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A few reviews . . (film or TV) — Page 58

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No, My Darling Daughter - 1961 - 6/10

Fairy tale of bubbly daughter to super rich investor father.
He wants to send her to Paris for finishing, she wants to remain in school.
Instead, she meets a visiting Yank and starts “living.” Sight-seeing, picnics, enjoying life.
You’d think that would suffice, yet everyone meddles and assumes.
Brisk light comedy chirps merrily along, and it is interesting to see pre Swinging London (though everyone involved in privileged beyond belief).
Although the conclusion was “all’s well that ends well,” I found it rather sad myself.

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We Are The Night - 2010 - 7/10
AKA - Wir Sind Die Nacht

Vampire tale, set in modern, neo-Weimar Berlin.
Throbbing nightclubs and blood cocktails. Opulent production design worsens with the narrative.
The V word is never mentioned, by the way, and in this world, there are no male vampires.
The leader of the trio recruits a new member, who has trouble transitioning.
Story flows on a rockin’ pace, though characters don’t really “do” much aside from partying.
Boredom, ennui, debauchery punctuated by kills. Sex implied, rather than graphic.
Very well cast - but - the English dub is godawful! Shrill voice actors mar the tone.
So …
If possible, find the FanEdit version by INH5, (We Are The Night: Revamped).
German language (with English dub and editor commentary).
Deleted or unfinished scenes finished, enhanced and reinserted. Also some new special effects.
Disclosure: I was a key previewer for this edit, and often shared my thoughts with the faneditor.

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The Barrier - 2020 - 6/10
AKA La Valla

After World War III, a new virus emerges. Contagious and deadly.
There is no cure, and as scientists hurry to find a cure, society begins to break down.
In an unprecedented move, Spain turns to fascism.

After three episodes, this became a series I watched to hate.
Who are the scientists using as guinea pigs? Innocent, wide-eyed children.
Our heroic core are stupid beyond belief. Yelling at authority figures, disdaining rules.
While I hated the medical types, I started rooting for the military.
They seemed to be the lone civil authority in a city sliding into dystopia.
Series is one-dimensional, acting (from our heroes) is over the top.
For all that, this does conclude, with an ending I am comfortable with.

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Tunes For Tyrants: Music And Power - 2017 - 6/10

Three part series of music / composers appropriated / exploited by despots.
Specifically, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, circa 1930’s and 40’s.
Living composers = R Strauss, Prokofiev, Shostakovich. RIP = Beethoven, Wagner.
Doc references banned Jazz music, Vichy France, concentration camp bands, British composers.
Hit n miss, with the first two episodes the best. Stalin disappears by E03.
No mention of Mussolini (Respighi), nor Mao Zedong and the spirited sing-alongs relished by happy cohorts.
Fine concept, weakened by lack of follow-through and insufficient material.

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I’m So Excited! - 2013 - 3/10
AKA - Los Amantes Pasajeros

Box reads: “FIRST-CLASS HILARITY!"
Balls.
Shockingly awful film. Even more appalling / distressing, it was written & directed by Pedro Almodóvar, who had been on a career streak up to this gobbler.
Jet circles over Spain, owing to disabled landing gear, allowing alcohol guzzling crew and 1st Class passengers to confess sexual secrets. For no apparent reason, stewards prance musical number.
Sexual bathroom humor, rampant homosexual stereotypes, not to mention a sequence where a female passenger rapes an unconscious male. If genders were reversed, would it be so “funny”?
Benny Hill did this nudge-nudge, wink-wink nonsense 40 years ago. Times and mores pass.
I ended up wondering if this reflects Spanish behavior and values.
Also knowing I had wasted of 90 minutes of my life.

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1964 (American Experience) - 2014 - 7/10

Documentary lays out the premise that 1964 was THE pivotal year for the States.
The transition from the 50’s to the 60’s.
Cultural landmarks include: Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique,” Civil Rights marches, The Beatles arrival, Cassius Clay – Muhammad Ali, Vietnam, Berkeley unrest , etc …

The ongoing crux of the narrative was the Presidential contest between Johnson and Goldwater.
How Goldwater, in essence, shifted the Republican party out of the country club and into the right wing.

The edge of my memory, this, and events are difficult to separate from those I actually remember from those I subsequently learned through reading and watching.
One pet theory of mine is that this was the high water mark of the American middle class.
Thereafter, rising globalization and competition would level (lower) the game, while US politicians would tax the middle class to extinction. Decades later, they’re going, “How’d this happen?”

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20 Feet From Stardom - 2013 - 6/10

Acclaimed documentary about background singers.
Some were genuinely cheated (Darlene Love), others held the spotlight for a bit (Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer).
Most were - are - simply that, background singers.
Filmmakers make this as interesting as they can, but it stuck me there would be little difference between this and a doc about Hollywood or television bit players.
Sly might have sung, “Everybody is a star,” but sorry, no, everybody is not.

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The Unholy Three - 1925 - 6/10

Decided to rewatch this after reading the original novel.
The Tod Robbin’s novel differed markedly, principally in that the chief boss is not Echo, but Tweedledee.
In the Tod Browning adaptation, the focus is Echo. Lon Chaney was a megastar.
Three troublesome misfits leave the circus sideshow for a life of crime.
Robberies and burglaries grow increasingly violent, resulting in murder.
An absurd romance is force-fit into the proceedings (there was one in the novel, but this one is ridiculous).
The film is creaky, the pace poky. Later Browning and Chaney pairings would be better.
The print ranges from good to fair. This has never been remastered. There are two 1925 versions; one shows rudimentary tinting (done by a fan who did not grasp the principles of tinting).
The soundtrack is an random assemblage of Classical and salon, never appropriately mirroring the ongoing screen action.
Chaney deserves better.

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 (Edited)

Rest In Peace - 2013 - 7/10
AKA - Počivali U Miru

The state prison at Zagreb is closed, scheduled for demolition.
Local reporter, doing a story on this, runs across the plot of unclaimed graves.
Why did no one want them? What were their stories?
And why, inside the first coffin, was there no body? Only a straw effigy.
What follows is a “story of the week.” A low rent Lothario, amateur bank robbers, a rube left holding the Ponzi scheme, and darker tales of vengeance, blood and murder.
Since most of their histories took place in the recent past, especially during the Yugoslav Wars of the 90’s, there are numerous flashbacks throughout.
Also, the reporter, Lucia, needs an inside guide and finds one in retired guard, Martin.
Martin is crafty, secretive, helpful, corrupt, guilt ridden. Truth does not come easy.
While we watch each corpse’s life, there is an ongoing arc of the man who was the straw effigy.

Well told and nicely structured series from Croatia.
The show is steeped in the vendettas and atrocities of the Balkan conflicts.
A working knowledge of that history is not mandatory, but it will certainly help.

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The Company You Keep - 2012 - 7/10

Nicely turned thriller of hunt for underground Weatherman.
If you are saying, “Wha?” that exposes an oversight in the script.
Precious little was given to the backstory, the late 60’s - early 70’s, when the Weathermen resorted to violence to end the Vietnam War, and also as a reaction to heavy handed government crackdowns.
Redford plays the underpaid, altruistic attorney who disappears into trains and rental cars, touching bygone comrades, with FBI agents and ambulance chasing reporters in pursuit.
Great cast with Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Julie Christie, Shia LeBeouf, Sam Elliot, among many others.
Held my interest throughout, followed by discussion why students are no longer so passionate.
“Cause there is no draft,” someone said. “Once students, male and female, get drafted for old mens’ wars, then they would make noise.”

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Leviathan - 2017 - 5/10

Alonso inherits his father’s research papers, delving into the occult.
Caution to the winds, he attempts to organize and piece together the unsolved.
Short “Lovecraft” derived film has good sound, music and photography.
The script is an indecisive shuffle, however.
For no apparent cause, Alonso grows paranoid and anti-social.
I rewatched, this time deciding the father had been a college drama teacher.
All those papers were student plays, teledramas, criticisms, making Alonso unhinged.
It was pretty funny that way.

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Panic Attack - 2017 - 6/10
AKA - Atak Paniki

Multiple storylines that connect … somewhat.
A bride at her wedding, young boys getting stoned, a couple having lunch, airline passengers saddled with an overly chatty seatmate, a sex worker, an online gamer. There may another, I don’t remember.
Title might just as well be “When Disaster Strikes!”
This Polish film is not as funny as adverts declare. Characters are, one way or another, spineless.
Despite a few clever premises and sympathetic acting, the writing does not deliver.

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The Devil’s Whore - 2008 - 6/10

One of the members of the fanedit world bounced this film across the board; curious, I chased it down.
17th century costumer. Four part series of the English conflict between Cromwell and Royalist cavaliers.
Sketchy overview covered a lot of historical territory, from the vantage of a fictitious lady observing famous names making history.
Seemed like the bulk of the story was accurate (I checked Wiki), though shallow.
I thought the show had nice production values, though adjacent audience members declared it cheap and confusing.
I was never involved nor interested.
Better for history buffs, unless cracking the research page isn’t beyond you.

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S.O.S. Eisberg - 1933 - 6/10

A member of the Arctic expedition had wandered away, then presumed dead.
Except, 200 days later evidence surfaces of his dogged existence.
Four men set out to rescue, along with a Husky dog and a sled.
Photography in this is stunning, especially watching characters navigate glaciers, icebergs, pack ice.
Likewise aerial reconnaissance. The planes weaving and banking between icebergs is breathtaking.
(Stunt pilot Ernst Udet had flown with von Richthofen’s Flying Circus and was an ace with 62 victories.)
There seem too many scenes of man vs nature, and heroic endurance.

As with US / Mexican versions of Dracula (1931), Universal made filmed the concurrent S.O.S. Iceberg, for US audiences, using most of the same cast (Leni Riefenstahl in both).

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Distorted - 2018 - 5/10

Following a breakdown, artistic female starts seeing “things” no one else does.
Her husband blames their environment (spacious, well appointed apartment) and they move to the high tech condo.

  • Unsaid is where does the money come from? -
    Soon, lights flicker, the TV flashes - even when switched off, and neighbors hum “Beautiful Dreamer.”
    The plot, a garbled blend of conspiracy theory, mind control and surveillance, teeters from implausible to preposterous.
    Piffle.

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Testament - 1988 - 8/10

Outstanding seven part biblical series hosted by John Romer.
Archaeologist, scholar, historian, Egyptologist, and serious Bible reader, Mr Romer wanders from Mesopotamia and Egypt, trailing Abraham.
Episodes show the gradual coalescence of Israel, the formation of the state, then the writing of the history - which became the Old Testament.
From there the splinter group of Christians, the spread and rise of the faith.
Romer is infectious, his love of the history and the land is apparent.
Most of the photography hails from digs across the holy land.

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Summer Of Soul - 2021 - 8/10
(…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, in storage for over fifty years, forgotten.
Who’s there? Pros like the 5th Dimension, David Ruffin, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight And The Pips.
Gospel greats like the Edwin Hawkins Singers and Mahalia Jackson.
A wild excursion into the future with Sly And The Family Stone.
Nina Simone, militant, provocative.
More! Chambers Brothers, Staples Singers, Hugh Masekela, B.B. King ……
What happened? Woodstock. Film bookers thought there was only room for one music documentary.
This is great. The audio quality superb. Do not miss. Sly will leave you higher!

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Le Chalet - 2018 - 7/10

Three couples head to remote, isolated village in French mountains for wedding event.
Just as they cross the boundary, the lone bridge is destroyed.

The village apparently has a dark history, and that story begins to interlayer this one.
Brutal French thriller, in the manner of “And Then There Were None”.
Traps and snares unleash memories in the older residents.
Well plotted and diabolically structured series, with characters you hope are honorable.
Great suspense in gorgeous settings.

" … the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin
than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.” - S Holmes

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White Night Wedding - 2008 - 6/10
AKA - Brúðguminn

On the eve of his second nuptials, Professor Jon reflects on the first marriage.
The first wife, an artist, grew bipolar. The second, a former student of his, is twenty years younger.
Quirky comedy from Iceland, dosed with bitterness and creeping regret.
Assorted neighbors of his current residence, the remote and sparsely inhabited Flatey, are a mix of harmless, deluded, or resentful. Add copious alcohol and an influx of wedding guests.
Mostly funny, and I gradually rooted for the young bride, but that twenty year difference gave me pause.
Time shifts occur frequently in this, viewers will need to stay sharp.

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The Revenant - 2009 - 6/10

This was on the top shelf, looking forlorn. Also looked cheap and bad, yet it was calling to me.
Production was low-rent, but it did not wallow in its lack of money. Instead il overcame fiscal limitations.
An opening desert drive was filmed at night with halogen headlights, smoke and dust.
A later sequence filmed along Sunset Strip must have been shot at 3:00 AM; about the only time that street is ever deserted.
Nor was the film bad. The story was steeped in dark humor and acid comments. Most were from the two leads, but every character was given stellar moments.
Story wise, Bart ships off to Iraq, comes back dead.
Only he won’t stay that way.
He wakes up buddy, Joey, and they come up with a plan to keep him from rotting still further.
Laugh out loud funny.

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Red Rings Of Fear - 1978 - 6/10
AKA - Enigma Rosso

Saint Theresa’s boarding school. For girls, a dangerous place.
One has seemingly been raped to death. Her three best friends keep silent.
The detective tries to break down the girls, school administration, teachers.
As he digs deeper, events grow more lethal.
Story is sleaze, but focus is on Inspector Di Salvo, and his deteriorating relationship with his casual girlfriend.
Procedural process dominates over the usual Giallo flourishes. Even colors seem toned down.

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Ghost Stories - 2017 - 6/10

Muckraking reporter who exposes psychics, spiritualists, whatnot, receives summons from his inspiration, an older man who likewise derided frauds and phonies.
“I have three unsolved cases that make me wonder. Had I been wrong? Is there a supernatural sphere?”
Three investigations, three stories. Each quiet, almost prosaic, though each carries chills.
I watch, not bored, but hardly engaged.
Until, one of the case characters tears the fabric of the structure.
That caught me off guard and the story became inspired – for a bit.
Based on a play, which may explain why this is overly talky.
It also suffers “writing room syndrome,” being too timid and creative risks seem scotched by compromise.

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Inspector Lavardin - 1986 - 6/10

Jean Poiret returns as the French inspector, assigned to a seaside murder.
The corpse lies sprawled on the beach, stripped of clothes, the word ‘PIG’ written on his back.
An author, as well as a pious prig, he was not exactly popular
Prime suspects include the widow (second time around) who is Lavardin’s old flame, a jaded brother-in-law, and a secretive daughter.
Then there is a local club, catering to an underage set, and a prowler.
Everyone is rather shifty, including the Inspector, who ransacks interiors without warrants.
Chabrol film mixes dark elements with a satirical touch.

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Velvet Goldmine - 1998 - 7/10

Rousing film about glam superstar, based loosely (ha!) on David Bowie and Iggy Pop, steeped in the blood of Oscar Wilde.
Rise of folkie into feathered rocker, peaking into Ziggy Stardust character, before disappearing.
Powerful cast with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Ewan MacGregor, and a young Christian Bale.
Terrific soundtrack, too, as young reporter, searching for vanished rocker, stumbles into rooms of glitz and glitter.
And who the hell is Jack Fairy?

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Rhubarb - 1951 - 6/10

Eccentric, elderly tycoon dies and leaves his estate and baseball team to pet cat.
Disgruntled heirs and gamblers betting against the team try to off or kidnap the feline.
Fairly predictable material here. Good cast anchored by Ray Milland.
The cat, a rather ugly orange tabby, is a force of nature.