The Cat Returns (2002)

Toho
Directed by Hiroyuki Morita
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Walt Disney)

A young girl saves the life of a cat in a busy street. The cat promptly stands up and thanks her, before running away. It turns out the cat was a prince in a place called Cat Kingdom, to which she is invited to visit. She gets there with the help of a very British cat named Baron and a very fat one named Muta. The king promises her hand in marriage to the prince she saved, which she initially refuses but after slowly turning into a cat herself gradually begins to consider the possibility. However, when she realizes the change is irreversible she decides to escape with her cat friends from outside. Another strange Studio Ghibli anime, with clunky animation, bland music and unconvincing Americanized dubbing. 

A Black Veil for Lisa (1968)

Commonwealth United Entertainment
Directed by Massimo Dallamano
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Olive Films)

Police detective John Mills is convinced his much younger wife Luciana Paluzzi is having an affair. He calls her incessantly from work, often getting no answer and fueling his fears. Pressure is building on him to make an arrest in a drug case, but his suspects keep turning up dead. Clues eventually lead to a hired hit man, but instead of arresting him he blackmails him into killing his wife. The plan backfires when the hit man and wife begin their own torrid affair. Mills is a bit miscast as the older detective with the beautiful young wife, never quite convincing in the role. Hamburg is a rather drab backdrop to the proceedings as well. Passable entertainment, but never engaging. 

Death Laid an Egg (1968)

U-M Film Distributors Inc.
Directed by Giulio Questi
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Cult Epics)

Jean-Louis Trintignant owns a modern chicken factory with his wife Gina Lollobrigida. Unhappily married, he spends his off time picking up prostitutes in a chic hotel lobby and playing sadistic games with them upstairs. The arrival of his wife's cousin Ewa Aulin upends his home life, as he tries to convince her to have an affair. She eventually succumbs to his advances, but turns out to be secretly married and plotting to take over the farm by framing him for his wife's murder. Style frequently overwhelms plot and characters in this psychedelic giallo. The soundtrack by Bruno Maderna is front and center, featuring atonal classical experimentation and an occasional Spanish flourish. The direction is equally unpredictable, with fast, flashy editing and odd angles. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but the underlying story tends to get lost in the process. 

Deadly Inheritance (1968)

Alex Cinematografica (Italy)
Directed by Vittorio Sindoni
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia

After a railroad worker is killed by a train, his family gather for a reading of the will. He includes a provision that no one gets any money until an adopted son turns 21. Well, no one has to wait long because the son is soon also run over by a train. However, other family members also begin to get killed. The police investigate and have plenty of suspects. Predictable and dated, with too many scenes of teenagers dancing to bad psychedelic music and a long chase scene on foot towards the end that lasts forever. 

The Three Lives of Thomasina (1963)

Buena Vista Distribution
Directed by Don Chaffey
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Walt Disney)

Veterinarian Patrick McGoohan struggles to convince the locals in a small village in Scotland that his scientific approach to treating animals is effective. Their suspicions are confirmed when his own daughter's cat dies while he is busy treating a wounded service dog. His daughter is devastated and refuses to even talk to her father any more. Meanwhile, the cat enters some kind of strange Egyptian cat heaven and is sent back to its body, where it is found by a friendly woman who lives in the woods. She is believed to be a witch by the local children, but they regularly bring her wounded animals to nurse back to health. She wins over McGoohan with her empathy and tenderness towards the animals, and their budding romance comes to fruition when his daughter falls ill. Disney drama does not quite come together, exploring complex themes such as loss of faith while trying to appeal to kids with cute animals. It's hard to take seriously in regards to the former with that cat heaven scene, and kids are likely to be upset by the melancholic tone and bored by the ruminations over faith and death. 

The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968)

Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Directed by Romolo Guerrieri
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia

Newlyweds Carroll  Baker and Jean Sorel are visiting his hometown of Geneva when an old friend informs him his former girlfriend committed suicide and that Sorel was responsible. They stay in the same mansion where he lived with his old girlfriend, reviving old memories and sending him into a spiral, while she receives menacing phone calls and starts taking too many pills. If that wasn't enough, weird neighbor George Hilton is a voyeur who likes to show up unannounced and tries to convince Baker to leave her husband. A series of wild plot twists follows. Highly enjoyable thriller mislabeled as a giallo, beautifully shot on European locations by Marcello Masciocchi

The Flight of Dragons (1982)

ABC/Lorimar Television
Directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr.
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Warner Archive Collection)

A wizard is alarmed by the lack of magic in a human world increasingly reliant on science. He calls a meeting with his wizard brothers to come up with a solution. However, the red wizard, who presides over black magic, has a different idea. Since they are forbidden to fight among themselves, the other wizards summon a young scientist from the future to lead an expedition to take the crown from the red wizard and rob him of his power. The have to overcome numerous obstacles along the way, but luckily have plenty of magical help. Over-plotted animated fantasy has some good scenes of dragons, but otherwise somewhat of a disappointment from the Rankin-Bass team. Harry Morgan is bland as the voice of the green wizard.

Never Mention Murder (1965)

Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (UK)
Directed by John Nelson-Burton
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb

A surgeon hires a private detective to follow his wife on the resort island in which they live. She is having an affair with a local man who entertains vacationers with his nightclub show in which he and his wife are psychics. The surgeon spikes his drink one night which makes it appears he is having a heart attack. His panicked wife rushes to the hospital to meet her lover, only to have to hide her feelings from her husband. Meanwhile, the private detective puts it all together and blackmails the surgeon, but also leaks it to the wife of the supposedly ill lover. This sets up a delicious ending where the surgeon is exposed literally in the operating room. Good drama in the vein of something you might see on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, in fact this short film of less than an hour ended up being shown in America as an episode on The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre.

Date for a Murder (1967)

Directed by Mino Guerrini
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia

Two American friends meet up in Italy for a wedding. However, the groom goes missing and it is up to his pal, a private detective, to find him. Clues lead to Rome where he soon gets caught up with industrial spies who will stop at nothing, including murder. He gets help from an Italian police commissioner who doesn't like his trigger happy American ways, but in the end must admit they work. He also is assigned to look after a young party girl, who provides him with plenty of distractions. Mischaracterized as an early giallo, this is actually a Eurospy flick, and a rather poor one at that, co-written by Fernando Di Leo, who would go on to bigger and greater things.

The Murder Clinic (1966)

Europix Consolidated
Directed by Elio Scardamaglia
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia

A doctor at a remote clinic for the insane is performing skin graft experiments in the basement. A new patient arrives and hears strange noises coming from upstairs. Everyone else ignores them, but soon she ventures up and discovers a disfigured woman. Later, she stumbles on the good doctor while he is secretly burying a body. She tries to blackmail him, but it doesn't turn out well. A flashback reveals the origins of the disfigured woman, and the ending ties it all together rather matter-of-factly. While there may be no surprises in this mystery, the Gothic atmosphere more than makes up for it. A period drama set in the 1800s vividly shot in an Italian villa, reminiscent of the Corman Poe cycle made around the same time.

Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Academy Awards, USA 2002

Winner Oscar	Best Music, Original Song Randy Newman For the song "If I Didn't Have You".
Nominee Oscar	Best Music, Original Score Randy Newman
	Best Sound Editing Gary Rydstrom Michael Silvers
	Best Animated Feature Pete Docter John Lasseter

Buena Vista Pictures
Directed by Pete Docter
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Walt Disney)

Pals Sully and Mike are monsters working in a power factory. In their world, power is derived from the screams of children which the monsters collect while entering their bedrooms through doors which act as portals to the human world. It is believed that the human children are toxic to the touch of monsters and great care is used to avoid them. However, when a little girl make her way through the door she turns out to be non-toxic and is befriended by Sully. He acts has her protector in the monster world and they are relentlessly pursued. It all turns out to be a scheme to make more power and money, but it is inadvertently revealed that children's laughter contains more power than their screams. Intricately plotted story succumbs to its own internal logic, becoming almost mechanical, and by the end resembles more of a video game than a movie, with doors becoming portals which can zap characters around wherever they need to be. 

The Third Eye (1966)

Medusa Distribuzione (Italy)
Directed by Mino Guerrini
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia

A young Franco Nero plays a count living with his domineering mother in a remote country mansion. His plans to marry are thwarted by a jealous maid, who cuts his fiance's brakes and causes a fatal accident. Nero happens to be following in another car, and after witnessing the accident takes the corpse back home and puts his taxidermy skills to good use! After awhile, he starts bringing home prostitutes, then strangles them when they freak out over the corpse in bed with them! Later, his dead fiance's twin sister shows up looking for the body, sending poor old Franco over the edge. Highly derivative of Hitchcock's Psycho and delves perhaps too explicitly into aberrations better, and more effectively, left unseen. 

The Incredibles (2004)

Academy Awards, USA 2005

Winner Oscar	Best Achievement in Sound Editing Michael Silvers Randy Thom
	Best Animated Feature Film of the Year Brad Bird
Nominee Oscar	Best Writing, Original Screenplay Brad Bird
	Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Randy Thom Gary Rizzo Doc Kane

Buena Vista Pictures
Directed by Brad Bird
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Walt Disney)

A typical suburban family turns out to be ex-superheroes who have been relocated and given new identities. The father is going through a middle age crisis at his boring insurance job. He pines for the old days and moonlights with another ex-superhero responding to calls on the police radio. When he loses his job, he takes a job destroying a robot on a remote island, but does not tell his family.  More jobs follow, and eventually his wife discovers what he is doing. She and the rest of the family are pressed into superhero mode to save him when he is kidnapped by a disgruntled fan with delusions of grandeur. It's a decidedly mature plot for an animated superhero movie, but too often falls into the loud, brash action scenes so typical of the genre. 

Skullduggery (1970)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Gordon Douglas
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Rarefilmm)

Burt Reynolds is a jungle adventurer who agrees to lead scientist Susan Clark on an expedition in hopes of finding phosphorous rocks for color TVs! Naturally Burt being Burt he manages to seduce Susan along the way. He eventually finds the rock, but also a tribe of diminutive apes that Susan believes is the missing link! Burt uses the apes for his mining operations, but Susan and some other bad scientists want to perform experiments on them. It all ends up in court with something akin to the Scopes Monkey Trial. Hilariously awful. 

The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)

Academy Awards, USA 2013

Nominee Oscar

Best Animated Feature Peter Lord

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Peter Lord
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Sony)

An inept pirate captain tries to collect enough booty to win "pirate of the year". While raiding a ship, he finds none other than Charles Darwin, who recognizes his pet bird as the last surviving Dodo. He convinces the captain to present the bird in London to other scientists and promises a large reward. When it doesn't materialize, he hides the bird from Darwin as well as Queen Victoria, who eventually offers him a large sum of money. Satisfied he will win pirate of the year, he leaves the bird behind, but is stripped of his pirate status for consorting with the queen. He goes back to London but must fight the queen to get his pet mascot back. Ludicrous story and overblown pirate theatrics sink this combination of stop motion animation and CGI. 

Cry for Me, Billy (1972)

Warner Bros.
Directed by William A. Graham
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(VHS, Magnetic Video Corporation)

Gunslinger drifts into a dusty western town determined to put down his guns. However, when he witnesses Indian prisoners being mistreated by the Army in the middle of town he offers water to them, earning the ire of a racist Sergeant. When they Indians are subsequently massacred, he goes after the girl who escaped to try to save her from the same fate. He soon finds her but she resists until she runs out of ammunition and he offers her food and hides her from the pursuing Army. They trek across the harsh landscape until they find a cabin. He has to force his way in by gun point, but pays for the food he takes. They continue onward but are eventually found by the Army. He is tied up while she is raped by the soldiers, but one of the soldiers unties her before they leave. She frees him but unexpectedly commits suicide soon after. The gunslinger goes after the soldiers to get revenge, leading to more tragedy. Moody, atmospheric western is not afraid to explore themes of racial prejudice, breaking the stereotypes of the western genre in the process. 

Chicken Run (2000)

DreamWorks Pictures
Directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, DreamWorks)

At a chicken farm resembling a WWII POW camp, the hens plot an escape. A cockerel crash lands in their pen, and believing he can fly they hide him from the farm owners. Feigning a broken wing, the cocky American flyer puts off training the hens for flight, until he throws a party and reveals his wing is not broken after all. He flees the next day leaving the hens to fend for themselves. They come up with the idea to build an airplane and manage to do so from parts around the farm. The cockerel shows up just in time to help them escape in the big, loud finale. The farm yard, surrounded by barbed wire, with patrolling dogs and evil human overlords, made this feel almost like a concentration camp for chickens. I found it terribly bleak and depressing, with a formulaic plot and characters I did not like. 

Yellow Submarine (1968)

United Artists
Directed by George Dunning
My rating: 4 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Capitol Records)

The Blue Meanies launch an attack on the music-loving residents of Pepperland by dropping green apples on them or turning them to stone with their lightning bolts. An elderly sailor manages to escape in a yellow submarine and look for help. He ends up in Liverpool where he finds a dejected Ringo Starr. They round up his pals George, John and Paul and embark on the long journey back to Pepperland. They venture through various "seas" set to Beatles songs, picking up a sidekick named Jeremy who is very studios and helps them overcome obstacles. Once in Pepperland, they assume the identities of the house band of sorts, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and defeat the Blue Meanies with their music. The real Beatles make a cameo appearance at the end. Influential animated film captures the psychedelic era like no other, and is very entertaining to boot. 

The Monster of London City (1964)

Gloria (Germany)
Directed by Edwin Zbonek
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Retromedia)

A successful play in London about Jack the Ripper comes under scrutiny by the police and politicians when someone seems to be reenacting the murders. Naturally, the lead actor, a bit unstable and overenthusiastic about his performance is the main suspect. He is in love with the daughter of a politician who wants to shut down the play. A couple of bumbling private detectives are after the reward money for the killer and provide unfunny comic relief. Occasionally atmospheric German "krimi" but ultimately undone by lackluster acting and obvious plot. 

The Hyena of London (1964)

Directed by Gino Mangini
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb

An English doctor is conducting experiments in his country mansion. His household consists of his daughter, who meets her lover nearby for occasional trysts, various servants who have it out for their master and a disgraced, alcoholic assistant doctor. A murder in the nearby town throws suspicion on just about everyone. Could it be related to the hanging which happens in the first scene of the movie? Of course! There is a ludicrous explanation at the end which ties it all together. However, between this framing narrative are endless scenes of the entangled relationships in and around the mansion. 

Woman Times Seven (1967)

Embassy Pictures
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Lionsgate)

Shirley MacLaine plays seven different women in this anthology of vignettes in the European style. The stories and characters do not overlap, so there is no overarching theme, which is a bit annoying. They range from bittersweet comedy (Shirley as a shy housewife trying to impress her bored husband by dressing up as characters in his novel), to black comedy (Shirley and her lover contemplating suicide but unable to go through with it), with almost all of them incorporating slapstick to some degree. Shirley manages to draw up some interesting characters, but they appear so briefly and then it is on to the next story, and it can be difficult to switch gears so quickly and so often. Peter Sellers appears with his usual brand of stone faced comedy, while Michael Caine says almost nothing for a change in his role as a young man following Shirley and her friend around Paris. 

A Man Called Adam (1966)

Embassy Pictures
Directed by Leo Penn
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Lionsgate)

Sammy Davis, Jr., plays a hot trumpet player with an even hotter temper. An alcoholic, he lashes out at any slight, perceived or not, eventually getting him fired from the band. He falls in love an adoring fan and their romance gives him hope. However, his old habits come back to haunt him when he encounters racist police officers while on vacation. Later, he has to go crawling back to promoter Peter Lawford, whom he had earlier humiliated, and beg for a job. He has a successful tour across the South. However, when he sees his pupil Frank Sinatra, Jr., beat up outside a club he does nothing, sending him on another downward spiral. Sammy is the whole show here, his trumpet playing dubbed by Nat Adderley, and is very convincing, if occasionally over the top. His final appearance on stage has to be seen to be believed. Louis Armstrong and Mel Torme provide diversions, basically playing themselves. 

Dinosaur (2000)

Buena Vista Pictures
Directed by Eric Leighton and Ralph Zondag
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Walt Disney)

An abandoned dinosaur egg is carried to a family of lemurs, where it is hatched and brought up with other lemurs. Their idealistic life is interrupted by a meteor impact which destroys their island. They join other dinosaurs who are on a trek across the destroyed landscape in search of the "nesting grounds". They are lead by an aggressive male dinosaur who conflicts with the friendlier Aladar raised by the lemurs. When they reach their destination they find all the water gone, except for some buried under the mud. Attacking dinosaurs splinter the group and Aladar and friends hide in a cave, which ends up leading them to the true nesting grounds. However, he has to convince the other group that it really exists, leading to a showdown with the leader. It's Disney, it ends happily. Now dated computer graphics are blended with backdrops filmed around the world in scenic locations to mostly good effect, I just wish the story and characters were more involving. 

Robbery (1967)

Embassy Pictures
Directed by Peter Yates
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(VHS, Magnetic Video Corporation)

Stanley Baker is the leader of a criminal gang who meticulously plans and carries out a robbery of the Royal Mail train filled with cash. He needs a banking specialist to launder the cash, but first has to break him out of prison. His getaway driver in a former heist has been arrested by a smart Scotland Yard detective who is getting too close for comfort. The train heist finally occurs and goes off without a hitch. When they flee to a nearby hideout in an abandoned airbase to divide up the cash, the police show up by helicopter and they narrowly avoid detection. However, their plans to use getaway cars from a junk yard goes awry leading to a shootout with the police. Baker manages to escape to New York. Meticulous recreation of "the great train robbery" which occurred a few years earlier gets bogged down in the details. Other than an opening car chase, which is quite good, it somehow is boring. Stanley Baker's stone faced performance doesn't help. 

A Tiger Walks (1964)

Buena Vista Distribution
Directed by Norman Tokar
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Walt Disney)

A tiger in a traveling animal act escapes from its cage while being harassed by its trainer. He escapes to the surrounding countryside and eventually kills the trainer. Local sheriff Brian Keith is tasked with finding him, while his daughter Pamela Franklin argues he should be taken alive. The governor and National Guard show up and things get political. Franklin is interviewed on TV and soon every kid in the country is walking picket lines and chanting "save that tiger" (the old Tiger Rag song). This is Disney, so everything turns out alright. Annoying and predictable.