it has a visceral quality that many of its genre imitators failed to capture. [1]

Somehow, the historical setting enhances the fantastical elements, even though logic says they ought to be at odds with each other. A similar kind of complementary contrariety surrounds the two main characters: a skilled swordsman named Jubei, and a female Kōga ninja named Kagero, who has a special, hidden, devastating talent.

The villains, known as the Eight Devils of Kimon, are a peculiar bunch of freaks with unusual powers, and are all the more memorable for it.