Am hoping I won't need to change the title to April #1 as I'm beginning this on March 25th(didn't!) and these posts are a bit long which is why I need to start early and then keep adding to them. Started this semi-popular series because doing reviews for dramas and movies was taking up so much time and doing quickie reviews such as ones in these posts has been one of my better decisions ever when it comes to blogging! So even though the posts are long can talk about 3-5 dramas and perhaps a pair of movies in these posts plus can have this somewhat interesting intro. Am on my second drama for this post and will wrap that up tomorrow, the question is what will be up next????
That I'll briefly touch on further down and use this intro to talk about other things besides what I've recently watched or am currently viewing. The last two in this series have talked about the upcoming 'Top Twenty Faves of All Time' list but went even further than that(?). Which is that I've noticed how many women whose name begins with the letter M I've done posts for and wouldn't doing a list of my favorite women whose name begins with that letter be very interesting? It sure would and bet there would be at least 25 that would be scrambling for a spot on the list and did mention ten names in those previous two posts. Have a few more huge M favorites of mine and no lower than third on the list would be Mio and I have been head over heels for her since I first saw a photo of her back in August 2019. Since she left Babababambi in the Summer of 2024 it's been hard to do posts for her but then again will confess I forget about her on occasion. But now that Mio is back in my mind will have a post for her very soon, if she had more posts than she would be number one on any kind of list I've done or would do and there's no way I can express how Mio 😍 makes my heart pitter-patter more than any other woman I've posted about.... well, a few others do come to mind.....
For today the pair of American dramas I'll be talking about are both rewatches, there's some series I've enjoyed so much and don't want to go years before viewing them again. Still have so many shows that I haven't begun on yet plus some where I haven't watched too many episodes, those I will get to eventually plus do have such a backlog of Japanese and Korean dramas. Have never discussed either of today's two shows yet and to me both were so terrific yet they were so different plus they aired forty years apart! I broke down in the Summer of 2024 and started buying some boxsets of American shows, figured there had to be a few that I would enjoy and have lucked out with most of my choices. I've known so little about every series which was important to me, also key was never having seen an episode along with no major stars in any of the dramas. Some of the older shows have had biggish stars but those shows were popular fifty years ago and sadly most of the main actors are deceased but that's also been the case for the older Japanese dramas and movies I view. Both of today's American dramas were ones I had known close to zero about yet both were such terrific shows and when I zip through a series, especially for a second time, you know it's one I've enjoyed immensely. I can make these intros longer than they need to be and first off is a series that began way back in 1975 but it was more of a British show yet the two main actors were American.
Watched up to episode fifteen and will take a two week break to watch the next series I will discuss plus a few older Japanese films. Then will watch the final nine shows of season one and continue on into the second season, will view about a dozen shows and then take another mini break. This series is set in the year 1999 or least that's when it began, September 13th to be exact. That was 24 years in the future from when it aired in 1975 and in 1999 Earth was so reliant on nuclear power, much more than anyone had predicted in real life. The problem was where to put all of the nuclear waste and the only solution was to store it on the Moon!!!! The base there was called Moonbase Alpha and the amount of nuclear waste stored there was becoming so massive, what would they do in another 25 years? That may never be answered for in September 1999 there was so much nuclear waste stored on the Moon, because of that magnetic radiation began to leak and quickly spread around the moon, all 311 residents of the Moon were helpless to stop it. Soon the nuclear power became so immense it blew up and propelled the Moon out of Earth's orbit! So the Moon was sort of like a spaceship but the residents and workers of the base had no way of controlling the Moon like a ship and it was zooming through the galaxy. Think it was around the seventh episode when the Moon went through a Black Sun and was sent a few million light years away from the Earth so none of the survivors, which were now less than 300, would ever see their home again.
What I really enjoyed were the unique adventures the people on Moonbase Alpha went through and it wasn't just total action like some other sci-fi shows. To me it was also a plus that they didn't go overboard with the special effects and I can't think of one negative about season one. In their travels they did meet some other Earthlings along with many other creatures who often resembled humans plus they always spoke English. I know the Moon as a 'Spaceship' may sound unbelievable but the stories weren't and for the most part the cast was very likable. This show had some very popular British actors who made some guest appearances such as Christopher Lee in the bottom pics below. Most shows I talk about are quite good and I'm not going to waste my time discussing subpar series so this is one I highly recommend or least the first season, have heard the second is quite different. After the pics is a video of the intro to each episode and it truly needs to be viewed! That's because of the music which begins at the 20 second mark and that's close to being the best intro music I've ever heard for a TV show.
Not sure how many American shows I've viewed over the past twenty months but in this series that began last September have always said that "Gunsmoke" is my all time favorite TV show. That remains true but have been saying that "Supernatural" was my second favorite but actually have to place that in the third position. For in second place would be the action packed and very intense series "Person of Interest" that aired for five seasons from 2011-16 and had 103 episodes. It should have lasted longer but the station airing it had to share the profits with another studio and because of that it wasn't renewed for a sixth season. It could have gone on for much longer but once again greed ruined something fabulous. Above is the DVD set I have and it's one of the best boxsets as far as quality goes, as I'm writing this up have five shows to go in season one and will be taking a break after this paragraph. EDIT: Am back and now only have two episodes to complete the first season for the second time. Also watched the special features though this season was kind of skimpy with them but not the next four seasons. Will just briefly talk about season one today and that's just the tip of the iceberg as so much will be taking place, my suggestion is don't bother with this or any other reviews and just start watching this NOW!
In season one there's four main characters, it increases to six by season three though one departs halfway through and remained at five major characters for the final two seasons. The main constant is the pair of men you're looking at in most of these screenshots, will begin off with the man wearing glasses. Whose name in the show is Harold Finch though he's had many different last names, I'll always use Finch when talking about him. He just may be the smartest man in the world though that fact is unknown to almost everyone, the show began off in the year 2011 and Finch graduated from MIT in 1976 so he's about 55 in age. Finch walks with a limp but gets around well enough, that injury was from an explosion two years prior that killed his business partner Ingram but we didn't learn those facts until later seasons. Besides being perhaps the smartest man on the planet Finch could be the richest, he has so many billions yet is a normal and down to Earth man. Finch developed a computer program simply called The Machine, him and his partner Ingram were hired by the American government after September 2001 to create something that could prevent any future terrorist attacks. But Finch went many steps further and The Machine can detect any kinds of violence that will happen plus many other kinds of crimes such as murders and this series focuses on that.
Ingram sold the program to the US government for $1 yet somehow Finch has become so filthy rich as he owns so many companies and has worked at as he can fit right in with a regular crowd. Finch also said early on he was the person who created the Internet!!!! The Machine can detect any kind of crime by linking the most obscure events and details to prevent terrorist attacks, the American government could have cared less about the much lesser criminal activities which includes murders and other vicious crimes but Finch did care. For those crimes were committed against everyday people and if he could Finch's goal in life was to save as many people as possible. The Machine would select a few people a day in the NYC area, the program gave no names but a person's SSN. Finch is such a computer whiz all he needed was that number and it's unbelievable how adept he is with computers. However Finch can't do more than find out who is being targeted or will be the perpetrator for the machine spits out both scenarios, does that SSN mean the person will be the victim or the attacker? So Finch needed a partner, one who is smart, physically tough, can work independently plus remain in the shadows. Finch's aim was to recruit an ex-CIA agent who had served many years in the Middle East, this man was now back in New York and had fallen upon hard times. The second man in many of these pictures is John Reese though it's an alias and does he even remember his own name? With the help of Finch Reese was able to clean up his act a bit, as the seasons go on we learn why Reese hit rock bottom and after viewing so many thousands of dramas and movies there is one thing I've learned from this show. If I'm going into any kind of battle there's no man I want backing me up more than John Reese, I have never seen such a skilled fighter as him in this show yet he's someone who prefers not using violence but for some that's the only thing they'll listen to!
Have never gone past four paragraphs in these posts and won't for this one either but it needs a hundred just to explain the first season! Finch and Reese have a pair at the NYPD who are their associates, both got roped into helping the pair out without realizing it. Joss Carter is a woman detective who is a rarity as she's quite honest and wants to see justice meted out fairly, she saved Reese's hide a few times in this season. Not all detectives are as honest as Carter such as her new semi-partner in Homicide Lionel Fusco who was a dirty cop but wanted to change his ways. But being dirty has been a help to Reese as there's a secret unit at NYPD called HR and they are worse than gangsters. Near the end of this season Fusco went undercover for Reese in that corrupt unit and that'll be an important story in the second season. One other character who I like quite a bit is a Mafia don named Carl Elias and is in his late forties. Elias can be so brutal yet in a way is much more fair and honest than most Mafia leaders, we only saw him off and on in season one but he too becomes so important to the story. There is quite a bit out there about this show but will say again I highly recommend viewing this fabulous series instead of reading about it. For future mini recaps will talk about the stories more in depth and may be a good idea to just discuss a half a season at a time. There is one other character who isn't a major one yet but will be soon, after the pics below have a section for her and it may be the first of a few for her! Also below is a video from a first season episode where Finch tries to describe to Reese what exactly the role of The Machine is and there's an entire YT channel devoted to the series. EDIT: Another main storyline is how much the public is spied on by the government and businesses, will discuss that more in future posts and how I wish this series didn't end after five seasons!
Even though I post about and especially like so many women plus dramas and movies I'm kind of hard to please when it comes to grades. Have never given a grade above a 9.8/10 for any movie or TV series I've viewed and their combined total has to be well over 2,000! The same applies to women and until now have only given a perfect 10/10 score to a trio of women. The third is Mio who led off this post and the only other Japanese woman to have that honor is Maria Makino, don't make me choose between the two! The third woman tops both and she's Kang Han-Na who I would say is my all time #1 woman but that's not too well known as I rarely include Korean women on 'Best/Faves Lists'. Will admit there's been so few American women who I've liked or at least present day gals and especially actresses. I'm a low key guy and the way most women behave these days is a turnoff but there's always been one or two who have drawn my attention in a good way. So the fourth and only U.S. women I would give a 10/10 to the woman above and below, she's Amy Acker and for these photos she was 35-39 in age, hard to believe she'll be hitting the age of fifty at the end of this year. She's so different than most other spoiled, bratty Hollywood types as she really is such a down to Earth woman who is quite smart and interesting, you'll never read about her in the tabloids.
In "Person of Interest" Amy plays the role of Root aka Samantha Groves who had only two appearances in the first season. Then we see a bit more of Root in season two and by the third she's a regular cast member. All 23 episodes in season one were terrific but to me the top one was the finale and what a cliffhanger it was that will conclude in season two. This final story revolved around a character named Caroline Turing who was a therapist that worked with very elite and wealthy clients. Turing was actually Root in disguise and The Machine has spit her number out to Finch as the next victim. There have been so many plot changes in these kinds of shows, this was the most extreme as the threat to Turing was actually... herself! We won't learn for a while but Root knows so much about The Machine and Finch, she somehow manipulated The Machine to have Turing as the next victim to draw Finch and Reese out. Which worked but Turing came so close to getting killed by that corrupt HR squad at the NYPD along with the FBI, there's quite a few conspiracies in this series.
To wrap this up Reese was able to save Turing aka Root from being killed, he too was the target of HR and the FBI. At the very end Root jumped into the car Finch was driving, before doing so she killed the woman he was talking with! Root startled Finch to no end when she started to reveal all she knew about his life and The Machine, in the process Root kidnapped Finch at gunpoint and the season ended with Reese roaming NYC searching for his partner but with no place to begin!!!! What an ending to this first season and by the third season Root does become part of the team, she may even know more about computers and such than Finch plus she's also an elite fighter! More about Root and Amy in future posts, maybe there is a certain type of woman I prefer over others which is that they're a bit tall and thin. Amy is very tall as she's 68 inches in height and will call it the 'Minami Umezawa Type'(?) for now, the other two gals who get a 10/10 from me are also similar looking but not nearly that tall. The video after the pictures is from the end of the final season one episode where Finch was so taken back by Root. The other woman is played by Paige Turco, she too is an attractive gal and while her role as Zoe Morgan aka The Fixer isn't huge for the first few seasons it is a key one.
No idea yet on what will be ending off this post, probably a pair of Japanese films as I still can't enough of the ones that came out before 1970 but have such a backlog it's tough deciding! In the last post talked about Raizo Ichikawa who was such a revered actor in his day but died an early death in 1969. For the longest time he mainly starred in period movies and by period mean films that were set centuries ago as they were so popular in the 1950's and early 60's. But right arojnd 1965 Raizo began to appear much more in movies set in modern times, I've been able to find many but too often they're not subbed. In the last post for this series had a mini review for his 1967 film "A Certain Killer" where Raizo played the role of a quiet and very methodical hitman named Shiozawa. That film was an unexpected hit so four months later a sequel was released, they could churn out the films at such a rapid pace back then! Plus most were so terrific and enjoyable to watch, these days films can take years to make and cost $200 million to make yet they're so horrible! This wasn't a true sequel to the first film, the only things that connected the pair are that they starred Raizo and that he was also a hitman in this movie, also Kazuo Mori directed both films. In that last post the review took four paragraphs, will only have two more after this one. Oooops, once again I almost forgot to give the title of a film and this one's is "The Hitman's Key".
In the first film the character Shiozawa's cover for his hitman career was owning a Sushi shop, in this movie he was a dance instructor named Nitta. Not of modern music but the music and dances that were much more common centuries ago. The main storyline was that a corrupt and tax evading businessman named Asakura was released from prison for a short spell, it was for him to gather evidence for his trial. For if Asakura could give proof of many other men's corrupt ways he may get off with no prison time, the Yakuza and many greedy politicians couldn't allow that to happen. The job off eliminating Asakura was given to the Ishino clan who in turn hired Nitta to take care of Asakura for 15 million yen. The original fee was paid by another devious politician named Hojo and he had paid 40 million up front! That was a funny chain of events as the further down the line went the less Nitta would get for the assassination as all kept greasing their palms! One other thing that continued from the first film is the way Shiozawa and now Nitta killed their targets, it was by using a long poisoned needle and to me that was ingenious. Below you will see Asakura lying on a pool raft, it was just seconds after Nitta had swam below the man and stabbed him with a needle through that raft! But soon Nitta learned the tables had been turned on him, he was meant to be silenced after the killing and the first attempt was to disable his car's brakes, it almost worked but Nitta jumped out in time.
Once Nitta figured out he was betrayed the rest of the 79 minute was of him getting even with these lowlifes, he ended up killing three plus was able to steal and swindle 40 million yen from them! The woman in the below screenshots had the lead female role playing Hideko and her real name is Tomomi Sato, she's another actress who has aged gracefully and will be hitting the age of 85 this year. This was just her second film and she really reminded me of Aya Ueto. Won't blabber on for much longer, in the end Nitta did get revenge on his betrayers but it wasn't a total success. At the end in front of a roomful of reporters without being noticed Nitta killed the man Hojo who is in the top screenshot and it was he who had ordered the original killing of Asakura. Nitta's method once again was using a needle and that's in the bottom screenshot, it appeared Nitta was home free! Not so fast(!) and there was a reason the title of this film was "A Killer's Key" for Nitta wore one around his neck. The key was to a bus station locker and in it were briefcases of money containing at least forty million yen! But after killing Hojo the key slipped from his neck, Nitta didn't notice until he was on his way to the station. He headed back to the murder scene and did find the key but the delay cost Nitta dearly. For when he arrived back at the bus station the police were there checking out lockers as they had received an anonymous call that a bomb was hidden in a locker! There wasn't but it was a call from Hideko who wanted to get revenge on Nitta for not bringing her along as his plan was to leave Japan for good with all of that loot. Which didn't happen as the police found his massive cache of yen notes and as the film ended Nitta walked glumly away. Another fun watch but I did enjoy the first movie a bit more, mainly because there was a more action plus I liked the cast a bit more. Will be watching a few more Raizo films in the future and after the screenshots is a trailer for the movie that's subbed in English.
In rapid succession Yuri was fired from her travel agency job though it appeared she didn't enjoy working there. Later that day her long time friend and possible future boyfriend Hayakawa said he never wanted to see Yuri again, when she returned to her apartment the landlady said someone else wanted her pad so Yuri now has to move out!!!! That all happened within a couple of hours but Yuri tried to stay positive, she quickly set up an interview to work at a publishing company. She aced the interview and after bumped into a worker named Urabe, he's in plenty of screenshots below and ended up being Yuri's savior. She did get the job but somehow a letter was sent to her the following day saying she failed the interview but later on learned from Urabe she did get the job, who could have played such a cruel trick? To top it off Yuri's apartment was robbed, all of her money was stolen and also the wallet she carried with her plus the landlady is demanding Yuri move out now!!!! So what a string of events, Yuri did get a job as a hostess but that lasted for just a few hours as she was fired for stealing, another setup! A despondent Yuri came so close to throwing herself in front of a train but held back, soon at the scene to help Yuri was a man named Fujimura and the oddities kept piling up. For back at her apartment Fujimura showed Yuri their marriage certificate, it had her stolen seal insignia so did that mean Fujimura was the thief! To top it off when Yuri arose the next morning Fujimura was dead as he had been stabbed overnight, now Yuri was also a wanted murderer!
Will wrap this up quickly, there's not enough time to give all the details and there's no reason to. Soon more unknown people were after Yuri and she was kidnapped twice, the screenshots also help you follow the story. The only person who believed any of Yuri's wild stories was Urabe who bumped into Yuri after she escaped her kidnappers, there were five in all but three had been killed within the hour! What Yuri did learn from the eldest kidnapper was that she was the heiress to the vast Danbara fortune, how could that be for she had no relatives? With the help of Urabe she visited his estate in Hakone, the elderly man had died the day before. There his housemaid Shino had explained to Yuri that Danbara had noticed her a few times when he went to her travel agency to book a trip and was so impressed with what a fine young lady she was.
Danbara had erased the names of his relatives from his will and left his fortune of four billion yen to Yuri! Those relatives all wanted a piece of that money and was why the men had made Yuri's life such a tragedy as they hoped she would marry one of them! These men had also bribed her bosses, friends and landlady to go along with their scheme and Yuri had no one except for Urabe to count on. The plan was for three men was to marry Yuri such as Fujimura tried to, then kill Yuri and be heir to the four billion yen, needless to say it didn't work out. Plus at the end we learned that Shino was actually Danbara's wife but he treated her as a slave, she was so bitter at her husband and came so close to killing Yuri! Who wanted no part of Danbara's money and at the end fled his estate with Urabe who was pleading with her to take the money so did Yuri end up getting the dough or was it Shino or possibly no one? Often the unknown films are the best ones to view and this was no exception, the storyline could have been a bit better and not so confusing at times but all in all this was one crazy film and I enjoyed it which is usually the case for something I view. After the screenshots is a trailer for the film, it's not subbed but is easy enough to understand.
To wrap up this post have the other 1970 Michio Yamamoto film which is "The Vampire Doll", he directed two other vampire movies in the next four years and I'll be checking those out. Japanese horror movies are often so different than American ones, at times they can be gory though usually a Japanese horror flick isn't too scary or violent but is quite creepy and suspenseful. Which is both good and bad, at times I wish there was more blood and/or action but the stories are always good so wonder what a better term than Horror is for these kinds of films? With the word Vampire in the title the first thing that often comes to your mind is Dracula but we didn't see much of the vampire until the end but the story was solid so the lack of blood and horror didn't bother me. What also helped besides the story was the lead actress who was Kayo Matsuo, she's in a lot of screenshots wearing that black and white dress. Two weeks ago she celebrated her 83rd birthday, I've seen her in a few other movies but she retired at the age of 52 in 1995 and wonder why as it's too old to start a family? EDIT: Did some checking and no one really knows why she retired at an early age. Kayo was popular and known as the 'Queen of Suspense' for all of the horror movies and TV shows she appeared in. What I will look for are her photobooks as in 1991/92 Kayo released three nude ones two years before hitting fifty in age! Another edit and did find many pictures from those book, she looked terrific for being in her late forties!
In this film Kayo played the role of Keiko Sagawa, she had an older brother named Kazuhiko who is the man in the first few screenshots. He had recently returned to Japan after working for six months in America, soon after his arrival Kazuhiko headed to the remote village of Tadeshina to visit his girlfriend Yuko who lived on an estate with her mother Shizu Nonomura and their deaf/mute caretaker Genzo. That was a wasted trip as the mother informed Kazuhiko that two weeks before Yuko had perished in an car accident. It had been late so Kazuhiko spent the night, he could have sworn he saw and heard Yuko a few times and firmly believed she was still alive. The next morning Kazuhiko visited her grave, he may not have been wrong for near the grave was none other than Yuko! That's in the sixth screenshot below, it is Yuko but the dead version of her?! We didn't see her bite but Yuko did that to Kazuhiko which means he's now a Vampire(?) which was never was revealed. That was the last we saw of him, his worried sister Keiko headed down to Tadeshina with her boyfriend Hiroshi to search for her older brother. Who of course was not to be found and the mother Shizu lied in telling the couple Kazuhiko had returned to Tokyo. But something seemed off and Hiroshi rigged his motor to make it appear his car needed to be repaired but it was a ruse to spend the night investigating. The Nonomura mansion was one creepy place and during dinner Hiroshi felt he heard a woman sobbing in the basement. He did try checking that out but was thwarted by Shizu, she herself was quite creepy and had a long scar on her neck as twenty years before had tried killing herself.
The next day Hiroshi fixed his car and left with Keiko who like her brother swore she saw and heard Yuko during the night. The couple stopped at the office of a doctor named Yamaguchi and it was him who said the body of Yuko had been cremated. He also filled them in with some facts about the Nonomura family and of the tragedy that took place twenty years prior. One evening the Nonomura father had come home and without any warning shot his family to death but had spared his wife Shizu. Who had just become pregnant with Yuko so since her birth the village of Tadeshina had felt she was the daughter of a deranged killer and hadn't known happiness until Kazuhiko had entered her life. After leaving Yamaguchi's office the worker who buried the cremated Yuko told Hiroshi the body wasn't cremated and was buried in a regular coffin, did she rise from her burial spot? Hiroshi went to the cemetery with the man while Keiko returned to the Nonomura mansion, what Hiroshi discovered was shocking. Which is that there was no body in the coffin and instead a doll had been placed there so does that mean that Yuko was alive and if not is that her spirit roaming the Earth?
Final bit and though Yamaguchi had been in only one scene he was the main character in the last ten minutes of this 71 minute movie. The doctor did some outrageous things but never came off as being mad or crazy, he told Hiroshi and Keiko at the mansion that it was him who had slain the Nonomura family twenty years ago! And that he was the true father of Yuko and he did say Yuko was currently in a hypnotic state of being half dead and half alive, like a vampire? Yamaguchi accomplished that by hypnotizing Yuko after her car crash and just a few minutes before she would have died, it was more of a curse than hypnotism. So Yuko had been transformed into a Vampire and had been living off the animals in the nearby forest. Hiroshi and Keiko had tried fleeing the mansion but had been cornered by Yamaguchi and it seemed he wanted to make Keiko a vampire also! But as it shows in the bottom screenshots Yuko arrived on the scene and brutally killed her real father though we only saw the blood spurting from his neck and not the bite. That ended the movie and we never really did see Yuko bite anyone and who knows what happened to her, Shizu, Hiroshi or Keiko but that's how most horror flicks end. All in all this was a decent film but have to admit wish there was more horror and action but the story was interesting and there were many suspenseful moments. After the screenshots is a trailer for the film and is quite good but it makes it appear this was a much scarier film than it was.
No comments:
Post a Comment