Movies
Attack Force Z (1982) D: Tim Burstall. S: Mel Gibson, John Phillip Law, Sam Neill, Ko Chun-Hsiung, Sylvia Chang. Bewildering and boring WWII picture about elite Aussie ATTACK FORCE Z who are sent in to a Chinese island, occupied by the Japanese, to rescue mysterious plane crash survivors. Everything goes wrong because the Z team isn’t very elite when not shooting people in the back. Way too much involves psychopath Law (who’s comically bad) romancing seeming teenager Chang.
Enigma (1982) D: Jeannot Szwarc. S: Martin Sheen, Brigitte Fossey, Sam Neill, Kevin McNally, Derek Jacobi. Boring, entirely unsuccessful spy “thriller” about Russian-American Soviet defector and master of disguise Sheen doing one more job for the CIA. He’s got to get the Soviet version of the ENIGMA decoder from East Berlin. There’s a cop (Jacobi) and a KGB wunderkind (Neill) after him. Fossey’s the love interest. Szwarc’s direction disappoints. Also, no accents on anyone.
The In-Laws (1979) D: Arthur Hiller. S: Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Richard Libertini, James Hong, Ed Begley Jr.. Superb buddy comedy about soon-to-be in-laws Falk and Arkin. It’s days before their kids get married, and they’ve only just met. Turns out Falk’s a CIA agent who needs mild-mannered dentist Arkin to do a little job for him. It becomes increasingly complicated, culminating in Libertini’s peerless appearance. Great direction from Hiller, Andrew Bergman script.
Little Evil (2017) D: Eli Craig. S: Adam Scott, Evangeline Lilly, Owen Atlas, Clancy Brown, Sally Field. Often quite funny (forty years removed) OMEN homage about new step-dad Scott finding out kid Atlas is the Antichrist. For real. Probably. Scott’s willing to try thanks to wife Lilly. Great support from Everett (who runs the movie start to finish) and Brown; Scott’s solid in the lead, Atlas is fine, Lilly’s lacking. Rather successful “adult” kids comedy.
Comics
Babs (2024) TPB W: Garth Ennis. A: Jacen Burrows. Excellent “light” comedy from Ennis and Burrows about barbarian warrior BABS, a self-aware badass, and the time she had to fight a bunch of murderous con artists masquerading as racist religious zealots. Ennis makes one wry observation after another about the genre, while also doing a lot of commentary about twenty-first-century male “culture.” Fun, good read.
Hulk Grand Design: Madness (2022) #1 WA: Jim Rugg. Slightly better issue has more detail–except when creator Rugg skips five years here and there–but at least the storyline recaps are better. Until they’re not. There’s almost nothing to it in the end, with thin recaps of the biggest story arcs. Hulk deserved another issue (at least) except there’s no reason to think it’s be any good.
Hulk Grand Design: Monster (2022) #1 WA: Jim Rugg. The Hulk gets his GRAND DESIGN but creator Rugg’s more interested in the visual presentation than any kind of narrative. There’s very little detail in the recaps, with villains dying and resurrecting from panel-to-panel, and no personality for Banner at all. There’s some nice art and some decent humor, but it’s all distressingly thin. Rugg like HULK?