Super Fuzz

Super Fuzz (Poliziotto Superpiu) (1980)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Sergio Corbucci!

Starring: Terence Hill, Ernest Borgnine, Joanne Dru, Marc Lawrence, Julie Gordon

From: El Pico S.A./Transcinema

This sure was a wacky Italian comedy filmed in South Florida where neophyte police officer Terence Hill acquires superpowers. I’ve known of Super Fuzz for years-how they were able to get Ernest Borgnine for a large role, how this was from Sergio Corbucci (!) or how it has an earworm soundtrack, especially the opening credits song, called SUPER SNOOPER. Either or its original Italian title, POLIZIOTTO SUPERPIU, should be used by me instead.

Hill is Dave Speed. He is sent by his superior Borgnine to a Seminole village out in the Everglades but is exposed to a nuclear test of “red plutonium.” While the residents of the village were evacuated beforehand, it’s best not to broach such questions as “jurisdiction” or “fallout” as Super Snooper has the vibes of a cartoon. His love interest is of course Borgnine’s niece, and of course is a cute lady-Julie Gordon of Blood Rage (i.e. Nightmare at Shadow Woods) fame. Hilariously, this is the final film role for Joanne Dru, of multiple John Ford and Howard Hawks pictures, as a woman named Rosy Labouche, a truly tremendous name. Borgnine has the hots for her old film star character.

Even by 80’s Italian standards the movie is incredibly goofy. Yet, at least in this case I still chortled at this buffoonery, and there is superhero lore: after acquiring those powers in that accident, he learns what he can do yet there is his version of kryptonite: seeing anything painted bright red. Yeah, it’s regrettable that at one point, Dave Speed used his powers on his girl in a way that is horrible by 2026 standards yet she at least slaps him and later gets the last laugh. Otherwise, I chuckled at what was sometimes slapstick silliness and him outwitting some rather dopey villains.

The sites around South Florida were nice & as someone who lives in Florida (where the Publix supermarket chain has been king for many decades) it was a gas to see a scene set at one of their stores. However, it was the discoriffic soundtrack from Italo-disco megastars La Bionda that greatly entertained me. Note that I’ve known the title song (credited to The Oceans) many years before finally giving Super Snooper a shot.

For those older than me (i.e. someone likely at least the age of 50) who grew up in the United States during the 80’s, you’ll likely recall that this was an HBO staple during the early years of the decade. That detail was read on Wiki but was also independently confirmed elsewhere. As Super Snooper has been on my figurative watchlist for years by this point, crossing the movie off the list has been long overdue.

The Plague Dogs

The Plague Dogs (1982)

Runtime: 103 harrowing minutes

Directed by: Martin Rosen

Starring: John Hurt, Christopher Benjamin, James Bolam, Nigel Hawthrone, Warren Mitchell

From: A few different United States and UK companies, including United Artists

Parents, do NOT show The Plague Dogs to your children!

There was more than one choice that could have been made concerning the viewing of additional animation best for adults. Selecting the other Martin Rosen animated film adapted from a Richard Adams novel seemed logical, especially after stumbling upon a random YouTube account that had upscaled 4K music videos and films, presumably done by AI. The usage of such tools for this purpose, that’s a rabbit hole best worth not going down. To clarify, what was viewed was the original UK release at 103 minutes rather than a much shorter edit released in the United States.

Another rabbit hole that I don’t want to go down: the usage of animals in laboratories to test products or otherwise conduct experiments. The opening minutes are quite upsetting (and sets the tone) as we see a Labrador mix dog named Rowf drown in a tank then resuscitated; this is a common practice. No wonder a fox terrier named Snitter convinces Rowf to escape. This movie is so grim and bleak, I can’t even make a joke concerning how rough the film is-or is that RUFF-when humans are killed, death is a constant theme, Snitter often wishes that he would die, neither dog receives any breaks from fate, and there is a reason why the film is titled The Plague Dogs.

Between the plot and my stating that the tone is comparable to such bleak entertainment (the movie is perfect for those that want to create their own Bleak Week in the future) as Grave of the Fireflies, many will be hesitant to ever press “play” in the future. If abuse of canines is not a deal-breaker, you’ll find a dark yet fascinating story as the two leads are forced to survive in the rural northwestern section of England-full of woods & mountains-and question their own mortality as their only companion is a fox they have a love/hate relationship with & as they kill sheep, occasionally pondering if they should quit & embrace death instead.

Several elements kept me transfixed through this harrowing journey. The British voice acting was swell, from John Hurt and Nigel Hawthrone to names less familiar to me and even Patrick Stewart in a small part during the conclusion. The music was pleasant. However, it was the stunning animation that captivated me-partially the animation was done in San Francisco-none other than Brad Bird was one of the animators. Whatever I review next, undoubtedly will be less heartbreaking and traumatic than The Plague Dogs.

Watership Down

Watership Down (1978)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Directed by: Martin Rosen... and John Hubley

Starring: The voice talents of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Ralph Richardson, and such famous voices like Denholm Elliott & Roy Kinnear

From: A few different animation studios 

A movie finally watched because… someone on a messageboard recently posted a link to a YouTube video mentioning films and TV shows that traumatized people like me who are now middle-aged-“kinder-trauma,” if you will? Yes, it’s true. For decades I’ve known of Watership Down as an animated movie arguably better for adults than children. The merits of that argument won’t be debated here; rather, I’ll note that this is quite mature in its plot & themes.

After an opening explaining lore concerning how a Creator made different animals & why rabbits are targeted by different animals, it isn’t long before a rabbit clairvoyant (a phrase I’ll never utter again) realizes that the warren he & his colony-to use the official term for a group of rabbits-live in will be demolished by man, necessitating a long trek to a new home.

I can say that this is a tale where rabbits are in peril on a number of occasions, blood is shed, adult themes are presented, there are “scary moments” and a key plot point is that this colony of rabbits is a “sausage factory” and they need females to propagate the species! Parents can decide for themselves what their children should experience at what age. What I know for certain: as an adult I can appreciate the lush animation, the charming score, the pleasant song sung by Art Garfunkel, those mature ideas, and the solid lore that’s an ever-present theme throughout.

Overall, I was happy to have finally witnessed this British animated picture w/ plenty of notoriety, featuring the voice talents of many famous UK actors of stage and/or screen, along with Zero Mostel voicing a comic relief gull who delivers exposition. I can think of at least one other similar animated character but the chuckles did help brighten a rather bleak film a bit.

 

Pardon Us

Pardon Us (1931)

Runtime: 70 minutes

Directed by: James Parrott

Starring: Laurel & Hardy, some of the usual co-stars, Walter Long, June Marlowe

From: MGM

It was rather unfortunate I chose to review a movie on Juneteenth* that contained a(n unknown to me beforehand) BLACKFACE subplot.

This film was selected as the 70-minute length fit my schedule the best, and with all the Laurel & Hardy I’ve reviewed here-silent and sound, shorts and features-might as well discuss what wasn’t planned to be their first feature-length picture but that’s how it turned out. The gimmick is that the duo are sent to prison; you see, this was still the era of Prohibition so when they purchased the ingredients at a store to make their own beer and they sold some to an undercover cop… that’s why they were convicted then sent behind bars.

They meet a tough named Tiger (portrayed by Walter Long, who besides appearing in The Three Stooges short Three Little Pigskins alongside Lucille Ball was ironically was in The Birth of a Nation) and caused havoc, including engaging in great wordplay while in a class taught at a prison. The blackface segment-more than 10 minutes long-was after a prison escape and they were on the run. This was a disguise as they were… on a cotton plantation as Black characters constantly sang songs! You can see how this will be uncomfortable-at best it was awkward for a dumb white guy like me. That still had laughs that weren’t related to race-L&H were the ones that were lampooned in this segment.

The blackface moments didn’t ruin the experience, although no shame if that’s a deal-breaker for you & you don’t want to bother. Other feature films like Sons of the Desert and Way Out West are better, more entertaining. That said, this is still a fun time. Stan has a loose tooth which causes inadvertent raspberries-that causes the expected problems. Unexpected was the appearance of a Tommy Gun as if it was The Public Enemy and an attempted shanking!

Contributions from other familiar faces in the L&H universe (James Finlayson, Tiny Sandford, director James Parrott) plus a memorable climax equaled a film I was happy to have seen starring the legendary duo.

* As people from around the world will read this review and Juneteenth has only been a holiday in the United States for several years, brief explanation is warranted: it marks the end of slavery in the United States in 1865.

 

The Ghost of Yotsuya

The Ghost of Yotsuya (Tokaido Yotsuya Kaiden) (1959)

Runtime: 77 minutes

Directed by: Nobuo Nakagawa

Starring: Shigeru Amachi, Norkio Kitazawa, Katsuko Wakasugi, Shuntaro Emi, Ryuzaburo Nakamura

From: Shintoho

This is the 1959 movie The Ghost of Yotsuya from Shintoho based on an old kabuki play, not the 1959 Daiei movie of the same name based on the same play. You can see how this is confusing-even on the Eternal Family platform, they have the Daiei film but their page for the film credits the director of the Shintoto picture. I viewed this on the Criterion Channel-the other movie wasn’t selected as this has been seen far more and the ratings are a bit higher.

A ronin named Iemon (not Lemon like the citrus fruit!) murders the father of his wife Iwa so they can get married. A pal is unwittingly roped into the scheme; this results in more murders. The marriage isn’t a happy one despite the presence of a young child-Iwa passes away. She’s the titular ghost, looking for revenge. It does take awhile for the death then appearance of the apparition—however, this allows for the story and characters to be built up and it was all a delight, despite Iemon’s abhorrent behavior.

Given that director Nobuo Nakagawa went on to direct Jigoku the following year, the more gruesome than expected moments + the strong visual moments shouldn’t have caught me off-guard. As Iemon is quite the SOB who causes much havoc with his selfish decisions, the revenge was incredibly sweet-& the movie is less than 80 minutes in length. As there’s also some nice scenic outdoor scenes, this version of Yotsuya was a delight. It likely won’t be until far in the future but eventually I should view the Daiei film to compare & contrast.

 

Two Billion Hearts

This is a 1995 FIFA documentary concerning the 1994 World Cup: 

Who knew that since 1954, FIFA has produced a film of each World Cup? I was ignorant of this until a random Tweet noted this recently, while noting that at least in the United States, all of those movies were on FIFA+, which is on the DAZN platform along with the other sports this platform has. While June hasn’t been great overall, something nice is to have the World Cup games on in the background while I sometimes do other things or listen to other audio.

I usually don’t watch soccer (as us Dumb Americans call it) although I’ve gone to some games live in Orlando. I’ll give my thoughts on this current tournament at the end of the review. For a service that was free, I was quite happy that only one ad played before the film began, and never again.

It made sense to see the film of the 1994 tournament, a.k.a. the first time this extravaganza came to the United States. The presentation was largely what you’d expect: after an opening where Americans were ignorant of soccer-accurate; it was only a few years after this that Major League Soccer began & the sport was more niche here back then-various contenders were featured in a logical order which wasn’t always chronological but was never confusing. Backstories were provided for each team that added context. Aside from the audio dropping out for a few seconds and-mainly when changing reels-the footage looked ROUGH, otherwise the print quality was pretty good.

Sure, this wasn’t perfect. A tragic moment was after the tournament when Colombia’s Andres Escobar was murdered in his country, probably due to allowing an own goal against the United States—that was only briefly mentioned at the conclusion. I suppose fanaticism leading to a murder of a star player probably would be a downer for this sort of documentary… in addition, there’s plenty of dialogue in languages other than English which is never subtitled. Needless to say, I don’t speak any other languages (especially Swedish or Bulgarian) so there’s a decision that can be disagreed with.

Otherwise, a swell job was done in presenting the tournament to those unaware—from the stellar footage shots of the games to the fans both at home and watching in their home countries. The narration is from a familiar voice: Liev Schreiber. I don’t plan on checking out those other FIFA films even if others were narrated by two Bond actors (Brosnan, Connery) among other actors and one was directed by Michael Apted.

A nice story of the ’26 World Cup is how people from around the world have visited America and especially in the United States, have enjoyed the food, customs, people, and everything else. Look at that random German Twitter user Freddy-he and his mates went viral and now are treated like dignitaries to the point that they talked to NASA astronauts on the ISS and will soon meet Ella Langley! The decision to expand the field from 32 to 48 teams is one I don’t agree with… then again, the Spain vs. Cape Verde match is a great story & a casual like me has found the early stages of the tournament to be fun.

I don’t know how many reading this were even alive in ’94-let alone have interest in this era of soccer-but if you want to see footage of Romario and Roberto Baggio…

The Furious

The Furious (Huo Zhe Yan) (2025)

Runtime: 113 minutes

Directed by: Kenji Tanigaki

Starring: Miao Xae, Joe Taslam, Enyou Yang, Brian Le, Yayan Ruhian

From: In the United States, Lionsgate

Or: In this nightmare of a June 2026 for me-where even the browser that I use (Firefox) is now broken after today’s update-how an unnecessary 4th act can ruin a movie, especially one I’d been looking forward to.

In the 13 (!) years I’ve been here and the 4,001 films I’ve now reviewed (!!), this is only the third time I can recall marking a review as containing spoilers. However, I feel this is necessary to explain why Furious was a letdown for me. Recently, I heard great buzz elsewhere & even comparisons to The Raid. I love The Raid-the sequel, much less so. That had a bad story and absurd action that was just Too Much. Sadly, those are also my complaints with The Furious. I’ll explain in a review later this month why June has been so miserable, but even at the cineplex my luck has been rotten.

It's set in “a city in Southeast Asia”; why they couldn’t name Bangkok is beyond my comprehension. In any event, a mute Chinese badass has his young daughter kidnapped by child traffickers. Meanwhile, another badass has a missing wife-she was investigating said traffickers. They team up. Now, the action beats reminded me of modern pro wrestling—overly choreographed and becoming overkill. Unlike modern pro wrestling (which is just absolutely unwatchable, for the most part), most of the action here was quite delightful to view. Dudes Getting Wrecked (TM) was a lot of fun here.

Regrettably, the idea of a 4th at that has been prevalent in 21st century Hollywood and has hampered many a film reared its ugly head here. How our mute hero is so unstoppable he might as well join the Avengers or Justice League isn’t my preference yet I see the same thing in Indian movies and that’s not a deal-breaker. Unfortunately, there are others that are also unstoppable; there’s a villain that out of nowhere in the 4th act that suddenly slaughters all his bosses and is superhuman out of nowhere.

Things go down the toilet once the 3rd act ends w/ the climatic rescue of the children from the traffickers. Besides that villain suddenly becoming superhuman, we see the return of Hulking Brute superhuman. There’s a big brawl early in the 2nd act where we see Hulking Brute hold his own 1 on 2 against our humans, until his face is literally beaten into a bloody pulp; yes, that image of his face is fuzzy in the background yet is still obvious, especially on a cinema screen. Yet, the 4th act begins with Hulking Brute resurrecting… and his face is fine! That’s right, no damage aside from a scar or two!

I should have walked out of the movie at that point, no lie. From that point, everything in the 4th act was just stupid and overblown, full of poor ideas. Sure, some plot strands would have been left unresolved but the three acts that cinephiles would probably decry as “basic” would have been hunky-dory with me, several dumb moments aside. Instead, a sour taste was left in my mouth with those dumb superhuman villains; I know that no one else will agree but that’s my honest opinion. “Plot armor” is another giant 21st century movie problem that I wish would be banished.

It was nice seeing a reunion of Joe Taslim and Yayan Ruhian from The Raid, at least; however, IMO this film is not legendary like that was, a joyous theatrical experience. Shame about that 4th act… it’d be nice if June would stop being a nightmare for me, but hopefully the next film I review will be one where I am not so negative.