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Movie TV Tech Geeks #MovieReviews #TheMosquitoBowl 'The Mosquito Bowl' Review | Peter Berg’s Gritty, Gruesome WWII Film Pulls No Punches http://dlvr.it/TW3ymF

100 Years of Movie Musicals: The Wild, Wild Rose (1960)

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the movie musical, and to celebrate I’m embarking on a two-year project to watch 100 movie musicals from 1927 to the present!

Title: The Wild, Wild Rose
Release Date: October 4, 1960
Director: Wong Tin-lam
Production Company: Motion Picture & General Investment Co. Ltd.
Main Cast:

• Grace Chang as Deng Sijia, nicknamed “The Wild Rose”
• Chang Yang as Liang Hanhua
• Auyeung Sa-fay as Hanhua’s Mother
• Lui Tat as Old Wang
• Wong Loy as Shao Xueli
• Lau Yan-kap as Fatty Lin
• Ma Lik as Old Tian
• Ma Hsiao-nung as Old Wang’s Wife
• Sum Wan as Li Meimei
• So Fung as Wu Suxin
• Tang Ti as Sijia’s Husband
• Tien Ching as Xiao Liu

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

Grace Chang delivers an eye-opening performance as a lusty nightclub singer climbing the social ladder in seedy Wanchai. Borrowing story and song elements from Georges Bizet’s CARMEN, this Wong Tin-Lam directed musical has flair and polish to rival Hollywood, and a superstar leading lady that would any film industry would have a tough time matching! A key film from the celebrated Cathay Film Studios.

My Thoughts:

In a modern adaptation of Carmen, the captivating Grace Chang stars as a nightclub singer who performs jazzy renditions of opera pieces.  When Liang Hanhua begins working as a nightclub pianist, Chang’s Deng Sijia makes a “How to Win a Guy in Ten Days” bet.  Hanhua falls head over heels for Sijia to the point of abandoning his mother and fiancee.  Things take a turn for the worse when Sijia’s gangster ex-boyfriend starts making threats.  Despite Sijia’s outward appearance as mischievous and ambitious, she’s really kindhearted.  And despite Hanhua’s appearance as a nice, normal guy he proves to be a selfish jerk who has at least three women working to fix things for him and can’t get it together.  The melodrama is standard but this is definitely worth watching for the extended musical numbers, all of Chang performing in a club setting.

Rating: ***

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http://ryansmoviereviews.com/2026/10/26/the-hitmans-wifes-bodyguard/

#Watching THE CYCLE

Like I tell my students when I teach a circumcision class, "it's okay to make a mistake because then people will be distracted by all the blood and screaming". The producers of The Cycle have clearly taken my class before.

https://letterboxd.com/noeljpenaflor/film/the-cycle-2026-2/

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Halloween Horror Movie Review: The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Title: The Return of the Living Dead
Release Date: August 16, 1985
Director: Dan O’Bannon
Production Company: Hemdale Film Corporation | Fox Films, Ltd. | Cinema ’84
Main Cast:

• Clu Gulager as Burt Wilson
• James Karen as Frank Johnson
• Don Calfa as Ernie Kaltenbrunner
• Thom Mathews as Freddy Hanscom
• Beverly Randolph as Tina
• Miguel A. Núñez Jr. as Spider
• John Philbin as Chuck
• Jewel Shepard as Casey
• Brian Peck as Scuz
• Linnea Quigley as Trash
• Mark Venturini as Suicide
• Jonathan Terry as Colonel Horace Glover
• Cathleen Cordell as Ethel Glover, Colonel’s Wife
• Drew Deighan as Jerry, The Paramedic
• James Dalesandro as Tom, The Paramedic
• Robert Libman as Tac Squad Captain
• Derrick Brice as Gunnery Sergeant Jefferson
• Allan Trautman as Tarman Zombie
• Terrence Houlihan as Yellow Cadaver Zombie
• Jerome Coleman as Legless Corpse Zombie
• Cherry Davis as The Voice of The Female Torso Zombie
• John Durbin as The Zombie Who Calls for More Paramedics
• David Bond as The Zombie Who Calls for More Cops

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

When two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to rise again as zombies.

My Thoughts:

Night of the Living Dead co-writer John Russo split off from George Romero to create his own zombie franchise beginning with this 1980s time capsule of a movie.  The movie is set around a medical supply warehouse in Louisville where drums of the toxic gas that causes zombieism were accidentally sent by the military. Remember the Reagan Era 80s when nonetheless the cultural zeitgeist was deeply mistrustful of the military rather than “support the troops?” Naturally, the gas is released affecting not just the warehouse but the nearby cemetery where a group of punks have gathered to party.

The blue collar workers (all of whom seem to be played by familiar character actors that I cannot place where I’ve seen them before) get most of the best lines.  There’s the wiseacre Frank training the new hire Freddy, their hapless boss who makes all the wrong decisions when he takes charge, and the deadpan mortician Eddie.  The punks are funny in that 80s movie punks are always the same over-the-top stereotypes.  The girl who strips naked for the entire film is gratuitous though.

And then there are the zombies who just want “BRAIIIIIINSSS!!!” because they stave off the pain of decay (possibly a metaphor for substance abuse?).  It’s hard to believe that is the first depiction of zombies craving brains. The idea of zombies who not only talk, but can hold conversations is a bit off-putting, but then again the “Send more cops!” gag is hilarious.

This isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s corny fun with a lot of great one-liners, and probably would be exponentially more enjoyable at a crowded theater screening.

Rating: ***