Epinions Recent Reviews for welshbard

Taming A Bad Town

Tue, 23 Mar 2004 15:16:39 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - Welcome to Confusion...a booming mining town on the border of Utah and Nevada. Like most boom towns it has a problem maintaining the rule of law. Especially since a good part of the population is made of semi-professional troublemakers (led by the...

"The Best In Texas!!!"

Tue, 23 Mar 2004 00:55:58 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - A shorter review of tbis video appears in my "10 Best Westerns" article. A very good example of the Western, with the Duke doing as Jake Cutter, Texas Ranger extraordianaire. The movie opens in New Orleans in the early 1840's. Gambler Paul Regret...

"I'm Back"

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 13:13:08 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - The third installment of Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord Of The Rings proves two things...Primus that Jackson, is a cinematic craftsman of the first rank...Secundus, that he had some hard decisions to make when it came to bringing...

The Curse Of Karsewell

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 11:10:48 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - A shorter review of this movie appears in my "10 Best Horror Movie" entries. A masterpiece of subtle terror marred only by bad judgement by studio heads, directed by craftsman Jacques Tourneur and blessed by a solid cast and crew. This is the movie...

Ham And Cheese Dunwich

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 11:04:57 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - "When a traveler in north central Massachusetts takes the wrong fork at the junction of the Aylesbury pike just beyond Dean's Corners he comes upon a lonely and curious country...The trees of the frequent forest belts seem too large, and the wild weeds, b...

What Are Yew, Some Kinda Vampire Lover?

Mon, 13 Oct 2003 11:16:25 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - Sheriden Le Fanu was a respected Victorian Anglo-Irish author respected for his literate ghost stories. The best of these is one of the first great vampire stories, "Carmilla" The story concerns a English girl living in the Austrian province of Styria,...

The Demon Within

Mon, 13 Oct 2003 11:12:04 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - In the mid-fifities a small British called variably Hammer or Exclusive films had carved itself a small niche in the cinematic world, graduating from the ultra-low budget "quota quickies"* to B quailty second features, largely adaptions of BBC TV and Rad...

Where's Bob Crane When You Need Him?

Wed, 1 Oct 2003 13:08:07 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - When Gene Roddenberry first created Star Trek, one of his selling points was that the series could make use of costumes and back lots. Sometimes the results were interesting, some times you got silly episodes like "Piece Of The Action." This episode is...

A Dirty Job (but somebody had to do it)

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 10:23:55 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - You know, when your Dad is retired army officer, and a veteran of both WWII (Pacific Theater) and the Korean War, it kinda takes the fun out of watching war movies. Because you quickly learn just how much of these pictures are unmitigated male bovine bo...

I Vant Dat Carrrr!!!

Mon, 22 Sep 2003 10:28:15 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - After ABC recently ran a badly gutted version of this movie that cut out several of my favorite bits. I finally broke down and bought a copy to add to my collection. Which is joy, because this is a movie that I remember fondly. The story opens on a...

Dark Journey

Mon, 14 Apr 2003 10:23:42 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - (A shorter review of this video appears in my "10 Best Westerns" review)

This is the movie for which the Duke should've gotten the Oscar for. Not that Rooster Cogburn isn't a great character, but it's Ethan Edwards that shows that

he was...

A Kinder, Gentler, Man With No Name

Mon, 3 Mar 2003 11:16:06 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - It's interesting to note that Clint Eastwood's career in big screen westerns was marked by a style that mocked and turned around the archetypes (or cliches if you will) of the traditional western, yet when he returned to the western after an absence of...

"Oh, I Don't Think This Will End Well!"

Tue, 11 Feb 2003 11:22:10 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard -

A less than on form entry in the Universal horror series, showing the signs of declining imagination and the "cheaper, faster" attitude that dominated the thinking of Universal Studio heads in the forties."

The Plot: Poor Larry Talbot,...

"A Shameful Peace With Dragons"

Mon, 6 Jan 2003 11:43:16 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - A much underrated fantasy film from the early 80's with an eerily timely anti-appeasement message, aided by a first rate script and cast, and magnificent special effects, making it one the best Sword and Sorcery movies ever made.

The Plot:...

Good Beyond Hope

Mon, 30 Dec 2002 11:41:02 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - It's ironic that the live action version of "Lord Of The Rings" is actually more visually impressive than the animated version, but every time I watch "Fellowship Of The Ring" and when I watched this latest entry in the series I constantly struck by...

"Cheaper! Faster! Faster! Cheaper!"

Mon, 15 Jul 2002 12:20:49 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - More of a remake than a sequel to the atmospheric, and creepy Karloff original. It's notable for completely redoing and reshaping the mythos of the original, thus creating the famous shambling horror that most people associate with the term Mummy, and...

" Oh yeah, well, Heigh Yo To You too, Fella!"

Wed, 19 Jun 2002 12:12:11 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - Not a great western by any stretch of the imagination, but a fairly good example of the "B" western just as the subgenre was dying and being replaced by the "Adult" western.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto come (played by the legendary Clayton Moore...

Action Is His Reward

Wed, 5 Jun 2002 12:24:02 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - Could it be that somebody finally did a adaptation of a comic book character right? Could it be that somebody with real respect for the mythos and intentions of Marvel Comics got his hands on this character instead of some hack just collecting a studio...

I Vant To Drink Your Blahhhd...Pardner!

Tue, 28 May 2002 12:09:24 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - Forget "Billy The Kid Vs. Dracula" for a reasonably good, and interesting mixture of the western and horror genres try this all too easily overlooked gem.

The Time: 1880, or thereabouts.

The Place: The Southwest

A...

Some Nut Who Thinks He's A Vampire

Wed, 22 May 2002 12:07:47 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - The early 70's were a sort of glory day for the made for TV-Movie, especially on ABC. A series of often interesting, sometimes entertaining, and occasionally excellent horror /thrillers were presented on it's "Movie Of the Week." Among the best is this...

Sanctuary, Sanctuary!

Mon, 20 May 2002 12:15:49 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - At times interesting, at times just plain silly, this uneven adaptation of the Philip Nolan novel moves at a fast action adventure pace that allows for some entertainment value even as you poke holes in it's wafer thin premise.

The world of...

If I Were King

Wed, 8 May 2002 12:29:24 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - Easily among my top five favorite movies. Simply because it so beautifully done, and has everything I want out of a picture, action, romance, dashing heros, and booable villains.

The time: The late 19th century. Ex-british officer Rudolf...

Back At the Helm

Mon, 6 May 2002 12:42:08 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - Twice more Dean Martin goes into the breach as Matt Helm, the wisecracking playboy spy.

Movie 1-Murderer's Row

The second film in the series. Master villain, Julian Wall (played with gusto by the normally serious Karl Malden)has...

Bond's Biggest Rival

Tue, 30 Apr 2002 11:04:06 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - In the sixties, when you really wanted to know who Bond's biggest rival was...it wasn't Coburn's Derrick Flint...he of the multitasking lighter, and intense ego. It was Dean Martin as Matt Helm. The wise-cracking, ultra-smooth scotch drinking, ladies...

"My God...He Looks So Young!"

Thu, 4 Apr 2002 13:29:01 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author welshbard - Early effort by the Duke, just after he broke out of the B-Western, and just after the Western had broke out of a decade of being relegated to the Saturday afternoon programmer (both a result of John Ford's excellent "Stagecoach" a year before). Those...