Brad recommends SPEAK NO EVIL (2024)!

Posted on April 23, 2026 by Bradley Crain

My wife and I were browsing around our 10 different movie apps a couple of nights ago when we came across the psychological thriller SPEAK NO EVIL on NBC’s Peacock app. I’ve always kinda liked the actor James McAvoy, at least I did in WANTED (2008), so we decided to give it a spin.

In SPEAK NO EVIL, the vacationing Dalton family, Ben (Scoot McNairy), Louise (Mackenzie Davis), and their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) meet Paddy (James McAvoy), Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their son Ant (Dan Hough). The families hit it off instantly and have a great time together, but they soon say goodbye and go their separate ways back to their homes. A couple of months later, the Daltons receive a letter in the mail asking them to take a week to come visit their fast friends at their family farm. Needing a break from their normal routines, they decide to take Paddy & Ciara up on their offer. At first, everyone seems to be having a great time together. But it soon becomes apparent that Paddy & Ciara see the world radically different than Ben and Louise, whether it be their views on the environment, or much more powerfully and personally, their views on raising children. As the fun turns sour, the Dalton’s try to leave, but getting away from Paddy & Ciara isn’t as easy as it seems. Soon we’re learning why Ant can’t speak properly, and we’re seeing disturbing evidence that the Dalton’s aren’t the first family invited out to the farm. The question now is whether or not they’ll be the last?!!

SPEAK NO EVIL, which is based on a 2022 Danish film of the same name, opens up in a beautiful countryside paradise. I was blown away by the gorgeous Eastern European locations where the families were enjoying their vacations. The Dalton’s, more vulnerable than they might first appear, are taken in by the outgoing and free-spirited Paddy and Ciara. Even after they’ve gone back to their normal lives, they seem to miss the excitement that their vacation friends brought to their lives. Their vulnerability leads to a terribly shortsighted decision to spend a week at the secluded farm of a couple they barely know. While we might question their decision-making skills, I think that most of us would agree that many of our very worst decisions come from positions of weakness and vulnerability. The Daltons will most certainly soon come to regret their decision.

I was interested in watching SPEAK NO EVIL because I like psycho thrillers and James McAvoy. As far as I’m concerned, neither disappointed. This film spends the first 90% of its run-time slowly tightening its grip on us viewers prior to unleashing hell over the last 10%. McAvoy is both creepy, powerful and evil as Paddy. When we finally see him snap, we’re not terribly surprised based on his gradually more depraved behavior witnessed earlier in the film. Scoot McNairy is good in the film, even though his Ben Dalton comes across as a relatively weak husband and dad most of the time. The truth is, he’s like most normal people would be if we found ourselves in this situation. And Mackenzie Davis is good as Louise Dalton, although there are a few times when she behaves in ways that undermines her character’s perceived intelligence in order to keep the plot moving along. The children characters end up having meaningful roles in the resolution of the film, and the child actors do a fine job, which is not always the case. At the end of the day, SPEAK NO EVIL doesn’t feel like the most original of films, but I think the director and actors tell a familiar, thrilling story quite well.

The last thing I’m going to say is that I’ve never seen the original 2022 Danish film that SPEAK NO EVIL (2024) is based on. I understand that its resolution is much, much different than this version. I do plan on watching it soon, as it’s currently playing on Tubi. Regardless of how I end up feeling about the original, my wife and I watched this 2024 version and enjoyed it. No later viewing of the source material can take that away.

Honor Amongst Men (2018, directed by Fred Carpenter)

Posted on April 23, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

Honor Amongst Men?

Don’t even ask.

John Halmo (Robert Clohessy) is a veteran cop who is been on the job for so long that he wears a dinosaur pin. The film portrays one very long day on Long Island, as John deals with cocky young cops, squabbling drug addicts, his Alzheimer’s-afflicted father (Ed Asner), and a motorcycle gang war. Chuck Zito plays the the main motorcycle baddie. Joan Jett plays Stephanie, who spend a lot of time yelling. It’s cool to see Joan Jett in a movie.

Why is Chuck Zito such an unconvincing biker in this? He was a member of the Hell’s Angels for twenty-five years. He did time for the gang. If anyone should have felt authentic in this movie, it was Chuck Zito. But Zito seems lost. Maybe it’s the bad CGI that the movie uses whenever Zito shoots someone. Bad CGI and a bad performance.

Robert Clohessy is good, though. Clohessy’s been playing tough cops since the start of his career. Hill Street Blues, Oz, Blue Bloods, NYPD Blue, Homicide, Ohara (a show the featured Pat Morita as a detective), all of them featured Clohessy as a cop. Clohessy gives a great performance in Honor Amongst Men. It’s too bad that the rest of this disjointed film isn’t as good.

Honor Amongst Men is a film that wants to say something about how the world is changing and how there’s less room for honorable men like John Halmo. John is being pressured to retire. His father is losing his ability to remember the past. Even Chuck Zito is just a man looking for old-fashioned revenge. A lot of good movies have been made about honorable men suddenly finding themselves in a world where honor is disappearing and Clohessy’s performance is good enough that this movie’s message sometimes comes through. But the movie itself is disjointed and features too many scenes that just don’t work, either because everyone other than Clohessy’s is overacting or because the director lets them drag on for too long. Good intentions can only go so far.

Film Review: Target Earth (dir by Sherman A. Rose)

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

1954’s Target Earth has an intriguing premise.

Nora King (Kathleen Crowley) wakes up in a Chicago hotel room, surrounded by the pills that she took the previous night as a part of an unsuccessful suicide attempt. The room is quiet, too quiet. Getting out of bed, Nora eventually finds herself walking around Chicago. The city, which should be busy, is silent. At first, there doesn’t seem to be anyone else around. Eventually, Nora does run into a man named Frank (Richard Denning) and later, they meet a couple (Richard Reeves and Virginia Grey) who are busy getting drunk at a local cafe.

It’s a premise that feels like it could have been used in an episode of the Twilight Zone and the somewhat harsh black-and-white cinematography only increases the sense of isolation. Obviously something big has happened in Chicago but no one is quite sure what it could be. Our four survivors meet a few other people as they wander around the city. Some people are terrified. Some people, like the psychotic Davis (Robert Roark), aren’t concerned with what happened but instead are focused on how they can take advantage of the situation. From the start, the atmosphere is effectively creepy and ominous. Richard Denning and especially Kathleen Crowley give strong performances, capturing their confusion at the situation.

And then the robot shows up.

Now, I have to be honest. I love this robot. It’s big and ludicrous and it move so stiffly that there are times that it looks like it’s going to trip and end up flat on its back. There’s something undeniably charming about the fact that, in 1954, an actor got into a silly robot costume (complete with fake arms) and then waddled around while everyone pretended to be terrified of him. While the robot is definitely dangerous and it can fire a laser beam from its eye, I have to admit it immediately reminded of Torg, the cardboard robot from Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. It’s exactly the type of thing that people like me tend to love about cheap, 1950s science fiction. Back then, robots were considered to be so exotic that they only had to exist to be intimidating. Today, we’re spoiled by fancy robots. We expect every robot to be The Terminator.

That said, as charming as I found the robot to be, it totally altered the atmosphere of the movie. As soon as the robot shows up, Target Earth goes from being atmospheric to campy. The actors are still good. Robert Roark is genuinely menacing as the evil Davis. But that robot pretty much assures that we’ll never forget we’re watching a l0w-budget sci-fi flick.

As was typical of 50s sci-fi, things are eventually explained by the military. We get some stock footage. We get some scenes of concerned officers discussing what’s happening in Chicago. Personally, I would have preferred it if the film had extended the mystery a bit. It’s at its best when the viewer doesn’t know what’s going on. That said, the film’s first half is wonderfully suspenseful. The robot is perhaps too adorable for its own good but the movie still leaves you wondering what you would do if you woke up and discovered that the rest of humanity has vanished.

White Ghost (1988, directed by B.J. Davis)

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

In 1972, Lt. Steve Shepherd (William Katt) disappeared in the jungles of Vietnam. He was listed as being MIA and he was mistakenly presumed dead. Instead, he survived in the jungle and continued to fight his own war against the North Vietnamese. Eventually, he “married” a Thai woman named Thi Hau (Rosalind Chao). The North Vietnamese began to call him the “White Ghost.”

16 years later, Major Cross (Reb Brown) hears the legend of the White Ghost and arranges for a group of elite rangers to parachute into the jungle and retrieve Lt. Shepherd. However, Thi Hau has been captured by the Vietnamese army and is being held at one of their torture camps. Shepherd is determined to rescue her. As well, one the rangers (Wayne Crawford) has a personal issue with Shepherd that goes back to their time in Vietnam. He determined to get his revenge, no matter what the cost.

White Ghost came out at a time when films like Rambo: First Blood II and Missing In Action were bringing in the big bucks at the box office. Like those movies, White Ghost gives audiences a chance to watch as the Vietnam War is refought, this time with America as the victor. What sets White Ghost apart is that Shepherd not only has to destroy the Vietnamese prison camp but he also has to avoid his fellow Americans while doing it. This is a violent movie with an astronomical body count. The action is pretty much nonstop and, for once, not even the hero can escape without a scratch. Director BJ Davis was a stuntman and, not surprisingly, he gets fantastic work from the film’s stunt team. This film also owes a debt to Predator, with its jungle locations and its emphasis on booby traps. Karl Johnson appears as one of the Rangers and he looks so much like Jesse Ventura that I actually checked to make sure that it wasn’t him.

At first, William Katt seemed miscast as Steve Shepherd and he seemed to be in surprisingly good shape for someone who has spent sixteen years living in the jungle. By the end of the movie, though, Katt had won me over. He looked convincing shooting a machine gun and throwing grenades and his scenes with Rosalind Chao had enough depth that you cared whether or not he was able to rescue her. Reb Brown fans will probably be disappointed that he spends most of the movie behind a desk but, in the gloriously frenetic finale, he does finally get to do his trademark yelling.

White Ghost is an exciting slice of Namsploitation. At one point, there was a sequel planned that would have featured Shepherd fighting crime in America but unfortunately, it never happened.

Brad recommends STRANGER ON HORSEBACK (1955)!

Posted on April 21, 2026 by Bradley Crain

I’m a big fan of westerns made in the 1940’s and 1950’s. I’m also a big fan of the writings of author Louis L’Amour. STRANGER ON HORSEBACK, a 1955 western based on a story by L’Amour, is a good example of why I love both, and it’s currently playing on Amazon Prime, HBOMAX, and Tubi.

STRANGER ON HORSEBACK opens on the traveling Circuit Judge Rick Thorne (Joel McCrea) as he rides his horse into a small western town that seems to be run by the Bannerman family. We hear his thoughts on western justice, and it goes something like this… “a judge needs three things to bring justice to this country; a law book, a horse and a gun. The further west he gets, the less he needs the book.” That’s a L’Amour line if I’ve ever heard one. As soon he gets into town, he finds out from Colonel Buck Streeter (John Carradine) that young Tom Bannerman (Kevin McCarthy) has gunned a local man down and Thorne is determined that the young man face trial for the killing. That doesn’t set too well with Tom’s dad Josiah Bannerman (John McIntire), who bluntly tells the judge that his son will not face trial for murder. After Thorne and the local Sheriff Nat Bell (Emile Meyer) arrest young Tom, it’s just a matter of time before Thorne has to take on the Bannerman clan and their hired guns. Meanwhile, Amy Lee Bannerman (Miroslava), Tom’s cousin, starts making some love moves on the judge. Is she truly falling for the righteous judge, or is she trying to save her cousin’s ass?

Director Jacques Tourneur (CAT PEOPLE, OUT OF THE PAST, WICHITA) has crafted an extremely economical, classic western. Clocking in at just 65 minutes, the story can’t afford to waste any time and gets right to the action. Joel McCrea is perfect as the morally impeccable judge who will face off against impossible odds to make sure young Tom Bannerman goes to trial for murder. Kevin McCarthy is the exact opposite as the arrogant, amoral killer whose family name has protected him all of his life. John McIntire, as the patriarch of the Bannerman family, is as tough as they come and nobody is going to tell him what to do, or hang his son. He’s not necessarily against his son hanging, but as he implies at one point, if anyone’s going to hang my son, it’s going to be me! And Miroslava is awfully cute as the Bannerman who ends up putting her feelings for the judge over the family name. Sadly, the actress would take her own life just after filming this movie.

STRANGER ON HORSEBACK was filmed in Sedona, AZ, which makes for a beautiful backdrop to this combination of western and legal thriller. The fact that McCrea is playing a judge rather than a sheriff is an interesting twist on the classic western story. His primary focus is to make sure Tom Bannerman gets his due process, but still faces a jury for his crimes, and he’ll do anything to make sure that happens. And it doesn’t take him very long to do it, because it felt like there should have been more movie when the words THE END flashed across the screen. I guess I was enjoying myself, because this 65 minute movie felt even shorter than you might expect!

Gentlemen With Guns (1946, directed by Sam Newfield)

Posted on April 21, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

In the old west, Billy Carson (Buster Crabbe) gets a letter from his old friend, Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John). Fuzzy writes that he’s in “a little trouble” and requests that Billy “mosey on over” if he has time. When Billy shows up at Fuzzy’s ranch, Fuzzy explains that Jim McAllister (Steve Derrell) wants his land and his water rights. McAllister not only his own gang but he’s got the sheriff in his pocket as well. When two of McAllister’s men show up at the ranch to try to force Fuzzy out, Billy is there to throw a punch in the defense of his good friend.

Billy is surprised to learn that Fuzzy is getting married to a woman that he’s never met for. Fuzzy gotten to know Matilda Boggs (Patricia Knox) only through the letters that they’ve exchanged as members of a lonely hearts club. By the time Matilda arrives in town, McAllister has already arranged for Fuzzy to be framed for murder and arrested. Fuzzy is sitting in jail, hoping that Billy can clear his name. Matilda is only after Fuzzy’s money and if they get married and Fuzzy gets hanged for murder or shot after breaking out jail to see her, that’ll just make it easier for her to get all of it. Billy can see through Matilda’s schemes but Fuzzy is blinded by love.

This was an interesting and engaging B-western. It had all the usual fist fights and horse chases that you expect to find in these films but there was also some unexpected emotional depth. Usually, Fuzzy was the just comedic sidekick in these movies. In this one, he’s not only facing the hangman’s noose but he’s also looking for love. Life gets lonely on the frontier. Buster Crabbe is his usual dependable and likable self. Buster always looked convincing throwing a punch and both he and Fuzzy get to throw a lot of them here.

For many, B-westerns like this will always be an acquired taste but, for fans of the genre, Gentlemen With Guns is a superior example.

Scenes That I Love: Bernie

Posted on April 21, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy San Jacinto Day!

You can celebrate by watching my favorite scene from Richard Linklater’s Bernie! I really love this quick lesson about my home state:

By the way, that line about “Dallas snobs,” always got a big laugh from the audiences at the Dallas Angelika. It’s important to have a sense of humor.

Don’t worry, Vermont. You’ll learn how to laugh at yourself someday.

Brad recommends THE COPS ARE ROBBERS (1990)!

Posted on April 20, 2026 by Bradley Crain

If you’re looking for a good “dirty cops” movie to pass the time, I ran across an entertaining one today called THE COPS ARE ROBBERS (AKA – GOOD COPS, BAD COPS). It’s currently playing on Amazon Prime and Tubi. The film is a 1990 TV movie based on the real life robbery of the Boston Depositors Trust bank over Memorial Day weekend in 1980 by a group of corrupt cops. I first became aware of the film when I took part in an interview with Robert F. Lyons about his career on the This Week in Charles Bronson podcast. Lyons specifically mentioned this film as containing a role that he really enjoyed.

THE COPS ARE ROBBERS features an incredible cast, and this is what ultimately sets the movie apart for me. The movie opens as top cop Kirkland, played by George Kennedy, assigns Jake Quinn (Ed Asner), to lead a notoriously corrupt law enforcement agency in Massachusetts. No sooner does Quinn take over, when the Boston Depositors Trust is hit over Memorial Day weekend with over $25 million in cash and jewels taken. The crew of criminals includes current cops Jerry Clemente (Ray Sharkey) and Jimmy Donnelly (Steve Railsback), ex-cop Frank Moran (James Keach), and safe expert Benny Brown (Lyons). Over the next 5 years, with the assistance of officers Brill (James Morrison) and Kellogg (Franc Luz), Jake Quinn does every thing he can to bring Clemente and his crew down!

Ed Asner, Ray Sharkey and Robert F. Lyons are the real standouts of the film. Asner brings a toughness and honesty to his role honed by decades of playing such roles. In other words, the part fits him like a glove. Sharkey plays his part as a man who’s so arrogant and corrupt that he doesn’t seem to realize that using his position of trust in the community for his own selfish gain is a problem. He seems to think he deserves whatever he can steal, and it’s fun to see the pressure squeeze in on him as the film moves along. After watching the film, I can see why Lyons enjoyed playing this part, as he is excellent in his role as the safe expert. He is one of the most important parts of the robbery, he doesn’t trust cops, and he eventually gets the opportunity to give them a reason not to trust him. It’s a nice showcase for his talents.

At the end of the day, if you like the cast, enjoy movies based on true stories, or appreciate TV movies from the late 80’s and early 90’s, I definitely think you’ll enjoy THE COPS ARE ROBBERS. Veteran Director Paul Wendkos (CANNON FOR CORDOBA, THE BAD SEED) brings a professional touch to the proceedings, and for me, watching his film was a fun way to spend an evening.

Warrior Strong (2023, directed by Shane Belcourt)

Posted on April 20, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

After high school basketball coach Schmidt (Andrew Dice Clay) has a heart attack, one of his former players, Bilal Irving (Jordan Johnson-Hines), returns to Ontario to replace him. Bilal, a pro player who has developed a reputation for being a diva, thinks that it will mean some good publicity for him. Instead, he discovers that coaching a group of scrappy underdogs to the province championship is far more satisfying than being a member of the Timberwolves.

There’s not a sports cliche that goes unused in Warrior Strong. At first, no one gives the team a chance but then the team shows what they can do when they are properly motivated. Bilal stop being selfish but then gets a chance to return to the NBA right before the championship game. The team’s best player quits in disgust and the rest of the players have to prove themselves. Since this is a Canadian film, there’s a lot of political and cultural content stuffed into the plot. A local indigenous woman give the team permission to use the Warriors name. One the team’s stars, Bettina (Macaulee Cassaday), worries about fitting in as a nonbinary person. Some of it feels awkwardly forced into the story. Some of it works. I’ve never been a believer in the idea that “going work” automatically makes a film good or bad. But there are times that the movie feels as if it was written by someone who was given a checklist of issues to include.

Most people who watch this film will probably be watching for Andrew Dice Clay, cast here as a plainspoken coach. Clay is believable in the role, even if he doesn’t really do that much. He plays a decent person who doesn’t curse or recite dirty limericks. Watching films like this, you have to wonder what his career would be like now if he had never been the Diceman.

Target (1952, directed by Stuart Gilmore)

Posted on April 19, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

The frontier town of Pecos, Texas is without a marshal and Martin Conroy (Walter Reed) and his men are taking advantage of the situation by forcing people to sell their land for next to nothing. A railroad’s coming and Conroy is looking to make a killing. When landowner Bailey (John Hamilton) is targeted by Conroy, ranch hands Tim Holt (played by Tim Holt) and Rafferty (Richard Martin) are determined to stop him. Federal marshal Terry Moran is summoned to the town to enforce the law. Everyone is shocked when Moran’s daughter — also named Terry (Linda Douglas) — shows up and declares herself the new marshal. “We don’t need no petticoat marshal!” the townspeople cry.

This is a by-the-book B-western, one of many that Tim Holt and Richard Martin made over the years. In this one, neither Holt not Martin seems to be too invested in the familiar story. (Holt was maybe wondering how he went from The Magnificent Ambersons and Treasure of the Sierra Madre to this.) The only really interesting thing about this one is that the marshal is a woman but the movie doesn’t really do anything with the idea. Tim Holt was the star here and no petticoat marshal was going to upstage him.

The thing that I find interesting about these B-westerns is how often the villain was someone looking to get rich by selling ill-gotten land to the railroad companies. B-westerns always presented the railroads as being both the best and the worst thing about the west. The railroads bring and connect civilization but they also attract villains like Martin Conroy. In the American westerns, it was always made clear that the railroad company was as disgusted by men like Conroy as the townspeople. However, in the spaghetti westerns that would come out in the 60s, it was always clear that the railroad didn’t care how they got their land as long as they got it.

This was Tim Holt’s second-to-last movie as a B-western star. After his career ended in Hollywood, Holt relocated to Oklahoma and eventually became the manager of radio station. He died in 1973.