A few reviews . . (film or TV) — Page 205

Souleymane’s Story - 2024 - 7/10
AKA - L’Histoire de Souleymane

Souleymane is a Guinea refugee trying to get asylum status.
Between an ill-paid gig as a food delivery guy, he takes lessons on how to present himself as a political refugee.
Truth to the point, he has dependents back home, and he is an economic migrant, which nations are declining.
He is cheated throughout, underpaid, lied to, harassed, racing through Paris traffic.
Abou Sangaré is amazing in the title role. The film is uncomfortable.
I live in the barrio and witness this often. Neighbors gently shoo these folks along.
Desperate people do desperate things, as told to us by local police.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3373304

Zombeavers - 2014 - 5/10

College students (resembling 30-year-olds) head to the cabin by the stream.
Unaware that toxic waste has spilled into the waters, turning shy, mild-mannered beavers into –
Omigod! Zombie beavers! Ravenous for flesh.
Luckily, our intrepid sextet (mind the first half of that word) take shelter in a cabin made of wood.
Chomp, gnaw, chomp, gnaw, chomp – oh, no! Beavers can chew through wood?
Horror romp has more gags and jokes that nail, rather than duds.
Stick with those credits, likewise a snazzy outro song.

Invocation Of My Demon Brother - 1969 - 5/10

This opens at what appears to be a dissipated orgy, participants spent.
Trippy, with lights, costumes, camera trickery, male nudity and repetitive (hypnotic?) music.
Must say, I did appreciate the skull pipe.
A little of this goes a long way. Maybe if I was back in the early 70’s, stoned.
Participants include Kenneth Anger, Mick Jagger, Anton LaVey, Bobby Beausoleil.

Dante’s Peak - 1997 - 5/10

Aww shucks, How could I forget?
The other stupid volcano disaster from 1997.
Activity in Washington draws seismologists. Only it’s a false alert.
Government sends their experts back. Save for Pierce, who stubbornly stays.
The disaster stuff takes half the movie to get underway.
Exciting and also ludicrous. I ended up rooting for lava and sulphur.

Pride Of The Marines - 1945 - 7/10

Boy meets girl. He’s a confirmed never-going-to-marry sort, she’s no pushover.
Pearl Harbor attack and the boy enlists.
On Guadalcanal, he mows down a company of combatants, but is blinded.
Rest of the film follows his rehabilitation and determination not to tell the girl.
As if women can be fooled.
A trifle too long, but Garfield is intense and memorable as Al Schmid, real hero.

Dogville - 2003 - 6/10

Straight off, I do not like this director. Genius or misogynist, take your pick.
Grace, on the run from hoodlums, hides in one-horse-town Dogville.
Gangsters pass through and offer a fat finder’s fee for her.
The town permits her to remain as an unpaid servant. A slave. Games ensue.
Despite the equivalent of a Pre-Code ending, this is a torturous watch.
It is also not cinema, but plain theatre.

Hell Harbor - 1930 - 5/10

After murdering for a cash wad, Morgan is blackmailed into selling his daughter to the head grifter.
Hot-blooded Anita wants none of that, thank you very much.
She intends to kill the moneyed American as soon as he drops anchor.
Until she decides he is too good looking to kill.
Maybe he can sail her to Havana. Maybe he will marry her.
Creaky Pre-Code depends on Lupe Velez; when she is on, this sizzles.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3373305

Savage House - 2026 - 7/10

Sir Chauncey Savage married into his title.
He had been working class trash, while Lady Savage came from a noble, if ruined, house.
Together, they squandered or pawned all remaining valuables.
If only a royal would visit, that would boost social esteem and replenish their fortunes.
This is a gloriously wicked comedy, sprinkled with political observations.
But mostly greed. Along with avarice, gluttony, lust, thievery.
Not sloth, however. Their industry could be inspiring.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3373306

Psycho - 1960 - 7/10

Bank secretary, annoyed by a pompous braggart, casually embezzles $40K.
Drives into oblivion, plagued by guilt, anxiety, growing regret of her impulsive action.
A downpour forces her off the main highway, where she takes shelter at an old motel.
A classic shocker that must be viewed stone cold.
If you have never viewed this one, don’t read a damn thing. Really.
Turn off the distractions, just focus on the female criminal and relax.

Frankenstein Meets The Space Monster - 1965 - 4/10

How have I existed so many decades unaware of this wowzer?
Exploratory alien ship mistakes a mission to Mars rocket for a missile and destroys it.
Wait! Flashback. We discover astronaut Frank is a cyborg, with human body, brain circuits and capacitors.
He / it / them survives, although it starts mindlessly killing Porto (sic) Rican turistas.
Meantime, our invaders (remember them?) they start kidnapping Earthlings.
Young, wearing bikinis, miniskirts, shorts, halter tops. You know, desirable breeders.
(Seemed like producers cribbed this off “Raiders From The Rings” by Alan Nourse.)
Oh yeah, a couple of incongruous pop songs from Bob Crewe’s stable.
Film is all kinds of bad and massively entertaining.

Chestnut Man: S02 - 2026 - 6/10

A copycat killer has been restaging a bygone serial killer’s modus operandi.
This time, victims are given a countdown via a nursery rhyme, then hunted down.
The detective duo is back, although freighted with an ex-romantic liaison.
(Don’t date coworkers – EVER – the relationship will only fail.)
Narrative is intricately plotted (contrived?), with tight suspense.
Those who like family drama, backgrounds, et al, those are here, too.

Post Nosh - 2003 - 6/10

Say Graham Kerr married Martha Stewart and they aired their own cooking show.
With bizarre recipes and outlandish commentaries.
Where one has a drinking problem, the other is a social climber.
Where the jokes are so sly, they might slip past until you think on them later.

The Wonderful, Horrible Life Of Leni Riefenstahl - 1993 - 8/10
AKA - Die Macht der Bilder: Leni Riefenstahl

Best known for Olympia, Triumph Of The Will, and perhaps the lesser known Victory Of Faith.
Early on, Riefenstahl was an accomplished actress before turning her hand to directing.
This doc came out when she was 90 (she would live until 101), and she remained defiant.

While endlessly interesting, I was always aware this was a self instigated documentary, a tie-in with her memoirs.
The films she made for the Nazis proved to be her legacy, and damnation.
Although she was investigated by US forces after WWII, cleared “without prejudice”, the stigma clung until death.

Feng Shui 2 - 2014 - 5/10

The wicked bagua mirror returns for more happiness and havoc.
In the previous film, the mirror went to a new family – opening flashback indicates cruelty.
Now a young thief has snatched it.
This part is quite interesting, set in shantytown, traveling by boat, everyone scrabbing.
Once the bagua rewards him, he moves up, into the middle class and formula sets it.
Too bad, the story went stale.

Tuner - 2026 - 6/10

Boy meets girl. Ruthie is a pianist, aspiring composer. Nik is a piano tuner, with over-sensitive hearing.
Oh, yeah, Niki also needs money, a sizeable amount for his hospitalized mentor, Harry.
To augment his income, he works as a safe-cracker for a small gang of thieves.
Pitch plausibility out the window now.
Coincidences mount, histories are fabricated to support chance.
Ruthie and Niki had warm chemistry, yet one suspects theirs is a temp hookup.
Probably not the RomCom you were hoping for.

Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man - 1976 - 6/10
AKA - Uomini si Nasce Poliziotti si Muore

Generic buddy cop film is packed with action, chases, gunfights, nudity.
Fred and Tony are the Special Squad, meaning “don’t bring criminals back alive.”
While cheerful throughout, both are borderline assassins.
Flimsy plot has the force seeking the elusive mastermind, Pasquini.
Fred and Tony “interview” his sister, first by undressing, then by …
In a twist, however, she exhausts both detectives and they give up.
Think Starsky & Hutch, the TV show (not the family friendly film), except with ridiculous violence.

The Age Of Gold - 1930 - 5/10
AKA - L’Age d’Or

A political / religious procession is interrupted by a couple spawning in the mud.
They are forcibly separated, but Fate has seemingly entwined their destinies.
Taboo breaking “comedy” from Buñuel and Dali has scandalous scenes (tame today).
During an outdoor party, lust triumphs.
Satire mocking bourgeois conventions still has an edge.

Everyone Is Lying To You For Money - 2025 - 7/10

“Hey, sucker, step right up! I am going to make to rich!”
Documentary on the repeated rise and fall of various crypto currencies.
Folks launching them reap a windfall before the crash, leaving “investors” with nothing.
Sad to watch folks lose, then keep trying, because they believe.
Equally annoying to see Hollywood A-listers whore themselves for loose change.
Those who obediently watch influencers: Were you really born to follow?
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3373833

Johanna Enlists - 1918 - 6/10

Enlisting … well, not exactly.
For Johanna, she might as well be living in 1418; her life is primitive and backbreaking.
Until the artillery regiment camps on the Ransallar farm in Pennsylvania.
A whole regiment of eligible menfolk. And she is the lone attraction.
The main two suitors include a handsome lieutenant and a stalwart private.
I assumed going in, that with Mary Pickford and William Desmond Taylor involved, this would be schmaltzy.
This is classic Pickford, and she emotes intensely.
She was also honorary colonel (and godmother) to the 143rd Field Artillery (shown in this).

Dragonfly Eyes - 2017 - 6/10
AKA - 蜻蜓之眼

Qing Ting, training to be a nun, is dissatisfied with ongoing restoration and leaves the monastery.
The abbot warns her that the outside world is more uncertain, more difficult.
She hires on at a diary factory, attracts an admirer, is terminated.
Works at a dry clearing shop, refuses to appease a haughty customer, is fired.
At the restaurant, customers complain and she is released.
Voiceovers and voice actors carry the narrative.
Entire film composed / assembled from hundreds of hours of surveillance videos.

Island Of Terror - 1966 - 6/10

Researchers, aiming for a cancer cure, accidentally create a silicone based life form.
One that needs calcium (bones) to grow and multiply.
The island off of Ireland is small, and has numerous cows. And tasty humans!
Entertaining SciFi / Horror romp builds slowly, while the silicates multiply every six hours.
For all that, this feels like a glorified Doctor Who outing.

Queens Of Evil - 1970 - 6/10
AKA - Le Regine

Free spirit David helps a wealthy man with his flat tire.
The older man talks of how freedom is hopeless against the scented petals of intoxicating females.
Soon enough, David is forced to take a detour and reaches a lonely house with three sisters.
One is lusty and savage, the other intellectual, the third innocent and demur.
He keeps meaning to push on, finds excuses to remain.
Even as the air of strangeness about the environment unsettles him.
Moody, languid film, steeped in atmosphere, with horror at the periphery.

The Unfaithful - 1948 - 6/10

The prowler forced his way into the house.
Chris, whose husband was away, feared for her life.
The dagger found its way into her hand, then into him.
Open and shut, self-defense, right?
First third of this is Noir, dominated by John Hoyt as the detective.
Middle is the not-so-fast mystery angle, slowly revealed.
Last third is ladies melodrama, peppered with Eve Arden as the barb tongued viper.

Concordia - 2021 - 6/10

The gated, monitored city of Concordia, with thousands of surveillance cameras.
On the streets, in offices, cafes, in homes, bedrooms, bathrooms.
Observing, listening, studying heart rates, impulses.
The more invasive the AI community is, the safer everyone is.
Until the mysterious murder of one of the techs.
Being a guarded city, police are not permitted inside, and local agents attempt to solve.
The conclusion a bit open, scores swing depending on which side of optimist/pessimist spectrum one is.

Gemma Bovary - 2014 - 6/10

Village baker Martin notices the arrival of the English transplants.
The Bovarys, Charles and Gemma.
Martin, who knows his Flaubert inside out, begins to see or imagine parallels between Emma and Gemma.
Less suspense than one would have imagined.
The Bovary marriage and possible problems glossed over.
Beautifully shot film, and Atherton is radiant, yet the hand of Fate lies heavy.