A few reviews . . (film or TV) — Page 164

Vampire Lovers - 1970 - 6/10

The new neighbor arrives at the General’s ball only to be summoned away for an emergency.
Nonetheless, could the General take care of her ward, Marcilla? Of course!
And Marcilla, endears herself to the General’s niece, Laura, who soon weakens and dies.
Jump ahead.
After a coach crash, the hurrying ladyship agrees to entrust her niece, Carmilla, to another family.
And daughter Emma begins to waste away.
Stylish Hammer outing, Gothic settings, period costumes, rampant with lesbian overtones.
Le Fanu’s novella has been filmed numerous times, including a recent version in 2019.

Targets - 1968 - 7/10

Horror film icon, Byron Orlok, is tired of it all. He is old-hat, old-fashioned, and wants to retire.
The everyday world is a more horrifying place than any of his creature features.
Even though the young scriptwriter has the perfect role for him, which will reinvigorate his career.
Meanwhile, a disturbed young husband tells his wife he suffers strange thoughts.
She does not listen. Actually, she cannot listen; she is shallow and empty.
Guns and ammunition stockpiled, and his fuse burns shorter.
While loosely based on Charles Whitman, this thriller eerily foretells weekly events in the USA.
For Boris Karloff, a superb role late in his career.

Tish - 2023 - 7/10

Excellent biography of the working class, Newcastle photographer, Tish Murtha.
Presented by daughter Elle, who has really done her homework.
Time and again, in interviews, she pulls out photos and items that charge the conversation.
From college courses and mentors, to art school, to acclaim.
Nor does this gloss over her obstinacy, her refusal to “make nice” and take mundane commissions.
Her anti-establishment stance empowers her work, and led to later challenges.
Fantastic photos throughout. Slideshow = https://tishmurtha.co.uk/
English subtitles = https://subsource.net/subtitle/tish-2023/english/10078128

Ulysses - 1954 - 6/10
AKA - Ulisse

Kirk Douglas makes an impressive Argonaut in this fantasy adventure.
The Trojan War is minimized for his ten year detour-packed return.
Highlights include Cyclops Polyphemus, and especially Circe, the sorceress.
Douglas and Silvana Mangano (dual roles) exhibit sensuous chemistry; one wishes they had shared other projects.
Too much time is given over to Penelope’s efforts to repulse her army of suitors.
Entertainment in fits and starts. Action great, exposition dull.

It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World - 1963 - 6/10

Like the title, this one is too long, excessively over the top, and over-indulgent.
A dying criminal tells a motley group of fellow commuters where he had hidden a huge stash of loot.
Start your engines, ready, go, and they’re off!
Share the money? Please. This is every man (and woman) for themselves, and then some.
OK, at 31/2 hours, this goes on and on and on.
As a comedy, hit and miss, ranging from farce to gags to puns.
That said, there are a gallery of stars (film, TV, Broadway) throughout.
Starring, supporting, quick cameos.
Film fanatics, you owe it to yourself to view at least once. Stock up on popcorn, though.

My Darling Clementine - 1946 - 7/10

Stopping over in Tombstone, the Earp brothers leave one in charge while they rest.
Next thing, their brother is murdered, cattle rustled, they’re broke and need jobs right quick.
Can you say Marshal Earp? And the prime suspects? The Clantons.
Dark, moody Western, heavily tinged with Noir.
Fonda ideal as Earp, Walter Brennan cast against type as the sinister Clanton.
Victor Mature a real eye-opener as the dying Doc Holiday.
Striking photography. Oh yes, and some business at the OK Corral.

Scala!!! Or The Incredibly Strange Rise And Fall Of The World’s Wildest Cinema - 2023 - 7/10

The venue at Kings Cross spanning its reincarnation in 1978 until its 1993 demise.
Essentially a revival house, Scala screened older fare, grindhouse, exploitation, queer and experimental.
Audiences were a wild mix of LGBTQ, cineastes, action enthusiasts, headcases.
Array of film clips among talking heads (audience, creative types, critics, staff).
For buffs, those who hit the seats several times a week, this is essential!
If only to get ideas for those obscure gems you somehow missed.
Perfect companion to Ed And Pauline (2014).
English subtitles = https://subsource.net/subtitle/scala-or-the-incredibly-strange-rise-and-fall-of-the-worlds-wildest-cinema-and-how-it-influenced-a-mixed-up-generation-of-weirdos-and-misfits-2023/english/10078129

When they showed the monthly calendars, I flashed back.
Both the Nuart and Sherman offered those, and Zelda and I would circle what we wanted to see.
Typically, we saw films 3-4 times a week. Unlike Scala, those theaters also carried arthouse fare.
Cleaner neighborhoods than Scala, yet audiences, especially late shows, were similar.

The film Captain America Brave New World has pushed the character to new heights and features my new favorite casting for a character. It also has the message that while our past actions will always flavor our present, they shouldn’t define us, and that redemption can be reached within reason.

Mansion Of The Living Dead - 1982 - 5/10
AKA - La Mansión de los Muertos Vivientes

Four waitresses (strippers) holiday at a beachfront hotel.
Save for a desk employee and a gardener, the sprawling hotel is deserted.
Also the beach, utterly empty.
Nearby, however, there is an abandoned monastery.
Where, one by one, the females investigate, to their peril.
Jess Franco “Horror” outing, lethargic in pace, is replete with liminal wastes and incessant winds.
The “dead” wear white robes, their faces disfigured with papier-mâché masks or shaving cream.

The Big Bluff - 1955 - 5/10

Ne’re-do-well Rick confers with girlfriend Fritzi, sexpot dancer and wed to a jealous man.
Rightly so, too, as Rick and Fritizi glide in and out of each other’s rooms at any given chance.
Rick has now stumbled onto a cash cow. An attractive New York heiress.
Whose days are numbered owing to an incurable heart ailment.
In better hands, perhaps a creative director of photography, this might have been something.
Director Lee Wilder (Billy’s brother) does not have a lick of style.
The overall look is cheap and sleazy, actually fitting for the tawdry plot.

Poodle Springs - 1998 - 6/10

“Philip Marlowe, private investigations. I don’t take divorce cases?”
Marlowe hears the request for help, the address, then gunshots.
He alerts the police, then hits the crime scene first. And is now suspect #1.
The setup, the frame. The patsy, and old enough to know better.
Perhaps too old, perhaps that’s the problem. Marlowe is old.
1963, set in the border between California and Nevada, amidst shady wives, gunsels and greedy developers.
James Caan well cast as Marlowe, fading detective from an earlier era.
Top notch writing. Chandler started this, Robert Parker finished it, Tom Stoppard adapted it.
Convoluted, confusing at times, yet unlike – ooh – Big Sleep, this does tie up fairly logically.
Keep track of the three ladies. Fine Neo-Noir for mystery fans.

Double Vision - 2002 - 6/10
AKA - Shuang Tong // 雙瞳

The first victim died in his office, drowned or frozen to death.
Next one was incinerated in her apartment, nothing else was even scorched.
By victim three, a strange bacteria has been isolated.
Taiwan police, out of their depth, consult the FBI, who send a profiler.
Early on, the two sides barely tolerate each other, and that never subsides.
Strange murder mystery mixes scientific investigation with supernatural underpinnings.
Amidst the deaths are Taoist scriptures, a secretive cult, and immortality.
Alert: Two endings are out there.

Paddington In Peru - 2024 - 6/10

News by post reports that Aunt Lucy has disappeared from the Home For Retired Bears.
Thus, Paddington and Family Brown embrace the risk and travel to the Andes.
Third installment of the adventurous bear with rapids, fortune hunters, and shaky goings on.
Escapades, Peruvian in-jokes, along with a list of everything that goes wrong on trips.
This will be fine for family viewing, and fine of Paddington fans.
Not as good as the second film, yet better than the first.

Koyaanisqatsi - 1982 - 8/10

Life out of balance.
Overpowering visual assault showing humanity dwarfed by our constructs.
The pace hurtles dizzyingly, the images a cascade.
Philip Glass score aids this tremendously.
Consider also, 1982 was pre-internet, pre-social media.
Nowadays, dwellers are likewise enthralled to devices, and, in turn, masters of those.
Forty years on, this remains as powerful and as troubling as ever.

The Beaux’ Stratagem - 2015 - 7/10

Their fortunes lavished on assorted debaucheries, two gentlemen flee London creditors.
The new quarry? Young rural heiresses. Find em, fool em, fleece em, forget em.
Until one of the wastrels is smitten. As for the ladies, no lambs here.
Add a scheming innkeeper, a gypsy seductress, and a band of highwaymen.
Speaking of band, a combo of musicians provide accompaniment for stray songs and jigs.
Broadly comedy of manners from 1707 rollicks along; keep up with the staccato dialogue.
Theatre junkies, Jane Austen unbuttoned.

Dangerous Crossing - 1953 - 6/10

The new bride is jilted on her honeymoon cruise.
No husband. In fact, no one has heard of the husband.
Ruth had booked under her maiden name. But – but – and she faints.
Thank goodness the ship’s doctor is understanding, and handsome.
Old-fashioned mystery plays well in the tight corners of the ship.
Great use of fog and forced perspective.
Nonetheless, this feels padded. Listen to the earlier “Cabin B-13” on Suspense instead.

Husbands And Wives - 1992 - 7/10

Long married couple Jack and Sally are breaking up.
To the dismay of their friends, who begin to reflect on their own marriage.
Consequences include wondering whether their own relationship is still sound.
One of Woody Allen’s darker comedy of manners, which is not always funny.
He probes here into jealousy, possession, mid-life crises.
Fiction may mirror reality here, as this was the last film between Allen and Farrow.
Their story, sadly, became public fodder, and the stuff of tabloid soap opera.

30 Coins: S02 - 2023 - 7/10
AKA - 30 Monedas

Season 02 splinters off in several directions with multiple characters.
Also, with a new foe, the ultra rich Barbow, with his own agenda.
We follow Father Vergara, in the fires of hell, dealing with nemesis Angelo (Mr Cipher).
Elsewhere, villagers flee, hide, or conspire. Fear not, everything coalesces.
The finale is a veritable avalanche of action and images.
Creator Álex de la Iglesia has announced that S03 episodes and conclusion are already written.
Lovecraft acolytes, this is a series of inspired insanity and mad brilliance.

John Carter - 2012 - 5/10

By any other name, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “A Princess Of Mars”.
Civil War captain is teleported to the angry red planet.
Once there, and once he grasps his situation, Carter finds himself amid a forever war, and finds a princess.
Fairly standard plot here (can you say Star Wars?), yet this launches from 1912.
Despite an enthusiastic cast, this feels like leftovers.
The plot, alien creatures that seem from Lucas casting, a poor grip on pacing,
Result is overlong, old-fashioned, and just flat lacking sizzle.
At least one faneditor has tackled this, trimming 20”. Helps, but the flaws are merely lessened.

The Young Poisoner’s Handbook - 1996 - 6/10

Mid-school Graham has an interest in and a flair for chemistry.
He is also into death, the dark side, and he’s more than a little morbid.
When his parents cross him, Graham poisons them.
He is institutionalized, where his keen intellect sets him apart.
Dark frightening comedy, is creepy and unsettling.
Especially for those (you and I) who have toiled next to an unstable coworker.
Not for all tastes, for those with a tolerance for black comedy.

Fudoh: The Next Generation - 1996 - 6/10
AKA - Gokudō Sengokushi: Fudō // 極道戦国志 不動

By day, Riki Fudoh is a high school student, but after hours, crime boss.
His is the path of vengeance for the murder of his older brother.
The enforcers are lethal, yet young. A dart-shooting assassin has to be seen to be believed.
A mix of outrageous action balances with graceful scenes.
Also a menacing rival, scene chewing Riki Takeuchi.
My first encounter with director Takashi Miike, this was mind-blowing.
Later releases proved he was no fluke, no one-shot.

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest Of Spies - 2006 - 7/10
AKA - OSS 117 : Le Caire, nid d’espions

Exploits of agent most extraordinaire, Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath.
Dispatched to Cairo following the disappearance of fellow agent, he immediately embroiled in mystery.
Chief among many, is how the books for the chicken house are so disorganized.
Yes, this ain’t James Bond. Closer to Maxwell Smart.
Set in the 50’s, care has been taken to look authentic, from wardrobes to backgrounds.
Stunts and action are surprisingly first rate, and the comedy is shrewd and loving.
OSS 117 is skilled, resourceful, clueless. Also knows how to appreciate a casual catfight.
Great for fans of spy flicks.

Creeper - 2022 - 6/10

Jason’s home life is in tatters. Mom and abusive Dad spit violent arguments.
Money, no one is earning any money.
Terrible as that is, Jason is also being stalked, by one who seems straight from his sketchpad.
Short thriller of home invasion, rotten parents, and the intruder.

Dishonored - 1931 - 6/10

She’s not afraid to live, nor is she afraid to die.
Overhearing her comment, the top man with the Austrian Secret Service recruits Marta.
Assignment: find out who’s working with the Russians during the Great War.
Dietrich, as ever, looks fabulous! She even nails a comic sequence as a simple-minded servant.
Victor McLaglen is another matter altogether.
He smirks worse than a Cheshire cat, and few would buy him as a Russian aristocrat.
Their scenes together show limited chemistry, and the narrative drifts into woozy melodrama too often.
Nevertheless, this is a Marlene Dietrich / Josef Von Sternberg film, so a must.
Blackie, the Paramount cat, steals every scene he is in.

The New Avengers - 1976 - 6/10

Agents Purdey and Gambit flank the man in charge, John Steed.
Half dozen years after the collapse of the original series, the franchise is rebooted for the 1970’s.
More action oriented, rapid paced, and Joanna Lumley returns the female agent to lethal capability.
Earlier episodes possibly the best, as they are more straight-forward and less campy.
While this never gets as silly as the final years of the original, the plots do grow far-fetched.
The action is very good, Lumley and Hunt did their own stunts.
Ironically, the States found the series too violent for prime time.