FILM REVIDW OF ''STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS" (2013)

Movies have always reflected the concerns of society.  Like "Iron Man 3," "Star Trek Into Darkness" (**** OUT OF ****) follows a cold-blooded terrorist through the galaxy who conjures up chaos in this science fiction "Zero Dark Thirty" manhunt.  Mind you, the filmmakers have refrained from identifying any specific ethnic or religious group in this 23rd century tale.  "Super 8" director J.J. Abrams' dynamic sequel reassembles virtually the entire cast as well as some minor characters from his 2009 "Star Trek" reboot.  Remember those cadets who gave Kirk a bloody nose in Iowa?  They're back, too. Similarly, Chris Pine returns as Captain James T. Kirk, along with Zachary Quinto as the pointy-eared Mr. Spock, Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, and Simon Pegg as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery "Scotty" Scott.  Unlike the original Roddenberry film franchise with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelly, nobody in Abrams' "Star Trek" gets cheated out of screen time, particularly peripheral characters like John Cho's Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu and Anton Yelchin's Ensign Pavel Chekov.  The performances are uniformly top-notch, with Pine relishing Kirk's action hero impetuosity and Quinto delivering his lines about truth and logic with a straight-faced, impersonality that makes you smile at his subtlety. Incidentally, Mr. Spock learns how to tell a lie without flinching in this outing.  Urban gets most of the laughs with his observations about McCoy's shortcomings. Unfortunately, the traditional "Trek" villains- those diabolical Klingons—are confined to just one scene while the senior Spock (Leonard Nimoy) appears briefly during a televised conversation between his younger counterpart and himself.  Trekkers who hated the 2009 “Star Trek” will probably abhor “Star Trek Into Darkness,” while more open-minded Trekker will embrace the changes.

Every film franchise requires a treacherous villain.  Happily, "Star Trek Into Darkness" has forged a ferocious foe.  Enigmatic Starfleet Commander John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch of the BBC's "Sherlock") with his glacial stare and warmly uttered words is so thoroughly malignant that you'd probably pummel the gifted British actor who portrays him.  Basically, Harrison possesses several advantages over his adversaries that cannot be revealed without spoiling this suspenseful saga.  Meanwhile, Harrison has a bomb detonated in downt0wn London during the year 2259.55 that galvanizes Starfleet into swift action.  Specifically, Harrison blackmailed an officer assigned to Section 31 of a Starfleet archive to blow it up inside and then takes credit for the catastrophe.  Gimlet-eyed Starfleet Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller of "RoboCop") laments the deaths of 42 people in the explosion.  As the calculating Harrison, Cumberbatch delivers such a hypnotic performance that he makes you forget anybody else is in the scene.  He is the Magneto of the “Star Trek” movies.  Nonetheless, Weller provides stiff competition despite his considerably shorter screen time.  Weller emerges as the equivalent of a hawkish, Strategic Air Command general from the 1964, Stanley Kubrick epic "Doctor Strangelove" (1964) who wants to shoot first and forget any questions. Indeed, Admiral Marcus considers the Klingon Empire every bit as wicked as most SAC generals considered the Communist Empire.  Marcus wants Harrison dispatched with extreme prejudice, and Kirk wants to personally execute those orders after Harrison launches an audacious attack on the war room with a helicopter-style gunship.  This massacre reminded me of a similar scene in the Al Pacino epic "The Godfather 3." Afterwards, Harrison goes gallivanting off into forbidden Klingon territory where Starfleet lacks jurisdiction.  Kirk resumes command of the Enterprise after violating a prime directive and pursues Harrison with an array of 72, new, photon torpedoes. Neither Mr. Spock nor Scotty approve of the idea of killing Harrison without the due process of a trial.

Despite its ominous title, this splendid Paramount Pictures release doesn't hide in the shadows of its stellar predecessor.  Actually, Abrams and "Transformers" scenarists Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, abetted by "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof have taken the franchise farther than the first.  You get to see more of San Francisco and the futuristic contraptions that people travel around in.  Watching "Star Trek Into Darkness" is like—to borrow the cliché—riding a runaway roller-coaster on a figure-eight trestle with flames chasing you.  Abrams and company give them a little bit of everything to do except travel in time.  One scene has our hero and villain decked out like Buck Rodgers plunging through space This review covers the 2-D, not the 3-D version..  Prepare yourself for surprises galore as the filmmakers, clearly all fans of Gene Roddenberry's ground-breaking science fiction TV series, show you things that you might never have imagined or perhaps tolerated in earlier incarnations.  The special effects look impressive, especially the space debris between the USS Enterprise and the USS Vengeance during a taut stand-off scene.  Not only does the narrative take place on the Enterprise bridge but also on Earth in San Francisco as well as on a Class M Planet called Nimbus.  Technically, although it is sequel, "Star Trek Into Darkness" is still a sequel to a prequel, making it a prequel, too.  You'll understand the significance of this during the final moments when the crew of the USS Enterprise embark on their upcoming five-year mission.  If you're a hardcore "Star Trek" who can handle the liberties that Abrams and company have wrought, you'll probably want to see "Star Trek Into Darkness" more than once.  I grew up watching the original NBC-TV series when it first aired on Thursday nights.  After the show’s cancellation, I followed the Enterprise crew onto the silver screen and have thoroughly enjoyed the adventurous Abrams' prequels.  The casting is as close to perfect as you can imagine.  For the record, I've seen "Star Trek Into Darkness" three times, and I'm eagerly awaiting its release on home video.  This review covers the 2-D, not the 3-D version.

FILM REVIEW OF "HELL RIDE" (2008)

"Savage Seven" actor Larry Bishop must have seen "Escape from New York" before he wrote, produced, and directed the R-rated, Dimension Films release "Hell Ride" (*** OUT OF ****) with Quentin Tarantino serving as executive producer. Bishops dresses as if he were channeling Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken from the John Carpenter classic. Bishop plays 'Pistolero,' the president of a notorious motorcycle gang called 'the Victors.' This unsavory synthesis of Spaghetti western and the Biker flick, about outlaw bikers, booze, and booty concerns revenge. A cast of familiar faces, including Michael Madsen, Dennis Hopper, Francesco Quinn, Vinnie Jones, Eric Balfour, and David Carradine, circle each other with gimlet eyed glares when they aren't drooling on delicious dolls, and either shooting or setting folks afire. Most of the action transpires in the desert, at a motel, and at a bar called Dani's Inferno. According to Bishop, "Hell Ride" was shot in twenty days and on a shoe string. Bishop says he based his casting choices on the motorcycle that they straddle and the motorcycle had to look good. Nothing about this low-budget homage to grind-house sagas is anything that most people, other old B-movie fans will, want to suffer through. This amoral

melodrama has its share of moments. Bishop looks like a demented version of Al Pacino. Nudity, violence, and profanity are rampant throughout "Hell Ride."

The opening scene with Bishop flat on his back with an arrow protruding his belly is unforgettable. The suspense of this scene is mitigated somewhat by the appearance of a sexy babe who squats on our hero's face and extracts the arrow. The action shifts then to 32 earlier as some ruffians storm into a motel room, slash a gal's throat while a teenager watches, and then ignites her like a bonfire. Moments later, the scene shifts 32 years later, Billy Wings gives an old grizzled man, St. Louie (Pete Randall), similar treatment. The biker's funeral in the desert with the gang taking a last swig on their beer bottles before they

christen the coffin in an oblong hole carved at of the desert is strikingly stuff. Indeed, everything about "Hell Ride" is over-the-top, with larger-than-life bastards who have no compunction about murder. After our heroes conclude their farewell to their biker friend, then barge into a trailer and mow down four opposing biker gang members. The Gent (Michael Madsen of "Reservoir Dogs") apologizes after the shooting to Pistolero (Larry Bishop) for pulling the trigger one time too many, "My finger got stuck." Pistolero replies, "Next time share a little." Pistolero wields a Smith & Wesson and administers a coup de grace. Not to be outdone, fellow biker Comanche (Eric Balfour of "Skyline') wants trophies. "So I say we cut off their heads, we take'em with us." The Gent disagrees with Comanche while he admires the nude women in an issue of the pornographic magazine "Club," "I say we just take a few pinkies and call it a day." Ultimately, Pistolero rules. "How's about we take their stash, torch the trailer, and get the f%*k out of here?" The next shot depicts Comanche, The Gent, and Pistolero sauntering away from the trailer as it blows up behind them and is engulfed in the flames. If you look closely, you can see that The Gent has the Club magazine in his britches at his crotch as he walks away from the trailer. Mind you, all this mayhem occurs in the first seven minutes of this 84-minute biker flick. What's not to like? At this point, Bishop presents the opening credits. By this time, if you're not grooving on this retro-fitted biker flick, you need to find something that appeals more to your taste.

Chilean actress Leonor Varela shows up for her second scene in a big house with a long porch. Pistolero encounters her after he enters the premises and spots her at a pool table. A scene involving verbal sexual fencing commences with Nada begging Pistolero to have screw her or suffer the damnation of Hell. Pistolero informs her that he is in Hell. What sets her performance apart is Leonor convinced Bishop in this scene as well as the opening gambit that she didn't have to appear naked to look sexy. Leonor proves her point many times over. Pistolero learns from her that the Six-Six-Sixers biker gang, including The Deuce (David Carradine of the "Kill Bill" movies) and Billy Wings (Vinnie Jones of "Swordfish"), are itching for vengeance. Nada elaborates that the whole Deuce business has "something to do with that Cherokee Kisum woman." Eventually, Eddie leads Billy Wings into a shoot-out, and the Gent literally jumps the gun and drills him.  Later, Pistolero finishes him off rather painfully.  Not only does he shoot Eddie, but he also slits his throat and torches him.  The influence of Tarantino is evident when Comanche finds a safe deposit box in the desert, but we never learn what it contains.

The scene when Comanche urinates on Eddie's boots is hilarious. Comanche and his buddies later follow Eddie who straddles a bike with a sidecar. The second encounter between Nada and Pistolero uses fire as a metaphor for their love talk. Later, our hero takes a trip on peyote. This scene leads up to the opening scene when Nada shoves the arrow into Pistolero. For the record, Carradine does show up until almost 44 minutes have elapsed. "Hell Ride" is an atmospheric steel horse opera with quotable dialogue, rugged desert scenery, gritty action, and interesting performances.

FILM REVIEW OF "THE MYSTERIOUS MR. WONG" (1934)

The 1935 Monogram Pictures' release "The Mysterious Mr. Wong," starring Bela Lugosi and Wallace Ford, clearly deserved no Oscars.  Similarly, director William Nigh's poverty-row crime thriller doesn’t qualify as ghastly. This low-budget, black & white, whodunit about a series of murders occurring in the Chinatown section of an anonymous metropolitan American city is incorrigibly xenophobic. Remember, when "The Mysterious Mr. Wong” (**1/2 OUT OF ****) came out, Americans harbored paranoid fears about the so-called 'Yellow Peril' that Chinese immigrants represented as they poured into the West coast. Any multi-culturally minded liberals who partake of "The Mysterious Mr. Wong" are going to be not only appalled but also offended the conspicuous, racially charged invective in this crime thriller. Clocking in at a meager 68 minutes, this melodrama never wears out its welcome. Prolific director William Nigh, who helmed 120 movies in a career spanning thirty-four years, and his writers keep things clicking. “Dangerous Crossroads” scribe Lew Levenson adapted author Harry Stephen Keeler's story "The Twelve Coins of Confucius," and Nina Howatt penned the screenplay, with James Herbuveaux contributing additional dialogue. Neither Howatt nor Herbuveaux wrote anything after "The Mysterious Mr. Wong," but the dialogue sounds pretty snappy, slang-riddled, but eminently quotable. The action itself resembles a twelve chapter serial pared down to the bare essentials. Secret passageways, concealed doors, underground sanctums, exotic coins, and torture chambers pervade this yarn.

"The Mysterious Mr. Wong" opens with expository information from an encyclopedia about the fabled twelve coins of Confucius and how the person who possesses them will rule a province called Keelat. Afterwards, newspaper story about a murder appears. Indeed, newspaper accounts of homicides in Chinatown recur throughout the narrative. Three slayings occur in rapid succession during the first few minutes. The police believe that the Tongs are on the warpath. The first victim staggers out into a street and collapses. A man searches his body, finds a perforated coin, and plants a note with a Chinese letter on the corpse. The second victim has been hanged, and hands rifle his pockets to acquire a coin. The third man is strangled as he sleeps—yes, he is strangled perhaps too quickly, but the Production Code censors might have forced Nigh to accelerate this lurid death scene—and hands plunder his warm corpse, extract the coin from a shoe, and leave the usual note on his body. Meanwhile, agents of the Keelat province show up in town to thwart Mr. Wong. Phillip Tsang (E. Alyn Warren of "Chinatown Squad") heads up the operation. Eventually, Tsang crosses paths with Mr. Wong, and Wong takes him hostage.

A cynical newspaper reporter, Jason Barton (Wallace Ford of "Freaks"), investigates these murders. The authorities are convinced that the Tongs are responsible. Barton disagrees in a news story, and his editor Steve Brandon (Lee Shumway of "The Lone Star Ranger"), packs him off to find a Chinaman named Wong. "Did you ever run into a Chinaman by the name of Wong?" Brandon inquires. "Have I ever run into any that ain't named Wong?" Barton retorts. Our journalistic hero ventures into Sam Toy's Laundry where he encounters an Irish cop, Officer 'Mac' McGillicuddy (Robert Emmett 0'Conner of "Picture Snatcher"), who seems to be the only policeman walking a beat in the district. He shares Barton's racism and refers to the Chinese as "monkeys." None of the other reporters are interested in the murder. Barton checks over the body and learns that Toy died with a pencil in his hand. A breeze blows through the laundry when Mac opens the door and Barton finds a message written in Chinese. He visits the herb shop of Mr. Lysee (Bela Lugosi), but Lysee plays dumb when Barton quizzes him. Barton visits a nearby university where Professor Chan Fu (Luke Chan) works as a translator. Lysee sends one of his minions to steal the note from Barton, but Barton eludes him.

Later, Barton ransacks Toy's laundry and finds the last coin, but an assailant gets the drop on Barton and steals the last coin. When Barton recovers, he learns another Chinaman has died. "Say, this is getting monotonous," Barton complains, "I'm supposed to bring in real live news, the best I can do is run down dead Chinamen." Later, Barton and the newspaper switchboard operator, Peg (Arlene Judge of "Flying Devils"), have dinner in a restaurant and Barton discovers that the man who stole the coin from him is trying to return it. This man dies in the booth next to Barton and Peg. Afterward, Mr. Wong's murderous minions capture Barton and Peg. Eventually, Wong takes them to his underground torture chamber where he plans to stick bamboo shafts up Peg's finger nails unless the reticent Barton surrenders the last coin.

Just before the torture commences, Wong and company leave our hero and heroine alone long enough for Barton to find a convenient telephone and call his boss. "I'm somewhere back of old Lysee's herb shop. It's a matter of life and death. There's a secret panel on the back of the counter. You better come well heeled. These babies don't play with marbles." Nigh was no stranger to directing movies about Asians with white actors impersonated Orientals. He directed all five Boris Karloff mysteries in the "Mr. Wong" franchise: "Mr. Wong, Detective," "The Mystery of Mr. Wong," "Mr. Wong in Chinatown," "The Fatal Hour," and "Doomed to Die." Later, Nigh directed Lugosi again in "Black Dragons" during 1942.

Of course, "Dracula" star Bela Lugosi was atrociously miscast as Mr. Wong with his obvious Hungarian accent. More than likely, Monogram cast Lugosi because Universal had cast Bela's biggest rival Boris Karloff in their 1932 epic "The Mask of Fu Manchu." Nevertheless, Bela delivers his lines with reasonable credibility and doesn't bump into the furniture. He looks pretty sinister as an Asian villain and he is up to his ears in intrigue and murder. "The Mysterious Mr. Wong" wallows in racial prejudice that was part and parcel of its time. Nevertheless, it still ranks as an entertaining B-movie.

FILM REVIEW OF ''POSTAL INSPECTOR'' (1936)

Bela Lugosi made many unusual movies during his career.  Clocking in at a mere 58 minutes, Otto Brower's "Postal Inspector" (**1/2 OUT OF ****) is a contrived but entertaining cinematic tribute to the U.S. Postal Service.  Indeed, “Postal Inspector” could serve as a prototype for anything “Dragnet” creator Jack Webb created.  For the record, Lugosi doesn’t take top billing.  Suave Ricardo Cortez has that distinction.  He played the original Samuel Spade in the 1931 version of "The Maltese Falcon" before Humphrey Bogart recreated Spade in his own image.  Lugosi took fourth billing after Patricia Ellis and Michael Loring.  Brower and “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” scenarist Horace McCoy have forged themselves a genuine hybrid with an array of characters. "Postal Inspector" consists of one third crime thriller, one third musical, and one third disaster epic.  At every opportunity, our hero reminds us that the best insurance in the world is a postage stamp.  Moreover, the message that citizens must be protected from fraudulent practices drives the Postal Service.  The comic relief consists of several vignettes about fraudulent gadgets sold via the mail to naïve citizens.  Cortez looks like he would be the wrong man with which to tangle.  Sadly, Lugosi languished in a lackluster role as a shifty nightclub owner in trouble with the mob. During the first scene, our hero and his fellow postal inspectors receive praise from none other than President Franklin D. Roosevelt over a speaker phone for their "fine work" moving the gold reserves of the United States to the inland cities.  Clearly, the producers must have approved of FDR’s policies.  You should have no trouble spotting African-American actress Hattie McDaniel in a supporting role as the heroine’s maid.

Not only does Inspector Bill Davis (Richard Cortez) take everything seriously, but he also is a paragon of efficiency.  The unflappable Davis always has reassuring words for anybody who has a problem with the postal service.  Davis sorts out all the problems that citizens have without blowing his cool.  Popular singer Connie Larrimore (Patrick Ellis) meets Davis aboard a flight from Washington, D.C. to Milltown, during stormy weather. The pilots are struggling to land, but a storm blinds them.  Ground Control talks the pilots safely down.  During the story, our heroine sings to soothe some frightened passengers, with a youngster providing accompaniment on his harmonica. The press plasters Connie's commendable singing exploits across the front page story.  . Bela Lugosi makes his first appearance as Gregory Benez at the airport. The natty nightclub owner has Connie under contract to sing in his nightclub The Golden Eagle.  Eventually, we learn Benez has shady dealings with the mob.  He owes Alfred Carter, ‘known to have financed many nightclubs,’ $50-thousand.  Worse, Benez is two weeks tardy on his payment.  At the airport, Connie reacquaints herself with an old friend from high school in Milltown.  The friend turns out to be Bill’s younger brother Charlie (Michael Loring), and Charlie wants to rekindle the flame.  Seven years have elapsed since they went their separate ways.  Our hero’s introduction to Connie has a memorable moment.  Charlie points out his brother works for the post office.  Slyly, Connie reminds Charlie that it has been a long time since they played post office.  Brower and McCoy milk this moment again later in the action for dramatic emphasis.  Connie learns Charlie works for the Federal Reserve Bank.  Charlie is in charge of all the money that the Federal Reserve wants to remove from circulation. He tells Connie about a shipment of used bills, approximately $3-million worth of bills.

About 31 minutes into the action, our handsome hero catches a plane to Yarborough where heavy rains have washed out a bridge and cut off the town.  Meantime, Davis relocates the Yarborough Post Office to higher ground.  Later, Benez and his accomplices knock over the armored car, kill a postal employee, and steal the millions.  Benez is nowhere around when his henchmen hit the Postal truck.  Of course, Davis is not happy.  Brower doesn’t depict the attack on the driver of the postal vehicle.  Everything occurs off-screen.  Afterward, we see the postal vehicle tipped onto its side.  Benez’s henchmen careen away from the scene with a bundle of money.  Later, a man named Ritter (Harry Beresford) apprises Davis about the money bags.  They use a boat to reach the robbery vehicle and find $20-thousand.  Davis assures Ritter that he will figure in any reward.  Meantime, Davis learns that only three people knew about the $3-million, and one of them was Charlie.  Initially, Charlie assures his brother Bill that he had nothing to do with the robbery.  It looks like Charlie and Connie are to be implicated until Connie agrees to flush out Benez. When Bill investigates the robbery vehicle, he discovers the car belonged to Charlie.  Bill puts Charlie on the hot seat about the robbery, and his brother comes back to him two hours later with the explanation.  Charlie let Connie borrow his car and somebody stole the car from Connie.

Altogether, "Postal Inspector" qualifies as a routine potboiler about Postal Inspectors.  The stock footage of the flood scenes is impressive.  One desperate African-American scrambles to seize a chicken.  Lugosi plays Benez with considerable restraint.  The joke about the elderly woman who solicits proposals of marriage through the mail with a photograph of a young, beautiful woman is hilarious.  The villains use a boat to elude the authorities, but Charlie and Connie disrupt their getaway. Newspaper headline state that the mail robbers are scheduled to serve 20 years to life.  The mail robbery prompts the Federal Reserve to stop transferring old bills.  Instead, they decide to mutilate the bills in the future.  Charlie and Connie serenade Bill over the phone and apprise him of their impending marriage.