JxJ ’26: Raoul Wallenberg Missing Inaction

The United States made him an honorary citizen, after the Soviet Union made him disappear. The Swedish diplomat in question had saved thousands of Hungarian Jews by issuing them Swedish papers and providing shelter in diplomatically protected buildings. He became one of the most prominent men in Hungary (thereby making him a threat to the Soviets’ plans to dominate the nation). Decades later, his fate remains shrouded in secrecy. Filmmakers Brian Mait & Brad Rothschild largely settle that question, but as viewers might expect, it is not an especially uplifting answer that they reveal in their documentary, Raoul Wallenberg: Missing Inaction, which screens during this year’s JxJ Washington Jewish Film and Music Festival.

As viewers ought to know from watching the Richard Chamberlain mini-series and prior documentaries, like Alexander Rodnyaskiy’s The Mission of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish humanitarian tried to save as many Hungarian Jews as possible. He even pulled dozens of Jews off a transport bound for Auschwitz, openly defying the Arrow Cross.

The part of the story that isn’t as well publicized involves the rest of the Wallenberg family. Although Wallenberg was adored by his distinguished grandfather Gustav, Wallenberg and his mother (who married into the family) were the poor relations, after his father’s untimely death. His uncles, Jacob and Marcus, who controlled the family banking empire, declined to hire their nephew. Instead, they referred him to Klarman Lauer’s trading company.

Wallenberg became Lauer’s right-hand man, because he could travel more easily than the Jewish Hungarian. Similarly, he became the on-the-ground point-person for the humanitarian mission to Hungary organized by Lauer and Iver C. Olsen of the OSS, who emerges as another admirable figure in Mait & Rothschild’s doc.

However, the activities of Wallenberg’s uncles were not so edifying. In fact, their extensive dealings with the National Socialists earned them Treasury Department sanctions, which continued after the War. Unable to do business with America, they started brokering deals with the Soviets, the other great totalitarian regime of the 20^th Century. However, they cut ties with the USSR, in exchange for their removal from the blacklist.

The filmmakers and their on-camera experts suggest, with good reason, the noble Wallenberg became a pawn in his uncles’ game with the Soviets. Once they cancelled their financial arrangements, Raoul Wallenberg was probably as good as dead. Regardless of their reasons, Wallenberg was most likely executed around this time. That theory is supported, rather candidly, by Sergey Stepashin, the former Russian Prime Minister and director of the FSB (then known as the FSK), under Yeltsin—a sit-down interview even the filmmakers were shocked to score.

Unlike previous Wallenberg films, Missing Inaction (not a great title) also documents how much it emotionally exhausted his branch of the family to fight for the truth. Tragically, some of those closest to him eventually committed suicide.

Silent Friend, in Cinema Daily US

SILENT FRIEND invites viewers to meditate on what it means to be human, through a solitary reesearcher's relationship with plants (perhaps accidentally expressing the post-Covid, post-Hong Kong crackdown zeitgeist). Not all three of its intertwined stories are equally successful, but it still represents assured and refined filmmaking. CINEMA DAILY US review up here.

Unconditional, on Apple TV+

At this point, everyone should be extremely cautious when visiting Russia or China, because they are hostile powers that employ hostage-taking as a tactic to negotiate political and economic concessons. That caution should also apply to layovers. Orna Levy and her daughter Gali learn that the hard way. They were traveling from India to Israel, but Gali was arrested on dubious drug trafficking charges during their Moscow connection. Orna Levy is neither a lawyer or a diplomat, but she is a mother, so she fights tenaciously for her daughter’s freedom in co-creators Adam Bizanski & Dana Idisis’s 8-episode Israeli drama, Unconditional, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Orna assumes they would simply eat between flights and that would be all they would see of Russia. Instead, the police swarm and arrest Gali, leaving her mother confused and alarmed. The timing is terrible, because the Israeli embassy is closed for a national holiday. Eventually, she learns the charges, but neither Levy or her lawyer can speak to her daughter, because the cops keep transferring her from prison to prison, like a game of three card monte.

Eventually, Gali is “arraigned,” but with one whispered word from the prosecutor, the judge denies bail with no explanation. Viewers had better take note at this point. This could happen to any American traveling to Russia, if Putin and his lackeys feel they need an extra bargaining chip.

Awkwardly, Gali’s case turns out to be a little more complicated. As Levy conducts a media campaign back home to pressure the Israeli government secure her daughter’s release, she starts to pick up hints Gali might have been intertwined with some sort of international intrigue. For starters, she had a bundle of strange passports hidden in some of her possessions that her mother was carrying. Consequently, Levy starts distrusting her own government, even including her sort of former lover, Dori, a not-exactly former member of the Shin Bet.

Regardless, Gali most likely wasn’t precisely the naïve girl her mother presumed. Indeed, her parting advice to her mother—do no eat or drink anything—was quite sage. As her Russian lawyer later explains, Putin’s cops often lace water provided during interrogations with trace amounts of drugs, to produce false positives to present in court.

The early episodes of Unconditional are smart, nerve-wracking, and urgently timely television. Unfortunately, the conclusion is fairly ridiculous and leaves major national security questions unresolved—and not in a cliffhanger kind of way. The writers clearly just didn’t consider it important.

Admittedly, Bizanski & Idisis target fans of Not Without My Daughter rather than Tom Clancy, but given the Russian and Israeli setting, they could have anticipated a crossover techno-thriller market. To be fair, as previously stated, there is a great deal of valid cautionary, ripped-from-true-life sequences.

Nevertheless, the mother-daughter relationship is the engine driving the series and its reason for being. Consequently, it is also a heck of a showcase for Liraz Chamami, whose performance as Mother Levy is both magnificent and harrowing. She is a ferocious mama bear and a poignant everywoman, misunderestimated (as George W. Bush aptly says) at every turn.

Evgenia Dodina is also wonderfully acerbic and flamboyantly sharklike as Rita, the mysterious Israeli spymaster, who might possibly do more good than harm for Levy. Yossi Marshek also deserves credit for his sensitively understated portrayal of Benni, Levy’s husband suffering from acute early Alzheimer’s. Yes, when it rains for Orna Levy, it pours.

Whistle, on Shudder

Honestly, no Gen-X’er would ever put their lips on a macabre pre-Columbian artifact they found in a dead classmate’s locker. As for Millennials and Gen Z? Yeah, maybe they would. That’s why the 1980s generation will outlive them all and save our nation. To prove the point, another batch of high school kids inadvertently summon an ancient evil in Corin Hardy’s Whistle, which premieres this Friday on Shudder.

After rattling in the winning basket, Mason “Horse” Raymore burned to death in the showers. Weird, right? Lucky transfer student Chrys Willet, fresh out of rehab, inherits his locker, which dos not sit well with his jerky friend, Dean Jackson. Awkwardly, Willet’s cousin Rel Taylor has long carried a torch for Jackson’s popular girlfriend, Grace Browning, who is duly embarrassed by her boyfriend’s behavior. Perversely, the incident earns them all a session of Breakfast Club-ish detention, along with Ellie Gains, the would-be mediator, for whom Willet immediately starts carrying her own torch.

She also brings the creepy “death-whistle” thingy she found in her locker. Arrogant Mr. Craven recognizes it is a potentially valuable pre-Columbian artifact, so he confiscates it. He also blows through it. Okay, actor Nick Frost is Gen X, but he only did it to test the condition, for re-sale purposes. Our generation is even more enterprising than cautious. Of course, he dies just the same. By that time, Taylor had already stolen it back and brought it to Browning’s cozy pool soiree, since they are all friends now (except Jackson). And what do you think she does?

The nature of the Aztec death demon is somewhat interesting, but for the most part, Whistle plays out like a bland imitation of Bishal Dutta’s vastly superior It Lives Inside, in which a beleaguered teenager also lugs around a demon-bound knick-knack. Unfortunately, Whistle is not nearly as distinctive or scary.

The Terror: Devil in Silver, on AMC+

Don't call Pepper crazy. He is a New Yorker, he is supposed to be intense. Maybe he can be a little too intense at times, but nothing that warrants institutionalization. Yet, that is where he winds up, because of a few lazy civil servants and an evil presence that wanted him there. It is always trickier to be discharged from a mental institution than to be admitted, or at least you would assume so (even though the crazy guy currently screaming on my street might suggest otherwise). However, it is certainly true of the mental institution controlled by a demonic force in showrunners Chris Cantwll & Victor LaValle’ six-episode The Terror: Devil in Silver (the third season of the anthology series that started out as just plain The Terror), which premieres Thursday on AMC+ and Shudder.

Pepper has more swagger than common sense. He also has a temper that kicks in when his live-in girlfriend’s ex gets a little too belligerent. Unfortunately, his adrenaline keeps him fighting when the cops arrive. They should simply book him for the night, but their shift is ending and the paperwork would be exhausting, so they simply dump him in New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital for a 72-hour observation.

Ominously, the 72-hours quickly stretch into weeks, for ostensively specious reasons, but really because “It” wants Pepper there. Clearly, Dr. Anand, the hospital director, grossly abuses his authority. Yet, Pepper’s roommate “Coffee” (they are a better combination than they sound like) assures him the Devil (perhaps even The Devil) truly calls the shots.

Initially, Pepper hatches several escape plans and incites modest rebellions in the tradition of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which one of the doctors condescendingly picks as his book club pick. Yet, the involuntary patient soon recognizes the validity of Coffee’s insight. It is also pretty clear where it lurks: in the forbidden room with the silver door, inhabiting the body of an old man with a baffling reputation for brutal violence.

Mental hospitals make highly effective setting for horror movies (like Bedlam starring Boris Karloff and Shock starring Vincent Price), because the unjustly committed and terrorized truly have no recourse. That is true for Pepper too, even though the film slowly starts to admit he maybe could use some counseling—especially after everything he is about to go through. Regardless, as soon as Pepper enters New Hyde, viewers feel sympathetic claustrophobia.

Indeed, the hospital is massively creepy and depressing. It puts the “institutional” in “institutionalized.” Yet, it is exactly the sort of dysfunctional antiquated institution that continue to limp along in New York, because various regulations and collective bargaining agreements make them impossible to close.

Welfare Warriors, on Viaplay

There is no Scandinavian “efficiency” in this Finnish welfare office. However, there is toxic mold and possibly even a ghost. It would be a grim place to spend eternity, but perhaps a fitting one, considering benefits-seekers feel like it takes forever to talk to a live person. Yet, when their numbers are finally called, the case-workers must spend no more than seven-minutes on their consultation, according to government mandate. Eelis Jarvinen tried to explain his frustration to the office manager, Anneli Tiainen, but when she didn’t listen, he took a header off the building. Until things get better, Jarvinen will keep haunting Tiainen and the rest of his former colleagues, thereby making the current situation even worse in director-co-writer Tiina Lymi’s three-episode Welfare Warriors, which premieres Thursday on Viaplay.

Tiainen feels somewhat guilty for blowing off Jarvinen in his darkest hour, but everyone else in the office has more pressing concerns, like “maintaining the dignity of the civil service” and “preserving the welfare state.” The former certainly won’t be happening in Welfare Warriors.

Soon, Tiainen notices weird and inexplicable phenomenon around the office, but she is too tired to even respond. Out of desperation, she creates six fake dummy corporations to sponsor fake worker training for 2,000 of their toughest fake-job-searching cases. Of course, such massive success gets noticed by the bureaucracy, who devise a more ambitious “hyper-enabling” pilot program, for which Tiainen’s office will be the guinea pigs.

Panicked to cover her tracks, Tiainen enlists the help of Seppo Isomaki, who is keenly aware of each and every one of his entitlements as a unionized civil service employee. Jarvinen also does his Grudge-like business, but Lymi and co-writer Juha Lehtola are almost too preoccupied with bureaucratic politics to notice, at least during the first episode.

Admittedly, the supernatural activity picks up somewhat in the next two installments, but it always takes a backseat to social commentary. While there is an oft-repeated plea to protect the welfare state largesse, some of the acerbic dialogue cuts both ways. Indeed, not one single second of Welfare Warriors inspires confidence in the ultra-privileged Finnish civil service.

That Time I Got Reincarrnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea, in Cinema Daily US

The new THAT TIME I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SLIME movie, TEARS OF THE AZURE SEA, features the franchise's most cartoony character, but in an appealignly bittersweet underdog story. CINEMA DAILY US review up here.

Marshals: Playing with Fire

Lucky Kayce Dutton finally gets a break from the family angst and guilt this episode. Instead, it is Belle Skinner’s turn and as far as Dutton is concerned, she is welcome to it. Of course, everyone caries their past like an albatross in creator Spencer Hudnut’s Marshals so tonight’s installment,  “Playing with Fire” certainly won’t be an exception.

Things were momentarily great. Dutton’s house guest, former SEAL teammate Garrett Garvey was really taking to ranch life and Deputy Marshal Andrea Cruz, who was just cleared to return to duty after her hostage ordeal in “In Low Places.” Then, in a flash, Garvey suffers serious burns and smoke inhalation while saving the horses from an electrical fire in the barn.

Cruz’s first gig back was supposed to be easy. She and Skinner must ride shotgun on a routine prison transfer. You know what that means. One rock slide later, we have fugitives. There was even a convicted doctor on board, but he was truly guilty and he isn’t one of the ones that got away. Instead, he helps treat an injured inmate, who also happens to be a mystery woman from Skinner’s past.

Okay, so one of the escapees also has a connection to Dutton, but who in Montana doesn’t? That will most likely drive the next episode. This time around, Skinner gets all bad family karma, which probably makes this episode the best feature opportunity yet for Arielle Kebbel. Ash Santos also nicely balances her as Cruz, unaccustomedly providing the voice of reason.

Didn’t Die: “Podcasting” the Zombie Apocalypse

If nobody podcasts it, does it really happen? Vinita would say “no,” so she started the zombie apocalypse survival “podcast.” Many of the people still living tell her she’s actually doing a radio show, since she broadcasts it over the airwaves, but she really never knew radio as a medium of mass communication. Having survived the zombie outbreak, she assumes she’s seen it all, but things are about to get even worse, just in time for her 100^th episode in Meera Menon’s Didn’t Die., which is now available on VOD.

Vinita and her little brother Rish have returned to their hometown hoping to stage a townhall-style 100^th episode. However, that means staying with their older brother Hari and his sequin-bedazzling, show tune-singing wife, Barbara. Vinita likes to think she is an expert when it comes to zombie survival, whose tips genuinely help her listeners. In terms of numbers, she doesn’t have many, but if measured as a percent of population, her market penetration is quite healthy.

Unfortunately, the rules are about to change. Zombies used to only attack at night, reverting to a catatonic state during the day. However, Rish insists he was chased by an alert zombie while putting up posters for Vinita’s show. Nobody believes him though, because of his reputation for being a panicky scaredy-cat.

Vinita is also distracted by an awkward reunion with her ex, Vincent. He’s not exactly the last man on Earth, but he’s pretty close. Vincent also hopes to find a home for the infant he found beneath the bodies of her dead parents, who were surprised by day-walking zombies.

Didn’t Die has intermittently amusing moments, but it feels incredibly small for a zombie movie. The principle cast gamely does its best to sell the material, but Menon (who previously helmed an episode of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead) and her co-screenwriter husband Paul Gleason constantly recycle the same jokes and the same family arguments. Still, Gleason’s black-and-white cinematography serves as a nice homage to Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead.

In Remembrance of Newspaper Strips: Star Hawks

The Force was with this strip, at least for a little while. Soon after fan favorite comic artist Gil Kane and writer Ron Goulart completed their requested proposal for this science fiction continuity strip, the editorial staff came to their senses and backburnered it—until Star Wars released. Suddenly, the syndicate bosses were demanding science fiction, so they dusted it off and put it into production. The resulting strip should have helped return the genre to its former newspaper prominence. Unfortunately, it didn’t, but Kane and Goulart’s Star Hawks was a terrific strip, which we remember today, on the date of its demise (5/2/1981).

There is no denying the bold style of Kane’s art really jumps off the page, thanks to Star Hawks’ unique two-panel format. Unfortunately, that was one of the strip’s greatest drawbacks, because subscribing papers had to give it the space previously allotted to two of its rivals. At the time, when newspapers were relatively healthy, strips were seen as cutthroat competitors. Yet, in retrospect, strips depended on each other to build critical mass. They needed an entire section to be a reader destination. You might flip over to read Peanuts, but while you were there, you’d also check out Garfield and Dick Tracy. That is an advantage that is hard to replicate for webcomics.

Regardless, Kane made the most of the opportunity artistically. Similarly, Goulart never attempted to clone Star Wars (which the syndicate might have preferred). Their strip follows the rollicking adventures of two space cops (somewhat affectionately referred to as “Star Hawks”). Rex Jaxxon is a brooder, because he carries a torch for his boss, tough but sexy Chief Agent Alice K. Benyon. His partner, Sanchez (no first name) thinks he is Heaven’s gift to ladies, which often leads to bar brawls and hasty retreats.

The early story arcs consist of largely self-contained cases. However, once Jaxxon and Benyon become an item, each successive storyline retains connective throughlines. Eventually, the narrative builds to galactic treason and a full-scale alien invasion that produces shockingly tragic results (especially for the medium). Honestly, if you finish the entire run, you will feel like you read a satisfying space opera epic.

It is also features a rambunctious sense of humor. After reading a few weeks, you might inadvertently pick up Sanchez’s exclamations: “Hoy!” and “Zam!” Frankly, only the dreariest of killjoys would deem his roguishness “problematic,” but it definitely gets him into comedic trouble.

Plus, Sniffer, the sarcastic robot dog, earns consistently big laughs by ripping Jaxxon and Sanchez up one side and down another. Weirdly, Sniffer bears a vague resemblance to K9 on Doctor Who, but it should be noted the Doctor’s companion made his first appearance on the show only two days before the strip’s premiere, so he could not have served as a model. Kane’s character design is also more detailed and more doglike.

A Poem for Little People, on OVID.tv

Not every Ukrainian who serves their country wears a uniform. However, the volunteer evacuation teams still very definitely risk their lives. They travel into neighborhoods under bombardment to rescue the elderly and infirm—and their pets too. Filmmaker Ivan Sautkin was one of them. He made this documentary while desperately shuttling his most vulnerable countrymen to relative safety. American paramedic Pete Reed was also part of the team, but he didn’t live to see Sautkin’s film, A Poem for Little People, which is now streaming on OVID.tv.

This is a terrible title, but it comes from a terrific scene, focusing on the elderly Taisia as she reads the blistering poem she wrote (in Russian) for the Russian soldiers committing Putin’s war crimes. She allows them no illusions regarding their illegal dirty business in Ukraine.

Taisia probably isn’t going anywhere because her downstairs crony Zinaida is definitely staying put. She watches the motorway outside her window, calling in every Russian vehicle that passes to the Ukrainian defense force. They are the exceptions to the rule. In most cases, Anton, the team leader, uses grimly accurate language to convince the elderly to leave their homes.

Regardless of the title, Sautkin’s film puts a human face on Putin’s war crimes, over and over and over again. Frankly, the suffering and destruction it documents ought to be more shocking, yet such images have been disseminated quite widely—but people of bad faith keep ignoring them.

First Look ’26: I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn

“Crummy Films” makes Troma look like Merchant-Ivory. It is about the only “studio” that would ever let a weirdo like Jack direct. Naturally, it is in Brooklyn. Legit Japanese movie star Shina Mizuhara is in for a serious case of culture shock when she finds herself stranded in one of the borough’s grungier neighborhoods. “Fortunately” for her, Jack needs an actress and he is in no position to nitpick minor details like English fluency. He doesn’t even know she can act, but, somehow, they click together creatively and perhaps in other ways too in director-screenwriter Kenichi Ugana’s I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn, which screens today as part of MoMI’s First Look 2026.

Mizuhara worked hard to build her stardom, but burnout and entitlement made her toxic on the PR circuit and generally unpleasant to be around. She decided to take a break in New York with her boyfriend Ren, but her churlish behavior finally pushed him to break up with her. She took it badly. Awkwardly, he was still carrying her phone and wallet when she stormed off in a huff.

Fatefully, Mizuhara wandered into Jack’s dive bar. She needs a place to crash and he needs a replacement actress fast or his first film will get canceled before it even starts, so he extorts her to play the lead. Admittedly, it is a jerkweed thing to do, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Of course, Mizuhara has never worked on such a cheap, disreputable run-and-gun movie shoot before, but finds she enjoys the freedom. There also seems to be something percolating between her and Jack, but being an annoying Brooklyn wannabe hipster, he is fully capable of sabotaging it.

Clearly, Ugana conceived the film for the kind of cult movie fans who will be delighted to see Larry Fessenden playing Crummy Movies boss Rusty Festerson. It is not a tribute spoof in the tradition of One Cut of the Dead or Matinee, but it definitely wears its love for schlocky genre movies on its sleeve.

It is also a rather endearing rom-com for people who don’t ordinarily watch rom-coms, even though there is a great charm imbalance between the winning Ui Muhara and the relentlessly annoying Estevan Munoz, as Shina and Jack, respectively. Muhara portrays Mizuhara’s maturation and growth with sensitivity and credibility, whereas Jack’s motormouth mania induces more cringe than laughter.

Initials S.G., on OVID.tv

Sergio Garces always believed his fate was intertwined with that of Argentina’s national football team. If you have seen The Two Popes, you know how the 2014 World Cup turns out. True to form, his life takes a dark turn around the time of the final game. Garces blames fate, but frankly he has it coming in director-screenwriters Rania Attieh & Daniel A. Garcia’s Initials S.G., which premieres today on OVID.tv.

Gacres once aspired to be the Argentine Serge Gainsbourg, but he just became a nasty creep. Initials clearly do not make the man. His only real success came in dirty movies, but he keeps plugging away as an extra in legit films. This year, he fleetingly appears in over two dozen titles screening at a local film festival.

Through the fest, Garces meets Jane, an American scouting films for a distributor. He is the wrong man in every conceivable way, which is why she is so interested. Yet, he still does his best to push her away with his boorish behavior. Nevertheless, Garces will need her help when the third act takes a sudden violent detour.

Clearly, Attieh & Garcia just never knew when to quit when writing and directing this film. They deserve perverse credit for never watering down their characters, but it leads to credibility issues. Garces is so abrasively sleazy, it is hard to believe anyone could endure thirty seconds in his company.

Casa Grande, in The Epoch Times

CASA GRANDE is not YELLOWSTONE. It is much more ideologically charged than the popular franchise, in ways some fans might not appreciate. However, it has a healthy appreciation of traditional ranching life and a great villain in Lou Diamond Phillips. EPOCH TIMES review up here. 

Widow’s Bay, on Apple TV+

Islanders are supposed to be tight-knit and stick together, but the locals on this island off the New England coast must take it to ridiculous extremes. Those who were born on the island must never leave the island—ever. Yet, Widow’s Bay also has a macabre history of serial killers and mysteriously deadly accidents. It seems like their doomed either way in creator Katie Dippold’s ten-episode horror-comedy Widow’s Bay, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Tom Loftis was elected mayor, even though he is considered an outsider. He was born on the mainland, but visited his father on Widow’s Bay for the summers. (His mother once spent a very fateful vacation there herself.) Loftis has heard all about the curse business, but he refuses to believe it, except maybe deep down he does. After all, he has never let his obnoxious son Evan visit the outside world. Nevertheless, he is determined to save the local economy by turning Widow’s Bay into the next Martha’s Vineyard.

Wyck is a local fisherman who has lived in Widow’s Bay long enough to know Lofttis’s plan is a terrible idea and he is onery enough to challenge the mayor, loudly and often. Wyck oobviously understands Loftis’s weaknesses, but he shows more respect than Sheriff Bechir, a contemptuous mainlander nearing the end of his contract. City Hall staff, like the mousy, poorly-socialized Patricia, generally humor Loftis, but deep down they mostly agree with Wyck.

Like it or not, Loftis will have to admit the truth after a series of supernatural incidents, including encounters with the ghost of a Gacy-like serial killer and a spectral “Sea Hag.” Despite its comedy-hybrid classification, Dippold manages to incorporate all kinds of horror staples, even including a masked Michael Meyers-inspired slasher, who seems to impossible to kill. The series initially borrows heavily from The Fog and Stephen King’s Storm of the Century, but it adds plenty distinctive nightmares of its own.

In fact, the horror elements work better than a lot of the comedy, which is highly reliant on public humiliation and the cringe factor. Frankly, the best comedic bits are those that embrace the surreal. Regardless, series directors Hiro Murai, Ti West, Andrw DeYoung, and Samuel Donovan achieve a consistently eerie atmosphere, while Dippold creates some seriously creepy lore.

In Remembrance of Newspaper Strips: Beyond Mars

Jack Williamson was a man who truly spanned eras. While an infant, his parents brought him to New Mexico on a covered wagon. Yet, as a science fiction writer, he is widely acknowledged for coining the terms “genetic engineering” and “terraforming.” He also did something that was once considered cutting-edge, but is now seen as sadly old-fashioned. He wrote a science fiction continuity newspaper comic strip. Regrettably, this art form is dying, but not from artistic failures, but because of the implosion of their distribution method—newspapers. It is a shame, so let’s take stock of some of the best that once were, starting with Williamson’s Beyond Mars on the day his 118th birthday.

Thanks to antimatter, humanity now mines the asteroids beyond Mars, but it is hard work, for hard men, like prospector and pilot-for-hire Mike Flynt. However, if you happen to be a pretty Earthling woman who finds herself in trouble out in the asteroid belt, Flynt is the man you need to see. It happens more frequently than you’d think—or maybe not.

Flynt is part of the hardscrabble generation that grew up on Brooklyn Rock, never really knowing Earth. He still lives with his doting mother and works with Sam Smith, a snake-like Venusian, who eats metal. Obviously, Smith can be quite a handy prospecting partner. He also has a lisp, because he learned English from an Earther with a speech impediment. Consequently, he is often referred to as Tham Thmith. That is probably the one aspect of Beyond Mars that has not aged well.

Regardless, Lee Elias’s art is quite distinctive. His women look like 1950s fashion models and his rakishly mustached villains could pass for Errol Flynn in his prime. Plus, his space ships and astronomical art capture the wonder of the Golden Age of science fiction. However, Smith and Jimikin, the wild space boy, look very cartoony. Yet, instead of clashing, this mixture of styles makes Beyond Mars wonderfully distinctive.

Williamson also had a talent for advancing his storylines at a pleasantly brisk speed. Initially, he had the advantage off writing for a full Sunday page, so he could include a quick recap box in the top lefthand corner. Yet, he maintained the pace even when the strip was cut back to a half page.

In fact, it is impressive how well his storylines still hold up. It was set in the universe of Williamson’s Seetee Ship novels, so he already had social and scientific frameworks in place. Admittedly, it is unlikely Smith could hail from Venus, but readers can easily substitute a fictional planet in their heads. Regardless, over seventy years later, there are very few fictional aliens who directly compare to him. There is also a working-class, family-values vibe to Brooklyn Rock that is quite appealing.

Hot Docs ’26: A War on Women

Here is an incovenient but telling truth for your consideration. When the Islamist Ruhollah Khomeini first launched his revolution against the Shah in 1963, he wasn’t motivated by corruption or the SAVAK secret police. He was outraged by the Shah’s decision to grant women the right to vote. Yet, Jimmy Carter believed Iran would better served with Khomeini as its ruler. Most Iranian women knew better. By now, most of the Iranian men agree. However, for decades, women were in the vanguard of the Iranian resistance movement. Iranian filmmaker Raha Shirazi and several leading Iranian women dissidents take stock of the rights they lost after the Islamic Revolution and their long continuing campaign to win them back in her documentary A War on Women, which screens again after its premiere at this year’s Hot Docs festival.

During the Shah’s reign, women’s rights were steadily improving. They could dress however they pleased and could pursue their education as far as their talents allowed. They could also sing and dance in public and show their hair, without fear of acid attacks. Mahnaz Afkhami knows this better than anyone, because she was Minister for Women’s Affairs in the 1978 government. As she explains, she was in New York forming a United Nation’s subsidiary devoted to women’s rights when the Shah fell. For her own safety, she never returned home.

Indeed, Shirazi assembled a small but powerful cast of expert witnesses, who testify first-hand regarding the systematic oppression of women by the current Iranian regime. Several have paid dearly for their free-thinking, such as Elahe Tavakolian, who was blinded in one eye when the Iranian “Morality Police” shot her during a “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest.

Likewise, Shaparak Shajarizadeh became an international online cause celeb after she was arrested for removing her headscarf. Journalist Masih Alinejad and actress Golshifteh Farhani (formerly considered the rough equivalent of Iran’s “sweetheart”) movingly discuss the pain of exile and the deep, gnawing fear for loved ones left behind.

After watching the women’s harrowing and heartbreaking testimony elicited by Shirazi, any morally tone-deaf ideologue who protested on behalf of the Iranian regime should feel profound shame and stomach-churning embarrassment. Regardless, of your opinions of Trump’s management of the military conflict, it is clear the Iranian people would be much better off without their current oppressors.

The Lost Boys, on Broadway

We all know what you’re wondering: yes, there is a shirtless sax player. However, he serves more as a comedic reference to Joel Schumacher’s classic 1987 film than as a worthy successor to Tim Cappello’s saxophone chops and body oil. Yet, his presence shows the creative team (including co-lead producer Patrick Wilson of the Insidious franchise) understood the film’s enduring appeal. Indeed, Santa Carla remains as vampire-infested as ever in The Lost Boys, directed by Michael Arden, which officially opened last night on Broadway.

The stage signage announces the year is 1987, at which point the audience will explode in applause, because the 80’s were awesome. Schumacher’s The Lost Boys film was another perfect example. Finally leaving her abusive husband, Lucy Emerson packed up her stuff and her sons, the older Michael and younger Sam, moving to Santa Clara, where she inherited her father’s house. Yes, that’s right, Grandpa (Barnard Hughes in the movie) is already dead. That doesn’t bode well for the family’s general survival—and obviously someone else must presumably deliver the film’s unforgettable final line.

Both brothers are happy to be rid of their father, but are skeptical of Santa Clara—with good reason, judging from all the missing children’s posters. However, Michael immediately warms to the town when he meets Star, a pretty vocalist, whose relationships with her biker bandmates and running mates are clearly strained.

As the self-proclaimed vampire hunters, the Frog Brothers soon explain to Sam, their fellow geek, Santa Clara is a hotbed of vampire activity. Star happens to be recently turned, but she still refuses to kill and feed on humans. Clearly, she also likes Michael, so David turns him too, in hopes that they both will accept the predatory realities of vampire existence together. David is indeed the leader of the biker gang, but not necessarily the vampire-prime, who created the Santa Clara clan.

As predictable as the rising sun, book writers David Hornsby and Chris Hoch had to make changes with a screenplay so successful that it spawned two straight-to-DVD sequels, multiple comic book sequels, and this Broadway musical, so they could “put their stamp” on the beloved property. Yet, their original deviations represent the show’s weakest elements. Perhaps their oddest innovation was reconceiving the Frog Brothers (Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander in the original) as an apparent boy and girl, who still insist on calling themselves the “Frog Brothers.” Yet, with no explanation provided and no clearcut gender-identity messaging, it just leads to needless moments of confusion, for both characters on-stage and the audience alike.

Likewise, the Reagan jokes fall flat. Again, this is rather ill-advised on the part of Hornsby and Hoch, since the bedrock audience for The Lost Boys grew up in the 1980s and subsequently judged every successive President against the standard he set.

However, the musical and technical craftmanship devoted to the production is extraordinarily impressive. The sets and special effects truly deliver the bang for your Broadway buck. In fact, Arden and his tech team brilliantly recreate the bridge scene from the movie. Arguably, this production ranks with the spectacle of the King Kong and Spider-Man shows. (Unfortunately, one of the preview performances, on which this review is based, experienced technical difficulties, somewhat like those that plagued the latter production, which resulted in an extra ten-minute break—but the eye-popping visuals were worth the wait.)

A Collctive Descent into Evil, in The Epoch Times

A COLLECTIVE DESCENT INTO EVIL, the latest Doc Emet documentary anaylzes Jew-Hatred (an ancient evil that just won't die), as well as the sinister extremist ideologies exploiting it, and the potentially dire consequences for Western democracies. EPOCH TIMES review up here.

Marshals: In Low Places

Sure, the dregs of the Clegg Clan had the drop on the U.S. Marshals at the end of last week’s episode. They also have them outnumbered four to one, at least. However, the Marshals have two former SEALs—two and a half if Calvin agrees to temporarily deputize “Double G” Garrett. He is not so inclined, but desperate times call for desperate measures in “In Low Places, tonight’s episode of creator Spencer Hudnut’s Marshals.

At the end of “Blowback,” Randall Clegg and his pseudo-militia had abducted Deputy Marshal Andrea Cruz and lured the Marshals into a firefight on the Clegg compound. It is never good when people call their property a “compound.” It’s a very Kennedy thing to do.

Calvin and the Marshals successfully pull back, but they won’t go far. Unfortunately, Clegg clearly intends to execute Cruz on his livestream, but the FBI won’t give up negotiation attempts, clearly still embarrassed by the Waco and Ruby Ridge fallout. Of course, the Marshals are willing to go it alone, but they need recon—and Garrett was really good at recon, before that op they never full explain went south.

Like clockwork, the exposition heavy “Blowback” sets up the lock-and-load action of “In Low Places.” It also sounds like a Garth Brooks reference, so fittingly Riley Green gets to perform a song this week, in the role of Garrett. Presumably, it is one of his originals rather than a Brooks cover, but it is nicely staged, regardless. This episode is also a nice feature opportunity for Ash Santos, who probably shows more range as Cruz in this two-part arc than in the previous seven episodes.

Woodstake, Graphic Novel

New Left hippies were narcissistic hedonists with an irrational hatred of cops. That would have made them perfect vampire food. Consequently, the Woodstock concert would have been like an all-you-can-eat buffet. At least there is still a Van Helsing still living incognito near the Hudson Valley town in Darin S. Cape’s graphic novel, Woodstake, illustrated by Felipe Kroll, which recently released in stores.

Somehow, Dracula relocated to the Hudson Valley, so Van Helsing duly followed. As the unusually long prologue establishes, Van Helsing managed to kill the vampire, but as usual, he wasn’t sufficiently dead. At least the good doctor realizes the monster will rise again, so he trains his son Alexandru to be ready. To protect his identity, Van Helsing changes their family name to something very rock & roll sounding, which represents the graphic novel’s cleverest bit.

Fast forward thirtysome years, at which point Dracula has rejuvenated enough strength to start settling some old grudges. Meanwhile, Jon Harper and his girlfriend Nina Murray are bound for Woodstock. She just wants to enjoy the show, but he is preoccupied with scoring a Hendrix interview for his rock ‘zine. Dracula is coming too—to feed.

The timing for Woodstake is somewhat unfortunate, because it compares rather unfavorably to Herik Hanna’s Altamont, which also followed a group of friends trying to find each other amid the chaos of another notorious hippy-era rock concert happening. However, Altamont is a much more compelling horror story, even though it is completely grounded in real-life events.

Frankly, Woodstake largely lacks the ironic bite of Altamont. Although it is arguably revealing to hear Harper’s friend Artie constantly refer to U.S. servicemen as “baby killers,” it is unclear Cape understands how profoundly offensive that sounds, especially to the children and grandchildren of Vietnam vets. As a rsult, a whole lot of potential readers will root for Dracule to exsanguinate Artie and take possession of his nasty soul.

Fuze: A Ticking Bomb Caper

This heavy, unexploded German bomb fulfills some of its original purposes, causing fear and panic in London—just 80-some years later than intended. Unearthed at a construct site, it requires the police to evacuate and cordon-off an entire neighborhood while the military defuses it. Yet, somehow, a crew of bank robbers seemed to be expecting it. Even with several tons of explosive distraction, the getaway still turns messy in David Mackenzie’s Fuze, which opens today in theaters.

It takes special expertise to handle newly discovered ordinance, because of internal instability. Major Will Tranter has that expertise, even though he is a bit of a loose cannon himself. Nevertheless, he is quickly dispatched to London, where he examines the suddenly ticking bomb.

Meanwhile, Karalis gets to work with his contracted crew, bashing through a connecting wall and drilling into a bank’s safety deposit vault. However, it seems pretty clear, “X,” “Y,” and “Z” do not completely trust Karalis, even though he is the one who knows where all the good stuff is.

Unfortunately, the biggest twist is a little too easy to figure out. You don’t even have pay especially close attention either. In fact, you might have already guessed it. Nevertheless, the second half features enough double-crosses to keep the getaway sufficiently chaotic. The good guys never look stupid either. They are just starting from way, way behind.

In some ways, Ben Hopkins’s screenplay can be a little too coy, but it ultimately somewhat upends viewers’ assumptions. Mackenzie stages some decent cat-and-mouse sequences, but the action needs more scope and spectacle. Frankly, the film just leaves the impression it is the simplified version of a more ambitious concept.

My Brother the Minotaur, on Apple TV+

The more you think about the origins of the Minotaur Theseus slayed on Crete (according to mythology), the more you realize it is not a topic you should dwell on. After all, he was the offspring resulting from Queen Pasiphae’s “dalliance” with King Minos’s prize bull. So…yeah. Wisely, this minotaur has a radically different origin story, especially since his show was produced for kids. Nevertheless, finding acceptance is still frustratingly hard for young, horned Lorcan in creator Donal Mangan’s My Brother the Minotaur, which premieres today on Appl TV+.

Being a minotaur, Lorcan ought to live on an island. In this case, tight-knit Bryony isle voluntarily closed itself off to visitors after Lorcan’s adoptive grandparents discovered him in the woods, to protect him from the outside world. His new parents had given up on having their own children, but his younger brother Charlie came along as a happy surprise a few months later.

Charlie is devoted to his older brother, but some Bryony residents have started to resent Lorcan, especially the former hotelier, dastardly Mr. Craignelder. Recently, Craignelder has kidnapped several local pets, hoping to frame Lorcan and drive away residents. If enough Bryony islanders leave, Craignelder will have the votes to sell out the community to a mining concern.

In a case of bad timing, Lorcan’s past simultaneously comes looking for him. Apparently, there is a hidden portal on Bryony to a fantasy realm, where war ages between the despotic minotaur regime and a fairy army, who protect our world against invasion. Something wants to drag Lorcan back, so it uses a shapeshifting Pooka to do its dirty work on the human side of the portal.

Recently, Ireland emerged as one of the most anti-Semitic nations in Europe, with new reports of anti-Jewish vandalism, discrimination, and harassment recorded at a record rate. Apparently, there is also a great deal of prejudice against minotaurs as well. Frankly, the nation desperately needs to hear this series’ message of tolerance.

Clearly, there is no denying Minotaur’s Irishness, since it was produced by the Irish animation house, Cartoon Saloon and filmmaker Tomm Moore (who helmed Song of the Sea) signed on as an executive producer. Like all Cartoon Saloon projects, the new series has a charming hand-drawn style.

Although written with kids in mind, Mangan’s series often takes its dark fantasy elements in a very horror direction. There are a lot of dark and stormy nights on Bryony. Yet, it also celebrates family bonds, especially those that were not originally based in blood. In fact, the relationship between Lorcan and his grandfather George is especially memorable and endearing.

A Blind Bargain, Sort of Remaking Lon Chaney, Sr.

For movie lovers, the 1965 MGM Vault Fire represents a profound tragedy. Amongst the films destroyed therein were the last surviving (as far as we know) prints of Lon Chaney’s London After Midnight and A Blind Bargain. Years later, fans and scholars still try to piece together an approximate idea of both films, from historical clues. This film was not the result of such efforts. It is more of a conceptual tribute. However, it has the advantage of still existing. In fact, Paul Bunnell’s A Blind Bargain opens tomorrow in New York.

In the much-desired original, Chaney portrayed mad scientist, Dr. Arthur Lamb, as well as one of his victims, the Ape-Man. Lamb had a similar experiment in mind for Robert Sandell. To compel his agreement, Dr. Lamb offers to perform the life-saving Sandell’s mother needs, but at the cost of Sandell’s humanity.

The Mephistophelean Dr. Gruder offers Dominic Fontaine a slightly different Faustian bargain (but it will still be a blind one). Fontaine, who got hooked on heroin while serving in Vietnam (that anti-veteran stereotype just won’t die, will it?), now owes serious money to his leg-breaking dealer. With the best of intentions, his mother, former silent movie star Joy Fontaine, encourages him to seek treatment at the clinic Gruder operates as a front.

Having tested Fontaine, the still-mad doctor realizes his mother’s blood must have the rare elements his experiments require. Sensing their patient’s desperation, Gruder, his hulking enforcer Logos, and his seductive nurse Ellie Bannister convince Fontaine to lure his mother to the clinic under false pretenses and then sign her into the Doctor’s dubious care. At first, the nightmare treatment horrifies the former movie star, but she changes her tune when it successfully returns her to the youth of her stardom days. Of course, it cannot really be that easy, can it?

Wisely, Bunnell and the design team never go for a faux silent era aesthetic. Instead, they aspire to a vintage 1970s exploitation look and texture, starting with the Super 16mm film stock. There are hat tips to Chaney, like the use of his photo and the evocative titles of Fontaine’s movies, like Egypt After Midnight. However, the deliberately rough edges will put off some viewers. Frankly, if viewers didn’t know the title, they might assume it is related to the 2016 remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s Blood Feast.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond, in Cinema Daily US

To build buzz for the new film, Crunchyroll brought THAT TIME I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SLIME THE MOVIE: SCARLET BOND back into theaters. It stands alone fairly easily and features several surprisingly compelling exclusive-to-the-film characters. CINEMA DAILY US review up here.

Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror

Funny Girl, The Other Side of the Mountain, and Shampoo were among the top 10 highest grossing movies of 1975, but nobody today would want to watch a feature length doc about any of them. In contrast, The Rocky Horror Picture Picture Show was not in the top ten by the time the year ended, but it subsequently rose to become 1975’s third highest grossing picture, because it never left theaters.  For decades, it has been recognized as a phenomenon and it remains so, despite the availability of BluRays and streaming. Filmmaker Linus O’Brien chronicles the film’s history and takes stock of its legacy with its creator, his father Richard O’Brien, in the documentary Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, which returns to theaters this Friday.

It started as a stage show in a proper theater’s experimental side stage, where blokes like writer-composer O’Brien and director Jim Sharman could do whatever they wanted, because nobody would be watching. However, right from the start, the show was a smash hit, earning extensions and a transfer to a larger theater.

Eventually, the show was imported to Los Angeles, where it had equal or greater success at the Roxy, an appropriately hipster venue. It still wouldn’t necessarily be an obvious fit for Hollywood, but producer Lou Adler saw the commercial potential (as it happens, he also produced Cheech & Chong’ Up in Smoke). Indeed, Adler worked closely with the only sympathetic Fox exec to develop the film’s midnight screening strategy, after its initial release bombed.

Obviously, O’Brien had guaranteed access to his father. His connections also secured interviews with Sharman, Adler, and just about every other living cast-member, including Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon. It is a little creepy seeing Sarandon, considering her recent history, including retweeting a “woke-right” extremist consprcy theeorist claiming the October 7^th massacre was an Israeli false flag operation, but there is no denying she is a big part of the film’s history, so she should be there.

Fortunately, the scenes featuring the O’Brien, father and son, are quite endearing. Clearly, the film director grew-up amid the “strangeness” of the Rocky Horror world and quickly acclimated to it. He gets a lot of good stuff from his dad, including highly candid responses and some impromptu musical performances. This might sacrilegious to the Rocky faithful, but some might consider his solo acoustic renditions superior to the big, blaring stage orchestrations.

Desert Warrior, Made in Saudi Arabia

The Battle of Dhu Qar of the early 600’s AD represents a surprising choice of subject matter for Saudi Arabia’s largest film project to date (filmed in the desert surrounding the Neom "mega-city"). It chronicles a pre-Islamic rebellion against a tyrannical monarch. That definitely sounds like two strikes against it. However, it resulted in a major Arab victory over the Persians, so there is that. More importantly for most potential viewers, it depicts warfare conducted on camels and elephants. Princess Hind (yes, a woman) unifies the many quarrelling tribes forced to pay tribute to Emperor Kisra II in Rupert Wyatt’s Desert Warrior, which releases this Friday in theaters.

Lately, Kisra has demanded more than tribute. He also requires a daughter from each of the vassal tribal kings, whom he takes as a concubine. That was too much for Hind’s father, King Al-Numan. Refusing to submit, the King and Princess become fugitives, fleeing Kisra’s warrior-slave, Jalabzeen, who hopes capturing them will earn him his freedom.

They only barely escape, thanks to Hanzala’s timely intercession. In exchange for a jeweled dagger, the bandit helps them reach temporary safety with the Shaybani, where Chief Hani offers them the protection of his hospitality. Despite his mercenary motives, Hanzala holds his own grudge against Jalabzeen. Nevertheless, he is not very welcome in the Shaybani Territory.

In fact, such rivalries always kept the tribes divided and therefore easy for Kisra II and his predecessors to dominate. Tired of running, Hind decides to use the best and the worst of the Chiefs motivations to finally unite against the Persians. Chief Hani joins out of principle, while the Princess manipulates others with promises of revenge and plunder, the former being much more likely than the latter.

Of course, they are still vastly outnumbered, but Hind, Hani, and their allies develop some truly merciless scorched earth tactics. Indeed, the final climactic battle more than compensates for the film’s meandering mid-section. In fact, several of the battle charges compare favorably with the spectacle of Jodhaa Akbar.

Weirdly, even though Anthony Mackie brings a strong, brooding presence to the proceedings, the character of Hanzala feels conspicuously shoehorned into the narrative to give the film greater commercial viability. Yes, he saves Princess Hind several times, but these duties could have been easily transferred to Chief Hani and his commanders. Still, Mackie has convincing action cred, which serves Desert Warrior well.