Tales That Witness Madness (1973) – This British-made horror anthology wants very much to be in the vein of Amicus’s Tales From the Crypt or Asylum (both 1972), but it’s substandard fare. The four stories are either inconclusive or far too drawn out (or, for extra points, both at the same time), and the framing device starring Donald Pleasence makes no sense. Better things of that sort were being made then, and better have been made since.
The Darkest Hour (2017) – Gary Oldman has always been an incredible chameleon of an actor (I didn’t even know until his Oscar acceptance speech for this part that he’s actually British), and it’s kind of a shame that he was finally acknowledged for that ability in a role in which makeup did a considerable part of the heavy lifting. That said, it’s really a flawless movie, not striking a single weak note in either narrative or technical matters. I will admit to getting something in my many eye during the scene of Churchill consulting the common Britons on the underground, and I suspect that delivering Churchill’s famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech is to British actors what delivering the Gettysburg address is to American actors.
The Ice Pirates (1984) – I probably hadn’t seen this in about 30 years, and I can’t say that it aged all that well — or maybe I aged too much, as a fifteen-year-old boy is probably the perfect audience. A lot of the “futuristic” sets are bottling plants or other industrial sites, and the script tries to be funny without giving any truly memorable lines (definitely a necessity to be an “immortal” ’80s movie). On the other hand, Robert Urich is at his charming best, Anjelica doing what she needs to for rent money, John Matuszak showing he can actually be funny, Ron Perlman in his first role after Quest For Fire, and a scene with John Carradine as the Supreme Commander, showing off his walnut-sized arthritic knuckles. It may not be the greatest entertainment, but it does go down easy.