Turkish Delight - 1973 - 6/10
Struggling young sculptor begins torrid affair with uninhibited girl.
Her family either disapproves or shrugs.
As ever, can a struggling artist provide?
Youthful hope, marriage, troubles.
Freewheeling story captures the early 70’s before it got all commercialized.
The story consists of numerous flashbacks, so pay attention and stay alert.
Early role for leading man Rutgar Hauer.
Bittersweet love story, extremely erotic and earthy.
Ronin - 1998 - 7/10
The team assembles.
Heist caper, government black op, scorpion betrayal.
Freelance mercenaries are hired to retrieve a suitcase.
Hardly matters what is in the suitcase, only that many want it.
And will kill for it.
Well directed action thriller, powerhouse cast, blistering action sequences.
Sadly, for me, this was the last De Niro starring role I really liked.
Cheerful Weather For The Wedding - 2012 - 6/10
Unexpected guest arrives at the bride’s family house the day of her wedding.
Her old flame. Invited by the bride.
Love story of the girl who waited, and the boyfriend who waited possibly too long.
Story is laced with regret, longing, errors recognized, and unconfessed feelings.
Large family with identifiable types: those who adore nuptials, those who would rather drink.
Set in 1932 over what seems like less than a year.
The “lovers’” history is told in flashbacks and is shown in golden hour.
Plot never unrolls as expected. One is also left with a question or two.
Not necessarily a chick flick, but enjoyment may depend on one’s tolerance for:
Barbarian - 2022 - 6/10
Tess arrives at her rental house in Detroit.
Turns out, the agency mistakenly rented the home to another.
Who offers to share, for the night.
After all, rain is pouring, the hour is late, Tess doesn’t know the city.
Smart move – don’t drink the tea he offers, check his ID.
Bad move – the basement door yawns open.
Look, anytime a basement door opens, that means you flee. Now!
Midway, the film slams into cliché corner, which is solved with an abrupt transition.
Just go with it. This is better than dragging the pace, which 90% of filmmakers would do.
Sad Hill Unearthed - 2017 - 6/10
AKA - Desenterrando Sad Hill
The allure of place touches us all. From photos to film.
Reason why countless pose on Abbey Road, or outside the flat from Love Actually.
In this curious documentary, enthusiasts unearth and restore the mass cemetery from the finale of The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.
Franco had originally sent troops to build sets and act as film extras.
The now-old men share stories, as do Ennio Morricone and Clint Eastwood.
Mostly, however, it is the local men who create a 50th anniversary group and arduously remove eight inches of top soil, exposing the site.
Before creating grave markers. 5000 of them.
The power of dreams … and obsession.
A must for fans of Leone’s original, one of the greatest films ever.
Subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/sad-hill-unearthed/english/2983831
Changing Times - 2004 - 6/10
AKA - Les Temps qui changent
Antoine, construction overseer, arrives in Tangier to get a major project back on track.
This is only an excuse, however, to track down an old flame.
The woman in question is in a long term, if stale, marriage
Meanwhile, her son is visiting with his unhappy girlfriend.
The son intends to spend time with his boyfriend.
French fare filled with emotional complications amidst beautiful Moroccan locations.
Deneuve and Depardieu effortless in drama of expectations and obsession.
The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion - 2001 - 6/10
Old school insurance investigator trades barbs with new employee who is tasked to reorganize.
In most versions, no matter how stellar, the dinosaur is pushed out for modernity.
This is a comedy, though, and the acid & oil couple are hypnotized into believing they are married.
And then, exploiting their inside-knowledge, they are persuaded into crime.
Old-fashioned comedy has good cast and terrific repartee.
This evokes the 1930’s and 40’s, except the pace drags too much.
Film has its moments, and plenty of them, so this will be good for Allen curious.
The Groove Tube - 1974 - 5/10
Hit and miss sketch comedy, with far more swishes than hits.
An opening spoof of 2001 is funny, but quality varies thereafter.
Many of the skits are of TV commercials, products now lost to history and almost meaningless.
Some of the players appear in brownface and in blackface.
2 stars if you can guess what a story on planet Uranus will focus on.
Early roles for Chevy Chase and Richard Belzer.
Suicide Circle - 2001 - 6/10
AKA - Jisatsu Sâkuru // 自殺サークル
Schoolgirls hurl themselves in front of an express train.
Nurses leap out windows. Adults mutilate themselves.
Across Japan, the casualty count explodes, along with the popularity of the J-group, Dessert.
Not much is explained, although sensitive viewers can detect major themes.
Quiet points about disassociation and isolation echo throughout.
Early Sion Sono made a splash and caught the attention of Asia cinema fans.
As with many of Sono’s earlier works, the acting here is less bombastic.
An Ideal Husband - 1999 - 6/10
One of the less stagey adaptations of Wilde’s plays.
Lord Goring, bit of an idler, attempts to aid a ministerial friend being blackmailed by one Mrs. Cheveley.
What follows is a dry comedy of manners and delicious dialogue.
The conversations sparkle throughout, yet the tone is standoffish.
None of the characters every really engage one’s sympathy.
(Aside from Mrs Cheveley whom I found enticingly wicked.)
I applaud the production values, as well as cast and direction.
Still, this may be better for fans of the play or playwright.
Safe - 1995 - 6/10
Carol, poster child for the ideal suburban life.
Picture perfect home, high earning husband, and she retains physical attractiveness.
After she suffers an allergic reaction, hidden anxieties surface.
Fear turns into phobias, worsened by “advisors”.
Julianne Moore offers nuanced portrayal of the soul swirling into Mysophobia / Nosophobia.
In 1995, this scenario seemed implausible. With the Covid pandemic, rabbit holes multiply.
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle - 1992 - 6/10
The home-wrecker. Usurper. The hot babysitter, the childless au pair.
After Peyton loses her infant, she opts to enter a new family.
Mind you, the family in question, rather the wife, she holds responsible for the death of her husband.
Once in the home, small moves, worming her way deeper as a steamy, alternative mate.
Charged erotic thriller is too classy for that genre with a strong cast of rising faces.
Rebecca De Mornay could work these roles in her sleep at this time.
Sinister date film.
Chocolat - 2000 - 6/10
Late 1950’s, small French village, into which arrives the widow woman and daughter.
Even though the village is little more than a hamlet, she sets up a chocolate shop.
Chocolate, being a luxury item, straight off I’m growing skeptical.
How can locals afford this? How does she source ingredients?
Not to worry, a dalliance between her an a Roma guitarist provides distraction.
During release, this was the big artsy hit with mainstream viewers (usually one film per year).
I didn’t “get it” then, and still don’t. Yes, yes, no soul.
Romantics and fable lovers, this should suit you better.
eXistenZ - 1999 - 7/10
Yes, yesterday’s future draws closer everyday.
In the near future, players are immersed in heady games via bio-port into their nerve cord.
Once the game is underway, you cannot differentiate actual from virtual.
Mistakes prove lethal.
Complicating matters are outside terror groups, rebels, who sabotage the games and corporations.
Thoughtful, provocative actioner, eerily prescient, more so every year it seems.
A chilly film, however, with limited chemistry between the leads.
Highway - 2016 - 6/10
Hester, teenage runaway, accepts a ride from a family into Echo Valley.
A storm approaches, of which the occupants are blissfully unaware.
Unease mounts into terror in this effective short.
Moody journey of premonition and time displacement.
Subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/highway-2016/english/2988564
Poison Rose - 1966 - 5/10
AKA - Du mei gui // 毒玫瑰
The inspector listens on the other sided of the two-way mirror.
Oh, the sexy lounge club singer is bad, but she’s low fruit.
He wants the whole gang, and the kingpin behind them.
So he sends a third detective undercover, after the first two were killed.
Lightweight Shaw Brother film is part police, part espionage (with gadgets and 007 music cues).
The story percolates along, pausing for romance and musical numbers.
Better Shaw Bros are out there – and worse.
The Best Hotel On Skid Row - 1990 - 6/10
“Life in here is an ode to the low-income blues.”
Rooms at the Madison are $8.20 a night. No hot plate. Coin-op TV sets.
Or you could crash in the all night movie house for $2.50.
Cheaper? Sleep in the alley.
Profiles of a few tenants. Where they came from, what they left behind, how they live now.
Some are resigned, a few clutch pipedreams. Such is life.
Narrated knowingly by Charles Bukowski.
Ideal double bill for this is It Was A Wonderful Life from 1992.
School Of Death - 1975 - 6/10
AKA - El Colegio de la Muerte
Yes, sometimes our girls need minor correcting. Especially Leonore, here.
The “school” is something between orphanage and detention hall.
Once the girls are old enough they are hired out to families / employers unknown.
One unforgettable client has a face completely burned away.
Not to suggest he isn’t quite sane, but he does like using his scalpel on those girls.
Film moves too slowly for its own good, but boasts a stylized Gothic look.
Another film that is pure Hammer, except it is not Hammer.
By any other name, Inspector Coldman could be Wilkie Collins’ Sergeant Cuff.
Undercurrents of white slave trafficking poorly exploited.
Rolling Stones: Live L’Olympia Theatre - 2003 - 7/10
Professional capture of the band in a smaller venue.
Fans who want a show of greatest hits may pause, however.
One of the lures for this is the inclusion of many lesser performed numbers.
“Live With Me”, “Hand of Fate”, “No Expectations”, “Stray Cat Blues”, “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”, “That’s How Strong My Love Is”, “Going to à Go-Go”, “Love Train”, “Respectable” …
Charlie is effortless and concise, Mick poster child for dynamism, Keith and Ron walking cadavers.
Although there is a horn section, keyboards, background singers, the mix leans towards the guitarists.
The cutting is much to rapid to study the musicianship.
Mere quibbles. Stones’ fans, you know this.
Bedroom Farce - 2022 - 6/10
Small house parties, perhaps the worst.
Especially when one invited couple is on the brink of divorce.
And two ex-flames have been invited, as well.
Laughs? Well, depends on the audience, I suppose.
Each couple is immature and come across as dumb.
In the theatre, with a roaring crowd – maybe. At home – pass.
Savage Nights - 1992 - 7/10
AKA - Les Nuits Fauves
Jean prefers men, although something about Laura fascinates him.
Their mutual attraction is such that they become sexually intimate.
Afterward, and not straight away, he confesses that he is, and has been, HIV positive.
At times maddening film of lust, obsession, and disinterest.
Jean is selfish, in denial, perhaps empty emotionally and spiritually.
Directed and starring Cyril Collard, based on his own novel.
At times insightful look at gay cultures, some underground, others known.
Cry Wolf - 1947 - 6/10
Sandra arrives at her late husband’s family home.
Wife? Widow? “Why, we never knew he was married!”
The narrative soon goes into one of mutual suspicion.
Is this woman a gold digger? Did her husband’s brother have something to do with his death?
One watches this to see Errol Flynn and Barbara Stanwyck together – their only pairing.
Noirish looking, although this is more mystery / thriller.
Not enough tension in an underwritten script.
Watchable if you run across it while surfing late night.
The Amityville Horror - 1979 - 6/10
The previous homeowner murdered his whole family.
A year on, the house is available – cheap!
So the new family snaps it up, moves in … and Pa starts weirding out.
What to do? Stay and get slaughtered? Or keep asking, “What’s going on?”
The house upsets a nun, a priest, a paranormal sensitive.
Any family with a lick of sense would flee.
Based on a huge bestselling book, which was based on “true events”.
Haunted house clichéd to the max in enjoyable if predictable, outing.
Hanzo The Razor: The Snare - 1973 - 6/10
AKA - Goyôkiba: Kamisori Hanzô jigoku zeme
Hanzo, the sheriff with the big blade, prepares to interrogate.
One does not want to be interrogated by this man, trust me.
Treasury officials have devalued the currency, forcing desperate citizens into crime.
Hanzo, venting his disdain at officials stumbles across an illegal abortion site.
This is merely the beginning of slave traffic, government criminality, murder attempts.
Storylines churn at a furious pace. Speaking of churning, so does our big blade officer.
Middle outing of an extremely sleazy trilogy. Only Japan offers nuggets like this.
Under Milk Wood - 2014 - 8/10
“Oh, isn’t life a terrible thing, thank God?”
Dylan Thomas’ radio drama receives a magnificent interpretation via a luminous cast.
A dizzying rush of images, character sketches, plots, lies, treachery, regrets.
Language flows forth like a gushing spill.
One seizes upon an instant, before being propelled onward into another.
Crossing of memory and dreams, recollections true and misremembered.
“Remember me. I have forgotten you. I am going into the darkness, of the darkness forever. I have forgotten that I was ever born.”
Subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/under-milk-wood-2014/english/2995796