Here’s another installment of Balladeer’s Blog’s end of year retrospective, reflecting on February’s best.
THE KEEP (1983) – My review of this love-it-or-hate-it movie directed by Michael Mann. Part horror, part fantasy, The Keep could have been a classic but wasn’t. During World War Two, Nazis uncover a site which holds a demonic entity, and while it’s fun watching it prey on the S.S. troopers the entity goes on to prey on innocent people as well.
Scott Glenn played an immortal warrior who has been fighting such vile forces for hundreds of years and he arrives to do battle with the dark monstrosity. Also starring Jurgen Prochnow, Ian McKellan and Alberta Watson. CLICK HERE.
FACULTY LOUNGE FASCIST ROUNDUP – The February 6th, 2023 edition. Now they claim that expecting correct answers in math class is an example of “white cisheteropatriarchy.” I wish I was joking. CLICK HERE.
RAFAEL SABATINI NOVELS – Balladeer’s Blog’s review of several books by the writer of many, many swashbuckling, sword-swinging tales of pirates, rebels, knights and cavaliers. In addition to well-known Sabatini classics like Captain Blood, Scaramouche, The Sea Hawk and The Black Swan I also reviewed overlooked works like The Tavern Knight, Love at Arms and Venetian Masque. CLICK HERE.
COOL-NAMED SPORTS TEAMS – Cuyahoga College HERE, El Paso Community College HERE.
N.E.T. PLAYHOUSE 1970 – Episodes included a Ghanaian adaptaton of Hamlet, a filmed Volpone, a telefilm about Quebec Separatist terrorists in Canada, Australian spy antics during World War Two, and a dystopia ruled by youthful tyrants. With performers like Christopher Walken, George Carlin, Jack Palance, Sam Waterston, Jean Stapleton and Christopher Guest. CLICK HERE.
THUNDER WARRIOR: ALL THREE MOVIES – The trilogy of movies in which cult actor Mark Gregory starred as a combination of Rambo and Billy Jack, waging all-out war on corrupt law enforcement, corrupt businesses and corrupt politicians in unrealistic but kickass ways. CLICK HERE.
ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: THE KE WHONKUS PEOPLE (1890) – The discovery of a hidden civilization near the North Pole, a civilization with advanced technology in a region with unusual creatures. CLICK HERE.
RELIC OF FORT TEJON – Forgotten Television segment about gambler/ gunslinger Bret Maverick (James Garner) winning a camel left over from the ill-fated American Camel Corps in the 1800s. CLICK HERE. Continue reading
HOLLYWOOD (1980) – A week ago Balladeer’s Blog took a look at the classic documentaries 
THE PIONEERS – A look at the era when movie production was predominantly in New York and New Jersey, until expenses and encroachments by organized crime forced the industry to migrate to Hollywood, CA, a place then known mostly for its lemon groves. Featuring footage from The Great Train Robbery (1903) on up through films from the mid-teens and the 1920s like Ben-Hur (1925), The Black Pirate (1926), The Fire Brigade (1927) and The Wind (1928). 
SINGLE BEDS AND DOUBLE STANDARDS – Stories from the raucous, hard-partying years of Hollywood’s silent movie era. As 
ANDROMEDA NEBULA (1967) – My review of this pioneering science fiction film from Russia about organized space travel in the far future. Sort of a combination of Dune, Star Trek and Alien. CLICK 
THE GRAND DETECTIVES (1975) – A French television series in the tradition of Rivals of Sherlock Holmes and which presented other fictional detectives solving mysteries. Classy production. Featured American detective Nick Carter, French detective Monsieur Lecoq, Belgian Inspector Wens, Irish detective Slim Callaghan and, of course, Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes. CLICK 
NEW YEAR’S DAY (1989) – My review of this early film featuring David Duchovny. Directed by Henry Jaglom. CLICK 
“We’ve been used and abused for so long by that party, they don’t value our vote,” Fisher said. “Their policies are basically racist policies. I believe it’s a racist party. Donald Trump is just the opposite.” 
“My message that I preach and that I tell is unity. It’s a message of unity, unity driven,” Fisher said. “I want to bring together all the marginalized groups from the margins and bring them to the center because we’re stronger together as … one nation under God, indivisible…” 
Reactions to Balladeer’s Blog’s reviews of silent movies have been positive enough that I’d like to offer a quick take on a few multi-part documentary series on the subject. Both were from British Film Historian Kevin Brownlow, who did a better job of depicting the Age of Silent Movies than any Americans ever did. 
PART ONE – From Vaudeville to Movies: Brownlow and his colleagues scoured the best available footage remaining from Buster Keaton’s silent comedies. (For newbies to silent film history I’ll mention that countless movies from that period are lost forever due to decomposition prior to efforts to preserve them.)
As for why Deneen Borelli called Trump’s rising numbers among voters of color “Democrats’ worst nightmare”, well, even the Democrats themselves admit that they need their usual roughly 90% approval from black voters to win nationwide elections. This is one more way that Trump threatened the status quo of America’s corrupt political parties. Click 
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Enjoy this holiday and the hope for peaceful coexistence represented by the possibly mythic meal that it commemorates. The kind of self-righteous killjoys who bash Thanksgiving are the type of sanctimonious idiots that are fun to laugh at since they have no identity outside of their ephemeral political concerns. 
