Die Hard (4½ Stars)

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Merry Christmas!

Ho, ho, ho!

Success Rate:  + 3.6

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Smallville 2.11 - Visage

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Click here to watch the podcast.

This episode features the return of Whitney Fordham, Lana's ex-boyfriend, who we last saw in the final episode of season one, "Tempest". He left Smallville to join the marines. While they were separated, he remained Lana's boyfriend, but she sent him a videotape message in the episode "Heat" in which she broke up with him. Despite this they remained in regular contact by mail, but in last week's episode we heard that he's missing in action.

This week we see what happened. Whitney and other soldiers in his platoon were in Aceh Province, Indonesia under heavy fire. There was a big explosion in front of him. Was it enough to kill him? It looks fatal, but this episode will give us an answer.

What confuses me about this scene is the location of the conflict. I hoped it would be discussed in the podcast, but it wasn't mentioned. I couldn't remember America being involved in a military conflict in Indonesia in 2002. I looked it up online, and there was an insurgency in Indonesia at the time, but I couldn't find any reports of American involvement. I'm not patient enough to do a deeper research, so I'd be happy if any of my readers can leave comments about American soldiers being killed in Indonesia.

A short time later Whitney walks into Smallville High School. Lana sees him and runs into his arms. Is it the smart military uniform, or just joy that he's not dead after all? Judging by his actions, he doesn't intend to return to the marines. He claims that the explosion has made him forget a lot, including the videotape sent by Lana. He wants to pick up where they left off. He proposes marriage and asks her to move in with him.

But Whitney has changed. He has random outbursts of anger. Lex Luthor suggests that it's post traumatic stress disorder, but that doesn't explain his increased strength. After Clark is tossed through the air by Whitney, he examines him with his x-ray vision, and he sees a green tint in his skeleton. This is something I didn't pick up when watching the episode. It happened so fast, and I didn't notice the pale green tint. That's a good reason to watch television episodes (and films) more than once. Clark sees the green tint and recognises it as Tina Greer, the shape-changer from the episode "X-Ray", early in season one. 

In her previous appearance Tina seemed to be obsessed with Lana as a childhood friend. In this episode it goes a step further. Nothing is expressed explicitly, because it's a family television programme, but there are hints that Tina has lesbian feelings for Lana, both romantic and sexual. While in the form of Chloe, Tina touches Lana's shoulder. As we already know, Lana is 100% heterosexual, so the only way Tina can get close to her is by using Whitney's body. When she finds out that Lana doesn't want to be with Whitney, she uses Clark's body.

That works. Tina-Clark makes aggressive advances to Lana in the Talon, forcing a kiss on her, but Lana doesn't even attempt to resist. It's what she's wanted for years. It might have developed even further if the real Clark hadn't walked in. Lana is knocked out, and the two Clarks go outside to have a fight in the alleyway. It's an exciting fight, but too short. In the podcast it's stated that the fight actually lasted five times as long, but 80% was cut for the television broadcast. That's disgusting.

Tom Welling insists that he doesn't remember kissing Kristin, neither in this episode nor his previous kisses. It doesn't make sense. I wouldn't have forgotten kissing a girl as hot as Kristin Kreuk.

It's often claimed that Lana Lang is the best looking girl in school. I agree, and here's the proof.

If you think any girl in the school is prettier, please send me a large photo so I can decide.

I can already hear the complaints. "Dancer is objectifying women and judging them by their looks". I don't deny it. All I can say in my defence is that it works the other way round. In the episode Clark is doing the plumbing and he's sprayed with water. Lana can't take her eyes off Tom's chest in his wet T-shirt. My only regret is that Lana's shirt remained dry.

There's an open question in the episode that Michael and Tom failed to point out in the podcast. Whitney evidently died in the explosion, but how did Tina know about it? She was impersonating a dead man, but how did she know he was dead?

There's a strange scene in the episode. Clark has been immobilised by Tina putting a meteor rock necklace round his neck and throwing him in the storm cellar. The space ship hums into life and shines a light which changes the rock's colour from green to transparent. It's also shining a light. Clark recovers immediately. This leaves other questions open. Is the ship monitoring Clark to protect him? And how is it possible for the meteor rock's effects to be disabled? I tried to find answers to my questions about last week's episode "Skinwalker", but I couldn't find anyone with knowledge of Superman lore. Now more questions have been thrown up, but this time I'm almost certain that it's a deviation from the comics.

There's a sub-plot in the episode about Helen Bryce, the doctor that we met two weeks ago in the episode "Dichotic". It hasn't been mentioned until now, but she's been dating Lex ever since their first meeting. She told Lex that she doesn't know his father, but a private investigator has taken photos of them together. Further investigations told Lex that Lionel has transferred $100,000 to her bank account. His assumption is that Lionel is paying her to gain influence over his son. Initially there are arguments, and Helen storms out. Later in the episode she tells Lex that Lionel had paid her to leave Lex, but she refused to be bought. I don't understand why Lionel disapproves of their union. Maybe it'll be explained in an upcoming episode.

At the end of the episode Clark is standing alone in the caves, looking at the inscriptions. Lana's formerly green bracelet is shining enough light to see them. He hopes to find clues to his past. Lana arrives, maybe because she was following him. She's sad about Whitney's death, so he comforts her.

In the podcast Tom Welling says that he was surprised at several points when he watched the episode. Once more, I'm surprised at how much he's forgotten. He remembers the Clark vs Clark fight that he had with his stunt double Chris Sayour, but that's about it. I can clearly remember things that I did at work 20 or even 40 years ago, but maybe it's different for him. I did large projects that ran for many months at a time. Tom made more than 200 episodes, which can be considered mini-projects. I can excuse him for forgetting the details, especially if he didn't watch the finished episodes at the time. I just don't understand how he forgot the kisses. 

The podcast's guest star is Eric Johnson, the actor who played Whitney Fordham. He says that before the podcast he watched the episode for the first time since it was aired in January 2003. He seems to have a better memory of the episode than Tom. Mostly Eric speaks about his general experiences on the show. He was fired from the show at short notice. He was always the last to know when there were changes. His information about his character's future always came from reading the scripts. At first he was told that he'd be in six episodes in season two. Then it was reduced to two. It finally turned out that he only appeared in one episode. Television is a tough business. Eric wasn't even given advance notice so that he could find another job.

Smallville's fan Micky sends another question by video message. This is her third appearance, as far as I remember. She has the habit of writing messages that are visible, but unrelated to her question. This time she mysteriously has an incomplete message. She's obviously one of Smallville's biggest fans. It would be good to invite her as a guest on the podcast. She sounds like an interesting person.

 

This episode opens with a panoramic view of the Talon. It's a scene that's been used twice before, in "Tempest" and "Duplicity". Maybe more often, but I'm too lazy to scour through all of my Smallville posts today.

Here's another view of the Talon. I can't remember when or if this scene was used before.

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Marvel 1975.11 - Daredevil #127

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Daredevil #127

Title: You killed that man, Torpedo!

Writer: Marv Wolfman

Artist: Bob Brown

Villain: Torpedo

Regulars: Foggy Nelson, Heather

The comic begins with Daredevil accusing the man in the Torpedo costume of murdering the man lying on the ground, although the dead man is actually the Torpedo and the man in the costume is the insurance agent Brock Jones. It's an easy mistake to make. But let's call Brock Jones the Torpedo, because that's who he is now.

Daredevil refuses to listen to the Torpedo's claims of innocence, so he knocks Daredevil to the ground and flies away. The police are already present, and they're joined by District Attorney Foggy Nelson. Foggy tells Daredevil that he should remain to answer a few questions, but Daredevil refuses and runs away, swinging on his billy club.

When Matt Murdock returns to his apartment the television is on. It's Heather, the girl Matt met yesterday. Is it his red hair or the dimple in his chin or does she have a thing for blind men? She can't keep her hands off him. She pulls him into her arms and kisses him. It's a welcome distraction when the phone rings. Foggy wants to offload his problems onto Matt. He also wants Matt to work as the DA's assistant, at least temporarily.

A good artist can add details with a few subtle lines in a small panel which might not be immediately apparent. Look at the creases in the front of Matt's brown trousers. There's something hard in his trousers, and I don't think it's his billy club.

Meanwhile, the (new) Torpedo is in his office at Delmar Insurance wondering what to do next. Speaking to himself, he says that it's his responsibility to save the world. So what did the (old) Torpedo whisper to him last issue? He flies out of the window until he arrives in Westchester and breaks into a large mansion. For those who don't know about American geography, it's about 20 miles away from lower Manhattan.

Matt Murdock is meeting with Foggy Nelson and the police. They tell him that the dead man is a Russian scientist living in the USA. The safe deposit box opened in the bank belonged to the scientist's brother. The plot thickens. Then the news comes in about the break-in in Westchester. This gives Matt an opportunity to slip away and change into his Daredevil costume. He swings through the skyscrapers to Westchester. Or lack of skyscrapers, because Westchester doesn't have as many large buildings as Manhattan. Daredevil still arrives in 15 minutes, which is amazingly fast. Maybe he hitched a ride on the back of an Amtrak.

Daredevil and the Torpedo battle in the large mansion, which is deserted. The Torpedo explains what's happening while they're fighting, but Daredevil doesn't believe him. The original Torpedo was a  Russian scientist. That should have been enough to make Daredevil stop and talk, because it agrees with what the police told him. But Daredevil is having too much fun fighting. It helps him get his mind off Natasha and the touchy-feely girl in his apartment.

The scientist wanted to emigrate to the USA, but it was only allowed if he first designed a super-suit to rival Iron Man's armour. When he arrived in America, he met his family, and he realised that they were insane. That's the word the Torpedo uses, but what he means is that they're loyal Communists. He knew that his brother had a second set of plans for the suit in his bank safe deposit box, so he broke in to steal them. He suspects that his family, who live in the large Westchester mansion, might have a third set of plans, so he asked Brock to search the mansion. That's what he was doing when Daredevil so rudely interrupted him.

Daredevil leaves the mansion, making some cryptic comments. I hope they'll be explained next issue.

"You had me going there for a while. I almost bought your story. But not now, because I just remembered who owns that place you wrecked. And there's no way on Earth he can be tied up with something as screwy as your world conquest scheme".

Interesting. So who exactly owns the mansion? Daredevil knows, but we don't.

The Torpedo speeds away to find the family who live in the mansion. Daredevil stops him. They fall through the door of a small suburban house. They continue their fight in the living room and the kitchen, smashing everything around them while continuing their carefree banter. They don't even notice the husband and wife and their small son Kenny cowering in the corner.

They don't stop until the woman screams at them. I sure hope their home insurance covers damage by super-heroes.

Torpedo flies away. Daredevil walks away. They're both in a daze, realising what they've done.

This is another brilliant story by Marv Wolfman. I remember when I first read it 48 years ago. It's another comic that makes me say Wow.

Seneca (5 Stars)

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I visited the premiere of "Seneca" in Stuttgart last week. Unfortunately, it was shown dubbed into German. Today I went to see the film in its original English version. I'm glad I did so. Within the first ten minutes I'd already decided to give it a higher rating than last time. The dubbing was good, but it wasn't John Malkovich's voice. He has one of the most distinctive voices in Hollywood. Apart from this, it was good to hear Tom Xander's real voice as Nero. He's an actor I've never seen before, but Tom's voice has a manic quality missing in the voice actor, however skilled he is.

One of the things that I like about the Roman Empire, at least in the time when the film takes place, is that the Romans were so pedantic with their records. We know exactly who said what and when. Seneca died just as his death is portrayed in the film. Even the difficulties with his suicide attempts, which seem like they were included for comic relief, are based on the books of contemporary Roman historians. At the premiere the director Robert Schwentke cited Tacitus as his source for Seneca's veins not bleeding out when he cut them.

I'd never heard of Lucius Annaeus Seneca before seeing this film. He was never mentioned when I studied Roman history in school. Supposedly he was one of the most prolific writers of his day. His writings were popular in Europe 400 years ago, but now they've been widely forgotten. Forgotten but not lost. Anyone who's interested can find them in libraries.

The film has some violent scenes. When the two slave boys were being hacked into pieces, two people in my row left the room. It's not for everyone, but really, there are much worse films.

The film's anachronisms are amusing. When I first saw Nero wearing dark glasses I thought the director had made a mistake, but a few minutes later Nero is shown playing an electric guitar.

This is a brilliant film. It's almost certain to find a place in my top 10 list for 2023.

Marvel 1975.10 - Daredevil #126

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Daredevil #126

Title: Flight of the Torpedo!

Writer: Marv Wolfman

Artist: Bob Brown

Villain: Torpedo

Regulars: Foggy Nelson, Heather

Sometimes you read a comic, and you think it's a normal action comic like any other. I'm not saying that as a criticism. I like comics with a lot of action. But then, at the end of the comic something happens that makes you say Wow. That's what Marv Wolfman has achieved in this issue. He's one of my favourite Marvel writers, definitely in my top 10, but maybe he should be in my top five. Let me think it over.

Daredevil is swinging through New York City, showing off as usual. He stops to listen to Foggy Nelson giving a campaign speech. He's shouted down by a heckler who says that his fiancée Deborah Harris was a convicted criminal. Evidently it's someone who doesn't understand that criminals can reform, but the heckling is enough to disrupt Foggy's speech.

Brock Jones is a former star quarterback who's now the vice-president of an insurance company. He's sad that everyone has forgotten him, and he wishes he could be a hero. On the way home he sees a child walking into the path of a car. He instinctively rushes to save the child, but Daredevil swings down and saves the child first, telling the man to leave heroics to the professionals. Those are words that Stan Lee would never have put into Daredevil's mouth.

A flying man in a blue costume breaks into the Washington Reserve Bank. He steals something from safe deposit box 136 and leaves. The news report says that the police are puzzled. There were valuable jewels in the box that the thief left behind.

Matt Murdock is trying to sleep, but he's woken by loud noises outside. While he's getting dressed, a pretty girl called Heather enters his apartment. She says that her ex-boyfriend Franky used to live in the apartment, and she came to visit him using the spare key he'd given her. She leaves, but she forgets to give back the spare key.

The noise in the street is the police trying to catch the flying man in blue. Daredevil catches up with him and the two fight. He says his name is the Torpedo, but Daredevil reminds him that there's already a villain with that name. Or maybe Daredevil forgot that he died in Daredevil #59, six years ago. Besides, the (new) Torpedo says that he isn't a criminal. Daredevil isn't convinced.

The fight is taking place outside Brock Jones' apartment. Brock still wants to be a good citizen and help, so he rushes downstairs. The Torpedo hits a wall, and the building collapses on both of them. Daredevil is knocked unconscious, while the Torpedo is still awake but close to death. Brock arrives and pulls the Torpedo out of the rubble. The Torpedo whispers something to Brock about an important mission. The Torpedo dies, and Brock vows to complete the mission. He puts on the Torpedo's costume.

Daredevil wakes up as the police arrive. He points at the man wearing the Torpedo's costume and says that he's a murderer, not realising that it's the Torpedo who's dead.

Wow!

An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2 Stars)

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When I watched this film at the Fantasy Film Festival five years ago I was totally confused. It's such a weird film that I refused to rate it, which is something I rarely do. Out of the 4300 films I've written about in my blog, I've only declined to give four a rating. That's less than 0.1%. (I'm not including "The Amazing Maurice", which I didn't rate because I was too tired to pay attention). Today I finally decided to watch it again.

Lulu Danger is torn between two men that she loves, and she's married to a third. The first is a man she had an affair with two years ago, Beverly Luff Linn. He left her by pretending to be dead. That's nasty. He went swimming in the ocean, then hid behind a rock, and he let everyone think he'd drowned. Now he's back in town to perform a concert at a hotel, and she's determined to see him again.

The other man is Colin. She's drawn to him because he lives a life of danger, but she doesn't get too close when she finds that he's a socially awkward virgin. Her husband Shane has robbed her brother's store, wearing a blond wig as a disguise, but he was recognised. So her brother hired Colin to break into Shane's house and steal the money back. Lulu falls for Colin and runs away with him, saying they should keep the money for themselves. They hide in the hotel where Beverly is due to perform and wait for the evening of the concert.

But there are complications. Beverly is now in a homosexual relationship with a fellow performer. Colin wants to make himself more appealing to Lulu by losing his virginity, but when he boasts about having sex with a prostitute in the hotel basement it has the opposite effect.

What annoys me most about the film is Beverly's speech impediment. He can't speak, he only grunts, except for when he's singing on stage. Is that supposed to be funny? It's worse than someone who can only say "I am Groot".

I realise that I'm in the minority by not liking it. The film received loud applause at the Fantasy Film Festival. I don't understand why. Please, if any of my readers like the film, please leave a comment telling me what's good about it.

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Marvel 1975.09 - Daredevil #125

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Daredevil #125

Title: Vengeance is the Copperhead!

Writer: Marv Wolfman

Artist: Bob Brown

Villain: Copperhead

Regulars: Foggy Nelson

Daredevil is dead, killed by Copperhead's dart gun? That's what Copperhead thinks when he places coins on Daredevil's eyes and walks away. But he's wrong, fortunately. Daredevil is only playing dead. Unseen by Copperhead, he blocked the darts with his billy club at the last moment.

Foggy Nelson's campaign for re-election as district attorney isn't going well. His rival Blake Tower has paid for television spots that ridicule Foggy. Blake doesn't just look good, he plays dirty.

Copperhead isn't just killing random hoodlums in the street. He's stalking everyone connected with the 1930's Copperhead pulp novels. That includes the publisher of the books and the man responsible for the modern reprints.

It turns out that Copperhead is the son of the man who wrote the Copperhead novels in the 1930's. He's taking revenge for his father remaining poor all his life. Daredevil finds him standing at his father's grave. Copperhead is about to shoot Daredevil, when his metal suit is struck by lightning. He collapses dead into an open grave.

I like this story, apart from the hissing when Copperhead speaks. It looks silly when every letter S is tripled. I found it amusing for the first two pages, but after that I found it stupid. Or should I say ssstupid?

Brain Leeches (4 Stars)

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This is a short film made by Fred Olen Ray in 1977. In fact, it's his first film. It was made a year before "The Alien Dead", his first full length feature film. Unlike "Alien Dead", it was never intended to be shown to anyone. It was a hobby project while he was working as an engineer at a television studio in Florida. In the commentary track, recorded in 2017, he says that he'd never watched the film all the way through. That's so difficult for me to believe. If I ever made a film, however amateurish, I'd watch it over and over again, because it's MINE. The commentary track is just Fred talking into the microphone. He's not being interviewed by anyone. That's a shame. I'm sure that a journalist or hardcore Fred Olen Ray fan would have quizzed him on these statements.

I'm surprised that the film is so good, compared to "Alien Dead". The acting is better, and the story is better told. I loved the pompous musical score as soon as it started, but Fred explained it in his commentary. He couldn't afford film music, so he played a vinyl recording of "Pictures at an Exhibition". He just played the record from beginning to end, making no attempt to synchronise the film action with the music. Considering this, it's amazing that it sounds so good.

I call the film good, but I'm not referring to the picture quality. The film is badly preserved. Possibly the original cinematography was poor, but the state of the film material is so bad that it's impossible to tell.

For instance, this is the only scene in which we see the alien creatures in their natural form.

Which brings me to the plot. The Earth is visited by creatures from another planet. They've been observing the Earth for some time, and they have pity with humans. We're so unhappy, and we have poverty and war. The aliens want to cure our problems by possessing every human on Earth. Instant happiness!

This is what people look like when they're possessed by the aliens.

Those who're possessed wear dark sunglasses to help them blend in. But does that baby really blend in? Hardly. The baby is played by Christopher Olen Ray, Fred's son, who's now a film director in his own right.

Fred's biggest regret is that he didn't persuade the actress Marcia Scott to appear topless. She had large breasts, and in the scene where she was running away from possessed humans she wasn't wearing a bra. Or so he says. I watched the scene twice, and the fuzzy picture makes it difficult to see exactly what's bouncing. Fred made up for it in later years. He's made many films with topless actresses like Beverly Lynne and Christine Nguyen.

Fred evidently doesn't like the film. At the end of his commentary track he says, "If you sat through this, it serves you right". I don't think it's that bad at all. Despite the fuzzy picture.

The film was a financial success. Fred says that it cost him $298 to make, and he sold the original print for $1800. I'm glad he kept a copy for himself, or I could never have watched this curious little film on Blu-ray today.

Marvel 1975.08 - Daredevil #124

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Daredevil #124

Title: In the Coils of the Copperhead!

Writer: Len Wein, Marv Wolfman

Artist: Gene Colan

Villain: Copperhead

Regulars: Black Widow, Ivan, Foggy Nelson

This comic is the end of an era. The Black Widow has been appearing in Daredevil's comics since Daredevil #81, and they've been in a romantic relationship since Daredevil #84. I've always been critical of Gerry Conway's run in Daredevil (Daredevil #72 to #99), but the romance between Daredevil and Black Widow was a great achievement. The comic was even renamed "Daredevil and the Black Widow" from issues #92 to #107. Starting in issue #92 the Black Widow's picture appeared on the cover, in the top right, and this continued even after the series reverted to its original name in Daredevil #108. An exception was Daredevil #111, in which Shanna the She-Devil was shown on the cover, but this was a glitch, probably a joke by Steve Gerber. Their relationship has been on-off ever since Daredevil #100 – the issue Gerry Conway left – but Daredevil #124 is the issue in which they finally break up. It's the last issue in which her picture appears on the cover.

It's a strange break-up. Natasha claims to love Matt, but she leaves him anyway. Her reasons are simple. She's an independent woman, and she doesn't want to be dependent on a man. When they first met, she was wealthy. Now she's poor, probably due to bad budgeting, and she doesn't want Matt to support her. She'd rather sleep in the back of her car than in his New York apartment. She also feels out-classed by him when she's in action. He's a better fighter than she is, and she doesn't want to be his sidekick. Her career as a crime fighter is more important than her romance.

But I can say one thing from my own experiences with women: If a woman ever says, "When I've found whatever I'm looking for, I'll be back, I promise I'll be back", one thing is certain: she won't be back. That was my prediction when I read this comic, and today, 48 years later, she still hasn't come back. I'm not saying she was just making excuses when she left him. She really meant it. What I'm saying is that a woman who says she loves her career more than she loves a man doesn't really love him at all.

I wonder what would have happened if Gerry Conway had remained as the writer. Would he have kept them together? And I also wonder at what level in Marvel the decision was made to separate the couple. Steve Gerber's issues with an on-off romance were bittersweet, and it could have continued like that for years. The break-up story was written by Len Wein, who was Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time. So it was an editorial decision? I don't know. It would be interesting to hear an interview with one of the writers about the relationship.

According to the credits, the first half of this issue was written by Len Wein, the second half by Marv Wolfman. It says pages 1 to 14 and 15 to 31 respectively, but we have to remember that Marvel always numbered their pages including the advertisements. It's an 18-page story, and Len Wein wrote the first nine pages, which is exactly half. In the last issue Len announced that he'd be taking over as the new writer for Daredevil, but he gave up after only half an issue. My guess is that he was over-worked. I'm no expert in the comics business, but I believe that being an editor is a lot of hard work. Roy Thomas was one of Marvel's most prolific writers, but when he became the editor in 1972 his output slowed down. In the 1970's the editors were frequently changed. Six different editors from 1972 to 1978. Despite reading about it, I've never been able to understand why. Len Wein was editor from 1974 to 1975. At the time he was the writer for "The Incredible Hulk". He was probably overworked and unable to find time for another monthly title like "Daredevil".

As is well known, Marvel separated the writer's job into two halves. The writer wrote the story's plot, then the artist drew the comic, after which the writer wrote the dialogue itself. My assumption is that Len Wein plotted the whole issue, and only the dialogue was split between the two. There's a noticeable difference between the two halves, maybe because of the different subject matter, but it could be because of the different writers. In the second half Daredevil is back to his joking self, which was strongest in the first 71 issues.

Now to the story itself. After the Black Widow leaves town, Matt Murdock visits his good friend, District Attorney Foggy Nelson. Maybe he shouldn't have turned down the job at SHIELD last issue, because now he's panicking about being re-elected. There's a rival candidate who has no political experience but much better looks. As I've often said, it's a weakness of democracy that votes are cast based on feelings, not on the skills of the candidates. I'm not going to name any examples, but think back to all the politicians who were unjustly elected in your lifetime.

There's a new vigilante in town called Copperhead. If he sees someone committing a crime he sentences him to death, however trivial the crime might be. For instance, stealing a woman's purse is wrong, but does the thief deserve to die?

Matt hears about Copperhead and remembers that he was the hero in pulp fiction novels from the 1930's. He visits the author's home address as Daredevil, and he's told that he was murdered a week previously. A short time later Daredevil sees two gangs fighting. Not knowing what's going on, Daredevil sides with the underdogs. Copperhead arrives and starts killing. Daredevil fights Copperhead to protect them, but he's knocked out. Copperhead prepares to shoot Daredevil.

Marvel 1975.07 - Daredevil #123

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Daredevil #123

Title: Holocaust in the Halls of Hydra!

Writer: Tony Isabella

Artist: Bob Brown

Villain: Hydra, Silvermane, Blackwing, El Jaguar, Man-Killer, Dreadnought, Mentallo, Jackhammer

Regulars: Black Widow, Ivan, Foggy Nelson

Guests: Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Countess Valentina

Flashbacks: Circus of Crime (Ringmaster, Princess Python, Great Gambonnos)

This is a very different Hydra to the group that was invented by Stan Lee in the 1960's. The original group was made up of normal villains, made terrifying merely by their large numbers. Tony Isabella's Hydra is led by powerful super-villains.

The story begins with Black Widow sneaking up on Blackwing while he's talking to his father Silvermane on a computer screen. Man-Killer hits her from behind and knocks her out.

Nick Fury is tired of waiting for a large SHIELD task force to arrive. He heads to Shea Stadium accompanied only by Dum Dum Dugan and Countess Valentina.

Daredevil and Black Widow wake up in a room with Silvermane, Blackwing, El Jaguar, Man-Killer, Dreadnought and Mentallo. It looks like a super-villains convention. Silvermane explains how he returned from his seeming death in Amazing Spider-Man #75. His serum of eternal youth made him regress into nothingness, but he snapped back to the prime of his life like a rubber band.

Blackwing also explains why he was a member of the Circus of Crime in Daredevil #118. The Circus was too close to Hydra's headquarters below Shea Stadium, so Blackwing joined them to distract them from accidentally discovering the Hydra headquarters. That makes sense.

Silvermane says that Hydra has no interest in Foggy Nelson himself. He's just bait to lure Nick Fury into a trap. He sees Nick and his top agents on his security cameras, and he destroys them with explosives. Or so he thinks. They were actually LMD's (Life Model Decoys).

Foggy Nelson bursts into action, freeing Daredevil and Black Widow. At that moment the real Nick Fury, Dum Dum and Countess Valentina arrive. Hydra is backed up by the arrival of yet another super-villain, Jackhammer. Come on, Tony, enough's enough! A fight breaks out, which Hydra loses. It lasts four pages, but I'm not going to describe it panel for panel! Silvermane and Blackwing flee. SHIELD takes the others prisoners.

Nick Fury repeats his offer of membership in SHIELD to Foggy Nelson. Foggy declines.

Richard the Stork and the Mystery of the Great Jewel (2 Stars)

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That's Richard in the top right. What's that you're saying? He doesn't look like a stork? That depends on your definition. He's a sparrow who was adopted by a family of storks. Similarly, if a German were adopted by an English family, would that make him English? Probably. If a cat were adopted by a dog, would that make him a dog? Probably not. We need to make up our minds from case to case. In this film, Richard is a stork because the title says so.

The film is a sequel to "Richard the Stork", which was released in 2017. I didn't see the first film, but I didn't feel I was unable to understand anything. From what I've read, the first film showed how he came to be adopted.

The stork family lives in Africa, and they're preparing to migrate north in the summer. I have no knowledge of storks and their migration habits, so I'll just accept it. The storks have a contest to decide which of them is most suitable to lead the flock northwards. Richard wins the contest as the fastest bird, but the elders make Richard's brother Max the leader because he looks like a stork. That's discrimination based on appearance and race. I wonder how many children in the cinema picked up this message. Max is sympathetic and agrees that Richard should have been chosen, but it's not his decision to make.

Richard is in a bad mood, so he flies off by himself. He intends to return soon, but he meets another group of birds, friends of mixed species. They're captured by an evil peacock called Zamano, who holds one of the group hostage until the others find a giant jewel. Richard is a natural leader and takes the other birds on the treasure hunt.

I could say a lot more about the plot, but I'll stop there. The cinema was almost sold out, full of young children with their parents. The film has an age certificate of 0, i.e. children of any age can watch it, but the cinema has a (sensible) policy that they only admit children who're at least two years old. Looking round the room, most of the children were aged five to ten, but there were quite a lot of very young children.

"Richard the Stork 2" (shortening the title) highlights a problem with age ratings. Germany's categories are 0, 6, 12, 16 and 18. "Richard the Stork 2" was given the lowest rating because there's nothing harmful for small children. But is it really suitable for very young children? Based on the audience reaction, I'd say No. In the opening scenes there was a lot of laughter as the storks raced. When the treasure hunt started the laughter stopped. At times I noticed a lot of talking in the audience. The children were getting bored. My grandson Oliver is seven, but carefully phrased questions after the film convinced me that he didn't understand what had happened. The dialogue was too fast and too hectic. The plot was too complex. There was a plot twist at the end, and I groaned inwardly. How could the children possibly understand what was happening? If it had been up to me, I would have recommended the film for ages 12 and above.

This is an example of a badly made children's film.

Mad Heidi (5 Stars)

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I watched this film earlier this month. Is there any reason why I shouldn't watch it again? If you can think of a reason, let me know.

"Mad Heidi" is at the same time an exploitation film and a parody of films from past eras. Maybe I shouldn't call it a parody. It's more of an homage. It's also a tribute to the beauty of Switzerland. It's an idyllic country where people can enjoy the scenery. But in "Mad Heidi" this beautiful country has been tainted by Fascism. There's a new president who tells people what they can and can't eat, and those who disagree with him are shot.

Most of the first half takes place in a women's prison. That's the epitome of exploitation films. How many women behind bars films were made in the 1970's and 1980's?

After escaping from prison, Heidi is trained by warrior nuns.

Training scenes like this are common in modern films, everything from "Kill Bill" to "Emerald Green". I'm sure that these films are all copying from previous films. What's the first film to have a training scene like this. Was it "Karate Kid" or something older? I wish I could ask Quentin Tarantino. He'd give me an answer without a moment's hesitation.

I asked ChatGPT to write a review of the film. It was quite good, apart from mentioning German tourists, who don't appear in the film. I wonder where that came from. ChatGPT also gets the name of the lead actress wrong. Here's ChatGPT's review, slightly edited to remove the errors:

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"Mad Heidi" is a Swiss-made independent film that can be described as a humorous and twisted take on the classic tale of "Heidi". The movie was released in 2021 and is directed by Johannes Hartmann and co-written by Tero Kaukomaa.

The film is set in the Swiss Alps and follows the story of a rebellious Heidi who lives with her grandfather.

The first thing that stands out about "Mad Heidi" is its stunning visuals. The film is shot entirely in the Swiss Alps, and the cinematography is breathtaking. The scenery is beautifully captured, and the use of drone shots adds an extra layer of depth to the film.

The film's humour is irreverent and often shocking, with plenty of gory scenes and dark humour. It's definitely not a film for the faint of heart, but if you're a fan of horror and comedy, you'll find plenty to enjoy.

The acting in "Mad Heidi" is also top-notch. The cast is made up of a mix of seasoned actors and newcomers, and they all deliver great performances. The standout performance is undoubtedly by the lead actress, Alice Lucy, who plays Heidi with a rebellious and mischievous charm.

However, while the film has plenty of style and humour, it does fall short in terms of narrative. The story is often disjointed, and the pacing can feel slow at times. It also has a tendency to rely too heavily on shock value, which can detract from the overall experience.

Overall, "Mad Heidi" is a visually stunning and darkly humorous film that is worth a watch for fans of horror and comedy. While it may not be the most cohesive narrative, it's an entertaining ride that is sure to leave an impression.