A few reviews . . (film or TV) — Page 191

Lady Snowblood: Love Song Of Vengeance - 1974 - 6/10
AKA - Shurayuki-hime; Urami Renka // 修羅雪姫 怨み恋歌

Continuation to Lady Snowblood (1973).
Yuki, arrested, sentenced to death, is approached by the Secret Police.
The offer: Infiltrate a subversive group, report, and receive amnesty.
Set later than the first installment, Japan is heading into militarism.
Right-wrong, heroes-villains, are murkier this outing.
Politics distract from the narrative, and this feels unfinished, as if there should have been a part three.

Shaft - 2019 - 6/10

Private eye John Shaft survived a hit from drug lord Gordito decades earlier.
He hasn’t forgotten.
His son, JJ, an FBI agent, is now on the trail of something illicit.
Will Dad be there?
Action formula is slick, professional, well-delivered.
Samuel Jackson fits the role. Acceptable reboot, just lacks a little spark.

Shaft - 1971 - 6/10

Harlem gang boss hires Shaft to find and rescue his daughter, kidnapped by the Mafia.
Shaft relies on informants, a militant, street talk, as well as police.
Of the latter, he is wary. Some inside the department are reliable, others two-faced.
Roundtree’s Shaft is a classic loner, close-mouthed, calculating.
Film mixes detective work with street vibe, and features a classic Isaac Hayes score.
Influential film kicked Blaxploitation into overdrive. Followed by good sequels and a poor TV run.

Creature - 2023 - 6/10
AKA - Yaratilan

Young medical student Ziya, cocksure and full of himself, crashes into the real world of Istanbul.
Until he meets and ingratiates himself with outcast Professor Ihsan.
Both men have delved into a forbidden book on resurrection.
Reviving the dead.

Imaginative take on Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, while not as faithful as the 1973 series, is certainly closer than the Universal films.
First half of this series focuses on the annoying Ziya, foolish, boastful, proud.
Second half darkens considerably and follows Ihsan through picturesque adventures.

Good sets, costumes, feel for the period. Aside from Ziya (Ölmez is limited to bug-eyed reactions), acting is fine, especially Ihsan (Köstendil) who is memorable and carries the entire second half.
While not Mary Shelley, this retains the ethos of the consequences of tampering.

The Retreat - 2021 - 4/10

As in, a writers retreat in a vintage Cape Cod cabin.
Six of them, typing away on laptops, although Sasha gabs endlessly on her vlog.
Tired of them already?
Wait, they find a journal in the attic, with all sorts of sigils and runes drawn in it.
There are bad dreams, the dogs are on alert, hey, was there someone outside the window?
Have they never viewed a Horror flick? Handheld docu-ish, like Blair Witch?
Oops, did I give the influence away?
Writers in danger, such a lame trope.

Love-Zero=Infinity - 1994 - 6/10
AKA - Iyarashii Hitozuma: Nureru // いやらしい人妻　濡れる

Ex-schoolteacher Takeshi follows random people.
UFO’s or Unidentified Followed Objects.
A medical doctor asks him to follow a woman, who may - or may not - be a vampire.
Meanwhile, the doctor pays a young couple to observe Takeshi.
There are blood stakes, tainted, contaminated, motivating activities.
AIDS as cause and effect.
For a Satô film, the plot is cohesive, sex scenes limited.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3369081

War Machine - 2026 - 5/10

Following Afghan deployment, he applies to Ranger camp.
Endures intense boot training, makes it to final “Death March” round.
Unaware that an alien craft has landed in the zone and will start eliminating all candidates.
High voltage actioner of combat squad is predictable but watchable.
Sequences cribbed from 80’s and 90’s SciFi powerhouses P-A-ST.
(“If it bleeds, we can kill it.” - “Game over, man” - “Everyone fights, no one quits.”)
No kids in this, but an injured guy who has the same role.
Not original, yet exciting if you are in the mood.

Hollow Road - 2025 - 6/10

2:00 AM. College girl Alice phones her parents.
She is in trouble – again.
She has made a huge mistake – again.
She maybe ran a pedestrian down with her car.
The injured is maybe dead. But it’s not her fault! It’s the victim’s.
So, the parent hurry toward the site, tell her what to do, bail her out – again.
Cautionary thriller of terrible parenting, never allowing children to fail, to learn.
Permanent three-year-olds.

Wicked As They Come - 1956 - 6/10

“Girls like me don’t usually get proposals, just propositions.”
Working-class Kathy cons a pair of men to win a beauty contest.
Prize: Trip to England and $1000.
Once there, she sets her sights high, then higher.
Targeting fat bank account holders.
In an earlier era, this would be Baby Face or Red-Headed Woman.
Here, despite a smoldering Arlene Dahl, this a groping melodrama.
Similar to Douglas Sirk fare.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3369080

Bright Star - 2009 - 6/10

Romance between poet John Keats and neighbor Fanny Brawne.
In spite of mutual attraction, the match is not assured. Money, or lack of same.
Keats is an impoverished poet, and this is very much the Austen era, where wealth and status matter.
Then there is Keats’ friend, Charles Brown, who strongly disapproves of her.
Story, romance, dialogue, everything is understated, perhaps too much.
Fans of period dramas, this one should appeal.

Dr. Turner’s Mental Hospital - 1929 - 5/10

I am unsure why the young girl (Dora Carrington) is dropped off at this asylum.
Dr. Turner is indifferent, allowing the inmates to do whatever they please with her.
The print I saw in terrible condition, the short itself pure home movie.
BUT – this is a chance to watch the late-era Bloomsbury Group cavorting around.

Image blocked for some reason …

The Island - 2025 - 6/10
AKA - An t-Eilean

An intruder has shot the lord of the island and his wife, the latter fatally.
Police investigate with limited success, then dispatch an ex-local.
Who, more than anything, just digs up dirt on the wealthy family she holds a grudge against.
Breathtaking scenery, a twist-filled script, fine acting all around …
Except – for the lead who goes beyond “family support” to “finding the truth”.
Moreover, the role was painfully miscast.
The performer looks like a high school junior, with acting chops of a grade schooler.
The role was too early for her and her inexperience mars a good series.

She Played With Fire - 1957 - 6/10
AKA - Fortune Is A Woman

Fortunately, the family caught the fire in time.
Only a section of the hall and an expensive painting were burned.
For insurance adjuster, Oliver, a routine accident.
Save for running into an old flame, Sarah, now wed to the rich owner.
Oliver is soon torn between temptation and his instinct for fraud.
Good Brit-Noir bolstered with Gothic lighting and eerie dream sequences.
Well-plotted, rarely steering into assumed directions.

Man On The Run - 2025 - 6/10

Docu-mercial from Paul giving his slant on his later group, “and Wings”.
Voiceovers and archived interviews, carefully curated.
Idyllic scenes from his rustic retreat, studio time, tours both small and mammoth.
By the end, perhaps he tired of the whole being in a band thing.
Crafted by his own production company, released in conjunction with a Wings box set.
Wings was massively popular during their run, and McCartney still has legions of fans.
Disappointed? View McCartney 3, 2, 1.

Cross Roads - 1955 - 6/10

“No man’s worth trying to kill yourself for.”
Betty picks up a hitchhiker who seems to know quite a bit about her.
Just as she senses mutual chemistry, he says goodbye.
An impresario awaits.
Supernatural thriller features an ominous turn by Christopher Lee.

La Llorona - 1933 - 5/10
AKA - The Weeping Woman

“No, no,” says the senior doctor to his students, “this man was not slain by a ghost.”
Then he is warned by his father-in-law about the curse that has plagued the family for generations.
Flashbacks show two betrayed women, while a hooded assassin prowls underneath in the present day.
Pacing is slow, half of the acting is melodramatic, hammy.
Flamboyant costumes, brooding Gothic sets.
An opening children’s birthday party devours time I wish had been given to the Aztec flashback.
Hailed as the earliest Mexican Horror sound film. Sure, whatever.
For a better – and earlier – experience, track down Drácula (1931).
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3369082

Pervert Ward: White Uniform - 1988 - 6/10
AKA - Love Letter In The Sand
AKA - Hentai Byôtô: Hakui Seme // 変 態 病 棟 白 衣 責 め

The man had been assaulted with a metal baseball bat.
Later wakes in a small hospital; only he has amnesia.
While the nurse shows interest, she’s into exhibitionism.
The doctor injects drugs to both, experimenting with transgenderism.
Out on the streets, the baseball bat assailant continues.
At barely an hour, this packs in a lot, along with copious, wetted nudity.
BluRay features insightful commentary by Samm Deighan.
The urban landscape sterility strips humanity into lonely shadows, pretty fair assessment.

Cold Storage - 2026 - 6/10

“So, like, I don’t think going in there is, like, a good idea.”
“C’mon, I thought you were a fun guy.”
Another male succumbs to a cooing girl, going into the lowest level of an abandoned military bunker.
Where an organism, locked away for 20 years, is now seeping out.
SciFi thriller with top billed Neeson and Manville, two attractive leads, and a handful of extras (meals).
Contagion trope, comic laced dialogue, aid what appears to be a limited budget.

Doctor X - 1932 - 6/10

A serial killer plagues lower Manhattan.
Police consult Dr. Xavier and his research clinic.
Since the murders occur nearby, authorities suspect someone working there.
Then, there is the pesky newshound, digging for a story.

The sets, lighting, makeup, everything about the clinic is first rate fantastic.
Any and every thing associated with the reporter (annoying Lee Tracy) is dismal.
If it wasn’t for the “comedy”, this two-strip color film would be a classic.

Disclaimer - 2024 - 7/10

The cache of photos are lurid, tainted reminders.
Followed by the slim book, that, good Lord, stirs up the forgotten scandal.
Nothing like being celebrated and flourishing for others to knock you down.
So finds Catherine after the pictures and book are given to family and coworkers.
A vile event, exposed for leering friends.
Taut thriller shifts between Italy and London, present day to twenty years previous.
Emotionally charged story, although at the conclusion, I kept waiting … unsure why it failed.

Midwinter Break - 2026 - 7/10

Stella gives husband Gerry a late Christmas gift. Two tickets to Amsterdam.
They depart Glasgow, where they have lived as ex-pat Irish since the Troubles.
Gerry is unaware that Stella is actually scouting for a major change.
Marriage stagnant, she has a mounting crisis of faith. The old …
“Why are we here? Does my life have any purpose?”
Elegiac tone throughout The wonderment of living, the anguish of living.
Younger viewers will be bored. Better for those facing twilight.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3369083

Goodbye Again - 1933 - 6/10

Ken Bixby writes steamy bestsellers.
The sort women like: “The Boudoir Cloister” - “Ecstasy” - “The Woman Who Gave.”
So, when old flame Julie throws herself at him, what’s a man to do?
Sure, Ken says no, but then his trousers are so very thin, and Julie senses interest.
Lively Pre-Code with more hide-the-weasel than you can shake a stick at.
Warren William, normally a cad or villain, a ball of fun in this fast-paced comedy.

Prelude - 1927 - 6/10

“The boundaries which divide Life from Death are best shadowy and vague.”
Our gentleman, reading Poe, listening to Rachmaninoff, grows anxious.
Imagining his own, premature burial.
For those of hypersensitive bent, I’m afraid this still happens.
Surprisingly effect short.

Battlestar Galactica - 1978 - 5/10

Pilot for the juvenile series that followed, dubbed by Harlan Ellison, “Battlestar Ponderosa.”
Those crafty Cylons sue for peace, only it is a deception!
The colonies, all the battlestars destroyed, save for the Galactica.
Henceforth, ragtag survivors head toward the mythical planet called Earth.
SciFi adventure of the week followed, targeting teens, then grade schoolers, finally lobotomy patients.
After Star Wars, we were so ravenous for SciFi, even this rusted toaster had OK ratings.

Hardware Wars - 1978 - 6/10

After enduring Boxey, his Daggit, pyramid, Pharaoh helmets, I needed to clear my brain.
Princess Anne-Droid, space jockey Ham Salad, the Tin Man, a Hoover, Wookie Monster, more!
El cheapo parody is stuffed with in-jokes, and actually reverent.
Also, for aspiring editors, producers did a great job distilling the original into a dozen minutes.
May the farce be with you.

Persuasion (Read) - 2025 - 7/10

Monica Dolan, shifting from room to room, tells the story of Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth.
A young couple, deeply in love, yet he has only prospects, no wealth.
Consequently, Anne is persuaded by her great influencer, Lady Russell, to decline his proposal.
Eight years follow, whereupon Anne and Wentworth meet again.
Dolan is an emotive speaker, fleshing out characters and undercurrents.
Excellent companion to the acclaimed 1995 film.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3369084