Black Christmas (aka 'Stranger In The House') (1974)

This 1974 movie starring Margot Kidder continues a long tradition of suspense movies about women (usually one, but here a whole sorority houseful) threatened by - but safe inside from - a lunatic, eventually realising the danger comes from inside, not outside, the safehaven (The Spiral Staircase, When A Stranger Calls, for example) and it is an exceptionally effective, intelligent horror thriller: well-acted, with a large number of characters all fleshed-out and strong; rich in detail, and with some good humour which helps make, by comparison, the last twenty minutes especially deranged and terrifying!

★★★★★

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Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

The Superman series starring Christopher Reeve had just given up by number four, worsening inexorably after its sombre, impressive number one, offering up a high camp number three and then, despite the good omen of Gene Hackman and Margot Kidder returning as Lex Luther and Lois Lane, the series serves up this preposterous number four, a movie in which Superman is pitted against a Lex Luther-created solar-powered drag queen and must find someplace to shove her where the sun doesn't shine.

★★☆☆☆

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Superman III (1983)

The one in which a down-and-out Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) transforms into Mark Zuckerberg opens with a scene of slapstick mayhem in Metropolis, a prelude to the sprawling mess of loosely held together plots that follow: Superman attends his high school reunion in Smallville; reacquaints with old flame, Lana Lang; is exposed to synthetic kryptonite laced with cigarette tar; drinks irresponsibly; splits into a good and bad version of himself (the bad being a lecherous Superman with bigger hair and more mascara); and battles a supercomputer...and even though Lois Lane departs early and Lex Luther is nowhere to be seen, and despite its unprecedented levels of campiness, in 1982 this third Christopher Reeve Superman movie was everything this then-seven-year-old Superman fan could have hoped for!

★★★★☆

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Superman (1978)

Grandly staged with big name stars including Marlon Brando and Terence Stamp, and with big special effects, this first big budget superhero movie is an enduring best, unhurriedly telling the origins of the all-American Superman and how he saves the world from a trio of galactic invaders under the command of General Zod.

★★★★★

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS